Yarn Tourism Part 2

After the Boston trip, I spent a couple days in Houston before going to Colorado for Easter. (Ah, the jet-set life!) While visiting family in my hometown of Pueblo, I always visit Colorado Fiber Arts. This is one of the most appealing yarn shops I've ever been in. It's in a gorgeous old building, the atmosphere is inviting, the workers are nice and helpful, and the selection of yarn is fantastic.

I thought of my carry-on bag and kept my purchases to a minimum. I bought three balls of Grass, a cotton and hemp blend. I know just which summer scarf I want to make out of it. In fact, I've already made one but since it's not yet blocked, it's not yet in a post. The second yarn is a laceweight called U-Knitted Nations Artesana in the colorway Fruit Freeze. With 545 yards to work with, it will probably become one of the Evelyn Clark shawls.
I'm pretty happy with my souvenirs!

Yarn Tourism Part 1

I was recently in Boston for Patriots' Day.

As we all know, yarn bought on vacation is not "adding to your impossibly large stash". Instead it is "buying souvenirs". I decided to buy souvenirs to remind me of my trip to Boston.

I'd done a bit of research in advance. Turns out this store called Windsor Button was near my hotel. While not a fancy or cute place, there was a lot of nice yarn here. There was a whole wall of buttons, many books, and just about any sewing notion you could imagine.

I bought a couple things. The purple yarn is Manos del Uruguay lace and the tan is Misti Alpaca lace. (Lace is small, light, doesn't take up much room in luggage, and one skein makes a decent-size shawl.) The buttons are also from Windsor Button. I had to buy some since button is part of the store's name.

The green yarn on the right was another Boston souvenir. I was walking down Commonwealth and turned the corner to get to Newbury. I happened to see a store in the basement level that sold mainly needlepoint but also some yarn. If I read my bank statement correctly, the store is called Stitch Boutique. Not a very imaginative name, but that's what it is. The yarn I bought there is from Tilli Tomas. It's called Symphony Lace and it has little beads the same color as the yarn already attached. I imagine this will make a shawl with lots of stockinette to show off the beads.

Yarn Balls

What do you do with your leftover yarn balls after you've finished a project? Mine are in a big glass vase, decorating the bedside table in the yarn room/guest bedroom #1.

DOT -- Dog Bar

Is it a dog park with a bar attached? Or is it a bar with a dog park attached? Either way, it's a fun new place in Houston called Boneyard. After our soup lunch on Saturday we were looking for something to do outdoors on such a beautiful day. My boyfriend remembered that Boneyard was supposed to open that day so we decided to drive by and see if that was so. It was open, and busy, so we went to pick up Lucy and then checked out this place.

Look at the big back yard/dog park. It's fully fenced, with poop bags, trash cans, and bunches of tennis balls. I took Lucy in here while her daddy stayed on the deck in the shade. Lucy socialized with the other dogs but she can't resist a tennis ball. She's a retriever, after all. So I spent quite a bit of time throwing for her (and random other dogs too). Here she is, bringing the ball to me. And yes, she was the biggest dog there!

After a while we went to join Daddy on the deck. Lucy is a turbo dog with her tennis balls so how could he resist a beer called Turbo Dog?

Lucy became very comfortable on the deck. She figured out all the people who came up or down the stairs would touch her if she got close enough. See that hand on the right, getting ready to pet her.

Eventually it was time to leave. Given that it was such a pretty day, we were driving topless. Here's a photo before all the seatbelts were fastened.

We left and went to Little Bigs for dinner. They serve great sliders. Lucy is welcome on their deck so it's a good place for us. Unfortunately Chef Caswell was not there. I would have liked to congratulate him for doing so well on Next Iron Chef last fall.

This was a good day!

Knitting by me!

For a knitting blog, there's been very little knitting content lately, especially my personal knitting. Here's some! I am actually in the midst of two projects, one I work on most days during lunch and another in the evenings and on weekends if I'm not too busy. Here's my "at home" project. This is a tank top called Zinnia by Classic Elite. The front and back are the same. Here's the front. Or the back. Once I make the other, I will seam up the sides and crochet an edging around the armholes and for the straps. I hope my nearly nonexistent crochet skills are up to that!

I had a few issues starting this project which I wrote about on Ravelry. But now everything is worked out, I have good notes, and the other side should be simple to knit.

I love lace! I love blue!

Unlike the girl in the pattern photo, I intend to wear this top over a t-shirt.

Knitting in Unexpected Places

Saturday we went to the Lawndale Art Center for an event called Empty Bowls. This is a benefit for the Houston Food Bank. You pick out a bowl made by a local artist, donate $25, and get a lunch of soup, bread, water, and cookies. It was a good cause, a beautiful day, and delicious soup.

Before leaving I went into the restroom. I was surprised to see knitting there! Who put this under the sink? Does it have a purpose? Is it art? I don't know. But it's pretty.

National Dog Biscuit Day

Did you celebrate National Dog Biscuit Day on February 23? That was last Wednesday. This holiday wasn't on any calendar of mine, but I learned of it on Chan's blog. Apparently it's a very important holiday because even the Smithsonian recognizes it. My dog Lucy believes every day is Dog Biscuit Day. She gets a biscuit every time she asks to go outside to potty, does the deed, and comes back in the house. Why? I ask. She's been successfully doing this since she was about 10 weeks old! But she insists. So in my mind, I translated the holiday to be National Homemade Dog Biscuit Day. But who sets such a holiday in the middle of the week? This is very difficult to celebrate if you are a working woman. Let me ask a couple questions. Is this holiday always celebrated on February 23? Why can't it always be a Monday like Presidents' Day? And is it ok to celebrate on a weekend instead? I sure hope so because that's what we did.


Today I made Lucy some Best of Breed Dog Biscuits. I found the recipe a few weeks ago while looking on the King Arthur Flour site for something completely unrelated. However, this fit in well with the Westminster dog show that I recently watched bits and pieces of and this holiday.


Look at all those wholesome, human-quality ingredients. The green stuff is parsley (interestingly I had fresh but not dried in my house) and the rest is stuff to make peanut butter/oatmeal cookies. Lucy seemed to know I was baking for her.

Here are the biscuits ready to go into the oven.


What does Lucy think? Yum!




Hmm, looking at my last post, you'd think this has become a dog blog rather than a knitting blog. Nope. Just trying to distract you with dog photos. I'm knitting every day, though not monogamously, so at this moment there is nothing knitting to show you. That will come soon.