The Clap...

Can you tell who's in town this week? Someone I got to spend all day with yesterday? The amazing knitter that's in my life?

Kate.

She and the Z girl rolled in on Sunday..just in time for the big storm. Zora said she was going to visit and play in the snow. Kate giggled a little bit...and here was sleet and a bit of snow happening on Sunday.

You know I was going to wash my car, and I'm so very glad that I didn't, since just driving around cleaned off a lot of the dust and tree sap.

Although Monday was also Rich's day off...but since the new printer came in and Rich has been dealing with a horrible stomach flu since last Friday (leaving him incoherent, exhausted and a but puny...poor guy) I kind of figured that he would be playing with the printer on Monday. He said last night, he was waiting for me to call if I wanted to do something, and I was waiting for him to call...which in our speak kind of means we were both totally engrossed and enjoying what we were doing and knew with our standing Monday night date, that we would be seeing each other anyway...so

Kate and I went for early coffee and catch-ups...and then onto the yarn stores. Of course she has yarn stores where she's at, but they don't quite like the same colors she does...our stores are just up her alley. Plus? One of them is going out of business and their whole stock is now 50% off.

Yikes.

I told Kate that I wasn't knitting. Nope. I was currently embroidering. That's all. No knitting.

Unlike Kate, once the summer gets here, I put my knitting down until the next winter time, and this year...I wasn't knitting. Then, Kate sneakily make me go look at something in the window of the first yarn shop. A free pattern from Knitty...which is exactly what she did last time she was here when I made the fingerless mitts...when she taught me how to cable knit.

Sneaky isn't she.

Bad Kate.

Making me spend my weekly allowance on yarn...

Here I was with my feet planted, not going to knit, and then I was running around looking for the perfect yarn in which to knit a clapotis. Which is apparently like a large French scarf. When I'm with Kate in a yarn store thinking about a new project...These are the things I say:

Will you sit next to me and help me?
How hard is this pattern?
Can I do this?

And, on and on...All this while running around choosing yarn, then putting it back and choosing again...and then again and again. It's always such a fun adventure. She assured me that since over 8,000 people on Ravelry have knit this particular project, and that she'd been dying to do it as well...we'd be just fine. Luckily the yarn store that is 50% off had the exact yarn she wanted...and I chose a silk olive colored yarn for mine. This is such a beautiful knitted piece, and I can envision knitting it big enough to not only be a scarf, but a shawl and a small personal blanket.

We bought our yarn and started on our project yesterday afternoon. It's not as easy as we thought...lots of tricky stitches (you have to drop stitches at the end which create the stripes...or something as scary...my goal is to be done before Kate leaves so that she can help me do that part) which leaves me totally breathless at the end of each row...where I emit a deep sigh that I got that row done. I feel like it's been a little scary and stressful, which is of course totally nuts...it's going to be just fine. Of course that tiny piece of knitted-ness up there represents probably 2 hours worth of figuring things out...this before we realized we're going to need about 18 stitch markers a piece for this...

I also can not remember what this project is called, leaving me to wander around the yarn store and my own life saying: Would this be good for the

Cabriolet? (the cute car made by VW a long time ago)
Carpolette? (the feminine version of a fish apparently, and something I've totally made up)
Cupola? (Like a belfry...or a vaulted roof)

We decided to just call it the Clap...which isn't necessarily something I'd want to wear around my neck...but it beats the heck out a VW...

At least I have something to knit when we go to visit my mother and Rozz tonight...