Chihuly and Quidditch

Hello!

Life
Today my daughter, Moogie, and I visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle, Washington.  If you ask most teenagers around the USA to name a famous contemporary glass artist, I don't know what they would say.  If you ask one in Washington, chances are they will name Dale Chihuly.   His glass art, especially his chandeliers, are seen all around Bellevue and Seattle.  There are some gorgeous ones in Benaroya Hall where the Seattle Symphony performs as well in our own Lincoln Square building in Bellevue.  But the first time I remember seeing Chihuly's work was at the Seattle Aquarium, where they have some wonderful pieces of his Sealife Vessels.  He made some pieces that look like various sea creatures, including starfish, octopus, sea anemones, etc.  Really beautiful.

Anyway, Chihuly is super famous in this area, having been born in Tacoma, WA, and having his glass studio there.  So they tore down our "Fun Forest, " the little amusement park at Seattle Center, and built this Chihuly museum.  And I have to say the glass work in it is gorgeous.  There are rooms of his work, beautifully lit.  Then the museum opens up to a small garden full of more pieces.  The thing is, that it is really expensive!  I mean, the whole thing was great.  And there was a fair amount of Chihuly to see.  But, the museum and garden seemed like a wing of a real museum.  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA cost $15 for regular patrons.  The Chihuly Garden and Glass cost $19.   LACMA has building after building of all eras of art.  I just don't know.  If you are super into glass art... come see it.  It IS gorgeous.  But really, $19?  Ok, there is a discount of you live in the area, so Moogie and I each paid $15 to enter.

That being said, I plan to show the photos I took of the art sporadically in my blog for a while because it was beautiful, and worth seeing.  Worth $15? maybe once.  Worth $19?  I just don't know.

HPKCHC

Wow, I wish I had been a better blogger and done a short entry every day for this month because this group is making me crazy.

One of the things I like, other than the great people, is that with all of the challenges, you are really encouraged to finish things every month.  Also, there are provisions for longer projects that will take months, so it is not limited to just quick knits.

Before I was sorted, I knew the only requirement is to complete one class each month.  Then I was sorted.  Now I am filled with this competitive frenzy where I want to contribute the maximum to my House, and help us on to glory!  It's so funny, because it's only bragging rights.  It's not like we actually win something.  But I find myself knitting/crocheting until late at night, and then I am too tired to post in this blog. 

 Anyway, I am making a real effort to submit items that I was planning to knit/crochet anyway as much as possible.  You can complete 6 classes each month, although there are more classes than that.  Since I am making squares for the BAMCAL, if I can find a way to have them fit the class prompts, that is 6 items right there.  But now, I have signed on for a longer project, an OWL.  OWLs are designed to be knit over 3 months.

The OWL I am completing is for History of Magic.  The Option I chose asks me to knit/crochet items for 3 different characters from the books.  Since I try to knit a pair of socks a month anyway, I am knitting 3 different pairs of socks, one for Professor McGonagall, one for Lily Potter, and the last for Professor Snape.  Basically, I checked the colors for Solid Socks for Sept, Oct. and Nov, and the designers and challenges for Sock Knitters Anonymous, and found socks in colors that fit those 3 people. 

Then throw in Quidditch.  Quidditch is full of week long challenges.  So far, we cleaned up our stashs or our Ravelry queues.  I chose to organize a spreadsheet for the SolidSocks/SKA challenges, then find possible patterns for each month, put those patterns in my queue and lable them all with Socks and the month they fit.  It was a great challenge.  The first "Game" consisted of crafting something that started with the letter of one of the houses:  S, H, R, G or N (for Not Quite First Year).

Again, I submitted an afghan square that I was making anyway.

I am doing pretty well with not adding on lots of extra projects just to get points.  And I am pushing myself quite a bit to finish things in a timely manner. 

The only thing is, it is already September 13, and I have not made much progress on the socks for this month. I will need to really crank on the to get them finished in time.

Ok, off to propose my B.R.O.O.M.  I plan to make squares that can be used to shore up the castle in case of an attack.  (Really, I want to make more of the Spa Washcloths that I made earlier this summer.)

I need to get to bed so that I can get up and finish my Muggle Studies project.  The prompt asks us to make something that a Muggle could use at school.  My house is pairing up with Slytherins for interhouse unity.  The Slytherin who is paired with me (sentstarr)  very nicely agreed to make a square that I was going to make anyway for my BAMCAL afghans.  We are hooking 2 Crocodile Flower Squares (an absolutely amazing pattern that I will post round photos for soon) and then sewing them together and calling them Book Covers. 

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet from the Seventh Floor (the Gryffindor Common Room)

Where in the World is f1bercat?

I am not at my Wednesday night stitching group with my stitch buds.  I am not ON Mt. Rainier, but I did fly past it today on my way to Houston, Texas.  I am down here for 4 days to watch my son, Pookie, dance at the Houston Ballet Summer Intensive.

I flew down super early.  This kind of thing drives my kids crazy.  I took a 6 am flight out of SeaTac, which meant that I had to leave for the airport by 4 am. My darling son, Himes, got up and drove me. He was not very happy, but such a good boy. He didn't complain at all, at least out loud.

As the plane took off I was able to get a few photos out the window.  It was a bit misty, but this is what I saw:

Lake Washington with the 2 floating bridges, the bridge at the top of this photo crosses Mercer Island.

Downtown Seattle in the sunrise.

Puget Sound

And Mount Rainier with either Mount St. Helens or Mount Adams (not quite sure) in the background.

Truly I live in paradise.

I had a great day with my sister, K.  We ate lunch with her kids at Pappacito's Restaurant.  Yummy Tex-Mex food.

Had a great dinner, then coffee out with one of her friends.  The weather isn't horrible, just a bit... humid.

I hope to get some downtown Houston photos tomorrow.  She lives north of the city on the edge of a big pine forest, an ancient pine forest called, "Big Piney."  It is really lovely.  We saw deer on the side of the road.  And there was a gecko in her house.

I am super tired from getting up so early, so will keep this short.  I get to watch Pookie dance tomorrow.  I can't wait.

Stay safe and well.
yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet deep in the heart of Texas

Puget Sound LYS Tour Day 4 Final Day!

Yes, I did it.  I visited 21 LYS (local yarn shops) in 4 days and completed the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour or as my husband, the Doc, likes to call it, "the pub crawl thing."

Every 7 shops, participants received a stitch marker, and at the 21st one, we got an extra marker (the last one) with the Tour logo, and a shawl pin.

Stop 1  Serial Knitters, Kirkland WA

Yes, we stopped in at Serial Knitters, our most LYS, again.  We had a new person with us today, Tara, and since neither she, nor Ellyol had been able to visit Serial Knitter during the crawl, we decided to give them a visit.  Ellyol was particularly happy to stop by because Allifer had made up the featured crochet pattern with the featured yarn from Serial Knitter, a pair of lace fingerless mitts, and finished them in the car on the crawl yesterday, and well, they were so cute and so fast and the price was so reasonable that Ellyol wanted to make a pair, also.

While we were there, MiriamK came in with her daughter who had WON!  one of the daily drawings.  It was so exciting.
















Stop 2 Acorn Street Shop, Seattle WA

After Serial Knitters, we headed over the 520 Floating Bridge (which is now a toll bridge ugh!)







to the University District or U District of Seattle and Acorn Street Shop.

By now the weather had gone gloomy, which is very normal here in May, and it was cold and drizzling.  But, we are used to it, so we just pressed on.  This was a really delightful shop.  Again, like most shops, it was a small space, but they had a very nice selection.

They had a huge wall of Cascade which will come in handy when I learn colorwork.

The thing I liked the most was their sock yarn (of course!).  They carry Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn.  I actually didn't know that you could buy this yarn in a store, I thought you had to get it online.  It is so wonderful to be able to see the colors in person.

Also, they had another brand of sock yarn that was new to me:  Merino Mia. by Prism Yarn.  The colors were just gorgeous.



This yarn shop is very close and I don't have to drive over the 520 and pay the toll, I can head to the 90 bridge instead, adding maybe 10 minutes to the drive, and saving some money which I will of course spend on yarn.!

We made a quick stop back at Tea Cozy Yarns in Ballard so GwenS could pick up her prize from the Friday Drawing, then headed to the Bainbridge Island Ferry and our last Tour stop.

Stop 3 Churchmouse Yarn & Teas, Bainbridge Island  WA

The ferry ride was gray and foggy, but it was Tara's very first time on one of our state ferries.

What did we do during the ferry ride?  Knit and crochet, of course. 

At every shop today, I said to my group, "Yellow Sock Yarn, Yellow Sock Yarn, do not let me buy anything BUT Yellow Sock Yarn."

Churchmouse Yarns is actually a pretty famous tourist stop, and there is a reason for that.  It is a wonderful shop.  It is packed with yarn, cross stitch thread, patterns, etc, everything you need, attractively arranged, with cozy chairs, a table to work at, great windows for natural light, and very helpful friendly knowledgeable staff.

Their featured patterns, cowls for both knit and crochet, used Rowan Kidsilk Haze in a reasonable price (with a 10% LYS Tour discount all the shops had), and was just beautiful.


I broke.

I had to have it.

I bought 2 skeins, a solid in a soft maroon, and a matching stripe in maroon and grey.  I also bought a gorgeous ball of a delicate light lavender merino lace weight yarn.  I hope to use it for my 2012 Advent Calendar scarf.

At this last stop, Allifer, GwenS, and I finished the 21 shops.  So the great staff rang a bell for us, gave us our stitch markers and shawl pin,







And then, gave us each a glass of champagne, to celebrate.

Cheers!  to Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.  Cheers!  Allifer, GwenS, Ellyol, and Tara.  Cheers! Chockelet.  Cheers!  to all of the people who visited at least 1 shop in our gorgeous Puget Sound area these last 4 days, and Cheers!  to the 21 stores who hosted us.  It was a wonderful experience.  I can't wait to go back and spend more time at your lovely stores.

Time to cast on some new projects.

Stay safe and well.

Yours,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet a whole bunch of new projects at a time

Churchmouse Yarn and Teas, Tea Room

2012 Puget Sound LYS Crawl Day 1

2012.05.18 Black Bart Iris

I have been participating in the 21 shops in 4 days madness called the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour.

Day 1
Yesterday, I got home at about 9 pm and seriously, I was exhausted.  We only hit 4 stores.  But I was dead.

Well, I went to 5 stores because I snuck off to Serial Knitters in Kirkland Washington by myself first, right when it opened.

It's a wonderful shop, although it seems small, it has a terrific selection.








They are currently having an Abstract Fiber Trunk Show, and wow those yarns are yummy.

What's best about it is, this is my most "local" of LYS's and it is really great to be able to see the yarn in real life.  And touch it!



Allifer came over at about 2:30 pm and we headed across Lake Washington to meet up with GwenS.

Our first stop was So Much Yarn  in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, near the Pike Place Market.

I am writing this with the help of GwenS who took great notes.  (I was the driver).  So Much Yarn is upstairs and the space is small, but they have it packed with some wonderful yarns.  At every shop I asked the owners if they had anything that was unique to their shop.  Not every shop had an answer to that, but So Much Yarn did.  They carry a line of alpaca sock yarns from a local farm.  The yarns are all undyed, in the natural colors of the alpacas, some are blended, and they are named for each alpaca.  I had to buy a skein, knowing that I would be able to use it during the Solid Socks Challenge for Brown next year. They had a great mix of yarns at various prices, so you could find something really special, and still afford it.

Our second stop was The Knittery in Renton.

This is a well lit, open space, with a large selection of general workhorse yarns.

Our third stop was the Yarn Stash in Burien.


One of the fun things about the tour is that every shop has 2 featured patterns, and the yarn (the pattern can use 1 or 2 skeins) for the pattern on sale for 10% off.  Most of the patterns have been specially created for the Tour.  The pattern at the Yarn Stash this year is a pair of fingerless mitts, and is really nice.  It can be done with color work, or using texture instead of the 2nd color.  It was one of our favorite patterns.


The final stop for yesterday, was Seattle Yarn in West Seattle.



This shop was a delightful surprise.  It was much larger than expected, and had a really nice selection of both brands and prices.

A few of the stores had this sign in the window, Seattle Yarn did, and it was important to us because we had Allifer and Ellyol with us, both primarily crocheters (as well as me).




They had a huge button selection.

Gwen was particularly happy with their selection of Malabrigo and Madelinetosh.








I will try to get photos of today's excursion up tomorrow, etc.  But we are going to hit the northern most shops on the Tour, and it will be an absolutely crazy day.  I hope I have enough energy to blog.

Good night.  Stay safe and well.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet one growing yarn stash at a time!