April | 2017 | Orcas Island Knitting

Do you knit one project at a time or do you feel a bit of unease if you don’t have several projects in the works? Well I’ve just wrapped up another pair of socks—I know, HUGE surprise, but more on that next time.

I must admit, I prefer multiple projects going at the same time, mainly because if I get stuck, I can simply pick up the other one. And since I’m always messing with patterns or creating new ones, I get stuck a lot!

Over the years being a polymorph has led to a variety of UFOs, but since joining Ravelry in earnest (I joined and then didn’t sign on again for several years), I’ve become quite the finisher. Not only is my stash available to shop, but I can shop others’ stashes as well if I run out of a yarn or dye lot.

Which are you?

When I’m on the mainland, my LYS is Serial Knitters and it hadn’t really set in what that meant until I composed this post.

PS: Here’s a photo of my latest leftie. I had a great time beading it after it was finished–especially the little brass starfish. I’m so happy to have found a neat little bead shop not too far from home called Bird Tail Beads. Yay!

Most people think of Milan is the “industrial” capital of Italy and they wouldn’t be wrong, The Italian headquarters for my company along with many other US-based tech firms is based there. And while I did manage to avoid “going to work” out of curiosity, I did see a great deal of what makes the city amazing–sites and fabrics.

The Duomo in the morning–and a poster of an upcoming visit from “Papa Francisco”

Inside the Duomo

The gateway to the Gallery from the Piazzo del Duomo

Sforza statue

Leonardo and his four students

The Sforza Castle (roaded rocks to prevent scaling)

The towerhouse of the castle built by the French when they took over Milan and white washed all the internal walls including paintings by Leonardo de Vinci

I’m going to focus on sites first. And then show a few fabrics next time (need photos).

When I visited the Teatro alla Scala they were having a dress rehearsal for Verdi’s Don Carlos–AMAZING!

Places I visited on a city walking Tour with Sara Cerri–well worth it!

What was sorely lacking from the trip was knit shops and while I found a few here and there, they were either difficult to find, or yarn wasn’t their primary business so I left Italy (happily for my husband) with only the yarn I brought with me–which was, as usual for vacation–more than I needed.