Colorado FO's

Addy needed a new hat and scarf, so I put my other projects on hold and cranked these out while we were in Colorado. Just in time too - the weather went from 65 and sunny on Wednesday to a high of 20 degrees and 2 inches of snow on the ground today. What a difference a day makes.

This was a sample I made for the last bobble hat class I taught, using Plymouth Encore; it's a great, versatile baby yarn that's hard wearing and easy care. The hat's a tad big on Addy, but that's a good thing since she'll be able to wear it longer.

Rachel asked me to make a hat and scarf set for Addy. I knew I wanted to make a key-hole scarf so it would fit snuggly around Addy's neck and be easy to get on and off. I found this adorable ladybug button at JoAnn's and had to get it for the scarf; smaller matching buttons are on the hat. I put ringlets on the scarf ends so Addy would have something to play with if she got bored. I thought about putting ringlets on the top of the hat, but Dick and Rachel both vetoed that idea. (I still think it would be cute.) I'm going to write up the pattern shortly and offer it through my LYS and Ravelry. Right after I get a good night's sleep. Air travel is just not fun anymore.

29 Years Ago Today . . .

our first little Valentine made her appearance. It was great being in Colorado this year for Rachel's birthday. She wants to try digital scrapbooking, so we bought her some software and a book to get her started. We made a slight mistake in letting Dick decorate the cake . . . just a little grandpa humor.

The environmentally-friendly pizza disposal system was in place under Addy's chair, hoping for a little fall-out. Rachel blew out the candles on the first try - and grandma fed Addy her first carrot cake, which she absolutely loved. The look of disgust on Addy's face when grandma took a bite of her cake was priceless.

(hey, it's got vegetables and fruit in it. It's good for her.)

Grandpa enjoyed his cake . . . while Addy administered the traditional birthday spankings, with just a bit of help from Dad. Addy thought that was great fun. Oopsie. We may have created a monster.

Denver Aquarium

I'm spending too much time with Addison (yeah, right - not possible!) and not enough time blogging. I'm a few days behind and not likely to catch up before we get home on Thursday.

On Sunday we went to Denver's Downtown Aquarium. It's not as big as the Monterey Aquarium and doesn't have leafy sea dragons like the one in Long Beach, but it does have Siberian tigers. Very big Siberian tigers, which I was not expecting at an aquarium.

We stopped for the obligatory shark photo-op out front. Addy likes the backpack much better than the stroller - being higher up allows her to see and be seen.

Can you tell this kid's used to cameras? What a ham.

The aquarium was fairly dark inside so it was hard to get good photos, but I did manage to get a few

Grandpa with his CO girls.

with Rachel's camera; the battery in mine died - of course - and the charger is at home - of course.

Just before the exit was a lady making balloon creations for the kids. Addy - excuse me, Princess Addison - wore her crown, without trying to take it off, while we shopped and hiked back to the car. Don't you think it goes so well with her shoes? I think she's found her persona - Princess Comfy Feet.

Greetings From Loveland

We've been hanging out at Addy's house for the past two days

What big eyes you have, my dear

but decided to venture up to Estes Park this afternoon. It was a balmy 58 in Loveland . . . and a not so balmy 41, with a piercing wind, in Estes.

Addy was dressed Colorado-style - a dress over pants and t-shirt (recognize the dress? It's the one I made her for the wedding reception. Still fits - as a shirt!) and these cute little shoes that Rachel found. Once we got up on the mountain, Addy added a coat, hat (handmade by Grandma) and blankets. She was stylin'. She did pretty well; she didn't much like the cold and she really didn't like that she couldn't see us from the stroller. She ended up walking through an enclosed mall before we bribed her with a graham cracker for just one more store. Most of the stores were closed for the season but I did manage to find a 'must have' item - this silly ceramic chicken that makes me grin every time I look at it. Her name? Henrietta, of course.

Plays With String

I gave Addison a piece of yarn off Anna's blanket to play with last night and it quickly became her favorite toy. She played with it for over an hour before bedtime and got up this morning looking for it. I'm doing my best to bring her up as a yarnie - and I think it's working!

The Lost Day

Dick and a buddy took Amtrak to Tucson for the gem and mineral (and fossil and bead and antiques) show.

Wooly mammoth skeleton for sale in Tucson

Why Amtrak? Because they could! From our area, Tucson is a 9 hour drive; by train it's 10.5 hours. The guys had a sleeping car to themselves so they were very comfortable - and the fare included all meals. Good meals, from a menu, with real silverware; we're not talking airplane non-food here. The trip out went without a hitch; no delays, no problems.

The return trip? Oh my. They were due into LA's Union Station at 10:10 a.m. Wednesday morning. I pulled into the parking lot at 10:20, figuring they would be just about walking out with their luggage; we could turn around and head back home to get ready for Thursday's early morning flight to Denver. Not. I sat in the parking lot for EIGHT HOURS, waiting through delay after delay after delay. Track trouble somewhere around Palm Springs delayed all rail traffic, passenger and freight. Freight is key here.

Apparently Amtrak doesn't own any of the railway track, they just rent right-of-way passage for their cars. The boys loaded up in Tucson at 12:30 a.m., settled down in their comfy bunks, and awoke to a good breakfast only to be told that there would be a slight delay.

They were stuck just outside Palm Springs for hours. I got a text message from Dick at one point that said, "we're moving!". Two minutes later . . . "but we're going backwards." Which about summed up the entire day. After Palm Springs, they stayed in Pomona for a few hours, always waiting on freight trains - which had the right of way because their company did own the tracks - to pass by.

So how did I spend my time in Downtown Los Angeles? I sat in the parking lot at Union Station for the first few hours, working on Addy's Baby Surprise Jacket and listening to Weave Cast (my current favorite podcast).

I hooked up with Cynthia, Dick's buddy's wife, for lunch at Philippe's, a Downtown institution. The sign outside the door commemorates the restaurant's 90th anniversary in 1998. The place was packed and the food - beef dip and potato salad - was wonderful. We walked the two blocks from the train station to Philippe's, then back to Olvera Street, directly across from Union Station. I was planning on walking straight through so I could get back to knitting, but there was this pretty little store with South American textiles . . . . .we spent a lot of time looking at woven fabrics and alpaca ponchos. Didn't end up buying anything but it was tempting.

Knit in the car, decided we needed more sustenance, headed back to Philippe's for a late afternoon snack of baked apples and diet coke. Stopped to admire the downtown postal annex (and to watch all the people staring at the crazy tourist taking photos with her cell phone. That would be me.) More knitting, then walked around the train station grounds admiring the water fountains, historical plaques (did you know over 1,100 people worked at Union Station in it's heyday? And that 26 million bags of mail went through there annually?) and redone interior, which is beautiful. The vaulted ceilings, tile and marble work, everything is stunning.
The guys finally arrived just after 6 p.m. By the time we got their luggage, packed up and got on the freeway it was, of course, rush hour. We got home 11 hours after I started on what should have been a 3-4 hour trip. What fun.

Up at 3 a.m. today to do laundry - which I'd planned to do yesterday - and pack - ditto - before heading out to Burbank. Only the thought of spending time with Addy got me up and moving.

Scarf Modeling

My official model was able to fit me into her schedule today so I could finally get shots of the finished entrelac scarf. The scarf is at my favorite LYS, enticing (I hope) people to sign up for the entrelac class on April Fool's evening. Yarn details are here. If (when?) I do this again, I'd do a three row scarf with multi-colored Noro on the outside, a strip of black in the center, and a black edging all the way around. I may still felt this when the class is over; it looks too wide when I see it on Marie. But when I have it on, it feels just right. Decisions, decisions.

Oh Baby, Baby

My two current projects - and the third to follow - are all baby items. Last Friday I signed up for a knitting class (sorry, shouldn't have sprung that on you. Sit down, take a breath . . . in, out. Feeling better? Yep, I voluntarily took a knitting class.) to make Elizabeth Zimmerman's classic Baby Surprise Jacket.

Toddler sized jacket for Addy.

I made it all the way to row 9 during Friday's three hour class. I'm a slow knitter, but it didn't help that my Denise interchangeable needles came apart after I'd cast on all 160 stitches. Ripped and started over, after swearing just an itsy-bit.

I kept working at home after class but made the mistake of trying to talk and knit at the same time. Realized I'd made a mistake, tried to unknit, and just made a mess. Anne, the instructor, was working when I took it back to the shop on Saturday and she showed me how to unknit my unknitting and fix the original mistake. After knitting during the Super Bowl, I'm all the way up to row 17 now. Whoohoo! Next class is February 15; I'm hoping to have this about half done by then.

Project #2 is a entrelac crochet baby blanket for Anna Michelle, who's due in mid-March. The first stripe is multi-color Bella Colour by Plymouth, a cotton/acrylic blend. The alternating white stripe is Bernat Softee, an easy care acrylic. I've gotten two more rows finished since this photo was taken. I'm loving this pattern. The written instructions are great, with lots of photos for us visual learners.

Project #3 is another baby blanket for a former co-worker's first baby. I've got the yarn and the pattern, but haven't started it yet. Baby's not due until April, so I have time to finish the first two before the time crunch hits on this one. I hope.

Nostepinne

Isn't it pretty? A hand-crafted Phil Powell Cocobolo nostepinne. I bought this at my last guild meeting; Phil's sister is a fellow member and sometimes brings wooden goodies for us to drool over. I fell in love with this one, passing up tulipwood and yelllowheart nostes.

Nostepinnes are used to wind yarn, making tidy little center pull balls. And that's about all I know about them. So I Asked (much better than google) the innernets and found a great how-to video from Kristi at Fiber Fool, who - small world - lives near Rachel in Fort Collins and is on my daily read list.



How easy - and fun - is that!

FO!

I finished weaving in the ends on this project while watching the Super Bowl. This is the store sample for the entrelac scarf crochet class I'm teaching in April. The interlocking diamonds are worked length-wise using a variation of Tunisian crochet. Once you get the hang of it, it's a fairly simple, fun process. I love that the blocks look almost woven. The project is feltable - I used Cascade 220 and Noro Kureyon wool yarns - but I wasn't sure if I wanted my scarf felted or not. I'd like to show my students an example of 'before' - unfelted - and 'after' - felted - and give them an idea of how much shrinkage to expect, so I made a small sample 15.5" long by 5.25" wide and gently felted it in the washing machine, checking every 2 minutes until it lost most of the stitch definition but was still pliable. The resulting sample is now 14" long by 4" wide. I like the felted texture but I'm still undecided on whether or not to felt the big scarf. I think I'll wear it awhile - at least until after the class - and then decide.

This was my first entrelac project and I like the process so much, I've started a baby afghan for little Miss Anna Michelle, who's due in mid-March. It will give me something to do on the plane to Colorado next Thursday and I'm using up stashed yarns. Bonus!