twist, yarns of intrigue

Good morning, everyone. Yikes, I slept in really late today and therefore woke up really late. Isn't it crazy that it's june already? It feels like christmas was just last week but we're already heading into the second half of the year. I am not usually a hug fan of the hot southern california weather but i do love that it stays light out for so long. I feel like a vampire sometimes when i don't get to see sunlight during the day. only without all the good things like supernatural strength and special powers.

This week i had a hankering to fondle some yarn (knitters will understand) but none of the local stores in my area were appealing to me. so on saturday, I wrangled my friend to trek down with me to manhattan beach to go to Twist, Yarns of Intrigue. the owner, Cathy, is fabulous and they have recently moved to a much larger location down the street. they also carry the most fabulous selection of Malabrigo, one of my favorite yarns, as well as their own yarn and other treats. A trip to twist never fails to inspire me to create and i knew it was the thing to get my creative mojo flowing.

We walked in to see the wonderfully large new space. If you have never been to the old store it's hard to compare but the new space is easily 3-4x larger than the old one. It's so open now with a large couch and an area to hang out and look at pattern. There is also a great yarn bar where you can learn about some of the yarns in the shop and actually knit a swatch with them. you can see how the yarn knits up and what it feels like first hand,  which is a great way to try out a new yarn.

yarn bar

books and pattern galore

The malabrigo is always what interests me the most and they really do have the best selection of it that i've ever seen. Mal is notoriously hard to keep in stock in large quantities with a good selection of colors but cathy manages her orders so well and has such a good relationship with them that she always has lots of colors in all their bases.

seriously swoon at the mal sock yarn

Cathy also dyes her own yarn in wonderful colors. There wasn't much in stock unfortunately for me. I think the locals are snatching all of her yarn up before I can get there. I did find some wonderfully soft and beautiful cotton yarn that Cathy dyes. I am not usually a fan of cotton. Ironic since it's perfect for Southern California weather. But I just find it unyielding and hard on the hands. However, this cotton was dyed up vibrant jewel tones that caught my eye straight away. And the swatches showed and amazingly soft and cushy fabric. I wanted to buy it all! But that wasn't possible so I settled on 3 skeins of a beautiful green with blue undertones to try out. I am seriously going to order more for a sweater though and maybe a blanket. If you you visit Twist, you must feel this cotton.

the cotton of my dreams

I was also looking for inspiration for a wedding shawl I am going to make next year. My friend (who was with me) is getting married next year and requested a shawl for the big day. We looked at some books and narrowed down some ideas but none of the patterns was calling to her. Right when we were about to leave we saw a lovely red lace shawl in the corner made from Malabrigo Silky Merino, a really beautiful silk/wool DK blend. Peggy tried on the shawl and it was love.

So we picked up 3 skeins of the Silky Merino in a really pretty lavender/grey colorway called Madre Pearl. It's a gorgeous color and I am really excited about starting the shawl now. 

That was our big day and yarn trip. It was just the pick me up I needed and got me excited about knitting again. If you're ever in the area, you really should stop by and visit the shop. It has something for everyone. I'll leave you with our yarn purchases for the day. Have a wonderful afternoon!

twist cotton in jade

mal silky merino in madre pearl

every day is a holiday

hello! summer is upon us and i am loving the warmer weather. it's just great to be outdoors when the sun is shining. last weekend i went away for the weekend to san diego. i love going down there and really don't do it enough. we were only there for a day and a half really but it was just enough time to get some time on the beach and some good food. on the way back to la we stopped by the carlsbad flower fields, which i have never been to before. they had fields and fields of gorgeous ranunculus blooms.

love love love. and just so you don't think i haven't been knitting, here is a hat i finished for my brother made of malabrigo worsted (my fave) in sfo sky.

not very exciting but a good basic guy hat. i am off to arizona this weekend and hope to get a chance to go to a yarn shop out there. i haven't bought any yarn in a long time. i've been trying to save money and use the stash. but souvenir yarn doesn't count, right? i hope the flowers are blooming where you are!

a little update

it's me again. yes, i can't believe it either. not much has been going on lately. i've really been trying to work on some wips and finish some projects. i finally picked up my february lady sweater that i started last february. it's been languishing for awhile. i am not really sure why. i was halfway through the first sleeve that last time i put it down. now i am about 1/3 of the way through the second sleeve. after that i just weave in ends and block it. it is a bit short right now, but i think i anticipated it growing when i blocked it. the shoulders looks kinda wide, which worries me, but i am going to go ahead and see what happens. no progress pics right now but i'll try to get some when it's blocking.

i did manage to finish a small project. for easter, some of the ladies at work decided to do a secret easter basket swap. i pulled one of my good friends who also happens to be a knitter. even though i only had a week, i decided to cast on for a hat for her easter basket. results are below.

this is the hermione hat pattern (link)(rav link) i had to tweak the pattern a bit. the last time i knit it i used sport weight yarn, which worked out perfect sizing wife. the worsted malabrigo was a bit trickier. i ended up cutting out at least one of the pattern repeats because it was getting too long. and this is malabrigo merino worsted in cinnabar, which is really lovely color. sort of a warm, rusty orange that is the perfect fall color. it was a big hit with my friend.

i also made this for my mom for easter.

it's one of those loop bow-tie scarves. the woman who works at the market at home has a bunch of them in different colors and my mom mentioned that she wanted one. picked up this skein of malabrigo (can you tell that i love malabrigo?) on super sale in february. this isn't my favorite colorway of theirs but it's not so bad knit up. i can't for the life of me remember the name of this colorway. if anybody out there does, let me know.

the fun this i get to do this weekend is go to san diego. driving down with a couple of friends for a much needed break. i really can't wait. hope you all have a fabulous week!

sunny day

happy new year, everyone! i can't believe we are already in the second week of january. i really wanted to post a big post with a wrap up of last year, but i think that may not happen. and does anyone know how to make those collages from flickr that other bloggers do so they an show off their fo's of the year? i can't figure it our for the life of me. anyway, i hope you are all off to a great start this year. i didn't do a ton of christmas knitting but i did a little. i tend to save my knitting gifts for family members and a few friends who i know appreciate knitted gifts. the worst thing is knitting something for someone and getting the "oh, thanks" look of a person who doesn't know how to appreciate a handmade gift.

first up is a scarf that i made for my mom. this delicious malabrigo was originally given to me by my friend but, when my mom saw me working on this scarf at thanksgiving, she professed her love of this shade of yellow. how can i resist the cutest mom on the planet? i don't. i started this ages ago but only finished it a few weeks ago.


pattern: scrunchable scarf (link) (rav link)
yarn: 1.5 skeins malabrigo merino worsted in sauterne
needles: us 8 or 9 ( i can't remember which but 8 and 9 are my scarf needles)
notes: not much to say except that i looove malabrigo. i actually ended up having 2 very different skeins of mal for this and so about a third of the scarf has more variegation than the rest of it, but that's mal for you and it's ok with me.

next up is a lucky 7 hat

pattern: lucky 7 hat (link) (rav link)
yarn: leftover mal from the scarf (you can see where it gets stripey because i was alternating
skeins)
needles: us 5
notes: the hat was a bit small but i think that's just cause i should have gone up a needle size. i blocked it a bit longer/bigger though and it's fine now. very easy pattern and i liked that the cables went all the way to the end of the pattern. you can see the cool crown here.

see, so pretty? well that's all i have for you today. off to brunch with friends. i hope you are all having a fun, lazy weekend.

i made something!

yes, there has been knitting going on. i just get too lazy to blog about it most of the time. however, i do have a lovely hat i finished over the holidays. it's brooklyntweed's habitat made from my favorite yarn, mmmalabrigo.

pattern: habitat by brooklyntweed (my ravelry page here)
yarn: almost and entire skein of malabrigo merino worsted in azul bolita
needles: us 6 for ribbing and us 5 for rest of hat
size: i made the longer size so it would cover my ears. fits well on my 21" head.

i highly recommend this pattern. the cables are lovely and everything is clearly written and charted out for you. i am getting better at taking pics of myself in hats. i like to see hats on a person but it's hard taking a picture of yourself in one when you have short arms and no tripod. but i think i am getting better at it. i only had to take about 30 shots for this to work out. :)

has anyone watched the premiere of lost yet? i wasn't feeling well last night so i skipped it but am hoping to catch up this weekend. i have no idea what's going to happen but i think it's going to be good. and yay for tomorrow being friday.