Catching up - Showing FO's

I looked at the calendar, and saw the last time I posted, and said 'wow.. has it truly been that long?'... indeed it has.

And so, hold onto your hats, here is a rapid fire "catch up" of the past month and a half - (and thanks for still hanging around and reading this blog!)

 

In January, I quit the job at the store (which I had been my "saftey" net for the past three and a half years.) It is both scary and wonderful. The scary is the fact that I am now 100% relying on my counseling practice to support me through the seasonal changes. The wonderful part is that I finally am not working 7 days each week. wow.

Also in January, I made the decision to rent out one of the bedrooms in the small cottage I occupy here in Olympia. A lovely woman I know has moved in, with her fabulous cat (to add to my two). Again, it's been fabulous and challenging all at once. I love her dearly (that's the great part) and it's also been about 35 years since I had a "room mate" (or cottage-mate as my sweet Dad calls her).

I went to Madrona Fiber Arts Festival - and it was great (as always).  Got to see many dear friends from the past ten years - (and naturally didn't take photos of either them nor their booths.. sigh... I was too busy giving them hugs and catching up on news)...  

One of the things I love the most about these shows is that it is a constant "fashion show" of Finished Objects. Everyone ooh's and aahh's at each other, and people stop and say 'oh, what yarn is that?' and give high praise. It's inspiring.

I was fortunate enough to get in to two classes.

 

 

 

Sally Melville's "Knit to Fit and Flatter"  Where we learned about the perfect length sweaters for our body shape and type, and how to make adjustments if the pattern isn't quite right. I love Sally's classes and take one whenever I can. I can highly recommend this class.

 

   The other class I took was a disappointment, mostly because I had pictured something totally different in my brain when I signed up for it. The class was called Knitting Tapestry. And here are a few samples of things that the teacher made. Unfortunately there was absolutely no "instruction" per say in this class, but rather a lot of her talking about her website and her mother's art and showing her lovely creations.  After an hour of this, she suggested that we "cast on and begin knitting " Ah well. I left early, and went shopping instead (not hard to do with all the GREAT vendor booths.

 

One of the fabulous friends that I saw at Madrona was Lisa ! (waves hi!) She is  a dear friend and the artist/owner of Dicentra Designs that I have spoken of so frequently. While she and I were chatting the first day, I feasted my eyes on some of her Nova yarn (a superwash merino in her hand dyed colors)... And what popped to mind was the pattern from Classic Elite's newsletter the "Lowell Cowl". 

We had some fun, plotting and playing with colors, and calculating yardage - and we came up wqith three colors to blend: Fire, Ole and Dahlia. I used a little under one skein of each (185 yards) knit on size 7 needles to make this fabulous cowl. It can be worn long, or wrapped double around your neck.

I absolutely love it, and it was whipped up in three days (yes.. I knit it during Madrona!) Hop on over to her Etsy shop and snag some skeins, and download the free pattern from the above link. I plan on making a bunch of these in many colors!

 

 

 And yes, I have been knitting other things as well - there's been progress on the Cloud Chaser vest I am kntting in Alchemy. (another project which I am loving!) It's a very creative design, which makes the knit just fly by. I am just about to the place where I will begin attaching the collar-  

Last but not least, on other updates, My Mom has  still been hospitalized, yet 'graduated' to a transitional facility where they have been building her strength back up, and working with her in both occupational therapy and physical therapy. She's gained a bit of weight back, and there is a possibility that she might get to go home this weekend (fingers crossed..) Thank you again for all the healing prayers and thoughts.

And I have been back to fighting a nasty germ of sorts - I suspect that my immune system just wasn't strong enough, and I was vulnerable to a few things which otherwise I might have fought off.... so, a couple of months of testing, and I am back on the nasty (but very helpful) strong medicine.... and I am looking forward to being able to be my energizer bunny self again soon. Fortunately, I'm still able to ride my bike a couple times per week - that has been a blessing. ;-)

And now, off to hit the "mark all read" button on my pages and pages of google reader notices... (sorry dear ones, it's outta control) I've missed you all -

 

Comments

[Dicentra]

Yay! The cowl looks great! I hope your mom gets to go home soon!

[Carole]

Welcome back! There's lots of good in your post and I'm glad but I hope you get really good news on your mom and your healthy very soon.

[margene]

You have been missed and it's good to hear you're taking care of yourself. Prayers of healing and strength to you and your mother!

[Chris]

Whew! You have been BUSY. Congrats on not having to work 7 days a week - I bet that's a relief! Hope it goes well with your housemate.

Lovely cowl!

[Lorette]

You HAVE been busy! Hooray for not working 7 days a week. And I'm sorry I missed you at Madrona, I didn't take any classes, just whizzed through the market on Thursday. So is your cottage-mate a knitter??

[Manise]

Just finished catching up on several posts. Keeping you and your mom in my thoughts and prayers for continued healing and good health. Glad you've lightened your workload. Love your cowl!

[Robin]

Well, you solo-ed in January. This is April so hope things are going very well. I took a weekend from Sally - great teacher. Too bad about the tapestry class - beautiful work but would definitely need instruction.