little bit of crazy leaking out

The weather before we left on vacation was iffy, to say the least.  After a lovely June and early July, it turned wet and overcast.  I packed well for vacation, anticipating much rain and time spent indoors.  I packed three WIPs, yarn for another project and the spinning wheel with roving for two projects.

As it turns out, the weather cooperated and although the mornings tended to be overcast, the afternoons were clear and warm.  I did have 3-4 hours of knitting time in the van on the way down and on the way back, and here and there while sitting at the campfire or watching the kids at the playground.  Quite a bit of progress was made on the Rutabaga Bag and I was able to finish Bubba’s hoodie.

pattern:  Knitting Pure & Simple Children’s Tunic #232
yarn:  Plymouth Outback Wool colorway #965
needles:  Clover Bamboo
cast on:  July 2007   cast off:  August 24, 2007
notes:  I really enjoyed knitting this sweater.  The wool is quite soft, especially for the price, and KPS patterns are always fun for me.  Finish knitting, weave in a couple ends and . . . . voila, es fini.  There was a little more to this one, I grafted the top of the hood (with only 1 purl bump when all was said and done) and sewed down the casing on the hood.  I think if I were to do this patten again I wouldn’t do the casing, I would cast on fewer stitches and just continue the garter stitch from the placket up around the hood.  I still need to make a drawstring for the hood.

There is an error in my copy of the pattern, you cast on stitches on one side but no instructions for casting on the other side and if you continue as written you would be knitting the next row on the wrong side instead of purling.  I simply purled back, cast on the same number of stitches for the other side of the neck front and continued, no problems from then on.

I used a Shark Steamer to block the sweater.   With the split hem on the tunic, the hem flipped up quite badly, after steaming they lay flat as a pancake.  Luv the steamer.  It is now one of my favorite knitting tools.

I did make a yarn purchase while on vacation, but I was very good.  I stopped by Yarn n Darn Things in Greyland for a look around and walked out with enough Naturelle 10ply, in color 151, to make Bug the Aran cardigan she has been asking for.  My MIL has a lovely cardigan, purchased on one of their vacations to Scotland, Bub loves it and has asked me to make her one.  Sure, Honey, no problem, let me get right on that.  The yarn I used for the tunic was purchased at Yarn n Darn Things last year while we were on vacation.  I had purchased enough yarn for a sweater for each kid and had intended to finish both before we went back, well, the new wheel go in the way of that.

Last Tuesday, while in Westport, Hubby and Dad went out fishing on a charter boat.  They got up before the ass crack of dawn and headed down to the marina for a day of fishing.

About 4 o’clock or so Mom and I and the kids headed down to the marina to see if we could be there when Hubby and Dad arrived back from their day of seeking Moby Salmon.  We happened to arrive just as the Discovery motored in the harbor.

Dad and Hubby both caught salmon, but Hubby’s was wild and it had to be thrown back, and they both caught their limits of rock cod. We feasted on salmon that night, the kids roasted hotdogs.

(Ryan & TMK: Do the fire pits look familier?)

Hubby went off to shower later that evening. Did you know fish could throw up? Apparently if you pull them up too fast, from too deep, they do. Who knew? Well, hubby found out. Captain Dave looked at him and said,”Huh, I had heard they could do that, but I’ve never actually seen it.” Hence the need for a shower. So, anyway, he heads off to the showers and a minute or so later this conversation happen between Dad and myself:

me:  I wonder if he took soap, I bet he forgot the soap.

Dad:  Oh, he could just use the soap by the sinks.

me:  No! He’d have to get out of the shower to get it.

Dad:  Well, he could. (he shrugs and laughs)

 A few minutes later Hubby returns from the ‘Comfort Station’ and I ask if he remembered to take the soap.  “Nope, I just used the soap at the sinks.”

Men!

UPDATE: 8/26 MIL had surgery yesterday. She came through it fine, but it was a very long surgery. Thanks to all of you for keeping her in your thoughts.

We arrived home today from a week at the ocean, less than an hour later we received a phone call that MIL had fallen and broken her arm.  Hubby rushed to the hospital and it turns out she broke her wrist in three places and will have surgery tomorrow to place a plate in her wrist and set the bones.  For now, she has been admitted and is being kept well medicated.

More about our trip, and knitting, later.

Here is the first finished yarn off the new wheel. The roving is 4oz of targhee, hand dyed by Emma of DragonFibers, in the colorway Oceanic.

    

Although it did end up being thick and thin in places all over, I am quite pleased with the plying, it is a tighter ply and over all more even.  I believe it ended up being about 260yds, I need to recount.

I’m exhausted.  Spent Saturday at MIL’s house canning . . . all day.

Yellow plums, blueberries, and blackberries.

pints - 8
12oz jars - 12 (one case)
1/2 pints - 24 (two cases)
4oz jars - 10

This was something like 8 batches of jam, of which one batch of plum preserves was done on Friday night, the rest were done on Saturday.  What was I thinking? 

MIL, hubby, the kids and I went up to MIL’s place on Whidbey Island on Friday because she has a wonderfully large kitchen and because the yellow plums were ripe.   The plum tree is on a piece of property she is selling, so, if we wanted yellow plums this was possiblily the last chance and if we waited another week we would most likely have missed them.  So we went.  Hubby and kids picked plums and blackberries and I started canning.  

Saturday morning I decided I didn’t have enough to do so Bug and I headed out to the Farmers’ Market and ended comming back with some lovely Alpaca and four flats of blueberries.  (Sorry, Emma, no young strapping farmers this time.)  Four flats!?  Yes, four flats of blueberries.  When Bug started talking about making jam, after we had bought one flat, the woman at the booth offered us three more flats at $1 each.  Umm, yes please!  The flats had to be sorted but 2/3 of the berries were good and MIL and Bug sorted while I kept canning. 

Hubby took MIL and Bubba home around 6pm, Bug and I stayed and kept going.  Bug was quite a trooper, she helped mash blueberries, brought me more jars, and kept me company.

Toward the end I was putting the jam into largers jars, forget those 4oz gift jars, hand me the pints.  While the last batch was in the steam canner we loaded the car and cleaned.  The last batch came out of the canner at about 11:20 and were on the midnight ferry comming home, along with 10 other cars.   

So, if you know me personally, it is very possible that you will be getting jam for the holidays.

(pictures from a trip to the p-patch 2 weeks ago)

I was tagged for 7 random things long ago, by at least two different people.  Finally, here it is.

1. I only have 9 toenails. In the 5^th grade I had half of the little toe on my left foot surgically removed. They thought it might be bone cancer, it wasn’t.
2. Hubby and I got married when I was 20 and he was 23. Everyone assumed I was knocked up, I wasn’t. In fact Bug wasn’t born until we had been married 9 years.
3. My first car, a gift for my 16^th birthday, was a bright orange 1973 VW Super Beetle. We had an open campus so my friends and I would all cram into the car and we would go to Dick’s on Broadway for lunch. We called it the Orange Crush, guess why. I miss that car.
4. I am an only child, spoiled rotten. See #3.
5. I lived in the same house my whole life. Well, until I moved in with Hubby when I was 18. My parents still live in that same house, oh, and they’re still married, 45yrs.
6. I really dislike spiders. No, hate them. As long as they stay outside, where they belong, I’m fine. Inside the house and I‘ve been known to freak out a bit, including, but not limited to screeching and, G-d forbid, should they actually make contact with me, crying. Hubby is good about removing them from the house without killing them. I don’t want them dead. I just don’t want them in my house.
7. My nose is pierced.  I had it done when I was 20-something.  My cousin asked if it made it hard to pick my nose . . . he was 40ish at the time.  sigh

My daughter just got out of bed and asked me, with tears in her eyes, if I would home school her next year because she is afraid one boy in her class will “tease me and push me and be mean to me, just like last year.” I assured her that he WILL NOT be doing any of that. If it happens this year, the teacher and school staff are going to get to know me very well, and they may not like it.  We may end up home schooling her after all.