And now for something entirely different

It's been a very yarny week, in spite of that little detour to hang like a bat.

I've made great progress on the clematis purse. Right now it looks like a sweater for an elephant. Felting is SO amazing! I have 2 more rows of stripes and then the flowers. Hopefully it will be done this week.












Because I also have THIS. The latest shipment from the sock club.
Love the color. Can't wait to get started.











I also got this...
It's for the Faery Ring KAL that starts in july, so it's going in the stash for a bit
It's Cascade 220, doeskin heather. I think it's going to make a great faery ring.




I'm totally stressed out about the sock summit registration. It starts at 10 am tomorrow, and I'll be having a pilates session at the time. I'm worried that by the time I get to it, all the classes will be taken, and I REALLY want to go. We already have hotel reservations, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Sister's worried too, this is her worried look.......








Let's finish with a little garden happiness.

Back from"hanging like a bat"

I managed to survive two days of advanced pilates, not too much worse for the wear.
Just a little tired.....
Good thing tomorrow's a holiday.

finished and blocking

Well, it's been a productive knitting week. The flirty tank is finished and blocking. This was a fun, challenging but easy knit. I would definitely do it again.

I also started on the clematis purse. I want to use it as my knitting bag for sock summit.

I think it's cool, although it does seem a bit gaudy. It will definitely attract some attention!

Now, I just NEED the sock summit registration to OPEN, OPEN, OPEN!

I'm afraid it's going to be a day when I'm tied up, and I won't get the classes I want.

Plenty of classes to choose from, but I think there's about half a million folks that want to go.

Don't EVEN get me started on the vendor list from it. My credit card is crying as we speak.

I'm so excited to even be able to go.

Check out my wisteria! This is the most it's bloomed in it's life. It had to be drastically chopped back because it broke off in the snow. Seems it LIKES to be abused a bit. Really, it's beautiful, and it smells really sweet.

In other news, next weekend is my final required pilates workshop, so it's off to Portland. All advanced. Cadillac, chair and barrels. Very difficult stuff, very physical, and very cirque du soleil. YIKES. Good thing monday is a holiday and I can sleep in.

For our doggie pic today, a little squiggi torture. Don't worry, no cats were harmed. He actually loves the attention. The cat protests, bonks her hard on the head, and five minutes later is back for more!

we've had some visitors here

this is donald and daisy. Don't know where they came from, we just came home the other day and daisy was quite comfortable on top of the hot tub.

The kitty doesn't have a name yet. It's been hanging around. We think it's abandoned, so we've been feeding it. It's very scared of people, but it hangs out on the porch waiting for the morning hand out.

Stash Enhancement

But with specific projects in mind.
This week, I bought the yarn for the clematis purse. I worried over trying to use some of my stash yarn, but just decided to go with all new in the recommended yarn and colors. I think it will look better.





Because they had free shipping on $75 or more, I HAD to add some, so I also got this to do "hey teach". I'm just drawn to greens, so I'm going with it right now. I have to say, I highly recommend yarn country I ordered my yarn on thursday, and, there it was in my mailbox on friday. Amazing!












The LYS also had a sale, my two favorite things, sale and yarn, so I HAD to get some of that too. I have a tank in mind that I think I'm going to really like. I'm trying to focus on some summer knitting that I will wear.











Made quite a bit of progress on the flirty tank. I keep thinking it's a bit too big, but we'll see......














And finally, our doggie pic for the week.

Ok, I'm moving on

I spent a week wallowing in my flow failure. AGAIN.
I give up. I was determined not to let it get the best of me, but it's gone back to the frog pond. Maybe next time.

In an effort to find something "summery", I fished out this project from last season.
Flirty Tank from Y2knit. It's just lacy enough to be fun, but not so much that is shows more than you would want. A relatively easy knit, too. I started this yesterday afternoon and after 2 movies, this was how far I'd gotten. I'm thinking I'm going to like this. I just hope it fits!











Anyway, I'm working on it because I'm going to need some summer stuff to wear to Sock Summit.

I fell in love with this also, and had to immediately order the pattern.
Clematis Bag
There's a sale at my LYS next weekend, so I plan to get what I need to do this. I think it's gaudy, but cool. Call me crazy.
I can also use some of the stash to make the flowers, etc.

For our doggie distraction of the day.....
WHAT could be so fascinating??







This guy, of course!

california there I went

Well,
spent the weekend at mind/body in california. The conference was fun, even if it was a bit disorganized. Seems that's just the way this conference is. Disorganized.





Flow is 1/2 done, but I'm not liking it. AGAIN. Now it seems too small.
I'm going to do the other side in the larger size (they'll be the same length) and see how that works out.

I'll leave with some awesome pics of the trip home.....
Crater Lake











Mount Rainier in all its glory.
I LOVE the Pacific NW

Happy Easter!

From the boxer-bunny








(amazing what a little peanut butter will do for you!)

It's going to be a dark and stormy day here. That's OK, plenty to do inside.











In the knitting world, I finally re-started "Flow" and got a pretty good go of it. It's a fast knit anyway, but I bought the yarn - Elizabeth Lavold "Hempathy", so I thought I'd better finish it. The other is a sock I started so that I would have a motel room knitting project when I go to CA. next week. THEN I got the Cookie A. book, and wanted to make ALL of those. One thing at a time.
I'm really hoping to take a class from her at sock summit.

I don't know how much knitting I'll have this week, since the week is going to be compressed into 4 days because of my trip. We'll see

Hummingbird wars continue......

Just can't get enought of these guys!

Finally! Spring!

Hard to believe it was snowing a week ago. Yesterday it was 75 degrees.
Ya gotta love the pacific nw. You want different weather? Wait 10 minutes.

No new knitting content to report. I spent the last 4 days at a weight watchers training in portland. It was OK, but you know, training for work.
This week I'm planning on getting out "flow" and firing that up again. The nice weather inspired me.

Still having major hummingbird wars here. They're hungry little devils

A lazy day for some, spring fever for others!

It's been a lazy day around here for some of us.












There was a nice present in the mail today. This looks like an awesome challenge. Not colors I would pick if I was shopping for socks, but the idea of belonging to the sock club is to challenge my traditional ideas and stretch the boundaries of my knitting capabilities. So, here we go....













February Lady is done, just waiting for some buttons.













I decided to make this quick baby blankie for a gal at work. Good thing it's almost done, I think today is going to be his birthday!

















Here's the spring fever section.....
It's been hummingbird mania around here today. We've seen at least 3 at a time, dive bombing and feeding all day. They're a constant source of entertainment.
This particular feeder wasn't even up for 20 minutes before it attracted this guy (actually we think it's a gal)

spring is sprung

Hard to believe a week ago it was snowing!
Although this is not a very good pic, here's the first sign of spring here.
The feeders were only up for about an hour and this hungry and very agressive little guy moved in. We spent all day yesterday working in the yard and getting scolded for being in his space. If you look really closely, you can see him on the feeder there.
I'm trying to get a closer and nicer pic of one on the bedroom window feeder, but they just won't hold still!












Made progress on Feb. Lady. It now has a sleeve and a half. I should be able to finish it today, since it's cold and rainy again. Next up, another stab at the "Flow" tank, then on to some of the summer knitting I put aside when it got cold.
Should have a new STR sock club kit this week too. I think that will go with me to the training I have to sit through in a couple of weeks.













And for our parting shot today.....LOOK WHAT I MADE!
Well, I can't actually say I made it, but..... I've never, ever had one of these bloom a second time. This one got a wild hair and decided to do it all by it's little self. Pretty cool. Now if the other ones will just follow along.....

February Lady progress, finally!

Well, this was a busy week, but I managed to take apart the first feb. lady and start again. It's looking much more like it's going to fit, almost too big this time. All I did was go up a needle size, keeping the same knitting size, so I hope it's going to work.
Here it is in all its glory. Of course, sister had to be in the middle. Can't get left out.
Next up, I think I'll try another whack at the "Flow" tank. After all, it might warm up SOME day.














Have I mentioned how much I hate snow? It's snowing here AGAIN. Honestly, enough already! This time it's sloppy and wet. Like driving in a big slushie. It was nearly 60 degrees on thursday and sunday, snow. ARGH! I guess we won't be doing any yard work today.














As a matter of fact, we'll probably be doing this......
Snow just kind of makes you lazy.

Got Pilates?

The finished product......
Build it and they will come.....















Now all I need to do is pass that test.
(a few new clients wouldn't hurt either)

february lady, or is it march??

First of all, let me say, spring ahead SUCKS. That alarm is just going to hurt when it goes off at what was formerly 3 am. It takes me so long to adjust. I wish we could just leave things well enough alone. I mean, we really don't have to go out and work the farm any more, so we don't need the daylight like that. ARGH!

Amyway.....after a trip to the dr earlier in the week, and some industrial strength antibiotics, I'm finally starting to feel like a human being. Good thing, there's a busy and important week lined up and I can't put my clients off any more.

I spent my down time working on february lady. Love the pattern, love the yarn, love the color, hate the size....too small. Darn! So, off to the frog pond for another try.











There was also a nice, big, fun, present to me delivered this week. My other reformer! We spent yesterday getting the studio ready and assembling the final piece.


Only one brief moment of panic when it looked like the durned thing was taller than the ceiling. Didn't think about THAT. Good thing we figured it out.
Now I have a down right cool pilates studio, if I do say so myself. I just hope the clients and potential clients think so too. I'll post pics later after we do some heavy-duty cleaning.

me vs the crud, round 2

Just as I thought I was getting better, WHAM!!
The crud is back. This time totally sore throat and no voice.
Not a good quality in a fitness instructor.

The gumdrops socks are finished, Cinnamon is modeling them here.



Cast on for February Lady, no pics yet.









One final doggie pic,
Doesn't she have the cutest butt?

to the flower show and back!

Yesterday we went to the seattle flower show. It's kind of sad to know that it probably is the last one. There's SO much there and I ALWAYS come home inspired and with a very serious case of spring fever!











The work on the studio continues. This is my last week at "the other place", and then, I'm on my own. Next week will be the grand opening, or whatever you'd like to call it. Hopefully that last piece of equipment will show up at the end of the week.
The good news is, it's been a great opportunity to de-clutter the rest of the house. The bad news is, it's been very stressful, and expensive and the stress continues in the form of organizing the business into a LLC. (limited liability company)
Once the re-org is all done, it should be better.

What does one do when stressed?? (besides eat) KNIT!
Here's some of the gumdrops socks. I'm just about to the heel on the second one.
It's gone pretty fast. I think I'm motivated to start the February Lady Sweater. All that nice STR heavyweight just calling my name!




This week, more studio stuff, hopefully some yard work, more cleaning, and at the end of the week, a Les Mills workshop in portland. Good Times!