Oregon vacation 2012

So many things to share! Prepare yourself, lots of pictures to follow.

Scott and I spent the first part of September in Oregon! A much appreciated vacation in one of my favorite places. We camped the first four nights in four different locations, all the while driving towards the coast.

We (mainly Scott) had been preparing dehydrated food for this trip about a month in advance. All the recipes came from the Backpack Gourmet which I had nabbed for free on my Kindle. Some of the meals we made were Saucy Tuna, Summer Casserole, Chili, Meatless Lasagna, Apple Leather, Indian Heaven Balls, Baked Soybeans, and a Bruschetta with Oven Bread. I highly recommend making dehydrated food! Our basic routine would go like this: make meal (at home) and eat it for dinner, dehydrate leftovers (of which, there was always a lot!), double bag and refrigerate. Then while camping, pour amount in saucepan, cover with water and boil. Easy cheesy and so good!


Little Crater Lake:

Hiked to Bagby Hot Springs. Seriously hot water:

Portland, visited Powell's Bookstore (of course) and I did not buy one single book!! We only gave ourselves one hour to spend there, so it was unfortunately a little rushed.

Ate lunch sitting on these steps (left) from a Korean food cart (right). It was delicious.

The only yarn purchase I made! But it is highly coveted :)

The yarn stores I visited were Yarn Garden, Happy Knits, and Knit Purl. Respectively from each store, I bought Opal Vincent Van Gogh yarn, Knit Picks interchangeable Nickel-plated US 10 1/2 tips, and two of Rebecca Danger's dino patterns!











One of the highlights, Rogue Brewery in Newport. We went back several times...

Our favorite brews were Smoke Ale, Good Chit Pilsner, Dead Guy Ale, Chocolate Stout. Try it if you can :)

BEACH!

Aquarium:

A fantastic trip, many great memories, but very happy to be home too :)

Bi-Fold Wallet

Hi friends,

I thought I'd share Modest Maven's awesome tutorial with you! I sewed it up the other morning and it was super easy, the tutorial is excellent, and the wallet is so cute! (and functional!)

My wallet is nowhere perfect and I'd like to sew another now that I know all the steps, but I love it anyways!!

I ended up sewing velcro strips to close it (not shown)

space for cards

bill fold! no cash...

Woo hoo! If you are in need of a new wallet or just want to sew something quick, this is an excellent project! The tutorial is outstanding :)

Happy Thursday!

Jerry the Musical Monkey

I am completely in love with this little monkey:

Pattern: Jerry the Musical Monkey by Rebecca Danger
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool in Brown and a lighter brown
Needle: Size 5, Magic Loop
Modifications: I did shorten up the arms, legs, and tail by about five rows each, I think. I also knit the arms and legs two at a time on Magic Loop, and it really does go much faster!

He is for an order and needed to be finished by September 18. Since we are leaving soon, I really wanted to be sure he was done before we left. And he is! Woo hoo :) He is probably one of the most huggable, snuggliest Danger pattern I've made so far, and it's going to be sooooo hard to give him away!

I am definitely going to be knitting more, especially one for me!

Rockefeller finished!

In my blogging absence, I've been busy finishing Rockefeller! It was finished waaaaay back on August 14, but it took me some time to block it, have Scott take photos, and then upload photos! I am way happy it is finished and am so pleased with it!

Pattern: Rockefeller by Stephen West, it was a Mystery KAL

Yarn: I ended up using FOUR different yarns because I kept running out... Color A (white) is Regia Extra Twist Merino and Classic Elite Alpaca Sox (I only needed the Sox for about four inches of a tip). Color B is Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in Big Sky and Mountain Tango. Big Sky was my initial color and is the mostly blue section, and Mountain Tango was used for the wings.
Needles: 3.00 mm
Modifications: none! 

So drapey!!

This was my first mystery knit-a-long and it was very exciting and fun! I have a feeling there are two different types of mystery knit-a-longers... One type who never look at the spoiler photos until they have completely finished knitting that clue, and the second type (me) who peeks at spoiler photos to see what they are in for. I just can't help myself :)

I have several projects going on right now, one is an order and has a deadline so I'm quickly knitting it. Pictures soon (psst...it's a monkey!). I am also putting together projects for the road because in less than one week we are taking a vacation to the Oregon coast!!! I am completely psyched :) We will be gone for ten days, camping, hiking, swimming, knitting, reading, driving, ..... !

Happy weekend friends!

Sunberry Waffle Socks

First finished Ravellenics project:

Pattern: Blueberry Waffle Socks by Sandy Turner
Needle: 2.75 mm
Yarn: Felici Sport in Sunny Day
Modifications: Adapted to toe up, 48 total stitches

They are also pair ten of twelve that I'm hoping to knit this year! (two more pairs to go! yay!) And they are modeled, for the first time, on the sock blockers Scott made me :) 

This pattern has become one of my favorites! It is easy to memorize and to adapt. And it is so quick in sport weight! It makes an excellent textured sock that works well with self-striping yarn (and is a little more interesting than plain stockinette socks).

My next Ravellenic project is Dot the Dress Up Box Monster for the Toy Toss event.

What events are you competing in?

A little behind...

I have so many things to tell you!

1. I had taken a step away from the computer for awhile to watch the Olympics and compete in the Ravellenics:

Sunberry Waffle Socks for the event Sockput

Pattern: Blueberry Waffle Socks by Sandy Turner
Yarn: Felici Sport in Sunny Day


2. Scott and I went camping at Diamond Lake:

A very roomy camp site! a small creek ran on the left and it was wonderful

our tent, without the rain fly on yet. My sleeping bag is the orange and white one, and I LOVE it! So squishy and warm. It's a Kelty Down 0 degrees.

gorgeous roads!

Driving to Three Lakes Peak, about 7500 feet elevation! We hiked to two of the lakes

One of the roads hadn't been cleared away for some time! We encountered several downed trees, and eventually had to turn around when a HUGE tree was in the road :)

3. I joined a stitch marker swap (on Ravelry) for the month of July, and received my package!

I was so spoiled!!!

the stitch marker theme for July was SUMMER!!

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the ice cream bowls my partner sent me, IN USE! I love them, they are fun, and I love ice cream! woo hoo!


And let's end this post with a suggestive tomato from the garden:

O.o !!!!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Mystery KAL

Hi friends, I totally spaced writing about my mystery shawl Friday! The pattern is called Rockefeller and it's designed by Stephen West. Right now it's a mystery knit-a-long on Ravelry and the (four) clues are being released weekly, one at a time. It's my first mystery KAL and I am enjoying it immensely!

I chose some stash yarn, Regia in white, for the main color, and purchased this beautiful Mountain Colors hank for the second color. Its colorway is called Big Sky; how cool is that? (Montana is nicknamed Big Sky country)

isn't it gorgeous!? I love it :)

I started the KAL a little late so I had a lot of catching up to do. I did finish Clue 1 in time for the release of Clue 2 on Friday :)

Clue 1 almost finished

And Clue 2:

Almost three quarters finished :) It's so funny how large the first crescent seemed, and now that I've added to it, it seems so small! I am really excited to see how large this shawl will be, and of course, what it will look like finished!

I completely put Mrs. Grinch socks on hold to start this KAL, I literally stopped mid-heel turn :) hopefully I will finish Clue 2 in the next few days, and I can knit on socks while waiting for Clue 3's release.

Happy Sunday folks!

2nd BSCWC

The second Books Snacks Crafts Wine Club commenced last night. As usual, we had plenty to snack on:

I didn't photograph the wine selection... but believe me when I say there was plenty!
 

Madam Secretary doing a fabulous job keeping us organized

Miranda "un-crafting" Autumn's t-shirt rug (I think the plan is to add this t-shirt yarn to another rug in order to make it bigger!):

Margaret getting serious about hot glue:

hahahahahah!!!!

I worked on Stephen West's Mystery shawl! Details tomorrow. 

We finished our discussion on Tina Fey's Bossypants and the next scheduled book is Ellen DeGeneres's book Seriously I'm Kidding. I think both these books pretty much sum our little club up...we are bossy, and we take ourselves veeeeery seriously ;)

Sorry for the lack of craft photos but my camera died! I used my iPhone for some of the photos. Next club meeting is in one month, and I'll be sure to have my camera battery charged :)

A couple of gals were interested in the Cucumber Snack I brought. Here's the recipe:

got the recipe from my mom...don't know where she found it!

Cucumber Snack

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 sour cream
• 8-16 ounces cream cheese (recipe calls for 16 oz but I only used 8 oz this last time, and it tasted great!)
• 2 heaping teaspoons of Knorr's Leek Soup
• a little pepper
• 1-2 cucumbers
• 1-2 baguettes 
• dill, for sprinkling

Mix all ingredients together (not cucumber, bread, or dill). Spread the mixture on thin baguette slices. Top with thin/medium slices of cucumber. Sprinkle dill over top. Enjoy!

Anyone else stoked that tomorrow is FRIDAY?!

Sock roundup

I finished two pairs of socks this weekend. If only all weekends were like this, right?

These are the worsted weight socks:

I substituted Judy's Magic Cast On instead of the Star Toe, mainly because I think JMCO is perfect. This is the first pattern I've used from this book, and I have to say I wasn't very impressed with it. I did not like the short row heel pattern, it gave me holes. I'll try another pattern from this book and see if I change my mind. I LOVE the photography and variety in socks pictured, so I don't want to completely give up :)

...and these are I am Happy, I am Elate socks! They really do make me very happy!

Though, the time spent wearing them to take the photos was painfully hot!

Today I made some progress on these socks:

I think I'll call them, Mrs. Grinch socks

That's Red Heart's Heart and Sole yarn! I found it on clearance at JoAnns and really wanted to try it. I am very pleased with the colors and the yarn quality. For $3 a skein, you really can't complain :) Though, my stripes are about half an inch off...which sort of bothers me. But I had no idea what the pattern repeats would be like, and I think I would have had a mess had I tried to make them match! How do you make stripes match? Is there a secret? (I just got lucky with the Felici ones!)

Berny has been too cute the past week:

staring at her lover (a ball chain attached to a string)

If we don't put her lover to bed at night (i.e. on top of the coat rack) she will drag it around while we're sleeping. Sometimes she even drags it up on the bed! She is so silly.

And this expression cracks me up:

"Don't mess with me mama, I'm hot!"

I feel like this sometimes at work when a client has a ridiculous question or need, just dead pan.

In other news, I think I'm going to hop in on Stephen West's summer mystery shawl KAL! So many gals on Instagram are making me envious of their lovely shawl pictures...I think I just have to! I purchased the pattern, I just need to find the right yarn.

Check out Andi's fabulous striped socks! I love the colors and the narrow stripes! Also, her heel looks perfect... no weird one-row-of-one-color stripes along the instep that I always get...I think she's magical.

Also, Susan B. Anderson is having a giveaway for a beautiful hank of Dyeabolical Super Ego Yarn! It looks like it's still open, but I'm not sure for how long.

One last thing, an Instagram friend sent me some wonderful yarn, just because she is so nice and generous.

How beautiful are these?!

Her name is Lorri and we met through Instagram. She lives in the UK and the fiber for this yarn was collected over the course of several years, from specific sheep! Pretty neat. I think the colors are just beautiful too. Very subtle and simple, but lush. Thank you again, Lorri! I'll be sure to keep you all posted with what this yarn turns into.

I am reluctant to let go of this weekend, but I have to :) Hope everyone's week is awesome!
Jesse

Sewing and garden update!

I'm obsessed with making these bags!

Eep, I really did iron the fabric, really!

I followed this tutorial from Noodlehead for both, with minor modifications. The purple bag is about 7x7" and the large one (those are tree rings on the design!) is about 11x11".

I made this purple one yesterday and it turned out to be much smaller than I thought! It would make a great make up or notions bag. I used fusible interfacing and it worked pretty well. I think I will purchase a heavier fusible though.

So today I wanted to make a bag large enough to hold a knitting project, and this one does! It is super cute too; the fabric is really growing on me! 

I used a sew-in interfacing, and it's much thicker than the fusible. They both work really well so it's hard for me to choose which one I prefer! The fusible interfacing was slightly easier to use because I didn't have to worry about it when sewing (lining it up...).

(lucky you, I discovered the manual focus setting on my camera!! close ups, here I come)

I really do have a lot to learn about sewing still. I am enjoying sewing up these little bags and I know they will be used plenty. Next bag, I'd like to sew a little loop hole for my finger.

And now for the gardening...

The broccoli is growing! I am super pleased to say that all these plants pictured were grown from seeds by us! We had a minor occurrence with caterpillars eating holes in the leaves - but Scott pulled them off and we haven't seen them since.

California poppy... I was really pleased with this photo!

And the tomatoes... omg...




They are a little hard to distinguish, they just look like a big green mess. There are three little green tomatoes growing on this plant! When we first planted the tomatoes in the box, they were teeny and right in the middle. Now they are pushing out the zinnias and marigolds! The planter on the right has three jalapeno plants which are loving the heat!

Goodnight, I'm off to read!!*



*I came across a list of books on Pinterest (no link, sorry. I'm staying away from Pinterest for awhile because I clicked a link there that gave me a nasty computer virus! I'm sure you could google the list) that were suggested reads if you enjoyed the Hunger Games. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and The Giver by Lois Lowry were two on the list, and I borrowed both from my library on the Kindle. So far about halfway through The Giver, pretty interesting but kind of a slow start. Goodnight!

ETA:  Oops! I wrote The Ligtning Thief as being written by Percy Jackson. Real author is Rick Riordan! Percy is the character.... :)

Holy toledo, it's hot out. I really love summer, but I seem to always forget how much I dislike the steaming heat. It makes me irritable, you know?

I started these a few days ago:

Yarns: Patons Classic Wool in Dark Gray and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather
Needle: US 5
Pattern: Toe up Star Toe Worsted Weight Sock by Kathleen Taylor

Short row heel and mine has so many holes. I ripped it out many times and try to eliminate the holes, but nothing really worked. In the end, (to save my sanity) I kept the holes and sewed them closed.

It doesn't make too much sense to knit worsted weight socks in the summer. The nonsense really hit me when I went to Michaels today, and they already have Christmas things out. Yikes.

Hope you are all staying cool.