HighFiber

Monday, March 10, 2025

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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Monday, March 3, 2025

Putting On and Taking Off

I'm finally finishing up Charlie's T-shirt quilt. The two strips of footprints are appliquéd onto the back and the binding is half done. Only the hand-sewing of the other side of the binding to do, and it will be done.

I don't know if I'll have it finished before we leave for to the Rose City Yarn Crawl or not, but will get some of it done. I don't plan to take it along. It would fill up the car and be very difficult to work on!

The Sunday Morning Wrap has only one section to go, and then the final ribbing section. The Pattern is designed by Espace Tricot. I haven't needed the third skein of yarn yet, but the second one is getting pretty low.

Olivia, the new character in my stories, came wearing a party dress. She needs some play clothes, so I made her some leggings.

Now I'm working on a knitted top to go with it. I'm using the Map Dot Watonga pattern by Sharisse Dunn from Sugar Grove South. I just have a few rows to go and then the buttons to sew on.

I finished taking the photos for the new story, which will come out this Friday.

We had another Madroña Vineyards Pop-up meeting on Tuesday. (It's basically a wine-drinking party with a little education about how the vineyard is run.) We had supper during the meeting, which is online. I had some leftover black-bean soup, leftover black-eyed peas and some leftover squash and sweet-potato soup. I thought the flavors would be compatible, so I mixed the three together. It was delicious, was great with the white wine we had and was just enough for two people.

We had some salad and muffins as well. To fancy it up, I served some carob soy pudding (recipe below in "What's my tip of the week"). I'm off chocolate for now, and carob tastes almost the same. It was good.

The muffins use applesauce. We had a big container of applesauce open, and I wanted to use it up before it went bad.

Tuesday was a busy day. The pups went to the groomer in the morning. While they were having a spa day, we went and got our Covid boosters, recommended by our doctor, since it had been six months, and Covid is going around again. We were just walking to our car after we finished some quick grocery shopping, when we received the text that the pups were ready to pick up. They won't stay this pretty for long, so I had to get a photo on the back deck. (Treats were involved.)

We took some walks early in the week, going into the woods or along the trail. Dusty wore his fleece, because he gets cold easily, and his birthday suit was minus some hair.

The weather has warmed up a bit, and Friday and Saturday were quite pleasant. We decided it was a good time to go to Good Dog Trail, an off-leash area with trails that lead to the Deschutes River. Sandy loves to be in the water. I'm sure it was pretty cold, but he doesn't seem to mind.

Dusty isn't much of a water dog, but I got this photo of my handsome boy.

Sandy went after sticks thrown into the water. It's good the current was gentle.

Dusty really likes to fetch things, so he went in, too, but seemed to have second thoughts.

The hike was a little over three miles. There's still some melting snow to skirt, and some mud in places, but it was great fun.

We'll be on our way to the Portland area in a couple of days. I'm looking forward to the Yarn Crawl and seeing Soren and Johan. The pups are looking forward to visiting Louis, who just celebrated his ninth birthday.

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 and finishing up the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along.