Tag Archives: spring

Beads in knitting and pink spring!

Posted on March 31, 2022 | 6 comments

Whoa, 21 days since my last post? Inconceivable! I’ve been knitting up a storm, and paring down a to-do list that grew to anxiety-provoking length. It’s better now. On the to-do list were three video tutorials for the project on the needles. No, the project isn’t hard. But sometimes having an extra visual can make things more clear.

Adding beads to your knitting

One of the videos shows how to add beads to your knitting using the crochet hook method, and also using a BeadAid, which is my favorite beading tool. You can click the link above to watch it.

The video also features my bead tin setup. I hope you enjoy it!

This past week the cherry blossoms have come into their full glory down at the Willamette River waterfront. This is the river that goes through the center of Portland.

Gorgeous! I went for a walk with friends last Thursday.

And then DH and I rode our bikes down there on Sunday. It’s a nice 10 mile loop from our house.

The magnolia trees are in full bloom, too.

My favorite camellia hedge is also blooming, even more than in this updated Camellia Wrap picture from 3 weeks ago. It’s definitely Think Pink season around here.

It looks like we’re in for a rainy weekend. Perfect timing. I’ll be teaching two zoom classes this weekend: Deep End Brioche Increases and Decreases on Saturday and Sheepy Steeky Coasters on Sunday. It’s not too late to sign up for either one, but the steeks class has homework so you’d definitely need to address that now.

Happy spring! Or fall, depending where you live. Happy change of seasons, anyway…

6 Comments

Posted in beading, classes, Knit, Portland area fun, tutorial

Tagged beads in knitting, cherry blossoms, spring

Sometimes, ya just gotta…

Posted on March 31, 2013 | Comments Off

We don’t have a big Easter celebration at our house, but I was going to a friend’s house this afternoon, and then we’re having a Game of Thrones watch party at our house this evening. What could be more appropriate than beheading…a Peep?

My friend Carole and I put these together this afternoon, using these instructions and then just winging the rest. Cute, huh?

I also made lemon bars and chocolate chip shortbread, so it wasn’t all fun and games.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it, and happy spring to the rest of the northern hemisphere!

And for those of you down under, it’s time to start knitting woolies. Everybody wins!

Comments Off on Sometimes, ya just gotta…

Posted in foodies!

Tagged peeps, spring

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.

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.

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.

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.

My favorite thing at Menucha, besides the view…

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

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

This beautiful garden is across from the dining hall.

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

I love spring, in all its glory.

How was *your* weekend?

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Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, music, travel

Tagged Knit, Menucha, music, spring

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.