These Boots Aren't Meant For Walking

This past March was a "put one foot in front of the other" kind of month. With a combination of family health scares and a pile of difficult tests, I ended up pretty stressed out. It's taken me a week or two to start feeling better. But rather than focus on the negative, let me show off some things that helped lift me up.

1. I have made a new pair of baby booties. The last pair I made unfortunately didn't fit the recipient. After seeing the tiny baby feet in person, I decided to make up my own pattern. They look weird without feet in them, but I'm pretty sure that with small feet inside them, these new cowboy booties will look much cuter.

2. I finished embroidering the lower 48 states. What a job! I'm not anywhere close to finishing this quilt, but I feel pretty darn good about how far I've gotten. I've ordered some new embroidery floss and plan to quilt the remaining background with longitude and latitude lines. (Alaska and Hawaii will be added too!)

Toughest coastline embroider: Maryland

3. Yarn! My Plucky I ordered at Stitches West arrived. I initially felt it was too dark, but it's growing on me. Then a fantastic package from Wei Siew arrived. She sure did spoil me. Dark Harbor, Bleeting Arts, and Fiber 2 Go?! She also sent a few other unpictured goodies.

4. I finished my Groovy Socks and have cast on two new pairs. Vanilla Latte socks in Stray Cat Socks's Blue Moon color way and Woodpile socks in Spun Right Round's Bug Jar color way.

5. Just today I decided to paint a scene from the TV show Riverdale. Connor and I recently finished it and I really liked the design for Pop's Chock'lat Shoppe. 

How has life been going for all of you? Have you focused on anything to help keep you sane?

Stitches West 2018

This year I wasn't going to go to Stitches West. I told myself, "I have enough yarn" and "If you go, you know you'll buy more because you have no self control once the yarn fumes hit you." So that was that. The day before Stitches opened to the general public my father said, "Well, if you don't go, you might be sad about it, but if you do go, the worst that could happen is you'll forget about the experience. Also, I need a replacement 'Knit Long and Prosper' mug. Mine got chipped." Ever the dutiful daughter, I went.

As you can see, I got the "Knit Long And Prosper" mug from Pawley Studios... and a few other things. Connor came along during his lunch break and talked me into two skeins from White Birch Fiber Arts. The bluer one is "The Truth Is Out There" and the purple one is "Travel Agent For Guilt Trips." We also got a pretty soap dish from Kunihiro Pottery. I've been jealous of the one I gave my mum back in 2015. Then there were the girl scouts...
After all those purchases Connor had to go back to work so I was left to my own devices. I picked up a skein of Baah! La Jolla in La Perla. I've decided that it's my favorite skein of white, it's hard to find, so it is worth the money. After that, I wandered around, peeked in a bunch of different booths, and almost left without any more yarn. The last booth I stopped at was the Plucky booth. There are some really hardcore fans of Plucky. I am not one of them, but I appreciate their colors. I picked up three skeins of Trusty Fingering in Barn Door, but tragically, I needed four to make the sweater I wanted. As I lamented being short a skein, two fellow stitches west attendees chatted with me. They said, "Don't you know you can preorder skeins. Also, that grey would look great on you." Then they left. I wish I could tell those two lovely ladies that they succeeded in enabling me. I not only bought 6 skeins of Trusty (worsted) in Metro, I preordered four skeins of Trusty Fingering in Barn Door. I didn't get a chance to say thank-you, but just know you helped me enhance my stash.

Stitching States And Socks

It was another busy week with school and other commitments, but I still have found a little time in the evenings to work on my crafty pursuits. My Hylestad socks are finally done, for one.

Hylestad socks in Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering's En Garde and Baah! La Jolla's La Perla

Truth be told, I had finished them a week or two ago, but only finally sat down and wove in the ends. We've been watching Man In The High Castle and it is too interesting to weave ends to.

I've also be knitting away at my Rose By Any Other Name socks. I was hoping to have them done in time to wear for Valentine's Day, but in the last week the temperature has gone up significantly and now it is too hot to wear hand knit socks. I'll try to get them done anyways, just in case it decided to cool down.

Vanilla Socks in Canon Hand Dye's Rose By Any Other Name

Then there are the socks I cast on while we were in Hawaii. Or rather, I cast them on while we were in the airport to leave Hawaii. Still counts as Hawaii socks, right?

Groovy socks in White Birch Fiber Art's Wile Thai Ryder

There was also a night this last week where I was overcome with the need to work on my USA quilt. First I was just going to stitch a bit of Oregon. Then I was just going to stitch the California coast. But before I knew it, it was past midnight and I had finished all of Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. I got to move the hoop and now I only have the gulf states and a bit of the east coast left.

The quilt is still far from being done, but at least a major potion will be complete.

Has anyone else found solace in their projects this week? Are there any projects that you've felt compelled to work on?

One Tree Short Of A Forest

I have some good knitting news and some bad knitting news. Let's start with the good. I finished my Joyeux Noel socks early for next Christmas! Ok... so I didn't finish in time for this past Christmas, but that's ok. They came out great and now I get to look forward to wearing them during the next holiday season.

Stray Cat Socks in Joyeux Noel and a special-ordered contrasting brown

The bad news... well... I made a big boo boo. It might be hard to see in the picture, but last night as I was doing the decreases for the second sock to go from 72 to 64 stitches, I couldn't get the stitch count to come out right. Finally I counted out my stitches... and I already had 64 stitches. I turned a little grey. There are 9 repeats of the tree pattern on the first sock; there are only 8 on the second one. Sigh. I held off ripping until today.

It's probably better not to rip when you are angry

Of course with no knitting to work on, I cheered myself up with casting on something new. I've been meaning to knit my skein of Canon Hand Dyes in "A Rose By Any Other Name" for a while now. Every time I get to it Valentine's Day has passed and I lose my motivation. Not this year though! Maybe with enough of a head start I'll be able to wear these puppies in time for the pinkest holiday of the year.

What kinds of things have you all had to rip out lately? Has anyone else been one tree short of a forest?

Bay Area Talent

Yesterday I went to Nine Rubies in San Mateo. It was Local Designer night. Not only is the store incredibly cute, but I felt really welcome. (Admittedly I had been a little worried that I'd be intruding or something, which is dumb.) What finally convinced me to go was that both featured designers posted to their blogs about their even and said "I'd love to meet anyone who can come out." Honestly, that helped me get over whatever weird not-sure-if-I-should-go feelings I was having.

And who were those designers? There was Carrie of Irish Girlie Knits and Hilary of The Yarniad and Citron fame. Both were incredibly friendly, chatted with me about all the designer questions I had, and posed for two pictures because I looked dumb in the first one. After talking with them I realized that all the things I've been worried about or putting off really came down to my own insecurity. I should just go for it. 

After meeting them, Dad and I went for dinner and I reviewed over what I learned. I then realized that I meant to buy a pattern from each of them because their patterns are lovely and I have a deep seated belief in supporting local artisans. But I totally forgot. The shame!

I think I might have to blame Carrie for that oversight though. She distracted me with yarn. I had never gotten to see Plucky Knitter yarn in person before and this has Cashmere. And she let me know that the blend is Plucky Knitters own mix. I got all excited about the mill work that goes into creating a blend. So there you have it. It's a good thing both designers have their patterns for sale online.

This is Primo! in the colorway Barely Birch. So pretty, so soft, and all mine.

A big thanks to my Dad for coming with me. According to Mum, it was "his turn" because she went to four yarn shops while we were on our trip. He noticed that only one other guy was there and that a yarn shop really is a women's den. However, he had a good chat with Hilary and asked questions I totally forgot to. I think he enjoyed the chat extra because she laughed at his "Possums are nature's little speedbumps" joke.