A Moray Eel

Blue is my favorite color. I have lots of blue yarn. I just have to think of a project. Is it time for St. Brigid? What to do with all my new Beaverslide? Perhaps it will rest in stash to be petted and admired until the right project comes along.

I'm combing the old books and magazine for inspiration. The problem is it's getting a bit warm to knit. I have absolutely no sock mojo. I'm tired of hats and shawlettes. I was going to spin spin spin today, but then in a fit of domestic endeavor I sliced my dominant pointer. I think it will only be out of commission a few days.

I did manage to crochet a moray eel. Blogless Miche is setting up her Hook the Reef project and the wonderful projects and links to incredible Hawaiian marine life is inspiring. I put if off too long and have missed the deadline and he is kind of short for an eel. I got to used some left over Ultra Alpaca, and some white slubby stuff of questionable fiber content.



(Yup that is my pile of Beaverslide!)

Cashmere Island Stole

Pattern: Stitch Sampler Shawl by On This Day Designs. A free Ravelry download! This a well written and very forgiving pattern. I occasionally ended up with an extra stitch that I just knit together on the same or next row.
Yarn: Cashmere Island by Noro. Now discontinued. Colorway 11. 7 skeins. I have not blocked this yet, but it feels a little softer then Silk Garden, but is a little cushier. There were a few knots, but not an excessive amount and this yarn spit splices very well. This being Noro, there were some tufss and other little surprises that I just knit in. The color changes were fun and melded in a pleasing way imo. The stole feels very cushy.
Needles: size 10
Mods: I added a bobble row and shortened the center panel by 5 rows, and mirrored it on the other side of the bobble row. I also CO on two extra stitches for an end stitch.
Comments: The unblocked size was about 54 x 16 inches. I'm not sure when I'll get around to blocking this. Noro makes me happy:)

FO, Scarves

Annis, a new ending. My shawl curled something fierce, which is not so unexpected for stockinette. This shawl is knit from the lace up and a curve is created with short rows. Rather clever. Many on Ravelry seem to somehow avoided the curl, perhaps with the yarn choice and aggressive blocking. I was not so lucky and of course there were other misadventures with this shawl along the way such as the nupp debacle.



The pattern and the yarn were not to blame.

I may have posted about the green scarf before. I have two scarves down for the 2011 Red Scarf Project. I hope the project continues.



The red is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints, pattern Berlin Scarf by the purl bee. The green is yer garden variety SW Cascade220, pattern My Accountant's Scarf by Darlene Joyce. I used size 8 straights for the red scarf and size 6 for the green scarf. I soaked both scarves, spun them in the washer, and dried them on cool in the dryer. They survived without a hitch. Both are great patterns and FREE!

My house is covered with painters, scraping and power washing away. I like living in a house, but boy is there a lot of stuff that needs to be done.

PS: The red scarf counts as a Project Spectrum Project! Yay!

Bulky Cowl with Handspun

Pattern: Patricia by Debbi Stone from The Stitches of My Life Designs, free Ravelry download. A nice easy, fast knit-up. The challenge was grafting the provisional cast-on, staying in pattern.
Yarn: Ashland Bay SW Merino. Hand spun, 3-ply. Dyed after plying in crock pot with 2 shades of Wilton's cake dye blue, and a dab of orange.
Needles: size 13

The Ashland Bay fiber was very nice to spin. Some of the singles were very over spun so I unwound it a bit before plying. Judith McKenzie's description of a 3 ply explains that the singles will lock together producing a fat, round yarn, that is good for cables. I was a bit distressed looking at my singles as there were so many corkscrew areas. I had this idea with the dying that I wanted shades of blue with some black areas, but did not have the black dye, so I thought if I went with a bit of orange the orange would separate into yellow and red so I I would have blues and a bit of purple and green. Umm, well, I got areas of orange.

The cowl came out better then I expected. I don't think I'll over dye it like I planned. The yarn has a nice plump solidness to it. The soaking and thwacking have evened out many of the blobby areas.

I have never worn a cowl and I wonder if it should be a bit more snug. I can imagine the winter winds of Chicago finding their way through. If it was a little more wide it could be pulled over my head. I'm not sure when I'll go some place cold enough to try it out.


Speaking of weather, I wonder if this icky, still, humid weather will move out next week. I've put off the house painting for 3 weeks already. At least it's not super hot yet.

I'm gearing up to work 2 days a week in June and July. A little income is never a bad thing:)

This and That

Number 2 sister and her extended family came for a visit and they were lucky to get some sun before the deluge. The last week or so has been a lot of gray skies, thunder and rain rain rain.


My niece joined my Saturday walking group at Hoomaluhia and the view of the mountains was most inspiring. I love the greens of the Koolaus.



May 1 is Lei Day in Hawaii. My group had a great breakfast on the beach following our walk around Kapiolani Park. The leis were cordoned off until the Queen picks her fave, so I wasn't able to get close enough for any photos while the ceremonies at the bandstand were underway.


The War Memorial in Waikiki was especially picture worthy.



FO: Annis
Yarn: Mountain Colors Winter Lace Jr (600 yd ball) Colorway Wild Horse.
Needles: size 8, 10 for the CO
Comments: I had a lot of trouble with this knit that had nothing to do with the instructions which were straight forward. It had nothing to do with yarn either, which was quite lovely to work with. First off were nupps. They have a fancy name but they are bobbles just the same. I generally avoid bobbles. I tried the crochet hook method which seemed to work pretty well. However I somehow got my needles twisted up in the lace and one of the nupps was stretched out of shape. I was too lazy to fix it properly so now its a little fluff ball. Then when I was nearly done, I realized I had a group of purl stitches in the knit side of my stockinette. I dropped them down and ended up with a bunch of enlarged stitches. Never fear, I said, they would block out, but they didn't. While pinning out the lace, I found I had missed on stitch on the bind off and it started to unravel. Yikes! I picked them all up after the thing dried and did Jen's Stretchy Bind off on the purl side and re-blocked the whole thing. The CO off edge curls. I quit for a while. Perhaps some kind of crochet edging will help? Now I'm reminded why I avoid lace weight!


I rolled up Opal's ball of yarn. It's a big one! Bigger then my ball winder! 8.4 ounces. She can do lace weight, yes she can.


I scored this lovely hank of fiber. Thank you Opal!


FO: SW merino. I was going for a bulky 3-ply. The dye job is awful, I know. The plan is to knit something and then dye it again. I will stick to two ply for now. I still tend to over spin my singles. I unwound some of them, but there still is as lot of energy in this yarn. It may have to become a Slug, but I'm toying with the idea of a bulky cowl. Just what I need for summer in Hawaii, lol.

Mother's Day Card

My mother loves violets...the common ones that smell so nice. We used have them growing in the yard, but it takes a lot of work to keep them going. The flowers were the easy part of the card, but the leaves really stumped me. I had envisioned using hearts, but they just didn't look right. So, in the the end I printed some up and cut them out.

The Purple

The Purple, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Noro hat, pattern by Saartje de Bruijn,
Yarn: Cascade Luna
Needles: size 4 and 5
Mods: decreases on purl sections to reduce the slouch. I knit this one bottom up and tried techknittings method of jogless joins.

Totoro Card

Totoro Card, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Embellished Totoro calendar cutout. Commercial cupcake sticker and printed card. Martha Stewart umbrella punch.

Chemo Hat

Chemo Hat, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Noro hat by Saartje de Bruijn
Yarn: Cascade Luna. I used a little more then one skein of the turquoise an a little less then one skein of the aqua. I enjoyed this yarn. I've read that some skeins of many knots. I encountered 2 in 3 balls.
Needles: Size 6 and 5.
Mods: I knit this top down and went down a needle size for the last 8 rows before binding off. To avoid changing color on the purl row, I knit the last row of each knit set in the new color before doing the 4 purl rows.

This hat was to be for a 14 yo girl who will be going through chemo. I'm a bit worried it's too large, because we all know how cotton stretches and does not spring back like the wonderful wool. I'm going to knit another one with smaller needles, just because I really enjoyed the very soft yarn, and the pattern goes by so quickly.

Ornamental Pineapple

Ornamental Pineapple, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

It's that time of year again. My little pineapples are pretty but struggling. I suspect some of the colors that make this one look so colorful are a result of not enough dirt and fertilizer in the pot. There has been a lot more rain lately, also.

It's almost time for the Golden Plover to return to the North. They have donned their breeding plummage.

I finished watching Sharpe's Rifles with Sean Bean and was sad as I enjoyed the series. Surprise surprise, I found there were two more later episodes, 15 and 16 and one is now in the mail! Yay!

I'm almost done with the credentialing for my part time job. Yup. I signed up to work as a contractor at the Navy Clinic again. My last hoorah! Well I've said that before.

Deep Blue Slouch

Project: Hat with hand spun, improvised top down beanie.
Yarn: My hand spun from Corgi Hill Farms Superwash BFL.
Needles: 3 and mostly 4
Comments: I have no yet figured out the wraps/inch and going by yardage estimates and weight I thought this yarn was worsted weight, although it looked more sport/fingering to me by the eyeball test. I tried various needle sizes and noted that the yarn did not have much elasticity, perhaps due to the superwashing? Based on yardage I had enough for some kind of neck warmers, fingerless mitts or a hat. The ribbing for the mitts never looked right, so it became a hat. I pretty much improved as I went. The gauge swatch lied so I ended up with a 24 in diameter hat. Loving the colors I just kept kntting until I hit 9 inches, then decreased gradually, changed to size 3 needles, and did and twisted rib. This seemed to tight, so I changed back to size 4 needles and did a regular 2x1 rib to finish out. It actually fits pretty well.
I loved the colors being a blue lover and all.
Hmm, I have just enough left over for a tassle or pom pom...what to do.

Cabled Hat with Ear Flaps

Cabled Hat with Ear Flaps, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Urban Trekker
by Vladimir Teriokhin
from Lion Brand Yarn: Just Hats

Yarn: Aurora Bulky by Karabella
Bulky / 12 ply
100% Wool
4 skeins. Last ball was used for pom poms.

Needles: Size 10.5

Mods: none

Comments. This was one of those "gotta knit" knits. Now it's done and I'm quite happy with it. I'm not sure it will see much action this summer in Hawaii, lol.
I read that some people found a lot of knots in the yarn, but I only found one in the last ball.
I love that there were no seams or stitches to pick up.

Pettine

Pettine, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Pettine
by Corrina Ferguson
from Sideways Shawlettes
Yarn: 1.2 skeins. Handmaiden, Mini-Maiden. Colorway Nova Scotia
Needles: size 6 lace Addi
Mod: none.

Comments. This photo shows the the unblocked shawlette, modeled by sister number 4. I loved the sideways pattern and the yarn. I may block this yet, but I like the way the unblocked lace ruffles.

Finally Finished

This quilt block languished in stash for more then a decade and it's finally done! It's quite large so the choice now is a big pillow or have it framed. I'll see if sister number two feels it will match her decor as she has a birthday coming up soon.

Mom's portulaca are blooming in the dmz. Hardly anything grows in this area under the eaves. The soil is pretty poor there and sometimes the rain does not get to it.




I have 3 wips on the needles. That's a lot for this serial knitter.

My new whorl arrived from Majacraft. The original was a bit warped and although it did not affect the function it was quite noticeable so I got a new one. Hopefully Tracy will be able to re-machine the old one and find it another home. The new one is much better:)

Bowl from Empty Bowl event

Bowl from Empty Bowl event a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Hawaii Potter's Guild Empty Bowl Event

Wayward, Herbivore FO

Pattern: Herbivore, by Stephen West
Yarn: Our Connection colorway, hand dyed by Megan Smith, WaywardYarn on Etsy. 100% merino
Needles: Size 6

No modifications. After knitting with acrylic, this yarn was heavenly. The pattern was quite easy so this project flew off the needles! I'm keeping this one for me:)

Feral Knitting

I have been a big fan of the Feral Knitter and her incredible creations since I first discovered them.



Here's an example in one of my "stealth" photos of her at Madrona. I got to see her amazing shibori jacket in person, too.

I'm a continental knitter and my first efforts at two color knitting was very frustrating. My right hand just couldn't get a clue on how to throw and control the tension. I tried holding both yarns in my left hand and that was only slightly less frustrating, so I gave it up for a while.

Recently I saw a link on Ravelry to the Philospher's Wool video on two-handed Fair Isle technique and decided to give it a try again. These lovely people were at Madrona and teaching classes.

My project is the R2D2 hat by Carolyn posted on her blog, So Much Yarn, So Little Time. and the Star Wars charts by Sarah Bradberry. I found two balls of the the black sock yarn at the thrift store for 50% off of $2.99. Score! The contrasts are odds and ends of Koigu and mystery cream colored stuff.



This is way small for a hat and may become a bag, or maybe it will just remain a sampler. It's getting easier. Maybe this ole dog can learn a new trick.

On a somber note, the devastation in Japan is hard to watch. I don't have family in that part of Japan. I haven't heard from my "penpal" in Tokyo for a while now, but I can't help but worry about the impact there for him.

And I turned 60. Yikes.

Woodland Spirit 2 (testing wip)

Removed 1/8/2025

Eating my way across Tacoma and Seattle

I'm thinking about all the wonderful eating experiences I had on my trip, while putting off doing my taxes and waiting for "mostly sunny". Back to the reality of cooking my own meals :(
I hope the weather clears up for the toddler pool party next door.

Bite, the restaurant at Hotel Murano where the Fiberarts Fesitival is held had a nice hearty, reasonably price brunch. The two meals I had there, mussels/clams and dinner of grilled shrimp and various shared salads were both tasty and served in generous portions. The coffee was good! It was a great way to start the day of fiber shopping and classes.

Galanga Thai was an easy walk up the the street from the hotel, and on a cold evening the fragrant, steaming bowl of beef noodle soup warmed me cockles.

Harbor Lights is and older restaurant on the water with great seafood. I split the pan fried crab and Sandy had a salmon salad. They were both yummy! I like that for a mere $3 more, they gave us each our own salad and starch.

Two Koi is another closeby restaurant. I had lunch there after visiting the Glass Museum, and the Tacoma Art Museum. It had a cute decor, and served huge portions! The food was fairly standard.

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant has been for around for awhile and my sister eats there often. The sukiyaki was very tasty.


Another Thai Restaurant, I'll have to ask my sister the name (Royal Thai). Royal Thai Bistro had very friendly people and wonderful food.



Lola's was my favorite eating place of all. It is one of Tom Douglas's restaurants and has a Greek flair. I don't like poached eggs but Betty's egg's benedict were a work of art. The smashed potatoes were awesome! I had the hand made doughnuts. They were light, puffy pillows served with vanilla marscapone and apple butter. I loved the applewood smoked sausages. They make them in the restaurant, but can't sell them raw/frozen to take home:(




I really wanted one last breakfast at Lola's but it was packed on Sunday, so we went acrss the street to the Dahlia Lounge. Once again Betty went with the Eggs Benedict. Their variation is the Green eggs and ham, but no smashed potatoes.







Palace Kitchen is another Tom Douglas Restaurant. It was quite busy. I was sad the morels were not in season like they were the last time I ate there. I had a very nice beet salad and the appetizer portion of braised lamb shank. The bread was fabulous. They are known for their triple threat coconut pie. The crust has coconut and almonds and so do the pudding and whipped cream layers. No meringue on this baby! I had it twice. They do take out:)

Anita's Crepes serves up whole wheat crepes stuffed with a variety of fillings. The picture is what blogless Margaret ordered. Mine was stuffed with chicken and while tasty was not as photogenic.





Emmer and Rye is named after an heirloom type of wheat called emmer. Spalt is another example. The rye got added because they serve a lot of rye whiskeys and beer. The menu was quite interesting. They offer all types of portions sizes as well...tastes, appetizers, full or half entrees which is quite nice since I can't eat as much as I used too. The pork belly is reminiscent of kau yuk or the roast pork from Chinatown. We tried lots of different things and they were all yummy. The restaurant is in an old house. Our waiter was wonderful!




Top Pot Doughnuts sells "hand-forged" doughnuts. I saw their story on TV recently. The name came from an old restaurant called Top Spot. The sign was stored for a while and the S fell off, so they added a coffee pot and the Top Pot coffee and doughnut place was born. I picked my hotel because if was right around the corner from this place. The coffee was wonderful. The doughnuts were huge. They specialized in buttermilk (old fashioned) doughnuts and cake doughnuts. I think there might have been a glazed in there somewhere. It would get quite busy at times, like a bus stopped and let a bunch of people off. I would love there to be a Top Pot Hawaii, but then of course, I should lay off the doughnuts:(


Honore serves fluffy French pastries.

Bay Cafe is a reasonably priced place to have breakfast.

BluWater Bistro is on the water and has nice burgers and fish.


Vince's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria makes wonderful pizza.

FOs

Crown Mountain Farms had some cute cards in their booth at Madrona. The couple I remember had to do with yarn snobs...one said something to the effect, "real friends don't let friends buy acrylic" and the other showed a smug boyfriend sitting next to his girlfriend who is holding an armful of Acme acrylic yarn, with a shocked, disgusted look in her eyes.

I was looking for something cheap and quick, so don't judge me, lol.

Jiffy Scarf
Pattern: my own, random stripes
Yarn: Jiffy Thick & Quick by Lion Brand
Needles: size 8
So I got quick and cheap, but the yarn kind of stuck to my dry hands as I knit and was not fun to knit with. Also the mistake rib curled on the edges. Next time I'll add a border.












Home spun Shawlette
Pattern: Splendid Triangle Shawl #80982AD by Lion Brand Yarn from Lion Brand Yarn Free Online Patterns
Yarn: Lion's Homespun
Needles: size 13
I omitted 3 repeats of the pattern for a shawlette and used only one skein. This is to be a gift. I've used this yarn before and and it's a little bit splitty to work with but quite soft. It's quite popular here in Hawaii. This is easily a one day project. I watched the entire Bleak House series (the one with Gillian Anderson) while knitting this for the birthday today. There was enough yarn to do one more pattern repeat. Next time...





Butternut Hat
Yarn: Butternut Woolens
Needles: size 11
Yarn: Butternut Woolens, thick and thin
Pattern: free with yarn.
This was one of those "gotta try" yarns at the Madrona Marketplace. I wish I had made the hat a tiny bit bigger as it doesn't quite cover my ears.











WIP: Stephen West's Herbivore in handyed SW merino sock yarn, by Megan. It feels so good to have some of the good stuff on my needles. This project is flying!