three days of spring

Economics has overtaken my life. SO much to learn and I have SO much to do. It is interesting, really to learn how this country works. Economics is soo closely tied to politics. More than I cared to learn about, but, well, there it is.

Spring has decided to show up here in western Oregon. The Rhododendrons and Azaleas are blooming with a rich ferocity. It's good to see the birds back again, fighting over who is 'king of the feeder'. We don't have to worry much about squirrels, the dogs keep most varmints away.

My TrampyCat, Jezebell, had kittens on Friday the 13th. Four little black potatoes. So cute, yet I am not sure of the significance of all that. Or is there one? After all the hype over the 'Rapture'... sigh. Moving on.

This is my oldest daughter. It was her sophomore prom. She picked out the dress and her Great-Grandmother lent her the bracelet and necklace. I think she looked wonderful. Such a smart kid too. Keep an eye on this one. She's going to rock the world. 

 

My son is going to start Kindergarten this fall. We went to the "Kindergarten Round-up" to give him a taste of what it will be like. Plus all the paperwork I had to do.. He seems to feel pretty comfortable with it. I'm pretty blessed to have a son like him. 

I got a hat order from a customer in Dublin, Ireland from my other blog (http://1000hatproject.blogspot.com) and he was interested in colors so I created this photo. Fun! Plus I am totally stoked about sending something I made to another country. How totally cool is that!!

                                            The Rhodies at my uncle's place are soo pretty!

   These trees are in the parking lot at Jerry's, a locally owned home improvement center. Love it!

Jerry's had a whole line of these awesome marigolds. I wish I could have bought all of them. Love the color! I took a bunch of photos and played around with the editing on Picknik, a great online site for photo editing. 

I now carry a camera and knitting with me everywhere I go. You would not believe how often I get the opportunity to work on either. For us hobbyists, it really is how you get the moment caught, or projects finished. You never know when the perfect time is right in front of you.

Back to the Books. Economics...supply and demand curves.. global trading... mumble mumble..

road trip treasures

I was headed home from Albany after taking an test for my Anthropology class, and decided to see if the new (ish..it's been open a while but new enough nonetheless) yarn shop in Brownsville was open. I had been messaging a fellow Raveler about it on our Oregon knitting group and really wanted to check it out.

Friends, I introduce you to: The Brownsville Stitching Parlor.

 The Proprietor, Jamie Kampfer, is on the left, showing a nice lady a new technique at the lesson table.

                          One of the displays featuring beautiful hand made clothes for dolls.

               The floor loom for teaching. The weaving hanging on the edge were wonderful!

There is a local sheep owner whose rovings you see.Classes are held to learn to spin and weave.

                         An overall view of the shop. Jamie has a wide array of brand names. 

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Outside the front door. It is a very old Pioneer town, and the building has been wonderfully preserved.

The shop is located in this building.

you can reach Jamie online at;

stitchparlor@peak.org

541-466-3660

Hours are Tues-Fri 10am-5pm

Saturday 11am-4pm

I can't wait to go back! Brownsville is less than 30 miles away. 

Happy stitching!

Catching my breath

It seems the time between posts keeps getting longer. Sundays come around, and instead of  happily blogging, and playing around on Flickr, I am hunched over the keyboard, a book and a calculator, fiercely learning the ins and outs of Economics. (in the long run, that will probably pay better than this blog.. sigh).

Time management has been my challenge pretty much my whole life. Online classes make it even more challenging. I try to balance homework time with days I work, and so far it's a bumpy road traveled.
I have been crocheting as well as knitting. My cousin is due this month with baby #2, (a boy) and asked me to make hats and blankets for both children.

Here is what resulted:

Bernat Baby in blue and white. Ripple stitch pattern from 101 Ripple stitch patterns.

Vanna' choice yarn with scrap yarn for the flower.

Vanna's Choice yarn in pink and chocolate.

Frank, showing us the baby hat.

I enjoyed the knitted hat because I was using Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino. SO soft! I wanted that yarn all to myself! I could knit a pillow out of it and sleep with it every night. Ahh...

The Crocheted items are always fun to make. I like crocheting blankets and afghans because they work up so much faster than knitting. I have knit an afghan before, a large modified 'feather and fan', but. Wow. I whittled away at at that thing for years, it seemed like.

In addition, I finished these in time for Easter for Emily:

Sadie modeling her sister's socks

These were a breeze to knit. Italian wool, soft and baby-ish. I used my Generic sock pattern. I am in the Self-imposed Sock club on Ravelry, and haven't been keeping up. This is my attempt to remedy that. 

I can not stop knitting. It keeps me sane. If I had to choose between coffee and knitting, or beer and knitting, I would dump the coffee and give away the beer. Knitting makes everything alright again. Always.

Back to Economics and the phenomenon called, "elasticity"..

my new obsession

Knitting has been and always will be my obsession. I should define that better. Passion. I am passionate about knitting. It keeps me calm, and focused, sort of like Yoga for the brain.

Photography is quickly catching up to the knitting though. Not only am I trying to get creative with the photos I snap of projects, I carry my little camera around right along with my knitting. I even went as far as stopping in the emergency median on a road trip recently to take photos of some cool stuff on the railroad tracks. (I plan the road trips to allow for time to stop and take pics, too!)

The cool thing is that both are quite portable, and one inspires the other. My rooster is wonderful shades of amber and if I ever run across a  yarn that comes close, I will knit something and it will remind me of him long after he is gone.

 A few recent ones: (click on them- you'll get a larger version. I promise!)

OMG the sun is out! I'm going out to take more photos. Might even knit some more today too..

Turn the page

Oregon State University!

That sounds soo.. intelligent to me. I actually feel intelligent. Even when I do dorky, stupid things like "put something away" and cannot find it until I re-organize several months later, or fail to remember what I was going to my bedroom for. ( I call that "mom syndrome").

I start full-time tomorrow. Tomorrow! that sure flew up my skirt faster than I thought it would. I'm totally ready to get my goals started, finished and off to a new career that pays. Well. With benefits. And things like "my own house" and "my own driveway" and "semi-financial independence" and "kids college funds". Things like that.

Until then, I will be toiling away, neck deep in books, fighting for survival. Thank GOD for knitting. In the grand scheme of things, yarn is more satisfying than any $300/hr therapist. ( not that I need one, just sayin')

I finally got to a pair of socks that needed to be worked up a long time ago.

I had some leftover sock yarn and combined them to make a pair for Joe. Added to the Christmas box.

Have a great Sunday. I'm off to read other blogs I enjoy. (There a quite a few)

tech writing is evil

Wowzers. I have been working on a final for my Tech Writing class and it is taking forEVer.
I write and write and write and write. Then I look at the word count "445" WTH!


     My son was watching "UP" and I could hear Kevin whining about pulling that house around with Mr. Fredrickson and decided to offer up my version:


‎*whiney voice* It's like a gangliojillion words long and my eyes hurt and my elbow hurts and I hate fonts and formatting and Times New Roman for the rest of my life and I will never be a tech writer unless the deepest circle of hell freezes over and OMG don't EVEN get me started with cut/paste bullshit...*whiney voice off* 


Did I say this was taking epic time status? mumblebacktostupidreportmumble..


But, you evil tech report, I have the upper hand, oh yes! I have a sock sitting right next to me at the computer desk that I can escape to and knit a few rounds and process what I am going to say next. I even ran away to my blog to enter this post. HA! You will NOT defeat me, evil tech report! I will triumph in the end, Yarrr!


Sigh. Now I have to get back to that endless, dreary, mind numbing, format helling, I-want-to-kill-something tech report... sigh.


Everyone ELSE gets to have a  great day. 

change is good. sometimes.

Well. How about that?
I'm tlot-tlot-tlotting along in the game of life, thinking all is well. I got registered at Oregon State University for Spring term. (yay!)  Ready to cut back hours at work. (yay!) Getting a decent tax return so as to pay off a few looming bills- including the car. (BIG yay!)
Then...
   Good old Fate comes at me from her toes with a left hook, blindsiding me. I was bracing myself, but still, one is never totally ready for a left hook from Fate. I don't care who you are.

My wonderful little boy has Asperger's syndrome.

The insecure me pretty much fell apart for a few days (ya think!?!). I got on the pity pot and sat. What could I have done different? was it me? It's all my fault. His dad was such a jerk. yaddah yaddah...
Then the tough me: "WTF!! This has to be somebody's fault! NOT mine! God, you are mean!" blah blah blah...

Then I did some research. I found a support group. I think I can handle it. I hope I can handle it. I am a mother after all. And a knitter. I love that little guy  like there's no tomorrow. I want to be everything he needs, because I'm all he has.

I remember a great quote from the movie "Duma".

 "Change happens. That's the way it is all the time. The little boy that is with me now is not the same little boy that left home. See? Change."  ~Ribcuna

                                                  Hat #10 for the 1000 hat project.

                                        My new mitts. Actually yes, they are for me!
                                                           How cool is that!
                                                Soy/wool blend. Very soft and almost shiny.

                                                  
Even though I know I will have my weak moments ( I am human after all- just don't tell anyone), I know everything will be alright. I have to believe that, no matter what the change.