Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Wally and Celeste

Wally loves...



Celeste! She's a finnsheep! Isn't she cute? They belong to Jean at Chicory Springs Farm.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Sheep Slippers

Imagine my surprise today when I opened my Birthday Sheep Slippers from Jean! Wow! They are a crack-up, they fit perfectly, and they are comfy! I have never seen such cute sheepy slippers! Thanks, Jean (and Celeste!)
P. S. I just found out the Yarn Harlot is coming BACK to Third Place Books on Oct. 6th. Could it be true? I may get to meet her twice! :) Just picked up her new book: Free-Range Knitter. It will be hilarious as all her books are!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Aran Scarf-My First Cables

Queensland Collection-Kathmandu Aran Wool-merino, silk, cashmere blend
Size 8 needles. Cast on 42 st.
Ok, I couldn't wait to practice cabling so Mom got me going on the stash of Aran wool I got in Winthrop, and I CO yesterday for an Aran Scarf pattern. This is good practice for me. Everyone says cabling is easy. Just passing stitches on and off cable needle, either holding to the front or back of work. This is my first time actually attempting cabling. I am getting the hang of it. Found a few pattern errors so far. I will have to see if there is an errata sheet on their site. Pattern is from Knitsimplemag.com and called Aran Scarf. (click on Aran Scarf for pdf file download)



This is dark, but you can see the cabling in this photo coming along.....

Monday, September 22, 2008

Comments to the Blog

For those of you who have been wanting to comment, you can now do so without having to sign in or get an ID. We'll see how it goes. If I get unwanted traffic or weirdos, I will change it back to the old filter again. So if you have been reading and not posting since it was a hassle for you to have a blogger ID, etc. or took too much time, this should help. It will still ask you for word verification when you want to post (to block Spam.) Now you can just go ahead and post it and it should work! OK? I'll know if it works if I hear from you...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Winthrop Anniversary Trip...Is There Coffee and Yarn in Winthrop?

Headed over the No. Cascades Hwy. 20 to Winthrop, WA for our anniversary getaway. We'd been there before so knew where to go. We stayed at the Freestone Inn in Mazama, WA. This is our back deck. We had a King suite with a wrap-around deck which was great!
Another view from our deck looking out onto the lake...

On a much needed walk around the lake looking back at our Inn...

And of course knitting on the Everyday Cardi sleeve. Had to get a shot of that!
The interior was well done and had alot of pine and metal accents. The fireplace, which we didn't end up needing. It was a nice 86 degrees the first day!
We headed into town for all our meals and browsing. Winthrop has its own flavor, with alot of the historic store fronts and a cowboy feel.
We ate at the Grubstake one morning and had amazing omelettes, and homemade bread and strawberry jam, and these wonderful lattes. I had to ask what brand the coffee was. Much more on that story later!!
But first, I had to go see the ONLY store that carries beautiful yarns in the whole area! The Ashford Gallery located right in downtown Winthrop in the Purple Sage Building did not disappoint. Owners Don and Sara Ashford, both artists, run the shop. It is filled with custom pottery, ceramic sculptures, wearable hand-dyed art, weaving, silk painting and quality yarns. I had my eyes on this Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran merino/silk/cashmere blend yarn and ended up getting some of the gold tone for my stash!Sara is also a spinner and uses natural dyes in her items. Many local artists also provide dyed and carded fiber for spinning available for purchase in the shop.It was a pleasure meeting Sara and viewing her artistic family's items. And such a joy to know that there really is yarn in Winthrop! Not your Grandma's yarn, either!

Now...on to the coffee story. The coffee that captured our hearts while on our stay was this great brew from a local roasting company called Blue Star Coffee Roasters and all I can say is "Wow!"... If you ever get over the pass and visit, you MUST try it! They are located in Twisp, just a quick drive down the road from Winthrop. Their shop was very clean and friendly, and while we were there we got to greet the owners, their happy dog, and hear the new local radio station announce the "dance break" and advertise this wonderful coffee company. I had to get a shirt! What can I say? I am a fan! Many of the shops and restaurants feature this coffee. And you can get it online. We might just have to do that. There IS coffee in Winthrop after all! It ruined me forever over and above Starbucks! We purchased a bag of it on our last morning as we got our Blue Star latte at the Mazama Country Store....and now you know after all that coffee what will happen to me!?On the way to our first big dinner, we saw fields crammed full of deer. We had to be very careful driving on the highway at dusk and night as they would try to cross the road. Many drivers are unaware and speed through the area...but we kept a close watch. The Sun Mountain Lodge is a highly popular destination spot overlooking the Methow Valley. We were unable to get reservations to stay here due to two other events booked the same weekend, but we did come here for dinner our first night.

Though some overcast weather, the views were still spectacular! Our table faced the windows so we had sweeping views of the hills. And here's my salad! Arne's dinner (above) and mine (below)...Of course delectable!
Full and happy....but wait!

There's more! A personal size chocolate cake with chocolate ganache! The next night we were celebrating my Birthday! Yes, all in one week. So Arne had eaten here before and loved it. It is a quaint and lovely place right in downtown Winthrop called the Arrowleaf Bistro.We forgot to take pictures of the elk (Arne's) and my beef entree...but we did get a Birthday pic of me with my chocolate bread pudding with blackberry sauce...I did share! Oh, and we enjoyed a french press of decaf Blue Star coffee to have with dessert, of course!
Our last morning we ate at the Mazama Country Inn for breakfast since the restaurant at Freestone Inn is currently closed.

We couldn't have asked for a better trip! Here's to the next 25 years! And now the diet begins!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

25th Anniversary!

We're still havin' fun....and you're still the one! Happy 25th anniversary, honey! It's our "silver!" Here's to another 25 (plus) years ahead!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Cat Chewed My Needles

Updated to show "innocent" look before cat chomped on my needles...It's all a farse.

I haven't been so mad at the cat as I was tonight as I picked up to finish off my sleeve and there were bite marks all over my nice bamboo needles. Grrr!!! Cat for sale! Anyone want a cat????

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Back to Everyday Cardigan

Since you haven't seen much of my Everyday Cardigan lately, thought I'd show it now. I'm all done with the back, left front and right front panels,except of course later on will pick up stitches and make button band along the front and finish off the neck edge.Working on the first sleeve here. This shows the color pretty accurately. It is called Zarya Fog and is a Peace Fleece worsted wool. Very nice feel to work with and will be very cozy.
Glorious Seattle summer weather! Nice day for knitting on the deck!