and now we have...

last weekend was a productive knitting weekend.

i finished my sweet friend's skirt...and panicked. the length was correct but the width seemed way off. then i put the elastic in and lo and behold, it all came together! and it fit her! and she thought it was cute, in the tone that said, "this is much cuter than i anticipated and i would even consider wearing it!", not the tone that said, "never in a million years."

the skirt is a mac and me pattern with the suggested knitting yarn being blue sky alpaca organic cotton in white. in an effort to support my LYS i substituted cascade's cotton yarn, sierra, in pink. in the meantime i have been exposed to blue sky alpaca's organic cotton and told my sweet friend if she ever wants another skirt, it will be knit out of this. but the sierra was a reasonable substitute.

when i first read the pattern it said the elastic could be woven into every other stitch after the skirt was finished or knitted in. i chose the former, which was fine. the trick being, elastic is white, the skirt is pink, so the elastic shows. and there was no way i could get it into every other stitch without feeling like i was wrecking the skirt. so i am thankful the style is longer tops, so they cover the elastic.

i also fixed the feathery lace stole. i have finally memorized the pattern and have been knitting two rows at a time whenever i can as a mini meditation because, though i have memorized the pattern, i still really have to concentrate on the stitch. yesh! i find if i don't concentrate on it completely, i mess up. which is what i did last thursday. i knitted 4 rows and discovered what looked like YO's in places where there should be no YO's. the thought of correcting the real YO's and SKP's for 4 rows was daunting to me, but i took it slowly, approached it with gobs of patience and humor, and, luckily, made it right again. whew! and now i am off and knitting, but with no distractions of any kind, no talking, no movies/tv, no ipod. just me, saying the memorized stitch, over and over again.

but the real fun of course was being able to start a new project. the goal was to use the much anticipated louisa harding sari ribbon. i have only 122 yds of the sari ribbon so whatever i made had to be relatively small. so i googled "ribbon yarn patterns" and found a simple drop stitch scarf pattern that i think will do nicely that is within the needed yardage requirements. except that i needed size 10.5 circulars; or size 13 circulars; or size 15 circulars. none of which i have. and it was 9:30pm on sunday night. and i HAD to start a new project right then. so after much shifting of stash, i settled on a french girl shawl pattern, oceane. i am knitting it in the suggested rowan linen print yarn, only in the smoky colorway instead of the blush. and knitting on size 17's instead of 19's because that is what i had.

so, i have gobs of knitting to do. yay.

truly, it was for research purposes only

i had a meeting in the city which ended early and found myself with a some free time. so what to do? go to the nearest LYS of course.

artfibers can be found up a creaky stairwell in the heart of the san francisco financial district. their yarns are a mix of various natural fibers with their own unique colorways. artfibers strives to be eco friendly by selling their yarn on recycle able/returnable cones but also has recycle able/returnable ball cores available for smaller purchases. the only place to get their yarn is at their store or on the internet. so i thought this the perfect place to scout out some unique s.f. yarn for my yet to be named virtual vacation swap buddy. and boy was it fun.

the store is relatively small but packed full of truly beautiful yarn. most of the yarn is swatched which made it helpful to see how it looked, felt, draped, etc. knitted up, along with a nearby index card with content of the yarn, gauge and sometimes a pattern suggestion. a couple of services i thought helpful was a computer system that can adapt any pattern to the size you need, instantaneously! as well as a corner that has samples of their yarn available for knitters to knit and experiment with.

so after wandering around touching everything, i spotted this really lovely, quite simple scarf that was knit out of this beautiful, shimmery silk, mohair and wool yarn. one skein would knit the really lovely, quite simple scarf. a great idea for my vvs buddy. or not....? hmmmm...am i sure? what to do? got it! experiment with the yarn myself. just to make sure. i mean, i wouldn't want to send a dud yarn. so i did the only responsible thing, i bought the yarn which came with the pattern for the really lovely, quite simple scarf with the intent of making sure it would be an appropriate yarn to share with my vvs buddy.

so i will see how the yarn does. make sure it's ok. and if it proves to be unsuitable for my yet to be named vvs buddy, i can always regift the scarf!

i missed the deadline

my sweet friends skirt was supposed to have been done by today. it is close, but not close enough, about 20 rows away from being done.

but it has been a busy week. it is the last week of high school for the big guy. grandma is up for graduation; the house is being prepared for a celebratory open house and the big guy is ready for his next phase.

i suppose i am also, but not quite as excitedly as the big guy.

but this is what it is all about. all the nurturing, the support, the involvement, the parameters, all culminate to this, his leaving home. i guess, as parents, we are supposed to look forward to it. but it feels a little empty. i have been told i'll cry the first week and after that it will be "who?". time will tell on that one.

in the meantime, i will finish my sweet friend's skirt.

i can't believe it

so today while measuring my sweet friend's pink skirt, i discovered it was at the 13.5 inches (34.3 cm) in length it is supposed to be before i begin the finishing touches. while eyeing it on the needles i thought it not quite long enough to be considered a skirt. but i had my sweet friend try it on and lo and behold! it is long enough. which means i am very close to finishing the pink skirt. the goal was to finish it by the big guy's h.s. graduation, which is this coming saturday. so if i quit blogging and start knitting, i may just get it finished in time. huzzah!

a reason!

friends of ours are having their first baby!

besides being very excited for them, i am very excited to be able to knit baby things. i was a sewer when i was pregnant and had babies and though i knit for my kids now, i did not get to knit baby things.

so now i have an excuse to make cute baby booties and matching hats, etc.. the challenge being which cute baby booties and matching hats, etc. the baby is not due until december so there is plenty of time to decide! but i can start looking and stewing now!

ohboyohboyohboy!

vvs questionaire

1. If you could visit any state in the US, which would it be and why?
hawaii, so i could lay on the warm beach and then hike in the cool rain forests.
2. If you could visit any country in the world, other than your own, which would it be and why?
france, because i love paris; and i have always wanted to live in france
3. Have you ever driven across several states/providence/countries?
yes; once from saratogoa springs, ny to st. louis, missouri by way of nyc, new jersy, virginia, west virginia, kentucky, illinois, missiouri and a tip of kansas; then once from san francisco to rexburg, idaho via nevada and utah.
4. Have you ever visited someplace you consider exotic? Where was it?
took a cruise with my sister to the caribbean, which was great.
5. What was your favorite "travel" vacation? Why?
europe because it was before we had kids so it was just my husband and i traveling with our backpacks going where ever we wanted to go.
6. Have you ever played tourist in your own home city/state (if international, country)? Explain.
yes; we live in the san francisco bay area so when we get visitors we take them to places they would like to see and then to places we like to share that may not be in the tourist guides.
7. Are you a museum visitor, beach comer or an amusement seeker?
a beach bum/comer first and museum visitor second.
8. What's your favorite type of yarn?
my first choice would be wool because there is such a wide variety of wool available and there are so many ways it can be knit. but i am equally fond of alpaca, silk and cotton.
9. What's your least favorite type of yarn?
i would say acrylic more because i have never really been inspired to knit with it. though i have used various ribbon yarns with great results.
10. What items do you like to knit/crochet?
i am an accessories knitter stuck in the "s's": scarves, shawls, stoles, socks though i am in the midst of knitting a skirt and i have made some hats. i also like lacy knits. i find myself drawn to patterns that have a lace repeat or trim/edging in them.
11. What do you pack, knit/crochet wise when you go on vacation?
depending on the project(s) i have going. socks are always good because they are small. usually i take something simple so i can take it places and not have to worry about missing a stitch count. plus i always reason there may be a yarn store where i am going where i can pick up a little something!
12. What other crafts do you do/would like to do other than Knit/Crochet?
i sew, bake, make jewelry.
13. Are you allergic to anything? (Yarn wise or treat wise)
thankfully, no.
14. What is your favorite color? Least Favorite?
favorite color is royal blue; least favorite color is difficult because any color in the right tone or shade is workable, but off the top of my head it would be yellow or orange.
15. Sweet or Savory (Treat not personality)?
sweets, please!
16. Anything else we are forgetting to ask that you think your partner desperately needs to know?
i have a high energy level so caffeine and i parted ways many years ago, much to the delight of my assistant, though i do love strong tea and coffee, just decaffeinated. and i love chocolate.

can i just tell you

i have to confess that i am pretty tired of knitting in the round. by some odd coincidence, all my projects, save the feathery lace stole, are being knit in the round. i find myself knitting a few rows on the feathery lace stole daily just for variety! which isn't such a bad thing since i really do need to finish this project.

my goal was not to start something new until i finished something currently on the needles. i may side step this by taking a sock class with the sock guru at the LYS (her june socks are lacy!). the catch being, the new project will also be knitting in the round! though i may actually try knitting on DPN's instead of two circulars. that alone could be entertaining.

and if knitting on DPN'S isn't entertaining, the ladies at virtual vacation knitting swap will be. i missed the knitting swap tea and cakes organized earlier this spring, so when i heard about this one i was really excited. if you are interested, stop by their blog site and take a look see.

in the meantime, i will be here, knitting in the round!