Stitches West

Another great Stitches weekend.   Didn't take any classes, but spent a couple of days in the market,  which seems to get bigger every year with even nicer yarns and other stuff you can't resist.   Here are some of my photos starting with one of the most popular booths, Miss Babs with her wonderful hand dyed yarns.  These are three skeins combined for the Color Affection shawl which was everywhere at Stitches.

                                                                       

                                                                           

Here's a Color Affection displayed in their booth:

                                                                     

                                                                         

                                                             

                                                                               
Another popular project, the Leftie Shawl, was seen in alot of the booths:

                                                                         

Jocelyn at the Handwerks booth was demonstrating her sock knitting machine:

 A skein of merino cashmere yarn I bought at the Handwerks booth:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Some knitted hats:

                                                                               
                                                                                 

 A gorgeous Koigu jacket:

                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                         

The Opal sock yarn folks were selling machine knitted socks and I bought a couple:

                                                                           

                                                                       

The Yarniacs at a meet up with designer Elizabeth Doherty:

                                                                   

                                                                           

Elizabeth is wearing her Meris cardigan that I am knitting for the KAL:

                                                                         
   
Love this scarf from Shelridge Farms called The Petal Scarf and bought the kit to make one for myself.

                                                                                                                                 

On My Way to Stitches

                                                                                   

On my way to Stitches West today at the Santa Clara Convention Center but wanted to leave a short update on one of my projects, Jon's Sweater. The front is almost done and then hopefully I can finish the sleeves in a week or two:

I like the horizontal stitch detail:

Will post pictures from Stitches over the weekend.   I'm bringing a friend and we are going to try hard to keep each other from going overboard on yarn purchases; we'll see how that works out!  This is billed as the largest Stitches event in the country and I'm hoping I've got enough energy to make it around the entire market - must wear comfortable shoes and bring a big bag!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday to you all!

                                                                                                                                                              

Mary McGurn on Pinterest

Oh, the clever and wonderful things you find on Pinterest.  So many interesting knitting sites with lots of great ideas and projects for inspiration.  Mary McGurn is someone I follow on Pinterest because she  has great taste in knitting projects and is always pinning something stylish, beautiful and unique.  Here are a few examples of what you will find on her knitting boards:

                                                                                 

 This beautiful shawl called Traveling Ruffles  by Angela Juergens made with  Zauberball.  So beautiful.

Here's a clever idea that I would like to try for storing yarn in my craft room:

                                                                                                                                         

    These are large magazine holders on shelves to store yarn in a way that you can actually see them on a daily basis to remind me of what yarn I already own and why I don't need to be buying more!

This beautiful Miteriffic Poncho is by Melody Johnson:

                                                                                                                                                       

   This delightful knitted cake is part of a display of knitted food at Colorful Stitches in Lenox, Massachusetts.  Mary is one of the owners and Vogue Knitting has called this shop, "The Most Inspirational Yarn Shop in the Nation".  Yes, it is a pretty special shop located in the beautiful Berkshires in Western Massachustts and if you are ever out that way, it is definitely worth making a stop there.  

As for what I have been up to, there hasn't been much progress on my two current projects, so you might want to check out what others have been knitting at WIP Wednesday.  There are some pretty talented knitters over there.                                                    

Jon's Sweater

No,  my husband's name isn't Jon; this is the name of the pattern I'm working on for him.  Here is an update on my progress as I work on the front:

                                                                 

This is Filatura Di Crosa's Adhoc yarn, a wool alpaca blend.  Not too interesting to look at right now and I call this "Social Knitting"  meaning I can knit and chat with my friends at our knitting group without having to tear out mistakes when I get home.                                                                          

                                                                             

Here are a few things that are more interesting to look at:

This is the Navona  sweater  by Linda Wilgus and I am so looking forward to making this.  My friend Jessica was wearing her version of this at our knitting retreat when I took a picture of her and I really liked the colors:

                                                                           

    Linda's project  is knit in Malabrigo Sock yarn and I can imagine all kinds of great color combinations done in beautiful hand-dyed  yarns.


Stitches will be here in Santa Clara next week and I am going to do my best to keep my yarn purchases in check - hah!  I'll be stopping by the Drops booth to purchase some Nepal for this cowl I am planning to make:

This is the Dripstones Cowl by Justyna Lorkowska and she was kind enough to allow me to use her pictures here. Isn't this a lovely pattern?  This pattern is written for three different sizes  from close fitting cowl to a large shawl style to go over your coat.   Looking forward to trying this.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday and  have a great weekend!                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Skiing At Squaw Valley

Cross country skiing at Squaw Valley this past weekend and what a wonderful weekend it was.  The locals don't complain about blizzard conditions and snow piling up around them because when the weather clears and the sun comes out they are surrounded by a view like this one at Squaw:

Honest, that's what the sky looked like - so incredibly clear and blue.  No smog around here!  Took these pictures with my iPhone and I am always amazed at how well this camera works.

Sled dog rides are very popular and were sold out for whole day.  These guys are lean and filled with endless energy - they want to run!

                                                                             

Speaking of endless amounts of energy, we also went snowshoeing in the Euer Valley at Tahoe Donner.  Snowshoeing is great because even a novice cross country skier can climb up the Black Diamond trails and get to admire the views from up there:

                                                                             

Here's my progress on my two current projects.  My husband's sweater with the slipped stitch detailing:

                                                                   


and my Meris cardigan:

                                                                                 
           
    This is a nice pattern, although I don't think I will every get to the point where I can knit the lace panel without looking at the directions.  Quince and Co's  Finch is a really nice yarn to work with and there are so many colors to choose from; I can definitely see another project in my future with this yarn.

Check out what others are working on at Tami's blog; there's lots of inspiration over there!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

There Will Be Knitting

Living near San Francisco, it's hard not to get excited about the upcoming Super Bowl game with the San Francisco Forty Niners playing the Baltimore Ravens.  Everybody is wearing 49er's shirts or some article of clothing that is red.  We are ready to do our part - red shirts and sweaters and lots of avocados, taco chips, beer and Margaritas.  Of course, there will be knitting.  Here is my progress on my two current projects:

                                                                       

Finished the back of my husband's sweater and plan to work on the front during the game.  There is some detail on the front,  but I think I can handle it during the game.  May have to put it on hold during the commercials, however.

Today is February 1st, the start of the Kardigan KAL and the project I chose, Meris, starts off with a bang.  You knit the left and right back shoulders separately, on size 3 needles (outside of socks, I never venture into this territory) with lots of short rows thrown in for the shaping.  Then you join them to work on the neck. I think it's safe to say I won't be working on this on Sunday afternoon!

                                                                               

Happy Fiber Arts Friday and Go Niners!  Go Colin!