I finally got some of the photos off the of camera! Here are some of the things I have been working on:

The Sidelines Top saga continues, I am working on the front and am at the decreases for the waist. Now that I can work the cable pattern by site rather then having to check each row of the pattern it should go a little faster.

This is a hat I impetuously made two weeks ago when a colorway of Noro jumped off the shelf at the yarn store into my hands, I swear it is not my fault! I had to put a flower on it because Will wanted to wear it and I knew I would never get it back if that happend.

This is the Silk Garden Lattice Edge Scarf I have been working on, I think it is almost ready for the other side of treble lattice, then I’ll block it and put some fringe on it. Normally I am not big on fringe but this scarf seems to want some.

This is the landscape of a new scarf I started this week, it is the brown Jacobs Wool I got on shearing day at Meridian Jacobs Farm. The pattern is just simple moss stitch, the yarn is so dark it is hard to see any pattern in it but I wanted it to have some texture. This yarn is a dream to knit with, so soft and very bouncy. I am going to have to pay the farm another visit for some more.

I know it is a bit ADD but I can’t seem to keep to just one project at a time so I have pretty much given up on trying to.

And then he said it all-

I have so many things planned to blog about this month and something always seems to halt me mid prep or draft. The main derailer was a diagnosis from my Dr that I have PCOS. I went into more detail about it over at my health blog. So I have spent the weekend, when I generally get most of my project stuff worked on and pictures taken, reading up on this diagnosis and all my web searching time looking for blogs and sites about it.

But I have been getting a few things done, the back to the Sidelines Top is finished and waiting to be photographed and the front has been started. There are a bunch of things that I brought up from my parents that I want to share and are not photographed yet as well as photos in my flickr that I have not properly shared with you yet. So keep your eyes peeled next week, lots ot come, but at the moment I am rather imeresed in my need to learn more about this thing that is going to always be with me from now on.

So do you remember that yummy looking yak and merino roving that I got at Color from  A Verb for Keeping Warm?  Well I have been busy on the wheel lately and it is now a lovely fingering/lace weight yarn.

50/50 Yak and Merino

I also finally got the last bit of the Plumber plyed and am now trying to decide what to spin next out of the stash. While the spinning bug has been great, the Sidlelines Top kind of got put on well, the sideline for a bit but I am determind to get back to it tonight as the spinning urg seems to be wanning  a little.

I have also been working on another Noro scarf, just something for mindless craft moments, like on the drive to SoCal and breaks at work when I can’t get enough of a patterned something done. This one is in Silk Garden and is just single crochet with a treble crochet lattice edge.

Noro Silk Garden Scarf

What have you been working on lately?

1. Autumn Bird, 2. Autumn mosaic, 3. autumn, 4. An autumn day, 5. Autumn Ride !, 6. Autumn, 7. Japanese Maple Autumn Colors, 8. I’am looking for my brother, he hates autumn, 9. 秋天到了！ Autumn Has Arrived! de Herbscht isch cho!, 10. Too late for the apples, 11. Colours of autumn!!, 12. Squash

I have been feeling the sense of fall in the air so here is a bit of autumn for you to enjoy this week before Thanksgiving.

It is out! The new issue of Artful Blogging, one of several magazine addictions that I have and am hoping to spread. This mag is page after page of eye candy and the fun doesn’t stop there because if you are like me you have to go look at (and end up subscribing to) all of the blogs. The Google Reader list is getting rather long, but that is the way I like it. So check out your local bookstore or magazine stand, this one is not to be missed!

This weekend was a fun tea things filled weekend. On Saturday my friend Nita (SpitSplice to any Ravelers out there) came and dropped off two boxes full of crochet and knitting patterns for me to go through (more on these later) and then we and her hubbie went to my local tea bar, L’amyx, for a nice cuppa and chat before wandering around the shops (more on that later too).

Saturday also found Will and I up on Piedmont Ave poking around the shops after breakfast and I gave into a bit of temptation and got these:

Click Me!

And……

Click Me!

There is a whole series of these mugs by Mud Pie Collections and I must say I had a hard time picking just one mug to get.

The tea deck is great fun. There is a card for all the basic kinds of tea, such as matcha, Assam, green, white, etc as well as some herbals and blending tips. And there are recipes of tasty treats such as scones, Buckingham Palace Shortbread, and more. It is great if you are just learning about teas because each card talks about how to brew the specific tea, a little info on how it is processed, the region is originates from, etc. I can’t wait to try the shortbread recipe!

Anyway, more to come on the treasures from Nita and other fun things, afraid my flash drive with photos is being sat on by a cat at home.

Last night was spent listening to election coverage on the radio (we don’t get TV channels), it was rather nostalgic in a way.

We now have the first BLACK President of the United States, it has been a long time coming. I will admit, I was hoping for Hilary in the primaries, mostly, I will admit because I want to live to see the first women president but either way it is a great victory for Civil Rights and Equality. I am proud to be an American again.

Sadly, it looks like Prop 8 has passed, but that fight is not over yet, with luck they will at least uphold the marriages that occurred over the summer.

Tonight I will celebrate with my knitting group, a cup of coffee and a piece of tiramisu.

About two weeks ago I went to a little fiber festival in Berkeley. The festival is aptly named Color and this was the second one this year. At this point it is a very small festival, about 5 vendors, about 6 small classes and an area for folks to bring their wheels, spindles, knitting, etc. and hangout for a while. But I would say its size is part of what I liked about it, it wasn’t so crowded that you couldn’t get into booths to touch and see all the yarns and fibers, you could sit down, get to know folks and there where not a lot of “tourists.”

The best thing was that all the vendors where local, including two of my favorites, Tactile and A Verb for Keeping Warm. A few yarn stores carry some of their roving but it is so nice to see all of the things they offer and get to fondle it too. Both vendors use natural dyes from Earth Hues to get wonderfuly soft but vibrant colors.

CMV Locks

I got a fun bag of CMV locks from Tactile with a hodgepodge of colors that I am going to blend into a fun heathered/tweedy batt once I can borrow my mom’s drum carder ( I think she has used it twice, maybe). The deep colors are made by overdyeing a darker fleece, which is a niffty way of not haveing to use as concentrated a dye bath as you would with white fleece to get dark colors.

50/50 Yak and Merino

Of course I also had to get something from A Verb for Keeping Warm and there is no other word to describe how wonderful this roving feels but sensuous. It is a blend of 50/50 yak and merino wool, it is like butter and the blend of the natural colors of each fiber will make a wonderful grey heather yarn that will be great as is or to over dye once I decide what to do with the yarn once I spin it up. I just have to finish the last little bit of the roveing from Plumber.

I can’t wait for the next Color festival but in the mean time there will be the Spin-In at Knit-One-One on Nov. 12 and the Meridian Farm Shearing on Nov. 16th so I guess I’ll survive till then.

The weekend I did not get much done on any of my projects, my main achievement was getting the dishes done. I was not in a very productive mood.

On Saturday morning, my maternal Grandmother passed away.

We have known it was coming for a while now. She had been dealing with lung cancer over the last two years. At Christmas last year they found out it had spread to her spine and decided to try a round of Chemo. The first few chemo sessions in the spring seemed to help so they tried a few more, but they didn’t do anything and she decided to refuse treatment.  They gave her about 3 months. She passed on at home in bed with my Grandfather and a number of her 9 children around her, knowing she was loved and will be missed.

Even though it is something we have all known was going to happen and we are glad she is no longer suffering, it is not easy to think that she won’t be there anymore.  This on top of the death of my paternal Grandfather just weeks after my grandmother was re-diagnosed in January has made it a sad year for us.

Perhaps tonight I will pick up the needles, now that I am a bit calmer and can focus the distraction of yarn and stitches will be welcome.