Samples 'n Stuff

 
















A couple weeks ago, I had the idea of knitting a vest for my dad, who's 77. He gets cold easily, so I thought a wool vest would be nice when the weather gets cooler. I really like the Professor Vest, so I downloaded pattern. Suggested yarns were from two companies I had never heard of, but both sent me color samples in the mail for free!

The top pic is from Black Water Abbey yarns, and the bottom pic is from Bartlett yarns.

 
Thing is, I came to the conclusion that my dad would probably never wear the vest. Why? Because he's one of those people that refuses to wear new clothes, preferring instead to don the same shirt and pants he wore when I was in grade school (20+ years ago).

Eh, at least I got some great samples for future projects, right? Well, as far as actual knitting goes, I've been slackin'. I don't know if it's the heat, but I just haven't been very motivated. I did end up frogging the Cherry sweater and started working on the Bonita Shirt from Interweave Knits.

 
Although I like how knitting in the round minimizes the amount of finishing you have to do, I really don't like how it feels slow going, mentally. Each round is 200+ stitches, which to me is painful! I know I'm doing the front and back simultaneously, but I like doing things in small bits. This project has become my side project.

In other boring knitting news, I finally finished the final sleeve for the Wicker sweater. Remember that guy? Yeah, when I got to the sleeve that's all ribbing, I sort of burned out. It was really boring, but for some reason I picked it up after a hiatus and completed it. I think it just felt good to work on bigger needles for a change.

  I also got some yarn to make the Pea Pod Baby Set. I wanted to make it in a wool instead of cotton, so I ordered this Debbie Bliss Merino DK from Webs on sale. It seemed like it would be a nice green, but I dunno - I'm thinking it's just not the right shade for a baby. 

Happy Monday!

 
Normally, I'm a grump on Mondays. But not today, because I just had a glorious weekend! To start, on Friday I received yet another package from my SP. This one was chock full of good stuff - everything a girl would need for a day (or two) of pampering. Can you believe all this?!

And did you notice the spindle and fiber? I can't wait to try spinning my own yarn! Several months ago, I bought a booklet called Spin It by Lee Raven, but I never bothered to buy a spindle. Secret Pal, you're the best. Thanks so very much!

 
So, the reason I was delayed in this public display of gratitude is because my sister, her husband, and my nephew drove up from California to visit. This was their first trip to Oregon, so we went to some of the touristy sites. We also drove out to Hood River for a lavender festival.

 I picked my own bunch of lavender (now currently upside down, drying). There was an alpaca vendor there as well. They were so sweet and pillowy, I was tempted to take one home. Then I remembered that our backyard is barely big enough for 1 dog.

 
Instead, I bought some yarn. These are all un-dyed alpaca fibers, and they are so incredibly soft. It's so neat to buy yarn made from local animals! They were in my bag with a calendula soap, so they smell good too. 

Tidy up!

 
Not much news on the knitting front, as I have been preparing for my sister's visit. Since they (my sister, her husband, and my nephew) will be staying with us, it has given me a good excuse to buy new stuff for the house.

I also tidy-ed up my craft room, mainly my bookcase which holds my "showcase" yarn and all my books, patterns, and projects-in-the-works. There's more yarn in the closet, but we don't want to expose the stash-within-the-stash. My chair is opposite the bookcase, hence the TV on top. How lucky am I, that I get to look at this lovely collection all day?! 

Ahoy!

After taking a few days to mull over how I was going to proceed with the failed Cherry sweater, I decided that I couldn't decide. Most likely, I will just frog it and knit something else. The yarn is so nice to work with that I don't think I will mind spending more time with it.

 
Yeah, I was a little disappointed, so I thought the perfect thing to cheer me up would be a small, fast project. I love knitting baby clothes, and found the absolute perfect sweater for our friends' baby due in October. His name is Kai, which means "ocean" in Hawaiian, so the sailboat sweater from Adorable Knits for Tots seemed fitting.

My LYS, The Knitting Bee, was giving 20% off all red, white, and blue yarns for the holiday weekend. I picked up part of the colors needed for the project. They didn't have all the colors, but it was a start.

 
I really wanted to start knitting it up, so I was on the hunt for the other colors. I headed over to lint, and they had the dark blue and yellow. Now I just need a green!

I also got the yarn needed to make the Eyelet Chemise I'd been wanting to make for a while. I chose Elsebeth Lavold's Hempathy in the color White Beach, a great neutral color. I was lucky enough to play with a swatch before buying this yarn, because it was one of the samples from the Yarn-of-the-Month club. I hope it works out! 

Sleeve problems

I started on one of the sleeves for the Cherry sweater, but about halfway through I realized that it's way too small for my fat upper arms. In spite of having super tiny fingers (my wedding ring is size 3.25) and normal lower arms, I have these unusually large upper arms.

So, I've paused to figure out how I'm going to make the sleeve bigger without messing up the stitch count. I'm thinking of increasing the length, prior to binding off for the sleeve cap, thereby making the ribbing sit lower on my arms where it's not quite so flabby.

 
In the mean time, here's a shot of my new favorite magnets - cakes! Since cake is my all time favorite food, I knew I had to pick these up on our recent trip to the grocery store. I just wish we had a fridge to stick them on. Not that we don't have a fridge, but for some reason, magnets don't stick to stainless steel appliances. It's strange, huh? 

Wowee!

Look what my secret pal sent me! I think I did a little happy dance when I kept pulling and pulling, and more beautiful balls of yarn kept coming out of the envelope. 7 balls total of Rowan 4 ply cotton! Thank you so, so much secret pal!
 
The color is absolutely gorgeous - a perfect wine red called Fandango. Since we picked up the mail so late last night, I had to refrain from going into my craft room. Otherwise, I would have spent all night looking through my patterns to decide what I want to make! So, I held back and told myself to save that task for tomorrow. Which of course, is today!  

I looked through my Rowan magazines, but nothing really stood out as a clear winner. I pulled out the Interweave Knits, and I fell in love with the Prairie Tunic by Veronik Avery. I'm not sure I'll look good in the finished product, but I just enjoy making things I think are beautiful.  

Since I need my US3s for the Cherry sweater, I'll have to wait until I'm done with that project before I can get started on the tunic. So there's some motivation to get movin'. It's always nice to know what's coming down the pipeline. Thanks again, secret pal! 

I'm...so...dumb...

So, we just got back from CA yesterday, and as I'm catching up on some blog-surfing I had a "doh!" moment. As I mentioned before, I found out about Cherry from Action Hero. I noticed that she'd started on it, and posted a picture. Something looked a little different.  
Hmmm, did I mess up on the bird pattern? That would be yes. Instead of slipping the stitches with the yarn in front (on the WS), I did it with the yarn in back, so there is a "bar" across the slipped stitches on the RS. Here's a closeup of what I mean:

Not too big a deal, but I did stop to decide if I was going to frog it and start all over (that's the perfectionist in me). Then the laziness in me finally took over (whew!) and decided that it wasn't a big deal and it would only make mine "special". Yay for being lazy!

 
Well, I don't have a lot of pics of our trip because our stupid batteries died in the middle of the wedding. I really wanted to take some shots of the hotels we stayed in so I could write a review at TripAdvisor, but I kept forgetting until after we'd messed up the room with all our crap.

Here's the view from our room at the Napa River Inn. We were in the Embarcadero building, which is located along the river front. Our room was on the second floor overlooking the river and also the good folks at our favorite Napa restaurant, Angele (that's them setting up for lunch service). I liked our room, but it was seriously overpriced, even by CA standards.

I wish I had taken a photo of our room at Hotel Healdsburg because it was sweet! We just had the standard room there, and it was spacious and luxurious. The bed was the best we'd slept in, but the bathroom needed better lighting and more water pressure.

In spite of frequent mishaps along the way, we had a great time. Got to visit with my parents at my sister's home, and the wedding was beautiful. There was even a celebrity there, but perhaps it isn't appropriate for me to say who. Ok, I'll just tell you that it was one of the boys from "The Brady Bunch". And of course, our camera's batteries just had to die - you do believe me, don't you? 

Before I go...

Well, we're heading off to CA tomorrow for the wedding, but I wanted to post an update on the Cherry sweater.

Now, am I the only one that thinks the pattern looks like a cross between bird feathers and fish scales? This is the pic without flash:
 

And this is the one with flash, which seems to mute the pattern a bit:
 
I am having a blast working on this, because the yarn is so soft and the pattern keeps me interested without being too overwhelming. I want to take it with me to CA as my travel project, but I would be devastated if I lost it or it got harmed in transit, so I will keep it safe at home. I'm having the hardest time figuring out what to bring with me, because it is in the 100s up in Healdsburg and that kind of heat doesn't make me want to knit much of anything. Could this be the first time I don't knit on my vacation?! hahaha... who am I fooling... 

Sweet cherry

Another wonderful thing I learned about from Action Hero's blog, is this sweet little number called Cherry.

After a failed attempt to make the Eyelet Chemise by Therese Chynoweth using the Frog Tree Pima Silk I bought in Cannon Beach, I was determined to find something that would work for this yarn. When I saw Cherry, I was really hoping I could get gauge because it fit the bill - a simple yet interesting cardigan with short sleeves!

Here's what I got goin' on so far.
 
The Pima Silk is really nice, but not without its issues. It is really splitty, yet the plies want to stay together (if that makes sense). I just love how soft and silky it is. I wouldn't recommend it for patterns with k3togs or the like, simply because it is so darn splitty, but k2togs have been fine.

The ball band says 5 sts/inch on US #5, but I'm getting more like 5.5/5.75 sts/inch. Because of this, I'm using US 5s for the Cherry pattern, instead of the suggested US 6s. 

Grrr... BAD blogger!

I've been trying to post a few blog entries over the last few days, but blogger has been misbehaving lately. Thankfully, not much has been going on, just the usual rants and raves.

Rant of the day - I'm still upset over Roger Federer's loss at the French Open. I was really pulling for the guy, and I don't care what the win would have meant - I still think he's the greatest tennis player of all time.

Rave of the day - I finally finished the little crochet bag for the wedding! I made it a tad bigger than in the pattern, because I wanted it to be able to hold a travel pack of Kleenex tissues (I've been known to cry at weddings). I also made a different flower because I thought the one in the pattern was too simple. Here's the one I chose - thanks Melissa! I'm thinking of placing a nice button in the middle, just to dress it up a bit more.

  

Back from the farm

This past weekend, we went to the wine country and stayed at a neat little Bed and Breakfast on a goat farm. It was so great to finally get out of the house - the first overnighter since we moved here in September! The day started out a bit rainy, but it got better as it went on.

 

First, we had lunch at the Dundee Bistro. I had the rockfish served in a delicious saffron/tomato broth. Excellent place to stop if you're in the area. Then, it was on to do some wine tasting! We hit Lange Winery, one of our favs in the area. Then we went to Erath, which is one of the pioneer wineries in Oregon. We picked up several bottles between both.

 

One of the more interesting aspects of the trip was the Abbey Road Farm B&B, where we stayed. The rooms are actually inside of these silos, which I didn't think Mike would want to do because he has a strange fear of silos. But, it really doesn't look anything like a silo inside.

 

Being a goat farm as well, they had a lot of silly goats and lots of other farm animals. When we pulled up, I was really excited to see the donkeys and the chickens (my favorites!). They also had a few alpacas, sheep, dogs, and of course - the requisite guard llama. Their llama looked pretty friendly, but I wasn't going to push it.

 

It was such a nice place to get away. The B&B didn't have TVs, and I thought I'd go bonkers, but I just relaxed and played a little Sudoko. I brought along the crochet bag I'm working on, but I didn't have time to work on it. So, another blog entry sans knit/crochet.

PS - Just wanted to say Hi and Thanks to my Secret Pal, who's been sending me ecards over the past week! I just wanted to let you know that I did go and have a doughnut on Friday (per your suggestion). We went to Krispy Kreme and the "Hot Now" sign happened to be on, so we got a free hottie. And I also got a Chocolate Glazed with Sprinkles! Thanks so much for thinking of me - I really enjoy getting your ecards, especially ones that tell me to go eat a doughnut! 

Walk this way

It has always been our dream to be able to go for a walk with Gibson without some sort of drama. Heck, getting out the door is drama. The first sign of a walk, and he's jumping, spinning, panting, and generally acting like a crazy fool. Then once he's out, he's zigzagging like he's trying to avoid a bullet. If another dog approaches, he scrambles toward them and charges forward with hackles raised. If he can't meet them, he starts to bark and growl like he's the one who's offended.

So a couple weeks ago, I bought Cesar's Way and it opened up a whole new philosophy for us. We'd paid big bucks back in California to take him to a class for aggressive dogs, but it didn't seem to help. It was all based on positive reinforcement and treats, which Gibson isn't really interested in when he's outdoors. Cesar's Way introduced us to the idea that his aggression is attributed to his lack of exercise, discipline, and understanding of the family pack order.

Over the last several weeks, we've been walking him almost everyday. This is supposed to help tire him, allowing us to more easily assert ourselves and hopefully lessen his frustrations. But this dog's got way more energy than us. Enter in the dog pack - another one of Cesar's suggestions. We spent the weekend going on long walks and we weighed the pack down with two cans, about 3.5 pounds.

 

So, after a 3.5 mile walk and the 3.5 pound dog pack, you'd think he'd be pooped out and hungry. But no, he seemed normal for the rest of the day, and he didn't even finish his dinner! I'm amazed at this guy's stamina. Needless to say, he still has the energy to go loco when he sees other dogs, but he's a little better on leash (less zigzagging). 

Ahhh... silk...

I've been chuggin' along with the knits for Ann's wedding. The Tilli Tomas silk yarn is so incredible! Even though I have to go slowly and carefully due to the sequins catching, it has been such an enjoyable experience. This is my first time knitting with 100% silk, and it is so luxurious - soft and drapey with an elegant sheen.

 

I think right now, it kinda looks like a man's necktie, but I'm hoping it will take on a different look once I put the tassels on the ends. This picture doesn't do the color justice!

The silk has been spoiling me. I'm only about halfway done with the body of the drawstring bag, and I have to keep stopping because it's giving me callouses!

 

I've worked with the Louet Euroflax 100% linen before, and it was murder on my fingers. I thought the MerLin Camelot would be better because it's only 30% linen, but it is still pretty harsh. And what's up with crochet always curling on the ends?

So, it has been raining here for the past several days with no sign of it letting up for the weekend. Very depressing for this California native! We had planned on working on our fence, but I guess that idea is scrapped. I guess I'll just have to continue my research on our proposed Hawaii trip. Oh, why can't it be now?!!! 

I'm officially spoiled

Wow, check out all the stuff I got from my secret pal!!! I wasn't sure I could get everything in the frame for the picture! And what a nice note inside the fantastic sheep card. I am definitely going to frame this little guy and put him up on the blank wall next to my computer.

 

I just love everything - the yarn, books, bath goodies, Kitty stuff, and the stitch markers (oh, the stitch markers!). All are great, but I just thought the little robot guys with hearts were sooo cute. Thanks, secret pal, for making my day! 

Sorry, no pics...

I don't like posting without pictures, but it's been raining here for the last two days and I can't seem to get good lighting. I've made decent progress on Ms. Marigold, in spite of an error in the pattern which I reported. I also got the yarn for the drawstring bag I'm making for the wedding. It is crocheted, so it serves as a nice break from knitting when I get bored of stockinette!

The rain had started to depress me, but then I got word from my Secret Pal that something's in the mail! Woo hoo! And my Secret Pal is the queen of obscure "holidays" - who knew that today is Sea Turtle Day? It's fitting, though, because this morning I was researching trips to Hawaii. Am I being spied on?

New stuff!

So, what have I been up to lately? I finished the front of Wicker and started the second sleeve, but I just got so bored of all the (K2,P2) ribbing! And the cotton really started to hurt my fingers. They were yearning for something softer, something with some give.

My Knit Picks order finally arrived, but much to my dismay, the Alpaca Cloud I ordered to make the Tie One On shawl for the wedding didn't complement my dress. Serves me right for taking my husband's advice on color. So into the stash it goes...

So what now? After thinking about it some more, I realized that I probably didn't want to wear a wrap. I'd be better off with a really fabulous scarf, something I can keep wearing while eating dinner at the reception, or dancing afterward. I decided on a great yarn called Disco Lights from Tilli Tomas in the color Burnt Orange.
 

It's so pretty, I don't want to mess it up just yet. I just want to admire it for a while. So I decided to work on Ms. Marigold in the Elegance yarn that was also in my Knit Picks order. This yarn is really soft and pretty, but it's strange. It started out super splitty when I first cast on, then by the third row it was normal, and now on the fourth row the plies are overly twisted. Weird. But it feels so much nicer than cotton!

  

I cracked the code!

Years ago, when we lived in Texas, I picked up a new book called The Da Vinci Code. I don't usually buy anything when we go to Barnes & Noble, because up until that point, I couldn't remember the last time I read a book that I wasn't going to be tested on.

Since my degree is in Art History, Mike thought I might enjoy this one. He'd been trying to get me interested in reading, so I agreed to give it a shot. Once home, I couldn't put the thing down! I was even reading during the day, instead of watching TV or - gasp - knitting!

I credit that book for breaking me of my reading displeasure. Now that the movie is coming out, there's Da Vinci Code stuff everywhere. Google is running a promotion, whereby the first 10,000 people to complete the 24 games move on to round 2. The prize for being one of the 10,000 is a limited edition replica cryptex. Being a lover of games, and the book, I of course submitted my entry and hoped I would be a finalist. Check out what was in the mailbox yesterday!

 
  

Happy Mother's Day!

Since we consider Gibson our kid, we celebrate Mother's/Father's Day. If you know him, you know that he's less of a "dog" and more like one of those ill-mannered children on some TV show. Very out of control and hyper. Yeah, I know it's our fault - and we're working on that. I've been reading Cesar's Way. But enough about that. Here's what I got from him:

 

In spite of his craziness, he somehow managed to go out to Lush to buy me all these wonderful treats! The most unique item is the jelly soap in the container. Very strange to "pinch" off a piece of soap that feels like it could be a giant whale snot. And yes, you're reading that right - it's called Spank Me With Saplings. Thanks Gibs!