WiP - my knitting & life in progress

Zoom zoom zooooom!!

2010-11-19T12:08:00.001-08:00

So yesterday I went on an amazing bike ride along the one and ONLY bike path here. Hey, at least there’s one! The leaves are finally changing here so I decided I needed to capture them.

This one seems to be a popular one, and I must say, it’s my favorite and exactly what I was hoping to capture on my outing.

On to the leaves!

In that last one you can juuuuuust see Mimi on the left side of the photo!

I had read about a nifty zoom effect on Digital Photography School that I decided to give a whirl.

This one is along the dock I later found.

Speaking of that dock, I took this panoramic while sitting at the end of it. It’s of Wilson Bay, and it was gorgeous!

Also found this lovely spot.

On my way back, I was at a crosswalk and happened to look down and see this.

Lovely ending to that ride eh?

Black holes and revelations

2010-11-10T12:09:00.001-08:00

Ok srsly, I know I’m a horrible blogger…my updates are not what they should be. bad bad me. But at least something is better than nothing!

In knitting news, I’ve been the busy lil needle clicker. I finished my Geodesic Cardigan. And holy crap that was a feat!

I absolutely LOVE it!! Even though it’s lace weight it’s still really warm. I did the sleeves two at a time with magic loop, and even though it seemed like it took longer that way, I’m super glad I did. They’re the same length and I didn’t have to worry about running out of yarn.

I also finished a pair of the Dashing fingerless gloves for a friend of mine in SF.

Jailbait I hope they fit!!!

I also finally caved in and felted Malabrigo. I made myself slippers, and holy crap they’re the most comfy slippers ever! Holding 2-3 strands together makes them a pretty quick knit and they felted in about 10 mins in the washer. However, it did take almost 2 days for them to dry =\ I blame the humidity.

And lastly, Doug’s awesome gloves. I finished these over the summer but since it’s finally cooling off here he gets to wear them on his 10 mile bike ride to work. He keeps telling me how he shows them off to people when he gets there, its adorable <3.

On a sappy note, he finally talked me into getting in front of a camera (more like bribing). So we took a few pics of us together, and I must say, we look afkndorable.

A new chapter begins..

2010-10-07T10:33:00.001-07:00

So, as some of you may or may not know.. I have left my beautiful home of Portland and ventured off to the east coast again. The most amazing man I have ever met swept me off my feet (again) and welcomed me into his life. So my kitties and I are now part of a military family in NC.

We packed up a truck and drove across the country, and me being the amazing yarn bomber that I am, decided to put crocheted flowers on the welcoming state signs along the way.

Here we goooo!

Idaho

We missed Montana because we were going through some treacherous mountain pass.

Wyoming (it was windy as shit btw)

South Dakota!!!

We missed Iowa I think because of construction, so here’s Missouri.

Also missed Illinois because of a stupid bridge, so here’s Indiana.

Kentucky, its hard to see, but it’s there!

Tennessee.

And lastly, North Carolina.

Our totals:
12 states covered
8 dead skunks smelled
a little over 3400 miles covered
6 days of driving
saw 3 herds of antelope, 3 mule deer, and 1 pheasant

Oh and the cats actually did wonderful. After the first couple days the screaming stopped and they mellowed out. Stoli found her favorite spot on the dash.

And Akasha found her favorite spot in the drivers lap.

The trip was pretty good. We got to see our families, a lot of the country, shared a bunch of new things with each other, laughed, talked, and played the nintendo DS. As much as I miss Portland, I’m glad to be here. I’m finally truly happy and feel like Doug is as well.

omfg ketchup

2010-10-01T08:10:00.001-07:00

I’m finally working on a post… it will be filled with TONS of updates.. so please be a little patient with me

But I’m back!!!

oh lily…

2010-04-21T21:39:00.001-07:00

since you’ve gone I’ve lost that chip on my shoulder…

since you’ve gone I feel like I’ve gotten older..

now you’re gone it’s as if the whole wide world is my stage..

now you’re gone it’s like I’ve been let out of my cage…

fkn

true.

K2tog..

2010-04-18T20:11:00.001-07:00

So, in the past almost two months, I’ve been a knitting machine. Its ridiculous really. In Feb. I finished my February Lady Sweater, in March I finished Aeolian Shawl (which I call areola shawl :P) and it’s now on display in the store!

After tackling that monstrosity of a shawl, I got some of the Mirosol Nuna to knit with. It’s an awesome blend of wool, bamboo, and silk. I knit up gwen slouch hat with it and it turned out amazing, and it’s also on display in the store.

Then I made the Ripley from Whimsical Little Knits 2. I made it for a woman who was recently diagnosed with cancer, and another woman I work with made Caroline for the same woman. We hope that these gifts brighten up her days! After finishing that hat I finally decided I needed to finish that damn Multnomah. I don't know why, but this shawl drove me insane. It was a really simple pattern, and I know 4 or so other knitters that had issues with it as well. I’m so glad it’s finally done and I don't have to work on it anymore. I really like the end product though, but here is a photo when it was being blocked.

Elsa then asked me to make her another Gwen Slouch, but out of the Sugar Rush instead of the Nuna. It turned out cute as hell, and she loves it!And in return she made me an awesome purse that I adore! I also finally made my coffee cozy that I’ve been wanting to do for a couple years. It’s amazing what being hungover and wanting a mindless knit will do to you.

And now on my needles I have my very first pair of socks!! Clandestine in Malabrigo sock of course. I loooove the way they’re turning out and the lace is awesome. I’ve learned a few new knitting tricks with this pattern, but I think that since this is my first sock attempt that I cant get myself to move forward and get to the heel. Must.. find… motivation!

I’m also working on Coachella but I’m using a mercerized cotton and went down a couple needle sizes to make it a little more fitted.

Front:

Back:

So this should be done with in a week.. its just stockinette till I think its long enough then it’s done too!

Back to clickin!!

<3<3

Mountains!!!!

2010-04-11T20:03:00.001-07:00

I played on one!! A couple days after Doug got here we drove up to Mount Rainier and hiked like 8ish miles. Here’s some photooooos!

After a little over 4 hours of driving… seeing the 18 mile mark was squee inducing!

Amg we made it!

Then we got to drive over this awesome bridge! It was a single lane so thankfully there was nobody else out there that day to play chicken with.

If you look at the top of the mountain you can see the snow line. Pretty awesome imo.

We finally made it around 1-2ish in the afternoon. We parked and Doug went to talk to the ranger and pay him, and I made us sammiches for the picnic. Most of the trail that we wanted to drive up had been washed out, so the original spot we wanted to go to was going to take like 9 hours to hike. We decided instead to just go to the green lake trailhead and hike up to the waterfalls.

^ closed due to washout =\

This is how the trail started out, and after about 2 miles…

..it turned into this! It was awesome! And all day it was raining (well NW version of rain) off an on and it was a chilly 45-50 deg. I think it was perfect for hiking, just cool enough to keep from overheating.

We saw looooots of uprooted trees. Most of them were huge, so for a better idea of how big they were, this is Doug standing by one of the trees. What's really neat is that you can see all of the rocks imbedded in the roots.

And since I like to wander into places I shouldn't be… we saw a little offshoot road, and of course, I wanted to go down it.

After walking down the road a bit we found this sign, prolly not a good one. And further up was this..

Odd.. but interesting!

So we eventually made it to the green lake trail and hiked (actually hiked instead of walking down a washed out road) about 2 miles until we got to the waterfalls. It was awesome to hear it get louder and louder as we got closer. We found a mostly flat spot on the side of a cliff to have our sammiches and pirate booty! We sat there for awhile and I got some neat shots.

Then we decided it was getting a lil dark and chilly, so we headed back to the car. The hike back didn't take nearly as long as going up. Prolly because I didn't find every little thing to take photos of or more little trails to go adventure on.

Right when we got to the car it got dark. I don't think we could have timed any of it more perfectly. It was an awesome day I must admit.

Thank you again Doug!

<3<3

Where oh where

2010-04-09T21:57:00.001-07:00

shall I begin….

So, since I’m so far behind, I figured the best way (for me anyhow) to get you all caught back up is to go thru my photos that I’ve taken the past few weeks.

So!

Here is a shot looking down Hawthorne at dusk:

I took this while walking up Hawthorne to somewhere I don’t remember :P

And here is a pic of Laurelhurst Theatre:

And I dragged my friend Alex down to cartopia for Whiffies one afternoon! It was delicious as always!

My pie w/Alex noming his in the background. Seriously if you haven’t made it over to Whiffies yet, you need to get your ass down there. And then get some poutine from Potato Champion…. mmmmm poutine… ty Canada!!!

Later that night I walked home and took some amaaaazing photos of a magnolia tree that I stumbled across.

The last one seems to be everyones favorite, and mine too. I printed that one out for my boss and framed it, then gave it to her for a birthday present! She looooved it, and I’m glad she did. :) I also submitted that final photo for a little contest that Rainy Daisy was having. She got some beautiful photos to choose from! And congratulations to the winner, you got some lovely yarn!

As far as knitting goes.. I made an AWESOME lacey beret out of the Mirosol Nuna that we got in.

It was suuuper easy to make and the lace pattern was only a 4 row repeat so i memorized it and just went to town. It didnt take more than 3 days to make and the bamboo, silk, and merino wool blend is delicious to work with. My friend Elsa loved the hat so much that she asked me to make her one out of the Queensland Sugar Rush (which is made out of sugar cane viscose!).

Ok! more updates soon!

omfgbbqpwnies

2010-04-08T23:29:00.001-07:00

SO FREAKIN BUSY! Almost a month since my last post.. ima bad bad bad blogger :(

However! i will be making more posts soon!! Hostage situations, adventures, tons o work, and friends have made me a busy gal.

I have tons of pics and stories to tell.. so stay tuuuuuuuned!

Ohh my beautiful…

2010-03-12T00:20:00.001-08:00

Busy busy busy!!!

Ok so! Last Tuesday my oh so fabulous knit group threw me a little welcome back party!! They were prepared with giant cupcakes, soda, wine, and gifts!!

And Elsa got me the most amazing book ever written!!!

I cannot wait to start cookin out of this thing!! I was reading thru some of the recipes and drooling. It will be magnificent!!

Over the weekend I started work, which was aweeeesome btw. And starting a new job during a reaaaaaaaally busy weekend is quite the feat. The Portland Yarn Crawl was this weekend and since my favorite knitters and I had Friday open, we hit up the LYS’s before the masses did over the weekend. We made it to Close Knit, Gossamer, Knit/Purl, Dublin Bay, Twisted, and of course back to Happy Knits.

The day was fun! Evan got some undyed yarn from Gossamer so he could dye it himself (which turned out pretty damn awesome), Anne got some gifts for a friend and something for herself, and we all got some free patterns from Twisted since we were a few of the first in the shop!

On Saturday, Anne and I had a podcast interview with Knithappensshow.com. It was super fun and we got to talk about our yarn bombing, and hopefully got some people in the Portland area who listen to the show to come join us! You can listen to it here.

Annnd then I think it was Monday, Anne and I decided to go to the Portland Building to add some crochet chains to an art exhibit. Its called the Mother Tree Project and you can get more info here. Anne brought her friend Annie, who learned to crochet on the spot for the project! We used nettles as one fiber, and that was an experience lemme tell you.

Here’s a couple pics:

Ok now that you’re all up to date, its time for more packing then bed!

<3<3

Vandals!!!!

2010-03-01T18:43:00.001-08:00

So I met up with Annie, Elsa, and Elsa’s cousin Mike (I hope thats his name!) at Palio’s in Ladd’s edition. Annie had a GIANT stash of stuff she had worked on while I was out of town, so she was ready to go. When I pulled up on my bike her and Elsa were already putting pieces up. We put pieces up on 4 or so trees, 3-4 benches, a few bike racks, street signs, light poles, a bus stop bench, business door handle & gate, & cables from a telephone pole. Some of the photos I took are on flickr (there to the right) and the rest are up on my photography site.

We had a TON of positive reactions today. People would walk by and watch us and smile, a couple asked what we were doing so we let them know. People in the coffee shop and bike shop were wondering as well so Mike went in and told them what was up. We did have one woman who thought we should be doing something better than wasting yarn on poles and trees tho. We decided she was just too uptight, and put up more pieces!

After that Annie and I walked to downtown, and stopped by the Vera Katz statue to place a hat on her head. We then headed over the Hawthorne bridge and stopped at Chapman square. I showed Annie the little hair piece I had put on the pioneer statue woman, and we decided the little boy needed a hat. I put it on, took a couple photos, and not 2 minutes later a couple women walk by, see the hat, and say ‘We need to take that off!’. I laughed, walked up and told Annie what they said, and backed up a little then watched them take it off. We stood back and laughed at them while they took pictures of the statue for a good 5-8 minutes. We still don't know why they would want to take it down, but oh well, we went back later and put it back on! Ha! Showed them!!!

After lunch we walked up to the Zoobomber monument and happened to run into Elsa, Mike and Brandie who were eating at Kenny & Zukes. It was awesome to run into people I love being around! Annie and I walked alllll over downtown today. We got more measurements and tons and tons of new ideas. We definitely have our work cut out for us.

New beginnings…

2010-02-26T23:50:00.000-08:00

So, I’ve been back in town for a whole day, and I already feel like I’ve gotten so much accomplished. Got back into my workout routine at the gym, also got back on my bike. I can’t tell if my legs are happy or mad about the biking part.. but damn it feels good. I’ve gone from not wanting to get out of bed or even leave my apartment, to waking up at 6:30 am. getting to the gym for a 1.5-2 hour work out, and getting errands done before noon. I wish I had this cloud lifted from my head sooner, cuz damn it feels good to go outside and breathe the beautiful air.

I spent a good 2 hours today just walking around town in the rain. It was nice to see so many people out and enjoying the day like myself. I saw a few statues that I’ve decided are just too plain or naked. I also thought of the bell that’s in front of city hall, some type of knitting needs to go on that. I walked thru the park blocks and saw a few more statues that needed some color, but its just a matter of reaching them that I need to figure out. I want to make cozies for the park benches as well. Possibly the ones in the park by the federal building. I think if I get enough of them done I can get all the benches on that block done. Ooooo such a challenge!

I also saw soooo many photo ops today, but felt a part of me wilt when I remembered I dont have the canon anymore. I think in order for me to be able to save up any sort of money for the camera I want, I’ll have to find another job. And I’m SO glad I can say ‘another job’. So many people here can’t even find one, and I was lucky enough to be given one at an amazing store!

I also can’t believe that I’ve been asked to be interviewed three times for yarn bombing. And then, after my article in the Rapid City Journal, somehow Peggy McMullen, a blogger for the Oregonian, found that article and blogged about it! It’s like two interviews at once! I finally feel like I’m making a mark somehow and that I can make a statement and someone will notice.

All in all it’s been an amazing return home, a fantastic day filled with love and excitement. I had a wonderful night with my amazing knitters at HK, followed by beer (& way too many tots) at the pub across the street. I missed you all so much and it’s great to be around you all again! Then biked up to another friends place and played wii for awhile (mario cart is redic amounts of fun). And my bike ride home was brisk, quiet, and a perfect ending to my day.

I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Finally moving..

2010-02-25T13:46:00.001-08:00

I figure its time I finally get my butt blogging, so here I go!

I’m headed back to Portland (FINALLY) and I have so many ideas of what i want to do once I get back. First with yarn bombing, I want to get the park benches dressed up, along with the water fountains. Also want to hit a few of the bike racks up on Belmont in front of Stumptown (I think that would be an awesome photo op).

As for knitting projects, it’s time I tackle socks! And a friend has a giant knitting project I just might try to take on. We shall see!

As for myself, I have done a lot of reflecting on what I have and haven’t been the past few years. It’s time that I remember what I want and who I am, and embrace it. I want more positive people and things around me, and to be a more positive person. I have remembered that I am a strong amazing woman and that I need to act like one, instead of hiding behind someone else and slowly dying.

Look out Portland!!! Here I come!!@