August already!

 I've been knitting on a cardigan pattern from the winter Vogue Knitting issue and had been having misgivings about the size, hoping I had enough yarn.  I kept knitting thinking that surely it would be fine.  This is when I realized I didn't have enough yarn for both sleeves, so I took stitches off the needles and measured on the kitchen table.  It was way off.  At some point I had begun to loosen my gauge and it was a couple sizes too big.

There was nothing I could do but start over.  Actually frogging and reconditioning yarn is pre-starting over.  It's been my Olympic knitting and I am halfway to the armholes right now.  It's a complex pattern and I recognize that it probably won't be a garment before next year.

The county fair shaped up at the last minutes which left everyone scrambling so I was really impressed at what we were able to do for the fiber arts exhibit and demonstrations.  I haven't been weaving so the bright towels on the left were all that I had to enter for judging.  I didn't deserve a ribbon and I didn't get one.  But attendance was surprisingly good considering the short notice and high temperatures.  It was the 100th birthday of the fair and I think they were loathe to miss another year after last year.

Our guild's spinning study group put together this "sheep to shawl" display along with information on rare breeds and wool samples that said "touch me."  People seemed to be happy to have their fair back and were curious, though all entries were down, all except quilts which were more than they had ever had.  We think it's because the Sister's quilt show was last month and they accepted half as many entries as usual which meant that quilters were happy to have a place to display their work. 

Our displays were attractive and it was nice to be indoors, which I'm sure is what our visitors thought too, with temperatures approaching the century mark.  Some of the displayed pieces were submitted to be judged but we also beefed up the visual appeal with items "for display only" like my turquoise and copper scarf on the table.

We've had returning deer these past couple of weeks.  I seemed to be the only one who hadn't seen the new neighborhood fawns but then a couple of days ago the twins shot by me at the start of my morning walk.  One raced across the street but this guy stopped to double check before scampering off.

And on the other side of our fence, the wildflower seed that I sowed have taken root and are producing cheerful little meadow flowers.  I thought I distributed the seed evenly but it looks like I tipped up the bag and dumped it out.  I think it will even out next year but it's sure a cheerful addition to our yard right now.  According to the package the annuals will flower this year and next year the perennials will bloom.

Alexia has been displaying a lot of interest in weaving this year and is asking me really intelligent questions.  At first I was thinking I would order a 16" rigid heddle loom and having it shipped to her but then I remembered this Dorset loom that I bought to use in workshops.  Since discovering zoom weaving workshops, I've decided to skip the workshops where I have to fill the back end of my car with equipment and unload, reload, unload, etc. It occurred to me that its a perfect starter loom for Lexi.  They're coming up in October to pick it up.  

With all the time that pandemic and quarantine have provided me, I have done just about no weaving.  I finally have a warp on one of my looms.  Instead of trying to learn something new or use workshop information, I've defaulted to my old friend, turned taquette, and boy does it feel comfortable to be on my own home turf.  

I've started taking Delaney to the library once a week.  She gave up naps when she outgrew the Pack-n-Play so on the recommendations of her parents, I take her for a car ride after lunch which causes her to fall asleep and take a two-hour nap.  The trick is to get to the library without her falling asleep first!  The conditioning is so good that she falls asleep within the first mile and the library is three miles from the house.  It's tricky.

 

Dog Days of Summer

I took Matt, Julia and Delaney to the High Desert Museum just a week after I took Melissa.  I had just assumed they would have been there by now and so it was nice to be able to share some of my passes with them.  Delaney absolutely loved it.

I have taken a picture of all five of my grandkids on this bronze elk and this photo completes my collection.  There are many bronzes and pieces of art on the campus but this is the only one children are invited to sit on.

I lost track of the gauge on my latest sweater for Delaney and Alexia jokingly tried it on.  Pretty but wrong.

With the second ball I don't have to worry about running out of yarn so I've swatched and started over.

Meanwhile Alexia has become a knitting fiend.  And it's pretty easy to get the right size.  She's the smallest one offered in the instructions.

And in no time she was done!

We attended a stash sale of a friend where she got a bunch of free magazines and four skeins of Cascade 220 to make a scarf.  The pattern was in one of the magazines and was designed by Deborah Newton.

We cancelled our trip to Tacoma and Vashon Island because of the extreme heat and have more or less been hunkered down in the house.  This was our one foray - Todd Lake, from snow meltwater.  There were a lot of people and many had packed in portable kayaks.

There was even a sunbather.  Something for everyone.  The hike got cut short when I tipped myself into a small stream and was soused.  I wanted to cool off but not like that!

The yard is surviving the heat but Ian has to water everything by hand about midday, another reason we didn't feel like we could leave.  And the wildfires started about a week ago and are punishing for our firefighters.  God bless them, every one!!

I finished these three towels, thinking the blocks were random but they're not.  I'll enter one in the fair - that's all I've completed but I'm trying these again.  I'm hoping that this time I'll get a more random placement.

 

Pleasurable passtimes

 My friend Melissa flew up a couple of weeks ago for a quick visit, taking advantage of the promotional prices from Alero, a new airlines that has just begun serving Redmond and several other secondary markets, like Burbank which is her airport.  We only had two full days and made the most of them.  This photo is from our visit to the High Desert Museum.  Our favorite thing was the outdoor wild raptor show.  Highly recommended!

She's been painting every day and has started moving into mixed media and collage.  I showed her how relief printing with lino works and she loved it.  We ended up doing this on two of our afternoons.

We printed a couple dozen of these Christmas ornaments which she'll assemble when she gets home.  They wouldn't travel well otherwise.  She's coming up again the end of August and by then I will have completed a two-day woodblock class so will have more to show her.

I finished this sweater for Delaney which she loves.

The buttons are perfect, from Skacel.

I started another sweater for her using the variegated yarn that a friend gave me.  I bought the muted peach to go with it as the single ball wouldn't be enough.  My friend messaged me last night that she found a second ball of the variegated and though I don't need it, I have accept it for a different project.  I sampled for over an hour trying to find a pleasing way to blend the two yarns.

I realized when I turned the work over to purl that the wrong side is the answer.  The wrong is the right!! 

Our-soon-to-be-17-year-old granddaughter Alexia is with us again this summer.  She has stepped up her knitting game and enjoys knitting with the Knitterbugs when we get together in a park.  She knitted this shell from linen, not quite a beginner project, and she nailed it.

It fits her perfectly and she is going to wear it this Wednesday when we meet up to knit.

I've done very little weaving in the past few months, other than a workshop.  I decided to return to Turned Taquete again and experiment with squares of different combinations of the same hue.  I'd like to finish in time to have something to enter into the fair this year.

It's too hot to weave in the afternoons but instead of using the morning time, I've chosen to sit outside and enjoy the fresh cool air.  I've worked hard on the yard and like to sit out with my coffee and either knit or read.  The summers are short here and I'll have the rest of the year to weave.  That's what is going on here.

And June rolls around again.

It's happened.  I'd rather do yard work that weave.  I've added six new hostas this year, bought bareroot in a bag from Costco.  They have to start from scratch every season.  You'd think I'd come up with something different since our growing season is so short.  Last week we had to put our hanging baskets in the garage so they wouldn't freeze and this week we're working overtime to keep everything watered in 90-degree days.  

I was given these iris about three years ago and they finally bloomed - worth the wait!

Ian moved the tomato pots from the back deck to the edge of the RV pad where they'll get full sun all day.  The blue things are Walls of Water, needed protection against late frost.  We've lost a plant or two every year but so far everything looks good.  That bright apple green area was barren dirt but about a month ago Ian spread some clover seed and covered it with mulch.  It looks great!

Our resident rabbit approves.  With his help we may not need to mow.

Every year we tackle some overgrown area and try to make it pretty.  This was a bear, pulling out everything including some raspberries that we regret planting.  They've encroached everywhere and I don't even like raspberries.  I bought some wildflower seed from Wilco that's specific to the PNW.  We covered it with a bag and a half of mulch and already we're seeing sprouts.  Supposedly the annuals will bloom this year and next year we're get flowers from the perennials.   

This is an AeroGarden that is a system for sprouting seeds in the house that we bought about 10 days ago.  Neither one of us has had any successful with sowing from seed.  Our friend Kathi bought two of these and said they ate from it all winter.  So far only the basil is growing.  It will be ready to set out just about the time the summer weather is in full swing.

The large field behind our house was brought inside the urban growth boundary the year after we moved in, a sure sign that development was coming.  The new high school where I'm standing is completed and will open this fall.  This area of the field is where development is starting.  The trees are coming down and excavators are rehabilitating the landscape.  This is volcanic country so the excavators have their hands full blasting and removing rock.  There are 43 acres in all, including a park and businesses.  I hope that includes a coffee shop!

Meanwhile, this is what's at the end of our street.  Its construction on the sewer extension for the new development.  We knew all of this was coming but that doesn't make me have to like it.

Our neighbor watches their grandson Jasper on Fridays.  He's three months younger than Delaney and the two have come to be friends.  Jasper goes to daycare a couple days a week so has other children to play with but this is it for Delaney.  I love watching them together.  Delaney's mommy knows to come next door when she picks Delaney up.  Next Friday we'll picking Alexia up in Lakeview and bring her home for the rest of the summer, so we'll have two granddaughters!!

 

I'm still here

We're still in the early days of spring and some days are too cold for much of anything but taking walks.  I'm knitting a lot and finished this sweater for granddaughter Alexia in Reno who will spend this July with us again.  The pattern is on Ravelry, Glass Ceiling, by Heidi Kirrmaier.

It fits her great and she loves it.

I also finished another sweater for Delaney.  It's gratifying that she likes to wear my sweaters so much.  As cute as this is, the twisted rib took forever and I wouldn't knit it a second time.

I am part of a group of knitters that call themselves The Knitterbugs.  One of our group was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer about two months ago so we put on our thinking caps and decided to knit an afghan for her; each of us would knit a 12" square block.  Her favorite color is blue so that was the only unifying factor.  Because Covid restrictions are still in place we met in a park to arrange the blocks and stitch them together. 

Adele ended up taking it home to crochet twice around the completed afghan to give it a finished look. We gave it to her on Mothers Day.

I've done very little weaving this past month, only completing this scarf.  I wanted to use a pattern that had a wif file and found this one on www.handweaving.net.  The files are part of your subscription.  My next goal is how to make my own wif files.

I'm weaving it a second time but I think I'm ready to return to block weaves after this.  I have mountains of 8/2 Tencel and after Linda Hartshorn quipped that scarves make great samples, I'm having no problem weaving them, along with a sample of 2-3 weft colors.

There's a shop downtown that sells used kids' stuff and that's where I bought this Bob stroller for $100 which anyone who is familiar with these will tell you s a steal.  Delaney loves it.  I'm working on getting her to wear her sunglasses properly to protect her light blue eyes.  She still hates hats.

The yard is beginning to wake up and the hostas are just now poking their noses up through the soil.  Our growing season is about 3-4 months long and it's a lot of work for such a short time but I always enjoy it.  As my friend Kathi said - this is fun, right?  I said, yes it's fun in May, not fun on August.  I suspect weaving will slow down even more.

And our little garden helper loves being outside.  This activity is moving dirt from one spot to another.

One of the weavers in our guild writes a column for our local newspaper.  This one tickled my funny bone.