Intrepid Fiber Wizard

Seaming question - on the fly

a question for all you savvy seamers out there.
I am knitting along on Anhinga, and am at the point where I am ready to attach the left front piece to the asymmetrical middle panel. The instructions simply say to sew it together with the seam on the outside. (groan)
As you can see in the photo (please look aside from pile of loose peppercorns on the table - hee hee)
The seam which attaches the right panel to the odd shaped center piece, was a row of picked up/knit stitches from the wrong side of the work (as instructed).
I hope to match the left attachment as closely as possible to the right......
any ideas knitting pals?
I am thinking of sewing it to the left panel, in the same location that I used on the right attachment (if that makes any sense)

Oh, and here's a gratuitous photo of me and Kate from May (Erin sent it to me today  - she had taken it with her IPhone). I love this photo! 
Okay - off to work again now - and tonight I am actually grateful to have to work, since the building is air conditioned (which my house isn't) and it's a record 101 degrees outside and heat still climbing.

Three in a row

I'm not sure how I got this fortunate, but I realized that I have now had 3 fabulous weekends in a row..... and I even forgot to tell you all about one of them (grins)
Last weekend was a grand day with Lorette and John - divine. yup. it was. (see the last post) I would gladly hang out there anytime!

The weekend before was a concert in Seattle.....
           
  Too Slim and The Taildraggers..... (amazing blues) at the Triple Door... (awesome food) and dancing afterwards at a very fun blues bar in Seattle. Talk about perfect.

I am one of those people who could happily dance the night away!

AND... then today, well...... yup. Another fabulous day. This time, spent with Barbie, up on Bainbridge Island.

Churchmouse Yarns was having it's annual sale. (ahem) ...cue dasterdly music (dum-da-dum-dum-daaaaaaah)... Shall we view the evidence:
yes.
a rather large shopping bag.
which appears to be F.U.L.L.

yes. it is.
Shall we peek inside? (of course, you all say...)

1 book, "Romantic Knits" (there are at least three projects in this one calling my name)

and could that be, 12 skeins of a luscious burgandy Alchemy Silk/wool???
and 10 skeins deep Chocolate Rowan Wool Cotton?
yes.
indeed it is.

AND..... it was 50% off.
sigh.
I'm a happy girl.

I have a photo I took of Barbie, but it's not her favorite, so it won't be posted here - (despite it being outrageously adorable, with her laughing very hard)....
There was lunch at Cafe Nola (only the BEST Bloody Mary's on the planet) and a bit of browsing, before we returned to her house to knit awhile -
There was less walking about than usual, due my having pulled (?) my adductor muscles in my right hip, which are pinching the femoral artery (think ouch - think limping, slow-walking Teyani) Yet, thankfully, my wonderful masseuse is slowly but surely fixing me right up. The good news about said irritating pain, and subsequent gimp me, is that I had to cancel my work at both places....and thus, I have had a THREE DAY WEEKEND!
awesome, eh?
yes, I thought so too.
And thus, despite not being able to play out on the water (getting into a kayak would be torture today) or being able to walk everywhere I might imagine would be fun - Barbie was able to show the gimp (aka me) a fabulous time today. Thank you, dearest friend. It was so fun.

I drove the long way around this morning, up through the Kitsap Penninsula, but opted for the ferry on the way home. It's probably been 16 years since I drove on a ferry, and it was very fun.
Seattle is lovely  on a hot Saturday night. 

And, last but not least, in a completely bold move, I just could not resist this photo on the highway home tonight... yes, it is a plane. being dragged behind a pickup truck. Or rather, a few pieces of one.

You just never know what you are going to see on the roads around here. And it never ceases to amuse me.

(grins)

Another perfect day off

It has been awhile since I had a complete day off (zero obligations, neither work has called for me to come in) ... and I spent last Saturday in absolute "bliss" by Lake Stillecoom, (sp?) with dear friends, Lorette Meske and her husband, John Guy. 
We have been 'friends' for years, yet between Lorette's schedule and mine, have actually spent very little time together in person. Saturday was a rare treat with hours together... and we had a blast.

Lorette is a relatively new spinner, who purchased her  first wheel,  a Schacht !!!!!! - so I took my Majacraft, Rose Pro up(as well as my trusty old Schacht)  there for her to play with. It was great fun. Here we are, post gourmet lunch ala John (her husband) spinning on their deck!.Be sure to notice dear Louie, their Corgie, sleeping behind her chair.)

John pampered us with wine and food all day long, and Lorette and I spun on various wheels.
It was heaven.
Here's the view I had from their deck as I spun.... (yeah..  you can all sigh with complete jealousy now.. - grins).)

Lorette has just barely begun spinning, has taken no lessons, and seems like she has been doing it forever, We pulled out all her plied yarn to date, and it looks amazing to me! She's spinning fingering weight yarn, without even thinking about it (or so it seems!)
Wow! and soon, make way for another pro- spinnner!!

John, meanwhile, cooked us gourmet lunch and dinner, and sprinkled with fabulous conversation and a few bottles of incredible wine. We talked late into the night, sitting down on their lovely dock, watching the stars come out ;-)
And we all decided that I should win the Mega Millions this week, so I could buy the "cottage" two doors down from their house, that is listed at a cool 2 million... ha ha ha ha ....
yes, Lorette, I bought another ticket today! :-)

So, other than spinning, I have been working - and have cast on for three new projects recently:

Honeycomb Cardigan sweater:

This one is being knit with yarn from Black Water Abbey - it'll be great for a jacket, yet it is very coarse Irish wool, and hurts my fingers to knit with... so it will be awhile in the making.

I love the deep purple of this, and will most likely make my way back to it as the weather cools a bit.

Maplewing Shawl

I LOVE this pattern and yarn from Kim over at Woolen Rabbit - it's merino laceweight. Colorway OakMoss. (ahem.. 1700 yards of laceweight wool....)
This is one that will probably take me forever to knit, but is TOTALLY worth it. It took 45 minutes to CAST ON the 600 stitches, and then 55 minutes to knit each of the 3 rows I have completed here...... (heh heh, insert snidely whiplash laughter here) It will take me awhile to show progress on this one, but bear with me, it is a smashing shawl... you will be breathless when I am done.

Anhinga

(from her pattern book Fly Away)

This is my current "go-to" project. One row takes about 30 seconds (or so it seems relative to my other two projects). I am LOVING this pattern (from the newest Norah Gaughan booklet)  - the yarn I am using is deepest Navy, made by Debbie Bliss, Rialto (and I am cursing her a bit for all the knots in each ball... grrrrr,) But it is zipping along quite rapidly, and progress will show soon.

I hope that each of you had such a lovely day off as I did.
Summer has finally arrived here.

It's heavenly

Let me begin by saying that I get to hang out with a great group of women! There are about 7 of us from the chorus I sing with who also knit, and we began a knitting group (hurrah!) and now a few of their friends have joined us too. We have a fabulous time chatting and laughing and sharing our most recent projects every week.

And one day, a couple of weeks ago, I asked if any of them liked to kayak. One of them had been, and said yes. And then 3 others chimed in with what a fun idea it was........ and so, (not one to be held back when people say they will kayak with me) I called the next day to make reservations. (and did a happy dance all night long because I had some "buddies" to go with!)

We set out on a day that turned out to have the largest tidal surge of all - and got to see wonderful things. I took along a couple of throw-away type cameras, in order to catch the 'first kayak event' for my friends. Here are some snaps of that day ;-D

    

There were a few "wobbly" moments, when I laughed and thought to myself... do they wonder what they have gotten themselves into?

And there might have been a moment when Marlene shouted "how do I turn this thing?"

But then within a minute, they all had the hang of it, and we were ready to go!

We paddled away from the docks, and set off along the coastline.  I hung back a bit in the beginning, wanting to take pictures of everyone, but also because I had the little gadget to float your paddle   
in case you tipped over (and I also had the rather fun boat-pumper-outer which could double as a squirt gun on a hot day.. heh heh)

We paddled along for about 3 1/2 hours, and took a short rest by a quiet beach mid way through. Conversations ceased sometimes as we enjoyed seeing eagles, seal, jellyfish and lovely scenery.

 

The water was calm as glass when we returned.

We pulled the kayaks back to the dock, then sat down for some coffee and a nosh -

the best news of all??? They all want to go again!

(happy dance :-D )

Blue Jeans Leaf Lace Shawl

Finished and blocked.
another happy project! And, yes, 255 yards of Dk alpaca yarn was plenty.
  the wind was blowing hard - so it's kinda difficult to see how big it turned out, yet I suspect you will get the idea! (and yes.. that is indeed AL Cardigan tossed on the bench - heh heh... photographers are difficult to come by, so when I have one I try not to take too great an advantage of their generous nature ;-) It was a fast photo-shoot!)

I am indeed able to wear it as a 'wrap' yet most likely, come fall, this is how I will wear it.:

yummmmmmy alpaca!
And this pattern is so fabulous and easy - it will certainly be knit again by me!

Friday Fun

One of the things I enjoy most about living and working in Olympia is that you never know what musicians you might bump into as you 'round the corner on your lunch hour ;-)
This group of women was playing one afternoon recently. Think deep, sultry rhythm & blues - the kind that makes you want to stand there and soak in every note - The unusual format & their rule-breaking instruments, might have put some folks off, yet there was absolutely no denying their amazing talent.
I stood, mesmerized, for quite some time.
Between "sets", they cheerfully grinned at paserbys, asking for donations to refuel their truck and head on to Seattle. They must have made it there, because I haven't seen them again.
What a treat!