*Left Coast Knits

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap. -Cynthia Heimel

Monday, May 29, 2006

Wine, socks, antiques, and Noni bags.

Ok, so I promised another post on Saturday, and here it is Monday, and I am just getting around to it. But I have been busy! And not just with knitting... Over the Memorial Day weekend, I went to an antique show, where I got these lovely old spools of silk thread- each is about four inches tall. The thread is such a pretty color that it is sorely tempting to use it for something (it is pretty thick- I could knit it!)- fortunately, there isn't too much of it, and it is smelly (but only if you put your nose right into it- don't be thinking that my whole house smells like stinky silk thread now!). So- temptation averted. That was close,though!

After the antique show I went to an open house at a local winery, Thomas Coyne Vineyards, in Livermore, CA., where I got to bottle my own wine. Supremely fun! You get the bottles and put them on a machine that fills them, and then you get to use a corking machine to cork them. Then you paste on some labels, and viola- you can now drive straight home and crack them open. The winery is uber-cool too- it is kind of out in the middle of no-where, and is very old and wild west looking, with sheep and wild rabbits running around. Yee-ha!

In my last post, I mentioned that I had joined a Cascade Fixation sock KAL (that's Knit ALong, for those of you who are not in with the in crowd). The pattern provided was a little, errr, small, so after some trial and error (mostly error) I came up with a stitch count that would work for my less-than-ladylike feet (which my mother has been known, on occasion, to refer to as clodhoppers). The socks are only ankle high, so they should move along quickly, despite their gargantuan sizing. I have been on a sock bender lately- socks are a great way to break up the excitement of knitting miles and miles of stockinette on my curtains- too much of that and a girl is liable to burst into flames. So while I have been working on these, I dyed some more sock yarn. That pink one in the middle is just a tad bright (the picture is giving you a headache, isn't it?) so I have to overdye that one just a little to bring it within the range of what humans can look at without screaming. Other than that particular one, it all came out pretty nicely- I have enough for two pairs of socks with color coordinated heels and toes. I dyed some yarn for my Secret Pal too (another that is tooo bright and needs to be beaten into submission) and some spinning fiber (lest I should run out of knitting projects).

Finally, I have another Noni bag felted and waiting for someone to take pity on it and give it a zipper, handles and a lining. Pretty snazzy, huh?

See, I told you I have been busy!

6 That's what you say!:

Blogger insaknitty said...

so cute! can't wait to see the noni all finished. the last one looked so good! :)

12:12 PM  
Blogger cpurl17 said...

You've been very busy! Cool winery--It seems hard to believe there's still some undeveloped land in our own back yard.

6:41 PM  
Blogger Carrie K said...

Hella busy! What antique show?

So have the elves shown up to finish off your felted Noni bag?

3:47 PM  
Blogger becky said...

I looooooooooooove the colorway on that last bag.

11:41 PM  
Blogger Zonda said...

What Noni pattern is your latest one? That is so cute! Yarn dyeing...I've been on a binge too! I'm on the Cascade fixation KAL too, and a e-pal of cpurl's :)

7:58 PM  
Blogger KnitPastis said...

You got to bottle your own wine!! How cool is that! You did a superb job dyeing up this yarn. Love the jewel colors. Sock is coming along and just love the colors you choose to knit them in. Yes, I would say you have been busy!

1:43 PM  

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