A time to breathe again

Wednesday evening Brandon's dad, Harold and stepmom Debbie, drove up from the Bay area bringing along a sectional couch that didn't fit in their apartment for us to have. It's big for our living room but still allows a walkway in and we're enjoying having it now. We all went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill (last time we're eating there).

I found cards in the mail for $15 off to Stanford's and Newport Bay each, but they expired on Thursday. So we had the plan that Brandon would get his main dinner at Stanford's, I ate a nice bowl of French Onion soup and we'd then go over to Newport Bay and I'd get the main meal, since Brandon doesn't like seafood. Well on the drive over grandpa called and said that he wanted to take us out to buy a new washer and drier as a thank you for all that Brandon has done for him lately. So we ended up going to Stanford's then going to Judy's to meet up with them and then head over to Lowe's.

Spent a bit of time looking over the options and the sales person ended up suggesting two different machines but ended up going with the Maytag set with a 4.0 cu ft capacity washer and the 7.0 cu ft capacity drier. I really like the drying rack and the fact that you can have a wool sweater dry on it with no heat just air drying. Very cool. We'd also picked up William and since he hadn't eaten, headed over to Newport Bay where we both ate Halibut Fish & Chips while Brandon chatted with us.

Friday Will and I talked with the FA person at Rock Creek PCC and then he worked on his paperwork for it. I have it to drop it off on Monday for him. This is his last week of work and he's excited to have a few weeks of vacation time before classes start on the 22nd.

Brandon and I have done six years of volunteering for Hood to Coast. One year we have done a Saturday morning shift but we prefer doing night shifts. It's easier to stay up late and then go to bed then it is to get up really early and then work a shift. We had Will in the volunteering with us for a friend's team. Our shift this year though was 7:15am to 10:45am - not the best time of the day for me. ;^) We were also almost 13 miles west of the Columbia County Fairgrounds near St. Helen's. We got there later than planned because of slow moving race vans but it worked.

This year though after our shift instead of going home to bed and sleeping, we needed to head over to Columbia Park for a family reunion on Brandon's side of the family. It was nice seeing some of Brandon's side of the family that we don't always get to see, especially since Kari is pregnant. Food wasn't too bad and we didn't have to bring anything except drinks for ourselves, that we found out after we got there.

Kari and Todd's baby shower was Sunday, so another afternoon spent with family. Nice getting socialize again before Will headed out. Also more good food. This time no need to bring drinks. ;^)

Kari and Todd liked the burp cloths and baby quilt I made for Madeline (full name to be Madeline Yvonne):


The burp cloths were, one knitted and two flannel ones from the same material as the quilt. I think they both liked them. Kari also said that she hadn't gotten any burp cloths, so I'm going to make up a few more for her.

Now what to knit? I was going to start another hand towel, still may. Leaning towards a desire to do a pair of socks and then continue on holiday projects and finishing Sinuate and the Peace of Mind shawl. But tonight would probably be a better night for a hand towel that's easy cause I'm tired!

Nearer to a craft room!

Brandon today made my new craft table. He took the door that had been made into a desktop and cut it down to four feet long and then created the shelves at one end also doing double duty as legs. I have storage under the table other than just crates, I have one of those that will have the stuff stay in there for a while. The stuff that have been in bags though will go on the shelves. My cutting board (the huge three foot wide one) is on the top and I just need to move the sewing machine over to that table. I have a folding table that I'd gotten from Costco that I've been using a sewing table but it's wobbly. Moved a run that had been out in the garage for Brandon's D & D gaming into the craft area to break up the floor.

We're getting a new sectional from his dad and stepmom on Wednesday. They're bringing it up from the Bay Area because of a family reunion on Saturday. So my chair and a half that has been in the garage will come into my craft room for seating (reading or knitting without TV). Brandon will move the two couches out into the garage and balance furniture out there until we can decide what goes on Craigslist. He'll do the carpet cleaning (vacuuming, steamcleaner running) also while I finish getting the craft room presentable.

Tuesday is also the start of quilt construction. I have the plans in my head, have plenty of fabric to accomplish it, I don't even have to go get more thankfully. So sewing/cleaning/knitting/plying over the next few days. I may also try to sew up a few burp cloths from the flannel too.

I'd like the quilt done by Thursday so that the Insomnia group can see it before the shower (Alyssa said she hoped she could see it) and think that's a good plan. I also got the last of the Hydrangea spun up as a single. So need to ply that. I've been putting time back in with Bobbie Blue Falling Water Scarf too. Four repeats done so far and hopefully one more before bed. So this puts me at 75 or 80 percent done depending upon if I do 70 or 74 inches long.

Burp Cloths - surprisingly difficult sometimes....

I tried on Thursday to do the Burp cloth with the Plymouth Fantasy Naturale-Multi that I had picked up on sale Wednesday night at The Knitting Bee. I should have known that the multi-color wouldn't show up the details. It didn't, but I wasn't totally sure until I was all done, I can be a slow learner sometimes.


So I ended up frogging the whole thing and starting all over, but with a different project. One that wouldn't matter with the color changes:
Cool to see how the color pooled.

I started it Friday night after frogging the BURP cloth and then all day on Saturday. It made it bearable to being in the back of the car for the ride down and back to Salem for my dad's and stepmom's 40th anniversary celebration. I didn't finish it in the car but not to long after getting home.

After photographing it while the sun was still out but not visible on the pond waterfall rocks, Norbert came to supervise, I unpicked out the castoff for the Honeydew Happy Hour Hand Towel. I finished up that skein of yarn and debating a lace repeat on the Bobbie Blue Falling Water Scarf or starting the last ball of pre-drafted Hydrangea so that I can possibly ply on Monday or Tuesday. I do think that I'll try to make sure to let the last single sit overnight before plying this time though.



Monday will be homemade salsa day. We have a lot of Romas that are ripe so when we were at Winco I picked up some jalapenos and tomatillos. We have a few peppers ripening on their plants that will also join the mix. I also need to start work on the baby quilt for Keri's baby shower next Sunday. Really wished that I could have had more than a week and a half lead time before the shower!

Of course have the problem with the baby quilt is that the fabric is stuff that I over bought for another baby quilt and do I do something more than the simple blocks that I did for the last one or get fancy? I'm leaning towards a little fancier than the simple blocks but not by much. I think I'll need to also pick up some backing material, I'm all out of the cool yellow chenille that was used on the last one. Okay, technically the next to last one....


So I should spend sometime looking at designs. I shouldn't cast-on a new project. I have three that need to be finished. Of course two are scarfs and one is a shawl so they aren't quickies by any means! I'm not that far with Bobbie Blue, so that will get attention first.

Here's to a good productive week!