Fiberly One

Tigard Knitting Guild and Twist Collective

2009-07-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

New Post at Fiberly One's new home
Tigard Knitting Guild and Twist Collective

Knitting and Sewing, Sewing and Knitting

2009-07-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

New post at Fiberly One's new home:
Knitting and Sewing, Sewing and Knitting

It's my birthday

2009-06-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

New post at Fiberly One's new home:
It's my birthday

An Afternoon in Oakland

2009-05-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

New post at Fiberly One's new home:
An Afternoon in Oakland

A new skirt

2009-05-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

New post at Fiberly One's new home:
A new skirt

May Already?

2009-05-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

New Post at Fiberly One's new home:
May Already?

Three Quick Projects

2009-04-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

New Post at Fiberly One's new home.
Three Quick Projects

Made in March

2009-03-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

New Post at Fiberly One's new home:
Made in March

People, Places and Things

2009-03-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

New Post at Fiberly One's New home:
People, Places and Things

February

2009-03-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

New Post at Fiberly One's New home:
February

Yarn and more yarn

2008-09-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

New Post at Fiberly One's new home:
Yarn and more yarn

Of Skirts and Shirts

2008-09-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

New Post at Fiberly One's new home:
Of Skirts and Shirts

Anniversary night

2008-08-16T06:01:00.000-07:00

New post at Fiberly One's new home:
Anniversary night

Techy and Fiberly meet

2008-08-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

New post at Fiberly One's new home

Techy and Fiberly meet

Knitting Magazines

2008-08-08T05:40:00.000-07:00

New Post at Fiberly One's new home
Knitting Magazines

Fiberly One is moving...

2008-08-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

I've been geeking this week and decided to move the Fiberly One blog to my website, since Blogger doesn't really play nice with Macintosh. So please change any bookmarks and links to the new address:

http://fiberlyone.thehudsons.com/

Let me know what you think.

Catching up

2008-08-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

It all started with trip to San Jose, then Denver, then Chicago, then Phoenix, then back to Phoenix at which time we packed up my mom and moved her to Oregon - in the matter of three months. By some standards that may not be a lot of traveling, but since I don't have a real job, it's a lot for me and my blogging slowed down to practically nil as we tried to get stuff done, entertain Mom, move Mom into her new apartment, etc, etc.

So I've had a geek week processing a large number of digital photos, putting them in to web pages and posting to our server and here's what we have:

Dogs - lots of dogs
There's Jake and Mandy, of course, who continue to entertain us just being them.


There were the visitors, Joey, the beagle and Montana, the large black lab mix, who stopped by in May. Even in San Jose, our house was a dog (and cat) magnet.


We took care of Pepperoni for Mark, when he and his wife were on a road trip to the Grand Canyon in July.


And the now-Oregon-resident Tootsie.


There are even more pictures of the dogs and a little narrative in May Dogs, June Dogs and July Dogs on TheHudsons.com

Willamette River Cruise
Courtesy of Dianne Rodway and John Becker and the City Properties Group, we spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon cruising the Willamette River.


Fifty
Yes, I'm now 50 and I mentioned the party. Here are some pictures.


Jim and Chris Adamson couldn't make the day, but on their way to take a car full of things to their daughter in Seattle, they stopped by.

Fiberly Weekend
There are a few more pictures from the weekend in Chicago, including lots of color from the Chicago Botanic Gardens.


In May, Tom and I walked the Doggie Dash for the Oregon Humane Society. With Jake and Mandy in tow, I wasn't able to do much multi-tasking (ie take pictures), but I did get one.

In June, just before the car came to pick us up for the last leg of the move from Sun City West, I took a great picture of my Mom and her friend Viki Hartsock.

AND I've finally finished Katherine, crocheted a scarf and made shirts for Tom and John Becker for his birthday...and I don't have any pictures yet. So I guess, I'm not quite caught up after all. Oh well.

Jake is Seven

2008-07-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe he's only been our Jake for 11 months, not of all his seven years.

Happy Birthday, Mr Jake!

Something Funny

2008-07-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

After seeing the Clackamas Repertory Theatre (CRT) production of "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" two years ago, we subsribed to the three-play season last year, when they performed "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," "The Fantasticks," and "The Illustrated Man." All three shows were extremely well staged and performed. So it was a foregone conclusion we would subscribe again.

Last week, the season opened with a British farce called "See How They Run." Last night we saw it, and it was hilarious! Jayson Shanafelt, who we saw in "Shakespeare (unabridged)" last year did not disappoint as Clive. Newcomer Heather Ovalle was also a standout at Ida, the maid. Then again, all the roles were very well-played in this fast paced comedy.

Though the Osterman Theatre at Clackamas Community College is an intimate venue, we have been really impressed with the productions we've seen there, so we look forward to the next two plays and what the CRT has to offer in the future.

There are still six performances. If you like a great production of a really funny play, you should see "See How They Run." Maybe we'll see you there. Oh, and if Cynthia Smith-English, CRT Managing Mirector, asks, tell her we sent you.

Picture processing

2008-07-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

Smariek Knits asked how I get the white backgrounds on my images and as with many things in blog-land I've been slow to respond, but here goes.

I use Photoshop to process my images on my Mac. I'm ex-Adobe, so that's what I have and I know, but if you use another program, perhaps you can adapt some of the steps and processes. This isn't a tutorial on Photoshop; I'm not that good. But there are great tutorials online. Searching on Google for images and definitions for the tools, I found Photoshop Lab and SimplePhotoshop.com.

When possible try to take the digital picture against a background with sharp contrast and/or with as few similar colors as my project.

Use different tools to select either the project or the stuff around the project, then delete the background. The idea is to grab as much of the background creating an outline, without selecting too much of the content from the project. With Contiguous checked, experiment with Tolerance, choose the Magic Wand tool to select batches of color in the background. To add to the selection, hold the shift key down, click on a different section. If too much of the project is selected, reduce the Tolerance number. Once there's a pretty good outline of the project, use the Marquee to select big sections of the background that the Magic Wand.

To select the project instead of the background under the Select Menu choose Inverse.

The arrow below points to where some of the hat has been grabbed along with the background, so the Lasso tool can be used to add the little bit back into the project. Don't forget to hold down the shift key. If at any time, you do forget to hold down the shift key, you can Undo.*

Next Copy the project and paste. A new layer will be created. In the Layers window make the background layer invisible.

Using the Zooming in and using the Eraser tool , clean up any extra backgroud pixels or edges that you don't like. Crop the image to remove extra white space. Depending on the original size of the image, you also may want to reduce the image size.

My last step is to add a drop shadow under Layer Style in the Layer menu, and this is the result.

This is Evelyn Clark's Crusher Hat, crocheted from Puppy Leafy yarn on a size H hook. I needed an instant gratification project. Now what to do with the remaining 6 skeins...

*Alternatley, the Lasso tool can be used to outline the project. In my Googling, I also found another, probably more precise method of removing the background at GraphicSoft.

Presenting Baltic Blossoms

2008-07-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

In the whole scheme of things I really liked knitting Baltic Blossoms and working with the very fine Habu Bamboo lace yarn, though it seemed to take a long time to get it done. The Lily of the Valley section was re-knit a number of times and the nupps aren't nearly as neat as Evelyn Clark's sample, which I think, in part, can be attributed to the slippery quality of the bamboo. But the shawl is finished, and I like the soft, gossamer result.

Here's the shawl before rinsing and blocking:

And after blocking:

I love lace!

Busy week...no pictures

2008-06-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking I want to make sure to include pictures when I post, but if I wait till I get the gumption to process pictures, we could all be waiting a while, so here's a recap of the week sans pictures.

Birthday girl
That was me last Saturday, and it was a great party. In an unusual turn of events, everyone who said they would show up actually did and a person or two who hadn't said they would come showed up. It was a good mix of family, old Apple friends, cruise buddies, neighbors, business owners turned friends, and one high school chum. I will get to processing pictures...soon...I promise.

Tom's eastern North Carolina Barbeque-style was a hit. Most tried and liked the "traditional" sandwich by piling the coleslaw on top of the barbeque on the mini-buns made just for us by Market of Choice. The appetizers brought by friends, my Bill Neal shortcake with Oregon strawberries and, sweet tea (to complete the southern theme) and we all ate quite well.

What a great way to turn 50!

Move-in days
Monday we headed to IKEA to pick up a bed frame and dresser for my mom, then down to Wilsonville to wait for the guys from Take Care Move Assistance to arrive. Somehow we'd managed to fill the moving container in pretty short order, just the two of us, but we were very glad we hired Bill and his guy because to move the contents of the box from the loading area up three floors and down the hall 150 paces (Tom size...he counted) to my mom's new apartment. What took them 1 1/2 hours would surely have taken us the full day. And there was time left on the clock for them to build my mom's bed. Now you just cannot beat that.

We had decided that it was best to start her new apartment experience Tuesday morning so everyone was fresh. So we packed her clothes that we'd moved via Alaska Airlines baggage check and headed over, where even more clothes were waiting. Thanks to neighbor Laurie, we had enough hangers to accomodate without having to make a side trip to the Container Store. We made our first grocery store trip and inagurated the refrigerator. Tom built the dining table (chairs having been built on Monday) and the entertainment unit.

Wednesday the dresser was built, the new phone programmed, and the TV set up (except we couldn't find the remote), and my mom had spent her first night in Wilsonville. She seemed pretty spunky and on seeing her yesterday, she is settling in quite nicely. She's doing something she could never have done in Sun City West - walking Tootsie outside twice a day. We have lovely weather and her new pacemaker to thank for that, I think.

Miscellany
Lest you think I was slacking when we weren't hanging with my mom: I also managed four morning walks and a belated birthday lunch at Zeppo's in Lake Oswego; had printed 200 Columbia River Sewing Guild newsletters which I then (with a little help from my cool hubby) stapled, addressed, stamped and posted; located a long lost cousin to whom my mom wanted to send an address change; made and sent out the address change notices; and made and sent out thank you notes.

Baltic Blossoms
And I finally managed to get in some forward progress knitting on Saturday.

I started the border in early June when we were in AZ. I took out 6 rows of said border when we were in AZ. I thought was my first attempt at nupps but in researching a definition, I find that I must have knit them in Evelyn Clark's Swallowtail. At any rate, they were giving me fits (k1,YO,k1,YO,k1 into one stitch, purl 5 back). I didn't like the results so in my second (or maybe third) attempt I found that knitting into the front and back of the stitch for five stitches made it much easier to purl back. Still, after making unfixable mistakes, I ended up pulling out 16 rows of border (over 200 sts each) without winding the yarn as I went and then spending the ensuing day untangling the yarn. The next time(s?) I did it, I wound the yarn so resuming wasn't to difficult.

Saturday, with no distractions, and Sliding Doors (which I've seen many times) in the background, I whipped out 32 rows of the border without so much as a hitch. Go figure.

My projects for today are to get to the last set of border rows, and do laundry which I don't think I've been caught up on since March. Maybe this week.

We're having a party

2008-06-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

Today I celebrate 50 years. Funny it doesn't feel like 50 years (except I have to wear cheaters to read, and color the obnoxious gray hairS...)

It occurred to me just now that this will be the first birthday since I was 20 that I'll spend in the company of my mom. Now THAT's a great gift!

And it's a great excuse for a party, and I invited a lot of dear friends. We'll have a house full of about 25 people, including my good friend Alistair, who gets honorable mention because he's flying up from San Jose.

And Mark (who hasn't seen my mom since our wedding nearly 26 years ago!) is driving down from Seattle.

I'm off to make shortcake for to go with the yummy local strawberries we'll get today.

'Bye Sun City West

2008-06-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

After 15 years living in Sun City West, my Mom is now living in Oregon. For the next two weeks, she'll be staying with us and then she'll move to her apartment in Wilsonville, when all her things arrive.

Tom and I flew out two weeks ago Wednesday to help her pack and clean up. We rented the smallest moving container from Door-to-Door which arrived on schedule on Thursday. Over the course of the ensuing four days, we proceeded to pack boxes, sort out donations, fold clothes, fill bags, fill and paint, and clean.

On Friday, Ginny and George from What Goes Around arrived to start loading up the furniture, lamps, pictures, appliances, and little decorative goodies for consignment. Ginny was a pleasure to work with and we thank her and George for taking all the large items off our hands for consignment. It made it much easier for us to concentrate on what was coming to Oregon, instead of worrying about the disposition of those things that were not. It was a two-day project for George, and helper Bob - getting everything loaded into their trailer, but by the end of the day on Saturday the house was empty.

It was thanks the hard work of Parke and Jennifer Heffern, that this all happened. It was their marketing of the house, and understanding of how to work with the residents of the Sun Cities, that got my mom's house sold. There were times when we were sure my mom was going to change her mind, but Parke and Jennifer seemed to keep her on track, we got an offer after only three months (quick for that market) and my mom is now in Oregon.

So, my point is this: if you or someone you know is planning to move from the NW Phoenix area - Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun City Festival, Corte Bella et, al, we highly recommend working with Parke and Jennifer, and Ginny and George. Though we haven't received my mom's moving container (it takes a week to 10 days), based on the experiences we've had with Door-to-Door (and their pricing structure), they are a good moving container company to work with if you're planning to move yourself, but don't want to rent and drive a truck (and with gas prices where they are, who would?)

A funny note
In packing, we filled the small container, shipped two 3 cu ft boxes via UPS and filled my mom's Honda Civic, allowing just enough room for Tom to see out as he drove it from Sun City West to West Linn. When entering the state of California by car, you have to stop at Agricultural Inspection stations. Their job is to prevent potentially diseased produce from entering the state and compromising their crops.

Inspector: "Do you have any food?"
Tom: "Some energy bars and a bologna sandwich."
Inspector: "Is there any lettuce or tomatoes on your sandwich?"
Tom: "Yes, a very small piece of iceberg lettuce."
Inspector: "You'll have to eat the lettuce."

So Tom ate the 4x4 inch piece of lettuce so he could enter the state of California on his trip home.

The rest of the drive was boring by comparison, but he did make it all the way to Redding on day one and was home before we arrived.

Yarning around town

2008-05-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

There's a lot going on in our world, including one more trip to Phoenix next Wednesday to get my Mom moved out of her house and up here to stay. She'll be moving into a nice senior community in Wilsonville, OR. She doesn't "believe it" but we think life will be easier without a house and yard and 100°F-plus to contend with.

Off the needles
In the meantime, I've been knitting away between trips and move planning. Before I headed to Chicago, I found a quick little crochet pattern so I wouldn't go to the Fiberly weekend empty-handed - a soap sack pattern on Simple Knits. I added an extra row of changes to make the edge more lacy and this is what I came up with. It was a quick and easy project, and in the course of a week or so I whipped up about a dozen out of Sugar and Cream cotton yarn.

I started the Indigo Ripples skirt from Interweave Knits Summer 2007 before going to Phoenix, but didn't get much knitting done while I was there. When I got home, I set to work. The yarn is Elann Den-M-Nit Pure Indigo Cotton. The indigo dye seemed to be a little drying to my skin, or it may have simply been having to wash my hands after each knit session. It was a good pattern to knit; it knit up fast and like those who went before me, I do like the result.

On the needles
Evelyn Clark brought several knitted samples to class. One really grabbed me - Baltic Blossoms. So I took a picture to remind me and after I got home, I ordered it.

The Habu Bamboo lace yarn I got from Knit-Purl in Portland had been calling me to knit it up, so I cast on Baltic Blossoms. It's a 20/3 yarn, so very fine and my resulting shawl won't be large, but I think it will be pretty an oh-so-soft.

Portland Area yarn stores
Early this month I got news that Tangle in Lake Oswego will be closing in June. The same week, I also saw a note about a new shop opening in Vancouver, WA, Stitchcraft. It's an interesting market here. I've updated the Yarn Shops lists to reflect the changes.

In the meantime, a couple of days ago, my new neighbor, Laurie (who knits!!!) and I headed on a little shop-hop, since she is new to the area. We started at Mill End Store (she also sews - some). Then to Abundant Yarns, where we each picked up some Abundant Yarn naturally dyed yarn. I got 50/50 wool/silk in Bandon Dunes.

I also found Noro Designer Mini Knits by Jenny Watson that I couldn't resist bring home.

Next Laurie got to experience Yarn Garden. It's a great shop, but neither of us found anything that screamed it had to take it home, so we headed for our next destination - Yarnia. There were lots of yarns in wool, rayon, bamboo, silk, cotton and more and the concept of creating a unique blend of yarn was intriguing, but it's a new one to us, so we left with ideas and will probably return with projects in mind.

We headed across the Columbia into Vancouver to check out Stitchcraft. It's a nice little shop that has some quilt fabric and a very nice yarn selection. We both fell in love with the Purity shawl from Rowan Magazine 43 and decided we had to knit it.

I loved the orange, but I'm just not an orangy girl. The Rowan Kid Silk Haze was just so soft, I actually bought the pattern yarn, but picked out a more red version, which it turns out is not too far from the color of the Habu bamboo. Well at least I'm consistent. So far it's an easy knit in stockinette on size 9 needles.

I also found yet another book: Heartfelt by Kim Hargreaves.

Our last stop was Knit-Purl and Josephine's Dry Goods, where admired the yarn and fabric, but didn't make any purchases.

One more thing
Not yarn related, but worth mentioning is the restaurant we found - Kappaya. I ordered the Tempura bento, which I thought was a little spendy at $7.50, but I was wrong since it came not only with rice, salad, miso, but included two dumplings, pickled vegs, and more than a dozen pieces of tempura - more than half of which went home with me.

While I'm on the subject of Japanese food, I'll give honorable mention to our favorite (though not nearest) Japanese restaurant - Fuji Sushi in Clackamas. Good reasonably priced sushi. My favorite thing is the Sunnyside roll, with tempura shrimp, cucumber, cream cheese and avocado - topped with Fuji sauce. We haven't figured out exactly what's in the sauce, but it is good.

It was a good day out.

Late Doggie Dash report

2008-05-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the generosity of friends, TheHudsons surpassed the dollar amount raised last year for the Oregon Humane Society at Doggie Dash: $1290. It wasn't even close to being enough for the top three like last year, but we're pretty darned pleased.

Jake and Mandy seemed to have a great time. We wandered around for an hour before the walkers took to Naito Parkway, and then walked the two miles. Both dogs were pulling at their leashes the entire walk, and continued to pull as we walked back to the cars. So it was a success all around.

Fiberly Weekend in Chicago

2008-05-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

It was all about "meeting" friends, fabric shopping and just hanging out. Patti Ferguson organized the weekend in Chicago where Mardel Fehrenbach, Barbara Bell, and Diane Egelston (DianeE on the Pattern Review and Stitcher's Guild sites) and I headed out, after four quick days at home, on April 25th. It was great to meet Mardel and Barbara for the first time, and see Diane and Patti again. We were missing Carolyn Norman and Marji Van Zile who at the last minute could not join us, but we were thinking of them all weekend.

Friday, we convened at Patti's house where she served up a delicious dinner of salads and home-baked bread. We had an informal show and tell, where I showed the only piece from my "planned" travel wardrobe I managed to complete. Butterick 4991; Silk Brocade purchased from Mrs Kimura's in Hawai'i

Saturday began at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, where we all came away with something. I was surprised to find a dog fabric in silk. And though there was a considerable selection fabrics to tempt, in the end I brought home only the silk dogs, a pretty blue rayon remnant and acetate slinky floral.

Cennetta Walker, is a local sewist/blogger that Patti invited to meet us at Vogue. We enjoyed a nice lunch learning more about each other before heading to Fishman's Fabrics. Their selection of colors in different fabrics was pretty amazing, but unlike Mardel, I had not come prepared with swatches and a plan, so was happy just to enjoy the experience. We said goodbye to Cennetta, but not before getting a quick group shot.

Cennetta, Diane, Barbara, Patti, and Mardel

Next to Hancock Fabrics where Vogue patterns were on sale. Right off the bat, I found the cotton patterns and three dog fabrics for Tom. Then I headed back to patterns, with no intention to buy or look, but because of my susceptibilty to the the power of suggestion (mostly from Diane), I picked out two Sandra Betzina patterns, Vogue 2980, because Diane was wearing it, and 1036, because she pulled it out and I liked it.

Dinner at Tapas Barcelona with three of Patti's friends, Shelia Crumine and Barbara DeCoster, both sewists, and Margie Rogasner (in her words "the outlyer") was great fun because of the company as well as the food. Post dinner we went back to Patti's house where three husbands, Norm, David and Bill, were waiting, had some lively discussions, dessert and again, I was the first to fold. Patti planned to stay at the hotel to have a grown up slumber party, which she, Mardel, Diane and Barbara did, as I fell into my bed.

Sunday morning, before we had to bid farewell to Diane and Mardel, we posed for one more Fiberly friends picture.

Afterwards, Barbara, Patti and I took in the Chicago Botanical Gardens, where the bulbs were in full bloom and beautiful.

Patti and I said goodbye to Barbara at the airport and headed to meet Pam Walters for dinner.

What a great weekend it was!

Mile High Lace Knitting Conference

2008-05-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

I believe this was the second such conference and it was quite intimate and small, which I quite enjoyed. Perhaps had I known it wasn't as big as even Madrona Fiberarts, I might have signed up for more of the non-class activities, but there were meals to be had with friends, so it was all good.

In the end, I did not take the class I had been looking for, but took Intarsia Lace from Galina Khemeleva thinking that maybe she could convert me to like intarsia if it were lace. Nope. I didn't even finish my sample swatch. But I did learn some new skills and enjoyed the class and instructor.

On Friday, I took Haapsalu Ratik (changed to Haapsalu Sal), knitting a traditional Estonian shawl, from Nancy Bush. I knit a nice little lace swatch, with nups (a new stitch for me) - which I've managed to misplace in all my unpacking and packing - but I did not follow tradition and sew on the separately knit border. While it's good to know the tradition, in my case, I'll probably not embrace the technique. I will, however, purchase her upcoming book Knitted Lace of Estonia: Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions (due out in October), after seeing the book samples and being assured that there were other border attachment options.

Saturday was Knitting Triangle Shawls taught by Evelyn Clark. I had purchased her book of the same title, and figure this was the only way I was assured to read it. I started the Sunshine and Shadows Shawl in class and finished it a few days ago, while in Phoenix. The yarn is Dream In Color Baby Lace that I purchased in Sunnyvale in March.

Adding to the stash
The conference was small and the vendor market was small - only four vendors. But I did manage to find some lovely lace yarn in the Skaska Designs booth. I learned about Yarn Place yarns on that San Jose trip in March, and was tempted by the fibers, colors and value of Touch (cashmere/tencel/merino), Heaven (tencel/merino), and Gentle (wool/cashmere):

I also couldn't resist taking home a hank each of Skaska's silk/cashmere and camel/silk yarns, as well as an Australian cashmere yarn.

And finally I came home to yarn that Bonnie sent from Japan. I'm pretty sure she bought it because of the brand - Puppy Yarn. It's washi paper yarn made from cotton.

Denver

2008-05-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a particular class taught by Galina Khemeleva and happened on the Mile High Lace Knitting Conference in Denver. I'm all about lace AND I graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver (more than a few years ago) so clearly I was destined to go. It turned out to be a very small conference held at the Renaissance Hotel across from what was, in "my day", Stapleton International Airport. I won't bore you with how much had changed in places, but it was significant.

Truth be told the knitting was an excuse to look up and see old friends. The visits started on Tuesday when it got to over 80 degrees farenheit and was still 76 degrees as I headed home (the significance of this comes up next) from dinner with Stephanie Brearton. I met Stephanie when we both pledged Alpha Phi at Colorado State. The chapter didn't last, but our friendship did.

I arrived on Monday, but the conference didn't start till Wednesday evening, so I stayed the first two nights at what we've come to call Hotel Shelton, aka Robert and Edith's house. They are the parents of my good friend Mark and I always enjoy spending time there. I don't like to visit someone's house empty handed, but have a hard time thinking what to make men, so I packed a full biscuit "kit", consisting of Oregon ingredients: Bob's Red Mill flour, baking soda, and baking powder, Tillamook butter, and Market of Choice buttermilk (and salt) to make Robert. For Edith, I made Elisa's Nest Tote in Bernat Kitchen Cotton. I knit in the round (taking a cue from a Ravelry-er), left the stitches live and knit on the i-cord for the handles, and it was done in just a few days.

Before I left for my stay at the hotel, I took Robert and Edith to lunch.

The snow flurries began as we left the restaurant, and by evening there was a nice blanket of snow. Gotta love that Denver weather! One June day circa 1979, the week before summer solstice, I was scraping snow off my car onto my cold sandaled feet.

Thursday morning, I enjoyed the snow in the early morning as I drove to meet Linda Williams for coffee.

Linda Williams was the senior class president and was consistently one of the nicest people at TJ even to those of us who were bussed in. Our friendship has remained intact and I'm expecting her to visit sometime this year so she can meet her goal of visiting all 50 states by the end of her 50th year. She has Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska to go.

Friday I took advantage of the two hour lunch break and had lunch with Mark Forsyth, my date to the senior prom. Considering we haven't been in touch since we graduated, it was a remarkably fun lunch. Mark is a retired cop, teaching at Regis College in Denver. I asked Mark to the prom and he probably warned me that he couldn't dance, but I chose to ignore the fact, but he was telling the truth. At 17, that was pretty "tragic", but years later it's laughable. We shared only one class (that I know of) - photography, and all I have is the impression of how nice he was. Next month his daughter will marry and he's been told he must dance with her. And he will. He asked me to "dump" the photo I took, so in deference, here's a prom picture.

That evening, the plan was to meet also have dinner with Dan and Dori Hugo and their twin 18-month-old boys, but while the latter were calm and quiet in the morning, when the plan was set, by evening it was decided that Dan would have to meet me solo. Despite the disappointment, Dan and I had a great dinner and evening catching up. It was such a good evening, the camera never came out of my bag. I'm promised a family photo some day.

Saturday evening my good friend Randy Roorda picked me up and we headed for dinner at one of his favorite Mexican Restaurants in Aurora. We met senior year in Mr Miles Sociology class when alphabetically he sat in the desk in front of me. And the rest is friendship history. He's a teacher, who has been off the past year. He says if he doesn't find the right position in Denver he'd like to move to Oregon. We can only hope.

Trying to catch up

2008-05-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

There's that general premise that as you get older time seems to go by more quickly. Add to that 9 planes in 21 days, of which onl 6 were spent at home and the month of April was just a blink in the proverbial eye. That, along, with a last minute visit from my mom that proceeded the three weeks of travel, in part explains my absence from blogland. I started writing this thinking I'd do one big post, but as I looked at all the unprocessed pictures, I realize my catching up will have to occur over several posts. So here I start in the middle.

I promised some pictures when last I posted:

Dianne's skirt and jacket
These were finished well before they were gifted to Dianne but, of course, couldn't be posted till she had them in her hands. It started with the Sandra Betzina skirt pattern, Vogue 2933. Tom found the fabric, at the Mill End Store in Milwaukie and I decided that I need to make something to go with it so we picked a cool eyelet.

The skirt was completed, with the "help" of some Pattern Review-ers to sort out the "wings." The fabric feels like rayon, but is a poly microfiber (the clerk at Mill End was sure the bolt description was wrong so did a burn test).

The jacket was Vogue 8398. I took my sewing machine and serger up to Puyallup with me and set up a little sewing station at the hotel. I underlined the eyelet with silk organza to give it some body and got most of it completed during the trip, just wanting to use my "good" machine to do the topstitching of the bias tape facing.

Another shirt for Tom
Tom got three new shirts in March - two to take to San Jose and one for his birthday - not that I need an excuse. I managed to post the first SJ shirt, but finished the second on the morning of the trip and forgot all about it.

The birthday shirt and the birthday boy with his second biggest fan.

Alpine Lace Scarf
It's done. All the time my mom was in town, she said she didn't think I'd ever finish it. And there were times I didn't disagree with her. Like immediatly after I made the decision to unknit back 14 inches to correct the mistake in the border that probably only I would see, but I'd know it was there. But I did finish it.

Doggie Dash 2008

2008-04-11T09:06:00.001-07:00

Last year Tom and I walked the Doggie Dash and raised enough donations for the Oregon Humane Society to put us in the top three teams (excluding the board of directors). We're walking again this year (with Jake and Mandy) and, though I have no expectations of repeating the team placement, I do want to at least match the dollar amount we raised and once again I'm asking for your help. All donations count! Here's the skinny:

On Saturday, May 10 thousands of animal lovers, many with their favorite canines will run and walk two miles at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon. 100% of the fees and donations go to the Oregon Humane Society toward reaching their goal of finding homes for 10,000 pets in 2008.

The Oregon Humane Society has been helping homeless animals since 1868. Last year OHS found homes for 9118, which includes animals transferred to OHS from other shelters in Oregon, Washington, and California. Additionally, OHS transfers animals who they don't think they can adopt out to other adoptions organizations to give them another chance. (That's how Jake found us.) The adoption rate at OHS is 3-4 times higher than the national average.

There's more on their website.

Please support the Oregon Humane Society with your donation by clicking here.

Thanks,

What's going on?

2008-04-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago we all decided that it would be a good idea for my mom to visit us so her realtors could really work on selling her house. The good news is that two offers came in; the bad news is they were really bad offers. So we wait. But having Mom and pooch around has thrown off my routine and I've had less time to spend at the computer. That means all the pictures I've taken are still in the camera and I haven't posted for a while. Sorry about that.

But I have been doing stuff and in the course of the next few weeks, hopefully, I'll get caught up.

Here's a synopsis:
  Dianne's birthday skirt and jacket (sewn)
  One shirt for Tom (now there's a surprise)
  Progress on the Japanese crochet shrug
  Elisa's Nest Tote
  FINISHED Alpine Lace Scarf (and my mom said it wasn't going to happen)

Next week, I'm off to Denver to attend the Mile High Lace Knitting Conference and (another big surprise) eat and drink with friends, including one Alpha Phi sorority sister (didn't know I was in a sorority in college did you?) and three high school friends, including my senior prom date, whom I've not seen since the 10 year reunion.

THEN, after spending some quality time with hubby and two silly dogs, it's off to Chicago for a weekend to meet some Fiberly Friends some of whom I've met, more I have not.

By the way, how did it get to be April already?

Hooks and Needles

2008-03-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

Sometime ago I started Mondnacht, a lace shawl from one of the many Japanese knitting and crochet books I've acquired. I didn't make a lot of progress because there are no pattern repeats in the entire shawl, so it requires that I really pay attention, so I gave it up - at least for a while. So I decided to start another Japanese pattern. This time it's a crochet shrug pattern from one Let's Knit 15 that I picked up in Seattle last month. I started it last week and have made a fair bit of progress. It was started in the middle back and crocheted to the left sleeve, which I've completed. Then stitches were picked up for the right side. The yarn is another "aged" stash yarn. It's 50/50 rayon/cotton and a bit stiff. I'm hoping it softens when it's washed, something I won't know till I finish, since, I did do a swatch, but didn't think keep it and wash it.

In the meantime, I continue to work on the Alpine lace scarf. I've gotten a rhythm going and am mostly pleased with the progress. Notice the smaller ball? That's about half of what I pulled out when I noticed a mistake in the border. I spent a day contemplating whether to leave it ("No one would really see it...") but in the end it would probably nag me, so about 14 inches came out. The pulling out and picking back up wasn't so traumatic, but the untangling and rewinding was a bit of a chore.

Then new VK arrived. What lovely lace patterns! I really need a formal event so I have an excuse to make the Mari Tobita's skirt or the dress by Shirley Paden.

On the other hand, even though it's featured as part of the wedding spread, the cardigan by Simone Merchant-Dest is definitely doable, as is the tank by Magumi Harai. And I like Kristen TenDyke's lace top.

And there were some non-lace patterns that caught my eye, as well, like Mari Lynn Patrick's colorwork top and Vladimir Terokhin's raglan pullover.

I think I need longer days...

Dogs on Thursday

2008-03-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

Sun Dog
Jake likes to be warm. We've had a fair bit of sun over the past few weeks (we're told that it's almost spring!) and when it shines into the bathroom, Jake finds the spots.

And he's fine till my picture taking apparently starts to bother him.

Knitting progress

2008-03-13T03:44:00.000-07:00

While in San Jose, I did get some knitting done.

I finished the Herringbone Stitch Chemo Cap.

And got quite a bit done on the Alpine Knit lace scarf. The significance of this progress is that it took me longer to get through the bottom border than it did to work the border/body so far. This is the first project where I seriously considered lifelines. The yarn is slippery silk on slippery needles. But I'm apparently a glutton for punishment because I never did add the lifelines, and unknit and unknit and reknit. But there's good news because I finally have the pattern in my head (though not memorized) enough to where I can see the issues without having to frog rows, which is usually my downfall.

Cupertino, San Jose and Scotts Valley

2008-03-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Through in visits to Santa Cruz, Sunnyvale and Campbell and you have our weekend destinations. The trip down to see Jack at Year Round Tax (in Scotts Valley) and Dr Ballentine (in San Jose) was just an excuse so we could

..have coffee with Maria (an hour just isn't enough time)

..deliver the 20-something annual birthday pineapple upside down cake for Bill (never mind that his birthday was last month)

..spend the better part of an afternoon with Chris for the first time in a very long time

..have brunch with Amy and Ron, who at different times took care of Cody and Mandy

..see former neighbors Joe and Connie and check out what's going on with our previous house.

It also gave us the chance to visit a new-to-us yarn shop, Purlescence Yarns in Sunnyvale and add to my SABLE.

Yarn Place Graceful Lace - very soft fine wool

Dream in Color Baby Lace Weight Merino wool, in a black that had shades of green, brown and blue

Crystal Palace Maizy - corn fiber and elastic nylon

And stay at the Cypress Hotel in Cupertino for the second year in a row, where we hung out with Spotty the fish. If you can afford the rack rates or get a good promo price (which is the category we fell into), I highly recommend Kimpton Hotels. Their In Touch membership program is all about hospitality. In addition to the fresh chocolate chip cookies they set out for guests every afternoon, as an In Touch member, I always get a note, bottle of water and a snack. If our dogs were good travelers and we weren't flying, we'd brought them to stay with us, since the Kimpton hotels welcome doggy guests. We have also stayed at the Alexis in Seattle (where the notes were hand written) and the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco.

South Bay yarn shop update

2008-03-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

If you happened to head to my SF Bay area yarn shop list and download it, I already have some corrections.

There's good news and bad news about downtown Campbell and yarn. Bad news: We discovered that Rug and Yarn Hut is no longer with us, but a walk down the block found yarn in a shop window, but the store is not yet open. The good news is that Green Planet Yarn plans to open in April 2008.

We did stop by Purlescence in Sunnyvale and had a lovely visit (and I found some Yarn Place yarn). More later after I get some pictures taken.

Bay Area bound

2008-03-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

It's time for our annual trek to San Jose to take care of taxes. It's not that we couldn't just send the information down, but what's the fun in that. (An "no" the trip is not tax deductible—we asked.)

In preparation, I did a little yarn shop research, found a couple of new-to-me shops to try to visit and posted a list of Bay Area Yarn shops on my website.

In addition to the trusty iPod Touch, I'll be taking a Herringbone Stitch Chemo Cap, a free pattern from Fiber Rhythm, I'm knitting in Knit Picks Shine Sport. It's my carry along project so, though it's an easy project, it may be a while before it's finished, since I only will get to it when were waiting for something and I need to keep busy. Or I may get it done while we're away. You never know.

And the obligatory lace project: Alpine knit scarf from Victorian Lace Today in Claudia Hand Painted Silk Lace yarn in Pecan.

Tom gets to take a new shirt.

Puyallup

2008-03-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

That's pronounced "pyoo-AL-up. I was immediately corrected by my Seattle friend, so I thought I'd save you the embarrassment.

Sewing Expo
Anyway, that's where I spent Thursday. This was my first time to the
Sewing & Stitchery Expo and it was quite an experience and I was late to game so didn't get to do/see everything I wanted, and that in itself makes it a learning experience.

For the uninitiated, the Expo, organized by Washington State University, consists of a very few in-depth workshops, a few more hands-on classes and lots of seminars. Plus there were free style shows and seminars, and over 200 vendors. And though I can find no reference for how long it's been going on, it clearly has been a long time. The crowd on Thursday by noon was significant. For the in-depth workshops and hands-on classes, the major sewing machine companies have set up rooms so schlepping a machine isn't necessary.

I ended up with three (instead of the planned five) seminars on Thursday around machine embroidery. I learned something from each, but didn't quite come away with the inspiration I'd hoped for.

Embroidery Basics was all about threads, needles, and stabilizers. The speaker was a Sulky national trainer, so the focus was on their products.

Embroidery From Perception to Reality was presented by the principal for an embroidery software company on how to use software (in general, her product in particular) to aid in design and implementation of the embroidery. If I ever invest in an embroidery application, I hope I remember her ideas.

Quick Gifts on the Embroidery Machine was entertaining, which was good since it was mid-afternoon - not my brightest time of the day. Bobbi Bullard showed some interesting projects that showcased her embroidery design sets, as well as some of her other products, including spray dyes and Swarovski crystals.

Showplex and Pavilion
There were two venues for shopping and with six hours of free time, I managed to cruise the aisles of both several times. Pretty much anything you could think of around sewing was there; and depending on the time of day, it was just a matter of actually getting to and into any given booth. There was lots of fabric and the independent pattern companies were well represented.

Practicing some restraint, I purchased only 3 yards of fabric, since I seem to have outgrown my substantial fabric/yarn closet and sewing room and I don't have the option of piling my fabric in the shower like Bobbi Bullard said she does. I found a pretty red linen rayon blend at Dana Marie (formerly Purrfection), but both scanning and photographing didn't get the color right. Seattle Fabrics had lots of tapestry, including a cute puppy print that I just couldn't resist.

What I really scored on were notions. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the store, but here's what I got there for $5 (a bagful of notions).

I found two gadgets at the smaller of the two Pine Needle Quilt Shop booths.

And there were a few yarn shops who showed up, knowing that it's not always about sewing. Because I need more yarn even less than fabric, I again practiced restraint, until I got to the Seattle Yarn, where there bags of discontinued yarn and shawl kits for $40, including the two bags of Noro I couldn't resist - Gisha and Silk Country.

I'm looking forward to next year, now that I know the ropes.

Side Trips
When possible I plan trips around meeting up with friends. And this trip was no different, though I have no pictures to show for it. Wednesday, I lunched with Dave Harms, a work friend, at a downtown Seattle Thai fast food place, and had dinner with Mark Shelton, (has it been 30 years!?) at Indochine in Tacoma. Thursday, it was all about meeting with fiberly friend Diane Egelston for the first time; we had pretty good teriyaki at Ichiban Teriyaki, very near the Red Lion Tacoma where I stayed. Finally, I had lunch with Adobe friends, Fred Hale, Marc Madenwald, and Jud Richards, in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, at the Red Door.

There was time to kill between checking out and meeting Fred, Marc, and Jud, so I stopped at Kinokuniya Bookstore. Parking karma was with me and I found a spot at the door that I didn't have to actually parallel park into (I'm a terrible backer-upper). It's hard to compare them to the Portland store because the layout is so different. However, I do think they had fewer books with knitting than Portland. I did find two crochet books, though.
Crochet Accessories (ISBN 9784277430807)

Let's Knit Series 15 (ISBN 9784529043496)

Doggy Cuteness

2008-02-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

That would be Jake!

And hubby, too. Even Tom's shoulder makes a good pillow for Jake.

Quick project

2008-02-21T07:35:00.001-08:00

I think I really knew I was going to run out of yarn on the shrug (see below) and I'd just picked up the March 2008 issue of Crochet! so I decided to make the Ruffled Lace scarf. At least I'd be able to finish something.

Made from Interlacements Alabama yarn acquired at Stitches West 2002. It took about 235 yards.

Miscalculation - again

2008-02-21T06:58:00.000-08:00

I really should know better and should do a better job of 1) calculating how much yarn a project will really take (as opposed to estimating) and 2) making sure I really have as much yarn as I think I do.

I started a shrug from VK Winter 1999/2000 by Giuliano Marelli out of stash yarn I picked up at the Braid Basket before it morphed into Knitting Arts in Saratoga, so it's been around for a while.The fronts and back are knit and I started the sleeves without the wrist "flair" thinking I'd do a 3/4 sleeve and possibly have enough yarn. Alas! it was not to be.

So here I am again, asking the internet community if someone can find a spare ball or two (I think one would do it, actually). The yarn is Katia Ceilan in color 85856.

UPDATE:Yarn found in just one day through KnitSwap Yahoo list!

Happy Heart Day!

2008-02-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

I didn't have any Valentine's Day fabric, but I did have a dog fabric with hearts, so Tom got a new shirt for the day.

Elderflower skirt is mostly finished. The knitting is done, but my body is such that to fit my tummy, the waist ends up being a bit big. I need to sew in some elastic in the back so the skirt doesn't feel like it's going to fall off, which I'm sure would be entirely amusing to some, but no.

Looking for a house?

2008-02-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

My mom's house is on the market in Sun City West, Arizona. If you're in the market or know someone who is, check it out.

That means, of course, that we did, in fact, convince her to move up to Oregon to be closer to us. It will be a big change for her, because she doesn't remember the ten winters spent in Denver, having been in Arizona for fifteen years.

Another Yarn Shop - with a twist

2008-01-31T04:49:00.000-08:00

A PDX Knit Blogger posted information about Yarnia, so I can take no credit, other than spreading the word.

I won't be able to go to the grand opening on February 2, but, even though I need more yarn like I need a hole in the head, it's such an interesting concept, I'll have to visit the SE Portland store soon.

I will say that I have successfully used up all but 1/3 ball of some of the oldest yarn in my stash. The Elderflower skirt is knit. It just needs buttons and I'll post pictures.

Tuesday talk

2008-01-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

New shirts
Although I didn't gift Tom with the promise of at least one shirt a month for 2008, I've just continued the tradition. Considering I haven't stopped finding new dog fabrics, it only makes sense that I keep making shirts.

New Machine
Tom was the first to benefit from my new cover stitch machine, which made short work of finishing the sleeves and hems. I have mentioned that I am susceptible to suggestion and the Fiberly friends has been talking about cover stitch machines on and off for a few months. A couple of weeks ago, I succumbed to the power of suggestion and started researching machines. In the end, with feedback from my Fiberly friends, some local sewing guild members and reviewing Debbie's excellent Coverstitch FAQ, we headed to Montavilla Sewing Center, where I opted for the Baby Lock Cover Stitch, to sit along side my Baby Lock serger and sewing machine. I think I am set for machines for a good long while.

New Knitting
Although I haven't posted recently to Ravelry, I have been browsing and among my friends projects, I found the Elderflower skirt by Ruth Sørensen. It intrigued me because I love skirts and it's knit without a gauge swatch, so it was just a matter of picking out some yarn and knitting away. Here's my progress from last week. I'm now on the stockinette portion, and admit to being a bit bored, but it is a good take along project since stockinette doesn't require that I pay attention. The yarn is a sock yarn I picked up when I first started knitting for $1 a ball. Craftmart became Lee Ward's which became Michael's. The yarn has been aging in my stash a really long time.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2008-01-13T03:33:00.000-08:00

Though she won't see this and you can't email her any greetings, it bears noting that today is my mom's 81st birthday. Currently, she lives in Sun City West, AZ, but we are working hard to change that. After four years of "Absolutely not!" in August after spending a week of al fresco lunches and dinners, she seemed to soften her stance. So we set out to find a nice place for her to move not too far from us, address all possible objections and present it all to her at Christmas.

So far the words "I'm moving" haven't been spoken, but in February we head south to help fix the little house deficiencies and, with luck, she'll sign with the realtors, referred by Dianne and the decision will be made.

In the meantime, I've been single-mindedly working on her birthday gift which is more appropriate to Pacific NW winters than desert SW, but when I saw the picture in the November/December issue of Crochet Today! it screamed "Mom!" It's my second crochet project and, as expected there was plenty of un-crocheting, but I do have to admit, even for a novice, crochet seems to grow much more quickly than knitting. Though in the end I still prefer knitting, it's nice to be able to decipher crochet patterns now; it opens up lots of options.

This should have arrived on her doorstep yesterday and hopefully she likes it. It was crocheted using Elann Highland Wool yarn in color Redwood.

Mom and me

Dogs on Thursday...on Friday

2008-01-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

My friends and family know me well. Here are some doggy things I received for Christmas.

But nothing can hold a candle to the real dogs.

Jake asks,"Is that all there is?"

Mandy says, "Hey, I'm not proud."

Tootsie says, "Leave me alone. I'm sleeping."

Looking back on the year

2007-12-31T15:20:00.001-08:00

As I finally get back to this thing we call blogging, I took a look at what I accomplished on the fiberly front. I did so many more things in my head than I did for real, I still think I did pretty well.

Last Christmas I promised to make Tom at least one shirt each month. In part, the idea was to reduce the stash of dog fabric. Although I admit I did augment the stash, I think I did put a very small dent in it having made 26 shirts - 11 in August for our 25th Anniversary. I finished the last shirts of the year over the weekend.

Although I planned to sew for myself, most of the 15 sewn projects ended up being gifts, including a set of placemats for Dianne, a jacket, top and pants for my mom, and bag for Tom's aunt Flossie. Tom's Christmas present was a Simplicty 3890 jacket sewn from wool we picked up at the Pendleton Woolen Mills outlet in Milwaukie. And I made a jacket for one of Tom's nieces.

McCalls 5479; Fabric Mart wool blend fabric

Mostly I knit–20 projects, in total. I started (and finished) Michelle Rose Orne's capelet from Vogue Knitting Winter 2006, as a gift, but changed my mind about the giftee.

Instead, I put my newly learned crochet skills to the test and made the Chrysantemum lace shawl from Amazing Crochet Lace: New Fashions Inspired by Old-Fashioned Lace by Doris Chan from Muench Tahoe (stash) yarn.

Looking at the bigger picture of my fiberly pursuits, I guess I can't complain—but I still want to do more next year! To see all the sewing, knitting, and crochet projects - except shirts - plus a couple of other endeavors click here.

Oh yes and
Happy New Year!

Don't forget your black-eyed peas.

Hawai'i

2007-11-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't gotten my sewing done and my latest knitting effort was a bust (having found a BIG mistake right at the end...) so I've been hard at it at the computer processing pictures and html.

Pictures from the Hawai'i trip, are finally done and posted to TheHudsons.

And Dogs

2007-11-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

And while I was at it, I pulled two month's pictures of Jake and Mandy off the card, so the cuteness continues on TheHudsons.

:

A lace obsession

2007-11-19T05:13:00.000-08:00

I really have to stay off this computer and not go to bookstores. It started with Japanese knitting and now it's Japanese lace crochet.

We had some time to kill before going over to Flossie's house to plan Thanksgiving so we went to Uwajamiya which houses Kinokuniya. I came home with four books–three crochet and one knit. And now I'm obsessing about crocheted lace.

ISBN: 978-4529042246

ISBN: 978-4277171885

ISBN: 978-4529024129

ISBN: 978-4277113854

And on order from YesAsia

ISBNs: 978-4529044431 and 978-4529044349

Too early for Jake

2007-11-16T04:21:00.000-08:00

Dogs on Thursday
Technically, it's not Thursday, and I'm still not in a picture processing mood, but Jake provides such a wealth of photo ops, some of which I take advantage of.

Here's how each early morning goes:
1. With the first light of day, Jake wakes up and must think "Oh - morning! Breakfasttime!!"
2. He come charging down the hall to the bonus room or into my office with a very happy puppy face and says "It's Breakfasttime!"
3. We have a moment when he looks like a little comma and I give him a hug till he wiggles out and says "It's Breakfasttime!"
4. I ask if he'd like breakfast and he wags his little tail and says "Yes! Yes! It's Breakfasttime!" and goes charging back down the hall and impatiently waits for me to move the gate so he can go downstairs.
5. I fix his breakfast while he follows me around the kitchen with his tail going a mile a minute.
6. He eats happily, all the time his tail is a-waggin'.
7. He goes out.
8. He goes back to bed.
And breakfast is forgotten till the next morning when the scene repeats itself.

When it's time to get Tom up, Jake is all about sleeping and most mornings it's just too early for him.

Blogging and Ravelry

2007-11-12T04:01:00.000-08:00

Dianne (DiannePDX) just got her invitation to Ravelry and commented in a message to me, Suzie (knitnlisten) and Jean (no clue about Ravelry) that she thought the reason I haven't been posting much here is because I've been spending so much time on Ravelry. Not true. It may be worth noting I haven't posted much on Ravelry either.

Because to me, both are all about the pictures and my recent mantra has been "I'd rather be knitting and sewing than processing pictures"–that's exactly what I've been doing.

On my list (without pictures, in no particular order):
1. McCalls 5479
2. Vogue 8162
3. Vogue 7880
4. Vogue 8344
5. Simplicity 3890
6. Ene's Scarf (Scarf Style)

Since most are gifts, I won't give details and it's likely I won't post pictures of the projects till after the holidays. But eventually I will get to those Hawaii and Jake pictures.

BTW, it may come as no surprise that I'm Fiberlyone on Ravelry.

Focused on Finishing

2007-11-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

I have to admit some frustration with the Mom capecho and with the body finished, and the collar to go, so I decided to set the project aside for awhile. I needed something that I could finish so I pulled out the Gold Nugget Shawl and finished it. I am always amazed at the transformation lace makes after it's been washed and blocked. As I knit the shawl and looked at the pattern, I thought, "This isn't going to be anything like Shui's beautiful shawl." But lo and behold through the magic of blocking it became something entirely different and lovely. It took exactly one ball, with a yard to spare, and it measures 48" wide and 24" long.

Next, I decided to try my hand at crocheting something. Since it was my first crochet project, instead of diving into one of the lovely patterns in the Japanese knitting books, I thought it would be good to start in English, and probably something not-too-complicated. To that end, I found the Off the Grid scarf on Knitting Daily, chose stash Crystal Palace Romance yarn in a mustardy color and crocheted away.

Since the Mom capecho is a bust for now, the Dressing Gown needed to be finished. I have contacted two knitters who finished the shorter Bed Jacket version to get a handle on interpreting the very poorly written collar instructions, since the publisher/author never responded. Both admitted to having a problem with the instructions, which tell you to start the collar before sewing up the shoulders, but they did manage to finish and told me the process; in theory it was straightforward. I started the collar as written. I can read and I understand knitting instructions, but as I read the collar instructions, the short rows would make a half collar. So in frustration, I gave up and decided to knit a lace collar, but I couldn't find a pattern.

Then I remembered the cover of the Fall 2006 Interweave Crochet I'd bought because it had combination knitting and crochet patterns. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and wing it with the Pineapple Lace. It took three tries to get the foundation pattern done right, but I did and even though I didn't count the stitches (it's a long way around the gown), it all worked out. I decided to stop at the eighth row in the pattern for fear of running out of yarn and the robe is pretty heavy as it is. For the cuffs I just did the first four pattern rows.

Next on the agenda involves much pointier needles—Christmas sewing.

Fabric, Yarn and a Dog

2007-10-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

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"

2007-10-26T03:54:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-08T04:36:00.000-07:00

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

On the needles

2007-10-08T04:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Three shirts

2007-09-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

In my dog fabric shopping I found little dogs and palm trees. What better fabric for a Hawai'i trip? The plan to include it with the Anniversary Shirts didn't happen, but it's done now.

Last weekend, we were shopping in at Holly Hill Quilt Shoppe in Willamette Falls, at their Batik fabric sale (ends today, btw), and Tom spied a fabric that he really liked. So that was added to the fabrics I'd picked out and Tom has another shirt for the trip, to take along with the fish, sushi and shirt shirts from the Anniversary batch.

I have a new "swim" suit, but needed a cover up. At first I thought I'd make just that, but then decided it would be better to just pull on a pair of shorts and a shirt, which could do double duty from a trip perspective. I chose Vogue 8258 and settled on a very pretty red rayon batik, figuring being the shirt-making whiz that I am it would go pretty fast. HA! I love to wear rayon, but soft slippery rayon is a bit fiddly. And in the end the blouse became a light jacket because the lapel just wanted to be longer...or maybe I just liked the look of it better. I also opted for improvised 3/4 length sleeves since I didn't want the cuffs and the short sleeve length in the pattern view doesn't suit me.

A challenge

2007-09-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

In the Knitting in Japan list and on the Knitting Elegance KAL blog, Sylvia put out the challenge to figure out how the stitches in a chart from a Japanese "Let's Knit" book.

So I decided to take the challenge and I think I've met it. I don't have the book and can't see the sweater, so I can't say for sure. Here's what I came up with.

Row 1: p3, k1tbl, p1
Row 2: k1, p1tbl, p3
Row 3: p2, (sl next st to cn and hold in back; k1; k1 from cn), p1
Row 4: k2, p1tbl, p1tbl, k2
Row 5: p2, make 5 sts in next st (in the same stitch, k1, k1tbl, k1, k1tbl, k1), k1tbl, p1
Row 6: k1, p1tbl, p5, k2
Row 7: p1, right cross next 6 st (sl next st on cn and hold in back; k5, p1 from cn), k1tbl, p1
Row 8: k1, p1tbl, k1 p5, k1
Row 9: p1, k1, ~~dec 2 sts in next 4 st (k2tog; pass k2tog back to left needle; pass next st over k2tog; move k2tog back to right needle, but leave passed stitch on left needle; k next stitch together with passed st)~~, k1tbl, p1
Row 10: k1, p1b1, k1, p3, k1
Row 11: p1, k3tog, p1, k2bl, p1
Row 12: k1, p1b1, k1, p1, k1
Row 13: (sl first st to cn and hold in back; k1; p1 from cn), p1, k1tbl, p1
Row 14: k1, p1tbl, p3

The discussion starts on Monday, so we'll see if my interpretation comes close to others.

Well, I was mislead by the line in the fourth stitch of row 9 and didn't quite get it right. The correct Row 9:
P1, centered decrease on next three stitches, P1, K1tbl, P1.

I tried.

Dog Days of September

2007-09-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a month-plus now since Jake adopted us and all is well. He's a happy fella, and now that Mandy has figured out that he isn't just here for a visit, she's even initiated a few play sessions.

More we've learned about Jake:
• His nose gets cold, so he has to find a place to keep it warm.

• He likes to cuddle; he really likes to cuddle with Tom.

• He's murder on stuffed toys. Poor blue elephant-baby has had three ear surgeries.

• He's not too proud to take over anyone's part of the bed.

• In pinch my lap will do.

And in the process, I got a really good picture of Mandy. It's hard to get a good picture of a black dog when the flash always gives her devil eyes, but not this time.

There's more Jake living the life he deserves, including a movie here.

Some things finished

2007-09-23T04:42:00.000-07:00

September shirt
I cheated a little here, since it really was a shirt started for the anniversary project, but it's a shirt and it's September, so it's Tom's September shirt.

I Do
It's not that it was difficult, even though I did effectively knit three sleeves (but have only two to show for it), I'm just so easily sidetracked with other things, but here it is. Frogging the first sleeve was a good idea, since it would have been much too long. And I did like working with the Rowan Calmer yarn—very soft.

"Swim" suit
I was quite pleased with how quickly this came together and it fits. You'll have to take my word for that now. When I have occasion to actually wear it (in about 14 days!), maybe there will be other pictures. In the meantime, it is done!

Talented friends

2007-09-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

In a fit of organization, I decided to clean out my e-mail InBox. Much of what I'd saved were emails with pictures. Some of the pictures have been posted to Fiberly Friends' blogs or photo sites, but others had not, so I thought I'd share some of the very lovely fiberly endeavors of some very talented women.

I've explained about the Fiberly Friends in a previous post, but they deserve another mention. You can read about Carolyn's and Barbara's sewing, and Liana's and Mardel's sewing and knitting on their blogs. You can see pictures of Kathryn's, Peggy's, Diane's and Pam's wonderful fiberly work on their photo sites. Though Patti doesn't take pictures, Joanna and Linda do. And we can't wait to see what newest Fiberlies Mary and Sheila have made.

There's more here.

Turnabout is fairplay

2007-09-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

I was perusing the stats for my blog and came across a visitor from an unfamiliar URL, so I checked it out. Turns out a reporter from The News and Observer in Raleigh-Durham, NC is working on a Capecho and linked back to my version, as well as some others.

So turnabout is fairplay and here's a link to her articles.

I should point out, though I knit the thing, it was Dianne who came up with how to wear it, that got the article recognition.

And I am inspired to try something different on the Mom Capecho...I just don't quite know what, at the moment.

Doin' stuff...except taking pictures

2007-09-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd pop in to say that I have been keeping busy...but I just haven't taken any pictures to show for it.

On needles (and not quite languishing as UFOs):
Seville - Fronts and backs are blocking. Sleeves are on the needles (will I have enough yarn for two long sleeves or will it become a 3/4 sleeve cardi/shrug?)

Capecho - Yes, another. My mom saw the one I gave to Dianne and liked it, so what's a daughter to do? Because she lives in Arizona, wool is out, so I found some nice cotton on Elann.

I Do - I just found the first sleeve, so now I need to find where I messed up on the second sleeve and finish it up.

Mondnacht - This project takes a lot of concentration, so it's waiting till I have some time to just sit.

At the sewing machine
Shirts - Tom's September shirt is almost done. Just have to get those buttons on

Swimsuit - Big Island, here we come. In my case, the use of "swim" is just a suggestion and not an indication of how it will be used.

iPod touch cozies - Tom decided he wanted a Touch and asked me I wanted one. No...that was until we stopped by the Apple store and I looked at the iPhone (since the Touch won't be out till the end of the month) and I got sucked in. But there aren't any cases available and there's the trip next month...

What is a Rat Terrier?

2007-09-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

At the dog park we were asked the difference between a Fox Terrier and a Rat Terrier. Good question. So I looked up both breeds on Wikipedia. While they didn't compare the Rat Terrier to a Fox Terrier there was a personality description that describes Jake to a "T."

Temperament

Although often mistaken for a Jack Russell Terrier, the Rat Terrier has a different profile and a very different temperament. Rat Terriers are finer of bone and have a more refined head. They always have a short single coat—never wire coated. Rat Terriers tend to be less aggressive than Jack Russells; while they have a definite terrier personality they also have an "off switch" and love lounging on the sofa in a lap as much as tearing about the yard. Rat Terriers are normally cheerful dogs but they tend to be more sensitive than Jack Russells to changes in their environment, owner's moods, or to unexpected noises, people, and activities.

Free FileMaker magazines to a good home

2007-09-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

There is no dog or fiber content in this post.

I love magazines, but there is this problem of what to do with them when they're "done." Some I save—I have all issues of Threads and Interweave Knits, lots of VK and most Knitters (which are staying here). Others just get recycled like Popular Science and Entertainment Weekly, because it's unlikely we'll want reference them.

So what to do with five years of FileMaker Advisor magazines? When I had a real job, I could justify the subscription, but now that I'm mostly retired and don't even have the latest version of FileMaker, I've let the subscription lapsed. And having finally found located all 130+ issues of Threads (two years later), that I need to make room for, the FileMaker Advisor mags have to go...hopefully to a good home.

The subscriptions were spendy and much of the content is still valid, so I just hate the idea of having to recycle the paper, so here's the deal:

If you are interested, the FileMaker Advisor magazines—2001-Mar 2006—are FREE to you, but you will have to cover the cost of shipping/mailing (from Portland, OR) - by whatever carrier you choose.

Send me a comment if you want any or all of the 46 FileMaker magazines.

Can you stand it? More dogs...

2007-09-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

And there are so many pictures I miss because the camera is not where I am...

Here is the latest installment of Jake pictures with some good pictures of Mandy thrown in.

A little knitting progress

2007-09-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Drop Stitch Skirt
The skirt went by much more quickly after the second start and it's done. I had a hard time knitting the wraps at first because the flat ribbon tightened on the cable of the circular needle and I had to fiddle with each stitch to get it on the needle to knit. But on the second go-round I figured out that if I didn't pull the stitch on the needle, it stayed loose, so three days of knitting in Phoenix amounted to two days in West Linn and my mom has a skirt (or will when I get it in the mail to her).

Seville
It's not going as fast as I'd like, but I have made progress:

The back when I got home from Phoenix on Saturday

The back on Tuesday

There are just too many things I want to knit (and sew...and crochet (which first I have to learn...))

Home again, home again

2007-09-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

As much as I do like spending time with my Mom, truth be told I'd rather spend it here than there—there being Arizona—Sun City West, to be exact. There was a time when I could tolerate the heat, but I don't think it was 110°-114°F. All in all, though, the entire Mom-visit, both here and there was nice. And I think we're making progress on convincing her that she should move away from the desert heat.

We brought her back from Tacoma on day four of Jake's new life with us. With the addition of Tootsie, the week was all about the dogs.

There's Tootsie


...and Mandy


..and, of course, Jake


As for knitting, I took the "I Do" shrug with me with the intention of finishing it, but neglected to bring the first sleeve.

My mom and her friend, Vicki, took me to Hobby Lobby. It's like a Michael's on steroids, but much better merchandised. I found some Lion Brand Incredible yarn in "blue shades" on sale and there was just enough to knit the drop stitch skirt from "Skirts!" by Darla Sims. I started it for me, but my mom hinted that she'd like it, so it's now for her. I started it with the intention of finishing it there, but after taking it off the needles to fix a mistake, I realized I really should have paid more attention to the gauge, so had to restart. So mucn for my intentions...

I also took Seville a lace shrug and Seasilk in Sangria (ooh...a Spanish theme and I didn't even plan it.) I think I've had it for a while but found it in my "put away" tray. (I'm so organized - or not.)

Like I said, it was a nice visit, but it's always good to be home again.

Pretty flowers

2007-09-02T03:57:00.000-07:00

When in Scotland a few years back, we saw LOTS of hydrangeas in so many different colors. At the time we still lived in San Jose, where I had seen them only in a pale blue shade. I regretted not taking pictures. But now we live in Oregon where I now love around the splendor of the different colors. From my neighborhood (and yard, here are some pictures of pretty flowers.

Week One with Jake

2007-08-27T04:54:00.000-07:00

He's a smart little dog and in a very short time has become part of our family. Jake's first week with us has been a learning experience for us all. And there are still some mysteries.

We learned early on that he's a foody, so it was pretty darn easy to teach him to sit and lay down. Just bring out a Cookie and he's there!

We also learned that a stern voice will cause him to retreat or go into submissive position on his back. So on Friday night when he encountered the skunk in the back yard, instead of coming to Tom when he called (sternley) Jake retreated to the dark reaches of the back yard. The good news is that Mandy and Tootsie with their longer coats did not meet Mr Skunk and we had to douse only one dog with tomato juice. It worked most, but a close encounter of the Jake kind will still yield a light skunky odor.

It's all relative, I guess. When Mandy tried to play with a skunk and the skunk was not so happy about the encounter, we had to ride from Medford to San Jose with a skunky nervous dog, then leave our bags (which were stinky by association) in the garage to air out for two months. It took just as long for Mandy to air out, but she didn't have to stay in the garage.

But I digress...

Here are a few pictures from the week.

More pictures can be seen by clicking on one of the pictures or here.

Visiting Tacoma - briefly

2007-08-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

Her week with Barbara was up, so we headed back up to Tacoma to pick up my Mom and bring her to our house. We had a very nice visit, on what was the first nice day in a week. We enjoyed Barbara's hospitality, flowers and beautiful view of the Puget Sound.

Mystery solved

2007-08-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

The mystery stole has been done for over a week, but with the arrival of Patty's mom, taking her to Tacoma, bringing her back from Tacoma, and getting to know Jake, there have been a lot of picture taking and not-too-much posting. Here is the last installment of this mystery.

Swan Lake
The theme of the stole was revealed after the fourth clue, since the stole was to be asymmetrical which Melanie knew would be embraced by some but not all. Here's an excerpt from her description of the pattern.

The stole begins with the traditional lace pattern “Wings of the Swan” that I used in Leda’s Dream. Only one repeat of the pattern is made before it is split in half and continues up the sides of the point and along the edges of the first two thirds of the stole as a border. The large decorative motif that many of you saw as faces, insects, dragons, and other creatures in is merely a decorative motif with swirls and curls to fill the space. The honeycomb pattern is another pattern used to fill the space and not necessarily symbolizing anything in particular. The following motif that has a floral appearance is the traditional Shetland lace design “Cat’s Paw.” This design is usually worked as a vertical insertion, but I used it as a scattered, all over design in this stole in reference to a particular dance in the Swan Lake ballet. Le Danse des Petits Cygnes or Dance of the Little Swans is one of the most famous parts of the ballet. When Siegfried meets Odette and her maidens, there are several dances by the swan maidens, but this one is done by four dancers, each holding to the next one, moving in unison doing the pas de chat step. Pas de Chat means literally step of the cat, so using the Cat’s Paw lace design seemed natural in this stole. The final third of the stole is a wing. It obviously fits as the swan part of the theme, but the single wing with the more formal first part of the stole also alludes.

Dressing Swan Lake

The point

The wing

The stole

Day One with Jake

2007-08-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Jake has adopted us. He has settled in without missing a beat.

What we've learned about him in the less than 24 hours we've known each other:
1. He's a foody. At the shelter he went right to the treat jar and tried to forage.
2. He's an optimist. Each time we come in the room his eyes are on our hands because there just might be a treat in them.
3. He's a comfort dog. The sofa was his domain on the first exploration break, where after watching for more treats, he settled down to a nap
4. He's definitely a comfort dog. Our bed became his bed, along with at least two of the three dog beds that were formerly Cody's.
5. He's curious. He continues to trot around the house checking things out.
6. He's a good dog. He hasn't gotten into anything, including yarn (very important), trash (well he did poke his nose in one basket, but was busted and suitably remorseful)
7. He likes to be touched. If you stop and he's not done, his little nose and head are under your hand in no time
8. He's cute.

So far Mandy seems to be indifferent. There was a brief moment after Jake grabbed brown baby and ran with it that he and Mandy started to play. It's a start and there's lots of time for playing.

Click on any of the pictures to see more.

Meet Jake

2007-08-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

We have a new family member.

We adopted Jake today from the Family Dogs New Life shelter in SE Portland/Milwaukie, OR. He's a six-year-old rat terrier, who was surrendered to the Oregon Humane Society and then transferred to Family Dogs New Life. Today was the first time Jake got to meet prospective people and lucky for us the first couple passed. He's a curious little dog and at 17.5 lbs the smallest dog we've ever had. He's been trotting around the house checking things out, but took a long nap on the sofa, so seems to be settling in nicely.

I'll post more pictures soon.

People, Places, Dogs and Yarn

2007-08-18T05:24:00.000-07:00

Oregon Coast
Our 25th anniversary deserved more than just a dinner, but with two big trips planned for 2007 (Scotland in May and Hawai'i in October), we opted for a quick getaway and headed for the Oregon coast.

Since I'm the planner in our family, Tom made some suggestions about towns to visit, but left it to me sort out where we'd stay. We'd decided early on that the dogs would go with us, but with the loss of Cody, it was just Mandy. I found a site with a list of dog-friendly lodgings and after lots of site visits, settled on the Fireside Motel in Yachats (pronounced YAH-hots). Once we arrived, we both agreed that I'd made a good decision. Mandy was happy as long as she was with us, though truth be told she'd rather have been with us in the comfort of her own house.

We left on Monday and could not have asked for a better day. We took 99W through McMinnville and on to Lincoln City, where we took a break and walked on the beach.

Checking into the Fireside Motel, we received a pet package consisting of a sheet, towel, mat and several scooper bags. Mandy was set. In town we met a local dog, Sam.

We'd booked an ocean view room and were not disappointed with the view. Behind the motel is the 3/4 mile 804 Trail, that goes along the coast, with benches and tables visitors can sit and enjoy the ocean in addition to exploring the rocks and tidepools.

We headed south to Florence on Tuesday, where we escaped the fog that had rolled in between the time I took Mandy out on her early morning walk and Tom got up. In Old Town my first stop was Reigning Cats and Dogs, which had a great selection of doggy things for people. Our next stop, was the Siuslaw Coffee Roasters where I found out that Siuslaw is pronounced "sigh-YEW-slaw" and we bought some yummy cakey fruit pastries. There was a name, but I don't remember it, but they were very dense and reminded us of a cross between shortbread and cake with fruit, a crumb topping with coconut. Again, yum.

I remembered seeing or reading about Mo's clam chowder, so on the way back to the car stopped by and got clam chowder, fresh bread and cole slaw to go. Good timing on our part because as i sat with Mandy, there was a crowd gathering outside for lunch. It was a good lunch.

On Wednesday, we headed south again to take the Eugene-Florence road home. Just north of Florence is a big "YARN" sign, so we had to stop. Happy Kampers Yarn Shop has a very large selection of yarns you'd find in big box stores, but upstairs I found a brand I'd never seen before and some wool that was just too pretty to pass up.

Sometime ago I'd found a link to Dyelots so we planned the one stop in Eugene. I was greeted by Janis as she cut mint in the side yard of the house for a visitor, then led into the house and to the yarn. She had mostly fiber, but there were beautiful yarns spun up, and this is what I brought home.

There are more pictures from the trip here.

Tacoma and Seattle
My mom lives in Sun City West, AZ and we have been trying to get her to spend some summer time away. A snowbird friend, Barbata, invited her to visit in Tacoma and the proximity to Portland finally convinced her to leave the heat for awhile. It's less expensive to fly in and out of PDX, so I made all the arrangements and on Thursday she arrived with Tootsie and we were off to Tacoma.

Barbara found some toys for Tootsie, who really wanted to play, but in the end was just too tired.

See more of Tootsie.

After spending a few hours enjoying Barbara's view of the Olympic Peninsula and Tacoma Narrows bridge, we headed north to meet Jud and Karrie for dinner at Camelita. The food was fabulous. It's vegetarian, but very creative "savory fare."

We arrived a little early but not problem because I had scoped out the yarn store situation and found the Fiber Gallery just a few blocks away. It was a good find. They had probably as good a book selection as I've ever seen. I'd venture to say that you could find just about any knitting book currently in print, and a few that are out of print. The yarn consisted of a lot of unusual fibers (banana leaf, corn, hemp, nettle, bamboo). In the end I bought more the more traditional fiber of merino in the form of hand painted Malabrigo lace yarn. The picture doesn't do the colors justice. The left hank is plummy while the right is mostly a chocolate brown with blues painted in.

Royal Post

2007-08-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Scotland, this is just an aside to point out that as much as we complain about our postal systems, sometimes they do "work"—just not always quickly.

On May 22, we stopped by the combination grocer/post office on Islay to mail home a box of miscellaneous things. It was a small shop and we were directed to the "post office" which was on the same counter three feet from the cash register for the store. Our one box was just a little too heavy to be considered "small parcel" and would cost double what two small parcels would cost, so we divided the goods into two boxes. Allow 4-6 weeks we were told.

About three weeks ago, or two months later, box one arrived. As we were driving back from Seattle Thursday night, I happened to comment on the fact that box number two had not arrived. Our stopped mail was delivered yesterday and, you guessed it: there was box two.

It took close to three months but we have our two boxes, which is good because Tom would have looked silly walking around with just one shoe...

Twenty five years ago

2007-08-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

August Shirt(s)

2007-08-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary, Tom gave me a beautiful ring. There was nothing I could think of that was special to buy for him, so I decided to make him twenty-five shirts. Life happens and I only managed to finish eleven, but he seemed happy with that.

A different perspective on LYS

2007-08-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I have not frequented the LYS as much as I would like (or they would like, for that matter). It has much to do with convenience, as much as selections. As with everything, fibers, yarns and colors, and the shops that sell them are a matter of personal taste. How products are merchandised and the people in the shop also affect my decision to frequent any business.

Two shops near me have closed in the past year, while the oldest still survives, in part, I'm guessing because of location. The idea of the neighborhood yarn shop is appealing in theory, but for me, it also has to stock the kinds of products I need or want. At this point in my stash, it's all about finding that something different—in color or fiber, and that's something that many neighborhood shops may not be able to offer because of the cost of maintaining both a storefront and inventory.

So I shop the internet shops as well. Now this doesn't have to mean I don't shop locally. I do. Several LYS offer internet shopping for yarn and accessories. They are taking advantage of what the expanded customer the internet has to offer. It is also a convenience for me since they are not just down my block.

And then there are the internet-only stores that are local. Most recently (okay, yesterday), I ended up at Woolgirl where I found an extensive selection of hand painted yarns in a variety of fibers. Since I'm really trying to minimize stash enhancements, I picked a bunch of yarns with intriguing colors and fibers and narrowed the purchase to a suri alpaca/silk laceweight yarn in a color called "berrijus." I got an email that my shipping cost was reduced because Jennifer was located just across the Willamette River from me in Oregon City. I was caressing this lovely yarn yesterday. I don't know if you can beat this combination for softness.

Local Yarn

2007-08-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

Shortly after moving here, I marveled at the number of yarn shops in the area—fifteen when we arrived and eighteen by the end of 2005. Were there that many knitters? Could that many shops really survive?

The internet is both a blessing and a curse. As a consumer, I shop around to find variety and the value. But for small businesses, it can be hard. The overhead of a storefront. That point has been made quite clear Mabel's Knittery and Café closes the yarn shop this month. They will follow Cozy Ewe in June and Lint last month and sometime in the past year, Knit-In Café. I'm sure the neighborhoods will be a little lost without them, but it can be said that there are still local options, some are storefronts, some are internet, some are both.

Regarding Mabel's the following was posted to the SNB-Portland list:

Starting this Sunday - August 12th - we will be having a storewide
liquidation. All inventory will be 30% off, and we expect things to
move quickly. We will open from 10AM - 6PM for the first two days,
and will close at 4PM for the remaining 4 or 5 days.

But she also said:

On a happier note, I will be starting a new business in the same
location, and many familiar faces will be right there with me. I
hope you will all stop by at the end of August to check out our new
and expanded coffee house, complete with a children's area, free wi-
fi, delicious coffee, bagels, treats, milkshakes....all the good
stuff. We hope to carry all of the coziness of Mabel's along with
us.

It's always good to end on a happier note.

Knitting Japanese

2007-08-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

It's that power of suggestion again...
It started with the Mystery Stole Yahoo group extoling the loveliness of a shawl that Queen Mudd had knit; which showed a project she was working on from a Japanese pattern book; which lead to a search for the book; which found Fleegle's blog; which lead to YesAsia, a bookseller and the ABCs of Knitting; the former of which lead to more books, and so on...

Logistics
Lots of Google searches later here's what I uncovered about Japanese pattern books. I tried to use ISBN numbers to search, as well as English titles, and where possible copied Japanese symbols. Lacis, in Berkeley, CA and Needlearts Book Shop in Toronto, ON have a selection of Japanese books, including the symbol reference books that Fleegle uses.

YesAsia has a lot of pattern books, but searching is iffy since they use the Roman characters as the enunciation of the Japanese symbols and don't always use the full titles, but a little perserverence did locate some books and for some there are images of some of the patterns. The good news is that they also ship for free on orders over US$55. The bad news is that they ship in 21 days.

Amazon Japan has lots of different books and the exchange rate isn't too bad, but now they ship to the US only by air, so a US$13 book will cost US$20 to ship. It was a good tool, however, for tying images to ISBN numbers and Japanese symbols.

And then there's Kunokuniya Bookstores. At first I found only the Japanese site, but yesterday found Kunokiniya BookWeb. The good news is that they site said where the books were in inventory; the bad news is that most books don't have images. That's where the ISBN number and Japanese symbols come in handy for searching and comparison. I have the advantage of having a local store in Beaverton, OR, but there is danger there because once I was pointed to the knitting/crochet books, I was able to peruse more books and find even more than I'd found on websites and blogs.

The Books
Here's what I've acquired through Kunokuniya and YesAsia. The symbols reference books are on order from Lacis.

Added to my evergrowing "to do" list
;

Just two reasons to learn to crochet more than edgings

(Reminder: clicking on little pictures brings up big pictures.)

And there are a lot more patterns where these came from...

Fractions

2007-08-07T06:07:00.000-07:00

One half
The right half of the I do shrug is done. Thanks to Chrispy for pointing me to
Hooks and Needles so I could stay on track. On to the left half.

Five sixths
Melanie revealed the theme—Swan Lake. The next step was to knit a "wing." Though I couldn't picture it, I decided just to follow directions. After all, it was all about the mystery (and the lace, of course.)

I've finished the fifth clue (twice). In the first go, I wasn't consistent in knitting the YOs at the short-row, and it looked pretty bad. I was more careful to tug as I turned the short-row and am much happier with the result.

Decisions, Decisions

2007-08-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

Do I stay or do I go?

Katherine
I finally finished the back of Katherine from Hot Knits that was started two years ago, abandoned from boredom with the K2P2 ribbing, picked up again in May 2006 but was sidetracked once again (shiny objects, pretty colors...). And I was so pleased with myself for having picked up a UFO (could I get TWO really old projects finished in a short span of time?)

I Do
Having decided that I need a white shrug. Problem is I don't have a lot of white yarn in my stash, so I had to find a pattern that would fit what I had. I picked Rowan Calmer, and the I Do lace shrug from Knitty.com Spring 2005.

Then VK Fall 2007 arrived
It's the 25th anniversary issue, and rivals a fashion magazine in terms of articles and pictures—though more content than ads. However, even the ads are inviting. Here a but a few of the patterns that caught my eye—so much so that Katherine may take even longer.

Shirley Paden is a favorite designer and I knew right away these were her designs.

The lace in both Michele Rose Orne's wrap cardigan and Teva Durham's lace jacket really appealed to me.

I do like dresses and skirts. So add some lace and present it in red, and there's Lily Chin's lovely A-line dress. Iris Schreier'a lacy cardigan is gorgeous, especially with the beaded edging.

And then there were the cables in Debbie Bliss' keyhole scarf and Mary Lynn Patrick's cape.

I suppose it should come as no surprise that Norah Gaughan would come up with a really unique shaped coat to make the cables even more interesting. After all the capecho was her design.

The magazine includes 10 additional "covers" featuring different yarn companies and the patterns are available on the vogueknitting.com site. I particularly liked these from KFI, Lion Brand and Reynolds.

Silver Palette was a section with patterns designs to celebrate the anniversary. Not all of the patterns are available yet. Some are free; some are not. Here a some that I liked that are available now from their respective sites.

I always see at least one pattern from yarn company ads that I want to make. I particularly liked the Tahki Stacy Charles' Party Favorite—probably because it's made from one of my favorite yarns, Ritratto. The pattern is free...or will be. The page of patterns isn't up, but a very, quick response from the company told me it will be available August 8.

So you can see my dilemma...

Working through the stash

2007-07-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Found it!!
Clue 4 from the Mystery Stole was completed (finally!) and I was on the hunt for yarn for another lace project when I came upon a very old UFO stole. As I pulled it out of the box, I spied a bag with three balls of circa-2004 Mikado Ribbon in Shell Mix. The Tivoli top could finally be completed, and it was.

Mystery Progress
I decided to shorten the Mystery Stole, which meant I didn't have to knit 82 pattern rows (or 164 total), so you'd think it would have gone by quickly. HA! For whatever reasons, a couple of rows kept giving me fits, so I ended up re-knitting at least 50 pattern rows (not in succession, but in total). Still the fourth clue, is completed and the Mystery Stole will remain a mystery for an extra week, while the avid Harry Potter fans (including Melanie) read the new book.

A new shrug
In June, Dianne said to bring knitting to the Dragon Boat races because there would be some waiting between heats, so I looked for an easy to remember pattern and chose Pam Allen's "Little Silk Shrug" from Lace Style. But I didn't make mine out of silk, but the Koigu yarn I picked up at Madrona Fiber Arts in January. It was knit at plays, coffee and anytime I was just waiting. I liked how it turned out, so I may even make another. After all I will need another take-along project.

Another week, another FO

2007-07-21T05:32:00.000-07:00

Once again, another week has slipped by...

Calliope is done
I did say it was a quick knit but I must admit I was a little compulsive about finishing it. But the really cool thing is how well it fits. The smallest measurement on the pattern was going to be a little too big, so I knit the gauge a stitch smaller et voilà! it fits. The only other adjustment I made to the pattern was to knit smaller armbands than the pattern called for. And I even learned a new (to me) cast on method—Channel Island cast on, since it was the method the author specified.

I found two sites with different methods: Have a Yarn and Countrywool. I preferred the latter, which has you set up like you are doing a long tail cast on.

Clue three (plus) reknit
I was admiring my work on the Mystery Stole and noticed a mistake. There was a discussion on the MS3 yahoo list about living with mistakes and there are times when I will just leave it. This wasn't one of those times. Once I saw it, I decided it was too obvious, so I frogged about 75 rows and did it right. It wasn't too traumatic and it has been reknit. On to the fourth clue.

More things to like about where we live

2007-07-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

Nothing against the other places I've lived (and being an Air Force brat, I've lived in a few), but I have never really enjoyed where I was living till now. Now part of that may be attributed to the fact that I have the good fortune to not have to go to work everyday, so I have time to enjoy my surroundings. Nonetheless, almost everyday, I see or hear something new or different that makes the decision to move here all the better. Mind you they aren't always big...

There are the parks.
Last week, we went to Foothills Park, a Lake Oswego city park. It's not big, but the footpath goes along the Willamette so there's lots to see. Along the way we saw a couple of egrets on the rocks.

We also saw a building that has piqued our curiosity along. We saw it from the back on a walk in George Rogers Park. Was it a city building or a home? It's one of two concrete buildings in the park. I've often seen the other riding along Highway 43. I can't even think what to search on in Google...

Mary S Young Park gets a mention because it is but a mile from the house and walking there you can practically forget were smack dab in the middle of a developed town.

...and the dogs in the park
Mandy is enjoying getting out, and is getting used to the cool smells in the dog park at Mary S Young.

Berries
I had my first boysenberry on Wednesday from South Barlow Produce we found at the West Linn Farmers Market. We also got some huge blueberries and raspberries. To give you some perspective the blueberry was about the size of a dime.

Theatre
Last year the Clackamas Repertory Theatre put on a production of "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!" We'd seen the off Broadway production and saw it again in San Jose, and this was the best of the three. On Sunday, we saw "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" and it was great. There are still two performances left...

"Singin' in the Rain" caught our eye in the West Linn Tidings. Put on by the Broadway Rose Theatre Company, it was an enjoyable performance, highlighted by Daniel Lee Robbins as Cosmo. The Oregonian's review really sums up the performance.

The second performance in the Broadway Rose season is "Cole" which we saw last night. Once again we were not disappointed. Great music, great singing and a little tap number by Meredith Weber. It runs through next Sunday.

Yarn
The Portland area is a veritable mecca of knitters and yarn shops. Alas! yesterday began the closing sale at Lint so soon, we will be one store less.

New things

2007-07-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

I think I said I've been trying not to augment either fabric or yarn stash for the past couple of months. I have been fairly successful (a complete moratorium would be completely out of character, I think) if the recent Visa bill is any indication. Still, when in a yarn store, it's hard to resist the pretty colors and soft fibers. Such was the case when the PDX Knit Bloggers met at Knit Purl last Sunday. I love Sea Silk and red and the Sangria colorway was just too much to resist. I think it was Tammy who was working intently on the Mystery Stole in Habu Bamboo and Terissa had a ball of it with her. It was so soft and shiny, I had to take home some for my very own. One of the great services that Knit Purl offers (and they always offer) is winding yarn from hanks to center pull balls.

At the same time I have been trying to work through stashes. As I was searching my patterns for something to make with the new yarns, I came across the Calliope Sleeveless Shell I'd ordered from Knit Picks last year, along with the red Shine Sport. It's no longer available from Knit Picks, but I did find reference to it on JoLene Treace's (the author) site and she wants to revise it to make available, now that KP's one year license is up. It's been a pretty quick knit considering there are 131 sts on US size 3 (3.25mm) needles.

And here's Clue 3 done on the Mystery Stole

BIG dog

2007-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

In his heart, Cody was a big dog—he just got stuck in a little dog body. Tom checks out the BBC site daily and today found the story of Samson, a truly big dog. His pal Jack is cute, too.

Finished Objects

2007-07-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

Where did the week go? Has it really been over a week since I last posted? Well, at least I have some things to show for the absence.

Knitters and Bloggers
There is such a sense of community in Oregon that I have never felt in other places I've lived. It starts with the pride in the state that residents hold and extends to the desire to get together and share common interests. Combine that with the extraordinary knitting community and you have PDX Knit Bloggers, a group of knitters who met each other at Powell's when Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was in town and decided they needed to find other knit bloggers in the area. A Yahoo! group was started and on Sunday twenty-four knitters met at Knit-Purl to share stories, projects and, of course, knit. Kathy was among the first to blog about it. Monica became the official photographer having taken the most pictures, including me working on Sasha. Peggy and Mims from the Oregonian have described what everyone was working on.

Speaking of Sasha
The third time was a charm with this skirt. I bought the pattern last year in May. I started it, then frogged with almost all the underskirt done. I started it a second time but abandoned it for reasons I don't recall after just a couple of inches. A third start yielded he first section of the underskirt and, true to form, I got distracted with shinier, newer project. This past May, I thought it would be a good airplane project, but at the last minute decided it would be too cumbersome for travel. But now it is done. Yay!

Mystery Stole Clue 2
I finally figured out what I need to do to keep on track or rather, on chart. It's rather simple really—draw a dark line every 5 rows (forehead slap!). I've never been good about using row counters, or actually marking my place. That involves stopping and I'm just not that disciplined. At any rate, here's my progress on the shawl. BTW, at the PDX Knit Bloggers gathering, there were at least four others working on the stole (but only one who could concentrate and work on it at the meeting).

Convertible Wrap
Crocheting the hairpin lace panels on the loom went by swimmingly quickly. Crocheting up the loops—not-so-much. But it is done, the buttons on and April's birthday present is ready for mailing across the pond to Scotland. It will go with a picture from the stitchdiva site along with my pictures.

Ugly Pants
I finally got the ribbing onto the "muslin" pants. This will be the only public sighting of me in the pants. They will not leave the house unless they go out in a Goodwill bag.

Birthdays
We don't tend to celebrate birthdays exactly on the date with friends because there's always just too much going on. This year, we enjoyed John's birthday along with the nation's. Tom thought it would be a good idea for me to make another bottle poodle but he came up with the idea the third, so that was out. Instead, he did a little crafting of his own and the two liter bottle of single malt became a bottle bunny.

My gift from Dianne and John was interesting, pretty and tasty. Flowering Tea.

before

after

Spreading the wealth

2007-07-02T04:39:00.000-07:00

Tom said yesterday that one of the things he loves about me is that I spread the wealth around. That was as we were leaving Mill End, having visited new yarn shop Twisted, and were heading to Lowe's.

A little yarn
Twisted just opened on Friday in northeast Portland. I've actually been very good about yarn, having not "invested" since pre-Scotland. It's my duty,however, to visit all yarn shops in the area at least once (I haven't been to Hillsboro or Gresham, though). Since we were out and about, I thought I needed to check out the new store. It's a nice little shop with probably the best display of Noro of any store I can recall. They have a good selection of unusual fibers (including soysilk, corn and banana fibers) as well has interesting handpainted yarns. Their stock of what I call "basic" yarn (solid color wools and cottons in all weights) is extensive. In the end I found a Merino/Tencel blend and chose a color that is new to my stash.

A little fabric
I've cut out and sewn up the ugly fabric and I'm quite pleased with the fit of the pants, having adjusted the pattern using my trouser moulage. As soon as I add the ribbing, I'll post a picture. It was the ribbing that prompted the stop at the Mill End store in Milwaukie. We always look at dog fabrics (their selection was meager, at best), but Tom did spy some Scooby Doo fabric that he liked.

And finally, the Home Improvement store
The strips for the convertible wrap are done, but I was having a bugger of a time matching up the loops to crochet together (my yarn is floppier than the demonstration on Knitty Gritty) so we bought a couple of dowels to thread through so I can see each successive loop. Now aren't dowels an exciting purchase?

More Suggestions

2007-07-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

One of the things I neglected to include in my list of things that no-doubt are a result of my "suggestability" is my long list of WIPs/UFOs. And still I add another thing to my WIP. I hesitated to mention this in my last post in the event that it was just a passing whim, but here it is.

Mystery Stole 3
One of the PDX Bloggers (PDX=Portland, for the out-of-towners) asked if anyone was going to join the Mystery Stole 3 Knitalong. I would have been fine if I'd ignored the post, but I had to check it out. I knew I shouldn't with a bazillion yards of fabric in the sewing room with patterns "assigned," the hairpin lace loom sitting in the family room along with the Sasha skirt, etc. But I did.

Yesterday morning after staring at the pattern I'd printed out, I picked up the Sporfarm alpaca yarn I'd found at the in March (because it was laceweight and already wound into a center pull ball) and started knitting. The good news is that it is done in steps as the clues are published, so I can just put it down and work on other projects.

Clue 1, Chart 1 done

Clue 1, Chart 2 done

I'm seeing a ram in the pattern...

Patriotic Dogs
Tom has a dog shirt for Valentine's day, several for Christmas, and a even one for Halloween. He (jokingly, I think) commented that he didn't have a Fourth of July shirt. Well he does now.

Multitasking

2007-06-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

I have said I am highly susceptible to the power of suggestion, which is probably why I have so many books and a very large yarn and fabric stash. It's also why over the years I've dappled in papercrafts, beading, polymer clay and weighted weaving, in addition to sewing and knitting. I have also crocheted—but only to finish knitting.

A little weaving
April's birthday is at the end of the month and my first thought for April revolved around some Cherry Tree Hill Baby Sachet ribbon yarn and trying to come up with something I could do quickly, so I set up my handy-dandy frame that Tom made for me and set to weave a scarf. I spent a day on the project and I like how it looks, but it's so loose a weave, I just don't think it's really practical as a scarf for a busy mom of two boys, so...

Something new
Here's where the power of suggestion comes in: a year or so ago I was pointed to the Stitch Diva Studios site, where I saw a very cool skirt. It was made with hairpin lace and I toyed with the idea for a day or so, but wrested myself from the temptation...until last week, when Knitty Gritty aired a segment with Jennifer Hansen. After seeing how straightforward the technique was (having a really good presenter makes a big difference), I headed to the site, ordered a loom and the skirt pattern. As an aside, it is noteworthy to point out that the looms are made by Jensen Woodworking which is located in—you guessed it!—Oregon.

I thought I'd start with something simpler as a gift, so here is April's convertible wrap (a free project from Stitch Diva) in progress. It's Madil Apache, a wool blend ribbon from my stash. Once I got the rhythm of the process (Jennifer has a great tutorial on the Stitch Diva site) I breezed through the first two strips. There aren't a lot of patterns available yet, but the ones I've found are different and interesting, including those on Stitch Diva and Oat Couture.

Progress
And I'm still working on the Sasha skirt.

What to do with ugly (but "free") fabric
Well nothing is really free, but I didn't pay anything extra for it. I like Fabric Mart and was lured to their site by a "last chance" email. There were two fabrics that I really wanted, so I put them in my shopping cart, and thought "Just a few more dollars and I can take advantage of their free yardage offer." When I got the order the first thing I saw was this fabric. Did I order that? Digging into the box and looking at the packing slip, I realized that it was one of the "free" fabrics that I received even though I didn't actually receive all I'd ordered. Of course the two I really wanted someone else wanted before me.

I'm in the process of matching fabric with patterns and this unattractive fabric will make a great "muslin" for some knit pants. Who knows? Maybe it will look better as a garment, than as a flatfold of fabric.

...And there are shirts to sew for Tom...I'd better get off this computer...

And now for some things fiberly

2007-06-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

In addition geek-stuff and celebrating 49 years, I've managed a few fiberly endeavors.

Luna Moth shawl

Before we left on the trip, one of the Elann Shawl Knit-a-long-ers asked for a detailed picture of the Luna Month Shawl.

From the camera
I started the Fiber Trends Möbius scarf before the aforementioned trip, and finished it while spending time with Cody, so it's been done for a while, but languishing on the SD card.

If it's June...
There must be a new shirt for Tom.

Something new for someone new
Today I'm meeting Michelle's daughter and gifting her with a summer outfit, just in time for a cooler day.

And something not-fiberly
We had our nice birthday dinner on Friday because on Thursday we were invited to a reception at the Oregon Humane Society honoring the top three Doggie Dash teams. It was our first visit and we were very impressed with the organization and facility. And not just because we received a certificate.

Yum!

2007-06-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

Just back from my official birthday dinner at a new restaurant in the Willamette Falls neighborhood here in West Linn. L & B's Restaurant & Gallery opened in October and we found out about it in one of the coupon flyers we got in the mail. The ad showed a more upscale restaurant than any other in the city, so we decided to try it out. Good choice.

We were greeted by Jennifer, who also turned out to be our excellent server. The menu is fairly extensive. We were tempted by the tomato roasted red pepper soup, intrigued by the roasted radish soup du jour, but opted for crispy calamari - very light and tender served with a spicy marinara sauce.

The entrée choices were variations on typical "American" restaurants with a chicken, several fish, steak and port options. Tom chose the cioppino, which, though a little salty, he enjoyed. But I think I had the best with the special tilapia - not normally a fish choice I'd make. It was served lightly pan fried, topped with a caper relish served over risotto with a lemon beurre blanc sauce. Yum!

We tried their crème brulée and strawberry rhubarb crisp. I love custard. This brulée, was a little creamy for my taste, but good. I will forever miss Harrison's version of the dessert, which I enjoyed, for the last time, a year ago, and they closed unexpectedly two weeks later...but I digress... Tom liked the crisp, but liked my brulée better.

We will go back.

No website and not much online coverage yet, but they are located at 1717 Willamette Falls Drive, West Linn (503) 722-9561.