Look, pictures!

I treated myself to a little present this holiday season: a Sony Cybershoot camera! I never thought one could feel such love for an inanimate object that wasn't yarn! Here's a snapshot of the trip through the pass on Thursday. The drive over to North Idaho was much, much worse then coming home. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera then, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The second sock for the hubby kept me busy during the drive.

But once I was home, my Foliage hat was the project I wanted to work on! I think it's coming along just nicely and I can't wait to wear it because it's so cute and it's cold.

Merry Christmas! (A day late....)

Our White Christmas came a day late! It started snowing on Christmas and today we woke up to about 5 inches and it's still snowing! You can pretty much count on a little white stuff in Northern Idaho around the holidays, but this is a fun treat! Of course, there's no picture because Santa didn't leave a new camera for me under the tree, but he did leave several new knitting books! In fact, after a lazy morning of watching the birds peck through the snow to find some bird food, we're heading out to check out the new yarn shop in Coeur d'Alene! I know Santa would want me to spend some holiday money there! Plus, maybe, battle the crowds for a new camera at a great price!

Hope you got everything you wanted for the holidays! My Christmas wish of not wanting to be knitting on gifts until 1 a.m. did come true. But for the sake of editorial integrity, I confess, I didn't even bother to finish the hubby's second sock. I just wrapped up the first one (didn't even weave the ends in). He loved it, it fit, look for picture to come soon. Am hoping to have the second one done by Groundhog's Day. It's good to have a holiday goal for knitting.

A battle for third place

The Knitting Football Stars started off the Fantasy Football season, so strong, so capable, so full of promise - much like beautiful new yarn ready to go with a fabulous pattern. But halfway through the season - or body of the sweater if you will - they dropped a few stitches. And we just spiraled downhill. After a winning streak of several games, we plummeted to the bottom. Now it's a battle for third place with the hubby. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

My Christmas Wish

It is my Christmas Wish that this year I not end up knitting frantically into the wee hours of Christmas morn' trying to finish up gifts. I opted to knit only a small amount of gifts this year. Apparently that was too much. Christmas is less than a week away (how did that happen?) and I still have quite a ways to go on both projects.

Since I don't have a camera anymore, I'll have to just describe the circumstance to you. Or as my hubby says, create a picture with your words. Here goes:
My hubby's sock: one down, about 4 inches into the second one.
My MIL's scarf: just cast on, about 6 inches into it.
My mom's scarf: done and given to her, she loved it (sadly, no pic though).

Here's another picture with my words for you to imagine:
Me frantically knitting away while October Road on abc.com (for some reason beyond me, I'm addicted to it. And it bugs me at the same time because every time they have a scene with one of the two women in the show who are mothers, they are either: 1) carrying a load of laundry 2) cooking a meal or 3) serving a meal to their man who's waiting at the table for said meal. Seriously, it drives me crazy, yet am addicted.) OK, am rambling to procrastinate said knitting. Am now off (with my knitting) to the SKG Holiday party!

P.S. Happy Birthday Supergirl - love the crown!

In case you didn't want to knit your own socks

The NetGranny's can do it for you! I found this little gem in a magazine and had to log on to check it out. It's a group of Swiss Granny's who'll make you your own pair of hand knit socks! You can choose the granny to knit your socks for you. I think Nelly looks really sweet. And so does Annalies. Personally, I love the idea! But for now, I'll stick to my own socks. Although I'm all for a web savvy, enterprising, knitting Grandma!

A New Family Tradition

This weekend marked a new tradition for my family. For the first time I'll be spending Christmas away from my family, with Matt''s family. So my folks and sister came to Seattle this weekend for an early Christmas together. It was a fun festive weekend! We went on the Christmas Ship as it traveled through the Ballard Locks! It was so much fun and highly enjoyable - I highly recommend that if you're in the Seattle area during the holidays!

Now you're probably wondering where are the pictures to accompany this delightful weekend? Well, that's the sad part of this little adventure. You see, this weekend was the weekend that my camera decided to stop working. It's been on the fritz for a while now and I was hoping it'd make it through the holidays but no such luck. So I'm up to waiting for my dad or sister to download and email their pictures for me. But since neither of them are big photo downloaders, it may be a while. Getting them could be a holiday miracle.

We did the family gift exchange and my mother loved her scarf (again, no photo). She gave me a simple quilt pattern and some fabric blocks to make it! Very pretty fabric but you'll have to take my word for it.

Since I've been a pretty good girl this year, I'm hoping Santa will leave a new camera under the tree for me. If not, I'm hitting the after Christmas sales.

Meeting a Journalistic Icon

Today I had the great privilege to meet a journalist I have admired for many, many years: Tom Brokaw. I loved watching his nightly news cast when I was in school (total news nerd, I know). It's still good, but just not the same without him.

We did an interview with him, then I listened to his speech about his new book "Boom!" He took the time to sign all of our books. I'm really looking forward to reading it!

(This is a picture of Tom as he's signing my book. Note that he's not even looking remotely my way. The woman he's looking at was an elderly woman with a cane who I helped up the stage to get her book signed. Then I left her get her book signed first. She proceeded to chat and chat and chat about his other book. She talked so much that he just started signing the books of the folks behind her (me) without so much as even saying hello. Not that I'm one to tell Karma anything, but I think Karma owes me.)

Confession

My Christmas knitting has totally fallen by the wayside. I have one present done. Haven't started the other one. And am only 1 inch into Matt's second sock. It's bad. What's even worse is my reason for why the knitting has come to a stand still three weeks before Christmas. It's my new lap top. I love it. Am addicted to it. I wish I could say I was surfing knitting sites or even updating my blog all the time (but we know that's not true.) What is keeping me from knitting (or at least knitting fast as I do try to make it through a few rows at a time) is the chess game! I play against the computer and the damn thing beats me all the time! It's so discouraging, yet I keep at it. Pathetic I know. That and I'm reading a really good book - The Other Boleyn Sister - a very fun and easy read. It's just really long. Now instead of staying up late knitting, I'm staying up late reading! It's bad. I need to kick it into high gear!

In the holiday spirit

The holiday spirit is flowing freely at our house (at least with me anyway)! The tree and all decorations are up! They help light up the gray, rainy, Seattle winter weather. Half of my holiday shopping is done! I saw the Pacific Northwest Ballet Nutcracker with some friends Friday night. Nothing kicks starts the holiday spirit like the Nutcracker! One of my knitted gifts is finished (no pictures yet as the receiver of said knitted gift is a reader here). And I've just finished downloading all of my Christmas music on my new laptop (which I'm totally loving right now despite the fact that its taking me away from my precious knitting time!). Plus it snowed in Seattle yesterday! Big, white, fluffy flakes! Of course they were really wet and melted instantly, but still, for a little while, it turned gray, rainy Seattle into a white winter wonderland!

A sad day for Boise knitters...

A fabulous knitting store in Boise is shutting down. After four years in business Drop A Stitch is closing its doors at the end of the year! It's such a cute little store right in the heart of downtown. I've spent many, many, many dollars there over the years - even when I would go to Boise for a quick visit, my mom and I would often stop in just to see what they had. I'd always walk out with something pretty and soft. There aren't many knitting stores in Boise - a sad, tragic fact indeed. I hope another one will come along and pick up where Drop A Stitch leaves off. In the mean time, it's a sale and they're looking to unload their stash! They even have an online store for those of us no longer in the Boise zip code!

Snapshots from Thanksgiving!

The trip to Boise was another fun one! This time it was filled with family, fun and food - and unfortunately, very little knitting. Although I did help my mom with two of her knitting projects so that counts for something! Here are a few of my favorite things!



The men enjoyed their turkey (we women were busy eating yummy pies while they "watched" the game.)





Kellan modeled his new favorite hat. We like his dad's hat too - Go Idaho!

Mom's first felting project - the Boga Bag.

And breakfast with Cameron - such a cheery happy girl!

Henry & his sweater!

I think he looks quite hip and stylin'! Not too mention super cute!

Look what I got at knitting!

A big thanks goes out to Jessica for letting me borrow her other sewing machine! I'm really excited to learn more about sewing! Now I can finish my pj pants from my sewing class and embark on yet another expensive fiber hobby that requires one to have lots of fun supplies on hand! And speaking of supplies, Erin showed up at knitting tonight with a garbage bag full of fabric she didn't want anymore! Of course, it's all going to several good homes as we all wasted no time helping her get rid of her stash while adding to ours!

And in other knitting news....today was registration day for the Madrona Retreat! It was a little iffy this morning as they experienced big technical difficulties, many classes were listed as full that weren't and they finally suspended all registration. It opened back up again later today, which was great! I wasn't able to get into any of my classes that I wanted on Saturday, but with the second go-round I got into the two classes I wanted! It's going to be great trip! Here's what I'm taking:

Basics of Lace Knitting from the fabulously talented Evelyn Clark on Sat. morning

(No class Sat afternoon, leaving me plenty of time to sit and knit with everyone)

Knitting in All Directions: Non-Traditional Construction Techniques from Margaret Radcliffe on Sunday morning

Knitting Weekend Update

As of Sunday night, with three days off behind me, and one more ahead of me, here's what I've accomplished so far:

Finished my vest!

It's the Tank Top from Classic Knits by Erica Knight using Rowan Big Wool in purple.

Started and finished a new baby hat from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms using DK Cashcotton Classic Yarns in vanilla and avocado (plus I have enough left over for maybe 2 more hats!)

Turned my first heel! How fun is that!

A Knitting Weekend

I have four days off (including Saturday and Sunday) and I'm not leaving town and no one is coming to visit - and I couldn't be happier! What will I be doing? Whatever I want! And what I want to do is some serious knitting! Here's my plan:

1) finish front side of vest
2) seam vest (maybe)
3) finish sock
4) rip out and start over for Kellan's hat (needs to be done for Thanksgiving trip)
5) start strawberry hat for coworkers baby (this will most likely be my Boise travel knitting project for Thanksgiving since I can't work on Matt's other sock while I'm traveling with him)
6) start Foliage hat
7) think/plan/possibly buy stuff for the two Christmas gifts (the ONLY knitted gifts this year)
8) figure out my classes for Madrona

Thank goodness I have four days off and the newly released season three of Veronica Mars on DVDs to help me accomplish all of this!

Class list is posted!

The Madrona class list is up! I can't wait for the retreat! There are a bunch of great classes to choose from so it'll be another fun weekend!

Sunday Drive

I took a quick trip out to Issaquah to visit Mara while she worked a Sunday shift at Cultured Purls (it's a really cute shop and if you're ever in the 'Quah, I highly recommend it!). I picked up this pretty Malabrigo for my Foliage hat. I'm hoping the yarn will look good with my new scarf my parents brought me from Ireland on their 35th wedding anniversary trip!

While I was there, I was also able to start working the heel of Matt's socks! I may, just maybe, be able to get these done for Christmas!

What I learned at work this week

This week, I had the opportunity to produce coverage on the U.S. Conference of Mayor Climate Protection Summit. I heard speeches from Former V.P. Al Gore (via satellite), Former Pres. Bill Clinton and NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Their messages were all very inspiring and very educational. They spoke of the importance of getting big businesses on board so they can make "being green" more affordable to everyone. It does all come one simple fact: we all can make a difference. Just by changing our light bulbs, it does help. I've been a skeptic before. But after hearing it from these three men, and at least a dozen others over the past two, busy, busy days. I'm ready to make the changes in my home.

* On a funny little note, my station was the station in charge of filming all the footage of the Clinton speech for all the other t.v. stations. After the speech, we loaded up our gear (and there was a lot of it) to carry it out the back way we came in. But the Secret Services said otherwise. Clinton was still in the building and we had to go out the front and walk around the building - gear and all. So we did. And as we exited the front of the building, I said, "Oh my God, it's Bill Clinton," and there he was. Just walking down the street (of course he was surrounded by at least a dozen of Seattle's finest). So we all crossed the street together. It was kind of funny because all of our camera gear was packed up and we just walked down the street with him. I was just happy I didn't swear in front of the former prez and say something like "Holy S***, it's Bill Clinton" because that's what I was really thinking.

Fantasy Football Week 8: Devastating Loss

All I can say about this week's complete and total devastation on the grid iron (football lingo) is that I need to buy yarn to feel better. Lots and lots of yarn.

WIP Update*

(*I'd like to dedicate this blog entry to Jessica.)

It was a fabulous fiber and fabric weekend at my place!

First, I did my sewing homework and pinned my pants for my second class tomorrow night! I'm loving the class and looking forward to actually using the sewing machine this time. (We ran out of time last week.)

Second, I finished the back of my vest.

And cast on for the front.

Plus, Matt's sock is coming along nicely. I thought I was almost to the heel when I decided to check the length of some of his other ones. Not quite. Still have a way to go.

8 Random Things

I've fallen victim to Sara and April's 8 Random Things list. They are interesting and entertaining (at least to me) to see how well I know my friends. Now they can see how well they know me. Here goes:

1. I don't like eating the skin of a bake potato. I believe because it's brown you can't tell if it's really clean or not.

2. I have slight O.C.D. tendencies when it comes to hand washing and Purell. (Are you really surprised after the first random thing?)

3. I love the t.v. show Friends! I've seen pretty much every episode more than once and still love to catch it when it's on t.v. in reruns.

4. I own all of Jane Austen's novels - all of were purchased at the Jane Austen Museum in Bath and I lugged them home in my bag. Very heavy.

5. When I eat chocolate cake, I put it in a bowl and pour milk on it. That's how my grandma ate it.

6. My sister and I owned the Barbie Ice Cream Parlor that made the real ice cream.

7. I used to want to be a foreign correspondent for CNN and be stationed in the Middle East.

8. I have a vast knowledge of useless 80's t.v. trivia. You'll want me on your trivia team. Trust me on this.

Fantasy Football Week 6: Freakin' Tom Brady

That's right....freakin' Tom Brady! Anyone who faced off in fantasy football this weekend opposing Tom Brady is saying that this week. The former Gap model (I hope his teammates make fun of him for that) is on track for a record season, but his record season is ruining my record season. I lost this week to the hubby who started freakin' Tom Brady (he's a Quarterback for those of you not following football). This loss puts me for a tie for the lead with the hubby who has come back from the bottom of the pack - one place I determined not to go! Next week is highly critical. Stay tuned.

This could be trouble...

I bought my fabric for my sewing class this weekend! I'm very proud of myself for exhibiting huge restraint and only buying what I needed for my class. I really wanted to buy yards of such pretty and fun fabric and sewing books! But in the end I decided to make it through my class before I make any other sewing purchases, like say, um, I don't know...maybe a sewing machine. Minor detail really.Here's the fabric I bought for my pajama pants! I was drawn to it when I first walked into the shop - it just made me laugh! It's little baggies of gold fish with names like Helen, Swimmy, Splashy and Bjorn under them. How can you not love it?

The Nine Lives of Hailey the Dog

Hailey had a little episode the other day - congestive heart failure. My mom rushed her to the vet and they were able to calm her down and get her regulated again. But the next two weeks will be touch and go. The vet said Hailey needs to lay low - no barking, no running, no chasing anything. Now for anyone who knows Hailey - or any dog for that matter - that's going to be a difficult task. But Hailey has lived a long, happy life and hopefully she'll be around to raise trouble a little longer.

My interview with the Yarn Harlot

The story I did with the Yarn Harlot and several Purly Girls is now online (actually, it was online last week and am sorry for the delay!) The Purly Girls were great for letting me drag our cameras to the group and chat with them on t.v. We are a fun group! Check out the show!

Crazy Aunt Purl & Crazy Cocktails

Tonight I met up with a few Purly Girls for happy hour before heading over to hear Crazy Aunt Purl's book reading. It's been a long few days (especially today) and I'll be honest, I was looking forward to happy hour since about 8:15 a.m. I got to the restaurant a bit early and proceeded to order, drink and eat until the rest of the girls showed up. Then we all ordered, drank and ate until it was time to go grab a seat.

Now, I'll admit, I may not have had a lot of food in my tummy and I may have sucked down those cocktails pretty quickly, and while some may say I was a little drunk, I'll just admit I was a wee bit tipsy. But it was Aunt Purl, so all was well.

We get there and the only seats left are right in front. Seriously, right in front. See:

I felt like a little kid sitting on the bench in front of all the grown ups. It was fitting. We were rather giggly.

She was really funny and I laughed and we all knitted (I had to put the knitting away b/c there is a reason I don't really drink at PG!). But sitting in the front (right in front) did have it's advantages. When it was time to line up for the book signing, we all just stood up and were already in line. I haven't read her book yet, but after tonight I'm looking forward to pouring a glass of wine and curling up with the knitting and the book for some good entertainment!


Amanda showed off her new hat! I'm in knitting envy. This is on my project to-do list. Not only is this a beautiful hat, it's Amanda's first dpn project, first lace project and first circular needles project (she's our resident crocheter - but we love her anyway!) Way to take things slow lady!

Fantasy Football: Week 6

After two really rough weeks on the sidelines, I'm thrilled to report the Knitting Football Stars are back on top! It was a tough victory this week, but a victory none the less! Plus, it put me back on top in the rankings! I'm looking forward to more domination on the gridiron!

Catching up

A busy week and another weekend of traveling lead to very little knitting (and pretty much very little nothing else too.) But lucky for me, this past weekend's travels found me heading out to Mara's rustic cabin on the Olympic Peninsula. It had no electricity, no phone, no water but breath taking views and much relaxation. While we invited the boys, they turned us down - probably out of a mixed fear of a football weekend out of touch with the games or the possibility of being trapped in a rustic cabin with two slightly-crazy-wine-drinking-knitting-Jane-Austen girls. It's a toss up really.

No worries for us. We packed our knitting, bottles of wine and hit the road. Not a lot of knitting was accomplished, but it was very fun and relaxed! The view from the cabin.

The view from the beach.

I finally cast on for Matt's socks! They'll either be a birthday present, Christmas present or Groundhog's day present - which ever comes first!

And the vest is coming along nicely! The back is just a few inches from being done!

Home Sweet Home

It was a fun and relaxing trip to Les Bois. But I find it fitting that I came home to Seattle today, October 9 - the three year anniversary of moving to Seattle! Although, the trip started out a little rough. Basically it involved me, the Alaskan Airline ticket agent, my over-weight bag, too many liquids and I may, just may, have accidentally dropped the f-bomb (I was laughing at the time about all of this). Classy I know. What can I say, it was 6 a.m. Boise time and I had been up since 4:45 a.m. If you can't have a sense of humor at that time of day, then really, what's the point.

Airline and knitting woes

It's another weekend of traveling for me. This weekend's destination: Boise, Idaho. I opted to start my weekend early with a Thursday evening flight to Boise. With three knitting projects in my carry on, I was ready for anything. Well, I tried anyway. Here's how my weekend started:

The hubby drops me off at the airport and takes off - with my wallet still in the front seat of the car. Long story short on this one - I was driving when we pulled out of the parking garage downtown, paid the attendant, then tossed my wallet to him as I pulled out through 4 lanes of traffic to hop on the I-5. He was quick to return it and I whipped through security with an hour to kill before boarding.

I hit the bar for a little cocktail and knitting before boarding. Happily drinking my gin and tonic and knitting away when it's time to switch to the bigger needles. No bigger needles. Here's what the patrons (who, incidentally were all men watching Sports Center saw):
Me: Jumping out of my bar stool and proceed to empty the entire contents of my knitting bag onto the bar (while swearing under my breath and now downing the rest of my drink). No needles. They weren't in the two other little baggies of projects either. No problem. I gather my stuff, pay my bill and head to the gate to finish my wait and work on project number 2: my new vest. (Incidentally, I was hoping to finish a baby's hat for a gift for a friend I'm having lunch with on Friday. Not happening now).

I'm now sitting happily knitting with project number 2. I've got 6 1/2 beautiful inches of ribbing when it's time to switch to the bigger needles. New problem. I've started the project on the bigger needles. Deep breath. As I begin to rip out, they announce there is a "mechanical problem" with my plane and their looking into it. A 20 minute delay. OK, now I have time to cast on. Silver lining here. In the process of the ripping out and casting on (and one slight mistake and rip back) they announce 3 more times my flight is delayed. Finally, I'm only 3 rows into the ribbing when I've made another mistake. Only this time, I can't for the life of me figure out where the hell I've messed up. Another delay - for me and the knitting. The solution? Throw the crap into my bag and I stormed off to the book store where I bought 1 entertainment magazine, 1 fashion magazine, 1 bag of Chex mix and 2 things of chocolate. I came out of the store and got a text from the hubby. One of my star players on my fantasy football team tested positive for pot and was being pulled. Must drop him pronto. Fabulous.

Three hours later, I'm finally in Boise. Wide awake after my sugar-high-mindless-gossip-mag-very-bumpy-plane ride to Boise.

I'll be hitting my favorite Boise knitting shop first thing to get all the needles I thought I had and to start over. Here's to a new knitting day, tomorrow.

Fantasy Football: week 3 - A shake up

The news from the sidelines is not so good this week. After a 3-week winning streak, the Knitting Football Stars lost this weekend. We are barely hanging onto the lead and are in a tie with The Good Cousin. It's time for a gut check. Time to make a few choices and cut a few players. Others will be warming the bench. Defeat is not an option.

Memory Lane and FO's

The road trip last weekend to Moscow, Idaho was a great nostalgic get-a-way - plus I had lots of time on the road to knit! As usual, the University of Idaho campus was fun and beautiful, even if the football game was a little painful to watch.

The arboretum in the early stages of fall.

Vandals trying to make a stand against Hawaii. One of these years....it'll be our year...again. Sigh...

And I was able to finish the mittens from Weekend Knitting for a b-day gift for a dear friend! I used Manos and they knit up so quickly! A great, fun, easy project!

Henry's Sweater

It's the baby cardigan from Knitting Pure and Simple. I changed the design a bit (aside from the few "design elements"). Instead of the two I-cords, I just used snaps and added the buttons.

On the road again: destination Moscow, Idaho

This weekend I'm hitting the open road and heading to the beautiful Palouse region in Idaho. We're going to visit some family and cheer the Idaho Vandals football team! I'm really looking forward to visiting the campus. It's just so gorgeous in the fall with all the leaves turning vibrant shades or red, orange and yellow! My camera is charging and the knitting bag is ready to go. I'm also hoping to put a dent in some of my projects including these mittens which are long over due for a friends birthday gift!

Fantasy Football: Week Three

The Knitting Ftball Stars are 3-0! Undefeated baby!

Girls Weekend Get-A-Way

This past weekend, the girls and I headed to Winthrop for a little R & R. There was lots of knitting, reading (I finished the best book!) and just hanging out!


The girls found a guy for a quick photo-op!

Pretty Methow Valley (didn't pay attention to the name of the river...)

We were there for two nights and these are all of Rebecca's projects....

And there was a Square Dancing Festival in town! They shut down part of the main drag (and trapped our car)! We spent the time watching the toe-tappin' couples and shopping through the cute stores!

Fantasy Football Week Two:

After a rough Sunday, I was surprised to see that the Knitting Ftball Stars are still dominating in the league! My defense left a lot to be desired, but luckily my opponent had an even rougher Sunday.

(Editor's note: I'm a little scared about how much I'm picking up about football. I could go into more detail, but I won't. What I find annoying about all of this, is how I can absorb the football lingo/stats/etc. but still can't remember how to SSK when I come across it in a pattern!)

"Obsessively Crafty"

That's one of the new terms I learned from the fabulous knitters I interviewed for my story (or as Rebecca would say - strong-armed into it). Interviewing Stephanie was a lot of fun. We both like to talk about knitting and we both like to knit, so it was a bit challenging to stay focused. And at the end of the interview, she asked about my knitting (we were both knitting during the interview) so I tried to play it cool even though I was secretly gushing on the inside.

(This is a pretty bad picture, I was actually not that far away)

Later we attended her talk at Third Place Books where she continued to entertain with her humor, wit and knitting passion! As usual, she drew a huge crowd plus lots of Purly Girls were there!

(Rebecca and Sasha knit while listening)

(Jessica captures her sock for the moment. Jessica also gave me the term "Obsessively Crafty" I like it better than my Craft A.D.D. term.)

Reasons I like my job.

At my job, I get the opportunity to take complicated political issues and make them relevant to people's lives in a way they understand (hopefully). I get to explain the issues (which, less face it are sometimes really, really boring) in a fun way that gives folks a sense of what city leaders are talking about. I also get to meet interesting, inspiring and fabulous individuals; the political leaders working to make a difference to kids just inspiring change while living with a fatal disease. I've even had the chance to interview a Hollywood Hottie. And tomorrow, I have the chance to sit down with another A-lister:

The Yarn Harlot.

I'll be interviewing her for a story on local knitters, how today's knitters aren't your average, stereotypical knitters and her role in all of this. Then I'll be heading to her book signing to hear from her fans and why they knit.

Hopefully, I'll see you there!

Just have to brag a bit....

So this is a non-knitting comment (kind of). I have succumb to the football in my household and instead of fighting it, I've embraced it by creating my own fantasy football team. I'm in a small league with the new hubby, his Cousin Mike and Cousin Mike's girlfriend Kim (also known as Cousin Kim). Knowing very little about individual players, the computer just randomly selected my players while the hubby, knowing lots of stats and stuff, picked most of his out. We faced off against each other this first week of football, and I have to say - with pride - that my team - the Knitting Ftball Stars - DOMINATED the league! That's one for the knitters and NOTHING for the non-knitters! Stay tuned to see how I fair this week....

A new season starts

A new season has dawned in my household. It's a season that allows much more knitting (not that I need permission for knitting). I can have many more nights to go out and meet knitters or more nights (or afternoons) to curl up at home with a good chick flick and my knitting. I call it knitting season. Others simply call it: football season.

Weekend Get-A-Way!

Matt and I on Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Forest. Don't we look cute in our Idaho Vandal gear? It was game day on Saturday!

We took advantage of a three day weekend to pull out the map and find a spot in Washington we had never visited. Destination: the Olympic Peninsula and the Olympic National Forest! It was a beautiful weekend with great weather (until the end - we were in a rain forest!) and fun times! We even took a quick day trip to Victoria, B.C.

The historic Empress Hotel in Victoria. They were having a classic boat show in the harbor.

The Sunken Garden at Buschard Gardens in Victoria.

Marymere Falls in the Olympica National Forest ...a pretty hike through an old growth forest to the falls.

Ruby Beach along the northwest coast of Washington. Note the pouring rain. What would a trip to the rain forest be without a little rain?

New books! New yarn! Oh my!

A couple of gift certificates from my birthday put me in a shopping mood! I hit a book store and Hilltop Yarns (thanks Aunt Julie!) and am now loaded up with fun new reads and projects! I bought Classic Knits by Erika Knight. Thanks to Rebecca's suggestion, I'm going to make the tank top for myself using this beautiful purple yarn from Rowan. I'm very excited about this project because I've always wanted to knit something from the big and chunky line and because it'll knit up quickly!

Then I finally got a copy of Natural Knits for Babies and Moms (the answer to whatever is running through you mind Sara/April/Jen is no.)! However with all of my friends having babies, it's always good to keep a book like this around. After Katie's "trunk show" of the book, I had to have it! I also bought the yarn to whip up a cute little hat (the yarn was on sale!). But before I start any of these projects, I need to make some serious progress on Henry's sweater!