moonfrog

Deadlines are stressful, but I seem to thrive on them. There’s nothing like a good deadline to get me motivated.  Odd as it seems, the delivery due date of a baby did nothing to spur my Ugh knitting. Wrapping up loose ends and getting the house somewhat in order for a trip out of town did. Something about coming home to less of a mess, one of my many quirks.

The baby had arrived via induction. I finally decided to buckle down and just make the little buggers. Little being the key characteristic. I fought my urge to make them tiny and went with realistic. And they are done! The only modifications from the pattern (link is on the previous post linked above) are substituting size 2 and 3 needles and using a double strand of Plush for the white accents.  I sent them off  with a few other baby goods and proceeded to pack for a trip out of town.

This time, the trip is for fun!  My sweet valentine called me in to check the plan he was making for a little get-away. Knowing I had a wheel waiting for me in Oregon, I asked if we could go there instead.  And so it went. We arrived in Portland after a very, very long drive. (Who knew it took that long?!!) The man went a bit overboard, as is his style. We stayed at a lovely hotel called River Place, right on the river. Our room was more of a suite, with classical music playing as we entered. We laughed and marveled over the weather report card and the pillow menu, which provided a list of many types of pillows that could be ordered for our comfort. (No, we didn’t order one. We made-do with the regular old pillows on the bed.)

Our weekend was really full:  looking at a loom, , playing a special guitar, eating out, and getting lost driving.  Portland is not an easy city to  get around! We spent some time on the waterfront. Check out the view from our room. Can you see the black submarine on the far side of the river?

Although we had seen the movie Coraline the week before in 2D, I really wanted to take the opportunity to see the 3D version since it was available. (The Laika studio that made the movie is right there in Portland.) We drove off for the theater on Sunday night, squeezing in the late showing before our scheduled departure the next morning. After a slight detour (lost again!) we joined the line of expectant movie-goers, one even dressed in a yellow raincoat and matching rainboots, ala Coraline.  Before we even reached the window the word came trickling back. Sold Out!   This is not opening night — far from it!  It opened a week and a half ago. We stayed in line and decided one more night out of town wouldn’t hurt. It would give us a chance to break the long drive into two days. We bought our tickets for the noon matinee on Monday and pocketed our 3D glasses.

Next day we joined a throng in the packed theater to see Coraline again. It was awesome. So much better in 3D!  The movie has so many fun details that it was not the least bit boring to see it twice. And the 3D images actually came out and danced on the heads of the people in front of us during the end credits. It was definitely worth staying.

And then there was the actual purpose of this trip north. About a month ago, I put a deposit on a used spinning wheel and asked the seller to hold it for a month.  It was not an expensive wheel, more of a sentimental purchase. It is similar in style to the wheel I had in the 70s. I’ve been hoping to find one to use for plying. This one was made in Washington, called a Cascade wheel.  The elderly woman who sold it to me had parted with all her weaving equipment previously and this was her last fiber arts piece to go. I feel very lucky to have it. We had to bring it inside the last night of our trip; it wasn’t safe enough parked outside.  So I got to try it out.  Love it!

It is so different than my Rose (which will always be my spinner.) The single, wide treadle is really comfortable. The bobbins are big. It even has metal spindles on the inside bar to hold the extra bobbins (not shown in picture) with eyelet hooks to thread the bobbins through. I can ply right from the wheel!  It’s like a built-in kate. I can’t wait to try some plying and see if it works. It came with a matching niddy noddy, too.  It is even nicer than I expected. First, it needs some oil to quiet some squeaking.

I did some knitting on the long drive, of course, but that will have to wait for another day. The dirty laundry is calling my name!  Vacation is over.

I think you’ve all noticed that I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman’s books, right?  Well, while I was in San Fran (once again) with the huz-band –does that make me his groupy? — anyway, we made it a little fun this time and went to the Cartoon Art Museum, which was having a display from the Coraline movie (based on Gaiman’s book.)  Surprise!  A crew was there for a video/photo shoot, and Henry Selick, the director was with them. It was fun to watch as they got ready, but we had to leave before the actual shooting. As we got ready to leave, I asked for a photo and Mr. Selick was quite gracious and posed with some Coraline models that were brought out just for the video.

The movie comes out on Friday. Can’t wait!  I even got a special keepsake. As part of their super big promotion of the movie, button keys were left where people could find them, kind of like graffiti give-aways. I didn’t find one, but I found someone who did and was giving them away. I hope this arrives before the movie so I can wear it. Geek alert!

Back to some knitting news:  I finished the Eva’s Shawl.  I’m pleased with how it looks on my rather ugly chair. The colors really brighten it up.  After using all of the finer (although very thick-and-thin) yarn I had spun, I decided it needed to be just one row longer in the pretty red. So I got out the yarn I actually made during the spinning competition. I use the word yarn here very loosely! It’s really a super-overtwisted/big-slub wooly mess. But it was fast!

I salvaged what I could and added that extra row. Now it is just right!  Another keepsake. It seems that making knitted keepsakes is satisfying to me. My newest weaving project will be another keepsake using the yarn from my stay in Oaxaca — but that is for another post.

  I still haven’t shared my holiday knitting obsession, wherein I became a fingerless glove factory. It started out with a lovely, intricate cable design that I worked on while we traveled to San Jose to visit my mother-in-law. These are Evenstar Gloves in white Debbie Bliss Cashmerino dk, which are shown in their current unfinished state.  I enjoy the pattern, even though I knit them intensely, very tightly. They are coming out a women’s small, which is fine.  I have my place marked but have to get back in the groove with them. Later.

Next was the replacement for the Evenstar gloves. The dear huz-band stopped at a new yarn store in San Jose and I bought this luscious Mulberry Merino, the mulberry being silk, color number 687.  It was quite splitty, but very silky soft. The pattern is Warm Braid Cable Wristwarmers. I made a Quickie Cowl to go with these for my son’s girlfriend.

Then I decided that a couple friends needed mitts, too, so I made some 2×2 ribbed ones using the Maine Morning Mitts pattern. Those weren’t as pleasing to me, too plain,  so I used the rest of the Lorna’s Laces worsted  (could it be I just wanted to keep using that lovely yarn?) and made some Mom’s Cabled Mitts (ravelry download.) Much better!  Well, except for that little problem with the cable being on the side of one glove. Yikes!  And Rip!  Still fun to knit, though, and I only had to rip to the thumb gusset and start over from there. These are in the Tahoe colorway.

Next up was the lovely rust tones alpaca for Extra Warm Kureyon Wristers (ravelry download,) some small simple gloves. These last three pairs were a pleasure to knit, but I had to hurry to finish them on time. My reward?  I made some for myself!  Returning to Mom’s Cabled Mitts, I used some Malabrigo in Red Mahogany. I wouldn’t use this as a gift usually since it pills so easily, but they are perfect for me.

With each new pattern, I learned a new thumb technique. I also practiced some new cables. It was fun to immerse myself in these, but now it is time to make other things. I could easily knit fingerless gloves for the next year and be happy about it. For now, I’ve returned to hats and hope to do some sock-knitting soon, too.