Yarn Safari!

The binding is on the T-shirt quilt. Here's the back.

Here's the top.

Here's a look at the binding.

The new character shows up in The Doll's Storybook. I made Olivia this outfit. The pattern for the top came from Map Dot Watonga from Sugar Grove South.

Wednesday we left to go up to the Portland area for the Rose City Yarn Crawl. Here are Dusty and Sandy with their harnesses on, all ready to leave as soon as Daddy is through packing the car. (The dogs' harnesses attach to the seat belts in the back seat.

The dogs are good travelers, especially Sandy.

There were 10 shops involved in the Rose City Yarn Crawl. This was in Close Knit, one of our stops on the first day, Thursday.

One of the shops we visited on Friday was Green Trees Crochet. They were new this year, so I hadn't been in it before. (Shops have to be in business for at least one year to be included.)

After two days and all ten shops, I ended up with this.

The blue yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed. I plan to use it for this pattern, the Field Cardigan.

The orangey red yarn is from Treehouse Knits. I bought it at Knotty Lamb. I plan to make the Gentle Spirit Tee with it. It should be good for summer. I came across this pattern at Knotty Lamb, too.

Friday morning we met up with Alexa's brother-in-law and her niece, one of my honorary grandchildren, who brought the doll I gave her for Christmas last year, Grete in Pink. We had coffee, played some cards (while I knitted) before heading out for our second day of crawling.

We finished up the crawl in just two days. Knotty Lamb is traditionally our last stop, and this year was no exception.

Here I am, resting up at the house with my boys.

While we were there, Johan participated in the Oregon Battle of the Books. His team did very well. After a fiercely fought run-off, which they won, they will now move on to a regional competition.

Meanwhile, our son Peter was using a 3-D printer to make a device to help Soren roll dice when the family plays a game.

This will be entertaining for him, as well as making it possible for him to roll the dice without help. He can drop the dice in the top, and they roll down the slides to the table.

Peter and I went out to the Nike employee's store on Saturday, so I could get a new pair of shoes with the employee discount. (Alexa used to work for Nike.) I came away with comfortable shoes that will go with my new project.

That afternoon we went for a hike with the dogs in a park called the Jenkins Estate.

Here's our route:

That included a stop at the playground for the boys to play.

On Sunday we all went to the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals. 

They don't mention fossils in their title, but they have those, too. Their special exhibit was crab fossils.

It's a great place to visit. They have interactive displays as well as a room for children to study and learn, and a large sandbox-type enclosure full of rocks and fossils. Each visitor is allowed to pick one of the rocks or fossils to take home.

I'm exhausted. We're on our way home today.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on the Sunday Morning Wrap. I finished the last section of stockinette stitch and am working on the top twisted rib section. I might finish it during the trip home.

What's on my iPhone: Still listening to How We Learn To Be Brave by Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde. Excellent book with good advice.

What's on my sewing machine: Nothing right now. I may make something for Sandy to play with.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In "Baking on the Moon?" Jolena and her friend Olivia are worried about their test in science. Jolena suggests they ask Mandy for some help.

What's my tip of the week: I discovered a good tea/coffee substitute. It's caffeine free and has a nice taste. Yum! It's called Teeccino.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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New Adventures

The Trickle Brick Socks are coming along.

I started these in November of 2015. Then they went into hibernation, coming out just recently when I started to feel embarrassed that I had started them and then went no further. I also wasn't sure if I would be able to wear my hand-knit socks anymore, due to my foot problem, but now I know I can, so I'm looking forward to wearing them.

In doll news, I was so happy with Emil's haircut, I decided to have another go at Billy's. I think this is his fourth haircut. I discovered that I could put a rubber band around the wet hair to hold the edges of hair close to the head, and when it was dry, I was happy with the result.

It's still a little ragged in places, so I will be tweaking it, but Billy will probably have this haircut for the rest of the stories.

On Friday, we drove up to Beaverton to visit the kids. We had a luncheon to attend today in Portland, so we thought it was a good time to visit.  I also wanted to visit the Nike employee store, because we get a 50% discount on anything in the store, and I wanted to get some water-resistant walking (running, although I don't run) shoes. We went Saturday morning, and I found these. They are Air Zoom Pegasus 36 with the Nike Run Utility Shield. Not entirely waterproof, but they should keep my feet dry until I go SCUBA diving.

The plan for the middle of the day was to go Saké tasting. We stopped for lunch at McMenamin's in Forest Grove.

Our next stop was at SakéOne. We had a sip of each of the different Sakés they had available.

We left with a couple of bottles of the ones we liked best.

Sunday we hoped into two cars and drove to Thousand Acres Dog Park in Troutdale. It was hard to find a place to park, because everyone had the same idea, but it's a big off-leash park, so it wasn't crowded on the trails, except we brought our own crowd.

It was a bit chilly, but the dogs played in the water anyway. Rocky was always the first one to the sticks we threw for the dogs. At 15, he can still swim and run. It's good to see him enjoying himself. Dusty and Louis are best buds. They ran and ran.

We walked a total of 3 1/2 miles. Everyone was tired when we got back to the parking lot.

We had packed a lunch. Fortunately, there was a picnic bench available.

We're going to the luncheon in Portland today, and then on the road home. Have a great Veterans' Day. Hug the veteran of your choice.

What's on my needles: The Trickle Brick Socks, first sock almost done.

What's on my sewing machine: Resting this week.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Besties. Charlotte and Mariah wonder why other dolls don't get along.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listing to The Tower by Gregg Hurwitz. We started it in the car.

What's in my wine glass: Laurel Ridge 2015 Oregon Pinot Noir.

What's my tip of the week: If you leave for a few days and don't want to have someone come in and water your plants, you can put each plant in a pan of water in a large plastic bag and tie up the end. Be sure to leave your plants in a place where they get enough light. The moisture evaporates and condenses, so the plant doesn't dry out.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Visits

The Silver Leaf Shawl is finished:

We traveled to Beaverton to attend Johan's preschool graduation on Saturday. I wore my new shawl while I watched the ceremony and participated in World Wide Knit In Public Day. Here I am, knitting, in the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike campus, where the ceremony was held. 

There were 127 children graduating this year, the most ever in the history of Nike's on-campus day care and preschool program. Johan has been in the program since he was a baby. The daycare center is divided up into classes of children close to the same age. Here is Johan's class, called "Air Pegasus." Johan is the smallest, the one in the plaid shirt. 

Here he is with his teachers, wearing his new Nike backpack, a present from Nike given to each of the graduates. It was full of goodies, including a coloring book and other fun things.

Here's the program. Air Pegasus is listed on the center left.

Dusty and Louis spent a lot of time playing before and after the ceremony (and probably during, too, but we weren't there to see it). They hadn't seen each other since February, so they played hard until they collapsed under the dining table.

We were all pretty tired, including the parents and grandparents, so when the boys (and dogs) were napping, the rest of the family napped, too. Rocky was the only one who looked up when I took this photo. Then he went back to sleep.

Sunday we took a picnic lunch and went for a hike at L. L. Stub Stewart State Park. The pups have to be on a leash on the hiking trails. They had a good time anyway, though. The boys enjoyed running downhill and complaining uphill.

We stopped at the beaver pond to eat our lunch.

A pond turtle watched us from his perch, balanced on a floating log. He seemed to be enjoying the sun. (We didn't see any beavers.)

The park has a fenced dog run near the parking area, so when we finished the hike, we spend a few minutes letting the pups run loose. We will definitely be back. They have a nice campground, so maybe we will bring the trailer up to spend a few days.

When we got back to the car, I was excited to see that the pups and I had finally averaged walking a mile a day over a 30-day period. Our speed dropped considerably, however. I hope we can keep it up.

That evening, the babysitter came to look after the boy and the three dogs. The adults went into Portland to go on the Shanghai Tunnels Tour. During the late 19th Century, these tunnels were built under the growing city. From 1850 until 1941, able-bodied men were drugged, dropped through trap doors, held in underground holding cells and later sold to unscrupulous sea captains to populate the crews of their ships, usually between Portland and Shanghai, thus the term, "Shanghaied." It was fascinating and educational.

After the tour, we had dinner at Bangkok Palace restaurant. The food was excellent. This was just the appetizers (my plate).

We are on our way back to Bend today. Before we left, the dolls and I put together a retelling of "The Three Bears." It's called "Welcoming a Stranger––a Fairy Tale." It came out on Friday, as we were driving northward.

This week's story is the visit to the dentist's office.
What's on my needles: A new version of the Cables and Herringbone Doll Cardigan.

What's on my sewing machine: Costumes for the cast of The Doll's Storybook.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. No progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Welcoming a Stranger––a Fairy Tale."

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to The French Affair by M. C. Beaton. Now listening to Roseanna M. White's A Song Unheard, and The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte, for traveling in the car with DH.

What's in my wine glass: Oak Knott, Marechel Foch 2016 from the Willamette Valley.

What's my tip of the week: A small, flat Tupperware container makes a good dog water dish while hiking. There are many contraptions designed for giving water to your best friend, but most require you throw out the water your dog doesn't drink. On a long hike, you may not want to waste your water. A lid with a good seal can be placed back on the water dish to be consumed at a later water break or thrown out when you get back to civilization where water is available.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.