knitting at the Hyatt union Square, nyc

Hahahaha that was all I was able to post.   I have to say this hotel was AWESOME!  It has a perfect location if you are going to NYU, or just want to be in the more downtown part of NYC.  It is just off Union Square and very close to a subway station.  NYU was about a 2 block walk.  And the hotel was very nice.  The rooms are always small, and as far as I can tell, they only come with king size beds.  Himes was a good sport and shared with Poppop.  But the beds were comfortable, and the bathrooms decent size.  The staff was very helpful.  We really liked staying there, and Doc said that he would stay there again any time, even if we were coming to NY to go to shows or something else.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from a hotel in NYC!

Notes from Southern California

We were sitting in my sister's yard, when we went to get more chairs.  I made a joke about the spiders hiding under the chairs, so Sue turned hers over and brushed at the webs with a stick.  She picked up a weird looking ball and said, "This is a black widow egg sack."  She teaches middle school science, so she would know this.  She ran the stick through a few more cracks and there was the spider!  It was actually a Brown Widow, she said, once she saw it.  We saw the hour glass on the abdomen, but when I tried to take a photo, it dropped off the stick and disappeared in the grass!  The brown widow is a "cousin" to the black widow and just as poisonous.  EEEEK!

My niece, Hannah, took a selfie of us to send to my daughter Moogie in New York.  When she told me she was sending the photo to Moogie, I said, "She is going to be so mad at me.  I am wearing her old boyfriend's high school T-shirt."  Sure enough, about a minute later, Hannah's phone buzzed.  It was a text from Samantha saying, "Why is my mom wearing my ex-boyfriend's shirt?"

I spent about 4 hours on Sunday with my brother.  His condition continues to progress.  I re-wrote that sentence 5 times.  I guess I am trying to find a nice way to say that ALS sucks.  The photo above is his 2 youngest kids.  As I said, ALS sucks.

Peace,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet back home.

Why I Hate the TSA

I'm at SeaTac Airport, waiting to board a flight to So Cal to visit my brother. Yes, someone is doing some kind of needle work in the waiting area. So I got here at 4:45 am for a 6:30 flight. There were 2 lines going through the security scanners, one was for the metal detector,  and the other was the full body scan. I took the slower line to get the metal detector. I am not kidding, they closed it 5 people before my turn, then reopened it for the person after me.  Peace, f1bercat Shaping the planet nude

new phone

The 8 year old "retro " phone died Sunday. I got this giant android phone.
Look! I  can post on my   blog from my new phone. I just need to figure out how to upload photos.

Peace,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet in the 21st century

Combinations

Hello:

It looks like this week will be another crazy one, so I wanted to get one more blog post in just in case I am too busy this week to post.

Tomorrow night is the regular meeting for the Eastside Knitters Guild at Crossroads in Bellevue from 6:30 - 8:30.  Susan Gehringer, a local knitwear designer, will be talking about publishing her first book of designs.  I am really looking forward to hearing this talk.

Wednesday and Thursday I will be tutoring students in Math.

Wednesday, also, I will be at the Eastside Stitchers meet-up at Crossroads. 

Saturday morning I am catching a very early flight to So. California to visit with my brother, and I will be flying back on Sunday night.

Whew!  And, on Friday, the Spring Term of the HPKCHC starts!  So I will begin frantically knitting again.

I have not really been doing much knitting this month.  Well, I have been knitting, but other than one knocker for Knitted Knockers, I haven't finished anything.

I have been knitting swatches.  You see, I am planning to do a Herbology OWL this term.  For those readers not in the HPKCHC, an OWL is a project that should take about 3 months to complete.  Since the "classes" for the house cup last only a month, the game favors short projects.  The Advanced Studies projects (NEWT, OWL  and Order of the Phoenix) give students a chance to knit/crochet something bigger that can't be completed in just one month.

The Herbology OWL is either cables or lace.  I am planning on making 3 pair of cabled socks.  I will probably make one of CookieA's complicated patterns, then design the other 2 myself.  I have been swatching cable patterns all month.

I am planning for one of the socks to be a "choose your own adventure" sock with 15 different (yes, 15!) possible cable patterns that all go together.  So you can either roll dice or use a random number generator to decide which cable pattern to use next.

Here is a photo of the long tube I have been knitting to see what my cable charts look like when knitted up.

I think this will be a really fun project.  I just need to figure out what I'm doing on the heels, and the socks will be ready to go.

Then, I need to look at some more cable ideas for the 2nd design.  All this on top of everything else!  But it has been really fun to play with how the cables move across the face of the sock.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with wiggly cables.

PS, JitteryKnitter:  If you are reading this from CA, Puzan did NOT come to knitting on either Wed, or Sunday.  We miss you both!

Wild 'n' Wooly Saturday

Hello:

Baby Alpacas!

Yes, we had baby alpacas on show at the Kelsey Creek Park Wild 'n' Wooly Sheep Shearing Day.

I joined the local Knitters Guild to demonstrate spinning.

There were hundreds of people (at least it seemed like that many) walking through the big white barn

where we were doing our demonstrations.

There was a table set up for people to try out dying fiber,

and another table with one of the things I found fascinating, swatches of different fibers spun and knit up to touch.  These included everything from baby camel to various breeds of dog and even a cat swatch.

The kids were not the only people interested in how fiber is turned into yarn, in fact adults were probably more interested.  I had to explain a few times that my spinning wheel does not have any type of needle, and it is almost impossible to prick your finger on a spinning wheel.

There was this one really fun guy from Bavaria.

He was so interested that he rode his bike back home to get his camera, then had us demonstrate exactly how we spun the yarn.  He kept saying that no one knows how to spin in Germany, that it is a lost craft, and that he wants to learn how to do this.  I tried to tell him that there are many spinners in Germany, it's just that he doesn't know them.

It was fun to see someone so excited by this craft.

Amigirl came by with her son, and ReadnitDream and her daughter also stopped in.

The weather threatened rain, but it held off, and everyone was able to enjoy all of the outdoor activities which included sheep dog demonstrations as well as the shearing.  Such a fun day.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with almost a spool of yarn!

Don't Judge Me

Hello:

I can always tell when I have been bad about posting on my blog because I have all these days of photos of my gorgeous view still in the camera... and not on the blog.

We have been having the most wonderful weather in the Pacific Northwest.  The days are warming up (we hit a high record this week!)  And while it has often rained, it has been pretty sunny.  Add that the days are getting longer and longer, and, well, it is just a beautiful Spring.

I made it to knitting at Crossroads with the Eastside Stitchers last Wednesday, but was so tired when I got home, that I just couldn't post.  I made it to knitting at Crossroads with the Eastside Stitchers THIS Wednesday, but forgot my camera.

So, I am going to try to post the photos from last week.  But, I have no/little idea who was knitting what.

I am hoping that my buddies will pm me on Ravelry, and I will edit this post with the proper names and projects.

How does that sound?  Blogging by committee.

Someone was starting something... Don't know what... Don't know who.  It looks like it is gray.  (how's that for reporting?)  Wait, I think this is NightOrchid.   What was she starting?

I'm pretty sure this square is from Puzan.  We are putting squares together for a special project.  More about that in a later post (probably in June).

BlueBerryMary was deconstructing a sweater from a thrift shop.

 Addie was celebrating the weather with Pig Tails!

This project has got to be JitteryKnitter's Loop.  If I remember correctly, she was binding off?

O dear, I totally don't remember.  This looks like a shawl?  Could this be ReadnitDream?

Pretty sure this is Wajio working on a Knitted Knocker.

This is BlueBerryMary's vest she is knitting for her darling husband from reclaimed yarn.  She brought the finished vest this Wednesday, and it is lovely.

I believe GwenS was starting something beautiful for Addie.

I think this is Colleen.  If I am right, it is most likely a baby blanket for charity.

Here is a photo of my Seahawks Vortex Afghan.  (all but the border)

It's a bit bigger than 5' x 4'.  I'm donating it to BAEOP, my professional organization who is going to raffle it off to raise money for their scholarship fund.  Let me know if you want to buy a ticket.

This Saturday is the Wild 'n' Wooly Festival at Kelsy Creek Farm in Bellevue.  I will be there with Wajio (and possibly BlueWolfWalking).  We will be doing spinning demonstrations all day long.  If any of my local readers show up, I would love to say hello!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with knitting friends.