In good company

We are finally moved and quite happy. The apartment is roomy and fits all of our possessions, the neighbors are friendly, but not nosy, and everything is falling nicely into place. I'm still working and Mutti is looking for work. The kittehs could care less about all the unpacking and organizing business, and I am thinking about getting a puppy. Just thought I'd throw that last bit out there for comments and suggestions.
Mutti and I recently visited Alisha's home where we met her two daughters, Aubrey and Jade (Aubrey is the Victorian-looking blonde, and Jade is the one who could be a beat poet); her husband, Jim; her son, Tanner; and her puppikins, Sweetie. We had the most wonderful time just sitting, knitting, chatting, drinking tea or in my hungover case - coffee, and nibbling breakfast fodder. Her home is so relaxed and charming that I should be using phrases like "the most delightful occasion" and "nary a worry aside from the disreputable neighbors" except I'm afraid a Jane Austen book will come thundering down from nowhere onto my head. Ker-thunk.
Anyway, we had a splendid (there I go again) time and I really hated to leave. Damn work.
Last week we celebrated Teener's sixty-fourth (64) birthday. I almost bought her an over-the-hill card, but I realized I was 14 years too late. Happy Birthday again, Teener! Mutti made her a delicious cake (surprise!) and she showed off the bracelet her grandson made for her. A very classy piece, Mother of Pearl buttons and all. She had us over the next day for wine and nibblies and knitting. Lots of fun.
I meant to share my bread making with you, but this was around the last of the month and I wasn't posting. I switched our bread recipe from all white wheat to half white wheat/ half whole wheat. It makes the bread yummy, light, and healthy. A nice change. Mutti was convinced she wouldn't like it, but of course she loves it. Silly.
My schedule is being switched around a bit at work which means that I now have Monday afternoons off which means I can go to Monday night knitting. It's usually held in the dining area in Bayview Thriftway downtown unless the space is otherwise occupied. This week we'll be at Marathon Park soaking up the sun.

I have been knitting, really. Julep is done done done and I've even worn it a few times. Just haven't managed to take pictures. The body of FLS is done and I'm almost done with the first sleeve. The lace pattern is kind of wearing me down a bit (sandpaper, grand rapids, screaming children might be better) so I had to put it down for a bit. I picked up a hand spun scarf and just last night I knit a few rows on my Selbu Mittens. Color work is in the air.

We bees moving

This is the scene in our house this week. Mutti and I are moving to an apartment down the street. Our rental house costs too much and they don't do a lick of work around the place. Pooh-pooh to them. The apartment is very nice; three bedrooms and two bathrooms. An open kitchen (none of that awful galley business), and the typical closet set-up for washer and dryer. I'll post pictures when we move in, of course. One of the managers who works at the apartment complex is a crochetting Irish Bostonian. We were sold. Or rented, at least.
There has been knitting, but not a lot. I'm mainly working on Julep and FLS. The body of the FLS is almost done. Julep would be done if I can ever get a minute to sit down and finish the sideways garter stitch collar - 4 sts, back and forth, knitted on. Mindless, all-time consuming. Did I mention that we were watching Toby this month? My sister and BIL are busy getting their house fixed up so they, too, can move. Instead of down the street they're moving to Colorado. Much sadness, but it'll give me a reason to travel.
I'm exhausted right now so I'll distract you with some bee pictures while I slip away to pack boxes/ have a cup of tea/ sneak outside to knit. This bee was on our Salvia last week being as busy as a you-know-what. She even climbed on our hands. Very contented. She must have been receiving the bee love we were sending her. Bzzz!
If you want more bee love go see Pinneguri's Socks Bumblebee. Sweet!

Yorkshire Yarns Grand Re-Opening and Monday Night Knitting at Bayview Thriftway

I'm sorry to say that I completely forgot to take pictures of Sonya's new shop. Yes. Crap, indeed. I did, however, take pictures of the lovely lovely yarn that I bought there. Pictured above is one divine ball of Yarn Place Graceful Lace. Gorgeous stuff. I can't wait to knit it and, knowing me, I probably won't wait. I also bought

3 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool for mittens (what else with those obnoxious new colors?),
a skein of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock for Mutti,

and a skein of Cobblestone by Fibra Natura. I love this yarn. It's looks like hand spun, it feels like hand spun, but it isn't.

Her new shop is so much larger than the old place. She moved from 900 sq. ft. to 3000 sq. ft. Woo! And guess what? She's going to start carrying spinning supplies! Swoon!! That'll give me two brick and mortar places to buy wool from: YY and The Allyn Knit and Spin Shop. The new Yorkshire Yarns is located on 100th St in Lakewood. If you're coming from Olympia you can take I-5 to exit 124 to Gravelly Lane (drive? rd? Gravelly something.). Keep right and follow that past Clover Park HS and the Shibori Dragon Shop. It's right near the Ram restaurant. Easy to find. Plenty of parking, too. She has comfy seating, great lighting, and good music. Not to mention spectacular yarn! Congrats, Sonya!

***

While I was at YY I saw Margit and David from Monday Night Knitting at Canvas Works. They told me that the usual group was meeting at Bayview Thriftway so of course I went. Margit is a kick in the pants, as well as an excellent knitter and figure skater. That's her pictured above, being scary for the camera.
It was great to see all the knitters I haven't seen for a while. This is Jack helping Marianne with a baby hat. Sitting next to him is his wife, Pam. I've been trying to save up for a new wheel so I can sell my Ashford to Pam, but there are lots of factors working against me. Mainly, the government, but not in a conspiracy, cover-it-up sort of way. Mainly in a must-pay-my-bills way.

And this is Angela, Soap-maker Extraordinaire, IT Guru, and one of my favoritest peoples. She's going to trade me soap for yarn. Yay! Hopefully we'll get together to make soap again soon.

As well as finishing some knitting and spindling at Bayview, I also finished a delicious ice cream cone. They have the best ice cream there. Go try it. Yum!!

One more thing: I'm sure I told you that DJ is pregnant, but I didn't realize how far along she was. 23 weeks! I have to start knitting baby stuff right now.

And with that, I leave you with this view from Percival Landing. Goodnight!

p.s. I only have the second sleeve and the collar to knit on Julep. I'll be wearing it by Friday.

Knit in Public: If you've got it, flaunt it.

Yesterday definitely qualified as fun in the sun. It was so great to be around people who didn't look at me as though I belonged in a loony bin when I talked about smelling wool. There were door prizes, or rather, gazebo prizes, vendors, classes, and many wonderful knitters. Mah knitties!

I was kept very entertained between taking pictures of Tina,

meeting knitters,

learning about art felt (although I admitted that I'd use the pencil roving for spinning instead),

seeing Sonya again (she's re-opening her shop tomorrow!),

listening to Lois of Allyn Knit Shop announce numbers for the prizes with plenty of encouragement from knitters all around,

and watching lots of knitters do their thing - knit, talk, laugh.

I taught Mom how to start socks from the toe up using the Figure 8 cast on, but she was too tired to start them even though she thought the cast on was fun.

I bought some wool, of course. I don't know why I always end up buying roving instead of yarn at knitterly get-togethers. Maybe to make it last longer?

8 delicious ounces of Targhee by Mountain Colors. Lovely wool that reminds me of Cormo with just the right amount of lanolin left in. I'm thinking cabled vest. Also, 100g of Zitron pencil roving (rainbow) and Skacel Schoppel Wolle (brown) for sock yarn! I've been wanting to try this pencil roving for a while and I finally caved. It wasn't really caving. Completely voluntary on my part. No pushing needed.
I can't wait until tomorrow: we're going up to Lakewood to visit Sonya in her new shop. More yarn to come!

As happens at these knitting deals, not much progress was made on my knitting. I did finish the body edging on Julep and knit a repeat on my FLS. I'm going to try and finish one of the sleeves for Julep on the bus today.

Cashmere included

I've mainly been working on two knitting projects (although that's going to change soon): Julep and the February Lady Sweater. The body of Julep is almost done. I'm just knitting the sideways garter stitch edge which is taking much longer than anticipated. Great bus knitting. I've had the lace pattern for the FLS memorized for a while now. Also great bus knitting. Wonder why I'm only working on these two projects? Yup.

***

In payment for machine washing my not machine washable socks Mutti has given me a skein of Jade Sapphire Cashmere. She is now forbidden to wash my clothes which I'm not really sure why she was washing in the first place because I'm pretty capable of doing my own laundry. Hm. Anyway, I'm now the happy owner of a yummy skein of cashmere. I dyed it a subtly variegated green and I'm going to use it to knit a smaller version of the Bleeding Hearts Stole by Anne Hanson. Yes, another lace project. They'll all get done, eventually.

Say hello to my new flash drive. It's the one Adrian posted a little while ago. It was such a yoink jerk move, but I had to have it. Now it holds all my pictures and a back up of my music. Now that I've deleted my thousands of photos the computer runs much faster.

Plus, you have to love how it looks like it's getting it's brains sucked out when plugged in.