Tuesday, August 28, 2007

why?

over the summer i have been reading a variety of blogs and i just have one question....

why ravelry?

open for comments. thanks.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

it was just an afternoon

i squeaked into the LYS yesterday afternoon with hopes of sitting and knitting. a handful of the usuals were there, so after a quick turn around the store to make sure i wasn't missing any thing new, i settled in to knit. and knit i did. i had taken my sari ribbon scarf with hopes of getting closer to the finish. after staying late with socializing, i knew i was close to finishing but still had a way to go.

i finished my errands to the market and trader joe's; landed at home for making supper, coordinating teenage activities and make peach preserves. in that order. now i haven't made preserves in quite a while. i just happened to come across two bags of close to overripe peaches that someone didn't know what to do with and all i could think of was preserves.

in the hierarchy of preserves, peach is up there because they need to be blanched for their skins to peel off with minimal loss of fruit. so there i was up to my ankles in boiling pots and peach juice. after a few hours of chopping, stirring and steaming, these were produced...

...and they taste great. there is nothing like fresh, warm preserves on toast. my cute husband immediately got a spoon and started to eat the bit that could not fill a jar (there is a sentimental story about that which i won't bore you with now).

after cleaning the sticky utensils, pots and counters, i felt like sitting and knitting. so i picked up the sari scarf just to see how far i would get. and lo and behold, this happened...

i really like it. the ribbon needs to relax, so before going to bed i hung it over a hanger just to let it drape.

one of the challenges of working with ribbon yarn is that it twists and turns on itself so rarely lays flat. this was difficult for me with this yarn because the sparkles would get lost and it just looked better if knitted with the ribbon as flat as possible. another challenge was weaving in the ends because the tapestry needle kept poking through the ribbon. i had to make sure the needle followed the stitch not poke through the ribbon itself.


but i love the yarn. if i were to use it again, i think i would make an oversize kerchief type wrap. i think it may get more use. but that is a future project.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

one would assume there would be movement...

...but no, not really.

i am still in the slumps with the knitting. i picked up a few unfinished projects over the last few days and have ended up frogging what i knitted. never a good sign. i did manage to knit a few rows on the sari ribbon scarf but not quite enough to finish it. sigh.

i have been sewing up more project bags though; gifts for friends.

so hopefully i will have pictures of FO's soon. but in the meantime, breakfast and tea may help.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

salved by the chocolate

my sweet friend came home from so cal today. since it was on the way, decided to take a tour of the scharffen berger chocolate factory in berkeley, something i have been meaning to do for awhile.

the factory itself is rather small and would be easily missed when driving down the street. but their chocolate is very big. their dark chocolate is very dark. even their milk chocolate is ok, though i find it pales in comparison to the dark chocolate, excuse the pun.

i took the 11:30 tour which means i had time for a good breakfast. a wise thing considering once the tour starts, chocolate tasting abounds. and once the tour was through i stopped by their cafe for a bowl of hot cocoa and, just for the heck of it, a chocolate scone. it made the knitting so much easier!

Friday, August 10, 2007

it must be mid summer

so i am in the midst of a knitting slump.

my sweet friend and i went away for an extended weekend last weekend and i haven't got my rhythm back yet. it did not help that work was absolutely slammed from the moment i walked in monday morning to the moment i left friday night.

also my sweet friend isn't home. she is visiting auntie pam down in so cal. and going to the beach every day. ahhhhh, to be a teenager on southern california beaches. that is the life. but i've been there and done that; wouldn't want to go back, but wouldn't say no to a beach house either. can you imagine, knitting on the porch of an ocean view beach house with morning coffee? i can smell the sea. or maybe it's the dog. oh well.

i am still in the midst of reading gobs of vvs blogs. you knitters out there are amazing! i am feeling like slow poke knitter! coupled with the fact that i have picked up my knitting once this week. oceane is so close to being done i can feel the bind off, as is the sari ribbon scarf. but do i dedicate time to finish them up. no. yesh. oh well. someday soon.

in the meantime head over to cass's shut up i'm counting blog. she is celebrating her 222 post by giving US presents! amazing.