Why I Knit

Knitting brings us closer to the ones we love.  Whether in person, or the internet…knitting has brought me together with an amazing group of kindred spirits!  I can’t imagine life in here in Portland without my dear Caitlyn…and relaxing evenings at home knitting with my sister Kerry.    With the advent of Ravelry, I’ve even been able to “meet” knitters who I would have NEVER been able to otherwise.  (Like my yarn swap pal Katja from Norway!) Knitting brings me closer together with the sweet people whom I get to make things for!  As I knit, I often think of the wonderful woman who taught me how to knit and crochet in the first place…my Grandma Nell…even though she’s passed on…we have this connection through needles and yarn

Speaking of friends and kindred spirits…I have a new found love of sock yarn.  Due mostly,  to a certain, newly local, (Are you Local?!)  influence in my life…the insanely talented sock knitta and designer Star!  We have been having all kinds of adventures, and many of them of the yarn persuasion (of course!).  Before we left San Francisco for home, we decided  to have a  “YARN CRAWL”.  In one day we hit up Artfibers, Imaginknit, Atelier Yarns, and Greenwich Yarn.  I was a very, very good girl and made only one purchase the entire time.  Kyoto Yarn from Artfibers.  It GLOWS, and I cannot wait to finally get the camera cord (I’ve purchased and returned 3 that were supposed to fit and didn’t!!!) replaced to show you pictures of my newly acquired stash.

And since we’ve been back in Portland, we continued our Yarn Crawl at Twisted, where I scored some Blue Moon Fibers, Socks that Rock in the “Mustang Sally” colorway. I also squeezed in a skein of Louet Gems for a super secret swatch I’m making.   We took a quick peek inside the Yarn Garden,  and I just had to show her Knit/Purl downtown…For all of my “hard work” schlepping the few boxes she sent ahead of her, Star was so kind as to bestow upon me a very special gift of a skein of Wollmeise yarn!  I squealed in delight when I opened it!

Yip-pee-ki-i!

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there’s one for you nineteen for me…

A friendly reminder…today is the day before we all have to get off of our rumps and get our taxes postmarked with that old-least-favorite-day-of-the-year: April 15th. Sheesh! Sometimes being a grown-up isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, i-tell-you-what. Alas, so instead of working on my lovely Kimono shawl, I have been on HOLD with the Oregon Dept of Revenue for the past HOUR…I am typing this while listening to the ever horrific Muzak. Did I also mention that today is Monday?!

No fun!

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Twinkle, Twinkle my friend Star

About an entire decade (lifetime?) ago I happened to be in a band on K records called the Subdebs. I was 19 years old, had just moved to the Northwest from San Francisco, and knew…well no one!

Enter Star. She was little bit older, smart, amazing, and funny…and when I first met her…I was incredibly nervous because I thought she was SO cool. Long story short…we ended up having this exciting shared experience of being in a band together! And although we haven’t lived close to each other in over 5 years, we have remained close friends.

Next Wednesday, I am flying down to San Francisco to meet her. We are going to spend a couple of days in the city (child and spouse free?!) and then I am helping her with her MOVE TO PORTLAND by driving with her the rest of the way! I love road trips!

One of my best friends is moving to my town and I couldn’t be more excited! There are parallels abound in our lives lived apart from each other. We both adore knitting (she has even been PUBLISHED!), spinning, hoping to live a holistic life, and dutch bicycles (just to name a few) . She has done her time in the City of Angels and is ready to make a really big move up into the Great Northwest.

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the 30-day challenge

My dear friend Caitlyn just challenged me to post to my blog, everyday, for the next 30 days! I’ve agreed. There is so much to share with you, my friends… it is going to be difficult to pinpoint a starting place.

Do you like lists? I LOVE lists. I make them all of the time. Lists for groceries and bills, books and dreams, friends and plants…you get the idea. So here is a list of items I will be sharing with you this week:

1. Chickens in their tweens.

2. Quilt of loooove. (my darling husband even helped me pick out the fabric!)

3. Vintage reproduction crochet and knitting projects. (Which I have been fiendishly translating and tweaking into new patterns for your enjoyment!)

4. Our urban farm. (Well, our garden really…but a farmgirl can dream, can’t she?!)

5. New sewing projects, including tips for your amusement.

6. Embroidery!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog everyone, and I hope to see you here soon!

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spring is here

i have been slowly, but ever so surely plugging away at this shawl. the pattern is called “kimono” from interweave’s book, “folk shawls”. the yarn is by fleece artist, blue face leicester in their moss color-way. i like it a lot so far!

i especially love the garter stitch edges…so pretty!

i was getting sooo excited about easter this morning, i decided to buy some egg dye… and was struck by the humor printed onto the label of the vinegar bottle:

“fit to be dyed”

yea.

good stuff.

as a testament to their love of Design (yes, with a capital D) my mister’s brother bob and his fancy wife jill, gave us this uber chic set of bowls as a wedding gift!

(we debated for a while whether or not they were cups or bowls, finally after checking out the website…we discovered that yes indeed-ie…they are bowls) just looking at them on the countertop makes me feel oh-so-modern.

i love the melon-like colors…

happy spring!

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