sherriknits

Can you believe July is over? You know what this means?  We are getting closer to having a baby!  She is now considered full-term, 37 weeks.  I can barely contain my excitement. 

My niece had her baby 2 days ago.  The girls were 2 weeks apart….my niece was induced, though, so who knows how close they might have come.  We went to see her in the hospital and the nurse there was almost overbearing in saying my little mama-to-be needed to be home in bed.  Her poor feet and ankles are so swollen but she’s been taking it easy and the doctor is watching her closely.  She goes tomorrow and is on her once a week appointments now unless they decide she needs to come in more often. 

Doesn’t she look like a cute mama-to-be?

Thankfully, my niece and little one are doing just fine.

I managed to get some knitting done!  I joined the Caffiene Addicts swap and we had to include a knitted item.  At first I was a little overwhelmed at knitting anything and then I decided to go for it when I found this pattern at one of my favorite yarn shops!

This is a handout with purchase at Village Yarn and Tea.  I made friends with the owner a few years ago so I always like to pop in to say hi but I have yet to see her there!  I do plan to see her at Stitch n Pitch, though.

I accidentally made too many picots on the edge but I do like how it came out….a lot!  Also, the pattern calls for an I-cord drawstring but I had the little imp help me wind up a twisted drawstring cord instead and I like it.  I just forced it into the stockinette stitch and it works just fine.

I might actually start drinking tea to have something like this! 

….or else I’ll just add to my teapot collection that I have …. and none of them ever see any tea.

What is your favorite supper for a hot summer evening? 

For added flavor (Get it?…“flavor”…I crack myself up!), post a photo or recipe link…..

For me, it’s anything barbecued.  Some days the boys  barbecue for lunch and dinner!  I love the meal to be simple (less dishes). 

Here’s the most recent picture I could find….steak, fried potatoes and spinach salad with strawberries and vinegarette dressing.  This was one of our first barbecues of the year when we got away for a week in our friends’ rv after the wedding.

 I also love barbecued chicken and who doesn’t love a barbecued burger?  When I’m semi-ambitious we have shish kabobs and I love those, too!  The potatoes are almost never part of our summer dinners.

This morning we got up early.  Actually, I barely slept last night.  Bunni went to sleep about 6.  She woke up around 10, we watched a movie and i think we tried to go to sleep around 12:45.  I woke myself up this morning scoldingly saying, “Stop it!”  Bunni asked, “What???” and I woke up and got confused about where I was…that was it.

No worries…we had the whole day and I knew we could rest if we needed to.  I told Bunni I was hungry all night, literally, and all I wanted was pancakes.  I guess they have become comfort food when I’m overly tired.  We went to the restaurant downstairs and asked if they had any.  No, waffles.  We decided to go find pancakes.  We drove … and drove … and drove.  We couldn’t find anything open.  At one point we must have been feeling desperate because we both saw this long blue building and thought….oh, a restaurant at last, and lots of people in it.  Then it moved.  City bus.  We both were startled.  lol  At the same time we both said…., “Oh!  I thought it was a restaurant!”

We drove and drove.  We got lost.  We found our way out of our mess and ended back up at our hotel…and went in and ate waffles.   $10 worth of gas later.

We had decided yesterday that we wanted to sign up for a class called “Meets in the Middle Top”.  I must say that *I* read it right, but Bunni spent some time confused over where was the top room we were meeting in?  In the middle of what?

The class actually  was for a top that angles down and V’s in the middle.  We had no idea that we were going to spend 2 hours with Lorna Miser, the original owner of Lorna’s Laces!  What an incredible lady.  We learned alot and I am really anxious to make the sweater we made a practice bear sweater for. (or half of it)  There were only 4 of us in class so we really had opportunity to visit with her and hear about the things she is designing for different companies.

It’s really something to be able to sit with people you admire and learn from them….but to realize they are just real people like you and me.  In Cat’s class yesterday, one of the ladies taught her how to do a ssk bind-off and she was so excited about learning something new.  Both ladies were incredibly encouraging.

We also heard that Jared of  Brooklyn Tweed fame was wandering around there yesterday with his mom, who is a knitter, but we didn’t see him.

We decided this afternoon to buy some woolpets kits and try to make them this evening.  I’ve been working on the one from my secret pal but was afraid I’d ruin it so I wanted to practice on something else before I went any farther.

Here are some of the early stages.

Can you tell what they are?

I had to run to Target to buy needle and thread to put the bead eyes in.  While I was gone, Bunni nearly finished hers.  When I got mine done, we decided we should have a picture shoot even though it was getting dark out and the light wasn’t too great.  I cleared off the couch and asked Bunni where hers was.  Here’s her side of the story taken from a file she put  on my flash drive entitled, “You killed him”

Sherri and I picked up a couple of ‘woolpets’ needle felting kits today.  She got a lamb and I got an elephant.  We worked on them in our hotel room most of the afternoon.  Baby elephant was ready for his finished photo and was waiting patiently on the couch when Sherri brought over her sheep, tossed everything that was on the couch into the corner and posed her sheep for pics.  She got out her camera and was looking around and asked, “Where is yours?”  She had killed him. 

Photos are untouched.   Nothing was moved at the crime scene.  lol

We were able to revive him, and he agreed to pose with sheep for pictures.  

 And the little sheep close-up..

As you can probably tell, we have had some good laughs and some good times this weekend.  We’ve learned a lot from some incredible people.  We have a few fun things planned tomorrow before we head on home.

Bunni and I got to get out of town for a few days and the focus of the whole weekend is yarn and knitting!

We got a great place to stay.  When Priceline gave us the name of the place, we thought we were about 5 miles away from where we were going but this morning I found out we are walking distance.  It might have been smart to check the address.  haha

Today we had a class with Cat Bordhi and I always sit in awe of her when I get a chance to take any kind of class from her.  Her mind is so incredible and it’s like the lightbulb just goes on when she starts telling you her discoveries.  What I love is that her whole intent is to break you free from having to use her book.  It makes more sense to me every time I listen to her.  Here’s our class project today. 

The yarn is so busy that you can’t see the sock itself very well but Cat helped me see what I was doing wrong on my wrap and turns on the heel and by george, I have got it now!  Perfectly concealed wraps and turns.   I’d show closer but you can’t see it for the craziness of the yarn.  It actually wasn’t very pleasant to work with so I won’t say what it was since it was generously donated along with Addi turbo lace needles!

Here’s the top of the sock.

Can you see the increases along the top?  Once again, kinda wild.

Here’s where we spent our day.

And here’s where we are spending the evening.  In all fairness to Bunni, I will not show her studying like the diligent student she is. 

Yep, knitting piles already.  Ravelry bags in use, too.

And of course, gotta be in touch with Ravelry itself!

And now, I am going to go practice what I learned.

I don’t know another way to describe the last few days.

Wednesday I had to stay home with the boy because there was no one available to watch him and we didn’t want him spreading the bug.  My friend, Bunni, came over and we sat outside and made a few tribbles.  It was a great visit and felt like a great way to recover from the day before of all the laundry and cleaning up after the little imp.

Somewhere towards the end of her visit, I started fading.  Isn’t it weird how you don’t recognize what is happening.  I asked her later if I even said goodbye, I just remember hubby coming home and her leaving but before I knew it…I was down and out.  A little secret about me…I don’t throw up, can’t for some reason….so stomach flu is not quick.  I was sick all night.  At one point I thought I was better and ate a popsicle…it tasted so good I ate another.  Big mistake.  haha

Anyway, I was sick all night and feeling so bad because Thurs. was hubby’s birthday and he was not going to get his birthday breakfast, at least not from me.  All the kids were feeling bad, too.  Our new son-in-law’s birthday was Wed.  and I totally missed seeing him.  I thought about asking one of the girls if they could do the breakfast at their house but I didn’t have the energy and hubby said it was fine.

Wellllllllllllllllllll, good thing he said not to worry because when I woke up early in the morning, he was sick too.  We were quite the pair yesterday.  Isn’t it funny how the most easy task suddenly becomes the highest mountain to climb when you’re not feeling well?  It took me so long to get myself upstairs to tell hubby I called in sick for him, then he said I needed to call the church to say he wouldn’t be at his meeting last night, I had to lay down to rest in order to go back and call them.  haha

Now #1 son has it. 

Everyone else has bounced back quicker than I did, though.  I’m so happy for them.   lol

The little imp has gotten the silliest smile on his face when we say we got it after he had it.

And now I plan to have a normal day!

What is(are) your favorite place(s) to knit?
The little couch in my living room with the ottoman in front of it is covered with my knitting stuff.
I love to sit outside on the deck or on my porch when the weather is nice enough.

What supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for knitting?
Usually I am digging for a pair of scissors and a darning needle. It seems like you can improvise for other things.

I spent my day running up and down stairs, dumping bowls from the little imp being sick, doing laundry, wiping  up floors….I am wiped out.  I’m glad I discovered tribbles…I’d have made more but I was just too tired.  I told hubby I feel like I am just going to start crying and not stop.  It’s all so one-sided when this kiddo is sick.  He won’t answer and it’s all a guessing game.  I knew he wasn’t bad sick but it’s still really hard to figure it out and I felt pretty comfortable letting him rest.

Tonight I’m washing all of our bedding because he was in our bed and he didn’t do too great at hitting the bucket. 

Anyway, tonight as I do laundry, I made 2 tribbles.  I used the one this afternoon to wash the kitchen counters and I really liked it.

It will be more fun when I have yarn here that I love.   I think they’ll be great gifts and way faster than a dish rag!

We got home about 4 last night.  That was perfect and we just had a nothing evening, which was fine.  I managed to find my missing camera charger and ordered a car charger and extra battery on eBay so when sweet pea comes, I won’t be caught without my camera.  I can’t imagine how awful that would be!  I’ve meant to get a back-up battery since I’ve had my camera.

This morning I got up and wondered what was on the stairs.  Didn’t take me long to realize the imp had gotten sick.  He’s funny.  He won’t answer questions, says he’s fine.  Mooooooooommmmmmm.  He answers in disgust when I ask him if he’s ok.  I think it’s a case of if he doesnt’ acknowledge it, it isn’t there.  He’s sleeping in our bed right now with his bowl by his side.

I sat down and made a tribble this morning rather than fret over him.  I found the pattern quite by accident this morning on Ravelry.

Loopy volunteered to hold it up so you could see.

And now I’m going to go use it!

We’re celebrating our 34th anniversary this year and we’re having a quiet little get away.  No, we’re not spending a lot of time on our laptops. 

We just tried to go to Fred Meyer but the bridge was just closing so we’d have had to go way around on a detour so we decided to skip it.  Instead we went for a great walk.  The whole time is all about quiet.  We must be getting old.  lol

First I want to show some pictures from yesterday.  We had our annual art walk and a friend of mine and I got a chance to sit outside in the sunshine.  She did some spinning and I did a little bit of knitting and we got to talk to people about what she was doing.  An interesting thing we noted…..the women were definitely interested in the spinning, but the men really woke up when she started explaining the mechanics of the wheel.  I have to say I am so impressed with my friend’s ability to spin.  She taught herself and she makes beautiful yarn.

It was fun. 

Here’s an attempt at a closeup of her working.  The sun was so bright I had no idea on any of them if I even got her in the picture!

And now to us.

For my gift to hubby, I offered to pay for a little getaway to Astoria, Oregon.  We did the Priceline thing and I was really hoping we’d get the place we got.  We are right on a marina overlooking the boats and it is so peaceful and beautiful.

The bridge in the  background is 4 miles long.  It only rises at the end on the Oregon side.  It was so weird, we were about halfway across and a car went speeding past us (2 lane bridge) and then we came to a complete halt.  We have no idea what was going on but after about 3 minutes the traffic started back up and off we went.  In this day and age, I am not fond of sitting on a bridge and not sure what the problem is.  Well, to be honest, I don’t think there was ever a day I liked having to sit on a bridge.  haha

This is looking towards the great Columbia River.

The hotel is L-shaped so that is part of the other side.

In the distance is a ship coming in.  This is not an unusual sight to us because we see them all the time at home but we love watching them.

Oh my gosh.  Remember me saying how hard it is for me to drink water?  Well, look what I found at Fred Meyer!

I love Metromint water!  I often drink The spearmint, peppermint and when I can find it the orangemint….but tonight I found CHOCOLATEMINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And not only did I find it…..it was 10 for $10!!!!  This water is expensive and often I will continue to use the bottle because some of the mint flavor stays in it.  When I saw this, I bought one, went outside and opened it, took a drink to make sure I liked it (of course I did!) and then went back in and bought 10 of them!  I’m one happy girl!

We are the very worst people I know when it comes to making a decision where to eat.  Neither one of us can ever decide.  We didn’t want to go to the same places we’ve gone before so we went downtown, parked the car and walked along the river.  They have fixed it up so quaint….we really enjoyed the stroll.  I left my camera at the room so I tried to take a few pictures with my phone.  Always fun trying to figure out how to get them to my computer! 

I took this picture because when hubby was a little boy, he got to steer a ferry across the Columbia.  These are old pilings from docks of old.  In the distance is Washington.  I love hearing about him steering that ferry so I wanted to take a picture even though this isn’t likely the exact spot the ferry went from.

We did find a new place to eat and we sat inside because we weren’t really dressed to sit outside near the water but we did get a window.  We watched a ship heading out.

Here is the beginning of sunset.

I wanted to hurry when we were going to go to the store so I wouldn’t miss it, I love sunsets.  We were only gone less than 5 minutes because of the bridge but this was the prettiest it ever got.  The clouds started pushing in and the sky turned whiter. 

Here was a little seagull passing by our balcony.

And from our little walk on the docks….

Can you just feel the peace?

And now I am off. 

Yea us!

It’s kind of a bummer to have a Wednesday birthday when the whole rest of the family has obligations.  The kids all had youth church so the big boy went to dinner with Dad and Mom.   He tends to get over stimulated so he wasn’t sure what to do, although he did enjoy the attention.