Summertime...

Summer has arrived.... at least I thought it had. Yesterday we spent a great day at the beach with Lisa and her girls soaking up the sun, playing in the sand and of course lots of knitting was done. It has been really nice for the last 3 days or so and then I wake up this morning to gray clouds and sprinkles. Summer in Washington sure can be draining on the soul. Maybe it's time to rethink our decision to move back here. We must have been crazy :) I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that Mother Nature will decide we NEED that sun!

Stitch Markers

My popular stitch markers, that are perfect for sock knitting, are now available on my blog. Just click the "buy now" link to purchase. Included is a "begin round" marker perfect for knitting in the round. I love using these markers when I make socks. After I complete a decrease I flip the marker to the back side (as I slip it) and it reminds me that the next round is a non-decrease row. Simply flip the marker back to the front to remind you that the next round is a decrease row. Never forget what row you are on again. Markers will fit any needle up to size 9.

Long time no blog...

Absent blogger I have been for the last month... it's just been crazy. Between school coming to an end for the year and my brother's wedding in Arizona, I haven't had much time for blogging and even knitting for that matter. Boy, life sure can interrupt a persons knitting can't it?

My daughter Hailey and I had a fun trip to Tucson, AZ for the wedding. One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Unique Designs by Kathy (http://www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com/ and http://www.uniquedeisgnsbykathy.blogspot.com/) and her farm (which she took us on a short tour of). Some of the animals we saw were alpacas, llamas, sheep, ducks, angora goats and angora rabbits. After the quick tour we got to hang out in her shop/studio. What an artist she is... she has amazing custom yarns, lots of roving and wonderful felted and knitted designs on display in her shop. She customizes in unique yarns she creates and spins herself. I could have spent hours in there looking through every single strand of yarn she had. Since I was with family though I had to cut it short. But I didn't get out of there without buying some wonderful yarn first.

Kathy also let us take a look at her studio... I was in heaven with the overwhelming amount of roving that was waiting to be spun and in awe of her giant machines (see pictures). It was truly inspirational to see the artistry behind the yarn and to hear her story. If you get a chance, check out her website and her blog and consider making a purchase from her (you won't be disappointed). Summer in Tucson and 100 degree heat, well let's just say they don't get too many visitors this time of year and the animals still need to be fed and kept cool. My purchase covered the cost of feeding her animals for only one day.

My next trip to Tucson will definitely include another stop at her shop. On top of selling her amazing yarns, she also offers classes and even offered to teach me how to use a drop spindle for free. The roving I bought from her is really beautiful, I'll have to wait on posting a picture until I can get a good shot outside to show the true color. It is a beautiful green with other colors mixed in. If you ever get to Tucson make sure you have this farm on your list of stops. It was really fun!

My how time flies...

Wow... I can't believe it has actually been a whole month since I last blogged. What a slacker...

I've been so busy test knitting some new, beautiful, gorgeous designs for my wonderful friend Lisa of Lisa Ellis Designs (http://www.lisaellisdesigns.com/ or http://www.lisaellisdesigns.blogspot.com/) that I just lost track of my blogging. I can't wait to share them once the patterns have been published. I've made socks, a hat, a sweater, fingerless gloves and now an adorable baby dress, a first for me. Along with that I finished up my sweater vest which I just love.

Last weekend my daughter and I went on a little shopping trip and ended up in Silverdale. Of course I had to tell her if she went with me we had to stop at Linda's Knit & Stitch to look for buttons for all my projects. She loves yarn these days so she was happy to go. We found some amazing buttons and, luckily, found some for every project I had sitting around just waiting to be blocked and buttoned. I also had to make a quick stop at Joann's where Hailey found some fun wood buttons she liked and asked me make a sweater to go with them. I thought that was funny... make a sweater to match the buttons!

Now it's onto blocking (my least favorite thing about knitting) and adding those wonderful buttons. I look forward to wearing them this fall.

These pictures are from the Maritime Museum in Astoria, OR. I was really surprised to see it there. The swift is made out of whale bones and I loved the carved hand at the bottom holding the swift. Beautiful... It amazes me how knitting ties into so much history.

I'm not square...

Last week I was so excited to finally start knitting with my square needles. When I first heard about square knitting needles I thought it was kind of crazy. I thought it would be awkward and wondered if the stitches would be different. Well I tried them and I liked them, except for the cable. I started knitting a pair of socks for Hailey using the magic loop method. With magic loop I'm used to pushing the cable through the yarn when you are switching sides and the cable on these needles was so limp that it was impossible to push it through. It just wasn't working well for me and I was getting frustrated so I ended up switching back to my Addi's. I think these needles would be perfect for doing other projects like a scarf or a sweater. But, maybe with a little more patience and practice they will once again be used for socks. We'll see... I'm not tossing them out yet!

Spring break is almost over...

Ahhh... there's nothing like camping in the freezing wind and rain and sleeping in a rock hard bed with a very strange odor in the air. Guess that's what you get when you camp out in a little cabin in the woods at a KOA on the Oregon Coast. Where's a Hilton when you really need it? This old body can't more than a few days of roughing it :) Really though, it actually was a lot of fun, even the dog had a good time. Even though the weather couldn't make up its mind, we got to spend most of one day on the beach with no rain, just sunshine and a lot of wind and the kids got to swim in an indoor pool. All the other days it would rain, clear up, rain, clear up, hail, clear up... you get the picture. We were even able to get in a little history for the kids by visiting Fort Stevens State Park and the maritime museum. And, I even got to stop at a couple of yarn shops. The first one was in Seaside, a cute little shop with yarn, scrapbook and jewelry making supplies as well as fun stamp stuff. I had my daughter pick out some sock yarn for her next pair of socks and she picked "Yummy", 100% superwash wool from Fibranatura. I've never knit with this yarn before but the colors are fun and I'm happy that it is washable. The second yarn I got was, surprise, Merisoft hand painted from Punta. I just can't get enough of this yarn. The color of this yarn is just beautiful (at least in my eyes). It has a combination of colors that include black, purple, red and pink, it's pretty cool looking. Lastly, I picked up another pair of square needles since I can't seem to find where I put my first pair. I'm excited to knit with these and see if they really do help my hands.

The second shop I stopped at wasn't as fun. They had a good selection of (please don't be offended) "old lady yarn" as I like to call it... yikes... acrylic. There wasn't a whole lot to choose from but I did manage to find some Cascade sock yarn in a pretty blue that will match one of my new spring jackets perfectly. I really was looking for something different, some yarn that I had never seen before, but that just didn't happen. All in all we had a wonderful trip and I'm excited to start knitting some new socks for the kiddos. I think I will relax the rest of the weekend and knit. Cleaning can wait until next week :)