Wildflower work in progress

The scalloped edging is easy to make.

I'm making excellent progress on my Wildflower Cardigan.  I'm through with the back and sleeves and now working on the fronts.  I'm just at the spot where you add the pocket lining to the pocket front detail.

The pocket was so fun to make.  See the little bobbles?  We knitters dearly love to make bobbles, but we also know they look ridiculous on most garments.  Here is one exception.  These are just teensy and just a few, isolated to the pockets only.

My husband loves me to wear bright pink.  I was certain he would approve of this Easter hopeful.  When I asked him if he liked the color, he said he would like it a little brighter!  Brighter?  Huh?

award winning animated short

The Oscar winning animated short for 2011.  Brilliant and beautiful.

Let's go to Stitches West!

I'm back today as promised to take you on my tour of Stitches West.
I went on Friday and arrived early.  

Lots shopping and meeting people and picture taking, so let's go!

I met Ysolda, one word, ADORABLE!  In her darling booth she had all her garments from Little Red and a teensy photo booth where you could be the model.

Sweet, pretty and talented Alana from Never Not Knitting and the co-author of my latest obsession, Coastal Knits. She is standing next to the Wildflower Cardigan which I am currently making in bright pink.

Her busy and beautiful booth that was fun to explore.

A Verb For Keeping Warm had pretty displays.

Ribbon Street from Santa Cruz, I loved her fabrics.

Namaste had a pretty booth.

Leann, and indie dyer from Forbidden Yarns.

Yarn tasting at Bijou Basin Ranch.

Coco Knits had every garment to try on.  Crazy busy.

Jordana Paige booth.  She had some nifty organizers.

Ranch of the Oaks, animals raised, milled and spun by this charming lady! Bought some!

Isager had a beautiful booth, so tempted, but I can buy this at my lys.

Love Anzula.  Fun to squish.  Again, tempted, but I have some in my stash so I trudged onward!

Oh the joy of a wall of Mal.  Every yarn, every color.  Not for sale, just for you to examine!

Lots of knitting "stars" were signing and smiling.  Here is Sandra McIver with her Knit, Swirl book.  Pretty sweaters to try on.  Every one calling her a genius and she was pretty busy.  I do have this book, but haven't plunged in yet.

Do you love kid mohair?  How about Wagtail Yarns from Australia.  Yum.  I have non-buyers remorse.

I had not seen this charming book filled with cute and realistic doggies.  Go HERE to see them all!

Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods is one of my favorite booths.  Every one else likes it too.

here's why

everything in color groups

oh my!

My total haul from this booth?  A button.

But this also came home:  Tosh DK, Ranch of the Oaks Alpaca Silk, Berroco Vintage and Mal Silky Merino. All meant to be  Cedar Leaf Shawlettes.  One for me, daughter, mother and granddaughter.  My idea is to have them finished by our family vacation in August.

And this from Webs, 10 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Cool Wool in black and white plus Aslan Trends Pima Cotton also in white. Three summer sweaters worth.  I love bright white for summer.

Lastly, a shawls worth of sparkly Lust from Forbidden.  Wasn't I on a yarn diet?  Can't remember.  Guess not.

And then there was this guy.  I ran into him several times and we fell in love.

What a fun day!

bayside

Bayside Pullover by Hannah Fettig from the fabulous Coastal Knits.

 My 4th garment from this book!  I love them all.

Yarn is the discontinued Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4 Ply in Dessicated.

 The yarn is next-to-the-skin soft.  And beautiful.  Hey, it's tweed!  

Sometimes you wonder why a yarn is discontinued.

 I'm crazy about a simple, well-fitting pullover with simple details.

 Lovely detail on the sides.  I used the "cable needle free" method.

Today I went to Stitches West where I met Alana Dakos and other "knitting stars"!

Pictures tomorrow!

Sand and Sea

Sand and Sea Shawlette finished and modeled on a beautiful day 

in southern California at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Our kids live in the same town as the library and we visited for a long weekend.

 What a grand place to be over President's Day weekend.

It is truly a wonderful presidential library in a beautiful setting.

We are definitely enthusiastic Ronald Reagan fans.  During his presidency, when he would return to southern California, he (along with a slew of secret service) would attend my mother's former church, Bel-Air Presbyterian Church. We often saw him and the first lady.  Once he sat behind us and he reached out for my then 2 year old son who sat on his lap.  He was such a warm and sweet natured man.

Pattern is from Coastal Knits (love)  My granddaughter loved this shawlette so much she ordered it (!!) in gray and green!  I have finished the Bayside Pullover (pictures soon) and have started the Wildflower Cardigan, both from this book.  I'm just working my way through the entire book.  You can probably notice I'm wearing another design from this book, the Water's Edge cardigan.

I won two skeins of Handwerks Luxury Sock in a give-a-way!  100% cashmere, there is not a word yet invented that describes properly how soft this yarn is.  It's really really really soft.  And fabulous to knit up.  For the lace edge there is a bit of leftover Rowan 4-ply cotton in a mustard yellow.

The vista overlooking the Santa Susanna Mountains was stunning.  The day was bright and sunny, a bit cool and breezy, just lovely.  I'm in awe of my beautiful state.

Highlights of the museum were the oval office replica, inaugural clothing, a section of the Berlin wall and Air Force One.  Yep, the real one.  It served 7 presidents and when it was retired, Ronald Reagan asked if he could have it.  A stunning pavilion was built to house it while it's on loan from the US Air Force.  You can tour it.  Fabulous.

You can also see his shiny limousine.

I highly recommend this beautiful museum library.  

Perhaps a bit off the beaten track, still, I know you won't be disappointed.

Afterwards we went to the movies to see The Big Miracle.

Naturally we brought our knitting.

My grand is knitting a scarf for her teacher.  Seriously.  How sweet.

little black cardi

So many times I have wished I had the perfect little black cardi to throw on.  It seems as essential and timeless as the little black dress, but for some reason, I didn't have one!  The remedy for that tragedy is this Kelly Cardigan from Erica Knight's Classic Knits.  This is my third Kelly Cardi, being a sucker for it's simple classic shape and wearable style.  Plus it's knit in Kidsilk Haze used double.  Well, OK then! Bliss.

I bought the yarn for a great price from a fellow Raveler and immediately cast on.  But black is tough on the eyes (just try to tink black KSH!, arggh) and I kept putting it down for months at a time.  But last week I decided to get on with it and finish it already, it's a very quick knit after all.  I wore it to knitting group today and I can't say it got much notice, it's not that kind of sweater.  It's that essential kind of sweater that will be worn all seasons, when I need the perfect little black cardigan, which will probably be often.

Sorry about the head lobbings, but my face has had some scary grins on it lately, I hope it's not a permanent affliction.  A few Ravelry notes are here.

rhinestone buttons

I'm standing in front of my dining room shelves recently re-done.  I'm just a few weeks from being finished with the whole shebang and I'll take pictures.  In the meantime, here is the DR with the walls in a dark smoke called Temptation by Benjamin Moore.  Absolutely love it all so far.

This weekend we went to a mardi gras party and we wore these Diddam's masks.  I bought the big flashy one for me and the smaller more discreet one for my hubbie.  But the smaller one wouldn't fit over my husband's nose (sorry honey) coz it's kind of a child's sized mask I think, so he had to wear the larger, spectacular one which he hated because he didn't even want to wear one in the first place, so isn't that kind of funny?

And then I had this great nail polish to match.  We were all black and silver and gold, perfectly mardi gras-ish.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and hope you have a sweet day filled with LOVE!