Mother's Day Yarn Score

On Mother's Day, Manly took me to one of my favorite local yarn stores, Sifu Design Studio. Here is what I got:



The three balls of Cascade Pacific are for a baby blanket.

I also got two balls of Noro sock yarn. Okay: here is the deal with Noro sock yarn. I have previously knit with the Kureyon version and hated it; however, I cannot resist the way Noro surprises, so I am trying the Taiyo version. I love the color changes and blending of Noro and find it all fascinating. I cannot, no matter the experience with the yarn, resist the magical rainbow that is Noro.

Here is a picture of Noro Kureyon socks that I knit for my older sister four summers ago, right before my wedding:



I'm thinking that the best socks knit out of Noro to show off the color changes are knee highs, so I will probably go that route with the new Noro. As least whenever I see knee highs made of Noro, I think they look splendid.

I also got a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn; I have yet to knit with Malabrigo. Is it as dreamy as everyone says it is?

Portland Yarn Score

There are, apparently, a lot of knitters in Portland, Oregon; there are, apparently, a lot of yarn stores in Portland. I was there this past week to do two readings. I didn't have a lot of down time, and down time is always iffy with a baby, but I did manage to get to a yarn store, KnitPurl, which was in walking distance of my hotel, Ace Hotel, which I stayed in during my last stay in Portland. The Ace is lovely, quirky, in the middle of everything.



I bought Koigu PPPM in colorway 326. I know: it isn't rare or local or hard to find or coveted. It is, in the sock-knitting world, abundant. I wanted, however, to start a new practice: that is, I wanted to start buying "souvenir" yarn during my travels. This colorway complimented the hotel postcard and seemed like a perfect way to remember my stay in Portland. Although I've knit socks with Koigu before, I have always knit gift socks with Koigu. These socks will be for me; these socks will be mine.

I wish I had time to get to Angelika's Yarn Store, which I have ordered from in the past, but it was too far, and we had no time.

Manly and I absolutely adored Portland. We loved Powell's Bookstore, which sells (get ready!) Malabrigo yarn in all weights and has a whole aisle devoted to knitting books. I was on a budget, so I didn't score any Malabrigo or knitting books. We loved the food carts. We adored our friends there. We loved the sky. We loved the coffee. We want to move there.

At the airport, on our way back to Chicago, I saw many a needle knitting.

Baby Hats

When she was waiting for her first grandbaby to be born, my mother was bored in the Chicago winter, holed up in my apartment. So she could overcome her boredom, I taught her how to knit. She knit a scarf, a hat for herself, and a hat for my daughter. The baby hat she knit (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Ice Lake Heather) has the little pom-pom on top of it. She was so proud of herself--so proud that she could knit, could make a pom-pom, and could see her granddaughter wearing the hat she made.



The little creme colored one (Knit Picks Bare worsted weight) was just about worn out. My daughter lived in that hat. No matter how much I washed and reshaped it, the yarn just never sprung back; it would no longer stay on. So I made another, the light pink one (Cascade 220--I forget the color--maybe Pink Rose?).

The red one (Cascade Pacific--again, I don't know the colorway) I made for fun simply because these hats are so quick to make.

The baby blue one (also Cascade 220, Caribbean), started yesterday, is for a friend who is due in June.

I know this is the first post I've had in a long time. Being a mom and full-time professor has made it difficult for me to even find the time to knit. I realized a few weeks ago, however, that I was unhappy because I was no longer doing what I loved to do so much. So I picked up my needles again and have since been happier.

Baby hats were made with the Umbilical Cord Hat pattern from Stitch 'n Bitch. My mom choose to forego the "umbilical cord" in favor of the pom-pom.