Back Home

We arrived back home this morning. The flight was alright except for the fact that we had to sit on the plane for two hours before we took off. Technical problem, then huge wait to take off. After that everyone slept, which was great. I was a bit sad to leave everyone, but happy to leave the heatwave. It is supposed to be 103F on Wednesday in Connecticut. I was happy to see that the heat has broken here, and it is very pleasant, though a bit showery.
I did a bit of work on my Jaywalker socks on the plane. I am up to the heel flap on sock number 2. I would have modeled the sock, but I just painted my toenails!



I also did a bit of work on my Handmaiden Silk Vee. It is really hard to know how this is going to turn out. It is all garter stitch, so I think it will stretch down when blocked. I decided to make it an inch narrower as the pattern turns out 37 inches, and my bust is 36 inches. I am also making it a drop shorter to the underarm as the pattern is 24 inches long, which would be a dress on me.




I love the colors, they are quite similar to the photo.

I will miss the beach. This is pretty much what I spent the past 2 weeks looking at, the view from the back of Rhonas beach house.



This last one is hilarious. Every morning at my inlaws house, a duck came right up to the door. We started feeding her and named her Henrietta duck. As the days went on, more and more ducks came until yesterday when there were five. I think we were the best duck restaurant in town. Here are the girls feeding them.



It was definately a wildlife experience! Now its back to the city, and the shop.

P.S We now have a ton of new patterns in, a new shipment of Artyarns (Silk Rhapsody,etc), and Handmaiden (Sea Silk and lots of kits). Oh, and don't forget new Tilli Tomas in beautiful multicolors!

Connecticut Holiday

I've been here in CT for a week. I have to admit that I don't always look forward to the trip, 7 hours on a plane with my kids, then a week of adjusting to the time zone. When we first got here, it was so hot, the past few days it has been raining like it was the end of the world, but today was beautiful. I have been spending my time doing several things, the first one being shopping. The sales here are great, I got a great pair of jeans that retail for $159 for $20, gotta love that! The next thing has been the beach. My mother in law has a house right on the beach, it is like a wonderland for the kids. Here is my daughter holding up a huge horseshoe crab. It looks like something from prehistoric times.



The next item on the agenda has been visiting knitting shops in the area. My first stop last week was at Janet Kemp. She was very nice, and had some yarn that I am very interested in.



Check out the one on the top. It is really unusual in that there is more than one color in each strand. It is really soft, and can be used for sweaters or felting. I can't wait to swatch it up.

Next I went to Knitting Central, which is right up the road from my inlaws house. There I bought a ball of Trekking sock yarn, which I can't wait to try. I also picked up a ball of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes. I have the color cards at the shop, but its hard to tell what its like from that little piece. I really want to swatch it up, but have no ball winder here. I might have to get my husband to help me.

I also visited Knotty Girl. Debi was really friendly. I was interested in seeing the Namaste bags. She had one as a sample, but said the others were on the way. I was not that interested in the pleather bag. It was cute, but nothing that great.

Tomorrow I am thinking of taking a ride to Knitting Niche in Greenwich.

I have also been working on my sock, which I am nearly finished. I had to pack that one due to metal needles, so I started the Silk Vee from Handmaiden on the plane. I'll take some photos tomorrow as its too dark here now.

By the way, did anyone see the article about us in Time Out this week? We were in the consume section under Whats New. Very exciting.

New stuff on the way for the shop that shipped this week, should be in next week or two: ArtYarns-Silk Rhapsody and other yarns. Malabrigo-more colors. Handmaiden-Sea Silk

Finally Finished

It is done. The Lana Grossa top that I have been working on for a while. I finished it well over a week ago, but started the sock right away and have put off finishing. The yarn is called Binario, it looks like two yarns held together, but it is really one yarn. It has a nice shine to it, very good for summer. I might leave it in the shop for the next couple of weeks as its going to be hot and sticky in Connecticut.



I especially like how Nathalie put the Offhand designs bag on the model, she looks great!


Here is another project that I would like to do. It is Tilli Tomas Disco Lights, but the pattern is from the Debbie Bliss Silk book. I have set aside a skein of the loveliest purple for myself. I am going to take my Silk Vee kit from Handmaiden on the trip. I think that will be a good beach project. I can do the scarf after that.



This one is being done by Mary in the knitting group.

Well, I am off on Saturday for two weeks. I will see if I can get the camera to work on my in-laws computer so I can upload photos. I am definately planning to hit the knitting shops in Fairfield County, and there is pretty much one in every town. I won't have to drive too far at all. Hoping to catch a little sunshine and knitting on the beach.

Lovely Weekend

Its been a really great weekend. Eric and I went to the Wimbledon Ladies final yesterday. It was a beautiful day, sunny and not too hot. We met a couple of friends for a picnic on the hill before the match. I have to say that the match was everything you could ask for in a final, 3 sets, and exciting. I was happy to see Mauresmo win. I love that we live so close, being a tennis fan, its a real treat to be able to go. Last night we had dinner at a friends which was very nice, good food and good company.
Today I finally had a day to rest and do nothing, a rarity lately. I am slightly obsessed with my magic loop sock. I love that there is no fiddling around with all of those dpns. Everything is done right on the circular. I turned the heel last night when we got home, though I was still a bit drunk. Today I have been working on it between watching the mens final. I was rooting for Nadal, but maybe he will have his turn next year. Here is a photo of the sock.



This week we recieved our shipment of Fleece Artist. The sock yarns are beautiful. We chose some colors that could be used for baby clothes, or other garments as well as socks. We were thinking 4 ply. We also got a bunch of kits, the dreadlock poncho, and the Cat Bordhi mobius scarf kit, which I am dying to make. I'll try and get a photo of some of it this week. I didn't have the camera in the shop the day that it arrived. We also have in most sizes of the Addi Natura needles. If you love Addi, and would like a circular in bamboo, they are lovely. Nathalie had a pair, and everyone in the group wanted to try them, so we thought stocking them would be a good idea.
The kids are now off from school, this week should be interesting! Next week its off to the States.

Sweltering

It is about as hot as it can be here in London. Last night was the worst, it felt like summer in New York without the air conditioning. Thank goodness the shop has it, what a great investment. This week has been a bit hectic. Its the kids last week of school, sports day, birthday parties, and the like. Nathalie has been out this week, shes been a bit under the weather, and has been staying at home to rest. I finished my Lana Grossa top, but have been too lazy to sew it together. Instead, I have started my first sock using the magic loop method. I can't tell you how easy it is. I am so happy not to have all of those dpns sticking out all over the place. I found a great tutorial, which you can check out. It has videos of different methods of knitting in the round. I watched the magic loop one a few times, and voila, I'm off and running with my sock.




The yarn is Lornas Laces Shepherd sock in Icehouse. I decided to do the Jaywalker sock as it more mindless than a lot of others that I considered.

I think I spoke about the Feza yarn last week. It is really interesting, here it is in a skein, and in a close up of a scarf. It would also work as the skirt pattern in Greetings from the Knit Cafe. I am going to try it as one of my next projects.





Someone came in yesterday, and is going to do a belt with it. I don't usually like novelty yarns, but this one is more like the Prism or magic ball yarn. Click on these to see them larger.