and i shall name them squishy...

i love knitting socks.  and i love knitting a sock with a little bit of a lace design.  it just makes me happy.

i recently started this...

the pattern is zig-zag lace pedi socks by michele bernstein (sorry, couldn't link the pattern, just the designer).  i thought i wanted a pedi sock for winter pedicures and found this pattern on ravelry.  simple (i can follow the lace chart, which is saying something!), easy to memorize and keep track of.  just enough design to make the sock fun to knit and pretty to look at.  my only challenge is remembering i have to purl in the "knitting row".

though i wanted a pedi sock, i chose to knit the full foot version.  why?  because of this yarn.  i fell in love with the yarn the moment i unwrapped it from its mailing packaging.  what is it?  kells sport from three irish girls, color way, Nemo.  yup.  it is warm and soft and squishy and lovely to work with.  the colors are beautiful and it holds the pattern well.  i rarely work with a sport weight yarn for socks but i could become addicted.  it makes for a much faster knit.  i am almost done with the first sock!  i can't wait to finish them, i want to wear them everyday!!

but, please, don't tell my sweet friend.  she wants me to finish knitting her cowl!

resistance is futile...

when we moved into the girl house 4 years ago, we thought it would be a temporay situation.   we thought once i found a job we would find our own place.  but between a and b, life changed and we find ourselves still at the girl house.

since we thought it temporary, we never really made our room our own.  so over the years, as we collected things, we made do with putting them where ever we could.  which made the room chaotic.  a couple of weeks ago, my sweet friend organized her side of the room.  this inspired me to do the same.

this inspiration forced me to deal with all of the yarn i had purchased over the past four years.

yup.

i already have four large bins of yarn items: two actually hold the yarn stash; one holds knitting project yarn leftovers and one holds WIP's that have been momentarily shelved.  as i purchased new yarn, i either used it or put it aside until i could take a picture and list it in my ravelry stash page.

and then there is the sock yarn.  i love knitting socks and i always wanted to be part of a sock club. except i found most sock clubs wanting.  that is until i came across the three irish girls sock club.  their sock club allows me to choose whether i want their monthly sock yarn offering or not.  i really like their yarn so i find myself enticed by their monthly offerings more often then not.  they also have special sales on a regular basis.  and since i have been part of their sock club for the last two plus years, this made for a lot of sock yarn.  take a look...

though the yarn piled here is a bit more than sock yarn, the majority is sock yarn.  sigh...

so i organized this pile, took individual pictures and listed it all in my ravelry stash.  i then put the pile away in my almost overflowing bins before any one came home.  if they knew how much yarn i had, they would 1) demand i knit them socks non stop or 2) never allow me to buy another skein  of yarn.  which would not do because i just received the monthly sock club email from three irish girls. and, as to be expected,  there are a couple of beautiful color way options calling my name.  

sigh...

the beat goes on...

the last month the lys was open for business they had a sale. it started with merchandise being 30% off; then 40% off and finally 50% off. and though the end of the sale meant the end of the lys, the sale, and the lys, was pretty fun while it lasted.

i had gone into the store a few times during that last month. most of the time, just to sit, knit and chat while i still had the chance. but these visits always turned into scouting for yarn opportunities. and since the yarn was on sale, i would sometimes pick up a ball of this, a skein of that, knowing that my big purchase(s) were yet to be decided. finally, on the last week the lys was open, i purchased big.

sock yarn was my first choice but it was also the first to go, which meant i needed to get creative on what type of yarn i was willing to make socks out of. to this end, i bought panda cotton and bunny hop.

my sweet friend came to shop with me and fell in love with the "leaf lace sock" sample the owner had knitted up. only one sock was knitted which meant if my sweet friend wanted a pair to wear, i would need to knit the second sock. so the pattern was purchased as well as the panda cotton yarn it was knitted in.

i have a total jones for frog tree yarn. i also have a shawl jones. coincidentally the lys had quite the selection of frog tree. they also had a sample of "the scallop shawl" which just happened to be knit up in a frog tree sportweight colorway that was on the shelf. so to indulge both jones', i purchased the pattern and the yarn. the purple frog tree was purchased during one of the scouting visits. it was the last ball in that colorway and just to lovely to pass up!

the last yarn i purchased that day was some classic elite sprout. i love shawls and poncho type garments and had always wanted to knit stefanie japel's paris loop which calls for bulky yarn. which sprout happens to be. so there you have it.

this purchase was well within the "budget" i had set for myself. which meant i had money left over. how lucky was that? it also meant i could go back to the lys to make some last minute purchases. so two days before the lys would close forever i found myself back at the store. i decided on two skeins of raspberry/lavender frog tree which complimented the dark purple frog tree purchased earlier with hopes of pairing both in knitting some fingerless gloves. i also planned on checking if clara parkes book of yarn was available since it has a pattern for fingerless gloves i find myself consistently drawn to. much to my surprise, one copy was available. and at 50% off! score!

so with this final purchase, along with many hugs and thank yous, i said goodbye to the lys and its owners one final time. i miss them all terribly but am thankful for the time we shared together.

hello, hello...

so it's been awhile. life seems to be rushing by and all of a sudden it has been months since i have said hello.

so hello. i have missed you all and it is nice to be here. life has been full and there has been lots of creating, knitting wise, sewing wise, musical make-up wise, but those stories will come out in time.

in the meantime, i will share these...

socks for my sweet friend knit out of sknitches syncopation sock yarn; colorway, seriously.

yes, it is true, the two of us are addicted to the tv show grey's anatomy. because of this i joined ravelry's grey's anatomy knitters group, which led to me finding this yarn. sknitches had done this colorway, which quickly sold out. lucky for the group, sknitches was generously willing to dye another colorway batch, twice. this gave me the opportunity to buy a hank for myself. and when my sweet friend was disappointed because i had one and she didn't, i was able to buy another hank. whew!

so here they are... pattern, super simple short socks by meghann holcomb, found on ravelry. pattern was quick and dirty, but not real fond of the heel. the yarn came from sknitches. wonderful, wonderful, wonderful yarn. lovely to knit with and it wears well. sknitches has amazing colorways so check them out.

that is it for the moment. until next time, take care.

the great information...

in my haste to post about the big guys birthday, i neglected to post the specifics on his birthday socks. so in case you were wondering, let me tell you about them:...

the yarn....lorna's laces - shepherd sock in carmel (a colorway of a few years ago).

the pattern...lonnies sport's socks by rebecca mercier, available for free via ravelry (search patterns for sport or short socks) or at her website, whimsical knitting designs.

the purely subjective opinion....i really like this yarn. i have knit a couple of pairs of socks with this yarn and i love working with it. easy to knit with; the yarn feels great while knitting; looks great even after being frogged or unknit multiple times (important point!); feels great to wear and it wears well. i have laundered the cute husbands pair of socks (same yarn, different colorway), stuck them in the dryer for a moment or two then hung them until they were completely dry and they look great each time. my only dismay about the yarn is i do have a hard time finding it in any of the local LYS' around me so i purchase it online. this yarn was purchased at purl soho in nyc a couple years back.

i equally like this pattern. it is easy to follow, easy to memorize, fun to knit and the finished product looks great. though it can't be seen in the pictures, it is a slip stitch pattern that gives the sock some nice texture and a pleasing visual. it is a good "guy" pattern, though it could work equally well for girls. i was able to adapt it to knitting on two circulars with no problem. on the whole, it is a great pattern and i would use it again. which may not be for awhile since this designer has other interesting to me sock patterns which i would like to try.

so there you have it. if you are looking for a nice sock pattern for a male friend, take a look at this one and definitely take a look at this yarn. in the meantime, the big guy will wear his socks, hopefully in good health!

finally

the last few weeks have been chaotic. why? because of this...

yes, it is spring musical time again. and once again i am doing makeup. which is really a lot of fun. see the young man with the fake-ish looking facial hair on the far right? i made that beard and moustache so that we could put it on, then take it off, then put it on, then take it off, then put it on and he takes it off onstage. that may not sound bad, but when he is in the midst of changing costumes and i have to get a wig on him as well as the fake facial hair, time is very short! oi! but i wouldn't miss it. my sweet friend gets to play a ditz with a red wig and dance in every number. this is a really big production with lots of singing, dancing and set changes. but it is a great group of high schoolers to be involved with. they are so kind and respectful to each other that it is an honor to be part of it all.

and lest you think there is no knitting...ta da! a few finished items.

first off, after months of knitting (yes i do envy those who can finish a pair of socks over a weekend!) the first finished pair of socks for soldiers socks. these were knit out of knit picks essential sock yarn in buckskin. ok yarn. dont' think i will use it again. it is 13 inches of k2p2 ribbing with 12 inches of knitted feet (counting the toes), but they are done and shipped out to the young man from work who is currently in afghanistan. and to tell you the truth, i miss knitting them. they were the perfect go anywhere, able to be social in any type of setting knit. i mean, how can you go wrong with 13 inches of k2p2 or 12 inches of plain knitting. i am in the midst of swatching the second pair which i hope to knit two at a time a la 2-at-a-time socks. we'll see,

the next finished item is tudora out of kilcarra yarn that i won from cheryl. i was a bit concerned about this yarn, thought it would be a bit un-soft on the neck. that was until i started to work with it. let me tell you, this yarn is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. i loved working with it. the pattern comes to life with this yarn. the cables pop right out. it is quite lovely. and the pattern is delightful. i was concerned i would fumble it up. but no, i just followed the directions and it came together quite nicely. amazing how that works! except for the buttonhole. i am truly lacking when it comes to knitting buttonholes. thankfully the button covers the buttonhole, so all is good. and my neck is fashionably warm!

now on to the next project. yay!

rhythm of the night

i like the new house. it has a lot of pluses. more pluses then negatives. but one of its negatives is a pretty big negative. for some reason the internet is down more than it is up. and, for me, that is a big negative. mainly because i am an internet junkie. i use it for everything: paying bills, making appointments, coordinating meetings, recipes, reference, reading, learning, connecting and of course, shopping. and so, since i am an internet junkie, i really don’t like that our internet is down most of the time.

though there is an upside. i am getting to sleep at a reasonable hour. i stay up late so i can be on the computer uninterrupted. but since the internet is down, i have no reason to dawdle, so i read a book and go sleep. which isn’t a bad thing.

but the most important thing i have re-discovered without internet is my knitting rhythm. after a frantic fall, on new years evening my knitting rhythm finally clicked into place...make supper, clean the kitchen, do a general pick-up and knit while watching a dvd with my sweet friend. it was a pretty perfect evening. she is finishing up a scarf, i need to knit on my sfs sock 30 min a day and then i knit on my other projects. not a bad rhythm. it suits me just fine. except now i am staying up way to late...knitting!

project info: socks for soldiers out of knit picks essential in buckskin;

knit grrl stripey scarf out of a trendsetter tonalita in raspberry shortcake.

cue madam dufarge

there is a young man at work, who, at the age of 23 will be starting his second tour of duty in afghanistan at the beginning of the year. this past spring, one of my nephews decided to enlist in the air force after graduating from high school instead of going to college. a former co-worker just informed me her 20 year old son just finished boot camp for the air force. and though i know all of these young men have consciously chosen this path, during wartime it gives me pause for concern.

how can i respect their choice when my view of what their options are is so very different? i knit socks of course. and knit into them all of my good wishes for their continued safety and good health.

while exploring “groups” in ravelry, i came across the group “socks for soldiers”. and though this is a ravelry support group of a much larger yahoo group, it inspired me to look into what it took to knit socks for soldiers. i discovered there is a regulation sock pattern to be knit out of regulation sock yarn out of various regulation sock yarn colors depending on what branch of the military is being knitted for. and you have to join the yahoo group in order to have access to these regulation items. so i joined the group and downloaded all of the various regulation items needed. thankfully knit picks is a big supporter of “socks for soldiers" so provides regulation sock yarn in the various regulation sock yarn colors. yay!

and though i am not really patriotic nor a supporter of the u.s. military machine, i felt the need to support these young men who are putting their lives on the line. and so i sit and knit socks. including them and their counterparts on my sock knitting list is the least i can do.

addendum 1:

the legion of honor sits on a section of lands end, which is a spit of land that overlooks the west side of the golden gate bridge and the pacific ocean. the views from lands end are truly glorious. after visiting the museum, i took a stroll along the eucalyptus lined parking lot just to see what the view would be at the end. little did i know, though d & t may have known, that one can walk from the legion of honor to the cliff house. the cliff house is at the end of geary street, perched on a rocky bluff, overlooking the pacific with waves crashing thunderously on the rocks below. it is really rather beautiful. and the views during this easy stroll were truly spectacular.

between the cliff house and the legion of honor is the uss san francisco memorial. this battleship survived pearl harbor, guadalcanal and some of the fiercest pacific sea battles of world war II. the memorial itself is actual sections of the bombed out bridge after the battle at guadalcanal. it sits on a bluff overlooking the pacific ocean toward the pacific rim it once fought in, surrounded by whispering trees. i sat in this injured bridge and knitted quite a few rows on the sock for the young man from work, hoping that the surviving spirit of this battleship would include itself in this sock and help this young man survive any challenge he may encounter.

addendum 1a:

that friday was a busy day. i went to the museum, did various shopping, then picked up my sweet friend and did various shopping with her. at the end of the day, while juggling various bags filled with various stuff, the bag containing the regulation sock and sock yarn disappeared. i did not notice it until saturday evening when i went to knit some on the sock. i searched all saturday night for it, sure that i had brought it in with the various other bags; i went through our garbage can with a flashlight, just to make sure it wasn't thrown out with one of the various other bags; on sunday, i retraced our steps, checking with the lost and founds of the various stores we had been to (you know you visit a store to much when the ladies at sephora know you and your knitting bags!). nothing. it seemed to be no where. late sunday afternoon, moments before i reached true despair, my cute husband found the knitting bag! it had been stuck under one of his heavy book bags he had placed on the love seat (which i had searched more than once) which had pushed the sock bag in between the cushion and the side. whew. my shining knight. and so the knitting continues.

second sock syndrome

i am not sure if this happens to you, but it happens to the fam and me. we go to a friends house that is miles away, say for thanksgiving supper. it takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get there. we spend all day visiting and eating, etc., and climb back in the car for the long drive home. but the drive home seems to zip by and in seemingly no time at all, we are home. it may have taken the same amount of time but it just feels like time zips by.

that is how i feel about knitting socks. today i finished the cute husbands socks. the first sock took F-O-R-E-V-E-R, the second one took seemingly seconds. seconds! the first one was started last october, i think, with hopes of finishing the pair for his birthday at the end of november. this obviously didn't happen. the second one was started about 6 weeks ago. yes i realize i am one of the slowest knitters ever, but this second sock did take a much shorter time. and, to my defense, i did finish a lot of other projects while i was knitting on these. really.

i signed up for the summer of socks 2008 where prizes are being awarded every two weeks for those who finish a pair of socks within the two week parameters. i don't think i will ever be able to enter their contests, because i am such a slow knitter, but i will have a great time trying! next up on the sock knitting needles is a pair of sports socks for the big guy and a pair of leg warmers (mac and me yoga socks) for my sweet friend.

in the meantime, here are the specifics of the socks!
yarn: lorna's laces shepard sock in chocolate, 2 1/4 hank
pattern: broken garter rib from sensational knitted socks, size big!

needles: two circulars, size 2

model: the feet of my cute husband

photographer: me

amazing

so this is my 100th post.

it is amazing to me that i have been babbling about knitting and various other things for 100 posts. and that there are people who read these babblings, for which i am forever grateful. i have been inspired, challenged, encouraged and well fed by some amazing cyber friends.

i always thought i would have a celebratory contest for my 100th post but the planning of it is just beyond me at the moment. perhaps by the time i am done babbling on this post, something fun and quirky will arise.

but until then, i think i will babble about what started this blog in the first place, sticks and string...

so i was very sick a few weeks ago. like fevers of over 102 and lying in bed doing nothing for 5 days straight. i was so sick, it hurt my head to knit. and at the time i was in the middle of knitting a garter stitch potholder that will be felted, which is knitting at its easiest. as soon as i could pick up needles again, i finished it. it is knit out of some blue paton's merino and a green cascade 220 i had in my stash. of course i did not want to knit 3 potholders out of the same colors so i purchased another skein of cascade 220 in an deep aqua blue that would complement my two stash yarns. (yes, the yarns in the picture are the same, the color is different because of the lighting, booklyn tweed i am not.) this project got derailed for a bit when my cp size 10 straights began to split at the tip. very annoying. i had already done the sandpaper and wax paper thing to no avail. plus, the needles are a bit short for the amount of yarn that needs to be on them. i thought brittany needles would be the perfect solution. of course the LYS has every size but 10 and none of the other yarn stores in the area carry brittany's. grrr. after much hemming, hawing and gnashing of teeth, i traded the cp needles in for another non-splitting, longer pair of cp's and i am off and knitting once again.

once the potholder was done, i went straight to the cute husband's socks and finished the first one, finally. this is out of lorna lace's shepard sock chocolate stripe colorway. can i tell you how much i love this yarn. i love this yarn. i love the feel of it, the way it stripes, how easy it is to work with, even in a darkened theatre. i cast on the second sock immediately and knit on it whenever i can.

the next item to be finished was the lace capelet out of ry cashsoft baby dk, colorway 502, sweet. it turned out pretty well. when i asked my sweet friend to try it on for size, she did not want to take it off because it was warm and soft. which i took as a good sign. i immediately frogged the boring ruffle scarf also being knit out of cashsoft colorway 517, donkey, to start the second lace capelet. these are for two very dear friends who i usually give the same type of present to. i found the pattern on ravelry and it is quite easy. my personal challenge with it was keeping the correct number of stitches consistent. for some reason, whenever i did the yarn over rows i would either lose a stitch or add a stitch. it was maddening. i frogged the finished capelet down to practically the beginning to correct this, just to have it happen again! i finally decided it was one stitch. it really wasn't going to make that big of difference. and, of course, it all turned out ok in the end.

still on the needles is my sweet friends short ruffle scarf. as you can see, i have picked up the stitches on the short end and added the ruffle, but the long ends has 297 stitches to be picked up which is a daunting task to me. plus, i was expecting the ruffle to be more ruffle-y. since i will also be making this scarf for me, i may experiment with repeating the ruffle pattern. and if i have enough yarn in which to do so. but i need the needles so i better get on with finishing this one.

there are babies. i had never made anything baby so i decided to do hats. the first one was for baby alison, a beautiful and amiable baby at work (i work at the local ymca where there are plenty of staff babies around). much to my sweet friend's chagrin, i decided to knit up the sprout hat pattern by leigh spencer which i found on mag knits. it called for mission falls cotton, which i had never worked with before. i really liked it. i chose colorways 206-peony and 404-indigo. the yarn was easy to work with and lovely when knit up; it complemented the moss stitch well. unfortunately i did not get a picture of the hat before i gave it to baby alison, so here are all the ingredients, you will need to imagine what it looked like. fyi, peony was the dominant color, indigo the accent; picture it in your mind.......ok next.

the second baby hat was for rachael and ryan's baby. they live in the city (s.f.) where the coldest part of the year is coming up, summer, so hat's for a baby are totally appropriate. while doing an east bay yarn store crawl, i mentioned baby hats to the person behind the counter at k2tog. she suggested crystal palace puffin, a bulky polyester fleece ribbon yarn. one ball makes a hat, and she provided the pattern. what more could i ask for? the colorway is dotty circus. and though i was a bit skeptical about the polyester once i started to knit it i was quite pleased. this yarn is so soft and will be so nice for a baby head. and it looks really sweet knit up. can't wait to finish it and give to baby callum.

in the way of yarn, this past januray cheryl had a comment contest on her blog. by lucky circumstance i won a couple of skeins of yarn from it. some beautiful crimson kilcarra in which to make a tudora; and some homespun yarn from craftspun. the original thought was to try my hand at dyeing and dye the homespun, which i would have then shared on the blog. but i am now leaning towards keeping it undyed. it is really lovely but i am not sure what to make. and to be the non-metric american, how long is 250 grams? so i shall see.

and though i have been trying to knit from my stash, temptation is strong, so very strong. so i confess i have been collecting sock yarns. i figure they are relatively inexpensive and one skein equals a pair of socks so it is not like going overboard...is it?

the first sock yarn purchase was via the grey's anatomy knitters group on ravelry. sknitches had a "seriously" colorway. if you are a watcher of grey's anatomy you know the various ways this word gets used. the colorway had sold out but sknitches was willing to dye a special batch for group members if they pre-ordered and pre-paid. score! had to have one! and i love it! seriously. i am hoping to score another one for my sweet friend. she would like legwarmers. we will see what happens.

the second sock yarn purchase was from sockpixie. this woman owned a lovely little yarn store in petaluma, the town above mine. if my LYS was not within walking distance of my home, i would have become a regular in her shop. she offered wonderful classes and beautiful yarns. then her husband was transferred to boston so her yarn store closed. she kept in touch through her blog which morphed into sockpixie, which offered sock patterns, and eventually sock yarn. she and her daughter dye a different colorway selection in various types of sock yarns each week so when the yarn is gone it's gone. this colorway came from the week she was inspired by famous women and named her sock yarn colorways after them. this specific colorway is colette, a writer i met in college, became enamoured with and have read over and over again. so, of course, had to have it; love it; can't wait to knit it up.

whew! i think that is the latest. and i am sorry to say, something quirky is still beyond my reach. perhaps at blog number 150! so stay tuned. many thanks to all of you who amaze and inspire me. it's a lot of fun.

(it is a bit sad that life is so busy this post took three weeks to put together! yeesh!)

it started with this

i was pretty excited about going to my first stitches west this past weekend. i had enrolled in one of the hour long classes being offered which gave me a free ticket into the market floor, a yarn haven.

the tuesday evening before the big weekend i was going through various groups on ravelry to see if i could carpool with fellow attendees. in one of the groups there was mention of a special "stitch and ride" version of the capital corridor, an amtrack train which travels from sacramento to san jose (where stitches west is held).

a few clicks of the mouse later, i found the site, discussed with my cute husband the financial and logistical advantages of taking the train and decided to buy a ticket. due to the late purchase, the site said i would need to pick up my ticket from the ticket booth the morning of departure.

but on thursday there was a DHL package by the front door and it contained this...

and the excitement factor increased 10 fold. the cute husband could hardly contain me in the car on the way to the train station.

the train was about 25 minutes late, but once inside all riders received one of these:


holy moly! and all the free coffee you could drink. what could be better on a drizzly saturday morning?!

the train arrived about 11ish; the description had said the convention center was a 10 or 15 min walk away so i thought walking wouldn't be a bad option, but the shuttle buses were waiting with open doors so in i hopped and was at my first stitches west stop, the ravelry booth, within moments.


ravelry did a passport book to introduce members to ravelry supporters and businesses. it was a great way to meet some fellow ravelers and support their various yarn endeavors. it was also a great way to make sure every aisle was explored. there was some amazing yarn being offered. my personal favorites the buffalo and musk ox yarns. so soft and beautiful, so incredibly expensive.


it was suggested i have a plan of who or what i wanted to see. so i put a list together of things i needed; vendors i wanted to see, etc. so between the "plan" and the passport, i pretty much saw every booth on the floor. webs had two huge booths which were always packed. since i didn't have a specific project in mind, i didn't visit them. i was drawn to the smaller, single person type yarn vendors.

i was also drawn to sock yarns. one of the sock yarn vendors i wanted to see was blue moon yarns, which also happened to be in the ravelry passport. the colorway i was truly lusting after was rock star. there had been one skein left when i was in my lookie-lou phase. by the time i went back to do my purchasing, it was gone. fortunately that set back wasn't a deterrent. i just purchased this colorway instead. it is called peaseblossom and it is 360 yards of lightweight 100% superwash merino. rah. can't wait to knit it up.


the second sock yarn i was drawn to were those by lisa souza. this is her elektra colorway which is 560 yards of 100% superfine superwash merino. i am thinking this would make the cute husband a nice pair of socks.

the last big sock purchase was from the bins of a vendor from so cal, the yarn lady. the bins in front of this booth had bags of yarn for 70% off. with the first look-see i found yarns i wasn't interested in; a second look-see unearthed bags of 8 balls of fortissima colori socka color sock yarn all in the same color way. a third look-see unearthed this, a bag of 8 balls of fortissima in 4 different colorways, meaning a pair of socks per colorway. all i could think of was presents! at 70% off! there were very few bargains but this was definitely one of them. i was very pleased.


the only non sock yarn purchase were these two, from terilyn needleart, two sisters who like knitting lace shawls. the first time i passed by this yarn it screamed "shawl!". the second time i passed by, i just stopped and shopped. all of their colorways are lovely but these two really captured me. these are the heather yarns, the light one is colorway 5680, periwinkle and the dark one is 5751, midnight. each hank has 560 yards! i love the midnight colorway but it will be very dark to knit with. i will need very good lighting, especially with lace. but so it goes!

all in all, my first stitches west was a great adventure and i look forward to next year!