Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that this is my last post for 2016 and that a brand new year is just hours away.  We took a quick overnight trip to Port Townsend this week and were happy that the weather was a bit better this time.  Rather than driving the whole way, we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island, home of Churchmouse Yarn and Tea, and Mora's, a great place for ice cream, even in December!  As always there was a pretty view of Seattle from the ferry.

Here was the view from our window at the Tides Inn. The Port Townsend ferry was aglow in the distance that evening.

The next morning we spotted a brave boater and lots of ducks as well as a tiny bit of sunshine.

During the past few weeks I've finished up a few projects including another bead stew bracelet,

two more dish cloths (with barely a dent in this huge ball of yarn which has been put away till next year),

a toasty warm scarf from a lovely Berroco yarn called North Star (and loved it so much that another one is underway in charcoal),

and one of 3 pair of mitts which DD#1 requested for the texters in the family.

Pretty soon I'll be able to get back to some very neglected projects but not the Peace Cowl as I only did 8 rows before deciding that I really didn't like the color of the yarn.  

Wishing all of you a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's been a busy week here: finishing up gifts, baking, singing with our choir, and all the other activities that go along with the holidays. So, I thought it was time to take a few minutes to wish my blog friends the best holiday season yet!

On Friday we had a tiny bit of snow that's all disappeared by now, but the sun is out at the moment, and maybe today's sunset will look like it did last week when we were driving home from our volunteering at the UW hospital.  DD#2 said they had a spectacular sunrise (around 8 AM!) this morning  when all we had was FOG!

The sewing machine was whirring this week with a couple last minute gifts: an apron for our son-in-law, who loves hot sauce and cooking, and a blanket for our sports fan son.

Here's a very current photo of GD#1 modeling her cat scarf and requested pink hat. Hopefully they will keep her toasty warm!

And here's Ginger inspecting the lovely gift of Araignee's wonderful soaps.  Sorry kitty, they aren't for you! ( And thank you so much, Debbie, for your generous gift.) You are an amazing crafter!

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  Happy New Year to all of my blogging friends!

"And Lo, the Days Are Hastening On......"

Does anyone besides me wonder who put the clock and calendar on fast forward? It's mid-December already and will soon be 2017.   Yikes!  The packages have been mailed, but there are still gifts to finish and wrap, music to learn, and, oh yeah, the Peace Project.  That is languishing, I'm afraid.  It'll get done eventually, but for sure not by the Dec. 21 date.  Oh well, it's supposed to bring peace, not stress.  I did complete another Interrupted Cowl, however.  (Don't tell anyone though that I have the yarn for two more......They won't get done any time soon either.)

I dove into my stash to find the next project, a Bead Stew bracelet, from Earthfaire.  I'd forgotten how much fun these are to make and also discovered a few more beaded projects patiently waiting for me to discover. (do?)

A while ago I promised to post more photos from the quilt show.  There's not room here for all of them, but when I saw this one I knew I had to include it for Dee.

Speaking of Dee, she is such a talented cross stitcher, and much to our delight, she sent us this sheep that is now reigning over our garden window.  Thank you, Dee!

At the moment it is pretty chilly (for us) here, and lots of plants are looking quite unhappy. Not long ago though Dick caught this photo of one of our Hydrangea plants.  The purple tipped leaves caught his eye.  Aren't they amazing?

And now I need to get back to work on an apron I'm making. Have a good evening.

A Productive Time Away

We took a little getaway over the past weekend, and it was relaxing and fun.  This time of year can be a bit crazy with all the holiday preparation, so we appreciated our three days at Cannon Beach in Oregon.  The weather was less than stellar, so I even completed some knitting projects!

The clouds and rain did stop long enough for us to see this beautiful rainbow.  Do you suppose that there really was a pot of gold in the water?  It was hard for us to believe that last summer during low tide we were able to walk right out to Haystack Rock.  During this visit, we couldn't even get close!

High tide almost covered the sand completely.

Can you see how powerful the water and wind can be?  These huge logs along with lots of sand have been tossed up onto the walkway to the beach.

These are just a few of that rabbits that frolic on the Tolovana property.  We watched a woman feeding them organic carrots, so I imagine they will stick around, don't you agree?

When we weren't roaming the beach, visiting yarn shops, or the bakery, I was knitting or writing Christmas cards.  The above booties are for a friend who's expecting her first child in January.

It was fun to make this Almost Lost Dishcloth from holiday-colored yarn purchased ages ago.

This pair of mittens was made on straight needles although I did the thumbs on dpns because I was tired of seaming.  I'd have to say dpns for mittens wins, hands down!

If you've never made one of Rebecca Danger's patterns, you need find one to try. They are fun and will make you smile every time you see them!

*Just to clear up the confusion on the cake in my last post:  there was just ONE cake.  The pastry chef changed the number upon the direction of the waitress as Dick made some sort of comment that he couldn't possible be 75.  If you look closely, you can kind of see the stem of the 7.  Apparently the 25 wasn't quite " it" either, and that infamous number soon became a 15!  As to who sampled the cake before we got to DD's house, that shall ever remain a mystery.  Have a great week!

What Happened to November?

 Since my last post, this month has been crazy busy!  First, was the weekend of Veteran's Day that started with the quilt show.  So many pretty quilts, and too many to show them all.  My favorite was the cat one. (Are you surprised?) It featured Laurel Burch fabric, and all of the cats were done with tiny seed beads!

Here are a few close ups: (If you double click on the photos, you can see the details.)

The sign tells you that it took the designer/quilter a year to do just the beading.

I fell in love with these dolls, too.  Have you ever worked with felted wool?  I have not.

The very next day we had a surprise family Birthday Brunch for Dick.  His brother and our SIL flew up from CA for the occasion.  It was a fun and busy weekend.  We were so full that we took the cake home.

Much to our surprise when we saw it next, it looked like this:

Since the birthday bash, we've been busy practicing for our Christmas choir concert on the 11th, doing lots of knitting, and of course, a little Thanksgiving cooking.

We took these over to the GK today; Stella grabbed hers and ran into her bedroom where she hid them in a drawer.  Maybe she'll try them on some day?

 Max put his hat right on; it's a bit slouchy now but should fit for another Christmas season or two!

And of course I finished another two cowls.  You will be glad to know that the last one, at least for now, is on my needles.

I don't bake cakes but I do make pies, and we are still eating this one.  With only three of us at our Thanksgiving table this year, we had a lot left over, but it is very yummy.

That's it for now.  If I have a chance, I will post a few more photos from the quilt show.  Till then, have a good week!

Surprise! Some New Finishes, Finally~

Good Morning!  Finally I have some new finishes and they aren't all cowls.  First, this pair of socks is done at last. It's Hermione's Everyday Socks pattern in Cascade Panda Silk Prints Spice Market. For some reason sock #2 always takes me forever, but I did it.

And you guessed right, the rest are Interrupted Cowls:

If you need a quick pattern and you have the yarn (Bamboo Bloom), give this a try!  None of mine have turned out as large as the one pictured in the pattern photo, but they are cosy.

Take a look at Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting.

Happy Autumn!

Leaves here are falling faster every day, but most of our trees have a long ways to go before they are totally bare.  Here's a leaf we found on our walk the other day.  It's pretty clear why this tree is called a Big Leaf Maple, isn't it?  (Thanks for the photo idea, Becca.)

When frost comes, this black-eyed Susan vine will be done, but we sure are enjoying its colorful flowers now.

This clematis blooms in the fall, but it would do better if we had more sunshine.

The Beauty Berry shows its tiny purple berries only in the fall.

Halloween will soon be here as well as the end of Daylight Savings. The days are getting shorter and sunrise is later, but we can still enjoy the garden.  Have a nice weekend!

Two Totally Different New Finishes and a Rainbow Wearer ~

For quite a long time now my quilt group has made Christmas stockings for the local Ronald McDonald House each year, and I have always participated.  For some reason, I also always procrastinate this project until the very last minute, even though I only make two stockings.  So this past week since the deadline for turning them in was coming up, I did my two and here they are, front and back. (My first grade teacher told Mom that I was a procrastinator, and I guess she was right!) 

Here is something I did finish in a timely fashion.  I showed DD#2 the pattern called Brooklin Vest; she liked it and bought the yarn.  It's finished, she's worn it THREE times and just sent me this photo! (She cut her head off because she said she looked too tired.) The yarn is Berroco Vintage Chunky, so it was a relatively fast project and the first time I ever knit something side to side, which kept it interesting.  And there were NO seams to sew together!

This is what the back looks like.  The color is more true in the above photo, and you can also see that it looks much better on.

Then DD#2 sent this photo yesterday which was taken last month when we were in the Midwest and I delivered the Rainbow Sweater. (DD#1 is in the middle of the back row, and my sister is on her right.)  The sweater is plenty long and should fit GD#1 for a while. I'm sorry you can't see the buttons as they were a real find: golden suns! Just perfect for a rainbow, don't you think?

Have a great week!