Fabric, Yarn and a Dog

I feel I've been remiss in not posting Hawai'i pictures, but I just haven't gotten through the almost 300 pictures. That's a lot of pictures and I'm only about halfway through processing...and then I have to build the web pages. Maybe this weekend..

Fabric
In the meantime, I did take some pictures of the fabric I got from Kimura's Fabrics. It is a must see if you like fabric and you're on the Big Island. In addition to the fabric selection, you get to step back in time to when H Kimura's was a general store. But I was there for the fabric.


Tom will get two new shirts—someday.
 

I love red and just couldn't resist this silk brocade. I also like the "wrong" side of the fabric...what to do with it...
 

Yarn...well knitting
I've been concentrating on the Mom capecho. Here's progress to Tuesday. The sleeves are now on and the collar is in process, but I took no pictures to prove it.
 

And I did a little repair work on an RTW sweater. I responded message on the sewing guild list seeking someone to fix a friend's sweater.
 

And a dog
Jake is a sensitive dog and tends to have feelings of guilt at really odd times (it must be from whatever went on with his previous families). When he does, he finds a corner and leans and goes to a place in his head where even a cookie won't coax him out; it takes picking him up and moving him from that "place." Yesterday, he went to that place, but to pout. Tom was out of the house. Jake was sure he heard him and wanted to go downstairs. I headed the other direction and Jake pouted. This time I just took his picture and waited and the switch flipped and he was happy dog again.

"I'm so in love"

That was the subject of the email we got from Jane, Petsitter Extraordinaire, when we were in Hawai'i. She was speaking of Jake, of course. And yesterday, since she was in the neighborhood, she decided to drop by to see him. Now that says something...

Jake doesn't like cherry flavored ChapStick. He got it out of my purse (sneaky little devil).

I love the greeting whenever I return and someday expect to hear that Jake jumped the gate.

Jake did open the door to your office. I think he thought you were in there and kept jumping until he hit the handle just right. When I got upstairs to check what all the noise was, he was in your office looking for you--and trouble!!

Jake has been running outside protecting the borders from neighbors bbq-ing dinner and from dogs in their yards. Tough job that requires lots of downtime next to me getting lots of head and tummy rubs (dont stop or you get the nudge with the nose)

Vogue Knitting Holiday 2007

It was waiting for me when we got home on Tuesday. I stopped subscribing to VK for a couple of years because there were a couple of years where nothing appealed and Knitter's and Interweave Knits were publishing more interesting patterns. But the pendulum seems to be swinging the other way for I'm seeing more patterns that are appealing to me. Question is: when and what will I have time to actually make?





Of course the first things to appeal to me where lace, and each could be added to my ever-growing "to do" list.

There's Shirley Paden's two piece dress.


And Shiri Mor's drop waist dress with lace skirt.


Karen Joan Raz's beaded shawl is beautiful, but I'd most likely omit the beads.


I loved the colorwork by Alice Starmore and Brandon Mably, but it's doubtful I'd ever actually start these.
 



And Tom Scott's unusual shaping was interesting. Personally, I'd lose the fringe, but that's me.

  

It's always good to get home

We spent a wonderful week on The Big Island with Dianne and John. We shared the island with thousands of Iron Man athletes, their families, and three cruise ships till Sunday, when it seemed half the visitors either left or were staying in.
 

We did some shopping; watched and cheered on Iron Man runners; ate lots of local fruits and vegs like papaya, butter avocado, dragon fruit, pineapple, purple sweet potatoes, and apple bananas; traveled around the island; and Dianne and I knit.
  

Our trip home wasn't as bad as getting to Scotland , but it did have its issues. Instead of an 9 hour trip home, it ended up being 13 hours since we had to make an unplanned stop in Seattle to get to PDX, and our bags got to spend even more time in LAX than we did. But we are home (where it's both sunny and rainy at the same time) and so are the bags, so all is well. The dogs were exceptionally happy to see us, and Jake is now in his element. And Mandy is just happy that Cookie Man is home.


There are more pictures...and they'll get posted...soon.

Travel Day

Big Island! Here we come. Back in 10 days!

On the needles

The biggest part of packing is deciding what goes in the "activity bag." Or more specifically—what knitting do I take?

The Mom Capecho

...because Christmas isn't that far away—from a knitting standpoint.

Gold Nugget Shawl

...because the shawl Shui Kuen Kozinski (the designer) posted on Ravelry was just too beautiful AND I couldn't go with out one lace project.

Bag Style Market Bag

...because I just got the Bag Style on Thursday, loved the lace bag AND when I went to Michael's to get a cookie box, there it was: brown Sugar n' Lace in the sale bin as I walked in. Kismet.

And then there were two...and a half

The "swim"suit was so much easier to make than I expected, when Dianne commented that the style was just like a favorite swimsuit she used to have, I offered to make one for her. We made an afternoon of it, going to Mill End Store in Beaverton, stopped by Michaels next door and then went to Uwajamiya, to look at knitting books, kitchen gadgets and pick out a few Japanese snacky things.






At Mill End, Dianne chose a black and white striped fabric, and since she already had a black swimsuit bottom, I only made her a top, which Tom is modeling. Isn't it just too bad Tom doesn't have a sense of humor.









I found some more swimsuit fabric that I liked, so now I have two suits for Hawai'i.

Now all that is left is the packing.