A Finished Sweater

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

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

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

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?

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.

Happy New Year

2008

A good year, look to the future, and not to the past.

To all my friends and family. Happy New Year. May this year bring you numerous blessings.

Random Christmas Images

Some random images that I wanted to share with you, even though Christmas was last week. There is some knitting in there too.

Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland. I went out on a Saturday night with some girlfriends. We hit the shopping downtown and saw all the lights. It was a great time!


A Gap store with their yarn balls, cables and scarves.


The view when we finally went to get our Christmas tree.








Modified Fetching for Kim's voice teacher. She likes purple like me. :)



Christmas Day it snowed!! But, it didn't stick.




An interesting nativity scene. It came from my grandmother, and I am sure that most of it is from overseas, though I don't know where it's from. There are a ton of camels, and wisemen.








Dashing for John, done after Christmas. He LOVES them and hardly takes them off. Nearly everyday he has said "Thank You, Mom for making these for me." Makes my heart warm.



Robert's heavily modified Dashing.


Dashing is a mitt, not with the little fingers you see above. Both my guys wanted the fingers, so I adapted it. I also had to make a bigger size for Robert and I didn't like the lone cable, so added a cable on another section, just half way up the 10 rows between the original cables. I like it a lot better. I also had to refigure where the thumb should go on the right one. They weren't fitting correctly. Now they are definitely left and right.

I've been working on Lisa, the purple cabled sweater. I am over half done. Probably not quite 3/4 yet. I've started swatching for Kim's sweater. It will be Kilcar by Debbie Bliss. I need to wash my swatch and see what happens. Kim chose the blue tweed for this and it is very pretty!!

It's been a while

A good 9 days it's been since I visited my blog. It's been an incredibly busy time. I don't know how parent's or anyone for that matter, work full-time and still have time to come home and get ready for Christmas? I've worked two days each of the last two weeks and I feel like I can't get anything done. We've done a couple of family things this season, like finally getting our tree, but taking almost all week until we actually got it in the house and decorated. Good grief. We usually get it the first weekend of December. I uploaded over 90 pictures today, just from the last 9 days! Full of fun Christmas stuff, but it's been just go-go-go, usually not that way for us this time of year.

We went as a family to downtown Portland to the waterfront to watch the Christmas Ships Parade. It was much smaller than when we first saw them. The first year we went, the kids might have been 3 and 8, there were at least 30 ships that year. This year, there were a total of 9. I was bummed by it, and it was cold, but the lights of downtown were pretty. I didn't use the flash for these and had to stay absolutely still. Obviously from the blur, I can't do that. :)

Weather pictures and blah, blah, blah

I just posted about a beautiful scarf package I got from my ISE5 pal over on that blog if you want to read it.

We've had a busy few weeks, though not a lot of knitting has gotten done. I've been working lots of hours(for me anyways). I've spent some time out in Vernonia doing flood clean out. That really wears on a person! We are so blessed to having not experienced anything like that. I hope they can get some of those homes done quickly. We are starting into our Christmas activities, visiting with friends, attending holiday parties, etc. I think between now and Christmas, I have 7 nights where I will be out attending different events, or hosting events at my home. Robert says I can't add anymore or I will be exhausted by the time Christmas gets here. True enough. Hmmph, and I thought I would have two weeks of nothing! No classes to get kids to, or work. It just got replaced with other stuff that's all. Oh and we don't have our tree yet, so we need to get out to find a Douglas Fir.

In knitting news, I did actually get another pair of Fetching done. And about 4 inches done on Lisa. I am finally to the decreases of the armhole. That's it. I still have about 1/4 of the test knit to do. I really want to get that done by Monday! Can I do it?

Snow from a couple of weeks ago.



Sunrise on Tuesday this week.

We are never satisfied are we?!?

I have found this week that we just aren't satisfied with what we have, or don't have. It's either too much wind, too much rain(or not enough), or it's too quiet(after the storm). Even if it's not as bad as what some areas of Oregon and Washington have experienced this past week, it's just not good enough for us. Robert and I were commenting to each other that it has just been too quiet yesterday and today. It has been, but should we complain or whine about it? No! We should be thankful that the worst is over, and now we just need to clean up. Well, we don't need to personally. We had just a few tree limbs, small things in our yard. Nothing major, like our home being flooded. I really can't imagine going through that myself, and I need to be thankful.

Be thankful for what you have, your home, your health, your family members. Take care this week and remember those around you, if possible through random acts of kindness.