Thank you!

Thanks for all of your kind words about Ed's passing. And, if you are coming here from Amy's blog, thank you so much for your contributions towards my 3-day goal. Oh my goodness, I am so touched by this - especially when I see the dedications to loved ones who have passed on. Thank you so, so much. Amy had been so sweet to run a contest for me on her blog. Thanks so much Amy!

It's time to post some knitting. It definitely has been missing here, but I have been working on stuff. I finished my first pair of monkey socks.

These were so fun! I used Fleece Artist merino in an older colorway. It took me a bit to figure out the repetition of the pattern, but once I understood the pattern, it was smooth sailing. I did 5 repeats (short legs), heel, then 6 repeats for the foot. I've started another color with some failed hand-dyed that I had hanging around.What is failed hand-dyed you ask? Well, some friends and I had a dye day two summers ago and we didn't realize that the dye had to set for a bit before we rinsed it. Oops. So what should have been a purple, blue and a forgotten third color turned out to be a grayish purple, turquoise, hot pink monstrosity. Monkey socks are so cool though, that any color would look okay. We'll see....

I started this little number at Naomi's on July 28th. It's been ready to steek for a bit over a week now, but I'm dragging my feet. See, I've never steeked. I'm sure it will be fine, I know the decreases are right at the neck, but I'm waiting for a second opinion. I also need to measure it against another cardigan, I want to know that it will fit! (ETA: I just measured it against an Eddie Bauer size M cardigan I have. It's the same - yahoo!)

Oh - another quickie flew off my needles. I don't have a picture of it on my camera, but I did an Everyday Cardigan in Peace Fleece, colorway Grassroots. I started it in the car on the way to Pullman 8/15, and finished it this past Monday 8/27. I made the size 44" to be able to layer it. It's at work right now waiting for some cool buttons to finish it off. Hopefully in the next few days. I like Peace Fleece - it's not the softest wool, but I like it's rough, workhorse nature. Apparently we got our shipment in at work yesterday, I might get some of the pink to make an hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knits.

Edward Archie Gowey

My father-in-law, Ed or "Papa" as my kids called him passed away this morning at 6:59 am. I was closer to him than I am my own father, and really a great model of what a father should be.

He and his wife, Donnie, would have celebrated their 60th anniversary next week. Wow. It's so hard to believe that they are both gone.

Ed was king of the silly songs - "you are my favorite chunk of cheese" was one that kept running through my head this morning as family gathered to say our last goodbyes before they took him to the funeral home. He also worked at the same job for either 54 or 55 years, as an accountant for Fisher Flour Mills - those in Seattle would know this as the family that also owns KOMO tv and of the famous fair scones.

He died peacefully and without pain, his blood pressure just got lower and lower- his heart was just too weak. He had suffered from dementia for the past 2 1/2 years or so, there were times he would know us, and other times he wouldn't. But he also had 6 children, children-in-law and 14 grandchildren and some of them with spouses to try and keep straight. As our kids were growing up, he would often pull one of us to the side and say how proud he was of how we were raising our family and how he himself had such a wonderful family.

Ed, you were and are so very loved by your entire family. You will be sorely missed, but I'm so glad you are at peace now and are home with Donnie.

Edward Archie Gowey b. 1-24-1924 d. 8-29-2007

Chatter Creek

The first weekend of August, the majority of Doug's side of the family went camping at Chatter Creek campground, 16 miles outside of Leavenworth. The last time we did this was 14 years ago, Sara would have been 7, Patrick 4. It's hard to believe it was so long ago! We did this for about 3 or 4 summers (no one is sure exactly which) and the kids (nieces and nephews) wanted to reinstate this tradition. We were able to get a reservation for the group site, and plans were made.

All in all, there were 21 of us, 8 adults and 13 kids. These "kids" aren't really kids anymore -except for two of them -2 year old Amanda and almost 5 year old Kayla. The others ranged in age from 18 to 30 (her birthday is next week). Our nephew Robert (Rob) was even able to join us - he currently lives in Colorado.

It was just a short, 3 day trip, but fun nevertheless. It was fun playing games around the campfire and just hanging out and chatting. Two of my sister-in-laws and I went into Cashmere to check out an antique mall. On the way, we saw a mama deer and 3 (3!) babies. I'm not sure if she "adopted" one, or if it's possible to for deer to have triplets. Unfortunately, I was only able to get a picture of two of them crossing the road.

Whenever the Gowey boys get together, much silliness ensues. They are all adults, with adult jobs, but get the four of them together and they are silly boys. Christmas, they make the stuffed animals "talk" and throw candy across the room. Easter, the kids might find olives or carrots in their plastic easter eggs during the family easter egg hunt. There are 6 kids in their family, 2 girls, 4 boys. (girl, boy, boy, girl, boy, boy) The girls didn't come on this trip (oldest sister's 2 daughters came with their husbands)but all four of the boys were there with their families. There is always some type of a friendly competition going on, which included this time, among other activities, frisbee golf. But the end of our trip was the best. Doug(my husband, 5th child), Patrick and Mike (3rd child) made boats to float down the creek. Doug had the Bud boat (modified beer can), Mike had a juice bottle boat, and Patrick had a wood boat he had been carving part of the weekend. The passengers were some army guys some previous camper-child had left strewn around the campsite. Everyone got all packed up, and then it was time for the race. This is pure silliness, but I was able to get a portion of this excitement preserved as a video clip. (Hmmm... I just spent 5 hours trying to get it to download - it's taking much too long, I think I'll skip the video!)

Here are some more various pictures from the weekend (no glamour shots, we were camping, no makeup was involved....) I guess it looks like we just sat around all weekend!

We're going back next year!

Welcome Baby Noah!

Noah Jonathan (leaving out the last name for privacy!) was born on July 27th. His mom is Tava - a customer/student/friend. Ipreviously posted a very close up picture of a sweater I knit for him, but waited to post the final product until I knew for sure the sweater was in hand.

So here it is:


I'm terrible about pattern specs. I know it took me about 3 days to knit and put together.


Pattern: Kai Cable Sweater from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding.

Yarn: 2 skeins Blue Sky Alpaca, Cotton worsted

Size: 1 yr.

One really nifty thing about this pattern is that the neck was knit flat. There is a split in the cable to give a bit of extra room for getting over baby's head. Genius!

So cute. Love this book. I recommend this book all the time for people knitting for moms-to-be and babies. The most clever thing about this book is that it starts with maternity items, goes to cute, simple, practical baby clothing, and then goes on to nursing tops for mom.

Happy Birthday, Naomi!

Today is Naomi's birthday! She should have had the day off from work, but she's swamped, so she doesn't. Poor girl!

Hop on over to her blog and wish her Happy Birthday!

Naomi and I met at Village Yarn and Tea where she was taking a class. This would be Rebecca's Thursday night "Build Your Skills" class. This is always a fun group, and I like to see how everyone is doing and what they are working on. Naomi was always making something that either I had already made, or had plans to make. We are pretty funny that way, we are often drawn to the same colorways and/or the same patterns. It's sort of a funny joke/bond we have. She's just a very sweet person with a heart of gold.

Felted firepit cover

Remember this? It grew to this -

And finally this monstrosity, otherwise known as a firepit cover.

What is it you ask? It's the largest Noni adventure bag. Boy this thing is huge! Not too much to the construction of it - a basic bag, no shaping or anything. Add some little strap tabs, knit some more and then an 8-stitch I-cord/strap to be attached later. I'm hoping to felt it today. The pattern called for 9 skeins of Cascade 220, I only used 8. I was right on gauge, so I suspect that the designer possibly only used a small portion of the last skein. I ended up with about 15" of yarn at the end. That's the little squiglet you see on the bag here:I wanted to felt it last week as soon as I had cast off, so I asked the boys (husband and son) if they had any jeans that needed to be washed. They(wanting to know what ulterior motives I might have with their pant wear of choice) warily asked "Why...?" Turns out they really don't appreciate my taking their jeans and washing them in hot water for 20 minutes or so. It tends to shrink them especially lengthwise. So my plan is to buy two pairs of jeans at value village today and those will be my felting jeans.

Funny felting story. I don't felt with towels anymore after Christmas Eve, about two years ago. See, I had made this really cute purse for my niece Heather for Christmas, and the last step was felting. No jeans were to be had, so I went and grabbed a couple of towels and proceeded on my merry way. I had used Mountain Colors Mountain Goat, it felted beautifully and it was all good. Until. Yep, until I took it out and noticed a few little lint-y nubbins from the towel. Okay, I figured I'd just pick those out when it was all dry. Well, as the bag dried some more, many more towel nubbins became apparent. Like the body of the bag and the strap were absolutely covered. Do you have any idea how long it takes to pick all of those out with tweezers? Wow. No more towels for me. Now I know I should use a zippered pillow cover or lingerie bag, but I don't most of the time. Everytime I teach a felting class though, I do tell this story and recommend some sort of case or whatnot. So I'm a jeans girl.

I'll post a picture when it's done with the zipper sewn in and the straps attached.

Stitch and Pitch

and on we go with updating....

So the day of Stitch and Pitch was fun - we got to the field about 3:15 or 3:3o or so. The cool thing about this event is that we go through the VIP entrance where there are some offices, a receptionist and such. We go through these big service type elevators and then go to the set up area. We have had the same spot for the past three years. It's in an open area where we can actually see the field, the scoreboard and the fans. Some shops have been in the outer concourse area, where I think you just wouldn't feel as much a part of the game. Just my feeling.

I love working Stitch and Pitch. I love seeing our customers out in another venue, and they are all excited to see us, and introduce us to their best friend/mom/sister whatever. There is so much energy going on. Here's some pictures from the evening:

Deb munching on some dinner: (she'll love this one!) I spyed Libby (one of our customers),

is she working on her sock pal sock?

Look at all the knitters!
The view from our side of the table:

and here's what we had to sell:

I did buy some goodies too. The purple and black cones are for the Habu Stainless Steel scarf - I know it has a better name, but I don't remember it. The important thing is this - stainless steel yarn, and the japanese pattern. Cool interesting yarn, and a bit of a dabble into reading the japanese patterns. The pretty, pretty green yarn is Malabrigio laceweight.

Of course, I brought the goodies back to our table, showed them and V immediately asked why the Malabrigio. Well, I had absolutely no idea that we had ordered it for fall (and it arrived today! beautimous!)

The last fun thing about Seattle Stitch and Pitch is reading what the bloggers have to say the next day. My pattern was even being mentioned! Wow!

so where were we....

Okay, instead of one massive blog update, (because that's what tends to overwhelm me!) I'm going to try and do a few different snippets over the next few days to try and catch up.

I guess I never said anything about Stitch n' Pitch other than "bye, I'm off!" I can certainly do a bit better than that, albeit a month later. So, as you know I whipped up a new lace wrap pattern to try and have a bit of a way to raise funds for my 3-day walk. No pressure, no mind that I came up with this idea about a week and a half before the date. It did get done, and the finished project turned out great - both the knitted sample and most of all I think the pattern looks really cool. The hardest part for me, not being especially computer savvy was getting the chart to fit correctly on the page. Sara to the rescue, and it worked. I did a photo shoot the morning of SnP in my yard, trying to come up with a nice representation of the finished product. That is always fun, as I have quite a few "props" in my yard. Here were some of my options:

Wasabi got in the way in this one!

I ended up with this one.

Thanks to everyone who purchased this pattern. We did sell out of all 33 that I brought to the game, more are available at the shop. So far I have raised about $125 from this pattern! Also really fun has been the feedback from people on their blogs (and they aren't all my friends!)

Oooh - off to work. I'll post more tonight!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is Doug's and my 25th wedding anniversary. We've been together 27, but got married August 14th, 1982 - it also happened to be his mom's birthday. We are getting ready to take Patrick over to WSU first thing in the morning, so we are having a very simple evening. I bought some deli salads from the grocery store near my work (Ballinger Thriftway/ Village Thriftway has the best deli!) and a great bottle of champagne. We are planning a trip to North Carolina hopefully in October so I was just looking for something simple. I did buy a really cool fire bowl for Doug for a gift, so that's how dinner evolved into a picnic on the patio. My gift, to be selected when things aren't quite so busy, will be a simple anniversary band.

That's it for now - we have a bottle-ly shaped gift of some sort to open from the kids later this evening - after Sara gets home from work. There is definitely a cork in it......

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~