This is the yarn I picked up at the TKGA Conference from Shelridge Farms. It is destined to become, at least, a swatch for the fair-isle that I am imagining that uses the colors of the bachelor buttons from my grandma’s front flower box. I haven’t played with the yarn yet, but I will, after a few other projects are out of the way.

I picked these up at a store that was closing and they had a decent price. Since I hardly ever see solid colors of this yarn, I picked up 2 skeins of each color here.

Some of us at work are trying to be good and eat something healthy once in a while, so we came up with a plan to have one of us bring a salad once a week to share.
Today is my day, and here is my salad. It’s a chopped salad, something I never heard of before coming to California, but there you have it. The inspiration for this salad is the California Citrus salad from Claim Jumper.
I really don’t measure anything, but these are approximations:
— Dressing —
2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
4-5 Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
— Salad —
1/2 -1 head Lettuce
1 Avocado, chopped
1/4 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1/2-3/4 Cup Crumbled Blue Cheese
1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries
1 Granny Smith Apple, chopped
1 Cucumber, peeled & seeded, chopped
1 can Mandarin Oranges, drained
3 Green Onions, chopped
Put salad in bowl, toss. Add dressing, toss again. Share. Eat.

Wendy got some new boots. Makes me miss my boots. I have these great black leather and green suede cowboy boots, but they don’t fit anymore. I can’t give them away though, in case a miracle happens and they suddenly fit me again…
I also have some green suede moccasins. I think I should dig them out, they were fun.
My favorite green shoes are my chuck taylors – autographed by Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger from (at the time) General Public. Can’t get rid of those either.
Strange thing is, I really only wear two pair of shoes. My brown suede Birkenstock Alton’s and the same shoes in black leather. They are that comfy. If I have to wear a suit one day, I’m in trouble.

When is there going to be a new Buffy? This is really boring, and I already saw that Gilmore Girls.
Got my needle, picking up and tinking back around and around and finally going forward again. I misread the intructions twice and had to tink. Now it’s going to move slowly, but at least I am just knitting, no more purling. It’s not that I don’t like it, I just haven’t found my way with purling and I don’t know any other knitters to compare!
And I am sure this month’s Knitting Meetup will not happen, Orange County is just not going to meet up.

I had to put the shawl on hold til Saturday when I can get a longer needle. I think I will pick up the 120cm one for this project. I have been trying to use a 29″ and a 24″ together, but I don’t like it.
I started working on the celtic spiral socks though, and they are progressing nicely. I am about half-way through the first cuff. When I am done, I will post my interpretation of the pattern, but not before contacting the source of the chart and asking if I can share.
I received a bunch of books yesterday from the Interweave clearance sale, including Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting. There’s some stuff in there that I will make, maybe one of the shawls of aran weight wool would make a nice gift, and a good place to practice cables before starting a cabled sweater where gauge matters more!