Well, my bags are packed, my book selected, my projects in my travel bag and soon it will be time to leave for the airport.  And just in the nick of time, because Chicago has officially started displaying chilly fall weather. 

Our next stop is San Antonio, on the way to Marble Falls, TX, to spend a long weekend with my brother and his family.  It will be the first time that we meet his sweet little boy -- my only nephew -- and I think that we are all looking forward to that.  I can't wait to see what Z thinks about him.   Even if it rains (which is, unfortunately, what the weather forecast is predicting) it will be warmer weather by a lake. 

What am I taking along?  Well, I decided against anything major (Dragon is staying home, as is Z's second Zebra sleeve) and am packing the yarn for Otto, the JaWoll sock I am currently working on, and the pair of Francie socks that I started some time back (even cast on and knitted the cuff for the second sock) in the hopes that I'll be motivated to just wrap some things up so I can focus on the last toy and the Zebra Striper sweater when I get back.

Wherever your weekend takes you, may it be a good one!  Happy Trails!

Lead with a cute baby, pet or nice new yarn.  Lucky for me, sometimes I can do best two out of three.

We're back from our Texas hill country adventure.  Z was an angel all day today, even though she spent a lot of time "bonding" with her car seat.   This was a complete contrast to Sunday night when we had a tantrum that seemed to us like it must measure a 9 on the Toddler Tantrum Richter Scale. 

When we got home, a little package was waiting for me: my Knitterly Things "Hocus Pocus" Vesper, which is a loverly combination of a purply-blue, lime green and muted red (the picture doesn't capture the red very well).   I talked Ms. Z into "modeling" it for me tonight.  Unfortunately, you can't hear the audio that went with the photo: "I have Momma's yarn.  Now I can knit." 

I hope that she holds onto that thought for when she can comfortably hold needles!

While a whole  lot of lucky knitters and spinners are heading off to Rhinebeck this weekend, I'll be staying here in Chicago and checking out a much smaller fiber show, YarnCon.  What YarnCon lacks in the presence of live sheep, it makes up for by being practically within walking distance of my house. But don't think that I won't be a little jealous of all those heading to NY -- though that jealousy will mostly be over getting to see fibery friends rather than getting to indulge in fibery consumerism.

In addition to YarnCon (which should be doubly fun, because I hope to be heading there with Julie), since the weather is likely to keep us indoors this weekend (what, I ask you, happened to the gentle entry of fall?) I suspect my needles will be in motion.  I cast on and got started with Elijah this afternoon, and last weekend, while heading out to our pumpkin patch experience I picked up my second Francie sock and made some headway on that project.  The other thing I did today was start to work out the design for my next pair of socks for John -- these socks are going to be my first foray into designing with twisted stitches, which I think will be just the perfect amount of patterning for the lovely cashmere blend Sophie's Toes.

In lieu of actual knitting photos, I have a few pictures from our trip to see the pumpkins.

I just loved the way those green squash looked with the pumpkins.  They were just the perfect sagey color contrast to the bright orange.  Definitely not a pair of colors I would have thought to put together, though!

And here is rare photo of me and Z -- riding a toddler sized train and both wearing our handknits. Z has on (and she actually requested to wear) her upsized "Baby Surprise" sweater and I spent the whole day cozy and warm in my cotton turtleneck and OWLS sweater (which I love).  The Owls are rapidly becoming one of my favorite go-to cold weather sweaters! 

On Saturday afternoon, whatever powers that control the weather in Chicago finally decided to give us a little sunshine.  It made for a lovely day to head to YarnCon with Julie.  Both of us did a little stash enhancement at the Emily Parson's Sophie's Toes booth.  And on Sunday it was not only warm enough to take pictures outside, but I even sat and worked on Elijah on my balcony. 

I've been fondling the cashmere blend Sophie's Toes that I purchased earlier and was hoping that Emily would bring some more man-friendly colors with her.  I already have a skein of the regular merino yarn in "Walnut" (the lovely brown yarn on the left), but after sadly saying goodbye to several pairs of merino only socks, I've come to the conclusion that, at least in my house, if a yarn doesn't have a little nylon, it probably won't survive very long unless it's also very tightly spun or has more than 2 plies.  So I will save my original skein of for another project and use the cashmere/merino/nylon blend skein for the socks I had originally planned.  So, with any luck, John will get two pairs of nice new socks this winter.

The skein on the right is "Lagoon", also in the cashmere blend.  It's a much deeper, more saturated teal in real life, but still isn't dark enough for man-sock duty, so those socks will be destined for my feet.

The biggest prize, however, was the "Magic Ball" (the center pull cake in the center of the bowl).  Emily's Magic Balls are made up of sections of multiple colorways.  This one is called "Enchanted Forest" and features all my favorite jewel tones.  When I first laid my hands on it, Julie told me "Those are your colors!"  Yep.  Deep colors with purply-blue undertones go well with my skin.  Perhaps this ball is destined for a new scarf for me... with all the different colorways available in it, I've been thinking something modular might be fun.

I wrapped up the weekend with working steadily on Elijah (he now has a head, body and two legs) and even got a few rows in on the second Zebra Striper sweater sleeve.  My conversation with Julie, who is trying to decrease her unfinished project pile, has inspired me to go back to my UFO list and figure out what I can start finishing up...  

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Finally, finally, finally I acquired the right turtleneck and leggings so that Z could wear the Zebra Striper dress.   Norwegian 24 month olds must be quite large, because it took her a while to grow into this dress.

On Sunday, not only did I get to watch Z try out her new dress*, I also spent some time trying to capture the fall colors.  We had a break in the clouds that presented us with some actual sunshine, and I knew I needed to get my camera into action. I may not leave near a spectacular fall forest, but there are plenty of trees and plants getting ready for winter to come here in Chicago, putting on a display of their finest colors.  Given how grey it has been in Chicago for most of October, I've been trying to find more ways to bring color back into my world.  This is one of those times when I wish I had a dye studio and a better knowledge of dyeing -- I'd love to capture the fall colors in a fibery way. 

Here are some of the displays that caught my attention:


Amazingly, while some trees are in full color change, and some have even lost most of their leaves, there are still others that have barely turned color at all.  The foliage from my peonies is slowly yellowing and falling to the ground in preparation for hibernating for next year.  All around me is the reminder that winter is coming, making all my woolly knitting projects seem much more appealing.

*Z and I appreciate all the kind words for both her and the dress.  I, am smitten with both, but I think the special little girl makes the special little dress even more special.