Lorna's Laces

Contest Winner

2009-07-01T04:55:00.001-07:00

Ummmm......somehow the information about the contest didn't post yesterday. Mea culpa.

Marnie is the winner! It turns out the the list was of shops that we don't currently work with that came by the Sample It! event at TNNA to buy one of our Pearl kits. Marnie's entry jogged my memory enough to remember all the details. Thanks so much.

To claim your prize, contact us at yarnATlornaslacesDOTnet. We'll set you right up!

While I'm at it, Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north!

The Crew and Contest Winner

2009-06-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've posted a picture of the crew here at Lorna's Laces. I think it's always nice to have a face to go with the name you read about or the voice you hear on the phone.

Front Row: Sam and Pearl

Back Row: Me, Kylie, Caitlin, Stefanie, Emily and Amanda.

Process or Product

2009-06-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last night a friend came over for dinner. While the pasta was cooking, I decided to wrap the OpArt blanket so I could get it in the mail to my brother. I also managed to complain about the endless rows of stockinette it required. She looked at the blanket and said "You mean garter stitch, right?"

It brought up the question of process vs. product. Since the blanket is knit in the round, knitting one row and purling the next creates garter stitch. But the process of knit one row, purl one row is stockinette, right?

So, which would you call it, garter or stockinette?

Contest

2009-06-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

I was going through my bag today and found a list I scribbled on a notepad from the Hyatt in Columbus. It reads:

Yarn Haven, Knoxville?

Creative Knitworks, Hillsdale NJ

Playing with Yarn, Knife River MN

Gazebo Plus, New Hope PA

Twisted Skeins, Clarksville GA

Wolf Creek Yarns, Grove City PA

Whirled Fibers, Cedar Hill, TX

Ewe Count, Cheyenne WY

Delightful Ewe, Duncansville PA

I can't for the life of me remember why I made the list. I don't know what the shops have in common that would make me write them all down.

It's in my handwriting, so I know that someone else didn't stick it in my bag just to drive me crazy. I'm making my own self crazy without any help at all. I can't tell you how much I hate it when I do stuff like this.

The first person who can jog my memory so I know what I am supposed to do wins enough yarn to make a pair of socks in the new color of their choice. (Or another comparable prize if you don't do socks.)

New Colors

2009-06-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

We introduced five new colors at TNNA. We liked the tonal thing we did with Satsuma last season so well, we decided to expand upon it this time around.

The first one is Fiddlehead. It's got several great green tones with just a hint of a golden brown.

Hermosa is named after a neighborhood here in Chicago. The colorway has shades of purple. Purple seems to be very popular this year.

Next up is Midway. Midway is one of the two big airports in town. The colorway is very calm and cool. Greys and blues predominate.

Sheridan Road is on of the major north/south streets on the northside of town. It starts in the city and goes all the way up through the northshore suburbs. It's a melange of blues.

Last up is Valentine. Technically, it's not a new color....several years ago we took a few colorways out of major rotation and this is one of them. While we were making decisions about which colors would make the cut for fall, there was one on the table that everyone liked. It seemed very comfortable somehow. Then the light bulb went on. It was Valentine! Or so close that we decided to introduce you all to an old friend.

We have things all knit/crocheted up in the new colors. You'd probably like to see them too, wouldn't you? I'll get crackin'.

At Long Last

2009-06-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my OpArt blanket on the road to TNNA. I think it turned out pretty well.

I know I talk incessantly about how I like a simple project, but even for me, this was too much garter stitch. Maybe I'll have to take Miriam or Aiden up their offer to tutor me on lace. Then I can challenge Franklin to see who can finish Sharon Miller's Princess Shawl first.

This is knit from our Shepherd Worsted in 6ns Douglas Fir and Courage. The picture on the top is before blocking, the one on the bottom is after blocking.

I made the smaller of the two sizes, but since I substituted a worsted for the dk called for in the pattern, it ended up being closer to the larger size. That's OK by me since the baby will live in Jackson, WY and the winters up there can be long and cold.

I'll get it on its way to the new parents next week. I hope they like it. Even more, I hope the babe likes it. My dream would be for it ending up being the the child's Linus blanket. It's probably to big for that, but I can always dream.

The crate from market just showed up. I'll have pictures of new colors and such next week.

Boogie with the Buffalo

2009-06-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

You've all heard of Dancing with Wolves? Well, we're Boogieing with the Buffalo around here.

We got together with Ron and Cecil over at Buffalo Gold and are dyeing some yarn for them. We did five colors of their Lux Laceweight yarn. We're talking 330 yards of pure wonder. It's 45% bison, 20% cashmere, 20% silk and 15% tencel. Yowsa!

From left to right, they are calling the colors Yellowstone, Black Hill, Red River, Flat Lake and Wichita Mountain. The names derive from areas that buffalo roamed back in the days when there were big herds of them cruising around.

Since Lux starts out darker than what we usually work with, developing the colors was different from our usual process. Normally, we have a pretty good idea of how the color is going to look from the get-go. With these colors we got a few surprises. Some of the colors that normally show up very bright and vivid in our yarns were more muted. This stuff is rich and sophisticted.

Sure hope you like it!

Kniteratti

2009-06-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

We got back from TNNA very late Monday night. Yesterday was a blur. I have so much to share about the show! Certainly too much to do in one post, so I'll parse it out over the course of the next few days or a week.

I want to show you the new colors and some of the other things we're doing, but I don't want to end up sounding like a big advertisement either. I'll do my best to balance things.

Since the crate hasn't arrived back from the show yet and I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of a bunch of the stuff I'd like to show you while I was there, today will be a "people" post rather than a "stuff" post.

We rounded up a bunch of folks over the weekend and took pictures of them next to the billboard.

First up is a big ol' group shot. From left to right...Miriam Felton of MimKnits, designer Mercedes Tasovich-Clark, Kristen Rengren of Vintage Baby Knits, Mary Heather, Jess and Casey from Ravelry and Ysolda.

Of course you all know Clara Parkes of Clara's Garden fame. Oh, and that little something called Knitter's Review.

This is Chrissy Gardiner of Gardiner Yarnworks and Lorna Miser, the founder of Lorna's Laces.

Next up is Marcy Smith from Interweave Crochet. Did you see that shawl in my last post? Yeah, I thought you did.

Here I am with Amy Singer of knitty.com. She was at market with Jillian Moreno but I wasn't able to get them outside at the same time. Jillian is the nicest person ever. She waited in line for me at Jeni's Ice Cream and delivered to me in the booth. Big kisses for Jillian.

This is Kristi Porter of Knitting in the Sun fame. Me again too. This one is a little blurry. You have to stand in the middle of High Street to take the pictures, so some of them aren't perfect. You have to be quick and dodge traffic.

Say 'hi' to Robyn Chachula and Amy O'Neill-Houck.

Jackie Katzenstein owns a shop called Wild and Woolly Studio in Lexington, MA.

Here's Mary Beth Temple from Hooked for Life. Lots of crochet in this little gallery, isn't there?

Last, but certainly not least, Cecil and Ron from Buffalo Gold. These two are dangerous. In a good way.

It's kind of funny, when we pulled up and I saw the billboard for the first time it made me cry. We advertise lots of places, in magazines and online etc, but for some reason this just hit me. Kinda silly, I know.

We had such a good time with it. I can't tell you how many people came up and asked us about it. It was a nice way to make new friends. I wish we would have gotten more pictures. Maybe next year.

Summer Interweave Crochet

2009-06-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Summer issue of Interweave Crochet is live today!

Tracy St. John used our Helen's Lace in Natural for The Shape-Shifting Shawl. (Say that three times fast!)

Pretty, yes?

A Drive By

2009-06-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

Check out what we saw when we pulled up in front of the convention center!

No flies on us!

Summer Knitty and a Contest

2009-06-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

The summer issue of Knitty has arrived! It features this drop-dead gorgeous shawl by Dubliner Kieran Foley knit from our Helen's Lace. When you go to the link, you'll see a contest where you can win the yarn to make your own Cold Mountain Shawl.

It's kind of funny....I've been finding out lately that many of the men I know who knit are partial to lace. There are the famous ones like Franklin Habit but also the not so famous ones like Aiden and David.

I don't know exactly why I am surprised. I guess it's mostly because I have trouble giving away things I knit and you don't often see men wearing lace shawls. Sure, I make the occasional baby sweater, but on the whole I am a selfish knitter. If I knit it, I want to wear it!

This selfishness is compounded my complete awe of the lace knitter. I have knit some very small lace projects, but nothing on this scale. One day I will gather up the courage to journey down that road.

On a completely different note. We leave for TNNA first thing in the morning. There may be a couple short posts and intermittent tweets between now and when we get back, but I don't want to make any promises.

I can promise that the OpArt blanket will be finished by then. Less than 10 rows to go and 6 hours in the car in each direction. Even a pokey knitter like me can get that done. I wonder if I'll be able to get it blocked in the hotel room?

Interesting Times

2009-06-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

I am finding the whole social network thing more and more intriguing every day. If you would have asked me a year ago if I'd be on Facebook, I would have laughed at you. Six months ago I scoffed at Twitter. Today I am involved on both.

The other day, someone who I don't know outside of Facebook sent me a note there. It turns out that he has a new rabbi coming to his temple and found out that she is a knitter. He wanted my opinion about what I thought would be the best yarn for him to give her as a welcome gift. He's knits lace almost exclusively, but was wondering whether he should go with DK or maybe sock yarn or??????

So, someone I have never met is asking me what he should buy someone he's never met. What a hoot! How cool is it that the little snippets of information gleaned on Facebook allowed him to feel comfortable enough to ask me? And that I could give him an answer that made sense?

We live in interesting times.

Knitting in the Sun Blog Tour

2009-06-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

When Kristi Porter's new book, Knitting in the Sun, arrived at the studio everyone stopped what they were doing to take a look. As is our habit, the first thing we did was flip through to see how the garments using Lorna's Laces yarns turned out. We were not disappointed. There are two fantastic designs using our yarns in the book.

The first is Janine Le Cras's Bordeaux. It's a beautiful shawl knit from our Helen's Lace and named after a beach on the isle of Guernsey. I thought that was particularly interesting since most of us associate Bordeaux with the wine country in France rather than an island in the English Channel. Isn't it great when you get to learn an obscure factoid like that? I mean really, who knew?

The second design is from Anne Kuo Lukito called Yehliu. Anne drew her inspiration for the design from the divets and textures in some of the rock formations in the geological wonders at Yehliu Park in Taiwan. She's put lots of great information about that on her blog. The sweater is a gorgeous lacy, cabled, openwork cardigan made from our Lion and Lamb. Yummy.

This book deserves more than a quick flip and it got it. There are so many things to love about it. Great designs, first rate photography, high production values. But my favorite thing has to be the execution of the concept. It elevated summer knitting to its rightful place in the universe. It's not about small projects, cotton and lace. Just because it's warm outside doesn't mean we need to put down our needles or knit from a limited menu of garments. I have always knit year 'round without much consideration of the seasons. I knit what I want when I want. This book embraces that idea.

Now, I'm not totally unrealistic. I understand that a lap full of mohair on a sweltering day might not be your idea of paradise. But, that doesn't mean that there isn't a place for it at the table when it gets warm. Another of Anne Kuo Lukito's designs, Alishan, balances that mohair with linen and open stitches to make a great lightweight hoody that will keep out those cool nighttime breezes.

And even though Kristi's Coronado is a full length shawl collored cardigan, the use of openwork and a fine gauge soysilk and alpaca blend make this a versatile garment that could be worn on all but the hottest days. Most of us live with air condidtioning and appreciate having a little something to put over our shoulders when we get a chill.

The classic summer knits are by no means ignored. There are plenty of shawls, short sleeves, tanks and even a pair of pajamas. And of course a swimming suit! After all the book is about warm weather.

All the designs were executed with great attention to detail. Creative shaping abounds. A wide variety of body types were considered. This is the kind of book that provides more than just a collection of patterns. It is a springboard of inspiration. It's a way of thinking about why you make certain choices about fibers and textures. A book to go back to again and again.

Next up on the tour is Faina Goberstein.

You'll have to excuse me while I go cast on Bridgetown.

Knit-Along

2009-06-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

It seems like as good a time as any to start up our first Lorna's Laces knit-along. Since we hear that it's getting warm in some parts of the world, we decided on these Lacy Summer Socks by our own Stefanie Goodwin-Ritter.

Details on the knit-along are here. You can find the pattern here.

These cute short socks can be knit up using just a single skein of yarn. We're casting on on Monday. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Peer Pressure

2009-06-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny how seeing what other people are doing can be the nudge you need to get back into something you once loved and drifted away from? I'm sure knitting is that way for many people. A baby is coming, they see someone on the bus or in a coffeeshop and wonder to themselves "why haven't I been knitting lately".

Recently, I've been seeing a ton of tweets about baking bread. Bread baking is something near and dear to my heart. When I was very young, my father had back surgery. As part of his rehab, he started baking bread every Saturday morning.

I think it was a way for him add a little physical activity back into his life without too much stress on his back. So, one of my earliest memories is waking to the aroma of freshly baked bread. I'm sure I am romantisizing things quite a bit after all these years, but I consider that smell one of my fundamental memories.

When I was in my twenties, I used to bake all the time. I'm not altogether sure why I drifted away from it. Maybe it was the pressures of work or the demands of someone I was dating. Who know? But it seems like as good a time as any to roll up my sleeves and start kneading again.

On of the great things about bread is that it requires that I set aside a block of time for it. But it's a flexible block of time. Once you spend a few minutes with the mixing and kneading, you have to let the yeast has to do its job. That gives me plenty of time to do something else, like knit. What I can't do is run to the grocery store, dry cleaners and library. The bread determines the rhythm of the day for a few hours. I like that.

On the knitting front, my OpArt blanket is coming along nicely. I have two more sections until I'll be finished and can take pictures that look like something besides a puddle of garter stitch. I'm hoping for next week.

Two Shoes

2009-05-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's the small things in life that make a difference. This morning I put on two shoes for the first time since March 21st! I know that my foot is way more interesting to me that it is to the rest of the world so I've been waiting for good news. This is good news.

I saw the doctor yesterday. The x-rays weren't quite as good as she'd hoped, but things are moving along. I have what is called a Jones Fracture. As it turns out, they can be kind of tricky and often take longer to heal than some other kinds of breaks because they are in a part of the foot that doesn't have a strong blood supply.

She wants me to wear my running shoes with some special insoles for two more weeks. Then we'll talk about running again, starting off very slowly. I wish running shoes were a tad more stylish. I guess I shouldn't complain, at least I'm out of the boot.

Guilt Free Sweets!

2009-05-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

I am constantly amazed and humbled by the creative things people do. Because I work with yarn and love to eat, most of the things I notice have something to do with yarn. Or food. Sometimes even both.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Marlon van Peijpe-Metzelaar in Amsterdam. She's been knitting away at these guilt-free pastries since November and has just opened a "bakery" on etsy.

Her original inspiration came from a book by Susan Penny but she's taken it to a whole new level. It makes my mouth water just looking at her creations.

With swimsuit season just around the corner, this is the only kind of cake that should be crossing my ~~hips~~ lips.

The Longest Row

2009-05-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm finished through the rounds of 12 with the OpArt blanket I started for my brother's baby a couple of weeks ago. Depending on how far the yarn goes, I will do through at least rounds of 20. Maybe 24.

Right now the rows have 432 stitches. Not so bad. If I persevere and make it to the rounds of 24, there will be 888 stitches. That's more than double where I am now. Dude. That's a long row.

I think this may have to be the last photo of this until it's finished and blocked. Because of the increasing number of stitches and the finite length of the needles, it's just going to be looking more and more like a blob.

Backwards and Forwards

2009-05-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago I mentioned that I'd decanted and bottled some sweet blackberry wine. I have to admit that I'm not sure whether it was here or on Twitter or Facebook. (Methinks there are too many places for me to share my thoughts these days.)

Anyway, I got the wine decanted and bottled and it found a nice spot to nestle in among the newly planted flowers. The flowers are doing very well so far. It's only been a couple of weeks, but the weather here in Chicago has been extraordinarily fickle this spring so I'm grateful that we haven't had a late frost.

This weekend, I got the chance to give my first "Pay it Forward" gift. One of the winners, Christine, was coming to the studio for one of the tours we give for the Windy City Knitting Guildand was able to pick it up personally. It was fun to get to meet her.
There were several of us standing around and chatting and I was amazed at the range of agricultural DIY things that people engage in right in the city. One woman raises chickens, another one told me about her beekeeping, someone else grows asparagus and yellow (!) raspberries. I am inspired to see what other things I could do with the limited space and light I have at my apartment. I don't think there are any chickens in my future, but I'm sure I can come up with some new ideas.

Of course while we were talking, Pay it Forward was part of the conversation. Someone asked what I'd received and I explained that I hadn't seen Jennie the Potter's post in time to be one of the lucky five, but I thought it was such a good idea that I started another thread of it anyway. Well, lo and behold, guess what showed up at the studio a little while later?

That's right, homemade pickles! Christine brought them back for me so I got a gift too. How cool is that? And there are two kinds, dill and garlic. We got them right home, chilled them up and have been chomping away. I have a sandwich every day for lunch and I'm looking forward to having a pickle on the side for as long as I can.

So, I have four more Pay it Forward gifts to go. I have one or two in mind and am looking forward to coming up with more as time passes. I have until the end of the year to send them, so we'll see where inspiration takes me over the course of the next several months.

BTW, I only have mailing info for four of the five winners. I've heard from Anna, Annie, Colleen and of course the lovely Christine. I'm still waiting to hear from Jenny. Jenny? Are you out there? If you are, please send email to yarn at lornaslaces dot net. Thanks!

WendyKnits Sunrise

2009-05-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

I've been away from the blog for longer than I'd like. I hope you'll agree that this was a pretty good reason.

Not, too long ago I contacted Wendy Johnson of WendyKnits and Socks from the Toe Up fame and asked her if she'd consider working with us on a Color Commentary colorway. Well, not only is girl amazingly talented, she's amazingly gracious as well.

Over the course of the last few weeks, we've emailed stories and pictures back and forth. We EVEN talked on the telephone! It was so nice to hear her voice. These days, we often know what people look like and a quite a bit about their personality from their web presence long before we ever actually speak to them.

But, I digress. Here's the WendyKnits Sunrise story, brought to you by Wendy herself:

As my buddies on Plurk know, I get to my office insanely early every day — by 6:00 a.m. This is not because I’m a morning person (not by any stretch of the imagination) but to lessen commuting issues and stress.

I’m the first person to arrive at my office so it’s nice and quiet. Because my office has a wall o’ windows that faces east, I will often take a photo of the sunrise. I’ll often post these photos on Plurk, and then place them in my Flickr group of sunrise photos, here. My favorite sunrises are the dramatic ones, like this:

A few months ago, Beth at Lorna’s Laces contacted me to see if I’d like to develop a “Color Commentary” yarn with them. Would I? Heck, yes!

She asked me for my thoughts on what I’d like for a WendyKnits colorway. Rather than go with my usual greens and browns, I thought “wouldn’t it be great to have a sunrise colorway?”

Several months and some spectacular dyeing later, Lorna’s Laces came up with this:

WendyKnits Sunrise!

In celebration of this gorgeous yarn, I worked up a simple sock pattern that showcases it to its best advantage.

Here's a close-up:

I love the way the pattern makes the color sing. It's available for free on her website. And it's really simple. I like simple patterns. I have a few that I've made so many times that I'm almost embarrassed to admit it. I have a feeling this may be the next one that fits that description.

We did good work together, don't you think?

Thanks Wendy!

Bedtime stories

2009-05-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

We had an almost perfect spring weekend. It was warm and sunny both days. It was the sort of weekend that makes you believe that spring is actually here and that it wouldn't be unreasonable to put the winter coat and boots away for the season.

I went a step farther than that. Michael and I went down to the local garden center and purchased plants for our window boxes. I hope I am not tempting fate too much. I'd hate to get a nasty storm and have the temps drop to freezing and kill everything.

We did things a little differently this year. Most everything we bought are perennials. We picked up Columbine, Anenomes, Lilies, Johnny Jump-Ups and a bunch of other things I can't remember. We saved the labels to help with that.

I hope at least some of these plants will flower at different times over the course of the summer. I figured we would need to fill in a little bit with annuals to keep color going all season long, but I'd like to keep that to a minimum.

We even got a little silly and bought a "Topsy Turvy". It's the upside down tomato planter that's been all over TV lately. One of the staff at the garden center said that their tomato supplier told them that they were a good idea. I've got my fingers crossed. My hope is that it will make it harder for the squirrels to reach the fruit. The first squirrel I catch with one of my tomatoes in his grubby little fists is going to be one sorry little rodent.

The deck looks pretty inviting doesn't it?

We thought so too and once everything planted, we called a couple of friends and asked them to swing by for a bit.

We got to talking and somehow bedtime routines came up. I was surprised to learn that I was the only one of the group that reads every night before bed.

I can't remember a time when a book wasn't part of the drill. Even before I could read, one of my parents tucked me in and read to me for awhile. Once I started school and didn't need someone to do it for me, I picked up the habit for myself.

Now, if I don't have a book or magazine, it's really hard for me to get to sleep. I need something to help me transistion from all the excitement of the day. And if I find myself awake in the middle of the night, all it usually takes is a few minutes or reading to send me back to the land of nod.

Paying it Forward (AKA Free Stuff)

2009-05-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

What's a good way to start May? How's about doing something nice in the world? I can't cure cancer and there are much finer minds than mine working on world peace. So, let's spread some good juju.

I found this on Jennie the Potter's blog, she got it from Dawn, who got it from.....You get the picture. I'm not a big fan of the chain letter, but somehow this seemed like fun. Please forgive me if this is old hat to all of you, I don't get out much.

The first five (cinq) (cinco) (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.**

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. (No refunds... no exchanges!!!!)
2. What I create will be just for you, with love from me.
3. It'll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. I may even create something totally unbelievable and surprise you!! Who knows?
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange...or awesome...or lovely...
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note/post of your own and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to it. (Please don't skip this part. I'm not going to check up on you, but it would be in bad form.)
7. I'll need a mailing address. Please email it to yarn at lornaslaces dot net.

Now, I need to start dreaming up some fun stuff.....

**Just because you aren't one of the lucky 5 here doesn't mean you can't just start your own. That's what I did. The more the merrier!

OpArt

2009-04-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

I got an email over the weekend that stopped me dead in my tracks. My big brother and his wife are having their first baby!

You're probably thinking to yourself, what's the big deal? People have babies all the time. What's she got her knickers all bunched up about?

You're absolutely right to think that. My extended family is all about the babies lately. Two of my nephews have added to their families this year and one of my nieces is expecting right around the same time as my brother. We're lousy with little ones in this family.

But, for some reason this one seems extra special. I guess it's because it came out of left field. No one ever thought he was going to have kids. He didn't marry until he was 50 and they always said that kids weren't in the plans. But babies don't always play by the rulebook do they?

So, more baby knitting for me. Since I've made several sweaters lately, I decided to do a blanket this time around. After a couple of false starts, I've settled on OpArt from Knitty.

Next up was color. Just about the time I was heading over to the broken bags shelf, I found Emily rummaging around in there. She pulled out skeins of Shepherd Worsted in Courage and Douglas Fir and exclaimed how pretty they looked together. She was right. And they're perfect for this project because we don't know the gender of the baby.

This isn't the greatest representation of the colors. They are both deeper and richer, particularly the Douglas Fir. But, it'll give you an idea of where I'm headed.

I cast on last night during NCIS (Mark Harmon!) and after a couple of false starts got a reasonable amount finished. This is one of those projects that you start in the center with just 4 stitches and work your way in ever larger circles where the last round has 888 stitches. I am trying to make sure that I don't get too smug and feel like I'm cruising right along when I know darn well that those later rows are going to sneak up and kick me.

Chapeau et chaussettes

2009-04-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Oh sure. You actually want to SEE how that outfit with the boot turned out. How pretty the hat and coordinating socks I mentioned on Friday looked once I put them all together. Ummmm....well....I'm not going to be able to show you pics from last Saturday night because there was a camera malfunction. I'll let you talk to my husband about that part.

I can however, show you the dress, hat and socks and let your imagination go from there.

Here's a little better shot of the sock and hat. I was really happy with how nicely my Margo sock in Rockwell coordinated with the hat.

After Friday's post, a couple of people also asked if we were in the old Boye needle company building. Unfortunately, we are not. It's right across from us though. How wonerful would it have been to have Lorna's Laces creating yarn in the very place that once housed an industry staple like Boye? Almost gives me shivers.

We're in the Littell building. They manufacture coils and the like. They're out in the suburbs now. I'm sure they are a very nice company and I am trying not to be biased, but somehow coils aren't quite as interesting as knitting needles.

2009-04-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

Lorna's Laces is housed in an old warehouse building on the north side of Chicago. The neighborhood is called Ravenswood. It's a great blend of residential, commercial and manufacturing living happily next door to each other.

Our building is pretty special because it's been converted into small spaces for artisinal companies like Lorna's Laces that create a physical product rather than turned into office space. It really hard to find something like this in the city. So many places want nice, clean businesses. If they are willing to accept a messy tenant like us, they expect you to be a ginormous company that wants to rent 5000 square feet or something equally as ridiculous.

The space we have is wonderful. There are 16' ceilings and a long wall of east facing windows to let in the sun. We have two of those banks of windows that you see in the picture. We're up on the second floor.

There's even a roof top deck so we can enjoy lunch outside when the weather is nice. Today was one of those days. It's was in the 80's! It's a little early to expect us to have consistently warm weather but I plan to take advantage of the warm weekend. My husband and I were thinking about a trip to the zoo.

Before I forget, thanks to everyone for their suggestions about how to accessorize "the boot". Because I still have a couple more weeks in it, I chose not to bedazzle or put glitter on it. While it would have been fun for the event, I wasn't sure it would work very well in the rest of my jeans and sneakers life. I decided that the best plan was to wear a bright hand knit sock under it. My dress was black and I wore a beautiful cocktail hat and coordinated the sock to the hat. I received compliments all night long. A few sidelong glances as well, but what do they know about fun?