On OFFF

I was doing so well, posting three whole times in one week! then, Bam! I caught some stomach bug that has been floating over the Seattle area. Blech.

I guess it's been quite a few weeks since OFFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival) now, but I'll still post, since I do have a few pictures and they've already been loaded onto the computer! Naomi and I left my house bright and early (6:30am) Saturday morning to head down to the city of Canby, Oregon. I really like the areas outside of Portland - the small sleepy towns and all - even though Portland is so close to Seattle, it's just a totally different feel. So we arrived at the fairgrounds a bit before 10 am. We had talked all the way down about our stashes, and limiting spending because just how much yarn do we really need???? We did plan out how we would hit the vendors - first the vendors we "knew" - Lisa Souza, Tina at Blue Moon, Michael and Sheila Ernst, Klaus at Crown Mountain, and Michelle at Toots LeBlanc.

At Lisa Souza's, I purchased this - 16 oz. of a lovely Merino Top in the South Pacific colorway. back in February at Madrona, Jen had a very lovely Wool Peddler's Shawl. I did buy some roving to spin/knit myself one at Madrona, but I wasn't in love with the yarn after spinning it. I think this will do the ticket!

Next stop was to visit Tina at Blue Moon. Naomi and I got to know Tina a bit in February at Madrona, so we wanted to say hi and also show off our Body Hugger Raglan Sweaters that we both recently knit out of the medium weight sock yarn. Get this - she remember us! Anyway, the best thing about buying from Blue Moon at a show is that they have roving! There is stuff there that isn't on the website, so besides the group of them being so nice, there are great things to be had.

I came away with these:

Yarn and a pattern for the Baby Mine baby sweater (baby gift solved!) and some yummy, yummy silk/wool roving (5.5 oz) in "Jabberwocky" Oooo, pretty...... I did pick up some roving for Amy too (just no picture!)

After that fun, we strolled around a bit, looking for the Dicentra Booth. We did finally find it along with her two bins marked 50% and 75% off! I purchased just two things - the only superwash merino I could find was in these sale bins. I ended up with 4 oz. of superwash merino in Margaritaville and another regular merino in some color I can't recall right now.

More booths, more shopping! Crown Mountain Farms was in this same building, so we strolled over and talked with Klaus for a bit. I bought 8 oz. of Corriedale in the Stonehenge colorway. One more friend stop was to be made, and that was to visit Michelle (and her brother Carl) at Toots LeBlanc. I had purchased 500 yards of their fingering weight merino/pygora in February, and had on my list to get two more skeins of this to be able to make a substantial shawl. Apparently, they had discussed not even bringing this yarn to the show, I'm glad they did!

After a lunch break, we decided we would take a break from the booths and sit under the trees and spin for a bit. That's when I spun the majority of the Crown Mountain pictured above. We ran into many friends here and there - and even got to see Kim! I miss not working with her and seeing her more often.This made for a very peaceful, enjoyable afternoon - the weather was just so nice!

The next morning was the parking lot sale. Now I had heard of this before, and was one of the reasons we had decided to stay the night, so that we could attend. My goal was to get a grey Shetland fleece, but as soon as the sale opened up, I totally forgot that. I ended up beelining it to a Shetland farm and spied quite a few white and a few black fleeces. I ended up getting this white fleece from a sheep named "Tilly". It's pretty important to me to know whose coat I'll be wearing!

I had a cute picture of the couple whose sheep these are from, but now I'm not finding it. Anyway, they are Jeremy and Janet from Heron Ridge Ranch in Oregon.

What's up with the black fleece? Well, I had really only intended to get the one fleece and learn how to clean it, etc. As Naomi and I were walking back to the car later on Sunday, I said "Oh, look - they have that pretty black fleece all laid out" Next thing I knew, we were back at the same "booth" and discussing the merits of this black shetland fleece. Oh, it's so pretty and actually cleaner than the white fleece. And they had dropped the price to $15. Okay, I bought it. It came from Jemima. 'Nuf said. It's mine now.

See this cute lady? We were browsing some of the booths on the lawn and she asked if we'd had our hands massaged yet. Turns out, she was a shopper the day before, loved the product so much that she demo'd for them the whole next day! She was doing a great business for this couple. I ended up buying their Sweet Plumeria Salt Scrub and two lotion bars - honey almond and red clover tea. Oh - the company is Bar-Maids. Great stuff!

All in all a super fantastic weekend with lots of fun and sunshine! Can't wait for next year......

Rockin' Socktober

I know in past years many people have declared October to be"Socktober" and this year, I decided to join in. While I don't plan to exclusively knit socks this month, I do plan to knit a few pairs at least.

For my first pair, being October and all, I'm going to cast on Charade in Blue Moon Socks that Rock "Rocktober". I chose this pattern because I need something that I can just pick up and knit without a complicated chart to follow ahem - Rivendell - ahem.

I've also joined the KAL from Through the Loops for her mystery sock pattern ( you can find it on Ravelry - just search groups for Through the Loops). I'm going to use some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock that I have in the chocolate colorway. One clue per week through the month of October - sounds very doable!
The February Lady Sweater is coming right along. I am seeing quite a few of these lately, which makes me want to make mine a bit different. Since I'm on the short side of life, I think I will not be doing the lace portion of the sleeves. On me it's just a bit too overpowering to have all of that fabric. I think it will look rather cute and at least a bit different than all the others to have cap sleeves. Only 9" more of the lace pattern, do the garter edge and a bit of finishing! Perhaps this weekend?

As for a baby project for my grandniece-to-be, I've chosen the Yarn Harlot's Baby Mine pattern. I have the sleeves done and I am halfway through the lace chart for the body.
And, last but of course not least - Happy Birthday Doug! I hope this is your best year ever - I love you!

Stayed tuned - next post will be a doozy on OFFF! Just wait until you see what I have.... (no, it's not a bunny)

Off to OFFF

Naomi and I will be off on a road trip to Canby tomorrow morning to visit the sheep and sunshine-y, fibery goodness offered this weekend at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. I went two years ago with the twins for the day and had a great time.

This time we will spend the night and hopefully get to check out Woodland Woolworks on Saturday afternoon, the parking lot sale Sunday morning (I really would love a grey color shetland fleece!) and maybe a few other local shops on Sunday.

I'm bringing my Rose to spin on, the Rivendell socks and the February Lady Sweater. Hopefully one of these projects will progress along!

What did you guys think of Grey's Anatomy last night? I felt like it sort of dragged on a bit - like it didn't really need to be two hours long. Overall it was good, but not much drama. Another point - why was it snowing in September in Seattle? We also don't get huge icicles like that here... I know there was a small reference to global warming, but seriously? I didn't buy it.

I spent today trying to find a baby outfit/dress or something for a baby shower. My niece Lisa will be having a baby (girl) at the end of October, and I wanted to find something. I'm just frustrated more than anything right now. I don't like the styles that are out for baby girls right now. Call me a fuddy duddy, but I don't think it's cute to have babies look like small teenagers or grade schoolers or whatever. I really just wanted a simple dress that I could knit a coordinating sweater and booties for. You know, cute, non-fussy, traditional. Argh. So I came home. Went through my baby patterns. Trundled off to one of the LYS's and they didn't have any good colors for a baby girl. I don't want mint green or yellow or hot pink. I don't want acrylic.

Hopefully something will show up on my fiber adventure this weekend! Otherwise I'll be checking out more stores in the general area on Monday.

Oh, check out Amy's shop blog. She's selling some of her stash.... and there is some great stuff there! Malabrigo, Socks that Rock, Noro.....

Grey for Grey's

I'm going to a Grey's Anatomy "party" tonight. I felt like I needed something grey to work on for this event, and that would then be a Thursday night project for Grey's watching. Now I know there are special Grey's Anatomy colorways out there, but I really truly need to use up stash yarn. Seriously. Remember my contest about how many pairs of socks I could make with my stash? I think it's grown from there....sad but true.

I did however remember that I have a great grey from Sarah at Plucky Knitter. It's Madeleine Elster from the movie Vertigo and is from the Plucky Classics Hitchcock series. What do you think? I like it for a patterned sock. I had thought about using Yarn Harlot's Earl Grey Socks, intending them as a gift, but I think it's more a feminine grey rather than masculine. Then I considered the Charade socks. Naw, I'm planning a different yarn for that. Then I remembered The Eclectic Sole. Oh. Janel Laidman's book is splendiferiously fantastic. Browsing through this gem I found I pretty much love all of the patterns. My favorite right now though is Rivendell. I think the grey will really make the cables stand out. Okay, I'm set.

In sweater news - my next project will be to finish my February Lady Sweater. I started this on August first, and had a few setbacks in the increases. Yep, it does make sense to actually pay attention to the pattern as written, not be too busy chatting to realize what's going on. So, I actually knitted the bodice twice. Humph. Last night I put the sleeves on to the waste yarn. Now things will start to come along much faster. The body is a simple 4 row repeat and no shaping. Easy peasy! I guess the most surprising thing for me is that I'm posting about it before I'm done. Need to get better about that....

If you are wanting to make this sweater, I know that Village Yarn and Tea is doing a knit along using this pattern starting January 1st, I believe. Oh, my yarn! I didn't tell you about the yarn I'm using for this. It's Beaverslide Dry Goods Mule Spun Yarn in the Lake MacDonald colorway. I really like this yarn. It's sort of rustic looking.

What are you knitting for fall?

Fall? Bring it on!

*warning: picture heavy post!*

I've been really trying to get some projects off the needles lately. Sort of my own personal "reclaim the needles" movement as this post will prove. It's been definitely chilly around here - this morning Sara announced to me that her room is a brisk 62 degrees. Brr! It's almost time to pull out the wool!

I guess I've been blogging so sporadically, not everything is really up to date. Sara moved home Sept. 1st to live here for her last quarter at the UW. Yep, we'll have a college graduate in December. She looked for an apartment late summer, but at that time she didn't know where she would be working or what would be happening after graduation so it was really hard to decide on a year long lease. That, and the fact that she wasn't sure about the job part of her life (she has since been offered a full time job for after graduation) and it didn't make sense to get a loan to help with her rent. So she's home for a bit and we're having fun having her around. We don't really see her much (work, boyfriend - noted from here out as "BF", and other friends) but we enjoy what we get.

We/She decided her room needed to change from one we decorated when she was 10, to her current tastes at 22.
There were hand stamped hummingbirds, butterflies and morning glory vines. It was cool for a 10 year old!

Now the room is a very sunshine-y yellow, still with the dark green trim. We changed to a full size bed with the intent on using this room as a guest room in the future. Our biggest problem was/is finding a comforter to match. You just don't see this color combination much! I have this quilt (below) that is really one of my favorites that I made from a kit a few years back. It works for now! It's really not her style, (and I want it back in our room)but we are planning on checking out Amy Butler's new August Fields line and making a duvet cover with that.

Patrick is back at school - we took him over towards the end of August. This year(sophomore year) he isn't in the dorms - it's the apartment life for him. He and his roommate have a very spacious apartment and it seemed very quiet when we were there. I think he's enjoying it well enough. Sara and BF went over and visited him last weekend and had a good time. It's really nice that our kids enjoy each other so much - especially if you knew how much they fought when they were younger! Now they call each other quite often, and genuinely enjoy each others' company.

Let's see... a new buddy came to live at my house. Can you guess?

If your guess was a Schacht Double Treadle Matchless Wheel, then ding ding ding, you are a winner! I will be selling my Majacraft Rose hopefully to a very good home (Tava - are you out there??)

Soon after my wheel arrived, another friend came - just for a visit though. It was Sarah - of Plucky Knitter fame! Naomi, Amy and I picked her up at the airport on Wednesday, whisked her off for a ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island for lunch, Churchmouse Yarns and Tea, and Mora Ice Cream. We took the ferry back over to the Edmonds Terminal, had dinner at Anthony's Beach Cafe and then dropped her off with Naomi for the evening. She was so tired! We have a 3 hour time difference, and she had gotten up at 2 in the morning (her time) to get ready for the airport. Ouch! Anyway, the next day was more yarn shopping, shoe shopping and cupcakes at Trophy Cupcakes. Dinner was at our house - fajitas and margaritas. Fun!

That's Sarah, waiting for the ferry to arrive. (She's working on her Ingenue sweater from Wendy Bernards' Custom Knits)


Friday, we had been all invited with a few other friends to gather at Naomi's family vacation home for the weekend. We spent a fun weekend of chatting, good food, knitting and spinning. I brought both of my wheels so that Amy could have a chance to try it for an extended amount of time. She got hooked! She is officially now a spinner and even has purchase her own wheel. Here's what I ended up working on - From left to right: 1) Vesper socks in Muddy Waters colorway. Love my Vesper (apparently so does my daughter...she claimed them for herself. At least I know she does really appreciate the handknit socks!) 2) Body Hugger Raglan in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock (BMFA STR) med. weight the color is Rooster Rock (more later) and 3) a cute baby hat kit from Fancy Image Yarns.

After that whirlwind week, more fun ensued. Naomi invited me to a Mariners game with her, her sister and a friend. It was such a great afternoon - warm and sunny and the boys even won. Her is Ichiro, up close and personal. You could even see the muscles in his arms!

Doug and I then took a little 3-day weekend down to Cannon Beach. What a great weekend - warm and sunny pretty much the whole time. This time we stayed at the Tolovana Inn - just south of Cannon Beach, it gave us a little bit different view of the rock. Lots of fun, shopping (really didn't buy much though) great food (Bill's Tavern - the best!) and walking on the beach. I did pick up a skein of BMFA STR lightweight in Rook-y to make some gloves and one skein of Noro sock yarn, color s150 - I haven't been able to find it around town.


Haystack rock - view from the south.

This would be Mr. Middlename, aka Doug.


Remember this sweater? I actually made it once in 2000, out of a merino that pilled terribly. I ended up getting rid of the sweater (it was too big too) and restarted it in the yarn called for in 2004. Uh yeah, that would be four years ago - officially my oldest project on the needles. In February of this year I revisited it and managed to get through one cable repeat and then something happened that made me abandon it. I don't remember why, but I just know I hadn't touched it since then. About two weeks ago I decided I was sick of looking at it and it just needed to be finished. So, I picked up the needles, figured out what row I was on and went to work. I knit and knit and knit - 32 rows worth. Until this. I really couldn't get a great picture of the problem - can you see it???

The gauge was totally off. I couldn't figure out if my gauge has drastically changed over four years (possible) or what. I checked the pattern for needle size. Size 8 - I would have written it down if I had changed the needle size. Got out my needle gauge. Huh. Guess I needed that size 8 needle for something else at some point. Silly me exchanged the needle in progress for a size 6 needle. No wonder the gauge was so tight! It would have been nice if I had taken the two minutes and made myself a note at least! Anyway, I did rip those rows back and forced a finish. Here it is, all ready for crisp fall weather.

Pattern Specs:

Pattern: Aran Sweater from

Two Sticks and a String by Kerry Ferguson

Started Spring 2004, Finished Sept. 21,2008

Yarn: Creative Yarns International Hearty Worsted

4 sts/inch. 166 yds., possibly 8 balls? I have two leftover - this yarn doesn't seem to be available - but any aran weight would work fine.

Needles: Size 5 and 8

Remember Mystery Stole 3 from last summer? I did finally decide to go with the wing, and I had been waiting until my blocking area (Sara's room!) was unoccupied to block it. I don't have any great way to photograph it - just say I'm glad it's done and I'm looking forward to a new lace project - I just don't know which one yet!

When Naomi, Sarah, Amy and I went to Churchmouse, I spied this sweater as a model. I really like the simplicity of it - great with jeans, comfortable to throw on, yet could be dressed up too. Naomi has the story of it on her blog - check it out there. Anyway, I picked the Rooster Rock colorway, not my usual colors, but definitely ones I can wear.

Pattern Specs:

Pattern: Body Hugger Raglan from Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch

Yarn: 3 1/4 skeins BMFA Socks that Rock med. weight, Rooster Rock

Needles: Size 6

Started 9/5/2008, finished 9/20/2008

The only changes I made was to make the body longer by about 3 inches. I'm not too into the cropped look!

I tend to forget about these books (The Knit Stitch, The Purl Stitch) There are actually some pretty cute things in these books that need to be addressed at some point I think.

Where have you been?

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php

Now I don't really think we purposely avoided Nevada. Sure looks like it though, yes? Guess we need to get some more travel in. I really would love to visit Colorado sometime, and also the New England states.

What I did on my summer vacation....

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd updated. Hmmmmm.....

We did go to visit relatives in North Carolina in June. A very fun trip. Finally got to see fireflies, we ate North Carolina BBQ (we also learned that there, BBQ is a noun, where we live in the PNW, BBQ is a verb) got to visit with quite a bit of family, saw groundhogs (they are big!), lots of brick houses, many cemeteries, drank gallons of sweet tea and bought some pottery. We flew in to Charlotte (Doug has an aunt and uncle there) and then drove to Woodleaf and stayed there with more family for a few days. We did do a day trip to Asheville, but really didn't see much beyond scenery. I made a valiant effort to find yarn, but there really wasn't too much to be had. Besides that, none of the relatives knit, so it was deemed "'quaint" that I do.

So what have I been doing since quitting work at VYT? That will have to wait for the next post. I just checked the clock and I'm running late. Sarah of Plucky Knitter fame is flying in to Seattle this morning and spending a few days with Amy, Naomi and I before her husband, Mr. Plucky, meets her later in the week. Plans for today include Bainbridge Island (Churchmouse!) and Trophy Cupcakes. We are then talking about the possibility of Fremont and Ballard tomorrow with fajitas and margaritas at my house in the evening. Friday we head to Naomi's family cabin outside of Shelton. Should be a great few days!

Changes...

Hey there - can't believe it's been way over a month since my last post. Ahem.

So, things will be changing around here. Nothing bad, nothing to worry about... just that after months of thinking and weighing options I decided I needed to leave my life of employ for now and get stuff done at home. We will definitely be budgeting more, but we know it's doable for us and life is just too short. I'm looking forward to having dinners at home at a normal time, getting my yard in order, having our potting shed moved to our yard *hurray Doug!* and having a veggie garden again. There is lots to do around the house that I just haven't been getting to and there is always plenty of spinning and knitting to be done!

For those of you that are customers/friends... my last day will be next Thursday 7/31. Pop in and see me if you can!

For the rest of you - tons of stuff for me to catch up on here - hopefully much more often starting next week!

Meme

Yes, I got quiet again.... I guess I do that. Laurie tagged me for the current meme that's going around - I'll take a shot at it.

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Play nice, children.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? 10 years ago my kids were 9 and 12. Wow - tons of volunteer work at their schools, driving way too much carpool, lots of soccer games and kid related stuff. Way more time to work in the yard oh - and we will remodeling our house. I think this would have been one of my knitting "breaks" where I was more into quilting.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order? Do laundry, get my hair cut, get gas in the car (ouch!) get ready for Amy's party, clean the house!!!

3. Snacks I enjoy. It really depends on my mood, I do like potato chips, but they have to be pretty good ones to be worth eating - my current favorites are Kettle Chips and Cheetos(not together). Yum! I also really like dark chocolate. Common everyday snack might just be some dry cereal though - I don't do milk on cereal though. Yuck. Not for me.

4. Places I've lived- Portland Oregon,and then onto Washington - Kirkland, Auburn, Kirkland, Lake Forest Park and then Kirkland again.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Buy a vacation home in Cannon Beach, OR. Pay someone to finish the rest of our house. Get a fun, convertible sports car. Invest, invest, invest.

6. What are some jobs you've had: Babysitter, papergirl, Big Scoop ice cream scooper/manager, piano teacher, waitress, dental assistant/office manager, mom, data entry, retail at a yarn shop (and teach).

7. Peeps I want to know more about: I don't think these folks have responded already, if you have, I missed it. Amy, Naomi, Ginger, Sarah - 4 is close to 6, right?

LYS tour, here we come

Amy and I are headed out today for a girl's road trip. This weekend (well, it started yesterday) is the Seattle area LYS tour. Every shop has a one skein pattern and the featured yarn is 10% off. Our plan is to do some Seattle-ish shops today, head a bit south (we really liked Renaissance Yarns in Kent last year) and then over to Bainbridge Island later this afternoon. We plan to hang out at Churchmouse for a bit, have dinner at Cafe Nola and perhaps stroll back over to Churchmouse. We'll stay on Bainbridge and head north to Bellingham in the morning. Should be loads of fun!



I worked yesterday, the first day of the tour and it was so much fun meeting people from Ravelry!! My shoes have been a big hit, so that's fun.



I'll bring my camera with me to catch any interesting sites along the way!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sewing like a madwoman

One of the main reasons I'm so busy right now is the fact that my mom is getting married on June 1st. Yep, 3 weeks from now.


I'm to be the matron of honor (it sounds so old and dowdy) and Sara will be the candlelighter and photographer for the event. We had a preview of the brides dress at Easter, and I knew at that time it would be hard to find a color currently out in stores that would match (sort of a shell pink)and, since I'm not the sort of person who would really actually wear a bridesmaid type dress for any other function, I really don't want to spend the sort of $$ I was finding at places like Jessica McClintock or bridal shops. Plus, really I'm not built for a strapless dress, or a dress cut down to wherever. Please.

Sara and I went pattern shopping a few weeks back and found a few fabric samples and patterns for what we thought might pass muster with the bride. Well, the bride happened to be out of the country for a few weeks, so just last week I found out that she really didn't like the fabric for what I was wanting my dress to be - sort of a soft purple-ly periwinkleish greyish whatever. She did like the seaglass blue that we had also selected.

Last Saturday I left around 11am to find a dress. I tried all sorts of stores - I was either looking for a ready made dress that would work, and/or, at the same time I was trying on a whole bunch of different cuts and styles just in case I would be making my dress. Nothing was to be found, so about 5 pm I headed to Joann Fabrics and purchased yardage.

This weekend has now been a whirlwind of sewing. It's really been a long time since I've made garments, and now I remember why I appreciate ready made so much. So, my dress is this one - Simplicity 4014 with a jacket out of Simplicity 5561 and Sara will have Kwiksew 3402- a cute halter dress.

So far, I can't quite get the neckline to lay flat on my dress, and why are the sizes so different than ready made? I'm making this 3 sizes bigger than the two other dresses I bought last week and I've lost two pounds since then. Criminy, how depressing.

In knitting projects, I'm currently working on a commission baby blanket for a customer and making plain stockinette Noro #188 socks for me on size 0 needles. The Noro does seem a bit scratchy, but I'm going to make them work. Perhaps a ton of conditioner??

This post brought to you by the letter "A" and "N"

Hey there - miss me?

Well the last few months have been busy crazy/crazy busy and still won't be letting up until around the end of June. And I've found the longer you don't make time to post, the more things pile up, and then it feels overwhelming to post everything and so on.

So, I'll try and make it fairly brief, besides I need to go in about 5 minutes.

My newest finished project is the Malabrigo Pi Shawl in the Hummingbird colorway. Done last Monday. Love it. Amy stopped by worked and snapped a picture (so I'd have something to post on the blog!) I started this January 1st w/ Naomi. Love my new Namaste bag too. Yummy green.

Next up for today - clear chucks. Yes, I succumbed to them. I think they will look super snazzy at work with handknit socks. Patrick thinks they are ugly, but so what. They are comfortable!

Okay, 'nuff said for now. Have a great day - it's actually sunny here today! Yippee!

And the yarn goes to....

Adrienne of Belly Button Knits! The actual number was 54 pairs of socks. Yes, I was actually quite shocked when I counted, because who goes around counting their sock yarn? I really thought it would be around 25 pairs or so. Oops.

There were actually two guesses of 53 pairs, so I had a virtual coin toss (who knew you could find this online?) and Adrienne won. Adrienne, please leave your mailing address for me at thatsmymiddlename(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll get the yarn out to you!

I'm trying to get one more little sweater/vest finished this month, but alas and alack not much progress on the aran. I forgot where I was again and I'm not finding alot of time for more intense knitting. It's much easier to just pick up a pair of socks and dash those off.

I'll do a more picture-y post tomorrow or Friday, but I've got to get ready for work now - have a great day and thanks for playing along!

It's a contest!

ETA: The contest is closed - thanks for playing along!!


In honor of my one-year anniversary of blogging and my birthday (see 2/20), I'm having a blog contest with a cool prize...... the winner will receive enough Kauni yarn to make Ruth's really cute knit skirt*!! Oooo, Ahhhh. The colorway is EC - the black with variations of grey - it looks good on everyone, and I have it on good authority that Stephanie will be making the very same skirt in the same colorway. How do I know?? Well, not only has she already posted it on her blog (yes, that was me in the picture of the Kaunis) but we were in Ruth Sorensen's class all day on Friday at Madrona at the same table and chatted pretty much all day. I'm waffling between the grey/black and the denim. I just can't decide, and I really don't need two of the same skirt.



Okay, here's what you have to do. Below is a picture of all of my sock yarn. The question is this. How many pairs of socks can I make? There are a few duplicate balls/skeins, such as Louet Gems and some yarn from elann that needs one skein per sock. To clarify, I'm not asking how many balls/skeins there are, but how many pairs of socks (regular size 7 1/2 woman's foot) does this picture represent?? I also will not be making socks from the leftovers......

*The winner will need to buy the pattern from Ruth's website.

In other news, I'm still recovering from Madrona. I was talking to a coworker today to see how she was recovering, and I mentioned it was almost like recovering from an illness or surgery. I still feel walloped around 5 in the afternoon. I don't want to make this an extremely long post so I'll talk about Madrona 2008 next time.

Good luck guessing on the sock yarn - I'll close the contest on Wednesday and post a winner.

Have a great day!

Happy blogiversaryRuthsherebirthday!

Hi - just a quickie post without pictures to let you know I did survive Madrona. I have been wanting to post since I've been back but I hit the ground running and don't have pictures yet. If you are a student of mine, you've seen my purchases (except for fiber) but I will properly document tomorrow. And yes, that is me in the front row in the Kauni picture the Yarn Harlot had on her blog yesterday.

All in all Madrona was great. What a change from last year where I only knew Angela and Holly and not really enough to hang out with them. This year, I had so many people that I knew through friends, ravelry, email groups and shop customers/students. I also was able to get to know some of the other vendors better too (I worked part of the time I was down there) particularly Sheila Ernst, Ruth and Virginia Bowen of Seattle Yarn, Sandy from knit/purl, Tina from Blue Moon and Klaus from Crown Mountain.

Today is my 1 year blogiversary, so I think I'll be coming up with some sort of something....stay tuned to either tomorrow or Friday. I started this one year ago today at the urging of a really good friend (Hi Amy!) and it's been fun. Sometimes a bit stressful because I tend to feel guilty that I don't post enough, but all in all good.

Okay, gotta run - Ruth Sorenson is teaching a class all day at the shop and I'm facilitating it. Tables to move, scones to bake, you know the drill.

Have a wonderful day!

Kauni

My Kauni is finally done. Guess I can go to Madrona after all! Just kidding - of course I would have gone, but I really wanted this sweater done. I started the sweater last July (July 28?) and knit the body up to the shoulders by August 25th. It then marinated in it's bag for a few months, working on it every so often. I finally decided it had to be done by Madrona, and pulled it out to finish it on January 1st. Actual finish date was 1/31/2008. I really like the buttons I used - I found them at Pacific Fabrics at Northgate for any locals - they are LaMode brand, style 24656 5/8". Here's what I had left after all was said and done. Now, I will be reknitting the side of the button band with the buttonholes - what a nightmare! - but not until after Madrona. I tried and tried to get the count just right to pick up a goodly amount of stitches, and then space 7 buttonholes. I thought I had it all good and went on my merry way. I had even put a line of pins on our carpet to try and space them exactly right. When I was done, I realized that what I was thinking was the neck edge was really the bottom edge. Poo. I'll cut it off in a few weeks and rework this band. I still need to block this too - I only steam blocked it for the pictures, but I'm waiting for my new wooly board to get here first.

















So, what's next now that it's officially February? These three projects (and of course, really there's more). On the left is the aran pullover from Two Sticks and a String that has been in a ziploc bag and on needles since 2004. I had actually made this once before, but in a size medium and out of merino wool. Why a second one? 1) the size M was 50" circumference - way too big and 2) my wool was very, very pilly. It ended up going to Value Village. I bought this heavy worsted perendale wool from someone - don't really remember who - and it took about 6 months for her to get it to me. Yikes. Bad internet buying experience. Anyway, I readdressed the project at hand today to figure out where I had left off. I was able to get a bit of the first sleeve going and hope to finish said sleeve this weekend. I'll just have to do one more sleeve, 15" of the body and it'll be done. Prognosis for this getting done this month is very good.

Second up on the needles are these balls of Sugar 'n Cream. I bought these last summer on a lark - at work we eat our lunch at the back table and face this one wall of yarn. For a few days in a row, I had noticed all these really cute bright colors of this yarn all lined up in the cubby. I counted. Seven of those really bright colors. Shoot - seven days in a week. Wouldn't they make great washcloths - one for everyday of the week for a certain daughter? Yep - I got them with the idea of adjusting the patterns for the washcloths seen in Knitters Stash for worsted weight instead of sportweight. These will be for Sara's birthday on March 17th. I know she'll love them.


Last but not least on the needles for this month is the Peace Fleece Everyday Cardigan. I'll talk more about that one in another post - can't tell all my thoughts today or I won't have anything to talk about!

I think the following will be the last of the Christmas pictures/postings for this year/season.

I have great friends - you guys already know this - but Amy, Naomi and I met at Trophy Cupcakes the Friday before Christmas to exchange gifts. The picture above is of the snowman that the barista made on top of my latte. Isn't it cute? I also had a peppermint chocolate cupcake, or rather part of one - they are so sweet that I can't usually eat the whole thing without a major sugar rush. Anyway, Amy gave me a great sock bag out of Amy Butler fabrics that her mom has been making. These bags are so great. There is a cute clip to attach to a belt loop and the yarn guide on the inside of the bag closes by snaps so you can take your project out unlike other bags. So, so cute! Keep checking Amy's blog - her mom has been making more and you need to get one! She also gave me a cute tape measure and some really fun kleenex. And a mitered square stitch marker! Thank you so much again, Amy! (Note: I love this bag so much that I actually bought a second one!)

From Naomi I received some beautiful laceweight yarn from whitewillow in the Autumn Oak colorway. 100% merino and 880 yards. I'll be looking through the Victorian Lace Today book for something that will go well with this beautiful yarn. There was also a stitch marker and sachet attached to the yarn, and two tickets to visit the Nordic Museum. I've never been to this Museum, so I'm looking forward to going with her sometime soon!

Last but not least, I need to pay homage to Junior the tree. What is now grass in this picture had been a perennial flower bed last summer. A few years ago I found this little fir tree seedling in the bed and decided to let it grow. I groomed it and pruned it really nice this summer with the plans that it would be Christmas tree for our kitchen. In the meantime, we planned the firepit (see the concrete squares) and plans to change the shape of the bed. It was strongly suggested that it come out at that time. This all took place in September and October, and it really needed to be removed so we could plant grass, but Doug was nice and let junior stay until it was time to cut it/him? in December. It was a nice tree while it lasted!

It's Thursday, must be time for a post.

Funny thing - my husband reads my blog sometimes and saw my blog post. Wanted to know why I was saying bad things about my computer (my computer is stupid and a FO). Now he doesn't speak "yarnie" too much....he thought the FO was something directed towards my computer, not a lovely comfy new "finished object", being my Ella Rae sweater.

Computer news isn't really any better. I found a program online that was supposed to fix registry issues and the like, including .dll files. Well, in everyone else's case but mine. Humph. So right now I've lost my most recent class invoice for work, my week 4 and 5 beginning knitting file (for teaching - fortunately I had sent weeks 1-3 to my gmail account!) and my itunes is defunct. I tried downloading a new itunes, but same problem. Also reloaded office, still no change. Patrick offered to check it out when he gets home in March for spring break, so we'll see.

Knitting is going great however. I'm leaving soon this morning to try and find some decent buttons for my Kauni! Yes, I bound off last night and got all the ends tucked in and will hopefully sew buttons on today. Pictures probably tomorrow and then I'll block. Hooray! It got done in time for Madrona. I'm very relieved.

Besides my crazy list I posted, I do have class samples to make and store samples to work on. For work right now, I have a baby sweater (or is it a vest?) in Baby Cashmerino, the Louet felted cable bag out of Riverstone, a Leaf lace shawl out of Kauni (the brown, gold, blue colorway - gotta get this done for Madrona!) baby socks from the leftovers of Baby Cashmerino, and that's just what's currently in my bag. Gotta get these done quickly - the new spring yarns are starting to arrive, and there's some great stuff in there!

Pictures! I have pictures of lots of stuff - these would be from Christmas - on the left is Sara, and the right Patrick. I also did quite a bit of Christmas knitting - I didn't get pictures of everything, so I just have a bit of a representation. Final tally was 1 pair of socks for Patrick (look! Doug even learned how to knit - see below - he did one round!), 1 pair of socks for Doug out of ShiBui Sock, 1 pair of socks for my brother Dave, 1 wrap out of seasilk for my Mom (my own pattern - Mermaid Wrap which I really don't think I can post her because the shop paid me for the pattern. I suppose they basically own it, so I can't republish here), 6 felted sheep, a horizontal herringbone scarf out of Manos silk blend for Sara, a sweater for Patrick, a cabled shortie poncho out of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande for Sara, and an afghan for my mom and her fiance out of Manos wool. The sheep went one each to my sister-in-laws. Those are little wooden stars that I painted red, green, or yellow around their sheepy necks.

So, why don't I post too often? Guess I knit too much! I know I really need to get better about documenting my projects and I'm trying to get better about it.

Have a great day!

My computer is stupid and a FO

So, a few weeks ago we had some snow. Not that big a deal, maybe 1 1/2 inches. At 6:00 the next morning, our power suddenly went out. Doug eventually got up, got ready for work and headed out into the cold unfriendliness. He was back in under 5 minutes. Apparently a large maple had fallen across the road completely blocking access to the outside world. There was a sheriff car there with lights flashing and everyone was told it would be 2 hours or more before the road would be opened again. Well, for some reason my computer has been acting strangely ever since. Naomi suggested I shut it down and repower it, which I was thinking should be done also, so I did this past weekend. Shoot. It came back on with a blue screen saying I had all sorts of corrupt file messages and the whatnot. So, the end result right now is that all of my beginning knitting teaching files are gone. Just gone. Zappo. Nowhere to be found. Same with most of my pictures, and my itunes. I'm hoping that I'm not totally messed up on the itunes, but I'm too scared to plug my ipod in to the computer. Fortunately Patrick is lending me his itrip so I can charge my big ipod that way. Does anyone know what a RICHED20.dll is? Apparently mine is gone.



My last post had a boatload of over ambitousness on my part that I'm really trying to fufill. Here's a picture of the first one - the Ella Rae T-Shirt sweater.

Ella Rae TShirt Sweater

Yarn - Atacama, color 500 8 skeins

I made the longer version, with the shorter sleeves

Started October (?) finished January 11, 2008

Love it! Really quick knit, nothing fancy which is what I was after. I really like it over a white oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the tails of the shirt sticking out.

More pictures later - time to head out to work!