January in Portland

Yes, it can vary quite a bit. I thought that I would join the other desperate sun seekers today and head out for a while and take some pictures for you all. You know, the "inspired by nature" part of all of this.

Knitting Group Day

Sunday is Knitting Group Day and Strong Chai Day....and....well, so is Tuesday. Days to truly live for, in my opinion. Never you mind that I've already drunk my allotment of caffeine today. Buzz, buzz, buzzzzzz.
No, awake and thinking about how my projects are just not coming along fast enough right now. No feelings of serious accomplishment. I'm working on the shawl above and it's going slow. It was actually meant go to slow because I have a lot of shawls in the pattern in different yarns. So, I work on it in bits. I'm actually working on the crochet because it's way faster and has that sense of accomplishment to it.
I've set aside the pattern for of the shapings because I like the way I shape crochet better than any pattern I read. It can be an improvisation to smooth out the rough places and make the crooked places straight (thank you, Handel..)
Ughhh, I keep stretching here at the computer. Been here so much this weekend.
I've started a business blog and I invite anyone who is considering starting something up or if you're already in business for yourself to check it out and pass it along.

Greeting a New Day

I know that alot of people will have blog posts with that title today and be talking about our new Administration. I'll spare you. I don't have anything to say that's better said than what's already out there.
For me, it just a new day. Every day a new day. I saw dawn for a change this morning. Was actually thinking clearly enough to take this picture from my kitchen window. I then watched some news and headed back to the bed that was not yet done with me.
Just thought I'd add this picture and single thought to the river of thoughts that are flowing out there, people...

Less Yarn, Not More

I'm sure to some folks that might seem reasonable but to me right now, it's a rip. I am de-stashing down to what I consider "bare bones". What's that?I will sell: Non-sweater amounts of yarn, Too much of a particular sock color Yarn that I NEED to keep is yarn that's discontinued that I KNOW I will use, yarn that I will never get enough money for and I still like, most of my handspun, Sock yarn that I can't live without.
These are always subject to change, just like the rest of life, huh?

But for those of you who might be interested, I'm doing it on Ravelry so drop by and see what you may see.

In another area, as someone who test knits other people's patterns it's always been a question of whether I'm ever going to get down to writing patterns. I actually have one nearly ready to go and I'd just rather knit. Lazy me. I hope again to change this in 2009. I've got some crochet pattern books on their way and may do something with designing crocheted accessories.
Stay tuned. Leave some comments, people. I like to hear from you and if you can't bring yourself to write, please note the "reaction" buttons below. Gotta love those!

Crochet Anyone?

Hear me roar. I'm ramping up here.
When knitting takes too much focus, crochet. Okay, it's not like it doesn't take focus to crochet, but once I get started, it pretty much flows right along.
I preferred crochet when I was a girl because I thought that it was always safer to have one "live" stitch instead of a whole needle full. That's still the case for me. Ripping back is easier in a way, except you can't correct something three rows back by "laddering" down. You do actually have to rip back to that place.
Around the same time that I got over my fear of numbers and because a finance professional (!), I got over my fear of knitting patterns with their seemingly dense numbers and codes. I just finished a test knit that was a solid 1.5 pages of "code" that I had to read to. I couldn't even mark off each row. I had to mark off small blocks of text of the pattern at a time so that I wouldn't lose place.
I can't show the sweater here because, you know...it's like...not published yet. Yeah. But trust me, it actually became a sweater, small but a sweater with all sorts of complicated shaping. A knitting miracle. Okay, perhaps not a miracle because that would mean some sorts of divine hand guiding me. It was way too hard. I don't think there was any divine anything in play this time.
That said, I got a free pattern at the TKGA show this year from Moda Dea and I'm actually crocheting a little jacket. I started in one yarn and then ripped out several times until I changed to Superwash Bamboo from Elann in Silver Birch. (Look, I'm linking like a good girl!)
Back to it now.

What To Do When You Can't Do Much

Dying yarn is just not my forte yet. I'm very experimental. Actually, I'm very lazy. It shows in the work, but even though I thought this group of 3 alpaca skeins was a total wash (pun intended) they came out reasonably well once I made wound them up.
Yes, I'll try and blog more. I see that my post rate is going down, if I look at the last couple years.

A Change of Scenery

My Niece, Blaire just married her sweetheart, Dustin this past weekend in Colorado and I was able to make it out there, on last notice. Many pictures were taken although not by me. I did catch this great one of the two of them on the dance floor, though. A professional skater and skier with a January wedding.
Before returning home, a quick trip to Red Rocks Amphitheater after a dusting of snow. Really magical, but just minutes after the sun started shifting the cold winds came sweeping in.

Home now to the green and the rain and glad for it. I don't ever remember feeling the sharpness of the cold and elevation as much as I did this visit. It was really striking with so much brown flatness in the landscape. I'm glad I got to experience this quick side trip for a part of Colorado that I have fond memories of.