Music Monday

 

"T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" by Otis Spann.

Northern California Knitting Retreat

It's true, I went on another knitting retreat the weekend after my knitting group's retreat and it was amazing! This time I flew down to San Francisco with my good friend, Monica, and spent the night before driving to the East Bay for a mini yarn and fabric crawl and driving to the retreat center in San Juan Bautista. First off, the weather was superb.

Straight off the plane, we grabbed our rental car and headed to the Legion of Honor for the High Style exhibit. Let me tell you, it's amazing and you should totally see it if you live in the area. 

I think this was my favorite piece in the exhibit because TIGER PRINT and I love that it drew inspiration from 17th century gowns and Marie Antoinette - this little number even featured panniers. The rest of our time in SF was spent eating, knitting, and watching Murder She Wrote and reality tv.

Friday morning we drove over to Berkeley to meet up with the ladies from the Stash & Burn podcast and do a mini yarn and fabric crawl featuring Philz Coffee (not fabric or yarn but very, very important), Claddagh Yarns, Stonemountain & Daughter, and A Verb for Keeping Warm.

It was incredibly difficult to show restraint. But I came away with three cuts of fabric for myself and a remnant of some polka dot knit jersey for a tank for Little A. I'm super jealous of folks that live near this store because it has an excellent selection of apparel fabric.

Left to right and top to bottom: polka dot jersey for Little A, Cotton & Steel rayon, Pendleton wool suiting (at half off!) and a woven cotton and lycra plaid. Project wise this will be a tank for A, probably another sorbetto top for me, a pleated pencil skirt, and a summer dress. 

At VFKW I picked up a skein of Reliquary II in Vermillion for some kind of around-the-neck accessory. We said good-bye to the East Bay and drove in some crazy Friday afternoon traffic to San Juan Bautista and didn't leave for almost two days. It was glorious. 

And you know what? I didn't take a single picture the entire time. I left my phone in my room except for calling the kiddo at bedtime each night. If you want to see pictures taken by more responsible instagram knitters than myself you can find them here. I'll just say that I laughed so hard my face hurt for a couple of days and I'll never see White Rhinos and animal crackers the same way again. I can't wait until next year!

2015 Purlygirl Retreat

This last weekend was my knitting group's annual retreat to Fort Worden. We go every Spring and spend the weekend eating, laughing, talking, and knitting. 

 

Fort Worden is a beautiful place to walk and I enjoyed some time on the beach (I also took the opportunity to stretch since marathon knitting is hard on my hands). The weather was a bit brisk but warm enough that I didn't need my coat, just a handknit sweater. 

There was knitting on the porch, knitting in the living room, knitting at the dining room table, and knitting in the car. Basically, lots and lots of knitting all of the time and it was wonderful.

It was great to spend time with ladies I don't see very often as well as those that I do see often and spend some time relaxing and catching up. The retreat gets better every year and I can't wait until the next one.

Annual Retreat

I'm off to my annual knitting retreat in Port Townsend this weekend. There will be knitting and cocktails and lots and lots of chit chat with some of my favorite people. Have a lovely weekend!

Music Monday

"Have Love, Will Travel" by the Sonics. I'm gearing up for two weekends worth of knitting retreats and some travel, woohoo!

FO: Fika

Things are a little slow on the knitting front, lately. I feel like I'm slogging along on the same projects without any progress, but in reality my projects are technically simple which makes them a little boring. But check out how pretty they turn out!

Twisted rib and stockinette never looked so good!

Simple and straightforward design. With a cheeky little twist at the toe.

Pattern: Fika by Maribeth White, from the Spring 2015 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly

Yarn: SweetGeorgia BFL Sock in Ginger (CC at toe is Stricken Smitten Smitten BFL Nylon Twist in Little Storm Cloud)

Needles: US #1 (2.25 mm) Hiya Hiya Sharp Fixed Circulars

Mods: I knit the toe to 24 stitches (twelve on each needle) before grafting them together rather than the 32 stitches called for in the pattern. These make an excellent commute and social knitting project. These socks are a gift for a friend and I hope she likes them as much as I do!