Knittinggarden

but I couldn't.  Sadly, our community is losing a much-loved yarn and tea shop, Village Yarn and Tea.  The shop survived for 6 years, which is quite an accomplishment in this day and age for a small business.  I have a special place in my heart for the shop and the owners and employees, so it was very hard to hear the news. Six years ago, I decided to learn to knit.  I heard that a yarn shop would be opening in my neighborhood, so I was excited.  I also knew two of the owners from elementary school PTA (our kids' school, not ours!).  It wasn't up and running when I took my first knitting lesson, so I had to go across town to the snooty store.  I learned the knit stitch and began working on my first scarf.  It was a challenge, but I finally succeeded. By the time I was ready to move on, "my" yarn shop was open.  I learned how to purl from Christy, I also learned how to make my first garment from her, a cotton tank top.  I learned how ...

I was just looking out my window at the grey sky and thinking about what I'd write today.  I logged into Ravelry  as I usually do in the morning, and there was my answer. 1,000,000 Ravelers! If you've ever had to defend your knitting in public, if you've ever had to explain why you enjoy crochet or spinning, now you can refer to the fact that ONE MILLION people worldwide are members of this crafting community.   I joined Ravelry when it was still necessary to wait for an invitation.  I was a little hesitant to do so since I didn't use other social networks (still don't) and wasn't sure of the benefit.  Well, there hasn't been a day that I've regretted my decision.  The sheer volume of resources available makes it worth it, even if you never post a comment or make a friend.  Being able to research a pattern, a yarn, or read someone's notes on a project while sitting at home (even in pajamas!) is invaluable.  Making friends, seeing what's new,...

Last night I went to Spinning Night at my LYS and met Susan, the dyer extraordinaire behind Portland-based Abstract Fiber.  You may have experienced this yarn or fiber at a fiber event, or heard about it if you listen to the Knitmore Girls podcast, and if so, you know how beautiful it is.  I sat and chatted with her for awhile and she is friendly, knows a lot about fiber and yarn (of course!) and is passionate about her colors. She arrived in town with a ton of beautifully dyed fibers and yarns, and will take them with her when she leaves at the end of the weekend, so I thought I might as well pick up a couple of things.  Hey, I've been pretty good lately!  I asked her if she did much semi-solid dying, since the fibers piled on the table in front of us were mostly variegated. I have lots of variegated fiber in my stash and, though I love it, was interested in spinning some yarn that was less stripy and/or barber-poled when finished.  She told me about a red...

Today we thank those who have served our country.  We thank and honor our veterans and thank and wish a safe return to those currently serving.  We appreciate you. And a very happy birthday to UT!

I've been growing orchids for over twenty years and when I say growing, I mean that I buy them and if they die I throw them out and if they look like they'll survive, I keep them and encourage them to bloom again.  I occasionally repot them, spray or fertilize, but mostly put them in a likely window and neglect them.  They seem to like this treatment. The type of orchids I grow are Phalaenopsis (moth orchid).  I have been successful in getting these to survive and rebloom in most instances.  Whenever I've tried another variety, it hasn't worked out very well.  I can't keep the big Cattleyas alive and while Dendrobiums will survive and grow new branches, they never bloom again for me. So I stick with what I know.  Phalaenopsis orchids are the ones you see in the grocery stores, at Costco, and at Trader Joe's for $13.00.  They've become so commonplace and so affordable that you really can buy one, enjoy the blooms (which usually last for months) and ...

About three years ago, I received some fiber in a swap.  I was only learning to use a drop spindle then, so it went onto the fiber shelf.  Now that I have my wheel(s) going, I took out this fiber and put it onto my Ashford and decided to make some sock yarn.  Well, I think it was on that wheel for the better part of a year, and I finally finished it.  During the ensuing time, I learned that it was better to make sock yarn 3-ply and this was divided in half and going to be 2-ply, so I just finished it and decided to see what it would want to be when it was done. The spinning was worsted style and seemed to be pretty fine.  I plyed it a week or so ago and skeined it up.  When I counted the wraps on my niddy noddy, it seemed like I had something like 700+ yards...out of 4.5 oz of fiber.  I will double check that when I wind it into a ball, but there's a lot of yarn, nevertheless.  It's Allspunup merino and the color is a mixture of blue, gray, and ...

 It doesn't seem possible that another year has passed.  If this year goes as you have planned, you'll graduate from college, move home for awhile, be accepted to graduate school, then be off to the big time.  You've grown up a lot over the past four years, and we're so proud of you.  You've done very well in college, especially when you got to the classes that interested you! You were the little kid who wouldn't do his homework, you were the guy who thought he'd draw comics for a living and didn't need college, and now you're going to be the kid with the Master's degree.  I can't tell you how happy I am to be reading your application essay and seeing how knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and excited you are about your chosen career path. We love you and wish you the best that life has to offer.  Happy 23rd birthday, Scott. You may look like a mountain man, but you're still my baby!

I've had a project going for many months now and since it's about to come to the time where I put my money where my mouth is, I've decided to announce it here (to my 2 loyal readers!) One month from today, Sunday December 5th, the Princess and I will run the Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll half marathon.  Yes, I said half marathon, as in 13.1 miles.  No, I am not a runner.  In fact, before I started training for this, the last time I actually jogged, my age began with a 2.  And that was a long time ago, specifically, about 30 years ago. Backtracking a bit, I actually began my quest to get into better shape last January.  I was at our place in Palm Desert and it was raining.  What else did I have to do in the rain than eat and knit?  So that's what I did.  When I got home, I was so disgusted with my weight, I started on a South Beach-type diet, began working out more with my Wii (lots of fun and actually a good workout, if you use the right programs and...

This was a fun day.  Our Collegeboy is preparing to graduate from Central Washington University at the end of fall quarter and he has a job filming some of their football games for a local tv station.  So today DH and I decided to drive to Ellensburg to see him and see the game.  Those of you who have been faithful readers of my blog (hi, Dear!) may remember that I documented a road trip to this same destination about two years ago.  Ellensburg is a nice little college town on the dry side of the state. We had a nice drive over this morning.  I got a couple of squares done on my sock yarn blanket on the ride over. We got to the stadium and found seats.  It was really fun - a low tech stadium out in the middle of a field.  The stands are close enough to the field that you can hear the smack and crunch of the players running into each other (that wasn't my favorite part.)  The weather was cool but dry, the sun came out for awhile and it was re...

Another shawl I completed recently is the Traveling Woman (ravelry link.)  I wanted to make a gift for my cousin and thought this would be a good choice.  I used Wollmeise  100% superwash wool in the Rubin (WD) colorway and I think it came out very well.  After having to cast on a couple of times to get going correctly, I really didn't have any trouble with this project. (I know, what a surprise!) My cousins live in Las Vegas where the Princess is in college, and they have helped out when she needed something, had her over for dinners, provided a place to stay when I come to town, etc.  The Princess had some health problems a couple of weeks ago and they again stepped up to drive her to an appointment and care for her, so I wanted to do something special. She's doing well now; I ended up going there and spending a bunch of time with her, but all is going well at the moment. So back to the shawl:  I worked on it on the plane, while I was staying with ...

Looking back, the last knitting I documented here were my state fair entries.  Speaking of which, today I got a check in the mail for $38 as premiums (which I guess means prize winnings) for all of those blue ribbons I won.  Boy, if I'd known you could earn that much money for knitting, I'd have started entering fairs a long time ago!  Although if you translate that into dollars (or cents) per hour, most people would be better off keeping the day job. Moving right along, the next project I finished was Annis , a slender, lacy shawl.  I made this out of a skein of beautiful blue cashmere that I had purchased at Madrona Fiber Arts about three years ago.  It came out nicely, although I don't know how I'll use it - maybe as a scarf, it's so soft - since it's so light and narrow and kind of dressy that I won't have much call to use it as a shawl, probably.  I put beads on it instead of doing the nupps. All was not smooth with the construction of this shawl,...

Knittinggarden has totally neglected the gardening part of the blog for ages, due to the fact that the writer has totally neglected the garden in favor of knitting.  Also, we had no summer here in Seattle so our growing season was a little pathetic.  We recently had record rainfall and wind, so some of the beautiful fall color is on the ground, but today must be close to 70F and after a lovely bike ride, I decided to document a little of the colors around the yard.  One year I was obsessed with the fall colors, and filled up a few blog entries with them, but not for awhile. So, here are a few of the trees that I think are pretty this year, photographed in the shadows of late afternoon.  Enjoy!

The photo I showed yesterday was, obviously, a blanket.  The blanket turned out to be my nemesis for most of the year.  (Actually it was more than a year as evidenced by the original email regarding the need for blankets which I received in June, 2009.)  But I digress..... My friend volunteers at a local hospice and gives beanie babies and other small stuffed animals to the residents and their families.  Since the Princess and I amassed a sizable beanie baby collection some years ago, I've donated lots of them to this worthy cause.  (Having never achieved my dream of making my fortune in the Beanie Baby trade, I was happy to part with them.)  In June of last year, the hospice administration put out a call for lap blankets for the residents.  Emails were forwarded to likely folks, and I decided to make some blankets.  They needed to be 48"x48", which turned out to be bigger than I thought it was! Anyway, true to form, I began to amass washable ...

It's November 1st and November is the month to post a blog entry every day.  Lots of people do so during other months and some do so years at a time, but I'm not one of those people.  I participated once two years ago, enjoyed it, and promptly went back to my habit of hardly posting.  Luckily that's been going on again lately, so I have lots of knitting and spinning projects I can babble on about. If you're interested in participating, you can do so on your own, or enter your blog into the blogroll .  Last time I did that I won a prize, which was a gift card to Amazon.com, and that was a nice surprise. Anyway, writing every day is a good exercise for the mind and good practice in the art of following through, which I can indeed use. Here's a project I finished last night.  I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

I do! And also some ribbons...... Today was the day I was at the Evergreen State Fair all day demonstrating knitting and spinning.  It was loads of fun, even if my bottom is a bit sore ( you were right about the cushion, DH!) from sitting on bare folding chairs all day.  But, the most exciting news follows. You might remember that last year I entered two knitted items into the fair for the first time.  I got a blue ribbon for my socks and a white ribbon for my sweater, and tons of good information from the judging sheets.  This year I entered six items; three into spinning and three into knitting.  These were the items: Farmer's Market Cardigan: Norwegian Rose socks: Handspun color-progression socks: Handspun Ishbel: A skein of handspun, Juliespins BFL/Silk "Stained Glass": Heart-to-Heart Beaded Scarf: Here are the results: Farmer's Market:  Blue ribbon and Merit award Norwegian Rose:  Blue ribbon H...

I can't believe how long it's been since I updated the blog.  It's not that there hasn't been anything to write about; I've written umpteen posts in my head.  They just somehow never got any farther. So to get my mojo going, just a photo.  This is where I've spent lots of time over the past few summers (not so much this year in the great rainy/foggy/cool "summer" of '10).  Buddy likes to snuggle up with me while I knit and listen to books or podcasts.  It looks like he's waiting for me now, so I'll be back later.

Happy Fourth of October July!  I suppose if you're somewhere else in the country, it feels like summer, but here in the lovely Pacific Northwest, it was 55 degrees F this morning when I went to the store.  Don't worry, it's supposed to warm up all the way to 63 or something this afternoon.  Hit the pool! I've been madly trying to finish up my Farmer's Market Cardigan , which I put away in March, because it's been so darn cold I knew I could wear it.  I finished it yesterday (July 3rd) and I still can wear it today!  In fact, I'll wear it when I go to the Farmer's Market down the street after I finish this.  How's that for a positive attitude about a crappy summer? Here it is:  I used Madelinetosh Worsted (now called DK) in the Norway Spruce colorway.  I bought this yarn last summer at the Sock Summit.  I used US 7 and 8 needles.  I had an awful time figuring out the trim increase section, but it just goes to show you that perseveranc...