Baby it's Cold Outside...

Ya, so...it's cold. Ok, so not compared to some (really cold) places, but still, cold for here. It's not actually supposed to clear freezing today. Cold & clear - I like it. :-) Perfect for sitting in front of the fire and knitting!


Photo is from snowshoeing at Trillium Lake a few years ago with some friends. (Although, it wasn't actually cold that day - we were down to our long sleeved shirts halfway through...)

Look what I did!

That's Corriedale wool that I spun!

I took a drop spindle class yesterday. Um...dangerous. :-) I think I'll be doing more of this!

However...I have to keep in mind the other projects I have going on and want to have going on...

Notably, the 7 projects that are actually started, and the 1 that has been partially dissected on paper. Oh - and those are only the knitting projects. That doesn't include the Christmas cards that I've been wanting to make. (Which I told myself last year that I'd give up on if they aren't done by Thanksgiving...much of the holiday season was spent freaking out over finishing the cards... Oh, and I haven't started them. Nope. Hardly even an idea yet.)

On the knitting projects, I've been continuing slowly on them. I can see progress!

View from our Window

So, I still haven't managed to find the photos of our new place...they apparently weren't on my camera...Hope they're still on the other one ;-)

But! Here's a photo from our bedroom window.

The tree to the left is now naked & all the leaves have been blown away by the landscapers. But the tree below (the one at the right of the photo above) still has leaves & is less green now.

This photo is my background right now at work. I took it on one of our lunch time walks in the parking lot.
This one is also from the walk...There are trees like that around about 1/3 of the campus, and also lining several blocks of the street outside our campus. So pretty!

Ha! I'm doing well catching up on the posts I could almost do while my camera cable was missing... There are still a couple more. :-)

Sick = Knitting time

I stayed home sick a couple days last week - nothing too horrible, just didn't want to spread it around the office. While I was out...I got to work on 2 of my ongoing (for too long?) projects.

The first is a pair of socks that I started in June, which had taken a long break to accomodate other projects. Pattern: Hedgerow socks (ravlink). Yarn is KP Essential Kettle Dyed. I finished the first sock, but haven't gotten a photo yet, so here's an old one ;-) The finished first sock fits perfectly & I'm sure I'll wear them often!

Besides the sock, I made quite a bit of progress on my Kimono Sweater, and hopefully can move past the (endless?) cabling this weekend and on to the (endless) stockinett stitch upper body ;-)

I also was able to gift the Anhinga sweater (ravlink) to it's recipient a couple weekends ago. It looks super cute on her & I hope she can get a lot of wear out of it.

That's enough for a Tuesday ;-) I (obviously...) found my camera cable & have lots of photos to share!

Wow. Another month gone by. Shoot.

Well, anyway. I've got a bunch of updates knit-wise, house wise, photo wise (lots of photo wise covering the previous two...). And have been waiting to post cause...we didn't have internet at the new place for a while, our comp. with all the photos still isn't set up, and...I don't know where the cable for my camera is. Darn.

BUT! I plan to remedy all those issues in the very near future & give grand updates ;-) For the 2 people who might read this. Ha.

Happy Wednesday!

I've learned a new way to stay sane...

Don't try to buy a house. ;-)

Hopefully the saga, as it has become, will be over soon. Then I might share more details. For now, I'll just say that we have to come up with 2x the amount of money by Friday/Monday than we thought we were going to have to.

Man does that cramp our style.

Argh.

Labor Day Weekend

Now that we're nearing the weekend after...How was your Labor Day Weekend?

Mine was fairly uneventful. The hub was at PAX Fri/Sat/Sun. I spent time working on a gift, to be shown off later. It's a knitting gift - a sweater for a friend. I'm liking how it's turning out so far! While knitting on Sat, I revisited the first season of Gilmore Girls. ;-)

I also did a bit of cooking... Starting with these pie pumpkins, from my parent's garden.

They were cooked, processed, and frozen, for making pies and bread. Yum.

The cooking continued with a batch of zucchini bread, and then a pot full of beets, also from my parent's garden.

Sunday I got to hang out with a friend & knit for most of the day - she has a fantastic knitting machine that she got for a bargain at an estate sale & was showing me how it works. Dangerous!

Monday was a lounging day. We shopped, hung out, etc.

Also - My other half showed me this link the other day - seems that one of my favorite things, Ravelry, is so cool it's showing up in his part of the (tech) world!

A Few Favorite Things

This photo is from a few days ago, taken to record my progress on my Kimono Style Sweater for my Ravelry notebook. I keep looking at all the things in this photo, and have realized how many of my favorite things are in it or around it.

The favorites involved:

1. Knitting, of course, is a favorite hobby lately.
   
2. Ravelry, for which the photo was really taken, is one of my favorite knitting sites. I'm sure you've heard me talk about it, or seen a link to it from here before. For those of you who don't have an account (most non-knitters), you can only see the homepage. Ravelry is a fantastic knitting 'social network' of sorts. Trust me, it's great.
   
3. The photo was taken at Urban Coffee Lounge - the independent coffee shop we love to frequent (also the site of the Wednesday night knitting group I go to.
   
4. Tea - this cup happens to be chamomile, which I am amazed that I can stand to drink! But there's something about a cup of tea...
5. Might-O Donuts - this one is a full size Cinnamon & Sugar, which leads to the next one...
6. Half priced pastries at the end of the day!
7. See the bit of blue with a white design in the upper right corner? That's my favorite other half drinking his favorite drink - a chai tea latte - and wearing one of his favorite shirts.
   

The Other Previously Secret Project

My sister received her birthday gift just a day or two after I posted last, but by then I was off for a bit of vacation. More on that later.

Here's the project I made for her... And she likes it!

It's an Amy Butler Frenchy Bag, made with Midwest Modern Trailing Cherry, Martini, and lined/strapped with matching gray.

Up Close...

And inside...

This is, I believe, by far the most complex thing I've ever sewn (yeah, ok...I maybe should try sewing more ;-) ). I think, added together, it probably took me about 10 hrs to do. But, that takes into account all the setting up, ironing, cutting, etc, on top of the fact that the last thing I sewed was a pair of pj shorts probably 5 yrs ago. I was trying to pay attention & do it right. I even (mostly) followed the pattern! The mostly - I couldn't get all the pieces arranged on the fabric I bought as shown on their layout guides, so the straps aren't technically the correct fabric, and they are a bit shorter than supposed to be. Oh well, I like it!

The actual sewing part was a lot of fun also! I have a fantastic (well, ok, probably will make some people snicker...) sewing machine - an old Singer Graduate Model 935 - which came out of my mother in law's school's throw away pile several years ago. Major score for me! It has worked perfectly each time I've used it. The only problem - I have no manual, so I have to mess around to figure out how to do stuff.

Two Big Projects Finished!!!

Here's a 'group' photo of my 2 most recent finished projects!

The sweater is my Delphine (ravlink) and the puzzle is the Ravensburger World Map, 1665, which happens to have 3000 pieces! The sweater has been a project since April, the puzzle since, oh, early December 2008. BOY will it be nice to have our dining room table back!!! (or rather...to be able to take the extra leaf out of it and have the living room back!)

Check this one out for scale...

Here I am modeling the Delphine

In other news...It just started RAINING!!! Hm. Seems that here in the Pacific NW we've had less than 1in of rain since MAY. Um, yeah, guess it's about time... But I've definitely gotten a good dose of Vitamin D this summer.

I've been looking at a lot of photos today. Seems that 2 years ago I purchased 400 prepaid prints from Shutterfly. 380 of them are set to expire on Aug. 15th. Um...apparently my photo ordering came to a screeching hault around the first of the year, 2008. Oops. I think I'll try to figure out how to make a collage of some of my favorites. They definitely aren't all up here...

More photos soon...as soon as my other finished project for last week is received by #1 Sister!

Weddings & Flowers

This weekend we went to Portland to attend the wedding of one of my oldest friends (the other oldest is her sister... ;-) ) Our parents went to church together before we were born (she's like 2 weeks older than me), and we grew up together. It was a nice wedding - very elegant, and the reception was Hawaiian themed. Here's a few of my favorite photos...

It was a warm weekend. I helped my parents pick a full flat of blueberries from their 4 bushes. We definitely couldn't resist what followed... Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream. Once again a favorite from Cooking Light!

This is my new desktop photo (aka, favorite photo i took lately...), from my parent's backyard.

Of course...there was some knitting stuff going on also. These Hedera (ravlink) socks have been finished for a week or so now.

Now it's hot here. It was 91 today when I got home. I have no idea if that was the high. Which, people may say 'meh', but around here...people really complain a lot (a LOT LOT) when it's hot! And apparently too hot starts at about 75. Personally, I like it! Course, it helps that, living on the second floor, we can keep the windows and back door open all the time...

I have a few more projects going on...I'll post about them in the next few days. Lets see...a pair of socks, my Delphine, of course, a knitting needle case, and a lace scarf. There may be one or two other things also... ;-)

I didn't disappear again...

My lame reason for not posting - I had to upgrade my storage on Picasa so I could have space for more photos! ;-)

Here's some photos I took recently around Juanita Bay.

On the knitting front... my Delphine (ravlink) is going well. I am super close to finishing. I'm just doing the edging around the neckline and arm holes. And then I need to find a button. And stick in the remaining yarn ends. The most recent photo I have is this one... which is way behind the times now.

That's it for now. Have a fantastic weekend!

Stuck

Last night was knitting night at the coffee shop. I got exactly 2 rows done on my Delphine. The photo below is from a while ago, and is just significantly shorter than it is now, but the same pattern.

I'm just to the point of dividing the front and back, and am having a rough time with the instructions. The short of it - I don't like that it's not symmetrical, think I've fixed that part, but now my working yarn isn't in the right place at all.

Argh.

I'll try again this evening, hopefully I'll be more awake. Maybe I'll take another picture even.

Striped Socks!

I finished these tonight!

What I did over the weekend...

Edit: Um...the photo was actually visible on my comp at home. I'll try to fix it tonight & repost...
Edit 2: Umm again...photo looks fine again at home. Can you see it?

A. Nothing.
B. Knit a lot.
C. Melted Cookie Monster in the bathtub.

I didn't actually knit a ton over the weekend - I was too busy taking 2 sweaters apart to reuse for yarn. Haven't taken finished photos yet, but that's what one of them looked like 2/3 of the way through ;-) It was a wool/nylon/angora mix from the Gap, bought for $6.99 at Value Village. Appx. 2000 yds(?)


The striped socks are almost finished. There should be finished photos of them tonight. As well as photos of my reclaimed yarn. Wahoo!


I also worked quite a bit on my Delphine on Friday, the July 4 holiday, and am just short of the armpits now.


Off to work now. Have a Great Monday!

Sigh...

A long time ago, I posted...

And now I'll post again.

Took some cool shots at an outing to the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building and Fort Flagler. Here's a few.

We made Pho last night. Well, it's kind of quick Pho. Real Pho is more like this, I think. It was pretty good! (It was pretty too! I thought about taking a photo, but it was really dark...) I'd do it again, for sure. It was a perfect evening for it also - clouding up for a big storm. We had big winds and huge rains over night. Our little creek outside is quite high this morning. My husband asked where my ears went this morning - they were hiding under my big king sized down pillow folded around my head. It was loud. I hate storms.

I started another project last night. Bought some cotton at Fred Meyer for a gift that shall become known later...shh it's a secret. But it will be similar to another project I've already completed. The socks are done. The photos are uploaded to the internet, but not posted anywhere yet. The cute lacy shirt is waiting for needles to arrive (hopefully before this weekend?!). The lacy scarf is going to wait for this other project to finish, I think. I also have to decide if I want to go back and fix the yo I missed. Darn it. I'm hoping we can do the Wednesday night knitting group that has been happening the last couple weeks near my apartment, also.

We also played a new game last night! Well...new to me. Oh - yeah, I'm not sure I've mentioned it before...but we're big gamers. Board gamers. And...I'm not talking Monopoly or Scrabble. Last night the game was Small World. It was fun! I lost. That just means we need to play again ;-) Oh - also - this is the true reason that we are looking for a place to buy. We have SO MANY games, there's not enough shelves to put them on. Yeah. It's bad (or good?). In fact, the owner and staff at the local game store know my husband by name.

Happy thought for the day: The local Farmer's Market opens tomorrow!!! Sure, there won't be a ton of produce yet, but it's always fun anyway! Don't forget to check yours out!!!

Hope it's sunnier where you are! As my dad put it yesterday - he had to turn his windshield wipers on high to keep the fish off because it was raining so hard...

What's New?!

Well...not much ;-)

This week Wednesday I met with 4 other gals in the area for some knitting at the Urban Coffee Lounge. It's weird for me to be the instigator of something like this...but hey! It seems to be working out pretty well.

Project updates...the Delphine lacy tank that I've started on is going well I think. I have finished the first section (only 2.25in or so). I have a lifeline in it and tonight if I have time I'll take it off the needles to make sure it fits before I start the next section.

The Hedera sock that I started will have to be ripped out - it's too small & the cuff doesn't fit over my heel.

Next project to start: the Windemere scarf.

For the Delphine and the scarf I am short needles. I put in an order this morning from Knitpicks for the circulars I need. I think I'll run to a yarn shop for some straights to start the scarf on while I wait. We'll see :-)

Very Short Weekend

I started 3 new knitting projects this weekend. Well...2.5 really. Started a pair of Hedera socks in Knit Picks Risatta - a blue color, dont remember the name off the top of my head. I'm nearly to the heel flap on the first sock. WAY faster than the Monkeys...somehow...

I also cast on for the Delphine from French Girl Knits with Just Soya in a dark pinkish color. I am modifying it a bit...not sure of the (final) details yet, but I have big hips, and want it to be longish. I cast on for the largest size, and adjusted the lace repeats w/ the intent of doing 2 rounds of decreases to get it to the medium size (basically doing p3s instead of p2s). However, I'm a bit off on the gauge, so may have to readjust.

I also bought a skein of Alpaca with a Twist Fino to make a Windemere Scarf for a gift.

Happy Monday!

Trying it Again...

Well, I can manage to keep a journal going on caloriecount.com, but for some reason can't keep this one going. I think I'll try again. I want to have a place share with people other than those on CC :-)

The latest with me:
Photos - I haven't been taking enough!
Food - I still love to cook! This week we made these Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Sweet and Spicy Sauce.
Other thoughts - We're working on buying a townhouse!

And I added crafting to the title of the blog...Lately the crafting has been knitting :-) I have a ravelry account to keep track of my knitting projects. (Unfortunately you have to have an account to look at it...sorry about that. Will try to duplicate info to some extent).

More to come!