little bit of crazy leaking out

Last night Hubby went to bed and when I finally crawled in several hours later we had this conversation.

me: Holey Moley! it’s cold in here.

Hubby: zzzzz . . . Huh . . . oh yeah . . .

me: No, really it’s cold.

Hubby: zzzzz . . . yes, cold . . .

me: Haha, I should get my wool stash and put it on top of the bed.

Hubby:  Half would prolly be enough . . . zzzzz

Yeah, he’s a funny man.

 This last weekend was the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival.  Friday, I picked up Annie at 4:20am . . .

. . . and Emma at 4:45am . . .

 . . . both agreed it was way to early. We made a quick stop to stretch our legs, top off the gas tank and get a nice view of Mt St. Helens with the sun rise.

Upon arival at the fairgrounds we met up with Betty and she and I headed off for an all day class with Susan Forsythe and by the end of the day I was in search of a set of Forsythe MiniCombs and even though none of the vendors was officially open I managed to purchase a set. oops. 

Although we were up before the crack of dawn, we managed to stay up late, spinning, in our hotel room.

We arrived Saturday and things were really cooking, so many vendors that every time you walked through there was something new you had missed the first time around.  It was amazing, but never felt overcrowded since the vendors were spread out over two buildings, the open grassy area and the barn.

There was another class in the afternoon, this time with Janelle of Chameleon Colorworks.  I now understand the fractile stripe article that was in Spin Off Summer ‘07, along with three other methods of spinning painted rovings.  Dinner was wonderful as we met up with Betty and her mom, Martha, a good time was had by all.  For photographic proof, see Emma’s blog, here.

Sunday was bad for the budget.  The parking lot fleece sale . . .

Emma and I were looking at some Finn fleeces, so soft, and I swooped in bought one of them while she was still deciding.  All’s fair in war and fleece sales.  There was more wandering and shopping, no classes for us today.  Here is Annie with her alpaca shawl and new basket, I wish I had bought one now, but there’s always next year. 

In addition to the Finn fleece I bought a washed Romney fleece from Iron Water Ranch, pics tomorrow.  Emma and I also bought a lamb, we opted not to get the head, and it will be FedExed to us to be placed in the freezer.  Grass fed, no hormones from SuDan Farm. 

The ride home was uneventful and we resisted stopping at Ikea for some tax free shopping.

ETA: On the way home hubby called to see how far from home we were.  I may have told him I would call before we headed out, oops.  I asked how the weekend had been for him, it was the first time I had left him with the kids for more than a day/afternoon.  He told me he had grand plans of what he was going to get done while I was gone. Ha!  The quote, directly from his lips was: “I was bitch-slapped by the baseball bat of reality.”  Yeah, staying home with the kids isn’t as easy as it looks is it!?

I can’t wait until next year!

This past weekend I did quite a bit of knitting, laughing, and eating.  All good things in my book. 

Friday night was Knit Night at VYT, hubby got home and I zoomed out the door and spent a hour or so knitting with friends.  Some have questioned why I go to Knit Night, I go to VYT almost every Saturday and it would seem going on Friday night would be too much of a good thing.  It’s not, Knit Night is only the first Friday of the month and I only get to go, maybe, half of the time because of Hubby’s work schedule, and I get to see people I wouldn’t get to see otherwise.  I walked out of VYT that night with four skeins of Peace Fleece in Moscow Magic Pink for a sweater for Bug.  (One skein is a just in case skein and will be returned if I don’t need it.)

Now, I have been trying to reduce the stash and purchasing yarn doesn’t seem like the best way to do this.  So I came up with a wonderful justification and I wound the skeins into balls after I got home from Knit Night and cast on while at knitting group on Saturday.  The yarn never entered the stash so it doesn’t count.  About half the gals agreed the other half rolled thier eyes, whatever.  This immediate casting on and knitting of The Peace Fleece Cardigan means that I have set aside the Bolero I was working on, but you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Actually the fact that I don’t have about 20 projects on the needles is a miracle right now.  I have a horrible case of, as Dave at Criminy Jickets call’s it, Seasonal Startitis Syndrome.  It’s been bad.  I look at yarn and want to knit it NOW, I see a pattern . . . NOW . . . NOW . . . NOW.  I have resisted, I really have.

Anyway, Saturday Hubby took me to VYT, since my car is in the shop, and then went away with the kids and didn’t come back for four hours.  Is he a good husband or what?!  That night after the kids went to bed I pulled out the knitting again and continued working on the cardigan while we watched The 4400 and BSG (gotta love netflix). 

Sunday morning my parent picked us up and we went upto my cousin’s for a birthday/anniversary party.  I knit the hour on the way up, part of the time there, and the hour on the way back.  I love going to my cousin’s, she is fun, laid back and always makes you feel welcome.  My aunt and four of my adult cousins were there, the kids had a blast with all the attention.  There were water balloons, trips to the garden, food, games of cribbage,  more food, and cake.  I came home with two bags of produce from the garden (beets, small zucchini, red onions and giant carrots), leftover carrot cake, and greek stuffed zucchini (yummy, have to get her recipe).  With all the fun we had there was one disapiontment: MY DEAR COUSIN IS NOT USING THE HANDKNITS!  Last time we were there I brought her a few knit dishcloths, they are sitting nicely on the counter as doileys, one with the butter dish on it and the other two were on top of the microwave.  I threatened to take them back, she says they are to pretty to use.  *sigh* Guess I need to make her some ugly dishcloths.

I kept chugging away on the cardigan yesterday evening, I even fell asleep sitting on the couch, while knitting, Hubby woke me up at 4am and told me to go to bed.  I was a little tired this morning, but the sweater is getting done.  I am enjoying knitting with the Peace Fleece, it has a bit of VM in it but less than Noro, I was worried it would be splitty since it is a loose 2ply, but I haven’t had any trouble so far.

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.

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.