Update

Well, we made it through May and now June is nearly half over. Jeesh. I find that the longer I go between postings, the harder it is to get motivated to post at all. I don't even know where to begin...


Everyone is happy and healthy. We survived all of the birthday parties, including an exciting one of our own. My little one turned three in May and wanted a "Hello Kitty" party. I can not tell you how much this pained me. While I myself am fairly enamored with that happy little white kitty, I have, until now, successfully avoided the "commercial" birthday party themes. I love to get creative with the themes and related games and crafts. V was very persistent though and would not be swayed, so Hello Kitty it was.

It was a challenge to come up with interesting, unisex games and party favors. I think it was not some of my best work, but below is the aftermath of "pin the bow on Hello Kitty".

I also made kitty ears out of felt and regular head bands for each of the kids. With some drawn on noses and whiskers, we quickly had a room full of "Hello Kitties". Unfortunately, none of the pictures turned out very well...However, I do have this picture of the lucky birthday girl in her special grammy made, appropriately themed dress clutching all of her sugary post party goodies.


While V received many wonderful gifts, I want to show you one special one...since this is a knitting blog and all. All of my knitting buddies know how much my little V loves her hand knit socks. She wears a pair every day they are clean and sometimes even when they are dirty if she can find them. So, Katrina decided she needed another pair and knit her these little cuties...


Aren't they adorable? She gave them to V on the sock blockers because "they are wool and will benefit from blocking after washing." Nice little extra present for mommy, I think! Thanks again Katrina!

I have so much more to say about so many things, including TNNA this past weekend, a gorgeous trip I took up the Columbia River Gorge, some beautiful yarn I bought, all of the knitting I have been doing, including three new patterns in the Gardiner Yarn Works pattern line, camping in the back yard and my new job!

Yes, that's right, a new job and the best part was that when I quit my old job, my boss actually asked me to write a detailed list of all of the reasons I was quiting. It was a fantasy come true...but ended up being harder than I expected.

Anyway, more on all of these things in time, if I get around to it before something else exciting happens. In the mean time, here are more flower pictures, which were taken nearly a month ago. The lilac blooms are long gone and the rhody's are fading fast, quickly being replaced with irises and roses. Nature waits for no one, no matter how behind they get on their blogging...

Busy May

May has been insane around Chez Counting. Here's a short list of what's been going on, in addition to the aforementioned anniversary and Mother's Day:

1. Strep Throat
2. Impetigo - which is gross, by the way
3. Approximately 850 doctor, dentist and eye appointments. Luckily, nothing major, other than what I've mentioned
4. 1 birthday party so far, 5 more before the month is over, including my baby's #3.
5. 1 house guest so far, 2 more before the month is over
6. A major stash organization project - I am in love with all of my yarn again and just want to knit all the time.
7. Desperate knitting trying to finish up some samples for Gardiner Yarn Works before June TNNA. If I am successful, I should have a couple of new patterns in the line soon.
8. 2 Gigs for the hubby's band
9. 4 Knitting Guild "Events" (mostly meetings) - including the Shop Hop, which I will talk about a bit more below

Of course, all of this is in addition to the normal work, school, etc. schedule. Whew! Is it any wonder that not much knitting (that I can show) is happening around here?

So, I have plenty I could talk about, but will limit it for time sake today. First up, the Shop Hop...our Guild puts on this fun event every Spring in which we rent a nice luxury coach and take 55 eager knitters on a tour of some of the local yarn shops. I say "some" since we have so many in the Portland area we could never hit them all in one day. As it is, we usually go to 6 and are all exhausted by the end of the day.

For the last two years I have been on the Shop Hop committee, which has been very fun. I get to work with some wonderful ladies putting together an event that is always fun and very much appreciated by the folks who participate.

Below is a picture of the participants "Goody Bags" for the event. We are lucky enough to have Lantern Moon as a local company. For the last two years they have sold us lovely bags at a very reasonable price.

As you can see, the bags are stuffed with items donated by various vendors and local yarn shops. Included are things like wool wash samples, a couple of different yarn samples, tape measures, another tote bag, coupons, crochet hooks, yarn requirements guides, etc.

I apologize for the quality of the picture below, but I wanted to show how the event looks from inside of one of the smaller stores when there are 55 people, plus store staff. It is crazy, but so much fun!

I did do a little stash enhancement that day, but have already put it away and am not in the mood to pull it back out and take pictures. These new purchases, by the way, are what drove/inspired the stash organization project. Lots of new yarn always makes me want to organize all of it so I know where the new stuff is and how it fits with the old stuff.

I did finish one thing I can show you though - another pair of socks. For those keeping track, that is 10 pairs since I started knitting socks in February.

Pattern: Broad Ripple, Yarn: Cascade Fixation

My sister gave me this yarn from her stash and I was curious about it because of the elastic and because I had heard that it wears like iron. I have to admit I had a hard time getting started with it. I was pulling the yarn really tight, like other sock yarn, because I like the fabric pretty firm. This was killing my hands though so I loosened up a bit and was pleased with the results. The resulting fabric is nice and snug on my feet and is not nearly as bulky as I thought it would be, seeing as how I knit these on size 3 needles.

Love the pattern! I have worn these a few times and get lots of comments about the wavy tops. Non-knitters think they are very clever. Hah! I haven't told them how easy it was....

I think that's enough for today. Perhaps more another day...maybe even before the end of May, if I'm lucky!

Happy Anniversary

I have been extra busy lately, which means I have lots of things to talk about. However, I am going to wait because I need to talk about my husband. You see. this week we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. I am one lucky girl!

I have decided to go outside of my normal policy of not showing my loved ones' faces on the blog to present you with a peak at the man I am proud to call my life partner. The picture below was taken just a couple of months before our wedding, when we were on a trip to New England. He looks so well rested! Obviously, this was before the girls arrived. And yes, for you who know him in person, he is blonde in this picture. He was actually blonde when I met him, but has reverted to his natural hair color in recent years.

Since we have been married five years, I thought I would list five reasons why I am so happy to be married to him. I could list hundreds, but thought five would be a good number for now.

1. One of the very first things that attracted me to my husband was his gentle nature. He is, to the core of his being, a kind and gentle person who really cares about others and the world around him. I strive to be more like him in this regard every day.
2. No matter what size, shape or disposition I am sporting, he loves me and accepts me for who I am. Seriously.
3. He is an excellent and very proud father. There is nothing sexier than a man who cleans up puke in the middle of the night or who gently deals with a screaming two year old in the grocery store.
4. He is very confident and comfortable with himself and who he is, even in our "non-traditional" family. There is a lot of pressure on men in our society relevant to roles and what it means to be a man. He knows he is being the best man he can be by taking care of our girls every day while I work. It's what's best for us and, therefore, he does it. Usually with no complaints.
5. If he goes to bed before I do, he always falls asleep on my side. Then, when I go to bed, he moves over so I have a nice warm spot. How cool is that?

Here's to many, many more anniversaries with my love!

So, where was I?

Oh yeah, I remember. I was just running out the door for a little trip. Well, I'm back.

I actually went to help my sister, who had a little operation. She is doing much better now, which is a huge relief. She made some comment about us getting older now and this being just the beginning of the health issues...sigh. Not me. Even though I am the oldest of my siblings, I am not anywhere near old enough to say this is the beginning of the end. It's all about your attitude, right?

In honor of our sister's surgery, and because he was long overdue, our baby brother came to town and brought his lovely new wife. He spent some time at the sister's house, then packed up and moved over to my house for a nice visit.

I didn't even mind missing the Yarn Harlot last night, at least not too much. It was their last night with us and since my brother's visits have been less often or reliable than the Yarn Harlot's, I wanted to spend the time with him.

By the way, his wife is wonderful! We all love her and hopefully didn't smother her too much with our adoration.

Have I mentioned that my brother is a chef? And that his wife is too? Just thinking about the gorgeous, delicious food I have eaten in the last week and half makes me smile. Unfortunately no food pictures. I didn't want to scare my new sister-in-law too badly with my oddities, at least not all of them at once!

Oh, and all of these flower pictures are from my yard. It has been a very wet, gloomy Spring around these parts, but things are still blooming. Hooray for that!

A little knitting has been happening too. I wanted to welcome the sister-in-law with something special, so I knit her a pair of socks.

Pattern: Sarah's Slip Stitch Sock, Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock colorway Midsummer Night, Medium weight.

My sister-in-law is a beginning knitter, so I thought she would appreciate something hand-made. She did seem to and even put up with my request to pose for pictures in the new socks. See what I mean about not exposing her to my oddities all at once? I knew the sock pictures were more important that the food pictures.

Finally, for those of you who have made it through this entire post, here is a little yarn p*rn for your enjoyment:

This is a skein of hand spun Superwash Merino from a little company called Declan Knits. I bought it at a super tiny yarn shop in ZigZag Oregon called Cast One On. I had never noticed the shop before, but as I drove by I saw that they had a large sign that said "Yarn" on the side of the building. Since it was new to me, I had to stop in and see what they had. Was I ever glad I did! The owner was very sweet and is a dyer and spinner who seems to only sell through her little shop at the moment.

Yes, the color is at least that vibrant in person, actually I think a bit more. I absolutely love this yarn!! She had a pair of mittens made out of the same yarn and I think that may be what mine is going to become. For now though, it is going to stay next to me in my office and keep me company.

By the way, she wrapped the yarn in tissue, put it into a gorgeous little bag and even included a tape measure as a little perk. If you ever find yourself in ZigZag Oregon (and why wouldn't you), I highly recommend stopping into Cast One On and checking out the handspun.

That's it for now. I'll try not to stay away so long next time. Otherwise I just end up with these huge posts.

I'm getting ready to run out of town for a couple of days, so wanted to make a quick post before I go.

As promised, here are yet another pair of socks. These are for A. When I was knitting my "happy rainbow" socks, she kept asking me "Are those for me?" and later it was "When are you going to make my happy rainbow socks?'. How is a mother to refuse?

Stats: basically the same as for this pair of socks, only smaller.

I may have mentioned this before, but I think she may have a future as a sock model. All of these poses are all her. I love that she is little enough that not only does she not think it is weird that I take pictures of her feet, she actually likes to participate.

One more, just for fun. Of course, there were half a dozen more, but how many pictures of a plain pair of socks would anyone want to see?

I also finished this hat in the past week. It is destined to be a chemo cap which will be donated to a local charity.
Pattern: A combo of the "Robin's Egg Blue" hat and the "Cashmere Beanie" hat, Yarn" Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky

These are both fun, very easy patterns. I wanted to knit something a little different than the normal beanie I knit for charity. It looks super cute on, but I have decided to spare both my husband and the rest of the world from seeing pictures of him modeling it.

I'm now going to go back to my crazy trip prep. Be back in a few days.

Wednesday Update

Seems I've only been able to make it to the old blog on Wednesdays lately. I like this Wednesday update theme I've got going on because I know I will write the blog at least once a week. Not that I ever run out of things to write about, but for some reason this is working for me for the moment, so I'm going to go with it for another week.

So, without further ado, here is the Hubby's vest - done!

Pattern: Vest from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, Yarn: Nashua Creative Focus, Worsted, Colorway: Evergreen

I actually finished it Saturday, but haven't had the five minutes required to write up a post about it. It did end up being quiet a slog, I think because I was just not fond of this yarn. It's really hairy and consists of a fairly loosely spun single. This meant I could not knit this without looking at every stitch. The minute I would look away I would put the needle through the yarn. For me, a big flat piece of dark colored stockinette that requires me to look at every stitch equals torture.

The attached i-cord around the neck and arm holes ended up going pretty quickly, after I finally settled on a plan. Getting to the plan only took four false starts and enough ripped out stitches to equal roughly both armholes.

However, the Mr. loves it. I think he has worn it every day since I finished it. You can't get any better endorsement than that!

By the way, there are only these two pictures because as soon as we stepped outside to take them it started to hail. Every time we tried to go out for pictures on Sunday, it would rain or hail, so we finally gave up. This will just have to do!

In addition to the vest, I also finished a hat and a pair of socks for A. this week. I'll take pictures of both projects and post them soon - hopefully before next Wednesday....

The only old WIP I have now is the Malabrigo Kiri. I'm afraid that one is going to sit around for awhile since I am just not that into it. Recently, a friend kindly pointed out this post to me...doesn't look much different does it? Ah well, I'll get to it when I'm in the mood.

I am now off to start another pair of socks, this time for my new sister-in-law. I'm going to meet her for the first time next week. Since she is a knitter I thought she might like to have something I knit for her. I know I love it when other people knit things for me!

WIP's and other Wednesday Goodies

I think I like this "reporting on my WIP's" Wednesdays. It has motivated me to at least try to put some time in with them.

This week. I made some real progress on the vest. Sorry for the weird angle of the picture.

I finished seaming the vest and have started the edge. It turned out, even though I followed the pattern precisely and the pieces were blocked to just the right size, this was going to be pretty short for the Hubby. So, we agreed that I would add a rib at the bottom to lengthen the entire vest. I was glad I had started with a provisional cast on at the bottom, because it made the ribbing seamless.

Maybe I'll have this thing done by next week?

In addition to working on the vest and the little socks I wrote about last time, I also knit 2 small samples for the pattern line and wrote up the pattern for those samples. I feel so productive!

As we move closer to the June TNNA show, I anticipate fewer of my projects will be things I can blog about. I'm sure I'll find something to write about though. For example, this last week I received a gorgeous hand knit lace scarf from my friend Robert for my birthday.

I am not sure of the pattern, but the yarn is Blue Moon Socks that Rock. I think the colorway is Midsummer's Night. Isn't it gorgeous! I don't know how he knew that is one of my favorite Blue Moon colorways. I guess he does know me pretty well and I am pretty predictable, so no real mystery after all.

Thanks so much Robert! I am already enjoying wearing this one and look forward to using it a lot!