Wishing You a Happy 2018!

It's amazing that today is New Year's Eve. We spend it with my in-laws each year and we'll have a Roger Moore movie marathon. They pick a movie start who has passed away during the year to feature. I don't remember Roger Moore's James Bond movies, so it should be amusing.

Thanks to tax reform, it's been a wild ride through year end. I hope I was helpful to my boss while she was on vacation. I feel like I might have made some things more complicated. My desire for a vacation has kicked in and I'm glad to have a week or so off. There are still some work things to take care of and I'll need the time to get ready for busy season.

I didn't share that I received some lovely yarn for Christmas. My mother-in-law wanted to take my older son to a local alpaca farm and have them pick out some alpaca yarn together. She found out that tours are only done during a specific time of the year so she ordered yarn off of my wish list instead. I have enough yarn for a lovely sweater and some great accessories. There was an alpaca themed bag and magnet.

There is plenty to knit with, so without question...I ordered yarn this week.

There are two major patterns that I'd like to make for the boys this year and I have lots of yarn for the first design that I've started to knit. It's a great mindless pattern for most of it and ti will be scrap happy. The second is the a pattern from the special Heart on My Sleeve collection of sweaters. Here is a project image (not my own) of Crazyheart.

I ordered some cotton acrylic blend so that I could make some lovely sweaters for the boys that are not too warm or scratchy. If I have enough yarn left over, I'm hoping to make a coordinating sweaters for Gilly, my sister-in-law, and me. We'll see what time allows as well.

I'm excited to share 2018 with you and hope every day is a bit better than the last.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

We're in that interesting gap between Christmas and the New Year. I'll be working tomorrow through Friday, and will be happy to have a quieter office. If things refreeze tonight, I might work from home. My little car doesn't do well on icy roads.

I hope you all had a nice holiday weekend. I chose not to blog until more was settled after Christmas and with the cleaning at our old place. Part of me is still bummed about moving, but it could be worse to have to move during busy season.

Aside from the holidays, it was a busy week dealing with tax reform. I'm a tax accountant so I had to dig into the law right when it came out. Our clients asked so many questions and we needed to think about how best to communicate to clients.

Getting past the work part it was a frantic jump to Christmas. Thankfully, we live near my in-laws and my family has been very flexible. I didn't churn out much in the way of handcrafted gifts. The sweater I finished a couple of weeks ago definitely got in the way. It's completion felt like quite a triumph. There is a knit along for Aroha knits that I skipped last week, but I will contribute to it this week. I'm working on a shawl with some stash yarn. It's for the Giver issue, and the pattern hasn't been released. I love several of the patterns from the issue. It's a great reminder that a scarf or shawl can be a long distance hug.

As part of the knit-along, I won a free skein of yarn in the first week! Still can't believe it. Her shop is Yarnovernewyork and she is based of of Harlem. For my free skein I requested the "I <3 Snow in NY" and then temptation overtook me and I ordered two skeins of "My Favorite Drummer." The inspiration for the second yarn is Animal from the Muppets. Here is a lovely pic. I'm so excited to play with the yarn.

I think 2018 will be the year of sweater making. I'm really excited to make little semi-matching sweaters for my sons and my nephew. I'm also hoping to make a few for myself. That would be a great way to get through my stash. I found the cutest slipper pattern for the boys too...hoping to make some monster feet :).

I went through and put 20 items on my knit/crochet queue. I'm hoping that will help focus my efforts. As new patterns and other items pop up, I'm certain to be distracted.

If I'm lucky enough have the old apartment ready by the end of the week, here's hoping I'll be blogging before the start of 2018. Maybe a little shopping over the weekend too (I have some rewards stocked up).

Have a great rest of your week and I hope you enjoy the last few days of 2017.

Quick Update

I hope your holiday season is off to a great start. I don't  have much time and my use of Internet is limited this weekend.

Tomorrow is my little guy's third birthday. He isn't quite into it yet, but he does like birthday parties and birthday cake. We asked him who's birthday is tomorrow and he claimed it was mine. Thankfully, I have Ia couple of months before I'm considered another year older. I always like to look at this day in history for family birthdays. In 1903 on December 17, the Wright brothers made their first flight.

I've caught the nasty upper respiratory bug that my little guy had. It's knocked me out more than I had expected it to. Work and moving have been a bit tough. I'm glad we chose to hire a company to help us move the big stuff. Our new place has stairs and tight corners.

I'm so happy to have this lovely sweater done and I'm hoping to get some better pictures for the designer.

I hope everyone has a great week. Wishing you all the happiest of holidays.

Frantically finishing projects...

It's December...a time of great joy and great stress.

I've finished knitting and sewing together the test knit. Thank goodness!!!

It definitely need some blocking. I think it turned out great. Thank you Fiona for letting me test. I still need to do the blocking, take some better pictures, and complete a survey. I want to make a throw pillow in this lovely color work pattern.

This week has been very busy dealing with a sick Ethan, doing lots of tax planning, readying for the move, and crafting. I've also been doing a lot of purging which is both good and bad. Letting go of old things can be so tough, especially when they have a lot of sentimental value.

The new place is beginning to take shape. The big move is Friday with the movers taking the furniture. 

Here is the living room. It's looking much smaller with all of the boxes. 

I also have a rare selfie of my husband and me after his firm's Christmas party.

We're both tired messes, but we had a blast.

I'm frantically crafting for Christmas this week, in between moving and work. There is a knit along that I'm trying to participate in. I have to get the project started and photograph the start tonight. There is still time...right?

I might be restarting my nephew's jacket. I found a cooler pattern and the one I was working on was in my purse too long. The yarn got all tangled. My boys might not be getting any hand crafted presents this year, but that's OK. My little Ethan will be three years old in a week...crazy!!!

Have a great week and happy holidays.

Moving and Holidays

So...to say that this week did not go to plan feels somehow like an understatement. After my son finally started feeling better we caught the flu and and a cold. I didn't expect us to all feel so under the weather. Work is very busy along with the preparation to move. We picked up our keys on Friday and now have to get our almost 1200 square feet of stuff into a 1,000 square foot space without much in the way of storage.

Due to the unscheduled sick day I did some knitting, which helped me to finish the first sleeve on the test knit. The second sleeve is much slower, but I can start on the collar and other things.

I'm super excited about the PomPom 2017 winter issue. It's been out for a while, but I think I need to make five patterns about of the magazine. Here is the issue link: Winter 2017. This link is not to Ravelry so you can see the lovely pictures without logging into an account. I was disappointed by the Fall issue, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy so many patterns in this issue. From the winter issue, I love the cover sweater and almost all of the accessories.

We adopted a new pet for our new apartment. It's a Bobi Pet robot vacuum. It might  not sound fun, but it will be quite entertaining for us. Our new place is interesting...still a work in progress. We're hoping to save some money over the next 12 - 24 months to buy a home. I'm hoping not to regret this move. It won't be easy.

I'm keeping this short, but hope to have progress and photos for next week.

Have a wonderful week and happy crafting.

The Holiday Season Begins

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a nice time at my in-law's. There was a full spread with both Turkey and Tofurky.

If you couldn't tell from the last post...I've given up on my novel. I made it close to 25,000 words, but began falling short. We'll be moving, so I've been busy sorting and purging. My eight year old's room has so much space now. He and I don't like it simply because it doesn't feel like his room any longer. Sadly, my son has been sick all day with a stomach bug. I'm hoping his stomach has calmed down, but we'll see.

Ok, enough with the yucky stuff...There have been lots of fun sales and knitting patterns released.

Most of the projects are crochet based, but check out the 4th Annual Mega Sales Event: More Info. I actually looked at every designer's Ravelry page and patterns. The discount varies based on what each designer chooses. I did buy a few patterns that I'm super excited.

The Fibre Muse Quarterly is out now too! Here is where you can buy a copy. Here is a link to Ravelry where you find a few of the patterns listed: Giver. It was such a nice surprise when that arrived in my e-mail. There  is a pattern that I'd lake to make for my sister-in-law. I've struggled to find something I really like. I found one thing that I think is awesome and then I struggled with choosing yarn. Maybe I'll try to get a couple things going and see what works.

Here is my hat from the Giver challenge that Aroha knits did this week. I love the blue beads.

I was able to do the finishing on several old projects to donate and those have been turned in. This hat might join them. I do love it...choices :).

With the impending move and the fact that we have no real decorations I'm hoping to make some home decor items for the new place. I have some ideas as to how to add color. I ordered some IKEA rugs for our new space. Lot's of neutral colors so some throw pillows, wall decor, and table decorations could help. Here are the rugs I've chosen for the living room and dining area. These are IKEA's images.

I definitely have a good size stash of many colors to make lovely things. I'm thinking of using some spilled Perler beads with neutral tones in the background. Something geometric?...so many ideas.

Have a great week!

Who's ready for Thanksgiving?

I'm definitely not ready and can't believe that it's already November 19. With the holidays and an expected move in December, I'm trying to get the personal stuff in order as much as possible.

Jeffrey had a look at the unit we're interested in and is now on-board with the idea of moving. It would be downsizing, so he would share a room with Ethan. The living room is quite spacious and the plan would be to have the boys bedroom be for sleeping only with their clothes and storage in their closet. I've been looking at a few different ideas for bunk beds.

Today was full of errands and I've started going through our stuff to try to purge a bunch of things. I went through much of our DVDs and books earlier this week. We'd been holding onto a lot of Ethan's clothes to pass along to my sister-in-law. We had almost a full bin of 9 month clothing that didn't get used so that's going...going...gone. Scaling back on the things we're keeping from Jeffrey to Ethan helped too.

Then, I had to start digging into my yarn stash. What a nightmare! I definitely have a problem. I pulled out all of my partially completed projects.

You can see the mound of  projects. There are a few that I'll try to finish. I'm getting rid of the rest of the UFOs (unfinished objects). I didn't even get through all of the bins this evening.

Some of the items are done besides a few hidden ends, so I'll get those it finished and send most of them off to a charity that helps the homeless.

One Christmas I wanted to give Groots. Each time I talked about it someone more wanted one so I gave up having three of them mostly done.

Here is a great start on a lovely shawl. The yarn is a bamboo, which makes it super soft. It's a very delicate lace.

Here is hat that I made because I didn't have the patience to do an entire scarf in the lovely pattern.

Lastly, when I was going through my sons' clothing, I found a pair of socks that I knitted for Jeffrey a couple of years ago. He came to the yarn shop with me and picked out the yarn. They came out beautifully and he actually wore them (Don't mind the pocket change all over the floor and toys. The kids definitely made a mess this weekend).

I'm making progress on the test knit pattern and am excited to get that wrapped up quickly. Thankfully, the sleeves knit up faster.

Today will be big day. My nephew's first birthday party should be a hoot. It's so amazing to think it's almost been a year since he has arrived. He seems like such a cute, sweet, and good baby. I'm hoping my kids can behave.

I hope everyone has a great week and a nice Thanksgiving.

Happy crafting!

November is in full swing...

I'm almost to 20,000 words in my novel, which is the total I need for today. I found out that Sammy has been reading it a bit. I didn't give approval, yet I don't care.

I'm going to have the front of the sweater completed tomorrow night. Then, I'll only have two sleeves to go... :)

Andrea Mowry put out three patterns recently that drew my attention. My favorite of the three is The Weekender. It's a boxy relaxed fitting pull over. I spied some yarn on KnitPicks Color Mist: Vermillion. I think five skeins will do, but I can't get myself to pull the trigger to buy any new yarn given the concern over moving costs and having to then move the yarn.

We're probably going to have to move. We asked to sign a new lease, but the owner doesn't want to make that commitment. The rules here are that a 90 day letter is required for a no cause eviction. My fear is that we'd get the letter and have to move while I'm in my busy season. We like the place we're in, but don't want to risk it. I'm going to reach out to the property manager. Having this place vacant for a few months would likely be more costly then signing a six month lease.

I looked at a possible option, but it's taking us farther from Jeffrey's school and we'd be in an apartment complex setting. The place would be cheaper and not much smaller. I'm looking at another complex as well, but I'm not sure if we'd be lucky enough to get a larger unit.

I had the chance to see my nephew today. He'll be one year old this month and it's amazing to see what a happy boy he is. He liked being held and goofing around with his Uncle Sam today.

My dad and his lovely wife, Lori, were in town today. They had fun spoiling the grand kids and hanging out with my in-laws.

I'm behind on my holiday crafting to no one's surprise. I might have to make coupons for gifts to be delivered in January or February. Hope that's ok...eek!

Have a great week!

Nanowrimo and Charity Crafting

It's November, which makes it National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo). I remember reading about this when I was younger. It's been around since 1999. It's a project that encourages people to write a 50,000 word novel from November 1 - November 30. I have about 5,500 words and need to add a few more this evening to stay on track. It's been a personal goal to complete it. Maybe 2017 is my year! I didn't start with an outline so wish me luck. Let me know if any of you would be interested in reading it. It's an alternate reality of my life with a spooky note piece.

I wanted to be a writer when I was kid. I used to type up scary and adventure stories on an old green screen.

On to charity stuff...it was nice to hear from a local representative of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), who is looking for handmade hats, scarves, gloves/mittens for gift bags to go to the homeless in Portland. It sounds like my office is willing to collect items as well so we'll make sure they have lots of stuff.

Whenever I'm making things for charity I try to find nice simple patterns that can work with many types of yarn. My favorite site for inspiration is Purl Soho. They have a ton of great free patterns. I love their hat and scarf patterns. I've made a baby blanket or two from their designs as well.

A buddy, Margaret, is making squares for high risk babies. There is the purple hat campaign for Shaken Baby Syndrome awareness (Twisted Yarn Shop Page). There is also a group that meets regularly to make baby hats in Beaverton (Hands on Greater Portland). There are a lot of charitable crafting opportunities around Portland. You can even ask a local homeless shelter what they would like to have to give to their clients.

One last thing...here's my best Halloween picture of my boys. They had a fun night, and it was awesome to share it with their cousin who is turning one year old soon.

Have a great week! Happy crafting. 

Halloween Festivities

The weekend before Halloween is such a fun and busy time. Tons of candy and scary stories. When I was on my home from work on Thursday I picked up several books on hold and saw a fun book The Most Frightening Story Ever Told by Philip Kerr. It's a kids book, which I thought would make reading it to Jeffrey fun. We finally started reading it tonight. It certainly won't be a quick read, but seems enjoyable so far.

Friday was the Big Boo at Jeffrey's school.Three hours of games, food, and sugar crazed kids. Each year I try to volunteer for the event. It takes lots of volunteers to pull it off.

I was stationed at the little Rubber Duckies pond for the evening and it was lots of fun. It was an easy game for all ages so I got to see so many little kiddos. Jeffrey and Sammy stopped by a few times. It was fun.

Saturday was cleaning and trying to get caught up on things at home. I made some progress on the test knit. The back is done and the front has at least four inches completed. I'm hoping to have the front done in about two weeks.

Today was lovely. The cub scouts did the annual pumpkin race and we held a couple of games. The day wasn't very sunny, but the lack of rain was very welcome.

Work and home life have been busy so crafting has taken a bit of a backseat. I'm hoping to squeeze more time in before year end planning is in full swing.

Here is one of my favorite Halloween patterns that I haven't had the chance to cast on. It's free and fun.

Customizing is also a fun aspect of this. I had bought some funky colors of acrylic, but haven't gotten around to it. I had a purple, orange, black, and white. I was hoping to find colors closer to the sample, but didn't have luck that day.

Trick or treating will be a fun next week. It's my nephew's first Halloween. Even if he doesn't make it to our family festivities, I can't wait to see a picture of him as Han Solo with his furry siblings and loving parents.

November 1st, all saints day, is my late grandfather's birthday. I miss him and look back on our fun times in my summer visits. He had a great sense of humor and I loved his cooking. As I grew older, I'd help him more and more in the summers. I feel blessed that I went back to South Dakota the summer before I had Jeffrey and spent time with him and my grandmother. Playing cards, talking...even the littlest of things will remain with me and be treasured.

Have a fun festive week! Happy Halloween! Feliz Dia de los Muertos! Happy All Saints Day!

I hope everyone has a great week :) 

Another deadline done!

It's been a wild and crazy week at the office. A Monday deadline and waiting to find out if I need to show up to court...I was told on Thursday (the day before trial) that the date had been moved to the end of November. Just in case you didn't know I do some divorce financial work and rarely that takes me into the courtroom.

In the transition to other work I'm hoping there will be more time to craft and catch up on various housework.

The great news is that I completed the back of the test knit sweater I'm doing that generally means that 1/3 of the knitting is done. I'm debating if I want to work on the front or start a sleeve. It's amazing how gratifying it is to see progress so a sleeve sounds tempting. I might try to do two sleeves at a time, by doing a segment of one until there is a change and then switch to the other.

I've signed up for too many knit and crochet alongs at this point. Another one pops up and I think to myself...that's crazy. There is a contest to knit one sock each of the Socks of Narnia by November 30. I've started two and am thinking it would be almost impossible to get that done with the test knit and holiday knitting. I started looking at my progress on holiday projects. That definitely made me realize that I need to get focused.

I found a sweet little pattern for a chick that you can make a lovely egg that opens. I thought it would be a nice for my nephew and his first birthday is coming right up. The jacket that was requested for him will take more time. After completing the little chick, my two year old decided it was his and ran off with it. I guess I need to make two or possible three. Jeffy will want to claim it as well. I might make the second one out of a brighter yellow.

Here is the first little guy and I still need to make the egg halves.

Such a cutie :). Here is a link to the book in Ravelry: Amigurumi World . You can buy the patterns there or in paperback form. A newer edition came out in 2014. This was a hand me down book from my mother-in-law with some nice ideas. There are so many adorable animals and foods. These are simpler, which I greatly appreciate. I have some cute little dinosaur patterns, but 5 - 6 little pieces to sew together is not my idea of fun right now. Some of the patterns have closer to 10 - 12.

I completed the 10 day initiate design challenge from Aroha Knits and wrote a pattern. There is still more work to do on it: a sample and a test knit. We'll see how far I take it. I thought of a new idea this evening that I might try to pull together as my first pattern for purchase. It's going to take some thought as to how to make it work, but I don't think it will be too bad. I wonder if it's unique enough.

Seeing several knitting buddies tomorrow will be such a treat. We're at the Beaverton Library. I can't wait to see what everyone is working on...that reminds me. Sadly, one of our friends lost her husband recently. I have not met him, but he is so very missed. I hope I to see her soon.

Final side note, I wanted to start a mystery hat today so that I have another hat to wear...hmmm, maybe tomorrow. I'm hoping to make one more chick tonight and maybe start on the eggs.

Everyone, have a great week. If you've started your Spirits of Life wrap...I'm so jealous :).

Happy crafting :)

Knitting Design Class

Aroha Knits is putting on a #initiatedesign challenge that started on Monday. Here is a link to her page that briefly discusses the challenge:  Yarn Alchemist. She does these periodically, I didn't participate  in the previous one. I'm following it on Facebook and she has a live session discussing the assignment and answering questions. This challenge is free and then if you want to dive in further, she has a class you can pay for call Swatch Studio. Currently, there is a $247 fee..not quite in my budget at this point, and I'm not sure how far I'll get on publish patterns for sale.

I turned in my homework for the course with a picture of my swatches. Here is picture of my design. and swatches. It's time for me to start writing and knitting. Based on my progress, would anyone be willing to test it? If you're local, I could give you yarn. The color scheme would differ, but it could be fun. I'm doing a modular knit cowl. The colors remind me of comic books with the black outlines.

Work has been very busy and I have a couple of engagements that will kick into gear immediately as well. Billing and readying for tax planning will also kick into gear. Ahh!!!

Hopefully, there will be time for knitting. I need to finish up that test knit and continue on holiday knitting. There is never enough time (understatement).

I'm excited to get through this work deadline and will be able to enjoy next weekend. We have birthdays to celebrate tomorrow so that should be fun. We're in charge of bringing party favors. Sammy picked out something fun today and I'll find something more tomorrow morning.

Lastly, I found a beautiful collection of patterns...I want them all:  Twist Collective Fall 2017. There is no budget for buying patterns these days. I either get them free or have to wait until I've caught up on everything. Catching up sounds like a good plan. I was good and didn't buy any yarn from Knitpicks Spooktacular yarn sale. I thought of  lovely sweaters with oranges, purples, and grays all mixed together...someday.

Have a great week.

There is a lot going on in the world...

Ok, start with a random question...Have you seen the movie V  for Vendetta? This is not a kid friendly movie (rated R). It's based on comic of dystopian future with heavy fascism and fear. What spoke to me most were words from one of the victims who simply wrote her memoir shortly before passing. Even when this character was at the darkest point of her life she thought of love.

Given all of the craziness in the world I wrote this. To be honest, this puts me in a vulnerable place. Now that I'm in my thirties, I'm not as worried as I once was.

Just remember you're loved

It's hard to cope and love might feel lost
Being so sad and alone
If I could make your world better
Make it all clear
Make you happy and remove
Feeling of loss or fear
If you knew that you were loved
Even by a stranger like me
Would you escape this woe
Could you find love and peace
If there is a hope or a chance
Just remember you're loved
Not only by me

When I was a preteen...so long ago :), I would write poetry. I figured out how to print on some lovely Lisa Frank paper and I saved them in an envelop. I know I would giggle and laugh if I found them now. I wrote about feelings and I don't think I've ever had a literary gift.

I actually wrote a lot as a kid and slowly over time I found the idea silly and that no one would want to read my thoughts. Teri, one of my knitting buddies for the last five or so years, is a creative writer. She is truly inspirational. She clued me into NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. I remember seeing the articles about the November challenge to write a novel in one month. This is a national organization. I've tried to do this a couple times in the past. Is this the year? I have the idea for a scary story about the strange rooms in the storage area of the rental property we're happily living in currently. My hubby said not to share it with our eight-year-old. I totally agree :).

To crafting, I've started a scarf for my sister-in-law. I finally decided on a pattern and have made progress. I ordered some lovely Danish yarn for a woolly sweater and decided to treat myself to a grab bag that is based on one type of yarn and a color scheme. I might need to pull a bit from my stash to make sure the scarf is long enough but the majority of the scarf will be crocheted in a 95% Geelong (specific breed) wool and 5% cashmere. It's fancy for me, but will be perfect for my sister-in-law. The feel of the yarn is very nice and luxurious. Check out Holst Garn. The prices are actually quite reasonable and the shipping has not been problematic for me. It's much cheaper to buy from their site directly.

There is a crochet along starting on October 18, that I'm super psyched about. Check out Tatisana's blog for the Spirits of Life CAL at Lilla Bjorn Crochet. The yarn amounts and colorway information has been posted. I dug through my stash and created my own little kit. I was tempted to purchase a kit since $62.50 and free shipping isn't too bad given the amount of yarn included or make my own kit from Knitpicks for cheaper. There is another sale...eek! Knitpicks Spooktacular Yarn Sale. Who doesn't love yarns in orange, gray, black, or purple....so tempting. I'll post picks of the yarn I pulled from my stash. The colorways that they picked in the kits are lovely.

I'm still working on the test knit and hope to have the back completed in a week or so. I had forgotten how much I love color work. The tough part is that it's time consuming. Here are couple of pictures from the last sweater that I completed during the summer.

I'll be wearing this sweater soon enough now that it's getting cooler. It turned out great.

Have a great week!

Must keep knitting!

It's been a busy month. I can't believe it's the last day of September. The rain seems to be coming and going. I took a long walk with my older kiddo and we were soaked. Finding a way to get outside in the rainy weather is so important.

We've been battling with our kiddos about bedtime and other things. I'm not sure why things need to be so tough sometimes, but kids are all about stretching your abilities to manage daily life.

Ok, no more whining :).

There is neat knit along that started this week. Check out Socks of Narnia. I'm not a big sock knitter, but the patterns look interesting. I entranced by the two color work socks. Voyage is the first and you might be able to get that pattern for free if you're quick. I remember seeing Voyage as a test knit pattern on the forum I regularly use. If you get one or sock or a pair completed from each of the four patterns by November 30, 2017, you'll be entered in a drawing.

Other mystery patterns are being posted, yet I'm finding that I've signed up for too many that all start sometime between September and the end of October. It's a good problem to have.

On October 18, the Spirit of Life Wrap crochet along will start. This looks like a beautiful pattern and that it will be a lot of fun to make. It's entirely free if you use the blog to view the pattern. There are some kits that look nice, but my stash will have to suffice :). It looked like four full skeins of fingering weight yarn are necessary. Maybe I could fudge the use of my stash a bit with other colors.

I've made some progress on my current test knit. It's definitely a marathon project. A fair isle sweater in a fine gauge...what was I thinking...

It's been a lot of fun so far and I'm excited to see it shape up. I have about 6.5 inches on the back. I'm using an itchy wool that still contains lanolin that you can smell. I hope you like the look. I love the colors.

Here is a pick from spending time with my boys tonight. We could get along for an entire hour together :).

Have a great week and happy crafting.

Autumn has arrived...

Fall is my very favorite season. The hot summers in the Midwest were always difficult for me. Once the crisp cooler air arrived, I was thankful. It's also a time of transition. A new school year, changing leaves, fun holidays on the horizon...who could complain?

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. After collecting tons of candy I would get November 1 off as a holiday. Who can beat that? I've already started getting into the Halloween cheer by listening to some fun spooky podcasts. I'm a big fan of Stuff You Missed in History and they several Halloween podcasts (Check them out). I also found a list of top ten horror podcasts from a couple of years ago that was a fun starting point to finding new podcasts (Top Ten Horror Story Podcasts). My two favorites are "The Horror" which plays old mystery and spooky radio shows from 30s to the 70s, and the other is "Anything Ghost" in which the host reads or plays back real life accounts or local legends. There are several that I plan to turn back to.

If you try any of these and find one to follow, but sure to contribute financially to keep them going. Some lifetime memberships are only $25, others have monthly fees. These are great to listen to while you're crafting or working :).

If you know  me very well, you'd know that I was afraid of everything as a kid. Not all of the fear was unfounded, but it was all very irrational. I think my hubby is surprised that I like it. Feeling fear along with many other things is part of the human experience. Facing many real life scary things and awareness of the real dark scary things out there makes much of the spooky stuff seem almost silly at times. I still get scared and spooked, but it's all short lived. I remember my beautiful boys and family, the roof currently over our heads, our currently stable health, and the food in our kitchen.

Here is our one decoration for the season. The spider is cuddled with and is named Fuzzy Dude.

Funds are tight, so I'll need to make the rest. That's the plan for Christmas decorations as well. I plan to make some crocheted stockings.

I volunteered for another test knit, which will be challenging and time consuming. Here is my gauge swatch. If you have the time and patience, please sign up to help:  Fiona's Sweater.

I love the Tiffany blue and I've gotten started on the back. This will be a minimum of two months to knit along with my list of Christmas gifts that I've firmed up. We'll see how much I get done between now and December 24...eek!

Ok, back to work...10/15 is just around the corner.

Have a great week.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig..

I still remember my dad saying, "Home again, home again, jiggity-jig," when he'd come home from work or a  trip. It's a nice thing to remember. I think it's a sign that I'm very happy to be home. Seeing more of the country is a wonderful blessing. Seeing it all with my family would make it better.

The gentleman who drove my shuttle from the DC airport to the Gaylord National Harbor resort chose to take the long route, which I had not anticipated. The great part about the extended trip is that you could see several landmarks along the way. I saw the Capitol Building, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and some other stuff. The resort sat right along the Potomac and was quite nice. It's amazing how clean a hotel room remains when there are no kids with you.

Here is one of my pictures of the resort. The atrium inside was neat and the place had almost 2,000 rooms.

Here's the view from the resort.

On Saturday, my last day, I saw a portion of a lovely wedding that occurred just outside the atrium. The whole bridal party was gorgeous.

The expert skills workshop was very helpful, while also a ton of work. Besides trying to keep up on voicemail and e-mail,  I studied the case study and terminology for at least two hours a night. I never ended up getting used to the time change so I couldn't go to sleep before 2:00 AM.

Besides the studying and work, I knitted and crocheted to help relax me. I completed the first clue for a mystery cowl, I'm almost done with the yoke of a sweater, I have eight dinosaur legs for two mystery dinosaurs. I expect the crafting will slow a bit with all of the work and activities ahead.

Here is the picture of the sweater yoke. It's fun :). 

My first flight home was delayed to the point that I could have stayed to watch the second round of mock testimony, but that typically happens when I'm traveling for work. I almost didn't catch my connection, which would have meant a long night since I was taking the last flight from Denver to Portland until about 7:00 AM the next morning. I truly got off my first flight and immediately boarded the second flight. I'm so thankful. 

I saw some lovely folks at my crafting group. A nice lady discussed traditional rug hooking of which I knew nothing about. She is so very talented and knowledgeable about the history of the craft (Wiki: Rug Hooking).

Ok, I've rambled on enough...

Have a great week.

Thank You for 1,000 Views!!!

Whether you're a bot or an actual person thank you for visiting and possibly reading. It was a rough week is a sick kiddo and deadlines at work. Now I'm preparing to head to the east coast this week. We'll see how it all shapes up. It will be an interesting conference and I have much to learn.

I'm keeping this post pretty short this week. If things go well with my travels, I'll post while out and about :).

I'll post a video of my kiddo learning to skate today. It will be done processing momentarily.

Wish me luck. I haven't done much in the way of traveling for a long time.

Have a great week.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

I'm happy to report that I've completed my most recent test knit. Here is the lovely Sakura cowl that I was able to knit with Nadia's instructions.

It's a beautiful striped cowl with two garter sections and two lace sections. The last portion gives instructs for short rows to make the cowl more of a hoodie. I made the large version and can't wait for the cooler temperature to enjoy wearing it. It's much too hot to wear it now.

On another note Aroha Knits is doing one of their shawl swatch challenges. I've completed two of the five swatches and three patterns are out to knit. On top of that Aroha recently put out her first quarterly pattern book Seeker 2017. There are some lovely patterns and I'm excited about. I really love the hat patterns. There is also a short discovery quiz that tells you what fiber muse you are Aroha's Discovery Test. I'm a Mystic, which generally means that I use crafting as a form of self-care. There are patterns and ideas that Frenchie and her team provide based on the Discovery quiz.

With a few spare moments this week, I've started trying to nail down crafty gift ideas and a plan to attack them.  Progress will be slow for about six weeks as we face a few deadlines at work. There is also a conference that I need to fly cross country to attend soon. The timing isn't the best, but I'm hopeful it will make me better at expert witness testimony.

Here is a swatch for a test of a potential Christmas scarf...haven't decided what to do. It is so pretty even after I flubbed it a bit :). Although my picture doesn't look quite like it does in person the colors are more of a navy blue and cream.

My boys started skating classes today and it was quite a hoot. My poor husband had to hold up our two-year-old through most of  the class. My eight-year-old had fun even after he argued all morning that he didn't want to go.

Have a happy Labor Day and week!

Experiments and crafting

As the summer is winding to a close (my eight year old starts school this week) I'm trying to find easy ways to incorporate more fruits and veggies at home. Although this isn't craft related I thought I'd share an initial experiment Jeffy and I are starting a weekly subscription with Imperfect Produce (Link).

These are the images of the lovely box of yummies we received. You can see Ethan's hand because he wanted to dig right in last night. You can pick what's going to be in your box and we're pleased with what we received:  oranges, pears, nectarines, cauliflower, kale, bell peppers, lemons, and potatoes oh my! This is what a small mixed box looks like. I was going to see how much food we make it through to see if an every other week subscription would be better. The cost of this box of food is between $15 and $20 including the delivery fee.

I really like the idea that we're eating food that is perfectly good, but would otherwise be thrown out. Food waste really bugs me, yet we do our fair share of wasting as well. Also, given the smaller amounts of produce sent, we're more likely to get through it than if we buy in bulk.

If you're interested, send me your e-mail and I'll send you an invite. If you're invited in you and I would each get a $10 credit.

Ok, on the crafting front I've been trying to figure out what to make for Christmas presents.

1) I started a Magicarp hat for my eight year old.
2) I have a cute set of dinosaur and corresponding egg patterns for Ethan
3) There's a plan to make back up mittens for my hubby
4) My sister-in-law indicated she wanted a scarf and I might have come up with an idea for something special. Here is the inspiration Kitchen Cloth in Mosaic Design. Be sure to click the link, the beautiful mosaic pattern is not described well by the pattern (Gilly, let me know if you don't like the idea...I'll make a scarf with this stitch for me ;)...also, I could change my mind too)
5) I started the scarf for my father-in-law
6) I have some great Star Wars patterns for my brother-in-law
7) I want to make a cowl or scarf for my Dad's wife
8) What to make for my nephew???
9) What to make for my mother-in-law???

This is just the short list and I'm open to ideas.

Here is the cowl I've been working on for a designer. I'll share the pattern once I'm done.

You can see the first two sections and I'm working on the fourth and final section.

Happy crafting and have a great week!

Best wishes,
Elizabeth

Eclipses and bow ties are cool!

Oregon seems like the place to be to see the eclipse on Monday. I'm so curious to see if the traffic will be as scary as they say. I'll be on I84 to pick up my eight year-old in Biggs Junction, Oregon tomorrow morning. Hopefully, that's not the prime road for eclipse viewing traffic.

My office is closed so I plan to only work a half day from home. I'll have Ethan and Jeffy with me. Our eclipse viewing glasses are here and ready. Portland won't be in totality so the special glasses are critical. It's amusing to look at the map and notice that my hometown in the Midwest will be in totality along with much of Oregon. How often do  you find things related to Oregon and Nebraska?

I love the coaster idea as a party favor or even just as a fun decoration for my funky little condo. Here is a picture of a design that I'm partial to. Solar Eclipse Coaster is simple yet perfect . The picture below is Tamara's for her design. There is still time to make one or more before Monday.

When I was at the library a week or so ago. I looked in the craft section to see if there were any books to peruse. I found a copy of Geek Knits.

I must say that it's very amusing. I'm not familiar with all of the themes and references for these patterns. There are a few I'd like to make. One is Fezzes Are Cool and the other is Bow Ties Are Cool. I have yarn to make the bow tie, but I'm lacking in red wool that would felt well for the Fez...would someone be willing to do a swap for some roving wool red yarn? Pattons would be fabulous.

If you are unaware, the bow tie and fez are worn by one of the iterations of Dr. Who. There are other Dr. Who themed patterns, but these two sounded fun for viewing Dr. Who or for Halloween. Matt Smith is one of my favorite Doctors. Peter Capaldi won me over, but it took time.

I'm testing a cowl along side my mystery patterns. I'll post more on those later.

I hope everyone has a fun week and enjoys the eclipse. Happy Crafting!!!

Progress on Projects

It's been a busy week. I'm keeping up with two of my ongoing projects, but am behind on the one with the complex lace. Here is a picture of one that I feel comfortable sharing (don't want to share the mystery ones).

This project is a recipe that gives basic instructions and then you can choose colors and textures. This one starts with two triangles and then the sides are worked out from the center triangles. Using odds and ends can make interesting pieces :).

I'm starting up the holiday knitting as well. When we're traveling, I need very basic projects so I have this fun basic scarf to work on. Can you tell where the color theme is from?

I was having a conversation with someone in my family and he indicated that he still prefers the Tom Baker Dr. Who. I'm using KnitPicks yarn Felici with colorway Time Traveler. It's out of stock at this point, but I couldn't resist with all of the Felici worsted on sale :). On size eight needles the garter stitch is so springy and lovely.

I'm curious to see how much of a scarf I'll get out of one ball and I have a couple back ups to make the scarf plenty long. I fear the reddish a bit too pink, but I've seen pictures with the color looking more pink.

We had a lovely time at the Tigard Knitting Guild's Knit Out at the Tigard Library yesterday.

Here's my poor attempt at a selfie. We found some lovely yarns in the stash pile and won a few prizes as well. The best part was spending time with my Tigo crafters and meeting new crafty people :).

Onward and upward! Have a great week and I look forward to more progress.

It's a Heatwave!!!

I hope you're all staying cool. It's funny what a relief a high of only 90 brings. The sunshine is wonderful, but I'm not a fan of anything above 85 degrees. I think that's why the Pacific Northwest was a great choice. From the extreme temperatures of the Midwest to the mostly moderate weather in Portland...I feel lucky even when the annual heatwave arrives.

The deeper question is...can anyone craft in this heat? I've been vigorously wrapping up a shawl for a test knit which easily covers my lap. In the evenings when the air conditioner can't keep up I'm sweating a bit with the wool. Here is the test gracing my lap as I try to get the icord bind off completed. The colors came together well (although it's hard to tell in this picture thanks to the flash).

In this heat I still find myself drawn to gorgeous sweater patterns. After I finish the mystery knits this month, I plan to dive into a sweater (or two because I like to have a couple of options).

What do you think of this nifty pullover? I've fallen in love with the funky vibe of Sunset Highway and I could probably pull together enough sock yarn in my stash to make it.

I plan to get started on Divide once I wrap up the test knit and mystery knits. Here is another fun sweater (A Good Vintage Cardigan) with a great vintage look that I've been debating to start for some time. Also, I think more cardigans would be helpful for easier layering than only pullovers.

These two sweaters both use fingering weight (aka sock yarn), which I love and have a decent stash of now. I have officially vowed not to buy anymore yarn and I mean it!!!  There is enough in my stash to figure out any number of various projects and fun. I was able to pull together the yarn for 3 ongoing knit projects quickly. Here are the ones I'll be working on in August:

1) Don't Panic (A mystery knit with a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy theme)
2) Everyone Knows Pies are Round (A mystery knit with pie recipes in each clue)
3) Woman Must Make her Own Arrows (not really a mystery, but a yarn recipe with periodic clues)

I'm sure my list seems a little long, but it's fun and I'll likely fall behind on one or two. The first two clues have been released on the first two patterns, but there is still time to join. The third pattern released the first step so there is plenty of time.

Stay cool in this abnormal Portland heat and happy crafting!

P.S. Since I've given up buying yarn...if you'd like to get me a skein of sock yarn (like: Hawthorne), you'd make my day ;). 

One update...the test shawl is done!!!! I've  included the picture with my younger son's foot. I don't get much time to snap pictures of things before he's in the middle of it :). His little stuff shark is in the the far corner from his foot if you're curious as to the other object in the picture.

On the Coast

We started our second day in Lincoln City today. The boys love the beach. The little guy has been a handful to an amazing extent. I think tonight was largely related to being tired. We might be ordering take out for the next couple of meals.

Having some time away from home can be very nice. I'm thankful I'll have Wednesday off from work to recover from the trip. Then only two days before the next weekend.

I'm almost 2/3 of the way done with a test knit shawl and then there is a mystery knit that starts on August 1. I'm planning to work on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy themed mystery shawl Don't Panic.

I'm excited to swatch for an upcoming sweater...I'm hoping I have the patience to get that done quickly :).

My wrists are pretty sore from the current project so I'll likely need to take a break. With how busy work seems to be (upon my return from vacation), we'll see how much time there is to craft (I typed nap instead of craft at first...Freudian slip).

I'm still keeping these posts fairly short...things to do...need sleep!!!

Hope you all have a great week. I'll post more soon.

KAL and CAL

Happy Sunday. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the start of another work week. We had our first weekend of not needing to work, travel too far, family celebrations, or dog-sitting/house-sitting. We took advantage by running errands and catching up on some cleaning. There is always more to do.

I found another project to test and I'm almost a third of the way done. I'm striping a lovely shawl for a nice person in Ireland. So many lovely ideas from so many corners of the world.

The pattern that I really want to work on next as a personal treat is Divide:

This is the main sample picture. Check it out...it's gorgeous. I'm hoping to start it in August with a cotton based yarn. Anyone want to knit along with me?

Here is the lovely crochet sweater I'd love to work on as well:  Picking flowers sweater. I'd push this one ahead of Divide if someone wanted to join me. I don't have time to work on it during the current crochet along.

I'm keeping this post pretty light. My coastal family vacation is coming up quickly. I plan to have lots to post about soon :).

Have a great week.