Two Day Hat

If you happen to be anywhere near
this blog or Los Angeles you know that the great Yarn Crawl LA was last week.  One of the thrills is that the shop owners are all so generous.  Great samples - either worked in house or from a designer trunk show - are there for the viewing.  Absolutely free entertainment even if the budget is blown and you can't buy two skeins of cashmere.

Most of the shops that I visited had free patterns for the "crawlers."  Well, look here at the free hat pattern that Annette of The Knitting Tree, LA designed and made available. 

It is a jaunty crochet hat.  I chose to make it in Madelinetosh Vintage because I bought that from the Tree as well.   But really, folks.  Two days is all it took to make this hat.  It is part of my determination to branch out and explore new colorways.  You know what?  I could get used to "not teal or jade or merlot." 

I'm so happy with this one that I actually changed my Facebook profile pix to be this hat.  That's a whole lot of happy.  Thank You, Annette!

Crawling!

Don't bother me, I'm crawling.  As in driving at a crawl whilst getting from store to store during the Yarn Crawl.  My plan is to hit my local area on the first day, then branch out on the next three days.  Sunday will find me checking out a few stores that I've never visited.

 

The list is made and daughter - she who crochets - has added a few items of her own.  That pesky job has her unable to crawl on the first two days and I'll be at stores that might have just what she needs.

The list is not all yarn.  It includes such wonders as buttons, needles and beads.  I will pick up my tote bag and get my first stamp at The Knitting Tree, LA where friends await.  Then it is off to the south bay shops and a hop over to the Long Beach area to round out Thursday.

That's about as much info as I can divulge.  Somewhere out there in Los Angeles county is a yarn shop with 1200 yards of teal/grey sock weight all in the same dye lot, and I'm going to find it!

Already?

It can not be March.  Not already.  What happened to February?  Oh, well.  I shall just look at the daily calendar and pretend that I am up-to-date and on task.

Speaking of tasks, last week offered a block of time to work on the second blanket of 2014.  I doubt that March will provide such luxury, so part deux might not see much hook time for a while.

The FPDC stitches really stand out against the plain single crochet background.  And I love that the raised stripes run at 90 degrees to the bands of color. 

A rather thorough stash dive (and a bit of organizing - it is Spring, don't ya know) proved that my supply of purple is greatly diminished.  I did find one bag filled with about 1100 yards of light lilac cotton.  That's enough for a nice tank, tee or even skirt so it will remain "off limits" for the acrylic blanket.  Other than that one find, there was nothing. 

The upcoming LA Yarn Crawl has me excited about hunting for just the right purple to use and the final edging of this afghan.  It is all about the hunt! So watch out Los Angeles yarn stores.  Miss Lenora is on a mission!