Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Monday, October 25, 2010

FO: Ishbel


For my MLB post-season knitting (GO GIANTS, ahem) I made:

Pattern: Ishbel
Needle: US5 Lantern Moon "Destiny" Circulars
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in Firebird

A fun, easy and fast knit. I love how the colorway knitted up. Excellent therapy for the nervous baseball watcher (I get crazy nervous on critical pitches; the Beard nearly gave me a heart attack every game).

Friday, October 01, 2010

Back in Business

Just a short note to say that I am back in business! My previous employer had a prohibition on personal blogging, which is happily no longer an issue.

And my grand-reopening news is to report on my first visit to Artfibers since their San Francisco store closed. In case you did not know, they are back in the city, at 266 Sutter Street, 3rd Floor. The space is fantastic; very open, with lots of wonderful light. The yarn is arranged in pull-out bins as before, each set topped with delicious swatches to inspire you. I bought two cones of Ming in black for a sweater for my lovely mother in law, and a lengthwise scarf kit for myself. It contains several different yarns, so it is a fabulous way to sample yarns you may not have tried before.

They have a number of new (to me anyway) yarns; if I hadn't had my heart set on Ming for the sweater, I would have had a very hard time choosing. Both Safa (chunky cotton) and Lingo (sportweight linen) will be on my list for spring/summer knitting. And I don't think I will be able to resist the thoroughly swoon-worthy Yaqui for a cozy winter wrap of some kind.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to head up there RIGHT NOW and buy some yarn!

Alas, none of my most recent FOs involve knitting. I recently became obsessed with needlepoint and have been doing loads of that, and got back into cross-stitch, which may have been the first fiberish craft I ever learned.

You can make a ladybug of your very own, by heading up to Needlepoint Inc. (conveniently close to Artfibers!!). The canvas is 13 mesh, and I used Silk and Ivory for most of it, plus Treasure braid for the eyes, antennae and accents. The cross-stitch piece is Greek Island by Michael Powell from CrossStitcher issue no. 224 (a thoroughly excellent British magazine).




Happy Stitching (of all kinds!) to all!