Voices of August | PDXKnitterati

I had a great weekend, full of knitting and blogging fun. Saturday afternoon I taught Tink Drop Frog at Twisted, a class on how to identify and fix mistakes. I love teaching this class; it’s very empowering for students. We had two knitters who had very different knitting; all the knit stitches were twisted! The fascinating thing was that each had arrived at this look by very different paths. One was knitting all her stitches through the back loop. The other was purling with the yarn running clockwise instead of counterclockwise around the needle; this commonly happens with continental style knitting because it’s easier to pick in that direction. So we talked about ways to keep or change that (Eastern Combined Knitting, anyone?), because ultimately knitting is about how to get the look *you* want. And then we learned about tinking, laddering down, and how to get your knitting back on the needles when you frog. And yes, I’m aware that this paragraph confirms my knitting nerdiness.

After class I headed down to Powell’s Books to hear Clara Parkes read from her new book, The Yarn Whisperer. Clara is smart, charming, and witty. She had a little knitting limerick contest to give away some of her famous Claramels, and I won one! I *think* it was chocolate and espresso; I *know* it was delicious.

I’m looking forward to reading my autographed book!

On to the next event! Local journalist, blogger, all around great guy George Rede has a Voices of August feature on his blog, with guest bloggers all month. This was my second year guest posting on his blog. George has a meet-up for his guest posters, and it is so much fun to meet the other bloggers in person!

That was quite the afternoon/evening. But it was all good. Sunday was a little bit calmer. It was gorgeous out, but I had to take a nap between events, so I missed the sunshine! The day ended with the kids over for wonton soup. (Recipe in the linked post.)

How was your weekend?

First of all, I was guest blogging as one of the Voices of August on a friend’s blog. This is the second time I’ve done this, and I was honored to be invited again. As a maker/crafty person, I feel like I’m pretty capable of making things happen, so it’s bothersome when I come up against something that’s not so easy. How do I deal with it? Go read my guest post, Because I Can, to find out. And if you’d like to know what I wrote last year, you can find my musings on The Empty Nest here.

Saturday was also the Portland Bridge Festival Block Party to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Broadway Bridge. DH and I rode our bikes down to check it out.

Tyler Mackie, Bridge for Blankets creator, hosted the Bridge for Blankets info/raffle table. I bought tickets, but I didn’t win the Raffghan. I’m glad it’s going to a good home, though.

Members of the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus modeled some fancy bridges. I can’t walk in heels like those on level ground; how do they do it on gravel?

DH and I rode under the bridge to look at some condos along the river that I admired on my last ride. He says they’re not urban enough; he’d rather be in the Pearl. proper. Guess we’re not moving to a condo yet since our condo visions don’t match up!

And Sunday afternoon I went sailing on the Columbia with friends. The sky cleared and there was a very light breeze. The sunset was lovely.