Chickenlips Knitting

...from last week's trip to the Bay Area.

J and I happened upon this place while visiting Pier 39 in San Francisco. We bought *just a little* bit for nibbling...ate that then went back for some more to nibble...oh man. IMHO it was better than See's, Van Duyn or Boehm's.

Because I was in a generous frame of mind, I purchased a boxed assortment of chocolates for my co-workers. (Yes, I managed to stay out of it and brought the intact, unopened box to work Monday morning.) Usual procedure for sharing goodies at our small company is to send out an email telling everyone what you've left in the kitchen. What happened to the chocolates can best be described with the title of this recent movie: Gone In 60 Seconds.

Yeah, that was a long way to go to set up a lame joke, but you must understand that I'm going with my strengths here. Slowly but surely, the pile of Mason-Dixon warshrags grows:

I can't wait to make more, but in addition to the projects I'm holding in suspended animation, I'm making the "Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono" because: happy news! My boss just became a mommy last week. She and her husband were about to adopt a baby girl last summer, but at the last minute the birth mother changed her mind. The experience took its toll, to be sure, but the important thing is that they didn't give up. And sure enough, they got a call in mid-February that a baby was about to be born in Phoenix, so they went there, and now they are parents of an adorable baby girl! Since I do nothing if not live up to my self-inflicted nickname of "Truly Obsessed Knitter," I took some gentle razzing about being "Granny Sharon" who is "knitting up a storm" for the new baby, (which I am but never mind that,) and thought, Hey wait a minute! I ain't even 52 yet. My girl is only 16--God forbid I should become a grandma!

Then again, being a "surrogate grandma" to Barbara's baby wouldn't be the worst thing in the world...

The little kimono is such a fast knit that I began it last night and it's already half finished. While in Calif., I also made a color-coordinating hat from the baby hat pattern in the first "Not Just Socks" book, using less than half a skein of Koigu. I'll display the finished ensemble ASAP.

I also made my first foray into Orenburg lace, the real deal. Two hours into one of Galina Khmeleva's shawl patterns, I screwed up, so it's back to square one. Or to be more specific, edging point one.

This is my one and only, Michelle, vamping for the camera. Scares the holy bejeezus out of me. The makeup is self-styled--Michelle plays "Magenta"

at midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and cast members line up for her to do their makeup. She's been a theater student since the age of nine, a drama queen ALL her life, and her goal (at least as of right now) is to earn a B.A. in Theatre Arts-Costume Design. As long as she goes to a school in the Oregon University System, which we might actually be able to afford, we'll be sweet!