slowknitter

Well, in this case it was “F*ck Off” rather than finish off… (asterisk for the spammers and not because I’m cleaning up my act or anything…)

I quit my job last week. The one was that was making me cranky and bitter and unable to do normal things like knit and perhaps sleep…I had this week off before I start my old job back on this show. Much better people. Though seriously a week on my old job was an eternity. Where in the hell did this week go anyway?

I do actually have real knitting FO’s. Wanna see?

Although my sockapaloser socks were due first I actually finished my Dish Rag Tag dishcloth before the socks. What? It was a more important deadline! I had nine other people depending on my speedy knitting and mailing of the dishrag rather than just the one person waiting patiently for her socks. Anyway, we came in second place! My super secret ninja priority mail skills DID come in handy. Though if the damn post office in Washington state had been a little faster… (/me shakes fist at post office’s general direction!)

Here’s photo of the box after Emily got it (stolen from Emily! I was in such a hurry to get it out the door I forgot to take a photo)

Then in a fit of “I want to get my damn sockapalooza pal off my back” pique I finished those too

Actually, I was just being dramatic. My pal was very gracious about my lateness. Plus I put a bunch of really good guilt yarn in the box.

Speaking of sock pals…

My sock pal sent me an email a while back telling me that she had lost one of my socks (gasp. sersly, I know. I would die if that were me.) And I haven’t heard from her since. Now I know if it was me that lost one complete sock I would completely lose my will to knit another one. Or another pair (especially since I asked for plain ass boring socks) because how could you knit the same socks not once, not twice, but thrice? Anyway, I got contacted by a sock savior and I’ll be getting socks from her.

So note to my sock pal- Lady, you are totally off the hook! Feel no guilt or pain or anything else. I think you’re super crazy busy and you lost a sock on a plane. I’m not mad or disappointed or anything of the sort. (let’s be honest here- I’ve got a very full life. My happiness doesn’t depend on whether or not a pair of socks shows up on my doorstep.) Keep those socks and give them as a gift to someone in your life that you love. Your time is too valuable to give away like that.

That’s my new motto, by the way. Knit for people you love. Not strangers. (Also, was I the only one who lied to people when they asked me about the socks I was knitting? I said they were for a “friend”. Too damn hard to explain why I was knitting socks for a complete stranger…)

Although, I am taking part in a reverse dish rag tag swap with my team. But that’s a few hours of my time. And I have to get rid of the seventy billion balls of Sugar and Cream somehow…

Did you say you wanted to see some knitting? Well okay then!

I totally jumped on the bandwagon:

These are super fun to knit. I asked Cookie what she did when we were at dinner last year and she said something vague about ‘math’. (she might have given me a full answer, but I was most likely splashing green chile sauce down the front of me and in her friend’s eye at that moment) These socks are totally based on math, but they’re fun! And the OCD part of my brain is liking it.

They’re being knit in Dream in Color Smooshy sock. Um. I really like this yarn. But…um. You won’t like it. Nope. Not at all. Um. Don’t bother buying any. Even if you could find it online. (I’ll let you know when you can buy some, right after me)

I’m almost done with these: Cashmere and suede slippers

Or at least this pair. I have more 8-ply jade sapphire for me and the boy. Good god these are soft and warm.

Anyone remember this? Kimono shawl? Time out for almost a year?

Wave goodbye. I pulled it off the needles. Not making me happy. I never really cared for the color (I originally ordered the Jaegerspun Zephry in “Ruby Slipper” but it got lost in the mail and Webs sent me “Cinnabar” instead. I never loved it) and also I cast on way too tight.

Which leads me to my next rant…

L.A. needs to step it up in the skills department (knitting wise. Driving is a lost cause)

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find lace weight yarn here? Ridiculously hard. Oh sure you can find crack silk haze and it’s ilk almost everywhere. But I am allergic to mohair (and angora) and knitting it is completely out of the question if I want to actually see my knitting before my eyes swell up to baseball sized proportions.

I have a theory as to why there isn’t much lace weight yarn to be found in shops around here… a large proportion of Los Angeles knitters are relatively new knitters. I checked just the Los Angeles knitters on Ravelry and the vast proportion have been knitting under 5 years( most about three years). Now there is a rather large handful of knitters who have been knitting over 30 years here (and totally skewing my “data”), but I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the “under fives”.

The “under fives” started a year or three ago and are finally confident enough to knit something other than scarves and hats and possibly baby items. Socks are huge in knitbloglandia right now as they’re small and fairly manageable. (I had this same rant about socks almost 2 years ago, but I digress), so we’re seeing more sock knitting, more sock yarn, and more sock classes here in L.A.

What we need now is for people to get more interested in lace knitting. Ask for more lace classes (I’m starting to see these-this is a good sign) and ask for more lace weight to be carried in your LYS!
What got me started on this? Well, after ripping back Kimono I still want to knit my mom a stole for Christmas. But I have quite a bit of lace weight that just isn’t right (all bought on teh innernets). I really need to see (read fondle) the yarn before I buy it. So I went on a search…

Tales of braving the Westside for yarn

I had not yet been to either WildFiber in Santa Monica or A Mano Yarn in Venice (Culver City? Los Angeles? Mar Vista? Whatever, it’s on the west side) Why? Well…for one thing having to navigate Satan’s highway (the 405) on a weekend just wasn’t my idea of a fun way of spending an hour to drive the 10 miles these shops are from my house (that’s a conservative estimate). But I was off work this week so I decided to make the trek to see…

WildFiber-

I really like this shop. Despite what some online forums have said in the past the ladies in the yarn shop couldn’t have been nicer (might have something to do with having a new owner?). They have a gorgeous selection of yarn, the shop is quite large and for the first time ever I saw in person BMFA’s Socks That Rock. I was looking for lace weight, but some other yarn followed me home. The only drawback to Wild fiber besides the drive? The parking. But this is nothing new (we will not discuss how many parking tickets I have gotten in pursuit of yarn in L.A….) drive around and walk a little bit. It’s worth it.

From left to right: STR in Obsidian, STR in Lovers Leap, Tilli Tomas Pure and Simple American Beauty 100% silk, and Savannah DK in Slate

Next I went to A Mano Yarn Center. My accountant had been telling me for the past 2 years to go over to this shop. I finally did. And I’m glad. The women in the shop were fun and there was great yarn there, including some lace weight that followed me home. It’s a smallish shop, but very cosy and very well stocked. I did find some lace weight there!

In front- 3 skeins of Malabrigo Lace in Blue Surf. Behind is a skein of Lana Grossa Soffice (a merino/cashmere/acrylic blend) very soft! And Southwest Trading Company’s Karaoke Soysilk.

All the grey yarn you’ve been seeing? For swatching. For a something… no details.

I did go and meet some of my knitting fiends friends down at Alamitos Bay Yarn Co. in Long Beach last weekend for some shopping and knitting and food. I had had a mere 4 hours of sleep when I drove down there so I apologize if I wasn’t my usual snarky sparkly self. It’s nice shop in a nice spot near the water, but for some reason none of the yarn there really spoke to me. I did buy some Baby Ull for a planned baby sweater for a friend and some Bollicina Merinos Lei- again for the mystery grey project.

I had camnesia that day (ok, I was too tired to lug the Big Girl Camera and/or look for the little camera in my kit) but there was photographic evidence. I stole this one off Jill’s blog because I actually look okay. And also because Andria’s eyes were closed.

Bottom from left: Andria, Carolyn, Laura, and Jill Top row from left: me, Michelle, Sylvia

I think that’s it. Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I’ve lost my thread here. I think there was something about how I couldn’t go to Marie’s yarn yard sale (I had clients today) and my trip to Abuelita’s in South Pasadena (nice store in a great part of town, but I didn’t buy anything- no laceweight). Anyway, it’s long enough.

Shoo. I’ve got to cook dinner.

ETA- no photos were hotlinked in the making of this entry. All photos were stolen lifted copied and and saved to my computer. Photo credits are also listed.

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