Friday, August 24, 2007

Felted & Fishing

Yesterday was a very warm day here, and as usually happens it is followed by a day of clouds and maybe even rain. Like Yarn Harlot I am also "quite bitter about having some of those precious days taken from me". Summer on the Oregon coast can be very cool and I enjoy the heat and long summer days.


As I promised, here is the picture of Beate's completed bag. It is Fiber Trends Gelato Bag, but she knit it deeper.
Came out really cute, didn't it.


Beate learned to knit in high school and she says she hadn't knit since then. But I don't believe her. She's probably been knitting in secret!! Her work is beautiful.


She started a 2nd bag, a larger tote bag in brown, cream, tan and red for her sister Claudia. She promised to send me a picture from Germany.




Also wanted to share the pictures of how my brother, Jim, utilized the Ashland Sky circular knitting needle storage bag.
From a large bulky fishing tool box to this small storage unit. He's thrilled and insisted I take pictures. He took many Ashland Sky brochures back to his fishing buddies in Seattle.


He tells me that in the bag is mostly trolling flashers such as the Cannonball Troller from Vance's Tackle Co, Ford Fenders and even some mylar Smile Blades from Max Lures.
He suggest not putting hooks into the bag, since the bag is mylar they could rip the bag.



Today is Friday and on Friday afternoons, here in the store, we have open house knitting/crochet/whatever from 1-3.
Sarah my helper and I hurry through the shipping on Fridays so that the class table is clear and chairs are all set out.

Ta ta for now!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Finished 1 project!

I cannot believe how time flies. Here it is the 20th and it has been 10 days since I posted.

This past weekend was full of family again. My husband's family was here. Well, part of it. And it is so big that even part of it is alot of people. His brother-in-law, Ernie Manders, is a Marshfield High School Inductee to the Marshfield High School Hall of Fame and there was quite a ceremony on Saturday night. We have 3 tables full of family and friends attending the ceremony. Ernie and Sandra, his wife, currently live in Pittsburgh.


I did take last Sunday afternoon off to do some knitting. This picture is me (left), my cousin Beate from Germany (center) and my Mom Gisela (right). I'm working on the hood of my zippered jacket from the book Double Exposure by Bonnie A Franz. The hood is now complete and waiting to be blocked before I assemble it and attach it to the jacket. All that remains is stitching in the zipper, which I find is a challenge. I either stitch it in too tight or too loose. Zippers don't stretch, but the knitware does. So I never am quite sure just how much to stretcht the knitwear. Beate is working on Fiber Trends Gelato bag in Cascade 220 pink with a strand of Lorna's Laces Glory. We felted it last night. I'll try to get a pic of it before she leaves. Mom is working on a baby blanket out of Cascade 220 Superwash using Oat Couture's Prairie Blanket pattern.


FINALLY completed John's neckdown henley. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in my exclusive colorway "Camelot". Raglans are not the best armholes for most people and he's no exception. But raglans are very comfortable and he loves to watch movies in his "media" room and this will keep him warm in the winter. His old sweater was so bad, I could hardly stand for him to walk out of the house with it. This is much more exceptible.

Today will be a busy day. Shipping this morning, of course, and I have appointments to tend to in town this afternoon, and a final dinner at Mom's. My brother is leaving to go back home. And soon after Beate is on her way to visit friends in Virgina before she goes back to Germany.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

a brief respite



A brief respite.....
my granddaughter left us on Thursday morning.
She turns 13 this year, and is very precious to me. As things turned out, I was her Mom's coach when she was born. It was quite an experience as both of my children were born ciscerian.
And what makes it doubly special is that her Mom is my step-daughter. So from the first breath Tyler took, she was special to me. She now has a brother Zane and a little sister, Nora. (Just love those names!)




Here is a picture of Tyler wakeboarding. We live on a lake, so summer activities are often water oriented. The other popular activities is 4-wheeling in the sandunes, watching movies in our new media room and just plaing partying!


This morning at 5:30 am, my baby sister, Sabrina, and her son went to the airport. Now the house is absolutely silent.


What I have not yet confessed is that our dog of 14 years finally decided enough is enough and stopped eating. On the 30th of August he left us for doggy heaven. It has been a bit tough, but with all the family about, the tears have been buffered. Please, a few moments of silence for loveable Muttley.
And onward....today is a fiber arts meeting. So after gathering up a knitting project I'm off to town. I'm looking forward to it. I have not worked on any of my projects since July 25th. In fact, with the exception of helping Tyler out of a knitting snafu, or casting and knitting a few rows to teach my sister to knit, I've not touched any needles except to ship out your orders.
I finished the sleeves of hubby's henley, but after trying it on, I have decided to clip and detach the ribbing at the hemline and add another inch. So that is my goal these days. So close to being done!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

family reunion


Things are very active around here. Just returned from 5 days in Sunriver, Oregon, where my husband's family meets every year. After that our 6 children and their families come to Lakeside where they have fun and tease each other. This picture is my granddaughter Tyler (13) and grand son Zane (6). Tyler has been knitting she was 6. Across the table is Tina. Tina also has been knitting since she was 6. Her Mother taught her. I taught Tyler. Zane is just getting into it. I was teaching him a little, and Tyler has taught her too. He's still a little young to get too exited, but he really enjoyed being part of the group. As some of you may know, we live on the 2 floors above the store. Tina and Tyler spent 5 hours brousing the store last time, and beginning their projects. Talk about passionate!!


More later!!