Juggling Cats

Hey Robin,
I have many balls-o-yarn in the air as I have definitely bitten off more than I should be chewing right now (I have to tell the Little Man to take "human bites"... stole that one from the wise MiL... perhaps I should be following my own advice!). I have jumped in on a few test-knitting escapades. One is in-progress and I am not sure it's ok to show the IP pictures, but the other is mostly done and I have gotten permission to show a couple of shots:

Project: "Frankie Hat" (title may be changed upon release)
Designer: Nina Machlin-Dayton
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Rich Chocolate

I need to thank my Father for the pictures. He has ALWAYS been great at taking pictures of me... all through my life. Thanks Dad! Anyway, I love the versatility of this hat. It's sure to be another favorite in my wardrobe!

I have also managed to slip-in a couple of charity knits. These will likely be going to the Warm Woolies charity who send the items off to poor kids living in very chilly parts of the world (including North American Natives... I am sort of hoping mine will go there).

Both are knitted with Cascade 220, a good yarn for these purposes (and many others too!!) with two strands held together. The socks will be sure to warm someone's tootsies quite efficiently, and the sweater, while not as large as I had hoped it would be, will certainly warm up a deserving child. I hope they like the colors...

Since I had asked you folks so long ago to help me pick out the colors for the baby blanket, it seems only fair to show you the completed knitted-portion:

Cute, No? The fabric to the side there will be the backing, there's just too much going on on the back of the blanket, so a nice cotton fabric will protect widdle baby fingers. But wait, there's MORE!

This bib is definitely newborn sized. I hope to use some other blanket-leftovers for some more-practical older-baby sizes.
And then there's the adorable burp-cloth... way more fashionable than the cloth-diaper-over-the-shoulder ;) Shown here in it's infant stages:

And lastly, in the finished-it-fast-to-take-to-L.A.-and-then-forget-to-wear-it department:

My own shrug pattern, which may be too fiddly for anyone else to want to make it, and also I might want to make a few changes before release. It's pretty cute though! Wish I remembered I had it!

The rest of this summer is likely to be a blur, which Little Man's birthday party coming up (Yay Bionicles!) and a few other planned activities. I am a lazy Mom and don't go much for the very-structured-keep-'em-busy type summers. Is that a bad thing? I wonder...

On the kneedles now are the lace shawl test (the one I covertly mentioned above) and a pair of socks for a secret yarn-swap partner who is afraid of knitting socks for herself. Silly _____!

Hope all is well with you and the extraordinary Emme! It was a blast meeting you guys at the zoo.

Later.

We interrupt this program...

Hey Robin,
Sitting in my car waiting for school to get out today and I was reminded (as I am every thursday at 3-ish pm) about a fantabulous program that my favorite local radio station and I just feel like I gotta gush about it right here and now.

KEXP is a local npr station, but it's not yo mamma's npr. It's ALL music baby. Awesome music. I love almost all of it (who loves it all? seriously...) and it just makes me happier than happy. I loved KROQ when I lived in L.A. but apparently I didn't know what real radio was (love ya KROQ! But I've grown up!).

Since they are an npr station they got most of their funding from the public and from conscientious companies and individuals who really seem to care about music. It's awesome. I try to give once a year now if I can. Every little bit helps.

Anyway, the main reason for today's gush is the documentary segment that is presented weekly in the aforementioned time slot. I get really silly about looking forward to these things and bummed when I miss one. So... if i had been PAYING ATTENTION... I would have noticed that little "bit" at the end where the DJ mentions that you can go online and listen to all of them.

Dudes.

http://www.kexp.org/learn/documentaries.asp

Go there. Now.

Later!

Kaylee!

Took some doing but here it is!

Which Firefly Character Are You?

More on Firefly. Created by BuddyTV

Later.

How lucky am I?

Hey Robin,
A while back I had the fun job of creating a little logo for the Ravelympics 2008 'event' on Ravelry. It was a blast but I have to admit that if I thought the Ravelympics were going to be this big (over 10,000 projects listed as Ravelympics Projects!!) I would have tried harder to make something a little more professional. Woops.

But hey! It still looks alright!

Ok the point I am getting to is this: people are getting into it. I mean REALLY getting into it. I have "met" a sweetheart on Rav (MekaMika?) now who has an Etsy store. She will take whatever image you send to her and make a set of stitch markers. Brilliant! Go check out her shop, it's a great idea.

She asked if she could use my Ravelympics image to make some markers to sell people. I said, "OF COURSE!" Like I could say 'no'. Well, she sent me samples! Three sets; one each of all three sizes. As I am fond of saying: How COOL is that?? I feel like I am all set for my Ravelympic Events now!

Hat Dash and Laceweight Long Jump here I come!

I'm such a fangirl

Hey Robin,
I promised a blow-by-blow on my studio visit with one of my FAVORITE Yarnies: Wendee Shulsen! So here 'tis:

First of all how sweet is Wendee to let some Crazy-Lady invite herself over to her studio?? SO SWEET! I tell ya. It was a long-time in the making, but she was true to her word and let me come snoop the premises. My ultimate reason for going was this:

Sorry the picture is kind of dark, I am still learning to use a camera as you can see. That's my VERY OWN colorway! Well sorta my very-own... OK we'll call it my very-own skein of Alki Reflections... but I helped! I sorta inspired the colorway and Wendee did the ever-so-splendid job of putting it together. I can't WAIT to knit something with it. I'm so excited. I'm almost TOO excited. I'm thinking maybe I should buy another skein of it so that I can have this one bronzed ;)

KIDDING! I'm knitting something with this puppy!

Anyway, my visit wasn't entirely motivated by greed. Wendee is very sweet and personable, we had met a couple of times at my LYS where she was working and chatted a couple of times through Ravelry. I insinuated myself into her studio and YAY!

Poor girlie was super-busy preparing for her trunk show in Laguna Beach tomorrow. (I wish I could go because it sounds like a lot of fun!) I wanted to help her out rather than just sucking up her free-time like the knitting-leech that I am, and she took me up on my offer. I got to help with some prep and last-minute things while we chatted up a storm about yarn and trunk shows and LYSs and all sorts of things. I got to see pretty much every colorway she makes (which is pretty amazing, dudes, I'm talking like 30 colorways and they all ROCK). I want to buy them all!

She's a smart, talented lady who really cares about her customers and wants to put her best foot forward. I am here to tell you guys that she works HARD for the product she makes and it shows. If anyone chances to see this and lives anywhere near Laguna Beach GO BUY SOME HAZELKNITS! You won't be sorry.

And she even made me lunch! Seriously the best tuna melt I have ever had. That's not saying much because I don't eat a lot of tuna melts, but I really wish I was paying more attention while she was making it so that I could reproduce the recipe!

She also taught me something new about knitting with variegateds. There was a lot of math involved, but it boils down to this: when you have a variegated with lots of color changes (like my precious Alki Reflections) cast on starting at the beginning of a color. Me... I don't usually pay attention, and heck I don't like pooling in my socks but I don't go mental about it either. Turns out this simple fix makes for a VERY different look in a knitted project! I am so glad she told me this, I will start my second Greenlake sock using her tip and compare the two for you. Hopefully soon but since I have a case of startitis it may be a while...

(re: the right picture, wtf is going on with the low-tech-lightbox? Same camera, same box, light is unmoved in relation to the picture on the left... seriously wtf??)

To compound her sweetness, she sent me off with a couple of unsellable-skeins-of-happiness (something weird happened with the yarn and they don't look like her usual great stuff) which I had already oohed and aaahed over thinking: "Heck I would buy these! They look neato!"

I had a grand time Wendee and I hope I can come help you out again! Anytime! Seriously! Call me! lol...

Later!

Later that day...

Hey Robin,
I had to share what I did today.

Don't worry, there's still some left:

It's making it's happy-way to Pantene Beautiful Lengths right now! Anyone know a good stylist in the Bellevue area? ;)
Later!

Meme me me me memeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Hey Robin,
I spotted an interesting Meme on cosmicpluto and thought it would be a fun thing to explore! Later I have cowl pics... I think. OK here we go:

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? I can hardly remember what I was doing 10 minutes ago! Let's see.... I was 29 and newly married. We were thinking about looking for a condo in the Valley. I was working for a company that at the time was really wonderful but ended up going all-bad in the end and has left me with a not-so-great memory of the place, but i do have fond memories of the people so I guess that counts for a lot. And considering that it is June, and I was living in the Valley, in a house with no central air... I was probably sweating.

2) What are Five Things on your to-do list today? Hum. Need to return some shirts that didn't make the cut for our upcoming Family portrait. Need to also exchange one shirt that DID make the cut for a... ahem... slightly larger size. I need to get some fresh ginger to make something special for a special someone. Weeding if it ever gets nice outside. Re-work logo for Dad's scottish dance band. Find something to cook for dinner tonight. And also ball another skein of wool for a belated gift that I really should get going on... that may be more than 5...

3) Snacks I enjoy: big slice of cheddar cheese dipped in salsa (Can thank the Hub for that one); Ruffles potato chips; triscuits with cheese melted on top; (are you sensing a trend here?) uuuh Roasted Plaintain chips from Trader Joes; mostly salty stuff, but then sometimes I get into a "sweets" mood. eta: forgot about APPLES n cheese and apples and PEANUT BUTTER! YUM.

4) Places I've lived: In order as far as I can remember: Lake Charles, LA; Houston, TX (brief); Five different places in a region we will just call "Los Angeles", CA; Seattle, WA (or Bellevue). Cosmicpluto added: Where would I LIKE to live? and my immediate thought was: in a Craftsman style house in Pasadena, CA.

5) Things I’d do if I was a billionaire: Travel all over the world. Go back to College and become an archaeologist. Buy a Craftsman style house in Pasadena, Ca. :D

Later!

Aaaaaaah...

Hey Robin,
I promiosed this post a long time ago (in April I believe) and finally I will deliver. I imagined this one as a pictorial with few words, but as my mouth/fingers tend to get ahead of me there might be more of a word-count than anticipated...

Here is my aaaah moment incarnate. The view from the Sky Chair:

Complete with fountain and my huge yard...

To the right of me:

Lilacs, Dogwoods whatever-the-white thing is, and this hosta that was a leftover from a previous planting. I didn't think it was going to make it, and it's by far the biggest one on the whole property. (see teensy one in nearly-empty-pot adjacent)

To the left of me:


These brown (bronze?) irises are ones I "stole" from our rental property before buying this place. I know what you are thinking, but actually I did them a favor, the iris was totally packed and needed separating, I really didn't think the landlord (sweet and very awesome guy) would mind if I took one. The one turned out to need separating the very-next year. And now I have a bazillion of them and they are ALL throwing up spikes. And I counted, one of them has SEVEN flowers on one spike... I think it was happy it came with me. What do you think?

The sweet kitty is Sheba (Cally) who is a neighborhood cat that also seems to like my back yard. She is a very welcome sweetie. And when I sit in my chair she likes to bump up against me and give me a swing... so she adds to my zen when i am in the chair.

Kudos go to my Dad for helping me to "just do it" when it came to putting up the eye-bolt to hang the chair. He is my angel of mercy when it comes to "just doing it" I need to come to L.A. and help him with same :)

Next time I will have pictures of the newly finished objects in my "resume of knitting". I am pretty excited about the Rogue Hoodie.

Later!

FO's of the non-fibrous variety...

Hey Robin!
I am back from the anti-blogging-land that is the family visit. I don't say that with any kind of negative connotation. Simply, that when family visits I barely have time to check OTHER knitter's blogs much less make time to augment our lovely home, home on the web.

My Father is, as far as I know, now on the plane and safely on his way back to your neck of the woods! We had a great visit as always... went a few places in Seattle that we haven't seen yet which is always great! We saw the 'new' Downtown Seattle library (inspiration for the ubiquitous and wonderful Koolhaas hat). I have pictures, but there are already plenty of them to be found online that my poor attempt at photography would be un-loved for sure. We also went to the Kubota Japanese Garden in South Seattle. What a place!!

The intent of the garden, created around 1927, was to showcase Northwestern fauna in a Japanese manner. It's so beautiful! I LOVE Japanese style gardens, and to think that I could (with a LOT of work) create a garden like it from local plants just renews my interest in trying something in my own backyard. Here's a couple of nice photos to give you an idea of the beauty:

That's my Dear ol' Dad, ain't he handsome?

More importantly though, I wanted to share what we did to the house while he was here... that's the most EXCITING part! Well... to me it is anyway. First of all we changed this:

To This:

aaaaah....

Next thing that happened was this:

Any idea what that is? No? Want a hint? That's the largest amount of FLOOR i have seen in my garage since we bought the house. I can tell you right now THAT is an accomplishment and there's just no way to pay Dad back for all that help and brainstorming. THANKS DAD!!!

Don't worry, I paid him back a little with his favorite dinners and desserts ;)

You want knitting?? Man, some people are SO hard to please! Alrighty here's where I stand with the current WIPs:
The Greenlake Jays

This many sleeves for the Rogue Hoodie:

And I am unveiling the Grammy Square because it probably won't be done in time to ship to Mom for Mother's Day (woops):

It's coming along ;) Sorry about the blurry pic on the Rogue sleeves, there's just no great way to get the cabling detail with a flash.

That's all I got for now. What's happening with you?

Later!

Progress!

Hey Robin!
It's been a while since our return from vacay and I tell ya, going from the cold to the warm is easy, but returning to the cold FROM the warm? Not so great. I'm having the major post-vacation-bluuuuuuues! Howcome B.B. never sang about THAT?

In the bright side I got a teeny-bit of knitting done on the trip and have since progressed far enough to warrant a photo. Meet Vinnland:

Hello!

Vinnland is wonderful. The yarn is wonderful (Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in Douglas Fir colorway) the pattern is wonderful. It's all good. It's so good I had to take a break from the goodness for some "simple". Meet Mary Jane's Pithy Hat:

I had actually gotten this far (about 8") on the vacay when i realized i was reading something entirely wrong and it was looking like something the neighbor's cat had caught on it's tail. Not good. It has since been RE started and aaaaaah. The yarn is from eBay and is very much like a Malabrigo (mMmmmmm) and the colors are lovely and make me think of Spring. That can't be a bad thing.

Right?

Sometime I will describe to you the intense anxiety that comes with adorning yourself with a sock that is still on 4 dpns. It's an experience let me tell ya... Oh and did I mention that the Yarn Harlot is nearby... breathing my air? Wish I could go see her!! She'll be back in April tho... wahoo!

Later! (Oh and Happy Chocolate Day to you too!)

So much to do...

Hey Robin!
I have nothing really new-and-interesting to show you in the knitting arena. But I thought it would be OK this time... as long as I left you with a moment of zen (Daily Show style?)

This was taken by my Uncle John (of Sasquatch-sock fame) :)
Seriously, how often do you get to see a mountain cast a shadow UP?

Later!

Show and Tell

Hey Robin,

I'm sorry I haven't been "on". These last two weeks have been a madhouse and then next two are promising to be pretty amazing as well. Little-Guy starts school just after Labor Day and I have a couple things to do before then :p But to make up for the lack of posts i have TONS O PICTURES to share! And not just knitting neither!! Here we go:
I promised a picture "in situ" of the knitted vest i made for the newly-two-year-old. It fits! Yay!! She's such a cutie-pie and it looks so great on her! And when Fall comes she can wear it with long sleeves! See? Seattle isn't ALWAYS the death of fun clothes!!

Here's my other cutie-pie. 'Member this skirt? Her Mom promises one where she isn't flipping it up... but i think it's wonderful to see her "play" in it! That's the "Hey Mickey" skirt in case you forgot....

OK so here's where we had Little-Guy's birthday party. I heartily recommend it for anyone who has their own Little-guy-who-love-airplanes... in case you are wondering he is:

Four years old. :)

Here's the cake Mommy made:

...I know, it's goofy. But i HAD to share!!

And yesterday the clan went here for Brunch:

Oooh... Aaaah. The food was good too!

Ever wonder what the EMP/SFM looks like from space?

Now ya don't have to...

OH! And before all that we also went here:

...VERY impressive. (That's Mt. St. Helen's in case anyone wondered)

And lastly, but not leastly... what's on the kneedles at the moment:

Now i gotta go shower so I can go get Cast Off and a ticket to the signing line so I can meet my kntting Hero!!

And crap you just reminded me that I have SO MUCH Ravelry work to catch up on!! Not enough minutes in the hour!!

Later.