California Knitting

This past week I finally got to go on a bit of a vacation with the family. Not that not being in school for three months wasn't a vacation, but this is different. My dad goes on business trips to California every three weeks, which is excellent for us for two reasons. One, he has a million frequent flier miles, so we basically go for free. Two, he knows the area really well, so there's no figuring it out for us. The hotel that his company has him staying at right now is AMAZING. It's called the Renaissance Club Sport. It's half hotel, half gym. The gym is amazing in that it has everything you need and more, I took a hip hop class, and a pilates class with my mom. My dad and brother did the spinning classes and went on the treadmills and used the weights all the time. And of course, we all went swimming!

Now for the interesting bits, the knitting! I did a lot of it by the pool, getting a bit of a tan. This is my Casbah sweater. I have knit the whole first ball, which got me about 6.5 inches of the body.

For the ladies at Lettuce Knit, yes I did find a bikini! Good thing too, since it got up to 23 degrees by the last day. My dad picked me up from the airport and drove straight to the swimwear outlet store. He picked up jammers and some trunks and I got my bikini. In Toronto I was told that Roxy didn't do anything bigger than a large, and that they ran small, so it wasn't really a large anyway. However, I found a large that was specifically for D/DD boobies! I am fairly disproportionate in terms of top to bottom sizing, so I was really against buying a set. However, these bottoms had tie sides, so they were adjustable. Perfect!

Also, I can't help singing.... "it was and itsy bitsy, teeny weeny..."

I finished these socks on the plane on the way over. This is the first sock. I started them Christmas morning, out of Mirasol Hacho that I got at the In the Loop closing sale back in September. The first ball ran out three rows from the end of my short row toe. I think the ball must have been short a bit, as I had a walnut sized ball left over from the second one. I managed to find some Koigu scraps in my stash that were an almost perfect match though, so I just substituted that instead. If you squint, the Koigu is a little more purple.



I then started the Lakeside Knee-Highs, from the winter issue of Knotions. I'm loving them! The yarn is Malabrigo Sock, which is gorgeous.

Here's the crafty haul. On the first day we went for a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway. I knew that there was a yarn store along there as I checked Ravelry before I left, but I couldn't remember where. I have my mom to thank for spotting it. We convinced my dad to pull over to make a stop.

The shop was super cute, and organized for the most part by colour, which was really interesting to see. I got two skeins of sock yarn from the Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio, which is locally dyed. It looks and feels a lot like Koigu, with a lot of bounce. The other one is a skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Baltic.


I also picked up A is for Aprons. I plan on trying to convert most of the aprons into skirts for the summer. The best thing though is the Pin-up Pop-up book, if only for it's Pushing Daisies connection. The Pin-Ups have the tabs to pull so that their legs go up and down, or the wind blows up a skirt. I love it!

B-sides what?

So what have I been knitting on you may ask! Right now most of my time has been taken up with knitting my mom's B-Side, by Laura Chau. Yes she is my co-worker, sometimes it's good to keep it all in the family. Heck, she designs a pretty sweater too!

This is the first sleeve, though I have since finished the second one. Actually I knit the whole second sleeve today. Mostly thanks to having to commute to school again, plus having a lecture in which we watched a movie and had a huge discussion (I always knit through discussions, it stops me from getting really uppity) and then to complete and utter procrastination. Now I only have to knit the top of the back and right front, plus the button band and collar.


No biggie except that I might be running out of yarn! I have about two and a bit balls left, and what with that big collar, I might be cutting it a bit close! I might be able to get away with knitting a smaller collar. My other plan would be to knit the front, then knit the button bands. That way if I do need to get some more, the dyelot would be able to hide out under the collar. The yarn is Zara, so I'm not worried about getting more, just about the dyelot. I'll have to shimmy over to Romni sometime this week to get more.

Fringe Cutting and a Loppem

So the other night, pretty much right after I posted, I decided that I'd had enough, and I cut my bangs. After all, it was starting to look like this.

So I did this.

And now I look like this! Much better! I always know it's time to cut my bangs when I start doing the teenage boy flick to get them out of my eyes.


And since this is a knitting blog, I'll mention that I'm wearing the Loppem that I knit a few months ago, but never posted a finished picture of. The pattern is from Norah Gaughan's Vol. 3. I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca, which is lovely. I did have to change the pattern a bit, in that I made it an inch longer, and made the sleeve smaller by casting on fewer stitches. I do love it though, and will be making more of this swing coat style in the future.

Thigh-Highs go Sky High

This is one of my longest outstanding WIPS, but now they are done! I started these almost exactly two years ago. But they are now done! They used to look like this...

Three balls of Opal yarn later, and these are my new thigh-high stripy socks! They are super warm, which is good since it's minus a million degrees out right now. I have to keep them up with a garter belt, but that's okay, since I wear one all the time. I'm always in skirts, so something that keeps my legs warm is very good.

There may be proper modeled shots later, we shall see!

I'm back at school now, so there's lots of work to be done. I should be writing one of the three essays I have due.