knitless kellen and i just got back from our trip to portland, which was a lot of fun and of course included a trip to a yarn store!

but more on that later. look what i just finished up:

this is the first half of the cabled footies from One Skein. i'm making them for my one skein secret pal, so i was nervous about posting them here, but when i send them i'll be revealing my identity, so i guess it's okay. i love the pattern, but i'm not overly pleased with how this one turned out. maybe it's because i'm sending them to another knitter, so i feel self-conscious. but eeep! looking at the little line of twisted stictches which are SO GLARINGLY OBVIOUS in the picture makes me want to stuff it in the garbage can. ugh...maybe the second one will be better and redeem the pair. anyway, they're out of a gorgeous cascade 220 colorway. purple with a blue haze and yuuuum...it was my first time working with cascade 220 (i usually felt with lamb's pride) and although it was a little splitty for my taste, i liked it. but more on that when i finish the pair.

so, the yarn store! we went to Close Knit in portland. it was about 18 miles away from the hotel but took us almost an hour to get there because we got lost. we got there like 10 minutes before they were supposed to close, and i was so overwhelmed. it was beautiful! a cozy little shop filled with ammmmmazing yarns that i've only ever read other knitters gushing about. but of course, because i didn't want to hold up their closing, i was trying to browse quickly, and forgot all my "to knit" projects, so i didn't shop very efficiently. the lorna's laces damn near killed me but all i could think was beautiful socks for myself, so i resisted. i was trying to think chrismas presents, but not being very successful. here's what i ended up walking out with:

the new issue of knit simple, Scarf Style (so many present ideas in this one!), two skeins of yummy suri merino, which will be a gift, and some superwash cascade 220, that'll be some cabled footies for christmas. oh, and two 1" buttons. (you might call them badges or pins, if you're not punkrock.)

here's a closer look:

the one on the left has a pink plaid background and a cute little alpaca drawing, and the one on the right says I <3 (alpaca). too cute!

the owner of the shop was also really, really nice, enthusiastic and fun. i mean, i love my lys, but it's nice to visit others once in awhile.

since i finished the footie, it feels like i have nothing on the needles, because i'm currently not working on any socks. that's right folks, for the first time since i started knitting socks, i have no socks on the needles.

i better go wind some sock yarn...  ¶ 2:16 PM