Weekend Wrap-Up: Memorial Day

This weekend was action packed. There was some traveling, some knitting, and some great company.

On Friday, we headed down to Santa Cruz, CA for a wedding. We went a day early to take advantage of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  I am not a roller coaster/crazy ride person, but I enjoyed watching my fiancé. We also took a stroll on the beach and checked out the sea lions.

The wedding was a rustic affair set on a beautiful ranch. The scenery was perfection. I had whipped up a shawl prior to the weekend. California (especially Northern California) is notoriously chilly when the sun goes down. By 6:00 pm I was so thankful for a warm wooly layer.

On Sunday, we headed home and just relaxed. We have been binge watching Game of Thrones and it is getting good. While watching I finished my Little Neon Cowl (Yarn: Twisted Owl’s “Birds of a Feather”). Inspiration for this cowl came from the Simple Ribbed Cowl by Orange Flower Yarn. My version is much smaller and thinner as a bulky cowl is not needed in San Francisco. Can’t wait to add it to my growing neckwear collection.

On Monday I headed to the pool with some of my friends from my book club. The day couldn’t have been more ideal. The sun was glorious, the margaritas were flowing, and of course I had my knitting in hand.

All and all a thoroughly relaxing weekend before the rush of the end of the school year. I couldn’t have asked for anything better 😊.

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Finished Object (FO)Friday

Hello all!

Here is the latest  off my needles. A friend (hope she doesn’t see this post!) is turning 30 so I sent her a cute knit to celebrate this momentous occasion. Picking a project was a little tough as she lives in Southern California and currently it is 70 degrees there. I ultimately picked a cowl as it isn’t too huge and/or bulky. And besides it does get “chilly” at night in California.

Project Profile:

Pattern: Broken Rib Stitch taken from the pattern  Graham by Jennifer Adams.

Yarn:Cascade 128 Superwash Merino Wool in Sapphire Heather (100 grams)

Cast On: 126 stitches

Needles: US Size 10 circular; Cowl was made using the magic loop method

One thing I discovered was the great pattern that forms on the back side of the broken rib. You can really see it with the lighter color yarn and larger gauge. So this cowl has the extra benefit of being reversible! 

 

In other great news, I got engaged this week! The boyfriend (now future husband) popped the question on a lovely hike on the Costal Trail in Marin County, CA. It was amazing! I am super excited about our future nuptials and spending my life time with him. I am so excited that I have taken to making cheesy Instaframes documenting our engagement 🙂 (haha) Wishing you all a Happy Friday!

 

Finished Object Friday: Chunky Plum Cowl

I am changing it up in 2015. From now on I will try to alternate between Friday Funnies and Finished Object (FO) Fridays. It has been tricky for me to keep up with pictures of my knitting. I frequently leave home for work in the dark and then come home to the dark :(. No natural light = crummy pictures.

On a trip to Michael’s, I stumbled upon a new yarn called Paton’s Cobbles Yarn. As per the website,  Patons Cobbles is a  refined “linked” roving yarn that creates a thick-and-thin textured fabric.  When I saw it my thoughts were, ” OOOOOOO that looks fun!” Finding out it was on sale ($6.99 woot woot!), I tossed a couple skeins in my basket.

I had no particular project in mind therefore, I played with a couple of different textures. Due to the yarn already being textures, a simple stitches made it shine the best. Cobbles is a wool/acrylic blend so it is warm, washable, and soft to the touch. The yarn withstood a couple of froggings, which is good if you are a beginner. I ended up using about a skien and a half to knit the cowl on US size 15 needles (circular). The pattern is a simple horizontal ribbing (4 rows knit and 4 rows purl). The whole project took about 2 nights on the couch to complete. Yay bulky yarn!

Patons Cobbles in Frosted Plum

My cowl came out great! I made it really tall to keep me extra warm. I finished this  before Christmas as I thought I would need it for my trip to the East Coast. That darn news had be thinking I was going to be walking into a blizzard.

Guess my geography was a little off as it probably got no lower than 45 or 50 degrees. Oh well… into the bin on knitted items it goes. Maybe this winter I will suck it up and voluntarily venture to a really cold place like Lake Tahoe.

Is going on vacation just so you can wear your knitwear strange?