Livin' green (or something)

Sara and I went to the Redmond saturday market on (Duh!) Saturday. We bought some great apples, some beautiful basil, and a few other items.

While we were there, I had remembered that I had read that there was a store at Redmond Town Center that was carrying the Envirosax and thus, I wouldn't have to pay shipping. All that I could remember was that it was an Australian import store. We found a map for the center, and guessed that Bangalla had the right sound to it. Yes! Success. I had planned on only purchasing one to try, but ended up getting the retro set. They are oh so nifty and really hold alot too. Now the only trick will be to make sure I have them with me!

Stole'n Bases

Hi there -ever get so busy that you sort of kinda just forgot that you have a blog to post to? I was thinking it had just been a few days. Uhh, no it had not. So then, where was I?

Tonight is Stitch n' Pitch in Seattle. Very busy, very crazy, but so much fun! I really like working at it because you are behind the scenes, and really get to met a whole lot of people. So, if you are attending tonight, be sure and come and introduce yourself! I will be at the Village Yarn and Tea table. I don't know exactly where we will be set up until we get there, but the past two years we have been in the big open square area, at the front right corner as you face the field. Just ask anyone there for Ellen, if you don't already know me!

In the past, some of us at the shop have written a pattern or two specifically for this game. For the first Stitch 'n Pitch, I made a short row "baseball" bag. My kids think it's really ugly. I was asked to make some sort of bag, had a specific yarn I was supposed to use and very little time. I'll let you be the judge!

So this year, after the success of the touring wrap for the LYS tour, I thought I'll try some more of the Fleece Artist Suri Blue. So very, very nice to work with. I played around a bit, and thought about it some while working on my Mystery Stole 3. All of a sudden it clicked! Stole. Baseball. Bases. And Eureka, Stole'n Bases came to be born. It's at the printer right now, but I got to see the first print - it looks cool! (and much more dignified)

This pattern will be available for sale at the game tonight. My driving force behind this is that I really need to raise a ton more money for the 3-day walk. All of my proceeds from this pattern will be going to my 3-day account. Right now, I'm at $45.00, and I need to raise a total of $2200. I have two very wonderful people who have donated, but with two kids in college, I can't afford to write off the rest (I couldn't even if they weren't in college!) So, if you feel so inclined, I would so appreciate any pattern purchase or other donation you may feel like you can do. Okay, enough of that for now. I will try and figure out a direct link to post on the left hand side of this page, but computers and I don't always get along too easily. Leave a message in this post if you have questions. Thank you so much!

What else have I been up to? We finally had a graduation party for Patrick - just a simple bbq and all in the yard. Do you ever feel like these "simple" bbqs just wallop you? We got the yard all cleaned up, cooked for two days, spent way too much money on food and assorted beverages, etc. It was a very fun time though, and I think Patrick had a good time visiting with friends and family.

The Noni humongo adventure bag is coming along. I have done 63 of the 90 rounds and have about 3 1/2 skeins left to work with. It's quite heavy, and very, very big so far.

Doug and I took a trip on the Spirit of Washington Dinner train last Wednesday. We had wanted to go for a long, long time, but had never gotten around to it. Last fall they started talking about the possibility that they would either stop doing the train or that it would have to move, and so we felt like we should just make reservations and do it. Of course, it took us 6 months (probably more!) to get around to it, but I'm glad we did. Food wasn't really that great, but it was fun traveling along looking out the window and seeing the sights. About half the trip goes through our regular "stomping grounds" so we just got to see things from a different perspective. Here are some pictures from the trip. Alot of them were pretty blurry, so I am popping in a few so you can feel like you were along for the ride.

Bellevue at night from the Wilburton train trestle:

Happy Hubby on the train!

Big pile o'tires - artfully stacked?

Hopefully I will see some of you tonight - go to go get ready now!

I'm feeling a tad warm....

Not that I'm complaining or anything, but boy is it hot!! Temperature inside right now is 97.9. Our outside thermometer is currently in the sun, so it has pegged at 130. Yeah, I know I'm still alive, so I think that one is not quite accurate.

I finished the shawl in Koigu, but it hasn't been blocked yet. It looks quite pretty though, and when it's not quite so wool inappropriate out, I'll really enjoy it.

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl

Yarn: 5 different skeins of Koigu KPPPM

Needles: size 6 (I think - I already put it away!)

Cast on 7/5/07, finished 7/8/07

The pattern instructs you to knit until there are 195 stitches on the needles for the scarf version. Since I was doing a color work idea (1, 2+1, 2, 3+2, 3, 4+3, 4, 5+4, 5), I made it bigger. I did two pattern repeats with color 1, then worked 2 rows with color 2, and 2 rows with color 1. I continued on in this manner until I had done two more repeats, then dropped out color 1, continued on with color 2 and so on. At the last repeat with color 5, I worked only one repeat, and then worked the edging with color 5 so that the amount of color would balance out. I'm planning on making another one of these very soon but in Sea Silk (Popsicle colorway), and a size 4 ( or 5? or 6? - I'll play with it) needle.

Ever have an "oh-oh" moment with your knitting?

Here's a very nice Blue Sky Organics Alpaca Sweater from Fall 2006 Interweave. It's the same issue with Evelyn's Swallowtail pattern and the really cool yoked neck fair isle sweater (on the cover)that I knit. Yep, nice sweater, nice pattern. All is good. Except for this:

These would be some pretty ceramic buttons. Handmade buttons. Made by the mother of Debbie Abrams (of Rowan fame). I bought them last summer when Debbie was at our shop teaching a workshop. Crum bum. I absentmindedly threw it in the dryer for 5 minutes to "fluff" it up. Don't do this with ceramic buttons. You will not be happy. At all.



These will be the replacement buttons. I don't plan on any future fluffing of the sweater.

I started a new adventure bag this weekend. The pattern says that it's huge, I feel that I personally need to experience how huge it really is. I would like it to be large enough to comfortably use as a weekend bag, as my usual weekend bag is quite floral and 1980ish looking. Here's a peek at the start of what I hope will be a monstrosity.

Stay cool!

PS - Amy is so sweet, she brought Popsicles for us at work today! What a nice friend! Thanks Amy!

.... and I don't have a speech

I've been tagged with this:

Which brings to mind a new blog on the web that I haven't talked about. The yarn shop I work for started a shop blog right around the time of the LYS tour. Pretty much just Deb blogs on it, but it's fun to read about tea, new yarns we have coming in, and this that and the other. Check it out here! Okay, so I guess I'm supposed to nominate others for this.... I choose Kim, Ginger and the Yarn Girls (Rebecca and Peggy). Enjoy!

What's on the needles today you ask?? Well, I totally gave up on the Charlotte's Web Shawl. That thing had been on the needles for about 4 years and I had it. For some reason my mind could not get itself around the chart and the written out part didn't seem quite right. Grrr. Oh well, I have been wanting to do the Forest Canopy Shawl anyways, so I am taking the color blending concept of good ol' Charlotte, and incorporating it into the FCS. There. Solved that problem. I don't really care that it's a beginner shawl, I'm also working on the MS3, so that's quite enough lace for right now. Should be done this weekend, and you know I'll be on to something new!

I've been trying to finish up projects on the needles. There are so many that I'm a bit nuts, frankly. I know I don't have as big a stash as a lot of you, but working in a yarn store, there is always something new I want to try!

If you are a customer of Village Yarn and Tea (my paycheck provider), be sure and come to knit night tonight! We are having a Harry Potter themed evening, with articles made up from the Charmed Knits book , and some Harry-inspired treats. We also brought in a bunch of Cascade 220 in appropriate house colors, so you can knit a scarf or something while you wait for the movie and book to come out. I'm not going to be there - we are going out with some old friends - but I'm sure you'll have fun without me.

Have a great evening!

Ahem....

So I think I know what was wrong with my camera, besides trying to find the time to investigate why the computer wouldn't recognize the thing..... perhaps I was connecting in the wrong order?? and I thought I was trying different configurations, but my computer non-savviness still shone brightly? Hmmm..... I did find my cheat sheet, and lo and behold I have pictures! Now just to remember this order, or keep the cheat sheet close at hand.

Okay first up - graduation. Two weeks ago. Yep. Here's a picture of Patrick (the happy graduate) and his sister, Sara. Another one of Doug, Patrick and I.

So, we are on to the world of two kids in college. Yikes! I'm so glad they are both going though, I didn't have the chance to go to a 4-year university (4 years of various community college and then some, and then much later, a medical transcription certificate.) I really value higher education, so I hope I've instilled that in them, and that they will make the best of it!

So, what else have I been doing? I have so many projects on needles, that sometimes it gets a big overwhelming. I've been trying to reclaim some of these needles and get some things done. I did finish a Debbie Bliss jacket out of Astrakhan for the shop (no picture, I forgot). Made a market type bag with hemp6 :

I do like this yarn (twine???) I know that some are hesitant because of the feel, but sometimes you have to concentrate on what the end result will be, not just how it feels to knit with. It does soften up as you work with it, and there is a bit of hemp oil still present, so your hands feel a bit softer. The pattern for this is the shopper bag from LanaKnits that we have at the shop. I chose the dark brown color for two reasons. #1: I like it. #2: I had a student that had a ball left over that she didn't want. I am such a yarn rescuer, that of course I had to give it a home! I plan to use this bag next time I head to one of our many local farmers markets.

I also caved into the "everybody's doin' it" pressure and signed up for MS3. That's the Mystery Stole 3 in case you didn't jump on the bandwagon. I signed up a bit late (7/2) bought the laceweight yarn at work Monday, beads at BeadHut in Kirkland Tuesday morning before work/class and cast on that night. I'm done with the first clue now, and feel all caught up. It's not 100% perfect, but it's close enough for me at this juncture, so I'm going with it. Here's my progress. I can't really tell what it is yet, but that is exactly the point! I'm using Zephyr Merino/Silk in the mushroom colorway, on size 4- 24" Addi lace needles. I found these really cool greenish/brownish beads (hematite??) to go with it. If you are interested in starting this, she is closing sign-ups July 6th at 9 pm eastern time. Go here to sign up!

I've worked on something in secret......

and am getting ready to frog something else.

These are the Pomatomus socks from Knitty. We are not friends. I tried to like them. I restarted 3 times. I'm just not loving them. They have been sitting in my knitting basket for over a month, and i don't care if they get finished. Time for the frog pond! I'm going to do Monkey socks instead. People seem to love the pattern, so I'm going to give it a try. (Yarn is Fleece Artist merino - I don't think they make this colorway anymore.)

So I'll leave you with prettiness: Thursday sky we are having incredible weather~