Ta-daaa!

And there she is, blocked (washed and stretched), dried and ready to wear.  I can't wear it as the stole that it was supposed to be, I'm just too plus size I guess.  But then too, I'm not comfortable wearing stoles.  So I scarf her up and tie her around my neck and basically abuse her.  But she's a bit of sunshine in an extremely rainy winter.

Oops! Or Where did the time go??

Time got away from me, and now I need to finish up my trip to LA. But I have to interrupt the regularly scheduled programming for a couple of notes:

1) My yarn projects for Christmas are officially complete! Wahoo!!! I have some things that I may do, but they are completely optional. I'm so very pleased with myself. Sorry, gotta gloat about getting something done anyway! I'd show you pictures, but then you wouldn't be surprised.

2) The quilt for my MIL is at the quilters. Yippee!! The thing is huge, it just kept growing on me. The woman said she'd try and work it in ahead of some of the others in her queue - since MIL is now in the nursing home - and I should have it before Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see it quilted. I'll have to add the binding once I get it back. I have some fabric that's going to look like Fruit Stripe Gum wrapped around the edges.

and 3) I know that Craig Ferguson comes on really really late at night. But I appreciate him even more than David Letterman or Jay Leno, so sometimes I will record the show just to see what in the heck he's got going on. If you don't know, this past year (or maybe 2 now?) he became a US citizen and is very interested in the political process. I watched the other night, I just had to share his opening monologue with you. I don't know how to embed YouTube just yet, but one day I'll figure it out. So click the link: Craig Ferguson Political Rant It's not an ugly rant, just one that makes a lot of valid points. And then click this link... Craig Ferguson Part 2

Saturday - Shopping & Eating in LA

Saturday morning I made my "famous" buttermilk biscuits for my hosts and slathered on lots of homemade strawberry jam.

Afterwards, we headed out to a yarn store - the Knitter's Studio (not pictured). I had found a place on Friday, but that store was full of discontinued, acrylic and novelty yarns, so I was sadly disappointed and will not review them. The Knitter's Studio, however, was just what I was looking for. They had cubbies wrapped around the perimeter of the store, nicely organized by color, style and maker. It was a joy to fondle the cashmere and silk yarns. I ended up with four skeins of Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed in a beautiful aubergine color. I have to say aubergine instead of eggplant since Debbie Bliss is an English company. After feeding the parking meter three times (!) I managed to make my purchases so we could move on. If I lived in LA, they would be one of my favorite yarn stores. They were setting up for a beginning knitting class around the work table, complete with cupcakes & coffee.

We then headed to an extra large art & craft supply store called Pearl. They had a great selection of goodies for all your creative needs. However, I had to say no for purchases since I didn't really have a project in the works that I could legitimately buy for. I even passed on the sketch & notebooks! Can you believe it? Mostly because I couldn't find them when we were ready to check out.

By this time we were starting to feel a bit of a hunger clench in our bellies, so we headed in the direction of the ocean and ended up on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. I had suggested sushi since I don't get many takers in my family, and ended up at this interesting Balinese looking place called Monsoon. I ended up with a Rainbow Roll and a beef noodle bowl. I flustered the poor waiter by asking what he would have to eat for lunch. I wasn't picky about what to eat, just wanted something good. My friend had the Saikyo Yaki Black Cod, which is marinated in Miso Paste before it's cooked. My goodness, that was yummy. If I ever see it on another menu, I'll be having that for sure. The decor was pure Asian tongue-in-cheek, complete with brass dragon lanterns from the palm leaf ceiling and a stone "happy" fertility god in the ladies room. Fun!

The architecture in Downtown Santa Monica is unique. They are trying to infuse the city with a sense of community, so all new & remodel work is going with three tiers. The bottom floor is retail space, the second floor office space, and the third floor housing. Evidently, it's being snapped up, because there is no where to turn without seeing some new construction. But, for the older buildings, you have to look up to see the more interesting parts. We were parked on an upper level of a garage, so I got to take pictures looking down on some

of the details. A long stop at Michael's had me lusting after beads, but I don't need a new set of tools! I put them back again. And again. And again.

So what do we do then? Head to another bead store, called Ritual Adornments. We wandered around, running our fingers through the lovely pieces of stone, glass, wood, and other fabulousness. I wish I had taken out my camera - a bowl of skull beads would have been a perfect Halloween photo op. Ah well. I still managed not to snag any beads on my shopping trip.

The sun was past the mid-day point, way past by this time, and we had an hour or so left on the parking meter, so we hit the beach for a walk in the waves. We hiked up our pants, took our shoes off and headed up the coast line, with no destination in mind, just enjoying the last of the sun and the waves splashing. Just enough time to get a little bit of sun and exercise.

Headed back to the apartment for some homemade guacamole and chips and watching Phelps win yet another race. All in all a good day.

Fighting with Yarn

Over the weekend, I took some time to start (yet another) yarn project. I wanted something that didn't feel quite so overwhelming. Like a sweater, or the scarf that's been hidden deep in bag for more than a year, or the 20 gajillion toys I need to make for the boy-o's (just kidding - you know I love you!)

Socks are actually much more complicated and yet easier than you would think. I wanted to design my own sock pattern - it's just a matter of matching up gauge with the yarn and choosing a stitch pattern that will work for you.

But what you see above, well, that toe has been knit three times - once the gauge swatch lied so I had to re-do it for the smaller gauge, then, I didn't like the lace/cable pattern I picked - the 6 stitch cable is too lumpy to actually wear on your foot, and then a white foot showing through dark purple yarn - ummmm, not very attractive. So that was frogged back, while I thumbed through multiple stitch guides looking for something else. I tried a 3 stitch mock cable, but because of the "eastern" layout of my stitch work, that's more difficult than an actual cable. I tried a shell rib - but the repeat was too close together. Frogged again. But learning every time - no lace in a dark yarn, small cable shifts, longer repeats.

Back to the stitch-ionaries. I pulled the "Knitting on the Edge" from the shelf, because I know I really need a rib stitch, and she's got pretty ones gathered together in one space. Maypole Rib it is. It suits my needs. It's only crossing two stitches at a time, there are no holes in the pattern, and the repeat is 8 rows long. I think that in a blue/black/grey/brown yarn this would be fairly manly, but in my Velvet Plum Jitterbug by Colinette, it's feminine enough to suit me. So it's my own design, and I'm keeping the notes for it on my Ravelry account here.

So we may fight, but I'll getcha in the end!

New Start

Well, what do you know. I'm back, hopefully for just a short time actually. I'd like to be working again soon. But it is what it is.

In the meantime, I'm going to spend some time catching up on the projects that I didn't quite get finished last time, and hopefully, start and finish some new ones. The room in the last post is on hold. We've pulled up the carpet, and I think we've decided to replace the sub-floor before we put down new carpet. It smells in there. And I'm afraid that if I put new carpet on top of the sub-floor, it's still going to smell. The problem is, I can't replace the sub-floor myself. It's one of the jobs that I would actually need to hire out. But other than that, I can't wait to move forward on it. I love my new light switch plates, and I'm anxious to see how it all ends up looking.

I've been working on a Christmas present the past couple of days. I'm using a Debbie Bliss Soho Variegated yarn that I bought when I was a fresh knitter, oh three years ago. The yarn is a single ply, thick & thin wool yarn that will probably felt if it just sees water. But I am just loving the fabric that the yarn is producing. It's soft and stretchy and bumpy and full of color. When I purchased the yarn, I felt for sure I was buying more than enough to do any project - larger than a scarf. Silly me. I didn't know to check yardage back then. And, I thought the colors were cheery and happy, only to find out that personally, I prefer the near-solids of a kettle-dyed yarn instead of a true variegation. So the yarn has been languishing in the stash, just waiting for the right project. Languish no longer!

Finished Things

A couple of finished things that have come out of not working lately:

1) Submissions to Stampers Sampler:

The first is for the turquoise challenge. I pulled a color combo from an Amy Butler print that was in some magazine. Turquoise, grey and peach. Her print was pretty mod, but I like the results I got from my paper choices. Love the embossing powder, but the black detail is hard to do cleanly.

and the second is for the Floral Fourth of July Challenge: Not so fond of this one. I think it meets the challenge, but I think the colors are just too... just too much I think. I tried to go beyond the basic flower box and flags and come up with something different, but we'll see.
And, they might not have gotten there in time. Such is the snail mail.

2) Some things off the needles:


The first thing is a stole that I've been working on for more than a year now. I used to drop stitches every time I picked it up and I just couldn't get into the rhythm of the thing. But lately, it's been in the car - ready for me to knit on any time I have some free time between appointments. It's made of Alpaca and is super soft. I did a very soft block on it, just to spread the yarn overs, and it ended up being about 6 feet long and about 18 inches wide. I'm so glad that it's done now.

The second thing is my first pair of socks. They are ankle socks, done in a worsted weight super wash wool turquoise yarn. I bought the yarn to take my sock class, where we did a very tiny sock, but learned the basics. So, to be sure that I knew how to adapt them, I did a sock for my foot. Once I was done with the first, the hubster said it wasn't done - where is my second? I guess I'll never have a case of second sock syndrome. I didn't think I had enough of the turquoise yarn left over to make the second sock, so I grabbed a remnant of mystery acrylic to stretch the wool. The stripes actually made the second sock seem like it was moving faster - I could see progress as I went along.




So that's some of the fun things. I'm trying to work on getting some of the house taken care of along the way.

Day Six (or Progress Made)

Sunday's are wonderful. I've had enough time to recoupe from the week, and start to get my second wind for things around the house. And I love how progress in one area makes it so much easier to progress in another. This next week should be very satisfying.


Yesterday I was able to get the suitcases unpacked - all the way! And the laundry is started.


I worked for a while in my studio/guest room and things are looking more organized, to me at least. Spousal Unit 1 (SU1) still can't see where anything is going. And how all the stuff on the floor is going to make it onto the available storage. I'll show before and after pictures when I am able to put the beds back. And just for you BBSis, I'll let you look inside my drawers and closets. And then you can tell I have far too many notebooks and paper items. And where should I donate them? I can't just let them go. And I will need to pull out the two to ten sheets I've actually used out of each of them. Oh my. Another task for another day. Today is just about moving forward.

I'm }{ this close to the halfway point of the Nina shawl. I've been avoiding it because I know that now, I'm going to be disappointed with the length of the shawl. I think I knew that when I did the OBBSis Peas & Carrots Scarf so I added interest between the striped blocks by doing another row of checks and useing this really wonky chenille with the wool used in the main. Now how to make my Nina a bit longer. . .

Day Two (or Austin Recap)

It's a rainy morning here in Austin and it suits my mood to a "T". I am anxious to return home and be snuggled in on the sofa with a fire in the stove and the mist in the trees. I know that my suitcases are going to be overweight (just like me) in spite of me leaving things behind in Dallas because I just can't stop myself from shopping. I think I am going to have to put all my books, notebooks, and magazines in the carry-on just so that the check bags will be pass the weight restriction. Ugh.

This trip, I was inspired by my sister and am purchasing items for rubber stamping. They have the works in CA, I am sure, I just don't know where to look for them. I mean, I've looked in Michael's and Joann's and the selection in CA is far inferior to that here in TX. I managed to increase the collection by about 10 rubber stamps, not including what was purchased at Stamp Club on Sunday. We spent the whole weekend playing with paper and ink, glue and rubber stamps, scissors and watercolors, with no other expectations for the weekend. It was fun, inspiring and relaxing at the same time.

And then there was the trip to Hill Country Weavers - Open late on Thursday (thank goodness!). And thanks to Mapquest, I was only mis-located once, but able to get back on track and find my way down there. The facility is an old home that has been stripped down to walls and concrete floors and stuffed full with bins and racks and tables of yarn. The selection and choices were just amazing. I finally was able to pet some Classic Elite Yarns, and decided that I really really want the Posh in the pink print, but before I indulge myself, I need to finish one of my larger projects. That, and it needs to have the pattern picked out for it - there's no way to justify that price without having something special picked out. Even so, I managed to walk away with 4 skeins of Miracle in Caribbean Sunset, 1 skein of Plymouth Encore Worsted in color 1444 brown with blue slubs, and 3 skeins of Queensland Rustic Wool, color 04 a tonal green yarn.