Knitty

I can finally reveal a couple of my knitting projects! I made a hat for my brother, the same pattern I made for my uncle. I even used the same charcoal grey, but for the lighter color I used Lake Ice Heather--a bluer color than the Dove Grey I used on Tom's. I also made my sister a neck warmer in a charcoal grey, with some lovely blue ceramic buttons I found at JoAnn's.

Now I'm just finishing up another cunning Jayne hat for a friend, and then I'm either giving my poor wrists a break...or finding something to knit up for myself! (I'd do my Miss Marple socks, but I left the yarn in Iowa. I'm still intimidated by sock patterns anyway!)

Today I finally have a day off, so I believe I will be doing some grocery shopping, and perhaps I will do up a Pavlova this afternoon to have on Christmas. I am so excited to be doing some baking! No cookies, but I'm hoping to be able to try a cranberry tart. I also have some bananas in the freezer and need to do up some banana bread.

 

 

Vote for me!

I entered a competition to win a trip to the North Pole. I had to write a short essay, and now I need to get votes! The top five people vote-wise will be considered by a committee to pick one as a winner. I want to win! But I need a LOT of votes, so please take the time to do it, and pass it on! Yay!

BlogYourWaytotheNorthPole.com

Current number of items checked out from the library: 14

Items on hold: 1
Items on request: 2

Number of items I will probably check out today: 4
(Percent of items related to Alaska: most of them.)

Yep, keeping myself busy.

Why do I want this?

It's orangey-red, and it's a mock turtleneck. I know better, but it just looks pretty. On the hanger, anyway. Perhaps one day I will finally try it on and that will be the end of that. (I keep telling myself that a hair cut would help me to be able to pull it off. I don't know how true that is.)

 

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

The mountain on the right is Mt. Baker, all covered in snow! Looking north to Canada, all the mountains are covered in snow too. It's a wonderful thing to see when the sky is clear!

The field, right now! It's snowing again.

I can't say what projects I'm currently knitting, but I am going to enjoy using this buttons on something I'll make for myself:

 

Purchased from Etsy seller Vintage4Vintage.

Finished: Elijah Hat

I'm sure nobody really remembers, but this hat that I started for my uncle ages ago? I finally finished it a few weeks ago! It took me ages because I kept making silly mistakes that involved taking things apart so I could knit them over. And this happened several times. But I'm pleased with the finished product, and overall, it was a simple enough pattern to knit with a nice effect!

 

I'm keen to start another project, but while I have a few things I'd like to try (and a few things I said I'd do for people) I haven't bought any more yarn yet. Soon, though!

Since the previous post.

Still just hanging out in Bellingham at the moment. Reading cookbooks, cleaning brush out of the fence line, that sort of thing. I'm getting better at knowing where things are and how to get there, but alas! I am still without wheels. So it's rather useless knowledge!

Toni's friend is going to be visiting this coming week, so that should be pretty exciting. Other than that, the last two weekends have been the Whatcom Artists Studio Tour. I won't even be close to visiting them all, but the few I've seen have been pretty fantastic. (Today I learned that Bellingham is second, after Santa Fe, in terms of numbers of artists per capita. That's the excitement for now!

a)Hiking in the rain. It rains often here, but not quite yet. At least I won't have to deal with copious amounts of snow and subzero temps!
b)Fairhaven at night.
c)Birthday cake. I'm laughing because all of my photos from my birthday involve me in my pajamas for some reason.
d)Mt. Baker.

Where I am now.

 

Thinking ahead.

I know there are a few gift giving opportunities in the next few months, and I am trying to think ahead. I decided recently that I need a jewelry box, so I am on the search. I think I'd prefer a larger one, so I could put everything in one place, and I like the look of something simple or perhaps with a more antique feel. I'm having minimal luck online and have found two examples:

This one is from a shop on Etsy, but it's far too small. I like the look of it though.

Then there's this one from Pottery Barn. While the price is a little higher than I would pay, I wouldn't mind. Except that it doesn't actually come in this nice dark color, only the ivory. Sigh.

So...without having to look through several thousand Etsy search results of decoupaged cigar boxes, does anyone have any other ideas for me? I've checked the antique stores in town to no avail, and am now on an internet search. I'd be grateful for anything anyone can throw my way!

Homer, Alaska

After the last can rolls through.

Look at all those cigars! That was Thursday. I worked Friday and Saturday, and flew out Sunday night. Spent the night in the airport, and have been spending a couple of days in Anchorage, and am hoping to get down to Homer tomorrow. I'm mostly just glad to no longer be in Naknek.

I KNEW I was forgetting something vital.

Thank goodness for friends who have entire pharmacies in their rooms. The Naknek Crud has struck, and might even be a mild case of pneumonia.  I paid $8 for an 18-pack of Equate decongestant at the camp store, and it's helping only a little bit.

But I think the end is definitely in sight, they're talking about taking the belts off of the machines on my line tomorrow.  I'm relieved, it's been so slow as far as quantities of fish this year I've been bored tallying all day.  Hopefully I'll be around to at least the beginning of next week helping clean up and such, then off to Anchorage...and somewhere else in Alaska yet to be decided!

East coast friends: please send some of this heat I am hearing about my way! It's been far too cold and rainy, and probably contributing to the poor fishing this summer. At least there's SOME fish coming in!

 

CN Tower, and San Juan Islands from a beach in Bellingham. Toronto was fantastic, Jenn's wedding was fun, and now I get to hang out with Toni!  We are leaving tomorrow, and while I'm definitely not looking forward to a third very long day of traveling in a week and a half, it'll be nice to get back up to Naknek. I think so, anyway!

Toronto Update

I was hoping I could post a few photos of my last few days here in Toronto, but sadly, the computer does not recognize my camera.

Here is, instead, a brief list of things I have done:

• bike around the Toronto Islands


• pay too much to experience vertigo at the CN tower


• pay too much at Casa Loma--but spent more than three hours there anyway!


• went to a comedy show at a place oh so cleverly named the Comedy Bar


• saw three seperate film crews


• walked so much I have a terrible shin splint


• free night at the Art Gallery of Ontario


• wandered aimlessly around Honest Ed's


• walked some more


• eaten quite a bit of delicious food


• Museum of Inuit Art

Tomorrow I am going to try to visit one more area I haven't seen  yet, and then I will get picked up to go to Barrie for Jenn's wedding.  I think I needed more time in T.O., there's so much more I could have done (day trip to Niagra Falls, for example).  But I'm satisfied with the amount I've been able to stuff in the short time I am here!

From Four Years Ago

 

 

Found while going through my film photos on Snapfish.

Packing.

Um...yeah...

Done!

After nearly a year-and-a-half, I am finally FREE from "Save Big Money"!  It was a bit sad leaving a few of my co-workers yesterday, but I've been ready for far too long to go.  I'm ready for some new adventures! 

What is this "sun" of which you speak?

Finally, we've had some sun!  I almost forgot what it looked like, it'd been raining so long.

It seems like time goes by too slow when you want it to speed up, and too fast when you have a million things to do.  I finally put my two weeks in this last week, and I'll leave for Toronto the second week in June for my friend's wedding.  From there I'll fly out to Seattle, then up to Naknek for another summer of insanity salmon processing!  I'm getting pretty excited, even though there have been apparently a lot of changes in the three years I've last been up, and I don't really know what to expect now.  But up until then, I will spend my free time crossing things off my to-do list.

Or not, because I like to procrastinate!

Meanwhile, enjoy these photos of my Uncle Tom's garden!  Ours does not yet look like this, sadly!

 

Cavern & Canyon

Carlsbad Caverns, The Big Room.

Stephanie and Penny at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas.

Tonight I am leaving for Tulsa, to see my sister! I hope that I have some good photos and stories to share when I get back, this space has been fairly neglected of late.

I finally figured out ONE way of getting photos off of my phone and online, but I wouldn't say it's probably the easiest way.  The river has gone down since I took this photo a few weeks ago, but wow!  It got so high!

Yeah, I'm here!

Sorry, I've been distracted by FarmVille.  And other things that are not blogging.

Not much going on around here, but today I'm excited, because I have a new phone!  I no longer use the five-year-old Motorola flip phone with only a few features and almost no battery life.  Now, I have a Samsung Rogue:

And so far (in, you know, the three hours I've had it) I think it was a pretty good choice for me.  I'm especially loving the QWERTY keyboard for texting.

Also happening is an art exhibit up at Spirit Lake at A Piece of Work.  The reception is tomorrow night, and I think it'll be a great time!  I'm looking forward to it.

I finally started my newest knitting project.  Not that I've gotten far...I've been distracted by the Olympics.  And, you know, FarmVille.

Found this on my computer: Wharariki Beach (most likely) near Farewell Spit, NZ.

Six more weeks of winter?

For some reason I received this catalog in the mail recently:

I'm not sure how they got my name and address, but now I'm dreaming of seeds and plants and doing things with said plants.  (For that, this book would be nice.)

It gives me something to dream about since it's snowing outside again today, and anyway feeling lethargic from fighting this cold/sinus infection since Monday night.

Le Weekend

Wherein I break down and talk about work, just a little bit.

Generally speaking, my job is not that interesting.  Mostly I clean (and clean and clean), count cabinet hardware, and occasionally do plan-o-grams.  I've learned more about cabinetry and appliances than I ever wanted to know.  And yes, once in awhile I sell things.  Yesterday, though, I spent four hours updating our countertop sample boards.  Most of them are still hideous, plain, and will never sell, and a lot of the new samples are in the "pretending to be real stone" vein*, but when I saw these samples! (click for a slightly larger version)

I was so excited! They are Formica patterns, and they are so refreshing to my eyes!  I love the retro boomerang pattern, and the colors!  Although I will probably never sell a countertop in any of these, since most people seem to want to match their cabinets/countertop/wall/flooring colors instead of finding things that coordinate.

(Keep in mind the region I am in too--I'd say at least 70% of the cabinets I sell are in oak, usually in a light to medium finish...and more often than I would like in a very dated cathedral door style.  If you have plenty of extra time, you can try asking me about that someday.)

We also carry a number of Wilsonart patterns, but they aren't usually as exciting.  There are a couple I do like, the first one we do have at the store, but the second one I found while browsing the website:

(And two more Formica patterns I like):

I could go on about countertops if I really wanted to.  You know, the benefits of solid surface, granite vs. quartz, that sort of thing.  But...I don't! 

 *Some of them are okay on the sample board, but overall my opinion on that subject coincides with that is shared in this blog post.

As a final note, I also wanted to add a link to this website: Heath's Ceramics. 
I happened on this website only today through Dwell, but I wanted to
share it because, besides the fact that I like the design of their
products, through this weekend they are donating 25% of their sales to
Architecture for Humanity for rebuilding in Haiti (along with free shipping).  I know a lot of
people have already donated directly to relief efforts (so I won't link to any of those), but I wanted to
share this anyway.  Since you never know who might need a new tea towel
or some bowls!  You can also find a number of artists on Etsy who are
doing similar sales, just search "Haiti relief". 

Like a kid in a candy store.

I think I need to unsubscribe from the KnitPicks email list.  Today I ordered:

Pattern and yarn for these socks, named after Agatha Christie's knitting sleuth, Miss Marple.

And the pattern and yarn for this hat, which I am going to knit for my uncle.
That was me showing much restraint, as there are several other patterns I'd like to try!

I have also been eying (but won't be buying anytime soon) this, the Yudu screen printing machine.

And as always, I'm looking at cameras again.  Just in case mine's not worth fixing.