it is the cowl that never ends...

my sweet friend has a box of clothes sent to her monthly.   these clothes are well made chic pieces that can be a bit pricy.  she picks the pieces she likes and sends the rest back within a certain time frame.  in octobers box was a black and white cowl made from a yarn that was 100% acrylic.

my sweet friend fell in love with it.  she thought it was the best thing ever.  i told her i could knit her a cowl since the price for the 100% acrylic yarn cowl was a bit much. i thought buying  an acrylic yarn at a local craft store would be less then purchasing the clothing box cowl.  and my knitting it would be a money saver. she agreed and sent the cowl back.

then began the adventure...

after weeks of searching ravelry for the perfect cowl pattern, she found one that met her criteria.  we were now ready to choose yarn.  i gave my sweet friend the choice of going to a yarn store or going to a craft store for yarn that was similar to the box cowl.  being the daughter of a yarn store junky, she picked a yarn store.  so off to the LYS we went.  the pattern called for an amazing amount of bulky yarn, none of which was catching her eye since the yarn of the cowl she liked was two toned and none of the bulky yarn at the LYS was.  i then suggested getting two different color DK weight yarns which i would hold together as i knit so the cowl could have two colors.  she thought this a good idea, picked out a yarn she liked in two different colors and off we went.

now, every experience i have had with holding two different yarns together while knitting has ended in tangles with me trying to sort through them.  cursing may have been involved.  this time i decided to put the different yarns in seperate paper bags like everyone suggests.  then i could put a bag on either side of whatever chair i was sitting in when kitting.

on to gauge.  i used the suggested needle size and it looked like i was knitting air.  so i kept swatching with smaller needle sizes until i found the size that gave me the drape i was looking for and maybe close to the gauge i needed.  maybe.

finally i was ready to cast on.  but since the needle size was smaller i was concerned i would need to cast on more stitches then called for to meet the 60" length criteria.  technically, if my gauge was spot on, i wouldn't need more stitches.  but my gauge wasn't spot on so the hysterical, non-rational side of my brain thought it best to add a few stitches.  which i did.  to the tune of 100 more.  just in case.

the original cast on called for 196 stitches.  adding 100 to that made it 296 stitches.  obviously, my hysteria got carried away.  i  rationalized it by being concerned about the cowl length.  the extra 100 stitches helped alleviate that concern.

so i cast on half of the stitches (296 IS a lot of stitches) before going into surgery.  i took this project with me since we had to stay in so-cal during the surgery process.  after surgery i finished casting on and started to knit.  and though the pattern is a simple two row stitch repeat, having to knit said pattern on 296 stitches was more than my mind on pain killers could maneuver.  the first inch of the cowl, though fine, reflects my muddled mind.  the spines are fine, but there is some mushiness in-between.   not to mention there is a total of 297 stitches.  yup.  so much for counting while on pain meds.

nearly two months later, i am still knitting this cowl.  the pattern calls for a knitting width of 15 inches;   this would make the finished cowl 60" long and 15" wide.  at first this seemed entirely reasonable.  each ball of yarn produced about 5.25 ish inches of knitted width.  since i had 3 balls of each color i figured that would be perfect, i would hold both colors together, use all 6 balls and when they were gone, be at the needed width.  but as i continued to knit, i realized 15 inches doubled around the neck is good if the neck is as longs as a giraffes, but may be a bit overwhelming for a mere mortal.  i decided finishing the cowl after knitting 2 balls of each color yarn would be fine.  this would have the cowl end up at 10.5 ish inches in width.

i am 1/3 of a  ball of yarn away from being done.  the cowl is currently 7.75 ish inches in width and i can't seem to knit fast enough to be able to finish it.  though the pattern is easy, it can get tricky if i am not paying attention.  i lost a stitch when i added the second ball and never made it up.  for some reason i thought it would be okay until 3-4 rows in i noticed it was really not ok.  so i had to un-knit the 3-4 rows.  which doesn't sound like much until you realize each row is 297 stitches.  you do the math.  yup, tell me about it.

i have gotten much better at reading the stitches so mistakes get caught and corrected much quicker.  and i learned when knitting an item with so many stitches, it is not a bad idea to put stitch markers every so often to make sure the knitting is on track (this came from having to correct the joining of the second ball).

and though the yarn cost a bit more than the box cowl, not to mention my time, i have to say, the cowl is lovely.  the yarn is 90% alpaca and 10% nylon.  the alpaca makes it extremely soft to the touch and the nylon helps it keep its shape.  it holds the stitches well.  the colors are grey and white which makes the cowl interesting and textured.  i know my sweet friend will love it.  i know i do.  i just have to finish the blasted thing!

pattern:  the fluted cowl by purl soho    yarn: berroco folio in pearl and mount desert.

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.

can i have a little more...

this is a picture of my sweet friend's scarf. i have been working on this for quite awhile, one could say since before christmas of '08. want to know why?....because 299 stitches need to be picked up on each long side of the scarf. yes, 299 stitches, or a multiple of 4 + 3.

i have gotten to a point in my knitting life where i finally feel pretty confident in picking up stitches and having them look nice, but 299, or a multiple of 4+3, is a bit much for me. in fact, on the long side that is finished, i picked up quite a few less than 299, though it was a multiple of 4 + 3. i made up for it on the unfinished side where i picked up 319, also a multiple of 4 + 3.

and see that little tail of yarn in the center? the one that looks like the end a ball of yarn? it is. and i don't have another ball. no, i don't. the pattern called for two balls of the light pink and one ball of the dark pink so that is what i purchased. since i followed the directions i trusted i would have enough yarn to finish the pattern. and i continued to trust up to the time i realized i barely had enough yarn to finish row 4 of the 6 row pattern that would finish this scarf and i would have to do something else for the last two rows. can i hear you say, "grrrrr". yeah, that's it.

running out of yarn would not be such a big thing if the yarn hadn't been purchased in new york city over two and a half years ago. my hopes of finding that same color yarn dipped even farther when i looked on the blue sky alpaca website and found the color listed in the discontinued colors. i almost panicked. so i took a deep breath, clicked the "where to find our yarns" button and started dialing. the neighborhood LYS does not carry blue sky yarns so i called a couple of not so local LYS' who will be getting back to me. i then decided to try a yarn store a bridge away. i had only been there once but remembered feeling their yarn sort of took over the store. the was yarn everywhere, in all different weights and colorways. so i called. not only did the woman who answered the phone know what color i was looking for, she said they had one ball in stock and if they didn't, she thought she had one at home, but since she was with a customer, she would need to call me back. which she did, within minutes. they have the colorway, may not be the same dye lot, but for two rows, i am not going to be very choosy. i would just like to finish the scarf.

so tomorrow i am off to berkeley for one ball of yarn. and the adventure continues...

right now, i am just grateful.

these are a few of my...

i love being a member of the ravelry swap on a budget group. i have been a member for awhile now and it has been a great experience. i have gotten some great yarn and have cyber met some wonderful knitters from around the world via this swap.

my last swap buddy was beckyzoole from st. louis who sent me this lovely package...

which included the fall 09 issue of vogue knitting which has some great hat patterns; some lovely milk chocolate bars, a pound of st. louis' finest coffee, which was quite tasty, pocketbook slippers and the most glorious malabrigo sock yarn ever.

the first thing i did after opening the package was put on the slippers. when i first saw them, i was pretty skeptical about their ability to fit me, but lo and behold, they did! which was absolute magic to me. they are warm and comfy and have the cutest cow buttons on them.

then i made a pot of coffee and sat down with the chocolate and magazine...and then more chocolate and more coffee and then...

proceeded to drool over the malabrigo sock yarn. it is truly lovely; and it has a very high squish factor. the name of the colorway is impressionists sky, which i thought was pretty appropriate. if i didn't already have a pair of socks for me on the needles i would have started a pair with this right away it is that delicious.

on the flip side, i love putting together a box for the person i am supposed to spoil. i read their blog, if they have one, to find out more about what they knit and knit with or maybe what they would like to try so i can incorporate something of that nature in their box. part of the swap is making something for your person. since i sew faster than i knit, i sew them something. and since i have a serious bag jones, i usually sew a project bag of some sort. during the last swap i made this tote out of the vinyl picnic tablecloths are made of. i got the pattern from the purl soho yarn store blog. the person i made it for had young kids and since it was summer and the possibility for water play is high during the summer i thought the tote could double as a damp clothes/towel carrier. apparently the daughter of the recipient loved it and wanted it for herself. hopefully the bag is being used or helpful in one way or the other!

yeah, i got to gamble...

i love swaps. truly, i do. they are the closest i get to gambling. really. i toss my name in, not knowing where it will land or what i may get. i just trust the yarn gods that it will all come out ok. and it always does. i mean, how can you go wrong? make a new friend and have them buy you yarn! the ultimate relationship!

this spring i once again participated with the ravelry, swap on a budget group, this time as part of the international swap and it was real fun. i "met" some wonderful knitters from around the world, hong kong, italy, germany, india, norway and various parts of the u.s. which was so fun! i even found myself posting on our group board on a regular basis which is unheard of for me! but it was that type of group.

and the coolest thing was i was got yarn from a different country! since i wasn't home when the post person came by to deliver the package i had to wait until i could pick it up the next day. by then i knew it was from india so as soon as i got it, i ripped it open and inside i found all of this...

jaishree hails from india and crochet's the most amazing doilies as well as being a knitter. she crocheted the doilies pictured here. i happen to have this thing about doilies. i love them. it is a thing from my childhood, doilies were everywhere in our house and both of my grandmothers houses, so to get some handmade ones is a bit of heaven! she also sent this lovely necklace and earring set which look quite nice on. the silver yarn is shiny and cord sized but not cord stiff. i am thinking of doing a dressy cowl or shawl/wrap thing, something shiny around the neck or head. the blue yarn is an acrylic which will be great for something baby and the multicolored yarn is truly amazing. the picture does not do it justice but it is rainbow colored and breathtaking in fingering weight cotton, which is probably great for crocheting doilies except i don't crochet. the owner of the LYS suggested a lace shawl, since it is quite a large hank of yarn, which works because i love shawls.

next up is this great bag. again, the picture does not do this justice. it is so lovely, if i weren't such a tote hag it could be used as a lovely handbag, but i am using it as a sock project bag since it can fit a huge ball of yarn as well as having a zippered pocket for measuring tapes, crochet hooks and the like. it is currently being used as the project bag for my sweet friend's socks and it is perfect. pictured with it are three balls of burgundy wool, also fingering weight. i am thinking these will make great fingerless gloves, nice color that would hold a pattern well. but i am still deciding.

then jaishree did something daring and included an article of clothing. it is this very simple, beautifully embroidered shirt. and it fits! it is a bit sheer, which i usually avoid, but with a pretty cami or tank top underneath i am willing to give it a try. especially during summer. it is such a delight to receive a piece of traditional clothing. jaishree explained these shirts are made in the province of india she lives in. and i thought it very brave for her to include it, i think both of us were thankful it fit!

and if all the above were not enough, also included was this heart scarf in the same blue of the yarn pictured above which will come in handy in the winter when i do my long walks and crave a warm neck as well as a copy of the lace ribbon scarf pattern.

whew! quite the haul! so though i am not a traditional "gambler", when it comes to yarn, i'm so in!

(please forgive the lack of breath inbetween pics and words. for some reason the formatting is not cooperating.)

take a chance...

cheryl over at a simple yarn is having a great contest.

write a caption for the pictures on her blog and you can win some beautiful kilcarra yarn and a felted coaster. this was the yarn used to make her wonderful tudora pattern. and though i have yet to blog about it, i can tell you this yarn is stunning, absolutely stunning and the pattern is a delight to knit.

so scoot on over and check it out. good luck!

i've just seen a...

my sweet friend and i seem to be have been bitten by a baking bug. not sure exactly how or why, but we are just going with it for the moment. she is baking cupcakes and cakes and i am baking...anything. and though i am not one to celebrate today, i felt a strong pull to bake these...

and these...
and even these...

which inevitably led to this...

it was a lot of fun though. had not baked like this in many years. next time i won't make a double batch. one batch is quite sufficient. and d & t, i do not know how you get along without your kitchen aid. seriously.

because of the baking bug, i have not had as much time to work on this...

the beginnings of the lace ribbon scarf out of malabrigo silk blend. the pattern has been in my ravelry queue for awhile so when the LYS announced it was doing a KAL of this pattern and suggested the silk blend as a yarn substitute, i was in. i have been lusting to use this yarn for something but did not know what, so here was the perfect excuse!

since using a weightier yarn then the pattern calls for, the suggestion was to use size 8 needles and drop a repeat. but i didn't have size 8 needles that were suitable, then couldn't find size 8's that were suitable. so after a bit of knashing, grumbling and finally swatching (!), i decided to use size 7 circulars with the number of stitches called for. the pattern came alive on them. and can i tell you how much i love this yarn. love this yarn. it is heaven to use and looks beautiful. since it is hand dyed, the variation of color is subtle but adds a bit of sparkle. i had never understood the fascination with manos until i used this yarn. and now i may just be hooked!

but i am not sure when i will get around to knitting on it again since tomorrow i am planning on making home made tortillas and pesole. that bug!

catch up take 2

i joined the swap on a budget group on ravelry. i love swaps. they are fun, i meet different people, i get to put together a package and i get a package. all in all, it is pretty fun.

the last swap was this past december and though my package was late, it was well worth the wait because in it was...

...a hank of mango moon tye dyed viscose, two home made knitting utensil bags, gobs of home made stitch markers in two sizes, a coffee cup holder, a dishcloth and a home made needle holder, which i really appreciated and put to immediate use. these wonderful treats were sent to me by absolute treasure from georgia.

the yarn is really pretty. both the cute husband and my sweet friend commented on how lovely it was, which says alot. not sure what i will make out of it though. it is 150 yards and i would like to make some thing that will reflect the beautiful colors. so i will have to do some sleuthing for the proper pattern.

thanks absolute treasure for a great soab package.

catching up...

so i have been sick the last couple of weeks. and though i do have some knitting to report on, i don't quite have the where withal to write, take pictures, download pictures, etc. so instead here are some things i have been meaning to share for awhile...

like this wonderful bag i won from worsted knitt who had a contest sometime this past summer.

not only does worsted knitt knit, design patterns, blog, moderate the ravelry dafur group but she also has this wonderful online shop, and this bag is one of the items available. it is quite sweet and big enough to hold a shawl. which is what i am using it for.

the shawl in question is the bird's nest shawl which i have been longing to make since i first started knitting. i have had the yarn for the past year, which is knit picks alpaca cloud in heathered moss. but i am being needle challenged. the pattern calls for a size 5 needle for the borders and size 6 needle for the body of the shawl. except when i swatch, i find those size needles a bit loopy/holey/loose for my taste. i find a size 4 needle more to my liking. but i debate whether to use a size 4 for the whole shawl or just for the borders and a size 5 for the body. decisions, decisions! even looking it up on ravelry didn't help since the needle sizes there were all over the map.

the next challenge with the size 4 needle is casting on. there are 346 stitches to cast on while holding the yarn double (it's knit sideways). i can do that with a size 5 or 6 needle but for some reason find it challenging on a size 4. sigh.

and so the yarn and pattern sit in this sweet little bag, patiently waiting for me to work through my various challenges. i look forward to carrying the shawl of my dreams in this sweet little bag and bragging about winning it and talking up worsted knitts shop. but, until then, stop by worsted knitts online shop and look around. your bag may not cause you so much drama!

opinions wanted

i came across a sweater i bought off the sale rack from target many years ago and would like to take it apart for its yarn. it is made of silk and cashmere. i would like to salvage the yarn and knit something non-sweatery out of it, it is way to soft to hold a shape, believe me or else i would not have put the sweater in a to-be-given away pile. plus the fact that i bought it a size or so to big so it just flops about when worn.

so this is where the opinions come in...how do i take apart a sweater in order to salvage the yarn? no clue, don't have time to research it right now, i am already dawdling big time.

so stew about it and let me know. thanks.

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!

how time flies!

wow, time is flying by! it is already february and i am still futzing about with christmas presents.

i realized the garter stitch ruffle scarf out of rowan cashsoft was b-o-r-i-n-g! and if i was bored knitting it, the recipient would more than likely be bored wearing it. plus, in order to match the vision of this scarf in my mind's eye, the scarf needed to be a bit thinner and have more ruffle. the plan was to make two of these type of scarves which would give me an opportunity to fiddle with the pattern. but i was so bored with the scarf and the knitting of it, i decided it would look better in a verigated, fun yarn instead of a solid color yarn. plus i found this great lace capelet pattern on ravelry and wanted to see how it would look in the second cashsoft colorway.


and it looks pretty good. i really like how it is coming out. apart from the fact i got about 20 rows from the end and realized i had dropped a few stitches about 5 inches down and had missed a couple of yarn overs which are essential to the pattern so i had to frog it practically to the beginning. thankfully it is a real quick knit so i wasn't to concerned. and once i get it off the needles, i think it will stretch to fit nicely. i haven't frogged the boring ruffle scarf yet because i want to see how the capelet turns out. when i get closer to the end of the capelet, i will frog and straighten the scarf yarn.


i also started blossom out of elsebeths lavold silky wool, colorway #56. this is for my mom. since i purchased the yarn moments before christmas, the thought was to have it done by valentine's day. ha! so it is currently languishing on my needles. plus, i am being a little to cautious about the repeats, which i have to figure out on my own, instead of having the pattern tell me exactly what to do. aughhh! once i figure it out i am sure everything will be fine and i will chuckle at my doubt. but until then...


i have also been knitting my cute husbands sock. i am on the foot. and though this has taken me quite a while to knit i feel like i have learned alot about sock knitting or about how i knit socks. so i bring it with me everywhere just in case i get a moment to knit a few rows.

the last challenge i have is to not buy any new yarn. ha! stitches west is coming in a couple of weeks and i am trying to save all my pennies for their marketplace, which i hear is overwhelming, but then i look at sockpixie's new sock colorways and i am so very tempted. it is so hard to keep the finger from clicking "add to basket"! maybe i'll just frog the scarf.

monday randomness

first off, a picture of a package i received from purl(dot)com. i don't know why this wrapping tickled me so, but i thought it the sweetest way to send a package of yarn. and why buy yarn from across country you may wonder. the yarn was for my sweet friend's ruffled scarf and cute husband's socks. i had purchased yarn for these projects at purl soho during the nyc spring excursion trip. but i had a brain burp when buying the pink yarn so was short a hank, and felt i needed one more hank of sock yarn for my cute husband's socks. so i decided to continue the theme of the yarn coming from purl soho. plus i could shop online at midnight. what more could you ask?

the second is the challah i made for hanukkah presents for some work mates. i was thumbing through baking with julia for bread baking day #4 recipes and came across the challah recipe. since braided breads are a favorite of mine, i couldn't pass up the opportunity to bake braided bread and give gifts at the same time. so here they are, fresh out of the oven. the egg glaze baked brown right away so i had to cover the loaves with tinfoil for the last half of baking time. i also used black sesame seeds since i could not find where the regular golden ones had been creatively stored by the kitchen helpers. so though the sesame seeds may look like they were burnt, they weren't. and regardless of any of the above, the breads were much liked and enjoyed. my office mate served hers the next night at hanukkah supper when her grown daughters and their significant others flew into town for hanukkah. she was barely able to save me a slice so i could taste it because it was eaten all up. and that is what gift baking is all about!

ahhh, a sale

when i arrived at the yarn sale, not only had i missed meeting davimack, but it looked like a cyclone of knitters had whooshed through, looking through every box, bag and ball for something they may have the slightest interest in and once satisfied that all possibilities were explored, whooshed out again. needless to say, the staff was a bit worn out.

the up side being, i had the place, and staff, to myself. so i walked a few rounds, finding various this's and that's, stashing them in a bag to be decided upon later. the initial round was mandalay raw silk in a cafe au lait color that gave way to a cream color to make a shell; louisa harding kashmir dk in a pastel blue; stone blue debbie bliss cotton cashmere for a top of some sort with musings of what to do with gobs of bright magenta or bright blue bamboo because the bright yellow bamboo was not a color option but knitting with bamboo was an enticing thought.

the second round found some jo sharp aran cotton in a blue similar to the db. not enough of this to do anything substantial with so found some in white with thoughts of making something striped. started to seriously consider if i would make anything to wear out of the lk pastel blue kashmir dk; considered making a baby blanket out of it along with the pink and yellow pastels that were available. quickly followed by the thought of why would i knit anything cashmere for baby spit up? noticed the boxes of pick up sticks felted flower brooch kits.

on the third round, considered a bag of ggh cotton ribbon for a shawl; found louisa harding sari ribbon in the gorgeous orange colorway; gave up the jo sharp because i am not really a stripe gal; said goodbye to the lh kashmir dk; ruled out the bamboo and found a bag of muench sir galli yarm, 100% silk in a brown white tweed and dark cream color. solicited the opinion of the 2 staff and 2 buyers about which color would be best for me; got 2 set of answers so walked another round.

by the end of this round i was done. decided no on the lh sari ribbon; looked longingly at the jo sharp aran cotton one last time; and decided the dark cream color raw silk was totally boring on my skin so went for the brown and white tweed; still had the db cotton cashmere, grabbed a box of pick up sticks flower brooch kits (whose packaging tickled the fancy of my sweet friend).

as i was waiting to check out i overheard staff talk about how much knitters had spent on yarn. i had a slight twinge of missed knitting opportunities. but i am pretty content with my choices. i got some lovely yarns. hopefully there will be another yarn sale before davimack leaves the country.