beebonnet report

The End of Summer

The last weeks of summer are always sweet, as we feel the light beginning to withdraw in the evenings and a chill hits the air, I feel compelled to ride my bike and get out and about while I still can enjoy a little sunshine.  It's funny, I never appreciated sunshine when I lived on the surface of the sun (aka southern california), but now that I live in a rainy climate, I do appreciate the sun a bit more.  However, the rain is really my very favorite weather, and the fact that the rains are approaching fills me with delight, and makes me want to knit!  Are you feeling the knit love too?

I have discovered reasons #328 and #329 to love living in Eugene, and they are also foods.... mushrooms and salmon!

mmmmm... just look at those mushrooms!  Lovely oyster and shiitake mushrooms with a few criminis from the grocery store.  3 days a week we have a farmer's market here, with fabulous mushroom vendors and I have been enjoying mushrooms all summer.

and look at that gorgeous fish!  That is 10 lbs of fresh pacific sockeye salmon waiting for me to make a foil tent and bake it.  I put sliced lemon, a bit of butter, several sprigs of fresh basil and some onions in the cavity of the fish, along with some kosher salt and cracked pepper.  on the outside are sliced onions and capers.  Add a few pats of butter and a cup of white wine, cover it with foil and bake at 425F.  DEEEELISHUS!  Serve with the mushrooms!

Now that we've all drooled over dinner, I have a few business announcements.

1.  The Eclectic Sole is going out of print pretty soon.  If you have been wanting this book, now would be the time to get it.  You may still be able to get it from your local yarn store.  I have hurt copies available on my website at a big discount.  The books are ones that have been damaged in shipping.  The damage is very slight, usually a small dent near a corner of the book, but the contents are undamaged and readable. 

2.  Two new clubs in colorwork are opening up.  One is really a club/class and it starts at the end of September.  The colorwork club will take you from your first stitches in stranded colorwork through steeks at the end.  Along the way you'll make 4 great items that you can keep for yourself, or get a headstart on your holiday knitting!  The second club is colorwork socks of course!  For those of you who loved the colorwork in the enchanted sole, here is a club just for you!  For more information about either of these clubs, check out the website.

3.  The Enchanted Sole and The Eclectic Sole were reviewed on the latest podcast of The Knitmore Girls, you can check it out here

4.  SKA- Sockdown 4 has been announced and I'll be designing a mystery sock for the month of May... If you're not familiar with SKA it's the Sock Knitter's Anonymous group on Ravelry and the sockdown part has all kinds of challenges each month. 

Whew!  I think that's it for announcements for a while.  Now, where's that salmon....

Reason #327 to love living in Eugene

The berries!
I rode my bike to the saturday farmer's market to pick up some produce and came home with this bowl full of goodness.  i don't think I'd ever really tasted a strawberry until I came here.

Thanks everyone for the kind wishes about my little dog.  It's a hard thing to have to do and it's comforting to know people are thinking kindly of you.  So, thanks.

I haven't gotten a chance to share the loot I brought back from Knit Nation!  First of all there was the Wollmeise booth.  Claudia brought a metric ton of yarn with her!  And that's not an exaggeration, she actually had that much yarn.  To those of  us in the U.S. where finding Wollmeise is akin to sighting a Unicorn, that was pretty astounding!  So, of course, I had to bring a little bit back with me.

I bought all tonal solids because I like designing with those types of colors, but she has lovely variegated yarn too.  I think people love this yarn because of the colors, they are so vibrant and cheerful.  The yarn base is a 6ply merino that is very smooth and feels a bit like string, but nice and soft when knit up.

 

I also got two different yarns from John Arbon textiles.  One is a BFL DK weight and the other is a British Wool/Nylon mix that is heavenly soft.  I asked Mr. Arbon what breeds of wool were in that one and he said any fine wool below a particular micron count (I forgot what the count was), mostly merino and rambouillet type wools.  Although it says it is shrink resistant and contains nylon so is probably meant for socks, I wouldn't use it for socks because I think the twist is a little loose for my taste in sock yarn.  However, I think it will be gorgeous and drapey for lace and that is what I intend to do with mine.  Several people have asked if I plan to dye it, and the answer is no. I really love working with white and other naturally colored wools, they are a nice departure from all the vivid colors sometimes and bring a calm rest to your eyes, so I think this one will stay white.  He had the most gorgeous ready made socks in his booth and I regret not buying them.  I actually shopped the market intending to go back and never made it back in time.  Luckily he has a website where you can find those socks!

two different vendors supplied the wool for my spinning classes, Fyberspates and Old Maiden Aunt.  I was lucky enough to come home with a few extra supplies.  This is from Fyberspates and is their "sparkle ball"  The sparkly stuff in there is silver!

The two dark purple wheels on the bottom are superwash BFL (I think) from Fyberspates.  I'm going to make a 3-ply with one ply from the merino tencel wheel on the top which comes from Chameleon Colorworks. These are destined to become socks of course!

Most of what I came home with was in the purple family, in spite of the fact that everyone in the class was grabbing up purple!  I think I just had a lot of purple items.  That's ok with me, I love purple too!  This is really lovely BFL/tussah from Old Maiden Aunt.  I'm not sure what i'll do with this yet, but it does look delish.

And I think this definitely wants to be a 3-ply, 1 ply of each.  There are two BFL/tussah and one BFL/kid mohair.  I just love these colors, they remind me of peonies or hydrangeas.  I'm not sure if this should become lace or maybe a hat and scarf to bring a little spring to those damp winter months we get here in Western Oregon. 

Now all I have to do is find some time to spin! 

Goodbye Sweet Girl

 

Today I had to put down my sweet girl Annabelle.  She's been a true friend for over 18 years ever since a friend of mine rescued her from a crazy abusive pit bull home where they used her as a training dog (to allow the other dogs to bite her).  She has always been sweet and a little meek and would have followed us to the ends of the earth if she could.  Unfortunately, her spine gave out and dementia set in and for the last year she hasn't been able to follow us anywhere.  We finally made the decision that she didn't have any decent quality of life left.  But oh, it was so hard to let her go.  I had to make an appointment to have it done, and it was very weird scheduling my grief like that.  Although it was painful for me, and I almost didn't do it, I knew it was the right decision when I saw the tension and pain leaving her body.

Dearest sweet girl, Annabelle, we will miss you.

Feeling Flirty, Feeling French.... Anthera

A while back I was working on a project that I'm happy to say is now out and about in the world.  I made my debut in Twist Collective with the flirty, flippy, beret and cowl set, Anthera.  The power of this beret is that it makes you want to eat baguettes and drink wine by a fountain in a Parisian park on a cold autumn afternoon, then begs your boyfriend to kiss you on the steps of the Gare du Nord as you leave for adventures in another city, a slip of paper with a love poem tucked in your pocket.  The cowl is loose and drapey which is perfect for all that warm angora. The hat can be fitted or slouchy depending on how much you block it.  I've worn the prototype of this hat around town quite a bit and I can tell you it's light as a feather and warm, not to mention kissably soft.  And it makes you look great, even on your worst hair day.

This version is knit in Lorna's Laces Angel (70% angora, 30% lambswool).  Looks great in a shade that matches your eyes, or what about a deep berry red or sophisticated black?  It's a pretty, quick, and fun knit.  I think some of the folks on my holiday list might be getting these.  Whenever I'm sick of sock knitting (don't gasp, it happens to the best of us sockies!) I love to knit hats because they're fast, and you get something wearable out of just a bit of yarn.

Thanks Twist Collective for a great design experience!

   

shiny gold pirate tooth, you let me down. Yotel Hotel, you rock!

I'm home from Knit Nation which was a blast marred only by the rebellion of my shiny gold pirate tooth.  A month ago I had this tooth crowned with shiny, shiny gold that twinkled and winked when I looked way to the back of my toothies.  However, the minute I hit England, the tooth began to twinge and ache, getting worse each day until I finally made it home to an emergency root canal.  My apologies if I seemed "out of it" at any time and thank you Great Britain for having over the counter codeine and a medical system that allowed me to see a dentist and get xrays for only 16 pounds.

On the way home I had a 12 hour layover in Amsterdam (Schiphol) airport.  Since it was at night and I was nursing the aforementioned toothache, I did not want to spend the night sleeping in a chair in the airport, so I splurged for 8 hours in the capsule hotel.  Oooh!  Adventure!  It wasn't really a capsule like they slide you in and out of a compartment in the wall, it was more like a really tiny hotel room with shower and toilet included.  Sort of like a cruise ship stateroom, but much smaller.  Maybe more like a spaceship stateroom on the way to the future!

Come along with me and check out the Yotel Hotel at Schiphol!

First there is a maze of dimly lit spaceship corridors... our mission?  find lucky number 27.

Through the door I spot an eery purple glow... either there are super futuristic things inside or someone forgot their blacklight...

ooh, futuristic it is!  luckily the future holds a really comfortable cozy sleeping nook.  You are seeing pretty much the whole room here.  I'm standing over the toilet taking this picture.  See that panel on the rim of the bed?  That's where you control the lights (it's a little confusing when you first enter and can't find the light switch).  The funny thing is there was a little icon on there that looked like one pair of feet facing down, the other on the outside facing up - you know like they're doing the, uh, watusi in bed.  I was a little nervous to press that one because I wasn't sure exactly what would happen with an icon like that (this is Amsterdam after all and I've heard rumors).... turns out it turns that purple light on and off.  heheheh  I guess that's the symbol for mood lighting.

here's a view of the combination shower, sink, toilet area.  I'm sparing you a picture of the toilet - it's pretty nondescript.  There wasn't enough room to actually stand back and get a view of the whole thing.

Wow, the future includes flat screen TV!  Apparently in the future we will all speak Dutch (one can only hope, Dutch sounds cool).  I was too tired to visit much in the Dutch speaking future as shown on the flat monitor... I had a date with the inside of my eyelids lined up.

Even better, in the future there is no outlet prejudice.  All plugs are welcome!  Seriously, I told you the Dutch people were friendly and cool, and here's some nice evidence.  I was able to plug in and charge my laptop, and the price of the room included free wifi.  Very nice.  If you ever find yourself stranded in an airport that has a Yotel Hotel, I highly recommend it.  Although the room is really small, what more do you need?  It was awesome to get a decent night's sleep ahead of the grueling 10 hour flight that awaited me (with an abcessed tooth no less - a special, special form of torture), and to have a nice shower in the morning.

I rolled out of bed refreshed and ready for breakfast, which I ate in a teacup!  Thank you Schiphol, you made my day!

Yes, those are restaurant booths in the shape of teacups.  Awesome!

For those who are interested in the Colorwork clubs... I know I'm a little behind opening the signups.  I had the emergency dental work and I was a little wiped out afterward.  I will have the signups ready later tonight or early tomorrow depending on your time zone.  I've had a few emails from folks concerned about getting a spot before it sells out.  There are plenty of spots so don't worry about it selling out in 10 minutes or whatever.  And if you've emailed me, you're in if you want to be in.

I have loads of good stuff to report but I'll save some for tomorrow!

Knit Nation - we had a blast!

Knit Nation is now in the books.  We had a blast, learned some stuff, and shopped 'til we dropped.  I think a good time was had by all.  Thanks Cookie A and Alice Yu for a terrific conference!

Tomorrow night I hop a plane to Amsterdam where I'll be spending the night in the capsule hotel in the airport.  Then home to Oregon and my sweetie pie.  And back to work!  I have so many design ideas to work on!

Here are a few random scenes from London... I had a sweet, sweet time.  I'll have to come back some time when I can spend more time getting to know this intricate, engrossing city!

Hydrangeas in the courtyard of the V&A museum

The door to the cafe at the V&A museum

Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Memorial

 
 

Anne Hanson pointing out our destination on the left.... Harrods!

The entrance to the Chocolate Room at Harrods

mmmm.... chocoate!

Good night everyone from lovely London....