Sigh!

Summer is officially over for me...sigh! Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that school was out? What do you mean I have to return to full-time work tomorrow?!

What I did on my summer vacation:

Projects:

1. Finished my Kiri shawl. Hmmm. can't find a good picture of it - maybe tomorrow...

2. I was gone this weekend to visit my family because of this new nephew addition (and his big brother and cousins, as well as Mom & Dad). Ian was the one I made the Ribbon blanket for in July.



3. Made a Diversity scarf (scroll down to the Nov. 13 entry)
Details:
Pattern: Diversity scarf (pattern available from Purlescence)
Yarn: Bazic wool
Needles: US size 9 (5.5 mm)
Begun: July 23, 2007
Finished: August 9, 2007


4. Made a Clapotis for my friend L. who loves it!

Details:
Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Ritratto color #64
Needles: US size 8 (5.0 mm)
Begun: June 24, 2007
Finished: August 13, 2007







5. Started this Gemini vest in Bombyx silk (pics later).

6. And the Pretty-in-Pink tank top from "Simply Creative Crochet" (2003). Of course, mine is in purple! (pics later, too)

Other stuff:

Went to Ashland, OR to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Hung out a lot at Purlescence Yarns.

Worked a lot at the public library.

Read all the Harry Potter books (started and finished #7 yesterday).

Drove my son to fencing lessons 3 days/week.

Hmmm, I guess I was busier than I thought. Just think of how much I'd get done without the kids at school! Oh - there is this little thing called a paycheck...

Wish me luck!

I've taken most of the day to work on my yarn inventory. Honey (Hubby) and The Dork (son) are gone for a few more days at camp, so I could pull all the bins out and see what I really have. I don't dare do it while they're home because I've now taken over the entire bed, and half the living room. No, I'm not showing you those pictures!

I'd like to blame the blogging bug for this project, because I thought I should find all my purple yarn! I did, and piled it all on the patio table. Hmmm, over 85 different purple yarns (I only grabbed one skein of each, so don't ask how many total purple skeins I have...) I wanted to put it up as the picture in my header, but Blogger wouldn't load the pic correctly. So, it'll be here, for the moment.

Then, I realized that a lot of the yarn had migrated to various places and tote bags, and started to get it back together. Then, I thought as long as it was out, I should take some photographic evidence. Which evolved into updating the Excel spreadsheet, and maybe will eventually get me to admit that I have a yarn habit! Eventually, the pics will go into a Flickr account, and eventually into Ravelry. I'm only behind about 5,000 more people!

Time to get back to photographing and updating!

Amy Singer rocks!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend both days knitting at one of my favorite places with Amy Singer! Her book is a wealth of information about non-animal fibers, as well as some beautiful patterns.

Saturday was the No Sheep for You discussion and some swatching of hemp yarn and Calmer to see the different characteristics. I really have to get some Calmer now -- not that I need any more yarn! {Edited to add: Thanks Emy for the correction: we swatched hemp and Rowan Bamboo Tape. We talked a lot about the Calmer, though!}

I took the Tuscany class on Sunday, and started by using a ribbon yarn that I bought at Stitches a few years ago. Really like the look...really did not like the feel of the fabric! Too stiff for a shawl. I think this yarn would be be a great summer top. However, I had an inspiration and realized that I have some gorgeous handpainted Tencel laceweight Almaza. I love how it's working up - and by using the Addi Turbo lace needles, I'm actually able to to the k3tog pretty easily. Isn't it purty!

Of course, I need to put it down and work on the 3/4-done Clapotis - I think that's finally long enough and I need to start decreasing! I spent the rest of the day just hanging out and laughing and talking and knitting!

THEN, yesterday, I left work on the dot of 12:30 PM. Those of you who know me know that I NEVER leave right on time. There's always one last little thing to finish or another kid who comes up with a question. But, I needed to get up to Artfibers. If you have never been there, you HAVE to go! Met up with the ladies from Purlescence who were showing Amy a great time in SF. Nathania has a great account of the day (and she got better pictures than I did)! Or take a look at Amy's SF picture set here. I was really good and only bought 1 cone of Liana which should be plenty to make Cookie A's Katrina Rib sweater. Not that I have any time...

Need to get back to the needles!