catching up a little

It's been some time since I dropped by, I know. And I am wondering when I will get it through my head that this is a crazy time every year! One of these days it will stick.

There's so much to tell: so much to share. I will start, though, by thanking everyone who came by my booth at Stitches West. Again this year, I shared with A Verb for Keeping Warm, and it's always wonderful to hang out with Kristine, Michelle and Aday (and we won prettiest booth again, thanks to Kristine's genius!). It was "interesting" to do a show with an injury:

and I remember thinking at the time that it was a totally insane idea and wondering what on Earth possessed me. Now that I'm home from Stitches and I've gotten some extra sleep, it seems like it was no big deal. I have a short memory. It's why I have two kids instead of one. ;)

Today I just want to share the pictures of everyone at dinner on Friday evening. People from my Ravelry forum came - from as far as Canada, Maryland, Mississippi, and Florida - to meet in person after talking so long online and forming bonds and friendships. (I'm not naming names because I know some people like privacy!)

The forum moderators (they are the BEST) organized an amazing event, complete with door prizes.

Here's a picture of a group of us with Gothic Tams on, along with pictures of those who love that pattern and the forum, but couldn't be there.

We ate at Pedro's, and - like last year - I had the Molé. Yum!

Friends from across country.

And from out of the country.

Knitters really are special. :)

visiting

This past weekend was a working vacation treat. I flew into San Francisco International Friday afternoon just in time for lunch with Cookie and Anne, who picked me up at the airport and whisked me off to Curry Up Now in San Mateo. Yum. Cookie and I had eaten there at the last (first?) Knitting Lab. This year, she wasn't teaching there (I was) but she was in town with Anne.

Then we all headed over to A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland where Cookie and Cleo contemplated one another.

Cookie had brought Cleo a little gift.

I lined up with Anne, Kristine and Cookie while drooling in front of the yarn wall at Verb. I was still wearing my travel vest stuffed with everything I could possibly get into its pockets. I love my travel vest. :)

This was while my hair was still straight, but a few hours later, it had gone native in the humidity! We were all having a great time.

We even had a visit from the pampered Verb Bunny!

We all sat around knitting and then headed over to Kristine and Aday's place. Anne (who taught at Verb this past weekend) and Cookie were staying, but I took BART to SFO and caught a cab back to San Mateo. I was super excited to take BART to the airport! I had waited and waited for that extension, but moved from San Francisco before it went through.

I got in late and slept late, and it was wonderfully decadent. Next morning, I went down to the Knitting Lab Market and wandered the hall with my friend Anne from Sonoma County. She came down to visit and have lunch! We saw Sincere Sheep:

Knitted Wit:

Kira K:

and Morgaine.

One of Heatherly's lovely daughters was in the Intwined booth:

and Sheila Ernst was looking radiant in an Orenburg shawl.

I caught Anne Berk in a Bohus:

and Nancy Marchant in one of her lovely Brioche creations.

Then it was off to Nine Rubies in San Mateo for Local Designers Night (they had signed me up before I moved and became a not very local designer). Caroline, Terry and Nellie met up with me there.

Carrie and Hilary were there too and we got a little silly.

Hilary and I took cool pictures of one another.

And much fun was had.

We headed out to dinner at Kingfish, a Creole fusion place a few blocks away from the store. It's in an old Art Deco banking palace. Just look at that light. I took more pics, but it was dark and they came out rather murky.

I ordered the salmon over coconut infused rice and it was perfectly done with mango, sweet potato, clams and mussels. Delicious!

Next day was Lace Surgery in the morning and Shapely Shawls/Maia in the afternoon. We had some laughs

and then seriousness set in.

Eep!

After class, I got to see Krista's lovely Pulelehua.

And Nellie gave me some Madelaines. They were incredible!

I had to check out of my room at lunch; I brought back all of my luggage - and everything that didn't fit in my luggage. After classes, I packed before I went down to the meet and greet. I had to lie across my suitcase, but somehow I got everything into two bags except the jigsaw puzzle from my goody bag. On the way down, I passed a group of Emirates Airlines cabin crew members and pilots. I asked them if I could take a picture. They all had beautiful smiles. :)

Off to the meet and greet I went. It was very relaxed; people were super tired after so many classes! But I got to spend some time getting to know Eunny Jang of Interweave a little better. What a sweetie! I really enjoyed our chat.

After a lovely dinner with Nancy Marchant (who I had never met before this past weekend, and is fantastic) and JC Briar (we discussed the finer points of charting; too fun), it was off to the airport. Whew. What a fantastic whirlwind!

visitors

Knitfriends in the house!

Knitting.

And laughing. :)

A little play

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Happy birthday to my Bear, who is 9 today.

I think he enjoyed the day. :) (See those swimmer's dreads? He wants a haircut, or maybe I should say shearing, but I've been stalling cause he's so cute this way.)

It's been a whirlwind week, actually. One more secret project finished, another halfway done and another cast on. I have been a crazy knitting machine! On Monday, though, I got to take a little time off when Anne, Cookie and friends came up to visit wine country!

We had lunch in Healdsburg (which is near me in Sonoma County, btw - not all the wine is in Napa!) at Zin, owned by my dear friend Susan's husband Jeff. In addition to being the catering director, she's the gal who makes it all work. Plus, she's a knitter. Perfect, right?

She ordered us some deep fried green beans (in tempura batter), one of Zin'e specialties. YUM!

We all whipped out the cameras.

It was a great photo op!

Though for some reason Cookie decided to eat instead.

It was fabulous to see you, ladies, even for a short while!

Back to knitting for me. :)

Why friends are the best

Can I just thank you all so much for the incredibly supportive and kind comments and notes you sent? I was already feeling pretty lucky, but I have to say that you all are the very very best. And all that warmth and wonderful-ness you sent my way has gotten the creative juices flowing big time again! I am back to feeling almost human again. And it's a good feeling.

Now I have some catching up to do. There are pictures for blog posts that never happened, piles of yarn, and notes and sketches for shawls and sweaters and hats.

But back to my wonderful friends.

I've carried on a correspondence with a very cool lace knitter in The Frozen North for some time now. I first "met" her when she was in my club, and over time, it's become very obvious how much we have in common. We've never met face to face, but she knew something was up even when I wasn't saying anything. And a little while ago, this lovely package arrived in my post office box (wrapped up of course).

Inside was a big bar of "Emergency Chocolate" (which The Bear immediately claimed as his own because it was dark chocolate without dairy - next time he has agreed at least to let me take a picture of it) and this lovely green skein of lace weight silk.

Be still my heart! It is the very perfect shade of green. And silk. YUM! But the best part? Feeling the warmth and connection from far away. One of these days we will meet face to face, and we'll probably stay up all night laughing uproariously and sobbing, and everything in between. Thank you so much, dear friend!

There was a surprise today as well. I started giggling when I saw this!

And there was a little something that caught #1 Son's attention.

The phantom cookie baker struck!

Wow. Just look at what was in that plain brown box.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

#1 Son has been acting crazy all day about these cookies.

I won't share the video I took of him though, because I still need it for blackmail. So far the thought of my posting it to youtube has him being extra good, but it won't take him long to call my bluff, I'm sure.

Delicious! Thank you, Brandy, for the yummy treat. And for making #1 Son actually think it's cool that I'm his Mom (for a day at least)! :D

Credit where it's due

The other day, I collected a box from the post office, and then, in my hurry, I put it aside. Way led onto way and things were going kind of crazy. And I didn't open it until yesterday when I got back from a little road trip. And what do you think was there?! Jürgen, a very kind and generous spindler in my Ravelry forum had sent me a lovely little spindle!

Isn't it pretty? The wood is stunning.

It's absolutely perfect for lace weight spinning.

So of course I had to try it out with the little puff that came with it. What a joy! Thank you so much Jürgen! What a wonderful surprise.

There were a few packages waiting upon my return actually, including a fun little reprint that Franklin wrote about here. Here's the title page.

And the cover. Notice the problem?

Really?! I seriously doubt that Mr. George Cupples was a knitter. And I also really don't think that getting the author correct is too much to ask of the re-printer(s). Sharpie to the rescue.

I'm sure Mrs. George is resting easier now. :)

In other news, I recorded a very rough video the other day to assist people in my Ravelry forum with the Kleio braids. (btw, I have to show you what Jeanne posted the other day in the Ravelry forum:

Cute, eh? Woooooot!!)

I'll warn you ahead of time that this is not a production masterpiece, but it does get better as it goes along. And I think it might actually help those of you struggling with the braids.

I do still want to replace it with a better version, and I can't wait to show you the results of the cool video system Mr. Romi said he'd use on me!

And did I mention there's a little secret project to be debuted at KnitCulture's Vogue Knitting Live booth later this month? Here's their designer profile of me on the Knitculture blog. I'm looking forward to coming clean to you all and showing the pics. :)