California Girl in Oz

What to do when a very nice friend gives you a very nice skein of yarn for your birthday? Cast about for the perfect pattern, of course, and here we have the beginning of Anne Hanson's Fernfrost. It seems to me to be perfectly paired with the lovely yarn, which is Buffalo Gold's Lux, in colorway Dakota Dawn. The yarn is a wonderful blend of the winter undercoat of pure bison down, mixed with 20% cashmere, 20% silk and 15% Tencel...just incredibly soft, and no doubt quite warm for such an airy, laceweight yarn. The pattern is a bit challenging, mostly because I always have trouble reading the wrong side rows and reversing the knits and purls, hence the red markings on the chart to remind me to purl where it looks like a knit...anyone else have to do this? I can tell already that this is going to take awhile to complete, but WHAT a fun knit! Just need to keep my attention really focussed. Not fun to have to tink back laceweight on 3.25mm needles! I'll probably start

Well, I'm on a roll with Meret...this is my second one, made for my sister, Sheri, who lives in Maine. I'm modeling it here, and DH will mail it to Sheri from California next week. Turned out pretty well, I think. Such a fun pattern... Hope it fits, and she likes it! I'm also starting a new project...another Clapotis, but in a scarf size, instead of a wrap, using Malabrigo Sock in Indiecita. No pics yet, but soon, I hope. This will be a gift for my niece, Erin. Hope to deliver it in October. It's warm and sunny here today and I'm loving the sunshine. Shouldn't get too wedded to it, though...more cold weather will be arriving next week. We arrived back here from California 10 days ago to trees laden with blossoms, but within a day or two the huge winds kicked up and soon the blooms were scattered all over the ground...sigh! Kitties, donkeys and horses were all well and happy to see us home again. I celebrated the big 70th birthday during this last trip...