Belated Birthdays

I finally gave my friend her birthday Aestlight. Isn't she the very picture of fall? And she gave me this beautiful new project bag, stitched with her own hands. I needed a new bag, too - I'm all in Ziplocs right now!



Belated birthdays are so fun - presents when you least expect them!

Purple Aestlight

What's not to love about this little shawl? It starts with a garter stitch triangle, so you can take it with you and knit without worrying about screwing up a complicated part. It continues with a fun-to-knit lace panel that stretches like crazy when you block it. It ends with a knitted-on border so you only have a few stitches on the needle at any time so you think you're making a lot of progress. It can be worn as a scarf, so you never have that moment where you wonder where the heck you're going in a shawl or whether you're the kind of person who can pull that off. It's made with Koigu, which is always fun to fondle as you knit.



And it's purple, just as an added bonus. Timeless, regal, and oh-so-in this season (Okay, my fashionista friends, I know it was oh-so-in last season, but I live in SoCal. We're three timezones and a full 365 days behind New York. Be happy I'm not wearing white after Labor Day, at least today.)



I've had to wait on posting finished pictures of this project because it's a belated birthday gift for a certain redheaded friend of mine who gave me this, and yes, it's taken me over a year to reciprocate with a handmade of my own.



I enjoyed knitting Aestlight so much that I've already cast on and am well through the garter triangle of another, this time in a golden yellow. I'm hoping to have it done in time to wear it in Boston when I cheer on the ZLAC girls, but hey - no pressure!



I'm also still plugging away halfheartedly on a Lacy Baktus in Malabrigo sock. I'm not really feeling it, though, so it might end up frogged yet. I don't know why certain projects take off like your needles are on fire and others just putt-putt along like that...yeah, I'm talking to you, navy scarf, and you, all you other half-finished projects lurking in drawers.

Blocking Aestlight

Love that bird's-eye lace...

Now that it's finally fall in La Jolla (temps below 70, heh - and that doesn't include the Santa Ana or two we're sure to have any time now) all I want to do is cocoon in my house with something warm on the needles and something warm in the oven. If it would only rain I'd be so happy.

Disclaimer: This image was photoshopped to cover a little more of my skin than actually showed because much as I love you, you just didn't need to see it. I did resist the temptation to give myself the much-needed tuck-and-lift, though. PS I'm the one on the right, in case you were wondering, "Which one of these women has had three children?" - HA! My partner is in the middle, and the hottie on the left is one of the professional dancers, too.

Perhaps you recall me talking about my crazy "celebrity" appearance at Malashock Thinks You Can Dance? Well, it happened, and I'm happy to have lived through it. If you missed it, I'm so sorry - there won't likely be a repeat performance because there's no way I'm getting in that outfit again in this lifetime unless Fiona marries someone I don't like, in which case I think it will make a perfect mother-of-the-bride getup.

This was the day after the Malashock event. I already had chipped salsa nails, because I'm apparently still not grown-up enough to maintain a decent manicure for more than a day.

In any case, now that the salsa is behind me and I've retired into advisory status for Las Patronas, you might be thinking, wow - Lydia must be so bored, right? Well, no. I am so behind on so many things that I'm actually filling my time with as much stuff as I can to avoid doing everything I've procrastinated for so long. Today, for example, I'll be at the La Jolla Wine & Art Festival manning the LJ Historical Society table in the afternoon. I'm taking Anna and Mary with me so that I may even be able to accomplish a little knitting between visitors. Aestight is blocking and I've cast on a Lacy Baktus which will be a perfect project to take with me.

We know it's fall because the tourist have gone.

In addition to Baktus, I'm starting to plan some other travel knitting for later this week. On Thursday I'm heading to Boston with Anna and some of the other ZLAC girls who are rowing at the Head of the Charles. I'm excited because not only is it an amazing event, but Fiona will be joining us over the weekend and I haven't seen her since August! On Sunday Anna will fly back with her team and I think Fiona and I will drive up to Portland (Maine, my west coast friends, not Oregon) for a day. Then she will go back to Vermont and I'll have a day in Mass before I fly home...should I go to WEBS? Or where? Suggestions?

Wait, Isn't This a Knitting Blog?

Lookit - knitting. Yarn on the needles, 10 minutes into an Aestlight shawl, using some Koigu that I have frogged from probably five projects already. It may be cursed from the start, and you'll notice I'm not showing you the metric assload of unfinished knitting strewn all over my house, but still.