Pretty, Pretty Plum Tree

Who knew plum trees were so pretty?! Ours has started to bloom and looks gorgeous:

We also have lots of other flowers popping up all over the place!

In Ravelympics news, I just finished the Heirloom Baby Blanket in MadelineTosh DK. It's so soft and cozy! 

I'm also working on a pair of cabled slipper socks out of some handspun yarn. They are a really quick knit and are going to be a great for kicking around the house. Hopefully those will be done tonight or tomorrow. I also need to finish up invitations for M's bridal shower and bachelorette party so I can mail them out next week. 

Not too much else going on besides excessive shopping at Trader Joe's! I bought some really yummy garlic and herb pizza dough yesterday and topped the pizza with some Italian style spicy chicken sausage. It was delish! Steak fajitas are on the menu tonight. 

I'm sad there are only a few more days of the Olympics...although it will be nice to go to bed before midnight!

Love,

Liz

French Press Slippers FINISHED

I finally finished my French Press Slippers, and I LOVE them. They took about a week just to dry...but once they were dry I was able to needle felt them and sew the straps on. They are cozy and comfy too!

How did Braveheart weekend go? How did the People photo shoot go? Have you gotten back on the running wagon? Don't feel bad about missing last week....especially with the nasty weather you've been getting.

In other news, Seth and I went to a little rock cliff in Eugene yesterday and did some climbing. Sailor came and hung out at the bottom of the cliff checking everyone out! The weather was great, and Seth got to do some lead climbing in preparation for his climbing trip next month. 

Oh yeah, and my sunroof is stuck open. Really stuck. Even the manual override won't close it. And the VW dealer can't look at it until Tuesday. Thankfully no rain is in the forecast until Tuesday night. No worries though, it has a garbage bag and painter's tape over it until then! Oy.

Can't wait to hear about your weekend!

Love,
liz

falling off the wagon.

It's been a week since I went on a run.  I feel like the worst kind of person.  Because in that time, errr less time, I have consumed AN ENTIRE DOUBLE BATCH OF HOMEMADE BROWNIES and sat on the couch knitting....

Which has it's perks.  I'm going to finish the damn hat if it kills me.  It finally looks like something, which is nice... The yarn I'm using is the left overs from the sweaters - so it's all mohairy and woolish... meaning blocking will help.

This weekend is heart weekend.  Some great kids will be here that we've known for quite a while.  We got the list yesterday and I cackled looking at the pictures of who's coming.  It's also the photo shoot for clorox this weekend.  Which means I'm going to be ducking and hiding from cameras....  I think my biggest fear would be realized if my mug ended up by accident in the People's 50 Most Beautiful Issue.... haha ;)

I'm envious of your weather.  I'm blaming my lack of effort partially on the fact that it's been horrifically cold and windy...oh and snowy... what the what?!  Today the sun is out and I'm just not sure what to make of it- it feels like a big tease...  I know this time next month, I'll be cursing at needing to use the air conditioning or something, but right now I just want to run without mittens and 5 layers....

I'm having a good music day though, Lena Horne, Love Songs is a fantastic album if you don't have it. I bought it LITERALLY because the cover was just a photo of a magnolia blossom.... I'm a sucker for cover art.... also Cherish The Ladies- it's about that time again to crack out the tributes to Irish heritage :)

Okay, to work.  I need to get you a picture of the mosaic wall I've been working on in Arts & Crafts.  Sometimes it's the little things that get you pumped about showing up in the morning!

happy weekend,
cb

Think Spring!

Today was another GORGEOUS day in the Pacific NorthWest! It was about 65 degrees and there was not a single cloud in the sky. Seth and Sailor went for a run in the woods and then we spent most of the afternoon in the backyard. I pruned our raspberry bushes and our grape vines, repotted an aloe plant, attempted to walk on the slackline, and played frisbee with Sailor! It was so nice to be out in the sunshine.

In crafty news, I'm a little over halfway done with the baby blanket and I just started a pair of these with some handspun yarn. I want to start spinning up some new fiber that I bought from Briar Rose:

It is ridiculously soft and smooshy. I can't wait to start spinning it up! I also can't wait to needle felt my French Press Slippers...but they are STILL wet! And Sailor thinks they are pretty tasty. Silly dog and his wool obsession.

Back to men's figure skating....

Just a Quick Note

Sorry to hear of your yucky day! Philo is so naughty stealing your shoes!

Sailor and I went for a walk around the neighborhood today in the gorgeous weather. He put on a little show for the folks driving down 9th St while we were walking- he thought it would be fun to drop to the ground and rub his face in the grass at the bank. What a goof.

I also went to the newly opened Trader Joe's and bought some goodies. It was a much more pleasant experience not having to fight the crowds just to walk down the aisles!

I didn't realize you were making the Knotty But Nice Hat! I made one for Seth for Christmas. I looked at your projects page on rav and it looks like you have them all tagged correctly. Just make sure you pick an event for all of them. When they are finished you need to post them to the finish line in the "Ravelympics 2010" group.

Hope you feel better! Off to do some spinning!
love,
liz

not a good night.

well, came home to run (with about half motivation level...) and discovered pup had STOLEN my shoes. Not joking. If that's not a sign I don't know what is... It took me a good 20 minutes to find the second (the first, in a pile of dirt, was sitting on the couch. awesome.) So I went straight to knitting...

and catching up on the olympics I missed... my dvr got mad at me and didn't record curling, which totally sucks, because it's secretly my favorite!!

then this am, i woke up with some stomach issues... which prompted a sleep in morning... i still feel pretty gross, which isn't adding to my desire not to run, so today, too, may be a day off... maybe some yoga tonight instead...

the hat is coming along. pattern is tricky, but im getting the hang of it. i really struggle with reading charts...

hope you are well, you sure are productive!!

love!

cb

Let the Games Begin!

Charlotte,

I hope you had a wonderful weekend with F and that all the crazy East Coast weather didn't interfere with travel plans! Seth and I took a trip up to Portland on Saturday for some good food, yarn shopping (Seth was psyched about that-and was particularly impressed by the electric ball winder at one of the shops), REI, and rock climbing at the gym. I checked out 2 yarn shops: Knit Purl and Dublin Bay Knitting. At Knit Purl I was enlightened about a Yarn Crawl in March, which includes 15 shops in the Portland metro area!

I've also been working on my Ravleympics project, an Heirloom Baby Blanket with MadelineTosh DK yarn:

Last night I needed a break from the blanket, so I decided to whip up a pair of French Press Slippers with Malabrigo yarn.

Pre-felting:

Post-Felting:

And a picture of the lovely flowers Seth brought home for me:

Well, as much as I would like to spend the rest of the day crafting....there is a pile of laundry calling my name.

Love,

Liz

knitting updates.

Well, first off, I started a hat for F, which I then f-ed up royally and ripped it out and started over after almost finishing it...TWICE! It was a disaster.... I did get to measure his noggin, which will help with the fit, thank goodness.

The weekend was wonderful. A whole lot of just spending time together and eating good food and playing with the dog. He's so cute with him. He asked to go to the pet store to buy him toys :) It was terribly cute.

With regards to life, liberty and the pursuit of running... This week was a bust. I ran one day while he was there and didn't get a long run in at all... So I'm going to restart the week today and see how I do....

Have you been watching the Olympics!? I just have to brag for a Vermont minute.... Thank you Hannah for representing the "802" with a nice fat gold metal! I also learned this weekend that I KNOW AN OLYMPIAN! Alex Newell, he's a cross country skier, I think he skis today. His brother Pete skied the same years in high school. Weird.

... Oh and are there supposed to be magical labels appearing next to my knitting objects to note they are ravelympics items? Please look at mine and see. I'm confused.

Oh and did I mention IT SNOWED AGAIN THIS MORNING!?

Killer.

love

cb

Since It's Pouring....More Hawaii Pics!

The weather here today has been CRAZY! Sunny one minute, and dark clouds and pouring rain the next. Thankfully I was able to get to Trader Joes during one of the sunny periods. It was crazy there, too. I think I will end up doing a lot of shopping there once it quiets down a bit.

Thought I'd share a few more pictures of Hawaii before I start the Ravelympics Frenzy!

My Mom and I rented paddleboards on the beach outside our hotel. It was much easier than I thought it would be...and we saw Sea Turtles!! Very cool.

Here's a local artist outside of an art store at the Hilton Hawaiian Village:

Mom and Grandma:

My Mom and I on our way to dinner one night:

Diamond Head in the background:

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I'm excited to cast on for the baby blanket for the Ravelympics! I'm also hoping to finish a striped Noro sweater that I started back in September.

Miss you!

Liz

Why are Canadians So Awesome!!??

So I just had to share before I dart off back to work and then down to the airport (!!).

LOOK at what I got in the mail today, just in time for the RAVELYMPICS!!!

And I have no idea why the photo is upside down!?

love you!

cb

Tired Dog

Charlotte,

I thought since Philo was being so naughty today (I hope they weren't expensive heels!)...I thought I'd share a couple pictures of Sailor. When I was in Hawaii, Sailor took to sleeping in the chair I usually sit and knit in....and has continued to do so:

This was Sailor post 35+ miles in two days:

What a goof.

We never got to chat about your Ravelympics projects! What are you going to work on? I think I'm going to wind my yarn either tonight or tomorrow.

Alright, I'm off to make some Chili

Love,

Liz

Still Snowing

Envious of your crocuses. Envious of sunshine and 50 being "cold".. Kentucky is pretty screwed up today. Just like it was yesterday! I was running last night after work and was planning on doing four miles when Philo came bowling down the road and skidded right past me into a ditch. The road had turned to black ice under my feet! Needless to say, I hoofed it back to the car and called it quits at 3 miles.... Then a shower, some soup (which was pretty bland so i added hot chili sauce, lemon juice and zest and fresh parsley), tv and knitting (my cowl) before bed.

Pup was up at 3am (really dog?!) and then back up at 7....

Oh and I'm sorry, Miss Celebrity Tea Leaves Cardi Wearer, you are famous!! The cardi looks fabulous- I'd really love to find a pattern that i think would work on me and commit to a real project :)

F comes tomorrow, pending blizzard conditions messing with his flight.... Keep your fingers crossed.

love, cb

Charlotte

Signs of Spring!

While it's snowing in Kentucky (weird!), it's been unseasonably dry and sunny here. I'm only guessing that it's unseasonable due to the usually rainy nature of the Pacific NorthWest. There are many signs of spring in my backyard, and I can't wait to get started on my garden in a couple of months!

I found these beauties hanging out near our garden:

Our plum tree (yes, we have a plum tree) is starting to show some buds:

Check out that lovely blue sky!!

I'm sorry to hear of your unfortunate yarn shopping experience! It seems like a poor choice to "figure out" a new computer system during a sale. I haven't found a stellar yarn shop here, either. Although, it could be because I have high standards after shopping at Purl Diva for the last few years! There is a cute yarn shop down in Eugene in an old victorian house that I bought some baby alpaca fiber from this weekend. I also just ordered some Madeline Tosh yarn from Purl Diva. A lot of MadelineTosh. Like 10 skeins worth. Enough for a sweater (for me), 2 baby blankets and this. I also joined the MadelineTosh yarn club. Okay....enough yarn confessions for today....

I'm excited about the Ravelympics!! I think I'm going to cast on for this for one of the many people I know having babies this spring. And then if I have time I'll probably whip up a baby sweater or booties to go with it.

Congrats on the running!! I'll pass on the good news to Seth when he gets home from work.

Well, I'm off to make some homemade pizza for dinner....I haven't had it since before I left for Hawaii!

Love,

liz

Lots to tell you.

First, it's snowing. Again. Where do I live??

It's been a nice few days here... We had a family weekend with 16 families (half capacity) and a whopping 7 volunteers (normally 30) but it didn't feel too stressful. Most of the families were returners, so they knew how to navigate. I even ran on Saturday during rest-time, which was awesome.

Sunday rolled in and I ran up to Bowling Green for a yarn sale. Your sweet Mama sent me a link to her sale and I wish I had had her pull stuff for me... because let's be honest. The sale here wasn't a sale really... it was 10% off if you paid in cash, she was "learning" her new computer system (WHY GOD, WHY!?) and the line took me more than an hour to get through. On top of that, the woman in line in front of me complained the whole time about how the owner hates her because she only buys sale items.... and then she cut me in line. Regardless, I dropped bank on some pretty things for me (a first!) and baby C... Didn't find any nice looking tweed for Dad's vest...

Here is what I got:

The pink and puke green are for this and the purple bulky funness is for this. Fun fun!

In other news... after the sale, I did my long run of the week- seven miles (go tell S!!) and did it at a relatively good pace too!! I came home, showered and turned on the tv to remember it was Superbowl Sunday. I didn't watch a second of it... I know, I'm so un-American. I watched the last part of Emma on PBS instead and got to knitting!

I'm almost finished with Mom's sleeve. I swear. The problem is, I think I'm going to redo the other sleeve (I think I added too many stitches and everything will be way too big now... I will finish tonight. I'm determined.

I definitely need to bring in my yarn and needles to the office tonight and practice my two-strand long tail cast on... I am not capable of reading and processing the directions from the book. Frustrating.

Last little bit of fun has been FOOD. After the weekend we had left over fruit which I got to take with me... which resulted in me eating too many kiwis... blackberries... blueberries... and strawberries for my own good! Such luxury! This is my breakfast (two days strong now!)

Then there was dinner. Don't have a picture, but took a bit of butter and browned some garlic, then added cherry tomatoes and let them burst.... added some fresh parsley and a bunch of lemon juice and put it over angel hair pasta. Ahhhhh, how I love pasta!

Okay, technically I'm at work today, so I should get to it, but I wanted to say hi and send some loving!

Oh and ps, I got your email about the fiber festival. It is the week before leadership orientation this summer, so it's possible!! We'll see ;) I really want to find a different yarn store/supplier after this fiasco this weekend, so hopefully I'll meet some sweet amish lady that spins yarn or something...

And one more thing. We need to chat about ravelympics, because I don't want to screw anything up and not have my things counted!

And one SUPER EXCITING THING. I bought a Shark Steam Mop last week! I will have to take pics. My inner cleaning geek is super excited about the amount of nasty it picks up off the floor!!

Love you!

cb

While I'm waiting around for the plumber...

We have a clogged pipe near the washing machine which causes the water to back up (and then overflow) into the sink next to the washer.....hence the waiting around for the plumber. So I thought I'd write you a quick note to share a finished sweater and some yarn I finished spinning!

I started with these two roving braids:

And ended up with this lovely yarn! I still have half of the roving left to spin so I'm hoping to end up with around 600 yards to make a Mara Shawl (but I promise I won't wear it like a bandana!)

I finally finished my Tea Leaves Cardigan as part of a Knit-a-Long at Purl Diva. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I had a bit of a freak-out moment when I blocked it and it grew in length quite a bit. But per Ellen's advice I threw my swatch in the dryer to see what would happen (the yarn is superwash wool), and then put the sweater in. It shrunk just enough, and it fits perfectly now!

I'm off to continue to wait for the plumber to arrive....

Love,

liz

Make Sure You Are Sitting Down...

Here comes a flood of pictures from the LOST tour. We drove all over the island and stopped at TONS of places that LOST uses/has used for filming. These are just the highlights....poor Seth had to suffer through looking at all of them!

Our first stop was a walk up a fairly steep path on the eastern most point of Oahu. Back a few seasons ago when Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were held captive by the Others there was the "other island". Apparently the "other island" was just a rock. Our tour guide tried to replicate this:

Our second stop was the campsite beach. The set is permanently set up on private land right above the beach.

Campsite Set:

Another stop we made was at the crash site beach. When they filmed here, sand was brought in and the road was covered in sand to make the beach bigger. Huge props were also brought in and used right on the beach.

Me on the crash site beach!

We stopped at a beautiful park and walked to Kate and Sawyer's waterfall (and a few of us took a swim in the 65 degree water!):
On the way out of the park we stopped at the Banyan tree that has been used for the Nigerian plane (where Boone dies) and several other things. Funnily enough, it's right next to the road.
Sun's father's house is actually a Buddhist temple that is a replica of a temple in Japan. It was absolutely gorgeous. There were black swans, a bamboo grove, and huge mountains behind the temple.

The Other's/Dharma Village (aka...a YMCA camp!):

Another cool stop was at an airstrip where a bunch of the really large props are kept. The props, such as the Nigerian plane, are kept in a big fenced in area:

A church that is used as Cambridge University:

I have a TON more photos....maybe I'll try and make a slideshow to post on the blog with some photos that were left out of this post.

I was a crafting slacker while I was on vacation and barely did any knitting. I did, however, manage to finish 4 books and start a 5th!

On the food front, I bought a Hawaiian cookbook and tried a recipe last night....Sweet Ginger Chicken (orange juice, honey, orange zest, ginger and garlic)....it was delicious!

I'm off to the gym....

Love,

Liz

welcome home

It's been exciting on the weather front here too- snow -not just snow, but accumulation of snow occurred during this past weekend! We had a family weekend- seven families braved the conditions to come out- just in time for us to get hit by about 5-7 inches of very wet snow on Saturday morning by 7 am!! This meant lots of shoveling in the early morning hours, which was fun, as it was camp people and their typical enthusiasm :)

In knitting notes, I finished the hearts for haiti coat for baby Natalie (friend from high school had a preemie baby the same day as baby Charlotte. She's been at Boston Children's due to some big issues etc.. but is finally home in Vermont. It was a quick knit and I used the same yarn as the snuggly I made Charlotte this fall from Purl Diva :)

I'll post some pics tomorrow after I block it tonight. Also almost finished with the sweater that wont die (mom's...)... still have a sleeve....

Made a really good pasta sauce the other night -the basic sauce, plus squash and a dash of cream... rather indulgent :)

I also had a good start to the running week- did my long run, just five this week, AFTER the weekend on Sunday night. A friend snuck me into the YMCA in Scottsville, as there was too much snow on the ground to run on the road... fun fun!

Post more later :)

Back to the Mainland

Charlotte,

I thought I'd do several posts over the next few days to share some pictures of my trip to Hawaii! I arrived home this morning after taking a red eye from Honolulu. Hawaii was beautiful and the weather was heavenly!

My Mom and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center on Wednesday, which was really interesting and fun! My Grandma sat that trip out since she's been about 6 or 7 times. The Cultural Center has the islands of Polynesia represented, and each island does demonstrations and there is some entertaining audience participation.

There is also a canoe pageant down the "river" through the center:

This guy did the demonstration for Samoa:
He made fire with 2 sticks and a coconut husk, broke open a coconut and then made coconut milk. Another person from Samoa climbed the coconut tree:

This cutie was part of the luau at dinner:

After dinner there is a huge show that has dancing and music and fire twirling:
Off to unpack and start laundry....and then take a nap (4 hours of sleep on the plane was NOT enough).

Miss you!

liz