Most massive update of the year

Ok...so lots has happened. My new job is exercising different parts of my brain, which is awesome, but makes it really tired to the point where thinking of writing something not work related is somewhat difficult. But I'm going to give it a shot now.

An Event
First things first, I went to Borders at Columbus Circle in the city to see the Yarn Harlot speak. You might have noticed me on her website a couple days after her talk there. I have more proof:


photo is courtesy of Smitten w/Knittin!

Her speech was funny, as usual. And I met some folks that were reading my blog that have never commented. We exchanged moo cards. (hi folks!) The whole event had a happy Cheers kinda attitude with it that comes from waiting for something that you all can't wait for. It was great, the Yarn Harlot liked my tattoo, I met new folks, reconnected with some old ones and had a great time knitting.

Yarn Shop Visits
So, I have actually been traveling a little bit with this new job. I like meeting all these new people and seeing all these different places. I've been trying to get to some yarn shops when I have a few spare minutes.

In San Francisco I stopped in at Artfibers Gallery on Sutter street while I had a free half hour before my flight. I didn't really get a chance to enjoy the store as much as I might have if I were there with friends or if I'd actually had time to knit. I loved the idea of being able to test the yarn. And a lot of their fibers were really unique and interesting. I bought about 350 grams of Sylph which is a fingering weight made of 76% silk 19% superkid mohair 5% wool. It's the "summer" version of their Kyoto and is destined to become a Pi Shawl from EZ's Knitter's Almanac.

I had a bit more time in LA and it seems like the yarn shops were open a bit later there as well. So I stopped in at two. I was bummed to hear that Knit Cafe was closed as they find somewhere to relocate to. I'd heard so much about that store and had bought their book and really liked the whole idea of the place. Instead, I stopped in at Wild Fiber. The place was really nice (it really is as big as it seems in that photo on their website!). The store had a really nice selection of yarns and I came home with about three cakes of a nice hand-painted lace-weight yarn. The staff was really friendly and nice and quite helpful.

Lastly, I visited my favorite shop by far of the three of them. I should reiterate that I really did like the other yarn shops, I just really loved Unwind. The owner was around when I stopped by and was nice enough to even give me the address of the closest In-N-Out burger (I had to try one when I was there!). I bought some Lorna's Laces, a Cookie A. knitting pattern (along with a couple other patterns) a pair of needles and I sat down to start swatching. It was a very happy and friendly environment and I actually felt at home for the first time all week. It was excellent. I'd go back there in a second!

WIPs

So I really have been knitting in my copious free time. I actually finished a pair of socks!


The pattern is the Blue Sky Master Sock pattern from Cat Bordhi's new book. The yarn is Noro's new Kureon sock yarn. And it'll be the last time I'll be using that yarn. Despite the fact that I really do love the colors, there's always one point (usually during the second sock) where there's a knot and the color changes completely. It didn't make as much of a difference for these socks because they were done top down, but it really screwed up the toe up socks I knit a couple months ago. The yarn is totally over spun and gets stuck to itself and I've already come really close to wearing out the back heel in the aforementioned socks I knit a couple of months ago. But I did like the pattern. I thought it was rather ingenious. My only problem is that the "reinforced heel" reinforces a part of the heel that I don't particularly need to reinforce.

I've also been working on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I took it with me on my trip to Tucson and LA and managed to work on it the whole way back from LA. I didn't even sleep on the plane which I think is pretty interesting since I usually fall asleep an hour into any flight. Here's the progress I've come up with so far:


That's a really horrible shot of it, but you can see that I've finished the body and the sleeves and have joined them to the body and started the yoke. I'm really loving the Rowan Felted Tweed and the way it's showing off all the cables.


This photo is infinitely better. Gives a much better idea as to what the yarn looks like. I'm most of the way through the tangled part of the yoke. Only issue is that i lost the damn buttons I bought from M&J for the cardigan! I have to go back and see if I can find the same buttons and re-buy them.

Anyway, this thing has gone on long enough. Hopefully I'll have a bit more time to update more frequently...we'll see...