Thanks mom for posing and to dad for the proffesional photo! I present... Mom's birthday socks:


I am ready to steek my vest, maybe tonight. Last night we put an offer on a different house. Lots of "potential" in the next house we are interested in. It's even on the same street as the other one we bid on.

No word on getting the house we want yet, just waiting for now. Maybe they will lower their price...

I have been moving fast on my vest project and need more yarn, but since it's doulbe stranded, the transition will not be noticable. I can't wait to try the steek!

Mom owes me a photo of my her birthday socks, for now, here is a photo right before they were done.

Yarn used: Diakeito Diamusee Fine, 100% wool, color 121, hand wash.
Addi turbo needles 1.5 2-socks on 1 long circular.

We have been planning to buy a house. In JANUARY... suddenly we have loan approval, have looked at 7 houses and are in negotiations on one! It looks like we are going to get the price to where we feel comfotable. The hardest part has been all the daydreaming of projects on a house that we don't know if it will be ours or not.

Things we need to learn how to do:

• tile a floor
  
• Renovate a kitchen
  
• build a shower stall
  
• trim tree branches
  
• turn a wood fireplace into gas
  
• find the right BBQ
  
• AND MORE!
  

By the end of the week I hope we have agreed on a price and have moved into the inspection process.

I did manage to knit a lot this weekend as well! A great stress reliever. I started a vest with yarn from an abandoned sweater I was designing in Cascade 220. I HOPE I have enough yarn for this project! This vest is knit in the round and will be my first steek.

Life has just been busy and I am knitting for gifts, so not a lot of photos at them moment.

I bought a large foot stool a while ago on Craigslist and finally was inspired to cover it. Instead of re-upolstering it, I made a cover out of a set of curtain panels I picked up at a discount store. I also made matching pillows. This looks so much nicer!

BEFORE

AFTER

Other decorating was in the form of an IKEA TV stand instead of a coffee table. I also installed overhead shelving in my storage closet for paint supplies that aren't in need of easy access.

Jesper and I have started house hunting Sunday and are now anxious to get my condo on the market so we don't feel the pressure with wanting a house we like and not having sold my condo. If we sell before we find a house, we'll move onto the sailboat in Seattle for a bit. Jesper is super cautious about foundation/mold problems, so we are taking caution. We found a layout we like already. Lots to think about. I wish I wasn't loosing sleep over it, it's just too exciting to think about I guess!

Tonight I made Swedish meatballs for dinner, we'll see if Jesper agrees that they're "Swedish."

I Heart Stitch N Bitch-It's the book that got me deep into this knitting obsession with the culture of knitting in groups to go along with it.

I am excited to say, a pattern of mine will be published in the Stitch 'N Bitch Page-A-Day Calendar 2008: The Knitter's Calendar.
Here is the 2007 version on sale now.

This past week I went to two cycling classes and feel really good about it. Saturday, I went with Michelle and Bill to Vashon Island on our bikes. We walked our bikes on the ferry and did a 15 mile ride. The hardest part was the 1 mile steep climb up the island.

I picked up some yarn at Weaving Works for the X-mas stockings from Holiday Knits. Mine will be Whie with a red snowflake and Jesper's will be Red w/ white snowflake. Being knit stockings, these will be able to hold a feww little gifts, unlike the felt one I grew up with. Jesper never had stockings at his house.

I am putting final touches on a toe-up sock knitting pattern I'll have for sale. I can't wait to get this one out the door. I am test knitting it again with Socks that Rock and am still convinced it's my favorite.

I finished a pair of socks that I took to Sweden, I was determined to use the ENTIRE skein of yarn and ended up with a pair of never-ending socks! They are great, photos in time...

Today is my 2.5 year blog-versary. I never remembered to have a blog-versary, so in the name of wondering who is reading my blog, maybe y'all would be kind enough to leave me a comment when you read this?

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, I haven't been taking any photos lately, so it seems boring to post.

I'm back in the groove "no sweat" at work. I am hitting the gym with more effort now as well. Last weekend Jesper and I rode the 20 mile PSE/watershed/Tolt pipeline trail which was round-trip from Red Hook Brewery. It has some tough climbs, which my heart rate couldn't take, but overall it was really fun. My new saddle + new bike shorts made a lot of difference. When I did the same ride a year ago, my biggest complain was my butt.

My old gym went out of business and my membership was transferred to L.A. Fitness downtown Bellevue. I was planning to cancel right away, but after visiting a few times and deciding I like the Cycling class, I am going to commit to at least twice a week. This gym is new, so it is especially clean and large and I think it's worth the trip now. I still miss Jazzercise, but won't be able to do that sort of thing until January at the soonest.

I'm still knitting on the socks I was doing on vacation, so that's not so exciting. But this weekend we sailed to Eagle Harbor and I went to Churchmouse Yarns and got some Rowan chunky print (Rhapsody 086) on clearance. We bought the movie "The Shining" last night and I knit the who scarf in the time it took to watch the movie and the "making of" portion as well. It's going to be a gift. Actually, a lot of my knitting from now on will be gift oriented only, so I may or may not reveal the images. Maybe I'll show the pictures, but not say who they are for, then it will still be a surprise!

This past weekend was really fun, the highlight was 3-4 Dall's porpoises playing on our bow wake. I knew from a dolphin viewing trip in New Zealand that if you want them to hang around the boat, you have to lay down close to the water and make crazy squeky noises! It's sort of embarrasing to sound like that, but they stayed to check out the noise, darted back and forth in front of the boat and one rotated up to look at me.