Two weekends ago the Big Guy and I decided to take a drive to go see some California Redwoods. We both love seeing these trees and it had been a long while since we’d taken the time for such a trip. So we got a rental car, checked our atlas, and hit the road to Calaveras County. Since it’s barely […]
Well, it was windy and rainy and cold — but there was nowhere else I would have rather been yesterday but at the top of Howell Mountain watching the Tour of California go by. Two days before the race, Friday, the Big Guy and I drove from Sacramento to Napa to scope everything out and pick a good place to […]
A week or so ago I started knitting my Chris’s Blues wrap using three balls of a beautiful hand-dyed blue worsted wool I’d bought last August on eBay. I bought this yarn on impulse, just because the colors appealed to me (as well as the price). But it came with very little information. I bought a hank that weighed 150 g (no yardage listed), and when I began winding it on my swift I soon realized I had three separate balls of yarn. Which was a relief, because it explained why I had six different ends sticking out all over the place. “> But not knowing the exact yardage confused me; I wasn’t sure how to choose my project. My original idea was to knit up a sort of keffiyah with it; the mix of blue colors complements my skin tone perfectly, so I thought this was a brilliant idea. Except I didn’t know exactly what a keffiyah was supposed to look like, and of course there are no patterns for such on Ravelry. Instead, I settled on the New England Stole (Ravelry link). It’s a very nice, simple pattern done in beautiful wool. Except that the wool used for the original is nothing like what I’m using. It’s bulky; I’m using worsted. Her gauge is 3 stitches per inch; mine is closer to 5 stitches per inch. The original yarn is put up at 100 g (138 yds) per […]
Two years ago my sister invited me to offer something for sale at the annual holiday craft fair held where she works (in a state office building). I’d just gotten back into knitting after a very long hiatus and was brushing up on my skills — as well as learning a ton of new ones — by knitting scarves with […]
Very BAD blogger that I am, I’ve neglected my blog for months. And now I come back here and find that I actually had started writing a post in October and never finished it (does anybody else do this?). So, I belatedly present a post originally started on October 11, 2008 and finished today, 1/18/2009: This Saturday — today — […]
If I had blogged every time I thought about doing it, this place would look a lot different. And if I were into making New Year’s Resolutions, I’d probably promise to post more frequently. I have knitting progress to share and maybe a few other things, but I’m not going to write anything today because I’m insanely busy. However, I […]
Spring flower, 2005 One of my ideas when I started the blog was to share my photography. I’m far from being a professional, but occasionally I manage to shoot something I’m proud of . . . or at least happy with. So today I thought I’d post some photos. Some of them go back several years, and some were […]
My purple SKB is not yet finished. Last night I was certain I could finish up the neck trim and then proceed to the sleeves the following morning; but it didn’t work. Instead I ended up ripping out everything I’d done on the neck trim and starting over. Seems I can’t quite work out the difference between RS (right side) […]
. . . or perhaps I should say, another fitting. For what must be the sixth time I’ve transferred all of my stitches onto waste yarn so I can be sure that my Simple Knitted Bodice is going in the proper direction(s). It is a little bit tedious to keep doing this, but to my mind it’s well worth the […]