More Yarn

Rob left yesterday morning to head to Moab in Utah for some serious riding on his new mountain bike. He rented a car at a greatly reduced rate to drive down there in order to economize on the fuel charges as well as avoid additional depreciation on his own vehicle. His mother drove him to the airport to pick up the rental car but on the return home, they somehow lost each other on the roads. He arrived back home at 10:30 pm and informed me that his mom didn't follow him and must have inadvertently turned off on a side road somewhere or taken the wrong exit. Unfortuntately, she had forgotten to bring her mobile phone, so there was no way to contact her enroute. He left a message on her home answering machine to call us as soon as she made it back home safe and sound. Ring Ring. Ring Ring. 2:30 am. Home finally. That poor woman was lost for 4 hours a mere 20 miles away from home. I was quite worried about her and didn't sleep much until that call came in. De ja vu of when my son was a teenager! Needless to say, Rob slept quite soundly. I sooooo envy his ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances.

As luck would have it, a package from Webs arrived soon after Rob departed. Whooo Hoooo! Whimsy was happy to greet the UPS driver and safely escort the box of mostly Cascade 220 yarn into the house. I need to find some place to stash this latest addition to the "stash" before Rob returns. My poor home office is already overflowing with yarn. It fills the closet, lurks in baskets, languishes in bins, sits on shelves, lounges in jars, bags and boxes. Rob told me long ago he thought I had too much yarn and announced that I had no more room. As much as I hate to admit it, I have run out of space for yarn. Or anything else for that matter. Truly.
So... that being - the natural course of action for the logical person would be to:
1. cease and desist - simply stop buying yarn
2. use up what I have at a more rapid pace
3. give away, sell, trade or otherwise prune the stash

Granted, I do need to go through patterns, books and yarn that no longer appeal to me and are not on the list of "must have" or "must knit" anymore. I won't have time to do that until I retire and who knows when that will be? So... in the meantime, perhaps those "space bags" that are used to maximize space in luggage and closets can be trotted out and put into service. I can put my yarn in those bags, draw every cubic inch of air out of them and get twice as much yarn in half the space! Now that is an idea whose time has come!





This past weekend I went to Naomi's for her monthly "knitting with friends" get together. It was a wonderful sampling of food and a variety of fiber addicted friends. Jaime made some wonderful turkey burgers and chutney sauce that she had seen on the Oprah show earlier in the week. I also met Amy, who has a remarkable talent for not just knitting but also crafting stitch markers that she makes out of polymer clay. On her web site http://www.goodtobegirl.com/shopblog/ she sells highly sought after knitting project bags that her mother makes out of beautiful fabrics such as Amy Butler prints. I quite impressed with the cottage industry business this enterprising young woman has built. Saturday night I was supposed to go to a graduation party for the daughter of a friend of mine - her daughter had just finished Gonzaga Law school. For some reason I confused the dates and thought the party was Sunday afternoon instead. I called JoAnn's house on Sunday morning to confirm what time the party would be commencing and her daughter told me it had taken place the evening before. I was completely mortified I missed the celebration I had RSVP'd to. I used to be so organized and on top of things. Sigh. On Sunday, Rob's friends Andreas and Myumi came over to watch the Phoenix landing on Mars. My husband is such a geek. He had printed off the entire sequence of Mars landing events and put me "in charge" of the 7 minutes of blackout time (also known as time of terror) in which the spacecraft isn't able to communicate back to earth while entering the Mars atmosphere. Needless to say, the very brilliant rocket scientists in charge of the landing pulled it off perfectly so my services were not called into action. Whew. I crocheted on Project 7 for Nihon Vogue instead. ha ha

Farmer Girl

My youngest sister Paula lives on 40 acres of prime farmland in the midwest. She has a garden that yields so much produce that her husband Matthew calls it a "U pick" lot rather than the "family" garden. She cultivates corn, beans, potatoes, onions, asparagus, raspberries, blueberries, eggplant, strawberries, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes and many other delectable delights. She has raised 60 baby chicks that have grown the the pullet stage. Her laying hens produce eggs that are white, brown and pale sage green in color respectively. She whipped me up a delicious omelet from the fresh eggs and just picked asparagus - I can easily claim was the best I've ever had! She has a menagerie of animals - 2 German Shepards - Halle and Timber, an Irish Wolfhound named Evan, 3 mature ducks, 3 baby ducks and a bird with no legs. I brought some of the asparagus home in my suitcase - Rob grilled it when our friends Myumi and Andreas came over during the Memorial Day weekend and it was fabulous. It would be wonderful to go visit her again in August when the bounty from her garden is at its peak.

Spay and Neuter

I stopped by to visit my sister Paula's briefly while enroute to a nearby city for a business trip. She is a veterinarian at the local Humane Society shelter in the midwest. She was busy doing spays and neuters and I was able to witness her surgery skills in action. She had 8 puppies, several dogs and many, many cats to spay and neuter. The sheltie-shepard puppies were so darling and I was relieved to find out days later that they had all been adopted immediately. An 8 year Maltese named Lucky had the full make over - teeth cleaned, grooming, nails trimmed, blue bow adornment. I was concerned he might be too old to be readily adopted but his sweet personality shown through and he was quickly chosen by some loving owners. Michelle helped out with the surgeries and recoveries of the dogs and cats that were spayed and neutered that day. She just graduated from college and will soon be departed for 4 years at Iowa State University to work towards her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.

Nihon Vogue Project Update

We are coming to the final stages of Year 1 Nihon Vogue class. I still have a lot to do but am not stressed or panic stricken (yet). Jean has signed off on the my design notes for the Raglan, Vest, Round Neck Pullover and the V-Neck Pullover. The purple round neck cardigan is almost complete - I still have to pick up and knit an 8 row band with buttonholes distanced throughout, sew on the buttons and backing buttons, and weave in the ends. The sleeves to the V-neck cardigan are in progress with the sleeve caps still remaining. The V-neck incorporates a technique in which the button band is knit in its entirety and then sewn on as one continuous piece. It is a required requirement for Nihon Vogue but it doesn't get high marks from me as an all time favorite technique, that's for sure! 7 stitch wide garter stitch band knit the length of the entire front, back and neck of the V-neck cardigan. That was one of the most boring, unfulfilling stints of knitting I have ever experienced. I am not fond of this method of attaching a button band and seriously doubt I will ever utilize the technique again since my preference is to pick up and knit a button band directly on the sweater fronts. In last weekend's class we learned how to finish everything on the V-neck cardigan with the exception of sewing the button band on the back neck. We also began crocheting which was pretty amusing given those of us who take claim to being jaded knitters. I opted to do an adult size garment and worked on it during my flight from Seattle to Minneapolis. Alas - I spent most of the travel time working on the same 5 inches of the garment - 4 times. In true perfectionist style I had a few minor mistakes which were nagging at me to "rip out" and make PERFECT. Yes, I relented. The yarn for the crocheted tank top is a Classic Elite cotton in a beautiful soft pale turquoise blue.

Mother's Day Love to my precious son Aubrey

This is a photo from Mother's Day 2 years ago so I need to get a more current one of Aubrey and I together. We must have been too busy feasting on the scrumptious meal we prepared at home rather than taking photo's of us together. Aubrey, Rob and I celebrated Mother's Day with Alaskan King Crab legs, bacon wrapped scallops, grilled asparagus, and salad with spinanch leaves, garden mix, fresh strawberries, mandarin oranges and blueberries. Oh yeah, we also indulged in some of Costco's best Coconut Cream pie. I sent some slices home with Aubrey and the next morning Rob threw the remaining two slices in the trash because he didn't want me to be tempted. Sigh. He is supportive of my quest for healthier diet and lifestyle and I am happy for that. Yes I am. Yes I am. Yes I am.

Rob's mother Marilyn has been in Houston, Texas the last two weeks helping Rob's brother Mark get ready for the Day Lily tour of his backyard today thru Sunday. We will have delayed Mother's Day celebration for her when she gets back to the Pacific Northwest.

It has been a while since I have updated this blog as I have been so busy with work and knitting for Nihon Vogue classes in the very little bit of spare time I have. My father had surgery for prostate cancer last week - thankfully he is doing well and seems to be in fine spirits. This week I went to a hand surgeon for consultation on the bilateral carpal tunnel I have in my wrists. I have been wearing splinted wrist braces while sleeping at night for the past 4 years. That and some stretching exercises have helped to slow down the progression quite a bit but certainly isn't a "cure". My hands are numb and tingling more frequently now and I decided to see what the "recovery time" would be if I elected to go forward with the surgery in the near future. (Like between the end of Year 1 Nihon Vogue and the beginning of Year 2 Nihon Vogue in early October). Alas, I have to take a nerve conduction test again to get an accurate assessment of any nerve damage. I had gone through that memorable experience several years ago. It was pure torture with intermittant shocks to my hands. I think the agonizing anticipation was worse than the actual shock. I hated it and have avoided going back for more of the same testing recently. The doctor is the father of a co-worker that Rob worked with at Amazon.com. Of course he came highly recommended by his son so I was a bit skeptical but figured I could always look for another doctor if I didn't feel comfortable with Dr. K during the first visit. He was extremely nice, competent, professional and did I say quite handsome? I would be very comfortable with him slicing my wrists open. I was over the moon when he told me that knitting wasn't "bad" for my wrists. Yahoo!

Knitting Woes

Last night I spent time blocking the ribbed edges of my round neck cardigan as they seemed to be pulled in more than I was comfortable with. I feared I may have used needles smaller than necessary but the ribbing only pulled in on that location and not anywhere else on the sweater so the wet blocking did the trick. I seamed the sleeves and crocheted one into the sweater armhole but I wasn't keen on the end result. I want to re-do the insertion top of the sleeve and have the cables pull in a bit more. And... the sleeves are too long. I suspect it is because of the extra ease that had been calculated for the sides.
The only solution is to cut off 2-3 inches of each sleeve and then knit down the garter stitch edge and 1x1 ribbing. I had to do something similar to the red pullover sweater but I don't have the heart to ponder the mechanics of such an act right now. I put the sweater in a drawer in the media room and I plan to leave it there until my disappointment subsides. I still have to do the button band which I have barely spent any time contemplating yet. Sigh.

March of Dimes - Walk for Babies

We headed downtown to Qwest Field this morning for an organized 5K walk. Qwest Field is where my favorite NFL team the Seattle Seahawks play. Today was the "Walk for Babies" which used to be called "March of Dimes" for babies with difficult birth situations. My brother, myself and my two younger sisters were all born prematurely so I felt it was one of the walks I wanted to formally support this year. Rob and Whimsy joined me even though Rob expressed preference to spend more time in nature and walk the Coal Creek trail today. I saw several "Walking in Memory" tributes to tiny babies who didn't make it after birth. I'm thankful, so many years ago, life saving experimental drugs to develop our lungs were given to my siblings and I. One 4 year old girl (who obviously had cerebral palsy) was walking with the aid of a yellow walker on wheels. She had such determination to keep up with her father and older sister during the event - She was absolutely darling. I admired her spirit. It was a beautiful day and the Alaskan Way viaduct was closed to traffic so Rob, Whimsy and I enjoyed some beautiful views of the Seattle skyline and Puget Sound while walking. For the first time ever I saw the fireboats that were stationed in the water behind the Fire Station on Alaskan Way - they are not viewable from street level.

After returning to Qwest Field we had a lunch of hot dogs and juice at the picnic tables outside the stadium. There is a plethora of relevant literature and give aways at events like this and Rob walked away with 3 loaves of healthy whole grain with flax seed bread. Afterwards we went to our little condo in Belltown to clean the oven and caulk around the window sills and tub. Our renter moved out last week and Rob had already done a little cleaning and will go back to do some touch up painting. Actually Rob did all the work and I took a wonderful nap. Whimsy got in a few good howls when the sirens of firetrucks and police cars were sounded on a nearby street. In 8 years she has never really been comfortable during any of our visits to the condo. I don't know if it is lack of trees, strange noises or smaller space that bothers her. She doesn't like the nearby off leash dog park and doesn't seem to pay much attention to the magnificent view of the water out the living area window either. Silly girl.