I finished something!

Wonders never cease!

I spent a wonderful afternoon over at Michale's(blogless) house yesterday. She served me some wonderful tasty treats. I had carrot risotto, roast chicken and delicious tomato slices for lunch. Then she served up a lemon cake for dessert. All things were so delicious! Thank you Michale.

She also let me use her washing machine - top loader! Gotta love it!

I felted my Pursenalities bag. I let it go a little tiny bit too long. It is smaller than I had envisioned but it is perfect. Any of you out there that know me...when I get excited and happy - you hear it, you know it. I was one happy person yesterday afternoon!!

I let it dry overnight and I put the buttons on today.

The buttons I bought at the Beppa Button sale(only happens twice a year). They are vintage glass buttons. They look SO CUTE on this bag. The glass shimmers and picks up the shimmer in the novelty yarn I used in combination with Cascade 220.

How cute is that?

I also had to get the Pathfinder in the background! Since Greg bought his new car last November we've been meaning to sell the Pathfinder.

We finally got off our butts yesterday and put an ad in Craigs List. We sold it this morning! YES! This cute man is buying it for his daughter's college graduation gift. He was so excited. The car is in great condition and only had 29k miles. We are so happy to get it sold so easily AND so quickly.

One last thing: Angel Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark. Evelyn is just amazing, isn't she?

I had Karen bring the pattern and the yarn (Naturally Dawn 2-ply) with her to my monthly knitting gathering at my house last weekend. Oh.....! The yarn is 50% nz wool and 50% silk. It is so soft! I started the shawl yesterday at Michale's and I'm enjoying this yarn a lot.

You should get your hands on some! I purchased mine from Karen's shop - Two Swans Yarns.

I wanted to get started because I need something to take with me to Atlanta, Georgia. I'll be leaving Friday May 4 and coming back May 11. I'm hopeful I'll be able to get this done in time for when I got to Bonaire on May 25!

Yes, I'm still working on Ruth's Kauni cardigan. I may post again this afternoon to detail my progress on it. I'm thankful to Melinda's post on the neck decreases. Thank you Melinda!

Gotta run. I need to watch some Mariner baseball this afternoon. It is a requirement!

Love?

You know what falling in love is like?

First you become interested, then you are intrigued and curious that you want to know more. Then once you know a bit more, you might experience some giddiness, become a bit excited.

Next you talk to your friends about it. You process over what you are thinking, what you might be feeling. You ask for feedback, get opinions.

This is where it leads:

Yes, Greg bought me the Schacht Matchless Double Treadle for an anniversary/birthday gift. I love this baby. I mean the wheel...but I love Greg too! Hi honey!

She spins so smoothly, and she is a sight. I just had to take some photos of the wood details. So beautiful.

I responded to TMK's email when she asked if my wheel had arrived and I told her that yes,my wheel had arrived and "I love her and I barely know her!" :)

I just want to spend more and more time with her!

Kind of sounds like falling in love, doesn't it?!

Anybody out there Knit with Euroflax?

I am curious about knitting with Louet Euroflax. Anybody out there knit with it?

I'd love some feedback.

I REALLY want to knit a sweater called "Memories of Ukraine" from The Natural Knitter book.

WAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Tonight I finished the bag in the Pursenalities book. Normally completing something would bring feelings of accomplishment and joy into my being. Instead I'm feeling whiny and down right cranky!

I cannot felt this thing. We own a front loading washing machine. Newer front loaders can be stopped mid cycle so felters do not have to experience this let down! I, on the otherhand, must patiently wait to see the final, finished product.


First I must find someone willing to let me come over and use their machine. Second I have to find a time that works for both of us. I would call a sister and say 'I MUST COME OVER TO FELT MY BAG!'. They would not, of course, "get" the urgency of this. They are not knitters. They do not know what it is like to have a bag, ready to felt and unable to felt it. In addition I have a commitment tomorrow night so the EARLIEST I could felt this is Wednesday night! That is two nights away!


I went downstairs to whine and get sympathy from Greg. Of course he would not understand. What husband would understand this frustration?? All he really said is we need to find a notary public so we can sign some documents. Nice! Love you, too babe!


Here is a photo of my bag. I must admit before I felt this....I'm not happy with the pre-condition. I thought this fuzzy yarn would be more fuzzy, more noticeable. Despite all that, my bag is begging to become the bag it is meant to be. She, too, will have to wait patiently. Maybe I need to get a second washing machine and put it in the garage for my felting projects. Ok. No. I have gone insane.

Other knitters out there, please tell me I am not going insane, that you understand this felting urgency!

Bobbins Galore!

Today the google fair isle coop got together to do the final(almost anyway!) organization and distribution of the Jamieson, Jamieson and Smith bobbins. It was very satisfying to see all the work pay off. Leah and Gail B(blogless) did a TON of legwork to make this all happen.

Thank you Leah and Gail!!!!!

Here are some photos of some of the group working hard at the Greenwood Library.

Karen and Leah organizing some of the Jamieson and Smith. Some of the Jamieson and Smith all line up looking so organized and pretty!

Look! Here are everyone's packages!Here are my Jamieson, Jamieson and Smith bobbins. Man that is a lot of colors! (One shot I took with the flash, the other without - too lazy right now to re-take the photos).

One last photo. Sandy inspired me to make a felted bag out othe Pursenalities book. It is the one at the bottom left on the cover of the book. This next photo is pretty lame. The color is not even close but you get the idea. I only have about a 1/2 hour left to work on this before I'm ready to felt it! I just wish I had a top loader. We have a damn Miele and you can't open the thing mid cycle...so I either have to go to the laundromat or find a friend or sister that I can bug.

This is a very quick knit!

Portland Day Two

It has been a long time since my last post. Here is the second installment of my trip to Portland Oregon last weekend.

On April 13th we visited a multitude of stores! For those of you that don't know me - I am a marathon shopper. I can shop for HOURS! Sandy found this out. I could have even done more. I can go and go - maybe it is growing up with 6 sisters?

We went to the Yarn Garden. This was one of my favorite shops in the Portland area. They had an amazing selection of yarns. Their "Sipperie" was comfortable and had a somewhat homey feel to it. The barista could have been friendlier but it did not detract from the overall experience.

I bought some Jade Saphire 100% cashmere lace yarn here. Yummy! My intention is to pick out a shawl from Victorian Lace today to do...someday.

A cute but very small shop is called Mabels's Cafe and Knittery. There was a woman there spinning and she was having coffee with a couple friends that were knitting. The place was a bit too small and dark for a good place to gather for knitting but it was cute.

I got a screaming deal on some Bartlett Yarn-20% off (cost $28 for the yarn) for a felted Noni bag I want to knit. The "traditional" Noni bags are cute but are just a little 'too much' for me, personally. Nora has come out with a new style that is much more to my liking. The yarn has a lot of depth to it that you can't see from the photo. There are bits of yellow, plue, purplein the deep rose color.

Where else did we go? We went to Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks. I had high hopes for this place but quite honestly it was a bit of a disappointment. They had a large space but it there was no continuity. They don't have many books at all which seems strange for such a large shop. The people were nice but I didn't find they did not go out of their way to assist you. I inquired about the Schact Matchess they had displayed and she basically said I should buy it from them because I'd get 10% off for the remainder of the year on everything in the store. Later Sandy heard her talking to another customer saying that the year discount ends in June. It is not a rolling annual thing. I'd basically be getting a 10% off for just over a month. Nice. NOT! I don't have any photos of this place because...well I doubt I'd go back there....but! If you need a huge selection of Cascade 220 - they probably have every color there!

Next place - LINT! Cute shop with cute things there. They have a good selection of books and yarn. The woman working there was very helpful. They also had a very comfortable seating area with a couch and a couple of cozy chairs so you could sit and knit or browse their book selection.

I saw this cabled hat made out of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk that I really wanted to knit. They had the color I wanted but only two skeins and that hat takes 3. I looked all around at all the shops the rest of the trip and didn't find the color. I did find it on-line at WEBS. It is a discontinued color so it was on sale. How 'bout that? Where else did we go? The Naked Sheep.

Sandy got some fun yarn that is sort of like fabric and you knit in the fabric/yarn and it makes like a ruffly scarf. It was 40% off! I wasn't tempted by anything there. They too had a good selection of yarns and had a couch area for sitting and knitting. In fact in many of the shops we visited there was either a cafe' or a couch/cozy sitting area which many shops in Seattle lack.

After all that yarn crawling, we came back to the Benson for a bit to take a breather. Then we went out to dinner to this crepe place called Le Happy. Yes, we were happy! They have yummy food here and there is usually a waiting line. A popular place.

Sandy's daugher, Katie, has a friend Becca who joined us for dinner. As we were talking about dessert crepes she asks us if we have ever been to Voodoo Donuts? We were like 'what is voodoo donuts?' Its a very famous place. I think we went over there around 11pm and it was packed - line out the door! It was hard to find a parking space! Oh this place is a crack up! The donuts they have can't be listed on my blog but thing in terms of the erotic bakery. They even had this maple bar topped with bacon! what the? Becca said it was good! She said she needed a little protein to go with her sugar high!

The menu:
We ended the evening on that note. Voodoo donuts!

Next Entry - Day three.

Trojan Sock, Ribbed for her Pleasure

I'm in Portland.

The train was 2 hours late - mechanical problems. I didn't think about that happening on the train...it seems to delay quite a few flights but since I don't take the train very often, I was somewhat surprised that a train can have mechanical delay's (Duh, Naomi).

While doing all this waiting I worked on my Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Club sock - "Inside Out" in the Monsoon colorway. I had started this project and totally frogged about a month ago. I hadn't picked this back up because I wasn't happy with what was happening to the sock.

I looked at other clubbers results on the Rockin' Sock Club website and got more motivation. Ellen finished her socks I got to see them in-person. Plusthe next installment will be sent soon so I thought I better get caught up. Since socks are the perfect travelling project, I forged ahead.
That is when Sandy and her daughter came up with the title for this post. A photo is worth a thousand words....

I was beginning to get embarassed to work on this in public! People probably thought "what in the world?". It was the topic of joking last night while we knitted away and drank champagne at Knit Purl. Here are some photos of the evening.

This evening was a big success - lots of knitters! I think a shop in Seattle should start this kind of thing. The champagne loosens knitters up for buying! I bought a kit - for a sweater in Poetry in Stitches. The kit is for the sweater on the cover of the book. I was hemming and hawing because when will I have time to knit this in the coming year? I won't. But I'll have time at some point, right? Plus its tax free shopping!

One last thing. This is a thing of beauty. Ruby Red Martini. This thing was THE BEST! We had dinner at Mother's Bistro and Bar. If you are in Portland and want comfort food, this is the place to go!

More yarn store crawling today and more great food to come! I'll try and post again before I head back home.

Off to Portland!

I want to post an update of my progress on Ruth's cardigan with the Kauni yarn as well a show off my super cute stitch markers before I leave for Portland in the morning! I've been a busy girl this week and have not had much time with the needles.

Work was a complete bear today. That is a nice, calm, diplomatic way to describe the situation.

What is a girl to do when the dba on her project does not put the Oracle database on a supported version after asking her to verify supported versions before creating the thing? First she has a REALLY bad day and then her good friend and co-project slave, Jamie tells her to, "go to your happy yarn place".

Ok. Good thing I'm going to Portland for the weekend via the train with my friend Sandy for a yarn crawl and weekend of relaxation starting tomorrow morning!

Deep Breath. Everything will be ok!

Here are some photo updates:

Ruth's Kauni Cardigan - past the beginning of the armhole steeks. More interesting color combinations. See this post of Melinda's which she calculates the various color combos with this yarn. Isn't Melinda smart?

I, too, have found that the thickness of the yarn can vary. Right now the purple has become pretty thin compared to the yello/orange it is paired with.

Isn't this fun?

Next is my smorgasbord of super fun and adorable stitch markers made by the good to be girl, Amy. Don't you just love these? I first started out with the donuts with sprinkles and then expanded my collection. I mostly began with food related ones then thought I should become a more well-rounded individual. That is when I decided on the other ones. :)


One more photo of my most adorable Giant Yorkie(12 pounder) Chase. I was worried about him because his last battery of blood work/urine tests indicated some of his kidney/liver markers were elevated. I freaked out. I'm always telling him that nothing can happen to him. Seems reasonable that he'll listen to me and live forever.

Then he had an infected tooth removed and I had his labs re-done. They came out in the normal range! YES! I'm so relieved! He will be 13 years old this year!

One last item to mention. I just got confirmation that I am enrolled in the Nihon Vogue Certificate program with Jean Wong. Madrona Fiber Arts is sponsoring this unique opportunity. It is the first year of the "Standard Course" and it will require 100 hours of instructional time in the coming year. It will begin in early June. In the next year I will create 8 garments of differing sweater types. I will learn "specific technical details and methodology in the Japanese way and using standards set forth by the Nihon Amimono Culture Association."

Unfortunately I am going to miss the very first session! I will be in Bonaire on vacation! Thankfully Melinda and Karen have offered to help me get up to speed! Thanks guys! I really, really appreciate it!

I have a very strong premonition that I will not have much time for projects other than the ones I'll be doing for the course in the coming year. I'll also be working many hours at work. I think I'll only have time for work and knitting.

That sounds ok. As long as I can watch Mariner baseball when I knit! Let's hope for a successful year this season!

On the Seattle Mariner front, Felix, you did an awesome pitching job against Boston tonight!

Have a great weekend everyone. I'll post if I can from Portland. I am looking forward to the stitch and sip tomorrow night at Knit Purl! What a great idea!

Fiber-ous Affair

My husband said to me recently...."If I didn't know you better, I would think you were having an affair!". I told him I was having a "fiber-ous affair"!

I've been going to classes, going to knitting gatherings and they all take time away from the homestead!

We share a very together type life, but we are both very independant as well. Basically it is the perfect relationship! We just celebrated on April 1st, the 7th anniversary of the day we met. Yes we met on April Fools day. We became fools in love and that continues, ever more deeply every year.

Now on to the "good stuff". My fiber-ous affair!

Kauni , Abalone, Domino and Spinning Updates:

Kauni Effekt yarn is really HOT. Here is my progress on Ruth's Kauni Cardigan:

Like Melinda, in this post, I am getting the orange and light blue combination. I like it. When you see it in-person it just adds a different dimension to the sweater.

This is a fast knit. I am almost up to doing the armhole steeks. This is a very easy patten to memorize. For knitters new to fair isle, this is a great first project to attempt.

Now a note on getting the yarn. I just ordered last week from garnbutik.dk.

Lisette is working on getting things translated to English and they do ship to the USA. I gathered an order together for 5 people for Ruth's kit. With five people paying for shipping, it is very reasonable. Small note which probably won't make a difference on whether you order or not...you have to pay the 3.5% paypal fee. Not a big deal but just so you know. Lisette will ship DHL. She sent out our order on Monday this week and I'll keep you updated on when it arrives.

Abalone: I hate picking up stitches. Rebecca showed me another way to pick up stitches. I really like it. I picked up for the first sleeve. It feels good to make some progress on this.

Last Saturday I took a Domino Scarf class with Susanna at Main Street Yarns in Mill Creek. I had never been to this shop before. The shop has some wonderful yarns. The shop is very bright with natural light.

The class was fun and informative. I've taken classes with Susanna before. I would love to take her bohus class. A couple years ago I did knit a bohus hat. A sweater would be so cozy!

Back to the domino class....here are some photos from the class:

I am using Alice's design for what she calls the 'DNA scarf' (see below). It is actually this design that got me inspired to take this class. I'd had Vivian's book Domino Knitting for some time but I learn better in a classroom setting than doing it on my own. Plus I like the connection between other knitters and learning from other students' questions.

Here is the beginning of my DNA scarf:

What else have I been up to? A bit of spinning. Here is some silk/merino fiber spun up.

At the last Ferals meeting I was talking to TMK and Janine as they were spinning away on their Schacht Matchless wheels. They are absolutely gorgeous(I meant the wheels but so are TMK and Janine). I know. I just started spinning a few months ago(I'm a quick study).

They both offered to let me try out their wheels. I was like "NO!". I had such a strong, immediate reaction because I didn't want to be tempted to get a new wheel already. The only thing about my Louet Victoria is that with this fiber, I need the wheel to spin faster because of the short fibers and because I want to go faster! So...."Little Vicki" starts making more noise. I need to dedicate more time with "Little Vicki" and get more acquainted with her.

Today is luscious. It is supposed to be 75 degrees in Seattle today. I can take "Little Vicki" out on the deck and get to know her better!

I guess I am having an affair of sorts!

Happy Friday!