just gotta cast on

I started a new shawl.  I figured I should cast on now while I'm excited about my last finish.  I picked the pattern called Duchess of Devonshire by Kay F Jones of the Bakery Bears podcast.  So far, so good!

Yesterday, Jan, Mya and I drove up to Bend to go shopping.  I wanted to check out the new Hobby Lobby.  I've been to that store before in other states but it's new to Oregon so hasn't been here very long.  It was definitely everything I remembered it to be and I came out a happy camper!  I bought this Strawberry Shortcake fabric there with the intention of making a new project bag.  

I've had this zipper for awhile, waiting for the right project and this was it!  I tried out a boxy pouch that is lined and I like it!  It's pretty roomy and I remembered to add a handle for easy carrying.

I added some beads and a cute cupcake charm for a zipper pull.

Okay, so let's talk yarn for a few.  Since I couldn't wait to start a new shawl I picked yarn from my stash.  Which is a good thing!  The only issue is that I usually am buying sock yarn that I just buy one skein at a time because it's plenty for socks with leftovers.  But, the shawl is like 600 yards and most of the skeins I have top out at 490.  So I didn't let it stop me, I picked this Misti alpaca in the colorway Bird of Paradise.  I love it!  The colors are so interesting as it works up.  So, while at Hobby Lobby in the yarn section I found these two skeins of lace weight for clearance!  I figured one of them might look nice as the edged border.  The more I look at them I think the dark pink one will be good.  It looks really red in the picture but it matches really closely to the pink in the variegated yarn.

the shawl bug has bitten

So I know that I already talked about this shawl a bunch here.  But!  It finished drying yesterday and I wore it today........and all I can say is that I heart shawls so much!!!  Before, yeah, I thought they were pretty.  Intricate, intimidating, cool.  But didn't really get it.  I didn't really understand how you wear one, do you wrap it around your shoulders all day???  I've seen people wear it bandana style on blogs and podcasts and what not but didn't really get it.  But today?  Today I am hooked!!  I used sock yarn so it is light and airy and just the right amount of warm - but not heavy or hot at all.  In fact, I wore it most of the day at the office where the thermostat thinks if it gets above 60 outside the air conditioning needs to be on!

So now I'm plotting.  I've been collecting patterns the past year -it's like somehow I knew!  I have lots of stash yarn to choose from.  I might even make like a gray one which is sort of shocking for me since I usually gravitate towards bright colors. hmmmmm

Fall finishing

I have a few finishes to share.  First up: pickles!  Last weekend it dawned on me that Summer is officially over and I didn't make even one jar of pickles!  Last year I made a ton but I'm down to a couple pickles in the fridge and a jar of sliced pickles that I haven't opened.  So I thought, I guess I could buy pickles, no big deal.  Ugggggggg! but no homemade pickles for an entire year??? nope, it won't do! I found myself at farmer's market Saturday morning picking up any and all suitable cucumbers, which were very sparse.  So!  I have 3 jars that I will use sparingly this year.  

And then.  I'm back to cross stitching.  I got hung up on this frame for Peter Pan because the pattern did not have Tinkerbell in it!  What?  And there was a mermaid in the water next to Peter.  It just didn't feel right to me.  I know that there are mermaids in the story but to me the crocodile stood out more.  I saw a few people on Instagram also added a croc.  But Tink just wasn't as easy to figure out.  I finally just thought I'll add her even if she's tiny since she's a fairy anyways! So that's what I did.  And now I can move on :) I also changed Peter's hair to red and gave him blue eyes and a smirk.

 I'm not sure if I mentioned that I finished the Thunderstorm MKAL shawl?  I did!  And it is blocking right this minute!  I have it folded in half so it will be symmetrical and also so it would fit on the blocking mat.  It's pretty big, this thing!  I tried to stretch it as much as I could to open out the eyelets.

Here's a bit of a close up:

Oh yes!  Last weekend I rearranged my living room!  I'm really digging the set up now.  A small change, really, but a huge difference.  In this corner I used to have a plant stand.  I moved the plant stand into the kitchen and moved this bookshelf in it's place.  Now I have a little book nook corner.  It's so cozy I love it!

And, since I was rearranging I put out my Fall decorations.  I haven't really put up decorations for Fall since before my husband died.  But, the mood hit so I did it and I really like it.   

 Every year at the end of Summer there is a rummage sale that Jan and I always go to.  The second day of the sale, Saturday midday, they have a bag sale.  And we can usually split a bag and stuff a ton in there!!!  This year, this pile of sheets was my score.  I got all this for $2!!!  The bag was $4 and so we each paid half.  I must admit I came out better in the deal but I know Jan doesn't mind.

Now, I know you're wondering how many sheets does one person need?  ha!  So, vintage sheets have many uses.  The plain ones are going to be perfect to cover my couch so that Rocky can live there and shed his little short hairs and I don't lose my sanity :)  The others, I can use as quilt backs.  You get a ton of yardage for next to nothing.  I only buy sheets that don't have stains and are in very good shape.  The first thing I do is wash them all up and they are ready to use!  Also, I have found that they are great for making tote bags, reusable shopping bags, quilts.  That's just what I do.

The first thing I added to my bag was this little linen doily.  It is so sweet.  Not sure if you can tell but it's hand embroidered with little birds next to the flowers.

Oh my goodness!  Sorry for the photo overload!  But, I think I'm pretty caught up now.  Rocky and I are doing some serious chilling out this weekend.  Big plans today include painting my nails, cross stitching and maybe knitting on my socks.  Maybe if I get a wild hair I'll sew something!  I have to day I'm just really loving all the handmade things in my house right now.  It warms my heart.  Hopefully you're having a great, relaxing Fall weekend as well.

what happens at the beach

Rocky and I spent last weekend at the coast.  I had been feeling antsy and anxious and like I needed to get away for a little while.  I found a really great price per night at the hotel I usually stay at and packed up my boy and we went!  It was great.  So so good.

Here we are in the driveway - Rocky doesn't even know we'd be at the beach in 4 hours!

We got to Crescent City at about 4:30pm and luckily the yarn store was still open!  So the last time I was in CC was in April and I had bought some delicious yarn.  But, I had hemmed and hawed about this one skein and didn't end up buying it.  And then on the drive to Trinidad I immediately kicked myself because the greens were exactly reflected in the canopy of trees and ferns and bit of blue sky.  On this trip I was determined to find and buy that skein of yarn, which I did :) 

Okay so I know that the picture on the left is not great, I took it just on the side of the road.  But, you can kind of see the different greens and imagine that the foggy sky was actually blue.  I'm so glad I got there in time to buy this yarn!  I'm thinking of making the Whispering Pines shawl from Molly of a Homespun House.  

Next stop, the beach!  One of the great things about Crescent City is that almost any road you turn down will get you to the ocean.  There's an easy to get to beach that Rocky and I strolled down for a couple hours.  Lots of fun for my boy!  There were tide pools, barnacles, kelp, stinky stuff, sticks, rocks - all the good stuff.

 Right before dark we drove to another beach and saw the coolest, different thing.  A lady was riding a horse up and down the beach holding an American flag.  Keep in mind Friday was September 11th so it was quite meaningful.  At first I thought it was odd, then I thought it was cool - she was actively expressing herself in a way that everyone watching understood and could feel.

Saturday was Trinidad day.  It was perfect.  Yes, overcast and foggy but still warm.  Rocky is used to the beach now so didn't need my constant reassurance and affection, he just stayed close and chilled.  I laid right on the beach and hunted for agates.  Early in the evening Rocky let me know he was hungry and thirsty and chilly so we left.  For so many reasons, so many, that beach has my heart.

It used to be when I'd go over to the coast I'd wake up early on Sunday and jet home to pick up the dogs from the kennel.  But!  With my boy alongside me I could take my time, meander one last time along the beach.

Of course, Rocky and I did have a difference of opinion about what was fun that day.  I wanted to walk along the shore in the water.  He wanted nothing to do with the water.  ha!  Good thing for long retractable leashes, yes?  

Oh!  One oddball thing we saw before we left!  I know the bottom pic is hard to see what's going on.  But maybe you can just see there is a gathering of people in the distance.  If you click on the picture you'll get a better view.

I didn't get too close because I wasn't sure at first what was happening.  Turns out it was a group letting a seal go back to the ocean.  There were people holding signs and at first I thought it was going to be some sort of protest about to happen.  Then someone wheeled a large kennel on wheels down the beach.  There was someone videoing someone else talking, I couldn't hear it over the waves.  And then I saw a light colored seal squirming itself along back into the water.  It was very quick!  After it was out of sight the crowd dissipated except for a few stragglers.  It seemed very meaningful to them, one couple was holding each other crying. (?) After that I felt like Rocky and I should skeedaddle.

All in all it was perfect.  We relaxed a ton.  Rocky got more familiar with the beach, I got some more freckles.  So good.

oh baby {quilt}

I almost forgot to post this!  I finished this baby quilt that I had started a few months back.  I got distracted from it for a bit....and then realized that the recipient was due soon so I'd better get sewing!

I'm really pleased with the results!  I did straight line stitching that echoes the chevron shapes.  I used my even feed foot on my sewing machine for the first time.  I do think that it helped with puckering and pulling on the back.  Possibly.  I guess the only way to tell is to quilt something without it and compare?  

It's bigger than crib sized because I thought this way she can use it longer and as a lap quilt.  Oh!  I did something I don't normally do on this one.  I had an aha! moment while I was doing the quilting and trying to keep my lines fairly even and straight.  It dawned on me, why don't I draw some guide lines???  duh.  Maybe everyone does that - but just in case - do yourself a favor and draw some lines on with disappearing ink.  I used one of my clear quilting rulers so they are easy to make even measurements.  I used a water soluble ink pen that I rubbed off before I washed the quilt and it seriously saved my bacon!

I gave Meghan this quilt last week and this week she had her baby!  It was perfect timing.

permission

I think I'm at the age of mid life crisis - or almost.  With most things in life, you have to experience something to understand.  Like, I never understood the things people would do like buy a sports car or get a divorce and seek a younger fling or whatever people do.  But!  I imagine that I may have a little perspective lately.  I feel like I'm feeling my age.  Sometimes.  Most of the time I go through feeling the same way I did at 17! ha.  and I'm surprised a lot of the time that I'm almost 40.  yikes!

But lately I'm feeling life slip away...and realizing that if I'm lucky enough to live to 78 years old then I am middle age!  So, it's like an urge to take stock and think of what I want and catalogue what is and what isn't.  Does that make sense?

So in the midst of these ponderings I've realized that in a lot of ways I don't do things that I want to do.

One biggie is that I've let myself get caught up with what other people think I should do.  Example: I know I need to work out.  I want to work out.  Well meaning friends say I should get up early and go to a certain class at 5:30am.  AM!  as in early morning.  It's just not going to happen.  At all.  Ever.  And then I feel guilty.  I feel like not only have I let them down (?) I've also let myself down.  I don't know why I do that.  I don't know why I care?  But, here's the result - I don't do anything then because I feel like I blew it!

That's just one example.  But, rest assured, not the only thing.  In a lot of ways I've always sort of danced to my own beat.  But in a lot of other ways I feel paralyzed by expectations and disappointments I imagine.  I know I think too much and sometimes that's a problem.  So, even if it may be imperceptible to anyone but me I'm working on giving myself permission to let things go and do what I want.

I don't really have a huge point to this post.  It's just been thoughts rolling around in my head and I need to get them out.  Which is part of why I blog.  It's sometimes a journal for me cuz I can type faster than I can write!

I will hopefully have pictures to share of my shawl that I finally finished this week! eeeeee! and I'm back to sock knitting which is nice.  It's definitely Fall here.  Which makes me want to stitch all the cozy things.  Like this morning was foggy, 39 degrees and ended up 68 and sunny!  That's typical here and I admit I love it!

first bit of Fall

Since I got that dresser set up in the spare room I've been determined to get the room put together into a functional guest room.  I went through the rest of the boxes and sorted out stuff I no longer use.  And I found this little llama!!!!  I love this llama.  Love.it.  It was a gift from Scott.  I have no idea where he came up with it...but he knew how much I've always loved llamas and that it would make me smile :)  I thought it had gotten lost or tossed somewhere along the say and a few months ago I looked high and low for it but didn't find it.  I had tucked it into a box with picture frames!  It is now perched atop the dresser.  Months had sort of munched it's fleece and yarn poms.  I am thinking maybe I'll make some new little poms to dress it up?

I just have to share this picture of my Rocky dog.  This is his thing, he eats laying down.  He does drink standing up, apparently eating, though, is too exhausting!

I've been picking the pears from the tree in the back corner of the yard.  They are small, relatively pest free fruit!  I just get the ones I can reach on the low branches.  The ones up high are pretty big!  It's been a treat.

All weekend I've been super lazy.  Kind of.  Like I've done the laundry and things around the house that need done but not the organizing I had planned in the craft house.  Instead I distracted myself with stitching!  I honestly don't know the last time I cross stitched on my Story time Sampler.  But, I'm now 4 months behind on the frames.  

I got stuck on the Peter Pan month, which was June's frame.  I really liked the frame except it didn't have Tinkerbell!  So I was waiting to see what the other people stitching came up with.  The cool thing about Instagram is that you can #(hashtag) your pictures and they go into a pool of similar pictures from other people.  So there's a pool for story time sampler stitchers and usually there are lots of cool modifications where I can get ideas.  This time there were maybe 3-4 Tinks.  So I got stuck.  But, I've come up with a plan to modify the pattern so was inspired again.  Plus, I need a break from knitting.

This week we've had a definite dip in temps - 40 in the morning and maybe 60-ish in the afternoon.  The air has a brisk, icy chill to it.  So I put the first flannel backed quilt on my bed today.  My lightweight summer quilt is just not warm enough at night.  This is the first time I've used this quilt!

I hope you all have a great week!