Last Hurrah for Black/Red/Metallic

Last night was the Full Buck Moon. I didn't get out to take its picture. You'll just have to imagine a big bright full moon, okay?
So, I haven't been very faithful to Project Spectrum the last two months. Not quite sure why, except that maybe I found the combo of red/black/metallic sorta uninspiring. However, I'm willing to give it one last try.
Herewith, some red and black yarn. This is Cherry Tree Hill possum, superwash merino/possum. It's been discontinued and I got some on a super clearance. It is soooo soft and lush, will make something nice and cozy. Whether it will be a sweater or a shawl, hasn't been determined yet. I am sorta leaning toward a shawl, since I seem to be in a sweater funk (see previous posts re: CPH) and shawls are easy and still provide warmth and cuddle-factor. In this climate (read: blast furnace most of the year) warmth is a given, but I do have family and friends in colder places.

Just so you can see how far I had to stretch to find something red, here's my phone.
Well, it's red and metallic, right?

How about a nice red rose?

More red roses?

Okay, that's it. I almost got out some pictures from July 4th, because I have some shots of my grandcarrot, his mom and dad, all wearing red shirts.
That would be a stretch.

Enough ramblings from the melted remnants of my brain--I am quite ready to bid adieu to the month of July.

Oh, except for one thing: wishing a happy birthday to the newest teenager in the family, Brian. Hope it's a good one!

What's Happenin'?

Well, Sunday was a party day. I know, I know, you thought that two parties on Saturday should be enough for one weekend. Well, obviously not. Sunday was a birthday party for our favorite LA restaurant critic/blog queen/crochet maven/vintage-estate sale-thrift shop-lover. As part of the entertainment, she provided us with yummy food, TWO birthday cakes, and this amazing stack o' yarn. If you check on her post today, you can see the amazing Tower o' Squares that resulted. Although there were cries of surprise at Yours Truly holding a crochet hook, and actually CROCHETING a square, I have to say that I have done many many MANY miles of crochet in my crafty career. I was even able to do a granny square from memory. (OK, don't look too closely at that center--but hey, it's done!) Mmm, those chocolates didn't last very long, either. They were the reason I needed to go for a loooooonnnnggg walk last night!
I didn't take very good pictures of the gift opening--had my camera on the wrong setting, and everything came out blurred--so I am just going to share this one with you:

A gorgeous crocheted vintage tablecloth/shawl. Absolutely mind-boggling!

Gratuitous kitty picture courtesy of Mr. Highland who obligingly posed on the diner quilt.

Mondays are for knitting in Montrose, twice a month. Today was the dreaded Unraveling of the CPH sleeves--the caps had somehow gotten rather misshapen. Sigh. So I persuaded the Knit Devil to haul hers along and we had an Encouragement Day. While she attempted to pick up almost 400 stitches onto a 24" needle, I did some math. Recounted and did more math. Ripped. Recounted. Ripped some more. With a lot more encouragement from KD and Coffee Patty, I finally got the count right. Sleeves now have armpit bindoffs, and are ready to start the cap decreases. Hopefully this time they won't look like arrow points! Oh, and those picked up stitches? With a couple of extra Options cords, KD managed to get them picked up. Many thanks to MJ for helping us, too. Also to the staff of Coffee Bean for providing the arctic blasts necessary to work on this much wool in July! (Yeah, I'm one to complain; mine is in the Durango Yarns Colorado and considerably lighter in poundage than KD's Black Water Abbey. Hey, mine is 1/4 dryer lint, hers is all wool!)

Progress photo of the Rose Garden Shawl, which now contains one entire skein of Silk Rhapsody:

And another gratuitous kitty photo. Yes, I think my "baby" is gorgeous. When I woke up this morning, he was sleeping curled up around my copy of HP7 with one paw draped fetchingly over the book. Since I don't keep the camera in the bedroom, there was no way to get a picture for you, so you'll just have to imagine the fluffy cuteness, ok?

Party!

Sometimes, life decides to pile on the events. July 21 was one of those days. Not only was it the release date for Harry Potter 7 (yes, I'm a fan), it was also the date set for a couple of other events.
Garden party! Not like the ones HRH Queen Elizabeth throws, where hats and flowered dresses are the order of the day; this one was a housewarming party for Anne. You can read her take on her big move on her blog; and you can see more pictures from the party by clicking on my Flickr badge over there on the right. They're in a set called Anne's Party.
The setting was right out of one of those glossy home magazines--a lovely garden behind a charming Craftsman house.

Roses and all manner of flowering plants, a big tree with enormous puffs of yellow flowers, and lots of good company. And good food.
Anne got lots of neat things to help her start fresh in her new place.

Of course I had to include this pic of her talking to my Grandcarrot, his mom and auntie.

Yes, the color theme for the party was orange, purple, and lime green. With all the green grass and greenery, it looked festive and summery.

I followed that party up with another gathering, of folks who used to work together at That Internet Company. When we were all laid off, we started a Yahoo group for the "orphans" and have used that to keep in touch over the years. Saturday night we met at a Local Watering Hole not too far from our former employer, and got caught up and reminisced a bit. As George put it in his email to the group today: So many times people hug on the last day of work and say, "Let's keep in touch, let's get together" and then they never do. Not the case here, which is a testament to why E*** was such a great place to work at: a sense of family (not E*** the entity, but E*** the family -- each of us.)

I'm looking forward to more Orphans gatherings! And the next time I will bring my camera.

Then I went home and read the first three chapters of HP7. No comments here--except to say that it starts off in the middle of the action and gets better every page.

Today there's another party, this one a knitty kind of gathering, which I'm totally up for. I need me some fibery calm and good talk! Besides, knitting sessions tend to make good blog fodder.
Speaking of which, has anyone besides me noticed that blog posts have dropped drastically since people are spending so much time on Ravelry? It's given me a whole new incentive to photograph my yarn and projects and then upload them to Flickr and to Ravelry. Now, if I were actually to use the site to catalogue all my yarn, I'd probably crash it. No, I'd certainly crash it. Sigh. Guess that means I'll be thinning the stash as I go, which is a good thing. I haven't forgotten that this is The Year of Organization. (I haven't forgotten, I've just gotten lazy or heat-stroked...)

Color!

I think that lately I have had a yearning for some color in my life. Just look at what I worked on Friday night:

This kind of comes under the heading of "bright enough for you?"

It's a rag quilt, so called because the seam allowances are on the outside and they're snipped every half inch so that they will ravel and fray and be extra-cozy. There is a layer of batting between the squares of flannel, except in the four-patches, so it is nice and warm and satisfyingly heavy when you curl up in it. I do think this one is destined for a grandchild--the colors are just fab.

This is a kit from Malibu Quiltworks, which specializes in flannels of all sorts. They have dozens of pre-cut squares--you can even buy the batting pre-cut, which I think is the bee's knees since there is something rather soul-sucking about cutting yards and yards and yards of batting into squares.

And yes, I will take pictures of the other side of it once it's snipped and washed--the sewing and laying out of this type of quilt is definitely the easy part!

There's been some other colors coming into my life, too. ET was apparently busy a couple of weeks ago, because first there was a package from See Jayne Knit and then there was one from Little Knits. (By the way, NAYY, just a happy customer. Or at least ET is!)

First, this wonderful alpaca from SJK. Color is Cafe au Lait and it's soooo soft and silky it's almost smooth enough to drink up.

Next up is her Clematis, a huge honkin' 175-g of delicious superwash BFL (Blue Face Leicester) yarn that must have come from an extremely pampered sheep. How else to get the yarn so yummy soft? The colors are wonderful, too, although I have to say they make me think of watermelon rather than clematis. That may be because the clematis on my back fence are lavender.

This may well become a Clapotis. I was not tempted by the pattern till I was in Paris and saw a billboard using the word. It stuck in my head, and now I need to knit one.
Baaaa!

So, more BFL, this time from Fleece Artist. One skein in Blackberry and one in Autumn. Also a hank of Sea Wool in Autumn.

It came with a sock pattern, but will probably become a nice cozy scarf. Perhaps Branching Out or the Dayflower would look nice in this colorway--I'll have to see what happens when I start knitting it up.

The BFL is (I think) destined for some multi-directional knitting. I've been wanting to experiment with that, and I think these colorways will look good. As much as I love handpainted and variegated yarns, and as much as I love knitting lace, I don't always like the way the two work together. But after doing Lady Eleanor with the Rowan Tapestry (yes, #2 is almost done--she's only got 3 more tiers till she's completely knit, so she's warm and heavy to work on in this weather!) I am totally enamored of finding the right patterns to show off the brilliant colorways!

Don't know why I'm feeling like making nice cozy stuff in the heat and humidity we've been having. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, hoping that this year we'll actually have winter. I love winter!!

Ah well. Time to go wind some more yarn--I am trying to get all my new yarns posted into Ravelry as they come in, wind them into balls, and put them in my Ravelry queue with the pattern I'm looking at. If you're on Ravelry, do check out my progress and, as Mr. Rogers would say, be my friend! With all the yarn I have, I really do need to work on getting it listed and organized and maybe even (horrors!) weeded out.

Working on the same thing with my fabric stash. Sigh. One of these days I may get brave enough to share photos of that with you. Don't worry, I will post a warning at the top of the post!

Counting down till my copy of HP7 gets here! The really ironic thing is that I, who normally have NOTHING TO DO on Saturdays (and thus would be able to spend the entire day on the sofa with THE book) have three events on Saturday the 21st. Sigh. Oh well, I'm sure I can survive till late evening--at least, I hope I can! (And no, I will not be in line at midnight in costume. There are limits to my love for Harry, and costumes cross wayyyy over that line!)

And what are YOUR plans for Saturday??

Friday the 13th--Again??

What's with that, anyway? Not that I am superstitious, nor do I suffer from triskadekaphobia, but still.
Maybe that's the explanation for the summertime blues I'm suffering from?

Well, there was a respite this week. Not once, but twice, I got to go knit with my good peeps. Here they* are (well, some of them anyway, the others had already left when we broke for lunch) at Unraveled, where we went on a top secret mission. Not to worry, all will be revealed in due time.
*They* are Annette, Mary, Madge, and Fay Lynn.
Next up is a snap of my coffee table, full of yarn both caked and uncaked. This is what you do when you have to wait around for someone to come pick up an old appliance--and wait, and wait.
No, I didn't make it out of Unraveled without something following me home. Lisa Souza's Can't Elope kept following me around.
So it came home.
And hopped onto the swift.
And became....

A happy cake of yarn, ready to swatch!

Normally I don't much care for orange, but this was such a luscious pinky-peachy-canteloupe-y color, with just a touch of lime green here and there, and I couldn't resist.


They never did come, by the way. So I just kept winding. I think I am going to have to have a little chat with my local electrical utility. If they WANT people to turn in their old appliances, wouldn't you think they would make it easy??



No such luck. Yesterday was my THIRD appointment with them and my THIRD disappointment!

Oh well.

I got a few more rows of the Mystery Stole 3 done, too, but it isn't ready for its photo session yet. Soon, soon. I did download Clue 3 this morning so it will be ready whenever I am.

Do note, however, that I am sporting a "Slow Bee" button. I really am not racing anyone on this project!! (In fact, if some of the "guesses" as to the theme are correct, I may have to rip the whole thing out. Just sayin'. I do trust Melanie to pick something worthwhile, but honestly...)

Summertime Blahs

Babies in jail. The occasion was a birthday party at the park, and the "pen" was a good place to corral a couple of sleepy boys during the pinata-busting. Deryk (on the left) is 2 weeks older than Garrett.

They are a perfectly adorable pair.

Check out the Surfer Dude relaxing in his chair!

Can you tell I'm having a case of the summertime blahs?? Distracting you with cute baby pictures, which I didn't even take myself (they're lifted from D4 who is the dotingest of aunties).

There has, however, been knitting, just not the kind that makes for good pictures.

MS3 is now up to Row 119. If there's good TV on tonight, I might make it a few more rows. It isn't that I'm not enjoying it--it's a very good knit, the merino lace is just right for the #2 KP needles--it's just that I have to fight Padua for the chart. In fact, he's even drooled on it a couple of times, so I may have to re-print part of the chart. (It's two pages wide, so only half of it fits into the page protector. I'd add a second one, but then I wouldn't be able to move my marker up every time I finish a row.) (Well, if I could find my magnetic dooby, I could, but that's too much effort right now. It's hot.)(My current marker is two slices off a Macy's ad, scotch-taped together in the middle.)

Yesterday was a Montrose Monday, which is always a Good Thing. I was able to tink back four rows on the Rose Garden Shawl--did I mention that it had a problem on Sunday night? Something about knitting while playing with a Grandcarrot. Anyway, I had gotten te pattern "off" and rather than try to fudge it, I tinked back the four rows. Tinking Silk Rhapsody? Let's just say, it was not rhapsodical. Luckily Madgik, Mary, and MJ were not able to read the words in my head. Anyway, the shawl got corrected and is now back on track, and I was able to complete a few more repeats. Once it looks more like something, I'll take its picture again.

In other news, I am now pedometer-equipped, thanks to D4, and busily counting my steps. The goal is 10K a day. Right now, it's 7 pm and my total is at 2231. Sigh. I foresee a walk around the block a couple of times tonight--that measly total includes a trip to Party City for--wait for it!--party supplies (housewarming party for Anne) and a trip to San Gabriel Bead Co. for beads for another lace stole. Plus six loads of laundry.

Oh well, maybe my next post will be more interesting. Let's certainly hope so! Meantime, go on over to Anne's blog and check out the pictures of her darling kitten. Little Blackie needs a home quite desperately...

Festive Fourth

Not a whole lot to say today, as it's been pretty hot and I haven't done much. Yesterday was the Fourth of July and a holiday here in the USA, celebrated in my family's case by gathering together, eating and watching fireworks. D5 lives not too far from the LA County Fairgrounds (now known for some pseudo-hip reason as Fairplex) and they do a short but pretty display. So she and hubby hosted the party, and a good time was had by all.
Here's some of the food--the nibbles were already put away, and the desserts weren't out yet. But here you can see D4's yummy potato salad, the fabulous fruit salad, Anna's macaroni salad, plus there were burgers, dogs, veggies... Mmm!

The grandcarrot was dressed for the occasion:

The deelybobbers were obviously not his idea!




But he and Mommy and Daddy looked so cute in their matching shirts!


Remove the offending headgear, and he becomes a much happier little guy.

He loved the fireworks! Auntie Megi (aka D4) had burned a CD of patriotic music, so there was a suitable accompaniment--John Philip Sousa, Lee Greenwood, Bruce Springsteen--just right for watching explosions in the sky. Garrett also loves music, and he wanted to dance to every song.

What a change from last year, when he slept through the whole thing! Of course, he was only a month old and slept most of the time anyway. Now, at 13 months, he's learning new things every day. Oh, and walking. He especially loved that Auntie D5 has stairs that he's allowed to climb, since the ones at his house are off limits.

Knitting happened, but nothing I worked on looks any different than in the last post. My MS3 has been in time out, since I dropped a couple of stitches--Padua was wiping his mouth on my ball of yarn, and when I brushed him away, a couple of stitches slipped and promptly ran down. Now I have to gear myself up to check it to see if I did an ok job of picking them up, or if I need to rip back down (sigh) to "really" fix it.
News at 11!

Madge Made Me Meme Myself

So Madgik swiped this from La, and I swiped it from her, because it's just too blasted hot to think of anything else to do! Besides, the challenge will be to find different M-words!

Time for SCATTERGORIES, mes amies.

Here are the rules:
Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following.
They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up.
If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same first initial.
You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
Have fun!
My name: Marie
1. Famous singer/band: McLachlan (Sarah)
2. Four letter word: Meme
3. Street name: Muscatel Avenue
4. Color: Moss
5. Gifts/Presents: More yarn
6. Vehicle: Moving van
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Miniatures
8. Boy Name: Matthew (held on to that one through two pregnancies, both girl babies)
9. Girl Name: Marisa
10. Movie Title: M*A*S*H
11. Drink: Margarita
12. Occupation: Milliner
13. Celebrity: Mary Martin
14. Magazine: Martha Stewart Living
15. US City: Medford, MA
16. Pro Sports Team: Mudlarks (I know they're imaginary; see #10)
17. Reason for Being Late for Work: Might Make Mistakes
18. Something You Throw Away: Mucky stuff
19. Things You Shout: Merde!
20. Cartoon Character: Mickey, Mighty, and Mortimer Mouses

Hope you had a fun, festive Fourth!

ASK and ye shall receive!

One thing about those ASK people--if you say "yarn swap" they take it seriously!
Look at this tableful of loot:

Pretties, right? I mean, this is the good stuff! Malabrigo, Fiesta, Colinette, Noro...
merino wool for dyeing, raw silk for ditto.
Plus the obligatory stuff with labels like, "Mystery Yarn" and "Muppet Pelt."
So we picked. We chose, and we encourated each other.
After all, it was La's first day off her yarn fast, aka Knit From Your Stash. Kudos to her for sticking to it for the full six months!
No comment on what she took home. Let's just say, it's "seed yarn" for a new project. She will tell you about it when the time is right!


What came home with me? Well, this pretty Malabrigo did, and some fraternal-twin Compatto yarn that might make a cute baby sweater since there is a new granddaughter coming. At least, we've been told granddaughter. (Don't tell, but I might tackle the Baby Surprise Jacket.)

Some Noro Cash Iroha in a dark burgundy that, even in natural light, refuses to show its true color.




Some of La's first hand-dyed fabric, mohair in a color she calls "Algae." I do believe she blogged about this when she was dyeing it. I think it's pretty, and I think it can become something wonderful.

Sunshine Yarns sock-weight in a nice mix of browns and creams with a touch of pale yellow.

Baby bootees, maybe?
I loved what Wendy said: sometimes you get yarn, and you take it home, and you find out that it isn't really "your" yarn. Seemed to me that we all had some of that, and it was nice to find it all new homes.
The leftover yarns that we all felt too enriched to claim will be heading for Stitches from the Heart in Santa Monica, courtesy of Ellen.
Speaking of whom, she makes the meanest mac n' cheese in LA. All of the food was wonderful, including Madgik's noodle salad, La's lemon cake, the sandwich roll (was that Zoe or La? My bad!) and the sangria... I didn't get food pics this time, but if you check the other folks' blogs, I think the food will show up. (Note: Zoe brought the yummy tapenade and home-grown tomatoes and the sandwich rolls and Sangria were Wendy's. MMM!!)


Now, here's some stuff that has arrived in my mailbox. This is NOT from the yarn swap! This month's STR Club yarn, in a yummy hot hot hot red and orange blend; and my latest score from Melanie at Lotus Yarns:


My progress on the Mystery Stole 3: Chart A done! (We won't mention how many times.)

The Paris scarf, in its languid "Parisienne" mood, sunning itself on the back of the new sofa, and then "ready for my close-up, Mr. De Mille!"



Progress is being made on the Rose Garden Shawl as well as on the Noro chevron scarf.
Knitting has been happening.
Yay!

Full Strawberry Moon, and a "Fields" Trip

Moon view from my front walk, looking up through the crape myrtle tree. June is definitely strawberry season! Today's field trip was to northern San Diego County, to see the lavender in bloom.

It was definitely blooming, and the scent was heavy in the air.

The lavender fields are at the end of a long and winding dirt road. Let's just say, we brought the right vehicle: my truck is a good off-road vehicle!
But it was all worth it.

The lavender fields are spectacular, and there was enough bloom to satisfy that craving that's been existing since we were in France.

Sister-in-law and traveling companion Linda and I were thrilled to have been in Provence. There was lots of lavender "stuff" there but the fields were not yet in bloom.

So we were glad to have the opportunity to visit these, closer to us than France and thus much more accessible.
The fields are planted with many different varieties of French, English, Spanish and American hybrids of lavender. Some were in full bloom, some had passed their peak. The harvest was in full swing.

The farm is only open for visits during May and June. Today was the last day of this year's season. We caught the tail end of a tour, and learned quite a bit about lavender and its preparation.

There are llamas and Navajo churro sheep in residence on the farm, as well as lots and lots of lavender.
There is yarn for sale in the Wool Shed on the property. Some of it is churro wool, in natural colors and some dyed in lovely natural hues. Churro wool is a bit coarse, and this was spun into a rustic texture that spoke of felting and warm mittens. There was also some very soft and smooth wool dyed in wonderful shades. The guide explained that the dyer will often look outside and match the colors in the natural fields. However she does it, it's gorgeous stuff.

The distillery is where the cut blooms and stems are turned into essential oil and perfumes. The farm is a certified organic grower so all of their products are pure and natural.

Closeup of the lavender plant:

There are lots more photos on my Flickr page--just click the link on my Flickr badge and you can go see!

We finished the day with a visit to La Petite Knitterie in Ladera Ranch. No, this is not really "near" the Lavender Fields--there's a lot of hills and mountains in between--but it was a nice day for a road trip. Traffic was rather heavy going from one freeway to the other, as the area is being developed a little more rapidly than the roads are.

Anyway, LPK was quite wonderful. We *almost* met Lori Lawson, who does the gorgeous Capistrano Fiber Arts hand-dyed rovings and yarns, we got to fondle many of the gorgeous colors (and yes, some of them came home with us) and textures and samples. It's a great store and I for one will probably visit them again whenever I am in the area. Kat told us that they are planning to offer the CFA yarns (and others) on their website, as soon as they can. You can bet I for one will be checking it out!

That's it for tonight. See you in July... I'm off to bed, to watch the moon! (Moon gaze? Moon struck? Whatever!)