Author Archives: pdxknitterati

Winter = hand knits

Posted on December 5, 2008 | 13 comments

I’m at home today while contractors install insulation under the floor of my living room and dining room. That means a day of putting up Christmas and Hanukkah decorations and baking for an event on Sunday.

I’ve decorated the wreath on the front porch:
wreath

You can find my free pattern for these ornaments here. I always put mini candy canes in the stockings for the kids that walk by on their way to school.

The stockings are hung:

mantel

And the tree is up, too.

tree

Yes, this is all the tree I can manage. A few favorite ornaments, and I’m done. Mookie likes to chew on real trees, and then she gets sick. Who needs that?

Oh, btw, Mookie wants to go to Paris.

paris mook

She takes after me. C’est vrai. J’adore Paris!


You Belong in Paris


You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris.

You’re the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

.
Did any of you happen to catch the convergence of Venus, Jupiter, and the moon? They were at their closest this last Monday. I was flying home on Sunday night and saw it out the window of the plane. Some unknown (to me) town was underneath.

convergence

It’s hard to get a picture of a night sky from an airplane window with a point and shoot camera!

convergence2

May your days be merry and your nights be magical.

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Posted in Knit

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I’m a winner!

Posted on December 1, 2008 | 6 comments

Liz had a contest to celebrate her blogoversary, and I’m a winner! The prize is two skeins of Mirasol Hacho, a dk weight yarn. I can’t wait to get this yarn in my hands; I’ve used it before and love the weight of it. Just right for sport/dk weight socks, which is what I like to knit. Thank you, Liz!

If I ever have to go on the lam, I don’t want Tami tracking me. She’s a super-sleuth! I asked if anyone could figure out where I was last weekend, based on this statue.

statue back

Here’s her comment:

“We were watching Anthony Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ and this episode is set in Colombia where there’s a whole plaza of Fernando Botero statues.

A little work to get his name again and then search for ‘man & horse’ tells me that you are visiting here:

“This statue is located in Clayton, Mo. at the intersection of Wydown and Hanley. The statue is constructed in bronze by Columbian artist Fernando Botero.”

The picture I found shows that there’s a Starbuck’s behind him too, so you don’t have to be deprived while you’re in the middle of the country. ;^)

Have fun!”

I did have my holiday kick-off peppermint mocha at Starbucks over the weekend, and I think Tami was watching. Such diligence requires a reward. While this wasn’t an actual contest, she gets an actual prize!

minty

This is a tape measure from Lantern Moon. Seasonally cute! Tami, email me your snailmail addy, and I’ll send it to you.

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Posted in Knit, travel

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Moving right along…

Posted on November 29, 2008 | 9 comments

Moving right along…

I finished the third purple afghan square, the Twirly Square. It does look better with fewer rounds of stockinette and reverse stockinette. More chances to alternate! I found out that Anne lives just a few blocks from me, so that will be an easy drop-off. It’s a small world.

twirly

I think I finished the left front for Hey, Teach. I don’t have the back with me to make sure they’re exactly the same number of rows, so nothing is bound off. That’s what stitch holders are for! I’m going to use a three needle bind off for the shoulders anyway, so I won’t bind off until assembling.

lefty

Where am I? Here’s a hint.

statue 2

I love this statue; it’s all rounded and smooth and chunky, too. It went up several years ago and was a source of bemusement for the family, but I think it’s cool. Do you know where it lives?

statue

He looks a bit chilly this morning. Maybe next time I’ll bring him a hand knit scarf. And fingerless gloves. And socks! I’d have to enlist some help getting him accessorized, though; the horse is pretty tall.

Other fun: I’ve joined the Everyone Welcome Community Choir for six weeks. This was an outgrowth of the harmony singing class I took in October and November; the teacher is the director of the choir. We’re singing at a benefit concert at/for Artichoke Music at 5 pm on Sunday, December 7. If you’re in PDX and looking for something cool to do, come on over! The music is interesting, lots of world music. My favorite songs so far have been from South Africa.

Enjoy your weekend!

9 Comments

Posted in Knit, music, travel

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I see knitting everywhere

Posted on November 27, 2008 | 7 comments

I went for a walk while Thanksgiving dinner was cooking. This tree bark reminded me of cables:

oak cables

I stopped at Starbucks on the way back, and finally saw some of the yarn decorations I’ve been reading about on other blogs. The yarn balls don’t look real; maybe because they’re wound more tightly than I wind mine? Or maybe they’re wound around styrofoam balls? I didn’t squeeze them; it was probably weird enough that I was taking pictures with my phone.

wreath

I didn’t have my regular camera with me today. Tomorrow!

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. We had a great time with three generations of family. I’m thankful to be a part of it.

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Posted in Knit

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Knit a purple square

Posted on November 24, 2008 | 7 comments

or two, or three…

I’m knitting a few squares for Anne’s Knit A Purple Square project.

squares

These go pretty quickly in worsted weight yarn. The upper left square is the same pattern and yarn as my Checkerboard Scarflet. I measured my scarflet, and it’s 6 inches wide, which meant no refiguring gauge to get a six inch square! The Mitered Square is the same gauge as my garter stitch log cabin blanket; I just counted to find that 27 stitches = 6 inches, so this mitered square starts with double that, or 54 stitches.

The third square, still in progress, is based on Joan Schrouder’s afghan square in XRX’s Great American Afghan. It’s a twirly square! I’m going to rip it out and do it again with fewer rounds of the stockinette/reverse stockinette per stripe, so it can have more stripes within the 6 inches. Instead of 6 rounds, I’ll cut it back to 4 for each stitch pattern. I’ll stop at 5 inches, and add a garter stitch border. It didn’t take long to do (I was standing in line at student/teacher conferences this morning) so it’s an easy re-knit.

How was *your* weekend?

I’ve been thinking about this picture for a week. I didn’t have a camera on my walk last Sunday, and then the rains came. My next chance came yesterday.

ghostleaves

I love the way the ghosts of the leaves remain, long after the leaves are gone.

cam1

The brown leaves caught in the camellia hedge look bittersweet.

I like these late afternoon walks. The slanting light makes everything look slightly magical. There’s not time for a long walk, but it’s pretty invigorating anyway, because of these:

stair1

stair2

The neighborhood is built along a ridge, and there are public staircases between some of the hillside lots. Three are close to my house. They’re like secret passages, and they get the heart pumping!

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Posted in Knit, Uncategorized

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Report card

Posted on November 21, 2008 | 10 comments

I finished the back for Hey, Teach last night. I love the way it looks. The yarn is kind of splitty, tinking is a pain, and cotton is tiring to work with. My hands felt stiff when I woke up this morning. But look how pretty!

backdone

laceback

Yes, it’s sunny this morning, but everything is wet outside, so I’m reduced to chasing the sunny spots on the floor, much like the cat does.

I also finished the blue checkerboard scarflet, and took it over to Twisted to be a shop model. But I forgot to take a picture of it, so it’s not pictured here or on Ravelry. Yet.

I’m going to be knitting some purple squares for Anne’s Knit A Purple Square project. She’s making a purple afghan in honor/memory of her husband, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer last June. The afghan(s) will go either to a local cancer ward, or to raise money for PanCAN (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network). Can you knit a purple square, too?

purplesquare

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We have lift-off

Posted on November 16, 2008 | 11 comments

I swatched and started Hey, Teach. I didn’t think I liked the 1×1 ribbing at the bottom, so I tried it with two garter ridges (4 knit rows) instead. It looked ok, but it was going to be too heavy when I repeated it at the edge of the sleeve. Then I tried 1 garter ridge, but that didn’t provide enough stability to keep the stockinette stitch above it from curling. So I’m back to the original 1×1 rib. I think it looks fine! I guess I just needed to consider all my options, first.

ribbing

Here’s the rest of what I’ve done so far. Not bad for a few days work.

back

And a better view of the lace. I’ve finished one repeat of the 12 row lace pattern.

lace2

Last weekend, we took the Teen out for some driving practice on the Old Columbia River Highway. It was pretty late in the day, and it looked like the sunset would be pretty, so we drove up to Vista House at Crown Point.

vista house

From here you can see up and down the river. Here’s the view east:

crown pt east

And the view west:

crown pt west

It was pretty chilly out, so we didn’t stay long. I love the reflection of the clouds in the windows.

reflection

This weekend is dry. Finally. Temporarily. I took a walk on Friday, savoring the last bits of fall color. There are still some flowers:

anemone

flower

And the remaining leaves are glorious.

maple

branch

Even after they’ve fallen.

sidewalk

What did you do with your weekend?

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

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Winner!

Posted on November 14, 2008 | 5 comments

I’m a winner! KnittedWit had a contest on her blog, asking for voting stories. Here’s the prize: four ounces of her yummy hand-dyed yarn, 185 yards, color “passion,” 100% merino bulky weight.

purple

close 2

The color in this picture is a little more true:

purple close

See all the lovely shades of purple in there? I love semi-solid colors. I think this may become a new chunky scarflet in some interesting texture, but you never know until the yarn speaks. Thank you, Lorajean!

Knit night was fun last night, but there was a stray dust bunny. Godzilla-sized. Yikes. I showed Cathy how to short-row shoulders for her DH’s vest. This is a complete rip and re-do, and she’s almost done. Can’t wait to see the finished vest. It was good to have to explain short rows to someone else; it really solidifies the process for me. I’ve done it twice, explained it once, and now it’s internalized.

The pianoworld.com Adult Beginners Forum online recital goes live tonight at midnight. I squeaked in under the wire at number 64. Here’s a direct link to my piece; it’s Valse No. 1 from Valses Poeticos by Enrique Granados. I’m working on a couple others from this set, too, but they’re not ready for prime time!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, piano

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Like the fat man in Dune…

Posted on November 13, 2008 | 4 comments

Knit nite is at my house tonight. The house is, um, untidy, and there are dust bunnies (rabbits? lambs?) everywhere. I need to pick up a bit, go to work, come home, pick up some more. I’ll be flying around the house like the fat man in Dune. (I never saw the movie, just the trailer, with the…well, you get the picture.)

At least dinner is ready. Mom likes to go to Olive Garden for lunch when we’re out running errands. I love the Zuppa Toscana (sausage/potato/kale soup) there. I found a recipe for it last week and tried it. It’s pretty close; I did leave out the bacon, though. The sausage is enough! I made it again yesterday for tonight’s dinner; it’s better on the second day.

Not much knitting to show; the log cabin blanket is bigger, the secret project is longer, and the Hey, Teach is still in swatching mode. Second scarflet is done except for buttons. Maybe I’ll get some knitting done tonight.

It was wash day for the Fetchings here. I washed Mom’s for her; she once shrank a beautiful star tam that I made for her, and so now I’m in charge.

fetching

The darker ones are mine; I wear them all the time and have been missing them this week!

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Posted in Knit, recipe

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Beadazzled

Posted on November 9, 2008 | 6 comments

I spent some time on Friday putting some things together.

markers

These are the stitch markers for the January event at Twisted. I made 16 of each kind; they’re in school colors. I ended up not using the beads that I bought for the project, because they just didn’t look that good! So these are freshwater pearls on the top row, and blue crystals on the bottom row, plus some miscellaneous beads.

I also made a bracelet for a holiday gift (no names! no hints!).

copper2

I love this bead; the whole piece was built around it.

nautilus

And one more gift. The shell in the middle is from our trip this summer.

beach

You can see the sand inside!

detail

That should be a nice souvenir.

Turkey in the oven. I’m using my Dad’s oyster/Chinese sausage/water chestnut fried rice stuffing. He’s been gone since 2001, but I remember him in little ways, always. Baba’s Bed Socks were designed for him, way back when. Mom’s coming for dinner. It’s Thanksgiving preview; she’s going to LA for Thanksgiving!

6 Comments

Posted in beading

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