Category Archives: travel

back from crafting, I mean camping…

Posted on August 7, 2010 | 10 Comments

I’m home, skeeter-bit, itchy, and happy. We were at Swift Forest Camp on the Lewis River in Washington. It was marvelous to look up and see this by day…

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…and a million stars by night. Being away from city lights really changes the night sky. It’s too early for the Perseid meteor showers, but we saw several meteors streak across the sky each night, including a very bright one tracing the Milky Way. Gorgeous!

I brought my knitting, and I was completely engrossed in my ruffle tank. I ripped both front and back down to the neck shaping so I could adjust the depth of the neckline. I had a “duh!” epiphany: I needed to figure how far *down* from the shoulders I wanted the neckline before I could figure how far *up* to start it from the armhole shaping, since I was changing the depth of the armhole, too. That sounds like gibberish, but it makes perfect sense. I wish I’d thought that through the first time. I also decided to forego the keyhole neckline on the back, and give it the same shaping as the front. I finished front and back, and started adding the ruffles.

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I love how this is turning out; the ruffles are fun to make and charming to look at.

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I shopped for these beads for an ankle bracelet last month and hadn’t gotten around to making it. Carole designed and put this together for me since I was otherwise obsessed.

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We had some bead stash sharing and swapping.

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It’s a multi-family camp out, which makes it all the more fun. The teens woke up on Thursday and decided to try to make a sailboat with the inflatable raft. It’s amazing what they can do with sticks, duct tape, rope, and the rainfly from a tent.

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And it worked! Mast, sail, working boom, and a paddle as a rudder.

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We had a great time, even without our electronic toys. There was no cell service in the area, and sometimes it’s nice to be untethered. But I’m looking forward to my new iPhone4 on Tuesday!

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Posted in beading, Knit, travel

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summer slow down

Posted on July 14, 2010 | 5 Comments

I thought I’d have a lot more knitting to show you, since I had 3 hours in the car and 6 hours on a plane on Friday, but I’m just a little further than I was in the previous post. Why?

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See how the lace pattern on the back gets wider every 6 rows? Apparently I forgot to increase the lace on the left edge on the last increase set, and then I knit merrily on for 30 rows. Oops. I blame it on the spa at the resort. I had a delightful body polish/mud wrap/moisturizing treatment, and was so relaxed when I came back to my knitting that I wasn’t really paying attention. But it was worth it.

We passed through Boston’s Logan Airport on the way back, and I met up with a friend that I’ve known for years but had never met in person. We frequent the same piano forums, and Ravelry, and we’re Facebook friends, too.

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Not only did she drive to the airport to meet me, but she brought me a gift.

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Truffles from Dante Confections, made by Santi Falcone, her neighbor, the ex-piano maker. How cool is that? I read about him in “Piano Lessons: Music, Love and True Adventures” by Noah Adams, way back before I ever went to piano camp. Thank you, Kerri!

Flight home was uneventful, but I didn’t do a lot of knitting there, either. There was free wi-fi on the plane (in-flight wi-fi seems so wrong, since they’ve always told us to have our wi-fi OFF before this), so I caught up on my blog reading. Now I need to go knit, instead of reading about knitting!

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people will talk…

Posted on July 7, 2010 | 11 Comments

Martha! Some crazy lady is out back taking pictures of her knitting!

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Yup, it’s true. I’m at a resort on the coast of Maine for DH’s work conference, so the neighbors don’t know me. They can talk all they want. This is the back lace on Passiflora.

back lace

We came here via Boston, so I had a lot of knitting time on the plane and in a car. We spent a night in Boston, and took a quick tour through the North End before coming up by car. I had to see this.

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One if by land, two if by sea at the Old North Church, right? Do you remember which it was? No peeking! In the meantime, here are the organ pipes in the church.

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The organ was built in 1759 and was the first organ made entirely in the Colonies. The organ has been rebuilt several times, but the case is original. The clock was built in 1726, and is the oldest functioning clock in a public building in the USA.

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And it was two lanterns, signaling that the British were leaving Boston for Lexington and Concord by sea. Points to you if you remembered! (I forgot.)

Here’s just after sunset last night.

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We took a boat tour this afternoon; here’s the lighthouse and dock from the water.

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You can stay in the lighthouse, but it’s not air conditioned. We’re having a heat wave on this coast this week, so I’m happy to be in a room with a/c!

Dinner tonight was a traditional lobster bake.

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Doesn’t it look delicious?

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I’m looking forward to seeing how Passiflora shapes up. The lace you saw in the previous post goes up the sides of the garment. There’s a little bit of lace on the front, but not as much as on the back. The lacy holes should be nice air conditioning. The yarn is fuzzier than I thought it would be, but it’s the yarn specified in the pattern. I wouldn’t want to wear it on a super hot day, but I can see wearing it in Portland…Oregon, that is.

What’s your summer knitting? Or winter knitting, for those of you down under?

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Virtue is its own reward

Posted on May 5, 2010 | 11 Comments

That’s what they say. But it’s pretty sweet to get an additional reward.

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Dez over at Knitting Asylum had a drawing for people who donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti. I won a prize! Pen and tape measure, and a beautiful stitch marker necklace made from Czech glass and shell. These are really pretty, and what a great way to keep track of them.

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Thanks, Dez!

I was away for the weekend up at Menucha Retreat Center, working at our annual women’s retreat. This one was filled with music! We sang through the Holden Evening Prayer Service on Friday evening, which was lovely. Some of my Day Old Pastries were on hand to help with the music for the rest of the weekend. I love my Pastries.

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I did get some knitting done. See my prototype shawl on my knee, and the new one in my hands? The new one is coming along swimmingly; I really like it. I’ll show it to you, soon. Check out the handknit socks, too.

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My favorite thing at Menucha, besides the view…

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…is the labyrinth. It’s a good place to be silent and meditative.

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It’s always interesting to discover a new epiphany when I reach the center.

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This beautiful garden is across from the dining hall.

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There’s a hidden space up there, with a rock bench facing this.

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I love spring, in all its glory.

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How was *your* weekend?

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Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, music, travel

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The rest of spring break

Posted on March 29, 2010 | 23 Comments

Knitterly stuff first:

fini

The Felted Slip Stitch Tote. I felted this a couple nights ago. The colors are a bit muted compared to the pre-felted bag, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! It’s still bright, but not too bright. I’m pleased with it, and I hope Shannon & Emily at Twisted are, too. It’s a shop sample. Now my original tote can come home! It’s been on loan for a while.

While I was up in Seattle, we went to Uwajimaya for groceries for CollegeDude (one more term!). Yes, I know there’s an Uwajimaya in Beaverton, but we weren’t going to have time to get there before he headed back down to school. There’s a Kinokuniya bookstore in Uwajimaya, so I had to go check out the extensive knitting section. I bought this stitch dictionary.

stitches

I really like the way it’s organized. There are sections for leaves/diamonds, lace, stripes, flowers/bobbles, zigzags, pyramids/checks…nice. The introductions to each section are really pretty.

leaf

stripe

I also met up with Kathy one afternoon before the guys came up. We went to the Japanese Garden at the Arboretum. Even in the rain, the flowering trees were gorgeous.

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These seed pods were a little eerie.

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The rain didn’t bother the koi.

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When the boys came up, we visited the very cool Seattle Public Library.

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and the market, of course. We needed more spices from Market Spice!

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I love the market. Even onions become art.

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On the way home, we stopped by the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.

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It wasn’t open, but we really just wanted to look at some of the exterior art, and the footbridge that goes to the courthouse (full of Chihuly works, but I didn’t take a picture on the bridge). The US Courthouse is adjacent to the old Union Station, which showcases some of Dale Chihuly’s works. This chandelier hangs in the center of the rotunda.

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And I love this window that looks back towards the museum.

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A fun getaway, and now it’s back to work!

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Spring fever…

Posted on March 27, 2010 | 11 Comments

This week I finished a couple projects, including the straps for the felted slip stitch tote. I felted it last night. It’s drying, so I’ll take pictures tomorrow. This project took more yarn in the heavier Brown Sheep Lanaloft than the original KnitPicks Wool of the Andes; I’ll edit the pattern notes to make reflect that.

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I had a fun day at Pico Accuardi Dyeworks. I taught an entrelac class in the morning. We even purled back without turning our work! This saves so much time when you’re working stockinette over a small number of stitches.

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I also took a drop spindle class with Deb Accuardi. We worked with wool roving and with top, and mixed in some other fiber, too. My goal was to spin a more consistent single, and I did. And then we plyed some of it, too.

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Stevanie Pico taught dyeing. All in all, a fun day.

The days are getting longer and lighter, and the air is getting warmer. Weeds are springing up like crazy in the garden. The boys helped me weed the front flowerbeds, and we’re in the process of taking out all the Japanese anemone. It was only slightly invasive when we had a big birch tree to shade it, but when we had to remove the tree, the anemone got too happy in the full sun and took over the garden. Buh-bye.

With spring, I’m also feeling the urge to jettison my unfinished Heather Hoodie (bulky yarn) and cast on something breezy and new! But I’m afraid if I set it aside, I’ll never go back to it. Yikes. I think it’s all a result of spring break.

I headed up to Seattle last weekend to play guitar with a piano friend. Yes, that sounds nonsensical, but it’s true. We met in 2000 at September Sonata, a piano camp in Bennington VT. We were roomies then, and have been friends ever since. In fact, there’s a whole group of us west coast “Piano Babes” that get together at least annually. Some of us aren’t playing the piano a whole lot right now (moi, for one), but we still have a lot in common.

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Last fall, I bought a new guitar, and Sheryl did, too. They’re both Takamines with the same body style (NEX); mine is cedar and mahogany with a satin finish, and hers is spruce and maple, with a gloss finish. We’ve been trying to get together to compare them, and finally did. Hers sounds warmer/mellower from the back (playing) and more forward/pushy/rock from the front, and mine is mellower from the listener’s point of view, and brighter from the player’s perspective. I happily played them both!

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Some of the other piano babes came over on Saturday; we played/sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. We also web-surfed to check out kd lang’s version (she opened the Olympics with it), Jeff Buckley’s (hailed by some as the best) version, Bon Jovi’s acoustic version (my favorite), and of course, Leonard Cohen’s version (Live in London). C played this last year in Carmel, so it seemed like good common ground.

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We had a great time! Thanks to Sheryl for hosting. There was more spring break activity, but I’ll leave that for another post.

What is spring inspiring you to do?

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Posted in Knit, music, spinning, travel

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Crafty Mom Weekend 7.0

Posted on March 10, 2010 | 17 Comments

What I didn’t tell you about the Portland Yarn Crawl: I wasn’t going to be there! I had a Pippi Hat at Happy Knits in the scavenger hunt, but that was it for me. I was at the beach for Crafty Mom weekend. This was the seventh annual getaway; there were 10 of us this year. The weather doesn’t matter much. If it’s nice, I get some good walks in. If it’s not nice, the view from the window is enough.

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I had a very productive weekend. I started my Felted Slip Stitch Tote shop sample for Twisted. I love the vibrant colors of Brown Sheep’s Lanaloft. And the pattern just flies along. I would have finished it, but I had a few other projects that needed work, too.

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I started and finished a secret project; I’ll tell you about that someday soon. I played the guitar. I wrote lyrics for a song. I did a little spinning with my drop spindle. I enjoyed the view!

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I worked on my Heather Hoodie. The cables are lovely. I love how the cable pattern ended at exactly the right place to make an “O” when I joined the shoulders. Serendipity!

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But even before the weekend, my hands were already aching from knitting cables with bulky yarn. Manipulating the stitches makes my hands tired. I’m cabling without a cable needle (see tutorials on the sidebar), but I don’t think it would be any better if I used one, because I’d still be manipulating the stitches. I’ve been playing a lot of guitar, too, so my hands feel used and abused!

I joined the fronts to the back, and I did the math to knit sleeves down from the armholes. I’m going to make the sleeves plain stockinette rather than cable some more. I’d like to finish this and wear it before it gets too warm! It snowed on us on the drive back over the Coast Range, so there’s still time…

What did you do this weekend?

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Posted in Knit, spinning, travel

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SEA-PDX Yarn Train

Posted on January 17, 2010 | 23 Comments

The annual Seattle to Portland Yarn Train arrived in town on Saturday, bringing Seattle knitters down south for a yarn crawl. I couldn’t meet the train because I was rehearsing with the Day Old Pastries, so I met up with Kathy at Knit/Purl.

Knit Purl

I met Kathy last summer at the Sock Summit Ravelry party, and we’ve been bloggy friends ever since. She was with her friend Chandria, and Denise, whom they met on the train. I offered to take the three of them across town to Twisted, my usual stomping grounds. But first, I needed to check in at the PDXKnitbloggers’ home base at the Starbucks kitty corner from Knit/Purl.

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I found Cindy, Duffy, Judy, Susan…and a table covered with yarn.

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Susan was just back from TNNA, and she had a samples of her entire new Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn. Judy was trying to choose two coordinating colors for a design project. It was difficult, because they were all gorgeous!

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We did make it over to Twisted. As we pulled up, my phone picked up a text message. It was a tweet from Twisted: “Love Stinks! Spend your Valentine’s day hexing your crappy ex with our Voodoo Doll kits! (Then go on a date with someone way hotter)” That made me laugh out loud. We went in asking for the voodoo dolls, and here they are, modeling in front of the wall of sock yarn.

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Kathy bought some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran to make a Pippi hat. It will be her first color work. Fun!

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I also ran into Debbi and her friend Susan, and Sharon (but I forgot to take her picture, sorry).

Debbi

All that yarn shopping is exhausting! We had a very late lunch at Costello’s, down the street, and then headed to Yarnia. I’d never been to Yarnia before, so this was an adventure for me, too.

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Yarnia is like Build-a-Bear for knitters. You choose thin fibers/colors you want to put together, and they are wound off together onto a cone to make the yarn of your dreams. Denise was in heaven! She got exactly what she wanted for a shawl project. With sparkle in it, of course. Here’s the winding machine in action. (There’s a cone of shiny stuff on the floor, feeding into the yarn on the cone, but I didn’t realize it when I was filming.)

There wasn’t time to visit any more yarn stores, so I chauffeured the happy knitters back to the train station. And I realized then that I didn’t buy any yarn at all! I’m just not much of a stasher. It was a fun day.

Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the States. Are you participating in any MLK Day activities? I’ll be at a workday for the Backpack Program; they provide weekend lunches for needy children at a local elementary school. (For some children, a federally-sponsored school lunch is their main meal of the day, and there is no school lunch on the weekend.) The Day Old Pastries will lead some singing at the event. If you’re local and looking for something to do, it’s from 1 to 3 p.m. at Woodlawn United Methodist Church, 1425 NE Dekum, Portland, 97211.

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Posted in Blogging, Knit, music, travel

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Unexpected snow, and 2009 knitting wrap-up

Posted on December 31, 2009 | 24 Comments

We had a little surprise snowfall on Tuesday. It wasn’t in the forecast. Traffic got snarly (PDX isn’t used to snow), but I whisked DH out to Edgefield for the night, as planned. This was my Christmas gift to him.

Edgefield used to be the Multnomah County Poor Farm, a long time ago. Now it’s a property owned by the McMenamins, who take old places and make them into fun and funky pubs, restaurants and resorts. There’s a lot of art on the doors and walls. I love the knitter in this painting. I also saw her in another painting, in which she was knitting the chess board as the players played.

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My friend’s mom, Sharon Nesbit, is a local historian, and she wrote a history of Edgefield. Here’s her door on room 3.

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And portrait, too! I love her title, Queen of Troutdale.

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I have another connection here. My friend Dawn Phelps McConnell used to paint for McMenamins. She passed away two years ago, from cancer. There’s a portrait of her in one of the hallways. (excuse the flash; it was dark)

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We had a lovely stay. Snow makes everything a bit magical.

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We enjoyed music down in the Winery. The walls are glass, and there are barrels behind one set of windows, and stainless steel vats behind the opposite windows. A really cool space.

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My favorite amenity? The soaking pool at Ruby’s Spa. We had to don our snow boots to go down the driveway to get there. But it was worth it! I loved how the steam rose off the hot water.

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soaking pool

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There are a lot of great nooks and crannies in which to hang out, read, knit, whatever. I did do some knitting. I’ll show you next time. But here’s the obligatory 2009 FO mosaic, to tide you over. Whoops! I see that my log cabin blanket made it in there twice. Sorry. But it was a big project! I was surprised to see that I finished it in January; I thought it was a 2008 FO.

2009 FO Mosaic 2

I see a lot of repeat items here, and a lot of small items. Time for a big project! I want to knit a sweater, soon. I’ve ordered yarn, and can’t wait to cast on. Soon.

Happy New Year!

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Posted in Knit, travel

Pippi goes to Multnomah Falls

Posted on December 13, 2009 | 20 Comments

It’s been really cold here lately, with temperatures down in the teens. That’s pretty chilly for our mild climate. But Jack Frost is an artful decorator. check out my windshield.

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Laurie and I took a quick trip out to Multnomah Falls on Friday morning. It’s one of my favorite places; I’ve posted about it in other seasons, too. Laurie was wearing her Pippi hat.

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The falls were stunningly gorgeous.

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Some people made the short trek up to the bridge, but I was short on time and not dressed for more than a quick photo op.

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The lower falls:

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We had a quick stop at Rooster Rock on the way back, and saw the ice in the Columbia. Do you see Beacon Rock way up the river?

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I’m knitting away at a new design project. I took it with me in the car, but I can’t show it to you yet, so here’s another picture of someone else’s knitting. One of my students from my Christmas stocking class sent me a picture of her nearly finished project. Congratulations, Courtney; it looks great!

courtney stocking

What’s on your needles?

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