I am done with the body of my Dulaan charity sweater. This project was great because I meant to use yarn I had no need for in my stash. Unfortunately, the sweater turned out much larger than I expected, which is fine, but I've run out of yarn and have to BUY more. So much for de-stashing! I hope I can find it after work at Pacific Fabrics. No hope! Marian may have what I need in her stash though!

I've decided to design a pair of toe-up socks with the "Socks that Rock" yarn I like so much, I ordered two colorways today, Jasper and Lemongrass.

So many posts today! I am really catching up...

While we were making our stencils this afternoon, I baked these mouthwatering rum brownies. They smell like tiramisu. I have posted the recipe.

Source: Sailnet

Spontaneous craft day:

Today my friend came over and I had no idea what to do for the day, I had time to think becasue she was running late. I went out and bought supplies to make freezer paper stencils. I understand why others are saying they can't believe they haven't tried this sooner! I wear cotton t-shirts to work pretty much every day and they are getting boring, since they are solid colors. Here is what I stenciled today.




Instructions to do this are on Craftster.org. It's really simple.

My Conwy socks are coming along well, unfortunately, they are distracting me from any other project requiring thought. The pattern is from "Knitting on the Road." I think I am going to change the toe decrease since I didn't like the Friday Harbor sock toe.


Yesterday I sewed a skirt! I haven't sewn a garment for several years now, knitting has totally taken priority. I wore it to the wedding, no one said anything about it so I cou;dn't blurt out "I made it today!" It turned out very pretty I think. I got this silk decorator fabric in the garment district of L.A. 2 years ago.

I got a photo yesterday at the wedding of Theo wearing his sweater that I made. He looked very cozy at 28 days old.

Last time I went to post, I lost it all after I tried to spell check.

So sad.

Well, I was going to tell you that I started a new pair of socks out of "Socks that Rock" and am enjoying seeing how the varigation changes as I decrease on the leg. It was striping, but now pooling vertically. The yarn feels great, I'd make a sweater out of it if I had the patience. I'm tempted to buy the Jasper coloraway, but shouldn't.

I was also going to say I made homemade Raisin Bread. It turned out well, but I didn't let it rise as many hours as required because it was midnight I it needed to be cooked or else. I learned a lesson in bread baking: Don't leave the loaf in the pan to cool, the trapped steam will make the bottom a little soggy sitting overnight. It tasted great, but next time, I'll need to allow 5 hours for the process.

This weekend we'll be going to wedding parties, so no super exciting plans.

I have been seeing people sewing on their blogs and have been in the mood to whip something up that I've had in my fabric stash. This gorgeous fabric was found in LA a few years ago and my friend and I planned on making skirts. The time is nearing! It is so strange how sewing patterns are sized. I am on the larger end of the scale of sizes, yet I wear size 10 jeans. It just makes me feel like I have a fat belly when I try to figure out which size to cut. It must be especially frustrating to sew for a abnormal body type.

Grandma's sweater reproduction has hit a road bump. After all that good swatching, I am off on the size. I am thinking of finishing it up smaller and then starting over again. It's hard to think about ripping back. Maybe if I leave it for a week, I can rip. But as it is, it's time for armhole decreases and extra thought and pattern planning. I am just wanting a simple project where it comes out perfect and mindless. That's where socks step in I guess.

San Francisco was great, the weather was a little iffy, but we only got rained on, on Sunday after our trip to Alcatraz. The boat - Pride of Hawai'i was gorgeous. This is NCL's newest cruise ship. We had a balcony room and especially enjoyed listening to the ocean waves. This ship was huge, 965 feet long. The movement felt like we were living in a sleeping whale. With all you can eat and drink, we had plenty of everything. It's not often you can go to any bar you want and order anything you like. I also had the best sushi ever, but ended up with near pass-out and a 12 hour stomach ache. Still, I recommend sushi that comes with shrimp tempura, avocado and mango.

Back on land, we cruised Fisherman's Wharf and the hills toward Union Square. We hiked Lombard Street, visited the Cable Car museum and drank Chai Tea. Saturday we couldn't think of much to do, so we went to China Town and bought kites. We found the top of Twin Peaks and as the wind picked up, our kites were in the air. We found our the quirks between the kites and then had an accidental dual where Jesper's NASCAR logo kite won. My pink shark kite flew away.

Grandma has asked me to replicate her favorite winter sweater. I picked out the yarn on Elann.com. I think it will be very nice. I was surprised when the yarn arrived, I didn't notice from the photo that there is a line of darker blue running through the medium blue. I was meaning to buy a solid, but this yarn is more like a denim. I think knit up with some cabling will drees it up though. The yarn is Schachenmayr Lipomo. I am also again impressed with the speed of delivery by Elann.com.

I am on the front at the moment, after a few false starts and a huge gauge swatch, I think I am moving forawrd. I think it is going to work well to take on my trip this weekend.

Tomorrow we'll be in San Francisco, boarding NCL's Pride of Hawai'i for a 2-night Inagural cruise. This is a special job perk I won! I don't even have to take vacation days! I should get lots of photos. I never thought I'd go on a cruise, but when it's free and all-inclusive, I'm there! I am also looking forward to staying at a nice hotel with a discount. Definitly a step up for the nasty bed-bug hostel in Sydney.

Last weekend the weather was so perfect. I worked on a striped sock. The plan is to keep an easy sock project on the boat so I don't have to pack anything when I go to the boat.

This weekend we were in a sailing race - which allowed no time at all for knitting. Friday night we packed up the boat and snuck in a spot at a marina outside of the locks so we could start the race in the morning nearby. Before we left, we ran some errand s and retired my old vacuum cleaner. It worked fine, a little loud and clunky, but it got the boot after Jesper upgraded us to a Swedish brand industrial vacuum. I saw this little vacuum shop in Fremont and thought I'd ditch my old guy here. I had to snap a photo, it was too cute. I think it looks like it has some new retiree buddies.

Saturday - race day with just enough wind for the spinnaker (big thin colorful balloon like sail). That disappeared and left us in a calm then a northerly had us tacking (turning the boat back and forth in angles through the wind) to Port Townsend until around 5:30PM. We were elated to find out after hanging around the dock and hour later a boat in out class just came in. We weren't last! I could help but express my enthusiasm to the guy as he rafted up to our boat. He wasn't impressed. His wife was whimpering from a chill due to lack of warm clothes and they ended up bailing out of the race the next day.
See video clip from Sunday morning, it was really blowing!

Note: I'm wearing my knit hat - Winter Femme.

Replace George with Jesper! We make pancakes a lot. I have found a great recipe - Bisquick mixed for pancakes + 2 TAB coconut and 1/4 c. chopped macadamia nuts. YUM! The reason I am displaying Curious George is because Jesper bought a bike jersey last night with Curious George riding a bike on it. But now I know why Curious George was his favorite children's book character. By the way - in Sweden his name isn't Curious George, it's Nicke Nyfiken.

knitting: I finished Jespers sweater - again - I had to heighten the collar. It fits really well - just need to get the zipper - next week. I also started a todler heavy wool cardigan for the Dulaan project. This weekend I'll start a pair of socks for a more portable project.

I am finally done with the sleeves of Jesper's sweater. I seamed as fast as I could before bed and had him try it on. The first reaction was EEEKKKK! It's itchy!!

Oh well! I think it at least fits. He'll only be able to wear it with a long sleeve shirt - which may not be all that often becasue it's too casual looking for a buttoned shirt underneath and most long sleeve shirts are too short in the arms.

I also am all done with the baby sweater. I'll bring it tonight to knitting to see what people think about the proportions. I figure it will fit the baby (that was born last weekend) at some point in the next year.

Since I skipped knitting on Monday in Seattle, I was able to make two raspberry rhubarb pie - it was so yummy, I had to bring one to work today so I wouldn't eat it all myself. I've already ate more than 1/2 in two days.

I did a lot of cooking this past weekend and now I am craving more. Well, I'm also hungry, so that leads me to look up recipes online during my down time at work. I am going to make rhubarb berry crisp and pie, pumpkin bread and Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread this week. YUM!

Update - the rhubarb-raspberry pie turned out great, but I need to remind myself never to buy store bought crust again! It's icky. I don't like crust much anyway, so I am going to stick to cobblers and crisps more.

Ceiling before and after:

Since we finished the kitchen ceiling, bought a new Swedish vacuum, and had family over on Saturday, my condo is super clean and tidy. If feels really nice. I'm on the look-out for a fresh big flowering fuschia to hang outside again this summer. My last one bloomed for months.

Sunday I went mountain biking at Redmond Watershed for the second time this month. It was a fabulous workout and a delicious dose of fresh air. After we did that (Michelle and I), we went to get yarn in Issaquah and then had HUGE rootbeer floats at the XXX drive-inn. When I got back home, I felt pretty bad and ended up in bed with stomach cramps for a few hours. Next time after a great workout- it's salad!

I ran out of Eco-Wool just near the end of Jesper's sweater. The skeins are so huge, that I'll have a lot left over since I bought another skein. I was shocked to see it marked for $29.99! At A Swell Yarn Shop it's only $15.00.

I've designed a new pattern - still finishing it up. It's a cute little cabled baby sweater. I think I'll knit it a second time before releasing the pattern - there may be improvements. I wish I could get a photo of a baby wearing it, but that's not so easy.