I am so excited! My new home has a peach tree in the backyard and this morning I harvested my first peaches!! I can’t wipe the smile off of my face! Check out how many I harvested, and this is not all of them. One of the largest limbs extends over the fence and into my neighbors yard and she brought over some for me as well! So, you know what I’m going to do, right? I’m going to make peach cobbler, peach preserves, peach ice cream….peach……
Yes!! I found my knitting needles today! Of course they were still packed in a box in the backyard shed where I stuffed everything upon moving in. I had been unpacking little by little, but that box was towards the back! Whew, I can’t believe I will actually begin knitting again. It’s been a long time…..too long!
Oh my, it has been ages since I’ve posted! My life has been completely turned upside down, sideways, humped-back and crooked, but I can see the horizon in focus! I have packed and sold a home and moved into another and almost unpacked…..but I can’t find my knitting needles! What the……?? I have more boxes to check….they have to be here somewhere…..
A wonderful thing happened while I’ve been gone…my daughter and her husband are going to give me my first grandchild!! It’s going to be a boy….ahh….I can’t wait to begin the first ‘grandbaby’ project. I ordered some yarn (khaki color) to make the Sheep Blanket, which has always been a favorite of theirs. Now to find those knitting needles…
Whew! Sorry for the neglect! There has been so much going on, my head is spinning! Update: I have finished the ‘Meandering Vines’ shawl for my niece…..it still needs to be blocked, though. I have an order for 3 children’s sweaters and a poncho! I am putting the edging on the poncho, and that will go to the blocking board as well.
Thanksgiving and my birthday occur this week! I will again be busy, as I imagine you will be, so let’s reconnect after all of the excitement is over! Hopefully I’ll have those F.O. to show!
Happy Thanksgiving! I have soooo much to be thankful for…..how about you?
Thanks, Annie, you have been a loyal blogger friend of mine and I appreciate your talent!
2. HEARING
3. & 4. SMELL & TASTE
5. FEEL
I have just returned from my first trip to Seattle! I went for a work conference and was there for five days, and believe it or not – – it never rained while I was there!! Believe it or not, the weather was nothing short of fabulous! The mornings were in the mid-50s and the highs were in the 80s. Perfect for sightseeing! I was everywhere…..shopping downtown, milling around the waterfront, and dinner at the Space Needle Restaurant. I even got my nails done at ‘Julep’, a cute shop that I was told afterward that Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway had recently stopped in!
I have several friends that live in Seattle, and I promised one of them a knitted neck warmer, which I almost forgot to make. So I began the project on the airplane and yes, finished it and gifted it before I left! I grabbed two skeins of yarn from my stash, ‘Terra‘ from the Fibre Company in the colorway, ‘Black Walnut’. It is a super warm and soft blend of 60% merino, 20% baby alpaca and 20% silk. The pattern I chose was ‘Thermis‘ by Kristen Patay.
As a I was finishing up the project in my hotel room, I realized that I forgot to pack buttons for it. So…..I knew I had to shop for them….in Seattle. I already had plans to go to the Kinokuniya Japanese bookstore recommended by Ava , so I planned to also visit a yarn shop in town to look for buttons. Btw, Ava has better photos of the bookstore than I do, so check out her blog. (The photos of the neck warmer in this photo were taken on a bench at the Space Needle, on top of a shoulder wrap that I wore that night for dinner.)
Kinokuniya was everything I had heard it to be…..shelves and shelves of knitting and crocheting books. Although not in English, the books are charted so well, that anyone can follow the patterns. I bought the ‘2009 Let’s Knit Series no. 141’ and ‘2008 Organic baby Knit no.4346’ books.
The hotel concierge knew of “So Much Yarn” and gladly gave me the address and mapped it out for me. The store was down on the waterfront and was very cute inside. The staff was friendly, and there was a great selection of yarn in stock, and yes, a nice collection of buttons to choose from. I had the neck warmer with me and took it out to size up the right buttons for it, and the clerk oohed and aahed over it. I was able to share with her the source of the pattern, as she had never seen it. That night I gifted the neck warmer and my friend seemed to like it alot. I hope it is well used. Seattle definitely had a certain charm, and I would love to visit again!
* Sorry for the quality of the photos, all were taken with my cell phone.
Today I watched the funeral of Sen. Ted Kennedy and was quite moved. He was a man that gave so much for the cause of others, lived with such a purpose that all of us should adopt, and left a huge legacy for his heirs to be proud of. May God bless, strengthen and immobilize his family members he left behind to continue in his footsteps.
I received my winning book, “Vogue Knitting 25th Anniversary” from Nik! Thank you, again, I love this book. It is a great source of history, techniques and interviews from the greatest designers in the industry. It will remain on my desk in my knitting room, because I just can’t see it sitting on a shelf!
Progress on the ‘Meandering Vines’ shawl is going well. I have completed the fifth repeat out of seven for the first half, as this shawl is made in two pieces, and then grafted together. The pattern repeat is now memorized and flowing with more ease than in the beginning! I did go out and buy a longer (29-inch) cable needle to hold the stitches better, and have not had any ‘pop’ off the needles since.
For the new knitters looking at this photo, I know the shawl appears wrinkly and the stitches indistinct…… this is because it has not yet been soaked and pinned down to dry (wet-blocked). In the previous post, I stretched it out before snapping the photo to show the stitch detail a little better. But stay tuned…..the beauty of this shawl is still yet to be revealed!
