Vacation!

#sistersinsisters #celebratingKathysbirthday #stitchinpost #moreyarnplease

College Knit Night ~

After a great "girls night" with my 15 year old, we picked up our 18 year old this morning. We headed back to our favorite part of town to have a yummy breakfast, and she was telling us all about the classes she is registered for this fall. We parked next to our favorite shop in town, and pointed out our new favorite local yarn shop.

My 18 year old said, "Hey mom, we can go to knit night on Tuesdays!"  (Ahhhhh, if only I could!!!) She knows how score points with me!!!

Birthday Cashmere ~

So happy that the cashmere birthday scarf is done. The colors are beautiful and yarn continues to be so soft. The pattern was a perfect choice, too.

I will put it inside this fun Smiley Face tin, and she will love the tin and the scarf! Happy birthday sister!

Birthday scarf ~

Almost done with this lovely cashmere scarf, and wondering why scarves take sooooo long to knit? Perhaps it is the repetition of four rows, over and over and over, with no change in turning a heel or working the cuff....almost hypnotic...

Still so lovely, yet takes so long to knit...yarn is so soft and a delight to work with...love these sherbert colors in the summer sunshine....This will be a perfect birthday knit for my sister....

Birthday with Paul ~

My sister has wanted to marry Paul McCartney since we were little... I admit, I wanted to marry him too, but since my sister is older than me, she gets first dibbs.....only fair, right?

 

 

Well, she was able to see him in concert, on her birthday....so that is almost as good as marriage... right?

Seattle Graduation ~

The big day has arrived!  High school graduation for my oldest daughter, Bravo!

A perfect day, shared by family and friends. Gotta love getting a picture of the sisters and the Space Needle as part of the celebration! Hurrah!

Michigan Mystery Fiber ~

My mum and sister were at a fiber festival in Michigan in October, and they picked out a lovely bump of what I am calling Michigan Mystery Fiber for me!  They thought it was alpaca, since there were alpacas at the festival, but the fiber is more coarse and long than alpaca. The color is a lovely buff and a bit of peach tones added.  A bonus was a bar of handmade soap from the fiber festival was also in the bag, so it is the best smelling fiber bump I have ever had!

According to the experts at my favorite knitting shop, it seems to be a blend Romney and BFL, with some other wools perhaps.  I am excited to start spinning it, as soon as I finish what is on my bobbins, or when Santa brings me new bobbins!

Island Quilting ~

Another great tradition of our Island weekend is lots of fabric to make lovely quilt tops! There are several friends on our weekend that have amazing eyes for color and color organization. This year was no exception as my sister shows her lovely quilt top for 2012 weekend! Lots of great colors and inspiration, and all sewn by the time we had to leave on Monday morning! Way to go!!!

Basketball Star ~

Now that basketball has started, we are having such fun going to the games. One daughter supporting the other is great, especially when she makes a "fan" sign to flash from the audience bleachers! Although it is on the back of her homework paper, it was still the only "fan" sign in the gym...so that is pretty exciting, right!Motivated by all the fan support, and the "fan" sign, our basketball star was awesome again. Not the 12 points she scored in her first game last week, in just the eight minutes that she played, but still an amazing performanceHurrah Foondie!!!! Go Foondie!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad ~

Happy Birthday to my Dad!!! I hope you are having a great day and a fun time doing fun things that you like!I think this picture was taken in 1971....That's my sweetie sister with Dad....lovely family!

Is there cake?

Close your eyes and imagine celebrating your birthday in the best way, ever. Let's think about what would make it perfect........it would have best friends.....check......some spa time for a massage.....check....some knitting in an outdoor cafe.....check....another best friend arrives.....check.....on to your favorite knitting shop....check... getting some coffee on the way.....check.....arriving at the knitting shop to a surprise of another best friend there..... check..... knitting at your favorite shop with your favorite friends until the shop closes...check.....finding some great sales before the shop closes... check....having the shop owner and staffers sit with us to chat and laugh.... check....getting a recommendation to a great outdoor cafe from one of our favorite knitting staffers...check....waiting on the dock, in the sunshine, while waiting for our perfect table on the deck....check...watching a lovely outdoor wedding next door in the lovely sunshine.... check...chatting with your best friends until well after the perfect sunset.....check...oh, and YES, there is cake!!!!

Sisters Quilt Show ~

The day of the quilt show arrived. The Sisters Quilt Show is the largest outdoor quilt show in the world.My sister and I have been attending for years, and love everything about the show. The inspiration of seeing hundreds and hundreds of completed quilts is staggering. This year there were over 1300 quilts on display outside!Some of my favorite quilts each year are the western quilts with cowboys and cowgirls and horses and campfires and all-things-western.Always the second Saturday in July, and I highly recommend this event if you have an interest in quilting.

Quilt Class Qiviuk ~

While my sister was taking a quilt class from 8:30 to 3:30, I was knitting outside in the lovely Oregon sunshine. I did many rows on the amazing Qiviuk scarf, and often wonder how I can put it down to knit on something else. The yarn is lovely and soft, yet so thin I get a little nervous that it will break. I always feel so happy, and relieved, when I get to the end of the row and have the correct stitches. Not sure why such a short pattern can be confusing...lots of knit-in-the-back-loop and knit2-together-in-the-back-loop and other many-word-instructions. So far, so good, and the lace pattern looks good!! I emailed my sweet friend that gifted me with this precious yarn to thank her again!

Road trip knitting ~

My sister and I started a road trip, heading for a long weekend away. I've packed many knitting projects in the hopes of knitting a few rounds on all of them.The project for the road trip piece is the Track Star socks, and I had the first heel turned by the time we turned the lights out at our motel for the evening. Pictured here on my Queen Kahuna book on sock knitting - the best sock knitting resource I have! Turning a heel by the first night is a great start to the road trip!

Expo Treasures ~

I found a few great treasures at the Sew Expo. From Roberta's store, Fibers Etc, I found this beautiful rayon metallic yarn to make my mum a clapotis scarf. There was a lovely sample there, and I think I can attempt the clapotis again!

The next treasure is merino & silk fiber from Carolina Homespun. I was so glad that they were at the Sew Expo - it was their first year, plus Morgaine taught a beginning drop spindle class (that I took!) to 4 different classes. I hope they come again next year! I fell in love with these pastel shades mixed in the creamy white... I can't wait to see how this spins!

I also found some merino & silk fiber from Vogue wholesale.

this is the same fiber that I've seen from Webs. I can't wait to spin this!

Knitting Squared ~

At the Sew Expo this weekend, I took a class with one of my favorite Sew Expo teachers from Fiber Ect yarn store in Tacoma. In years past we learned this and this...

Roberta taught us Knitting Squared, diagonal knitting, and it was a lot of fun. I've tried this before and have no trouble with the first square, but adding the second square never made sense to me....

so it was great to have a teacher and time to practice! Hurrah!!!

A new spin ~

Now that I have my original yellow merino off my "sock summit" drop spindle, it is time for me to try out my very new "Cascade Mt. Si" drop spindle that I just bought at the spinning class. I had a gift certificate from my wonderful sister, and decided to use it for this lighter weight spindle.


After much thought, I decided to use the beautiful roving that I received for my birthday from Jitteryknitter. Turns out, this lovely roving is hand dyed by a local crafter, Kate Sitzman, and she's very talented and a delightful person! (Check out her website!) It seemed that the combination of lovely drop spindle and amazingly beautiful roving could only make magic occur.....right?



So, here I go....a new spindle, new roving....time for more improvement and adventure!

Happy Birthday ~

Today is my sister's birthday. Hurrah! Here she is on our trip to Sisters, in our quilting class on Friday.

Great sister, beautiful color choices!!!

Brandywine at Sisters ~

I forgot to tell you that I was able to knit one row (and one row only) during my trip to Sisters. The lace chart is not well suited for road trip knitting as I find I have to count out loud to be sure I'm getting all the stitches done properly.

While my sister was shopping in the Sisters Coffee shop, I was able to do one row, and take this picture....

Second Saturday in July ~

The Sisters Quilt Show was amazing. Over 1300 quilts displayed outdoors for one day, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM. They are hung up in front of every store along all the streets of this town, and traffic is not allowed on the main street during the show so the public has a better view of the quilts on street (pictured below).

The quilts are sent from all over America (and the world!) to be displayed. They are not judged, they are not in competition with other quilts, they are displayed for the joy and celebration of being displayed at the largest outdoor quilt show in the world. The quilters range from kids to 90 year olds, and all are creative and inspired!

The quilts are beautiful.
The quilts are inspiring!

The quilts are amazing.... we are planning our trip for next year already!