Bonbon

I was so close on getting some ca$hmere from ColourmartUK, but I just couldn't do it. Why not? I want to order from his non-Ebay store, but the colors are a little lacking. I'm waiting for a good 4-ply. Anyway, I saw this and couldn't pass it up. $10/cone of laceweight silk. ooh...bonbon...sweet...I knit up a little swatch using #3's and it was nice.
------
100% silk lace weight yarn for hand or machine knitting
Simply silk, deep deep lustrous colors...
Cone Weight: 150g, 5oz
Yards on each cone: approx 2,500 (7,500 yards per lb).
This yarn comes from one of the top knitting mills in Scotland, and was specially made for them in France.
This yarn is supplied still oiled for industrial knitting, and needs to be washed to "bloom" further.
This yarn is a 2 ply yarn, (2/28NM), and will knit similarly to the lace weight yarns described in the table comparing the knit properties of most of our yarns here .

Non-knitting cool kid post

As I'm dropping off z and a at school this morning, this is the conversation I had w/ z (who's 3 1/2):

z: momma?
me: yes, z?
z: this weekend, on Saturday, I want Viks for lunch.
me: really?
z: two dosas, one puffy bread (cholle), and no chicken biryani.
z: because the chicken biryani is too spicy.
me: yes, the chicken is very spicy.

Last weekend, we went to Viks
(in Berkeley, and if you've never been, go), and we got our usual order: one dosa, one cholle, chicken biryani and one Thumbs Up soda (tastes like wood) for z and a's dad...

Anyway, how cool is that? I've got a kid that enjoys eating more than turkey hotdogs, mac&cheese, and chicken strips (although he really likes those too)

Lacevember Activity

First activity for Lacevember...actually, I probably should go grab a button. Maybe tomorrow...

---------------
The knitting questions, or the usual suspects

How long have you been knitting? January 2005

How did you learn to knit? from book and friend

Favorite thing about knitting? endproduct

How long have you been knitting lace? a year ago, I made Liesel, but didn't 'catch the bug' until a couple of months ago

Favorite thing about knitting lace. It keeps my interest and is very cool


The yarn questions, or flash your stash

Favorite lace yarn? Misti Alpaca (mostly 'cause I haven't tried alot of others)

variegated or solids for shawls? depends of the pattern, mostly solids

Favorite lace color? all colors.


Technique, or show us your skillz

Circs or straights? both

Favorite lace knitting trick? doing nupps in parts

Lifelines? If so with what? only once, am too lazy now. I used crochet cotton.

Fancy blocking wires, or just sewing pins stuck in your carpet? wire from Ace Hardware


Pattern, or can you follow directions

shawls or lacey items? ummm...Yes!

triangle, rectangle, or circular shawls? I like the look of rectangle shawls, have made more triangle shawls, and would like to attempt circular shawls (once I get past the thought that circular shawls look like big doilies or tablecloths)

Charts or printed instructions? I love charts, but sometimes need to look at written instructions to confirm

Favorite lace you've knit? Eunny Jang's Print O'Wave

Favorite lace you want to knit? Someday, I'd like to do an Orenburg shawl in cobweb yarn


Just Fun, yup that's right, just for fun

Favorite jelly belly flavor? not a big fan of jelly bellies, red flavor?!

Tell me everything you know about Eric the Red.....all I know about him is that he was a Viking

Coke, classic or with lime? diet coke or diet coke w/ lime

Holiday carols, sing along, or wish they would be banned from all public airwaves? ban them! naw, they're okay

What is the definition of irony? seriously...seriously?!

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? 1

Why is my cat always puking in front of my son's bedroom door? because he can

What is your superhero power? with my super spidey sense, I know when my children are doing things that they shouldn't.

If the laundry is 9 foot by 11 foot (just dreaming, that's a big laundry room), and the walls are 8 feet tall, and you are going to tile the entire room in tiles that are 3 inches by 5 inches, what color should those tiles be? green

What's for dinner tonight? nachos

What is clogging my children's bathtub drain? hair

Swallowtail II

I got this partial cone of laceweight wool, clearly used for machine knitting (it's oily and smells like machine oil). So, I started another Shetland triangle from IK Wrap Style (you all know that's what everyone I know is getting, right?!), but realized that I wanted to make the Shetland square using almost the same type yarn (a slightly lighter green wool). So, I bound off my sample and washed it to see how it would look. Using size 7 needles, this is what I have.

Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, it's super soft and really shows the stitches very well. I was a tad doubtful when I started knitting with this yarn because the stitches were all wonky. But this is purty, isn't it.

Instead, I decided to do another swallowtail, and maybe this time either add another repeat, or (gasp!) do different edging. (Note to self: read the information from Eunny Jang re: lace). Here's the WIP at 150 something stitches. This is using old #5's that sizes to #6's. Okay, look how much yarn I have left, I really need to either do additional repeats or something.

On the blanket front, I'm still trying to decide on edging. I think I'll do a mitered knit edging ala Mason-Dixon blanket, but I've got to figure out whether to use a 3rd color for the edge or to use the aqua or medium blue.

Oh, wait, it's lacevember

and I haven't chosen a pattern yet.

I'm presently working on another Shetland Triangle as well as a scarf in some random lace book. However, I believe that I should do a largish project. I've got some green Shetland wool...maybe I'll do a Shetland square from Folk Shawls. Or the birdnest one... I was looking at my Modern Lace Knitting book (the 1st one) and I really like the curtains, I was wondering if that would be too weird to be a reinterpreted as a stole ala Scarlett (O'Hara, that is).

Oh, I came across Lace Style. Too bad the book doesn't come out until next year. All I can say is that they'd better not have previously published patterns in this book(like the Holiday issue I got suckered into purchasing). I'll be bummed.

Spirally

Here are the pics for the blanket. The initial triangles were fun to knit (albeit the simultaneous 4 skeins of yarns did get tangled alot).



However, as the blanket grew, the knitting did get a tad more monotonous, however, the yarns stopped tangling. Okay, easy knit, since it's only knit stitch. I used #7's on Plymouth Encore. I've used almost 4 skeins of each colour. I'm not done yet, I've still to put edging. Without edging, it just doesn't look finished.

Happy Halloween!

So, I was in charge of hollowing out the pumpkins and the boys were in charge of carving while I was at knitting last night. What do you think of these. Fabulous.

Yes, z picked the baying wolf and helped dad carve it. Cool or what. Now, 2 more pumpkins to go...

Non-knitting Molbio (work related) post

So, since the demise of the company that I worked for, I've been primarily learning to knit, and then doing lots of knitting (in case you're wondering how I can manage 2 small children, work, the beginning of a huge remodel, and knitting, well, I hadn't).

Anyway, seems that I may have landed my perfect job -- all without actively pursuing it. At a wedding this summer, I was seated with friends who asked when I was going to go back to work. I flippantly said ' when there's a part-time job on this side of the bay'...knowing full well that 1)most positions were located in the Penninsula and south and would require a huge commute and I've been there and done that and don't want to do that again, 2) there have been huge layoffs at biotech companies around here and the market is saturated with desperate folks looking for jobs in my field, 3) part-time biotech? yeah, that's like cheap housing in the Bay Area... Well, it turns out that such a beast does exist. I got a call from a friend who told me about her friend (who I've met and quite like and have actually worked with their company) who was looking for ...yes, a part-time molecular biologist. Yay me.

Looks like I'll be starting this Wednesday. The only sad thing is that I had just gotten into a good schedule with a, and now, she'll start at z's school this week.

On the knitting front, I've 'finished' the blanket, and now it's only edging, yeah, right, only edging.

Spirally Loop-D Geek transfiguration

I'm over the moon. My z actually requested a knitted object. This is the boy who refuses to wear the sweaters I knitted for him (orange lovely from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, blue rolled collar pull-over from some pattern, and the Italia Fingerpaints toddler cardi). This is also the same boy that had no interest in a kitty or elephant that I knit for him. Or any of the knitted bags, scarves, hats, etc...

Well, he wants a baby blanket. But not a baby blanket, a big boy blanket...I immediately started looking for a pattern. I showed him the Curve of Pursuit that I first saw in the Mason-Dixon book. He thought that would be cool. I then saw the Swirl Without End and he thought that was also cool. I thought hey, I have this pattern...Loop-D-Loop as the Geek sweater. Well, gee, I wanted to start it now, and to order the pattern from across the pond would just take too long.

As for the yarn, he likes blue. We went on-line and he picked out the blue colors he liked. I came home with navy blue and medium blue and he pitched a fit (did I mention he's not 4 years old yet?). Apparently, he doesn't like the navy. What's a mom to do? Yeah, I caved. I told him that if he didn't like the Miami Aqua (I had that for a sweater I never finished for him because I wasn't going to knit him any more clothing -- and yes, the sweater was done minus one sleeve. Yes, one sleeve), he wasn't getting a blanket. He said he liked the color and so I started knitting (after ripping and rewinding the sweater).

I knitted the blanket according to protocol in the book. At triangles 8 or so, I figured out that I've knitted a bowl. Awww, pickles! The pattern asks for an increase of only 2 stitches per side and well, that's not enough. Think about geometry and tell me how an additional 2 stitches per side would work out. (it doesn't.)I could stretch it out to flat again, but since this is being made w/ Encore, it's not going to ever block out. Soooo, ripped out to block 6 and started again. At block 9, realized the culprit was at block 5 (double pickles!) and ripped it back. The nice thing about Encore is that no tinking required. Pull out the needles and rip away and super easy to pick up the remaining loops.

Anyway, I'm knitting triangles. And more triangles. I'm tired of knitting triangles, so the blanket should be done pretty soon. I have pics in the camera, but can't be bothered to upload them. Will take finished shot and post then.

One thing tho'...he's got a good eye for color. It looks really good.

peace.

Shetland triangle

I've been coveting the IK Wrap Styles for awhile now. It's not one of the books available at the library, and I so wanted to make a couple of wraps. I've visited the book on a number of occasions and finally picked it up (the one remaining copy -- I felt that if it were still there, I'd get it since I had a 50% off coup). No, seriously, I'd go visit the book. Pick it up and walk around with it for awhile, then put it down again, 'cause, you know, I've not worn a wrap since I was 8 years old and my mother made me a yellow poncho with a multi-colour strip in the middle, and it had fringe. And it was acrylic -- I'm suspecting it was Red Heart or something similar. I have nothing against petrochemical ponchos, I wore that thing for years...Anyway, I'd go to the store and see that yes, they still had the book, but did I need that book?

Why, yes I did. I'll be making a project from this book for at least one person on my xmas list.

I'm starting with the shetland lace. It doesn't use much yarn and it's an easy pattern to memorize. Of course, remember when I first started lace and was amazed and confounded by folks that, wow, can remember the pattern. Well, I've become one of those folks. yeah for me.

Here's the specs:
Start date: 10/8/06
Finish date: 10/11/06
yarn: blue angora yarn (same as black but blue) 1 ball
blocking: 10/13/06

kiri

Kiri shawl was such a fast knit that I didn't even have time to blog about it.

Specs:
black 70% angora 30% nylon yarn
1.5 balls of it
started: October 2, 2006
finished: October 9, 2006
15 total repeats
needles: size 4 Clovers with size 9 bind off (after reading about too tight bind offs on other blogs)
*edging looked pretty crummy since it was so loose.


Blocking: Check out that scallop (yippee!). Of course, I'm not a huge fan of that pointy thing at the bottom pointing to your bottom, but I guess the new thing about shawls is to wear it skewed (or is it just me?)

It blocked much much larger than I expected. It spans the extra large bath towel (aka bath sheet) and I had to block it in our almost cleared out basement.

Very very pretty. I am a tad worried that the angora won''t block out that well, the pattern will be obscured and look like a black cat around the shoulders. That and that it'll shed everywhere. I noticed that the water did change color when I had it soaking in the sink. Either way, this yarn was lovely to knit with. I'll likely make this again with another yarn (in a lighter shade).

Wave Bye Bye

Yep, I finished Eunny Jang's Print O' Wave shawl. Here are the specs:
start date: Aug 2006
finished: Sept 29, 2006
materials: 3 skeins of Misti Alpaca (actually, more like 2.4 -- surprising since I thought I'd read that you're only supposed to use ~900 yds of laceweight. I tend to have much more left over yarn than other folks, especially if I follow the directions)
needles: size 4 Clover straights, Clover circs, Boye circs (didn't like the Boyes because they are too slippery for alpaca and got the Clovers)

Observations and alterations from nicely written protocol:
- knit the main piece in one piece, not two. I didn't like the way they joined in the middle.
- they should warn you that most of your time is spent on the edging...damn that edging. That part of the stole took me seriously, a month. None of that 40% of the scarf is edging, more like 60%
- in hindsight, should have taken the time to do the math, and figure out the pattern of the edging. It sure got wonky right on the corners. I hope it'll block out.
- knit with different needles. I figured out that for Misti Alpaca, must use bamboo.
- I'm really a loose knitter, and I really should consider smaller needles.
- Misti Alpaca is quite warm, and I hope I'll wear the stole.
- will attempt to block using music wires and am hoping that they don't rust
- I really like this pattern.
- I really like knitting lace.

Before:


Later...

Observations about the blocking:
This blocked large, way large. I had purchased some music wires and had to use additional pins to pin it out (it's larger than 72 in). The stole blocked beautifully, but I did come across a glaring mistake on the edging. Okay, not glaring, but somehow I managed to have 2 somewhat peaks instead of 1. I'm a tad puzzled since the math worked out, but oh, well.

Will post beauty shots once I get a chance. (The weather is crummy).

Linen bookmark

I've revisited the bookmark making thing since I've decided I like lace. I have some linen laceweight yarn and thought I'd make this bookmark.

I used 100% linen yarn
#1 plastic straights.
pattern from the internet -- starts as 1 stitch on the bottom and each row starts as a YO


I thought I had #1 Addis but they were in fact #2. I swatched this yarn (actually, more like string) on #4, #3, and #1. The 4s were a little too lacy for a bookmarker, but if I decide to make a larger project w/ the linen yarn, I may opt for the larger needle. I blocked it and now it's soft, so I'll have to stiffen it w/ whatever concoction folks use to make crochet snowflakes and angels (which I'll be attempting soon).

I liked the pattern, but the first thing z&a's dad said when he saw it was that it looked phallic.

btw--the book it's on is Omnivore's Dilemma. You'll never think about food in the same way again...(or at least that's what z&a's dad says -- I bought him that book for his birthday).

Oregon Stash

While at the Oregon Flock and Fleece Festival, I saw some beautiful stuff, roving mostly, but lots of yarn too...I'm still bummed I didn't get additional alpaca yarn, or the beautifully soft cashmere that was available (the $$$ it cost was another factor).

Now, for what I did get. I got enough laceweight wool for a shawl (in dark grey), a ball of laceweight alpaca (2 oz) for another swallowtail or a shawlette, and a little alpaca. You can't see the alpaca very well in my picture. I may take another pic at a later date.

OFFF

The Oregon Flock and Fleece Festival was this last weekend so I thought I'd stop by. We had planned a trip up to Orygun earlier this year and upon searching for knit and yarn events in the Northwest, it ended up that our trip coincided with the festival.

We drove south to Canby, a mere 30 miles from Portland (what's 30 miles when you've traveled 500+?). We followed their directions and pulled into a dirt/grass parking lot to find animals the size of sheep, but were in fact large dogs. We think there must have been a dog show going on at the same time. Anyway, we got back in the car and went a couple hundred yards further to another dirt/grass parking lot (bigger than the other one) and I noted that there were folks carrying large bags of loot, I mean fleece, to their cars...

The four of us went in and saw lots of folks in the central area spinning. There was also the yummy smell of barbeque, but since we'd eaten right before, it wasn't that tempting (especially the huge lines). We perused one building and realized that the animals weren't there.

btw-- that's how I was able to get them to go to the OFFF...the promise of sheep, llamas, and alpacas.

We finally found the animals and they were utterly charming. I love love the alpacas.
Also liked the llamas.
The angora bunnies were freaks . They were huge and fluffy and they took up the whole bunny cage.(didn't take pictures)

While z&a and z&a's dad were looking at the animals, I got a chance to look at yarn. I will post pictures of the small loot when I get a chance to take pics of them.

Whiny winding

Okay, I love love my new swift. In fact, I wanted to wind my first windable-only-with-swift laceweight yarn on it. It's a lovely dark blue wool...Placed it on the swift and noticed that there are more than 2 ends...hmmm...what's that all about?! Maybe a separate piece of yarn was used to tie off the skeins...yes, that must be it.

Well, no.

I now have (count them) 7 cakes of yarn! One large and 6 small to very small cakes. What the F? (I'm so bummed I'm not even dignifying it with a picture). I'd be winding a bit, then it would end. How frustrating was that? I'll be able to Russian join them together for the stole I have in mind for it (Persimmon from Summer Knitters mag), but still. I think (I'm hoping) that the hank of yarn was accidently cut? I think that's the case because there were times where I fished out 2 yarn ends that matched perfectly. But still, how annoying. It's not like I'm going to go and get my money back (all purchases final and their last day will be Saturday). Also, I got such a great deal on the swift itself...

Anyway, whine whine vent vent.

Thanks for listening.

---
On a less whiny note:
I'm 44% done with the edging on the Print O' Wave stole...I am seeing the light.

Swift Story

I've been yearning for a swift for gee, I don't know how long. I have been making do with the 70's style floor lamp and aging non-matching shade as my swift. Here's a picture of it. (Please disregard the quikrete bag in our basement.)

How funny is that?! I've had on more than one occasion been so enthusiastic with my winding that the finial went flying off. Oh, and the shade does not match the lamp, the original shade was cylindrical in shape (and that just won't do). Also, please note the clips literally holding the shade onto the metal shade cage. Classy, I know.

Aside: You probably already know how using a lamp/shade as a swift works, BUT...For using a lamp/shade as swift, you find a nicely shaped lamp and shade (unplugged, of course), and place hank of yarn over the shade. Then loosen the finial (nobby thing on top that holds shade to lamp) and you are set to wind. Words of caution: try not to get too enthusiastic in your winding because 1) the finial can fall off and the lamp shade may derail, 2) you may end up with a tangled mess around the lamp base or harp, 3) the hank of yarn can slip off the shade since the only thing stopping that are those lovely clips. Guess how I know these things.

As I said, I've been craving swifts. I've been checking and rechecking the Joann site, looking at Mama Bear's swift, and even downloaded,printed out AND purchased items to make a swift myself. But I got hung up on the make it yourself model. I didn't have a drill bit to drill the holes for the dowels (how lame is that?!).

So, I thought I'd think about purchasing a swift. I had the wooden swift in my basket at Skein Lane when it was 20% off. Nope, too expensive, back it went. Then, I had the Japanese metal/plastic one in my hands (50% off) when I was at Skein Lane a little while ago. I checked it out, and couldn't pull the trigger on it --it would have been very close to the price of the Joann swift(also at a 50% discount). It just looked too rickety, and the metal clamp? Don't even go there. Instead, I did the enabler thing, I found a woman in the shop who I overheard had wanted to purchase a swift (she was looking at me with envy as I had the only swift left in the store in my shopping basket) ...And I gave it to her. Then I had non-buyer's remorse for about a week...shoulda...shoulda...but didn't. Not only that but later at another yarn store, I realized that this is what they use for winding yarn?! Can't be THAT rickety. Drats!

Then I went to Lacis and looked at their wooden swifts. Very pretty, like furniture. But it takes up room, but very pretty...hmm...oh, and they had the metal one also, at full price. Drats!

I read up on swifts some more and I read about the Schact GOKO swift. And how this swift is the perfect swift for lace, and you all know how I'm crazy for lace now. It's got a flywheel and gravity isn't an issue with this swift since it's ferris-wheel like.

Back to my story, yes, I thought what a wonderful swift, and didn't I see some metal bits that looked like the swift in a box under a table at Skein Lane? Naw, that was a spindle for spinning...

I ended up stopping by the shop as it's now been several days at 75% off original prices and I thought a few patterns would be good. I walked into the shop and looked under the table where I thought I'd seen the box, and was a little disappointed when it wasn't there. Oh, well...then I looked AT the table and a shopper moved a box off the buttons so that she could look at the selection. hmmm...no, it can't be...why, there's a sale tag on the box saying spindle on sale. I nonchalantly went up to the box and peered inside and took out the manual. It was indeed the swift and they had 2 of them! I asked about the adjustability of the swift and I apparently couldn't read, because the shop owner looked at the instructions and said yes.

I promptly bought the swift (at 75% off). I told her how surprised I was that this wasn't snapped up and she thought that folks didn't know what it was. Seriously, this is what she was selling. And really, would you have purchased this box? And it said spindle. And it's mine!


Took it home and have set it up and finally got around to winding the Koigu for A's socks. It is wonderful. And it's mine. And it was very inexpensive. And did I mention it was mine? Ends up the swift is a little limited as to size of hanks for winding (57"-63"), but it's very very nice.

swallowtail

I'm blocking! This has been a super interesting knit. I'm finding that I really do like doing lace work (altho' it's a real challenge doing it with a 3.5yo and a 4mo old, especially the older one pulling on the arm whilst knitting). But I finished this lickity split fast (for me).

Stats:
start date: August 29
end date: Sept 7
blocking: today
yarn: 1 skein of Misti Alpaca in Blue (I have some left over)
needles: size 3 Clover circs




Challenges:
Thinking that this:

would turn into this:

I did make a major error in knitting this (besides not paying attention to how I'm blocking this sucker), I shifted off a stitch on the edging and didn't realize it until much later. It's here. On the edging, I misknitted and then somehow recovered such that two of the triangles aren't pointy (extra yo?)
I'm pretty darn proud of this. And it was such a nice fun knit that I'll just have to do another one. It really is too bad that I don't like triangular shawls...I may have to make another, but alter it to become a stole (ala print o'wave).

It's a good day

It's been a good day. We went to Baby knitting at Article Pract today. Wow, there were lots'o babies and many moms. In fact, stroller parking was in the back (aside: didn't know that they had a back yard, will have to investigate another time).

Very nice moms and kids ranging in age from 7 weeks to 14months (that was the teacher's baby, so that doesn't count). Not alot of knitting got done, but I tried. I brought my swallowtail because I'm binding off (happy dance happy dance)...I've not done this type of bind off before, but pretty cool. I'll have to check to see what's the real name for this bind off and also whether this is SOP for lace. I managed to bind off maybe 12-15 stitches...the rest of the time was spent chatting and admiring other babies. Like I said, a good day.

I come home to find this:

yes, this is my sample pack from ColourMart. Plus they sent 250yds of washed cashmere. I will be super good and just knit up one of these samples (and then wash it) to see how it compares with their sample. Their laceweight is a bit thinner than I expected, and I believe I'd like the 4-ply the best.

The only thing is that their DK and Aran weight is just strands plied together.

I do want me some cashmere...

Did I mention that I have very expensive taste in yarn? I always seem to find the absolute most expensive ball of yarn in a yarn store. Today for example, I am minding my own business and browsing and come across a little ball of pretty yarn. Yep, Qiviut at $52(?) for a small ball. Or the hank of yarn that I was admiring, only to find that it's cashmere (sigh).

Can you knit up a neckwarmer with 250 yds? I think I'll have to find the perfect pattern before I invest in this yarn. (they're about $30/1150yds plus $5 shipping). That is not too expensive. Maybe for my birthday...but I may want either a pressure cooker or a swift for my birthday...I'll have to try to remember if I got myself a present last year...

Lace on the brain

I had to post this picture from IK as inspiration. As I'm nearing the end of IK's swallowtail, and feeling that I'm screwing up the final edging. Don't ask, I somehow gained 2 stitches and tinked it a couple of times back a couple of rows, and couldn't figure it out, so I just faked it.

Anyway...I felt the need to get some inspiration, so it was pack up A and head to lovely Lacis (I also had to run errands, so it wasn't too bad). Yes, just you shush, I've driven by it how many times and never went in. I wanted to check out their book selection as well as their tools and you KNOW I just had to take a look at cobweb weight yarn.

What a neat place. I was directed to the knit lace part of their book section, I got a chance to look through (albeit quickly since I had A in a sling) some of their books. Prices for books were steep. Maybe I misread the sticker, or else it's signed by the author or something, but they were about twice the amount I've seen elsewhere. I was specifically looking for A Gathering of Lace, but didn't see it there. But what I really liked was their needle selection. Wow. There are some seriously dangerous tools there. Their metal dpns were amazing. They had 000 (?) double pointed needles. I swear they were wire. They looked like wire. Anywhoo, they carried the Inox, so I got a circ for my next project.

I was shown what cobweb weight yarn look like (yes, it looks just like sewing thread, but slightly thinner!). Yeah, I'll be doing a project in that weight real soon...yeah, right.

I was told that they're getting Zephyr yarn in pretty soon. They will only be carrying white ecru and black to start. I can't wait!

Back to Lacis, they have all this lace stuff, just beautiful stuff. It's so inspired me that I may pick up crocheting again and doing some lace. I wonder what I'd do with lace doilies...

So, if you're in the neighborhood, definitely go!

Oh, and since Lacis doesn't open until noon, I had a little time to browse at Article Pract in Oakland. They reminded me (again) that they have baby knitting Thursday mornings. I'm going. I'm really going to go. Really. 10:30am. Really.