I went to the Gynecologist today and it made me think of one of my favorite patterns the Issey Scarf designed by Olga Buraya-Kefelian. I will tell you in a minute why the doctor visit made me think of this amazing scarf.

I first saw this scarf when those wonderful women at Knit Purl sent me an email showcasing this pattern with one of their beautiful yarns. The minute I saw it I said, "WOW! How did they do that? How did they make pleats in their knitting?" Of course, I bought the pattern (and the yarn) and I was on my way. I was piqued, intrigued, curious. I couldn't wait to get the pattern and the beautiful Madelintosh yarn and start. Once I got it, what I was working on went into a TBFL (to be finished later) tub and I was on my way. Once you get started, it is amazingly easy. It is the perfect travel project. I started making one in a beautiful purple for my sister-in-law Andi. When I finished I thought, I'm just getting good at this so I made another and another. It has become my "go to" travel project. I knit one on our OF (old fart) bus trip to Washington, D.C. Now don't knock it until you've tried one! Comfortable seats, no driving, lots of people to talk to and no finding a parking place in D.C. We had a ball. Next, it was my travel project on our New Mexico and Arizona trip. It fits all of the criteria: it's small, pattern is easy to memorize and it's not boring. It is so interesting looking that people stop all of the time and ask what you're knitting. The question always is, "How do you do that?" It was my travel project on our England, Scotland and Ireland trip.

My favorite yarn to use for Jazzy is Blue Heron. It is what I used in the picture. I have a tub of different Blue Heron awaiting to become a Jazzy. Blue Heron changes color, sparkles and shimmers. Just writing about it makes me want to start a new Jazzy. I made a beautiful black and gray cashmere with a touch of sparkle for a friend for Christmas.

Now why does a doctor's appointment make me think of Jazzy? Last summer I had a surgery. I was going to be in the hospital for several days so I immediately thought JAZZY! I got a beautiful shade of Blue Heron with pink, olive green, a little orange and of course sparkle. I started the scarf before I went to the hospital. I loved it. My surgery was in the morning and at about 5:00, Dick said he was hungry. We decided he would just go home to eat and let Murphy the wonder dog out. After all I had my knitting, could watch a little TV and maybe nap a bit. As the evening went on I would look at Jazzy and think, "This is so beautiful." "This is sooo beautiful." "This is sooooo very beautiful." The next morning when I woke up and got my knitting out and laughed out loud. It looked like several vindictive gremlins had gotten into my knitting. The stitches were uneven, there were unexplainable loops every where. The power of drugs! I tinked (knit backwards) until I got a place that looked like a reasonably talented person knit it. When my doctor came in we laughed about my story. My healing was remarkably fast. A five day stay turned into an over night. I was walking our neighborhood in 2 days. I believe it was the powerful yoga of knitting and a great doctor. So I gave my wonderful doctor the scarf!

This is Murphy the wonder dog.

In the fall of 2011, Dick and I had the adventure of a life time planned. We were going to become "railfans" or people who love to travel by train. Our plan was to take the train to Chicago and from there to Los Angeles to San Fransisco and back to Chicago. The trip was two to three weeks with stops in New Mexico (Taos), Arizona (Grand Canyon), San Fransisco and Salt Lake City. (The trip we took in 2012 was the flying and driving make up for what we missed on this trip.). Dick had a ball planning the trip. Amtrak was great to work with and we were so excited as we had never experienced train travel and knew we were going to love it. We had our little sleeping room (well, it wasn't really a room) and we were all set for an adventure.

I decided with all of the time on the train, I would learn something new in the knitting department. I decided that double knitting was the thing, the Lucy Neatby bubbles scarf was the project and Kauni was the yarn. With this particular scarf you need a yarn with a gradual color change. You knit with two balls of yarn and start in a different place colorwise on each ball of yarn so that your background is gradually changing color and your bubbles are gradually changing color. Color! Color! Color! Both sides changing color, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The tricky thing was holding two yarns at the same time without picking one yarn up knitting a stitch, dropping that yarn, picking up the second yarn, purling a stitch, dropping that yarn, etc. You get the slow, tedious picture. I had just learned two color, two handed knitting so I thought that would be my technique until . . .

See that little blue gaget? It fits over your finger and carries two or three different yarns while you knit. What a find! I practiced double knitting, discovered how I wanted the colors to stack and I was ready for train travel.

Our train got into Chicago about 11:00 a.m. With the Chief taking off at 2:00 p.m. for parts west. We were so excited! If you've never experienced train travel, it is so social! I loved it. People walk around, stop and talk. Many people stopped to ask what I was knitting, and I proudly showed them my double knitting project. Once you get the rhythm, it's pretty simple. Dinner was fun. Then it was time to go to bed. The conductor had to come and change our little space from a sitting area to a sleeping area. We had bunk beds, the first time since college. We slept by this huge window and could watch America and the stars slip by. I loved it.

The next morning when we got up, Dick complained of being dizzy. On our way to breakfast, he passed out, face down and I couldn't revive him. To make a long story short, we got off in Santa Fe, went to the ER and were on a plane home on Saturday. Our train trip had lasted almost exactly 24 hours. Dick had a slight concussion and a bruised kidney from the fall. He was experiencing the ugly combination of altitude and motion sickness. Our dream trip was over. The experience told us no cruises for Dick. But I did learn a new knitting technique and discovered one of my favorite patterns. I have made four or five for gifts and everybody loves them.

One of the unanticipated benefits of writing Knitting: A Love Story is finishing projects. You know, you're knitting on something and Christmas comes along. Wham! It goes into a TBFL (To Be Finished Later) tub. You're knitting on something and someone has a baby. Bam! It goes in that infamous TBFL tub. Or you're knitting on something and you just get tired of it. Well, you know the story. I have a whole room of projects in various degrees of doneness or undoneness. Well, with my commitment to posting twice a week, I have begun digging into my TBFL tubs. Eureka! What fabulous finds. Why, I wonder, did I ever stop working on this georgous piece of fiber art? (I loved it when knitting started to be included in the category of fiber art instead of craft. I became a Fiber Artist AND a Knitter! How neat is that.) That brings us to the post of the day, the beautiful Strata designed by Diane Greenfield with yarn from Knit Purl a fabulous online store in Portland.

I loved this pattern the minute I got my weekly email from Knit Purl showcasing a yarn, Shubui, and a pattern Strata. Knit Purl definitely has my number. I swear they pick things just for me to send in their email. It is very difficult for me not to buy every project every week. I just have to take a deep breath and quickly delete. I absolutely love Knit Purl. I have a dear friend in Seattle. Dick and I are planning a trip (not this year as we are renovating the kitchen) where we fly into San Francisco, rent a car and drive the coast to Seattle. Little does he know we will be making a stop in Portland at Knit Purl. I can't wait to meet all of the wonderful women who have introduced me to such mouth watering yarn. I bought my first Madelinetosh from Knit Purl. They introduced me to Art Yarn Ensemble Lite which I made the most yummy vest from for my brother-in-law. (That is another time I wish I would have taken a picture of a project before I gave it away.) I loved the yarn so much I bought it for a sweater for Dick which is in a TBFL tub.

Strata is made from Shibui. If you have never touched, bought, knit with Shibui, you are in for a treat. It is like knitting with strings from a cloud. This scarf is made with three different Shibui; Cima (superbaby alpaca and fine merino), Silk Cloud (kid mohair and silk) and Pebble (recycled silk, fine merino and cashmere). When I was looking for something to finish to blog about and found this, I said, "Jan, what were you thinking?!?!?" Then I remembered it was Christmas that intruded. I really didn't have much to finish and here it is. I liked the scarf so much, I bought the purple coat to wear with it.

Well, I'm off to find another treasure in a TBFL tub.

In the fall of 2012, Dick and I went on a fabulous vacation to New Mexico and Arizona. I had my travel knitting ready which was an Olga Jazzy scarf (the next blog will showcase this perfect travel project.) We flew into Albuquerque, rented a car then drove to Arizona seeing many amazing sites along the way.

This is Dick "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona." If this isn't a giant step back into our youth, I don't know what would be. There is even a mural of the girl in her flatbed Ford. We visited the Grand Canyon and took a smooth water raft trip. We stopped at the Painted Dessert, the Petrified Forest, the Meteor Crater and the Ice Cave. We stayed in Taos, Flagstaff and Sedona. While in Sedona, I visited a breathtaking yarn shop in the little ghost town of Jerome. Well, it's not a ghost town any more. When its mine closed this prosperous, thriving town was abandoned only to be reclaimed in the sixties and seventies by (as the guide quaintly said) "hippies." I say hurray because it now is this amazing artist area with one wonderful yarn shop.

When I walked into the shop, I gasped (remember, I said it was breathtaking). The name of this remarkable shop is Knit 1 Bead 2. It is a yarn and bead shop. The whole shop was organized by color giving it the most beautiful rainbow effect. Smartly, I had left Dick outside with his iTouch. I walked through the shop and drank in the colors. I always love to buy a special and unique yarn when I travel. Something that will transport me back every time I look at it. The Clapotise Scarf had been highlighted in Knitty.com and I had always wanted to make it. For those of you who are not familiar with, Knitty.com is an amazing online knitting magazine. I have gotten some of my best patterns, tips and insights from Knitty. Here it was in this fabulous little yarn shop in Jerome, Arizona knit like a rainbow.

I couldn't think of anything more perfect to represent our trip than this beautiful rainbow scarf. Every time I wear it I can close my eyes and see the beautiful colors of Knit 1 Bead 2. While in Jerome I also fell in love with a clock in a gallery and ended up buying that, also. I would say this was an awesome trips in every way.

I just spent the day with my dear friend and knitting buddy Linda Kaufman in Mason, MI at Twisted Fiber Art at their first Yarn Tasting event. What a great experience! Thirty women talking, laughing, knitting, drinking wine and learning about the fabulous evolutionary yarn of Twisted Fiber Art. They have a secret dying process which blends one color into the next for a totally unique cake of yarn. (It's not a skein or ball but a sweet little cake.)

This beautiful scarf shows the magical quality of the Twisted Fiber yarn. Not only does the yarn look beautiful, it feels like touching a cloud. It is made from the highest quality merino, cashmere, silk and bamboo in wonderful colors like Juicy, Blaze, Passion and Borea. We were fortunate to be able to take a tour of the production area and learn a bit about the process (even though some is secret.). It was fascinating. They sell internationally (thank you Ravelry) but have a very small space in which to take orders, dye the yarn or roving, process the dyed fibers, get ready for shipping and have a retail store. I still am in awe of what they do

We received several samples of their different yarns, knitting needles and we were on our way. Twisted Fiber Art has many weights of yarn along with fiber content. They have striped sock yarn, single color yarn along with their evolutionary yarn. It is a knitters paradise. When I look at the pictures above, I can close my eyes an hear the joy of thirty knit-nuts truly enjoying their experience.

Each sample of the possibilities of Twisted Fiber Art yarn was more beautiful than the one before. I can't even put into words how beautiful their colorways are. For a person like me who lives for color, I was in color heaven.

The only problem is deciding what yarn and what design you are going to make. Linda is working on a shawl called Diabolical which is a modern stitch sampler and spectacular. I have a top called Maple Sugar made out of a georgous yarn that is orange at the top and evolves to purple on the bottom. Many women wore their Twisted Fiber Art creations and looked beautiful.

Let me toast my wonderful experience at Twisted Fiber Art in Mason, MI. Spending the day with Linda in a yarn shop learning about and buying yarn! It doesn't get any better than this. This post is dedicated to all of the wonderful women I met yesterday. If you have some time one day, get your best knitting buddy and take a road trip to Twisted Fiber Art in Mason, MI. Linda and I call it a Yarn Tour. You will love it. Thank you to the wonderful staff at Twisted Fiber Art who were so generous with their time, talent and treasure.

Mary Helen's daughter and my first elementary school friend sent me these two pictures of my first knitting teacher and the woman who facilitated so much joy to enter my life.

Aren't they fabulous? They transport me back to The Little Shop and those wonderful, simple years. It was so much simpler. There were not so many choices. Every time I go into a yarn shop today, I shake my head in amazement at the beauty. When Mary Helen taught me to knit, all baby yarn was pastels, blue, green, pink and yellow. Now baby yarn is every color, hue and intensity of the rainbow. Before amniocentesis, knitters were relegated to either waiting until after the baby was born to begin a gift or making something yellow or green. I wasn't much on knitting for babies until I was in a yarn shop in Traverse City and saw this beautiful deep teal baby yarn out of which I made an amazing bunting. I wish I had taken a picture of that.

Even back then I was one not to follow the pattern exactly but take my own little rabbit trail.

My husband and I have been going through my Mom's things as she has moved into an independent living center. This is one of my great experiments. It is the first time I worked with mohair. I thought it was the most beautiful yarn I had ever seen. It was my first doing something I later learned was called Intarsia. I learned that mohair is hot and can be prickly. Between the mohair and the worsted, this felt a little like chainmaille but I thought it was oh so beautiful. It ended up being a gift for my Mom, but I don't know where I thought she'd wear it. It was hot and heavy but because I made it for her, she thought it was wonderful. I remember I couldn't find the perfect button so I made those cute little buttons out of the mohair.

I also found this. I was so proud of all of the different patterns. This was a struggle but I thought the yarn was so beautiful. It has a little sheen to it that doesn't show up in the picture. I don't think I had learned yet to write each row of a sweater like this on a separate index card until all patterns are on row 1 again. Punch a whole in the cards and fasten them together with a circular holder. You only have to refer to one index card and not multiple places on a pattern. Once again Mom was the recipient and she saved these all of these years!

In both of these projects, Mary Helen held my hand every step of the way. When I close my eyes I can see The Little Shop as I opened the door and went in. I can see Mary Helen this tiny little woman quickly walk across the shop (Mary Helen always walked quickly) to give me a hug. This was back in the day when I only bought yarn for a specific project, I didn't start a new project until the current one was completed and there was no such thing as UDY (undesignated yarn). I remember looking for a pattern then looking for the exact yarn the pattern used. I haven't done that in a very long time

A walk down Memory Lane! Isn't nostalgia fun?!?!

We are home now. Unpacking, doing laundry and admiring all the beautiful yarn I acquired. My yarn stash and button collection both grew considerably.

The first thing I learned was from this simple Geisha scarf (remember, cast on 12, knit until your yarn is gone.) Things don't have to be complex to be intriguing. I love this scarf. It is beautiful, funky and as easy as it comes. The beauty is in this unique yarn. Thank you again to Silver Threads and Golden Needles.

The second thing I learned is this Bias Stripe Afghan is the perfect car knitting project. I got two panels done and am going to save it for a couple of short trips we're doing this summer.

I got this much done on Camino Bubbles. I learned a lot from this project. I had a really hard time knitting with this beautiful yarn. Not hard as in "the yarn is difficult to knit with" but hard as in "every stitch I take I am closer to using this yarn up and it can never be replaced." I really don't know if I can finish this project in this yarn! I have a discontinued Kureyon that I feel the same way about. It is beautiful and I love it but what if I find the perfect pattern for it after it is gone. I relearned that it is crucial to put markers between pattern repeats. I learned a lot from the chart for this pattern and was surprised there was only a chart and no written out pattern. I am better with written directions particularly when I read them out loud. I do think this yarn is beautiful.

I learned when a door closes another opens. Yarn Paradise closed but I found Friends and Fiberworks. This is a picture of the bag of goodies I won in the raffle. There were five single skein projects, the Friends and Fiberworks shirt (I can't wait to go up to my yarn room and knit with it on), Friends and Fiberworks coffee mug (I had my coffee in it this morning), a Debbie Bliss magazine and patterns, patterns and more patterns. Is there anything better than surprise yarn?

I have decided to inventory my partly finished projects and prioritize how to tackle them.

We went to Ashville yesterday. I was all ready to be sad because Yarn Paradise had closed this past year. For the first time in 12 years I wouldn't be visiting that uniquely wonderful LYS and enriching my stash with their glorious yarns and buttons. This will be the very last Yarn Paradise Retreat in High Hampton in September. I have always wanted to go and this is my last chance. Just imagine spending a week end with "Yarnies" in beautiful High Hampton learning some thing new. WOW! It doesn't get any better than that! I'll have to tuck that idea away for future consideration.

I did find a new LYS to visit called Friends and Fiberworks: Epic Yarn Store. It is an epic yarn store.

It is huge! I think they said 4,000 square feet. Believe me that's a lot of yarn. My husband Dick was with (well, he stayed in the car) me so I didn't do the deep looking like I wanted. Dick has this silly thing he says in a yarn shop, "You don't really need that." Ha! Like need has anything to do with yarn! This weekend is the Western North Carolina Yarn Crawl so I signed up for the raffle, bought a fabulous Maggie Jackson kit and left. One of the fun things about Friends and Fiberworks is they have kitted yarns and patterns. I just love when yarn shops do that! Crafty Lady in Macomb, MI does that. They have a fabulous selection of yarn, comfy chairs and couches, lots of knit stuff.

Dick and I were out this morning and I heard a dog barking. Then I realized it was my cell phone ringing in my purse. (Doesn't everybody's cell bark?) It was Friends and Fiberworks calling. I thought, "Oh, no! Did I leave my credit card?" I have been known to do that. But, no! I was yesterday's winner in their drawing. I hopped in the car (by myself this time) and drove to Candler. I expected a little gift but got this big, beautiful pink and green bag filled with goodies. Thank you ladies!

This has been a very profitable vacation yarn wise. Thank you to Silver Threads and Golden Needles and Friends and Fiberworks for making this such fun. See you both next year.

Yesterday was my yearly visit to the fabulous LYS Silver Threads and Golden Needles in Franklin, NC. As always it was a treat. I was looking for something which would thrill a fourth grade girl, and they suggested a cute little scarf made from two balls of Trendsetter Geisha. It is adorable and easy. Cast on 12 stitches then knit until it is the length you want. Geisha does all of the work.

Isn't it cute! The people in the store are so nice and helpful. They visited Knitting: A Love Story while I was there and seemed to like it. They said they would do a shoutout on Facebook for people to visit. Hurray! ☺️

Their yarn selection is one of the best. They have wonderful high end yarn that makes you want to say "I'll take that and that and that and that!" As a matter of fact, that is what I said. I bought some beautiful yarn that is weighed and you pay by the ounce.

Isn't it beautiful! It is what I call UDY or undesignated yarn. I'll probably just enjoy looking at it.

Silver Threads and Golden Needles is set up to showcase fabulous projects (I want to do that and that one and that one) and their beautiful yarn. Even though they have a fabulous selection, the shop doesn't feel busy or cluttered and yarns are easy to see.

You might want to take a field trip to Franklin, NC some day. This weekend is the Western Carolina Yarn Crawl which includes LYS around Ashville and Silver Threads and Golden Needles. If you have some time on your hands and want to be WOWED by beautiful yarn, you might want to try it.

Thank you to the staff of Silver Threads and Golden Needles for helping me with this post.