A couple of weeks ago, I left this snowy scene. . . .
. . . and arrived here. Flowers everywhere, sunshine and warmth in Los Angeles.
A visit to the beautiful Getty Villa Museum.
I even saw my first actual yarn-bombing. Someone had knitted this tree a cabled sweater.
Here D2 Diane in her cute Mini Cooper - the larger size.
And here's me and GD5. Looks like Grandma needs a haircut. Maisie doesn't need anything - she's adorable.
And now for something completely different. Here's Washington, where S1 Tod lives. Picture-postcard views everywhere.
On one beautiful day, we drove up Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Range. This picture was taken about halfway up.
And here we are at the top.
The trees were completely covered with snow and ice.
Look at us - we're on snowshoes! First time for both of us. Reminder - keep your feet pointed straight ahead when walking on them - if you cross your toes you fall down (don't ask me how I know).
In between California and Washington, I stopped off in Tacoma for the Medrona Knitting Retreat. This was a disappointment, not only because I didn't get any of the classes I wanted as they filled up immediately (and I do mean immediately!). I thought the Market would make up for it, but there were only about one-third as many vendors as at Stitches East in Hartford. I did buy these two silk Mawata "hankies", but since I couldn't get the class which the Yarn Harlot taught on this technique, I still don't know what to do with them. But aren't they pretty?
This photo shows the start of the socks I made for Maisie. I completed one while I was in California, and the other back home in Connecticut. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before I mailed them.
And this is the knitting I did on the plane. It's the Wakefield scarf, and I'm using a lovely blue/green yarn. I got it at a yarn swap without a label and I think it's a cotton blend. It will form a diagonal when it's off the needles.
I ended up with 5 balls of yarn, which I turned into skeins using Debbie's swift at the Knitting Retreat. This would have been a real project without that winder (thanks again, Debbie). 
Next step, wash the skeins to take out all the crinkles.
Then rewind them into center-pull balls. 
I should have stopped at this point because the yarn was looking pretty good, but I decided that this cobweb-weight yarn was too thin to knit with so I decided to double it, using two balls together with the yarn-winder. Big mistake. There were quite a few knots overall in the yarn (couldn't be helped) and they tended to tangle up when unwinding, so I ended up with lots more knots in the final 2-ply yarn. 
This is the scarf, I'm planning to knit, which I think will be perfect for this blue cashmere. This may not happen for a while, as I have several other projects in the works first. 
Final note - this will be the last sweater I frog for yarn! Well, maybe I might unravel another one, but only if it were a heavier yarn - no more of this cobweb stuff for me. 
We here in Putnam still have a lot of snow on the ground - this is my pachysandra shrub just poking a few branches out beside the front steps. 
