Friday, January 15, 2010

California Dreamin'

We're in southern CA for a quilt show - the wonderful Road to California. Our road here was a bit much, but we're really enjoying the weather!

We got a later start than expected/planned. Bob thought we didn't have enough dowels and we would just have to make do with what we had. While I was at work Fri night, he found more. I got home from work about midnight to a new plan. Bob's idea was to leave later Sat and spend the day making more product to take with us - including cutting and sanding all the dowels he found. The dowels are the necessary part of the thread organizers that we make. So instead of leaving around 10 am, we managed to pull out of the driveway at 11:55 pm! My son Pete was going with us.

He's lived in the San Francisco area for three years and decided that he wanted to move to NYC. He stayed in PA for about a month before he decided that he'd had enough of the cold and wanted CA weather back.

Pete being with us worked wonderfully. It was his idea to alternate driving and just drive straight through. Since we were tired enough to sleep in the car and Pete can sleep just about anywhere, that's exactly what we did. And by saying that "we" drove, I mean that in the broadest sense possible. I think I drove one hour!

Southern CA in the "winter" just can't be beat. On Tues, we sat outside at In-n-Out for several hours enjoying the winter weather (mid-70's) and sunshine. Due to the seasonal shift in the wind direction, the sky is beautifully blue and clear. There are roses, primroses and bird of paradise blooming everywhere. So much for winter!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Cowls and mittens and shawls, Oh my!

What is on your knitting schedule? Mine seems to be over run with knit alongs and goals! From Ravelry - the Woolgirl group is having a fingerles gloves/mitts KAL which coincides with National Knit Mittens Month. It's rather nice to have one project fit into multiple spots! The Embrace the Lace bonus kit is a very lovely cowl and the pattern being used in the Cowl group's Jan KAL is also lovely - and those who have knit it already have commented on what a quick knit it is. The Sivia Harding group is having a KAL for the Heart to Heart beaded scarf this month. I've knit one and gave it as a gift to my cousin. Since then I've bought the cashmere yarn and beads to make another for myself.

And then the shawls! The end of last year - no I think most of last year! - didn't see much positive progress on shawls for me. My aeolian is only four rows away from being bound off and is waiting patiently to be finished. I spent quite awhile knitting my Norwegian Woods shawl only to completely rip out all progress. And yet I somehow managed to get sucked into the idea of 10 shawls in 2010. Conveniently the Seasons of Lace winter KAL is (of course!) a shawl! It's a free pattern entitled Echo Flowers. I spent too long dithering about which yarn to use. I've wound one of the two skeins in a silk/cashmere blend I bought several months ago.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me this month! Now to see just how much of it I can actually accomplish.