Down the Rabbit Hole

On August 20, 2017August 20, 2017 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, MiscLeave a comment

First, it’s been a while since I’ve posted and a lot has happened in the world. It used to go without saying that nazis are bad. Not anymore, so I’ll say it, just to be clear. Whatever the label, nazi, white nationalist, alt-right, kkk…I strongly disagree with it all. Killing people is bad. Violence is bad. Hate is bad.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let me share some fun! I’ve been busy making things!

It started innocently enough with one funny cross stitch piece.

But it’s developed into a major bathroom redecoration scheme.

After the first two hoops were completed, I had to go back for more.

These aren’t complicated designs. Naturally, that lead me to the craft store saying I can do that…if I just had a few more supplies!

Soon enough, I was designing things that aren’t for the bathroom.

Indeed, it seems I am going way down the rabbit hole with this one. Never fear, there is also knitting progress! The Dotted Rays, WestKnits Fade is off the needles and it’s an amazing color explosion! It’s blocking, but you’ll get to see it soon!

There’s still plenty of knitting love. It will return shortly. But for now, I think my next cross stitch will be the immortal words of Rodney King…

“Can we all just get along?”

Welcome to Fogust!

On August 6, 2017August 6, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Misc, Shawl, WIP5 Comments

Fogust is here! It goes without saying, here at FogKnits headquarters, we love fog season! A lot! I love nights quieted by wind and fog. Everything calms down and the city becomes very still. It’s an amazing change from the hustle & bustle of daily life. aaaaaahhhhh! I love it! It’s good knitting weather!

I’m at the point with everything where despite making good progress, the photos continue to look the same. L to R, That’s the Faded Dotted Rays, the Shawl in a Ball and the Cat Sweater.

The Dotted Rays rows have grown to 450 stitches, slowing progress way down. Especially when this is so light and easy to pick up…

I finished the stitching!!

I’m going to attempt finishing the fabric edges and the hoops this week. I can’t wait to hang them in my bathroom! I’m tempted to go back and get a few more. First though, there’s knitting to do. I want to make sweaters and hats! I definitely feel a hat binge coming on!

The Royal Bee – A New LYS

On July 30, 2017July 30, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Misc, Stash Enhancement, Yarn9 Comments

I saw a thread on Ravlery ‘new yarn shop in pacifica’. Yes Please! Knowing nothing more than yesterday was the soft opening, I set out! I haven’t had a spontaneous stash enhancement in a couple months!

It’s funny to read the old post and see that my decision was guided by parking. I pulled up to Royal Bee yesterday completely in love with the PARKING LOT. I couldn’t wait to take a picture of it! ha ha.

Rows of FREE PARKING! Can you tell I live in the city? Free parking is all it takes! LOL! So Royal Bee gets two thumbs up already!

Once inside, the delights continued! The beehive themed yarn wall is so pretty! If I lived in a house with lots of wall space, I’d love to display my yarn like this! Lots of interesting yarns here…some Rowan, a bunch of Skacel like Kenzie and Simplicity and HiKoo. Yarns I know of but haven’t used. A variety of fibers, colors, weights. There was a bunch of sock yarn too.

I chatted with Kelley, the owner, a bit. She’s super and definitely interested in recommendations. My first suggestion was local yarns so I can’t wait to go back after the grand opening and see how the shop evolves. (August 16th, details are here, if anyone wants them!)

It’s a poly-stitchual kinda place, with a really cute selection of fabrics and notions and whatnots.

And Rainbow Elastic!! I love that stuff! I use it in hats all the time! It takes the worry out of stretch & fit. Look at all those colors! There were even more too. I can’t wait for my next hat binge, which is due at any moment. I know where to find the perfect Rainbow Elastic now!

I picked up a couple balls of Llamor, 100% baby llama. It’s so soft…perfect for cozy winter hats or August in Pacifica.

The best part of my purchase though, hands down, is the snarky cross stitch kits! I couldn’t resist. I finished the first one already.

Not only have I finally figured out French Knots but this new fangled cross stitch kit innovation blew my mind:

The strands are held secure on the back so you just snip off a strand as you need it! I love it! I’ve started my second design already. No sorting colors and wondering if I’ve labeled them right. This little tag makes it so easy!

I may have to redecorate my bathroom with snarky cross stitch now. Assuming I can make the finishing work. As much as I’ve cross stitched, I’ve never finished anything in the hoop. The instructions involve cutting the excess aida away and installing a running thread.

I know what all those words mean. How hard can it be? Wish me luck!

The cutest socks!

On July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Misc, Socks9 Comments

Now for the second half of the knitters knitting for knitters part of the swap! The gift I was given! In a perfect twist of fate, the knitter who chose me was the knitter I chose!

I got kitty socks! They’re the YinYang Kitty Ankle Socks, a free pattern on Ravelry!

Without a doubt, the absolute best way to get hand knit socks is as a gift! I have half a sock I haven’t touched since January. Knitting them myself is certainly not the fastest option! And these were even in my queue!

They’re the cutest little kitties! I’ve been wearing as house socks. I’d feel bad cramming them into shoes. This is cuteness that needs to be shown off!

Thank you, Branka! They’re awesome and I love them!

The last bit of awesomeness from our party…the cake!

It didn’t come from a store! One of the knitter’s made it!!! It’s chocolate on the inside and there aren’t enough superlatives to describe it. It was delicious! My favorite part, though, is the care that went into the swatch. Those stitches look like stitches. They’re all pointing the right direction. They’re all in rows and columns just like they should be. There are four stitches in the swatch and correspondingly, four stitches on the needle. The ball of yarn is attached to the swatch, in the right place no less. All little details non-knitters don’t know about.

And now, it’s almost the weekend! Wooohooo! I’m fading away on my Faded, Speckled, Dotted Rays for the Westknits’ Summer Fadealong!

Color 4 is fading in. It’s more Hedgehog Fibers. I started off with Skinny Singles as the first color. The last two colors have been Hedgehog Sock. I don’t like the Sock as much as the Skinny Singles. Of course, the Western Sky Knits MCN in the middle puts all the others to shame. A little bit of cashmere really goes a long way!

My next color will have cashmere, an MCN from Magpie Fibers!! Not sure I’ll get there this weekend. I’ve gotten to the place where the rows are looooooooooooong. I’m going to try though!

Hope you’ve got some fun weekend plans! Happy Knitting!

Hometown Tourist

On June 14, 2017June 14, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Misc5 Comments

Mom came to visit, her first trip west in a decade, so we did lots of sightseeing. My version of sightseeing…go for a walk, get something to eat. That’s pretty much what we did for a week! There’s lots of places to walk in San Francisco and even more places to eat!

We spent a lot of time in Golden Gate Park. I love it there!

The DeYoung Museum currently has a Summer of Love exhibit for the 50th anniversary. I’m into rock posters so it was fun to see the genesis of the art form! And of course, the late 60’s were a great time for crochet! I think I feel my annual urge to crochet coming on!! I want that rainbow sweater!

After that, we spent a lot of time on the water front.

I never get sick of taking bridge pictures.

Not even on foggy days!

We did leave the city a bit too. Visited Pacifica for the grand opening of my friend’s micro-distillery! Hand crafted vodka and duck fat french fries! As if that wasn’t enough, the pier was hopping with crabbers and the beach put on a good show in both the surfing category and the tide pooling category! Two enthusiastic thumbs up for Pacifica! (Not that I ever doubted!)

Our other trip out of the city went north. First stop Dharma Trading in San Rafael. Mom picked out some new dye colors, some new yarn to dye and some white skirts & dresses for dying! I can’t wait to see what kind of color schemes this trip inspired! One of the yarns dyes two-tone! I guess the plys alternate superwash and non-superwash? It’s going to be a fun experiment to find out!

The creativity continued north to Petaluma. We visited Knitterly in historic downtown Petaluma. If/when I own a yarn shop, I want it to be like Knitterly. It’s a beautiful shop with great yarns. Definitely check it out, if you’re ever in the area! I brought home a skein of Hedgehog. How could I resist?

Then it was off to Mrs. Grossman’s Stickers! If you were a girl in the 80’s, you probably know all about Mrs. Grossman’s! Talk about irresistable…those sticker walls!!

I’ve already realized, I didn’t buy nearly enough cat stickers?!?! I’ve gotta go back! Mrs. Grossman’s gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me as well. I highly recommend you go there. It’s amazing! And, as if that wasn’t enough…

There was an In & Out Burger around the corner! Mom’s first! YUM! The eating didn’t stop there…

We had east african food, ice cream made with nitrogen, dim sum, sweet potato fries covered with chicken tikka masala, the salsa that beat Bobby Flay in the burrito throwdown…delicious!

And, I still had a few hours for World Wide Knit in Public Day!

Knitting update coming soon!

Friday Photo Dump

On April 7, 2017April 7, 2017 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Misc, Scarf, Shawl, Toy, Yarn3 Comments

Hoooooray for Friday! I’m very excited to get some knitting done this weekend! In the meantime, here’s a random bunch of pictures I took but haven’t shared yet!

First, some yarn my Mom dyed for me recently! The olivey green is going to become a felted hat with a wide brim. The color has a lot of depth to it, lots of gold & mustardy tones to it. Hopefully that’s not lost when it’s felted.

The multi is a special handspun yarn I got in Iceland. Not sure what to do with it yet. Something for the torso I think. It’s the soft part of the Icelandic wool, next to skin softness for sure!

Next, my little Yoda, done he is!

His friends will be joining him soon.

My latest foray into beading. The beaded part was lots of fun! I didn’t even mind the pre-strung business. It’s tough on the yarn but it’s way less fiddly that stopping to pick up a crochet hook every time you place a bead. Now it’s just slogging through a regular old scarf. No bells or whistles to get excited about. Oh well, that is what I signed on for after all…

And last but not least, the sequence knitting shawl has been getting lots of outdoor love with spring springing so much in the recent weeks! I’m really looking forward to wearing this one. If all goes according to plan, I predict I’ll love it!

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend filled with lots of knitting! Only a couple hours to go, I’m confident I’ll make it…

Stitches West 2017

On February 27, 2017February 27, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Misc4 Comments

Yay for Stitches! After missing it last year, I returned this year on a mission! It was a challenge but I waited until the very last day to attend. It was perfect for avoiding the crowd! Sunday means no problems parking, no waiting in line to get in, no waiting in line with the vendors. Yes, it was perfect.

In three short hours, I managed to shop for this year and make up for last year’s lack of a shopping spree!

Clearly, I had a color theme. And I even bought pink??? It seems protest season is upon us and I really need a pussyhat. There’s Hedgehog Fibers, White Birch, Magpie, Primrose and Western Sky Knits in that pile. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but it’s going to be awesome, whatever it is.

I did go for one neutral…

…and I got two slub skeins of bare yarn. Only $20 from Anzula…it’s an amazing MCN. I’m gonna send it to my mom so she can dye it! I’m sure she can cover those little slubs and it will be a truly amazing MCN!!

I found a few cute accessories too! I spotted these from across the aisle and knew they were mine!

And this…

Now for the hard part…waiting to cast something on. It’s still Finish it February for two more days. I finished my sweater!!! I even wore it to Stitches…more details on that later this week!

And so, for two more days, I can stay true to no extraneous cast ons.

I need time to wind and plan anyhow! Just winding those pretties is going to be fun!

So, yes, Stitches West 2017 was a success! I’m plotting for next year already! :)