Snow Again and more

The dogs woke me up at 2:30 am to go outside. They have a dog door but with the winter cold I've put in the block to keep things warmer in the house and critters out. The price I pay for this is middle of the night trips to go outside some nights.

Sure we had heard the reports that there were snow possibilities for Thursday but I figured since it had been raining and the ground cold that anything that made it to the valley floor would just melt. I got up to about 1/4 of an inch and big fat fluffy flakes falling.

It will be interesting to see how much survives until I get up.

Brandon and I enjoyed going through OMSI with adults only in their After Dark program. We didn't play with many of the games or their standard exhibits, just spent out time going through the Da Vinci exhibits. Pretty cool stuff. Not the actual things that Da Vinci created but replicas made by others and a few of his notebooks on display in glass cases. Some of the replicas had 'do not touch' signs, and I had to repeat the sign info to one gentleman with his hands on a display, it was a long handle up in the area and the sign on the display - he thought the sign should have been higher. They did have replicas that they did allow you to play with. Looking at his drawing of muscles and the digestive system blown up on the walls were fairly impressive. I also enjoyed how the various bits and parts of the Mona Lisa painting were explained.

The gift store was wisely left open to visitors. Brandon and went through and after looking at the various items related to the exhibit there was really nothing that 'had' to come home with us. The exhibit booklet was deemed just a repeat of the information he already had. I don't remember there being any signs about not taking photos, but didn't notice anyone else taking pictures, so no camera came out to show our visit.

There was a brief visit at Haggen's to pick up more ice cream for the boys and to get my bushing from Sharon. There weren't as many people there this week as last. The ebb and flow of people can be fun to watch. There was a lot of interest in Carissa's dyed roving that Kathleen brought in to share. The Cupcake Factory will probably be seeing some more business. Haggen's had a shopping cart with reduced price plants - purple calla lillies, of course one had to come home with me!

3:30 am, after spending time looking at updated blogs, replies in Rav since I went to bed and my Shelfari with the finished book, I'm about to stumble back in bed to get some more sleep and look out the patio. Even more fat fluffy flakes are falling and the patio that had been just wet is starting to get covered.

What will I wake up to find?

7:30 am I find that there are even more fat fluffy flakes falling.
9:00 am the sun is out. Now how quickly will it all melt away?

Snow Pictures as a collage in time order:


ps: Is it just my gmail spam box that gets LOTS of emails from women that are concerned about my orgasms and want me to buy the jack rabbit vibrator or what?

Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks

Lots of work Monday finishing up scarf number three for February. Yarn is Stitchjones Superwash Dyepot Worsted in Olive colorway. Pattern is Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks. Wow! It's very similar in color to the designer's version. I dropped down to a size 7 needle instead of the suggested 10. This got me a narrower scarf at only four inches wide but after blocking I have seventy-six inches in length. So more than long enough to wrap around the neck and tuck into a jacket. The scarf is intended for Christmas 2009 and I'm thinking my brother Scott.

Here it is:



I started a shawl for the month but don't have high hopes of finishing it this month for the Monthly Make Ahead group. ;-) (February is scarfs/shawls.) I'm using the yarn I won from Judy Becker's 'identify the tool' contest she had, its an Anne Schaefer yarn in the Toni Morrison colorway. I picked out the Woodland Shawl pattern so its "Toni's Walk Through the Woods" shawl.
WIP:

Tree Bark Sock & Spinnerati! and more......

Saturday was another full day of fibery fun. I was zipping along finishing up Cindy/Susan's Tree Bark Sock test knit as well as planning to spend a few hours spinning. Spinning was a blast! While I didn't try the long draw spinning with cotton, I did take pics. I put them into a collage, determined by Picassa, so don't complain if your pic is small and someone else's is big!

They were using cotton poonis or cotton supima sections to try out this new spinning skill. I think there was a lot of success and frustration. I only had the one bobbin so didn't try my hand.

After Spinnerati I met Brandon at Tosis Restaurant for dinner before heading to Cosmic Monkey Comics for the Boo Yaa Awards. Tosis had lots of older people as mentioned in the article I linked to, but don't let that stop you from going there. I ordered the beef tips and was unpleasantly surprised to find green peppers in them. So I set the plate aside and was nibbling on Brandon's french fries. I'd had a cup of soup and a slice of bread so was going to make do. The manager/owner, older Greek sounding woman, spotted the plate and came over to check on what was up. I explained that it had peppers in it and that I couldn't eat them and that I was just going to take it home for the dogs. She insisted on having a cheeseburger made for me at no charge. The proceeded to watch over the cook hurrying him along and then finishing it up and presenting it to me herself. In general I don't eat cheeseburgers (I know how unAmerican of me!) but this was pretty good. I think it really makes a difference if real cheese rather than the cheesefood crap that others use is why. I'm impressed that there are still places like this around!

We found close parking to Cosmic Monkey Comics and then spent the next half an hour waiting for things to start. They were supposed to start at 7pm but didn't get rolling until 7:30pm. As promised Brandon had no problem with me finding a corner to call my own and start knitting. There I was on the floor (no seating for this event apparently) knitting away on my Holding Hands Scarf and I had one lady ask me the name of the stitch I was using - star. Then an older male couple asked me "is everything ok?" Puzzled look, "yes, is there a reason why they wouldn't be?" I replied back. "Well you're sitting over here knitting on the floor." I replied, but the deal was that the DH got to come and I got to knit, "I'm knitting, so I'm happy." Couple wanders off with confused looks on their faces.

Then during one of the breaks the photographer on hand spots me and checks that it is okay that he takes my photograph. Sure, why not? DH has also, so what's one more? ;^) (Not sure if it will make the light of day somewhere.)Then I spot Rick Emerson with his wife. So my hand slips into the coat pocket for the camera phone so that I can kinnear him. I send the photo to Brandon who later shows it to Rick. Rick doesn't know what 'kinnearing' is but tells me that he's 'honored' to be in with the likes of Greg Kinnear. Also throws out the word - creepy, but then is horrified that he may have offended me. (It will take a bit more than that to offend!) Brandon listens to Rick's podcasts every day or live when he gets the chance.



I ended up having my headache (started earlier in the loud echoing meeting room during spinning) come back with a vengeance and so I take myself and my knitting home so I can finish the sock. This is where it turns out to be serendipitous for us to have two cars. I could leave and Brandon could stay.

Back home to finish up the Tree Bark Sock test knit. I had found a few things in the pattern for Cindy to clarify and I got to learn a new heel flap - eye of partridge. This is a nice fast knit and the yarn is yummy to knit and wear. Okay, it's hard to get the total feel out of one sock, but you know what I mean. Yarn is Abstract Fiber Super Sock in the Burnside Bridge colorway. The sock!
Delivered to Cindy Sunday morning for more photos and such.

Busy Week!

Tuesday night I went down and hung out at Ava Roasteria with Carissa, Queen of the Cupcakes, and Sheliaknits. Nancy and another girl were there too but I'm terrible with names and it didn't stick. We ended up in the one and only booth in a surprisingly busy establishment. I worked on the booby sock while Shelia shared Madrona experiences and Carissa tried to find a stitch pattern to create a sock. Carissa is doing monthly meetings and I'm looking forward to next month's.

Wednesday was a very full day with spinning in the afternoon at Starbuck's. I had fun with Tammy and plying. Picked up the yummy yak/merino and more camel. I finished up the bit of camel that I had leftover from last week. I'll be spinning the second two ounces on Saturday at the Spinnerati meeting at Central Library. We're also going to learn about long draw techniques. I may just have to watch as my second bobbin is currently out of commission. I'd found this strange round black plastic piece of few days ago. Put it some place safe. Then discovered that it's the bushing for the waiting bobbin. So do you think I could find that safe place I put it in?

Thankfully, Sharon (Stitchjones) is visiting family in Spokane and is picking me up a replacement one from Paradise Fibers. $1.75 is cheaper than buying a new bobbin ($29) for a borrowed wheel. ;^)

When I came home I saw that neighbor Dwight had filled up his yard debris can with wood from his flutes. I spied that there were wood bits that would be big enough for some new niddy-noddys that I'm asking Brandon to make for me. One for me and a couple to sell I think.

Wednesday night I tried to finish up the preemie hat test knit for Karen but things were jumping at Haggen's! We had lots of people there and lots of fun/interesting conversations going on. When I took a look at it I saw a couple of mistakes in the results so I frogged it and recast on. I finished it up this morning before going to Insomnia for the Thursday afternoon knitting:


While at Insomnia I cast on a sock that tests the pattern (Tree Bark)with Abstract Fibers sock yarn. Susan has a Portland line of yarns with bridge names and I'm using the Burnside Bridge colorway in her Super Socks line. Very nice yarn! I also got to pick out a skein of sock yarn as my payment. It's from her Mighty Socks line called Constellation. I need to have the sock done in time for Cindy to photograph and get the pattern pages ready for them to go to Stitches West. These yarns along with the rovings and some charity yarn and I'm feeling fiberlicious this week:

The sock is flying on the needles and is a fun knit. I also get to try out a new heel style so learning something new too!

Cute face

Does anyone else have a problem with putting their feet under their desk? My favorite girl is often under there.

Da Vinci - Updated!

Da Vinci has always been a favorite of Brandon's. I happened to catch a commercial yesterday that showed OMSI is having a special exhibit of Da Vinci and also shows the secrets behind the Mona Lisa. Here's the traveling exhibits homepage.

We're going to have to go see this while its in town!

ps: I ordered tickets tonight for next Wednesday's 'After Dark' program they have for the over 21 crowd. No kids, and food and alcohol on the premises. Bummer that William can't come see it too, but hey that's life! Thanks Tammy for letting me know about this!

Booby Socks!

Yea! They are done and all wrapped up and ready to be delivered this afternoon. I'll give them to Brandon or Ron, to then be passed on to Denise (Ron's wife). Interesting knit, not sure I'll do it again or not. I do have more pink sock yarn intended for Breast Cancer Awareness but I have a different pattern I can use for those. Janel Laidman's Hope Socks from her Eclectic Sole book.

Here they are - Booby Sock by Rosemary "Chappy" Chapman, Yarn Zitron Trekking Sport XXL, needles US 1:

There's spinning this afternoon with more work on the camel. I'll be picking up from Tammy the yak/merino and baby camel top she picked up from Madrona last week. I'm also going to try my hand at teaching someone else a spinning technique. Since my n-plying is fresh in my head, Bobbie thought I could show Tammy how to do it. We have some practice yarn to try out before she jumps into the intended yarn.

I also want to finish a test knit preemie hat for Karen since she handed out the pattern last Wednesday. My only excuse is that I cast on last Wednesday that Booby Socks. ;^) I'll also pick up a sock test knit from Susan. It's one of Cindy's patterns that Susan is going to carry.

Booby Socks Progress

I finished working on sock #1 on Valentines. William was happy because we spent the day watching movies and shows. Okay, not so much on the shows because they were my shows but he was eventually happy to get to watch some movies.

The Zitron Trekking has little white 'hairs' that float out of the yarn and make me think I have Norbert hair on them until I pull it and find out its attached to the yarn. It feels soft yet scratchy. I have hopes that the soak when both are done will help soften them up a bit.

This is the first sock that I've done that the pattern didn't continue down the top of the foot. So the leg seems to fly because of the pattern and the foot just seemed to drag on. This was also my first star toe. I followed the instructions because the 'pull through the last 8 stitches' makes a 'nipple' for the toe tip. I think if I were not following the pattern I'd do a kitchener stitch bindoff.

I immediately strung the beads and then cast on for the second sock so that I can get these done and in the hands of the recipient. They truly are just 'too pink' for me.
Blocking will also take out the pouffy sections that are showing right now. I may have to make some sock blockers to be happy with this sock. ;^)

Brandon's Valentine

Last year it was a tiny knitted heart - seamless even. This year I thought I'd go a little bigger. I had the 'heart tattoo' sitting in my queue. I had leftover red and yellow from the Cascade Lizard Ridge Blanket. I even had stuffing laying around - not the de-stuffed kind from the dog toys either. ;^)

So it was simply a matter of trying to get this knit when it wouldn't be seen and then also keeping it off the blog when I remembered he shows co-workers my stuff. Once the bits were knit then it was sewing up the heart.

Mental note, figure out how to do something like this using short rows for the bumps so that it can be knit in one piece. I mean the bumps kind of remind me of sock toes, so two toe pieces and a heel piece for the bottom. Isn't this totally romantic?

I decided that doing the stitching on the banner piece should happen before it was sewn onto the heart. Did a stab at where to start and realized half way through that I should have started a little closer to the edge. Oh well, it worked out fine and was a learning experience.

I did make the executive decision not to try to use some of the white Cascade 220 I bought to knit and then felt the wings. I mean knit a square and then cut out what you need after felting? Why? When I piece of felt was .25 a square. With nice little sparkles in it too.

Here's the final results, he'll get that and a bag of Conversation Hearts (he loves those) and a Star Wars book:


I have a lovely new photo in a very nice frame of Brandon as my gift. ;^)

Chocolate Fest Night & Booby Socks

Brandon and I went to the Whole Foods Chocolate Fest event tonight. $5 each and this is what we got:

* Spinach Salad with strawberries, nuts and housemade dressing - pretty good, just a little too much dandelion greens.

* Shrimp Cocktail (two big ones!)

* Choice of Jamaican Jerk Beef or Chicken Satay with Masa's Pineapple Sesame Sauce, or there was a ginger sauce that Brandon had. I had beef, Brandon chicken. This was just a little too spicy for me, Brandon liked his.

* Chocolate Mole Wings - we each got one little drumette. They were pretty bland.

* Lula's Truffles & Peppermint Bark - yummy!

* Oak Knoll Framboise - raspberry wine. A little dry for my taste but went well if you drank it after the fondue. ;^)

* Chocolate Fondue - chocolate fountain of chocolate that you got to dip angel food cake into or the totally decadent double chocolate brownie chunks. (The brownie dipped in the fondue was actually a little too much for me.)

* Assorted chocolates - (These were called 'truffles') I went for the milk chocolate and they were great. Brandon liked his dark chocolates.

* Lake Champlain drinking chocolate - less thick and rich than Cacao's. Actually drinkable in quantities larger than a shot.

* Adora Chocolate Disks - these are supposed to be calcium supplements. I had the milk and Brandon had the dark chocolate. We both disliked the weird aftertaste they left. Brandon says its like the cheap chocolate you got as a kid at Easter. He's spoiled by the chocolate tasting they do at work - think Godiva and the like.

* Rogue Chocolate Beer Floats - I'm not a huge float fan, not a huge beer fan and so this wasn't that great for me. Brandon is new to the whole beer thing and didn't care for it either. He thought likes floats. ;^)

They also sent us each home with a bag of goodies:
Two Larabar Jocolat mini-bars(chocolate cherry & chocolate hazelnut); Two ThinkThin mini-bars (chunky peanut butter); Two Dagoba blocks - Sambirano (dark chocolate); Two Green & Black's Organic disks (milk or dark chocolate); 1 whole bar of Dagoba chocolate bar (lemon ginger - crystallized ginger with a hint of lemon).

There was a little Passport that we got stamped at each of the stations. It took us about an hour to go around the store and try out the different areas. We brought home some lobster bisque (for me to try out) and a bottle of hard cider (for Brandon to try) and a Belgian raspberry beer (I like Belgian beer). Definitely try it out if there's one near you next year!

Here's the progress I have on sock number one of the Booby Socks:

Frustration is.....

When the DH borrows your camera for the day without telling you the night before that he's taking said camera. Then you go to reach for the camera that should be tethered to your desk via the cable and its not there. So you wander around the house thinking that you spaced out and might have left it somewhere else but you're not finding it there either. It's enough to make a person doubt their sanity.

Finally you call the DH who admits that he has it and to 'trust him' on why he needed it for the day. Sigh. Sure I trust him, I was just going to take a picture of an FO and two WIPs while the daylight was bright. 'Waiting until he gets home' as was suggested just won't work. We have something going on tonight so won't be back home until full dark. Sigh.

So that 'secret' project is all done (the aforementioned FO), I have a good solid 11 inches on the Holding Hands Feeding Ducks Scarf. Cool easy to memorize pattern. I'm not sure though that I'm happy with the smaller needle size. I'm going to do a few test rows with larger needles and see if I like those results more.

I started the 'booby socks' for a co-worker's wife of Brandon's that recently underwent a double mastectomy. I have a good start on the leg and think these will go pretty fast.

I had hopes that we could borrow the beach house for the weekend, but the cousins beat us to the request. I'm contemplating a 'ladies beach retreat weekend' for friends in similar financial constraints and not likely to get away for fun things like this. We could easily sleep five or six people, more if there's air mattresses involved at the beach house. Share groceries and the only other cost for the weekend is the gas down and back. Something to think about....

More snow?! Salmon Dave Sunset Highway Scarf

Well I guess its appropriate that I finish up a scarf and that its snowing outside. It's cold enough to snow, but the ground was wet/dry so not a huge amount of accumulation going on:

Here's Salmon Dave Sunset Highway Scarf. It's made with Stitchjones Superwash Dyepot Worsted in the Salmon Dave colorway and Kathleen Fajardo's Sunset Highway Scarf pattern. Both local ladies doing wonderful things with yarn. I ended up with 72 inches of blocked goodness using up all but 6 inches of the skein. I got a wrap around the neck and still nice chest coverage (no pics of that because I hate doing mirror shots):




That's scarf #2 out of four hoped for the month. I would like to also get a shawl going that's included in the scarf/shawl focus of the month. March is socks. ;^)

ps: something else is almost done as you can see by the progress bar, there's new pics, just can't see them unless you go into the project on Ravelry. Think its coming along nicely.

Autumn, Camel and Cookies

I finished up the Autumn superwash merino sample from Abstract Fibers this weekend. I soaked it and dried it this afternoon. I really need the smaller niddy-noddy for skeining up yarns. The n-plying kept the colors clean for the most part. I did get some muddying while spinning some of it and that still shows through. I think I would have liked a crisper purple color in it. The yellows, oranges and reds are pretty. I did have a bit of green but it didn't show well I think. I ended up with about 48 yards of fingering weight yarn to play with. Not sure exactly what, but nice to know that since it's superwash it won't felt!




I also started spinning the camel up. Boy this stuff is incredibly soft! Fluffy too!


I checked the back yard and the crocuses and daffodils are starting to peak their heads out of the ground. These are the crocuses, they'll be lavender and white streaked when they bloom:

While we were at the New Season's Chocolate Tasting on Sunday I found a cookie that reminds me of our family recipe called 'Wagon Wheels'. I have absolutely no idea why they are called this. New Season's calls them 'Crinkle Cookies'. A darker chocolate is used, or possibly less sugar but very similar to the family recipe. I can get a mini-fix with one or two cookies and not need to make a whole batch, or wait until Christmas and my stepmother bakes.....
Don't wear clothes that will show up the powered sugar sprinkles that you end up wearing. ;^)

More chocolate? Read on....

The Whole Foods in the Tanasbourne community area has the following upcoming events to enjoy:
"Thursday February 12th
CHOCOLATEFEST! PASSPORT EVENT
5-8 p.m. $5 donation
Chocolate Fest
ChocolateFest is a storewide tasting event featuring an array of decadent chocolate concoctions, and as an added benefit, supports your community!

Purchase a $5 "passport" ticket at the door, and enjoy exclusive samples of chocolate-inspired food and products found throughout our location. All proceeds from this event directly benefit ChristieCare, one of the oldest continuously operating non-profit agencies serving children and families in Oregon. A bonus at our location: Hand and Stone Spa will be with on hand to perform brief chair massages.

For more information about ChristieCare, please visit http://christiecare.org.

For additional information about ChocolateFest, stay tuned! Menus will be available the week preceding the event.

Friday, February 13th
Sampling Session: Sweets and Bubblies for your Valentine

12-3 pm Free
Looking for that last minute treat for your sweetie? We will be pouring from a selection of sparkling wines and sampling our best treats. Taste it first yourself so your Valentine will be sure to be satisfied."

I'm making it a date with the DH Thursday night event and checking out Friday's sampling for possibilities for the weekend.

New Season's chocolate: didn't like the coconut-curry chocolate but the chili and cherries was good! I liked the toffee and almond milk chocolate. Brandon liked the chai choclate too.

Pssst.....more chocolate opps

Sorry, if you're not local to the area and aren't fortunate enough to have a New Season's Market close by:

"If chocolate is one of your guilty pleasures then this weekend is for you. This is February, after all, and whether you’re single or taken, it’s only right to honor St. Valentine’s Day with a mouthful of chocolate goodness. Come join your fellow chocolate connoisseurs as we offer nibbles and noshes of more than 50 different types of chocolate. What are the taste and texture differences between two chocolate bars containing the same percentage of cocoa but made by different companies? Do single origin chocolates really taste better than their blended counterparts? Is white chocolate really chocolate? Our solutions staff will be on hand to answer these and other chocolate-related queries.

Still resisting temptation? Give in knowing that the flavanoids in dark chocolate serve as a beneficial antioxidant. High in iron, calcium, potassium and vitamins A, B1, D and E, chocolate is the multivitamin you can look forward to taking every day.

Do you need any other motivation besides FREE CHOCOLATE to join us this weekend? Of course you don't. See you this Saturday and Sunday, 11am until 5pm."

I think I know what I'll be doing this weekend since I'm not going down to Newport to spin.....

ps: anyone catch what the Pioneer Woman is giving away today if you comment on her blog?

Fan chic squee

I love Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series and her latest book comes out the end of this month on the 23rd, White Witch, Black Curse. She's been kind of having these Dirty Harry-ish titles that are fun. Looking at her event page, because Powell's is currently only showing February, she's going to be in town on March 3rd!

You know where I'll be on that date - bright and early so I get a good seat too! I may even be lucky enough since its not just a couple days after the book release that the Science Fiction Book Club will have shipped it and I will have received it in time to have it on hand to be signed. As it is I'll have last year's Outlaw Demon Wails in hand to be signed.

I have an email into Powell's to find out about April to see if they'll have Jim Butcher back for his new book Turn Coat. Fingers crossed on that one. He has early events that Scifi should be able to ship that one and have it arrive in plenty of time for a book signing, if they have one. Please let them have one! Pretty please? He was really awesome last year!

ETA: This just in from Powell's "We don’t have an event with Jim Butcher currently scheduled for the months ahead, and I don’t think we’ll be fortunate enough to host him for this book." Darn it!

Book Signing & WIPs & a yarn

Which order to go in? ...........ok

I arrived at the book signing at 6:30pm and was surprised to see over half of the seats filled. Last year when she was there I think there was a modest 15 people. That has clearly changed! So I didn't get a seat as close as I would have liked, and the only end seat was on the outside (aisle is best, you know for getting into the actual signing line).

Patty opted not to do a repeat of last year and attempt to sit on the stool provided especially since she's had back surgery since then. There was a twenty minute reading and then she moved into the Q&A portion. We learned that there are three more books for this series and at least two for the other that ties into this one. Yea!

Powell's opted to do the free-for-all get in line method that they hadn't been using for a lot of the book signings I've been to over the last couple years. Usually there's the orderly 'get in line by row'. If they had gone that route I would have missed chatting with Honor while we waited to get our books signed.

Honor was there to get books signed for a friend who lives in Florida and couldn't wait until Patty is there in October for them to be signed. Nice friend! Turns out that Honor has in the past tatted and been involved with SCA. While a child there was few years spent living in Australia where the neighbor taught her mother how to shear sheep and then spin and knit so she had a sheep to sweater that as she said had tons of lanolin still. Mom is getting up in years and no longer spins but still has some of those fleece. I didn't ask after them because honestly I'd be afraid of them this many years old. Honor had walked from MAX and when I found out she lived by the Quatama stop I offered to give her a ride, which she gratefully accepted.

Book signing photos:
blurry because she kept moving!


While at the book signing I completed half of the pink crane and started and finished the yellow crane:
These were fascinating to the five year old little boy sitting in front of me once he noticed that I was knitting. Little carrot top with big brown eyes. He informed me that he was knitting a cat but that it only involved 10 stitches. He asked how many I was working with. ;^)

Since I'd used up both of the crane yarns that I came with and still had plenty of time to spend doing something productive, I cast on the Salmon Dave Sunset Highway Scarf: Yarn is Stitchjones dyepot worsted in the Salmon Dave colorway and the pattern is Kathleen Fajardo's Sunset Highway Scarf. I have spun up Sharon's rovings but this is the first time using one of her yarns. It is delightfully soft and nice to work with. I'm looking forward to using the other two and getting more of her yarns in the future!

Last but not least is the second Abstract Fibers sample yarn I have done, her BFL in Shady Glade colorway. I opted to n-ply it just to see the colors stay the way they were. Definitely get less yardage with this method and I think I got about 31 yards.

Pssst.....do you like chocolate?

This recipe looks really good! I'm going to see if I can find a few ramekins so I can try it out soon.

One Row Karma Scarf

I finished up the One Row Karma Scarf last night. I soaked it in hot water and got a few extra inches out of the soak. It's only 46 inches long so drapes around the neck and a decent length down the chest. It's intended for a teenage girl, so hopefully it will work for her:


Today there was spinning at Panera Bread again. We had three spinners and one knitter. A nice mix. ;^) I plied up the Abstract Fibers BFL in the Shady Glade colorway. Lovely greens and blues. I decided to also n-ply this yarn and I think it came out nicely. It's resting on the bobbin and will come off tomorrow and have a nice hot soak and see how much there is to play with.

I then started in on the last of the Abstract Fibers sample - Superwash Merino in the Autumn colorway. Mine is lacking in the green and so if I wanted to I could call it Sunset another colorway she has that just lacks the green. ;^) The colors are coming out really vivid. I think I'll also n-ply this one.

Before going to the spinning group I had knit one of the Cranes for the Knitnotwar that Knit/Purl is doing for the month. I'm going to use some of my leftover Cascade 220 from the Cascade Lizard Ridge blanket. It's a nice quick easy knit that just needs to be felted. I'm going to use these as a break in between scarf projects. ;^)

I had also started another project that will be nameless until after it is given since the giftee is also known to look at my blog, reading, I'm not sure. So that safe rather than sorry thing. Why am I mentioning it then? Because they use the same needle size as the cranes. I'd started it and then put it on the craft table so it wasn't visible while I was gone. Silly me, I left the needles with the yarn.

I had stopped at Jo-Ann's on my way over to Haggen's to try to find a copy of the Simply Knitting magazine. They were all out of them, or they hadn't yet come in. I did use my 40% off coupon to get a copy of Interweave's Piecework. They had been advertising the Baby Inca Hat. Interesting article on knitting two socks at once - inside each other, I don't think I'm ready for that. No knitting needles meant that I did a lot of socializing - fondling finished projects - knit and spun and looking through the magazine. Rachel had also brought along some 'free yarn' from Debby Accuardi. I picked up a couple of sock yarns:

A sock kit - pattern, yarn and beads:


Tiggywinkleknits also had given me an almost full skein of Paton's Beehive Baby Sport in white so that I can make Ruby the Snowgirl a husband. I'll also make her another friend, since the pattern is a grouping of three. ;^)

Tomorrow there's knitting with the Insomnia group but even better than that, a book signing at Powell's! Patricia Briggs is in town again for her new book Bone Crossed. A Mercy Thompson book out in hard back. I of course have had it on request to be shipped from the SciFi Book Club for a month now. They of course wouldn't ship it out until its release date of the 3rd. Anyone seeing where I'm going with this yet? Yes, the price I have to pay for getting it cheaper (saving $11 off the list price) is that it will probably arrive on my doorstep on Friday. It at least shows that it shipped today where it hadn't yesterday, so more likely arrival is Saturday. I do have a book for her to sign (all the other ones were done last year) and it will be fun to hear her do a reading and the Q&A. Might even get to say hi to another local author - Lili Saintcrow, she often comes to these events too.

Tuesday Tidbit

I plied the hydrangea roving and have started on the Shady Glade BFL sample. Here's the finished Hydrangea Yarn:

The single above and then I N-plied it for the following:


Approximately 23 yards of light fingering weight yarn. I'm thinking it should make a nice coffee cozy.

I've put lots of inches on the One Row Karma Scarf. I may be able to finish it later tonight. I still need to do some work on the baby alpaca so we'll see. (Would like to comb it with the mini combs or the dog combs whichever feels best.) I had used the dog combs to comb out the Shady Glade similar to the previously combed Hydrangea. There's a full ounce of it so I'm planning to do two singles and then ply together. Though I do like the color block results from n-plying the Hydrangea....tough decisions to make. First that alpaca.....

January Wrap-Up

All the January "Christmas 2009 Monthly Make Ahead" projects are done! I did two projects yesterday for a total of 22 of ornaments for the month. January was ornament month. February is scarfs and shawls. Okay, it just singular scarf/shawl #1.

So for the last projects done on Friday and Saturday, two knitted balls (quick and easy!), Ruby the SnowGirl (there's a set of three, I only had enough yarn for one), and a snowflake that combines knitting and crochet:




All of the ornaments knit for the month:


Tiggywinkleknits let me borrow her mini combs and dog combs to try out with some rovings and I need to comb the baby alpaca from OFF. I was a little distracted by Andy Rooney licking my knees (reminder don't wear a skirt around a tall Parsons terrier with an affinity towards knees and skirts - yes, he has a history, ask her about it) and so missed part of the demonstration on how to use the combs. Brandon was paying attention when he was laughing about Andy.

I've used the dog combs on a roving, because there were color stripes that I thought I might try to keep. This might also make a good sample to do another try at navajo plying:
(Roving is Abstract Fibers merino in the colorway of Hydrangea)

January also included previously shown knits: Teddy Bear Accessories (hat & scarflet), Teddy Bear Sweater, Bambino Baby Hat, Midnight Envy Fingerless Mitts.

Jump starting February's Scarfs is One Row Karma out of drop spindled yarn Karma Chameleon. I showed the three yarns I plan to do the other scarfs out of. I'm also going to attempt to squeeze in a shawl out of the yarn I won from Judy. There's also going to be spinning and techie stuff like web site design, so should be a busy month.

Now I think I need to get away from the computer, its not helping keep this migraine from becoming obnoxious.