Dangerous Liaisons

Look! A quilt!

Thursday we took off to go to the Portland area to visit family and for the Rose City Yarn Crawl. DDIL2 and I spent the evening at a fund raiser for Fact Oregon (Families And Communities Together.) The organization provides support and guidance for families that experience disabilities. The quilt was part of the silent auction.
Executive Director Roberta Dunn spoke to the crowd before the live auction about what was going on with the organization.

We had some delicious food, and the live auction was entertaining. I bought a bottle of wine in a paper bag (unseen). It cost $20, but I figured that even a cheap bottle of wine and my nice dinner would be worth it. I haven't tasted the wine yet, but I'm sure it's going to be good.

Friday morning I packed up my knitting and Mandy, and we headed out to visit the yarn shops. (It was raining. Mandy didn't want to get silver eye, so she wore a plastic bag.) 

The first shop was Blizzard in Vancouver, just over the border, in Washington. It was early, and the shop wasn't too crowded, so Mandy came out to have her photo taken in the shop. She was wearing her Stavanger Cardigan, because her St. Patrick's Day Cardigan wasn't finished yet. (I worked on it while we drove from one shop to the next.)

I bought some stitch markers and some repositionable highlighter tape (already in use).

At Starlight Knitting Society I picked up the official Yarn Crawl tote bag. The bag I had my cardigan in was a little too small for it, so this was a good addition. (That's a bird's nest. The theme for the Crawl this year was "Birds of the Pacific Northwest.")

Later we stopped at Fiber Rhythm.

After that we stopped at Twisted Yarn Shop, where I bought a kit for Which Came First (a wrap), although there's a version of the pattern that makes a cowl. Here are the colors I selected:

I also picked up a skein of lace-weight yarn on the sale rack for 25% off. I picked this color because I thought it would go with my "So Not My Palette Cardigan," which probably should be named "My Palette After All."

We stopped in at Close Knit Portland.

Close Knit is aptly named. It was a tight fit for all the customers.

For Yarn's Sake had a lot of mini skeins. Too bad Mandy was in the car. She would have appreciated them.

I found a kit for a hat I absolutely had to have. It's called the Roadside Beanie. It has sheep on it, so I thought it was cute.

Also included on Thursday were Knitting Bee,  Northwest Wools and Pearl Fiber Arts. At each place, we opened the door with a sleeve, handed our passports in to be stamped, entered our names and email addresses, usually on a laptop or a tablet, after which we used hand sanitizer. Then, if we bought something, we sometimes had to hand over a credit card, then take it back, then sign on a tablet or using a pen. It was a relief when a place accepted ApplePay, because then I didn't have to touch anything other than my own phone. After making a purchase, I always used hand sanitizer. The rain continued off and on for the whole day, and the car was wet. I started to notice after several shops that the car door handle felt slimy. I figured out that the residue from the hand sanitizer was rehydrating when I got it wet. It was good to wash it off when we finished our tour for the day. Here we are at the last stop.

Saturday morning, we only had one shop left: the Knotty Lamb in Forest Grove. I brought Mandy in so I could shoot some more photos. She attracted a lot of attention. Several people commented on how beautiful she was and wondered about the cardigan. One lady wanted to look it up on Ravelry, and when she saw my name, she recognized it. She said that she had made my Everyday Play Dress, but as a top. She asked me to wait while she went to her car to get her doll, who was wearing the top, as well as some leggings based on EZ's Nethergarments, but with short rows across the bottom. The dolls seemed to enjoy getting acquainted.

I think her name is Tiffany. She is an American Girl doll.

Later on Saturday, we had lunch at DDIL's parents' home, which was very nice, followed by a trip to Laurel Ridge Winery. I brought Mandy along to the winery, because she had never been to one before. The woman who brought the wine for tasting looked just like a grownup version of Mandy. Mandy didn't even pretend to have wine, because she knows she's too young.

We had more rain, but not as much as Friday, and we got to see this rainbow from the winery.

We had a nice tasting and a nice visit.

Sunday we took the boys to the gym for Johan's gymnastics lesson and Soren's "Sensory Sunday" activity. 

I missed the lesson because my alarm went off after we were already on the way. That meant it was time for Rocky's medication which I had forgotten (an hour later by the clock than usual because of the #@$*! time change), and I had to go back to the house.

However, because I finished the Cables and Herringbones Cardigan for Mandy, I'm back at work on my Maine Memories Cardigan for me, adding the third color to the bottom of the sleeve.

I hope I get done with the cardigan before I get the new coronavirus.

What's on my needles: Maine Memories. Almost done with first sleeve.

What's on my sewing machine: Put away for now.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Water, Water...." The dolls figure out where water comes from.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Amy Snow by Tracy Rees. Still enjoyable.

What's in my wine glass: Terra d'Oro Red Wine Blend 2014. Not bad.

What's my tip of the week: If you are roasting vegetables with a small amount of oil, you can save time and mess by lining your baking sheet with parchment paper, spreading the cut vegetables on it, add the seasonings and oil, then mix it by pulling up the edges of the paper so the vegetables pile up, then spread them around again with a spoon or spatula. Halfway through, they can be remixed by the same process. When you're done, the parchment paper can be thrown out, leaving the pans with a small greasy spot at most.

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.

The Days of Wine and Posies

Vintage Stitchers met this past week.

You may remember this quilt of Janet's. She had custom quilting done on it, and it turned out great. As is often the case, you can see the quilting better on the back.

Rebecca has continued to work on her Borboletta BOM quilt blocks. She was working on this one.

Julie had a new embroidery project. It has batting and backing. We wondered why and decided it was to hide the traveling strands, although we all said we don't travel across the back with their embroidery floss.

Janet is making progress on this "Sunny Side of the Street" quilt from Davidene's. (On the website, you will need to scroll down to see the quilt.)

Marilyn had finished this quilt in her usual bright primaries palette.

Diane had finished this Redwork quilt.

I continued to work on my Spring Flowers quilt. I've been making some progress, between packing and knitting. I packed away my whole cloth quilt, which is perhaps 30% finished. It went into a Chewy (online dog food) box with some other quilts. More on that later.

I finished Vroni's Russian Dress, a test of the pattern, which is now available in more or less completed form here (in blog post form) and here (as a downloadable pdf from Ravelry). I made Vroni's with the balance skirt, rather than the swirled version of the original. My sewing machine was packed away and not available, so I didn't make a petticoat. I used two sets of dpns to do the skirt, so I could tell people it works. (It does.) I had two panels on each of 9 needles and knit with the 10th. Some of my needles were 6" and some were 7". I found the 6" needles acceptable, but I had to be careful not to spread out the sts too much. (If you're wondering about Cleo the goldfish, who is usually on that little dresser, she got packed, too.)

Someone on Ravelry used my pattern to make the dress for one of her dolls, the Asian Hannah. She made hers with the swirled skirt. 

Now all three girls have one of these dresses. I want to make one more for Lotte with the more fitted bodice when I have a chance. I think her dress will fit Dolly or Gabi, or I could send it to Miss Daphne for her doll.

I had planned to take a group photo outdoors, but it turned cold again and rained for several days. 

Speaking of Dolly and Gabi, they and Alister are on their way to Bend in a climate-controlled vehicle. When they arrive, they will have climate-controlled accommodations until we find a house. They (and most of our boxes and small stuff) are packed away in large boxes or pods, which were picked up on Friday and taken to Salt Lake City to be loaded into a semi. They should be there in a few days.

The Götz girls will go with us. It's Lotte's turn to be the traveling doll, and Vroni and Mandy will sleep in their "coffins" under the bed in the trailer. (They refer to them as "coffins," because they hate the boxes they came in.) Lotte is hoping to pick up more pine cones, ever since I tossed her the tiniest one from our collection, which I was dusting and packing in plastic bags around the girls' dining room chairs.

We continue to go through things, doing some finishing up on the downstairs bathroom and getting ready for our garage sale. On Saturday I went to the Acorn Antique Fair in Ogden to collect cards of antique dealers who might be willing to come to look at our stuff. I gave DH a list of what I was willing to part with. He scratched off some things, and we now have a list of furniture and other antique items we agree to part with. Anything the antique dealers don't want will go into the garage sale.

For some cuteness this week, granddaughter Daphne and grandson Zachary completed their year of dance lessons.

They tried out for the Alice in Wonderland ballet and were accepted. They will play snails (how do snails dance?) and hedgehogs. It's good to get experience performing in front of a large audience while you're still too young to get nervous.

Happy 8th birthday to Miss Daphne today! I hope you love your Götz Katie doll!

ETA: Daphne has school and dance practice today, so she opened her presents yesterday. She has named her Katie doll Bella. You can see that doll and clothes had already been out of the box when this photo was taken, but Bella is looking around at her new home.

What's on my needles: Still the Coastal Skies, a little more progress made, and the Cabbagetown Jacket for Matti.

What's on my Featherweight: On its way to Bend.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, coming along slowly.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is still in hibernation. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Young Clementina by D. E. Stevenson. I haven’t had much time to listen this week, but I’ve listened to most of it, and it’s very good.

What's in my wine glass: A Trader Joe’s Grower’s Reserve Petite Sirah, 2016.

What's my tip of the week: Geranium plants in a box can be pruned and kept for many years. You can bring the box in when the weather is too cold outside and keep them near a window where they can get plenty of light, then take them outdoors when the weather warms up and leave them outside all summer to brighten your porch or patio in a spot with not too much sun. Bring them back in as needed in the fall. We have had ours for about 15 years. We will be leaving them behind, but they are going to a good home.

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.