Cindy's Socks!

Remember I went to Kansas in April? And visited my friend Cindy? Well, she's visiting me this week, and lookit! She brought her socks, too!

Baby sock: Teri's pattern and I'm pretty sure it's some Regia yarn we picked up at Cindy's LYS in Wichita, Heritage Hutch (no website, or I'd link for you). Cute as a button, no?

Cindy's sock: koigu Cindy drove three hours to buy at the legendary Yarn Barn of Kansas. Groovy pooling, no?

And, I'm just sayin', she's a natural, because I showed her how to knit the first baby sock in April, including how to kitchener the toe closed, and SHE GOT IT RIGHT AWAY! That is actually the third baby sock from this yarn.

So cute I needed two pictures. Love that baby sock!

Knitting Content? Why, yes!

Oh, look, it IS a knitting blog after all!

Here's a wee scarf I made for my niece, modeled by my sister's wisteria in her new backyard of her beautiful new house. (Nice house, big sister!) Purple, of course, and I left the rest of the ball of yarn with my niece, along with some of those adorable kitty-head needles. My niece is just turning six and I did succeed in teaching her to knit a couple of stitches, which satisfied her for the time being. Next time I see her, maybe she'll want to learn more.

My sister lives in St. Helena, in the north end of the Napa Valley. It's beautiful and touristy, but when I go, the closest I ever get to wineries is my brother-in-law's office (he's a wine merchant, so there is a lot of wine!). We had a wonderfully low-key family-oriented stay. Highlights include my eldest nephew's birthday dinner at Go Fish, playing at the local park, taking the kids to swimming lessons, several hotly-contested games of Monopoly, a sisters-only lunch at the Rutherford Grill, and relaxing at the end of the day with a Juice Squeeze Martini.

Want one? My sister's got the recipe, but I think it goes something like this: One recipe for Pomegranate Martinis, include ritzy local Charbay vodka and a fresh lime from off the tree outside, two young sons who drank all the pomegranate juice, and one bottle of black cherry juice squeeze.

They were quite good, actually.

My weekend

Here I am at 12:30 am Friday night, book in hand. You can see my Borders armband, number 98. It was a long wait, and not in the fun party atmosphere I expected, but I had my book in hand and was headed home by 12:10--the Borders was organized, if not cheerful about it.

For this one, I went slowly to avoid skipping ahead. Whenever I got too tense, I'd put the book down and read something else for a few minutes--this led to my darling husband finishing it before me, which is fine as he's a champ about not discussing it before everyone in the household's finished the book. Toward the end, I had to put my hand over the next paragraph to ensure my treacherous eyes didn't start skipping down. I really wanted to earn the ending this time!

Am not going to review the book, am just going to thank Jo Rowling! Thanks, Jo!

Dummy Spring Things Update Redux

Thank you, grrlfriends, for noticing how pretty my kool-aid dyed yarn was at SnB on Tuesday. Thank you all for not laughing at me when I told you that I'd ripped the ENTIRE thing out six rows before the end in a fit of craziness. I don't regret it, but I do shake my head at my own nuts-o behavior.

I am about back to the lace part, and since I'm driving to California tomorrow I don't think I'll bring it along as I won't be able to make a rule that no one may talk to me during the first four repeats of the new line. Instead, I'm packing the THREE PAIRS OF SOCKS I'm still working on. Wish me luck or something.

I am looking forward to checking out my old LYS, Adela's Yarn in Castro Valley, and the new shop which opened up in Dublin. Adela's is funky, but I heard they've expanded and remodeled, so I want to see it, and to say "hi" to the women who work there--they won't remember me , but they were extremely nice to me and the kid when I shopped there before moving to Utah. Not everyone can help the neophytes while not patronizing them; I'll always have a soft spot for Adela's.

As far as the Stag Bag goes, I'm thinking of Margene's point that the halo will help keep the strands from showing through to the right side, and that if I want it to look exactly like the picture I should use exactly the same yarn, and Erin's point that the alpaca is so soft and pretty... although Susan's point that the pattern doesn't always call for the most appropraite yarn is a good one...

I have a lot of time to think of it as I still haven't even cataloged all UFOS, let alone finished/frogged any of them. Today I'm thinking I'll use the alpaca blend, though.

Infatuation

Did you see this bag Erin's working on?

I must have one.

I am still a little off my knitting groove, and have decided to catalog and finish or rip out all current projects (except a perpetual UFO of a sweater which is kind of a monument to my late Mom and late aunt, AND a UFO hat I inherited from my late aunt--I'm not ready for that yet).

The Stag Bag will be my reward for doing all that.

Can anyone recommend a superwash wool I can get gage with? The recommended yarn is Berocco Ultra Alpaca at 144 yards per 50 g. I love alpaca, but I don't know if I'd want a bag out of it, even 50/50. Won't that be soft and too stretchy? Or should I just go with the suggested yarn? Gage is 26st and 28rows to 4". Hurry, because I'll be buying the yarn in like August or December, whenever I finish all the objects.