Stitch N Pitch Night

Carey, Alex, and I set out on Tuesday and made our way towards the Bay Area for our second Stitch N Pitch night at AT&T Park.

We took our time getting there, stopping at Continental Stitch in Morgan Hill (lots of Noro but not a lot of friendly from the staff) and a scrapbook store in Gilroy (sorry, they all seem to blur together to me the knitter woman and I forgot the name). We also stopped at Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos (love that store, and lots of good Harlot memories) and tried to go to Purlescence in Sunnyvale but THEY WERE CLOSED! Argh.

Eventually, we landed in the City. It was cold! The game was fun, although we weren't sitting close enough to a lot of other knitters so we saw lots of people with orange tote bags, but didn't get into the same spirit of fun as last year. We still had fun though!

Here is Alex and Carey right after downing some garlic fries-

And here I am with Alex, freezing my you-know-what off while knitting my sock--

Here I am seeing if it is time for the toe--

We left at the 8th inning because I was freezing and the Giants were losing pretty badly. We expected them to take Barry Bonds out like they usually do around that time. When we made it back to the hotel, we saw the bottom of the ninth, with Bonds still in and the score tied! Yikes! I knew if Bonds hit a homerun when we weren't there Alex would kill me! Fortunately for me but unfortunately for the Giants, they lost and we didn't miss any good Barry action.

I finished my sock Wednesday morning, while Carey was reading Harry Potter and Alex was enjoying the Palace Hotel pool.

We then set out for the east bay, and enjoyed Article Pract in Oakland, Stash in Berkeley, and My Daughter's Wish (killer scrapbook store, even I must say) in Walnut Creek. Alex went to baseball heaven with lunch at McCovey's. He took over 25 photos in the restaurant. Cool place.

Now we are home. I feel like the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Time to catch up with the rest of life!

Cable Cars, Windmills and Socks

We hit the big city for a night. Barely over 24 hours, but a little getaway felt nice. I gave the stole a rest (knitting lace in the car with a chart and beads seemed a little akward) and started this--

Isn't this yarn beautiful? I got it at Ancient Pathways, and it is dyed locally for them. The color is "Pink Pepper." I am knitting Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks, and I made it through the heel flap of sock #1, as you can see.

Pretty, no?

We had dinner and Friday lunch in North Beach, but

Maurice and I ate breakfast at the Cliff House and saw the ocean, and then went to Holland, oops I mean to Queen Wilhelmina Gardens in Golden Gate Park.

Then he persuaded me to go to Imagiknit (what a guy). There I came across some Koigu (another chevron?) and some Claudia Handpainted Linen that I had been eyeing for awhile that was on sale. Oh, and some Noro Daria, since I am enjoying the Corded bag I made from it before and it isn't that easy to find.

I made him fight the traffic for the trip back downtown to Artfibers, and they had changed the way they sold the yarn without really explaining it anywhere. Most of the yarns were on cones, but you could wind off any number of balls worth that you needed. I needlessly searched for colors available in balls or partial cones that I liked, and once I was told I could wind from the cones, I had to go back and decide what I wanted all over again. Then I had to wind 1000 yards of Tsuki from the cone and that took FOREVER. I also got some red silk for something fun. (Note Red! Black! Project Spectrum) They didn't seem to have as much yarn there as they usually have. Maybe it was my imagination.

I love going to San Francisco. Next week will be spent with the family at a cabin up at the lake. I'm hoping for a little "down time" and relaxation and family fun. Wish me luck.

SF Here We Come!

I just ordered my tickets for the Stitch N Pitch Giants game on July 24 for me, Carey, and Alex. When I first tried to order them after waiting a little too long to see who was going, getting the time off for Carey, and general procrastinating, they had SOLD OUT! What? Oh NO!

I tried calling local yarn stores. No luck. I tried tonight on the web to find a contact number to try calling the organizers for suggestions. In the process I found myself back to the Giants site that I had no luck with before, and I clicked again and it went through !! Hooray!! Hooray!! I was really bummed that I may have to miss the game.

Last year, Carey, Alex, and I had a great time, and it is really that game and the coverage on the MAKE magazine blog that got me started with the knitblogging thing. I am really looking forward to another fun night.

Go Knitters! Oh, and Go Giants!

New Year Knitting

We celebrated the New Year here -


City of Alcatraz and

Lombard Street

It was very nice. Dined at Mooses and Joe DiMaggio's in North Beach (very good) and had ice cream with Maurice's Aunt Vera at Ghirardelli Square (soon to be a time share).

Yes, of course I went to Imagiknit. Could I pass that up? Here's the goodies I walked out with.

Some koigu for some socks, some hand dyed alpaca for something lucious (I thought the color combination was unusual and nice), some Debbie Bliss for Grace some mittens, some Noro Daria for a purse from Grumperina, and the cutest knitting needles with funky knobs on the ends. And some size 0 DPN's for good measure. And a little something I found for Tracy. Hmmm....

I had fun there.

I also knitted in the car, but still having trouble seeing the black giant sock. So I worked on my Lucy sock, and hooray, finished it! I will buckle down during good daylight and get the black sock done soon. Promise.

Then I have to do Lucy sock #2 and go back to the Trekking sock that needs a friend from before Xmas. THEN I can start something new. Next in line immediately are the mittens for Grace. She requested them, how could I say no? I should have done them for Christmas if I would have had an extra month that would have not have been a problem.

Speaking of Christmas, I forgot to tell about what Santa brought me--

Some Socks that Rock (I did mention that but here is the photo of the Rocktober colorway) and some new books. I LOVE knitting books. The cable book is by Melissa Leapman. I am taking her cable class at Stitches West. The Victorian Lace book author is going to be the opening speaker. I am counting the minutes until I am there.

What did you knit this weekend?