So much fun has been happening around here that I don't know where to begin! I guess we'll go chronologically, then hopefully I won't miss anything important.

Last I wrote I was lamenting the lost weekend of craziness and was glad to be back at work. I don't think you will hear me say that very often. Anyway, Thursday started my recent spate of fun with the August meeting of the Tigard Knitting Guild. This month's guest was Trish Anderson who is the genius behind Tanglewood Fiber Creations. She gave a wonderfully interesting talk about fiber, yarn and her business. One fun fact I learned: One cashmere goat produces only 4 oz of fiber per year! No wonder cashmere is so expensive.

Then on Friday I was able to attend the book launch reception Blue Moon Fiber Arts hosted here in Portland for Cat Bordhi's latest book "New Pathways for Sock Knitters". While I may be a new sock knitter, I am aware of the genius that is Cat Bordhi and what an incredible opportunity this event was. Cat's talk was really interesting, the book is gorgeous and the desserts were delicious. Even better than all of that, I got to hang out with my buddies Katrina and Amanda, as well as her sweet baby, who was a complete doll as usual.

The knit bloggers were out in full force for this event and they seemed to all sit in the front row, including yours truly. Another highlight of the evening for me was meeting Judy of the "Magic Cast on Fame". I have been reading her blog for ages but have always been too shy to comment. It was wonderful to meet her and learn how very sweet she is in person. Thanks Cindy for the introduction!

So, what could make this event even better? Why Blue Moon Yarn, of course. I won the below skein for producing something "useful but unusual" from my knitting bag. That something was a little candy tin I use to store stitch markers, point protectors and other little gadgets. The colorway is called "County Clare", which I had never heard of. The picture doesn't really show the vibrancy of the mostly green skein. Very nice!

After all of that excitement, it seems like I should have settled in for a nice quiet weekend, but no, there was more fun to be had. On Saturday the little village we live in had its annual celebration. They close off the main street and have an excellent parade. I highly recommend it to anyone in the Portland area. Then they have a street fair with lots of food booths, little games for the kids and other fun things. I could write an entire post about that, but this is already going way too long so I'll save it for next year.

Then, on Sunday, the Husband and I decided we wanted to go out exploring. We do that sometimes, just pile the kids into the car and take off for the afternoon. Even though I've lived in Oregon all of my life, except for a couple of years I'll talk about another time, I never get tired of the beauty that is all around us here.

This time we decided to head up the Columbia Highway and see how far we could go before we needed to turn around. We ended up in Hood River, which is a really nice little town, if a bit trendy these days due to all of the wind surfing. Anyway, while the hubby checked out kayaks down the block, I popped into Knot Another Hat. What a great little yarn shop! As a bonus, Yvonne from Lavender Sheep was working behind the counter that day . I knew she lived in Hood River, but did not know she worked at the shop. I had met her at the Yarn Harlot event in June and recognized her right away. We had a fun chat. What an unexpected treat!

I could not let a trip to such a fine establishment go without a little purchase. I bought the below yarn, which is undyed silk noil in lace weight. These two skeins equal about 1350 yards of silk loveliness. As a bonus, it was really reasonably priced. I like the color it is without dye which the picture actually shows fairly accurately on my screen, kind of an oatmeal color.

Here is the product link on the Knot Another Hat site, in case you are interested and don't plan to go to Hood River any time soon. They have other undyed yarn, as well as some other really great things (like Yvonne's Lavender Sheep yarn).

The rest of the drive to Hood River and home was gorgeous. The girls and I sang lots of silly songs, looked at lots of boats and trains and generally had a fantastic time.

Sadly, you will note that I don't actually have any pictures of all of this crazy fun. I am still new to this blogging thing and can not seem to remember my camera for anything! I will try to be better. I'm sure my kids might appreciate some pictures of all of the fun things we do too!

Wow, it's late. If I can carve some time out tomorrow, I will share one of my little obsessions with you. Sadly, it is not knitting related, but it is fun, at least I think so.