California Wild Fires

In the aftermath of the California wild fires...

Scrappin the Night (and day) Away...

Here are a few things I've been working on lately. I went to a crop night at my LSS and got quite a bit done. This was at our choir workshop earlier this year with the Gary Bonner Singers. The workshop was in Arroyo Grande. The layout was done probably a couple of years ago, but I hadn't filled in in yet. I came across these pictures in my box 'o pictures from the kids high school years. I've got tons of them. Way more than I can put in a scrapbook. This is from 1999. The choir was singing Africa by Toto. The costumes were made by a Hollywood costume designer.

This is what I worked on today. The pictures are from my daughter's solo performance in the BHS Pop Show 1999. She performed "He's a Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp. The pictures were scanned so that I could do a digital layout. I love the background. I'm a little slow at digi, but I'm getting it. The background is Bittersweet from Dahlia Co Designs.

This one is my testimony. It's my first digital layout. I did it for the FaithSisters challenge last week. Unfortunately I couldn't get it in on time. Credits to Krystal Hartley's FaithFreebie embelishments, embelishments from Linda Holt's Persian Rug kit available on polkadotpotato.com, background by Cheryl Olson.

Journaling: I don’t remember a time that I didn’t know the Lord. As a small child I remember praying to Him, asking for favors, making vows. When my Barbie doll’s leg got broken I asked Him to heal it. I anxiously awaited the next morning when I would wake up and her leg would be miraculously healed. He said no.When I heard my parents fighting in the next room I vowed I would never do that to my children. It was painful to listen to and He heard my cry. He provided me with a wonderful husband who loves me as I love him. We have been together since 11th grade and married 26 years. I have always felt that God led me to him. I feel pretty lucky and grateful for His hand in our lives. He is my rock who I lean on in the tough times as well as the good. Sometimes I see His sense of humor and I laugh with Him. I marvel at the beauty of his creation and the sky paintings He sends me every morning.I haven’t always walked so closely with Him, but he uses life circumstances to bring me back to Him. I’m hanging on to Him for dear life. Psalm 107:10-15 (NIV) 10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. 15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

IN OTHER KNITTING NEWS The sleeves for the Oriel Lace Blouse are coming along. I haven't got any pictures of them yet. They are about in the same place as before I frogged. Umm. Not quite. I haven't gotten that far, but close. I finished the scarf for the church ministry. I'll start another one. Maybe even as soon as I get off the computer. The orange light isn't a golden sunset glow. It is the light filtering in from the smoke of the California fires. Today it is almost clear again. I took that picture a couple of days ago. It even rained (if you can call it that) a little today. It would be nice if it just poured for a little while. Well, I need to clean up my scrapbook mess, knit a little and off to bed. I've got an early day at church tomorrow. Singing on the worship team. Yeah!

Some Crafty Ladies

I just joined a great web site called Faith Sisters. They are into scrapbooking and like to scrapbook their spiritual journey. There's lots of inspiration to be found there. One of the founding members of the site is a friend of mine that used to live here. :( She's very talented in all things Kreative. Another member used to live here too. Now she's far north of me, but sometimes comes to visit.

Last night was scrapbook night at my church. So far I'm fairly lame at my pages, but I hope to get more creative. I just have to figure out how to shoot good pictures so that you can actually see what they're supposed to be. I should know Photoshop pretty well by now with the help of these DVDs. It's always a good idea to take good pictures in the first place. I seem to always have lighting issues.

Knitting Notes:

I finally downloaded some of the pictures I took of the Oriel Lace Blouse. Here's how it looks so far.

Here's the front, a shot of the back, and a close up of the pattern.

It even looks good without sleeves. I am going to finish the sleeves though. I ripped them back to row 16 and now am almost half way to where I was before.

In the mean time I have been knitting a simple scarf for my church's outreach. They want to give scarves, hats and gloves away for Christmas. My first scarf is a 2x2 rib made with Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky. It's almost 3/4 of the way done. I don't have pictures of it yet, but I'll post when I do. I did my first Russian join on this scarf. I think it came out ok. You can't really see it; well I can. I don't think anyone else will though.

The yarn is leftovers from a Christmas project I started in February while my mom was in the hospital. I only need to sew it up. I'll post pictures after Christmas just in case.... ;)

Tomorrow Never Comes...

Boy, I must have been tired. Seems like I had a Rip Van Winkle moment. I never posted the picture of the baby pants,

aren't they cute?!?

I never came back and told you about my Oriel Lace Blouse.

Damnit, Jim, I'm a knitter not a blogger!

Just kidding. I apologize. Can't say I won't do it again. I am a SHE and time just seems to get away from me. Even now I should be working, but here I am trying to catch up with my blog because it has been weighing heavily on my mind since I discovered that I just wasted a whole bunch of time on the sleeves of my blouse. I was thinking this morning as I finished up the last two rows that I might just get this done in time to wear when I go to Texas next time, the home of this beautiful silk yarn. We'll see if that actually happens now. :( I read the instructions wrong. They say"Work center 61 sts according to Oriel chart, working the next 54 rows..." There is no period there after 54 rows. AAAAHHHHHHHH! I worked to 54 rows and guess what the rest of the sentence says? "...changing needle sized as foll: 16 rows with size 7, 16 rows with size 6, 14 rows with size 5, and 8 rows with size 3, ending with chart Row 26. A frogging I will go... 38 rows worth x 2!!!! (I'm working both sleeves at one time in the round. A thrill seeker, I know.)

This really sucks, but I love knitting so much I don't really mind. My DH thinks I'm nuts. I was so mad that I wanted to fix it right then, but alas, I have to get some actual work done. What really makes me mad is that I started with the sleeves and decided I didn't like they way they were coming out, but it gave me a chance to get used to the yarn and get a swatch going. The sleeves are the hardest part of this project and I think I might rewrite the instructions or put a big flag on them saying "beware" if I ever try this again. All in all it is coming along beautifully. I can't wait to get it done. But in the meantime I have to finish a Christmas present and make some scarves for my church's outreach.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It's about time I got back to my blog. I've been remiss about posting, but I have been knitting. More about that in due time... Last week my sweetie and I took a trip to Northern New York via the Finger Lakes and Niagara Falls. We did some wine tasting in the Finger Lakes wine country. (Didn't know they had a wine country in New York.) I have to say we are spoiled Californians. We didn't like the reds they offered at all. They all seemed a little thin to our taste, some were even medicinal. We like the bold and fruity wines, specifically Old Vine Zinfandel. No Zin in New York. The white wines were very nice, in fact we brought home some Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay. So back to the knitting. (Isn't that the point?!?) Of course I needed an airplane project. Conveniently enough my friend was having a baby shower a couple of days after I was coming home, so I thought, aha! A baby project! A quick look at my email and behold! My favorite LYS owner, Stephanie, had created a pattern for baby booties called "Angel Feet." They are made with Lorna's Laces "Angel." I rushed down to the store and picked up the pattern and some yummy Angel yarn in the Camouflage color. I couldn't leave well enough alone though. The booties would knit up quick and I felt like I needed more of a gift than that. I found the last skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the color Envy. I bought it not knowing exactly what I would make with it. It's only 200 yards, so I couldn't exactly make a sweater even for baby. Maybe a vest or hat. Possibly a bib or wash cloth. I did a quick web search and up came the cutest baby cargo pants you ever saw on Bella Knitting. They only take 200 yards, so I printed up the pattern and packed it in my knitting bag. I'll bet you're wondering why I chose Camoflauge and Envy. You're not? Well I'll tell you anyway. The theme for the baby shower was Safari. There, you see? I think it worked. Her colors were green, brown & blue. I don't remember choosing colors for my baby shower when I had kids... Oh yeah, we didn't have a nursery. But I digress. LA to Cincinnati

As we waited to board the plane at LAX, I quickly cast on and for the booties. Sooo soft. This is the cuff.

and this is the first bootie...

By the time we landed in Cincinnati, I had two. So cute!

I need more practice with the picture taking. Forgive the bad lighting.

Syracuse to Niagara Falls via the Finger Lakes

The first night we spent at the Waterloo Holiday Inn near Seneca Falls. By the time we got there I had cast on the baby pants. Since it was dark I gave it a rest until morning.

The next day we got into our little PT Cruiser rental and cruised near Cayuga Lake. We had lunch at Knapp Winery. We immediately noticed how quiet it was. We are used to the roar of the city. You don't notice so much until you go to a very quiet place. Then your ears ring with the quiet and your body just relaxes and says, "aaahhhh."

We stopped at Goose Watch Winery, Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery and Hosmer Winery. Cayuga Ridge was in this old barn, and the young guy serving was playing Pink Floyd Meddle when we walked in. They had these great wine carrier purses. I wish I got one. They were round, just the size of a wine bottle and covered in fabric. I've never seen them before, but they could hold knitting needles when you're not using them for wine.

Ha! I found a picture here http://www.initialpresents.com/silkwinecarrier.html. Same price too. I might just have to order one. ;)

Niagara Falls

This is the scene from our window at the Embassy Suites Niagara Falls. You can't see this view from the American side so we spent the night in Canada. The baby pants are coming along. I couldn't get enough pictures of the falls, so here's another:

I've actually got some outdoor shots, but they're on the other camera which is currently in Amsterdam with DH. He flew directly from our vacation there for business.

We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride into the falls. It's pouring down so hard that you can't even open your eyes. Needless to say, I got soaked in spite of the plastic poncho.

From Niagara we had the Very. Long. Drive. in Friday evening traffic to Alexandria Bay in Northern New York. Did I mind? Not one Knit!

This is the whole point of the trip, the Alex Bay Blues Festival. Our friend who is also in DH's band was the MC. He comes from Watertown, NY. He spent summers in Alexandria Bay and the 1000 Islands. It's such a small town. Everyone knows everyone else. The locals wondered why we would come from California to Alex Bay. The weather of course! Apparently it got to about 113 over Labor Day in the SF Valley! Egads! We were very comfortable in 76 - 78 degree beautiful weather.

We had a great time at the Blues Festival. Music is everywhere in the small village. There is a main stage by the dock, and bands that aren't currently playing there are at one of the bars or restaurants. Kal David & the Real Deal featuring Lauri Bono were the headliner on Sunday. We were lucky enough to have dinner with them and our friend, Steve. What nice people.

On Monday the owner of Cavallario's Steakhouse got us a ride in his cousin's boat. We cruised around some of the 1000 Islands. We've got some great pictures on the other camera...

By the way, Cavallario's has the most delicious food if you're in the area.

My reading for the trip was Debbie Macomber's Between Friends.

This is getting really long and I'm tired, so I'll save the rest for tomorrow.

Summer Knittin' & I'm Havin' a Blast

I couldn't wait to finish the socks so I could get started on this:

Kind of hard to tell yet, but it is the Oriel Lace Blouse from Interweave Knits Summer '07. I'm modifying again. This time I am knitting the body in one piece in the round.

I started a sleeve and wasn't happy with the way it looked. I think it was because I was having trouble getting used to the fiber. It is 100% Silk Tussah from TexScape Fibers. It is another yarn from Rosewood in Boerne (pronounced Bernie) Texas. The colorway was so beautiful, I couldn't resist, and the price was right too. Just $15.00 a skein. I figured 3 skeins will do it - 500 yd/skein.

Anyway, the fiber is a bit uneven. Some parts are very thin, and others are kind of fat and fuzzy. Almost like it wasn't spun evenly. It looks pretty in pattern this so far. I wasn't happy with the sleeve because there are many needle changes starting with a large needle at the wrist to create a bell shape. I love the idea, and I think it will look beautiful once I have worked with the pattern a while.

July Sockfest

Here's what I've been working on this summer. Baudelaire socks for my SIL. I modified the heel with short rows. I don't really like gussets.

Here's another pair I knit with some yarn I found in Boerne, TX. Not quite finished in this photo, but they are now! This picture made me think about making toeless socks - Sandal Socks! Hmm..... This is a top down pair from Interweave Knits Winter '05, Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt. Again modified with the short row heels. Did I mention I don't like gussets?

Here's a closeup of the pattern. This superwash wool was from Rosewood Yarns. I discovered this cute shop while I was exploring Boerne when DH was working in San Antonio in June. It's really yummy. I might have to get some for myself the next time I'm in TX. That may be fairly often since DH will be going there every other week or so. I made these socks a couple of years ago in Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK. My SIL was admiring them then, so they seemed like the perfect birthday gift. Happy Birthday Lori!