Coffee Swap Questionnaire

Contest Question: Where is my favorite place to get a cup of coffee? Tully's

Fiber portion:
1. What am I knitting right now? Currently I'm attempting to spin with a drop spindle (and boy do I drop it) and knit a shawl with the resulting yarn. I'm also working on a pair of Embossed Leaves socks and a cabled vest.

2. What yarns am I coveting? Many yarns top my list... as long as they aren't acrylic or novelty yarns. I covet them all.

3. What's my favorite yarn and why? I love Socks That Rock, Cherry Tree Hill, Mama-E's, oh heck, I don't have a "favorite." I just am not much into pastels.

4. What's my favorite yarn store and why? I seldom go to a real, live yarn store, most of my purchases are via the internet. I visited a really nice yarn store down in Portland called, The Yarn Garden. I'd love to find time to visit all of them eventually.

Coffee Portion:

1. Whole bean or ground? Whole Bean
2. Fully-loaded or decaf ? MUST HAVE CAFFEINE!
3. Regular or flavored? Isn't coffee a flavor? I just like plain coffee.
4. How do you drink your coffee? Is this a trick question? Why from a cup of course. Hot with milk or cream and NO sweeteners.
5. Favorite coffee ever? Tough call. No one cup stands out.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? I'm in the lower end of the "fussy" category. If only grocery store coffee is available (Folger's, Maxwell House, etc.) then I'd rather have tea. But I'm not holding out for $50.00 a pound beans that have passed through the intestinal tract of a lemur.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? Chocolate or any kind of pastry/starch.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? No styrofoam cups... ever. That's equivalent to knitting with squeaky acrylic yarn on scratched up aluminum needles. Eeeek!
9. What treats do you enjoy with your coffee? Is this just to see if we were paying attention to #7?
10. Yarn/fiber you love? Wool, silk, cotton or other natural fibers in just about any blend.
11. Yarn/fiber you hate? Acrylic and novelty
12. What's on your needles? Socks, a cabled vest and a shawl.
13. Favorite colors? Autumn colors, neutrals and greens
14. Allergies? Aspartame (I avoid all artificial sweeteners though) and penicillan. I doubt my yarn or coffee will be laced with antibiotics, but just in case...
15. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? Nope, I'm good.

Coffee, paint, water & leaves

Mmmm, I LOVE coffee. Good coffee. It's been my drug of choice for 35 years and I've no intention of giving it up... ever. And knitting is my most favorite pastime. With that in mind there was no way I would pass up a knitting/coffee swap. Matches should be made soon.

Most of yesterday was spent painting my youngest daughter's bedroom. She wanted pink and loves fairies. So the entire room was painted pink and a floating fairy castle mural now adorns one wall. The fairies themselves are Wallies. She is ecstatic with her new room. I was pleased too until my DH came home and proclaimed the castle to be extremely phallic. Phthtt to him anyway.

The rain continues to pummel the pacific northwest and my "sunroom" continues to leak. Because we have a tile roof there aren't a lot of contractors who can/will do repairs for us. So the soonest appointment will be in 3 weeks. We took the appointment and now I'm doing a sun dance in hopes that more damage doesn't ensue while we wait.

Embossed leaves are continuing nicely. I love this sock pattern and hopefully this pair will be completed this weekend. Stay drive everyone.

Following yesterday's elections I believe it's safe to say that the color of the day is blue.

The annoying head cold drags on relentlessly.

This morning will be spent grocery shopping and cleaning house.

I hope to spin and knit some more on the shawl later today. This is far and away one of the homeliest items I've produced. Yet I keep going, maybe in hopes that sheer size will make up for ugly.

Soggy & Wet

All signs of this past summer's dry spell have been erradicated by torrential down pours. Having lived in western Washington for most of my life you'd think this would seem like no big deal. You learn to take road closures, soil erosion, clogged culverts and leaking roofs in stride.
But this is too much.


This would be the roof between the skylights in my knitting room. And that large bubble (diameter of a softball) would be pooled water under the paint, slowly moving down the slanted ceiling.



And this is my favorite knitting chair. The inspector said that it's just a flashing problem and that it's no big deal structurally. That's a relief, but I still re-located my yarn. No sense taking any chances.



Yesterday I received a prize from Karen. It is a skein of Superwash Merino, hand dyed and donated to Karen's walk-a-thon by Scout. The colorway is called "Daisies" and it is very bright and happy on an otherwise dull day. Thank you Karen and thank you Scout! My DH honed in on and finished off the candy even before the kids could. Better him than me!

A3 had her stitches removed yesterday and she's healed beautifully. Children are amazingly resiliant.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Happy happy joy joy! I have my first cold of the year. Gotta love those burning eyes, sore throat and oozing head goo. Once school starts the countdown is on. Children are transformed into little germ frigates teeming with festering microbes. And small people who fail to wash their hands become walking petri dishes.


Not much knitting to show here. Small amounts of spinning with the drop spindle have yielded enough yarn to add a few rows onto the rustic shawl. This is obviously NOT a dainty lace wrap destined to be worn out at a summer evening concert. My goal is simply to make this large enough for a friend of mine to use on chilly evenings at home. This wrap will not take offense at four legged friends who shed fur or wipe nostril sauce and drool on it's edges. This wrap will welcome the attention, knowing that it provides warmth and comfort to all it encounters.

Off to tackle the never-ending laundry mountain. And as a dear friend, Karen, once pointed out, "Unless you're naked, the laundry is never done."