Here a stitch, there a stitch...

Our Etsy Shop

2008-09-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hello and hello.

I have been away for quite a while. During this time my sister, brother and I have been slowly building a business, West Coast Fiber Company, LLC. We buy alpaca fiber (see the list of the wonders of alpaca below) from our local farmers and ranchers and have it processed into beautiful, soft, hypo-allergenic yarn that we then sell to the public. We also sell stitch markers, jewelry, and soon will sell framed photographs of the beautiful Northwest.

I will try to continue to post on here periodically but I cannot guarantee it. However, you can keep up to date with our business progress and/or purchase anything from us by visiting our website at www.westcoastfiberco.etsy.com. Etsy is a site featuring handmade items and commercial supplies for those handmade products. We sell both our yarn and stitch markers on this site and are more than willing to adapt any of our stitchmarkers to meet your needs and we also accept custom orders.

I know many of you have asked to see my never-ending shawl (I FINALLY FINISHED IT!) which turned out beautifully. As soon as my husband comes back with the camera from a RC drift event he's at with my brother-in-law I will post some pics of it for you. Thank you for your equally never-ending patience in seeing the final product!

I hope you are all still enjoying your knitting. My days are so full with my full-time job and trying to get the business started that knitting and reading are a welcome treat. The cool thing about starting a business in the fiber arts is that I am always working with something I love and I get the very great satisfaction of knowing I am making a quality product that people will love touching and working with as they knit/crochet.

Knit on!

Abbie

Alpaca yarn is known for its

WARMTH(it is warmer than wool; it has a hollow core which makes it an excellent insulator)

SOFTNESS(it rivals cashmere; some even contest it is softer than cashmere)

HYPOALLERGENIC PROPERTIES (it has no lanolin and is not itchy like wool)

LUSTER/GLOSS

LIGHT WEIGHT

DRAPE

DURABILITY

Abigail A Bruce, Owner
West Coast Fiber Company, LLC
503-523-7966
WCFCAlpaca@gmail.com
www.westcoastfiberco.etsy.com

A Return to Blogdom

2007-04-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Long time no blog! I hope all your lives are happy and joyful full of knitting fun. My life for the past few months has included knitting (not as much as I would have liked!), reading (some of the reason for reduced knitting), playing with Eina (just turned 1 on the 9th) and Knuckles (who makes Eina jealous when we give him attention and talk to him in a high squeaky voice), hanging with the hubby (playful as always), and spending time with my sister (getting married next weekend and pregnant with my 1st neice/nephew due in November!) among other things.

Despite my flagrant disregard for my blogging responsibilities I have actually been getting close to finishing the Never-Ending Shawl. I had somehow made a miscalculation in the amount of yarn I would need when I substituted the Knitpicks Gossamer for the Cherry Hill Tree Farm yarn and ran out when I was 3/4 of the way done with the ruffle edge. I recently received the new hank in the mail (yes, the colors aren't different!!) and have set to work completing the edge. Sweater for my husband is completed minus blocking and seaming. That will happen after I remember what substitute I can get from Home Depot that will serve as blocking wires so I can spend only $5 as opposed to $40 buying them from a yarn store. I have accepted the fact that neither the shawl nor the sweater will be worn until this coming fall/winter. I suppose that gives me time to make a matching sweater for the dog (husband's idea was to make the dog a sweater; my idea was to make the dog sweater match the husband sweater. Ha!) and some baby clothes for my sister's baby.

Until next time...

Have a Knitlicious day!

Short update...

2006-12-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hi! I am close to being done with my shawl, I made my husband hunting socks, I am working on hats for the Grandma's, Thanksgiving was great, Christmas is approaching, we're shopping for Christmas gifts tonight, Eina is almost 7 months old and is a very good dog, Knuckles bites me when he wants food, I just got done with Singing Christmas Tree performances (which was a lot of fun), and I plan to start this again soon. Hope you are all doing well.

Dobro Vecher!!

Abbie

And So The Yarn Harlot Enchanted Portland...

2006-09-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

Yay for us, the Yarn Harlot was here!

We accumulated a group of at least 100 knitters. There were quite a few people standing in the back as there were not enough chairs for everyone but nonetheless everyone was so excited and happy! I have never seen a group of people who didn't know each other act so happy and friendly to one another. I spoke with the lady beside me all night long and still don't know her name (if you're reading this, I enjoyed our conversations!) and my sister did the same with the lady next to her. There was laughter and general knitterly rowdiness all around...these turned into hoots when the Yarn Harlot showed her face. I do have to say that the Powell's staff seemed bewildered by the amount of reverence this crowd clearly offered Stephanie. If they were knitters they would understand. They did, I say in their defense, hang around and listen rather attentively to her talk. Not in their defense, though, they looked quite confused when she took her customary picture of the crowd with the sock front and center...oh well.

Before going on to the pictures that my sister so kindly took (thanks, Mel!), I must say that there was a little girl sitting in front of us whowas knitting on her mom's lap. She was very young and when she went up to Stephanie for the book signing, Stephanie said, "I was also only 4 when I learned how to knit." It was very sweet.

Now for the pictures, courtesy of Melody (sorry I forgot to get a picture of us together!)

Ms. Harlot was gifted with a felted Cowboy hat and some yarn. Bear with the blurriness. It's not your eyes.

Cute little knitter...

Me: "uh, duh...wow, the Yarn Harlot...I've never been around anyone this cool. I think I should just stare now..."

Her: "Can I talk to you just a little longer? That girl behind you keeps staring at me. I think she's going to stalk me and I need a few more minutes to decide what the best plan would be for running away quickly."

Me: "Well, I got up here without tripping, that's good. She hasn't run away yet. I think that I opened my mouth and said something stupid...she's not looking at me. Maybe it's that whole staring thing that did it."

Me: "Phew! Must not have been that traumatic of an experience for her after all. She's smiling at me!" Her: "If I smile at her, maybe she'll go away... You know, she's kinda' funny looking. I can laugh now and it will be natural! Now go away, creepy staring stalker!"

And so the night passed, I went home, she signed more books, I didn't stalk her, and the world was a happier place for all her humour.

Tidbits - Dog Baths, Happy Cats, Lonely Socks, et cetera

2006-09-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ah, the exit sign for Beautiful Lake Oswego. For some reason I thought I should take a picture of this sign.

Ah, bath time for Eina..."Does Daddy have to do this to me?"

"Thank you for making me clean...I love you, Daddy"

"Yeah, I'm cool. Don't mess with me. I'm relaxing. The dog is outside instead of jumping on me so I am having a few minutes of peace and quiet. Ah, the sweet flavor of solitude."

On the knitting front:

Today was the day for organizing the stash. Ziploc bags were purchased, Swift & Ballwinder were brought out and attached to rocking chair, (not quite) all yarn was made into balls and put in Ziploc bags w/ a 3x5 card in each identifying the project, who it is for, and any other relevant specifications. Soon all items I should be working on as a priority will go into the knitting basket in the living room and the rest to the storage basket. I will update my WIPs and FOs when I have a chance to take my eyes off of the never-ending ruffle edge...that I am about 5/6 of the way done with on only ONE side of the requisite 4. One side. Only one. That is O-N-E in case it helps to read it slower and absorb the full meaning of this simple word. One. AHHHH!!! This "almost done" shawl has turned into a long-term project. And by long term I mean the ten-year-plan. Ok. I'm done crying now. The finished sock below pacifies me. It is pretty but lonely. When I need a break from the shawl I can work on a lover for this sock. Ah, love. So beautiful. Now I need to wind more balls and watch M.A.S.H. with DH. Life is wonderful!

Work Station:

Finished Pretty But Lonely Sock:

I really like this Kitchener Rib cast on edge...much more professional looking than the cast on I had previously been using. (Technique can be found on pages 24-25 of Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss)

Reinforced Heel Flap...

Star Toe...pulled slightly out of shape in order to take the picture. Turns out the toe of a sock is hard to lay flat.(Technique can be found on page 76 of Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch...Thanks for letting me borrow the book, Tammy!)

Lonely Sock gracing Lonely Foot:

Goodnight and Happy Labor Day!

The not-so-short-and-sweet Short & Sweet post

2006-09-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight will be short and sweet. It turns out that reading blogs all night long and designing (scratch that: attempting to design, losing the past hours work, no longer designing) a web site for a future oh-so-wildly-successful Llama & Alpaca Fiber (etc.) online store can make a person tired. I'm tired. DH is already asleep on couch. Dog is asleep...where? See, I have to go find the dog now. Cat is...probably with dog. Abbie should be...in bed.

So...

1) Yarn Harlot will be @ Powell's on Hawthorne @ 7:30 pm on this Wed, Sept 6. Yay! I'll be there. I will try to identify myself somehow and see you when (note when, not if) you're there. Hopefully it won't be something too scary so you won't be embarrassed to be seen with me...I'll try to keep it under control...

2) Some pictures of my felted purse. This was made with Cascade 220 in Rust.

Body: Stockinette
Bottom: Garter
Strap: Garter, extra wide so the pressure would distribute over my shoulder when I wear it diagonally. *NOTE: the strap was waaaaaaaaaay too long when I first felted it. I cut a length out of the strap and sewed the ends together with needle & strong, strong thread. I cut a flower out of the excess strap and stitched it over the hole on the front of the bag--ask me later...I am too tired to admit something as silly as that...I did not cover the hole on the inside of the bag so as to remind myself to avoid stupidity...again, I'll tell you later--and needle felted the middle of the flower and the swirly next to the flower. I will probably add a few more swirlies before I actually call it done. Turns out the strap was still too long so I cut more length out and will use that excess for another flower at the top of the strap to cover the seam I had to make. My mom still thinks the strap is too long but I disagree. The point of this bag in the first place was to have something sturdy and cute to put my books & knitting in for my bus rides to work everyday and with a long enough strap that I could easily wear it diagonally from shoulder to thigh. That still is the main purpose so the fact that I can wear it one one shoulder like a purse and have it look close to normal is incidental. I'm pretty happy with it and my DH gave me some nice compliments about it as well so that right there gives it a little something extra special.

Unbeknownst to me, DH thought it would be a good idea to get a close-up of *ahem* my boobs. Be merciful. What's a wife to do?

3) DH and I went to see A Prairie Home Companion last weekend. BEST MOVIE I HAVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. I don't normally laugh so hard that I cry but I was filling up the empty popcorn basket with the river I was crying. Excellent, Excellent movie. If you have never heard the radio program you could probably still find it a good movie but if you have heard A Prairie Home Companion (otherwise known as News from Lake Woebegone) on the radio at all and were enchanted by it like DH and I then you will LOVE it as well. Just FYI.

Good night.

Oh wait, some pics of DH & Eina. And a monkey or two.

Goodnight! I mean it!

Conflict of Interests...Yarn Harlot, I know what you're up to!

2006-08-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I receive in the mail my anticipated gift from Amazon - Secret Life of a Knitter, Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much, and Knitting Rules. All books by the famed Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka Yarn Harlot. All books that are very good and very hilarious. All books which have now shown themselves for what they truly are...competition with knitting!! Now Stephanie, isn't this a conflict of interest? As you go about trying to encourage your readers to develop a knitting lifestyle, to verge on (or throw yourself full force into?) the obsessive, you have us not knitting, but READING. Reading. Reading. And more reading. That thing that all good-intentioned obsessed knitters always intend to do more of but supposedly.....never do. I guess that takes me out of that club. I guess that rejects me from the whole community of knitters. I guess that makes me a loser. I guess that makes all of us that read your books losers and you the only cool knitter left. Thanks. Now that I stop looking through your books in bookstores and libraries and actually make them my own and read them cover to cover...I have become a loser, not a knitter. But, nonetheless, I am a happy loser...or if I may create a new category, a loser-knitter. Watch out world, here I come!

(and watch out Ms. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I will have words with you during your Powell visit... The nerve.)

Have a great day everyone, and don't forget to order these books. They're hilarious!

The Loser-Knitter
aka Abbie

NEWS FLASH: Ruffle Edgings cause insanity!

2006-08-19T00:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my shawl/wrap. I am finally done with the body (yay!) but am now on the ruffle edging which is taking FOREVER to complete. Since I used different yarn than the pattern called for and changed the pattern accordingly, the body of the wrap was 400+ stitches per row instead of 250. This in itself makes for a long row. Add to that for the ruffle edge a whole bunch of "M1"s and "K1 in front & back of stitch"s and you end up with about 1000 stitches to a row. Ok, that's a lot but whatever, it's do-able. (I just barely was able to fit all those extra stitches on the circ.) Then comes the final row of the edge: "Cast on 4 stitches, bind off 5 stitches" until row is completely bound off. In other words, to work just one of those 1000 stitches on my needle I have to work another 4 first. A little quick math will show that I must work 5000 stitches to bind of the final row. But do not make the mistake of thinking I will be done at this point...that was only the top edge. I still have the bottom and side edges which will all be done the same way. WOOHOO!! So, on the one hand I have the not-so-nice prospect of working another approximately 15,000 stitiches (insane) to finish all the edging, but on the other hand, it does look really nice now that I've got about 1/3 of the top edge bound off. Hopefully the pics below are clear enough that you can get a good idea of it's look. Actually, I'm pretty happy about how this is turning out. Since I substituted yarn and changed the pattern and altered a few things I was hoping I really had done my homework well and it would all look really nice when done. Though I don't want to congratulate myself too early, I really like how it's looking. I also tried it on in the car on the way to our vacation camping trip last week it was so soft and warm and looked very stylish with the earrings I was wearing (gold chandeliers). I have hope that I may have made something that is not a fashion wreck! For all you non-style conscious people out there, there is (I think) hope...

(By the way, thanks for the nice welcome back comments!)

Decreases: (2 columns, splitting the wrap into thirds)

The ruffle edge is falling over the top of my foot:

Ruffle edge & diamond pattern:

Soon (am I crazy?) I'll be able to get this off the needles and display it flat!

You may be able to see the red carrying-weight strands coming off the bottom edge. My original plan was to knit this in every few rows but after one row of that I was no fan and decided to wait and weave it in using a needle after the wrap was all done. Being almost done now, I am not sure I am actually going to do that either. I rather like it as is and may just cut the threads out out of the bottom. Or, on the other hand, I may just weave the carrying yarn in to only the ruffle edging. Not quite sure yet what will look best.

There is also no question now as to blocking the wrap. I will not block it for the simple reason that the edging is not at all stretchy. Really that's no problem though because I think I like the diamond pattern as it's showing now, w/out blocking, just fine.

Well, that was a lot of blather...have a good night!

Back from vacation, back to blogging...

2006-08-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm back from a great vacation at Wikiup Lake in Central Oregon and back to blogging. We have a much better internet connection at home now so I can begin the blogging again! Tonight I post simply a few pictures of our vacation (most featuring Eina), a cell phone case I knit up one day while we were out on the boat fishing (clearly I wasn't doing the fishing) and a picture featuring my new glasses (love them!). I hope all of you in the Knitosphere have been well and I'm glad to be back!

Cell Phone Case...

Eina w/ Auntie Tracy (kept warm while on boat fishing)...

Eina striking a pose...

Striking another beautiful pose...

Eina w/ Daddy @ campfire...

Eina & Mommy b/f camping (can't remember where this pic was taken)...

And my new glasses...

Without Further Ado...I present Eina!

2006-06-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been delinquent with posting. I've been told to come down off my puppy high. Without actually doing that (:-)) I will present pictures of Eina (baby pictures(4wks) at the bottom, recent pictures(8wks) at top) without further ado...

NOTE: Knuckles and Eina are in love with each other. They will not stop wrestling. From the moment Eina spots Knuckles in the morning until bedtime, she attacks him every chance she gets and jumps on his head, barks at him, rolls around him, etc. He either stares at her or decides to go for it and wrestle. I swear some of his moves look like he should be on Monday Night Wrestling. We've even seen him body-slam her and sit on her head. Lately when he's tired of her wrestling he puts one or two paws on her stomach and just looks around the room absently while she is wildly struggling to get up and attack him again. Beautiful and highly amusing. They will be great friends...

BABY EINA (4 weeks old, at the breeder's):

Have I mentioned yet that she is adorable?

Off to enjoy a night of knitting!

2006-06-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I'm not dead, just obsessed with a puppy... a cute, intelligent and stubborn puppy. She's getting better on her housetraining (I'm only waking up once a night to take her out now) and obeying commands such as "come" and "sit". She still doesn't like the leash but she's getting better. Soon (I swear! DH ordered needed item to "fix" computer) I will post pictures and update you on the knitting front. I have many items OTN right now but I feel the urge to cast on anyway tonight for a swatch. I am having a need to start designing a light cable sweater with a brown/beige heathered yarn that I got off ebay a while back so I need to decide which cable pattern I'd like to feature all over my chest! I'll be sure to post pics of that soon as well (No, not of my chest...pics of the sweater/swatch progress...geez!)

Off to enjoy a night of knitting!

Welcome home, Eina!!

2006-06-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Computer problems are a bugger. I am posting from work during a break today so I can satisfy your curiosity at least a little bit! The breeder from which we bought Eina has posted the a pic of Eina, BJ, and I on the day we picked her up to bring her home and a few pictures of Eina's brother (last remaining un-purchased pup of the litter) and Mom. Until I can get pictures on my computer again (hopefully soon!) this will have to suffice.

The three of us...a family...complete when we returned home and introduced Knuckles and Eina. The situation with the two of them, by the way, gets more and more entertaining every day. The last few days they have been literally rolling around on the floor wrestling with each other, pinning each other down and biting and barking/meowing. We believe they are involved in a dual-purpose engagement: 1) establish dominance or lack thereof and 2) ultimately become buddies. Currently Knuckles seems to have the upper hand since he is still bigger but Eina can bite pretty well so she's got a bit of defense. The buddy thing is coming along nicely as well - Eina has been obsessed with the cat since day one but the cat is now getting into the act as well. They walk around together, lay down close to each other, have stare-downs, and both try to dash out of the house together. Our own little family! Now the only thing to make it complete would be a baby...but I think I feel enough like a mother right now as it is with all the getting up in the middle of the night for housebreaking so babies will have to wait for a bit.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!

2006-05-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

WE'RE off TO get OUR puppy, THE wonderful PUPPY named EINA!!!!

(imagine accompanying musical score and many people dancing around in happiness and glee)

Hello, Yay for Progress, Goodnight...

2006-05-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

When anniversary vacation calls, posts are temporarily suspended...

Yes, I meant to update before we left for our camping trip but then
ran out of time what with packing and jumping around and all. We had
tons of fun, saw an otter, some deer, and numerous squirrels and
chipmunks, went hiking up gorges, (me falling) down hills,
investigating every yonder hill and dale, had campfires every night,
bought a new tent to avoid husband killing old obnoxious zipper-broken
tent in the middle of the night (and to preserve my sanity after I held
the flashlight for him for 20 minutes at a time while he "fixed" the
zipper), and just had a grand old time. Here are a few pictures that I
meant to post before we left. I don't have the pics from our vacation
off the camera yet so that will have to wait.

Just a note, I worked on the shawl the entire trip down (a
five-hour-trip) and the entire trip back, while we were there and
around the campfire to the light of the fire and lantern. Oh yeah
baby, I am on my way toward being done (well, technically I am only
about 65% of the way done but that is 32% more than I had when I
left!) So the teeny tiny pictures of the shawl shown below are
deceptive! I am way further than that!! Yeah, I'm running far, far
away from that horrible snail-paced knitting bog...

First some kitty pictures (because he's so cute...and has no idea what
is in store for him when tomorrow evening we bring home our puppy...)

DH's idea of a splendid place for a kitty- right on all my clean linens...the nerve!

I guess he doesn't seem to have much of a problem with it, though:

Next, you can see my splicing with this yarn worked out remarkably
well. Join not at all noticeable and no worries about mis-estimating the
amount of yarn left for a row:

Here's an idea of the length, albeit scrunched:

And Knuckles laying claim:

The diamond design and emerging color scheme (if there is one). The colors are better in the second pic below:

And lastly, Knuckles and Abbie enjoying some sun...about a week before his I-swear-I-fell-out-of-the-window escape. Naughty Little Kitty...

So I bid you Goodnight...

Almost forgot...

2006-05-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. I was very interested in everyone's opinion and appreciated the feedback. If you need to know what I'm talking about, read this.

My Freaking Rant (DH's idea of appropriate title)

2006-05-11T14:04:00.000-07:00

Good Morning to all.

Actually, I guess it's more along the lines of afternoon. What do I know? My brain is scrambled. Too much work all at once and suddenly no work. Yes, I am at work, with all actual work finished, typing a post so I can amuse myself instead of sitting at my desk staring straight ahead at a white wall (notice: wall, not window), looking completely obvious to everyone that I have no work to do. As I've told my sister-in-law (you will notice her blog in the sidebar, Oliphaunt Knits), if I ask for more work because I feel guilty for going online when I have nothing to do then I am asking for trouble and really and truly need my head examined. The reason? Usually I have so much to do that I am busy every second of the day and don't take my breaks because (I might be anal) I want to make sure everything is done and done well and not hanging around like some old emotional baggage...(breathe)...so if I ask for more work and they give it to me it might be fine and dandy that particular day or two or five but come next week when the normal work load builds back up and just watch me start pulling my hair out one by one and creating sculptures on my desk with this hair...(breathe)...and then frogging the sculptures so I can knit something before I realize that this idea really is just disgusting and should never have been considered in the first place (phew!) This and, of course, if I finish all my work and have nothing to do (since I'm a SuperStar at my job and quicker than Speedy Gonzalez) then I can go online and browse all our wonderful knitting blogs, yarn stores, etc. and build up some inspiration without the guilt. Keep in mind this is only a theory. In practice it seems that I still feel guilt about this. The life of me at work...what to do, what to do? But enough of that. The window into my guilt-ridden, knit-addicted heart is closed. Now to the actual point of this post.

Just about an hour ago I opened my email and saw something from "AFA", aka American Family Association. I made the mistake of thinking that I agreed with something they were supporting once and so I clicked somewhere or the other and have been receiving their emails ever since. This wouldn't be a problem except that it seems I have a conscience that pulls me in two different directions on certain things, many of which are brought up with the AFA's "Call to Action" emails, and I am left in the position of feeling guilty for not acting on something "moral" (one pull of the conscience) and simultaneously annoyed at the email (2nd pull of the conscience). Let me put it more plainly by using this email as an example. Once you hear my thoughts on this, please please feel free to comment. I would love to hear what others out there think about this type of thing.

Fact 1: I have beliefs. I try to live by those beliefs. Included in those beliefs is my view that homosexuality is not right, is yes, a "sin". I know many people disagree with that right off the bat, but if you can get past it, that is not the point right now.
Fact 2: I belive that many other things as well are not right, are sins, including things like stealing, lying, selfishness, wrong motives, less than beneficial thoughts and actions toward others, etc.
Fact 3: I believe that all of us are guilty of any number of these things throughout our lives. I also believe that this is the whole point of Jesus coming and taking our just consequences on himself and then giving us his Spirit as a means of not doing these things anymore. That being said, I think that homosexuality is a sin like any other and not any better and not any worse.
Fact 4: I don't think that it is my responsibility to force people, companies, and countries, to agree with my views.

So...in my opinion the below email is singling out homosexuality and anything that is created by the homosexual community (in this case a magazine) as so bad that no one should have anything to do with it. Evidently businesses should not be able to advertise in this magazine and if they do we should boycott them. Now, my problem with this is as follows: If I boycott Ford because they advertise in a magazine that I don't choose to read and fundamentally disagree with on various levels, why don't I boycott any company for doing anything that I disagree with? Why don't I boycott the cable company for showing TV shows I don't agree with or wouldn't let my children watch? Why don't I boycott the company that produced the show? Why don't I boycott anyone that watches that show and so supports it and the companies associated with it? This just gets ludicrous. At some point don't we have to decide to stop being nazis about what we believe versus what others believe and instead decide to live the way we believe and teach our children the same while allowing other people to be who they choose to be whether we agree with it or not. Isn't this what America was established for in the first place? The original immigrants came over for, among other things, religious freedom. Does this mean only freedom for one group's particular beliefs or does it mean freedom for everyone? I believe if we dictate to others the values that we require them to have this puts us in the same category as those who the original immigrants were escaping from in the first place. And isn't this exactly what we are dealing with in Iraq right now? The terrorists who are strapping bombs to themselves and blowing themselves and us up to make a point believe strongly in their own values. The west is transgressing those values in their eyes. Does this then make it ok for them to do whatever they want to us so we will change? I think not. And yes, I know, AFA is not committing violence against anyone in order to produce the change they want but as I see it their tactics are still those of pressure and force instead of more beneficial vehicles of change. The underlying principle of forcing others to do what you want remains, whether you are referring to violent groups in Iraq or to our boycotting groups in America.

Deja vu? This same group, AFA, called for boycotting Target and some other businesses around Christmas time because instead of posting Merry Christmas all over their stores they were posting Happy Holidays. The reasoning of the stores? They do not only have Christian customers and so to recognize the varying backgrounds, customs, and holidays celebrated during this time by their customers (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Ramadan, etc) they acknowledge them all with Happy Holidays. The position of AFA? Evidently that Christmas is the holiday of priority, or of the majority, and that to call it anything different than Christmas is to start to take away our Christian traditions and values. So...we boycott them because they don't do what we want? What about the other groups? What if they want to boycott them because the store is not referring to their holiday specifically? Wouldn't more be accomplished if those same efforts to get people to boycott went instead to building up in your own like community those beliefs you want preserved? Each of us are a part of myriad communities. Our family, church, school, city, knitting groups, states, countries, etc are all communities to which we belong. Do we as knitters get disgruntled with the larger communities of which we are a part, such as our cities, if they do not recognize us in the particular fashion we want? No, we worry about building our own smaller communities the way we in those small communities want them to be and create the atmosphere and behaviours that we want in them. Sock knitters don't get mad at Aran knitters because they don't knit socks, they just create their own sockknitters group and focus on what they want to do while letting the Aran knitters knit what they want to knit. If you want your kids to grow up knitting socks instead of Fisherman's sweaters than it is your responsibility to teach them that instead of railing against those who knit Fisherman's sweaters. Yes, I know knitting is not a "deep social issue" or a "moral issue" but the principle stands. People should treat other people as they would like to be treated and bullying people into standing on the same side of the right/wrong fence, even if you sincerely believe in the rightness or wrongness of something, is not the way to do it.

I would love to know your thoughts as well. Thinking about it I guess my "conscience dilemma" is simply that I believe my point of view expressed above is correct but knowing that a lot of Christians who believe the same basic things as I do disagree with that. I guess that makes me question my position although after writing this I think I more firmly agree with myself (can I do that?) than I did at the beginning. If you, however, do agree with AFA's email, please let me know why. I am genuinely interested to hear your reasons.

That being said, here is the email. (All active links in the email were put there by AFA)

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Ford Makes Historic Move in Support of Groups Pushing Homosexual Marriage
AFA ActionAlert

Donald E. WildmonFounder and Chairman
May 11, 2006
Ford Makes Historic Move in Support of Groups Pushing Homosexual Marriage

Dear abbie,

Earlier this year, Ford Motor Company sponsored a program showing two lesbians passionately kissing each other. Now the automaker has made an in-your-face move against traditional marriage advocates with the historic step of advertising all their name brands in a homosexual magazine. This followed a request by AFA that Ford withdraw from supporting any homosexual magazine. In the May issue of the homosexual publication OUT, Ford has advertised all eight of their brand automobiles. This is first time in history that Ford has advertised all their brands in a homosexual publication.

In this issue of OUT, which Ford supported with their advertising, are articles such as Nightlife: Party All the Time. Here is the description OUT gave of that article: "Rockin' and raunchy queer clubs are making a comeback, and we tell you where the three hottest places to play are." Another article was The Mix: Scary Lady, Porn 2 Go. Here is the OUT description: ...porn stars cook up their favorite meals for your pleasure..." Under the title The Long and Short of It, we find this description by OUT: Ronni Radner goes inside Runt, a weekly party for bite-size gay guys and the men who love them, and looks at the rise of the vertically challenged queer man.

To view the front cover of OUT, click here. To see the Ford ad supporting OUT, with all their brands, click here. Notice the wording at the bottom of the ad: "Standing strong with America's families..." Since this ad was run in a homosexual publication, evidently Ford considers two homosexuals to be a "family."

Take Action
If you have not already done so, sign the Boycott Ford Pledge by clicking below. Forward this email to family and friends so they can know of Ford's support of homosexual marriage.
Click Here To Sign the Pledge Now!If you think our efforts are worthy, would you please support us with a small gift? Thank you for caring enough to get involved.

Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family Association

P.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!

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New Puppy!

2006-05-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday BJ and I took a trip to WelBea Kennels in Centralia, WA to pick out our Corgi pup. It was a two hour ride spent in anticipation and punctuated by frequent outbursts from me, "I'm so excited, we're going to get a puppy!", "Yay, we'll have another family member!", "This will probably help prepare us for being parents", "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH, a puppy!!!! Yay, yay, yay!", and of course, "What will the cat say?" We arrived, met all the moms and pops and doggies on "dates" that populated the kennel. The mother of the litter we were looking at was beautiful but very small for a corgi. The father was "normal"-sized. We picked the biggest one of the litter so hopefully it will be in the mid-range for size, but not that it matters much. Our little squirt was trying to run around which was amusing since she couldn't even walk very well. She'd walk a few steps and her little behind would fall to the side and she'd have to get up and try again. She seemed to be relatively laid back but I was happy to see that she was wrestling with her siblings too. She was very curious and didn't lay down to sleep until the very end of the time we were there (a few hours), long after her siblings crashed. I think she will be a good match for us with all our camping and hiking and road trips and the like. Corgis are very good family dogs and great with children as well so...as soon as a baby comes along (no, no plans now), we'll have a dog that he/she/they can grow up with. As for a name, we might name her Eina (feminine Einstein) but really we are still in deliberations about it. Who knows. Maybe she'll end up named No Name or (my bad idea) Einsteinetta. Scratch that. My husband would rather stick a hot poker through his eye and have someone jump on the end of it than name a dog Einsteinetta. So, we don't know what the name will be but we sure know what it won't be.
Without further ado, our unnamed pup....

In this pic our pup is in the middle...

We get to pick her up and bring her home with us in about three weeks. We will be camping the week before that for our anniversary and I just don't know if I will be able to be patient! Of course, I don't want to waste away our vacation with longing, so I'll just enjoy every day and try to be patient. BUT I CAN'T! LET THE DAY COME SOON!!

(Abbie, hush!)

I am from...your mother!

2006-05-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

Here is an idea Tammy had posted which she originally found here. Copy and paste this first part and post to your own blog. My version is posted below.

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I am from _______ (specific ordinary item), from _______ (product name) and _______.I am from the _______ (home description... adjective, adjective, sensory detail).I am from the _______ (plant, flower, natural item), the _______ (plant, flower, natural detail).I am from _______ (family tradition) and _______ (family trait), from _______ (name of family member) and _______ (another family name) and _______ (family name).I am from the _______ (description of family tendency) and _______ (another one).From _______ (something you were told as a child) and _______ (another).I am from (representation of religion, or lack of it). Further description.I'm from _______ (place of birth and family ancestry), _______ (two food items representing your family).From the _______ (specific family story about a specific person and detail), the _______ (another detail, and the _______ (another detail about another family member).I am from _______ (location of family pictures, mementos, archives and several more lines indicating their worth).

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(The title to this post comes from my obsession with "Jo Mama" jokes. You'll just have to bear with me. This is something about me that is not likely to change soon.)

I am from...Your Mama
I am from books, Olay and BurtsBees. I am from beauty, serenity, the peace and plants of home. I am from trees, Detroit and Wikkiup Lakes. I am from chaos and craziness, Martha Sarah & Jerry Glenn, Peggy Ann and Robert Lourence, peace and contentment. I am from sibling bonding and learning. From "It's time to get up, it's time to get up, it's time to get up in the mo...o...rning" and "You are not the parent. We are the parents." I am from God's womb, his everlasting love and justice. I am from God's hands as he patiently molds me, teaches me, shows me it's ok to trust and love and relax, helps me accept others' failings and pray they accept mine. I'm from Edgerton, Wisconsin and Portland, Oregon, New York in a farfetched way. From the dad who gets a kick out of the dog who eats poop, the mom who enjoys sappy movies, the cat who meows by night and bites legs by day, the sister who loves me and shows me a different side of life, the brothers who make me laugh, and the husband who keeps me sane, healthy and happy. I am from scrapbooks, photo albums, family computers, old cards, letters, mementos. I am from...

Lace, Lace, Lace!

2006-05-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hi again! Long time no talk! We have a new computer which we just set up and I have internet access again but can't yet upload pics. So, though I have made quite a bit of progress on my wrap and even have step by step splicing to show you (so handy!), today will consist of dream-projects. In other words, I show you pics I found of wonderful things that I would like to make once I get my (billions of) current and en queue projects completed. Most of these pictures and designs come from Fiddlesticks Knitting, a site I discovered while attending the on-line Lace Symposium hosted by Knitting Beyond the Hebrides. I never thought I was a lace girl but I accidently started knitting myself a scarf about a year ago which was lace (didn't realize that when I started) and discovered that I really enjoy lace knitting. My wrap is also considered lace since the design is formed with yo's and K2together's. Turns out I'm a lace-girl more than I thought!

In no particular order, here are beautiful lace shawls, wraps, etc that inspire me to be a better knitter, knit lace, and GET MOVING on my current projects so I can start some more!! Oh the joys of knitting!

I find this Romance Shawl especially beautiful (though I at first thought, whoa! that's a lot of pink!):

Here's the first shawl I saw of Dorothy Siemen's designs. This caught my attention and introduced me to all the others. Meet Peacock:

and the back view of Peacock:

Next comes Paisley (gorgeous!):

Garden:

and Spider:

So many to choose from! You should check out more of her shawls here. You know what this makes me want to do besides buy yarn and knit lace?! Design lace. Yes, I know, more difficult...but look what I could create!!! Just wait. I'll make something and then post it as a free pattern on here. It might take me a while to get there considering all the projects I already have going and the ideas for more but...I'll get there...and end up with a desk looking like this (Dorothy's desk as she designed the Peacock Shawl):

By the way, if you are interested in lace you should make sure to read Liz Lovick's downloadable pdf on Shetland Lace. It has tons of great info and not only that, it's free! She talks about the different types of Shetland Lace and even includes patterns. I can't wait to finish reading it myself. Sounds like a good weekend project (with a cup of coffee, of course!)

Have a great weekend!

Felting Covers Over a Multitude of Sins

2006-04-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hi again! I hope you are all doing well. I have been both busy and sick so I haven't posted recently but I'll treat you to a few pictures today and then if I have a chance tonight I'll update further. To start off, MY WRAP IS COMING ALONG! Yes, the wrap that caused me such heartache when I had to do lace-ic surgery (haha, I find my own jokes funny) to fix my mistake a few rows previous. The wrap that has about a billion stitches and a billion more rows. Yes, that one. It is coming along! I can see the diamond pattern now and know I am actually making progress! But no, I have no pictures yet. I'll try to take care of that tonight for you. Until then, feast your eyes on my sister's projects. Yes, Melody's purse is coming along nicely (she has more done than in the picture) but is on hiatus while she focuses on getting her art projects done by their due date this Friday (yes, Melody, I know you are reading this...GET BACK TO WORK!!!) :-) Ah, sisterly love. Now, Melody's purse carries with it an interesting twist. Since she is putting green stripes up the corners this would generally be done as intarsia. However, she can say been there, done that, very very slow and tedious. So, we decided we'd try an unorthodox method and see how that went. Well, though we can't yet see the finished product we can say without a doubt that so far it is much faster. Instead of working the whole body of the purse in the round she is working the purse section by section (back and forth on dpns) up to the desired height. After all the sections are completed she will go back and take a tapestry needle and seam the sections together as if she had knit them. We figure that if it is seamed correctly it should come out just fine, especially since in this case she will be felting the bag afterwards. Felting covers over a multitude of sins. Speaking of felting, I have almost finished my felted bag as well. Strap and body are done. I just need to connect them and felt, dry, and walah!

Melody's purse (w/ bobbins, b/f scrapping the intarsia idea):

Close-up of the yarn used for my soon-to-be-felted bag. Cascade 128 Rust Tweed. Gorgeous.

That's all folks! Have a grand day!

Pride Cometh Before a Fall

2006-04-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey there! I apologize for not posting any pics Friday night. My brother and sister spent the night and I spent time with them instead of with the camera. When I do get my pics uploaded you will see not only my (meager) work but my sister's as well. She is doing awesome and she only started knitting a few months ago. Her first project was a nice blue hat in stockinette with a garter ribbing on the edge. That just needs a few more rows and it will be completed. She is now working on a belt in three parts. This means that she knits it in three parts, each part consisting of a 6 st garter stitch row worked as long as she wants the belt to be. She will then weave the three strands in and out of each other to achieve the look she's going for. This will be a loose belt that drapes slightly over the hips. Her other project, coming along well, is a purse that will soon be felted. Get this. She is doing intarsia. The purse is pink and green with a green stripe at the bottom and then green running up the corners. It is so cute and her stitches are so even! I have a picture of this so as soon as I can upload it you will see just how awesome it is!

As for my projects, I have nothing monumental to show for my efforts right now. Remember how pride comes before a fall? Well, I think I may have been priding myself too much on my growing knitting ability. Now, realizing that you're becoming a pretty good knitter with some nice skills is ok. It's taking that next step to the "I'm cool, look at me" plateau (scratch that, insert "cliff") that is the problem. And that's where all the frustrations of the last few weeks come in. I had been going along knitting up all sorts of interesting things, getting more confident of my ability level, etc etc etc. THEN...suddenly...someone opened Pandora's yarn stash box and out flew the Evil Knit Fairy (click here for a sample evil knit fairy). Yes, there is such a thing. You don't want to ever encounter this little beast. This furry little 18-fingered (all the better for holding needles with!) creature took it upon him/her self to inflict all manner of confusion, frustration, infuriatingly slow progress, dropped LACE stitches, bad yarn matches, and so on and so forth, upon me these past few parchingly dry knitting weeks. Overwhelmed? Yes, exactly. So was (am?) I. Let me paint a little picture for you:

RED WRAP w/ double-stranded KnitPicks Red Hat fingering weight wool:
Abbie very happy to receive new yarn from Knitpicks. Yarn for red wrap. Yay.
Abbie sets in to begin wonderful project.
Abbie swatches two or three times before settling on the guage she thinks she likes.
Abbie re-writes pattern to accomodate different yarn and guage.
Abbie is successful (yay!)
Abbie begins pattern, has trouble with eyelash yarn getting in the way of all the stitches.
Abbie works about 4 rows of this awfully long pattern she has created. Looks down. Realizes that the yo's in the last two sections were off by two stitches. Why? Abbie forgot to insert the appropriate yo's two rows back. No big deal, Abbie can go back in and dig that offending area up and re-work it. Or can she? That is the question of two days. No, maybe three days. Yes, it took Abbie FOREVER to correctly (did I say correctly? I meant satisfactorily) fix those mistakes. Finally, Abbie can move on.
Abbie continues on and, victoriously, decides to NOT knit the eyelash yarn in every 6 rows but to instead just work the pattern with the wool and then, after completion, go back and weave the eyelash yarn in as desired. This will eliminate all the bothersome interference in the pattern. Good thinking, Abbie.
For all that, Abbie is still on row 6 of an at-least-150-row wrap. (Insert big sigh here).

BOOT SOCKS for Hubby w/ Opal Blue & White self-striping yarn:
Abbie decided to try a few new techniques. Such as toe-up. Such as on one circular. Such as two socks on one circular needle. Such as a male-sized sock. Such as adapting a pattern for a large woman's foot. Such as...not screaming and ripping out all her hair when she realizes that this is a much, much MUCH bigger feat than anticipated.
Abbie decides she can do it (and probably can when she stops being frustrated).
Abbie makes guage, compares to pattern, re-writes pattern to fit husband's foot, is satisfied.
Abbie contentedly curls up on futon, watches TV with husband, begins toe-up according to directions laid out next to her.
Abbie realizes two hours later that this has taken quite a long time to get just one toe up and running (hahaha), meaning, 8 rows on the needles. Yes, well, it's just because she hasn't done this before. Once she gets it down it will go faster.
Next day. Abbie starts toe of second sock. Toe goes faster than yesterday. Progress slows when Abbie realizes that the working yarn is on the inside of the circ, not on the needle. Wouldn't be a problem except that there is another toe on the needles so the cord can't be pulled through to reach the needle on the other side. Stitches transfered to a dpn, then transferred back to the circ in the correct orientation. Correct orientation? I meant INcorrect orientation. Again. More transfer of stitches to dpns, circs, blah blah blah. Who needs to know how long this has gone on? Abbie has stopped and is seriously considering joining a circus instead of knitting. Much safer and her skills could actually be used. I think it is clear to all (especially husband and sister who have had to endure much talk about this) that Abbie's skills lie less in the area of manipulating beautiful fibres into beautiful handknits and more in the area of being a side-show freak. This is evidenced by many things including how her hair looks when she wakes up in the morning, her frequent outbursts of song, emitting high-pitched noises at random intervals evidently for the purpose of releasing energy, and ... but I digress. Suffice it to say that Abbie's resume has been submitted - on a global level - to all hiring circuses.

2 PAIRS SOCKS for Cousins w/ Knitpicks Hydrangea and Zinnia merino wool:
Abbie becomes overwhelmed with last two items. Confidence is plummeting and Abbie is not so sure that starting two new socks at this point is wise, let alone possible. Balls of yarn could be seen flying through the air should this project be undertaken in Abbie's current mental state.

BATHROOM MAT w/ hideous (source unknown and unidentifiable) yarn from 50s:
Abbie makes 1/3 progress before running out of yarn. Discovers that yarn market is so well-developed now that it is hard to find any more yarn in same or different colors to match the hideousness of the first color. Not wanting to buy nice yarn to finish a project she will walk on, Abbie waits to find awful yarn in bulky weight. Once she is able to overcome herself and face the light of day she may venture into a thrift shop and descend like a hawk on its prey if she sees anything useful (meaning she would never use it for anything other than to wipe her cat's butt or, in this case, to make a bathroom mat from). Progress currently suspended.

HAT for Aunt, to match poncho, w/leftover yarn from poncho:
Abbie decides it would be nice to make hat for aunt to match completed poncho. Nice thought. Should be enough yarn. Wasn't enough yarn. Looked through stash and found color very close, almost indistinguishable. Decided to try technique of one row old color, one row new, and so on until old was used up and colors are so well meshed that the naked eye is tricked. Abbie's brain was tricked to think this would work. Top of hat looks dirty. Abbie must rip, wait for new (hopefully matching) yarn to arrive. Progress temporarily suspended.

ETC...
Now, I hope you understand I could continue on for a while. These pictures of woe are not alone. No, no, they have siblings. It seems that the sayings "When it rains it pours", "Multiply like rabbits", and so on, really do apply to woolish things like knitting. So, in light of all this trauma (oh yeah, added to the above issues is my belief that about two people read my blog: my sister and one other person. Now, while this would not normally cause distress since this blog is a creative outlet for me and a journal for my knitting, when one thing goes wrong for me I have this little disease called "Snowballing" and it basically means that everything must be wrong if one thing is. For example: I feel ugly one day. This a) must mean I really am ugly, b) my husband must be faking his love for me, c) everyone must be laughing at me behind my back, d) my cat bites my leg not because he wants food but actually because I am ugly, e) The stock market is plummeting because I am ugly, f) we haven't saved enough money to buy a dog yet because I am ugly, g) my knitting all sucks too, h) I can't keep in touch with all my old friends so I'm a horrible person, i) good knitters don't have this many issues with their projects so I must not be a good knitter, j) it's nice and sunny now but it will probably rain when I walk out the door...because I'm ugly, k) and oh yeah, my blog sucks and I only have two readers. See how this insidious disease progresses?) if I get my nerves back, calm my knitting hormones, work out my problems and continue on then you will see another post, hopefully soon. If, on the other hand, one of the circuses likes my resume, you may still see posts here but they will be of a slightly different nature.

Hope your knitting is faring better.

2006-04-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hi again! Just a quick note before I present an actual post later on tonight (with pictures!):

Christine, you commented that you are going to Yarn Garden this weekend. Would you mind asking for Tammy whether or not they give yarn discounts for charity knitting projects done for non-local charities such as Children in Common (CIC), etc? They are giving a 20% discount on yarn for Portland Rescue Mission charity knitting and it would be interesting to know if that extends further.

By the way, I would be happy to meet you there Sunday if you would like. We can meet and knit for a while. Tammy, Melody, Jenni, Patti, are you interested in meeting? Jenni and Patti, I don't even know if you're in the area. Where do you live? Eva, I would ask you but of course I know that it might be a bit of a flight for you!!

Talk to you all later tonight. Pictures and updates on projects should appear tonight.

Until then, may you have a splendiferous day!

Knitting: Luxury, Art Form, or Necessity?

2006-04-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hello, Hello, Hello!

So I think I found a pattern (see below) for the Dale of Norway sweater that BJ wants. I found it on Bea Ellis' Adult Single Patterns website. Now to use up the yarn I have so I can buy more!

That out of the way, here is a great expose of something about which I have long thought: knitting, which is now largely a hobby and luxury, used to be a necessity. My thoughts on this topic align pretty well with Lene's so I will refrain from gracing you with them. Yes, I know, I hear your groans of agony. Don't worry, soon I'll come up with something achingly beautiful for you to ponder. Just wait...

Charity Knitting Opportunitites

2006-04-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

I found this in the What's New section of the Yarn Garden website:

Charity Knitting in the Sipperie! Our customers have brought to our attention two service organizations in Portland that are asking for help. Portland Rescue Mission is in dire need of warm hats and socks and the volunteers at Veterans Hospital say they are in need of large lap robes for their wheelchair bound patients. If you can help out, we have a sign up sheet and will give you free patterns and a 20% discount on your purchases for these charities. Helping hands make warm hearts!We’ll have a staff member available to help out with yarn selection, patterns and any knitting questions. Plan on joining us to share our talents and enrich the lives of those in need.

Just thought those of you in the Portland Metro area might be interested. I also added a CHARITY KNITTING Opportunity section in the sidebar for those of you interested in helping others through doing what you love!

And Lo and Behold, she's alive!

2006-04-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Wonders never cease! I am alive and well and another tidbit has been posted!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was nice and relaxed. I started a few projects (got my yarn from Knitpicks!!) and visited with Julie, my friend who had her wedding pics posted here. Our husbands were going on a "boys" camping trip so we (and my sister, Melody) hung out and did girl things such as visit yarn shops, knit, sip coffee, watch Just Like Heaven off pay per view (I don't usually pay for movies but hey, when you and the girls are going to hang out and watch movies it just makes more sense to not run to the video store and, at least in my case, forget to return the movie for so long that I end up paying the cost of the pay per view at least 2-3 times over.)

Pictures of my new projects will be posted tonight. Until then, tata!

By the way, Christine suggested a bunch of us getting together and going to the Yarn Garden Retreat. Anyone else interested?! It will be at McMenamins Grand Lodge Oct 20-22. We could all meet beforehand and get to know each other then carpool down together and already have friends there!

2006-03-27T11:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday BJ and I drove to Detroit Lake (we love that place!) and while BJ fished a little, I knitted in the Jeep. Although BJ loves fishing he decided rather quickly that he had enough and wanted to roam around the area. So we walked across the Flats and I got lots of pebbles under my feet (not knowing we were going to be so adventurous I wore flip-flops). Some of where we walked was on land normally under water. (During the winter months they let the water out of the lake to avoid flooding and then come summer it is allowed to fill again and the summer recreation begins. The lake is usually full of water-skiiers, fishermen/women, ski-bisquiters, swimmers, etc. The lake is enormous and mountains surround it on all sides. It is usually quiet but for the sounds of all the fun and occasionally a truck going by on the highway across from the lake. The forest surrounding the lake is part of Willamette National Forests) I found lots of snail shells and half-dead grass. Eventually we headed back to the Jeep and the rest of the day drove up mountain roads in the area. Some of them still had snow on them and since both my husband and I love snow so much we had to drive in it and take pictures of it. I would normally have gotten out and played in it but I was knitting and BJ was having far too much fun doing 4x4 things in the snow for me to bother with stopping him. It's so cute when a grown man plays like a little boy.

And of course, my beautiful kitty! Sometimes he just watches us. This is one of those times. Not too long after I took his picture he curled up next to me while I was preparing last night's post.

This was from about a week ago. BJ was trying to take a good picture of him but he wouldn't stop getting up in the middle of the picture-taking. This is him preparing to rise. This is also what he looks like when he is chasing a laser-pointer. See the concentration on his face?

What a wonderful world!

New UFO's

2006-03-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hi. Over the weekend a lot of projects were started and follow me wherever I went begging to be worked on a little more. So, the UFO's started this week are as follows:

1) Hat to match aunt's finished poncho. I was using the leftover yarn from her poncho, ran out, found a ball in my stash of a close (please be close enough) color and I'm working one row of the old color, one of the new, for a few rows so as to deceive the eye into believing they really are the same color. I am just starting the decreases for the crown and will probably just simply gather the very top of the hat by pulling the yarn through the last few remaining stitches so as to create a little circle of stitches at the top. ( will have to upload this picture later)

2) Throw for the futon. For too long I have had a cone of a fingering weight rayon/chenille mix sitting around waiting for me to do something with it. The scarf I started a few years back with it didn't actually continue on to anything productive and since then the cone has sat dormant. Friday night I decided I wanted to actually come up with an idea for it so WALAH! a pattern (can you call simple cast on and garter stitch a pattern?) for a throw was born. This is also close to being completed considering that it is quite simple and is being knit up on size "humongous" (I have no idea as to the size; my husband found them in his parents' garage. I guess they used to be his grandma's. The largest size needle that I have other than these are size 15 and that measures 3 1/2 cm around. These Grandma needles measure 5 1/2 cm around. Wow.) so they are moving along quite quickly.

3) This inspiration to knit up what has been laying around heretofore unused evidently was meant to extend further. In my knitting basket was yarn I found in my stash that must be from the 50's at least and was with a crochet pattern for slippers. I have no idea where I got this from but I do know that in my younger years I thought that it might actually crochet up into interesting slippers. Being older and having looked at the slipper picture on the front of the pattern far too many times I realized that I can now say I distinctly know a few things at least: the pattern was hideous, the yarn's appearance was hideous, the yarn's texture was hideous, and how I thought that anything wearable could come from it is beyond me (the current me, not the past me). So, the pattern was thrown away (don't cry, just trust me. It was horrible beyond anything you can imagine.) and I left the yarn as is in my basket for a few weeks. Friday night inspiration caused me to look at the yarn with new eyes. I suddenly knew that due to it's horrible orange color and despicable texture I was never going to make it into anything that I would wear or use as an accesory. So, it suddenly occured to me that the restrictions on the yarn made it ideal for one thing: a bathroom mat. Since we have a colorful fish decorating scheme going on in the bathroom it is actually a very good use of this color. Since it will be under our feet I will not have to feel it on any other part of my body. Since I am making it from yarn I already have I will not have to buy the mat I was going to buy for the bathroom. Genius. Pure genious.

Last but not least, Tammy found the picture of the sock pattern made up in Knitpicks Sock Garden Hydrangea. It is actually a chevron pattern instead of Jaywalker and I think it actually looks pretty nice. The pattern is from Sensational Socks and Tammy, if your offer still stands, I think I would like to borrow that book from you. That would be great! Thanks for your help figuring out a pattern for this colorway!

I checked out Socks, Socks, Socks,edited by Elaine Rowley, from the library a few weeks back. I think I found a simple pattern I will use for my tomboy cousin who wants the orange socks. The pattern is called After Bertha and is written by Diane Ballerino. They are a simple spiral ribbed pattern but with no heel. I think I will add a heel to them but have the spiral rib on the cuff and foot. I think that will satisfy the requirement of a not-too-girly pattern.

And with that, I bid you Dobra Vecher (Russian for Good Night).

Jaywalker Sock Pattern Link, Toes & Heels Techniques

2006-03-24T19:50:00.000-08:00

Tammy commented:

Oohh, I have some of that hydreanga from Knitpicks. I think I saw it made up in the Jaywalker pattern and it looked really nice.

So, I didn't remember what the Jaywalker pattern looked like though I've seen it mentioned many times in the Yahoo knitting groups. I did a little research and here's what I found:
http://magknits.com/Sept05/patterns/jaywalker.htm.

I might try the pattern but I don't think I like that particular colorway pictured in the link. Tammy, have you made any socks in Jaywalker? If so, do you have pictures. I think I'd like to see that pattern in a different color. Of course, I suppose I could browse around on the web and find more. I'm sure a few knitters out there must have tried that pattern.

Here's also a neat site that Sock knitters will find very useful! She (Lauri) has a very thorough list of heel, toe, shaping, etc techniques for sock knitting and explanations to accompany them. I didn't have time to look at everything as closely as I would like so I will be back to visit again soon.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8mnnp/toesheels.html

Yarn for New Projects!

2006-03-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

I'd like to introduce to you PUFF. She belongs to one of my bosses, Tom. Is she not completely adorable? I would love to get a pug along with our corgi (that we don't yet have...)but my husband doesn't want to "clean out their wrinkles". Hmmm... I think I could handle cleaning wrinkles so that I could welcome such a dog to our family. Guess we'll wait and see.

(NOTE: I just spoke with Tom and he says that there is no need to clean out the wrinkles for these little dogs. That tends to be needed only for the bigger wrinkly-faced dogs. He also added that Puff brings here food over to the scale, sets it down and eats it there. Smart dog, no?)

(Dog Thoughts: Not another pound! I just can't beat this thing. If only my parents would get me one of those no-exercise-needed weight loss pills. That would just make my day)

Oh yeah. As for the blue self-striping Opal sock. Yeah, forget the idea of adapting it for myself. It came close to fitting, but no cigar. So...I kissed the frog last night and re-wound the ball and tonight I'll be starting large, manly-sized, blue, hopefully attractive boot socks for BJ. I was going to make his after I finished the socks for my cousins but since I now have to wait for the yarn for their socks to arrive (I ordered them from Knitpicks yesterday - can't wait for it to arrive!!!!) I will start on hubby's socks earlier than expected. Guess it's good for him that I make silly mistakes.

Here is the color-way of the yarn I ordered for the girls socks. Remember, the older one likes orange, the younger one likes pink/purple. I think they will be happy with the colors I chose. The prices were so good! Each ball is 50g/220 yards. I bought two balls of each just to be safe so that equates to $6/pair assuming that all the yarn is used up. Good buy if you ask me.

The one on the left is Hydrangea in Sock Garden by Knitpicks and the one on the right is Zinnia in Sock Garden by Knitpicks.

I also bought yarn (also from Knitpicks) with birthday money (yay!) for a project in the Fall 2005 Vogue Knitting magazine.

My project will be a rectangular shawl with a sculpted edging. (I will post a pic of the project if I can find it online). The yarn used in the pattern is Cherry Red DK Glitz from Cherry Tree Hill but I decided to go with the Red Hat color in Gossamer (below right) and accent it every few rows with the Ruby in Butterfly Kisses (below left). The Gossamer is lace weight instead of DK but I will double-strand it while working and then just adjust the pattern to the size I want. The Butterfly Kisses is somewhat ethereal when knitted up so I think it will add just the right amount of glamour to the piece. I'm so excited for the yarn to arrive and my work to begin! You ask will I be able to concentrate on my other projects in the mean time? Oh come now! This is knitting we're talking about. I will knit to relieve the anticipation of beginning more knitting. What a vicious (delicious) cycle!

Sit and Knit Thursday night at Tangles in Lake Oswego?

2006-03-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

Regarding Christine's comment:

Christine, I would love to get together and knit. Maybe a weekend in warmer weather would be great for a picnic! I think that would be so much fun. Until then, how about this Thursday night? I am planning on being at Tangle in Lake Oswego for the "sit and knit" night. It lasts until 9:00pm. I think my sister will go also. Tammy, would you like to go too? Eva, are you in the area? If I know others are planning to go too maybe we could get coffee together beforehand. If anyone is interested leave comments and we can all arrange a plan through the comments. Yay! Fun!

Wanted & Found: Man Interested in Knitting

2006-03-19T23:20:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! After days of trying unsuccessfully to post, here I am. I wrote an interesting, descriptive, wonderful post detailing my weekend and projects and then lo! and behold! it all disappeared in an instant when suddenly the server was nowhere to be found. Go figure.

So instead of the longer (read: long-winded) version, you'll get an abbreviated version of recent events (stop that! I hear you out there breathing sighs of relief!)

My birthday was Friday and my husband gave me the greatest gift a man could ever give (other than his heart, but I already have that): he accompanied me around the city, actually stepping into multiple yarn shops with me, and the key to it all is (shhh....build up the suspense): there was no complaining, no protest, no grunts and sounds of general boredom!!!!! He actually conveyed contentment and interest while we were in yarn heaven! Now, I know much of this wonderful behavior has to do not with a love of yarn but with the fact that he is highly interested in my next project. Now, why are most men extremely interested in a project that their wives/girlfriends/etc are knitting and the cat/dog/etc are un-knitting? Yes, precisely. It involves an item for HIM. (Now, I personally find this trait very endearing: To have my husband peer over my shoulder and ask "Are You Close to Finishing That?" or comment "Wow, You're Going Fast On That" is comforting, cute, and slightly ego-boosting (who said only men have egos?). Anyway, back to the point, the project in question that currently interests my husband is a DALE OF NORWAY sweater (exact pattern yet undecided). I showed him the Winter Olympics Team Sweater 2006 and he really liked them. To his question "Can you make one?" I responded that duh, of course I can because I am such an awesome knitter that a Dale Sweater was something I could do from my very first cast on I would love to make one for him. I also showed him the Yarn Harlot's Dale Sweater that she completed in her 16-day Olympic Knitting Sprint. He was impressed. Anyone should be. Awesome display of skill.

So, the long and short: husband accompanied wife on trip to yarn shops, made wife very happy, wife had awesome birthday. Husband very excited about difficult sweater wife will make for him, thinks wife is cool. Wife again very happy.

Now for interpretation of the pictures: I received a gift card to Yarn Garden for my birthday (Yay! More yarn!) so I trucked myself on over there that same evening I received the card and bought two balls of Opal, one in the Blue/Black shade colorway you see below and the other in the red/white colorway. I also bought the little needles you may be able to see in the pictures if you squint really hard. They are so small it is like playing with toothpicks. They are five inches long and size 1 needles. Very strange to get used to since I have so far only made socks with DK weight yarn and this Opal is sock weight/fingering. My opinion of both the yarn and needles is still in progress so I'll update you later on that.

I have just turned the heel here. I may have made it too small width-wise. Doesn't matter now, though, since I just learned that I should read my emails closer. These socks were for a 10-year-old cousin who evidently likes ORANGE and not BLUE. Yes, interesting how I mixed up those two not-so-alike colors. So as you can see, it doesn't matter that the heel is small because I am TAKING ALL THE STITCHES OUT and making a bigger pair as boot socks for my hubby.

All is not lost, though. I can show you that this yarn stretches very well in a rib (k2,p2) pattern. I was surprised at its elasticity since the yarn itself doesn't feel like it has any give. This yarn is actually turning out nicer to work with than I thought it would. I guess all those gals in the Yahoo Sockknitters groups know what they are talking about!! (Go figure.)

Here was my gallant beginning of the red pair of socks for my 7-year-old cousin using the Magic Loop Method (more one this in a later post). Turns out she doesn't like red. She likes pink or purple. I am beginning to question my reading skills or at the very least my interpretation abilities. Sheesh. Now I'm not sure what to do with this ball. "Make socks" would be a logical answer but we'll see. Who would want them? I offered them to my husband but he thought he might look like a girl. I didn't tell him that he looks like one anyway (JOKE!!).

Last but not least, my soon-to-be-felted purse. Notice there are no handles. If you were at my house you would notice there is also no washing machine. So I must 1) wait for the ball of yarn that I'm going to use for handles to finally show up at Tangle (please hurry!), and 2) felt this bag in my bathtub or trek over to the house of either parents or parents-in-law so as to make use of their machine. We'll see. Either way, I think it will turn out very well. After this is felted I will proceed to felt a HUGE knitting bag for myself with wool and stripes of novelty yarn that won't felt.

Until I rip out my projects and start over, tata! I must tutor tonight and then I will browse around for yarn for large projects looming on the horizon. Updates to come.

So much to do, so little time!

2006-03-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

Hi. Sorry it has taken me a while to post. Many things happened this weekend.

Friday I hung out with hubby BJ (always a good thing to do). Saturday BJ had a concert in Eugene (he plays trombone in the Beaverton Community Band) so we traveled down there and back. The band played very well and I knitted straight through so I got a bunch done on my Komi hat (see third picture below). My mother-in-law also plays in the band (flute) so my father-in-law was sitting next to me. He has trouble with staying awake at these kind of things so I was fully prepared to elbow him (would sticking him with a knitting needle be ok?) if he started to snore. He actually did remarkably well and between the loud brass instruments, half a tin of altoids, and sitting all the way forward on his seat he managed to stay awake through most of the performance. Trust me, it's an accomplishment.

Sunday I met with some awesome knitting gals. I am a member of Jeanie Townsend's Sock KnitAlong Yahoo Group and another member of that group, Tammy (Hi Tammy!) visited by blog and noticed I live in Lake Oswego. She lives in Beaverton/Aloha area which is not that far away. So, she and I started emailing and arranged a to meet and see if any other knitters wanted to come along. Of course, I recruited my awesome new-knitter sister to come with me and Tammy brought some of her friends along as well. We even had another member of Jeanie's group come down from Washington to join us! We met at Yarn Garden on Hawthorne St in SE Portland, Oregon. That is a nice little shop. Actually, I should say the coffee shop is little. Attached to the sipperie is the Yarn Garden itself, home to skeins and hanks and balls of fibre galore. You see, Melody (my sister) and I went into one room and thought "Wow, this is neat" then finished looking around and went to exit back to the yarn shop when - WAIT! - what is that I see? Another room?! So we ventured forward into uncharted territory. Oh, more glorious colors and textures! I bought a ball of Sockotta yarn in spring colors (Yes, one more project - socks for sister) and we headed back to the sipperie. But - OH MY! - another room?! Yes, it went on like this for two more rooms. It is amazing! So, all that to say, if you are in the area, you should check out Yarn Garden. It is worth the visit and has a coffee shop attached to make the whole experience perfect!

Now, before I let you see the photos of my UFO's, you must hear the following very important news: Tangle Knitting Studio in Lake Oswego, Oregon has an informal "come sit and knit" time every Sunday. I dropped in there after leaving Yarn Garden in hopes that some yarn (handle for purse in progress) I had ordered had come in. It hadn't, but there were at least 15 women sitting on couches and chairs chatting away and all knitting something different. I sat down and joined them for a while before I was so hungry I just had to leave before starting to nibble on the yarn. I hear that Yarn Shop Owners take a very dim view of such things. So, all that to say, again, if you are in the area, stop in! I am going to start going dropping in regularly for at least an hour or two at at time. Alice opens up at 12:00 on Sundays and closes at 5:30. Be there or be square! Wait, a better motto - Be there AND be square! Now that's what I'm talking about...

(By the way, I will add links to this post tomorrow so you can investigate all these wonderful places. I'm thinking that my computer is only so cooperative tonight and its good graces don't extend that far right now.)

Now on to projects:

The poncho is almost completed (finally!). Yes, this is the one I was going to have done by the end of the Knitting Olympics. Shhh...I heard that. It's not like you finished yours either! Geez! All that is left is the fringe and...

Seaming below the cuffs! See this cuff below? It seems to be cut off for some reason but maybe you can see anyway that it is not joined past the cuff. I don't like that because it seems to let drafts in. So, though the pattern doesn't call for it I am going to seam it up about 4 inches and call it done. That should leave the front loose but cut off the air flow from the side.

Here is the progress on my Komi hat. I actually completed more today during my lunch break and while waiting on my MRI at the doctor's office. I frogged it down to the light green stripe there at the bottom. The background is earth green and the foreground was brown. The pattern wasn't showing up as well as I would have liked so *rip* and start over with red! I think it will look nice with just the green background and then the contrasting pattern of red and light green (which you will see more of the closer I get to completion). So far so good!

Here's my attempt at spinning Merino. Yeah, not working out as well as the wool I was spinning before. This is a lot more slippy, but oh so soft! I'll keep trying, though, and it will just have to be considered unique hand spun yarn when I finish. I think I'll make felted slippers with it.

Cuff finished on a gold club I'm making for BJ. The argyle pattern is just starting. Blue background, Red diamond with white diagonal stripes. I'm using Wool Ease yarn on size 6 dpns.

Well, that's all for now. Time for a warm, cozy bed and a long, refreshing sleep.

Winter's Torment

2006-03-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well! Snow in Portland! This is a rarity on two levels. One, if we get snow here at all in winter it means global warming must have had vacation days coming. We do not often get snow. Second, if we get snow here more than one time in one winter it means that yes, in fact, hell did freeze over. That being said, we have snow here for the second (third if you count yesterday's and today's snow as two different bouts) time this year. What is going on?! But wait, we were told that it would snow 4 inches overnight. When I woke up this morning did I see 4 inches? Did I see even 2 inches? Did I see ONE INCH?! No. No I did not. And I do not like my emotions to be played with this way. So...

With all this wonderful, wearing, winter activity outside I have been inspired to grace your sensitivities with a poem written just for you. Please, sit back and enjoy. I am sure that by the end you will be privileged to be one of the few who chose to visit this site today!

Winter's Torment

Oh Winter, why do you play with my heart thus?

Every year I wait

and wait

for the leaves to fall, the sun to hide, and the heat to flee.

With greedy eyes I watch for large, white flakes to cascade from the sky.

But though you humor me with

bare trees,

dark nights,

cold feet,

you do nothing to warm my heart with those flakes.

Those watery, icy flakes.

Those wintery white frozen flakes.

Those more-precious-than-gold flakes.

Oh!

If there were anything I could do to persuade you to unlatch that door

behind which I know all that white goodness lies...

If there were any way I could touch your soul so deeply that you would pour on my head bountiful blizzards of beauty...

If there were any way I could convince you that it really is a good idea for the earth to be covered in white 11 months per year...

Then my heart would be whole,

My gratitude immeasurable,

My love pure.

My cat would purr,

My husband would play,

My heart would burst.

All would be well.

But as it stands

it is clear that this year you will not find favor with me.

So I will knit

socks,

sweaters,

mittens,

scarves,

and rags to dry my tears

to soothe my heart and keep hope alive

that next year you would love me

and shower me with

SNOW!

Ken & Julie's Wedding Pictures!

2006-03-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

We finally get to see pictures of Julie's wedding! Isn't she beautiful? I might add that her groom is not too bad. (Ken, if you are reading this, "not too bad" should be read as "striking".) This picture was taken before the wedding.
The picture below was taken during the ceremony (no one likes anything more than stating the obvious, right?!)
Below they are giving us an idea of how they will be feeding each other in old age. I can just see it now:

Come on, honey, hold still...I can't quite get that piece in...See, now it's all over your face...Oh, now it's on my face too...well, guess it's going to have to stay there...neither one of us can bend over to reach that napkin...it's ok, we'll get it off tomorrow in our bath...

Below you can see friends of the bride and groom. However, the pic below portrays more than just how well they can pick their friends. Yes, it is true...this picture documents beyond any shadow of a doubt that the man with whom I chose to live my life is not quite "all there", if you know what I mean...yes, he is the one in the yellow and black fleece. I am the one smiling knowingly next to him. Let me just assure you that I have approximately 3 pictures of him out of our 7+ years together in which he is not making some strange face...yes, our children will be interesting, that's for sure. Here is another friend, Micky, with daughter Claire who is 5 (?) months old. Isn't she adorable? Kids like these are what cause my slowly ticking clock to speed up a bit...
So there you are. Pics of the great couple and their (of course) great friends. Tune in tomorrow for more interesting news from the world of Mrs BJ (ooh, ooh, that's me!).

Poncho Progress

2006-03-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

This first frame is of the poncho I am currently working on and hope to have completed by Saturday. The second frame is the detail of the center cable pattern. I love the color and the pattern was very fun to work. This is actually a Mary Maxim kit my aunt bought. It came with needles, acrylic yarn and the pattern. If I were to have just made it from the pattern without the presupplied yarn I would have chosen a softer yarn like Cashsoft DK or one of the KnitPicks yarns. In this case, though, I had no choice and I think it will be ok anyway. The pattern turned out nice, the material seems like it will be warm, and with a little wash before I give it to her the stiffness should go away. I do admire the cable pattern so I think I will duplicate it on the hat and mittens I plan on making to accompany this. We'll see. Maybe I'll try this pattern out on something else and use my choice of yarn. Fun!

By the way, thank you Christine for your comment! I am so glad to know you enjoy reading my blog! Now I know I have at least two readers! Eva, my sister put a comment under the Komi Hat post regarding Brendan, her possible hook-up. The saga continues...

Have a great night everyone!

Winston

2006-03-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

Is this not the cutest little doggie you have ever seen? BJ and I want to get a Corgi but we have to wait just a little bit longer. Corgi's are supposed to be very good with children (mark that down for future reference) and are very intelligent and affectionate. This dog is named Winston according to Autumn. I don't know if he is her dog or someone else's but he is adorable!

My Komi Hat in Progress

2006-03-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

Here is the beginning of my Komi hat. I actually did a lot more last night while hubby and I were at his parents house for dinner and to do laundry (we don't yet have a washer and dryer in our new house...very inconvenient but then it does provide time with the families so it works out anyway.) I'll try to replace this picture with one of the more completed hat later on tonight. Hopefully I can also get the poncho pictures up. I have almost finished one cuff and have the second cuff and the fringe to go and then I will be DONE! My Aunt keeps getting more and more excited about it and I think to top it off for her I'll make a hat and mittens and socks to match. She says she thinks she will like it so much that she may just live in it! Well, that's ok with me...that could be considered proper recognition of the labor and love put in the gift!

Husband's Komi Hat

2006-03-05T23:24:00.000-08:00

I think I finally got this to work. At the advice of Eva I uploaded pics to Photobucket.com and then copied the HTML from there to here. I hope you can see this picture. It is the Komi Russian hat I made for my husband. I am in the process of making one for myself now as well and will have pictures of that here soon as well. Let's see if this works first before I get too ambitious, try to post all my pics of projects and then crash the whole site! Talk to you tomorrow!

Best Cornbread Ever!

2006-03-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

Good morning! In lieu of being able to show you any knitting pics (still having problems uploading) I will give you the best cornbread recipe ever. My sister loves it and thought I should share it here. Sometimes I make it as written, other times I add chile peppers and adobo sauce and maybe corn. Any way it's fixed it's marvelous - sweet taste, great texture. I love serving it warm with butter on top and inside...mmm...Let me know what you think if you try it!

Prep: 10 minutes, Bake: 25 minutes, 6 servings

CORNBREAD

1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups yellow, white or blue cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 400. Grease bottom and side of round pan, 9x1 1/2 inches, or square pan, 8x8x2.
2. Beat milk, butter and egg in large bowl with hand beater or wire whisk. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Pour into pan.
3. Back 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm if desired.

(taken from Betty Crocker's Cook Book (newest edition, "Big Red"), p.62)

My Kitty on LSD??!!

2006-03-03T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hi. I was told a crazy theory which you may just think is true if you have a crazy cat like mine! Please read it and tell me what you think. Could this be true? It sounds like a grand idea someone made up but Eva says those who told her this "fact" claim its validity. My husband is doing "research" on this now (and I will post his highly academic results) but in the meantime I'd love to get your thoughts on this.

Eva wrote at 3/03/2006 11:26 AM in a comment to the post Welcome to My World:
"About your pretty kittykat... you do know that cats naturally produce LSD in their brains and when they produce too much they get a bout of "madness" don't ya?? At least that's what my friend, who's got 5 cats told me when I was staying with her last year. I don't have pets so when one her cats started racing around the house like possessed it would freak me out. She told me it is normal... it is the LSD!!!"

Could it possibly be true? Of course, my husband's follow-up theory is that if this is true people will soon start picking the brains of cats to get this LSD...hmmm...not a pretty thought.

Knuckles, oh kitty kitty, where are you....?

Problems Uploading Pics

2006-03-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I am having trouble uploading the pictures tonight. I need to go to bed now so I will try this again in the morning or after work in the evening. To everyone...I bid you adieu...to you and you and you...so long, farewell.

2006-03-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

Pictures of knitting projects both in-progress and finished will be posted tonight. Until then, enjoy meeting my family...

Welcome to My World!

2006-03-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my husband, BJ, and kitty, Knuckles. BJ is probably watching his favorite show of all time (lately), Stargate SG1. As you can see, our kitty appears to be a lap kitty. The truth is he is only half that. This cat is highly affectionate while at the same time being highly obnoxious. As I was communicating that fact my husband was playing with Knuckles and suddenly the cat jumped up and smashed his head on the corner of a table nearby. This leads me to my next point. Knuckles likes to jump (often at things that he "sees" but we don't. That could mean either he is a higher sort of sentient being (bleedover from too much Stargate) or he's insane. We lean toward the latter.

This is yours truly and the crazy kitty posing for a picture for Daddy. You can see that he is not leaning toward the highly affectionate side of his personality at this point. In fact, I think I distinctly felt "Are you done now?" vaguely communicated to my brain from his general direction. Hmm...a kitty higher being? Maybe...Actually, he did insist on my getting up this morning while I was trying very hard to ignore my alarm clock. It's hard to continue stealing sleep when your cat sits at the bedroom door staring at you and meowing at the top of his lungs. I knew it wasn't hunger that he was trying to communicate because if that were the case he would have bitten my leg (yes, that would be the obnoxious side).
Below you can see my handsome hubby with his feet kicked up but no kitty in sight. You do, however, see the hat I knitted for him resting there on the ottoman. I have a close-up of that somewhere down below. In addition, those store-bought socks will soon be replaced by homemade knitted socks. The first pair will be boot socks made from WoolEase. They will be maroon and navy blue and white stripes on the cuff. This will match a sweater I am in the process of making for him. It was started before our wedding but yeah, sometimes people gain weight after they get married so...I need to knit strips to add to the inside seam between front and back. Then it will FINALLY be done. The golf club cover in progress (working on it right now) are the same colors with an argyle pattern on the head.

Another picture of husband and kitty...

and one of kitty alone being very cute.
(Do you notice the glowing eyes too?)

Finally some knitting pictrures!

2006-02-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

I know! You'd think I forgot about posting knitting pics. Nope, and here's proof. This is a picture my hubby, BJ, took of me while I was knitting my Olympic Poncho one night last week. I love it! So cozy feeling (and, of course, it involves needles and yarn and a fire and cushions and...well, you get the point).

Question: Knitting Challenge?

2006-02-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

Hi again. As I was seaming up my poncho I realized that I am having a hard time figuring out what seams are appropriate for what stitches, designs, etc. and am challenged by the prospect of making a seam that looks flawless and professional. (For the poncho I am attempting the Invisible Weaving technique for Shoulder Seams. Ack! I really don't care for seams.) As I was thinking of this I began wondering what the rest of you are challenged by, whether also by seams (join me, my sisters & brothers) or by other things such as colorwork, sizing, etc. So, I present to you the following question: What at this present time is most challenging to you in this wonderful world of knitting? If you want to answer a second question, what have you never tried in knitting because you are intimidated by it? (If enough answers are the same I'll create a tally bar and post it at the side so we can watch the results as the answers come in.)

Finished Knitting Olympics Project?! No way!

2006-02-26T11:56:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm back! The wedding was beautiful and the bride and groom will be on their way to their honeymoon tomorrow. Today is gift-opening day. I think it's a great idea that our society helps out newly married couples by buying them necessary items for their household that most would not normally be able to buy up front due to the finances of just starting out. I know it helped my husband and me greatly to receive the gifts we did. I still think of the gift-giver gratefully whenever I use an item that we received as a wedding gift (aren't those Kitchenaid mixers nice?!).
Anyway, on to knitting. I did NOT finish my Cream Colored Cable Poncho for my aunt before the torch was extinguished. (My excuse is the wedding.) I finished both front and back but have yet to seam them together and add collar, cuffs and fringe. I should probably get to that now. My husband and I have a dinner tonight with her and I'd like to have it done by then (secondary deadline!).
I'll try to post more later on tonight. Until then, happy knitting. Did you finish your project by the extinguishing of the flame? I'd love to hear what you made!

Impending Nuptials

2006-02-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

Good morning. I am up this morning at the relatively ungodly hour of 5:30 am. There is much to do in preparation for my friend Julie' s wedding. I have tableclothes to pick up, gifts to buy and wrap, decorations to make, lots and lots and lots...and lots of coffee to drink. Her wedding is Saturday so I will be staying the night with her tonight to be available in case she needs a bit of support during the night. She was there for me on my wedding night when I wasn't nervous at all until 3am when I started crying uncontrollably and exclaiming about how I couldn't have a decent wedding since I hadn't been able to sleep yet and look at the time and I'll only have 3 hours of sleep before my wedding and so on and so forth. With that in mind, I go to help my friend. In light of her impending nuptials the following post will be a thought on marriage.

Tidbits

2006-02-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

I am going to start posting a thought of the day, word of the day, and verse of the day. This may be a bit ambitious but we'll see. If I find anything suitable tonight I'll post it a little later. Otherwise, you may have to wait until tomorrow. I am a bit harried by the pace I need to adopt tonight to finish my Knitting Olympics poncho in time. I am about 3/4 of the way done and I should be more around 7/8 done by now. Oh well. Sometimes Olympic athletes have to push themselves to the limits, right? I guess tonight will be one of those nights for me. I'll let you know tomorrow if I landed with good form or if my face got it good. Of course, with the shape my face has been in lately it might be helpful to fall on it once or twice. Detract from the pores, you know...
My husband just walked in and walked back out after poking and prodding me a bit (he gets his daily ration of exercise and entertainment out of this kind of behaviour). On the way out I noticed he pants falling off his butt. While in writing this may not be attractive it actually signifies something he is very happy about - losing weight. Not that he was obscene anyway but you know how those male egos can be: a few extra pounds and they can't think straight (shhh...don't tell him I said that...he doesn't think he has any vanity about him. If that were true, though, I think he wouldn't wear cologne or a clean shirt to go have coffee with the guys.)
Back to knitting relevant material. I was thinking about selling a few items I make from my blog. I don't know if that's against the rules of blogging so if you happen to know the answer feel free to let me know. I made my husband a Komi hat with an intricate colorwork pattern and he really likes it. It is very soft, being made from DK Cashsoft from Alice, LYS owner of Tangles Knitting Studio in Lake Oswego (you should travel far and wide to get to this shop - very warm and welcoming and the yarn selection is great!), and is very warm being double thickness. I think I'll just stick it out there as an idea for now and once I find my camera cord I will post a pic so you can let me know what you think about its sell-worthiness.

Coming Along!

2006-02-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! At least I'm making progress on this, right?! Now I just need to get some pics and quotes posted and I'll be close to satisfied with it!

Fair Isle Socks link

2006-02-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

Check out this link to Purly Whites. These are a pair of beautifully knitted Fair Isle socks from the book Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush. I think I'm going to need to buy that book!

2006-02-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

I found a pair of socks that are so beautiful! The design is great and the knitting is superb. Sandra from Germany knits these socks which are from Alice Starmore's Celtic Collection. They have an intricate cable design running up the back of the heel and cuff and are a deep green color. Browse around Sandra's site. She has a sweater on there from the same book of patterns which is just gorgeous (and a bunch of very cute llamas and alpacas). I am inspired to buy Starmore's book and try out some of her patterns. I went to her website, Virtual Yarns, and browsed around. Her designs are beautiful but a little more than I can afford right now. I looked at ebay and Amazon for some of her books and they were all upward of $100, some more than $1000. My sister-in-law said that she posted a request on the internet (not sure where) with the book she wanted and the amount she was willing to pay for it and had to wait a few months but finally got a reply and paid around $50 for the book. I might have to try that. Until then, I'll be admiring other knitters' wonderful expressions of these patterns.

2006-02-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

One of these days I will actually get pictures up of the poncho, socks, purse, hat, etc that I am working on. I just got my sister knitting over this weekend! She started a purse and a hat and she appears to be enjoying it (of course, I can't imagine anyone NOT enjoying knitting...) which of course makes me happy.
We had such a great weekend! My husband was gone at a bachelor party for our friends getting married this weekend so my sis and I decided to have our own fun! We watched movies, knitted, read blogs, ate yummy food, created inside jokes over a certain Andre that appeared in concert one evening on our TV and just had a generally good time laughing our heads off. My abs actually hurt from our laughing before bed. Such good times.
I'll post again soon with pictures of my progress and a cute pic my husband took of me knitting with our fire going in the background. Perfect Olympics pose for such a star athlete! ;-)

A night of fun

2006-02-17T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yay, my sister is spending the night with me tonight. She is going to give me a pedicure and manicure and we will do word puzzles, watch movies and I'll probably knit :-) My sister, Melody, is cute and fun! She is standing next to me here while I am typing this and wondering at the fact that I am blogging! Woo! The wonders never cease.

2006-02-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

Hi! It's taking me a while to get this blog going considering the amount of time the Olympics are consuming. I am almost half way through and am on-schedule to finish on time. The front of the poncho is a few rows away from completion and then I only have the duplicate back, cuffs and collar to finish. Woohoo! Such fun, such challenge! As soon as I get home I'll have my husband take a pic of it and I'll post it for all to see. Yay, my first picture. (Notice I don't even have a picture of myself up...of course, that's because I don't want to scare away all of my visitors...wait, I don't have any yet! :-) All in due time... Well, off to work again. Soon I'll be home and stitching away with the bitter cold outside and the cozy warm inside...cup of hot cocoa nearby...log in the fireplace...husband watching TV in the rocking chair with Knuckles (our beautiful, full-of-attitude cat) curled up on his lap...watching the Olympics. Yay for the wonders of domestic life!

My love of knitting

2006-02-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

Knitting holds such power in its fibrous grasp. The person who gets tangled will likely never be loosed. Why do I find knitting so beautiful? I love creating something wonderful that did not previously exist. I love knowing that I can make both beautiful and practical things for those I love and that it is actually a skill to be able to do this. I love knowing that by knitting I am connecting with women (and men, children, cats) who have from ancient times performed this out of necessity and/or desire. Something that has persisted so long will not likely disappear anytime soon. As I can pass on knowledge of life so also can I pass on this skill and the heirlooms that can appear because of it. On a less serious note, my husband and cat also love my knitting. My husband gets all sorts of goodies and my cat gets to try to mess those goodies up as they're innocently begining their lives on my needles. For all these reasons and more, I love knitting.