haystacks

P1010018

Originally uploaded by moiraeknitting.

Pacific City, Oregon.

We went to the coast last weekend. (We had guests; this is what they want, go figure.) We had lunch again at the Otis Cafe, which was wonderful as always. It was beautiful just long enough to stand outside for ten or fifteen minutes and look at Haystack Rock and then it began to rain again when we got back in the car.

It did this all day. Of course, I had to stop by Nestucca Bay Yarns and have a look around at their stuff. I resisted quite hard as I was planning a trip to Knit Purl on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, I took Josh to the airport. He went to Florida for a conference and will be back Thursday night.

This is a photo of the yarn I used for my Zombie socks in Sock Madness 2. I thought it was a very little like Monet’s Haystacks. Maybe not.

adventures in san francisco pt 2, all things sheepy

Anabel, her friend Christina and I went off to Japantown where all things sheepy can be bought for less than $2.00 at the Japanese dollar store. Okay, some things aren’t sheepy. But they are wonderful, no?

 

 

1. oven mitt, 2. sheep box cutter, 3. sheep clips, 4. chop sticks, 5. push pins, 6. animal rubber bands (includes sheep), 7. sushi project bag, 8. sheep pad and led key chain, 9. Christina’s New Sheep Tote* (which matches her previously purchased sheep decorated converse shoes. Yep with a black sheep on the heel.)

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

electric sheep

My husband recently told me of a screen saver that uses the sheep up, sheep down voting system, a form of approval voting. Electric Sheep is a screen saver of true beauty and a knitting must have for this season. Here is a quote from their website.

“When [sic] computers “sleep”, the screen saver comes on and [sic] computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as “sheep”. The result is a collective “android dream”, an homage to Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.”

Use the arrow keys to vote whether or not you approve of the screen saver. An up key results in an upward facing sheep in the foreground of your screen saver, while a down key results in a downward facing sheep. The votes upload themselves to the internet.

Happy voting.

oregon flock and fiber

I think the call was for Oregon Flock and Fiber pictures.

I had a great time at my first fiber festival. I have to admit that the Blue Moon Fiber Arts table took me a little by surprise. I knew they’d be there, but I hadn’t anticipated the mill ends. I was restrained and spent $32.50 (1 medium-weight skein of mill ends and one light-weight skein of Rare gems) at the BMFA table. This panicked me quite a bit, as I’d been at the festival for about three and a half minutes before I landed there. BMFA was nice enough during the festival to save some for day two and I was terribly tempted to go back for more.

This is the Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks tent and is where I purchased the prize for Second Sock September. It’s Trekking that they hand-dyed. It’s nice for fall I think.

I had a lot of fun. I ran into several of the PDX knit bloggers. I also ran into Donna. It’s surreal to run into someone who actually reads your blog. She was helping Chrissy market her new patterns. I might have bought some were I not so acutely aware of all my WIPs.

I was mighty tempted by A Swell Yarn Shop’s tent. They make Duet. I resisted. It’s beautiful stuff, but I think I prefer to match my heels myself.

I had a lot of fun checking out the fiber menagerie at the festival. Llamas, alpacas, sheep, yaks (yes I said yaks), camels, goats and rabbits.

Last but not least, here is the Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn pr0n, along with views of the rest of my loot, with the exception of the basket I bought. I can’t believe I got mill ends. The medium weight mill ends were $14 a skein.

 

 

1. Socks That Rock – Lightweight in Rare Gems, 2. Socks That Rock – Medium-weight Mill Ends, 3. Socks That Rock – Medium-weight Mill Ends, 4. Silk and Merino Roving from The Dizzy Ewe, 5. Spindle from Wool World
Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

I really want to thank Rebecca of The Dizzy Ewe for giving me some lessons with my new spindle. Her roving is gorgeous and you should definitely have some. I really want some of the yarn she has for dyeing too.

some sheepy fun

I did some knitting, but there’s really nothing to show you. I cast on for another One Skein, One Day Wonder Hat and am thinking about writing up some picot tips for you all. There are two reasons I’m knitting up another hat. First, my mother-in-law needs one. Second, there was one thing I didn’t like about the first one and I’m fixing it in this one. If it comes out right, I will work on writing up the pattern for you all and writing up one in baby/children’s sizes. I’m pretty sure that a skein of Lorna’s Laces will make one adult and one baby hat, so I just need to work out the smaller hat using the remainder of the yarn. Wouldn’t that be cool? Of course the pattern will be free, but I’ll probably put down a suggested donation figure to subsidize my yarn habit. I’m also thinking about writing up a mitten pattern with picot edging so you can’t have a matched set.

I blocked a few more Lizard Ridge squares and there are four more left for me to block before I can start sewing. I also took the skein I’m using for the border up to the yarn shop and wound it into a little cake using the ball winder.

I’m also making some mitered corner squares out of Noro Kureyon for a little felted bag based on a pattern by a designer whose name totally escapes me at the moment. I have nothing to show you at the moment due to the oppressive darkness and my own lack of courage in facing the great outdoors.

In lieu of actual knitting content here is some sheepy fun for you.

socks, socks, socks, socks, socks

What would be a vacation without some sheep? These are Mountain School sheep. The school was selling some yarn, but in somehow in all the confusion, what with the dark (the power kept going out) and the talking with old classmates I forgot to ask whether the yarn they were selling was made from Mountain School wool. (Note: none if it was sock yarn.)

The completed Potomatomus Socks. Note that the colors are much better in real life; they are more red and blue. I hate to say it but they are almost Spidey like.

Finished on June 12th. Knit on Size 1 12″ Addi Turbo needles using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted. The pattern comes from Knitty. That was the most challenging pattern I’ve worked on in a long time.

I bought some more Lorna’s Laces last week sometime in the Watercolor colorway. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with it yet. I could do the Straight-Laced pattern, but then I’d have to buy another circular needle. I like the pattern though. We’ll see.

Have you ever started on something that you think is just awful? I’m not sure how I feel about the Lace Knee High pattern from the Interweave Knits Winter 2004 issue inthe Cherry Tree Hill Green Mountain Madness. There’s something very loose about the entire thing and I’m not sure I think it’s appealing. Maybe this is something that shouldn’t be done in variegated colors.

Here is the picture of the Koigu I bought in Exeter at Charlotte’s Web. I’ve been playing around with the Magic Loop Method for the piquant Falling Leaves Socks (pattern available at Knitty). It’s kind of neat, although the Koigu is so dense that I find doing “p3togtbl” a bit tough. The question is will it pay off after I finish the toe?

Can you say addicted to socks? Who’d ever have thunk? I don’t wear socks very often. Socks are for the gym, really snowy days, padding around the house and going to work in (if I can’t get away without them). Maybe I will want to wear them in Minnesota though. I’ve got small feet so these are speedy projects I should probably enter the Knitty 2007 calendar contest with my socks (assuming I finish the Knitty ones). Only…doing what?

The finished iPod holder will have to wait until tomorrow for display.