busy!

If Saturday was for being a slug on the couch...today was for getting lots accomplished!!

Big meeting at church this morning, voted on whether to sell one of our buildings. Luckily it passed. But lots of discussion. After I came home, I got busy in the kitchen and the yard!

Repotted a plant finally:

I spent more time in the kitchen today than I have for several weeks combined! There is a huge rhubarb plant in my yard, and I hadn't done anything with it until today. I used the recipe from here:


to make this: a delicious strawberry rhubarb pie!

YUMMY!!!! I somehow was able to stop myself after only one piece, but I sure wanted more!

I also made these tonight (for breakfast this week):

Here is the progress on the English Lace beaded scarf:

and a closeup (sorry it's blurry)

Inspired

I am awestruck by Eunny's newest sweater! It is a very good thing that I have several months before the winter Interweave Knits comes out so that I can become proficient at fair isle knitting.

Nothing really new to speak of here. I spent most of the day Saturday just being a slug on the couch! I did go outside a few times and work in the yard pulling weeds, etc. I frogged the pinwheel sweater back 6 rounds so I can re-do the sleeve openings. Knit about 8 rounds on the baudelaire sock

I also needed some gratification on the spinning progress (or lack of...) so I decided to ply together what I'd done so far to see how bad it looked. Honestly, the more I spin, the worse I get at it! I started with some of the hardest to knit - very short messy dirty mountain goat fiber picked off the ground and trees. I loved spinning it, and made a fairly even and decent looking yarn. My attempts at wool so far have been pretty poor. I'm not even going to share a picture. I knit up a swatch to see how it looks - didn't really improve the looks of it at all!

The sun is shining, I'm going to go and weed the garden!

Stitch and Pitch!

Tuesday evening was Stitch and Pitch at the Mariners!

Sherri, Bunni and I went. (Thank you Sherri!!) What a fun time we had.

It was the very first baseball game that I had ever gone to. (I know that sounds crazy, but I swear it is true. I've just never really been a baseball fan, and growing up in South Dakota there weren't really a lot of chances to go to baseball games...I'm more of a hockey and football gal). I have to admit I paid more attention to my knitting than the game, but I did watch quite a bit.

I spent A LOT of money last night! More than I had planned, but it was definitly worth it. I bought some absolutely wonderful orange laceweight baby alpaca yarn, some nice Fleeceartist sock yarn, and a kit to make a beaded silk english lace scarf:


We had lots of fun, came home with a dozen krispy kreme donuts to share with my coworkers this morning at work. Crawled into bed at about 1:30, and managed to be at work by 7:25! It was a long day today, but the evening was worth it. I'm planning on getting to sleep early tonight.

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I made lots of progress on the Baudelaire sock over the last few days. It is going quite quickly. I really like how the heel turned out! It fits me perfectly! I just started up the leg - beginning the first row of pattern.

Another KAL!

I decided that since I was already knitting the Baudelaire socks, I'd might as well join the knit along for them, so now there's another button on my sidebar! :-)

But, no new pictures of the sock today, I haven't knit a single stitch since the pictures last night! I got off work on time today. Drove to the Cedar Falls Nursery, just to ask a few questions about transplanting a couple plants, and come home with 4 more!! Three peonies (white, red/white, and red) and a gardenia! So, my knitting time tonight was taken up by the gardens! I couldn't resist the peonies since I love them to begin with and a 50%off sale is irresistable!


Stitch and Pitch at the Mariners is tomorrow! Sherri, Bunni and I will be there! It will be my first ever baseball game, I can't wait.

Baudelaire socks!

Here is the progress so far on the Beaudelaire sock. I like this pattern a lot. It is quite easy to knit, and I like the toe up part too, since that is a new technique for me.

I know that the pattern gets somewhat lost with the colors of the yarn, but I do like how it is knitting up. I like the socks that rock yarn, but have really struggled to find a good pattern for it. This is my 3rd attempt at a sock with it! (I started a toe-up, ripped it out, started the pomatomus sock, ...) I hope that this goes better than the last attempts.

Well, I suppose that is enough blogging for me today! Three times in a day. And I also did get lots accomplished outside too. Pulled weeds in the front yard, watered the grass and gardens in the front and back. The only thing that I didn't do that I wanted to was ride the exercise bike tonight. Oh well, I will tomorrow.

More gardening...2nd post today!

I decided to write a 2nd post for today. One about the vegie garden, and then this one about the flowers!

The hydrangea bushes haven't really liked the heat of the last few days Some of the leaves look burnt, and by the end of the day, the flowers are looking pretty wilted. But once it cools off, they are going back to normal each night.

I shudder to think of what my water bill might be like this month, with all the extra watering that I've been doing. But, in the months that I've lived here, I've only been above the 'minimum charge' one month - in May, when the water heater died...

Now, for the pictures:


Last, but not least: The one holdout strawberry plant! I guess the previous owners of this house had a strawberry patch and ripped it out (can't imagine why....) But, there was one loldout left! Growing in the crack between the bottom step and the sidewalk! I had 3 berries in June from it - very sweet and delicious! I thought that the heat would just bake it there in the hot sun with the concrete around it - but no, it is growing like crazy! It is also sending out lots of runners. I'm trying to send them all in the same general direction where they will be able to grow. I can't wait until next summer!

"Lauri, how does your garden grow?"

( Well, here's to a second try...I accidentally posted this to the Pinwheel Sweater Knit Along the first time!! LOL, I'm sure everyone wanted to read about my garden there!! I guess that when I click on the "Blog This" button in Picasa, I need to actually notice which blog that I am posting to!! )

Remember back to May... Jill was here in WA, and we planted a garden. Well, most of it is still alive!! I am frankly amazed, as I usually tend to have a pretty 'brown' thumb.


Only 2 of the corn plants died! And, of the 7 that have survived, there will be 6, yep that's right six, ears of corn for a feast this fall!

Two of the cucumber plants lived, and there are now 3 or 4 flowers on them, so, maybe I might just have a few cukes.

The Shallots aren't doing as well...there are 3 left, and they don't look so great.

The tomatoes are growing, and there are a ton of flowers. I hope that this warm / HOT weather will do them some good. I am really looking forward to the tomatoes most of all, there is nothing better than fresh home grown tomatoes!

I will also have TONS of squash! All of the plants have survived so far, and are looking like they will be abuntantly producing lots of both the acorn and the butternut.

Hot!

It is almost too hot to knit!

Now, I realize that "hot" has a different meaning here in the mild Pacific Northwest! When I first moved here 4 years ago, I used to laugh at the people here who moaned about the 'heat' once it was above 80 degrees.

But I've become one of them!

And it really was HOT yesterday, and will be again today. Mid-90's! With all the windows open, it cooled off in my house to 69 degrees overnight. I have to fans on now to try and bring in the cooler air.

I couldn't work on the pinwheel sweater because it is too large and warm. So, I started a sock! I started trying the Socks that Rock yarn again. This time with the Baudelaire pattern from Knitty. I know that a lace pattern is not always the best for a multicolor sock, but, I'm trying it anyway!

I'm through one pattern repeat. I like the toe up design, using the figure-8 cast on. It was interesting getting started, and if I do it again (besides on the 2nd sock...) I will cast on more stitches because the toe is pretty pointy for me.

pinwheel progress!

Here is a quick update on the progress of the pinwheel sweater. I'm at 25 stitches between yo's. The sunlight is pretty bright, and so the colors are sorta off...from the center: mulberry, victorain pink, creme (up next - pistachio). 

Pinwheel Sweater KAL!

Well, now that the world cup KAL is over, I decided to join another KAL (like I didn't already have enough to work on...)

Anny Purls is hosting the Pinwheel Sweater Knit Along. I like the look of this sweater, and cast on for it today just after lunch. I'm making very quick progress! There will be pictures soon - I can't take any right now, because my camera phone has a dead battery - gotta let it charge for a little while first.

I picked out 4 colors of Lamb's Pride worsted weight. The colors are: Mulberry, Victorian Pink, Creme and Pistachio.

undecided

Now that I have finished the sweater...I am at a standstill!

This week has been kinda crazy, I haven't really had a lot of knitting time anyway, but even if I had, I haven't had any real inspiration. Sherri mentioned to me that she felt the same after she finished her Knitting Olympics project. After focusing so much on one project, now that it is finished I feel unsettled, and undecided about what to work on!

I knit a swatch of the beautiful Blue Heron Yarn (Rayon Metallic) that was originally going to be for the dropped stitch sweater pattern out of Vogue Knitting. (remember that one...go back in the archives if you've forgotten -- too stressful for me to knit it!) Then I was pretty sure that I wanted to make the Green Gable sweater with it. Well, the gauge is not quite right, and I'll have to do a fair amount of math to figure it out - I could do that, but do I want to...hmm? I might if I stop being lazy!

I love the yarn, and really like the way it knits up on size 4 needles. OK, so, I just need to find a good pattern to use that will complement the colors, my body, and the drapy character of the rayon yarn. Sounds not too hard, right? Well, I haven't had much luck at all in my searches. If you have any ideas about what I should make, please leave a comment!
(I would like to have a pullover sweater, with short to 3/4 length sleeves. No tank tops, etc because it doesn't get warm enough here to ever wear that!)

Better Picture

I was told that the sweater looked like it was pink! The color is actually "Mango". Here is a better picture with a more accurate representation of the color:

Finished!!!

I just finished the "Ripples in Time" baby sweater from the Inspired Cable Knits book by Fiona Ellis. I swear - it is so cute! I almost wish that I had a little one to put it on!!

I knit it as my entry in the Knitting World Cup.

I loved how the neckline was constructed:

ok, so this second closeup is a bit blurry...

Here is one last picture of the adorable sweater hiding among the hydrangeas:

This was my first sweater. Actually, it is the most complicated project that I have undertaken in my knitting. I started out knitting this because I am getting ready to make a sweater for myself, and decided that I ought to work at a smaller project first, just to see how it would turn out.

Knitting this sweater during the last month has really challenged me. I tend to start projects, and they linger for a while (...although I only have one abandoned sock). I have made myself stick with this project and only briefly picked up some yarn to start a washcloth because I bought the KnitLights needles and really wanted to try them out.

I felt like I made good progress on the sweater. But over the past week, I started to feel panic - silly me! I had plenty of time to finish by the end of the World Cup Knitting Challenge. (as of right now: 2 days, 17 hours and a few minutes...) This really challenged me - in my time management skills, endurance, creativeness and problem solving, and letting things be once finished.

- Time management: knitting during lunchtime, knitting while sitting on the front steps enjoying the sunshine, avoiding ALL household tasks to get the knitting done (even during a plumbing crisis...)

- Endurance: I think that like those athletes pushing themselves out on the field, I pushed my poor hands to their limits...a few days of rest without knitting will be in order. my joints ache a bit, but no numb fingers or anything like that!

- Creativeness and problem solving: Having never made a sweater before, this was new to me. Also, the only cables I've done were just in swatches (for the other sweater I might make...) I had to learn how to bind off stitches and make decreases in pattern with cables...overall it went fairly smoothly!

- Letting things be: I tend to be a perfectionist at times. There are a few mistakes in this sweater. Two miscrossed cables, one cable omitted, and an overall pattern of difficulty with gauge when I transition from a knit stitch to a purl. I have learned to be OK with this ( ok, so maybe with all of it except for the last bit - I can work on that in future projects) Few, if anyone, will notice the small mistakes.

Almost finished!!

No pictures - no time to take any!! It is getting down the the last minutes (ok - days...but I still feel like it is down to the wire) Technically I still have 3 days and some hours to finish the sweater for the World Cup.

I just now finished weaving in all the ends. Now to block the pieces tonight. Then sew it all together tomorrow!

My hands will thank me for taking a nice long break from knitting for awhile. I have been feverishly knitting, and for someone who tends to knit pretty tight, and then throw the cables on top of that -- it has been pretty tough on the hands!

I just was rereading the instructions for the sweater for when I sew it together and discovered how the neckline is formed. I LOVE IT! no details tonight, but there will be pictures soon.

I hope to have finished pictures by tomorrow, Friday at the latest!

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Addendum:
So, after blocking the pieces and then a nice long soak in the bathtub for me...I decided that I HAD to take pictures and post them tonight. So here it is!

Here is the front (or back):

The sleeves:

And here is a closeup of the pattern on the front:

Fun Day!

Today was quite a fun day. I love it when those 'spur of the moment' things turn out so nicely!

After church this morning, I got home and the clouds/fog was just starting to burn off. I was just really feeling like I NEEDED to spend some time outside, and a good hike seemed in order. Called up Joy and within about 20 minutes I was out the door!

Not too sure if a total round trip of about 150 miles is unreasonable or not for a 5 mile hike, but we had a great time. We met at the 1/2 way point in Shelton, then I drove the rest of the way to Lake Cushman. Once there, we hiked along the southside of the rapids to the 'big cedar' then returned and hiked about 2 1/2 miles in along the North Fork Skokomish trail. It was a relatively warm day, but not quite hot. The bugs weren't too bad either (I remember the other time I did this hike, the mosquitos were terrible!)

There were lots of helicoptors flying around and many search and rescue people out - looking for the missing person. We were startled at one point during the hike: a bird had a call that sounded a lot like a whistle, had to listen to it call out twice before we realized that it wasn't a lost person. I sure hope that he is found, alive and safe!

Here is a picture of Joy:

and me:
There weren't quite as many people out hiking as I expected on a long holiday weekend (long for most people, I have to work Monday!) There were even a few camping sites open! It would have been nice to be able to stay and camp. But instead, after our hike, we walked down to the river and sat with our feet in the VERY cold water. Joy was able to get her ankle feeling better - she twisted it during the hike. And I was able to find a nice place where the beach wasn't too rocky, and the water got deep quickly - laid with my feet in the water and looked up at the blue sky!

What a great day!