so much to report...

I just got back from a whirlwind tour of Philadelphia which luckily included both work and play. I started off last week with three days of meetings, although I did get to seek off to visit Loop, a great yarn store on South and 19th. I may have purchased The Opinionated Knitter there, but I managed not to have a lot of yarn following me home. I had a wonderful weekend with some old friends, and then on Monday I spent the day with Lucy from ZebraKnits. It was such a treat to meet her in person and meet little and big T! She completely spoiled me with a delicious lunch, a beautiful hand crafted necklace, a hilarious vintage 1960's knitting magazine and a pile of fabric from her incredible collection of african textiles. I'm completely embarrassed to admit that I made so many purchases and got so many gifts, that I had to ship stuff home! So when my package arrives I'll have picts of the treats.

Then I spent the rest of this week going to a conference. The best thing about the convention center in Philadelphia is that it's right smack dab next to Reading Terminal Market, which is a historic farmer's market that started in 1892. They have everything from Amish baked goods and pretzels to sushi and smoothies. I got to have breakfast and lunch at all of my favorite delicious haunts.





And before I left I managed to finish the mitered square blanket. It was raining and sad outside, so I was finally able to photograph it this morning. I'm so glad it's done, mainly because it is the most terribly belated wedding gift for my sister - Hi sister! It's on its way!









More photos here:

Here are the specs:
pattern: a modifed version of the mitered square blanket from the Mason Dixon Knitting book
yarn: various worsted weights of cotton yarn, mainly Sugar n' Cream and Debbie Bliss; about half of the colors were hand-dyed
needles: 8's and 6's for the borders
finished size: approx 36" x 54"
border: 20 rows of garter stitch with mitered corners
started: November 2006
finished: September 2007
notes: While I decided to use cotton yarn since I had a lot in the stash (don't ask), I find that worsted weight cotton is really hard on my hands and makes them ache. I could basically only knit about one square a day, which is part of the reason this took so freaking long. Were I ever to knit a huge blanket again it would be in wool, for sure.

And since you've made it this far through the long post you get a reward. In the category of where are they now, here is gratuitous booty shot of Ella in her baby blu jeans. Hi B + L, I swiped this off of your flickr account - hope that okay!