polar opposite

many thanks to everyone for sending us notes of concern and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers over the last few days—i so appreciate it. i was able to drive out of NYC wednesday without even running into traffic; it was almost eerie how deserted the west side highway and the GW bridge were (not at all the case for those on the incoming side!). i was home in david’s arms by supper time, yay.

please do keep the families most affected by the storm in your thoughts and prayers as they recover their footing; there are many that are suffering devastating storm effects.

i had but a few hours there to pay some bills, make some phone calls, check email for anything urgent, and then repack my suitcase before heading out at “oh golly” o’clock yesterday morning for the west coast. but before i get into that, i owe you a contest winner, so let’s take care of that right now.

the winner of the woolly wormhead classic woolly toppers book is: lee c.
congratulations lee! and thank you to everyone who participated; i know woolly loves the response from our readership.

my trip to san francisco went off almost without a hitch—a short delay in denver due to west coast weather that was truly only as long as they said it would be—and i had some extra knitting time, which i didn’t mind at all.

cookie picked me up at the airport and when we got back to her place we had my favorite kind of meal—homemade potato soup with cheese, a little bread, and a glass of prosecco (that’s a hibiscus flower in the glass; isn’t it pretty?). we knitted and chatted and it felt good to be eating in a quiet, non-public place for a change. i felt as if i’d just come through a time warp.

i worked on my secret project, which as you can see, has graduated to a larger project bag. while i got lots done on that during my flight, i will admit i was not monogamous to it—i also took along a sock project that i made a small dent in during flight transfers.

but not the one i showed you last time (i told you i wasn’t monogamous). this is one of my waffle creams socks from the april shipment of our 2012 barenaked club. i actually did knit two of these socks at the time of the pattern release, but each of those was in a different color of our custom-spun merino/alpaca/nylon yarn; i do not have a complete pair (and neither does david, poor guy).

this is the flapjack colorway—there was also an oatmeal color—i thought i’d try to finish this pair up before the end of this month, so i could gift them to david for our anniversary at thanksgiving time.

i was able to cast on and get most of the way through the cuff during those short travel intervals when a larger project wasn’t practical. i love knitting with this yarn—it’s a nice, bouncy 3-ply with enough alpaca to give it a luxurious hand, but plenty of merino and a touch of nylon to help it keep its shape and offer nice stitch definition. we shipped it with this sock pattern, but i also knit up a sample shawlette with it that turned out lovely (check out these examples on judith’s and julie’s project pages). and i kept enough aside to knit a sweater as well—i think it will make a lovely, lightweight cardigan, maybe even in the same composition of stitches used for this sock.

the yarn was so popular with our clubbies that we’re working on getting another batch of it to make available to all of our customers—more news on that as things develop.

ooops, i got off on a bit of a yarn tangent there, sorry, heh; you’d think this was a knitting blog or something . . .

after our nice lunch we knit for a while more and then i took a long, delicious nap while cookie made pot pies to put in the freezer. we’ll be in oakland for the next few days and she wants john to have something good to eat while we’re away.  when i woke up, we knit and chatted some more until it was time to go to dinner and to knit night.

dinner was tapas, which was yummy and then it was on to the coffee house where i saw some familiar faces and met some that were new to me.

i sat with veronica, eileen, and tina so we could catch up. veronica is working on a new hat and mitt pattern that i love. i worked on my secret project and didn’t even ask eileen what she was knitting in that really pretty gray/lavender fingering yarn.

one of the things i’ll be doing while i’m here is teaching sweater fitness on sunday at a verb for keeping warm in oakland. if you live in the area and haven’t been there yet, you should check it out—it’s a great shop. we are heading out there later today to spend the weekend with kristine and adrienne; i can’t WAIT. i love their cozy home and their adorable doggie and their neighborhood; i’m looking forward to doing a couple of exploratory runs while i’m there—maybe adrienne will join me?

speaking of running, i haven’t done any of that since two days ago and i’m getting itchy. i think i’ll change my clothes, lace up my shoes, and get outside. or maybe go to the gym in cookie’s building to use the exercise bike—i am also really missing my bike these last couple of weeks.

next time, it will be live from oakland.