mittens and a ferry ride

M had a rare night off on Friday, and was thus in charge of figuring out a really cool date for us. He delivered, and we took a ferry to Bremerton, ate seafood at Anthony's and delicious ice cream at Cold Stone, then sailed back home to Seattle in time to watch Stargate Atlantis episodes with Mr. Y. Also, I made these sweet convertible mittens for one of M's co-coaches as an end-of-the-season gift, and tried them on for a few pictures. They're SO freaking warm. Note the pink fairy nail polish in the photos. My 4 year old cousin accosted me on a recent babysitting night. You should see my toes.

Pattern: Flaptop Mittens by Kim Hamlin in Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted
Needles: size 1 & 3 dpn
Mods: Flaps were originally way too long, so I frogged halfway and reknit, decreasing much more frequently.

Here's M on the ferry, and then dealing the cards for a ruthless game of gin:

While M spent the rest of the weekend at work, I crafted my brains out to prepare for IHR next Sunday. Here's the tip of the ice berg, harvesting pages from a 1938 Swedish picture book with PVA and more paper in the background:

ihr on may 4!

I've been knitting in tiny spurts, spinning in long strides, and paper crafting to kingdom come. With precious few photos for you. Here's why:


I Heart Rummage is on Sunday, May 4 from noon to 4:00 and I'll be there! It'll be my first indie art/craft show booth in over a year. I'm excited, nervous, and scrambling like a mad woman to put everything together. I'll be selling mostly my paper goods, but I plan to temporarily remove everything from Nessie Knits and have a big, scrumptous pile of yarn for sale too.

If you're in Seattle, come enjoy the fun!

this guy...

...made it into graduate school today. Yay!

checking in

I don't have much to report on the knitting front. I've hit a snag with my Minimalist Cardigan that I'm still working out. The cardigan fits me throughout the bust and body, but the shoulder seams hang way too low and the sleeves hit me at the wrist instead of mid-forearm like they're supposed to. That doesn't sound too bad, but we're talking WAY off....like, 4-5 inches too big. I'm trying to figure out what I should do. Rip out half the sleeves and front pieces and re-knit to my own adjustments? Or set the sleeves in where I need them to be and steek the selvages? I've never done any steeking before so I have to say this terrifies me, but I may just get brave. I basted the left sleeve and seamed it according to my measurements, so I feel like it would just be quicker and easier to seam the second sleeve to match and cut away.

Aside from that, I have a bit of fun on the agenda for this weekend. M is in Oregon coaching another regatta tonight and tomorrow, and will return late Saturday. He owes me a hike on Sunday, and then we're off to Vancouver, BC for 2 days to visit with M's mother who will be in town for a conference. I'm excited to have some time off work...I love weekend getaways that aren't actually on the weekend. That way I still get relaxing time and travel, without the stress of trying to squeeze it all together. While M is gone tonight and tomorrow I have a couple of recipes to try out (vegetarian southwest sweet potato soup for my slow cooker and some vegan cranberry-currant chocolate breakfast bars). On top of that, there will be old movies to watch (Notorious? Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? MacGyver episodes? I'm all about variety here), yoga classes to attend, and a grouchy orange cat to cuddle with.

Also, I'd like to give a shout out to my secret lover (in my head), whose delicious picture you will find below. Thank you, Kira, for sending this to me with happy Friday wishes. And thank you to whoever it was that decided a little more oil on this body was necessary.

good news

My Minimalist Cardigan will be blocking tonight, and ready to sew together tomorrow. Yay! This is especially exciting because I've been winding balls of Berocco Peruvia in a beautiful green color in preparation to begin knitting Norah Gaughan's Tilted Duster. Both patterns are from Interweave's Fall 2007 issue, so I think next I'll have to make something completely different to shake things up. But I definitely need to work on finishing my Logan River Wrap as well. In the meantime, I've got new yarn in the shop...

Rainbow Trout is 2-ply handspun merino and mohair, nice and sparkly and fishy:

Reykjavik is an icy 2-ply handspun merino and tencel:

Laguna Sunset is single ply heavy worsted/chunky weight made from merino: