Definition of bummer

Losing your pattern whilst travelling.

Don't you agree?

It's the pattern for the shell that I appear to have lost. The good news is that it was a copy, and I have the magazine at home. The bad news is that I've done what I remember (the three shaping rows for the waist and the plain rows in between), so now I have to stop. Which means that I packed up all that yarn for no good reason. That would be less annoying if it weren't for the fact that this is a very slippery yarn, and it's been put up in balls, and the balls keep falling apart. Also, this is perfect car knitting, as so much of it is stockinette knitted in the round, and now I can't knit on the way home on Sunday. Alas.

Here's a picture just to show you the color; I got a few more inches knitted before I had to stop.

Also, I knitted up the gauge swatch for the shawl that I'll be starting soon, using the gorgeous icelandic yarn that my friend Jill brought back for me this spring.

Alas (again) it turns out that the size six needles that I was using are too big, and I have no size fives, so I had to go and get some. (I am aware that this is perhaps not so large an alas as the last one; it's never a bad thing to go visit a yarn store.) The girls and I drove into Berkeley, where we visited the Cheese Board for some scones and brioche for tomorrow morning (I love the Cheese Board -- what's not to love?), then we headed over to Solano, where we went to a yarn store that's new since I lived here and which I've been dying to visit. Their web site didn't say what yarns they had, so I wasn't sure what it would be all about, and I went there telling myself that I was not going to be buying yarn; the trip was for a set of size five Addis, and that was that. Except not so much.

I got some of this:
I can't remember the name, except that this is the dyer who did the cashmere/silk roving that I brought to NZ for Stella (I'll post the yarn name later). She's from here in California, and this is a lovely superwash/tencel blend. Even better, the put-up is in two small skeins, so it's already prepared for knitting socks. I've got a plan for these to play with a toe-up sock, but we'll see if I go through with it. I also got some of this to make some knee-socks for Younger Daughter for school.
I keep hearing about this sock yarn, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone by trying it out. All in all, this store was amazing -- excellent stock, and really really friendly folks there. I will definitely be going back.

The girls and I then had pizza at Zachary's, and headed home. We've been visiting with Grandmom every day, which is wonderful, and hiking as much as we can (more later about a lovely visit to Point Reyes; I forgot the camera). So I guess that really, the pattern thing is not such a bummer in the grand scheme of things.