I nearly always make a packing list, even for weekend trips.  The times I’ve not used one are the times I’ve forgotten something.  So here goes:

Clothes	Toiletries	Electronics & Misc	Knitting	For Class
On plane: Denim jacket, blue/tan dress, necklace & bracelet, teva flip flops	Bath gel/shampoo, scrubby, razor + blade, toothpaste, toothbrush, deoderant	Cash, credit cards, checks (2)	Swatching for book (Shibui, Sanguine Gryphon)	sock needles (dpns, KP set) circs size US0 -US1.5
Brown dress Paisley dress Jeans x2 White shirt Beige bra Underwear x5 nightgown White cami	Face cleaner, alpha hydroxy lotion, moisturizer/sunscreen	Plane tickets, confirmation numbers for hotel & Sock Summit	sweater wip & extra yarn, beads, crochet hook for beading, brass safety pins, extra US3 circ, tote for WIP	sock yarn leftovers
workout socks Running shoes Bathing suit & goggles (seriously, the hotel has a pool!), heart rate monitor & strap	foundation, mascara, lip balm, powder, brush, tweezers	Phone, phone charger laptop, computer charger & bag iPad, charger	Samples for book	Aran Lace stitch pattern book Bavarian Twisted stitch pattern books
brown & turquoise sandals	Sunglasses Prescription glasses Contact lens case, solution, extra lenses Meds	Business cards, TNNA badge holder?, Ravelry button, lightweight bag for purchases	Notions: tape measure, tapestry needle, extra stitchmarkers, cutting tool	notepad, pen, sharpie

Sentinel Rock

Every year the California Vet Med Association holds a three day continuing education (CE) conference in Yosemite.  As a vet, I have to accumulate 36 hours of CE every two years.  The conference is worth 12;  since we go to this every year, that’s 24/36.  (The rest I get either online, through local meetings, etc.)

Regardless, lecture is 8-12 Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  That leaves Friday & Saturday afternoons for hiking.

Merced River, looking back at Half Dome

Friday afternoon we hiked from the Lodge to the base of El Capitan & back.  Pretty, flat, but enough distance to burn some good calories.  The day varied between sunny and overcast even as we did the 3 hour hike.

The next day we did one of my favorite hikes, to Vernal Falls.  You start at Happy Isles, then climb for almost a mile before dipping back down to the bridge.  Vernal Falls is to your right.  One year it’d been warm enough that the Mist Trail, from Vernal to Nevada Falls, was open.  This year (and every other year for the past 10 or so) there was too much snow & ice.  Sometimes we continue as far as we can up the Muir trail, but this year only went a little past the bridge.

We checked out the fen behind the nature center (closed for the season) before catching the bus to Yosemite Village.  A gorgeous raven entertained us at the bus stop.

We explored the Ansel Adams gallery & store, then checked out the gallery at the museum. From there, we walked back to the Lodge, stopped first to at the base of the lower Yosemite Falls.

The lectures? Orthopedics and opthomology.  The knitting during the lectures?  The Zylphia Cowl, due to be released in the next day or two.  A few people, including one other knitting vet whom I inspired to bring her knitting to lecture, admired it.

I had a knitting disaster last week. If you follow me on twitter, I had two small tweets about it.  At the time, that’s all I could say.

Somehow I miscounted and thus mis-positioned the cables on Edie. I didn’t see it until the other day (more work had accrued since the picture on the Mid December blog post), when I paused to actually stretch the work all out & admire it.

Unfixable, un-fudgeable.  One front cable was mispositioned by a couple inches.  I frogged.

The cats have subsequently had a great deal of fun with the small balls of the ash violet. They obviously assume that, if I leave a small ball of yarn out, it’s an offering to the cat gods a gift left for them to find.  They like to either unwind & wrap the yarn around everything they can (forming a cat’s cradle around the dining room table & chairs for example) or bring it to bed so they can toss it and pounce upon it at 3 a.m.

The good news is I was thinking of re-working the cable so it lays flatter, and doing this as a top down pattern rather than bottom up.  That will require sewing the hem, rather than knitting it,  to the body.  But there’s no earthly way I should be able to screw up the cable placement starting top down.

In the meantime I’ve been working on the pattern for the Spring Sanguine Gryphon pattern line.  It’s top down as well (with some quirks tossed in) and is going well.  I’ve joined for in the round for the bodice section.  I can’t say much about it, but think layers and beads.  The theme for Spring was Art Nouveau.

L to R: Ocotillo, Manzanita, Quercus

The mittens ebook is nearly finished.  I’ll also be releasing the patterns individually.  Take a peek!  The names all reference various California plants.  Ashley Knowlton tech edited it, and I have a slew of testers, all finished except 1 or 2.  I’m thinking of offering it as a hardcopy through Magcloud as a well as a pdf download through Ravelry.

Would you like to see the mittens, and a bunch of other samples, in person?  I’m going to be at Old Oaks Ranch in Wimberley, Texas, Jan 4th 11a-2p, hosting a trunk show and giving a couple mini-classes/lectures.

Woot!  Who else is going to Madrona?  This is going to be my first, and can you tell how excited I am?

I’m taking Catherine Lowe’s Full- Fashioning for Design and Fit and Jean Wong’s Fine Finishing classes.  Have any of you taken either of these?  Feedback?  Those are the only classes I’m taking right now, though I may try for a mini class or two just to have something different.

I’ve booked a room at the Murano and will, most likely, be seeking a roommate.  Any other morning people out there?

On the Thursday of our visit to Austin, I visited Sustainable Fibers in Elgin, TX.  I brought my mom along — she’d never visited a mill before, and we were planning on going to lunch afterwards.

We had a lovely time!  I’ve visited small mills before, so I was familiar with the process, but my mom was amazed.  Jacqueline is fantastic — passionate and incredibly knowledgeable.  Her husband, Mark, is a total sweetheart, and a knitter himself.  I’m going to be doing a layered lace cami design for them, using some of their lovely mohair blend yarn.

On Friday, Dave, my mom & I drove to Wimberley to visit the Old Oaks Ranch.  I met Anne, who teaches classes there, and did a small, impromptu trunk show with some of my samples. The various fingerless mitts were the biggest hits — Anne is going to plan some classes around them and sell hard copy patterns in the store.

My mom enjoyed seeing the alpacas.  The Ranch also has a gorgeous sculpture garden, which we  explored just before leaving for lunch.

Lunch was at the Leaning Pear — delicious!  We also visited some of the stores in town (favorite was the rock & mineral store, the Broken Arrow Rock Shop (scroll down)) and Bella Vista Ranch for olive oil and wine tasting.

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