Category: Uncategorized

Caution:  Actual knitting content follows.  I know, a shocker, huh?  I’ve been feeling a trifle guilty at the lack of knitting content lately.  My pendulum seems to have swung more towards quilting and sewing.  But then I remind myself that this is not primarily a knitting blog – it is a blog about my life and interests and as such reflects that those interests can be pretty varied.

Today has been very wet and windy – a perfect day for puttering around inside.  I settled in with recorded versions of Fons & Porter Quilting, Martha’s Sewing Room and Eleanor Burns (I know, she drives me crazy too, but she makes some great quilts!) and finished the knitting on Abby’s sweater:

All that’s left now is to start sewing together, knit on the collar and install the zipper.  Not my favorite parts of the knitting process, but at times necessary.  However it does bode well for having the sweater done by the time I go to Orlando in September.

And, after a brief hiatus in stash enhacement, I succumbed to these lovelies:

This is Tatamy Tweed (grey) and Little Lehigh (pink) by Kraemer Yarns.  They are the identical yarns, but the Little Lehigh is the name for their baby colors.  The yarn is 45% cotton and 55% acrylic and is machine washable.  It has a wonderful hand to it and knits up as a DK.  The owner of the LYS had some garments done up and they were gorgeous.  The pink is destined to be a little sweater for Ivy and the grey will be a vest for me.  The pattern is the "Hester" vest (I know, I was drawn to the name!) from the Kashmiri Love Collection.  I can’t seem to find a photo on the internet so I’ll try to scan one when I actually get started on it.  It’s a darling vest with a shirttail hem – very flattering.  The price on this yarn is great – $5.95 for 250 yards!  If I like how it turns out, I’ll probably do it again in Silky Wool.

I also started Ivy’s newborn set.  Yes, there are sets made for both Ben and Izzy that she could wear, but she needs to have her own to hand down to her babies.  I tried to get a picture, but my flash just wasn’t cooperating.  Suffice it to say that it’s a lacey Dale of Norway pattern in white. 

Did you every have one of those times that you were glad you stayed home?  This weekend certainly qualifies.  Hubby asked if I would like to go away for the weekend with him and we thought about driving up to Vancouver and visiting Li.  I had emailed her, but apparently her email was having issues and she didn’t get it.  Just as well, because we heard on the news that the Peace Arch crossing (which we usually take) is closed due to a huge annual celebration and the crossing that cars were being diverted to was down to one lane in each direction.  So, we decided to take a ride on a local tour boat that cruises around our island.  I was all set to go and buy tickets when we read about the icky weather and possibly choppy seas.  We are neither one good sailors so decided to wait until things are a little calmer.  So, we pick up our morning paper today to find that the boat ran aground, sending some passengers to the hospital.  Our safe little home is feeling very snug and cozy today!

And, if you want a good laugh, go check out Jessica’s site – what a hoot!!  Definitely falls into the category, "What WERE they thinking?"

A busy weekend – but fun stuff going on.  My sister is on the board of the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra and this year she was the chairman of their annual auction.  My mission was to go down and hopefully keep her from having a total melt down.  I believe the mission was accomplished successfully.  When all was said and done, she had raised about $70,000 for the orchestra, so I think it was definitely a job well done!  And I think she even came out on the other side with her sanity semi-intact.  There are rumblings of her doing it again next year, but I think she needs to decompress from this year before making a decision.  But she did a great job!!

A little knitting was accomplished while I was sitting waiting at one time or another.  I have resurrected a previously frogged project.  Remember this afghan?  I started it, then changed my mind, then frogged it and started something else, then changed my mind and started something else again.  Well, I changed my mind again.  Do we detect a little knitting ADD here?  I first started off doing a pattern that I had done for my sister years ago and loved.  But I saw something else I thought I would like better – when that didn’t work out, I thought doing squares for the Great American Aran Afghan would be fun.  And no doubt they are fun, but I found myself needing some semi-mindless knitting to distract me from the boredom of Forest Path, so we are back to the original Guernsey-style afghan.  And just to show you that I am far enough that changing my mind is no longer an option:

I’ve finished the center panel and started on one of the end borders.  I don’t promise that this will be done anytime soon – I need it as a mindless distraction.  But I do promise it will NOT be frogged!  Remember, you heard it hear first.

And, if you followed my comments from last post, the verdict is in.  Abby does want to see the quilt.  I emailed her a picture a few days ago, but here for your viewing enjoyment is Ivy’s baby quilt:

I had toyed with the idea of machine quilting it, but I remember the joy I had of putting all those hand stitches into Izzy’s quilt and praying for her as I stitched.  So this will be hand quilted and savored, with prayers going up for Ivy’s safe arrival, good health and a happy, blessed life.

I debated whether to post since I don’t have any pictures – and I do love posts with pictures.  But I wanted to let you all know that I’m still here – alive and kicking and knitting.  I’ve been working on Forest Path and am now up to Tier 16!  It seems a little useless to post a picture however, since it looks an awful lot like last time.  Just envision a couple more tiers.

Yesterday was spent sewing, sewing, sewing – but for a knitting related cause.  Each year our knitting group hosts another knitting group from the adjacent island for a picnic.  In the past the door prize has always been a knitting bag – usually a group project knitted, felted, embellished, etc.  This year for something different I volunteered to sew the bag.  Most of it was pretty tedious as I had to quilt the fabric for the bag.  Yes, I know I could have bought pre-quilted fabric, but I wanted  the lining quilted to the outside.  I embroidered a Hummel of little school girls knitting and found the perfect plaid fabric that matched the embroidery.  By 9:45 p.m. I had the finished project – it just needs dowels for the handles.  The lining is the same plaid as the binding.  Ok, so I do have a picture:

As usual, dog has been added for scale.  I think Kirby is inspecting my workmanship.  I hope I pass.  I also spent quite a bit of time working on Ivy’s quilt.  I’ve debated whether to show progress pictures.  I kept Izzy’s quilt a surprise until I presented it, but wonder if I should show this one.  Abby – what to do you think?  Do you want to be surprised?  Leave me a comment on whether I should show Ivy’s quilt in progress. 

Today a friend and I are going over to the next island fabric shopping and will also pop in to the LYS.  I can’t say that I will be too tempted.  After reorganizing my yarn stash a couple of weeks ago, I’m running out of room and I’ve got too many projects going now already.  Remember, you heard it here first – I may be eating my words later.

And a huge, huge thank you to all of our men and women in uniform.  Thanks goodness we have not had any close relatives that made the ultimate sacrifice, but I know there are many families out there that are grieving.  Thanks to my Dad – a career Navy man and to my husband, who spent 9 years active duty Air Force and 15 in the Air National Guard.  They both spent a lot of time away from their families serving their country.  Thanks guys!!

It’s been a rather quiet week here at Missouri Star – not a lot of blogworthy happenings.  Now that the excitement of sewing week and California car trip is over, it seems we settle down into just "life" and await the next flurry of activity in September when we travel to Orlando for the new arrival.

I pulled out Forest Path and worked on it again.  I have to admit to being pretty bored with it at this point (no need to put that on the Forest Path Knitalong site, ok?).  I’m on Tier 14 out of 23.  The full 23 tiers will make this pretty huge and I’m waffling.  Somehow cutting it short seems copping out and I do like big shawls, so I’ll probably plug ahead.  Here’s a shot of it so far:

This came in the mail this week:

I’ve been inducted into the Honor Society – complete with honors cord to wear at graduation!  This certainly helps compensate for all the eyeball bleeding activities that have gone on.  I also reserved rooms for graduation weekend.  I’ve heard that if you want the best spots you need to reserve a year in advance.  And I got a doozy – The Churchyard Inn.  It should prove to be a fun weekend.  My brother-in-law is a professor at WSU and he and his wife are going to throw a party for us.  After 10 years of hard work, I think a little celebration is in order!

Yesterday I went up to Bellingham to the Bernina store to teach a class.  To my dismay, no one showed up!  I don’t think the store owner advertised it very well.  I had called her the week before to see how many students were enrolled and she had no idea!  I suggested she cancel the class, but she wanted to forge ahead.  So, I taught the class to her and one employee and got paid anyway.  I used my fee and the teacher discount to buy lots and lots of thread.  I think I’m all set with thread for awhile and now need to stop buying and start sewing!  And if I’m going to do that I need to do it now – beginning the end of June and going through most of July I will be working 5 days a week (instead of 4).  I’m not really looking forward to that.  I do love my Fridays off.  But it will give me the opportunity to sock some money away – maybe for a new computer.  I have an Apple discount as long as I’m in school and might look at upgrading my Mac before I graduate.

So there you have it – pretty boring news.  If you’ve made it this far – thanks for sticking with me.  I’ll try to have more excitement next week, but no promises!

As promised – knitting content follows.  After a lovely week spent stitching away, it was nice to just sit in the car traveling, enjoying the beautiful sights and knitting.  I took along lots of of projects and actually came home with an FO – a pair of Austermann socks for me:

These were started quite a while ago and had been sadly neglected.  As you can see, they are fraternal twins.  I would have preferred identical, but the color runs on the Austermann are so long, it just wasn’t possible.  The obsessive side of me is dealing with this.  The pattern is just a generic top down, flap heel and picot edge.  This is the second pair I’ve made with the picot edge.  I had originally thought that socks with this type of edge might not stay up well, but they work great and I love the look.  There will definitely be more in my future.

Once these were done, I cast on for some gift socks for my sewing friend Lisa.  Once sock was finished on the trip and the other shortly after:

This is some Opal that has been hanging out in my stash for next to forever.  In fact, I think it was probably one of the first sock yarns I ever bought.  The pattern is again the good old generic top down with flap heel.  I have to admit that I started a picot edge on these.  I use the waste yarn method and usually use cotton because it’s easy to zip out.  I didn’t have any with me so used a scrap of wool.  When zipping it hung up on itself and I used the scissors to snip it.  However, I snipped rather more vigorously than intended and cut my sock yarn too.  I didn’t feel like starting over so just recast on with ribbing.

Also started on the trip was another CIC sweater – I’ll post pictures of that later.

I did work one day last week and paid the price for having two weeks off.  I went to the post office to pick up our accumulated mail and let’s just say that I’m still diving through all of it.  On Monday the doctor comes back and I have to inform him of our latest staffing nightmare.  Let the games begin (again). 

This weekend I’ve discovered the fun of machine applique and made some cute little tops for Izzy:

But enough of this stuff – I have some projects that have deadlines and I really need to get working on those.  So this afternoon I will begin working on a knitted sheep.  I’ll either love it or be tearing my hair out by the end of the weekend.  Stay tuned for the next chapter.

And Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there.  I’m spending the day relaxing and enjoying a great meal cooked by hubby – barbequed ribs, potatoes and fresh green beans with almonds – Yum!

Yesterday Kristen said she felt like adding "and a partridge in a pear tree" to our list of FO’s.  How funny!  The one Christmas ornament I finished WAS a partridge in a pear tree!  Kristen, this one’s for you!

Please forgive the less than stellar photo.  It’s the best I can do pre-coffee and with the beginnings of a migraine.

Continuing on with our vacation saga – on Thursday my friend dropped me off in Marysville, where I met up with hubby for our trip to California.  First, a little background:  If you’ve been following my blog at all, you know that hubby is a great lover of little cars – especially old little cars.  He started out with a 1958 Isetta, then a 1973 Mini Cooper.  Several months ago he saw a 1930 American Austin for sale on Ebay.  I had to wipe the drool off his keyboard!  There was no question about bidding on it – we just didn’t have that kind of money.  But he watched eagerly.  The car didn’t sell because the reserve wasn’t met.  So, on a whim, hubby emailed the owner and asked if he would be interested in a trade – our Mini Cooper for his Austin.  Turns out the guy has always wanted a Mini and after about a month of negotiations, a deal was made.  He was traveling out from Michigan to San Francisco and would bring the car with him and meet us in California.  This was a very good trade for us because the Austin is worth more than the Mini, but in talking with the owner later, he said hubby’s love for the car really shone through and it was never about money.  He just wanted the car to go to someone who would love it and not turn it into a hot rod, but keep it original.

Our trip down was pretty uneventful, although we ran into snow in the Siskiyous – it’s May for cryin’ out loud!

The trade-off went perfectly – both tradees were very happy with the deal.  Here is hubby getting his first real-life look at his new baby:

Does that look like one happy camper?  And here’s the new arrival:

Oh, and did I mention that this all took place on hubby’s birthday?  It’s certainly one that he will well remember.  The trip back also went off without incident.  The snow in the mountains was completely gone on our return.  Two days later the Austin, now christened "Malcom" was safely ensconced in the garage with my Mini Cooper:

So there you have the saga of "What I Did on My Spring Vacation."  Of course, as seems all too common in life, I came home to more stress.  While I was gone, one of our employees quit, without notice.  So I come home to staffing issues, which along with parents and insurance, seem to be the bane of my existence lately.  I’m glad I’m rested up! 

Oh, almost forgot – after all, this IS a knitting blog, although you’d hardly know it lately.  Knitting was accomplished on the road trip.  I promise pictures and a full account of that next posting.

One of the nicest things about being away is returning home.  My namesake is right – there is no place like home!  We had a wonderful time away with lots of projects accomplished and a safe and productive trip to California.

We arrived in Leavenworth on Saturday.  This is the beautiful view from our condo:

And the next morning with the clouds over the mountain:

We were able to tear ourselves away from the view and get down to business, though. Here we are ready to rock and roll:

Believe me, this was the neatest that table was for the entire week!  Within a short time we had piles of fabric and projects everywhere and the most frequent comment was, "Have you seen (insert scissors, pattern, fabric, thread, etc. here)?"  But what fun to just sew and sew with no deadlines, no ringing telephones, no toilets to clean or laundry to do (other than prewashing fabric that we bought!).  Did I mention that there were three quilt shops within easy driving distance?   We had brought some definite plans for projects with us, but we also let the spirit lead us and threw in some spur of the moment projects too.  We even had time to go to a Quilt Soiree at the closest shop and met (can you believe it???) some quilters from right here in Oak Harbor!  They were staying at the same condo as we were and had won their trip at our local Christian School auction – yes, the same one that my friend and I had made the quilt for.  What small world!

The last night we displayed all of our projects:

The final tally?  Between the two of us we completed 3 dresses for granddaughters, one tablecloth, 6 sets of napkins, one jacket for Izzy, one quilt top, 3 blocks for Quilts of Valor (for wounded soldiers), 2 blocks for the Quilt Soiree, one potholder, 4 embroidered Hummel pillow tops, 2 embroidered blocks for a Snoopy quilt, one Christmas ornament and 2 embroideries for purses.  In addition, we were able to complete the preliminary digitizing for the logos for my work and for my husband’s car club.  Whew! 

My favorite project was a jacket for Izzy:

Here’s a detail of the back showing the border detail:

And I also love my four Hummel pillow tops.  I had only meant to make one or two, but I couldn’t stop myself.  Do you notice a little girl theme here?

As much fun as we had, by the end of the week we were both ready to come home, but my adventure was just beginning.  Tomorrow – the trip to California and pictures of the new addition to the family.

I wasn’t sure if I would post today since I don’t have any photos, but since it may be a week or two I’ll let you know the itinerary. First of all, I am on vacation!!! Let’s hear a Woo! and a Hoo! I really need this break. Work has been particularly frustrating lately. I don’t know if it has to do with seeing retirement as an option in a few years, but I’m tired of the same old problems cropping up again and again. I’m tired of dealing with parents who see taking care of their kids as an imposition. I’m tired of feuding parents using their children as weapons against each other. I’m tired of parents who just don’t want to pay their bills. I’m tired of insurance companies who seem to look for ways to deny claims. And I’m tired of a state welfare system that seems more interested in funding unnecessary programs rather than quality medical care for children. Ok, rant over. After all, I’m on vacation!!

I’ve pretty much got my projects organized and just a few last minute items to tuck in. For knitting I’m taking a pair of socks on the needles and yarn for a new pair, a new CIC project and an afghan panel (more on that when I return). For sewing projects I’m taking a couple of outfits for Izzy and some fabric to try out more bear linen ideas, plus designs for Christmas presents and ornaments. We’ll also work on some computer digitizing. I don’t have the digitizing software, but my friend does. However, she doesn’t really know how to use it, but I do. So we’ll work on teaching her some digitizing skills while I get to access the software for some of my own projects.

We leave tomorrow for Leavenworth and will spend the rest of the day tomorrow and Sunday morning sightseeing with the hubbies. They’ll leave Sunday afternoon since the other hubby needs to go to work and my hubby is anxious to get back and work on his airplanes. Then my friend Lisa and I will spend the next three days happily sewing away with breaks here and there for more sightseeing or maybe a trip to Wenatchee to a quilt shop. On Thursday Lisa will drop me off in Marysville, where I will meet Bill and we’ll head on down to California. We’ll spend the night in Oregon and pick up his new baby the next day. After a night in California, we’ll head home with an overnight stop once again in Oregon. Then home on Sunday. I’ll need to go into work on Monday to do payroll and deal with accumulated mail and probably 50 messages on the machine, but it will be blissfully quiet because I’ll be alone. Then a couple of more days off to rest and I got back to work on Thursday.

I will have internet access part of the time, but not on my own computer, so I probably won’t be able to post pictures, so will wait until I get back. See you all then!

It’s a girl! Or at least that’s what the ultrasound seems to indicate. Of course, ultrasounds have been known to be wrong, so we’re being cautious. But for now we’re anticipating that our new grandchild will be little Ivy. My mind is now racing with all kinds of ideas for little matching dresses and girly-girl things (watch – they’ll both be tomboys and hate dresses!). When Ben and Abby got married on the London Eye, Ben promised me granddaughters if I would go on the Eye (I’m terrified of heights). So far, he’s coming through in grand style!

On the knitting front, I’ve finished the back and both fronts on Abby’s sweater and started a sleeve. If all goes well, I should be able to take the finished sweater with me when we go back in September.

I’ve also engaged in some stash enhancement:

The dark grey is Opal handpaint destined to be socks for yours truly. This stuff is luscious! I can see Marguerite’s preference for it. I got this with a gift certificate that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas. The Crystal Palace Kid Merino was also bought with a gift certificate. For the past few years my parents have given me a gift certificate to the Kirkland Yarn Shop close to my sister’s house. Sadly, I just found out that they are closing. The owner is retiring. It was such a neat little shop – low on atmosphere, but always stocked with a great selection of yarns and patterns. The easter-eggy skein is Trekking sock yarn. I saw this on Sue’s blog and fell in love (go over to her blog and look at her very cute decorating with yarn idea – cute son, too! At least I think it’s her son – sorry Sue, I don’t know your age! Could it be a hubby?). Several nights later I was at knit group at our LYS and saw one of the members knitting socks with the very same yarn. I asked her where she got it and she pointed to the back of the store. So, needless to say, it came home with me. However, I am showing great restraint by concentrating on current projects before casting on with these!

Speaking of current projects, I think I’m ready to unveil my little bear project. Here is the center:

And the corner (a little fuzzy):

This cute little tablecloth will fit a child’s table or can be used as a table topper on a circular table with an underskirt. Here are the matching napkins:

I’m hoping to be able to sell a few here and there to help fund my yarn and thread habits! This set will be donated to the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra auction in June. Eventually I hope to have a website up and offer different styles, but this is it for now, although I have ideas for different styles of bears (a Panda and a darling bear couple with a Valentine theme). I’m only doing them as special orders now, so if anyone is interested, just drop me an email or a comment and I’ll get back to you.

The next few weeks hold some fun opportunities! Today I’m going to Friday Harbor with a friend. We drive to the next island over, walk on a ferry and take a sail through some of the most beautiful scenery on earth. We’ll get off at Friday Harbor, poke around the shops, have lunch and then come home. Sometimes I get a little frustrated living on an island and having to go so far for so many things, but this definitely makes up for it! Tonight my Round Robin group meets to finish the Mystery Quilt project. Tomorrow the Community Quilt branch of our quilting guild meets to work on charity quilts. Next week I only work three days and then hubby and I and another couple are driving over to Leavenworth, a little Bavarian village in the heart of the mountains of Eastern Washington. We have a condo reserved there for 5 days. The hubbies are only staying a couple of days and then coming home, but my friend and I are taking our sewing machines and supplies and having our own little sewing retreat! There is a dynamite quilt shop just steps from our condo. We have been planning this for months and we SO need this vacation. Once we leave Leavenworth, I don’t even get to come home. My friend and I will meet hubby on the way home and I will join him for a drive down to California, where on his birthday we will pick up his new toy. I’ll wait to surprise you, but I don’t think you’ll be surprised to find out it has four wheels and an engine.

So, I need to start planning what to pack – not only sewing projects, but knitting projects for the road trip. I have this paranoia bordering on the pathological of getting bored or running out of projects. I always overestimate the amound of knitting I’ll accomplish and take way too much yarn. But such is life. At this point I think I’ll take the sleeve to Abby’s sweater, a pair of socks (second sock of Austermann Step started months ago) and maybe yarn to start a new CIC sweater. Until then!

No, once again I have not dropped off the face of the earth! Just a very, very busy two weeks. On the positive side, I finished several projects that had deadlines and also am about done with my class on Psychology of Women. Many thanks to Don Imus for giving me fodder for my last paper. And that’s all I’ll say about that – he doesn’t deserve any more press, even on my humble blog.

There has been time in the evenings for knitting. I’ve been focusing on just one or two projects and the result is – a finished baby afghan:

I should have taken a close-up so you could see the little cables between the ripples, but I’m too lazy to go back and do it again. This is, of course, for the new grandchild. Abby has an ultrasound in the next couple of weeks and with any cooperation from the wee one, we may actually find out the sex. Now I’m focusing on finishing Abby’s sweater. I’ve got the back, one front and most of the second front done. I’ll post pictures of them next time. Then on to sleeve island and I can cross another project off the list. I still have Forest Path on the needles, but it was beginning to become a bit of drudgery, so I think a little vacation is in order for us. I’ll pick it up again soon.

One of the projects that had a deadline was a quilt for our local Christian School auction. My friend Lisa did the embroidery and I pieced and quilted it:

I’m especially proud of the binding:

It took a bit of futzing to get it to come out right, but I think it was well worth the effort. Because I was such a good girl and got the quilt done and my papers for class, I rewarded myself with a day of playing in my sewing room. I turned out these very cute little bears:

I have a project in mind for a little girl’s tea party set for another charity auction in June. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. I made a mock-up today that is not quite right, but I think I know the problem and will try again tomorrow. Tonight will be spent curled up in my recliner with my trusted pooch, knitting, watching TV and listening to the rain.