Out of the woods

Now that the dreaded lurgy is well and truly behind me, I can show a couple of FOs and one WIP.

FO1: Brooklyn Tweed's Hemlock Ring Blanket using the Rainey Sisters chart, in Rowan Kid Classic. Noice.
FO2: Molly's kimono published in Mason-Dixon Knitting. I used about 90g of Bendigo Classic. Molly is only brand new, but I hope she fits into this before winter is over.

Current favourite WIP: socks for a certain someone who recently complained that she had only one pair of hand-knitted socks.

We picked this yarn together. It's Pagewood Farm hand dyed sock yarn in Harvest colourway. I started knitting up some plain vanilla socks at SnB yesterday, but didn't really like the stocking stitch. Some other SnBers agreed that a patterned sock would be better. So I frogged it and started last night on Waving Lace socks from Interweave's Favourite Socks. I knitted this pattern for myself last year, and they are probably my favourite socks. That little white dot is a pin to remind me to tink back a couple of rounds - how did that extra stitch get there, and why have I only just noticed it?

The dreaded lurgy

I'm too sick to blog properly, but luckily not too sick to knit and watch many episodes of Dexter on dvd.

Knitting on my Hemlock Ring Blanket, my Princess Lace shawl, a Mason Dixon baby kimono for brand new Molly, and a secret project.

This is the first time I can ever remember needing a whole week off work for a darned flu-ey, cold-y sort of lurgy. Doc says plenty of fluids and plenty of hand washing should do it. I'm still waiting for it to work. It's yuk being sick.

Adventures of the purple hat

OK, I promise not to go on and on about it, but I really did have a great holiday. I can't wait to go back.

But I just wanted to share some pictures of perhaps the most useful (and lovely) item that I took with me on my hols: my purple hat. This soft, smooshy, comfy, warm, no-hat-hair hat was made for me by PomPom and gifted to me in a Ravelry favourite colours swap. Little did I realise just how handy it would be in the surprisingly cold spring weather of parts of Arizona.

I present to you the adventures of my purple hat:

Purple hat at the Grand Canyon

Purple hat in the Grand Canyon forest

(it's not all about the desert)

Purple hat in the Petrified Forest

Purple hat at the historic Hubbell Trading Post

Purple hat in the snow on Second Mesa

Thanks, Sally. I love my purple hat.

What day is it?

Through the wonder of international travel, and that tricky international date line, my days are jumbled in my head. I know it's Monday, but where did Sunday go?

We had a quiet Saturday in LA, our last day. I learned a new skill: freezer paper stencilling.

But mostly we were sad and pensive, not wanting to part.

We had a lovely family dinner before some brave-faced family photographs, followed by the dreaded trip to the airport.

It was a holiday I will never forget and will always treasure - just me, my sister and our Dad.

Friday in LA

Friday morning in LA meant another trip to Santa Monica to visit Wildfiber (we ran out of time yesterday). It was heaven. So much yarn to fondle.

Even though Dad suggested that I had already bought enough yarn yesterday (hey, Dad, I'm a grown up now and I can buy however much yarn I want, and anyway, we didn't limit you to just one electrical store, did we?), I did have to buy a few more skeins.

Here's the total two-day haul...yum...

We sent Dad off with brother-in-law to do some Hollywood-type stuff (brother-in-law is in the business) - checking out studios and inspecting prop vans and prop houses that store acres of any item you care to mention - while sister and I enjoyed a lovely lunch in Culver City. I even got to see the hotel where the cast of the Wizard of Oz stayed, in the the late 1930s (I'm a bit of a fan of that film - I probably know the script off by heart as we had it on LP as kids - yeah, corny, I know).

Home then to prepare for an evening meal with a few of sister's girlfriends. No photos, but I can't tell you what a fabulous evening it was with them. Lots of great food, good wine and laughter. What better last night in LA could there be?

Oh, I will miss it.

Posted by nettie at around 10pm on 17 April, LA time.

Thursday in LA

Another sunny day in LA took us to Santa Monica for a little shopping. First stop was A Mano Yarn Center, where I spent a dollar or two.

But, it could have cost me more. When we arrived, the shop attendant was faffing about as she couldn't get the computer and till to work. Well, our Dad just happens to be a computer whiz (yes, even at 77). He offered to help, while sister and I browsed. She was so grateful that she boldly announced that we could have 30% discount on our purchases if Dad could get the computer working. Well, the pressure was on. Dad fiddled and fooled and quietly unplugged, replugged and rebooted her system, and lo and behold I got 30% discount on some Blue Sky Alpaca, some ShiBuiKnits sock yarn, some Wisdom Yarn Poems that looks a bit like Noro, oh and some Noro and some more Noro and some Wildfoote sock yarn and some Tofutsies. Yay for Dad. It's lucky that there were no hardware stores nearby, otherwise he would have been there, and not in the yarn store with us. Here's me, looking jubilant.

We drove on for lunch and a little browse at in one of my favourite US stores, where I might have spent a few more dollars.

Then we went on to the Getty Villa at Malibu, which is a delight of ancient Greek and Roman antiquities.

Ceiling roses modelled on those found in Pompeii

Feline water spout

Shadows on the marble floor

Oh, do I have to leave?

Posted by nettie at 7pm on 16 April LA time.

Wednesday in LA again

A quiet day, back in LA, pondering the wonder of our desert trip, and planning the next one.

There was some knitting on the road. This simple garter stitch and YO/k2tog scarf in some stash cotton for my favourite sister's young stepdaughter was completed on Highway something or other. It's the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts - mindless passenger knitting.


And I've done a little more work on my Princess Lace Wrap. It requires a bit more concentration, so there's been a bit of tinking, due to the vagaries of wine o'clock.

We spent a lovely day at home, sister and I, doing some cooking. She wondered if I was going to post pictures of a pot of vomit and then another pot of vomit, but I'm sure my distinguished readers can recognise mushroom ragu and moroccan vegetable stew.
I love her nonetheless.

Posted by nettie at 9pm on 15 April in LA.