Quilt Camp at Sea

I spent the last half of March on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in pursuit of improved quilting skills.  One of my major motivators for this trip was the opportunity to take two classes from Judith Baker-Montano.  I have heard my aunt rave about her for years and marveled at her crazy quilting and landscape works.  She truly is an artist and now I can say from experience that she is also a great teacher, a woman with a great sense of humor, and a real person.  While I think that two weeks is a bit long to be on a boat and I'm glad I had my thesis to work on when I wasn't quilting, I feel lucky to have been around some really fantastic people and hope to continue to share the journey with a few of them....even if they do live in Florida!  I'll post some more pics from projects on the cruise when we get a non-sunny day around here.

Truck Shoveling

 We have had a little bit of snow here so far this winter.  Last Sunday I decided it was finally time to dig out the truck.  Not that she runs, but we have gotten some warm days and maybe I would work on it if I could get to it.  Or maybe I would pay someone else to.....who knows, but nothing was going to happen with a couple feet of snow on the top so I shoveled.....

....and shoveled....and shoveled....and shoveled.  Just to give you some perspective, the truck is up on jack stands.  This is the next morning just before I biked to work because I wasn't done shoveling until it was too dark for a good 'after' photo.  I didn't actually accomplish the whole goal, I didn't dig out the back so I still don't have access, no matter what the goal.  Still a good kind of problem to have.

Super Soft Fingerless Gloves

So, the reason I only just finished the purple socks is because I spent a little too much time avoiding thesis work and a little too much time playing with string in my vice room with my Christmas gift recipient list in front of me.  The end result was that I was almost done with one sock and then I decided I would use up some cotton yarn on a baby bib for my girlfriend, was inspired to make a hat for my cousin that matches her eyes, and decided I had accquired three skeins of this super soft brown yarn for the sole purpose of making my aunt fingerless gloves and a hat.  I dug buttons for the welts out of my copious button stash from the Pendleton Woolen Mills outlet store in Portland and used the same pattern I acquired in Hawaii to make a pair of fingerless gloves for myself with locally dyed yarn.  Now that I think about it, I never posted about that.....grad school strikes again.....  My thought was that they would be awesome for cold (hahahaha) winters and that they would allow the wearer to still function, possibly even stitch, while wearing them.  I think they would also work well for holding 'hot hands' in place, but it isn't quite that cold where she lives.  This pattern knits up super quick and has easy to follow instructions.  It was so successful I might even tackle a different pattern I got to go with some yarn I bought last year at MLK weekend when my girlfriends came up for a visit during a cold spell.  Hey, ladies, we have another cold spell here, who's up for some knitting?  If it warms up any we can ski too!!

If you're really lucky, I will look up the yarn label and pattern name and post them here.

Purple Sox

Last weekend I finished the only Christmas present I set out to make at the start of the season.  The yarn was a handspun (by a woman I went to school with) purchased at the natural food store in the town where my mom lives.  I bought it a couple years ago (my last visit prior to this Christmas) and always intended to make socks with it.

I used a pattern that I was unhappy with when I made a pair for myself....somehow expecting different results for the men's version with different yarn and reinforced heels.  I was not delighted with the results, but the recipient was happy, so I guess it all worked out.