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!