knitting, planning, dreaming & scheming (plus an exhausting train ride)
Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at.
Where’s my brain at? My brain is tired.
An 18 hour train ride that was pleasant and possibly even delightful with rotating seat mates who were all quite considerate – was exhausting with one continuous seat mate who would not stop talking…
On the plus side – I got an astonishing amount of knitting done (and listened to a ridiculous number of podcasts). I’m probably half way through the waist decreases on my sweater.
And while the tired introverted part of me is insisting that this is no upside for that many hours of chatter, a small part of me is loving how (relatively) quickly this sweater is knitting up.
Anyway, before my brain started frying, I wrote this on Instagram about my last week in Portland:
“The past week in #PDX has been absolutely amazing!! It’s been a week of writing & thinking & planning & dreaming.
“Thinking up plans for new designs, and updates for old ones -planning a massive update for the shawl geometry books and scheming up the scope of the color workshop I’m working on. It’s been a week of curling up in coffee shops & tea shops with a blank pile of newsprint, all while it rains outside! Yes please!! (Also, I may be a little bit obsessed with @townshendstea)
“Now it’s back to SF for some more turning dreams into plans (plus hopefully some sunshine).”
I’m back in the Bay Area now, ending up in the fruit produce warehouse section of Oakland, and ate breakfast while watching an incredible amount of fruit being loaded and unloaded from trucks, piles of flats of produce taking up all the sidewalk space, and spilling into the streets, making them all one (squiggly) lane wide.
And now I’m off to rest (or more fully caffeinated) my people exhausted brain.
(Also please excuse the lack of photos. I managed to delete a while bunch of photos from my phone. Luckily it was after they were uploaded to my computer. But unfortunately I’m not writing this on my computer.)
train rides & yarn shops
Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on.
Train rides are great for knitting. And long leisurely train rides with beautiful sunrises, through snowy winter wonderlands, curled up inside a warm train (with no wifi), can get you almost all the way through the raglan increases on your lace weight sweater.
Portland has been amazing and does it have a ton of yarn shops! I mean, I knew there were a lot (mainly the reason I came to Portland) – but there are a whole fuck ton, and all of them have their own personalities – which is lovely.
There are stunning window displays, and super friendly shop dogs, and walls of cones of yarn, and cardboard sheep, and amazing needle felting, and local dyers galore, and, and, and…
Luckily, most shops are heavy on the fingering & sock weight yarn, but have pretty small selections of lace weight (which is thoroughly a blessing in disguise).
knitting by a pool in January
Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on.
KNITTTTTTTTTIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!
(by a pool).
(in January).
(and then picnicking).
(outside).
(without freezing).
(California has it’s perks).
(it’s also got some great yarn & fabric shops).
(which is not a perk – it’s a necessity).
Of course, there are also botanical gardens
& parks
& walks
& museums
& charming shops
& stunning street art
& cute restaurants
& meeting up with amazing people.
But I’m suffering from photo overload again this week.
So in the mean time, knitting.
