splityarn

gone fishin'

Well, not fishing exactly. More like 'gone to Vegas.' The Husband and I are heading off to Nevada for some sunshine and gambling to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. And lemme tell you, this weekend can't get here fast enough. It's been raining in Boston for what seems like forever. Vancouver winter amounts of rain. It's redonk.

While we're away (actually starting today,) the fine boys at Stalelife are going to help me revamp things around splityarn.com. There may be a little downtime and a glitch here and there, but by the time the holiday is over, things will be looking mighty mighty spiffy around here and in the shop. You may not even recognize the place!

So until then, happy Canada Day,

happy 4th of July,

and happy anniversary to us!

always in progress

I know it's been forever since the last shop update, but I promise there's a good reason for it. Behind the scenes chez Splityarn it has been crazypants with fabric cutting and sewing.

 

Along with the next shop update, I'm also preparing for two events. The first I'll be selling at is the Squam Art Workshop in New Hampshire on June 6th. You don't have to be attending the workshops to come and play. In fact, there's going to be a big ol' Ravelry party that night too.

 

The second one I'm cranking out bags for is...(drumroll please) SOCK SUMMIT in August in Portland, Oregon. I'm kind of freaking out about it. I'm so excited! And also terrified! It's going to be like a world expo for knitting. So many knitters, all in one place. Have you seen the teachers list? Name an influential knitter and I swear they're going to be there teaching a class.

The vendor list for Sock Summit is amazing too. I'm honoured to have been chosen. I'm basically going to be sewing 6 days a week in preparation. So many boxbags! Wee pouches! Camera straps! It's blowing my mind a little. Actually, it's blowing my mind a lot.

sheep and wooly

Since I couldn't make it to Maryland this year for the Sheep and Wool festival, I decided a smaller, closer to home festival would totally work instead. Saturday morning Kellee and I jumped in the car and fueled by Dunkin' headed up to New Hampshire to hit the fairgrounds.

Ms Melanie met us at the gate and we wandered around for hours shopping and blocking the aisles while we ran into a few pals. If I was a better blogger, I'd have taken photos of all those folks we chummed around with, but no, camnesia strikes every time. Even the next day when Stitchy came up to play, I still didn't take any photos of humans. Maybe it's just the chill nature of NHSW? I have only this self-portrait from Sunday before we jumped back on the road to head home.

So instead of photos of my peeps, how about some goats?

Or alpaca?

Maybe sheep are more your thing?

take two Nashvilles and call me in the morning

It feels like winter has dragged on forever in Boston. For the first time in years I've been longing for a little bit of Spring. Just a hint, a teaser that warmer weather is coming. Instead of waiting around here, we took a long weekend and zipped down to Nashville to visit some pals.

Y'all, it is most definitely spring in Nashville. Trees are blooming, flowers are coming up and the best part, it's backyard hanging out weather. Our pals cranked up the smoker for us and we spent three days just hanging around sipping beers, eating ribs and catching up. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. Thank you Nashville! You've made it that much easier to get back to work.

eye candy friday, minneapolis edition

Boy did that holiday hit the spot! Now to get back to the grindstone I guess. The full set of photos is here.)

(And for the record, I took the sock)

they say purple is the new black

Well, JulieFrick does and I'm not one to tell her no.

The Husband and I are taking some much needed time off this week. After a hectic summer we're heading to Minneapolis to visit some pals and kick back for a few days. (I never thought I'd vacation in Minnesota, but at least it won't be as cold as the last time I was there.) As always, the tricky part of travelling is deciding what knitting to take.

Ms. SotoSofties and I went to Windsor Button on a yarn mission yesterday and I picked up a couple things to make the decision that much tougher.

Do I take the fiddly Garden Snail that I started?

Do I start in on a pair of colourwork mittens in my favourite colour combo of the day?

Continue the second of the Noro striped socks?

Or chuck all the gift knitting and work on a mini-Hanami Sea Silk scarf for myself? Think I can juggle the beaded cast-on on the plane?

Decisions! I need help!

all in one place

(Thanks Elinor, for letting us all poach this great mosaic)

I had the good fortune of going to Philadelphia a couple weekends ago to hang with an amazing crew of women that I've known online for ages. Some I knew better than others, but safe to say that they're all much much closer now. We knit, joked, laughed, snarked and gossiped our way through 3 days. I sincerely wish I'd had the gumption to organize something like this myself a lot sooner. Note to self: don't wait for someone else, just do it yourself. It's well worth it.

Part of the fun heading in to the Philly weekend was a cowl swap suggested by Ashley (she's a smartie, that one. Wait til you see the one she made for me.) With a few weeks notice, I figured it was the perfect sized project to jump in and design my own. It's a cowl, so size isn't critical and no better way to knit up one skein of something yummy.

Behold! The Philly Cowl in Malabrigo Worsted (in Stonechat.) Full details over on Rav where the pattern is now available as a free pdf download. Christy has the original. I'm currently finishing up a smaller one with the leftovers of the skein. And dig, the Queen of Cowls herself knit one too!

here lies buried

Mum and I rolled into Boston late afternoon on Monday. I had a post planned with pictures of the front door, the beer I drank as soon as I walked in, the keys sitting on the table, something along those lines. Once my shoes came off however, I lost my mojo. We didn't unpack the car, but rather flopped on the couch, drank beer and ordered Chinese.

This morning, rejuvenated from a needed day off, Mum and I zipped up to the home of the famous witch trials in Salem, MA. What spookier day to spend there than October 31st.

Happy Halloween!

tomorrow is home

Our lunchtime stop today took us into Harrisonburg, Virginia. It just happens to be the home of the Virginia Quilt Museum. The beauty of planning a road trip with your mum is that you can schedule your stops wherever you want. We had a few knitting shops we were going to hit, but everything in the Shenendoah Valley seems to be closed on Sundays. The Quilt Museum is small, but very friendly with some beautiful old quilts. No photos allowed inside so you'll just have to trust me on that one.

Tonight after driving through Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, we've stopped in Frackville, Pennsylvania. It's as glamourous as it sounds and shockingly this is the second time I've stayed in this town. 424 miles (682 km) on the driving log. We're settled in for the evening to watch the baseball game and reknit half of what was knit last night. Guess Mum was too involved in watching the game.

Go Sox!

into Virginia

Fortified with homemade breakfast tacos in Nashville (our hosts are former Austinites,) we made a quick tour of downtown. We stopped outside the Ryman Auditorium (home to the Grand Ole Opry for a spell,) saw a few other sights and then headed back out onto the Interstate. We drove across Eastern Tennessee and into cruised into Virginia after lunch. The leaves are all turning through the rolling hills and the light was gorgeous. (And yep, I took that picture while I was driving 80 MPH, much to Mum's consternation. Gotta keep her on her toes.)

We finished up in Wytheville, Virginia logging 381 miles (614 km) before dinner. As we pulled into town to eat, we realized we'd picked the only parking spot out front of the fabric shop. There's a yarn store close by too, but it was already closed. We sniff them out instinctively I guess.

the music highway

The last time I drove through Tennessee (with The Husband in 2003,) we made a stop at Graceland in Memphis. We'd hoped to suss out the chapel as a potential spot to get married, but we hit town on a Tuesday in winter. As it happens, Graceland is closed every Tuesday in the winter. No go for us. This trip through Tennessee we planned ahead a little better. Graceland was open and everything I expected it to be. Super cheezy, full of everything Elvis and amazing 70's decor.

Mum and I giggled our way through the mansion tour. Not so much at the exhibits and the displays, but at the other tourists. Some of the women hadn't changed their hairstyles since Elvis died, some of the men hadn't changed their clothes since the same era. There was reverence, tears and a lot of hairspray.

Tonight we're with friends in Nashville, a respectable 459 miles under our belt. (738 km)

road trip begins

Normally when I go on a road trip, I like to get up early, get on the road before traffic and get the bulk of the day finished before lunch. Today we left Austin late, but with good reason. There was no way I could leave town without my last healthy dose of breakfast tacos, an Austin specialty. My fave is the chorizo and egg but the egg and bacon is a close second. (Although if you look on the menu, it's technically "Egg and Beacon.") I LOVE menu typos.

Day 1 is finished, Austin, Texas to Hope, Arkansas. 410 miles (660 km.) We stopped driving before dark and we're safely tucked in to watch the baseball game in Bill Clinton's birthplace. We'll get a good night's sleep and as of tomorrow morning I get to say that we'll be 'beyond Hope.' (I can't help it, it's the bad Dad joke teller in me.)

scene stealer

On the last few trips some of the only knitting I've done has been in airports and on the plane. I haven't made a heap of progress on anything and it's starting to get to me. I have The Husband's next sweater all planned out but I think it will have to wait until we get home from this weekend's trip to Boston. (I know, I know!) In the meantime I'll put the push on to finish this latest pair of socks. The Indigo Moon I picked up in Vancouver sat in the stash for all of a month before I wound it and cast on for the only Christmas knitting I'm going to do. The first sock is finished and I'm about to turn the heel on the second. If all goes well, I'll have an FO to show early next week.

*No socks were harmed in this photo shoot. Apparently kittens don't come with any sense of knitting etiquette.

**Dig Indy! She made it to ICHC

back to the airport

relaxing
Originally uploaded by splityarn.

We're saying goodbye to the beach in Plymouth and finally heading home to Austin. Although I'll miss being steps from the water, I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things at home. Kitties, my sewing machine and my own bed. Sweeeet!

we really ARE the jetset

We're home from Norwich, CT for three minutes before we fly out tomorrow to Vancouver. I've been looking forward to this last wedding stop on the tour not only because of the family we'll see, but  because it's my old hometown. We'll be busy, but it will be easy. No directions to look up, no worries about where to eat or stay, just kickin' back in a city where we can walk everywhere and where we (mostly) know where everything is. Familiar haunts, good Canadian beer and the best sushi, I can't ask for much more.