Knitting and Sewing, Sewing and Knitting

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

It's my birthday

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

Made in March

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

Anniversary night

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

Catching up

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.

Busy week...no pictures

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

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

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.

What's going on?

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?

Doggy Cuteness

That would be Jake!



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

Happy Birthday, Mom!

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

Can you stand it? More dogs...

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.
  

Home again, home again

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.