Stresses are definitely high lately and I’ve been coping with little thinks like breakfast quinoa

and knit mittens

quick crocheted scarves

and filling orders and posting new things to my store

This cute cupcake soap is now available in my shop.

There is so much going on this month it’s hard to keep up on the blog (especially when it’s been hacked and needs fixing by hubby, thanks hubby!) And now I’m off to the races!!!

Ps: Hopefully November will be filled with lots of weird novel type stuff, it’s NaNoWriMo month!

First peek at Portland, Oregon.

From our hotel room we could see a lot of the down town including the glass spires of the convention center in the left of this picture. The entire time we were in Portland we walked or took the free train. I really wish we had something like that here at home.

I was feeling pretty shy about taking photos in the market so I grabbed this one quick before too many people noticed.

Our first meal in Portland, in between my two classes on Friday, hubby and I stopped at the highly recommended Burgerville. Amazing veggie burger! Wasn’t too sure about the onion rings but hubby seemed to enjoy them. My Duckies sock also followed us around.

Friday night hubby and I stopped in at Stanfords for dinner. The atomsphere was lots of fun and the staff very nice. Here’s a picture of me after eating.

Saturday turned out completely different than expected and I for one was very happy about the mix up. The plan was Powells books and the evening riding jet boats. It was a lovely day so we decided to walk to the book store. That was about a 1.5 mile walk that neither of us was physically prepared for but we enjoyed it anyway. We walked across a large bridge.

There may or may not have been sharing of pictures with a friend still stuck in her cube….comments of jealousy may or may not have been shared….the weather was perfect for walking (but maybe a little warm for this office dweller!)

After our lovely jaunt down town we stopped into Powells books cafe where I met a lovely knitter (insert name when I find her card!) AnneLena Mattison

After a lovely chat and amazing pastry hubby and I headed off to enjoy the crazy maze that is Powells books.

A quick peek into the knitting isle.

After browsing the store I did come back for a few books and I found a super cute babushka ice mold.

For lunch we stopped at one of our favorite place Noodles & Company. I was impressed with a lot of the (local?) art displayed. Obviously Portland is a very creative place.

With our tummies stuffed we headed back to our hotel via the electric train in a rush to board the jet boats with proper clothing. We never would have made it in time (annoying traffic!) so graciously (cough) the jet boats let us reschedule to Monday. Instead hubby took a nap and I headed back to the convention center for the flash mob where I met Steven Ambrose and did some more market browsing.

Sock Summit Teams in the front of a giant flash mob dance.

For dinner we walked over to Pastini for pretty pomegranate lemonade and tasty vegetarian Italian dishes. If you’ll check out my sock it has moved to some much nicer KnitPicks needles I picked up in the market.

I picked these cute earrings up in the market. The week before Sock Summit I spotted these on Ravelry but didn’t have time to knit them up before the trip. I’m so glad someone decided to sell them. They fit in perfect and I had a lot of people comment on them including our waitress at Pastinis. After dinner we headed back to the convention center to drop off my donations for the For Eloise donations to SnowCap charity.

Two knit monsters went along with a bundle of wash clothes and four scarves.

The Yarn Harlot

A beautiful baby sweater and so many other generous knits for donation. When I left there were four tables covered in hand knit donations.

On top are two Kashmire yarns I picked up from Fiber Optics. I went back for a Spectra scarf pattern and superwash yarn to go with it. Now I’m a little nervous because the pattern calls for 420 yards and I ONLY have 420 yards!

Sunday morning and afternoon was full of classes. In the morning I took the Crystal Heels – Afterthoughts with a shape that fits! class by Lynn Hershberger. On our drive home I finished the first sock that turned out a little short so it might be going to grandma for Christmas (shhh! don’t tell her though) Lynn was a wonderful teacher with a definite love of color! She had multi-colored felted ball earrings that were so fun and she brought this amazing knit self-portrait.

Here is the cuff, funky afterthought heel and the beginning of the foot.

There was a few minutes between another stop at Burgerville for lunch and my next class so I stopped in the market to see the spinning contest and the beginning of the final fastest sock knitter contest.

A sock knitter contestant with a beautiful shawl.

The second class Getting Comfortable Knitting Socks by Angela Davis was three hours of answering questions people had. I always have issues matching my first and second socks and Angela had some ideas for the class. One idea, I’d only just heard of in my Friday class, was keeping a knitting journal or scrapbook with all of your project information and ball bands. It’s such an easy suggestion but I had not thought to carry a journal with me. Hopefully this will help with Actually coming out with matching socks. She even gave us a little welcome gift that included a starter journal. So far using my Rav project pages have gotten me only so far. It would be nice if they had an app for the Droid phone. The scrapbook/journal will be keeping me company from now on. One other thing I took with me was the idea of replacing SSK with a S1 K1 Psso for a less bulky look. Ok, I’m remembering other suggestions like preventing “donkey ears”, too. Anyway….

By 4pm the market was already packing up so I headed to the hotel to collect hubby for dinner at the Blossoming Lotus a vegan restaurant that was recommended by a co-worker. Best. Food. All. Week. mmmmm. I was really unsure if we’d end up with a bland or really weird dinner even after ordering our food. I was surprised and amazed.

Hubby got the Ginger Citrus Stir Fry

I got something from their specials Orkra Gumbo something or other that was amazing!

A great meal was the prefect end to a wonderful Sock Summit. Sadly I was full long before the food was gone with no way to take the leftovers with me. That was also fitting for a weekend that left me with memories. And yarn

Thursday night we made our way into Portland. The traffic here is rediculous! I can deffinitely see why there is a rail system available. So far we have walked to all of our desinations. That’s all well and good but by 3pm my feet were killing me and hubby and I headed back to our room for a few hours of rest (read sock knitting). I’m getting ahead of myself.

I had a wonderful self striping class from Deb Barnhill and an amusing lecture by Tina Newton from Blue Moon on dying yarn.

I will admit to being too chicken to approach Stephanie Pearl-McPhee when I saw her TWICE and also having a celebrity freak out over seeing Steven Ambrose just Sitting! Do celebs really just SIT?!?! This really must be what people feel about Hollywood stars. I did tell on myself and he obliged by calling me a chicken (self-requested) and asked if I would be around tomorrow.

Lunch was very yummy at Burgerville. The veggie burger was delicious. The order line as ridiculous as the traffic.

Well it seems I’m having issues getting the rest of my photos so gratuitous yarn photos will have to come later. What I do have is sock progress.

Sock Wednesday

Sock Friday

More tomorrow and eventually a really late post on the California State Fair fun.

Earlier today before the wonderful nap I did manage to wind this lovely, wonderfully soft, Cascade Yarns Epiphany alpaca cashmere silk yarn in a beautiful royal blue color. I’ve already cast on AINSLEY SCARF (Floating Reversible Cables) by Bobbi Padgett

A few rows on my sock seems all I’m able to do tonight and it looks like my pie is done so I’ll leave you with a photo of my sock

and a picture of my drowsy kitty

Hubby prepping the cake with strawberries on an amazing! 8 layered chocolate mouse cake with whip cream frosting…mmm.

Waiting for the pizza to arrive, still not sure we’re allowed to eat that at our ages.

Not a great picture but I didn’t get very many during the party. Mostly we ate pizza, cake, veggies, homemade coconut and blueberry marshmallows, played Dominion, joked about my crafting obsessions and generally had a good time. My brother was the only family to make it but I did have family well wishes from afar. Mom even felt well enough to talk for a few minutes before she got tired.

Birthday music did happen.

I almost forgot to get a picture of me so here I am at 30 in a crummy pic but it was better than nothing. I look a bit tired. What do you think of my new hair style? I thought 30 deserved a new look. After a week I’m still loving it. A hair straightener does the trick on this thing pretty quick….not that it shows in this pic after a long day of partying.

The necklace is new too, thanks hubby!

Friends treated me to a manicure and pedicure.

I just have to share the funny gift from hubby.

Yes, that’s a peg board….and yes I put it on my wishlist…..and no I didn’t think he’d buy it for my birthday. I laughed and laughed over this one! Hopefully it doesn’t take another year to get it installed to organize our tools.

All of that celebrating got me in the mood for some crafting fun. I managed some very comfy felted slippers and the hot weather dried them out quickly so I’m already able to wear them.

These were so much fun that it got me researching Youtube for other felting ideas and came up with this really quick and fun project. I’m not sure what it will end up as but since I had the warped loom with alpaca sitting since last year I thought merino pencil roving would make for a quick weave. Already I’m loving how soft this is. I’ll need to felt it at least a little so it stays together but hopefully it will keep it’s softness.

I can’t claim this is warped right but it looks ok to me.

Time for bed now before I waffle face my keyboard. Onward and upward…..bring it!

Hand balm pearl and yummy lip balm in sweetened Chocolate Coconut Coffee.

My first attempt at rebatched soap. I didn’t read any instructions while I was working on it so it was all from what I remembered reading (inspiration here). It didn’t go as well as planned but I love the final soap. It smells a wonderful vanilla lavender scent. There was too much water added so the soap foamed around the bowl and the pot was too hot so it scorched a bit on the bottom. Not enough to make the soap smell burnt thankfully.

And antiperspirant tester and gardener’s hand balm for a friend. Two different batches with different concentrations of wax, vanilla, and lavender.

Taking photos of life in a desperate attempt to preserve it.

Sleepy Peaches.

A miniature rose bush I’ve decided to nurture at my day job. Lots of work! It’s perfectly fine during the week but weekends I have to over water it and leave my desk light on. Over the weekend it shot up with bright green leaves and then started drooping by Monday morning. I’m already worried how it will survive weekends over the summer. I might have to take it home.

Trying out my 4 year old Scooba for the first time. It was stashed brand new in the garage ever since we moved to our condo. Very cool and fun to watch by both cats and people.

Sunset out our font patio.

Hail and thunder woke us Sunday morning.

Microwave brownie using batter “leftovers”. I can’t be expected to wait 35 minutes for a brownie!. 30 seconds in the microwave with a tiny bit of extra water mixed in the batter.

mmmm!

And baking sugary treats to feed to friends who helped me forget my anxiety for a few hours and laugh and be spontaneous with. By the way, if I haven’t mentioned before, the game of Dominion is fabulous!

Today is another waiting day and with all the cold, rainy, windy days I’m starting to get the urge to make these Solid Exfoliating Scrubs or some baby onsies for my cousin who just announced she’s pregnant! Hm, maybe both.

While dinner was cooking I sliced them up with an oiled pizza cutter.

Here they are dredged in powdered sugar and cornstarch.

The overall result is a soft creamy honey flavored  inside and a slightly sweeter sugary outside. These would be perfect combined with hot chocolate or roasted over a camp fire. I found them a little bland compared to the coconut handmade one I’d bought but overall still a hundred times better than store bought if you are going to eat them plain. Next time I’m thinking lemon, chocolate, or incredibly yummy coconut. Probably coconut.

Oh! Almost forgot my little coconut sprinkled marshmallow lump. That was REALLY tasty!

Here we go….

I picked the recipe, Honey Vanilla Bean Marshmallows, from Joy the Baker.

Sugar and cornstarch mix for the pan, to dust on top and tomorrow to dredge the cut cubes in.

All pretty and white like fresh snow….or powdered doughnuts…mmm.

This stuff is a sticky messy syrup. I highly recommend washing the pan out with hot water while it’s fluffing in the mixer. I’d hate for this stuff to turn into hard tack. It’s fun to watch it bubble though.

Hubby had to help me pour. This pan is super heavy.

At about 8 minutes I added pure vanilla extract. Didn’t have any vanilla bean so I added a little more extract. Love it when photos turn out well without trying!

I oiled my spatula and it might have helped a little but good grief this stuff is thick and sticky. Not a lot of spreading out with this stuff.

Tomorrow I’ll get to try these out and see if it was worth the effort. Hope so What was left in the mixer I added some coconut to and made a lump of on some wax paper with a sugar dusting with the hope of marshmallow for lunch.

Photo belongs to haveitconfections.

Found these really yummy dairy free ice cream bites. Tummy and mouth are happy and sock (gusset done!) is happy too

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