Saturday was fun! I attended my first (their second) lace knitting group at Lacis in Berkeley. What a lucky duck I am to live in such a wonderful area. Actually, I went on Friday to check out the beautiful knitted lace that's presently on display there. Gorgeous!
And on Saturday, left husband with kids and headed off-island to the Lacis, totally forgetting that there's the little thing called Berkeley swap meet going on. After acting land-sharky for awhile, finally found a parking spot on a side street. Extra bonus was that I now know where the Thai Temple is located. This is where you are supposed to be able to get the absolutely most delicious Thai food for very little $ on Sundays.
So, I met some wonderful folks and we knit lace and showed lace and it was fun. I know there are bloggers I read that were there, but I didn't ask (so if you stumble on my post, please leave a message). The two hours whipped by so fast. I finally had to dash because that parking space I got? Well, it's residential with a 2 hour limit. I really didn't need a ticket and I am pretty paranoid about Berkeley parking (ie. they tow cars parked too long--at least during football season).
Besides the knitting and all that amazing lace, I learned how to cast on for a circle using a crochet hook from Mary Francis. That is so cool. She also talked about the belly button cast-on. I think grumperina has a link to that (or she did it, can't remember).
There was also a Show-n-Tell. A swallowtail done in 3-ply loveliness. A hat inspired by GoL, a Red Hat doily hat, and the Elann aran lace sweater (you know the one that I have 3 types of yarn for). These are the ones I remembered, there might have been more. And the WIPs, wow!
Oh, and the yarn?! Lacis is carrying some amazing laceweights. I don't know if you remember awhile ago when I was lamenting on the fact that Lacis only carried shetland cobweb wool? And when I asked about zephyr they told me they'd might have ecru and black to start. Later, I got a phone call from the owner saying they didn't have any demand for it...hee hee. A year (actually 11mo.) later, they've got the full spectrum of zephyr and handpainted and linen and tussah silks and all sorts of laceweights.
So, I decided I'm doing the KAL with the folks. The info can be found at the Lacis site if y'all want to join. The magazine? spendy. But worth it. Beautiful patterns. And #66 is a Niebling (if you're interested).
The next meeting will be on the 2nd Saturday of September due to Labor Day.
Ha! And who says you can't take lace to a knitting group?! The trick is to make sure that EVERYONE else is ALSO knitting lace.
In my next post, I'll show the progress of my doily. I purchased some 2.25mm metal Inox dpns, but they're a tad fiddly. When I got home, I knitted on my US2 (2.75mm) 32in Knitpicks circs and they're fine for the doily. Gotta love magic loop!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I am so envious! I was there about twenty years ago and wish I could go back.
They don't list many laceweights in their catalog, so you are even luckier to have seen (and felt) them in person. Sighs.
Post a Comment