Recovering from Stitches West

Wow, what a time we had at Stitches!

Even though I spent much of my time on Thursday & Friday being the Passport Queen (for Ravelry passports), and Sat/Sun showing off the wonderful yarns at Purlescence's booth, I certainly did have time to shop. Budget? What budget?!


Jasmin and I got into it over this wonderful roving from Royal Hare. She got a pound (I think?) and I got 8 oz.





Hubby and I got into it over this yarn from Fiber Fiend. So I went back and got more from Margit.












And The Dork and I got into it over this from Brooks Farm. Hard to tell from the picture, but it's a very dark purple and black yarn. So I bought him this instead to make a hoodie.















However, these are mine, all mine - dyed by Creative (the seawool and the merino/tencel roving) and Lisa Souza (the Berry Poppins BFL on the right) (insert evil laughter...)



But no matter how much I want to work with the stuff I just bought, I need to finish something that's on the needles first!

Note to Self:

When the yoke chart A ends with row 19, and body chart B starts with row 22, double-check the written instructions to find out what happens with rows 20-21, instead of going directly from A to B. Maybe that will save you several hours of muttering and ripping out. The very nice person who created this pattern is not to blame if you can't read the instructions.

And when you finally get it right, the pattern will make ever so much more sense!

Other than that, counting correctly will also help...

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

There has been so much going on lately, that this week's vacation from school has often consisted of me staring off into space and not able to wrap my head around knitting. My Valentine's Day was also non-existent, due to a) Hubby is in Minnesota right now, and b) I tried to pack too much into the day today. Actually, The Hubby did get a Valentine's gift for me last week - only he didn't know about it before I arrived home last Thursday, wearing these!

Stacie wrote about the faculty retreat that we had last Saturday. She gives me a lot of credit for teaching others to knit, but quite frankly, she's also a very good cheerleader for knitting. She was the one, a couple of years ago, who was anonymously "scarfing" staff members with wonderful scarves that she knit. She claims that she was using the scarves for learning new stitches, but I know for a fact that she created a lot of smiles around our campuses.

My baby's birthday was 10 days ago (that long already...?!). Sweet sixteen and never been kissed - at least by a girlfriend! For his birthday, we took him and a friend to see Kooza. My boneheaded move - I forgot that we had gotten 4 tickets with the intent to take one of The Dork's friends. Forgot until 11 PM the night before, that is! Thanks Sandi, again, for sharing your daughter at the last minute! It was a fabulous show, and if you haven't seen it, it is highly recommended by the aforementioned teenager and his parents!

Honest, there has been knitting happening! I finally finished the scarf that The Hubby took to Winter Camp yesterday. He's currently in Minnesota, and this handspun and handknit scarf will be auctioned off as part of a fundraiser.

Details:
Fiber - Crown Mountain superwash merino, Tobacco Road colorway
Yarn - 433 yards of 3-ply worsted weight.
Pattern - Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun pattern
Size - 7" x 96"

Finished the fronts and blocked my Twist. No pictures, though, because the camera got packed into the car this afternoon, (Dork was going to do some photography) and I was running late. With any luck, I'll get the sleeves done this weekend, in time for Stitches West next week.

After the Tobacco Road scarf knitting was finished (during the faculty retreat), I needed another mindless project, so I started another scarf with the same pattern stitch, but this time in Malabrigo worsted weight. I love the color, Velvet Grapes! The color in the photo is lighter than the true color, which is a deep, rich velvety purple with hints of lavender.

But then, Purlescence got in some new Malabrigo, Silky Merino. It's a DK weight, 50% silk, 50% merino wool. LUSCIOUS! I had to get some - honest, it leaped into my arms and asked to be taken home, no - demanded to be taken home! Then, it demanded to be knit, RIGHT NOW! I found the perfect match for it, one of AlisonH's patterns, the Blue Jay shawl, from her book Wrapped in Comfort. Mine is the Plum Blossom colorway, and I can't stop knitting on it! Okay, there are too many exclamation points in this paragraph, but that's what this yarn is demanding.

I even knit on the shawl while waiting for Rockapella to take the stage at Cupertino High School. Amazing show - lots of laughter and fantastic music. We've been going to their shows for at least 10 years. Remember "Where is the world is Carmen SanDiego?" Love you guys! (post-show autograph session, bad cell phone pic).

The Dork and I are driving down to Southern California for a fencing tournament this weekend. With any luck, I'll get some good knitting time in the hotel tomorrow night and at my parents' house Saturday evening. Cross your fingers both for him and for me!

And if you've managed to read all the way down to the bottom of this loooonnnnggg post, Happy Valentine's Day to you! I hope your day was filled with love from your sweetheart and your family and friends -- and lots of chocolate too!

4 things...

Jasmin tagged me with this:

4 Jobs I've Held:

1. Babysitter
2. Office manager
3. Law library clerk
4. Librarian

4 Movies I've Watched Over and Over Again:

1. Sound of Music
2. The Sting
3. Star Wars (the best are Episodes 4, 5 & 6)
4. Lord of the Dance (remember Michael Flatley?)

4 Places I've Been:

1. China
2. London
3. Paris
4. Vancouver, BC

4 Places I've Lived:

1. Norwalk, CA
2. Lake Forest, CA (then called El Toro)
3. Los Angeles, CA
4. San Jose, CA

Part A: 4 TV Shows I Watch:

1. Project Runway
2. Mythbusters
3. Animal Precinct/Animal Cops: Houston (any of this genre)/Emergency Vets
4. anything Food Network


Part B: 4 Radio Shows I Listen To:

1. News
2. Car Talk
3. Wait, wait... Don't tell me!
4. KFOG's "10 at 10"

4 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Stitches West
2. School vacations
3. Hanging out at Purlescence
4. Being with my family

4 Favorite Foods:

1. Anything with cheese
2. Salads
3. Chocolate - the darker, the better
4. anything my Hubby cooks

4 Places I'd Rather Be:

1. Purlescence
2. Getting a massage
3. Somewhere with regular temperatures in the 60+F range (I'm tired of leaving the house wearing gloves and it's sub-40F and yes, I'm a California weather wimp)
4. snuggled in bed with a good book

4 People I email regularly:

1. The Hubby
2. my parents/sister/brother/cousins
3. My assistant at school
4. My boss at school

4 People to Tag:

1. Anabel
2. CJ
3. Stacie
4. Nathania

Spinning!

This:


became this:
Fiber Content: Superwash merino
Source: Crown Mountain
Yardage: 433
Weight: 8 oz
Color: Tobacco Road
WPI: about 13 (mostly a worsted weight)
Ply: 3

Unintentional overdying muted and softened the colors.







And this was the result. I'm working on the "One Row Handspun scarf" from here and I have 12 days to finish it before The Hubby needs to take it to Minnesota.