From Sunny California!

Or is it Cah-lee-foh-nee-ah? Depends on whom you're hearing. Anyway, the conference has been great. I've met some really neat characters including (imagine me with a picture of Mickey and Minnie. You know what they look like, but you have to keep guessing about me) and (imagine a pictue of me with Goofy) and this big guy (imagine me with a gihugeous statue of John Wayne at the airport. I come up to mid-thigh on him).

At this point I must tell you that I am tres distressed. I have figured out the basics of my nice new digital camera. I have successfully loaded the software and transferred pics to my computer. I followed the Blogger directions for uploading pictures to the site so that you could see real pictures of my life and things that are important to me, including, of course, my knitting. Well, The Blogger kept saying "uploading images"- while I packed, "uploading images" while I brushed my teeth, "uploading images" while I took a shower, "uploading images" while I drank three cups of hotel-room coffee. And still uploading. Well life must go on, so I'll worry about pictures another day. La de dah. But there are some REALLY good pictures.

So today's plan is to go to the first morning meeting and then to ESPNZone to watch the Hokies play the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Both teams are undefeated, so it should be a good one. The game is at noon. Eastern time. That's 9 am on the west coast. I'll be sitting in a bar at 10 am. Hmmm...

I do love Virginia Tech football, and we've been fortunate to get tickets to the 2 home games they've had so far. We have a spectacular view. We can almost see Charlottesville.
We sit with God. (imagine a picture of me taken from the second to last seat at the top of the South End Zone in Lane Stadium, holding some knitting (a ribbon scarf to be donated to the sale in the Lombardi Cancer Center) with thousands and thousands of Hokie fans behind me. Thousands).

Think binocular ball. And quite truly, with binoculars, it's a perfect viewing venue. The mountains in the background are beautiful. It's an amazing place-- and sitting with God makes one appreciate it even more.

I've rented a car, so after the game, I'm headed down to San Diego for the afternoon to visit the haunts of my very early childhood.

And on to Klaralund

What is it about Klaralund that everyone loves so much? Is it the simplicity of the pattern that lets you focus on the fiber you're using? Is it that the chick on the boat in the book (Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton book #2)looks like she's having such a darn good time? (imagine a picture of the chick on the boat in the book looking like she's having such a darn good time).

Anyway, great progress has been made. A six-hour plus plane ride and several days of sitting in meetings-- however fascinating-- will do that for you.

To bring you back up to speed, since Klaralund and I were not coordinating for quite some time: (imagine a picture of the back and most of one sleeve). Her back is completed. The garter stitch is all in Lorna's Laces Grace (a wool/mohair boucle') in the Somerset colorway. The stockinette portion is done in the Lorna's Lace interspersed with pale teal and pale cotton candy pink Classic Elite mohair. It's pretty neat. The sleeves are done completely in Lorna's Lace.

Why the combination, you might ask? Well, I had some of the Grace from an ebay purchase, but not enough to do Klaralund in. So I started the interspersion. Then I realized that I probably would still not have enough Grace, so I chatted with my pal Kristine at Knit Happens who not only ordered it for the store, but also for the online store. The colors are nearly identical to what I had, which is pretty amazing for hand-dyed yarn from significantly different dyelots.

Thanks, Kristine!!!

It feels really silky to knit, which surprised me with mohair. And there are the obligate boucle' loops getting caught on things problems. But I'm lovin' it. The sweater will be really light, but I think it will also be quite warm, with a tee under it to prevent the scratchies. I'll have some Grace left, so a scarf might be in the making as well.

So on to meetings and football and San Diego. What a day lies in store.