Christmas Eve in Browne's Addition

View from our apartment towards downtown Spokane

A bed and breakfast near us

Playing with the dogs on the lawn of the nearby museum

Our little commercial area

Christmas Eve: Conrad, Julie, Greg and Chris

Click on the link if you'd like to see more pictures of our new neighborhood:
https://plus.google.com/photos/102109592641413888501/albums/5825698952065617889?authkey=CImMwuzaydyZDw

Merry Christmas 2012

Conrad will be home tomorrow to spend a few days with us for Christmas, and Chris is living in Spokane now, so he'll be here too. We finally got some real snow to get us all in the Christmas spirit. I'm all set to bake my Lebkuchen today, and now we just have to go to the storage locker to find the stockings.

I stumbled across this photo on facebook (it's good for something!), and oh how it brings me down to earth and reminds me what is really important. Merry Christmas!

A Little Bit Different Sort of Baby Sweater

This was a fun and quick project that had some interesting details and techniques. As you can see, it is a simple hooded baby cardigan or jacket. What is different is that it was knit in two pieces--each starting with the sleeve cuff and working towards the center. Then the two sides were grafted together using kitchener stitch (thanks to Greg for reading the directions out loud to me while I did the stitch!).

The pattern is "Babies and Bears" by Carol Anderson and Kristi Williams, and the yarn is my new favorite Juniper Farms "Sabine," a worsted weight wool and cotton blend. I used the silver buttons to give it a bit of a Nordic flair.

This is where the grafting was done on the back...can you see it?

More on the Berry Theme

Just finished this sweater: the pattern is a top-down style called "Laurel" by designer Marie Grace Smith with some of my own modifications. The yarn, a cotton wool blend by Juniper Moon Farm "Sabine," is a color called "Berry Farm." Below is a picture of the lace detail at the sleeves and hem.

Happy Fall!

Bountiful Guemes

A quick trip to Guemes this year...it was much too short. We weren't able to do very much of our usual to do list. But we did get berry picking in. There were so many sweet juicy blackberries that it didn't take us much time at all to fill four large containers full. The berries were only for the usual cobbler, so it quickly became evident we had too many. Thus I decided to try my hand at making jam once we got home. I actually made jam and canned it, according to the directions on the Sure-Jell. I'm very proud of myself--the jam is really good, and every taste evokes Guemes.

More Guemes pictures are here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113184482922293853875/albums/5786365924290838193?gpinv=AMIXal-_o62Y88QRpmqOByTCcjyIKxpkGMTwfWGuyjgdqxOaQfSVWcIe8rHfHp0trmBSz5zps0rgkoPhiM7XJJXF1OxthIyE5aGBbdxCNhz_SlLA_AA-a40&authkey=CKnH64-Y2cyRXw

Goodbye, Jack

I want to go like Jack.

I will lay my head on the forearm

Of the one who loves me most

She will stroke my face and ears

She will bend down from time to time

And deeply inhale

The smell of moist earth, dense forest and burnt wood

Right in the middle of my forehead.

I will close my eyes and rest

In all that love

I will feel the pull of darkness

My heart will stop

And oh, so quickly

I will let go.

Finished Project Roundup

Good friend and favorite knit-wear model Josie is back in Spokane for a bit, so we took some photos of a few of my latest projects. Some of these have appeared here before, but I can't resist showing them again so nicely modeled. The pictures were taken in our apartment--you can get a sense of the spectacular view I've been wanting to show you.

Lola Little Colonnade

Quick Sock Yarn Scarf

Quick and Cozy Cabled Cowl

Simple Ribbed Shrug