Intrepid Fiber Wizard

November come and gone

Yes - it seems to have come and gone in a flurry of work and holiday preparations.
(and many MD visits for mysterious illness, which seems to be solved for the moment... thank goodness)

There has been more knitting happening around here. I began the Ariosa Wrap Cardigan from the latest CEY booklet Autumn Book two. I am using an old favorite yarn (cascade 220). And I realized after I was about 1/2 way through this project, that it is the same heather color that I used last year for Heroine.. Silly rabbit. I suppose that its a good thing that I really liked it. 
I have finished the body of this, and only have the sleeves left to do; yet they will have to wait awhile, as Christmas knitting has begun.

 I enjoyed myself very much over the thanksgiving holiday. Erin and her boyfriend, Robert came down for dinner, and a friend of theirs, Mel, stopped by for dessert and card games. We laughed til our sides hurt, and ate until we collapsed in a pile of joy in the floor pillows.

 The photos cannot quite capture the giggles and belly laughs that we had - yet I will share them none the less.

My  Christmas knitting begins with a pair of slippers that are soon to be felted - these are from the pattern French Press. and I love it. They knit up in an evening or two at the most, and if I had a wood stove, they would already be dry and being modeled for the blog. (grins) alas, I await the long drying time of room temp...... 
These are soooo easy, and fabulously cute. You Must knit several pairs (yes, both daughters and I will be sporting these come January one. This is a pre-felting photo... finshed photos soon.
 

There has been knitting

Truly - there has ;-)
In fact...... just this afternoon, before I went out and raked leaves and cleaned gutters, I found these on my feet:

  and why yes... that is some actual sunshine streaming in across the rug!

Now the funny thing about this pair, is that in my sock drawer, I have another pair almost exactly like it....

yeah.. I know... I'm being silly...... so, here are sets for real.

  

The funny thing to me, is that you can truly see the difference between the sock that has been washed in each set, and the hot off the needles one. (new sock on the left in brown-eyed girl yarn, and on the right in the happy together yarn.)

The hand spun yarn really enjoys a good bath.

I am casting on tonight for two more singles, that will complete two more sets. yay..

It's been a glorious fall here.  I enjoy every moment of driving around, even during the rain that has been our constant companion until today.
 
Last week the trees looked like this -

And now this week, they look more like this:

And every once in awhile, you turn the corner, and your breath is literally taken away with the beauty:  

I recently discovered something else that is totally cool..... while admiring trees, and looking up at the sky, I saw that on the top of my office building, all four corners, there are gargoyles!! (well, griffins to be exact.. I think..) Aren't they incredible! They are original to the building, which was built in the early 1900's - one of the first "high rise" buildings out here (all 5 stories of it - grins). I have asked many of my friends who have lived here much longer than I have, and they didn't notice them either -
color me goofy, but I enjoy these little discoveries so much.

A few more photos and a completion shot

I have a few more photos that I have now downloaded from my camera - I had such a wonderful time with my folks. Most mornings found me up around 6:15, and off to the beach to greet the sunrise. And at that hour, it was me, the pelicans, sandpipers, ibis and heron. It was a great way to greet the day.

(And if you are here to see some knitting, at the end of this post are some shots of the finished Casablanca sweater ) 

I am having trouble with typepad this morning, and my comments on the photos did not show up - and the writing I did about the sweater appears to be in the middle of a bunch of pictures of the beach..

go figure... and thanks for bearing with me. (grin)

 
 

 



 



 

And now, for some shots of Casablanca (finished end of Sept).
First of all, I love the Rowen cotton/wool blend yarn. It is heavenly to knit with, and does not stretch as much as pure cotton does.

This is a very clever pattern, knit from the top down, with 'after-thought' sleeves. I had fun learning some new techniques on this one.

The only part of the pattern that I thought was a bit difficult, was lining up the sleeve pattern when I picked

up the stitches there and did all the increases. It wasn't as easy as I imagine it should have been.

I ended up doing two rows of single crochet inside the shoulder edge, because it continued to want to fall off my shoulders.

     Worked like a charm.

And now, for my only disappointing situation....

Look carefully at the midriff section of this sweater, and you will see that there is a distinct line across my tummy... ahem... yup.. one ball of yarn is entirely different color.

sigh..

Sometimes dye-lots lie.

I have two balls left of this yarn, and someday I will rip back the bottom HALF of this sweater and re knit the whole thing.(grumble grumble) but for now, it has gone into the box of 'summer clothes' that I just put away for the season.

So, maybe next year ;-)

Next post I will show you some actual current knitting I am doing (smile). I knit two socks to just past the heel flap, and also a bit on a

sweet scarf.

Share and dance

This is a link to something that has been shared around the internet.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090908-tows-flash-mob-dance

I wish I knew how to imbed the video here, yet I do not...
It is soooo worth watching.
20,000+ people in Chicago, dancing in unison to a song celebrating the 24th season of Oprah, and the song "today's gonna be a good day!"

absolutely amazing, and to be honest it brought tears to my eyes when I saw it this morning.
... because, if 20,000+ people can dance in absolute unison and cooperation to such a beautiful song, then world peace is truly not far behind.

let's all learn this dance. :-)

this morning's sunrise

hello dear ones - I just could not resist sending these photos that I took of this morning's sunrise, around 6:30-7:00 am..... I have had several amazing moments over the last few days, greeting the sunrise here. (again taken with my iphone!)
and for the few who asked, I'm on Marco Island in Florida.

I'm not certain that I can figure out how to answer comments from my cell phone (what with the new typepad and all) yet I will attempt it.
Please know that I appreciate all your comments and I will be home within the week.

 

and yes, it is so beautiful that it can take your breath away at times. And most folks here just have grown so accustomed to the beauty that a walk on the beach at sunrise has become only about 'exercise.' wow.
May I always notice, as I am today,  all this beauty and be thankful.

a view from paradise

 I've been here for a few days - and am truly enjoying the time with my parents.

it is paradise I tell you! I have been being utterly spoiled by my wonderful parents: great food, great company, their lovely home...and an amazing beach to walk within a mile or so... truly, what could be better!

And on one end of the island, there are the "Estates"... and I have decided that if I ever win the lottery, I will be buying a place down here, overlooking Roberts Bay. Spectacular.   (By the way.. these sweet photos are courtesy of my iphone - since I have no idea how to download the ones from my digital camera to their computer... ;-D)  

 

Autumn Mornings

I absolutely love this time of year. The mornings are normally foggy, and the air is filled with dew.

I grab a favorite sweater before heading out the door. It's a time for layered dressing - as our afternoons are normally mid 60's. The rainy season will begin in a few more weeks, but for now, the dahlias are popping up everywhere, the cosmos flowers are the size of salad plates and the maple trees are beginning to turn golden and red.

It is the season of spider webs. 
There is something about them that fascinates me (I think I have mentioned this before). I love the zillions of shapes they take on, the creative places they appear, and how some of them seem to float mid air like a lace curtain waving in the breeze. 

One of my favorite memories about my Dad from when we were kids is a time that involved spider webs. (and those of you who have been reading for years might recall me telling this story a long time ago).  I tell it here again for my brothers and parents...

Back when we were little, living in Upstate New York, my Dad was an MD with a full practice plus hospital rounds. He would rise early in the morning and go to visit his hospital patients before starting his office sessions. One morning in the fall, as he approached the hospital, he saw a sight that was so beautiful that he literally turned the car around, drove back home, and piled Mom and all four of us kids (who were still in pj's) into the car. We drove back and as we came up to the crest of the hill, we all saw what took his breath away -
it was an entire hillside of spiderwebs, woven together on the tops of the grass, dappled with morning dew and positively glistening in the sunlight - a hill full of diamonds.
I will never forget it.
nor the wonderful Dad who knew it was important enough to interrupt his routine and get his children.

I leave on saturday for  a week+  of vacation. I'm going to go and visit my wonderful Mom and Dad, down in sunny southern Florida. It's been too long since I saw them last, and I can't wait. 

It was great fun

Artswalk in Olympia last weekend was fabulous fun. Erin showed about 10-12 pieces, and got rave reviews from this local crowd. 

as with other Artswalk venues, the local businesses open their doors and sponsor   and artist inside their business. All of downtown Olympia was bustling with people until late into the night.
Erin's sponsor was a friend of mine,  Charles, owner of C & D Coffee in Olympia. and it was such a perfect place for her to show her work. By the way.... Charles   makes fabulous coffee, and if you get a chance, stop by and say hello, and tell him we sent you!
We hauled her display material (six enormous (and heavy) solid wood distressed doors) down from Seattle and set everything up in the afternoon for a long evening of fun.


Friends came from all over to see her work, and I am so pleased that the south end of Puget Sound is finally viewing her art. (Previously she has only shown north of Seattle and in downtown).

I took a few photos during the set up, and then quickly became far too engrossed in talking to people to take any photos (sorry).

We had a blast -


drank wonderful cider and coffee, AND.... the best news of all, is that C & D Coffee is going to sponsor Erin again in the Spring ArtsWalk. Hurrah!!!

Thanks to all you dear ones who stopped by and encouraged my fabulous artist. I love her work - and it was so good for her to hear that you did too :-D
(she's finally beginning to believe that it's not just me being "biased")

Both Erin and I came down with the "flu"  after the show (or whatever that nasty sore-throat-cough-sniffle-achy-icky-feeling crud was.) We are on the mend now.

Olympia Arts Walk

If you are in the neighborhood on Friday evening, please stop by and say hello!
My oldest daughter, Erin, will be displaying her original watercolor art.

When: October 2nd 5pm-10pm

Where: Erin is being hosted by C & D coffee shop at the corner of 4th and Washington; specific address: 203 4th Ave E. Olympia

This is a wonderful Arts Walk with music, and indoor and outdoor exhibits

We look forward to seeing you!!

vacation

Let me say, first off, that the photo has absolutely nothing to do with what this post is about (grin)

I was pondering the fact that recently, my blog has been reduced to only writing about knitting and knitting/spinning related things.
And there is so very much more to my life than just this.
So if you are here for the knitting today, you can move along (chuckles to self) because this post has more to do with things that make me laugh about myself than anything else.

And since I mostly write this blog to stay in touch with my family and close blog friends, I have decided to write a bit more personally from now on...

Okay.. that caveat being said.. here goes:
There are some things I am really good at (counseling, dyeing fiber, being intuitive, color, photography by instinct, relationships, loving my friends,singing, cooking, etc...)

and there are things that I am really really bad at...
ha ha ha ha .. (I can almost hear both my daughters saying 'no duh, Mom'!) Anyway, these things include: hammering pretty much anything,  technical issues with computers, fillings out 'forms' of any kind, multiple choice questions (I mean, who can't justify every single choice as a possibility!!) anything that is electrical in nature, digital cameras that require you to choose settings (see the previous statement about photography by intuition), following someone else's directions to anywhere.. I need my own personal GPS...
And now, I will add to this list, booking my own flights on the computer from home.

Harrowing experience, I tell you!
I think I might have taken my life in my hands at one point, due to heart-stopping potential of booking twice, or landing up in some strange county, or selecting flights that had 10 minute layovers in airports like Chicago...........but I digress.
We begin this story with the fact that I have not seen my parents for three years (when I saw them for a four day weekend, while helping them move .. so in my opinion, that does not "count" as vacation.) and truly, I have not gotten to have a "real vacation" with time to hang out and be a blob, for four years....... and thus, when my folks sent out the request, I said YES, I would visit ;-)

And so, following the instructions of my ever so brave and technically savvy big brother, Peter, I logged onto a fabulous site kayak.com.
enter the date and location, and up pops lots of listings. So far, so good..... then I went to the "purchase" part... which transferred me to Orbitz...... still tracking, and still feeling confident (a sure sign for me of imminent doom when technical stuff is involved! - I mean, we should just skip the rest of this and play the Jaws theme song right now... that would be honest!)
I clicked on what I thought was a good flight choice, and filled out what felt like 10 pages of information - and clicked purchase...................................
and nothing happened.
no "okay, you've got it", no "you're being sent an email to confirm".
nuthin.
I got nuthin.
And the page was filled with about 100 other choices for flight options to various places in Florida, some of which remotely resembled by parents location......
I sighed.
I looked all over the page...
and buried deep down a ways, was one small line that said "Sorry, the flight you were inquiring about has since sold out:.
Gaaaccck,
So, I bravely clicked again (did it take my credit card before? am I booking for six flights on the same day?) and I clicked on one that said "Only one seat left ACT FAST !"
I typed in all my information as fast as I could - hoping like hell that I had not just sent my little self to timbuktoo.... and clicked purchase.
again, came the buried info that this flight was sold out.

This process went on for about 30 minutes.
until finally I clicked and clicked, and got a confirm number!!!!
Woo hoo!
I copied and pasted and printed the info.
let's hope that I don't end up spending a week in Houston airport (my folks are in Florida)......
I think I'm going to Naples.
I think I'm gone for a week in October.

Until I am there and I return, I am going to assume its all ok, and just sing la la la la la when anyone asks me if I;m sure.. (ha ha ha) I have a confirmation number, I am empowered!

I'll let you know when I arrive, and when I return. :-)
I think that in the future, I am going to treat booking airline reservations in the same category as hammers "don't hand one to Teyani, she's dangerous with those " (grins.)

And the photo? It was in my backyard after a recent stormy shower. My tiny maple tree thinks it is autumn already.