New Sheriff in Town

Imagine little tiny guns on those hips. Actually Bunny is the sweetest, most lap-loving ancient (she's 16) little girl cat imaginable. But so far she hasn't let any of the resident fur-idiots push her around, although they all outweigh her. She glares and hisses if they get too close or too curious. These first two weeks' introductions have been on a limited basis, involving supervision and yummy treats.


Bunny has had time to explore the house on her own, and the other three suddenly have discovered they are best friends.


We are taking a very patient approach, knowing that cats hate change and there tend to be more problems with older cat introductions. But how could anyone not love this face?


On the knitting front, there have been some lovely as well as goofy FO's:






Two Fern Lace scarves, one out of Sanguine Gryphon's Bugga! in Katydid, the other out of HandMaiden Casbah Sock yarn in Amber. Two pairs of languishing socks in Wollmeise, one in Tropicana pattern and the other in a toe-up Jaywalker pattern. Both had been neglected for so long I could barely bring myself to finish them. The dark one ended up having a plain vanilla rib done for the second sock, and I barely paid attention as I knit it, which meant that it doesn't fit me at all, but it fits Sean fine. The second Jaywalker in the Saami colorway won't go over Sean's ankle, and the foot is way too long. I'm going to cut off the toe and graft it, and we will both end up with totally wild, mismatched socks. More fun anyway.
And now I'm consumed with cast-on-itis. Three more socks are begun, and I desperately want to a jacket of some kind for me. Something big and sturdy and cozy. I have lots of aran-weight stuff in stash. I would love an adult Tomten, but don't have the bandwidth to tackle it. Open to suggestions.

I Survived Stitches West 2008

Every year I feel this way after Stitches. I love it, but...man, it takes a lot out of you. The first year I went, I ended up with pneumonia for six weeks. This year I didn't take any classes, just went to the Market on Friday. I had a battle plan, plenty of water and snacks, a fabulous map (thanks to some genius on Ravelry who made an Excel sheet) and it was all just wonderful. I got to 1. meet Jess and Casey 2. play the Passport game 3. look at 4.touch 5. fondle 5. drool over miles of gorgeous yarn and fiber in person 6. augment my stash for the year, thus solidifying my SABLE status 7. run into knitting friends from near and far who were all there to also do #1-7 above, as well as a few other numbers (such as take classes, eat, knit in the lobby, drink and knit in the bar...there's always next year). I wanted to stay until 4 p.m., when there was a meet-up scheduled with Jenny and Nichole of Stash and Burn podcast, but at 3 p.m. I was just so done. Exhausted. I had probably walked 3+ miles, and between the crush of people and the yarn fumes and the convention-center hideous lighting and lack of oxygen, I was finished. So I drove two hours home in pouring rain and commute-time traffic. I'm not sorry, but I've had to quash the temptation to drive back up there yesterday and today, by doing this:

I cast on for Imogen, finding yarn for this project was one of my goals for Stitches. It's Blue Moon Fiber Arts Peru, colorway Thraven (from Tina's Raven series). What they say is true, photos just don't do it justice. This yarn is a blend of Alpaca, Merino and silk and is absolutely heavenly.
I was also on a mission to find the perfect yarn to make Cobblestone for Sean. It had to be soft enough and the right color. I looked and fondled about 1041503 heathery-tweedy-greeny-bluey-greyey-not scritchy yarns before I found this at WEBS:

It's Berroco Peruvia, colorway is called Dragon. It's gorgeous. I want to roll around in both of these yarns.
The only other thing I bought was some skeins of Mill Ends Socks that Rock, so the colorways are unknown, but they are all gorgeous, and the price was incredible.
I'm hoping to get my hands on one of Cookie A's newest sock patterns (this one), but since I have to finish the second Salamander Annetrelac, and also make a pair for my oldest son (see the promise made at the end of this post) there's no rush.
So I'm feeling very good about my performance at Stitches this year. Goal-oriented yarn acquisition, no melted credit cards, no pneumonia, what more could I ask for?

We've had more wind and rain, and even hail and thunder, so I've had extra time to knit away on Imogen. With about 37 miles of straight stitch in this sweater, I'm going to be doing that for awhile. Meanwhile, the cats sleep, and the plum tree is shedding.

Round 2: LYS Shop Hop 2007

Saturday morning we met again, armed with travel knitting, snacks, beverages (yes, at one point there was drinking, driving and knitting all occurring simultaneously!), and two additional adventurers: Shirley and Barb, who manned the tail-gunner positions in the van ("wheee"). Some of us accomplished a fair bit of knitting on the ride from Monterey to San Jose, where we picked up the Shop Hop tour with
Commuknity


Wow! What a gorgeous place. Spacious, with amazing multi-use areas, class space, cozy lounging spots, an incredible selection of books and wonderful yarns. And coffee. And snacks. And lovely staff. And surprise! Virtual life coincided with real life and I got to meet Lara who so kindly helped me several times with my CPH both on the KAL and Ravelry Sadly, I wasn't wearing it, as the day promised to be too warm, but I want to revisit this store and will be sure to wear it. Thanks again, Lara. Next stop was Los Altos, with two stores to visit:
Uncommon Threads and Full Thread Ahead
which are within walking distance of each other, and in a beautiful, interesting neighborhood, so worth another visit as well.


There was an opportunity to see and fondle some unfamiliar or new yarns in person.

Shokay Shambala, used by Jared for the Koolhass Hat
Curious Creek Fibers
and Chasing Rainbows were two other beautiful yarns that I had not seen in person before.
The stores were quite different in feel; one store owner seemed very tense with the whole Shop Hop thing, us, staff, something. It was definitely uncomfortable. It seems odd, even though we all showed financial support for the store. Oh well, the gorgeous weather and autumn leaves soon lightened our spirits.



Back on the road, our next stop was Nine Rubies, in San Mateo.

This warm, friendly store and helpful, patient staff is another valuable gem, and we soon forgot the previous stop. Such a delight; I connected with another virtual acquaintance, and managed to score some gorgeous sock yarn named in her honor. Down the street was a restaurant we agreed looked promising, Astaria. My roasted beet and goat cheese salad was good enough; the rest of the crew had uneven experience with their meals.
We were waylaid heading back to the van by Ichiban Kan, a fabulous Japanese $1 store, absolutely full of wonderful, ingenious items, some which are perfect knitting tools and accessories.
Next stop took us around Robin Hood's Barn, thanks to an argument with MapQuest. Apparently there are alternate universes with the same address. Eventually we arrived at Creative Hands, in Belmont


A cute store, absolutely packed with yarn and students in the midst of a knitting class. The aisles were so narrow, it was hard to see and appreciate the wealth of yarns and possibilities. The staff were friendly and helpful, and gave us great directions on to the next stop, Knitter's Studio, in Menlo Park.


There was a street craft show going on, so we had to stay focused and alert to find the shop, the sign is pretty small. The store is spacious, full of gorgeous yarn, artfully arranged by color. The owner is incredibly vivacious and energetic, staff were friendly and helpful, however it was stunning that they had run out of copies of their one-skein project pattern! Also disappointing was the fact that the yarn for the project was more than $60 per skein. Throughout the tour we found a lot of variety in terms of creativity and thought put into the projects and yarn, as well as presentation. In some stores the pattern was delivered in a protective sleeve, there was a discount given for purchasing the one-skein yarn, all yarn purchases carefully wrapped in tissue, the bags for completed purchases were sturdy and useful as project bags for years to come, we were welcomed and treated as though we were regular faithful customers. In other stores...not so much. This made store #15 on the tour, we had one to go, and miles, before we sleep. It was almost dark when we arrived in Morgan Hill, at The Continental Stitch


The owner is very sweet, patient and helpful, and actually stayed open late to accommodate us. The store has a nice selection of yarn and books, and has a lovely warm feel. I was able to find a rare knitting book, so I'm tickled.
There was snoozing on the drive back, thankfully not by our pilot Marie. What a great experience this was, challenging and daunting and fun; the good company made all the difference. Not something I'd want to do again next month, but probably next year might be just right. Finally, here's the proof: