Over the summer I made plans to hand make all of my Christmas gifts this year. That was probably a crazy idea but it looks as if I might be able to at least give each person one handmade item this year. Over the last few days I washed all of my growing FO knits and now it’s time to get serious. No more fiddling around with projects that aren’t gifts!

On that note……last night I worked on shop orders…..and fiddled around with a new hand balm recipe that needs more adjusting (too much coconut oil) but looks amazing.

Happy holidays and here’s to procrastination!

Oh my. The last several weeks have been a roller coaster.

1. Mom’s cancer is back.
2. Transmission issues with our car led us to acquire a new suv (ahem, I will Not mentioning locking the keys in the new car!)
3. Mom in and out and back in the hospital.
4. Several get together’s including English high tea, Knottie Ladies knitting (read eating and chatting, love!), monthly book club, friend’s birthday, and Apple Hill trip with my girlfriends.
5. My sick cat….that was nasty. I threatened her with a trip to the vet and I think it worked because she seems fine now….I was bluffing…mostly.
6. Prepping for what has become a traditional themed Halloween party at our place. This year we chose Harry Potter. This means costumes to fit the theme and lots of themed food.
7. I’m going as Fleur and hubby is going as Bill. My hat isn’t finished.
8. The holiday shopping season has picked up and I’m working on a steady stream of orders and items for donations.
9. I’m posting a blog instead of sleeping but can’t seem to drag myself to bed yet.
10. There are only 45 days till my Christmas gifting deadline with little to show yet.
11. Next month is NaNoWriMo where I’m supposed to write 50,000 words….not sure how to fit this in with all the knitting….it’s causing a little stress….and I still want to do both.

Let see…this would be more interesting with a few photos….

Wet felting is a labor intensive process but usually worth the effort and a lot faster than knitting something and Then felting. This is just the first three layers with a sudsy foam all over. Likely it will also need some starching to help hold the shape.

It seems I missed posting about Lambtown 2011 from the beginning of October. As always it was a lot of fun taking classes and spending time browsing the vendor booths.

Since I am getting tired I’ll write up a full post about it later but here is a picture of the mittens I started at a class about using home spun yarns.

and spinning in class on my new wheel.

One last photo. It’s a yummy sort of homemade whoopie pie. I baked pre-made cookie dough from a co-worker’s kid’s fundraiser along with some Noah’s Bagel whipped cream cheese, about 2 tables spoons plus a teaspoon of powdered sugar mixed together for the frosting.

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!

Hubby and I enjoy visiting the state fair one night every year during the two week festivities. It’s fun to see all the people, rides, food booths, displays, musical and theatrical productions, and exhibits. The exhibits are probably my favorite because so many people spent time in a creative way and offered to display if for everyone who is interested in viewing it. Ribbons are given so it isn’t completely selfless but I think that improves the items displayed.

These were from the Craft exhibition:

Quilt and Blanket

Knit Shawl

Beaded Jewelry

Knit Tank top

We almost missed the exhibits with only 10 minutes to quickly browse two of the exhibit rooms it really wasn’t enough time to really enjoy it. I was excited to find a lady with her spinning wheel cleaning up for the night. I would have loved to see her spinning.

For food tasting we first browsed the food booths before most of us decided to buy ears of corn. The fun thing about these is all the toppings provided. Chili powder, garlic, butter. Everything smothered and covered. Four of the six of us there then shared a helping of fried cheese curds which was plenty. Disappointingly they tasted like fried mozzarella instead of curds. Oh well. After that we headed to the traditional cinnamon roll booth. I shared one with hubby since I’m never able to finish a whole one myself.

The evening was wasting so the six of us meandered through the vendor booths where I picked up some right hand rings for cheap and was called to by a number of vendors hoping I’d buy a mattress, a set of knives or frying pans, or let them fry my hair with their fancy straight irons. I find it all a little ironic.

Toward 10pm we headed outside to view the nightly firework show. It isn’t the most grand show but I Always love seeing the lights shimmer. For me it connects other strong memories in my past. The nostalgia and romance hang thick in the air for those few minutes and I’m 5 again lying in the grass with my parents and standing on the roof of my grandparents house at 21 knowing that in a year I’ll be married to my new fiance and 30 wishing my parents were there enjoying the show with me instead of at the hospital wondering if my mom will survive to see another year. So many emotions are packed into every light show no matter how grand or how small.

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

http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2011/07/portland_sock_summit_race_from.html

Sock Summit Twitter

Knitting Knewbie

Mr Poopers Day Out

StitchyMcYarnpants

Knittyblog

Knitpicks blog

Blue Moon blog (I attended Tina Newtons seminar on dying fibers)

Crochet Liberation Front

Rogue

Oregon Live on Sock Summit

Knitting Golfers blog 

Fourteenergirl

Lots of yummy yarn pictures and 2 finished socks once my computer is fixed….which might be several days from now based on how slow it’s going. Now off to bed. 13 hours of driving and a full day of work with only 5 hours of sleep in the middle and a hosed work computer ALSO doesn’t leave me with much left over energy. Till tomorrow.

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.

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!

My tendency is normally to point out all of my failures in case someone else missed them or thought I had missed them. It isn’t easy to be positive all of the time (or appreciated by the masses if you are) and on the flip side people don’t always want to hear a person complain non-stop. There is a fine balance between the two. What keeps a person’s attention? Have I kept yours? What are you looking for when you arrive here?

When writing here I’m usually rushed and I wonder how my words come across to someone who doesn’t know me very well. What do I sound like? Confident, self searching, too hard on myself, showing off? It will probably go down hill if I keep wondering in that direction.

While writing here I feel like I’ve grown as a person (and as a writer?) Usually there are fewer red lines than there used to be a few years ago even on a rushed post. At almost 30 do I sound my age? Older, younger? I have no idea what I sound like to someone else and it makes me curious.

My husband seems to think I’ve improved since starting out here but then he’s my spouse and I can question his sanity because he puts up with my bath supplies all over the kitchen when he’s hopping for dinner, very few eyebrow raises at my growing yarn stash, AND that he was perfectly happy to convert our master bedroom into our craft room. Sanity questioned and lots of love his way.

Taking courage from small things like a silk shawl.

The trouble is that life is always getting in the way. Rushing though the work day doesn’t leave much time or energy to think about eating raw but today I’m home by myself with some free time on my hands so I decided to try an interesting recipe I found for Raw Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce.

Looking in my cupboard I didn’t have any macadamia nuts so I used sprouted raw almonds and raw pumpkin seeds. I also didn’t have any raw basil so I used my trusty freeze dried basil nor did I have young coconut water but I did have a container of coconut water. Now I’m a picky eater and this all looked a little unlikely to me so I did add two table spoons of packaged pesto to the mix just in case.

I don’t own a spiral cutter but I do own a food processor with a grater that turned one medium/small zucchini into  a very nice shredded zucchini pasta.

Next I blended the  sauce ingredients together. 1 cup sprouted almonds and pumpkin seeds, 1 cup coconut water, 1 tablespoon freeze dried basil, 2 tablespoons pesto.

This was a little too much liquid for my machine so it leaked a little.

To top it all I sliced up some fresh organic California avocado. This was enough food for two people although I might have used two zucchini.

The result is a beautiful dish that is light and yummy and didn’t take long to make.  The sauce could also be used as a nut pate. I’m still craving some sourdough bread with butter, though.