Clara's Loom in Foley

Man, it's been a while! How you been doing? Hope all you Northerners are doing okay with the storm. I've been knitting like crazy and still haven't gone up to unpack my sewing room since my roommates were here a few weeks ago. I'm almost finished with the cardigan, but I thought I'd share where this knitting obsession has led me.

I found a yarn store and gallery off the main drag in Foley! If you're ever headed to Gulf Shores and need a fix of yarn, Clara's Loom is right off Highway 59.

I think she's only open Thursday-Saturday, but she has a loom upstairs and she'll show you her work. She sells beautiful items, and has lots of interesting yarn too.

The only drawback is that she doesn't knit or crochet, so she couldn't help me with gauge questions, but she did help me find a color to coordinate with my cardigan.

The brown she had didn't look as nice as this gray, so I went with this one.

Here's a close-up of my Trinity stitch, also known as Blueberry stitch according to my book.

This is where I got hung up for a while - the buttonhole! The pattern is a little light on details, so I enlisted my mom's help plus some Youtube videos, and finally found the answer in the Knitting Book - hooray!

I'll post some pics when I get the dang thing finished. I need to get on it, because my stash is growing. Below from the top are some of my collection: a natural alpaca/wool blend from Clara's Loom for a sweater, a crazy pink and white thing to make a hat for my hairdresser, and a green merino wool from Lion's Brand for another sweater...I guess.

Shoot, by the time I get to that one, it'll be warm again here. I need to move!

Seriously?

This was one of the paper lunch bags in the box of school supplies provided by the school for the 5th graders. WTH?! Is this an American company? Surely it's an overseas company who isn't familiar with 80's American slang. Funny.

The Sweater's Almost Finished

Here it is from the back - wow, looks like a real sweater! There's still the Trinity stitch trim around the neck and front that is pretty wide, so it will actually sit on my shoulders with that.

But here's the big boo-boo - get ready for a big laugh.

Yes, I got cocky and knitted 70 rows without measuring. The other sleeve was 70 rows, so I don't know how I got so far off, but I've already taken the scissors to it and fixed it. I was sweating it because I don't know how to undo binding off, but then I realized I could just cut it. Hopefully I'll have a finished sweater to show you soon...

The Knitting Book

Before we dive into this awesome book by Frederica Patmore and Vikki Haffenden, here's what was on the menu at Osaka Japanese restaurant for the Tide fans - HA!

Hey, at least they tried, right? There was nothing for the Auburn fans at all. Okay, the photos are awful, but this is the prettiest book I've ever seen. I just page through it to look at the pretty pictures.

Even the colors they chose to illustrate the stitches are gorgeous.

All the pics are enlarged so you can see every stitch.

There are huge sections devoted to types of yarn, notions, techniques, projects, stitch patterns, etc.

And the projects are so cool - I'd love to learn how to do this scarf with 2 colors. I only have one gripe with the project section...

There are tons of interesting bags, gloves, hats, etc.....

But THIS is the ONLY real piece of clothing! It's for a baby! Where's an actual piece of clothing for me?!

Oh well, I already found a bunch of sweater patterns online at Ravelry and Lion Yarn. I was just hoping for a really cool one in this book. And speaking of, here's where I stand currently with my cardigan.

Uh, see, that's the sleeve on the needle, and the shoulder seam is below it. I have one loose stitch to fix, otherwise it's looking great. Still haven't gotten yarn for the trim yet...or gone upstairs to work on the yoga pants, though I DID watch the yoga pant webcast, which helped. Maybe this weekend....

Weekend with the Girls

Had a great weekend with my college roommates! We've been getting together for 17 years now, and that doesn't count weddings, etc., right after college. Here's a little sample of our weekend activities. This is just a nice view of the Fairhope pier.

We also made our way to the Grand Hotel in Point Clear for drinks and cannon-firing - who knew they did that every afternoon?! This is the intro - note the kids from the swimming pool following the drummer - cute.



And here's the actual firing. I tried to edit it in Adobe Premiere, but couldn't get it into Youtube, so just go to 1:35 mins if you can't wait for it.



Topics of discussion included Honey Boo Boo (that show deserves its own post, but feel free to comment now if you like) and the state of our economy, which was an entertaining yet civil discourse with no brawling or yelling, which is awesome given our diverse views. Speaking of Honey Boo Boo, here's a link to a nice article with a different perspective provided by one of my roommates. Be sure and read the comments for other opinions.

Hopefully I'll get some pics of that knitting book and possibly my cardigan up soon!