Lavendar Knits

No Sewing Happening!

2011-09-24T09:06:00.001-07:00

No sewing has been happening here. I think I'm afraid to, most things I make don't quite fit. I did start my Patternmaking class this last week, so I can't wait to get more information from that. I wish it was every day like the summer series. I'd already have a bodice/skirt sloper made and a start of probably the pants sloper!

We have had some changes in our family though. We added this gorgeous, sweet guy. He was brought into a shelter about an hour away from us, and they sent me an email letting me know he was there. I had signed up for several groups to find a cocker spaniel to adopt. His family gave him up because they had adopted several children from Russia. He was so shut down when we went to see him, but we brought him out and away from the shelter and he really opened up. His name has gone through several changes. When he was a pup in Missouri it was Waylin, out here with his other family, it was Braveheart, and we changed it to Gibson, or Gibs for short. He is fitting in quite well with our family and with Lily.

I've also finished two sweaters, but no pictures of them yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Fall Fashion Ideas 2011

2011-09-01T12:33:00.001-07:00

Fall Fashion Ideas 2011 by lavendarknits featuring belted shirts

Belted shirt
wallis.co.uk

Alexander McQueen sheer top
£1,120 - net-a-porter.com

Knit top
$80 - witchery.com.au

Oasis viscose shirt
£20 - oasis-stores.com

Old Navy jersey top
$10 - oldnavy.gap.com

Dorothy Perkins ruched top
£26 - dorothyperkins.com

Geren Ford purple top
$115 - bluefly.com

Monsoon knit top
£48 - monsoon.co.uk

Juicy Couture single breasted blazer
$278 - juicycouture.com

Alexander McQueen bootcut pants
€595 - luisaviaroma.com

Alexander McQueen crepe pants
£450 - harveynichols.com

Seven For All Mankind patch jeans
£170 - harveynichols.com

Day 8--Bad Habit

2011-06-08T11:51:00.001-07:00

Day 8--Bad Habit

Day 7--Fruit

2011-06-07T19:26:00.001-07:00

My dinner tonight.

Day 6--From a low angle

2011-06-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

Lily posing.

Day 5--From a high angle

2011-06-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

Looking down into the pond at Tillamook Forestry Center.

Day 4--Something Green

2011-06-04T21:35:00.001-07:00

Green fields.

Day 3 Clouds

2011-06-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Clouds of Angora

Day 2-What you wore today

2011-06-02T20:36:00.001-07:00

Flowers

Day 1-Self-Portrait

2011-06-01T17:13:00.001-07:00

30 Day Photography Challenge

2011-06-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

30 Day Photography Challenge: White Peach Photography

Day 1: Self-portrait

Day 2: What you wore today

Day 3: Clouds

Day 4: Something green

Day 5: From a high angle

Day 6: From a low angle

Day 7: Fruit

Day 8: A bad habit

Day 9: Someone you love

Day 10: Childhood Memory

Day 11: Something blue

Day 12: Sunset

Day 13: Yourself with 13 things

Day 14: Eyes

Day 15: Silhouette

Day 16: Long exposure

Day 17: Technology

Day 18: Your shoes

Day 19: Something orange

Day 20: Bokeh

Day 21: Faceless self-portrait

Day 22: Hands

Day 23: Sunflare

Day 24: Animal

Day 25: Something pink

Day 26: Close-up

Day 27: From a distance

Day 28: Flowers

Day 29: Black and white

Day 30: Self-portrait

Been Busy?

2011-05-15T16:33:00.001-07:00

I came home from Stitches West, crashed for a good 4 days and tried to get back into a schedule of sorts. It has not been easy. (that was 3 months ago and nothing has changed) The end of March we joined a 24 Hour Fitness and have been doing that at least 3 days a week, trying for 5 now. That has thrown my schedule way off as we don't get there until 10 and are there for several hours. And I won't talk about menus, those have been here and there.

On the other side, I got my first real paid tech editing job and am working on that now. I am thrilled to be putting into practice what I have learned from classes at Stitches West and from online classes through the community college.

Yesterday (and Wednesday afternoon) I took a fleece washing and dyeing class with Deb and Stevanie of PicoAccuardi Dyeworks. I spent Wednesday afternoon with Deb as she showed me how to wash this fleece in the washing machine. I brought it home and let it dry, and did more at home on Friday. I had about 18 oz to dye by the afternoon portion of class and I really liked the purple/lavender/mauve colorway that they have, called Oregon Berries. I am trying to replicate that with approximately 75% purple and 25% pinkish red. I need to pick through the fiber still and we will drum card it in a few weeks. I can't wait, I really want to get to spinning this up. It's from a Columbia Sheep at Imperial Stock Ranch. This is from the Sheep to Shawl or Sweater Club. I am planning on making a sweater, maybe a DK weight. I haven't fully decided yet and I may end up designing something myself as I haven't found a pattern I really want to knit. That may change though. :)

My fleece in the bag.

Fleece spread out so I can start picking through it to get out some of the poop and vm. I still have over half the fleece if not more even after dyeing up some of it. Each fleece was approximately 9 lbs.

Lily enjoyed sniffing it when I got home. She recognized the sheepy smell and wanted to bark at it too, like she does when she is herding.

Madder, a root used in natural dyeing.

Indigo dyeing.

Mine! I chose the acid dyeing as I wanted some different colors.

I learned a lot from this class this week. Thank you Deb and Stevanie!

Hmmm

2011-02-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

I was going to forgo the menus this week because it is going to be a super busy week. I am working several days, and I still need to get a bunch of stuff done around here before I leave on Wednesday morning of next week.

We'll see how many of these actually get made vs if everyone is on their own with cereal or popcorn. ;)

Tuesday - French Onion Soup (Kim's recipe)

Wednesday - homemade pizza, mostly veggies, maybe some turkey pepperoni

Thursday - Broiled Parmesan Fish, brussell sprouts or broccoli, ?

Friday - Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Saturday - Ham and Cheese Pasta Bake (turkey ham) (Christmas cookbook)

Sunday - Layered Mexican Lasagne

I'm still knitting, but mostly just on the afghan for my dad. I really want to get it done most of the way and blocked before I leave so all I have to do is sewing it together and the edging. I'd love to get a sweater done too, but I don't think that will be happening.

Menus January 30-February 5

2011-02-01T18:02:00.001-08:00

Ha, it would seem that I am now more than 2 days late for my dinner menus. They've been switched around so many times, it is driving me crazy. I like some order to things, and when someone springs something out of the ordinary on me, I tend to come unglued. Most of the time I can go with the flow, but lately I haven't been as easy to live with in regard to that.

Anyways, on to the dinner menus for this week

Sunday - Taco Salad, tortilla chips, seasoned ground beef, black beans and pinto beans, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, cheese, sour cream

Monday - Mediterranean style tuna noodle casserole

Tuesday - Baked Salmon, maple syrup carrots, spinach salad with mandarin oranges, pecans, blue cheese

Wednesday - Fried Chicken, sweet potato fries, steamed peas

Thursday - Peas and paneer curry, chana masala, rice

Friday - Moo Shu Vegetables, pan fried noodles

Saturday - Smashed potatoes, sauerkraut, sausages similar to this one

Pretty FO's

2011-01-31T22:10:00.001-08:00

Kim's February Fitted Pullover. She likes it a lot. :) I think the yarn is BFL a light worsted weight. She picked it out from a BMFA barn sale a few years ago. And I think there is enough for a cute matching beret.

I attempted a new cinnamon roll recipe on Friday. They were so sticky it was hard to get them into the pan.

However, they rose nicely and tasted good. I found out after eating them though that there is something in them that my mouth doesn't like. We think it might be the potato flour and potato starch. I am going to play around with other starches to substitute this out. Gluten free baking is not easy!!

I finished these on the weekend too. FiberTrends Felted Clogs by Bev Galeskas. They were super quick and easy really. I used leftovers of Cascade 220. I didn't have enough of one color to do the same on each sole, so decided they needed to be different colors. I'll eventually get to Home Depot and buy some rubber stuff to paint on the bottom so I can wear them outside to get the mail. I have a second pair I want to make it solid purple and a periwinkle/lavender.

I'll get menus put up tomorrow. We keep changing things around, so it's not quite done yet.

Menus January 23-29

2011-01-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

I've had two days out of the last week where I didn't feel absolutely like crap, so my menus are late, even though I had them done last week.

Sunday- Gluten free spaghetti with meat sauce, used ground buffalo and made sauce since most of them either have wheat or dairy in them.

Monday- Sushi, use smoked tuna, cream cheese, cucumbers, red bell peppers and rice.

Tuesday- Sniffle Stew, gluten free biscuits.

Wednesday- CP Apricot Turkey, brown rice, frozen mixed veggies.

Thursday- Gluten Free baked macaroni and cheese, Kim's version.

Friday- Baked Salmon with herbs, roasted red potatoes with dill and rosemary, green beans.

Saturday- Shepherd's Pie

I got Kim's February Lady Pullover done last night, but it's not blocked yet. She loves it! I also found a really cute beret using the same pattern to use up the rest of the yarn. I started my slippers for Stitches West today and they are so easy. I am almost done with one of them.

Menus January 16-22

2011-01-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

This time I printed out our fancy Menu Planner that has the days of the week, B, L, and D and on the back it has the grocery list with it divided out by store sections. Robert made it up for me back when we lived in Corvallis I think. I haven't used it in a while and because I am trying harder to not leave everyone to their own devices, I figured it was better to print it out and start now. It makes life a lot more organized.

Last week, we ended up not doing the BBQ chicken or the Beef and Broccoli. One of those days we decided leftovers were in store and the other day I can't remember what we had.

Sunday- beef fajitas with peppers, onions, mushrooms, corn tortillas, sour cream and chopped spinach

Monday- Leftovers from the weekend--mashed potato patties, steamed broccoli, CP Best Brussel Sprouts from More, Make it Fast, Cook it Slow. Pho noodle soup?

Tuesday- CP Pesto Minestrone Soup from More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, GF Corn bread

Wednesday- Turkey Lettuce Wraps like PF Changs does, roasted root vegetables. I found the Chicken Lettuce Wrap recipe years ago and have not tried it with turkey yet. Kim can't have chicken, and we will use GF soy sauce.

Thursday- Grilled Leg of Lamb, Greek Quinoa Salad, Hummus and chips, tzatziki sauce

Friday- Baked Potatoes, chili from freezer, swiss chard

Saturday- Spaghetti with meat sauce using ground buffalo, chopped salad

Any of these days could be swapped out for leftovers if there is too much stuff in the fridge or if we have other things come up.

I recently bought both cookbooks from the website A Year of Slow Cooking. It's easier for me to look at a cookbook than to try to search for things on her blog. That doesn't mean I will stop reading her blog.

Finished a Vest

2011-01-16T21:23:00.000-08:00

Nothing new here, knitting away all week, thinking of menu ideas now for the week. Will post those tomorrow.

I did finish the hooded vest as a test knit for Samantha Roshak. I went downtown Portland on Wednesday and found some clasps I am going to try on it. They are darker than the picture shows, they don't have the gleam on them.

It's hard to see the color here but it's a dark green with blue in it. Malabrigo worsted in Verde Azul. Oh, if you go to my Flickr account you can see both of the pictures I uploaded to Ravelry and see them bigger there to see the color a little bit better.

I am getting close to being down with Kim's pullover. I finished the front neckline this evening and have put the back stitches back on the needles and will finish that tomorrow. I still have sleeves to do, but we think we might do short sleeves, it depends on how much yarn we have left. It looks like half a ball at this point. We started with a full ball and made a good 3/4 of the sweater with it. I don't positively know what yarn it is, but it is a Blue Moon worsted, or dk.

Lily got a new toy this week. It's supposed to keep her mind busy trying to figure out how to get the squirrels (that look like chipmunks) out. She had fun with it the other night and was able to get one out. I see all three on the floor now, so need to stick them back in the stump for later. We are talking in both of them, but you don't need the sound on, we were mostly talking to Robert in the background. I'm loading the videos onto Flickr and it is sooooo slow getting them up.

This first one shows her playing with the stump, trying to figure it out.

This one shows her doing the same and finally getting one squirrel out.

Yesterday I made some yummy breakfast sausages from ground lamb, garlic, sage, salt and pepper. I see more of these in our future. They were easy and freeze nicely making a quick breakfast in the morning later.

I'm listening to a Sherlock Holme's book on tape. The Sign of the Four. I got two versions from the library, one is unabridged and not a super good narrator. The other one is an abridged version done by the BBC. I think that one will be better in forms of voices they will use. :) It is in preparation for a Victorian Writer's club package from Woolgirl. The first one is Sherlock Holmes. We (as a group) are reading a book from each author before that shipment. Should be fun.

Menu January 9-13

2011-01-10T22:31:00.001-08:00

This is what I have so far and it will be tweaked as we go along.

Sunday: Lentil soup and gluten free cornbread

Monday: Gluten free homemade pizza made from Pamela's All Purpose Flour, red sauce, turkey pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, red bell's and cheddar goat cheese, romaine salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and pistachio nuts

Tuesday: Broiled fish tacos(tilapia) with guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, corn tortillas, sour cream, grated cheese and salsa

Wednesday: BBQ baked chicken, risotto, brussel sprouts

Thursday: Beef & broccoli, rice

Lost

2011-01-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

I know, I have been non-existent here. I'm sorry. I've thought about blogging, then realize I really don't have much to say. I am going to try harder though.

We have had a lifestyle change at our house over the last two months. It's been hard, though not impossible. I don't remember if I said much when Kim went on an allergy friendly diet. She went gluten free, mostly dairy free, chicken egg free, and peanut free. There were some other things in there too, but these were the biggest ones. That was around Thanksgiving of 2009. She has done really well on this diet and rotating her foods through so she isn't eating the same thing every day. This last fall, the other three of us did an allergy panel as well and found that most of the same things we needed to avoid. Gluten, milk and chicken eggs. We did switch to duck eggs last year, mostly for Kim, but now two of us have found we can't tolerate them either. :( Eggs are such a great protein for us and this is hard to get rid of. If you look at any of the good breads that are out there in the gluten free world, there are eggs in them. We have been trying to make bread at home and just haven't gotten it right yet. Soon I hope. We really miss bread. Good protein breakfasts are hard now at our house since the eggs are out. Anyways, enough whining on that. I will try to post some recipes once in a while that we have found to be good. We did come up with the most awesome chocolate chip cookies that taste exactly like the ones we made before going gf. Today Kim is in the kitchen with some gf oats and I don't know what else. She's making something that I am sure will be tasty! She likes experimenting even if it fails.

On the knitting front, I've done quite a few things for the BSD (Beaverton School District) Yarnfest. It goes to help out the 1600+ homeless kids in our school district.

I've also been working on several sweaters. My Traveling Sweater that I started in Ireland is still only about 1/2 way done. I've got 3 other sweaters on needles as well. 2 for me and 1 for Kim. One is actually a test knit that I am almost done with. Deadline is Tuesday and I have to sew the pockets on, weave in a few ends and block it. It is a hooded vest/cardi for Knitquest. She has been designing a lot of sweaters lately and I love it!! Sam is a friend from the first year of BMFA Sock Camp. I joined a group on Ravelry called 12 in 2011. We are making our way through some of our stash, queue and patterns that we already have, so one of my sweaters in the February Lady Fitted Pullover for Kim. It is in an amazing green that will look good on her.

Other things I will be doing in regard to knitting, going to Stitches West in Santa Clara, California in February! I am taking three classes in hopes of preparing myself to do more tech editing of knitting patterns. Two of the classes are actually on tech editing and one is on designing your dream sweater. I actually have a drawing of a sweater I wanted to make several years ago and I think I have a picture of a sweater/vest that I saw in a store a couple of years ago. I am excited to go. I'm taking some extra time to spend before and after with my parents as well.

Oh, the other thing I am doing, I signed up for some writing classes through the Community Education at the local community college. Those start in about 10 days. I signed up for three classes, but they aren't all at the same time. They do overlap a few days on each one, but for the most part they will be by themselves. They are all online as well, so I don't have to commit to being "in" class every session.

Christmas 2010 of Kim and Lily. It almost matches last years picture.

Christmas 2009 Kim and Lily.

Image heavy post of Ireland and Scotland

2010-10-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

Loopy's first trip out of the US.

It was a long plane ride! First across the US to Atlanta, Georgia, then on to Dublin, Ireland.

Our first meal on Irish soil. Fish and chips. It was amazing! I wish the fish was served like this in the US, instead of small pieces.

Loopy's first tea.

Ha'penny Bridge

Crossing the River Liffey.

Our first Irish breakfast. Kim enjoyed these breakfasts, she did pretty good eating gluten and dairy free. We are sure she did get some stuff she couldn't eat, but overall she didn't react to them. (she didn't eat the toast or the eggs)

Jameson's Distillery, evening music, Irish dancing and yummy whisky and dinner.

Molly Malone in the middle of Dublin.

Robert and I got to go out for one coffee and scones by ourselves. :) It's a cute little restaurant called Queen of Tarts. We ate there a couple of times.

This was a fun place. The only brewpub in Dublin, The Porterhouse. They had some awesome brewed there beers and local ciders. Kim is drinking soda. Mine is a cider.

Loopy imbibing at The Porterhouse.

There are almost no Starbucks there, just small cafes. I think we were there for 4 days before we say this one. And no I didn't go in. I didn't travel across the world to go to a Starbucks!

Temple Bar, we didn't go there, it's super touristy, but we did go up and down this section of town a lot!

A cathedral up the road, I don't remember the name of it.

We wondered how many kegs of Guinness are gone through in one evening in Dublin. We asked at the Guinness factory, but never got an answer.

Guinness bottles through the years.

I drank nearly a full pint of Guinness, it is so different than in the US, it is much smoother.

Kim got sick with a bad cold about half way through Ireland, but we found an awesome cheesemonger and brought back cheese for a cheese party on her bed. We also found gluten free crackers for her. They were all sheep and goat cheeses.

A Scottish bagpiper in Ireland, waiting for his gig at the Dublin Castle.

Christchurch Cathedral, across the street from our hotel.

Street corner in Dublin.

The prop jet that took us to Scotland!

Pretty grounds as we were coming up to land.

The countryside in Scotland and Ireland both is very similar to Oregon! Lots of green and fields like the Willamette Valley.

Holyrood Palace, home to the Queen during summer holidays.

The Hermitage, a lot like the woods in Oregon!

This is only a small portion of the pictures we took on our trip! It was a great time for our family, though we were very grateful to be back home where there was fresh fruit and vegetables.

Making Grandma Proud

2010-08-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Note: very short post.

Grandma, you would be proud of us, we traveled overseas for the first time. Had a great time and I thought of you. I miss you lots, and remember you through my spoon collection and our picures. Thank you for the fond memories.

Airthrey Loch at Sunset (University of Stirling, Scotland)

UGGHHH!

2010-04-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

I keep thinking I'm going to come back here each week and blog. Yah right! Life gets in the way though. And puppies too.

Knitting is coming along slowly as ever! I take it everywhere with me but it's still slow.

We had prom last Sunday night. Kim had a blast getting ready, helping Caroline get ready and just having fun with friends.

Happy Birthday Baby

2010-03-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

My baby is Sweet 16 today.

(and never been kissed ;) )

It's been a good 16 years.

Happy Birthday Sweetie.

I hope it's a good one for you.

Camera Mishap

2010-02-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

Agh! I can't find my camera. I finished my Olympic vest on Thursday, cast on for Kim's, but there's no way I am going to get it done. I had a store sample to knit with a deadline of this weekend as well, so that got in my way of knitting as well as a puppy that needed me too. :)

I did finish some other things before the Olympics started and got pictures of them last week before losing the camera.

This is the Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf from IK Fall 2008. Yarn is ShibuiKnits in MerinoAlpaca. It is really nice to knit with. The scarf has pockets too. :)

This is the store sample that I knit. Harmonia's Ring Cowl by Sivia Harding. Yarn is Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein. It was a fun knit and one I would make again. Of course I had to include some Lily pictures here too. She is such a fun pup. She's been meeting lots of new dogs this weekend, good for her since she has a fear of big dogs.

Knitting Olympics

2010-02-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

I have committed myself to the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics this year. I LOVE the Knitty Surprise that came out yesterday. Roobois. I have yarn for one for myself and one for Kim. I need to wind it so I can start tonight or at least do a swatch. I also have a sample knit for Woolgirl that I need to finish by February 28. It's not a hard knit, but the beginning was time consuming. It's a Harmonia's Ring Cowl, and the cast on is a Moebius Cast On. I've never done a Moebius before though I think it is really cool.

I've finished two things. The Central Park Hoody that I finished in September now has buttons and crochet loops! No pictures of it yet. I also finished a Hooded Scarf for Kim. I really need to take a bunch of photos of different projects to update my Ravelry page.

Lily is growing every day. She is now up to 8 pounds. She has had both the Parvo shot and the Distemper shot and her titer came back showing she is now immune. We start puppy school on the 22nd of this month. All four of us will be going so we can all learn the same things.

This was two weeks ago. She loves the PB in the Kong. It's a special treat for once in a while.

I asked my dad if he had any pictures on his computer of our dog Queenie. My dad and brother got her from the pound the Christmas that I was 13. I took a trip with my cousins that Christmas, and Mike got the dog for Christmas. She was the best dog ever. The vet thought she was purebred Australian Shepherd, but there were no papers for her. I took this picture of her on a trip to Yosemite National Park. I think it was the summer after I graduated from high school.

RIP Panda

2010-01-20T21:10:00.001-08:00

Summer 2000-January 19, 2010.

Panda was adopted by us in January of 2001. He was approximately 7-8 months old at the time. A kitten really. He was a street kitty, though he wasn't feral. He was mostly aloof but he would play with us and ask for chin scritches. In the past couple of months when he became ill he became quite cuddly with me, spending a lot of time in my lap or on the arm or headrest of my chair. In the last week, he became aloof again and wanting to go outside more. He was an indoor kitty, with supervised visits to the great outdoors so this was unusual for him. He loved the wood stove during the winter and would curl up in front of it to stay warm. Yesterday about a half hour before we took him for his last vet visit, he came and hoped into my lap for one last snuggle. I think he knew we weren't going to let him suffer anymore. Panda, I miss you so much, but I know you are feeling much better now.

I have a project

2009-12-13T12:52:00.001-08:00

I have a project I would love help on. An acquaintance on my holiday year long knitting group on Ravelry is a teacher in Michigan. Most of her students qualify for free or reduced fee lunches. During the winter they can not go outside unless they have a hat and gloves/mittens. Because they are low income it is the last thing on their parents minds to buy. I would love to help her out with some mittens and gloves. I will be making gloves for next years class, however, this year they have nothing and there really isn't a lot of time to get them, so I am headed out to do some shopping for some of those magic gloves and some hats. Usually the dollar store has those kinds of things and sometimes even in sets. Do you want to help me out? I'd love it if you wanted to either buy or knit something for these kids. They are 2nd graders, so about 6 or 7 years old. Let me know here in the comments or you can send me an email to mommy_birdto2 at hotmail dot com. Thanks. :)

Puppy News

2009-11-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

We got the call this weekend that Lily was ready to be picked up any time. Kim has had the flu for over a week and we hadn't gotten out to see Lily for almost 2 weeks now. Kim's fever finally went away on Saturday night and Sunday we decided that if she continued this trend of feeling better, we could go pick up Lily on Monday. So, today we traipsed out to Beavercreek and brought her back home. It is an hour drive one way, and she cried most of the way back home. I'm not sure if it was because it was a new experience of going in the car, or if it was leaving everything she knew, but it was awfully sad. She's been a good little puppy at our house so far, two minor accidents, one caused by excitement. We've gotten her outside for all the other needs so far. Kim will be up with her in the night if she needs to go out. I'll take over first thing in the am, then Kim gets her after she wakes up. She's such a sweet puppy so far. I'll try to get some video of her trying to antagonize Panda the cat. It is really cute and funny. The cat doesn't seem to be too bothered by her yet. I did put some pictures and video up on Flickr. The videos are still loading right now, but should be up soon. Tomorrow we head to the vet for a well puppy visit and to talk about how we want to do vaccines.

Pretty and Cute Overload

2009-10-18T21:00:00.001-07:00

I love the Fall. Cooler weather, rain, and the changing colors. Kim and I went out to Sauvie Island one day last week. We brought home a pumpkin to try our hand at cooking it and making pie. I got it cooked up, but was gone all weekend so the pie hasn't been made. Tomorrow, we will have pumpkin pie.

The trees in our neighborhood are spectacular. We went for a drive way out in the country today and saw more beautiful trees, but didn't get pictures of them, we got other pictures instead, which you will see below the trees. :)

Around December 6, this little gal will come home to live with us and be Kim's dog. She is a Red Merle Mini-Australian Shepherd. Kim is stuck on a name. She thought she wanted a dog name Guienevere (or however it is spelled), but when Kim say her pink nose, she thinks Rose might fit better. We have 6 weeks to come up with something that will fit this little one. We will be going out to see her again in two weeks, then a couple of more times after that.

The puppies in the basket are a few weeks older from a different litter. Cute, but not exactly what Kim wanted.

John took a liking to her sister sibling. If only we could afford two purebreds right now.

Thank you from my dad

2009-10-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

I talked to my dad tonight on the phone. He is extremely appreciative and wants to thank all of you for saying prayers for him and sending good thoughts. Thank you! He is doing well at home, eating more, navigating the house with either his cane or walker. He sounded good. I couldn't hear his lip "lisp" when talking to him, but did notice it on the message machine earlier. I am so glad he is home and doing well. They are still limiting visitors because it just wears him out. He wants to go to church this weekend, but I told him he needs to be really careful, especially with all the colds and flu out there. And my mom has to play the service so she can't keep an eye on him and keep folks from wearing him out. I advised him not to go this time, but I am sure he will be there anyways. ;)

Another Dad Update!!

2009-10-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

Woohoo, Dad's going home tomorrow. He is walking by himself and navigating stairs. Hopefully he will be home in time for lunch. Thursday he sees his regular neurologist and maybe they can figure out what's going on with his lip and if it is Bell's Palsy or not. Thank you so much for all of the prayers and good thoughts. Now I almost wish we lived in CA so I could be closer to help out more.

Dad Update

2009-09-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

So, they didn't release him on Friday, actually a good thing! The x-ray that showed no broken hip made them look further and do a different scan that showed a muscle bleed on his right side. They gave a unit of blood last night to replace what he lost and he is now doing much, much better. They moved him to a rehab center today. It's one of the best in the area, has a pool, etc. He is looking forward to being home after this event. It's going to be a lot of work, but we think he's ready for it now. He was up walking on his own more today, with just a wheelchair behind him in case he needed it. Thank you for all of the prayers and thoughts, please keep them coming though.

Oh another thing they found out on Friday. His insurance covers 100 days in the rehab facility with no co-pay! I think after the 100 days, it's $100/day.

2nd update of the day

2009-09-24T19:11:00.001-07:00

I just found out that they will probably be releasing him tomorrow, he will go into skilled nursing, he walked 300 yds today with the help of a walker and practiced getting in and out of bed! The x-ray came back negative for any breaks, so likely a bruised bone, which hurts just as bad. Woohoo! There is still talk of building a new front porch with a ramp, which would be good anyways.

Update on my dad

2009-09-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting. I was without an internet access for several days and then we headed home. On Sunday evening/Monday morning, dad did an about face. He has really improved a lot. Maybe it was some of the medications for pain that they took him off of that helped. His breathing is better, his kidneys have started function better, not perfect yet, but better. His mental state is much improved, at least mostly back to where it was, unless he is really tired. They are talking about releasing him, no date yet, he needs to improve a bit more. He has not had enough physical therapy to be up yet. He will likely be released into a skilled nursing facility with rehab. He may be hooked up to several things when he is released as well. If they can get his mobility back, he will eventually go back home, but he needs to be able to navigate 6 stair steps that are fairly high. Mom also has some personal contacts who do home health care and cooking and cleaning. I want a cleaner in there before he comes home!

My brother came down on Monday and never saw dad at his worst, but saw him at the turn around point. He helped me drive back home yesterday. It was a very long day, but we are glad to be home again.

I have lots to do here to clean up from just unloading everything last night. Thank goodness for days off and a fiber festival this weekend.

Some pictures

2009-09-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

Kim took these two pictures of Lake Shasta. There was a section before this, where you could look down to see the water, and there was no water! Shasta Lake is always low it seems, but this year it looks like the lowest we have ever seen it. Granted, we usually see it earlier in the year and now we are at the end of summer.

This mural is at the entrance to the Cardiac Unit of the Kaiser Hospital. It is really cool! Dad's not in this unit right now, but we come out of the elevators and the first thing we see is this. I want to go there. :)

Especially with the Poppies, Lupine and Indian Paintbrush.

My dad

2009-09-19T09:21:00.001-07:00

The kids and I made the drive to San Jose on Wednesday and Thursday. We are staying in a nice hotel that serves us a good breakfast! A shopping center with all kinds of restaurants and a Safeway is in the same complex. It takes us 15-20 minutes to get to the hospital depending on traffic.

Dad has had ups and downs this week, with last night starting a down ward spiral. He hasn't pulled out of it this morning and we are waiting to hear what is going on. It doesn't look good at this point. If he does buck up, he will not be going back home, but into a skilled nursing facility aka nursing home. I HATE nursing homes and I hate to do this, but mom can not care for him anymore.

I have dozed a little bit each night we have been on the road and here, so I am exhausted and near tears all the time. I am going to try some Benedryl tonight to see if I can at least get a little bit of sleep. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers, especially John as he seems to have a migraine today. I think he woke up with it. We still have over an hour before we pick up Robert at the airport. I need him and he's only here for about 24 hours.

A couple of finished items

2009-09-12T17:21:00.001-07:00

I started this Hoodie last year around the end of September, got the back done, one of the fronts and started the second front. I put it down to do some Christmas knitting and didn't get back to it until March or so. I thought I would get it done fairly quickly, but you know how life gets in the way. I finished sewing the seams earlier this week. It is very comfy and toasty. I need to find buttons for it, and I plan to do some little crochet closures. I also need to block it quite a bit. It is a snug fit and could be longer. I made the 40" size too and was good on gauge. I think it makes an excellent Fall cardigan.

Specs: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky
Yarn: Alpaca With a Twist--Highlander
Colorway: It must be a number, but it is a rich dark chocolate brown with cream flecks.
Needles: US size 4 for my loose gauge.

I hadn't made a Clapotis yet, and upon freezing at the convention center during Sock Summit, I realized I needed a wrap of some kind for future events.

Specs: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Silkie Socks That Rock
Colorway: Blech
Needles: US 6

I've been busy canning more stuff in the last couple of weeks. Tons of peaches, peach jam, spiced peach jam, peach chipotle sauce, apricot jam, apricot chipotle sauce, salsa, dilly beans, picked Elderberries and made a large jar of syrup for cold and flu season and froze 5 qts for later use.

Now, I'm working on a cute lace pair of socks for Kim. I've never knit with Cherry Tree Hill. I like it, but the tiny needles are killing my wrists so I don't knit on them for too long.

Please keep my mom and dad in your thoughts and prayers. Dad is in the hospital again, possibly with a heart related issue, we aren't sure yet. I may end up driving the kids and myself down this week to see grandpa, as John starts classes next week and won't be able to get away until Christmas. He hasn't seen grandpa in over a year so it's past time!

Life has been busy lately........

2009-08-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

I was involved with working Sock Summit 09! What an experience that was, in a good way of course.(Well, maybe not the exhaustion) I got to see so many friends from all over the US, and meet many more new friends from all over the world! It was an experience well worth it.

Other than that I really haven't had any time for knitting. I've been doing a little bit of spinning, but only at our spinning group. Two of my recent finished spinning objects are Musique based of the painting by that name. It is from the Zen Yarn Garden and her Fibre Club.

and Spring Mix a BFL fiber from Stitch Jones. She's a local that I buy yarn and fiber from once in a while. She'll actually bring her products to our spinning or knitting groups, which I love!

I've also been doing a fair amount of sewing, right before the SS09. Specifically for the Sock Hop that happened one evening. I left my camera in our booth at SS, so didn't get any pics of Kim and myself. :( We still need to do a photo shoot for those outfits. Mine was a 1954 Vintage Vogue Pattern. Lovely blue roses. Kim wore a pink poodle skirt with a black poodle. She did all of the extra embellishments on the poodle, collar, bow, leash. She had a great time dancing the night away too. :) One of our friends from Vancouver, BC was there with her boyfriend, and he loves to dance, so Kim had a great dance partner to practice her ballroom moves with. Seriously, Angela, thank you for letting Doug dance with her. :)

The other thing I've really been enjoying are these tomatoes!

4 lbs of tomatoes came home with me from our CSA share this week, as well as cucumbers and 2 large bags of basil. So here we have at least 4 kinds of tomatoes, I know one is Brandywine, the others are orange and yellow and a regular red one; some lemon cucumber, slivers of fresh basil, slivers of red onion, fresh cubed mozzarella, some garlic, a couple of dashes of Balsamic Vinaigrette and some salt and pepper. Yummy!

The only other thing to share right now is this really cool mug that followed me home from SS09. JenniethePotter!

Thank you Anonymous

2009-06-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

I just saw your response to my request for natural migraine help. I do think some of my migraines are from allergies. Some years I tend to get them more during high pollen times, though my biggest allergen is grass seed, but don't seem to have migraine problems then. I have found that if I keep my allergies in check, I don't have as many. So, thank you for the reminder. :)

What I've been up to lately

2009-06-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for Father's Day. Strawberry jam too, but no pictures of it.

Sewing classes for me. A flannel robe.

An apron.

And some cotton pajamas.

Knitting has been happening, but no finishing.

3/50

2009-06-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

This sounds like a really cool project. Click on the badge and check it out. Will be back later to show off some other cool things.

Pay no attention to the sweater behind the curtain

2009-04-06T15:16:00.001-07:00

The February Lady Sweater in that last post. I am going to rip it out. I don't like how the sleeves pooch out mid way in the garter section. If I rip back to just a couple of rows after the increases, I should be better off. I am going to wait until I see some of my knitting friends on Wednesday, I think. I see some other ones this afternoon, so I may ask them what they think and start it sooner. I'm bummed, but I really enjoy knitting this sweater so it's not too horribly bad. ;)

Amiss

2009-04-05T15:56:00.001-07:00

According to my daughter I need to blog more. I think about it quite often and even compose blog posts in my mind. I just never get further than that. Today I'll just say that I am fighting another cold/cough and show you some FO's.

This is my Lovey Helena. It is a pattern from Knitty.com. It is done in Heavyweight STR in the colorway Love. It is probably a size 18 months. It will be headed to my cousins house this week as her littlest one is having a 1st birthday pretty soon. :) If you can't tell, it has picot cuffs around the sleeves and bottom hem. So cute!

Leyburns that I knit for Kim out of some Zen String Serendipity Sportweight, colorway is Chocolate Cherries. It took me way to long to knit these for her! I try to customize socks to feet and it's more difficult if they aren't my own feet. As you can tell, it's sunny here today. Wonderful, except for the stuffy/runny nose that accompanies nice weather. :)

My second February Lady Sweater. This one in Woobu from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, colorway is Atomic Six. I just need to do some buttonloops and sew on the buttons I bought while we were in downtown in March. With the sun and warmth today, it should dry fairly quickly.

I have one more February Lady Sweater to make and it will be for Kim. It is in a lovely green, like grass. She found the yarn at the Blue Moon Sale in December.

What's In Your Basket O Shame?

2009-03-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Over at Honey and Ollie, Rainy posted a KAL of sorts to finish those projects that have been hanging out for way too long in the knitting basket. Go check out her rules and join us. Let me know what's in your Basket O Shame!

Oh, just so you know, I did not include any of my current projects that I am enjoying like the February Lady Sweater, Kim's Leyburns, and my Central Park Hoodie. Ok, I may not be enjoying two of those, but they are currently being worked on. :)

In my basket of shame at the very top!! is an afghan I started for my husband many years ago when I started back to knitting. He keeps asking about it.

1. Afghan for Robert

2. Chevron Scarf

3. Pirate’s Booty Sweater

4. Knee Hi to a Grasshopper

5. Icelandic Lace Shawl

6. Fingerless gloves started for Robert last year in March

7. 4 seasons afghan that just needs seaming!

8. Aran Afghan KAL that has two out of 20 or so blocks done

9. Mystery Stole #2 I think it is. It is the Scheherazade Stole.

I think that it is it with the shameful ones.

Kim's Day

2009-03-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Kim's birthday yesterday with lunch out at PF Chang's. We love their Lettuce Chicken Wraps, and have used this recipe at home to recreate when we feel like it. It's the only recipe I have tried and I think it is actually pretty close to the original if not better. Oh, and just so you know, PF Chang's at least over on this side of town is not real busy on a Saturday afternoon!!

We came back home and gave Kim presents.

Two skeins of Stitchjones Sock Yarn. One is the Glam kind with silver sparkles in it. And the other regular sock yarn. The Glam colorway is Garnet and the other is Twisted Sister.

The Twilight Series on audio. (It's for me too, since I've only read the first book. ;))

A ring that she has had her eye on since last year. It has crosses on the outside and on the inside it says, "Guide me waking, Guard me sleeping."

She made her own cake as she wanted to experiment with frosting and fillings. She made a plain vanilla cake and used a can and a half of chocolate cream cheese frosting. For a filling she melted chocolate chips and a chunk of other chocolate and spread it in between the two layers. It hardened up so it was like a chocolate candy bar in between. It was very yummy!!

Happy Birthday my young lady. One more year till your license.

Happy Anniversary

2009-03-06T11:39:00.001-08:00

Carrot cake with a pineapple flower and beer brittle. Definitely worthy of an anniversary cake.

The Steel Bridge.

Made in Oregon sign.

Our deck.

Our private hot tub.

Wild skin(terry cloth) robes in our room.

New rings that were originally a Christmas present, came in time for an anniversary.
My beloved is Mine & I am His/Hers.

A beautiful box.....

with a beautiful gift, from my sweetheart. Bought because they match my eyes. (He's a keeper)

Buttons for a new sweater.

Lots of fun wandering in downtown Portland over the last two days. My legs hurt now, from walking so much. :)

Oops

2009-02-07T12:18:00.000-08:00

I did mean to come back sooner and time got away from me.

When I went out to take these pictures, they weren't in full sun, it was shaded. However the sun was shining brilliantly. I was getting pictures that were full of white because of the sun. Over exposure I think. I also wanted to play with the macro settings and once I started with that, I found that I could control some other settings that filtered out the extra light. These are the final results.

Wow! No substance......

2009-02-04T12:00:00.001-08:00

I just took a look at my blog for the last couple of months. What a bunch of hoooey. There's been no substance at all. Ok, so the snow posts and Kim posts are important to me. But, there's been not a lot of knitting going onto the blog. I wondered about that when I joined Ravelry well over a year ago. Ravelry has stolen all of my knitting. In fact, Kim has gotten after me to blog more. So, now I need to go find some pictures of what I have finished in the past month or so.

This is the Leaflet Scarf and Mitts by Anne Hanson of Knitspot. It is for my ISE7 pal. I found online a sportweight from Miss Babs. Love it!! This colorway is called Ironweed and I bought a total of 5 skeins. I used 2 full skeins and a few yards of the 3rd one, so I have almost 3 left. I am thinking Spiraluscious and the mitts to go with them, also by Anne Hanson.

Some spinning I did in January. It was 4 oz of Alpaca, Merino, Silk from Abstract Fibers. I picked it up at OFFF last September. It was heavenly to spin with and I don't think I have shared it with you here. I think I am going to make some bulky mitts with it, or maybe mittens.

In January we went to the coast. Newport to be exact. We went to the Aquarium and the Marine Science Center. Oh and the beach as it was something like a -2 low tide. It was pretty awesome!! We are going back in June for another low tide and camping.

Tomorrow or so I should be back with some Spring pictures, just as the weather changes again. I found crocuses in the yard this week and got some neat pictures of them. Just need to get the pictures onto the computer.

Which Sports Car Are You?

2008-12-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

I'm a Mercedes SLK!

You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality - wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun - who could ask for more?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

My favorite part of the Muppet Christmas Carol. Have a blessed day.

More Winter Wonderland

2008-12-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

Original isn't it!?

Today we chained up and headed to downtown Portland for the OBT's The Nutcracker.

The roads were interesting...........some areas bare and dry, other areas with snow wafting across it and still other areas of drifts. In downtown, the main roads we were on had not been plowed.

185th, just up the street from where we live.

Entrancing onto Hwy 26.

Downtown Portland, just exiting onto Market Street.

PSU looks lovely in white. This was just a quick photo opportunity, so it's not the best.

Robert had to pull over while we were still in Portland before heading home, to clear the ice off of the windshield wipers. This church was our view.

On the way home it was getting worse, with visibility about 100 feet or so at some points. Kim has decided she doesn't like riding with chains on. I think it upsets her tummy too much.

I think we are content to stay home now.

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-14T11:20:00.001-08:00

Chipmunk Cheeks Redux

2008-12-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Deja vu. I think Kim actually looks worse than John did last year. I didn't take pix of John last year because I didn't want to embarrass him. Kim, however is my ham, and said she'd be disappointed if I didn't blog about it. It's mostly one-sided as you can see from the picture below. That's today. Yesterday she was drugged up and peeved at every one at the oral surgeon's office. She spent the majority of yesterday and today in her recliner. Though she is definitely more bored today.

She's been eating lots of homemade pudding, applesauce, we even tried rice pudding, but it was too much for her mouth to take. Today she tried some chicken soup with veggies and a smooshed up veggie hot dog. She was craving more substantial food, including meat that she normally doesn't like. I am hoping that the cold packs will help with the swelling soon. She's been using them most of the day.

I know my knits are appreciated when they are worn out in spots. Both thumbs and at least one pointer finger needed to be redone. I think he may have caught them on something.

These..........

became these again. I got them sent right back to the recipient, he should have gotten them today.

Podcasts and Christmas Stories

2008-12-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently started a podcast, "At the Kitchen Table". She lives up near Mt. Hood, has some acreage, with Pygora goats, Angora rabbits, and other small poultry. Episode 1 and 3 are up, she lost episode 2 to sound issues. BUT, her sound quality is excellent for a new podcast. In episode 3, which I just finished listening to, she mentioned a holiday favorite of hers. "The Cinnamon Bear" radio story. I found a blog that posts it every year. So, here is the blog to download the mp3 of "The Cinnamon Bear". If you can, take some time to listen to Deb's podcast, "At the Kitchen Table." I feel like Deb and I are having a cup of coffee together and visiting!!

Not much happening here

2008-12-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much to blog about lately. Dad was in the hospital for a week. He's not doing to well. His heart is wearing out. Kim is supposed to get her wisdom teeth out this week, but we keep getting a last minute call saying the doctor isn't in. (He had some kind of surgery and hasn't bounce back like they thought) I've been knitting, but it's all Christmas presents and I'm not done with them yet. I did get a pair of socks done, but forgot to take a picture before gifting them. Maybe next week I can get a picture of them on the intended recipient. Hmm, oh Robert's mom is out here for the next week visiting all of us kids. We had her for the weekend, now she's down in Eugene visiting another kiddo, and will go up to Seattle in a day or two to visit two other kids. When we took her to Eugene yesterday we had a mini-family reunion with 3 of the other siblings, nieces and nephews and great niece and great nephew. I put the pictures up on my flickr site. I got a really cute video of John holding the baby too. :) Another set there is the BMFA Destash Sale that was this last weekend as well. I took mil and Kim and both had a good time. Now I need to recuperate and catch up on some more knitting.

Kim holding her little cousin Leela. This is Robert's great-niece. She looks just like her momma at that age.

Can't Blog Right Now

2008-11-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry can't come to the blog right now, I'm watching too many of these.

Kim's getting some of their CD's and DVD for Christmas. Do you think Santa would bring me one of them for real?

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T10:08:00.001-07:00

What a week!

2008-10-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, here it is Thursday night. It's been one incredible week. Last week I got a package in the mail that I didn't share with you. It was from Luxembourg! But, I kept this package mostly closed up because it was a birthday present. It was from a secret swap so I didn't know what it was at first. When I opened it, I read the card before anything else. In the card it did say there was something for Kim, so I let her open that. Today I opened the rest of the package. I have now entered the 40's. I am looking forward to it much more than I did when I turned 30.

Yummy lavender yarn, Belgium Truffles, and a collector's spoon. And of course the felted Phantom for Kim.

Other things that came today for my birthday: many birthday wishes on Ravelry, a singing phone call from my co-workers! And this was from them too. Thank you gals!!

The black ones are grapes, and the other larger brown ones are chocolate covered strawberries. Some of the flower pineapple pieces have cantaloupe balls on them. It is yummy!! We went out for a big lunch today, so this was just the right thing for a snack for dinner tonight.

My family gave me a new watch. I can't get a good picture of it. It is Black Hills Gold, and the outer edge of the clock face has butterflies on it. There is also a butterfly on the face.

Slippers with cables and pompoms, and Halloween socks. Now, I like the slippers and need a new pair, but the socks? I am not a fan of orange, but I will wear them next Friday night. :)

Knitting projects that were finished this week?

We found the ears and a tail that match the red in the yarn, at Party City. We got lucky as we didn't have the armwarmers with us to match them up. She also has a black cat collar with bells on it. She still needs to make her corset, probably a Friday night or Saturday night job as the dance she is going to is on this Sunday night!

Fingerless Gloves

2008-10-20T13:05:00.001-07:00

I got a great package in the mail today!! It contained a pair of fingerless lace and cabled gloves made just for me. It was part of a Fall Fingerless Glove Swap. Thank you Readingknitter01 for these great gloves and all the other little goodies!!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

2008-10-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have to share a short video with you. This last weekend I went to the Women of Faith conference here in Portland. Kim did not go with me because she was concerned she would have to leave early and it would ruin it for both of us. I got home Saturday night and we were listening to a new CD I bought at the conference. Nicole C Mullen. LOVE HER! And love the fact that my babydoll is dancing again.

Yesterday we went to the Naturopath again. She had the results from a saliva test that she had Kim do about two weeks ago. Kim's hormone's are whacked! We are going to start out slowly adding certain supplements to help her get back to normal. Cortisol is one hormone that Kim does not produce enough of during the right times of the day. It can affect sleep, and how you handle stress. Progesterone is another one that was under the limits that they like to see in her age. The cortisol supplement we start now, the progesterone after the weekend. There will be some other hormones added probably next month, but for now we start this. Kim has been sleeping somewhat better with the help of the Ashwagandha. YEAH! Over the past two weeks, there has been a visible difference in Kim. She is singing again, smiling more, and definitely dancing more! I was able to get her out of the house on Friday to do several errands with me, then we came home and made up a bunch of picnic food for our group that was attending Women of Faith. We tailgated for lunch on Saturday. Kim had a great time helping me. Sunday we went for lunch for celebrate Robert's birthday. I hope this is the beginning of her feeling better.

I have been knitting. I finally finished a pair of swap gloves. I need more practice at this type of knitting. It is not fair isle and the name is eluding me now. Intarsia, that's it. Robert thinks it looks cool as it makes the picture stand out more. I need to send it off later today or tomorrow as it is already a week late.

It's about time

2008-10-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

It's been OVER a month, so Linda goes and awards me this:

maybe in hopes I will be posting soon?

Here are the rules for the award recipients:

1. Please put the award on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.

4. Add links to the recipients.

5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Please stop by to check out these four blogs I love:

Purls Beyond Price Nathania from sock camp and her precious baby girl.

Magpie Ima Her kids, homeschooling, work and knitting.

Sanna's Bag Knitting, kitties and writing.

Deb on the Web New farm life, knitting, soon baby bunnies.

I know, I know

2008-08-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks. I've been slacking, even though I keep thinking about blogging. Nothing exciting has happened over the last couple of weeks. It's nice that everything is flowing along.

I finished my Lady Grey. I love this sweater!! I like all of the sweaters I have made, even if they fit me funny. This one though I really love, which is why I am making another one.

Monday we took a trip to the cardiologist for John's yearly checkup. All the tests show that his heart is doing good. Possibly even better than last year. If you remember, last year we had a minor freakage because his murmur had become audible. The doctor said J could go for 3-4 years in between check ups. Woohoo! Friday we see Kim's GI doc again and since she isn't feeling better we are going to push for some other tests.

Tonight we are off to the state fair to see Garrison Keillor and his Rhubard Tour.

Beer

2008-08-10T20:02:00.001-07:00

My beer as of today. It is bubbling along nicely. :)

Today's Scoop from the market

2008-08-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Fresh and local strawberries and blueberries.

Squash for grilling with onions, mushrooms, and sausage. YUM!

Maryhill Peaches

Maryhill Nectarines
The peaches taste have a hint of coconut.

Yummy dessert.

A Day in Pictures

2008-08-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

With a few captions.

A batch of beer made just this morning. It will sit in this fermenter for about 3-4 weeks. This beer will be for my birthday. It is a dark porter and will need a good name. :)

I got a great book in the mail today and we made pretzels from it.

Last, but not least, cinnamon rolls for tomorrow morning or tonight's dessert.

Ooops

2008-07-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

I just dropped $$$$ for one of these. :) Actually mine will be slightly used, and was less than the asking price. Fortunately it's my play $$.

Super Fun!

2008-07-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

Robert and I spent the weekend together! Yes the kids were around, but everything we did was for us. This weekend is the annual Oregon Brewer's Festival. We attend it every year. I have been looking forward to this weekend for the last month because I knew I would be able to spend time with Robert.

We started Friday morning with picking two flats of blueberries. We ate at least half of one flat and froze the other flat and a half. Then we came home and got ready to go to the festival where we met up with Triners, a knitter visiting from California. We had a great time sitting with her, drinking beer, eating pretzels, blueberries and knitting on our socks. I think we left around 4:30 or so as it was getting rowdy and crowded. (Robert had also been on Thursday, but I had other stuff happening)

We went back on Saturday by noon so we got in about 4 or 5 more beers before it got too crowded for us. Just so you know, we tried samples, not full glasses. I think the sample is a couple of ounces.

Robert made pretzels when we got home. They were really good fresh, not so much today.

Today we hit the farmer's market to see what they had. We bought fresh basil, green onions, one zucchini and one yellow crookneck. The basil is for pizza tomorrow night, with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. YUM! We also did some other shopping like Costco and the regular grocery store. It's been really nice to just hang out with him this weekend.

When we got home Robert made burgers for our late lunch, and I put basil, tomatoes and feta cheese on mine. Oh it was good. Then he made cinnamon rolls, carmel popcorn and I think he's thinking about something chocolatey like fudge or brownies. I love it when he gets in this cooking/baking mood! That's probably where I have gained all the excess this year.

Yesterday while we were downtown Portland, we hiked from the lightrail to PPAC. A couple of months ago we happened to see that "The Phantom of the Opera" was coming to town. This is Kim's absolute favorite musical. She doesn't know it's coming to town. She is going to be so excited. We aren't going to tell her until a few days before. Our tickets are for the first week of September, and they looked like really good seats too!!! I am excited because I know she's going to be excited!! Ok, I was able to tell a secret without bursting!

We saw some monkey mayhem while we were downtown. It's in the window's of a store called Mario's I think. There were sock monkeys everywhere. Climbing ladders, on stilts. They were having a great time!!

Kim update: The endoscopy biopsy results showed nothing! A good thing, but at the same time, now what! The doctor put her on Nexium and it is about the same as the other drugs she has been on so far. We will try it for a few months and hopefully over time she starts feeling better. He also prescribed an anti nausea drug, but it's not really an anti nausea. It's more for moving things through the digestive tract. She doesn't need that, so we went to the pharmacist and asked their opinion. They gave us an OTC that should work much better. She hasn't had to use it yet, the nausea has been 4 or under.

My Kimma

2008-07-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

came through the endoscopy quite well today!! They gave her Versaid, a great amnesia drug, as well as something else for the pain she would experience. It took her a while to come out of the fog and sleep, but once she was out, she's been going strong ever since. She has a bit of a sore throat, but other than that, she's ok. The pictures show some inflammation in her esophagus, and a little bit of inflammation in her small intestine, but we won't have results from biopsy back until late this week or early next week. It can't come soon enough. I told Robert though, that if either of the kids have to have major surgery later on in life, they are going to have to sedate me. I don't handle the waiting room stuff to well anymore.

Second Jellyfish Video

2008-07-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

First Jellyfish Video

2008-07-14T19:28:00.001-07:00

Home, Sweet Home

2008-07-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

ETA: I am putting some short videos up on Flickr too, but I'm not sure where they will land yet. They are jellyfish from the aquarium!

We got home Friday evening. I slept for the next 10 hours! It was a fun, educational and hot trip. We took tons of pictures from the train windows. I haven't sorted through them too much, or labeled, but if you go to my Flickr page, on the right side the top three sets are from this trip. We learned that getting a sleeper room is much more comfortable than coach. :)

Kim goes in for an endoscopy tomorrow morning. We are to get there at 10:30 and they start the procedure at noon. It's supposed to be quick. I hope she handles the medication well.

Our attendant on the train. She was a real gem!

Out to Lunch........

2008-07-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

Kim and I are getting ready for our trip south. We are both really excited to be riding the train. I am seriously giddy inside!! We'll be back next Friday late. I might be able to blog, but it will be pictureless unless I can find Wifi access somewhere close by. Hmm, I know where the closest Peet's is to mom and dad's, then I could get a much needed cup of coffee too. :)

Have a fun and safe weekend.

Drifting Along

2008-06-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

In knitting news I have finished some things finally!

I finished some dishcloths for a BBQ swap I am involved in. I realized as I was making them, that I could make some for me, so that will be on the agenda soon.

I finished a pair of lace fingerless gloves for my bff Julie, who I hope to see next week while in California. These are the same gloves I made for a Spring Fingerless Mitt Swap. This is Socks that Rock in Lightweight, colorway is Moody Blues. And I still have half a skein left.

And I finished my Mr Greenjeans. I am hesitant to like it yet. I am going to put in two more button holes at least. Has anyone done that after the knitting is complete? Kind of like steeking a buttonhole? I think it can be done, just carefully.

In Kim news, the GI doctor switched her medications again, back to a stronger acid reducer. It still makes her nauseas, but it's within her limit. If she's not feeling better in two weeks, right about the time we come back from California, then we will proceed with an endoscopy to see if he can see anything. She doesn't want to do it, but I think it's inevitable unless she starts feeling much better in the next week and a half!

Speaking of California, I can't wait, except I know I am going to be exhausted from the get-go! We take the train down on July 5, get there in the mid morning on the 6th, come back on the 10th, getting home in the late afternoon of the 11th. On the way down we are in coach seating, so not much rest for us. On the way back, we decided to do a roomette, which does give us space to stretch out and sleep, if we can. Kim and I both think it will be fun. We will be down there to see mom and dad, and to celebrate dad's 71st birthday. I just realized that I don't have a gift for him, so am trying to figure out what to get him or make him! Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Good News

2008-06-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some pictures from last weekend but didn't have a chance to. I am on Kim's computer, so can't get to my pictures. :( However, we have some good news. First, my tooth hasn't been bothering me since it was threatened with a root canal. Second, we had some other issues come up with Kim earlier this week. The Prilosec made her sicker, so we headed back to the doctor, who was concerned Kim had lost 5 lbs in two weeks. She has her on Pepcid AC, which seems to be doing the trick of keeping the nausea down to about 2-4 after she's eaten. I called several other GI places and they couldn't/wouldn't see her, so our doc stepped in and got her other appt stepped up to next week!! YEAH!!

Well, we are at Black Sheep and super busy but having a good time. I am exhausted, so is Kim, but she seems to be feeling so much better. I am so glad.

No Name

2008-06-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been 2 weeks since I blogged last time! I'll blame being busy, but it's not that easy. It's more of taking care of my family and myself. I've been to the dentist and may actually end up having a root canal some time in the next month. I don't have any free time to do it though until after July 11. We'll see what happens. Hopefully I can keep the pain under control until then. The other family crisis that we have been dealing with is Kim and her tummy. She has been having nausea upon eating any meal since before Spring Break. When we finally got to see the doctor, they took blood and suggested a wheat free diet. It took a couple of days to get to this diet, and Kim slowly started feeling better. 4 days later she was feeling really good and tried some baked beans that we knew to be wheat/gluten free. It make her feel so sick within minutes. Maybe the acidy tomatoes in it? Except that she can eat my spaghetti sauce with no problem at all. I let the doctor know that the regular wheat free diet was doing well, but the baked beans did her in. So we have an appointment to see a GI doctor, but it isn't until mid August unless there is a cancellation that we can get into. Very frustrating to say the least! The celiac sprue test that they did, came back negative. However, in the reading I have done, the final test for that is a biopsy. Kim is supposed to go back to a regular diet, but she doesn't want to. She's been feeling so much better that she doesn't want to change back. I don't blame her at all. I'm kind of tired of seeing her eat just rice, veggies and fruit. She doesn't like to eat meat too much and won't eat any dairy either because she thought she was lactose intolerant, but she won't even try some little things now like yogurt or cheese.

Here's some bread we made today. It is mostly rice flour and potato starch. It is pretty good.

I have been knitting, at least on Mr. Greenjeans. Almost done. The buttonband and re-doing the sleeve cuffs a littl bit.

Tomorrow Kim and I are going to sit at Streets of Tanabourne for a couple of hours with a group of other knitters for World Wide Knit in Public Day. Another woman and I and Kim were interviewed the other day for a local little paper. It will be fun to see what the reporter came up with. She's a knitter and will be there tomorrow as well. I found it online, it's just a little bit and there aren't any pictures, but I'll see it tomorrow in person and I'm pretty sure there will be some pictures. :)

HaHaHa

2008-06-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

I saw this on another blog and had to take the quiz.

you are lavender
#E6E6FA

Your dominant hue is blue, making you a good friend who people love and trust. You're good in social situations and want to fit in. Just be careful not to compromise who you are to make them happy.

Your saturation level is very low - you have better things to do than jump headfirst into every little project. You make sure your actions are going to really accomplish something before you start because you hate wasting energy making everyone else think you're working.

Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Meme Time

2008-05-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks guys/gals for all the comments on my steeked bag! :)

ETA: We forgot one of the questions. #6, should be about previous jobs. I actually went back through about 8 tags and found it!

I was tagged by Linda for this meme.

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Preparing myself physically and mentally for a life-changing heart surgery. So far in my 29 years of life, it was the hardest thing I had done. (29 at that time). I am celebrating this year! 10 years of much better health!

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order)? Stop at Office Depot to have some books spiral bound, take Kim to her voice lesson, stop at the library, hair appointments for both of us, call the local parks and rec to register for a class.

3. Snacks I enjoy. Dove dark chocolates, salsa fresca rice chips from Costco, cheese, green olives, almonds and cranberries.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire. Pay off the mortgage, move my parents up here into a nice home or retirement center, make sure both kids had money for college, donate to several organizations.

5. Places I have lived. All over Central and Northern California; Phoenix, Arizona; Eagle Bend, Minnesota; Quesnel, BC Canada; Roseburg, Corvallis and Beaverton, Oregon.

6. Jobs I have had: telemarketer, clown for a donut shop to draw in business, furniture mill assembler, paper grader for a high school teacher, babysitter, housecleaner,(all of these previous ones were during highschool) home health care for elderly, medical assistant for an OB/GYN, and for an urgent care, oh and for a cardiologist, office assistant for a daycare, yarn bundler and all around help for a local yarn company.

7. Peeps I want to know more about: I don't remember who has been tagged and who hasn't, so if you would like to do this meme, take it away. Let me know if you do one on your blog!

I cut my knitting...........

2008-05-17T18:16:00.001-07:00

And it didn't hurt! This was so cool. This panel was knit in the round, sewn up the sides and cut just inside two of the seams. The handle is linen stitch and sewn all the way around to create the sides and the bottom as well as the handle. On the handle, I ripped it out and made it longer, then did a 3 needle bind off in the middle. Way cool!

Catastrophic Events

2008-05-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

So many tragedies have happened over the last few weeks. The cyclone in Myanmar, the earthquake in China (I just watched video of them pulling live children from the rubble of that huge school), tornadoes in the USA, forest fires in the USA, and a highly active volcano in Chile.

This morning on NPR, I heard interviews with two organizations that are on the ground in Myanmar and have been there since before the cyclone, so they are entrenched and can help aid these people easier than the US or other foreign countries. One is Save the Children, the other is Doctor's without Borders. The biggest concern now for Myanmar is the secondary catastrophe's, the disease from lack of water and sanitary conditions. If there is anyway that you can give a little to these organizations or any others that you are aware of that are helping in any of these situations, please do so. Every little bit helps.

If you go to either of the websites above, they are both helping in China as well.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

I have been up to no good around here. :)

Robert is feeling much, much better. I am so glad. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Kim and I went on the Tigard Knitting Guild Shop Hop last Saturday. That was pretty overwhelming, but lots of fun. 3 out of 6 stores that we went to we had never been to before. At least one of those we will return to. There was another one that I have been to, but Kim hadn't. It is spacious and has a really nice selection of yarn, compared to a few years ago when I had last visited it.

I've been knitting on a test knit for Tina, and can't show any of that right now, but it took up a lot of my time last week and the week before. It is super pretty. I will be able to show it in a few weeks!

This weekend I took more classes! Fiona Ellis was in town for the weekend. I took an all day design class from her yesterday and a slip-stitch class this afternoon. It was a lot of fun!! I didn't stay all day yesterday as I got a migraine around 2. I had Robert come get me, so I rested the afternoon away.

Yesterday in the design class, she had us choose pictures that spoke to us. The one I chose was a couple of gingham plates with fresh fruit on them. The gingham was blue and white, and pink and white. I wanted to combine the three in my design. It didn't come out the way I wanted it to, but I did like it anyways.

Then I swapped out the blue for purple and later green for the white.

Here's the back stranded section. We thought that looked really cool and wondered what it would do on the front to break up the pattern.

Not bad.

Today we did a slip stitch sampler. This was a lot of fun!!

Last Friday, a week ago, I started this. It will eventually be a little bag. I'm not sure how it's going to go, but in class we are going to learn how to steek it!! It is out of mercerized cotton. I chose the colors before I new what the sample looked like. Next Saturday I will go back to class and we will sew it and cut it in class.

I think I am now finally ready to conquer my Kauni sweater.

I hope.......

2008-04-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

I can catch up on some sleep this week. Robert has been getting up at least 3 times in the night, until last night. Just once and it was at 6 am. Woohoo!! It's only 5:45 pm and I'm ready for a nap. I have taken little cat naps almost every day this week. It isn't helping.

I work tomorrow and take him to an appointment on Tuesday. We hope the x-ray shows no little stones or fragments!!

I took a class on Friday night and one this morning from Annie Modesitt. Both were awesome! I learned the correct way to do combination knitting. I had been twisting my stitches and if I were to call it some type of knitting, it would be Eastern crossed, at least from the hand out she gave us. I learned how to cable with out a cable needle. I like her method so much better than the way I had tried it before. Today was all about color. We did some two color, three color, then four color knitting. It was so cool!! I am really excited about this one as I have another color class on Thursday. It's actually a one on one with the instructor because I signed up for the class before realizing I would miss the first one. It is steeking a fair isle bag. I can't wait! I feel this is a way to broaden my mind, without getting stuck in a rut of doing the same type of knitting over and over again. Robert and I have actually talked about that. You know the studies they've done on how knitting is good for your brain? Well, our theory is that if you just do the same projects/techniques over and over again, it does no good for your brain, but if you are learning new techniques or ideas, then it uses more areas of your brain. So, it's better for you. Anyways, the combination knitting actually tightens up my stitches just a tad bit, it looks better!

This afternoon, Kim and I and two friends went to see The Ghosts of Treasure Island: A Pirate Rock Musical. We thought it was awesome!! Some of the words were hard to understand in the songs, but it was a great musical. I've already seen that there is a pirate festival in Portland in September. I think that would be fun to go to as well.

My most recent project is for ISE6. My pal likes bright pinks and purples, so I thought this might work. I am almost half way with it. It is an easy pattern, just two rows. I've modified it a little bit because I don't like how garter stitch looks. I like stockinette much better, which is funny, because I've never liked to purl.

Exhaustion hits

2008-04-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't fully recovered from sock camp yet. I worked Stephanie's signing last night, but didn't stay to the bitter end. This morning we arrived at the hospital at 9:30, waited through all of the questions, pre-op stuff for 2 1/4 hours, then I waited in the surgery waiting area for at least 1 1/2 hours (supposed to be a 45 minute procedure) until the doctor came out to tell me how it went. Well the stone hadn't budged since last week, so they new where to go. They got the blasting machine hooked to him and the stone was totally obscured, so they had to thread a wire using fluoroscopy to get to the correct spot on the screen. Then they blasted the maximum number of times they could. Apparently they can do hundreds of thousands of these blasts on a patient during this one procedure. Robert came through the recovery and anesthesia well, and will go back next week for a post-op check up. The first wait was more of a killer than I expected. The second wait to go back and see him wasn't quite as bad, though my stomach was still in knots until I got back there and saw him totally awake and not groggy at all. One of the last nurses who cared for Robert is a friend of mine from church too. That made me feel really good about the care he was getting.

Cute knitting pictures of sock monkeys from camp can be found here. :)

200

2008-04-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

That's what post I am on now.

So, the doctor's office called just a bit ago. Robert will be having the lithotripsy done on Wednesday morning. He has to be there at 9:30 am, the procedure isn't until 11:30 am, then he probably will be there until around 4 pm. They keep him afterwards so he can come out of the anesthesia and likely be able to keep some food down? That's how they did it when I had a tubal 10 years ago. So, a good portion of the day spent at the hospital. It's a good thing I knit!

One of the things that happened at camp on Friday, was snow! On Orcas Island. They seem to be in a rain shadow and rarely get snow, at least that's the story I heard this week. Well, I have pictures to prove there was snow!

Sunday, driving up the hill to get out of the resort and to the ferry! There were a couple of slick spots.

Home Again!

2008-04-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

I am so exhausted!! I can hardly move. I don't remember what time Robert got up this morning, I know I woke up briefly, then the next time I woke up it was 11:15!! What a wasted morning and day so far. I've caught up on a few blogs, read some ravelry stuff and just sat around mostly.

Robert's appointment last Monday didn't turn up anything positive. The stone is in the exact same place! It hasn't moved one bit!! It is tender, but not overly painful that he needs to take something for it. They are going to blast it with the lithotripy device. However, the person doing the scheduling didn't even start until Wednesday to call the insurance, then they were out of the office Thursday through this next Tuesday!! So, because it is a day surgery, we have no idea when it will happen. He drove out to Scappoose last night to pick me up and was very sore when we got back home. I think it was the pressure of going over the mountain twice, or sitting for so long in the van for the drive.

Tomorrow I am home all day, Tuesday I work all day and do the book signing for Stephanie! Wednesday it is back to the normal schedule I think for pottery, then Thursday, voice for Kim. Friday night I am taking a class from Annie Modesitt, same on Sunday morning. So, there really is no rest for the weary. And possibly Robert's procedure in there somewhere.

Hmm, do I have any pictures of sock camp? Our Inexplicable Knitting Behavior on the ferry coming home yesterday. At least half the campers came out on that ferry. Out of 90 campers/staff!

Deb and a whole crew of baby Sock Monkeys that were made this last week. I was too busy, so mine is only half done. :) She is the designer of the pattern which should be available in a few weeks.

Charity Knitting Blankets with Stephanie and Cat, Holly and Celia (left upper corner to right).

I don't think I took as many pictures this time, so this will probably be it. I might put a video or two on youtube if I get it figured out. There's one that I just can't get off of my camera. I think it's too big. :(

No News

2008-04-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

Is good news? Robert has been about the same. Some pain, but manageable with Aleve or nothing at all. It looks like we are in for a long haul on this one. Kim's foot seems to feel better for a day or so, then gets worse again. Today was a good day for both of them. I am still headed to sock camp and will try not to worry too much about them. They know what to do if there is an emergency. Next to no knitting has been done this week. :( Will see you next week.

Momma said........

2008-04-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

*Worked Monday--too tired to knit in the evening
*Worked Tuesday--too tired to knit in the evening
*Wednesday--Ran errands all day, just enough time for supper then to a new class--no time to knit
*Thursday--Dentist appt for Kim--knit for 20 minutes, voice lesson for Kim(I made phone calls)--20 minutes to knit, then we went across Portland to see my uncle--too tired to knit in the evening from all the driving
*Friday--ER from 7:30am-12:30pm with Robert, too worried to knit, except for about 20 minutes.
*Saturday--seriously exhausted from ER visit and lack of sleep Friday night due to Robert up 3 or 4 times during the night.
*Sunday--laundry, work that was brought home, can I knit tonight, PLEASE?

And we start all over again tomorrow.

I hate weeks like this!!

(Robert has a kidney stone, that's why we were at the ER for him Friday morning. He's feeling better, but it hasn't passed yet.)

Oh, and beside the urologist appt we have tomorrow, I need to get Kim in to see her own dr. She has been off her feet pretty much all week due to a painful foot that she can barely walk on. My uncle(ortho doc) says it's likely to be tendonitis, but since it hasn't responded to Ibuprofen or Naproxyn, it's time for an x-ray.

Home, Home, We Are Home

2008-03-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

Yeah, after a long drive of 10 hours yesterday, we are home! I slept like a log last night and woke up exhausted today!! And it's COLD here, with rain and hail and I've heard there's snow, but haven't seen it locally.

I tried blogging from hotels and they don't like uploading stuff for me, so I waited until I got home.

My January Dragon Dance socks saw a mine near Edwards AFB, and were finished just in time to sit by a cozy fire while in the San Jose area.

There are rarely pictures of me on our vacations, or they are horrible pictures. Kim got two of me that aren't too bad. We were at the top of the peak in JTNP (you could actually see the Salton Sea, it wasn't too smoggy) on Monday.

Ok, so last year I blogged here about the trip. And there are pictures of the smoggy valley. This year the pictures are much better!!

Towards Riverside and LA.

I think that is Palm Springs down there. We've never been down there, so I am just guessing.

Right above those peaks you can see the Salton Sea.

These were most of the flowers that we saw at Joshua Tree NP. In fact, this was at just one spot along the road, all of these flowers were within probably 100 feet.

This one I thought was eggs at first, but upon closer inspection, there is a gourd plant there.

Blogging from the desert

2008-03-23T10:15:00.001-07:00

Thank you for the well-wishes. I am so glad everything is fine!!

The desert is wonderful. So far we are being very lazy and staying at the house. Tomorrow we are going to visit Joshua Tree and do one of the guided hikes to an old ranch. It is in the low 70's with a breeze that needs a sweater. The sun is wonderful. I think I need to retire to the desert. I am sure Robert would love that. :(

Sweater Day. I first read about it on Lime n Violet's Daily Chum. The city of Pittsburgh was doing a Won't You Be My Neighbor celebration including the birthday of Mr. Rogers. I loved watching Mr. Rogers when I was a kid, and I was saddened by his death.

Sweater Day

2008-03-20T19:22:00.001-07:00

Kim and me at Rogue River State Park Rest Area this morning wearing our favorite sweaters for Mr. Roger's Sweater Day. :)

Woohoo!!

2008-03-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Good news, no problems with the suspected lump on the left breast, just a cyst. I'm good 'til next year!

We are on our drive to the desert and I can finally get on line. Dinner tonight was at Andersen's Pea Soup in Santa Nella. Yummy!!! We saw Mt Shasta this morning with almost no clouds and lots of sunshine. So far the warmest I have seen is 71 F. It feels so good!

Jelly Belly Factory.

Full moon over the Central Valley.

Play it again, Sam

2008-03-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

I got a letter from the Breast Center to come in for my routine mammogram. Did that early Tuesday morning and still made it to work pretty much on time. Today a call from them saying they want to take more images of the left breast. Didn't I just do this last year?!? Oh, that was the right one. I'm a little bit disgusted with my breasts, though I shouldn't complain, I'm sure it will be just the same as last year, mammograms every 6 months. Hmm, I wonder what it will be next year?

What do you do............

2008-03-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

October 2005

With a newly turned 14 year old? (and I don't mean in the spoiled milk category) Take her shopping of course! Kim turned 14 today so we went on a shopping spree. She has become more slender over the last year and her jeans haven't fit for quite a while. We found two pairs that are really cute on her, lots of new shirts and even a summery dress. It's a little short and she thinks it will look better paired with some jeans. I realized as I was looking for some photo's to upload, that I haven't taken any of Kim since I finished her sweater!

February 2008

We had a fun time but now I'm tired and have a ton of knitting I want to do. I haven't finished anything, but just keep starting new projects. I need to get at least one of my projects done before Spring Break, as we leave in less than 2 weeks for a trip to the S. Cal desert. It's a 1/2 birthday swap project and is due while we are gone. Then I come home and have two more projects due by the 10th af April, go to sock camp on the 13th, and have another project due for camp. There's also a baby coming very soon in our family and it's a girl, so I want to make the BSJ for her. It's not supposed to be due until April 20, but my cousin has gone into labor twice now, and is on bed rest until at least April 1. That baby has got to keep growing!(on the inside)

Robert and I also celebrated 19 years of marriage this week. Yeah us! I am always flabbergasted by how long we have been married. So many around us have gone through divorce.

Spring is in the air

2008-02-17T17:03:00.001-08:00

Kim and I took a drive up to Tacoma on Friday. We spent a couple of hours at Madrona Fiber Arts Festival. It is small, but extremely friendly. We came home with yarn for two sweaters, several pairs of socks, some roving and some cute little quilted bags. I'd love to go for the whole weekend just to spend time with friends. Maybe next year.

Today the sun shone beautifully, it was almost 60 degrees out front and on the back porch close to 70.

I love our purple crocuses.

The slugs do too. :(

While I was taking these pictures, there was a bird just singing his heart out. I looked up for him and he was almost right above me in the tree, less than 10 feet away. He didn't even startle when I stood up. Oregon Junco.

I have been knitting, but the combination method is very slow going for me. I can't wait till the end of April when I take a class from Annie, maybe it will help make it easier for me to understand what I am actually doing. I did start reading her book the other night. It is very good!

Lenore

2008-02-13T14:14:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all of the compliments. I have to agree with you, my model is beautiful and so is the sweater. :) You could say I am a bit biased. (What gets me though is that I was gangly and homely at that age and she isn't)

There was a peek of sun today so I took some posed pictures of my Lenore's. To bad I don't have any Poe laying around. When I started these socks, I was trying to make them way too hard! I did that top cuff, then did it again, thinking I had to. They were tight, so I went back to reread the directions, and I realized I didn't need to do those 24 rows twice. Sometimes I am a dunce! After frogging them, they fit much better. I tried the heel that she wrote for this pattern and found it didn't fit my foot either so did my regular short-row heel. I like it so much better. I soaked them last night in a bit of vinegar water to make sure the dye was set, then some Eucalan.

This is definitely a pattern I will use again, it was easy after the cuff. The pattern is Lenore by Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee. It was from the RSC October 2007 kit.

A Finished Sweater

2008-02-11T20:28:00.001-08:00

Kim's finished Kilcar. This is my favorite photo of all we took that day. This is a really warm sweater. I tried it on even before Kim knew it was finished. Shhh. We haven't sewn on the buttons yet. We have two nice big wooden ones.

The next project already on the needles and it looks pretty. I don't have pictures yet of how much further along I am, it's not much though. The pink in the photo below is more of a purpley-pink. And the green isn't so vibrant.

It will be this, for me.

And another project, Lenore from RSC October's package. I have about 3-4 inches left to finish them. They probably won't get done until Wednesday though, as I worked today and will again tomorrow.

The sun has been shining, and the crocus are in bloom. Spring is just around the corner we hope.

You Make My Day

2008-02-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

Thank you Deb for making my day. I never know who may see my blog and it feels good to know that I have touched someone. I met Deb during the MS3, we were able to get together a couple of times to knit on our stoles. So, in keeping with the spirit, I have listed below 10 blogs that inspire me. There are a lot of other blogs out there that I read and am inspired by, but these 10 are the ones I chose this time.

Local writer, knitter, Sanna's Bag
You should check out her books!

Local mom and knitwear designer, Chrissy at Knittin' Mom
Designs for the real woman.

Another Oregonian I met at Camp Cockamamie last year, homeschool mom, quilter and knitter Knit One Quilt Too
Her quilts for the Sister's Quilt Show are beautiful!

Local homeschool mom, knitter, and ESL teacher, Magpie Ima
Check out her Monday Mosaics.

A Camp Cockamamie friend who is coming back this year! FiberFish
She knits like the wind!

My cousin and her new family. The Development of Lucas
New baby on the way, and it's a girl!

Women writers that I enjoy. Girls Write Out
Christian fiction.

A food blog!Coconut & Lime

A local homeschooling mom(her kids are grown up now)My Journey with Leukemia

So Many Thoughts

2008-01-26T09:53:00.000-08:00

I have so much to say, but just can't say it. I spent some time yesterday while we were waiting for our plane home, to write out my thoughts on how my dad is doing. It's not all good. BUT, I really want to tell you about the fun stuff that Kim and I did.

We went shopping! We went to Mervyn's and she found cute PJ's with Cap'n Jack on them, and I found a really cute little sweater for summer. We also went to The Great Mall. Holy cow, that place is huge! It is an outlet mall, though not all the stores in it are of the outlet type. There was
Hot Topic, Papaya, two stores that Kim really likes and I know we have them here, so I wasn't willing to pay sales tax at those two places. We did find some other cool stores for t-shirts, underclothing, etc.

Thursday evening we hit Purlescence Yarns for their Knit Night! Oh what fun that was.

We met lots

and lots

of other bloggers,

saw Nathania and even held little Elinor. It was wonderful, warm and funny. Thank you guys for the wonderful welcome. We will definitely stop back in when we are in town.

Kim and baby.

Mom and baby.

Me and baby.

I had to share the stupidest thing I did on Monday. We were headed to the airport, and I was knitting furiously to finish my pair of Fetching. Well, I cast off with just seconds left before we were to get out of the van. I told everyone I was going to leave the yarn in the van since I didn't need it and didn't want to transport it to California with me. So, later we are sitting in the gate area and I pull out my Fetching to finish it up. I realize that I hadn't done something and there was no way I could finish them to wear on this trip.

Can you tell what's missing? THUMBS. I was not happy, but at the same time, I couldn't help but laugh.

Knitting and Travel

2008-01-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Wow, 2 weeks is a long time between posts. I thought I would do just a little update. I finished another pair of Fetching, this time for Kim. When I had cut the last string I proclaimed that the next pair was for ME!

I really didn't mind working with this color so much. It kind of grew on me. The color is a bright green, almost neon. It is Knitpick's Swish Superwash in the colorway Aloe. I think I used US 3's. Modifications to make them a little bit longer.

I finished the sleeves to Kim's sweater and started on the fronts. I think I am about 1/3 of the way with them.

And here's a picture of the Chevron scarf I started. I think it will make a good airplane project. More on that in a second.

So, Monday, Kim and I fly out to California to spend the week with my dad. My mom is headed to an organist conference in Tuscon, AZ and dad really needs someone around to help him out if he needs it. Kim calls this trip "babysitting grandpa". I do hope we will get to one of the lys's called Purlescence Yarns.

The weather is being weird again. Mostly just cold. There may be some snow/ice coming in the next day or so. I am really hoping it doesn't interfere with our travel plans or Kim's dance on Sunday night. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

We'll see you again next week, since I don't know what the internet connections will be like while we are down there.

Have I Mentioned GAUGE lately?

2008-01-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

First I'm going to woo you with a Finished Object of great beauty!! The sweater called Lisa.
It is a Debbie Bliss pattern out of her book 7. The yarn is also Debbie Bliss, Cashmerino Aran. I used US 4's to get gauge and it is a little bit snug, but I think it will work.

I will be taking a picture of it on a real live body, probably Monday. I am so happy to have it done, but when I post the other photo's of it, I'll go into a bit of the nightmare aspects of this knit.

Now onto my gauge issues AGAIN. After casting off of Lisa and weaving all of the ends in, I started on Kim's Kilcar. I had swatched it, and was going down something like 5 needle sizes!! to try to get gauge. I figured I could start on the sleeves and make my gauge work that way. I started and did the first two repeat sections on US size 5. The pattern is 10 rows long, so it's not too bad. After doing the two repeats, I had Kim try it around her upper arm. The pattern doesn't decrease or increase going up the arm at all, so I knew it would be the same measurement at the top. It was fairly snug, so instead of ripping out, I switched to US 7's and it looks like it might actually work out. The sweater is baggy as it is, it's like a sweater-coat. I've been told that the pattern is similar to the Monkey socks by Cookie A. And, I think I am getting gauge in the pattern on the size 7's. THANK YOU GAIL for the idea.