Black Sheep Redux (with added photo)

Far be it from me to shill for a yarn shop, but I have to say, for a great sale, I have never seen anything like Black Sheep Knittery. Yes, the intrepid trio of Sknitty, Knit Devil, and yours truly once again made the trek over the river (the LA River doesn't look like much, but it's our river and we love it) and through the (concrete) forest to Hollywood and BSK. The occasion? A bag sale. Not just any bag sale, as you can see from my haul--Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk and Cashmerino Aran; Rowan Felted Tweed and Yorkshire Tweed. I bought the DK but they had tons of the heavyweight as well, ditto other weights of Cashmerino. I really was dithering in front of the Baby Cashmerino for a long time, they had a terrific selection of colors, but not having a "specific" baby in mind sorta cramped my style. One thing for sure, Grandcarrot is not a DBBC kind of baby!
The other thing I noticed is that I was definitely in a certain color-frame-of-mind. There was some great blue in the Alpaca Silk (have you fondled that stuff? It's like whipped cream, only lighter!) but it wasn't speaking to me. Now, the teal? And the red? Singing at the top of their lungs!


This is the way the back of my truck looked afterwards.

Nice, huh? We did leave a few balls of yarn for other people--I've heard from some who've gone and actually were able to find some treasures! A note about those spots on the carpet in the truck--those are from a bottle of fabric softener that fell over, leaked, and flopped around. Hey, if you're going to have to spill in the car, it should at least be something that smells good, right?

Okay, this one's for Knit Devil--the St. Paddy's Day rose, open, showing the green just around the edges.

Hey, when in doubt, post flowers, right? Especially in Project Spectrum colors of pink and yellow, and of course the green leaves. Yeah, I really do need to find a pink or yellow or green project to work on. But I have a challenge that "should" take all my knitting time!
(These are my pink Rugosas. I also have a red one--FJ Grootendorst--this one is "Pink Grootendorst")
And another shot of Scepter'd Isle and the yellow one I can't remember. I am also eagerly awaiting the blooming of another DA rose, "Jude the Obscure" (I told you mine all have a Thomas Hardy theme!) which is just now budding.

Enough nattering--I need to start cataloguing my yarn, and I think I'll start with the new ones.

Besides, tomorrow is the March of Dimes Walk, in Newport Beach (Calif, not RI), and I need to rest my tootsies so they can haul me over the whole 5.5 miles! I'll let you know how I do...

Challenged!

What are friends for? I guess some of them are there to challenge me!
On chat today with LMM (aka Seattle Marie) she mentioned that she had spent hours last night knitting on her CPH, and had made almost an inch of progress. One sassy remark on my part led to another on hers, and now we are challenged to a "race to the finish."
Did I mention this is the woman who got to the Final Four in the international Knit-Off this year? The Official Speed Demon Queen? The one who made the Pacific Northwest Shawl in Sea Silk in less than a week? Who took less time than that to knit a long-sleeved turtleneck with fancy Celtic knotwork?
Oh yeah. She challenged Knit Devil, too. So it's a 3-way race. This is like the Road Runner challenging Susie Snail and Sammy Slug to a race. A turbo-charged Ferrari vs a VW Bug (the old kind) and a '39 Ford.
Whoa--why am I sitting here writing? I need to be knitting!

Thursday is for Things I Like

Bronze horse heads. Spent the day yesterday at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles. This was the only picture I took all day. Imagine! But this had me fascinated. Up close, it does not resemble a horse at all. But a little distance and some perspective make the picture clear.
Without stretching a metaphor too far, I can see some interesting parallels with my life and recent events. I sure hope the clarity starts to come soon!





Next up, of course I like roses! I'm especially fond of the big blowsy ones, I think.
This is one of the David Austins on the back fence. One of the Thomas Hardy ones. Had I known there would be a quiz, I'd have written down the names!
Now his name I know. This is my Hi-Hi, aka Highland, aka Pretty Kitty, aka Pudge, etc etc.

Yes, he is as sweet-natured as he looks.
And Simon. He seems to think that soft focus is his best look.
Really, everything is his best look!

And then there are treasures in the mail.
Came home from some loverly knit time in BDM (Beautiful Downtown Montrose)(with KD, CBM, and CK) to find a nice brown box on my porch.
Inside was this treasure trove, from Cabin Cove Mercantile.
Dave does such a nice job of packing. Each of these was wrapped in brown tissue and tied with raffia, and there was a little packet of lavender included too. The colors are, l-r, Ink Blot, Lavender Sky, and Butterscotch. I love the bag, too. Every bag lady needs more bags.
Besides, it has a moose on it. I guess I haven't posted a picture of the Moose Lodge here, have I? (Too lazy to go check now.) I will try to remedy that soon. The basic idea is that Himself got a real kick out of the little moose that wandered around town in Northern Exposure, so the girls (okay, and me too) started giving him all sorts of stuffed moose. Mooses? Meese? Moose critters! He piled them up next to his chair and the joke was that this was his very own Moose Lodge. (The critters have acquired a nice film of dust. Time to give them a tumble in the dryer and fluff all the dust out of them. Himself wouldn't like to see them all dusty and forlorn. Maybe it's time to start doling them out to the next generation??)
Knitting progress continues. Lady Eleanor II has 27 tiers done--she needs a total of 36 to be finished and ready for fringing. CPH got a few more rows done on the fronts today, in fact the right front has the first neck shaping stitches on a holder. Maybe I'll go work on it for a while. I think I'd better, because I'm certainly not taking it along with me to work on while I'm on my trip. (I'm thinking maybe Birch, cause the yarn is fine and the needles are too--but lace? on an airplane? Hmm...)

Didja Miss Me?

It feels as if I've been away from the blog for a while, but I guess it's just that I've been so busy it feels as if time has compressed itself. I bet this will be how it will feel when I'm away for a longer stretch next month.
About which more later. Right now, here's some lovely Project Spectrum goodies.
First up, gazanias:

These really do seem to glow from within, don't they?
Next, a rather fuzzy pink rose--pardon the lack of focus, but please note: it has company. I wanted to get the bee, and I was standing on my head to begin with. This is Scepter'd Isle, and she's a David Austin.

This one really is that color--St. Patrick's Day is the name, and the buds start out bright green and open to a rich yellow with green edges.

Double Delight: extremely fragrant, and very very pretty. When you go back to the rose garden, all you can smell is this heady perfume. Very very "rose-y."


Laundry helper. What is it with cats and freshly folded towels?
Note he's sleeping right next to the purr pad. Maybe I should run that through the washer and dryer and he'd like it better? If it smelled like lavender instead of cat?




Promised you some knitting, right? This is for the Shawl Ministry in CT.
I like the pastel colors--too much blue and lavender etc. for it to be Project Spectrum-y, but still very soft and cuddlesome. I hope that it will bring some cheer and comfort when it gets there.

Couple more pictures of things that are leaving the Family Abode for other pastures--

In other words, these are going to go live with my son and his family. The pitcher and bowl were bought with #2 and M in mind, many years ago. So how do you get a LARGE pitcher and bowl across the country? Why, you wrap them in a quilt and send them off with my brother, that's how! The quilt is appropriate, since both my son and his son have Patrick as a middle name.

Included in the package is this amazing assortment. Those are eyecups, for the uninitiated among you--lots and lots of Eyewash Cups (as eBay calls them). My husband collected them over the years, including some he got in England. (He looked in Australia but didn't find any there, although he did come home with a very unusual pale green soup bowl. Depression Glass collectors are like that, and they make wonderful spouses for Yarn and Fabric Collectors.) So the cups are wrapped in bubble wrap, and tucked into a box, and the little showcase--which came from an old apothecary shop, and has been stripped but not refinished--has been wrapped in this quilt.
Around the Twist pattern, Hoffman berry print background, assorted tone-on-tone colors for the twists. This was made, oh, maybe 12 years ago? It's lap size. I really like it, but it's time for it to move to another part of the family.
Parting with the quilt isn't as easy as I thought it would be, but I think it will have a nice useful life where it's going. What surprised me the most was the emotions the eyecups stirred up. Remembering how much fun he had gathering them, how excited he was when he found the cabinet, how much time he spent polishing and arranging and re-arranging them, and the joy they brought to him--I hope that #2 will enjoy them as much. For sure, he'll have fun with the case, as he's an enthusiastic woodworker and refinishing it will be right up his alley.
So. Another door closing, sort of, and I sure hope there's an open window out there, cause I'm ready for some fresh air!!