75 Minutes and Vicki was an Expert!!

Ok it must be because Vicki owns a knitting shop, knows yarn, eats drinks sleeps yarn. Or maybe I am an incredibly good teacher. Or maybe Joy was so happy to be spinning again that she made it extra easy for Vicki. In 75 minutes Vicki went from never even watching someone spin, to an 18 yard balanced skein.

My method: Coaching rather than teaching. For all my younger years I wanted to be an art teacher. I believe art cannot be taught, but you can be coached to use the talents you have, to create. So here is what I did.

• Without touching the wheel we discussed different sheep and why I choose the roving she was going to use. I had Vicki figure out how long the staple was. About 3 inches.
• Then I had her strip a section off the roving I'd brought. I told her to put her hands approx the same distance apart as the staple length and pull lightly, sliding the fibers and, seperating the fibers till that point where they almost come apart. Then she moved her hands down to the next section and so on. Wound it into a loose ball.
• I then explained the mechanics of spinning. What the wheel would be doing, what her hands would be doing and what the roving would be doing in her hands. She then practised treadling for 3 minutes. Fast and slow, then touch and go landings. (you know, almost stopping, but then starting up again)
• Vicki then hooked the roving to a leader and started up. I talked to her again about what her hands were doing and should be doing. We had several interuptions due to phone and customers coming into the shop but Vicki was able to start up again pretty good.

Vicki was going to be teaching her crochet class at 6 pm so she stopped spinning and I told her about plying. She caught on to plying in no time. When the last of her students wandered in, I told her how to put it on the niddy noddy, tie it off in 4 places and test the yarn for balance. Would you believe it was perfectly balanced??? Did she do great or what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (please also note the posters on the table top in the photo below - yes, it's the boys who knit poster!)

Zoe's Stole

I was reaquainted with the Romney vendor in Thorp so now I remember the name of the sheep that my wool came from. Zoe. So the new name for my Romney handspun/mohair stole I'm knitting is Zoe's stole!!! No progress on it of course till Dave comes back with one more ball of the mohair.

Spinning in the back room party of two

Vicki at our LYS Knitty Gritty has the spinning interest, not the spinning bug. Not yet, not the stay up all night bidding on roving bug. But just wait.

Someone from the local fiber arts guild had dropped off their business cards, advertising spinning lessons. Vicki, interested but not wanting to dive in and spend money at the same time, mentioned to me that she'd like to try it first before taking the lessons. Hey, no problem. I'll teach her my unorthodox but you still get nice yarn goofy foot not too long not too short draw method. I'm going over to the shop at about 5pm tonight with both wheels in hand. I'll have her learn on Joy. Joy was very very happy last night.

I went thru my stash last night and figured out what roving would be the easiest for Vicki to learn on. A tie between the leftover neon green corriedale from the bad color batch, and the entire ball of Pumpkin roving that looked different from Aztec Gold on line but was the same color when it got here. I predrafted about .5 oz and if she wants to learn to predraft I'm bringing the remainder of the roving along with me.

So if anyone takes a look in my truck today... well it's loaded up even more than usual. Six bottles of wine I haven't unloaded into the house yet, 2 spinning wheels, roving, an unopened box of roving, a gym bag, a biking bag, 2 bike helmets, 2 folding wooden chairs, 1 camera bag with 2 cameras. Oh and a wallet with no money in it. Good thing it's a crew cab.

Too yummy for words

I just ordered this from A Piece of Vermont. There was one skein left after I ordered, now there are none. Who is going to be my sock twin??

Roving Surprise!!!

Remember the purple and orange roving I talked about on January 12th? Well last night I was deciding what roving to start on next since I am almost done with the berry patch sock. I transferred most of the misc roving I had in the guest room to a big carry bag and as I was lifting a package, there was a 3rd 1oz bag of the Flame Firestar roving!!! I'd somehow forgotten that Anna had sent 3oz and I'd only used 2. So now I can use it the way it was intended, at a rate of 1oz to a pound of wool.

Not only that but I found both my Felted Knits book and my Twisted Sisters book. Duh, both had been covered by roving. Maybe I need to go through my roving stash a little more often.

The Family Non-Knitter

This is Rosemary, almost 14 years old. Unlike Rufus andRuby, she couldn't care less about knitting. She can though still hold her own in a fist fight, she has a wicked left hook. Her hobbies include the all important bird watching, window peeking, cave carving and of course... napping.

Rosemary says "No Granddad, that's not a skunk stripe of grey hair between my ears, that's from the flash reflecting off my beautiful black glossy fur. I may be old but not grey."This pic was taken with the little Samsung digicam I bought this morning. I've "needed" a camera I can take along, hung around my neck or in a pocket when I am riding, rather than packing my D70. I think it will be just good enough. If not, I can always Craigslist it. I think the new camera may be helpful in my cat candid photos. Rufus and Ruby give me the eye roll and "oh cat-poo she's hauled out that big camera again" look when I try to take their pictures with the SLR. They associate it with the flash maybe? I got the look again but this time they didn't run from this camera. I'll stick with the SLR for WIP and FO's though.

Blown Away

Ok I am sick of the wind already. Woke up to it when it was running 35mph plus gusts. For the past 2 hours it's been 45mph and gusts on top of that. Most of the loose soil in the fields left earlier this morning. Our bird feeder has lost half its contents to the wind. Occasionally a bird will perch on it and try to feed.

Cast on last night for the Kid and Fizz stole last night (from Straw.com). I am using my 258 yards of handspun Romney till it runs out, with some fun sage and white mohair to spark it up a little. It is going to be soft! I ran out of the 220m of mohair so I have to wait till next Friday when Dave comes home from Tooele with a additional ball of it. Our 2 LYS don't carry this particular yarn.

I Love Paris in the Springtime... Correction

My wonderful son, knowing how much I love Paris, sent me this link parisdailyphoto One of my favorite yarn shops was by the Picasso Museum. Wonder if it's still there?

2/4/06 correction - I went to the Picasso Museum website and realized that it has changed locations!!! Big time. Now I have to figure out more clues on where the yarn shop was.

My love/hate with ponds and lakes

Oh I keep forgetting to tell you. I love ponds, lakes, oceans, rivers, bodies of water. I hate socks with ponds and lakes. I've never had more than a dime sized pond of color on a sock and that is down at heel gussett land. Berry Patch #1 sock came out beautiful. Berry Patch #2 sock has giant ponds of lilac. I hate it. When I saw it starting I thought I could fix it by (not frogging but by) pulling 6 inches of yarn and starting up 6 inches farther into the colorway. That, alas, did not fix it. I think the sock is punishing me for not being started for 3 months after the completion of sock #1. I am sad. I am not though going to frog 6 hours of work by starting over.

Show Off

I've been getting reports from my Mom every time she wears one of my knitted items. She makes sure she shows them off everytime someone comments on them. Sunday she wore the Fall Foliage socks I knit her for Christmas because they were the only semi-Denver Bronco colored clothing she owns. Which I think is pretty funny since she has been a die hard Bronco fan for 40 years. The entire game is watched either standing up or sitting on the steps to the family room just out of sight of the TV (in case her watching has given the Broncos a bit of bad luck for a while). I usually talk to my parents sometime after the game and Mom gives me a play by play. Like I know any of the Bronco players...

This picture is for Wendy and Lucy of Wendy Knits. On the top is Ruby, Rufus' (on the bottom) daughter. I'll post a pic of Rosemary soon. The 3 R's tagged Lucy for the latest meme.No knitting last night. I felt so crappy with this cold that I went to bed by 7. (after I wrote a letter to Graham and spun a tiny bit of yardage from the dudleyspinner roving). Watched 3 movies. I watched Gettysburg from the point that I'd fallen asleep watching it last week, Green Card, and about the 1st half of The Emperers Club before falling asleep. I think I know where I left off on the last one.

Binney and Smith at my Door???

No, it wasn't a box from Binney and Smith (you all know who Binney and Smith is don't you?). It was my box of roving from dudleyspinner. The roving is even more wonderful in person than on my monitor. The colors are clear but saturated. I just love them!!! When I opened the box and tore open the packaging the roving was like a soft furry snake crayon. My first impression was I need to spin some up into sock or sport weight. These are begging to be worn. Yum Yum Yum!

A Murder

Where did the weekend go? Saturday we got new brakes on Graham's car, and tire estimates. It was done by 11 but after I did some running around town to do errands, Saturday was shot. I finished spinning the last few yards of the Romney, plyed it, skeined it and set the twist. The two bobbins came out to about 258 yards of 9wpi. Very soft. Now to find a pattern to use it. Maybe I should have a contest like everyone else!!! I don't even remember what I did yesterday, except watch the two playoff games (Go Seahawks!!) and work on my berry patch sock. I knit it up to starting the heel flap.

I still have my cold and am really mad about it. I feel like doo-doo today so I had orange juice for breakfast hoping the vitamin C will kick in.

In between meetings I went to the river to photo my yarn at my now usual tree stump. There were about 8-10 crows in every tree. If I remember right, Washington State has more crows than any other state. Crows per capita? Crows per square mile? Something like that.

I've been Tagged!!!

I've been tagged by Jessie at WhatHousework? I am so excited!!! So here for your reading enjoyment... (if there are blank spots I will be filling them in as I think of them)
Four Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:
1. Avigational Cartographer
2. International Programs manager
3. Remotely operated Radiation Portal Monitor specialist
4. Seamstress and alterations when I was in jr high and high school. (I sewed for a bunch of my teachers)
Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
2. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Any Cary Grant movie, especially North by Northwest
4. The Sound Music
Four Places You Have Lived (not in order)
1. Boulder CO
2. West Richland WA
3. Auburn WA
4. Gaitherburg MD
Four TV Shows You Love to Watch (some no longer on)
1. The Avengers (Emma Peel episodes only, I have them all on DVD)
2. House
3. SNL, original cast years only.
4. Any of Michael Palin's travel shows (Around the World in 80 Days, Full Circle, and Pole to Pole)
Four Places You Have Been on Vacation
1. France
2. Belgium
3. Santa Fe
4. Alaska
Four Places I want to visit (I'm adding this one)
1. Avellino Italy (where my grandparents were from)
2. Scotland (because our son got to visit it before we did)
3.
4.
Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. Bloglines
2.
3.
4.
Four of your Favorite Foods
1. My Mom's eggplant parmasean
2. My Grandma's veal rollups (she passed away in 1971, so I haven't had them since then)
3. Back east pizza
4.
Four Bloggers You are Tagging:
1. Anna
2. Cristina
3. Deb
4. Lucy (not Wendy, my katkids want Lucy to answer)
Books I own signed by the author in person (I am adding this one)
1. Passions of the Mind by Irving Stone
2. Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, by Paul Prudhomme

And then I'll answer an extra one from WhatHousework?
Four things currently on the floor in your car (truck)
1. My camera bag
2. My pretty unused but usually packed gym bag
3. My biking bag
4. Brochures from a project at work

Friday Night Knit Night

Fun Friday Night Knit Night. About a dozen of us, Kim, Wylie-Lea, Nancy, Dave, Lisa, Kurt, Lillian, Jessica... who am I missing? Everyone on my side of the table, that's who. Anyway we were all pretty constructive. We got to see Graham's hand dyed sock yarn as it was being rib knitted. Very pretty (sorry no picture). I worked on the body of the Berry Patch Sock #2. Tomorrow Graham's car gets brake work done so I'll unfortunatly have plenty of time to work on the sock.

I rarely have colds, and if I do they are gone in 24 hours. I'm afraid I have my second cold since Thanksgiving. I am not a happy camper.

The Rest of the Knitting Haiku

my wine glass is full
broadway musicals in air
knit decision here

knit mitts are complete
too dark out to photograph
must wait till next spring

red sheep blue sheep make
purple roving merino
in my twilight dreams

lambs and ewes knit hats
llamas and alpacas shawls
monkeys bananas

a late night movie
too engaging to miss much
can I knit by feel?

multiple patterns
swirling through the knotted skein
it knits by itself

niddy noddy full
bright green angora awaits
its turn at the wheel

Stop me before I buy again

Most people complain (or is it brag?) about their yarn addiction. I am developing a serious roving addiction. I just send payment off to dudleyspinner for these two.
Yesterday it was just a few ounces to comb in for accents from Cotton Confections. I ordered the pumpkin and the aztec yellow (already taken off the Cotton Confections site)

I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines

So last night when I drove home from work I got in the mood to go to our tiny public library only to remember that it was MLK day and it was closed for the holiday. I realized that about the time I looked at the very empty parking lot. Doh.

Still in the mood for a library trip I called the one in the next town and it was open for the evening. I do most of my recreational reading on line or when I am on a rare vacation. I was a business research librarian at a university for 4 years but didn't make it into the stacks much back then. Walking into the library I kind of remembered why I don't frequent it (that particular library).

1) the library is run by the city and they charge non-residents a big annual fee
2) you walk past the rest rooms on the way into the library and the foyer always smells a bit funky
3) I don't mind that the place is filled with kids. I think it's wonderful that they are all using the facilities. What I do mind is the, well, perverted looking men that sit and stare at all the kids. I doubt that these are the parents of the kids. They also stare at anyone walking by. I think these are the same guys that sit in the lawn chairs at our Court Club pool and watch all the swimming lesson kids through a couple of sessions. I know this sounds really gross but...

The knitting book department is pretty lean but they do have some real recent ones though all checked out.

I did have two things that I really enjoyed there last night.
1) I am a book lover, even though I don't get to the library any more. I don't enjoy the library bound plastic covers that they put on all newly purchased books. The books I love are the old ones, the ones bound in dark brown or dark red canvas with the titles handwritten on the spines. I went around the library and found those books and felt the covers, opened them, looked at the paper and the style of print. It had been a long time since I'd done that. When I went to the U of Colorado I used to wander the stacks and find the oldest books I could so I could feel the paper.
2) In the new book section I found the new John Belushi Bio. I loved John Belushi and still think he is a master of comedy. I meant to just spend a few minutes with the book, to decide whether or not I wanted to purchase it. Two hours later I was at the last page. I just couldn't put it down.

Knitting Haiku I sent to a Piece of Vermont

5 objects to knit
no time for the haiku game
just send me the yarn

oh no are you mad
or am i crazy insane
i knit two socks too

it must be the dye
eatting my knit clogged brain cells
new swirling colors

weekend while we're gone
yarn chewed on by three big cats
needles left in chair

no work in progress
rather look at new yarn stash
hat, mittens, or scarf

spin with corriedale
dark dreary afternoon plan
coffee by my side

sheep and goats you know
spin them dye them knit them all
beautiful sock yarn

Beefs of the Day

Beef 1) Treating myself to Chinese takeout after a morning filled with meetings, I drove to my usual spot. (after taking pictures of my new mittens) My friend Johan and I have eaten there about once every 3 weeks for 10 years and they know that when I order #4 - Sweet and Sour Chicken, to not put in the green peppers. Ick. This is maybe the second time in 10 years I've done take out from there. Driving back to the office with the goods, I kept thinking "what's that terrible smell"? Thinking they made the mistake of packing hot and sour soup rather than egg flower. Or maybe they gave me the wrong order and it was someone's #8 instead of my #4. NOOOOOOO, they'd put lots of green peppers in my sweet and sour. Double ick. I put them in the trash in the office kitchen so they wouldn't stink up my office. Triple ick.

Beef 2) Hey, how come the average gas price here at zip 99352 has gone back up to $2.29 when the very same Saturday we paid $2.17 in Seattle??? (Shell station behind Seattle U)

Beef 3) Somewhere in the house I've lost my Twisted Sisters book. The last time I saw it was late one evening when a few of Graham's friends were over and Jared and I were looking at the socks in it. I've looked in all the places that I can think of. Now to search the illogical ones.

Silly place holder title till I have more coffee in me

One of those Monday mornings where there isn't enough coffee in me. Hubby left on an early flight so I was up before 4am and never did get back to sleep right. Probably stayed up to late last night too since I was spinning. I decided to spin up all the Thorp Romney I have. I love the result of my test with it a few weeks ago and for sure will Navaho ply it. I'll be checking eBay this spring to see if I can find more Romney roving from the same flock. It spins up so soft!! Anyway, I'd just been using the Romney to experiement with but now I love it. I don't think I have more than 8-10 oz left (I forgot to weight it) but maybe I have enough for some type of wrap or shawl. After my trike ride yesterday I walked on the river for a while with my camera. I've been playing with my new 70-300mm lens and perfecting my hand held with it. Pretty good so far in full light conditions. OK so this is just a picture of a rock... For those of you that don't know my trike, it's a TerraTrike by Wizwheelz. Picture of course was in April or May a few years ago, not the middle of winter.Oh and before I forget, the long awaited (ha ha) picture of the Rose Quartz merino mittens. Dark out today so that's as bright as they get.

A Hilltop East and Tricoter day - AND GO Seahawks!!

Hubby wanted to go to a Philip Stark trunk show at Optical Illusions today, we checked the pass reports and were on the road by 7am. Hubby did the drive over so I cast on a sock and got about an inch of the ribbing done. The roads were good so we got to Hilltop East 10 minutes before they opened and there was a crowd outside. ??? Found out it was spring class registration openhouse. We were just there to browse and buy so we were out pretty fast. All I bought was a package of Chibi needles in an orange and clear case. (score!!)

Picked up GB at Seattle U and drove up Broadway to find some lunch. We got past Denny and decided what we really wanted was Ivars. SO we turned back around and walked down James. EVERYONE and their brother, mother etc was headed to the Seahawks game so there was no line at Ivars. We duh had forgotten there was a game. Don't get me wrong, we love the Seahawks and watch almost all the games but we had 1) seeing our son, 2) the trunk show and 3) yarn on our minds.

Second generation seagull feeder at Ivars. I started feeding seagulls there during the Eisenhower administration. Our son since 1986.

Orange and Purple Oopsie

I carried my My Town Bag project bag out to the family room with all good intentions of knitting a few rows but roving was calling me. So I went back to the roving room and picked out the 2 oz of Flame Firestar roving that my SP6 Pal Anna had sent me. Very intriging roving. Purple and orange. I just had to spin it all up to see what the end result was going to be.

TOOOOOO COOOOOL, take a look. You want to hear the funny part though? I always over research everything. But not last night, maybe it was that half glass of reisling... I grabbed the roving without checking out the fiber content. Didn't even occur to me to look it up online. Now that it is all spun, soft and skeined I looked it up. It's 100% nylon. In disbelief I did the burn test and sure enough! It, I find out now, is intended to be combed into other roving at a rate of 1 oz to 1 lb. oooooppsssss. Hey it's pretty!

The next pic was taken over the new years weekend. I figured this is what was going on when a pound of winter mix for the birds was being eaten every 48 hours.

No Knit Night Last Night

After working an 11 hour day, then going to a high school basketball game, by the time we got home about all the energy I had went into flipping pages in The Purl Stitch book. I think it was more of a subconscience avoidance of opening up my My Town Bag project bag and working a row or two! My excuse was I need to look at projects for my order of Romney/Mohair roving that should show up any time.

The basketball game was weird. Our son's ex-high school is under major construction so the basketball games are being played at the other high school in town. Their campus is under construction too, including their boy's gym but in better shape than HHS. See picture of the Falcon Gym in the left column. You have to hike over to another building to use the rest rooms. And being a mid-week game, there wasn't much of a crowd. Just the dirty birds (the group of students that stand thru entire games and cheer)

What we really wanted to go for was to see the pep band. When our son was drum section leader for 3 years and then drum major, 50-60 band members would play both the girls and boys games, no matter what night of the week it was. Last night there were 4 drummers and I counted approx 23 other pep band members. A sorry sight compared to what we are used to.

Handspun Mittens are off the Needles

Just need to lightly felt them. I thought of doing that by hand but I think I'll pillowcase and throw them in the next load of wash for 3-4 minutes. Shouldn't take long.

My SP7 Questionaire Answers

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Yes I am a yarn snob. If there was such thing as 200% wool, that would be wonderful! Cotton is yummy too, but not as much as good ol' wooly.
2. Do you spin? Crochet? I spin, weave, dye, knit, don't care to crochet though. I also sew and used to make fiber sculptures.
3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? All our Turbo Addis are in their original packaging, and then they are all stacked in a canvas tote in order of size (Can you say Monk?) Then the DPNs are stored behind them.
4. How long have you been knitting? Knitting on and off since 1960. Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Intemediate.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No.
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) I'm not really into scents. I guess if anything it would be green tea, melon, grapefruit or gardenia!
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Can you believe it, I don't like chocolate. Unless you are talking about fresh picked rasberrys, I guess I have a fruit tooth! Favorite candy? Good and Plenty and Bit O'Honey.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Tinkering with computers and other electronics. Photography. Love cameras.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I've been stuck in this 1960's rut since the 1960's. I've been wearing my hair the same since about 1968 and listening to the same music. My taste in music is stuck in psychedelic rock. If it is San Francisco psychedelic rock it's even better! Yes on MP3s.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? Well there is purple. And purple. And I really like purple. Oh, did I mention purple? Deep royal purple. If you have Photoshop, put R84, G5, B71 in the color picker and that is close. Or Panetone 525C or 526C. Deep rich colors are my favorite pallette. Dislike pastelles, dislike pink. Don't like sock yarns that are self striping or make fake fair isle.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I have one hubby,one son away at college. Three cats, Rufus, 9 year old Maine Coon, his daughter Ruby, 5 years old and Rosemary "Iam the the queen and don't you forget it", 13 years old Tuxedo.
12. Do you wear scarves Yes, hats No, mittens Yes or ponchos No?
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? My own hand dyed colors in Louet Gems. Koigu KPPPM and Cherry Tree Hill for socks. Kureyon Big for mittens.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Synthetics
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Not an obsession but in a rut. I've been doing too many mittens lately.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Ones that don't take me 15 years.
17. What are you knitting right now? My Town Bag from Cast On mag. Need to finish sock 2 of my hand dyed wool.
18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes. Do you paint? I like little watercolor paintings. And B&W photographs.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circs whenever possible
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Turbo Addis in circs, Brysons for DPNs, no pref on straights because I tend to avoid them.
21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes Yes
22. How did you learn to knit? My little Italian Mom taught me!
23. How old is your oldest UFO? Going on year 15...
24. What is your favorite animated character Hello Kitty and Chococat or a favorite animal/bird? Cats and buffalos
25. What is your favorite holiday? I generally hate holidays, mostly the commericalism that goes with them. I do celebrate my own though. Like I look forward to the Perseid Metor Shower around August 12th. Does this make me a pagan?
26. Is there anything that you collect? There is a specific monkey usually given away at trade shows. Outfit or lack of one doesn't matter. Example of the little guy at httl://www.epromos.com/productimg/8815773J.jpg. I also collect toy Vespa's, toy Mini Coopers. Anything in the Johnny Lightning British Invasion 2001 release die cast cars.
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? None, I just buy them one at a time if I find something I like. Seems like every time I subscribe to a mag, the next years worth of issues stink.
28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? No, Hubby keeps us pretty well stocked. Thanks though. Well maybe one thing. A diz.
29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Mobius Cast On
30. Are you a sock knitter? Oh silly me, Yes, I'd rather knit my own socks. What are your foot measurements? Not available. (I would be thrilled though with hand dyed sock yarn that you have dyed if you are a dyer!!!)
31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) Same as Enzo Ferrari

I lead a pretty boring life out side of knitting!!!
So here are more misc. facts. I'll just keep adding to them when I think of it.

• I love living in a community without much light pollution. We can see the Milky Way even on moon lit nights. I love watching meteor showers and ever since the days of the Echo satelites, have been fasinated with watching man made objects in orbit 100's of miles above us.
• I love the Pacific. I've been on, in or next to it from Alaska to Mexico and the southernmost tip of Hawaii. Some day I'd like to travel to other Pacific shores.
• My family knows that someday when I die, I want my ashes tossed off one of the Washington State Ferrys as it winds its way through the San Juan Islands. That area just feels so restful to my soul. Oh and I want Norman Greenbaum invited to my wake so he can sing Spirit in the Sky. I have his email if you need it.
• I have entire conversations with Rosemary our cat. She looks me right in the eyes and meows. I answer back in English. We both are satified with the conversations.
• Our first 3 home computers were Macs, including the original that we got on March 13, 1984. We've had PCs since 1997. I'm ready for an ibook but...
• I am becoming more satisfied with my black and white photography than my color photography.
• I miss working in a creative environment. Somethings gotta change!
• I can't play a lick of music. I am not tone deaf, but I can't read music and I have no rhythm. Our son though is a very gifted bass player, both electric and upright. Music must have skipped a few generations on my side of the family.
• I do not like to quilt. Therefore I don't do it.
• I like coffee but I like iced tea even more!!
• The Pad Thai at Zao's in Seattle is wonderful. Zao's is our latest favorite lunch spot in Seattle but a real pain to get to (not to mention that it is over 200 miles away). We usually have lunch there and then go over to The Weaving Works.

Progress Reports Added

Take a look!!! I have added progress reporting to the right sidebar. Now I can remind myself about how far behind I am.

I just noticed that I said "My Town Bad" instead of "My Town Bag" in my sidebar and you know what? I'm going to keep it that way till it behaves.

Christmas is gone till next year

Finished Dave's second fingerless mitt at Friday Night Knit Night. Wylie Lee showed pictures of their family Christmas where she'd given all the youngsters their own copy of Stupid Sock Creatures and a bag of bad socks. The resulting creatures were wonderful!!

Took 2 out of 3 signs of Christmas down today. The fake tree didn't take long. Maybe 45 minutes to pack up the ornaments, 5 minutes to take off the light and another 5 to debranch the tree and throw it and the fireplace garland back in the box. I still need to take the semi-holiday looking table cloth off the dining room table.

This was a record setting year for the dining room. We ate at least 4 meals there in 2005!!! One of these days I'd like to modernize the rotted old curtains and I have a new lamp kind of picked out at Home Depot. But before I do any of this I'd really need to paint the room. And I don't think I can get the giant mirror off the way by myself so.... excuses excuses...
I am looking at lamps something like this, to go with our mid-80's vintage travertine marble dining room table and washed pine queen anne style chairs. The carpet is just fine, even if it is dark rust. Can you tell the house was built in the mid-70's? Darn it all, it has high end carpet and when we have the carpets cleaned, the cleaners always tell us to keep it because it's very nice quality.

One down one to go

Finished the last few rows of Dave's FM's last night and started the second one. I should be able to finish it up tonight at Friday Night Knit Night then post a pic here. They are very very nice if I may say so!

We went out for soup and beer last night. We consider that our "cheap date meal". Get's us out of expensive restaurants for under $25. We went to our local Anthony's. I was the only family member that hadn't been to ours. We started eating at the Des Moines Anthony's back when it was called the Whales Tale in the late '70's. I've also eaten at the Shilshole Bay and Pier 66. Of course I prefer the Elliot Bay views to ours so I was glad we ate at the Richland one post-dusk. The interior is beautiful, the exterior view leaves a lot to be desired - by me at least even though it overlooks a boat basin.

The house seems so quiet again without Graham. I got used to closing his bedroom door tighter in the morning while we were getting ready for work so we wouldn't wake him. I grabbed for it the first few mornings. He finished buying his books for this quarter, thinks his variable calc prof is the biggest math nerd he's ever met, hopes his engineering physics class will be entertaining and thinks honors philosophy will be fun. This quarter Friday's are his light class load day, he's done by noon.

Toooooo tired

I am so tired today at work that if I were to shut my eyes, I'd smack the desk and keyboard with my head. So I am working with my office door shut just incase!!! In a while I'll go on a work related trip to Home Depot. Maybe that will wake me up.

Last night I got within 2 ribbing rows of completing mitt #1 of Dave's fingerless mitts. The yarn is a joy to work with. Ruby thinks it tastes pretty good though, usually she sleeps in my lap without sampling the yarns working over her head. Last night she was being helpful...

Red Sky at Morning

Got to the office parking lot just as dawn was breaking. A beautiful red glow was coming from the east. I stood outside till I got chilly (I never wear a coat from the truck to the office building). Didn't grab my camera though.

We haven't had Friday Night Knit Night for the past 2 weeks because of the holidays. I miss it so I am looking forward to it this Friday. Plus I'm getting pretty tired of knitting in front of televised football. Even if I do prefer NCAA to NFL.

I ordered 24 more ounces of the African Violet Roving from Fibers of Michigan. It will be here in about a week.

Below is a quick snapshot of GB in the Gansey sweater that Dave knitted for him for Christmas. I think it fits Dave better than Graham. Too big, but warm, soft and comfy. It's in Black Water Abbey in Moss. I was going to take more pictures when we were in Seattle dropping Graham off at Seattle U but it was quite drizzly.
Sunday night we had Rachel (Graham's girlfriend) and Jared (Graham's best friend) over for dinner. Rachel will be headed back to George Washington U in about a week and a half, and Jared back to Evansville U next weekend. It was hard for them to say goodbye. left to right: Rachel, Graham, JaredGraham and Rachel will have gone out a year around Valentines Day so Graham is planning on knitting her something. (classwork being his priority of course). We toured So Much Yarn in Seattle on Monday and Graham introduced himself to the staff there, in case he needs a little coaching. He's thinking of a hat and mittenettes in Noro Kureyon or Silk Garden. Though a shawl or wrap would be nice too.

I couldn't leave Hilltop Yarn East without a copy of Weekend Knitting. I'd seen it on the internet but hadn't had a chance to skim through it till Monday and had to buy it on the spot!!