Jalama Beach

Last Saturday, I went on a beach hike with my friends Jeff and Laura. I must admit, I knew walking in sand was tough but c'mon, there would be hard sand, right? I am here to tell you folks, it doesn't make a difference. We hiked from 11am to 6pm that night. And I was tore up the next day! It was a lot of fun though! We hiked down to the light house and back.

We started out with a little bit of fun:

There was a lot of walking:

After that, there was some resting:

We finally got to the lighthouse:

Where we saw many of these:

We ended the day with a beautiful shot of this:

All in all, it was a great day. A highly recommended hike. Make sure you go early in the morning and check the tides!

How Cute Are These!

How perfect are these! I found them in my BluePrint magazine this month. They are by an artist, Alyssa Ettinger. She even has jewelry!

Picture 1715

Picture 1715, originally uploaded by tellen24.

It's not much to look at right now but this is the back of the Drops sweater I mentioned about 4 posts ago. This yarn is an oiled cashmere (made for machine knitting) so it needs to be washed to get the full effect. The little rectangles in the corner are my swatches.

KoolHaas #1

I finished this hat, KoolHaas by BrooklynTweed. Pattern is in the Interweave Knits Holiday 2007. I used Queensland Kathmandu DK in Orange. It's an easy pattern to knit but not a quick one. The only issue I have with it is that the crown gets decreased pretty quick. When I put the finished hat on, it felt as if it was going to pop off the top of my head. So, I wet the crown, popped it on the StyroHead and let it dry stretched out. Fits much better now! This is a Christmas gift for a friend.

Zeebee #2

Same yarn, different color: Natural Violet. This hat was cast on 2 stitches less to make it slightly shorter. The hat is finished and fits great. I think the next one will have 35 stitches. That might be the perfect hat right there...

Zeebee #1

Picture 1698, originally uploaded by tellen24.

My friend Thuy came up with this pretty brilliant pattern for a 'seamless' garter stitch hat. I am not a fan of garter stitch but I saw (on Ravelry of course! ) someone's (possibly Chauntel) Zeebee in a self striping yarn. I promptly went to my stash and found my Patons SWS in Natural Pink. I used size 9 needles and cast on 36 stitches and did 9 wrapped stitches in each section. And the hat turned out wonderful!!

I started a new one.

Sweater, that is. It's justified!! It's bulky and quick and only has 3/4 length sleeves. And I only have the button bands to do on the Tangled Yoke and that baby is done. Oh, I put it on at knitting last night? I got a group wide OOOOH! It was nice. :) Anyway, I am finally using my Colourmart Cashmere for this new sweater (it's from Drops). The yarn will be doubled and be so luscious, soft, warm. I can't wait for this one to be done! I will give you pics once I am past the cast on.

And just to give all y'all a head's up. All you knitters out there need to join Ravelry. Even if you don't use it for yourself, I am seeing less and less blogging happening and more and more Ravelry-ing. It's such a useful source of yarn info, projects, corrections, substitutions, etc. I am having trouble keeping up on the blog. It may go by the wayside sometime here in the future. I have to give a lot of thought to that... Just wanted to let you know.

A Match Made In Heaven

Do you ever think about the personality of a store when you go shopping? Do you ever wonder why it is you have your 'favorite' shops? I think a lot of it has to do with the personality of the shop. I am not talking Ross, Target, etc, I am talking the fun little boutiques that might be expensive but are so worth visiting. The owners/employees are friendly, the shop is set up to accommodate you (or so it seems!). Everything about it just seems 'right'. Well, I found my knit shop. The Loop & Leaf. The owner, Celeste, is super friendly, loves knitting, and has brought my esthetic to her little shop. It's open, airy, fresh, and colorful. She organizes her yarn by color!! It's my dream. If you have a moment, you should stop in and check it out. I didn't buy any yarn yet but I have plans for many things I saw in there. She carries many yarns that aren't readily available: ShiBui, Shokay, Fleece Artist, Jade Sapphire, and many others.

A comment was recently made on the Santa Barbara Group's forum in Ravelry that we "have what you'd call 'an embarrassment of riches' for those of us living in Santa Barbara." She's right, we have 3 boutique knit stores plus Craft Essentials and Michaels. And I love it! Each store has it's own personality and suites just about everybody in town. I appreciate the fact that we can share the wealth. :)

She made me another two pairs!!

Seriously. Best BFF ever. All I have to do is make a pair of felted slippers for exchange?? Okay!

This one is the same pair but how can you resist a closeup. I can't!

This is the first pair she knit. Same yarn, Socks that Rock Silkie, different colorway. Just as awesome. :)