Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Three Dot Blog Post


It has been so long since I have blogged that I don't know where I left off. I have been super busy, and have been fighting a sinus infection and tree alergies. I will just share some high- and low-lights of the past few weeks.

***

40th Birthday part four involved a lovely lunch at a French restaurant with a dear friend followed by a trip to Imagiknit. It has finally sunk in. I am forty years old.

***

I had the honor of being an escort at the institution of the new Daughters of Norway lodge, Elise Waerenskjold. There was a lot of marching, that's me in the stripes.


A friend drove, so I got a lot of knitting in. To my horror I discovered I left my laptop at the church. In a panic and feeling like an idiot I phoned my friend, the president of the lodge, who went back out and retrieved it. I had to drive all the way to Roseville with my poor kid the next day, an hour and three-quarters away. I was sick as dog, all feverish and trying to stay awake. Things turned out fine though, we had a nice visit and lunch, then K. and I went to the State Train Museum in Sacramento.

***

Last Monday I took K. to the Conservatory of Flowers to see the train exhibit. He told daddy we went to the "plant museum". Little brains are amazing.

***

A couple weeks ago I was so sick I told K. that I just needed to lie down on the sofa. He said mommy was "brokedown" and proceeded to comfort me with his trains, a book, a half-eaten frozen waffle he found on the floor, and a can of beer (unopened) . He said he was "mommy K" and I was "baby mommy". Just the sweetest thing ever.

***

Speaking of sweet, K. still gets to see his little friend every week. He loves her so much.


***

I knit the pink glovelets with my birthday cashmere. The pattern is "Sweetheart Glovelets" by The Rainey Sisters.

***

Did I mention I was giving a talk to my lodge about spinning? It went well, and we had fun with a spinning lesson on CD drop spindles.

***

The other morning I was playing trains with K. after having fixed the engine "James" who had taken a bath, rendering his electronics non-functional. K. informed me that "mommy useful". For those of you without a little boy, Sir Topham Hatt, the director of the railway on the Island of Sodor, where Thomas the Tank Engine lives, often tells the engines they are "Really Useful". It is always the engines' goal to be really useful. I'm glad I succeeded. I often fantasize about living on the Island of Sodor. Although their safety record is not very good.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Things Are Looking Up

Just a status update. I've been busy working on several non-knitting projects the past couple weeks. And I've got a few things on the needles, like these mittens.


I do want to talk about my Stitches class, I'm just waiting to have time to write something coherent.  And the contest, yes that will happen soon.  I think things will slow down next week.

I leave you with this image.  I drive a red construction truck, but there's no company name. And if this was the name of the company, I would probably wear a hat and sunglasses.  Or at least make the "R&S" more prominent.  Just saying.


Tuesday, March 03, 2009

40th B-Day Part Two: Stitches West

I know some people don't care about their 40th birthday, or birthdays in general. But I love my birthday, in fact the whole month of February has always been my favorite. The pink-ness of Valentines Day, then my birthday, and back when I worked or had a regular job, Presidents Day off. I think we got both Washington and Lincoln's Birthdays off when I was a kid.

I also know most people tend to throw big parties on their 40th. I, however, couldn't think of a theme, and frankly, what I really have been craving is a whole day to myself, and the pleasure of being able to focus on something I enjoy. So way back when registration opened I bought an all-day class at Stitches West to make Sami handgarments. My mother volunteered to stay here all day with the little one, and Mr. TVP scheduled a late start that morning.

This was my first Stitches, and I was going for the class more than the shopping, but I took my birthday money along, and a short list of things I have been looking for. I went to the preview Thursday night to get my badge and the lay of the land. I checked in to say hi to a couple vendors I know. To get ready for an upcoming project, I got the lovely green Blackwater Abbey yarn from Ireland pictured below. I also picked up the Compass Rose Sanquhar Glove pattern from them. It's in the last photo. Look at the beautiful pair Fluffy made.

Friday I morning left at about 6:30 to avoid morning traffic. I made a bonehead move and missed one exit, (cut me some slack, coming from 280 you have to get on 85, then 237, neither of which are marked Santa Clara). But I still got there nice and early. The class was challenging and fun. The subject deserves its own post, so that will be tomorrow, or as soon as I can get a good photo of my progress on the project.

At lunch I went over to see my contest socks on the wall. Photos allegedly weren't allowed in the market, but I asked and one of the judges took my picture with the Fana sock. I'm sure the two judges I talked to were famous, but I didn't recognize them.

Here's were I will say that I did not win a prize. At first I didn't care, at one point I had actually forgotten about the contest last week, and didn't realize the socks were there until I read the booklet Thursday night. I was kind of bummed thinking about it yesterday when the realization set in, but the winning socks are truly amazing. I think what makes it hard is I spent all the time and money but haven't even worn the socks yet!

The Bohus sock is here on a wall with several of the winners. Go here to see photos that do them justic. The stranded sock top right, made by an amazing Raveler, won third prize. The green one bottom right won Southwest Trading's "Uleash the Creativity" category. I believe the long white sock is the viewer's choice winner. My sock touched a winning sock!

Next I did some shopping. I was thrilled to score some Gotland fiber from A Verb for Keeping Warm to use at my Scandinavian spinning presentation Sunday. It's long and silky. (The fiber that is, hopefully the presentation will be short and concise). Also on my list was Jacob fiber and I found some at Toots LeBlanc's booth. It is actually a 50/50 jacob/alpaca which is good because I want it to be soft, for a project I'm making for the Zoo's shearing day. Those are up there in the photo with the yarn. I also got some Targhee from 'Verb', just because I haven't tried it before. It was too shy to be photographed, I guess.

I picked up a couple patterns at my friend Karen's booth (Royale Hare). I had to show her my sweater, spun from her fiber.

I also got a few back issues of Wild Fibers Magazine and spoke to Linda Cortright. She kicked off knitting the Longest Scarf in the World, which is part of Keep the Fleece. As part of the International Year of Natural Fibers the goal is to raise $250K for Heifer International. Actually the scarf started at Stitches is part of Carolina Homespun's team.


Back for the second half of my class. By the end I was really burned out, and not just due to the 000 needles, so I made one last spin of the market, and headed home before dark.

The word seems to be that there weren't as many vendors, freebies, or deals as in the past. Since this was my first year I didn't know exactly what to expect so I had a blast just being in the fiber zone all day. A perfect way to celebrate entering a new decade.

But my birthday isn't officially over until we drink that bottle of Veuve Cliquot.

Monday, March 02, 2009

40th Birthday Part One

So much has been going on that I'm breaking up my 40th birthday celebration into a couple posts.

My birthday started a couple days early on knit night when my Purl Jam buddies totally surprised me with cake and gift certificate to Imagiknit.

They totally rock!! What do we do at knit night? Share projects, get advice, talk, and sometimes model socks. These are Karyn's "Oceansides".

On Thursday I went out for drinks at Tommy's Mexican Restaurant (a world class tequila bar) with my husband. Then we had dinner at Mel's Diner for fun. Since I had already had birthday cake, I got a chocolate malt for dessert, one of my favorites. The next morning I discovered we were out of coffee. It is so rare that I let that happen. It was not a very pretty picture. Tea was just not the same for what ailed me.

Later in the day I rallied and went to Imagiknit. It was such a pleasure to be able to go in there and just get whatever I wanted. I was pretty sure I wanted something luxurious, like cashmere. I was looking around and couldn't find pure cashmere, turns out it is kept in a locked showcase right by the door. I never noticed that before, but then again I've never shopped for something so dear.

I got a skein of pink cashmere which will become the Sweetheart Glovelets from the Rainey Sisters. I also got a skein of Malbrigo Lace, I'm still hunting a pattern for that. On a practical note I got a skein of green Cascade Heritage to use with all the pink sock yarn I have left from the Bohus Socks.


Tomorrow: Stitches West