Christmas Fun

You're never too old for FUN!

Unless you're Wooly.

I wanted to do a fun card this year, but not Wooly.
So, I'm doing it my way anyways, and to hell with him.

Red Queen - Twisted Traditions -Lorraine Condotta

Jamieson's Spindrift

3.25mm needles

"Zion, hear me! I believe... huh? Modeling isn't in my contract. Who's Lidiya?"

"Morpheous thinks he's cooler than me."

"I believe he needs to go back to Zion!"

My knitting mojo has returned. I decided to knit Lidiya and use it as my swatch for Anastasiya. I need a scarf for the next time it snows. I'm knitting 27sts X 30 rows. I need 24sts X 30 rows, so the plan is to knit the medium and I'll end up with a small. I love the colors. Felted Tweed isn't as sticky as Spindrift, reminds me of Dale of Norway Heilo/Falk.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Embrace your inner child... you know I am... I'm eight! lol!

Monsters & Snow

"Hey! Hey! We're the monsters!

And we're just hanging around...

Soon two of us will be leaving...

And heading across town..."

"Hi! I'm Niobe. Like my curls?!"

"Hi! I'm Morpheous. 

Yes, Mom was watching Matrix while making me 

and decided I wasn't complete without Niobe. 

She really likes her crocheted curls."

"Hi! We'll be heading to Mr K & Corey's house soon.

We hope they give us names!"

These monsters are lots of fun to make. I could have made the whole Matrix crew - lol!

You know how I am! *sigh* Sanity, it's a good thing. 

I used Lorna's Laces Green Line Worsted - Pioneer, for Morpheous. 

Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted - Icehouse & Lakeview, for the boys.

Lorna's Laces Green Line DK - Red Rover, for Niobe.

First Snow

November 22nd will be a day I never forget. It started snowing in the morning and started sticking in the afternoon. I was at work, totally distracted. I left at 4:30pm to catch the bus with Lynn. We caught the first bus heading to the Park & Ride at 4:40pm. At 5:15pm, Wooly calls me to see where I am - I'm close to Macy's. He says I should be home by 7pm. I laugh. I'll be lucky to be home then. 

Then, our regular bus pulls ahead of us and Lynn & I jump off and run after our regular bus. At 7:30pm I call Wooly and tell him we're at 8th & Olive (4 blocks from Macy's). He thinks I'm joking. He thinks I'm at the Park & Ride and want him to come get me.

At 8:05pm we finally get on I-5 and there's heavy traffic heading north, so we're plugging along. The temperature is 23*F, not counting the wind chill. It's like we're in a snow globe & very windy. Lynn says we better get across the bride before they close it. There's hardly anyone heading south.

At 8:50pm we're stuck on the bridge. I call Wooly at 9:30 to tell him we're mid span on the bridge going nowhere. The entertainment is that the guys are jumping off the bus & jumping the barrier to push the cars heading west that lost traction. Wooly freaks out and yells, "I DON'T WANT YOU OUT THERE PUSHING CARS!!!" Dude, I'm not. I'm wishing I had my camera so I could document this trip.

At 10:30pm I report to Wooly that we're still on the bridge. The bus died twice. Now we have no heat. My legs are freezing. I'm wishing I had the Sofia Wrap from Rowan 48. I've got to make that.

At 11:30pm we're still not moving! I can't believe we've been here forever! Wooly tells me that according to the news, I'm in the worst spot.

At 12:05am we're moving! Yippee! I-405 is totally clear. Everyone must be home except us.

At 12:15am we pull up to the Park & Ride and I start digging out my car - with no deicer or scrapper. The only good thing is that it's very bright, the wind died down, it's not snowing, and no one is on the roads now. I assure myself that my car is great in the snow and I will make it down & up the huge hills with no problem and get myself home.

At 12:45am I pull into our driveway! Hooray! Wooly is still awake. I'm cold, tired and beyond hungry = me at my worst. Wooly asks how I made it without peeing for 8 hours? 

I'm a camel.

I had the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving, so I just had to make it home. 

Here's Wooly and my car. He thought it would be fun to go out the next day. I stayed home. Someone stopped on the hill on the way home and he had to back down and try going up it again. I warned him of the stupid drivers that ruin your day. He was beyond pissed. It snowed again Thanksgiving day. Good thing we weren't going anywhere. I never left the house until Friday.

 Mr K and Corey had fun in the snow.

 Look out!

So, this last Saturday, Mom calls me and says, "I know we were going out to lunch, but, Mr K called and said he and Corey and Brother are coming over. Why don't you just come over too!" You can see where I rank.

Wooly dropped me off while he went to play with his friends.

Brother said he asked Mr K if he's played Wii at Grandpa's house before. He said, "Yes! Remember, Michele was there!!" Yippee! He knows me! And I was there again!

Notice Mr K's shirt. 

Corey was pointing to Mr K's shirt babbling away and Mr K says, "Yeah Corey! I'm wearing my bowling shirt! And I'm bowling!"

I say, "Yeah! Good call Corey!"

Mr K looks at me and says, "Ive got 2 pins and 1 ball."

LOL!

So, I've been in a knitting funk lately and really having a hard time getting motivated about anything. Wooly asked me what my problem was last night and I did my silent scream and he started laughing. I hope my mojo returns soon... or I'll have to make the whole Matrix crew - lol! 

Happy Knitting! :)

Pie

"I fail to see the humor. This defines exploited."

"So, what happens if we lose these mittens?... we get no pie?!"

"Shut up! We're NOT kittens! Don't give her any ideas!"

Is this what 'pooling' means?

These monsters knit up really fast. Now I've just got to stuff & sew them up.

Speaking of pie...

 Grandpa had a lemon meringue pie for his birthday. Mr K & Corey put on the candles.

 I guess Grandpa is six. Mr K helped blow them out.
Notice the San Francisco place mats, in honor of the Giant's World Series Win.

  Mr K loves pie and wasted no time eating his whole piece.

 Corey was more interested in the edaname.

Guess what Grandpa got for his birthday? Wii would like to play too, but it was all Mr K.
Poor Corey doesn't know the batteries were removed from his remote.

I asked Mr K what is favorite color is. He said, "blue, green & black."
I asked him if he knew what Corey's favorite color is. He said, "Corey hasn't told me."
I said, "Yeah, he hasn't told me either."
Brother started laughing.

We all had fun and Wooly was happy the boys got use to him (after 3 hours) and he got a high-five from both of them when we left. Yeah, Uncle Wooly is pretty intimidating - big & loud... even without his bagpipes.

Wooly has a re occurring dream that one of them asks him to mentor him in piping. Wooly gives him lessons and takes him to all the games and he ends up being really great. I keep telling him not to hold his breath. You know Brother & SIL aren't into piping. It makes me feel bad for Wooly.

 While watching the Giants win the World Series (baseball), I got a lot of knitting time and managed to get the body done for the Red Queen. Now on to the sleeves.

"Mom, you really think your fat head is going to fit through that hole?"
"Smoothie, shut up. That's why you don't get any pie."

geez.

Happy Knitting! :)
I'm looking forward to pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Unbelievable

Oh, ribbing, how I love thee.
Life has been unbelievable. Luckily, I've got my Red Queen to keep me sane.

Here's the story.

All of a sudden I could no longer visit Jimmy Bean's Wool. Not that I order a lot from them, I just enjoy looking at all the yarn, watching their videos, reading reviews and clicking on Wool Watcher to see what the special is. The sight still worked at my job, so I thought it was strange that I couldn't access it from home.

I mentioned it to Wooly. He said it's because our internet provider left Washington state, so those 'other people' took over.

I called 'op' and was on the phone for an hour. I ended up talking to the Supervisor, who said, "We've exhausted all of our resources on this end. (translated: Woman, get off my phone!)" I asked if they could bring up the sight on their end. He said they don't have access to the internet. (what?!) It's got to be Jimmy having a problem with their sight." I told them it's not Jimmy that has a problem.

He said, "Do you have a smart phone?"

I said, "No, I've got a stupid phone. And a stupid computer. I guess I'm just going to find something else to do besides knitting, since I can't order yarn from Jimmy because there's no server!"

He said, "No, you can't give up knitting! My mom knits and nothing can get those needles out of her hands!"

I felt better. I guess he kinda understood why I was so exasperated.

I emailed Jimmy, to see if they've been having problem. No problems.

The next day, Wooly called our IT guy and spent 1/2 hour with them. It's not your computer. It's your internet provider (op). Wooly called op and spent an hour with them. They finally said they can sign us up for 'super duper internet help' for $15 per month for a minimum of 1 year and no guarantee that they could fix the problem. Wooly told them where they could stick it.

Meanwhile, we got another email from Jimmy saying that they talked to their host & there are 5 people who have reported the same problem... and gave us a link that explained how to switch servers. We thanked them, and explained our fear of changing anything because we're old & our whole computer might blow up.

Then it happened.

Wooly found a bagpipe sight he couldn't access. Now, THIS is a MAJOR SERIOUS PROBLEM!
Now, he knows how I feel!

"UNBELIEVABLE! LOOK! IZ DID IT!

Just call me Wooly, Computer Genious! Wooly, I.T. conqueror of ALL!"

Yay Wooly! He followed the instructions on the link & it worked! Yippee Yahoo!

We emailed Jimmy and let them know it worked for us and thanked them profusely - they gave us real customer service.

I know what you're thinking. Michele, what did you order?!

 I know! Unbelievable! Why? 

Cute monsters for my cute monkey monster nephews! Can you believe this is Corey?! I asked Brother what their favorite colors are. He said, "blue & blue," he doesn't know, I found it very funny...

 Everyone has their favorite! Kamati likes Pioneer. Turtle likes Icehouse. Smoothie likes Lakeview.

Yep, Christmas presents.

Op called us the other day saying that they heard we wanted to sign up for 'super duper internet help.' Wooly told them where they could stick it (again) and that we didn't need their help, so don't call us.

Unbelievable.

 I love my Red Queen. The only sane thing in this unbelievably insane life... and I haven't even told you about my job! Don't worry. I won't dump that on you guys. That's what Wooly is for. :)

Happy Knitting!
Go Monsters! :)

Lotus Rising

I finished my Challenge sweater! Decided to call it Lotus Rising. See the golden lotus fully enlightened, representing what we're all striving for... to be better people.

I also considered call it Coming Out of the Dance, which is a martial arts term that means you're on automatic and spontaneous, breaking free from the kata, doing your own thing. Like no longer following a pattern, but making your own...

Here's the Barbara Bixby lotus pendant this sweater was inspired by. You can see the beads in the background, rising.

 Lotus Rising

Kauni EZ & Evilla natural

size 8 s/l gold AB beads

3mm + 3.5mm needles 

And yes, it was quite an enlightenment. Yes, I like it, but think I can do better. I need to take a pattern making class before I design anything else. Seriously.

On to better things. I casted on for the Red Queen. Isn't that Zodiac a pretty purple?!

And, my cute nephews always make me laugh...

How to wear a bowl... or getting ready for their bowl hair cuts! lol!

I love Corey's shirt - My Auntie is #1! Glad he thinks so. We'll ask him again in 10 years! lol!

Happy Knitting!
I know I'm happy, now that I get to follow a pattern again! Yippee! :)

Two In One

I did a simple neckline for my Challenge sweater. You can see the beads in the background.

I'm doing both sleeves together in the round. Two in one. I like symmetry, and knew doing them separately was too much of a challenge for me. It would drive me crazy...

"Hey! Who are you?! And why do you get sweaters?!"

"She said something about a 'bear burrito' and shoved us in here."

"I thought she said this was two sleeves."

"Hurry and get us outta here!"

"It really does look like two sweaters..."

"Yeah, except that one is two sleeves... or so she says..."

"Heeheehee... I'm the Queen! Take my picture!"

"Poser! Stupid crown! Shut up already!"

Meanwhile, in my real world...

We went to Cameron's house for dinner. It turned out to be Myra's birthday (his wife) and Dave (Wooly's housemate, back in the day) was in town too. So we were killing 3 birds with one stone.

When we got there, Euna (daughter) said, "When Wooly first starting coming over... I was 10!" I gasped and asked how old Wooly was... he was 19! I gasped again. I was born, but not in school. Talk about 'robbing the cradle!' We screamed with laughter. Then Cameron said, "I'm not telling you how old I am!"

Wooly was driving his dark green GTO back then... I would have had a crush on his GTO! :)

I know all the guys because they come over and I see them at The Games, so it was nice to finally meet The Wives. They were all really nice and possessed the 'gift of the gab' so they were easy to be around.

Turns out they really like our photo Christmas cards and keep them. So now the pressure is on for this year's card. Gawd.

Then Neil showed up in his full uniform (kilt), he just got done playing at an event. He's tall, blond & handsome...and my age... let the lusting begin. ;) He's the first of Wooly's piping friends I met. He came to the house and Wooly went downstairs to do something and Neil and I hit it off royal. What a nice guy. We were both young back then. I told Wooly he should be happy I met him first, because, you know, Neil is such a nice guy...

Towards the end, Deb says, "These guys are worst than women... when it comes to bagpipes...can you believe they can go on and on and on about bagpiping?!" It's so true. They're immersed in it. Their whole world is bagpipes. It's all they think about. Vacations are planned around it. It's who they are. Gawd. They're so lucky we put up with it!

Then the pipes came out and Wooly said, "Well, guess we had better stoke these up, eh?!"
Myra, in her perfect Irish accent said, "OH NO YE WON'T!" They all backed down fast. I started giggling because she's this tiny lady. Who knew she could get her hackles up that fast?! So, instead, they did show and tell with their pipes.

We had fun.

Oh, and I was cleaning out my drawers and look what I found! I didn't iron it. It's just a little quilt top I made long ago. I think it's interesting that I still like the colors... deep, dark & mysterious with a splash of orange. I actually thought of making my Challenge sweater in those colors, so it was fun to find this quilt top.

Now I'm really feeling the pressure for our Christmas card. Got to be clever. Got to be a keeper.
Got to get going on my Red Queen...!

But first I've got to get my Challenge sweater done.

Hope to have the armholes & front stitched & cut for next time - so scary!

Happy Knitting! :)
Sure feels like Fall!

Not Bad

I'm ready to start the neckline for my Challenge sweater. I'm very happy.
I changed to a smaller needle for the solid background. So far this is not bad. :)

 I ordered my Jamieson's Spindrift yarn for the Red Queen, just to drive myself nuts. I won't start until I finish my Challenge sweater. The upper left hand skein is Zodiac - a pretty plum, can't tell from my lousy photo.

 I also ordered my Rowan Felted Tweed for Anastasiya. Pretty colors, eh?! So soft too. Can't wait to start this one too.

My second favorite in Rowan 48 is the Alisa Wrap, also by Marie Wallin. It's intarsia. I don't do intarsia. Might just have to learn how to do it. I love the flowy flowers and corkscrew fringe.

We've had a bountiful harvest of tomatoes. They're more tasty than the store bought ones. I wish we could grow them all year long. Wooly came in the house with these in his shirt, all smiles, and so excited. Like a kid. I should have gotten a picture of him.

The other day, Wooly suggested that I clean up my hobby room. I said, "Okay, I'll do that tomorrow."

The next day, Wooly asked me what I was going to do. I said, "Clean up my room!" He was shocked.

After coffee, I went up there and started sorting my stuff. The phone rang, and it was Mom.

Mom "Hey, come play with me today!"
Me  "I can't. I have to clean my room."
Mom  "What?"
Me  "Wooly said I have to clean my room and I can't leave it until it's clean."
Mom  "Michele, come. play. with. me."
Me  "Did you not hear me?! I can't! I have to stay in here until it's clean!"
*Wooly mumbling in the background*
Me  "That's garbage... that's recycle... and that's keepers..."
Mom  "Who you talking to?"
Me  "Wooly. He's helping."
Mom  "What?! *laughing* What's Wooly doing to help?"
Me  "He's running up and down the stairs taking these piles to the garbage & recycle cans."
Mom  "What?! *laughing* How did you get him to do that?!"
Me  "He's well trained!"
Mom  "*dying of laughter* Maybe you two should come over here and clean my room too!"
Me  "No, get Dad to help you. I've got my own room to clean. You didn't know Rottweilers were trainable did you?!  Mom, I've really got to go now. I don't want to spend all day in this room."
Mom  "*still laughing* Okay. Come play with me later. Bye!"

Wooly  "Who has a Rottweiler?"
Me  "I do. You're the Rottweiler."
Wooly  "I thought I was Wooly."

I learned from the best (my mom) and am just lucky that my Rottweiler is trainable. :)

Wooly is not bad.

I found this Montana Cartwheel in my room. I remember I took a paper piecing class a long time ago and we were piecing this pattern with our own fabrics. I was being my quiet self, working away, but turned around to smile at the ladies behind me, who were hilarious. At the end of the day, the teacher gathered everyone's work and put it up on the wall. I was worried, because mine was bright and bold batiks. Everyone else had pretty pastels and flowery prints. Sure enough, she grabbed one of my squares first and I was trying to make myself small (hide.) We ended up with the coolest quilt. We all gasped. She just wanted to drive home that randomness makes it even better. And that everyone brought something to the party.

Another interesting point is that we all liked everyone else's squares better than our own.

Kind of like knitting. Or designing.

Oh, and yes, my room is now clean and organized.
It didn't take long because my Rottweiler helped. Yay!
And I'm glad I found my Montana Cartwheel squares.
Might have to get back to quilting someday. :)

But, for now, I've got to figure out what kind of neckline I want.

Happy Knitting! :)

Why Try

Got the border done for The Queen. I'm knitting inward, all 4 borders in the round.
After I posted this photo in Ravelry, I realized I took a picture of the back. The sprouts should be pointing to the right. Scared myself into thinking I knit it wrong - lol! :) It's garter stitch, so maybe there is no wrong side. *sigh* Why do I try?

I ordered Kauni - EZ teal/turquoise and Evilla - natural - for my Challenge sweater. Added navy & pink Kauni I have laying around for an accent. Decided I hated the pictured picot edge, so I cut it out and just knit a plain edge and sewed it on. Might add something fancy to the bottom after I'm done.

See the giant XOX? Would it pass as Fair Isle? Probably not - lol! :)
And yes, there are gold beads in the center of the lotus' & blossoms.

I'm not seeing much of a transition in color in the background, but I'm okay with it for now.

I thought it was going to be my Christmas sweater, until I got my Rowan 48 Magazine....

Anastasia from the Russian Doll Collection by Marie Wallin. I absolutely love everything about this tunic. Must make. So what if it has rows with 3 colors. Must make. And, my mom collects those Russian nesting dolls...

Then Lorraine posted her Red Queen modeled my her daughter... Now THAT would make a perfect Christmas card sweater! I would wear it with my black boots. What's Wooly wearing? Who cares! lol!  Love those colors and big motifs. I'm into tunics this year.

Why am I wasting my time designing a sweater when I've got Marie & Lorraine to do it for me?! Why try. *sigh*    Isn't that terrific?! Don't worry, I'll finish the Challenge sweater, but not going to make it in VY, I've got Anastasia & Red Queen to knit! Yippee! :D

Meanwhile, we got 3 ripe tomatoes! and more on the way! Yummy!

And the coyote returned. I just finished packing my bag for work, looked out the open back door and there he was, eating cherries again. I grabbed my camera and started snapping pictures. I clicked my tongue and he looked right at me... not scared at all. Then Wooly showed up and he jumped into the neighbor's yard and their dog Isis went crazy. Wooly was hoping the coyote would make mince meat of Isis - his nemesis - but, he wasn't scared at all and jumped back into our yard. I told Wooly I just didn't want him to wander into the house, so I was standing by the door.

Told my mom and she said, "You saw him twice? You need to give him a name, Michele..."

I've been calling him Wylie - so original - heehee. I was going to name him Jozi, so it would be 'Jozi and the Feral Cats' - hahaha, get it?! (Josie and the Pussycats) But, I keep calling him Wylie. So, Wylie it is.

I've seen him several times, so I guess we're on his route.

"Can't catch me!"

My cute nephews and brother at the Bon Odori. Love that they're wearing their kimono jackets.

So, now do you know who my brother is? I swear he knows everyone. It's so funny when he introduces me to his friends and they say, "I didn't know you had a sister..." Guess he doesn't talk about me. Maybe that's a good thing, eh?! LOL! I always want to say, "Do you know our brother?..." and really confuse them. LOL!

If he mentions how I eat pizza - tiny bites, chew 100 times like a bunny... don't believe him!
He's made fun of the way I eat forever. Everyone I know makes fun of the way I eat. Hey, I'm enjoying my food, not inhaling it! No, I don't need help, get away! *sigh*

Okay, I'm going to try and focus on my Challenge sweater before I start Anastasia or Red Queen.
Feel like I should order the yarn for Anastasia though. You know how they discontinue colors so fast...

The Queen is just going to be on time out for a while, just not into lace for now.

Happy Knitting!
Why try? Because I can do it! Yes I can!
Rah rah! :)

Seaside Surprise

We went to the Oregon Coast, and for the first time in three visits, saw a sunset!

We stayed on the second floor, with a balcony and ocean view and had the perfect spot for watching the sunset and taking pictures of it.

It was also the perfect spot for feeding the seagulls pizza. You talk about 'survival of the fittest,' the ones that could fly by and hover, got thrown all the pizza. The ones on the lawn got the olives and whatever else fell from the sky. I was so excited cheering them on, that I forgot to take pictures. I'm sure you can see Wooly tossing pizza and me screaming, "Come back! WHOA! YES! WOW! OMG! Come back! YAY! Hey, are you guys down there getting anything? Better learn to fly by..."

Stopped by Coastal Yarns and bought Claudia Hand Painted Yarn (kid mohair) in Thistle, Tranquility & Sea Dreams. I'm so thrilled! You know how hard it is to find anything by Claudia around here?!

The plan is to make Mom a scarf out of the Thistle for Christmas - her favorite color - she'll scream for sure. With the other two I'm going to make this for me and wrapped it around my head & neck and look fabulous going to stinking work. Wait. I'm trying to stay positive. Remove 'stinking.'

You're probably wondering about my Challenge Sweater...?

Well, on the 4th of July (Independence Day) I was sitting there minding my own business, watching the NCIS marathon, when Wooly got his boxers in a bunch about me watching it all day. I said, "Fine. I'll turn it off, but I get to watch it from 2-4pm because those two episodes are when they hook up with NCIS LA."

I jumped on the computer and all of a sudden I get an idea for my pattern. "Click-kity, click click click, copy, paste, copy, flip, click-kity, click click, stare, erase, click click, print, give to Kamati, stare, stare, show Wooly..."

Wooly says, "Hate to mention it, but that thing on top looks like a sergeant's patch, very masculine & military..."

"That's my lotus bulb. Glad you told me. Don't want masculine or military on my sweater."

The next day, I show him again. He says, "You need more contrast, dark & light. And you need to repeat motifs or shapes to make it congruent. "

Third day, I get what I think is perfect. Print it out, run downstairs, burst in on his bagpipe session and show him. He stares. Moves his lips around. "That's the best yet. Are you happy with it?" Like he can't tell. I'm doing my happy dance!! :)

Kamati's been holding it, and I've been staring at it ever since. Still like it, so here's the plan...

It will be knitted Norwegian style. Stranded cardigan with long sleeve. Beaded. Picot edge. Embroidery. Embossed (patterned purl stitches on satin stitch.) With a surprise on the back.

Surprised it's not Fair Isle? Me too.

 
Now, lets talk yarn...

The Challenge is to use only Virtual Yarn... When I realized my sweater was going to be Norwegian-ish, I was screaming, "Don't tell ME I have to use VY!"  I'm thinking I want the background to transition dark to light, ombre style, (like that shawl I'm going to make for myself.)

I'm thinking Mara-Summer Tide-Stabhann for background.

Kittiwake-Solan Goose for the pattern.

Whin & Bogbean for accents.

But, breaking in & out Kauni Yarn, would be fabulous. Maybe I'll make two sweaters and see which I like better. Maybe.

Another surprise, is that I got a picture of this coyote in my neighbor's back yard. I was really zooming in from our back door and surprised I got this picture so clear. He looked young and skinny. He ate some cherries that were on the ground from our tree.

Wooly said that maybe he'll come eat our tomatoes...

Can you believe it?! An orange tomato! It's been so cold over here, that they've been cracking. We threw lots away. It's finally getting warm, so fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, Mr K & Corey are tending to their garden too. Gotta love Corey's 'Got Rice?' shirt. It has a rice cooker on the back. They're so cute!

So, next time, I'll have pictures of The Queen's completed border. I only have 10 rows left. I can smell victory! And hopefully, I'll have my yarn ordered for The Challenge sweater.

Keep an eye out for those surprises! You never know what you'll see!

Happy Knitting!
Surprise!