Looking Forward

2010 promises to be a good year. I'm looking forward to moving ahead with the new year and seeing what I can accomplish. 2009 was a bit tumultuous in that I lost my job, but in many ways it was a blessing. Working in a negative environment is very hard on oneself,  and while I wouldn't have asked to be laid off in this economy, it does have its positive outcomes.
Things are looking up: this year my hubby and I will have been married 30 years!! Believe me,  the time goes fast.    

 I'm  also on my way to an improved weight and health, which is a great feeling. Being laid off means I have lots of time to go to the gym; no excuses for me.

 I'm also continuing to home my knitting skills and challenging myself to more complicated projects: sweaters, stranded colorwork, maybe even figuring out what the brioche stitch is that everyone is talking about.

As everyone looks forward to the new year, I'll also be remembering the past I visited while in Virginia this past summer. Looking at Civil War battlefields and monuments was a good reminder of how little people survived on and how passionate they were  for what they believed in. Whatever side they were on, they were dedicated to fighting for the life and world they wanted. My life, in comparison, is full of little luxuries they never experienced nor dreamed of. I am likely never to have to live with as little or lose as much as those families did, so it keeps things in perspective for me. Things are good.

                                                          

                                                          GO DUCKS!!!!!

                                 

Thankful thursday

Already it's thursday and I'm reflecting on how good life is. I think of these things more often than just thursdays but today it's a reminder to put my thoughts into words

Today, I am especially thankful for my friend Judi. She is such a great person to be around and wonderful support for whatever ails me. She's creative and our personalities match well. Even though she doesn't knit I still love being around her (!). We learned how to do stained glass together, and now she's starting on applique quilting, which she will be helping me to learn. Good stuff

I'm also grateful that when I helped a friend move yesterday that the things he strapped to the roof of the truck didn't hit any other cars when they came flying off. Minor damage to his belongings (the mirror didn't make it though) and a little scuffing of the truck. Not bad.

As always I'm grateful to my family, especially my honey. He's always there for me.

Here are a couple of pictures of my instant happiness things. I can't stay sad when I'm around these two. Aren't they yummy?!



                                      

Finally, maybe my sweater will fit!

I took a wonderful knitting  class friday night at Close Knit. It was a class on fitting sweater patterns to your particular body size and being able to pick out flattering patterns. The teacher is a professional tailor, sewer and wonderfully creative knitter. She took our measurements so we have them on paper, and we now know how to look for the appropriate size, and alter if needed. No sweaters with bulky yarn, apparently, unless you want to look chunky; I personally don't know anyone that is trying to look thicker. Now to find the perfect pattern to try.
On another note, here's the view out my front window; aren't the leaves gorgeous? I just can't get enough of the fall colors.

Thinking of others

As part of a knitting project thru the website Ravelry, I am knitting hats; lots of hats for a homeless shelter in Portland. I have accumulated about 15 so far, where as they are needing no less than about 50 for christmas packages they want to assemble. I'm not sure I can meet that demand, but I can at least give something. Here's a picture of my progress as of a few weeks ago:

These are children -sized hats; it's tough to think of kids being homeless. Hopefully these will help a little. 

Thankful thursday

It's thursday and several blogs I read post a "thankful thursday" blog. I've been reading up on the Civil War as well as watching the great dvd series produced by Ken Burns. After visiting several civil war sites while in DC the history really came alive for me. 

First place we visited was Robert E Lee's house in Arlington, now home to the Arlington Cemetery. The Lee family vacated the house during the Civil War, and as a payback to Lee's southern alliance, Union officials decided to bury their deceased on the grounds of the house. Today it's a tribute to the lives lost in the war; the house sits on top of the vista overseeing the Arlington cemetery and is a stark reminder of all that is lost in war. 
This thursday I am thankful of being alive and in good health, of having a safe place to live and plenty of food to eat each day. 

DC

Hubby and I took our first ever trip to DC this fall. I've never been to the East Coast before so it was an amazing experience for me. Other than constantly getting directions mixed up on foot and by car, we managed to see a lot of places; the history surrounding us was incredible. Too much to do and not enough time. Now that we've been there once, we'll know better next time how to spend our time and prioritize our to-do list. 

The Capitol Mall was exciting; seeing al the buildings in person was wonderful. I had never realized how gorgeous the Smithsonian building is:

The White House and Capitol building looked exactly as the pictures portray it.  Here I am on the steps of the Capitol looking at a map trying to figure out which way the Spy Museum is:

Hubby should have realized by that look on my face that I had no idea which way to go. Fortunately we managed to stumble upon it anyway.

A fun day with alpaca "fur"

Well, alpacas really have fiber or fleece, but my non-knitting friend likes to call it fur.My spinning group had a get-together out on a farm where it felt like you were out in the m

iddle of nowhere. Gorgeous day, wonderful people and lots of fun things to learn; perfect day! Alpacas can be sheared more than once a year and their fiber spins up into a wonderfully soft yarn that

is perfect for scarves, gloves, blankets, etc. Alpaca fiber can come in a range of colors such as brown, grays, and off-white.

Half the day I spent learning how to dye the fiber using store bought dyes (you can also use kool aid or food coloring). color wheel. Dyeing the fiber also was an experimen

t in how colors combine. Using the same few colors provided, people still got a range of results depending on how they applied the dye and what colors they put next to each other. The pictures below show a couple of examples of the fiber colors

The other part of the day I learned to use a drum carder to combine 4 p

ieces of different colored (or in the case of white, absence of color) fiber to create some beautiful colors in the purple/maroon family. The picture on the left shows the beginning bag of fiber and the picture in the middle is the result.

The pictures below shows a drum carder pulling the fiber thru and "combing" it together.