… what this lovely yarn is for?
It’s Mondial Gold from Little Knits, 80% wool, 20% cashmere. These five balls are all I have, and I’m planning something very particular for them.
If anyone guesses the garmet type and the knitting technique I’m thinking of by, say, Tuesday at noon, I’ll pack up a little knitting gift as a prize.
November 16 2007 | Contests | 5 Comments »
Our “mystery” road signs have all been accounted for.
Mandie had the first correct answer, idetifying Troutdale as the home of Tad’s Chicken ‘n Dumplins.
Lin came next, placing the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay.
Nicole figured out that Bell Buoy Crabs is in Seaside.
And Lella solved our last mystery, tracking the penguin to his home in Cascade Locks.
Amazingly enough, none of our winners lives in Oregon—in fact, two of them live outside the U.S. Viva Google! Viva winners!
August 04 2007 | Contests and Travel | 2 Comments »
One of the joys of a road trip is stumbling across all sorts of interesting signs and other oddments along the way. Melissa and I have a particular weakness for old-school neon. Here are a few of our favorites.
The anonymous penguin drive-in.
Two views of the trés sophistiqué Egyptian Theatre.
I think I took a few years off Melissa’s life when I swerved to the side of the road to get these shots.
Henny-Penny’s worst nightmare.
What makes crabs crabby.
So here’s the contest: the first person to leave a comment naming the correct location for each of these signs gets a hand-knit dishcloth with a surprise knitting goodie thrown in. That’s four signs, four dishcloths, four chances to win.
In addition to the above signs we also spotted Frankenlincoln in Ashland.
Yep, his head was stolen, then replaced.
Sadly, it was not Tuesday when we passed through Medford, Oregon.
I will still be haunted by the imagined pleasures of Ladies’ Day at Penzoil when I’m on my deathbed.
Still life with dishcloth and cone.
We left Portland early in the morning, drove west, and had breakfast at the Pig ‘n Pancake in Seaside. We were hungry by then, but we’d have stopped even if we weren’t.
We did not buy one of these plush pigs, but we did purchase a wooden pig (with pancakes) to hang on our Christmas tree next year.
Some of you may remember back in the day, when Sambo’s got with the program and reinvented itself as “A Taste of Baker’s Square.” Apparently there was a hold out.
We were relieved not to see any Sambo depictions, but we did find the tigers rather jaunty.
We’ve been careful not to show this picture to Damian or we’ll never hear the end of how he needs pants and why do we insist on denying him.
Sparky would be so chuffed if he had a parasol like this one.
And if you think some of these images are wild, just wait until you see what’s in store for tomorrow.
August 03 2007 | Cats and Contests and Damian and Spartacus and Travel | 13 Comments »
We had 41 entries in the Guess-Our-Mileage Contest, with guesses ranging from 759 to 2,200 miles. Melissa and I had an actual mileage of 1,732.2 miles, which makes Steffaroni our winner with a stunningly accurate guess of 1,735. She was off by less than three miles!
Other guesses coming within 20 miles of our actual mileage included
Sherri H. at 1,736
Karen (of Unknitted) at 1,725
Andrea at 1,734
Clarabelle (of clarastitchandtotalbitch) at 1,750
Steffaroni will be receiving her choice of two skeins of the hand-crafted Oregon yarn from the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center (you’ll need to tell me which ones you want!). And, as honorable mention prizes, I’ll be sending hand-knit dishcloths to Sherri H., Karen, Andrea, and Clarabelle. Look for an email from me asking for your mailing addresses!
I was delighted upon my return home to discover that I’d won some gorgeous HipKnits lace-weight cashmere in a draw over on Lin’s blog, Queen of the Froggers. Check this out:
Not only did Lin send me this absolutely beautiful yarn, she also enclosed a hand-stitched sachet and a lovely enameled stitch marker. I feel thoroughly spoiled. I’m planning to order a pattern from Pink Lemon Twist for the yarn, either Scheherazade or Moon Dance. Opinions, anyone?
I got a bit of knitting done during our 1,732.2 mile sojourn, and now have photos to prove it. First, I worked up a “Don’t Mess with Texas” washcloth for one our hosts, LeeAnn (mother of the ever-dapper Dinsdale), who is a Texas native. We had to take this shot in a rather poorly lit motel room, so you may need to squint to see the design.
A much clearer picture—with the pattern—can be found here at Knitting Memories. (I knit a kitty cloth as well, pattern also from Knitting Memories, and several cloths from Leisure Arts’ Garden Dishcloths to Knit.)
I got to work on a scarf using a skein of Tallgrass Yarn (colorway “Phoenix”) from the Procrastiknitter.
I’ll post another pic and pattern once I’ve finished it.
Finally, I made it a bit past Clue 1 on Mystery Shawl 3.
I’m absolutely delighted with the way my not-as-directed fiber choice is working out. Hooray for knitting without a net!
I finished Clue 2 two nights ago. (Note that the color is the first photo is more accurate than the color in this photo.)
Now I’m logging off so I can dig into Clue 3 while listening to the ballgame.
Congratulations to all the winners!
July 29 2007 | Contests and FOs and WIPs and Washcloths | 5 Comments »
Rose-Kim Knits has Thursdays Are for What the Hell Is This? And Grumperina has Eye Candy Friday. Not to be left out, I’m launching a weekly feature of my own: Tuesday Mewsday, my day to celebrate the marvel that is Cat.
And for my first feature cat, Dinsdale, whom I had the pleasure of visiting in Oregon. He derives his name from Monty Python’s “Prianha Brothers” sketch. Dinsdale has reached the Methuselan age of twenty and rules his home as is his right. (Don’t let the name of “the sharing chair” fool you: when he gives you the skunk eye, you will surrender it to him.) Some claim that ennui was invented by the French, but I’m pretty sure Dinsdale would give credit to the manufacturers of dissastisfyingly-tasteless-health-food-for-older-cats.
Here are two shots of Dinsdale doing what he does best (besides suggesting that treats are in order): napping.
And, no, he’s not disapparating in this picture. It’s just that it’s hard to get an old guy like him to stand still.
Dinsdale has some of the most wonderful markings I’ve seen on a tuxedo cat: bold, asymetrical, and distinguished. Every time I see him, I have to fight off the urge to fawn over him shamelessly, as he finds such behavior undignified at best.
His staff, my friends LeeAnn and Ellen, are absolutely devoted to him.
P.S. If you haven’t entered the Guess-Our-Mileage-and-Win-Hand-Crafted-Oregon-Yarn competition, click here for info.
P.P.S. It’s Stitch ‘N Pitch tonight at the SF Giants game—whee!
July 24 2007 | Baseball and Contests and Tuesday Mewsday | 3 Comments »
Just for fun, I’m launching What If Knit’s first contest. Here’s what you have to do: guess the mileage for our road trip. The prize: your choice of two of these five skeins of Oregon yarn, which I purchased at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook, Oregon.
Just leave a comment on my blog between now and next Sunday at noon, Pacific Daylight Time, with your mileage estimate and yarn choices. The yarns are 100% wool in skeins of 50-75 yards each, so two should be enough to work up a hat or a pair of wrist warmers. (To identify your choices, just assume the skeins are numbered 1-5 from left to right.) The prize will go to the person who comes closet to guessing our actual mileage.
By the way, your submissions may not show up in the Comments section immediately. Do not worry! We do get them all; it just sometimes takes a little while.
Here’s a hint: We began our trip in Napa, California; from there our route went through Ashland, and east to Crater Lake, on to Portland via Roseburg; we next crossed northern Oregon to Cannon Beach, and finished by taking Highway 101 South back to Oakland. (We did a bit of tourist-y driving, as well, exploring the Columbia Gorge, driving around Portland, and making a quick jog up to Seaside.)
To inspire you as you work on your estimates, here are some of the sights we enjoyed during the first half of our trip (all photos courtesy of Melissa).
Castle Crags State Park, California
We’d like to make this park our destination for a camping trip sometime soon.
Outdoor Quilt Exhibit, near Ashland
Crater Lake, Oregon
Crater Lake’s chipmunks are completely unintimidated by the paparazzi.
Accustomed as we are to California’s summer weather, we marveled at the snowy patches that linger year-round at Crater Lake.
Umpqua River
Clearwater Falls was one of our first stops along the Umpqua. The falls aren’t high, but the dense green colors and wild spill of water charmed us.
At Toketee Falls we hiked a short, steep trail, leading to the falls. We could hear the falls during the entirety of our walk, but only caught sight of them as we rounded a final curve.
We spotted this ghostly plant on our walk back to the car at Toketee Falls.
Columbia Gorge
My knitting instincts led me straight to some locally spun yarn in the gift shop at the Columbia Gorge Vista House.
We took a short hike past a waterfall along the Columbia Gorge and continued on under this bridge into misty, silent, green woods.
We took another short hike up to the bridge at Multnomah Falls.
For the moment, I’m off to bury my face in the new Harry Potter—my first stop at home was Bookshop Santa Cruz—but I have lots more to share: scenery from the second half of our trip, roadside oddities and attractions, and yarn shop reports. Stay tuned.
July 22 2007 | Contests and Travel | 49 Comments »
