Here I am!

Yikes - I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd updated! I've been camera-less this week - D and S took a father/daughter road trip for her spring break (her choice). They went to Eastern Oregon to explore abandoned buildings, look for interesting roads, and ghost towns. They both really enjoy photography, so S took her cameras, and D took his digital. As a result, no pictures of recently finished items, and I am now shopping for a digital camera of my own!

So what's new?? I finished the Lady of the Lake Garter Stitch jacket for the shop today - I'm looking forward to wearing it once in a while this spring before the weather gets too warm. It's a very quick knit - knit sideways and very little shaping. I'll be posting a picture as soon as I can.

S turned 21 last Saturday - yes, my daughter is a St. Patrick's Day baby. She went out with her best friend and got to be legal and all. The four of us went out the next night to DragonFish - a pan-asian restaurant in downtown Seattle. We hadn't been there before, but my friend Jessica recommended it, and we all liked it. We will definitely be going back.

Last weekend was a busy knitting and spinning one. Victoria, one of the shop owners had a gathering at her house Friday night, and also invited along some of our shop regulars. Amy was there, as well as Naomi and others. Naomi has a cute picture on her blog showing all of us that wore their handknit socks.

Saturday morning I made a nice birthday breakfast of quiche, fruit salad, and cinnamon rolls, and then went to Naomi's to spin some more. I ended up finishing up some spinning I've been working on - I bought 8 ounces of superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms in the "I've Got You Babe" colorway. I sort of liked it when I bought it at Oregon Flock and Fiber last fall, and then had a heck of a time spinning this and wasn't really sure I liked it at all when it was a single. Plied, it's starting to grow on me. We'll see. Again, pictures are forthcoming...

D and I spent a good part of Saturday trying to clean up more from the December storm that we had and getting spring weeds under control. We managed to very quickly fill up all of our yard waste cans, and still have enough branches for one more go at it. I didn't have a blog at the time of that storm, but it was pretty bad around here. Our yard was literally covered with branches and limbs, and then to top that off, we were out of power for 5 days. Anyway, that's over and we have some pretty major stuff to clean up and organize in the yard. More on that as time goes by.

Not a lot of knitting going on - I was working on the Lady of The Lake jacket for work, but came across a snafu in the the pattern - I'll email Fleece Artist today to get some clarification. I know how I would work this section (the label on the first front section) but I need a better answer for customers.

I also worked a bit on the STR monsoon/February socks - I'm not too sure about the toe, as it seems a bit big. We didn't have any size 00 needles at work, so I'm at a holding point until I decide what I'm going to do.

D also put our crown moulding up on our cabinets, which means I can take my Bauer bowls and the remainder of my kitchen things out of storage. We have been remodeling this house we are in ever since we moved here in 1994. Pretty much one room at a time - kids rooms first, then bathrooms. Five years ago we started a major kitchen remodel - completely gutting the existing kitchen, taking a deck off, and pushing the side of the house out. We ended up having our kitchen in our living room for about a year or so (a bit longer), but now the end is definitely in sight.

That's all for now. I have to go find the last of those kitchen boxes - it's like Christmas!

"Bea"utiful!

I finally finished the little girl coat that I've been working on as a shop model. It's called "Bea" - knit with Rowan Soft Baby and the pattern is found in the Rowan Little Treasures book. I added the silk ribbon french knots on the yoke just to make it even more decorative. It even has this really cool pleat in the back!

My socks that rock socks finally got here on Monday. I'm excited to start these - but I've been trying to get a few other things off the needles first. Here's a peek at what arrived! The colorway is called "Monsoon". There is a message inside the label that says "Stay on your toes". The pattern for this month is a toe-up sock with short row heels. Not the way I prefer to make my socks, but I'm planning on doing the pattern as written, so I'm game.



Next up is a gauge swatch!

Edited to add: Hooray! I got gauge on the first go-round on size 0 needles.

Clover the Bunny

Just to be silly, I wanted to name this bunny "Pat" but didn't. She just looks like a "Clover" to me. Cast on 2/21, finished knitting 2/22, but the finishing touches weren't done until a day or so ago. I thought the rear-end portion looked odd, Ginger pointed out I forgot a tail! Oops - borrowed the shop pom-pom maker last night and voila! C'est fini. Another project to cross off.

Specs: Fibertrends Bunny Fun pattern
1 skein Cascade 220 quattro - sort of a tan and cream color
bits of leftover mohair (ears) and brown Cascade 220 (feet)
1 yard Hana silk ribbon for neck

Jess and I cast on for our shawls at the shop yesterday - she's a bit wary of charts but she was also short on time, so we got the first 12 rows done (only 22 sts right now). We'll start some chart tackling soon. She's actually a very brave and adventuresome knitter. I had her in a class sometime last year - maybe spring? She signed up for a build your skills class, but hadn't really done much knitting. Her first project was that wedge shaped lace wrap in weekend knits (I don't have the book, and don't have time to research it out). She's very much a go-for-it girl.

Today I took S (my daughter) to the DMV so she could get her license renewed. There doesn't seem to be a convienient DMV near the University, so we got to spend some time together this morning. This had to be a record time for the DMV - we walked in, took a number and they immediately called it. Cool! Since she's 15 days short of 21, she still will have the vertical license, but it doesn't really matter to her as long as it's legal. She's lucky that her picture turned out really cute too.

Last but not least we are having a pajama party tonight at work (remember, I work at a yarn store). Once a month (first Friday) we have something called "Knit Night" where we stay open later ('til 9) and have tea and snacks and customers can come in and hang out and meet other customers and such. Tonight will be fun because not only are we there until midnight, but we are having Yarn Pirate's first trunk show, and we got a bunch of new Rowan in. More things in store too!

Comments -

Hi and thank you to everyone that has commented on this blog. I want to comment back, but I think I have something turned off in my settings. It's only letting me see people's profiles and sometimes any groups or a-longs that you may belong to.

So I plan to remedy that - hopefully I can enlist Amy or Ginger to clue me in. (remember I said I'm not very computer-savvy?)

So please for now consider this a great big "Hi" and thanks so much for reading and commenting. I was quite surprised to receive so many!

March??

Although the calendar says March, we woke up this morning to 2" of snow on the ground. Some places north of me got up to 10" of snow! This just does not happen in the greater Seattle area. Sure, we get some late winter snow (I've been known to even wish for snow on my birthday) - but usually it's just a dusting. Wonky~!

Since it's the first of the month, I like to start something new on the needles - doesn't always happen but today it will. I have a student/customer/friend (Jessica) that has really been wanting to do the Fiddlesticks Peacock Feathers Shawl. I too have been wanting to make it - we carry some of the Fiddlesticks patterns at work, have the Zephyr laceweight yarn, so I told her I'd start with her on March 1st and we'll do a shawl-along. Should be fun!

We got a huge shipment of Fleece Artist yarn in at the shop yesterday - Lady of the Lake Jackets, lots of the poncho kits, some roving and 66 skeins of the merino sock yarn. Beautiful, beautiful stuff! We have had the new SeaWool for a week or so, and that is flying out the door too (Seasilk is gone - we ordered more). So the point of saying this, is that I get to make one of the Lady of the Lake jackets as a shop model! I'm excited to start this too - I'll be casting on for that today also.

Have a great March 1st!