Holy Cannoli

This post is the definition of hodgepodge.

I was about to move on from the beach pictures, but I plugged in my camera and found a few more worth sharing!

Love::

The hazy sunset from our last day at on the beach::


After the beach, I was home for a day. This summer seems to be flying by, but in the moments when I run into a summer fur ball::

... or sit down to a meal of fresh-from-the-garden veggies:: I remember that summer's still here for a little while!


Sometime in July I finished my adult pinwheel sweater, but I never blocked it, so I took it to the beach with me, with high hopes of blocking. That didn't happen, so I stuffed it into my luggage and brought it west. All it took were a couple of cool, Bay Area evenings to motivate the blocking, and I'm so happy with the finished product... this picture isn't great, but I'll take some good ones soon::

And what's that behind me? Our new digs in Oakland! C moved to Jack London Square, a fine, up-and-coming neighborhood that's full of character. The neighborhood has old, abandoned factories that are being turned into lofts and condos. Here's the only picture I have at the moment, but we'll spruce this place up and I'll take some more soon!

As for today? I'm off to San Fran to meet up with a friend at Samovar, followed by a stop at the Curiosity Shoppe!

Forever Catching Up! or not...

Again, I feel behind in the blogging! But then... I sat down to blog and realized that I need to shake that feeling, I'm not catching up, I'm just filling you in, hopefully sooner rather than later ;-)

Word on the street is we're expecting more snow this week. I took advantage of the slight warm front to take a long walk Friday afternoon, walking from downtown Boston to Harvard Square. The whole trip was along the frozen Charles::

A while back I posted a picture of graffiti on a bridge over the Charles, it said "Do Work Boston". I can't find that picture right now, but it's in the archives somewhere...Anywho, on Friday I noticed that someone updated the message::huh? don't worry, I'll give you an update if any more details appear...

Once in Harvard Square, I stopped by one of my favorite little shops, Black Ink::
{sorry for the blurry picture, sometimes I feel a little funny taking random pictures}

And the rest of the weekend? It was either spent studying or preparing for the impending doom that is mid-winter. I finished a new pair of mitered mittens for myself::These are knit with Noro Kochoran, a lovely wool, silk, angora blend. I knit these tightly, and they've definitely passed the wind test, not letting any cool breezes between the stitches!

Next, I dug an old project out of my closet::
This scarf is a mohair *wrap* that I finished three years ago and n-e-v-e-r wore. Somehow I didn't appreciate it's cozy warmth until I was confronted by the single digits this year. It's just three skeins of kidsilk haze mohair knit in stockinette in the round. As I mentioned, this is supposed to be a wrap, and it still could be, but I think I'll get much more use out of it by wrapping it around my neck like a scarf. It's fun feature is that whether worn as a wrap or as a scarf, I can slide a colorful silk scarf up the middle to add some fun.

And now, some new bloggity-blog goodness!::
~After a few requests, I've finally posted the second Double Knitting Tutorial! You can easily find it by clicking on the link to the right {or you can just scroll down| it's the post right before this one}
~AND, there's another Schu blog out there, check out my sister's photography work on her blog schubox.

On with it then...

It's time to get back to some regular posting!

I love the December rush of gift preparation, and the giving that lightens my knitting basket, but this year I've noticed that I still have a pile of work in progress. Lucky you ~ that means there's plenty of material to keep me posting for a while {if my fingers don't freeze from this cold front first!}.

But, to keep up with the flow of my recent posts, I'll do some catching up before moving on to the new material.

Before leaving the west coast, I spent a fab day in San Francisco* with an old friend. Our first stop of the morning was Bluebottle Coffee. As has been the norm in the Bay Area, it's yet another great coffee shop. With each order you can choose your method of brewing {french press, drip, Mokka Pot, espresso}. The Mokka Pot::

We rode the street cars all over town, stopping at Rare Device and Doe along with a few other little shops. I did all of the window shopping and my friend did all of the real shopping.

Our evening started with crepes and ciders at Ti-Couz. yum.

All of that was followed by a crazy showing of Beowulf:A Thousand Years of Baggage (a 'songplay'). This was a special showing in a warehouse where a couple of our friends live. The house was packed, so we hid away on the second floor and watched through the railing while sipping some G&Ts. yum again.


Around two in the morning, we were leaving the warehouse and came upon this site::
A ginourmous fire. so gigantic that C called the fire department. Then poof, it was out as quickly as it started. Little did we know someone lit two Christmas trees on fire. Someone was having fun with fire, unfortunately the firemen weren't quite as amused when they showed up to just a pile of smoldering pine needles.

*I highly recommend all of the links for a nice and easy jaunt through the city.*

And between all of this there was some knitting as I showed C's sister how to make a hat! My hat turned out a bit large, but it was such a fast project that I should have no trouble re-knitting a smaller version.


And I'll leave you with a lovely little picture of C's corner as I left it::
Next up, some February sweaters just in time for February... who would have thought?

Boston's South End Market

The weathttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifher warms, and we start reading a million and one articles about gardeners feeling the call to get out and dig their hands in the soil. It must be a similar urge that takes over knitters because I've noticed many people blog about the growing number of projects they're starting before finishing the first. Well, I took a break from my spring fever knitting::

Project 1:: Clapotis


Project 2:: Evening Shrug


(And don't forget Orangina, or the charade socks, the buttony sweater, and the EZ sweater)

to attend Boston's South End Market (SOWA). The website refers to it as a "weekly artisan outdoor market". Every Sunday a crafters, farmers, dealers (vintage clothing dealers) sell their wears.

It's a great market, because every week the combination of sellers changes, but you know you can always go there for some inspiration, tasty food, and a good time in the sun. Yesterday I walked around the market about three times waiting for a friend and I kept passing the vintage clothing tent run by DAME Vintage. I was taken by a bathing suit they had hanging on the end of a rack, and finally, after talking to the lovely ladies at the tent, I decided to try it on. This suit is amazing, I love the flower pattern on it (yes, it sort of reminds me of an old bedspread), and it fits like a glove. How could I not buy it? Plus - just a plug for the Dame ladies ~ they were so nice to talk to, and they seemed to really care about the goods they were selling. As with the suit I was buying, one of the ladies said to me "I love this suit and I really wanted to know who would be purchasing it". Talk about service.

But back to the suit, now all I need is an old fashioned swimming cap with all the frills. I promised the Dame ladies that I would send them some action shots with the suit on, so I'm sure we'll have a great time at the beach this year setting up a photo shoot. Imagine - clamming in the suit, canoeing in the suit, sitting on the dock...

After the market, my friend and I popped into the Gaslight for brunch, and a great brunch it was. This place was new to both of us, so I'm guessing that it opened sometime between when the SOWA closed last fall and re-opened yesterday. If you're looking for a brunch with you plate overflowing from home fries, toast, etc., you won't find that here. But you will find some delicious, french-inspired food that fills you up, but doesn't put you back to sleep for the rest of your day.

I don't have any pictures of the market itself, if you want to see it, you'll have to come for a visit! I do have some shots from the amazing old pier building that sits at the back of the market lot::

New Directions, rolodexing, googlizing, organizing

So, as I mentioned, I want to add more dimensions to my blog. In some respects, these are already things I include in some posts, but now they will be organized in a way that makes it easier to find them again, and it puts some of these bits and pieces into unified "themes".

In a few years when anthropologists start studying bloggers (who am i kidding, we know someone is already turning the study of bloggers into a dissertation), I want to fit into the category of "reference blogs". Of course this is just in addition to be a knitting blog! My mom always taught me that knowing a bit of information is great, but even better is knowing where to find the information when you need it. SO, with that in mind, here's an update to the way things are changing:

When I'm online, I come across so many great ideas/resources/tutorials/destinations that I want to find again in the future, but that I also think are good enough to share with other people.

Example #1 - here's a blog that is also a pottery shop in the Bay Area:

places [to shop]:: Fourth and Clay
And I'm going to label this post "places [to shop]", so if you (or I) are ever looking for something, we can just refer to the lists of posts with shopping.

And Example #2 - here's a blog post with a great tutorial:

links [knitting] - for an afterthought pocket from NovaMade


It's sort of silly explaining this in a post, but I thought that it's also fun to share the organization. So - if you ever come across something cool, you can leave it in the comments and I can add it to the list of links!

I hope you enjoy the changes*

We spent the weekend at the lake again. This time with some friends who were in town for the weekend. The weather was a bit overcast, but that just gave us time for an afternoon game of monopoly ~ the most cut throat game of monopoly that I've played in a long time.
We pulled out the windsurf boards for one last run around the lake. C managed to actually take his around the lake, I managed to go in a straight line and make one turn!

Before we left town, I snapped some pictures as I was riding my bike to Article Pract to pick up some yarn to start the sweater on the cover of the fall IK!

I pass this van once or twice a week on evening runs and I thought it deserved some blog love.


These are the kicka** tables on the sidewalk outside of Bakeshop Betty's ~ a great bakery/cafe on the same block as Article Pract (around 5000 Telegraph in Oakland). Do you see what they are?Ironing Boards!!

It's been a week!

And we moved! Again! 4th and !final! time this summer. And let me tell you, this move is definitely the best! We could not be happier and I'm bummed that I can't take this neighborhood back to Boston with me. C found a great apartment in the Rockridge section of Oakland (only about 12 blocks from campus and smack dab in the middle of some great eating and shopping!).

I'm sure more pictures will come as I continue to explore the area, but here's a sampling of what we have:

Two doors away from his apartment is a great little restaurant called Noodle Theory, where they serve up all sorts of asian-inspired cuisine. From hot noodle soups to cold noodle salads, this place is wonderful.
Lemongrass Soda!~~

Walking past Noodle Theory is a block full of shops - there's the butcher the baker and the wine maker... plus some great fresh produce and shops full of little goodies.

Keep walking and eventually you find the homemade ice cream at Ici. I sampled their green tea and lime with candied orange rind. yum.

And the cafes. So many great cafes. I've spent quite a bit of time in them since we don't have a connection yet.

And finally, some knitting! I made a little lamb washcloth. It looks ok, but I'm trying to think of some ways to improve the design ~ any ideas you have would be great!

And - I'm wearing Glee today!! I finished this so long ago, yet I haven't sewed the hooks and eyes on yet, so I'm wearing it with safety pins. Going for the grunge knit look.

Now back to work and tonight I'll try out another new yoga place!

Some pics from last week.

Before I show more recent pics, here's another shot of Shedir. This one doesn't have the special effects, so you can see the real hat!

As I mentioned, we spent the past week in LA and in a calm, cozy lake house. We were in LA for the 4th and attended a big picnic full of food and games.

I'm pleased to announce that C and I were the CHAMPIONS in the three legged race! We won't brag too much, but we'll just mention that we left our competitors in the dust. Unfortunately, I did not fair as well in the watermelon eating contest:


While at the lake, we did a bit of birthday partying, wind sailing, lake swimming, and book reading.

Back in Berkeley, sunflowers are blooming and I finally had a chance to stop by the Berkeley Farmers Market! My trip to the market was perfect ~ I bought bags of fresh peaches and plums, along with some other veggies and fun stuff:





In other west coast / Berkeley news, how cool is this little glass bottle of apple juice?? I don't think we have this on the east coast.

All the while, I've been working on a new version of Sarcelle with some wool from Article Prac.