And...back to school I go

Ha ha --  Back to school more like a full month now.  No wonder blogging has dropped from my radar like a 10-ton boulder.  School is killing me, as is the new routines of new childcare, etc.  Working 3 days/week this year, but I went and signed up for some extra stuff as well at work  (what the *&^$!& was I thinking???!)  That means extra meetings, both during the day and in the evening.  The kids seem to be adjusting fairly well, although Big Sis often falls asleep on the way home at the end of the day and then wakes with the personality of a hibernating bear!  Mommy and kids often hit the hay around the same time each night...

The result!  No big crafty/house/DIY projects.  Just working on some small knitting items.  I have been thinking about sewing, haven't actually done any though.

We leave for our big Upstate NY/NYC trip in less than 2 weeks!!!!!  5 years for hubs and me!  (+ 2 kids, 2 houses, 2 cars...)  We'll stay upstate for a few days with Grampy/Grammy then head down to the city for a few days on our own.  Garment district here I come!  Then on the weekend it's back up the Hudson to Rhinebeck for NY Sheep and Wool Festival.  Dream trip come true!  Do I wish I had a Rhinebeck sweater to show off like all the other ladies?  Well yes, but I'm going to be okay with just going for the first time ever.

Because every post needs a picture.  Big Sis got to show her first sheep this year at the county fair at the end of August!  It was adorable and hilarious.  Thank goodness for a well-behaved sheep that we borrowed.  "Betsy" or whoever she was, was more like a pony to Big Sis' 3-year old size.

 And this is the first day of 3's Preschool!  This kiddo L-O-V-E-S school.  All summer she was asking when she got to go back to school.  Nobody took Mommy's picture on the first day, but I'm pretty sure I was a lot less excited to go back to work/school even though I do love the kids.  Did I mention that as of this morning I have 28 second graders??  Say what!?  That's a lot of 7-8 year olds.

Mt. Baker or Bust

Hubby had it on his bucket list that he wanted to ride his bike to the top of Mt. Baker.  Last Sunday he got 'er done!  Mommy and little G were the sag wagon for daddy's trip.  Big sis had a stomach bug and stayed at Grandma's while we trooped up to Bellingham, hit up a friend's garden party, got up bright and early, and drove to the town of Glacier as the jumping off point.  Big G jumped on his bike and got an hour's head start while Little G and I sat in a diner sharing biscuits and gravy at Graham's - yum!

This was my first time driving Hwy 542 East, first time to Glacier, and the first time up Mt. Baker.  After all our fab summer weather, we ended up at the top in view-obscuring fog.  Bummer.  Little G and I did take in some of the brilliantly-colored wildflowers and ghostly looking pines.

What did I do while we waited at the top???  I finished my 2nd Powder River Cowl (pics and post later) and I started knitting the 7 feet of I-cord that starts the Telltale Heart Shawl, a shop pattern from NW Handspun Yarns in Bellingham that I picked up on Saturday before the garden party.  I am knitting it in some Mad Tosh Light, a pinky-brown colorway.  Btw, that was my 2nd visit to that shop and they were fantastically nice and helpful.  It's a small shop, but it's packed with a great selection of yards.  Absolutely visit if you're in town!

Oh, I also bought my first pair of SQUARE wooden needles...verdict?  I like them!  I like how easy they are to hold onto.  I don't plan on changing out all my needles, but when I see them and I need a new set I'll probably choose them over round needles from now on.  Anybody else like square needles?

Blackberry/Apple Sauce - Yum!!

I've always made plain sauce before, but never a mixed-fruit sauce...why not I wonder?  Last week I was up at Grandma's house to deal with some of the apple abundance (because of the actual summer weather in the Pacific NW the apple's are a few weeks ahead of schedule) and I noticed that the first of the blackberries were also ready.   Hmmm...how to deal with both fruits at once, I thought.   I asked Grandma if she had ever sauced the two together.

Apple + blackberries = heaven!

Nope, but why not give it a try.  It is AMAZING!!!!  I used transparent apples, cut into quarters (with stems/seeds/skins on), threw it into the stock pot with 1 gallon of blackberries and 3 cups of water.  Cooked over medium heat stirring like the dickens.  When everything was nice and soft (20 min.-ish) I put it through a food mill and into jars.  I use a steam canner (not boiling water bath) and processed for 20 minutes after it was up to temperature.  This steam canner is new this year and boy is it awesome!  It is SO much more efficient than a boiling water canner and much faster to heat up.  Uses lots less water as well.

The color it turned out was fantastically bright.  Much redder in the above pictures, and a lot more purple once it was in the jars and processed.  A side benefit of using the food mill was that it eliminated about 90% of the blackberry seeds.  I have come across a few seeds here and there in the sauce, but not actually that many.  

On Saturday we drove up to Bellingham so Big G could bike to the top of Mount Baker on Sunday morning (more on that later).  We were invited to a annual potluck garden party at a friend's parents house...what to take???  You guessed it - the new sauce.  Angel food cake, blackberry sauce, and whipped cream.  Ah, summer.

Summer Vacation

We have been reveling in the glory of Sunriver, OR for the last week and a half!  Being from the PNW summer is always a crapshoot, although this summer (post-4th of July anyways) is quite nice.  This hit and miss summers are why we almost always choose Sunriver for our family get-togethers.  My grandparents started the tradition 23 years ago (!) and once they were gone my dad and his brothers continued the tradition.  Sunriver is almost always guaranteed to be dry, hot during the day, and cool at night.  It's high-desert country in Central Oregon, just to the south of Bend.  This year was much cooler than average (high 70s to mid 80s during the day) and we actually had 2 days of rain and thunderstorms!

Why do we go back to Sunriver year after year?  Besides the sun, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

At the High Desert Observatory just after we looked at sunspots through a telescope.

Playing train conductor with daddy and  cousin on the back deck.

 The lava tube cave was probably our favorite excursion of this year.  It's been at least 6 years since I last walked to the end of the cave and none of the kids were around at that time.  It was Big G's first time as well.  He toted Little G through the cave in a backpack... Apparently the caves weren't all that interesting to Little G because he conked right out.  We're all wearing as many warm clothes as we brought because it was 85 degrees above ground, and 43 degrees down in the cave.

Hiking 2 miles roundtrip in an underground lava tube!  C walked the whole way by herself.

The dark hole-in-the-ground that's the entrance to the lava tube.

Snoozing through the lava caves.

Playing putt-putt on real golf greens after a breakfast at the Main Lodge.

Ready for the annual float/raft trip down the Deschutes River.

All in all, an amazing year.  Big G got to bike close to 300 miles while we were there, we spend several afternoons at the pool, we played tennis, and finally did a little shopping in Bend.  Now it's back home and back to thinking about getting ready for another school year.  I am teaching 2nd grade again, 3 days a week and I have no idea who I will be job sharing with.  A situation I am trying hard not to think or worry about yet.

What crafts did I actually attempt to finish while I was away?  I took 3 different knitting projects and spent time working on all of them, but not as much as I anticipated.  During the 8 hour drive south I knit on a hat for Little G for next winter.  Discovered that I did not have enough yarn to finish it in the blue color, so it's on hold until I stash dive for some more Cascade 220 in a coordinating color.  I am making up the pattern as I go along.  I think it's going to turn out on the big side which might mean that I need to knit him another hat for next winter and either gift this one to someone else, give it to big sis, or just save it until he grows.  Not a biggie.

Cascade 220, boys hat, making up that pattern as I go along.

Once my hat knitting was stymied I moved onto another Birthday Cowl.  I think this is my 6th or 7th??  It usually take me just a day or two to knit making it one of my go-to gift patterns. This is for my new teaching partner.  She'll be teaching the other class of 2nd graders this year.  She doesn't wear animal fibers, so this is a silk/bamboo combination.  I usually use Manos silk blend and it takes just one skein.  See that purple tail of yarn at the top?  That's the end of road, so to speak.  This project is also on hold until I go buy another ball of yarn.

Last, but not least, I am trying to finish up my 2nd Powder River Cowl.  The first was for my dad's wife, this one's for me.  It's Tosh Merino Light in the Vulga colorway (purpley-gray).  This cowl has great texture and I know I'll love it! Um yeah, because I knit one already and had to give it away.

Finished Colette Ginger

Going in chronological order since I last blogged, I should begin with my first trip to Urban Craft Uprising at Seattle Center.  I've been hearing about it for years, first oddly enough from my husband, but last Sunday was the first time I ever went.  I got online to look up the hours and noticed an advert for swag bags for the first 100 people.  Free craft items from indie craft vendors?!  Of course I'm in!  The craft fair opened at 11, but online it said people line up as early as 8:00.  So, what time did we get up on a Sunday so we could hop a ferry to Seattle...wait for it...5am to make the 6:10a.m. ferry!  My husband thought we were crazy, but that's part of the fun.  My friend Jen and I went together.  Thankfully her husband gave us a lift to the ferry.

Knitting time while waiting in line at Urban Craft Uprising.

Grammy is still here and we took C for her 2nd big girl haircut last week.  I just love the fancy braids they do!  She'll sit still as an angel for someone else, but it's all squirmy and whiny when mommy tries something like this.

Western Washington is enjoying fantastically nice weather, and G and I made it to a Seattle Sounders soccer game on Saturday.  The mornings have been starting off with some marine fog, but consistently clearing out to full sun by lunchtime.

And finally, I FINISHED a pattern this morning.  The Colette Ginger skirt.  It's been cut and partially sewn for several weeks.  I thought I had to wait for an invisible zipper foot to arrive, but I instead found a nice tutorial for putting in my first invisible zipper with a regular zipper foot.  The skirt turned out a tad large, but I think it's because I'm still losing baby weight and I lost a little bit more while waiting for zipper insertion.  It's also a test run of this pattern for me, so not the end of the world.  Still very wearable.  I've got some flat photos, but will have to wait until I have a shower and am out of my jammies for a modeled shot!

Up close, small flowery print.

First invisible zip seems pretty invisible.

Her "guts".

Pattern: Colette Ginger, plain wasteband
Fabric:  hmmm...a mostly cotton woven with a little stretch in it?
Size: I'll have to run upstairs and look later.
Mods: shortened it by about 3 inches.  Finished length is 19".

Modelled shots to come.

Gonna try for a closer fit next time.

Grammy arrives!

And so begins the "Grammy period" of the summer!  We're lucky enough to have Grammy staying with us for a few weeks this summer.  Grampy is going on an adventure of his own to St. Petersburg, Russia, Finland, Latvia, and Iceland, so Grammy came out to the West Coast to visit us.  Yay!  Grammy arrived on Wednesday bearing gifts...pink robes for all the ladies.

Cozy pink robes for cool PNW mornings!

Too big Tofino's from afar.

As for sewing...I've finished the Tofino pants except for the waist tie.  Verdict?  Way too huge!  I did measure myself multiple times and consulted the back of the pattern, but I didn't actually measure my pattern pieces.  Lots of ease in this pattern, at least for me.  Plus, not sure I've mentioned this, but with how many pregnancies I've had in the last few years I have gone from a size 0, up to a 14, and back down currently to a  RTW 6/8.  I guess I'm a little hesitant to make things small and always seems to tend toward bigger.  I will absolutely make these again though, but in a smaller size.

What's up next?  I think Tilly and the Button's Miette skirt is next.  I purchased it earlier this week and spent a night taping it together.  That's the first pattern I've bought as a .pdf and taped...and maybe the last.  Taping is not for me.  I think I prefer to pay the extra (as I have with all my other patterns so far) and have it shipped to me as a printed pattern.  I got out the paper cutter and made a lot of quick trims, but NOT my cup of tea, and btw, I LOVE tea!  I am 100% a tea drinker and cannot stand coffee.

Finally, I have moved upstairs to the semi-finished sewing room!  The walls are drywalled and painted, but it's lacking any storage shelves so far, and any of it's permanent cutting/sewing surfaces.  I almost bought a 1940s huge teacher's desk earlier this week, which would have made a kick-ass cutting surface, but it's unlikely that we would have been able to actually get it upstairs :-(.  Plan B is to hit up Ikea for butcher block countertops and build a custom cutting table and sewing/serger desk.

Stairs to the left, sewing table up against banister.

Down the narrowish stairs...

Where the ceiling comes down is where the shelves will be built. 

Shelves all along low wall.

Half bath through the door to the left of the chimney. 

Empty right side of room.  Closets eventually the whole length of the room.

 Hopefully I'll have a completed Miette in a few days - although I've got a busy few days ahead.  This boy has his first birthday party tomorrow!

Then Sunday a ferry ride to Seattle for the Urban Craft Uprising.  This will be my first time, but I've heard it's amazing!  All independent crafter from across the Western U.S.  And then Monday a trip to Seattle again with Grammy and the kids to see Woodland Park Zoo.  Not too much sewing time in there, but maybe a little?

Butterfly Tofino Pants

Boo!  Just lost my last post somehow.  This will be a quick replacement.  Happy 4th to all, we're off to the beach shortly for fireworks and BBQ.

I almost finished a pair of Sewaholic's Tofinos this morning.  I had all the links in my first post.  I'll write this, then see if I can edit the links in after.  All that's left is threading the elastic through the waist casing, hemming them, and finding some black fabric to make the tie out of.  Woot, almost done!

Pattern: Sewaholic Tofino Pants & Shorts
Fabric: Enchanted Rainforest, Maywood Studios

I cut a straight size 10 based on my largest measurement.  They're pretty darn big on me.  Probably should have cut an 8, or even a 6.  I'm not too worried though, they're lounge pants after all!  This was my first time adding piping.  Not hard at all.  I am working on improving my finishing techniques - did pretty well on all my seams here, I think.  I will finish these shortly and add a picture of them in use.   A note about the fabric: I bought this in the sale section of Pacific Fabrics...I thought it was really loud and  obnoxious, but perfect for PJ bottoms.  It's grown on me a lot and I went back and bought enough for a skirt yesterday.  Did I mention that one of my science kits I teach in 2nd grade is butterflies?  I don't generally try to match my curriculum, but it's 2nd grade for pete's sake and the kids'll think that I'm the coolest in my butterflies!