Needless to say when I announced my focus word this year,  I didn’t expect it to be tested so soon.  Over a week and a half ago, I was in the shower doing my normal routine of waiting for the dishwasher to finish its cycle, starting the washer, hopping into the shower between the fill and the rinse cycle (it makes me be faster) and something horrible happened.  At first I just thought it was the toilet starting to act up again so I poked my head out of the shower and glared at it.  Like that was going to be of any use, but once I stuck my head back into the shower, I noticed that something wasn’t so right with the bottom of the shower.  Let me remind you, I’m blind like a bat and might be able to distinguish color blobs when without my sight enhancers.  So I quickly wrapped up my shower and stepped out to a slightly soggy bathmat and a toilet that was refusing to behave.  Off I ran to the main bathroom, which is still in shambles (ok maybe not that bad, but I would rather be showering in there than the utility room) with the unfinished tub surround and noticed the throw rugs in there were wet.  I suddenly realized that THAT THING we had been warned about by the neighbors was happening.  Our SEWER was dead.  We are one of the few remaining homes on our street and in our area with the old pipes.  Now you wonder how can a SEWER go bad in a 50 year old house when it should be built with metal, clay pipes or concrete.  Well lovely folks, this is a paper town.  You know what that means.  Of course not, but basically it means they try to use paper for everything.  Our pipe from the house to the street was made of thick cardboard coated in tar.  Not really a material built to last, but it was a depression era invention.  Use what you have right?

Normally I would be freaking out about the cost, the time, the lack of usage.  Oddly I was at PEACE.  Yes I was.  A weird errie peace.  I normally can’t stand things to be torn up, out of place and not clean.  Plus I tend freak out that we will be broke and completely in debt at any moment.  Thankfully I don’t do the bills any more so I actually haven’t had those …. um …. manic paranoid freak-outs about money lately.  I love math but actually working with money that’s mine is a bit rough on me.  We actually are in a great place financially, which is a huge blessing.  On top of that 2 checks arrived in the mail.  One came right after the plumber came out to confirm our diagnosis of sewer failure for exactly the amount we paid and the second was a bonus from churchable’s company for meeting safety goals and turning a profit in the last year, which is amazing with all the downsizing of his mill and the economic climate at the moment.  I was shocked.  Everything was paid for by blessings in the forms of little tiny checks.  Ya’ll might call this providence or happy chance, but I say GOD is good for sending this to us.

Churchable with the help of a few scouts dug out the sewer (thankfully it wasn’t oozing), put in new better pipes and fill it back in over the last week.  We did it for less than half the lowest quote and that was with paying the scouts dig and fill in the ditch.  I’m so amazed that Churchable got it done so quickly.  I think he was too and he’s excited to start back on the stalled bathroom project.  So I might just be able to have a shower in the main bathroom by my birthday.  Maybe.  That might be wishful thinking.

Now lets share happier thoughts (ie the knitting):

I barely had any time to knit this weekend with teaching my first class. Sorry for the passworded post above but I needed a way for them to be able to access the handouts in case they lost them or they wanted to print out another copy for personal use. So in between teaching and holding a flash light for Churchable as he dug into the night, I knit the toe of the yellow sock. I also got a bit further on…..

I think I might have gotten a row or two done. Not to sure since its slow going. I love it and will be so happy when its done but its not the fastest knit for me, since I have to knit continental style and I normally throw because I’m more consistent in gauge and faster with stitching as a whole.

As I predicted, the wheat-ear remix has fallen by the way side. I’ve found more interesting things to occupy my interest, like my friends new pattern that she wanted me to test knit for her.

I even got to use some yummy Malabrigo DOS. A new sport weight test yarn that I’ve heard rumor will become new yarn line for Malabrigo. Its lovely and squishy and great for so many different types of projects. I plan on designing a lightweight sweater vest in it.

So the pattern is by my friend ZZwhitejd, she is in love with cables and has designed several patterns that are very creative and cute.  One even won the Malarabrigo Design Contest that was held in October, which has a prominent position on the front page of the Malabrigo website.  These mitts are so lovely that upon finishing the first mitt, I didn’t even want to take it off.  I did because I didn’t want to get it dirty while I cooked dinner.  Tomorrow, I might just go around one mitted so as to enjoy the feel.  Great job Jenny!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I hope all are doing well. I am recovering from a horrible sore throat that has knocked me out. I was having difficulty breathing and talking.

Above is the dinner carnage, the nephews ate minuscule portions but I didn’t expect much more. My favorite dish is one that I sampled Christmas last year and made again for Thanksgiving.

It is a sweet potato casserole from Cook’s Illustrated. Its so perfect. I ate most of what is missing.

I won an award this weekend from my good online buddy knittymuggins.

Here’s how it works:

Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about Blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!

1. Knittymuggins. I am sending this back to you because your emails and our friendship make me check on your blog even when you aren’t in my RSS feed just in case I missed something.

2. Robin of Yarn Crawl. I love to see what she produces even with all the classes she is taking.

3. Stitchywitch from Green Apple. Her pieces are amazing and I think I could sit on her couch and watch all her shows with her since I seem to already be doing that.

4. Cindy of Knit for Joy! She is a great friend and a hard worker. You don’t get to see a lot of her knits because she is a test knitter for a few people. Yeah PDX bloggers.

5. Carebear of MidWest Fiber Arts. Carebear is my online name for my best friend from Art School. She visits about once a year and we have a blast doing things new and different.

6. Non dairy Dairy. I love this cute little blog that shows adorable drawings. I try to read this blog as soon as it appears on my RSS feed. I even use the occasional desktop wallpaper.

7. Jess of Will Travel for Food. She is the wife of churchable’s hiking buddy. We love to go visit them and enjoy great food and good adventuring. She does not blog very often.

8. Rebecca of Socks-for-mum. Such a sweet woman a lovely projects and I am vicariously living through her photography classes.

9. Adrienne of Magic Pixie Knitter. This women is an amazing crocheter. I really love the stuff she has done. And she made my day when she pm’ed me on ravelry saying she was sad to miss my trip to Florida. Next time my dear I will make sure to alert you.

10. Lastly, the ladies of Crossroads Knits. They have great pieces and I love the camaraderie.

I bet by now you are wondering about my title. Well,

Churchable wanted to go skiing since he had not gone all season, which is a bit unusual for him. Last season he skied so much that he decided to do turns all year (where you ski every month for a year). He would have done it but June shot itself by making him sick the day he was supposed to drive to Mt Shasta to hike up and then ski down. So this year it looks like he and Cueball (one of his ski buddies) will be trying to do turns all year.

I told churchable that I wanted to come but I did not want to ski. I wanted to go use my new snowshoes which I had gotten with my birthday money. I know I went snowshoeing in December but not in my shoes. I had such a blast taking pictures all over the place.

I saw great piles of snow and the peace and serenity was lovely. You wouldn’t even know that across the street was a big Ski Resort. The Nordic center was lovely and busy but there is so much space you don’t even notice all the people.

Occasionally I would come around and find unexpected bits of color. I enjoyed myself immensely and took way too many photos.

My two winners are PDX bloggers. Wow girls you get to chose between the two skeins. Who ever responds first gets their choice. Melissa of Days of Tea & Knitting and Meghan of the Daft Drafter. Thanks for everyone who commented especially the lurkers and the new readers. Only about half to third of you who read this blog entered the contest but of course I know not everyone is a sock knitter. I knit more sweaters regularly than socks so I understand. Next time, I will put something out there for you non-sock knitters.

The sun was shining but the air was brisk and clear yesterday. It was so lovely. Unfortunately we stayed within the confines of our friend’s house working on this.

The weekend has been a bit busier with a long wedding and a missed trip to the store on Friday night. So we have not gotten as far as we would have liked. We had hoped to be putting the grout in tonight but alas we just put in the plumbing last night. I got to use the propane torch to connect the brass fittings together. It was alot of fun. Today was spent getting the wall board fitted and connected to the wall. Now it looks like this.

On the knitting front, my socks are flying because I have only had time to knit while standing in line or for short bits. I really need to sit down and work on the cardigan. I have been hooked up with both my swap patterns that I will be knitting for in the next couple of months. Don’t forget that you have another week to post a comment to get into the yarn contest.

I have missed posting FOs the last month or so. So let me share with you my small bit of delving into the dark side:

Pattern: Boteh Scarf by Kathy Merrick (ravelry link) from the Spring 2007 Interweave Crochet
Yarn:Ellie’s Ewe Hues MemenToes (100% superwash merino) 490 yds in 100gram skein in Clover & Honey
Crochet Hook: G hook
Mods: I did 26 repeats instead of 16 repeats of the main motif. I also did not do the border because I felt that it was too thick of a border.

We celebrated Christmas with churchable’s family. Everyone was there and had been there for a few days when we arrived. I knit most of the gifts. Two of the gifts were not done. One was the Cardigan for Arwen for Bud (churchable’s little sister) and a hat from left over yarn for Frog Boy. Frog Boy’s hat was finished before they left. So let me proceed with a run down of my Christmas knitting.

Pattern: Surplice Lace Top by Gayle Bunn
Recipient: Si – my sister-in-law
Yarn: Knit Picks Cotlin 7 skeins (70% cotton, 30% linen) yds in 50gram balls in Island Coral
Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) circular for the garter stitch edging and US 5 (3.75 mm) circular for rest of the sweater
Completion: September 19th (started first weekend in August)
Mods: I knit this in a smaller size so as to fit Si. The finished garment came out at 32″ bust. I had to redo the sleeves since they did not fit. I knit them in the second largest size and they were perfect.
Reaction: She loved it. This picture above is of her right before she left for the airport to fly to Calit. It was a perfect fit in bust and length. I am so happy.

Pattern: my own

Recipient: my brother in law (he needs an online name or I will start calling him BIL)
Yarn: Zen String Serindipity Sport 1 1/4 skeins (100% superwash merino) 241 yds in 113gram skein in Ben
Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm) circular for the sole of the foot and US 2 1/2 (3.0 mm) circular for the ribbing
Completion: December 30th (started sometime in the middle of November)
Mods: I needed to create something that did not stripe but pooled more so I got thin stripes and then messed them up with a slip stitch rib pattern.
Reaction: He loved them. They fit great and he is wear testing them to let me know if the purl bumps bother him.

Pattern: my own

Recipient: Dog Boy – 2 yr old nephew
Yarn: Zen String Serindipity Sport 1/3 skein (100% superwash merino) 241 yds in 113gram skein in Ben
Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm) circular
Completion: January 2nd (started these right after I finished the first adult sock)
Mods: I did a toe up tube sock so that he could wear these socks for longer.
Reaction: So cute. I loved them. We put them on for pictures and then took them off again. He started crying because he wanted to wear the socks. He wore them all the next day too. I think this guy will be getting more hand knit items in his future.

Pattern: my own
Recipient: Frog Boy
Yarn: Zen String Serindipity Sport 1/2 skein (100% superwash merino) 241 yds in 113gram skein in Ben
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) DPNs
Completion: started and finished on January 4th
Mods: I made a simple rolled brim hat in a small adult size with a I-cord knot on top
Reaction: He tolerated trying it on and having his picture taken but did not like it because he already had a camo hat. Oh well you can’t win them all.

Pattern: Koolhaas Hat by Jared Flood

Recipient: Dog Boy
Yarn: Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca 4-ply Worsted 3/4 skein (100% alpaca) 102 yds in a 50gram ball in brown (discontinued)
Needles:
Completion: December 5th (I started it on December 1st)
Mods: CO 80sts. Knit 3 repeats high and did crown decreasing as written. I think it will fit will. It can stretch to about a 23″ head and his should be much smaller.
Reaction: He was not as thrilled with this one. He really wanted to wear his brother’s hat since it matched his socks. He recognized this while I was knitting his brother’s hat.

Now there was nothing for my father-in-law that was knit since I did not think he would use socks, gloves, hats or a scarf that I knit him. When I told him this he replied in the affirmative that this was correct but that he would wear a sweater. So after a short pointed Q & A session I figured out that he would be interested in a button down cardigan in a soft but not too soft wool. So I jumped on Ravelry (what would we have done with out it) and looked up Brooklyn Tweed’s project page and picked a few things and then paged through the men’s cardigan patterns. After few hundred, I narrowed it down to 6 patterns. It was time to get the Car Man’s opinion. He really like 3 of them, which are Blue Garter’s EZ Aran Fishtrap Cardigan (ravelry link), Brooklyn Tweed’s Jarrett, and Brooklyn Tweed’s Saddle Shoulder Aran Cardigan . So we start the adventure in creating the Car Man a cardigan – maybe it will go with his car style. We will be making all the choices together. I did inform him that this cardigan would take me two years to make because I did not want to burn out and he is a tall man.

The Christmas report is done and that brings me to telling you that I will be leaving again on Thursday. Churchable has a college buddy getting married this weekend and we are finally going to fulfill a wedding promise to one of his college roommates. We plan on spending a good part of the weekend and next week remodeling his college roommate’s bathtub and surround. If
you are in Seattle I will be just on the other side of I-5 listening to the buzz of traffic from the Weaving Works. If you want to meet for coffee or to knit I am always game.

Then it is off to Spo Vegas again for churchable’s annual camp in the snow with your friends and shoot black powder guns at each other in the cold cold wilds of Washington. I plan on spending the time with a girlfriend up there doing girlie stuff and staying very warm.

I gave her the September Sockdown (ravelry) Mystery sock that I knit in Sept/Oct and finished on the plane to Florida.

She is doing well considering her Alzheimer’s. You can tell in her birthday pic that she is not sure that the cake is for her. The progression of the disease bummed me out since it had been 2 years since I had been there. Most of the time she was scared of me and would not leave her room when I was left at the apartment to make sure she did not escape (this happened several times while I was there but not left alone with her).

I got to meet my swap partner Lori (aka 1KnuttyKnitter) from SP11. I was spoiling her this round. It was alot of fun to meet her and see a LYS.

During that time I missed my husband and my doggies. There was a doxie to keep me company. Bam Bam is the same age as Fred (the one we lost last December) but definitely heavier than Lexi. I would probably guess that he is twice the weight of our little Anorexic puppy (I promise I feed her she just does not like to eat unless starving – ie left outside all day).

Upon my arrival home, we got a house guest. He and his dog Maggie were no trouble, but Frankie our mild mannered dog felt threatened maybe it was because Maggie was the tallest dog that has been in our house long term.

After this we made our way up to Union, WA to spend the end of the week with my parents and then bring them back for Christmas at our house. On our way up, I got to meet Ranee of Arabian Knits. We met so she could swap a package with me (sorry no pics the yarn was eaten by the stash as soon as I arrived home). She was so sweet. I think there will be many more meetings with her and hopefully her family.

In Union we spend the days hiking and exploring the Olympic Pennisula. My favorite day was went we went hiking on the Dungeness Spit near Sequim.

Christmas at home was uneventful. Churchable had to work both Christmas eve night and Christmas night. We were blessed by the gifts we recieved. Churchable even finished my Christmas “project” present.

The highlight of my parents trip here our house was when we went Snow shoeing up at Mt St Helens. We have never seen the snow so low. Mostly the snow is higher up and we can use two of the sno parks but this time we could not reach the sno parks because of all the snow. We stopped at a sno park that is normally snow free most of the year. It was a beautiful 2 1/2 mile hike.

I also received my SP11 reveal package from Robyn of Sweet Little Domestic Life.

She sent me a book that she was published in and a calorimetry that she had knit for me and some yarn. It was a cute sweet package which arrived on the last postal day before Christmas.

Hey folks,

I have found myself in a weird place in time. I have many bags filled with projects wanting to be knit but no active projects. Let me tell you the knits are just flying off the needles in this house. I seem to not be able to keep needles full. I might have some unbloggable knitting soon since I really really want to get in some submissions for IK or maybe some other mags.

In exciting news, I fixed that internet crashing (well sort of) and now am happily blogging from this beauty that is snuggled up to my now finished sock.

I got a laptop. Now laptops are not new to me. This sexy little one is the lightest one yet. Back in high school (now my true nerd comes out) I had my dad’s first computer which was a 36 lb “laptop”. Ok maybe not that lapish but it was portable. man was it slow. It would be about 25 years old today if I had not begged for it to visit the dumpster before I left boarding school. Since my “laptop” had met the hard metal of the NH rural dumpster (ie I graduated), I got a new little IBM laptop. This computer had its issues. He got nicked named Wacky. He never could keep his programing and I was always beating him into submission by reinstalling and then giving up and handing him off to my even geekier friends. Then as I neared closer to graduation of college, Dad bought me another computer that was much more behaved. This one was a first edition Sony Viao. Wow how I loved that computer. I learned so many things on him. Frog (that was his name) was always getting me to reinstall his operating system under false pretense so that I would lose everything (ie 1000s of downloaded songs and well that was all I still miss). Now we have this here beauty of modern man, a Dell. Yes frog is in a corner crying. He is afraid that I will be sending him off to Free Geek.

So in addition to finishing up a few knits, We have been getting the house holiday ready. We being cheap (there is a new computer in the house and everything) went to the National Forest and cut our own Christmas tree for $5. Yes you hear me right. 5 smackers for a tree. You do have to look for the right one and then cut it down. It was so much fun. And yes it is legal. This year has been so cool. We are creating awesome traditions that we will be able to enjoy for years to come.

We did discover some new hiking places that are super close to our house and are awesome. We can go there all year round since it is also a Sno Park. yeah snowshoeing and cross country skiing.

Lastly, I will be in the balmy state of Florida in Orlando the home of Disney, Outlet mall madness but most importantly my family. I will be there December 6th – 13th to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday. I hope for a fleeting minute that she realizes what is going on; she has alzheimer’s. Anyone who would like to meet up with me. Leave a message. I would love to show off whatever holiday knit I decided would keep me from going crazy in the plane.

Now I am off to play with my new toy.

I have been busy. I have been documenting my time with photos but whenever I log on and sit down to edit photos and upload photos, things crash and so thus I have bided my time.

I attended the PDX blogger Holiday Knit-a-thon. It was really fun to meet everyone and catch up with other. Here is a photo to prove I was there. We met at Gino’s which is owned by one of our members. Thanks again Deb.

I knit on my Tree Jacket while I was there. I am knitting it along with the Sexy Knitters Club. I had gotten to the end of the garter stitch section that day. Someone took a photo of me with it on and the neck around my face, but so far no one is fessing up. Since then I have taken pics for WIP Wednesday, which had a computer crash while I was uploading pics and editing them. And I finished it on Saturday night at church. It is currently blocking its little heart out. This is were I was on Wednesday.

We also held a yarn swap at the knit-a-thon. I got 4 skeins of yarn. Only 3 are shown below because, the other one was a simple skein of TOFUtsies that I took pity on and brought home.

I also have been working on socks for my Brother-in-law and his two boys for Christmas.

I also purchased my first skein of Malabrigo. I love the color. I hope ya’ll like this sexy yarn photo. If you would like more, click on the pic and there are more on flickr.

My monkey pal flaked on me. Amazingly the angels jumped on it and the packages pummeled my front door the week of Thanksgiving.

I received a little monkey name Hoodwinked, which I thought was so aptly named since I missed out on getting a proper package. The socks were a lovely color of Koigu but they did not fit me, they fit churchable.

The last bits that I have to show you are my FOs for the week. I actually spent quite a bit of time in front of my sewing machine.

First up: A simple black A-line skirt

This is a simple skirt that I drafted from my measurements with a invisible side zipper and a faced waist. I don’t know what the fabric is but it did not melt at the almost cotton heat setting. Most of my fabric stash is unmarked except that each box has a color grouping.

Second: Reversible Place mats

These are to be given to the bride and groom of the wedding we attended in Arizona. The reason we went on a big road trip to Utah and beyond. They were going to be folding a 1,000 cranes for their wedding, so I gathered inspiration from this. The fabric is quilting cotton from the local quilt store. Simple no pattern place mats.

Boxed and ready to go

Spread out. The other side of all the place mats is the color of the napkin.

Third: Pillows for a friend

Hey Guys,

I have been back for a little bit but really busy and really overwhelmed with life. I got back on Columbus Day. Yes, we did not get to have that day. We had a great 10 days full of extreme drive times and beautiful scenery and great camping sites. I will post more later.

The highlights are above. My current business is 3 fold: One best friend moved in with Churchable and I the day we came back from vacation (our office became her bedroom and stronghold so the computer moved out and we lost our internet for a day), Another best friend (Care Bear) is visiting, and I have to write another pattern and help test knitters with the other two that I wrote before vacation. So I will try to keep everyone updated or at least drag out the pretty pics from vacation since churchable stole my camera. Oh well I was content to knit while he snapped pics and drove the whole trip. Ok maybe not at the same time but those were the main activities. He took 400 odd photos.

A few of my FOs from the trip are in the photos, enjoy!

Go to my flickr page and I added descriptions to the most recent pics.

Well folks, see that nice lovely pie. Churchable made it for me, on tuesday. I am aware that it is now officially Thursday. I will eat some of it before I collapse in bed tonight. I have decided to call that little pie, my “I have reached and made my first deadline” pie.

Yes folks. I am done. I can start blogging about everything I am knitting. Well ok almost everything. It is the season for Christmas knitting.

Larissa of Stitchmarker

Well in addition to trying to finish my designs on time, I went to OFFF (Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in Canby, OR). I had a great time. My fellow PDX bloggers have done a better job at posting about what they have done and what we did. Check out Cindy’s post. I was her car mate on this trip. (there are more pictures that I just dumped into flickr so click on the pic of Larissa and look around)

click on the pic and it will take you to a slideshow of the yarn.

I was good this month and saved my yarn allowance till the end of the month. I got several hanks of sock yarn. I really wanted semi-solid colors. I got so many.

Well in addition to all this I got my first SP package for SP11. It was awesome. I would love to gush more but me tired. I added the link to the slide show of the stuff. I must say that the yarn is Bamboo. So great.

Now I must apologize for being such a lame blogger, but I am tired. I have been pushing myself this week to finish not just because of my deadline but because I am leaving on vacation bright and early tomorrow. We are headed south through California to Arizona for a family wedding. I hope it turns out well. Our RSVP got lost and they just found out we were coming on Tuesday. From there we are headed North to the National Parks of the area. We will be camping and hiking in the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park to name a few. We will be coming home via Salt Lake and Boise. If you know of good yarn shops, let me know in the comments.

Don’t expect me to poke my head up before the 8th of October. I will be adding comments as I get them when I have computer access. Have a great first week of Socktober.