Henry's Sweater

This is Henry and this is the sweater I made for him. Isn't he so adorable? Isn't the sweater cute, if I do say so myself! I made this a while ago, but just got a picture of him sportin' the goods. It's the free pattern from Natural Knits. I can't remember the yarn I knit it with, but I remember how I didn't like the yarn and swore I'd never use it again, so it's for the best.

Now here's a question. Henry and his family are moving to Hawaii in a few months (I know, how fabulous is it to have family living in Hawaii? He's the son of Matt's cousin) so what's a knitter to make a cute kid who lives in Hawaii?

I'm a joiner

Usually after knitting with Purly Girls, I come home, put on the jammies and continue knitting. However this particular Monday night I came home and got lost in Ravelry. I added friends, checked out their sites and realized I'm a joiner. I've joined several groups that make sense: the Purly Girls, SKG, Sheepless in Seattle. But I've also join a few other groups that I just couldn't resist: Tattooed Knitters, Neptune Knits (for knitting fans of Veronica Mars), Yarn 'n Jovi (you guessed it - there's a group for knitting Bon Jovi fans!) and a group for fans of the original Pride and Prejudice. I joined that one because, while I do love that movie, the icon button was the shot of Colin Firth after he jumped into the pond. So really, how can you not join that group?

Snapshots from Arizona

It was sunny and warm in Arizona when we were there! Plenty of fun (and a little knitting) was had by all!

We checked out Frank Lloyd Wright's place in Phoenix, Taliesin West.

Soaking up some sun and culture at Frank's Place.

We visited a pueblo in town and they had rooms recreated from the villagers. I jokingly called this the "craft room" because it had baskets of cotton, woven rugs and blankets.

Knitting on the way to Old Tucson. Sock is still growing slowly....

We used to go to Old Tucson when we lived in Tucson when I was a kid. My favorite attraction was the carousel. So I made our entire group take a trip down my memory lane. They all agreed the carousel was a highlight!

Finally in!

I finally got my invitation to join Ravelry! I'm so excited! I have so much yarn to start organizing - it'll be great! My ravelry name is MegsKnittingKnot so stop by and say hi! I swear I've spent most of the day on the site. Just what I need, another time suck away from my knitting!

What's a knitter to do?

When she's at that point in her sock, where she knits and knits. Then knits some more but the damn thing just won't grow!
I could just knit some more and have faith that one day (hopefully soon) I'll be at the heel turn, or,

I could cast on for another project! It's my clapotis! Still in the beginning stages, but unlike the sock, I do feel like progress is being made! The sock will get another opportunity to grow as I head for some sunny weather (80 degree's here I come!) in Phoenix for a long weekend! Here's hoping I come back with a heel turn and a slight tan. Ok, at least a heel turn.

Danskin Triathlon 2008

Registration opened an closed within a few hours for this years Danskin Triathlon and I'm happy to say myself and my friends all made it in! This will be my third year in a row for the race and this years goal is:

1 hour 45 mins

I better get to work!

A much needed breath of fresh air

It's been a very busy couple of weeks around here. Too busy (and too tired) for blogging and sadly knitting too. But yesterday I got a much needed recharge for my battery! While the hubby hit the slopes on his snowboard, Mara and I hit the trails for a little snowshoeing at Snoqualmie Resort. It was an unusually sunny and beautiful day, although we got a little snow at the top of the mountain, which was a great way to start off the trek. We took the ski lift to the top of the mountain, then enjoyed the views on trails. It was a great workout, a great treat and there was even time for knitting in the lodge afterwards!

Madrona: The Download

I just returned from this years Madrona Fiber Festival. I've unpacked the suitcase, unloaded the food bag (or what's left of the wine, I should say), petted, photographed and admired my new yarn and now I'm ready to blog about it.

Lounging in the living room.

First, we got to the hotel to discover the room I reserved for the four of us was not the one we got. Instead of 2 double beds, we ended up with a sweet suite! And the best part was, when we told them about it, they said, have it for the price you were quoted! Sweet! The other fun (maybe annoying) part about checking in was when Mara, Rebecca and I checked in, the two young men at the counter just looked at us and said:

Young men: "You're knitters?'
Us: "Yes, we're knitters."

Them: "Really? Huh?"

The stereotypes live on.

My first class was Lace Basics with Evelyn Clark. It was very interesting and while it took me a little while to get the hang of it, I think I'm going to like it. Plus, I think this will be a very good challenge for me as I'm not one for really following directions all that well and with lace, one must pay strict attention to the pattern and details. The class was accomplished with minimal swearing. Plus it was fun to have Erin there too!

The afternoon was free time! Good thing I travel to Tacoma with my Tacoma Fun Fact Friend Mara! We took a great walk along the waterfront, saw the house where Frank Sinatra was born and checked out Stadium H.S. where 10 Things I Hate About You was filmed in honor of Heath Ledger.

This morning I only had one class Knitting in All Directions with Margaret Radcliff. It was very interesting to learn about different techniques to cast on, pick up, use waste yarn for design elements. I think this will be some practical and handy stuff to know!

Now of course I can't leave out the market place! One of the highlights of the convention! I did go a little crazy, but I really don't think I was alone there! I bought a bunch of sock yarn! I bought several skeins from Tactile - a company that uses naturally dyed yarns and writes the names of the sheep that the yarn came from on their lables! I also bought a skein of Socks That Rock in Farmhouse. Then I bought Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road so I could knit up all of this new sock yarn!

I also picked out the yarn for my clapotis! I'm using medium weight sock yarn from Socks That Rock in Faulty Dryer. I've already printed out the pattern and I'm ready to get to work!

Who's your Austen Man?

I came across this web site today and thought, in honor of Valentines Day, this would make a fitting blog entry:

The Men of Austen. Who is your Austen Man? It's a poll and it features all of Austen's leading men complete with their bio: their occupation, salary (even equated into today's value), their likes, dislikes and what features they're looking for in a woman.

I have to admit, it's quite funny. I voted for Mr. Darcy. And despite his millions, I'd have voted for him even if he was mearly a lowly clergyman without good family breeding.

Hangin' with the Idaho Girls!

A busy few days in Boise, but I still got to see some of my favorite people! The Idaho Girls are super cute and growing so fast! It was great to hang with them for a little while! It was just what I needed! Now it's time to get ready for Madrona and more knitting! In fact, the Idaho Girls dad was quite funny. He's one of those that just doesn't get knitting. I tried to tell him what Madrona was but he kept saying, "knitting is code for what?"

This time the gauge will be juuusst right

A little over a year ago I started the Toe Jazz socks from Fiber Trends. I was using a size 0 needle and between the insy-bitsy needle and all the cables and ribbing, it was so damn tight. So I threw it into the craft closet to think about what it had done for a while. After finishing Matt's socks the other day, I decided it was time to pull them out and take another stab at them. So I ripped 'em out and started over on size two's. Those were way to loose. Ripped 'em out again. Last night I recast on with size ones. So far, so good. But it might be too early to tell. I'll have to keep pluggin' along and see where the yarn takes me.

I have no photos to accompany this as I'm blogging from Boise for an unexpected trip back home. However, I am getting lots of creative juices flowing as I'm checking out all the new fun quilting stuff my mother is working on. She's currently taken over the dinning room (much to my father's dismay) as yet the third room in the house with quilt projects. Stay tuned for pictures later.

Sewing Bee

The other day I met up with a few other Purly Girls who also dabble in the fabric arts. They were all making these beautiful quilt blocks while I struggled with pajama pants. Following patterns (rules, instructions, etc.) has never been my strong suit. But after a while I just went with the flow. I have to say, these Olivia PJ pants are super cute! I bought three different types of Olvia fabric online and am totally loving them!

Some of Jessica's Harry Potter quilt blocks (below) and some of Amanda's quilt blocks & more of Jessica's quilt blocks (above).

Big game weekend

As folks are getting ready for the big game this weekend (I'm talking about the Superbowl for my non-football fan knitters - even though they love Friday Night Lights), I thought I'd take a moment and reflect back on the Knitting Football Stars season: sucked.

We started out super strong with a four game winning streak right off the bat, but it was all downhill from there. After a string of running back issues (injuries, drugs, etc.) and a few weak defensive picks, the Knitting Football Stars spent the rest of the season at the bottom of the barrel. But we did manage to make it into the playoff (small league, what can I say). And they came away a third place spot, nudging out the hubby. I'd call that a winning season.

Merry Christmas!

Matt's socks are finally finshed! They are my first pair of socks and I'm ready for my second pair - one for me!

Project: Thuja Socks from knitty

Yarn: DK Cashcotton

Review: Loved the pattern - would totally use it again. While the yarn is super soft and great to knit with, I'd never use it for sock yarn again. I'm afraid they'll stretch out and slouch down. I hate slouchy socks.

January Blahs....

The cold, dark, gray days of the Pacific Northwest are getting really, really old. I'm ready for spring and the sunshine to be here. Usually, I enjoy a good "hunker in with your knitting" day, but I'll admit, I'm bored with the Pippa Bag project. So on that note, I've decided I need to start my first sweater project. But now comes the hard part of picking out a pattern. I'm soliciting ideas/sugesstions. Here are some of the one's I've got on the list for now:

• Twist - I love knitting cables and I do want to challenge myself with a pattern.



• Hourglass Sweater from LMKG - Pretty, but could die in sk hell



• Mariah - Very pretty, but have heard the cables are super hard

I'm leaning towards a cardigan as I'm always cold. I'm also planning on going through all of my knitting books to find a pattern I might already own - novel idea I know! If you have any sugesstions, let me know!

A little sewing time

I pulled out my new sewing machine on my day off and decided to practice on a small project I've had for a while. These are ribbon tea towels. Just a simple project that involves hemming linen fabric and adding a ribbon trim. It was a good learning experience. I learned that I need to improve sewing corners, sewing in a straight line and perhaps not wearing a black fleece pullover while working with white linen fabric and white thread. It's the little things like that they don't teach in sewing classes.

It's official - we're never eating on the dining room table again!

As my fabric interest grows (if you listen closely you can hear my mom utter a little cheer while reading this I'm sure), I was very happy to find this adorable Olivia fabric! I love the Olivia books and if you haven't read them, put them on your library hold list now! I see p.j. pants out of these in the near future!

Vegas recap

Vegas was lots of fun, sunny and warm (well warmer than it is in Seattle). Didn't win any yarn money, very sad. Other than that it was a very fun weekend! I loved seeing Amy and Beau again and finally meeting their kids, Nathan, 3yrs. and Megan, 9 mos. It was fun just to hang out with them!

On Saturday night we took in the the Excalibur show - Tournament of Knights. Amy thought it would entertain Nathan. According to him, it was a hit! He laughed, cheered clapped, worried about the knights when they fell off their horses....it was fun watching him enjoy the show. As for the adults, it was mildly entertaining and pretty cheesy. The men all had the medieval hair style of long hair and some walked about in their leather pants and nothing else. Amy and I wondering if this show was a stepping stone to the other Excalibur show - The Thunder from Down Under.
The meal they served was similar to the food back then (if they had tomato soup that tasted exactly like Campbell's) but they didn't have silverware. Apparently that's part of the experience. While that thrilled all of the children in the audience, I have issues with that. The meal was soup that you drank from your bowl, a roll, potato wedges and thing of steamed broccoli and a little roasted baby chicken. Now I have to say I have serious issue with an entire being of former animal on my plate. Hence the reason I don't eat crab (or most seafood). They set it down in front of me with a thud and I just looked at it. Matt leaned over, half chuckling to himself and said, "Uh, are you going to eat that?" I figured what the hell and decided to be a good sport. It was all right but could only make it through about less than a quarter of the chicken. The roll was very tasty.

Vegas baby!

The Pippa Bag project, the hubby and myself are off to a weekend in Vegas! Here's to winning more yarn money!

Finally casting on for me!

There is nothing more annoying than casting on only to realize your needles aren't long enough. Granted, this could have been prevented if one had paid better attention to the pattern, but I digress. After casting on, ripping out, complaining and frantically going through all of my other needles, I finally went out and bought the right pair. I'm now ready to cast on for the Pippa Purse from Rowan.
I also bought the winter/spring issue of knitscene. I'm pretty sure it's geared toward the "younger 20 something" knitters, but I don't care. It has some really cute and simple sweater patterns like this one.

My new obsession

While I played with my sewing machine, my friend June played with my new camera.

My mother gave me her old sewing machine and I'm so excited to have it! I pulled out my pajama pants that I started at a class this past fall. I finished them and tried them on. They are a bit big, but it was a learning project (and they are pj pants) so I can live with them. Plus, each time I look at the fabric I chuckle. Fish, with cute names!!?? Seriously, how can that not make you giggle?

In case you can't read the fine print, their names are Goldie, Swimmy, Spooky, Helen and Bjorn.

But I am excited to enter into this new phase of my crafting/creative obsession. Although, in all honestly, I did enjoy sewing as a kid. I used to make Barbie and Cabbage Patch clothes for my sister and I on this very same sewing machine. But then I hit my teens and I guess that just wasn't cool anymore. Or something. I'm not really sure why I stopped sewing, but I'm excited to get back into it!

Another Lemming...

I finally did it. I signed up for Ravelry. And there are only 6,769 other knitters in front of me. I'm on my way now.

The death of electronics

Everything is dying at our office. The Printer experienced a long, painful (read loud) death that made us feel guilty every time we printed off our work. Then the Printer's buddy - the Copier - must have been in mourning as it started acting up too. It was bad around here. Pretty soon I wasn't able log into our laptop. It's like the Printer was life blood of the electronic gadgetry of our office.

7 days into the New Year & I've already broken my resolution

My New Year's resolution was to knit less gifts and more for me. Selfish I know, but I can live with that. However, by day 5 I had cast on for this scarf:


It's a birthday gift for my Great Aunt Milly. She just turned 96. She still lives on her own. She still sends me a birthday card each year with $5. She sends us Harry and David Christmas gift boxes. If anyone is worth breaking my resolution, it's her. It's a simple scarf pattern out of the purse stitch in Blue Heron Yarns Beaded Wool Metallic Violet.

Finished Foliage!

The first finished project of '08 (though started in late '07) is my Foliage hat. In all of my years of knitting, this is the first hat I've ever made myself.

What: Foliage hat
Where: knitty.com
How: Malabrigo Chunky yarn in a variegated blue/green (can't find the tag with the color)

Happy New Year!

We rang in 2008 with good friends, good food and a good laugh. Of course, it was at the expense of the Space Needle fireworks that had a "computer glitch" and didn't go off as planned but amused us greatly!

2007 was a good year (I did get married), but it was also a good year knitting wise. I've decided 2008 will be the year of knitted goodies for me! Selfish I know, but I'm quite excited about it. I've already got a list of things I'm dying to knit:

• Clapotis
• A sweater (am thinking the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts but am open for other ideas)
• This fabulous felted purse I bought the stuff for long ago
• And several items from my new book Knitting Little Luxuries

These items are not in any particular order and I'm sure - I mean, I know - that my list will grow but it's a good starting point for '08!

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.