summer quilt

This Friday, I'm off to Scotland on my weather forecasting trip. Before heading north I'd love to:

• complete the February Lady Sweater I am re-knitting ✔
• finish off the socks I am more than half way through ✔
• begin piecing the summer quilt top ✗
• draft a design for mum's quilt ✔

Yeah, so my summer quilt. Yellow with black + white.

Seemed a good idea at the time. Summer was in full swing; the sun was shining, bunnies, berries, buttercups, oilseed rape fields.

Then I visited the The Quilting Loft in Ballard and right there, casually draped on a table by the window was somebody else's yellow, black + white quilt.

It was horrifying. Horrifyingly ugly! What was I thinking?!?

But then I paused to have a very good look at it, to try to figure out what was so offensive about this palette. At length, things began to look up.

I don't know whether I'll make a success of it or not but I'll give it a whirl anyway.

What's the worst that can happen? Me wrapped up in rotten bananas.

friends near and far

This week has been about catching up with friends near and far.

On Monday, Nicola & Gwen came over and it was so good to see them both. I didn't even realise how much I missed our walks, our talks, silly songs ...

I also received a post card from Kat in Toronto. I replied immediately but am yet to send it as I have to make a trip to the post office to get it weighed and mailed. Don't even get me started on the swanky, newly re-furbished post office that's all bells and whistles but so much less efficient than it was before being fixed!

Tuesday evening, S and I cycled over to John & Anne's. Their boy, Frank, was as cheerful as ever and I even got to play with him a little, before he slept. Then there was climbing, knitting, tea and catching up.

{Frank}

I saw N & G again on Wednesday (lots of catching up to do!) and that evening, Lesley was over for knit night. We didn't get round to knitting, instead we chatted, flipped through craft books, had tea and chatted some more.

Thursday was the morning after my first full night of sleep. (yay!)

It was also the day I was to meet Amelia Jane! I decided to cook a little something for the new mom (and dad); this is traditional in several cultures including mine. I wanted it to be something that would keep well and still be appetising when re-heated and so settled on slow braised lamb + pineapple crumble for afters. Mama and baby were gorgeous and it was good to finally meet the little miss.

Today, I received not one but 2 e-mails (one was a lovely knitting pattern!) from Iwona in Toronto. She has got to be one of the top reasons I am hooked on knitting. Though I knew how to knit when we met she added greatly to my knitting confidence by constantly telling me "you can do it!" Whatever 'it' was e.g. knitting Fetching as my second project ever!

So I did, and continue to 'do it'.

                                                                                    {Fetching by Cheryl Niamath}

letters to my friends

We're baaaaaaaack! And it's great to be home. I'm jet-lagged and recovering from a minor chest infection. I suffer the effects of jet-lag to extremes, not only am I not sleeping my typical hours but I'm not getting enough hours of sleep either. Consequently, I am slow to react, very forgetful, yawn inappropriately, speak inappropriately (the filter is off, people!) and I imagine I'm not a whole lot of fun to be around right now.

So how do I spend all these waking hours? Today I am knitting. And writing letters. Letters to my friends, letters to my family, letters to my love. I like my handwriting. I write to people I don't know, people I met just once, people I would like to know.

Some I send, some I keep, some I burn.

In high school, a certain Master Brodie-Mends recommended writing letters and then burning them as a form of therapy. I don't believe this worked at the time.

Now, it does. I write exactly how I feel (underlining such words as 'hate', ' arse hole' and 'bastard' so much my nib rips paper) peppered with a liberal amount of apt expletives. I write without it turning into any sort of issue.

It's my way of clarifying my thoughts, validating my feelings, rationalising; a method of sifting what's important from what isn't. And it works just fine for me.

How do you get by?

life in pictures ii

Still a little pressed for time but to keep you in the loop here are pictures from the past few days.

The weekend brought gorgeous weather so we rode a bright yellow pedallo on Green Lake.

At the start of the week, we walked through Pioneer Square on our way to catch the ferry to Winslow, Bainbridge Island.

 

Then it was back to the city and Harry Potter 6 at the IMAX at the Pacific Science Center.

As the science center is right beside the Space Needle, it would have been rude not to take a few photos of this phenomenal structure, so...

{by day/ pre-movie}

{by night/ post-movie}

The following are two places I just had to share with you. I walked into both spaces and exclaimed, "Wow!" - talk about a kid in a candy store! No, really.

The colours, smells and general ambience were not everyday occurences. I was happy just being there.

The Confectionery @ U-Village

Trophy Cupcakes was a dream: fun & friendly staff, gorgeous cupcakes and a really nice atmosphere.

I'm adding working in a cup cake store to my list of dream jobs. Everyone there seemed so cheerful - and how could they not be? They make other people happy!

downtown

Oh, hi there. Things have been quiet at this end. I took a couple of days off to catch up with myself and write postcards, do laundry, call home, practice yoga, wash and deep condition my hair... necessary evils.

Then Wednesday rolled around and I got to hang out with Elle in the day. We ate Dim Sum in Bellevue, saw the Microsoft Campus in Redmond and Cultured Purls in Issaquah then back to Bellvue and Hilltop Yarns East before parting ways.

{Elle demo-ing Microsoft-Surface;the coolest thing I've seen in ages}

That same evening, S and I had Thai on The Ave. before hopping on the #71 which got us close to Safeco field where the Mariners played the White Sox.

I like baseball. I witnessed Ichiro set the single-season major league record with 262 hits (no one had come close in 84 years!).

Last night, I witnessed baseball history again. It was the night of the longest, scoreless game in Mariner's history! I'm not a die-hard fan though; we left at the bottom of the twelfth with the scores still nil-nil. Final score was 1-0 to The Mariners (at the bottom of the 14th!)

Enough with the baseball already. I've just got back from my first trip downtown (not counting the game) and boy, was it good!

First stop was Uwajimaya which amongst other (mostly Asian/Oriental) things, houses the wonderful Kinokuniya - home to lots and lots of Japanese craft books. It was sheer bliss to lose myself in aisle after aisle of Japanese craft books, magazines, stationery, curios and whatnots. I was relatively restrained and bought just a few things:

Then I went to other stores, hardly worth mentioning, before arriving at my pleasure palace.

I have done it. No sleeping on it, no thinking about it, no deferring to common sense. I just plunged feet first. I apologise for nothing!

And now it's raining and grey outside so pictures must wait. But OMG! am I a happy bunny!

blissful thoughts to you

life in pictures

Leaving North Yorkshire. It was just another day at the train station until...

a thing of beauty.

I arrived in Seattle, rested, walked 'The Ave', got my fingers and toes done, celebrated Joy's birthday, then went to

with ElleM - the most fun person I have met in a while. The ride to Sock Summit was such a blast. She arrived at my hotel with striking purple hair and a teal sportscar that went from 0 to 1 trillion in the blink of an eye! We sang along and danced to the radio, exchanged life stories, lots of laughs and generally had a good time.

Regardless of what she says, she really likes the colour purple.

At the Sock Summit, we met some fun people

{this little guy liked having his feet tickled!}

while these two impressed with their sense of style

{the ladies behind The Sanguine Gryphon}

I bought lots of gorgeousness:

{Friday's lot}

{Saturday's lot}

then we went to the Ravelry party where I "kinneared" Casey,

hijacked rainydaygoods & freckle girl

{thanks for giving me a backbone Elle}

and ElleM hijacked Casey

(still luvin' the hair, girl!)

This holiday absolutely rocks! AND I'm not even halfway through it yet. I love the people of the Pacific Northwest - I find them warm, fun and they make me feel right at home. I love the me I am while here.

Today I picnicked with Emma and her parents - a lovely family. Then we trotted around Green Lake in 44 minutes! the monkey bars and balance beams had us occupied for a while (I've gotta get some strength in my arms!) and now I'm ready for bed.

Tomorrow I turn my mind to shoes. I went mental at Sock Summit so there will be no fabric this trip.

I hope all is well with you.

STOP!

It's 4:07 a.m. on Friday, the first day of the marketplace at SS09.

In a couple of hours, I'll be catching the #48 which will take me to the Starbucks in Columbia City where I am to meet Lisa and the girls before heading down to Portland. Totally ExCiTEd!

Last night's sewing class was cancelled as I was the only person to sign up for it. The lady I spoke with was apologetic and offered me a free class to make up for the cancellation. I can live with that.

Surprisingly, I am very focused this trip. First, it's sock yarn, next Fluevogs and finally fabric and notions. Other than a handful of necessities (antiperspirant, food and bus fares) I am right on budget! This must be a combination of my maturity, the credit crunch and my determination to buy less.

Oh, I walked into a STOP sign yesterday. S and I were over in Bellevue getting my wedding band re-sized and the engagement ring "looked at" when out of thin air this buggy - obviously out to get me - appeared.

I had two options: land on this poor, unsuspecting toddler [possibly smothering (or worse: flattening) him to death] or weave and duck out of the way. Needless to say, I picked the wrong option. I'm now sporting on my forehead an open wound the size of a nickel. It's not serious at all - just had the top layer of skin scraped off by the bad, bad, bad metal sign.

The journey back to Seattle on the 520 Bridge kissed my forehead better. Is it possible to tire of such a beautiful feat of engineering?

17hrs

I'm off. I'm all packed and ready to go. Everything at home is as it should be. I am well prepared for this trip, arguably the most prepared I have ever been before travelling.

I hear the weather in Seattle is just lovely. S informs me I'm going to love the hotel, its gym, swimming pool and breakfasts! AND it is walking distance to the U-Village - bonus! I look forward to it all.

I am very excited about my sewing class at Stitches and even more excited about Sock Summit 2009. The plan is to take a truck load of pictures and maybe I'll even get to see a few people I know. The worst case scenario is: I totally lose it there and only remember what a camera is (and indeed that I have one in my bag) on my journey back to Seattle from Portland.

I'm off on my 17 hour (door to door) journey. It's a long ass: train, train, tube, 10hr flight, car ride (thanks a million Joy!) journey till I see my next decent meal and a bed again. So worth it!

See you on the other side folks!

ETA: it totalled 19hrs in the end. I arrived safe and happy but knackered.