Good Things

Well it's time for another FO. The Hemlock Ring Blanket I made for my mother's Christmas gift was cast off and blocked yesterday. In truth, I would like it to be a smidge bigger. But I was really itching to get it off the needles and see it all finished. There was probably only enough yarn for one more repeat, anyway. I cast off after row 111 and did the crochet edge suggested by The Rainey Sisters. It's a light & airy throw made with just over 3 skeins of Patons Classic Wool Merino. Next time I would buy the Cascade Eco Wool called for in the pattern in order to have a heftier, warmer blanket. Also I would shorten the crochet chain that makes up the scalloped edge.

In other news, the past week was filled with the pleasure of company. My aunt and cousin spent a week here with us and we got to show them around San Diego a bit. Too bad they had to leave California to go back to hurricane weather. Anyhow, one day while they were here we hopped a bus down to a trendy block on 5th Avenue filled with all varieties of boutiques, bistros, and used book stores. Oh, how I love used book stores :) I have always been the kind of person to browse non-fiction and or medical science sections first, but this time I made a bee-line for the craft books. What I found was a 25 year old knitting guide chock-full of great information: size conversion tables, how to take proper garment measurements, a stain removal guide, a stitch dictionary, and how to alter patterns based on gauge. Love it. A person like me needs these things carefully written out in order to make any sense of it.

The book wasn't the only recent find that pleased the hell out of me. A couple of days ago Cameron and I walked into a thrift store across the street from where we live and somehow I found the only two skeins of yarn in the whole place: Bernat Softee Chunky in Heather Gray. I was hoping to have found some cool vintage needles, but no such luck. A lady at the counter told me $1 would get me both skeins, but my pockets were empty, so I found Cameron looking at leather jackets and asked him to buy them. Well, there turned out to be a $5 minimum card purchase and neither of us had any cash whatsoever. All I had was a single quarter in my pocket. It was my lucky day, though, because the clerk was in a good mood and accepted my one measely quarter :) So it's not fancy-pants yarn or anything, but how often can a person get 2 skeins for twenty-five freaking cents, right?

And just for good measure here is a view of the San Diego skyline from the harbor. This city is awesome.