Holiday Weekend: Update

My 4th of July weekend started out quiet with planning for two knitting classes next week. Then I went early to farmer's market on Saturday to buy corn and cherries.

I found a patriotic duck in a window. That brought to mind a song about how much is that ducky in the window....okay, so I was making up the words as I went along.

Then the market had lovely mixed veggies baskets. That is a great marketing technique if you do not know exactly what you want.

By Saturday afternoon the rain had moved in and by the end of the day we were bbq-ing indoors and making national news by getting an inch of rain in a very short amount of time. Needless to say, it made for very soggy fireworks watching.

And while it rained, Pedro did a lot of this on his dream curl. It is his favorite place to take a nap now that the weather is warmer.

In knitting news: I finished my first BSJ (baby surprise jacket). I have to say that just following the pattern without question worked just fine (thanks for the tip, CatWithCats).

And I finished my first pair of Fiber Trends felted clogs. They are all ready to felt. I will felt one and leave the other alone for display purposes. I think it is very fun to compare the size of what you have to knit to get a certain size when it is felted.

I moved on to knitting a trumpet flower from the Nicky Epstein Knitted Flowers book to make sure I understood the pattern before I try to teach it next week. And I will be practicing the cast on for the Inside Outside Scarf pattern, the other class on for this week.

And the SS09 countdown is at 30 days-ish, I am knitting wee tiny socks for TheCraft'sMeow booth during all my other available time. It is lots of fun to see the baggie filling up with colorful sample socks.

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend!

Weekend Update

Saturday I finally got a badly needed haircut. Then I met CatWithCats for lunch and a movie. We enjoyed good Chinese food at The New Panda North up in the Northgate area. Afterwards we went to the Hollywood Theater at Interquest and saw Inkheart. It was a great movie. We both gave it a thumbs up!

Afterwards we went our separate ways towards home. I stopped at both craft stores on the way to pick up some pieces/parts for my beading projects. I am adding stitch markers for knitting and crochet to my Etsy shop - Coming Soon! They are fun to make and fun to give. As someone else commented - they are like jewelry for your knitting. And I present them on a pin that makes them wearable as well.

On Sunday, I set up my workspace to start putting the stitch markers together and, of course, my quality control engineer assisted me. At some point his attention was diverted to his next favorite pasttime, it started with little spring birds and progressed to Squirrel Watch.


I continued with beads and knitting, combined with movie watching - Igor and The House Bunny - both cute.

This morning I am listening to the wind howl and getting ready for another busy week.

I hope you all had a fun and productive weekend!

Top Memories for 2008 (in pictures with commentary)

I have to give the nod to CrazyAuntPurl for the idea to sprinkle my 2008 memory blog with pics of favorite folks and furries.

So far, my top memory for this last day of the 2008 is that I do not have to wait up tonight for fireworks. I just saw the celebration in Auckland, New Zealand this AM while they were shooting off fireworks to mark their midnight. Ain't technology grand?!



In May, I had my first official knitting class with students. It was lots of fun.












In June, I was in Georgia to see the Evil Elf meet Loopy in a yarn store before my folks and I began the road trip home with their new-to-them van.


At Bancroft Park in Old Colorado City, I joined a great group of knitters for Knit in Public Day. I plan to be there again this year. The official date for 2009 is June 13th.








Pedro and I spent many summer afternoons with our favorite neighbors and friends.




And I knit, and knit while I watched the Summer Olympics. In the end, I medaled with seven completed projects, or FOs, over the course of two weeks.






And Loopy and I went off to Taos in October for the Wool Festival where we met up with CatwithCats for a fun-filled weekend of fiber and critters and a huge Ravelry meetup.




And through all the good weather, we had a constant visitor that came for nuts and for Pedro to have his own entertainment in the front window.






And I knit and knit.



And then we cooked and cooked.



And, afterwards, we rested.







And through it all, I had the constant companionship of my bestest bud, Pedro.

He and I wish for you all the best things for the New Year! We will be starting tomorrow to build our memory bank for 2009, won't you join us?

Previously on my blog...

we talked about knitting, and I am sure you have been waiting for a comprehensive update from me. As you can see, the guy with the glowing eyes has convinced me it is time to share the news.

The best news is: yes, I have been knitting, a lot. The bad news is: I cannot really tell you about it.

I know, you think I am teasing you. Well, I'm not. Since Ravelympics I have been trying to finish my gift knitting for this year. Most of the things I am working on I cannot show you pictures of or discuss.

So, now you ask yourself, why should I continue reading this post? Because I am going to share with you what is on the top of the knitting list when I finish the gift list. It is my Taos project purchases. First on the list is a lovely lacy scarf pattern with an unusual shape and some fabulous yarn from Plain and Fancy.

The shape is more ellipictical than rectangular and has a beautiful lace edge. The yarn is fingering weight in a multi-color with brown, gold, teal, peach, and lavendar. It looks like it will go with anything. I had help from my friend CatWithCats picking it out. There were too many choices and it always helps to have another pair of eyes.

My other great purchase was dyed mohair locks from Kai Ranch in Texas. They had them lined up in bins in every imaginable color. I was baffled by what you might use them for. While I stood there pondering their use, CatWithCats had located Gale Zucker and Joan Tapper of Shear Spirit.

Besides convincing me I had to buy a copy of the book (Shear Spirit), Gale showed me a great idea to use the mohair locks. She was wearing a scarf that she had made in a plain, dark color with the mohair locks incorporated into it randomly to get a very fun look. So I picked out the colors I liked and we decided that they would look great combined with a charcoal gray. I have not found the base yarn yet, but am looking forward to starting that project the first of the new year.

Well, it has been great getting caught up with all of you. Hope you are pursuing your passions and enjoying the start of the Holiday Season. I promise to share pictures of my gift knitting ventures after December 26th.

Surprise packages in the mail

What a grand surprise to come home from work to a note in my mailbox that a package awaited me at the leasing office. And the best part is: the office was still open.

I picked it up, carried it home and Pedro helped me unpack it.

Thank you so much to Cat with Cats for the treats. Pedro especially liked the box and wrapping because he knew it had come from a house with kitties.

As you can see, he likes to help. He found kitty toys to play with and a scone mix for Momma to make. Thanks again, Cat, it was a wonderful treat.