One More Day

Happy Leap Day everyone!

For me, it will be one more day of the same old, same old.

What about you?

Adventure in Easton

I went to a bead show weekend before last with a friend.  First time for me...and a bit overwhelming.  But, true to form, I had a list of what I was looking for and pretty much stuck to it.  I thought I'd make some fun stitch markers for my customers, me and my friends.  A little frustrating to work that darn wrap at first but it got easier with time.

Yesterday Mike and I went on a little adventure.  We drove over the Bay Bridge to Easton.  We usually drive over the bridge, past Easton and on to St. Michael's to Frivolous Fibers yarn shop.  The shop has moved to Easton so we went to check it out.  My friend, Dolly was just there and after her report, I had to see it for myself.  And Mike and I have never walked around or seen much of Easton, so why not!

The yarn shop was nice.  Very, very small and at the back of another shop with local artist's art (very cool!).  The shop owner was super friendly (as usual), so it was nice to see her and look around.  I was wearing my Starshower Cowl and she Oooo'd and Ahhh'd so nicely.  I love it when they notice.  I got a skein of Zen Yarn...merino, silk and cashmere.  Really soft.  

And we explored a bit and had lunch.

The court house, right across from the pub where we had lunch.  It was closed, of course, but the gate was open so we wondered in.  It had huge amazing trees and a lovely garden.

The view from the court house, across the street.  The historic area is very cute...lots of old buildings and artsy shops.  

 We had a nice lunch at the Washington Street Pub.  Good beer, good crab cakes, awesome service and so cute inside!!

Mike with his SDSU gear on awaiting his beer.

Icy Throw Back

Throw Back Thursday to just one year ago.  I can't believe how mild this winter has been compared to the cold of last winter.  This day was March 1, 2015.  Our little world was covered...COVERED...in about 1/2 an inch of ice.  It was so beautiful and dangerous.  I was so fascinated by the plants covered in ice.  Someday maybe we'll see that again.

Not this winter.

Fingers crossed for at lease one more snowfall.  

FITF

Consider Yourself Warned

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you have a day filled with love and chocolate.

And Happy Anniversary to my BFF and her hubby in California! 

Have a great day you two!

And Happy Birthday to my brother, Kurt.  He won't see this but there it is.

TBT

This week a tragic thing happened...a pair of socks I hand knit wore out under the heel.

I'm smiling in the photo because this is kinda funny looking.  But I'm not too sad about the pair being ruined...I have PLENTY of socks.  I'm not even going to darn them, except to say, "Darn Socks!" and toss the in the trash.

Someone asked me about the yarn content and if I thought that was why they wore out so fast.  The yarn is Baah La Jolla.  One of my favorite yarns, that's for sure.  It's 100% superwash merino (read:  no nylon).  I finished this pair June 9, 2012.  Thank you Ravelry, or I would never remember this fact.  So that's about 3.5 years of wear.  We moved up North (Florida to Maryland) in July of 2012 so the wearing of these socks really ramped up after that move.  I wore them A LOT, because they were one of my favorite pairs.  So laundry once a week, wearing every week from maybe Oct-April...you do the math.  A. Lot.

Then I thought...hm, I wonder what my first pair of socks was on Ravelry?  Or my first non-2x2 pair of socks?

I have two pairs of socks in those early days on Ravelry...both I never wear because I didn't like them much.  So the first pair I love and wore (and added as a project on Rav) was this pair:

2x2 Ribbed socks made with Colinette's Jitterbug. This was my favorite sock yarn back in the day and I knit many, many pairs with it.  These are still alive and well in my sock drawer, showing NO signs of wear. I finished them January 2008.  It is also 100% merino wool.  It's a tighter twisted yarn than the Baah yarn so that is probably why it's held up so well.  Practically indestructible.  

My first non-ribbed sock:

It's made with Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, 100% merino wool in the No Purl Monkey Sock pattern in September 2008.  This is hands down my favorite sock pattern.  I have knit it over ten times.  I also knit the Monkey Sock pattern with the purls now, too.   Anyway, this pair...still in the sock drawer!  Now, they're showing some felting and lots of fuzzy...so when I wash them I turn them inside out and lay flat to dry.  Yes, turn ALL YOUR HAND KNIT SOCKS inside out to wash...keeps the stitch definition crisp (Thanks Mom for that tip!).  But these aren't showing any wear in the heel at all. 

I do think that sock yarn with some nylon thrown in will wear longer and better than 100% superwash wool.  That's been my experience, anyway. So choose your sock yarn carefully, wash carefully and when they begin to wear out and you want to darn them...good luck!  Darn Socks!!

Oh!  And Throw Back Thursday?

Here's my first project I finished and posted on Ravelry!  I got the Victorian Lace Today book for Christmas that year.  This was my first lace project. We moved to Florida in the Spring.  I remember working on this pool side while the kids played in the pool. No finish date on Ravelry but I'm gonna guess Summer 2007.  I love it to this day!

Ten on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday:  You've been kidnapped. Make a list of 10 characters from TV you'd want to help you.

In no particular order, mine are:

1.  Jessica Jones of Marvel: Jessica Jones.  She'll be able to find me and rescue me...AND kick my captor's ass around the block six times.

2.  Fox Mulder and Dana Scully of X-Files.  They are FBI and so this would fall under their jurisdiction.

3.  Steve McGarrett from the new Hawaii Five-O.  He'll have to remove his shirt first.  Maybe we'll escape in an awesome car chase, too.

4.  Sherlock Holmes.  The BBC one called Sherlock or the CBS one called Elementary...but they both better bring along their respective Dr. Watson.

5.  Lennie Briscoe of Law and Order.  I'm sure after arresting the perps, he'd have a snappy comeback to make me smile.

6.  Les Stroud of Survivorman.  Because no matter where he finds me, we can escape and survive. (Not really a TV character, just a character on TV.)

7.  Nick Burkhardt from Grimm.  If my kidnappers are wesen, he'll know.

8.  Carol Peletier of The Walking Dead.  Why?  Come on!  CAROL!

9.  Nick Stokes from CSI.  He would be sure to gather all evidence (while looking so cute) to insure the captors go away for a long, long time.

10.  Detective Harvey Bullock from Gotham.  He's Jim Gordon's partner.  With Jim's help, the would find me, rescue me...then Harvey would take me to a bar before taking me home.  Hey, I could use a drink...I was just kidnapped!

a Birthday and a Weekend Coming Up

I have this beauty for sale in the shop.

It's called Teri's Idea because it was Teri who said, "Oooo...you should dye pink and black together!"  So I did.

A fun weekend coming up!

Saturday morning I have knitting, as usual, then it's back home to bake Joey's favorite cake for his birthday.  That's right this kid:

turns 20 tomorrow.

Still trying to wrap my head around having two kids in their 20s.

He and Mike are headed to the car show in Baltimore for the day.  

Saturday night is Justine's All County Band concert, so we'll probably have Joey's b-day dinner on Sunday.  He works Friday to closing and Sunday all day...sometimes it's hard to fit things in with his schedule.

I'm sure we'll watch the Super Bowl on Sunday.  We usually do. Mike really hates the Broncos because he loves the Chargers and they're in the same division...but I think we both would like to see Peyton Manning go out with a bang by winning the Super Bowl.  I usually am more interested in the commercials and half-time.  I've seen quite a few of the commercials already thanks to the Today Show.  

I'll probably dye yarn today.  Mike has my car so I'm stuck at home...which I totally LOVE!!  Anyway, got lots of new dye and yarn to dye so why the heck not?!  Or knitting and old movies.  I've got a few recorded.  Auntie Mame I think.  Yeah!

Ten on Tuesday

Happy Groundhog Day! 

With that in mind, Ten on Tuesday topic:  

10 Moments/Events/Days in Your Life You'd Like to Repeat

1.  I'd love to repeat my first Sprint Triathlon.  It was so fun and empowering! I sucked at the swim (always did), then cut my toe on a cypress knee before exiting the water but that didn't dampen my spirits...I swear I had a stupid grin on my face the whole race.  I remember when I stared the run, I was numb from my knees down (wet legs/feet before biking and then cold wind while biking will do that).  It took a good half mile to defrost. I was so thrilled crossing that finish line! My sister was the first person to call me afterwards and I answered the phone, "Triathlete speaking..."  Great day!

2.  My wedding day.  Ok, yes the ceremony and party after was fun...but the day of was so relaxing.  We got married at 7pm so we had the day to play.  We got married in Vegas, in a small ceremony with a few friends and family.  I spent most of the day pool side, totally relaxed having fun with my sister and friends while Mike went golfing.  No stress at all.  

3.  The day when 3 year old Joey came running in the kitchen telling me, "Army you scotty dogs!!"  Me:  What? (stop washing the dishes, dry off and get face to face so I can really hear him) Joey: Army you scotty dogs! Me: Army? I'm not sure what you're saying.  Joey:  You know, pirate talk! (A'vast, ye scurvy dogs!)

4.  Veronica was maybe 7 months old, sitting in her high chair, probably having lunch and she and I got the "giggles" for the first time.  Laughing together till we had tears rolling down.

5.  Tuesday night knit class with my mom would be fun to do again.  We would sometimes get a bite to eat, then off to class.  It was so fun to learn stuff along side my mom. The teachers were awesome and really helped establish a fearless love of knitting for me. It was the beginning of a new adventure for us.  I still love talking knit with her. 

6.  We have had many, many great camping trips with family and friends.  So many great, repeatable days for me are camping related.  One particular trip, we were with our good friends, the Holmes' family.  I came out of the camper and there sat a maybe 9 year old Miki.  So I say, "Ohayou Gozaimasu!" (Miki was in Japanese school at the time and I had recently just learned to say good morning in Japanese...but not by Miki.)  She gets this surprised look on her face and says, "Mrs. Pirie! You speak Japanese?!" We both had a good laugh.  That was a great start to that day.

7.  I would love to go back and have a day with my kids when they were little, not babies but little, you know, when they didn't think I was the stupidist person on the planet (haha). I really enjoyed my time with them when they were small (I do now too but it's different) and would do any of those days over in a heart beat.

8.  I used to go to my Nana's house and sit and chat with her for hours.  She'd talk about her life when she was growing up, living on a farm in Texas.  I'd take one of those days again. 

9.  I'd love to repeat on outing with friends I don't see because of the distance between us.  Coffee with my friend Becky or a trip to the Hotel Del with Elsie or an evening with the Close Knit Friends or knitting with JaxKnits or ....  That's the problem when you move a lot...you leave friends peppered all over the country. 

10.  Mike and I did a lot of camping before we had kids.  I'd take one of those days again.  Like when we were in the redwoods and a mother and baby dear walked through our camp or when the bear came in the middle of the night and tried to raid our cooler or even primitive camping in the desert (and shooting rockets...that's not a metaphor, model rockets I'm talking about).  

And in case you haven't heard, no shadow this morning so that means an early Spring.  I wonder if there will be any more snow? (sorry, was that my outside voice?)