Friday, May 1, 2008

Cathy helped us usher in the month of May with knitting at the Reed Ranch this morning. We had a wonderful morning and talked about a lot of different stuff. Some of it veered off the topic of knitting and although I usually try to keep this blog focused on knitting, I'm breaking that rule today because I can post links for a lot of what we discussed.

Kathleen and Cathy, who is modeling Kathleen's newest creation, a Tuscan Lace Scarf knit from one of the One Skein Wonders books. Kathleen is a fearless new knitter!
It's not done yet, but Priscilla is in the process of putting together a stuffed lamb. The way I just phrased it I made it sound like dinner, but it's actually a very cute stuffed animal, just in time for the Easter season!

Mary is using her shopping bag! Today she brought it to knitting loaded with her knitting supplies!

And Cathy finished her shopping bag too. The handle hardware is to compensate for running out of yarn, but she wasn't happy with how the straps turned out, and we talked about other options. So to find out whether she'll keep it as is, or improvise with new strap hardware . . . . stay tuned!

In other news . . . we talked about computer-related stuff. After I showed Priscilla, Mary, and Patty how to set up a MyYahoo page the other day, Priscilla arrived this morning with suggestions for new internet home pages, specificially iGoogle and Netvibes. I took a look and they are very cool! I also found another one that appears to be similar to Netvibes, called Pageflakes. And I found a site called Mashable that reviews 14 home page options, including the four already mentioned.

Kathleen, who has a blog for her CakeVase, showed me her Twitter on her iPhone. I've been thinking about Twitter lately, wondering what I should do, so I came home after knitting and signed up. I have absolutely no idea what to do with it, but it's a start!

We talked about different ways to publish a blog other than Blogger, and I mentioned WordPress and another blog publisher that starts with a V, although now that I'm home and have checked, for the life of me I can't find it. Oh, and we talked about a book by Arianna Huffington about blogging, and I got the title wrong so here's a link to it on Amazon that should clear things up.

Now, onto more serious business and a plug for Brad. I mentioned how Schick is partnering with the new Hugh Jackman movie to promote a razor. Doing a quick Google search, I've found a Schick Quattro Titanium X-Men Origins contest, a commercial, a sweepstakes, and a trailer. And while we're on the subject of Hugh Jackman (like the segue?) as I mentioned today, Peter and I got to see Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz in the summer of 2004. His performance was amazingly charismatic. Peter, this one's for you, because I found a clip of Hugh Jackman singing and dancing a song from the play, in character, at the Tony Awards. It's really fun and worth the 6 minutes.

Ok, and finally I keep saying I'll post the photos of our new house and here they are. It's way more photos than I am sure you care to see, but we posted all we had just to keep things simple.

And that's it! Next week we're at Mary's. I won't be able to be there, but I'll see everyone the following week at Elizabeth's for the second annual May knitting happy hour!

Friday, April 24, 2009

We met at The Last Drop today, and I forgot my camera, so no photos! It was me, Patty, Mary, Priscilla, Carol, and Shelley. Carol was the most industrious knitter, showing us a pair of beautiful lace fingerless gloves that she's making. She has one glove finished and the second is about halfway through. And Mary showed us her finished shopping bag! We enjoyed a warmish morning, sitting outside for the first time of the year. Yeah! Next week we'll meet at Cathy's.

Friday, April 3, 2009

We had a big gathering at The Last Drop -- Patty, Sue, Priscilla, Kathleen, Cathy, Elizabeth, and Carol. Kathleen finished her lace scarf and she's working on a really cool scarf from the One-Skein Wonders book. Priscilla finished her Shorewood scarf. Patty was working on - what was that? - crochet practice? Cathy started a dishcloth. Carol continued her pretty red cable tank top. Elizabeth was stitching away, but what was the project? Sue worked on a hat. Sue and Priscilla were inspired by Carol's recycled yarn, so we left early to go to Goodwill for their $1.49 sweater sale. I got two sweaters, but really the pickings were very slim, and they wouldn't be my first choices but at least I'll get to try out the concept. Elizabeth joined us there later and the three of us shopped together for a bit. No one went away empty-handed either! As for the next two weeks . . . . it's spring break. Sue and Cathy will be out of town. The knitting locale for the next two weeks is tba.

Thank you Priscilla for modeling Kathleen's Packer scarf. Sorry for my poor picture-taking.

That's Elizabeth behind Kathleen's Cross-Stitch Scarf, from the One-Skein Wonders book.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Thanks to everyone for a fun morning of knitting and chatting on a beautiful sunny day - the calm before this weekend's storm! Priscilla, Mary, Cathy, Patty, Elizabeth, and Sue spent the morning plugging away on our various projects, and also managing to catch up on a variety of issues, but mostly just enjoying a morning together. Next week we'll meet at The Last Drop. And for the kind friends who requested it, here's the Spinach Leek Pie recipe. (Note: I added an additional 5 ounces of feta, and lots more salt and pepper.)

Elizabeth's heirloom embroidery project, pinned to its future home. Photo credit goes to Patty!

Elizabeth and the embroidery project.
Cathy, her afghan, and Patty.

Friday, March 20, 2009

I missed all of you last Friday but thanks to Elizabeth's pictures now I feel like I was there! It appears that The Last Drop was open for business and everyone looks comfortable and productive (and also, I assume, caffeinated)! I will insert Elizabeth's comments for the photos and say that I'll see you all this Friday. Knitting's at my house this week!

A cell phone cosy, which Carol put together (it also turned out to be her birthday, for which we managed an impromptu song).

Priscilla at work on the scarf, getting lovely and llllloooooong.

And finally, the very cheerful Mary, who brought two ‘inherited’ sweaters along that needed updating.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Elizabeth had us over today. We caught up on her trip to the Bahamas and her new shorter hair. And . . . she fed us far too well with delicious cakes and fruit and chocolate. Kathleen showed us her lace scarf (photo), almost finished. Priscilla continued on her scarf, Cathy on her blanket; Patty practiced crochet, Elizabeth cut up an heirloom crewel pillow for preservation, and Sue worked on a dishcloth. We all must have had a great time, because we didn't leave until 12:45! For next week . . . The Last Drop at the corner of Oakland and Beverly.

Friday, March 6, 2009

For knitting this morning, Kathleen made a cake that was as delicious as it was gorgeous. As everyone who knows her knows, she used her CakeVase to decorate this cake. For those of you reading this blog who don't know her, Kathleen invented this amazing device, and she runs a business that manufactures, markets, and sells the CakeVase. The CakeVase is so simple, yet so brilliant. It's a round plastic ring that fits easily on the top of a cake, in a bowl, on a plate, etc. Put fresh or artificial flowers in and instantly you have a beautiful decoration. To learn more about the CakeVase click here for the product website. Kathleen has also started a CakeVase blog, and the link for it is on the upper left side of the CakeVase website.

Almost done! Mary and Priscilla show off Mary's shopping bag, which is minutes from competion! She's working on the bottom section. Last year Priscilla made an identical bag.

Thanks for Kathleen for having us over on this gorgeous day, and for the yummy cake and fruit. She continues to work on her lace scarf, Carol is working on a new cozy, Mary's almost done with her shopping bag, Priscilla's making headway on her scarf, Sue plods along on her vest, and Cathy is wrapping up a shopping bag. We didn't talk much about the afghan project, but Priscilla mentioned that Knitpicks.com sent an email with a new yarn in the color palette for the afghan that Cathy suggested at last week's knitting. Here's the link so take a look, but note it's for color only, not yarn content or yarn brand. We also talked about alternating coffee shop weeks with house weeks. Next week we'll go to The Last Drop at the corner of Beverly and Oakland. Since they stood us up last fall, I'll call them Thursday to make sure they're going to be open on Friday morning and send an email around.