Day 12 Tour de Fleece, KiP, Dark Knight

Wednesday was a busy day!

Work in the morning, come home and eat lunch. Spin a bit on the BFL and then change clothes. Go outside with Brandon and trim up the dogwood shrubs, fig, my black currant, roses, thyme, and the privets. It was just a bit warm too. I still have a couple of bushes near the front window that need to be trimmed/shaped up. Those are for Friday or Sunday depending on schedules.

Took a quick shower and read a few pages more of Small Favor, before taking Brandon to his mom's house for dinner and grandfather socialization. I headed over to Hagen's for dinner and knitting with the PDXKnitBlogger ladies. The chicken terriyaki was just a little salty, so only nibbled at dinner.

I had already planned with Sharon (Stitchjones) to buy another merino roving from her, that Hydrangea I pointed to a couple weeks ago. I got to see the 'Never Not Knitting' go around, but never actually get to hold it. As well as the The Eclectic Sole book. Bobbie did flash a few of the socks shown in it, enough that I'll see if I can talk the library into getting a copy. I worked on block 19 of the CLR.

Dreading that blocking and seaming that is rapidly approaching....

Thursday I put in another hour or so on the BFL. I just have four little bundles left to work on and that one will be finished. I think I can get it all on this one spindle. I have another spindle I can do the second BFL with and then work to ply them together. I'm getting into the flow of the thin spin, so might end up with a lace or fingering weight yarn out of this if things go well.

I was distracted by a prolonged phone call with my mother. My grandmother had gone in to get a pacemaker yesterday and mom had an argument with her this morning about me. Grandma just turned 84 on Sunday and has lung cancer that was diagnosed last fall. Throw in that she was also diagnosed with Alzheimer's not too long after that. (Little background for what happens next). So mom called me this morning, but I'd left my phone at home while I was at work. Turns out that grandma was pretty adamant that she had seen and talked with me this morning, in Reno, in the hospital. So I gave grandma a call and said that while I would have loved to have been down there more than in my thoughts, I was at home in Hillsboro. I had to go through this a few more times that I hadn't been down there, but that it was good to hear that I was looking good. ;^)

So I didn't get the spinning in that I wanted but I did have an entertaining afternoon.

Tonight we're taking the boys to a midnight showing, courtesy of the Rick Emerson Show, in Tigard. I'm going to go take a nap so that I'm not yawning through the show. I have a hand towel using my Knit Picks peach colored Cotlin planned as my entertainment since Brandon wants to be there by 10:30. We have the tickets from Fandango, so I think its all about seating.

ETA: All of this has changed once we found out they had doubled the price of tickets to $20 per person.

Not happening - Saturday we plan on heading over to Gresham for the Portland Highland Games for our third year in a row. Nick & Jesse apparently are low on funds, live in Gresham and so want Brandon, Will and Luke to come over to game over there. Me? Not so much. I'm in search of a place to hang out for a few hours knitting or spinning that won't cost me a lot to hang. I may need to check with the Aunt who also lives there and see if I can freeload off of her.

Forgotten things....

Thursday afternoon was spent knitting and talking at Insomnia. Alyssa, Jeanette, and Michael were able to make it there. Jeanette is making progress with mastering dishcloths and Alyssa and Michael were busy at work on their socks. Me? I finished up block 16 on the Cascade Lizard Ridge and started block 17 - yea! Only three more blocks to go!

There is the nasty bit of the need to block them and then start seaming them into strips and then seaming the strips together before it is a complete blanket, but I have that firmly blocked out of my mind for now. ;^)

I took advantage of two things: it's not currently in use, or need to be in use, and I had my bottle of Eucalan out so Brandon's Basketweave Scarf:

received a soak in it. Not only does it make it clean, not that it was really dirty, but it is also supposed to have some 'softening' ability to scratchy wool items. It was made from Lamb's Pride Worsted so a 70% wool/30% mohair blend that felt soft to the touch. Apparently worn wrapped around the neck it also becomes slightly scratchy. This will hopefully fix that.

Currently, it's hanging across the garden bench to dry. I think it's windy enough and late enough in the day that the blue birds shouldn't leave any presents. Must remember to bring it in once its dark. I know we have squirrels in the neighborhood, but I'm not sure if they are like the 'wool stealing' ones that live in the Toronto area.

Now must remember where the mist bottle is hiding or procure one tomorrow so that I can 'mist' rather than 'soak' the blocks to be blocked.

I'd really like to buy at least two flats of raspberries for jam making, but they are going for an outrageous $30 a flat. Well raspberries aren't the only berry going for that rate, but still! I passed a lady today coming from the Hillsboro Farmers Market and asked her how much she paid for her flat (she also had two) and she said $30, so I went home and called Hoffman Farms and Smith Berry Barn to find out that was pretty much the going rate. I'll have to think about getting my raspberries now, or go for the September crop....

I also need some jam jars I think. There's also the apricot-habenero pepper jam (think jams like these, but why should I pay for them when I can make my own?) that I make, plus the peach-pepper jam, salsa that will also need jars. I've been giving them out as gifts but haven't seen the empty jars come back like I have in years past. They must not understand that they get more if they return the jars. ;^)

Last picture of the cotton dishcloths knitted this month. I had forgotten how sore they can make your arms while knitting them though....