Monthly Archives: May 2014

These socks are intended to just cover the foot in the shoe.  So I should be able to get two pair from  the same fiber from which I usually get one pair  since I always have some leftover.  If I don’t have quite enough for the second pair, I’ll finish the toes with something else – who sees way down into your Nike’s anyway?    I had a lot of waiting time this week so was able to finish them quickly.    It may take the entire month of June to finish the second pair as the plan is for my brother and his granddaughter to visit as well as my daughter and grandson.   And we will be doing some “going”.

Look closely as  I’d like to point out some flaws.  It’s difficult to see in this photo, but the top sock is definitely a lighter grey than the lower sock.   I purchased this fiber at JoAnn’s and it is a decent sock yarn, but I didn’t bother to check if it was the same lot number and it isn’t.   You will notice that the stripes also do not follow the same order.  It’s as if one was rolled reverse from the other.    Now on this pair of socks, none of this matters because when I make the second pair, it will be the same story, so by taking the dark sock from each pair, I will have a matching color pair – the same with the lighter gray ones (assuming I have enough to finish both socks with this yarn)   However, if this had been a full pair of socks, I would have been unhappy and probably stopped after the first inch and reappropriated the yarn to another project – scarf or ?

So lesson learned.   Lot number can be extremely important.

The second pair is barely started and will be put on hold until the house is company ready.

Do you ever get up and just want to take a vacation from all you’ve been doing?   That was how it was here today.    Bill and I talked about all the people who fly to Seattle (big airfare), stay in hotels (another expense) and eat all their meals out.  And since they have to make reservations, they can’t choose the weather.    We live one hour from Seattle and don’t even go enjoy the city.   Shameful.  We are about to change that.

A reader mentioned that it sounds like we have lots of parks in this area – which is true and we were a bit sore from yesterday’s gardening.    To add to that our daughter Kati raved about a Chinese foot massage for only $27.00 –  an hour.   A regular massage near here is 70 – 80 for an hour.     Off we went to Seattle’s huge International district.

If you haven’t had one of these before, let me describe the scene.   There were 20 red oversized chair/beds in this room, dim lights and beautiful, soft, music.  I sat in the chair, took off my shoes and socks and was presented with a very warm (not hot) bucket of water into which I put my feet.   Next he covered me with a blanket and the chair was laid back.   Starting with my head, he worked the head, the neck and  shoulders (which in my case was the purpose of going).    Then he did each arm and hand and then the feet – think reflexology.   After he was through with the feet and toes, I turned over and he worked the back a bit.   This whole process took an hour.   These people are skilled and if 20 people were sitting in those 20 chairs, all the masseuses would be doing the same thing at the same time.  Amazing!  An hour of this and I was ready for a nap – not going out to eat.

But remember this is a vacation day, so we did join Kati and Zach for lunch at a vegan tofu restaurant near by.   The food was excellent!     With full stomachs, we walked over to a huge marketplace where we saw many fruits and vegetables with which we are not familiar and a few exotic ones we did know from our trips.  But one marketplace wasn’t enough – we visited another one and this one had many items besides the foods.

We had a WONDERFUL vacation day.

We took the day for an outing and went to Conway, Washington, particularly Fir Island  This is a major wintering spot for Trumpeter and Tundra Swan as well as the Snow Goose.   The state Fish and Wildlife has an area set aside so these birds will not be bothered.   This area also attracts many other birds.   I believe the sign said they have sighted more than 100 varieties.

In addition to checking that out, (of course we found out about this island too late for wintering birds to still be there) we drove around the small island and took in the sights.  Most of the island is in food crops.  I was surprised to see the name of the company from where we get our organic strawberries  has their farm there.  They do Sunday market here in town, so I didn’t think about them being on the island.    So here are some views of the very beautiful land.

It appears someone wanted to remember the old country with the pile of rocks and a pretend goat.

And yes, we were happy to be in a small car when we had to turn around in a place that didn’t expect one to have to turn around.  I had to get out and direct as the car barely fit the road.   Deep drainage ditches were on each side.

Today I slacked on  creating with fiber and the garden to do house cleaning.   If it gets too dirty, I find it difficult to work on projects

May is the fifth month and this is the fifth pair of socks, so I’m right on schedule.    Somehow this yarn found its way into my yarn stash.  While they may not be my choice in color, I do know two women who would love to have them.   So they will have a home.

             Our first peony is just opening.

My prayer is that all of you  have a safe and happy holiday.

   Just sharing the nesting space.    The bantam (now in back) lays claim to this spot, but can be pushed over for another to lay her eggs.

An interesting quilt I saw on the wall at the store yesterday.

And they still had what I consider a Halloween quilt up.

But this one REALLY caught my eye.   The picnic cloth is 50″ square.   What is cut off in the photo, is the quilter had embroidered a drumstick on the back of the oven mitt and ants marching across the towel.

So this cute pattern came home with me.   I should be able to get this done in a month, don’t you think?   Especially a month with lots of company.    I’m with you – won’t happen this year, but there will be another summer.

This Angler 2 looks like a very handy tool, so it came to live at my house as well

Corner Cut 60 will make sewing these triangles so much easier and faster because the ears are cut off before you sew.   Also because of that, the 1/4″ seams should be more accurate.   I love tools that make life easier.

And the big prize was this “glue” paper.   I have used rolls of Seam a Steam 2 lite.   But they are having production problems and people are saying they like this just as well, if not better.   This is what I use to do machine applique.   I press this on the back of my applique and then draw the design on the paper on the reverse of this.   After that I cut it out and position it on the background fabric where I want to make the scene.   Since I have several quilts in mind of this type, 3 packages of this paper came to live with me.

It was a very good day.   It is unusual to find so many usable items at one of these “infomercial: Sew Fun programs.

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