Summer

Not much knitting has been going on for a long time now, so I got to feeling a little guilty about that last week. I have been sewing a lot, but after all, A does need new socks now and then, so I got out a poor neglected pair that have been on the needles for about a year. I am knitting both socks at once, and I will never do that again because it is soooooo boring. It makes everything seem to take twice as long, because it does. While I am trying to resurrect the knitting mojo, I have been working in the garden. We had a long cold spring, so the garden wasn't started until late in the season, but it is coming along fine now. Today I picked a lot of summer squash, two tomatoes, and basil.

I've been trying to get a variety of poppy colors in the yard, and this is the prettiest one I have ever grown. Most of the others are orange or yellow, but there is the occasional white or red orange plant.

Stitches West II

These pictures were taken without a flash, so there was plenty of light in the massively huge convention hall. I found a new book by Marion Foale, and the designs were so nice that I remembered that I have her original book from about 25 years ago. She designs classic garments with lots of textural interest. Look at this beautiful jacket which is included in the book (Ali MacGraw was about 4 feet to the right of this jacket so you can imagine her sitting there, if you wish):

When did a skein of sock yarn begin to cost $25?? I had to content myself with taking pictures of the gorgeous colors. I realized that I have to buy a better rolling carrier for the lunch and purchases, so, since the husband needs one for carrying office files to meetings, we will have to go shopping for one. The one I usually use is a little awkward and tends to trip up other people.

Naturally, it started to pour rain as soon as we left the convention center, so we had a rainy drive home.

Stitches 2011

It had snowed the night before, and there was snow on the foothills on the way to San Jose. We had already purchased our tickets online, but the rest of the knitting world has also learned to do this, so the line was already long by the time we joined it, but it is always fun to talk to knitters and watch the fashion parade of handknits. My daughter was wearing one of her beautiful small shawls and people would come up to admire it. One lady reached out to touch the shawl and explained to us that that is 'the knitter's handshake'.

As usual, we attended the market for two days. It starts to get really crowded around lunchtime, and I detest being crushed in crowds of oblivious women, even if they are wearing pretty sweaters. We get there early to snag a parking place and wait in line for the doors to open. We have developed our technique to avoid the crowd for most of the morning, and we leave when it gets bad. We had lots of fun, and there was even a celebrity sighting, since Ali MacGraw was there signing books for some charity or other involving animals.
I took a picture through the doorway before they allowed us to enter the marketplace. It is a huge venue with many, many booths from all over the country. It is yarn shop heaven, is what it is.

They had relaxed the rules about picture taking, so I'll show some more pictures of the yarn and garments tomorrow.

On To The Future

My posts have been very skimpy the last while, because I was helping take care of a relative whose health was failing. The inevitable has happened, and I now find myself with time to do all the things I have been missing. I know that I am more of a product person than a process person, and I find finishing up projects helps a lot in sad times by giving my spirits a lift. I have several sweaters started with the ribbings ready to go on the machine, so I am making an effort to straighten up the sewing/craft room so that I can use the machine again.

Spring comes early in California, and the almond trees are blooming. Just yesterday I saw yellow daffodils in someone's front yard. Of course, a storm is moving in today, but the brief glimpse of warm weather gave us time to go for a ride in the country where I took the photo above. My goals this week are to get at least one sweater section on the machine, and to find that walkabout seed catalog so I can get my order in.