Bustin' out all over

Things are bustin' out all over: the leaves on trees, flowers popping out on bushes and trees, the sun (finally!), new cars in driveways . . .

That's ToolMan's new baby; a brand new Scion xD. Although the Toyota minivan has served us faithfully for the past several years, hauling lumber from Lowe's, paint from Bi-Mart, furniture from Costco, me to OFFF, and knitters to Yarnia, it was time to trade it in. It wasn't giving us any problems; on the contrary, it still ran like a top and will probably still be going years from now. But, pulling into the gas station with a 1/4 tank, and still paying $65 to fill up, made up our minds for us; we needed something more economical.

ToolMan did the shopping and negotiating last week while I was at work. How luxurious to leave that task to someone who enjoys it so! The Scion website says the xD "features urban sophistication, utilitarian tendencies, and simple yet stylish flair." I'm not entirely sure that meshes with how ToolMan and I see ourselves. Actually the only things we really cared about were, in order: (1) the gas mileage, (2) does it have a fairly indestructible interior and can Andy Rooney see out the windows without climbing the doors, and (3) will the spinning wheel fit in the cargo compartment?

Speaking of bustin' out all over, my fiber area in the family room is fairly bustin' at the seams.

Why yes, that is a second spinning wheel you see there.

That's a Lendrum Complete that just came to live with us on Saturday! ToolMan and I went out for our usual Saturday morning breakfast out and then we headed for Costco. At least, that's where I thought we were going until Toolman kept heading west. Once we hit Forest Grove, I knew where we were headed: Woodland Woolworks. ToolMan said since I had a birthday coming up, he wanted to go buy my birthday present, and since it was such nice weather, and we had a new car, he knew just the place to go buy a spinning wheel. (After almost 20 years, he knows me pretty well!) He knew I'd been lusting after a Lendrum Complete and now that I've taken this spinning thing so seriously, it was time I had my dream wheel.

When we arrived, I went in the Discontinued Room (always my first stop), and admired a Schact Matchless and a couple of Saxony-style wheels before taking a turn through the yarns and books. Then we headed upstairs, and who do we run into? Duffy! She and I had a great time trying out all the wheels. We tried out the Hitchhiker, Louets, Ashfords, Kromskis, Majacraft, and of course, the Lendrums. Interestingly, we both liked the same features of wheels, but for entirely different reasons!

Then wonderful gals packed up my new baby, along with the lazy kate, extra bobbins, fast flyer, and plying head, and all my assorted goodies for me. I used my craft dollars to get a set of Majacraft mini-combs but they're on back order and will be mailed to me when they come in.

If you look closely, you'll see one bobbin from the Country Craftsman on the horizontal rod of the winding station; it took me 3 hours to spin those 2 ounces last weekend. But up there on top is a full 4 ounce Lendrum bobbin, plus another 1/2 full bobbin on the Lendrum. I did both of those in 3 hours! I bought a pound of this last year at OFFF and originally intended to ply it with some darker green. But now that I've unbraided it and started spinning, I'm not sure I'll do that. It was kettle dyed, so it has some lovely variegation as well as shades of yellow-green and blue green which should give a nice tweed to the finished yarn.

I think I'll spin and ply the darker green separately and then alternate the two in a Fibonacci sequence for an Adult Surprise Jacket. It'll be perfect for taking Andy Rooney to Hondo Dog Park next fall.

Speaking of Andy Rooney, I want to say thanks to everybody who asked about how he's doing. He's become a regular at the vet clinic, but he's doing MUCH better. We've been able to reduce his morning insulin dosage, he's lost 10 pounds, his appetite is back, and he's starting to get that bounce back in his step.

He had a good romp today at Hondo, although we made him stay in the "Small and Timid" area; he's not quite up to running with the big dogs again, but don't tell him that. After about 20 minutes, we cleaned him up and put him back in the car. He wasn't asleep by the time we got home, although he did nap all afternoon. But, boy, was it ever nice to see him chasing and wrestling with his friends again!

The Harlot was here!

Actually, the fun actually couple days ahead of her arrival. Blue Moon Fiber sponsored an "Inexplicable Knitting Behavior Scavenger Hunt", complete with a long list of Portland related sights for "Socketeers" to take their own sock-in-progress for pictures. The idea was to gain points and win prizes which were to be awarded at the Harlot's appearance. I had to work that day, so I didn't stand a snowball's chance of getting enough points for the big prizes, but I did manage to snag a couple of pictures worth sharing.

My boss, to whom I had to request that he hold my sock three times before he agreed. Not because he's dim or anything, he just couldn't understand why I would knit a sock, or ask him to hold it, or take a picture of it. I think he only agreed because it seemed harmless at the time.



Don't anybody tell him about our plans, and maps, and strategies to take over the world, OK?

And his boss, who never really understood why someone shoved this in his hand and then took a picture.



Immediately after I snapped the pics, each one of them said, "This isn't going to show up on the Internet someplace, is it?" After all, they ARE attorneys, you know. So let's just keep this our little secret, OK?

As soon as I could escape the office, I made my way to MAX and the World Forestry Center and found my peeps. In the lobby, Blue Moon was selling all the Harlot's books, as well as skeins of yarn they dyed especially for the event, with all the proceeds going to the Harlot's favorite charity, Doctors Without Borders. If you didn't make the event, or did and want another skein of yarn, Blue Moon said it would be available on their site in a few days.

Cindy, Kathleen, Kerin, and Monica had arrived early and snagged a bunch of premo seats for the PDXKB crowd:



We were there 2 hours early, so we talked about our knitting projects.



That's Roxie down there on the right, wearing her "Lizard Queen" hat. It's got everything: pink, sparkly, flowers, lace, beads, and dangles. What else could you possibly add?



I was surprised to see Judy there; especially since she was supposed to be in a conference back east.



And look! She even brought her socks-in-progress!

Man, the crowd was huge! And loud! Just listen:



Then, we started to look around at some of the other fantastic knitted things. There was this great cabled ruana:



The picture really doesn't do this justice; it was a beautiful berry red and the cables were perfection!

This poor guy must have been dragged here by his lady friend. He wore this great hat, but spent the whole time reading his e-reader. I would be surprised if she didn't go home with whiplash, though from all the knit ogling she was doing.



Badger came walking by the PDXKB group and garnered not only some cat calls, but had the possibility of picking up some extra money as $ bills were being waved at him as he turned the corner. He said the sweater is for his dad, but he hasn't gifted it yet, so he swore us to secrecy.



Yes, I took pictures of the Harlot, and of Duffy's "bring the house down" serenade. But none of the shots came out. Because I had the flash on the wrong setting. Clear evidence that my camera is are afflicted with the dread disease: PICNIC. "Problem In Chair, Not In Camera." So, wander on over to some of the PDXKB gang's blogs and get good pics and some videos.

I did eventually get it working again, just in time for Stitch Jones to make it to the head of the line:



That is one happy PDXKBer!

She presented the Harlot with a special skein of her yarn, dyed especially for her in Harlot-y colors.



It was about this time that the PDXKB group "thread jacked" the line for signatures. I think we scared the Harlot a little.



Thankfully, we'd all bought pre-signed books or I think she would've made a break for the door. As it was, we got her to pose with all of us, including Judy, and her traveling sock. Unfortunately, none of us took the picture. I hope it shows up on her blog! And I hope she had a much fun as we
did!

Edited later to add: If you really want to see what scared the Harlot, then go here and see for yourself.

With apologies to Mr. Gore

Sorry, Al, but right now, I'm really having a hard time with the whole "global warming" scenario. After all, just a couple weeks ago, we had snow. Sure, last Saturday it was 80 degrees here. But yesterday? We got this:

Yep, snow and hail. And ToolMan has been warming up the car every morning because of frost on the windshield. In April! Rather than likening temperatures to a description of Lake Woebegone children, this year is starting to feel more like another 1816.

The cold weather has kept ToolMan and I inside this weekend. The bats from Barbara has dried nicely.

It came out in a nicely heathered coral/pink. And the Sulky Pearlescent thread added just the right amount of sparkle.

And it is oh, so soft! I got 368 yards of 2-ply, which should be plenty for a large scarf/small shawl. I want to find a pretty lace pattern with some sort of shell design for this. As much as I want to dive right into it, I'll wait until I find just the right pattern.

We've been spending money on Andy Rooney faster than the veterinarian can say "Ka-Ching!" He was at the clinic all day Tuesday for observation and blood tests to find out he's diabetic. His blood sugar should be about 150 but was over 400, so we had to buy insulin and syringes. Then Thursday, he got sick in the middle of the night with vomiting and diarrhea, so he was back at the vet again on Friday morning. His blood sugar was over 700 so they kept him overnight in intensie care to get him stabilized. Dr. Pilversack says the drastic changes in his blood suger have caused some abdominal and intestinal distress so that meant more observation, blood tests, X-rays, and an ultrasound.

We finally got him home Saturday morning, along with adjusted insulin dosages. But he seems to be feeling better; he's gone on short walks around the neighborhood with ToolMan, and his appetite seems to be returning.

I really should cast on a pair of socks so I can take pictures for the Inexplicable Knitting Behavior for Stephanie's visit on Tuesday. Instead, I've been knitting on the shawl I started last week with the remains of the Bambu 7 .

Maybe I'll have enough time on MAX tomorrow morning to start a sock. I won't have a snowball's chance of winning the scavenger hunt, but maybe I can get pictures of the sock with my boss and a few of the downtown sites before the book signing on Tuesday. Of course, the PDX Knit Bloggers have some shenanigan's planned for Steph's visit. I'll have a full report next week. Stay tuned, sports fans; as they say, "Film at 11:00".

Hot Damn! It's Here!

Actually, that should be, "Damn! It's Hot Here!" We've been suffering through a long, wet spring. Sure, we've had glimpses of sun, but remember just two weeks ago when we had snow? So, all of a sudden, Summer showed up. It was 80 degrees yesterday, and almost that warm today. This evening, we've got warm, humid, still air; in fact, ToolMan said that if we were still in the Midwest, we'd be listening for tornado sirens.

Andy Rooney hasn't been himself lately. ToolMan and I were attributing it to his age; he was 11 in January. That is, until last week, when he started wetting the carpet in the night. A trip to the vet's office revealed that he is diabetic. We've cut down the carbs he gets (of course, we had just bought a box of dog biscuits at Costco last week) and are watching him closely for now. We want to talk to the vet about alternatives to insulin, and possibly trying to control the diabetes by tightly controlling his diet. If he does have to get insulin, he'll have to spend a day at the vet's so they can test his blood sugar and determine the dosage of insulin he'll need.

I've been hauling my purse and a bag back and forth from the MAX stop downtown to my office since December, and it's given me a sore shoulder. I carry my purse (and no matter how much I take out, it seems to weigh more every day), and a big bag with my dress shoes, lunch, a knitting project or two, mp3 player, and whatever else I apparently can't live 10 hours without. I've been wanting a rolling bag to carry all my crap in so I can give my poor shoulders a break. ToolMan tried to discourage me because he said they're easy for someone to swipe out of my hand and take off.

I got a flyer from Joann's in the mail on Friday and they had several kinds marked 50% off. Most of them were either too big easily take on MAX or were too expensive. Then, I found this one in the "Kids Crafts" section:



I've got it all loaded up (except for lunch, of course) and ready to go. And ToolMan says the blue camo is so ugly, no one will steal it.

I also bought some Sulky Opalescent thread to ply with those singles from the bats that Barbara sent to me. This afternoon, I got them all plied up; I got about 360 yards of 3 ply (2 plies of fiber and 1 of the thread). Man, they were gorgeous in the afternoon sun! After plying, it wound it onto the reel and tied the leases. It was fairly twisty when I took it off, so it's getting a nice long soak to relax.



These are going in the mail to Barbara tomorrow, in exchange for that lovely bat she sent me:



A pair of custom-made cedar sock blockers in ladies' size 7 1/2. ToolMan says these are probably the last pair he'll make; there's a lot of sanding to make them and he's much more interested in making lazy kates and shawl pins in hardwoods right now.

Here's another little goodie I got at Joann's; a mini duffel bag. The perfect size for holding a sock project for the Yarn Harlot's book party next week. And, it was in the $1 bargain bin.



Oh, that black shawl I was going to cast on last week? Yeah, well there are pattern issues. Like, no chart and their stitch counts are way off. Not MY stitch count, mind you. Their stitch count doesn't jive with what the written instructions add up to. I tried three different times to make the pattern work, and then I gave up. When my enthusiasm returns for the pattern, I'll sit down and chart it out before starting again.

In the meantime, I pulled out the remains of the Bamboo 7 left over from the Bamboo Sweater From Hell and cast on for a leaf lace shawl.



At least I know it will fit me when I'm done.

My brain is spinning . . . .

I still have spinning on the brain. I spun up the rest of the bats from Barbara today.



I'm going to let them rest until next weekend. I find that letting the singles rest for several days before plying makes for more balanced yarn.

But, gosh, aren't those singles luscious looking?



I plan on knitting this up into a large scarf/small stole. I think it'll be beautiful with my grey suit.

The only thing that been on my mind more than spinning are all the fibery events this year.
I got word that I'm going to be spinning at the Oregon State Fair this year in the Artisan's Village. I am really looking forward to it!

I'm not sure I'll make it to Black Sheep this year, but I do hope to make it to the Aurora Colony Fiber Fair in a couple weeks.

Then, of course, there's Stephanie's visit to our fair city on the 22nd to launch her new book. I'm glad Blue Moon Fibers is sponsoring her this year at the World Forestry Center. Much better venue than last year when she was here; Powells was overrun with knitters. I must remember to thank her for giving birth to the PDX Knit Bloggers; I wonder if she even knows????

And I've put in for time off before and after the TKGA Show and OFFF this year. I plan on attending all day, every day at both of them. In fact, I'm considering renting one of these for the month of September. I really want to spend time spinning and taking spinning classes, but my Country Craftsman just doesn't travel all that well.

And tonight, I'm going to cast on for this with this in black.

See ya in the funnies!