What I'm working on

There is this:



Starting the second sock for John.

And this:



For grandma to wear to church to keep the chill off.

And finally this:



She needs one.

Yarn Shops

I love to shop for yarn and l love touching it before I buy it. So I've held off purchasing much yarn off the internet; only 3 skeins to date. When the local shops grouped together and did a Pennisula to Pier LYS Shop Hop a friend and I joined it. We went to 5 of the 19 shops participating and were very excited by the selection offered and the customer service provided.

I'm not sure what the object of the shop was specifically, but for Julie and I it was about seeing other shops, not just the ones in our town. I was amazed by the selection and the customer service. The local shops in our town just couldn't measure up. I was disappointed, but not too surprised, since there is nothing in our shops to draw me in, not selection, and especially not customer service.

Here is what I purchased (trust me it all feels good!)

BellaOnline Knitting

I am the editor of a knitting site. Now I don't presume to know everything about knitting, but with my nearly 18 years of knitting, and my newly minted MLIS I can generally figure out how to answer people's questions or concerns. The site is www.bellaonline.com/site/knitting and is one of the largest sites for women, but it is all run by volunteers.

What it is doing for me is helping me develop a writing habit, I try to schedule time to write at least two days a week and do research for a topic. It is mostly a habit and a discipline. I'm enjoying it and have had some good luck answering people's questions in the forum. http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=73&page=1

I like the give and take of the forum, but this one isn't very active, I have to build up my following.

There are a lot of great knitting help sites, and there is the whole Ravelry community. I'm just glad knitting is undergoing a resurgence, or renaissance. Time to sign off and actually knit.

Today we went to the fair

The Santa Cruz County Fair ranks among one of my favorite fall things to do. It is locally run and organized and this year in the Crochetti Building the local knitting guild had a demonstration table. Some kids joined us to learn to knit, some adults took flyers and hope to come to our meetings, and some adults told us their knitting stories. The stories were about when they learned to knit, what they are knitting now, who taught them to knit, or how they hoped to knit more in the future.

There were weavers there, spinners, and displays of garments, quilts, decorative items to be wondered at and enjoyed. The fair is just fun, simple as that. Have you ever seen vegetable sculpture? See, where else do you get to see veggie whales, or eggplant motor boats...the fair! There were the tackle box collections, the maj jongg collections, lego sculptures and yes a porcupine pumpkin.

I haven't even gotten to the flowers. The flowers were beautiful, dahlias that were stunning, roses that were fragrant, orchids so beautiful and elegant. Speaking of elegant the Fair Queen was in gown and tiara, smiling and letting little girls and boys take their picture with her, "the Princess". There is nothing that brings joy to my heart than the site of a teenager being nice to a small child and the small child looking like the teenager had bestowed much more than a smile and hug. To those who say there is no decency and kindness left, I say there is, there really, really is.

Finally, I had one of those moments, you know the moments of pure grace. I was sitting in the horse arena stands, having a smackerel of fair food (don't ask) it was sunny and 70. I was watching the young girls working with their horses, no judges watching, and a feeling of total contentment filled me, all was good in my world at that moment. A moment of grace.