Fiberly One

A girl can’t have too many skirts

I’ve worn this skirt several time since finishing it in May. It was one of several pieces I cut from stash fabric to coordinate and it is the same fabric as the tank I made earlier in the month. It’s from the same New Look 6470 pattern. I love it!

I started this second Elderflower skirt (Ruth Sørensen design) in March in stashed Crystal Palace Maizy yarn. I didn’t actually look at how much of this sock weight yarn I had and started knitting away. This pattern is designed to be knit with any weight yarn and doesn’t specify amounts. I didn’t have enough. Fortunately it’s not an old stash yarn and is still being sold. Two orders and two months later, I finally finished it.

Working through the stash, I chose some Fiesta Yarns Meteor, a rayon/cotton ribbon yarn. It was a risk since the pattern called for 720 yards and I had 700. My stash made the body of the skirt and off to the internet to find one more hank. As luck would have it, not only did Webs have the yarn in Jamaican Spice, it was on sale. The pattern is Kira K Designs Sawtooth Skirt. The skirt is stockinette knit in the round (fast!fast!fast!); the lace border is knit separately and sewn on.

Gifts

In May, we headed to Black Butte Ranch to spend the weekend with Dianne and John. We went in to nearby Sisters and the Stitchin Post the local fabric and yarn shop. Dianne, an avid cook, liked the aprons featured. She picked out the fabric and pattern and I offered to make it for her.

In March we celebrate Dianne and Tom’s birthdays. In June/July, it’s John’s and my turn. In anticipation of our trip to Hawai’i later this year, I found a nice tropical fabric that wasn’t too garish and made John a shirt for his birthday.

What better thing to do on my birthday than acknowledge a friend’s day?

Early in the month, Tom and I took a quick trip south to help Amy celebrate her 30th. I’ve finally pulled out the camera.

It was a busy month for our San Jose friends, but we were fortunate that Cam was able to break away and have lunch with us at Armadillo Willy’s in Cupertino. It was well over 20 years since last we met in those Apple days.

It’s not a milestone birthday, so I’ll just spend the day with the man I love and my charming pups. I’ll probably do a little knitting, maybe some sewing, and possibly learn how to edit movies on my new iPhone – or not.

On Thursday, it was number 26 for Tom and me. All in all it was a pretty low-key day, because we’d planned a nice dinner at Morton’s, The Steakhouse in downtown Portland. Morton’s uses Open Table an online reservation system, where Tom had noted it was our anniversary. We were greeted by the staff, who wished a happy anniversary, provided with a personalized menu (ah, the wonders of modern technology) and given a complimentary photo.

The food was great and the service excellent, so all-in-all, it was a special dinner.

Oh…and after three years of starts and stops, Katherine is finally finished. Neighbor, Laurie wanted to see the dress, so we promised to drop by before we left and she kindly took the picture for us.

It all started with trip to San Jose, then Denver, then Chicago, then Phoenix, then back to Phoenix at which time we packed up my mom and moved her to Oregon – in the matter of three months. By some standards that may not be a lot of traveling, but since I don’t have a real job, it’s a lot for me and my blogging slowed down to practically nil as we tried to get stuff done, entertain Mom, move Mom into her new apartment, etc, etc.

So I’ve had a geek week processing a large number of digital photos, putting them in to web pages and posting to our server and here’s what we have:

Dogs – lots of dogs
There’s Jake and Mandy, of course, who continue to entertain us just being them.
    

There were the visitors, Joey, the beagle and Montana, the large black lab mix, who stopped by in May. Even in San Jose, our house was a dog (and cat) magnet.
  

We took care of Pepperoni for Mark, when he and his wife were on a road trip to the Grand Canyon in July.
  

And the now-Oregon-resident Tootsie.
  

There are even more pictures of the dogs and a little narrative in May Dogs, June Dogs and July Dogs on TheHudsons.com

Willamette River Cruise
Courtesy of Dianne Rodway and John Becker and the City Properties Group, we spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon cruising the Willamette River.
   

Fifty
Yes, I’m now 50 and I mentioned the party. Here are some pictures.
    

More friends were at the party.  Check it out here.

Jim and Chris Adamson couldn’t make the day, but on their way to take a car full of things to their daughter in Seattle, they stopped by.

Fiberly Weekend
There are a few more pictures from the weekend in Chicago, including lots of color from the Chicago Botanic Gardens.
  

In May, Tom and I walked the Doggie Dash for the Oregon Humane Society. With Jake and Mandy in tow, I wasn’t able to do much multi-tasking (ie take pictures), but I did get one.

In June, just before the car came to pick us up for the last leg of the move from Sun City West, I took a great picture of my Mom and her friend Viki Hartsock.

AND I’ve finally finished Katherine, crocheted a scarf and made shirts for Tom and John Becker for his birthday…and I don’t have any pictures yet. So I guess, I’m not quite caught up after all. Oh well.

I keep thinking I want to make sure to include pictures when I post, but if I wait till I get the gumption to process pictures, we could all be waiting a while, so here’s a recap of the week sans pictures.

Birthday girl
That was me last Saturday, and it was a great party. In an unusual turn of events, everyone who said they would show up actually did and a person or two who hadn’t said they would come showed up. It was a good mix of family, old Apple friends, cruise buddies, neighbors, business owners turned friends, and one high school chum. I will get to processing pictures…soon…I promise. Pictures!!!

Tom’s eastern North Carolina Barbeque-style was a hit. Most tried and liked the “traditional” sandwich by piling the coleslaw on top of the barbeque on the mini-buns made just for us by Market of Choice. The appetizers brought by friends, my Bill Neal shortcake with Oregon strawberries and, sweet tea (to complete the southern theme) and we all ate quite well.

What a great way to turn 50!

Move-in days
Monday we headed to IKEA to pick up a bed frame and dresser for my mom, then down to Wilsonville to wait for the guys from Take Care Move Assistance to arrive. Somehow we’d managed to fill the moving container in pretty short order, just the two of us, but we were very glad we hired Bill and his guy because to move the contents of the box from the loading area up three floors and down the hall 150 paces (Tom size…he counted) to my mom’s new apartment. What took them 1 1/2 hours would surely have taken us the full day. And there was time left on the clock for them to build my mom’s bed. Now you just cannot beat that.

We had decided that it was best to start her new apartment experience Tuesday morning so everyone was fresh. So we packed her clothes that we’d moved via Alaska Airlines baggage check and headed over, where even more clothes were waiting. Thanks to neighbor Laurie, we had enough hangers to accomodate without having to make a side trip to the Container Store. We made our first grocery store trip and inagurated the refrigerator. Tom built the dining table (chairs having been built on Monday) and the entertainment unit.

Wednesday the dresser was built, the new phone programmed, and the TV set up (except we couldn’t find the remote), and my mom had spent her first night in Wilsonville. She seemed pretty spunky and on seeing her yesterday, she is settling in quite nicely. She’s doing something she could never have done in Sun City West – walking Tootsie outside twice a day. We have lovely weather and her new pacemaker to thank for that, I think.

Miscellany
Lest you think I was slacking when we weren’t hanging with my mom: I also managed four morning walks and a belated birthday lunch at Zeppo’s in Lake Oswego; had printed 200 Columbia River Sewing Guild newsletters which I then (with a little help from my cool hubby) stapled, addressed, stamped and posted; located a long lost cousin to whom my mom wanted to send an address change; made and sent out the address change notices; and made and sent out thank you notes.

Baltic Blossoms
And I finally managed to get in some forward progress knitting on Saturday.

I started the border in early June when we were in AZ. I took out 6 rows of said border when we were in AZ. I thought was my first attempt at nupps but in researching a definition, I find that I must have knit them in Evelyn Clark’s Swallowtail. At any rate, they were giving me fits (k1,YO,k1,YO,k1 into one stitch, purl 5 back). I didn’t like the results so in my second (or maybe third) attempt I found that knitting into the front and back of the stitch for five stitches made it much easier to purl back. Still, after making unfixable mistakes, I ended up pulling out 16 rows of border (over 200 sts each) without winding the yarn as I went and then spending the ensuing day untangling the yarn. The next time(s?) I did it, I wound the yarn so resuming wasn’t to difficult.

Saturday, with no distractions, and Sliding Doors (which I’ve seen many times) in the background, I whipped out 32 rows of the border without so much as a hitch. Go figure.

My projects for today are to get to the last set of border rows, and do laundry which I don’t think I’ve been caught up on since March. Maybe this week.

Today I celebrate 50 years. Funny it doesn’t feel like 50 years (except I have to wear cheaters to read, and color the obnoxious gray hairS…)

It occurred to me just now that this will be the first birthday since I was 20 that I’ll spend in the company of my mom. Now THAT’s a great gift!

And it’s a great excuse for a party, and I invited a lot of dear friends. We’ll have a house full of about 25 people, including my good friend Alistair, who gets honorable mention because he’s flying up from San Jose.

And Mark (who hasn’t seen my mom since our wedding nearly 26 years ago!) is driving down from Seattle.

I’m off to make shortcake for to go with the yummy local strawberries we’ll get today.

After 15 years living in Sun City West, my Mom is now living in Oregon. For the next two weeks, she’ll be staying with us and then she’ll move to her apartment in Wilsonville, when all her things arrive.

Tom and I flew out two weeks ago Wednesday to help her pack and clean up. We rented the smallest moving container from Door-to-Door which arrived on schedule on Thursday. Over the course of the ensuing four days, we proceeded to pack boxes, sort out donations, fold clothes, fill bags, fill and paint, and clean.

On Friday, Ginny and George from What Goes Around arrived to start loading up the furniture, lamps, pictures, appliances, and little decorative goodies for consignment. Ginny was a pleasure to work with and we thank her and George for taking all the large items off our hands for consignment. It made it much easier for us to concentrate on what was coming to Oregon, instead of worrying about the disposition of those things that were not. It was a two-day project for George, and helper Bob – getting everything loaded into their trailer, but by the end of the day on Saturday the house was empty.

It was thanks the hard work of Parke and Jennifer Heffern, that this all happened. It was their marketing of the house, and understanding of how to work with the residents of the Sun Cities, that got my mom’s house sold. There were times when we were sure my mom was going to change her mind, but Parke and Jennifer seemed to keep her on track, we got an offer after only three months (quick for that market) and my mom is now in Oregon.

So, my point is this: if you or someone you know is planning to move from the NW Phoenix area – Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun City Festival, Corte Bella et, al, we highly recommend working with Parke and Jennifer, and Ginny and George. Though we haven’t received my mom’s moving container (it takes a week to 10 days), based on the experiences we’ve had with Door-to-Door (and their pricing structure), they are a good moving container company to work with if you’re planning to move yourself, but don’t want to rent and drive a truck (and with gas prices where they are, who would?)

A funny note
In packing, we filled the small container, shipped two 3 cu ft boxes via UPS and filled my mom’s Honda Civic, allowing just enough room for Tom to see out as he drove it from Sun City West to West Linn. When entering the state of California by car, you have to stop at Agricultural Inspection stations. Their job is to prevent potentially diseased produce from entering the state and compromising their crops.

Inspector: “Do you have any food?”
Tom: “Some energy bars and a bologna sandwich.”
Inspector: “Is there any lettuce or tomatoes on your sandwich?”
Tom: “Yes, a very small piece of iceberg lettuce.”
Inspector: “You’ll have to eat the lettuce.”

So Tom ate the 4×4 inch piece of lettuce so he could enter the state of California on his trip home.

The rest of the drive was boring by comparison, but he did make it all the way to Redding on day one and was home before we arrived.

Three weeks ago we all decided that it would be a good idea for my mom to visit us so her realtors could really work on selling her house. The good news is that two offers came in; the bad news is they were really bad offers. So we wait. But having Mom and pooch around has thrown off my routine and I’ve had less time to spend at the computer. That means all the pictures I’ve taken are still in the camera and I haven’t posted for a while. Sorry about that.

But I have been doing stuff and in the course of the next few weeks, hopefully, I’ll get caught up.

Here’s a synopsis:
  Dianne’s birthday skirt and jacket (sewn)
  One shirt for Tom (now there’s a surprise)
  Progress on the Japanese crochet shrug
  Elisa’s Nest Tote
  FINISHED Alpine Lace Scarf (and my mom said it wasn’t going to happen)

Next week, I’m off to Denver to attend the Mile High Lace Knitting Conference and (another big surprise) eat and drink with friends, including one Alpha Phi sorority sister (didn’t know I was in a sorority in college did you?) and three high school friends, including my senior prom date, whom I’ve not seen since the 10 year reunion.

THEN, after spending some quality time with hubby and two silly dogs, it’s off to Chicago for a weekend to meet some Fiberly Friends some of whom I’ve met, more I have not.

By the way, how did it get to be April already?

That would be Jake!

And hubby, too. Even Tom’s shoulder makes a good pillow for Jake.

Though she won’t see this and you can’t email her any greetings, it bears noting that today is my mom’s 81st birthday. Currently, she lives in Sun City West, AZ, but we are working hard to change that. After four years of “Absolutely not!” in August after spending a week of al fresco lunches and dinners, she seemed to soften her stance. So we set out to find a nice place for her to move not too far from us, address all possible objections and present it all to her at Christmas.

So far the words “I’m moving” haven’t been spoken, but in February we head south to help fix the little house deficiencies and, with luck, she’ll sign with the realtors, referred by Dianne and the decision will be made.

In the meantime, I’ve been single-mindedly working on her birthday gift which is more appropriate to Pacific NW winters than desert SW, but when I saw the picture in the November/December issue of Crochet Today! it screamed “Mom!” It’s my second crochet project and, as expected there was plenty of un-crocheting, but I do have to admit, even for a novice, crochet seems to grow much more quickly than knitting. Though in the end I still prefer knitting, it’s nice to be able to decipher crochet patterns now; it opens up lots of options.

This should have arrived on her doorstep yesterday and hopefully she likes it. It was crocheted using Elann Highland Wool yarn in color Redwood.

Mom and me