Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

It's been some day. I'll probably go to sleep just as soon as I'm done posting, even though that will probably be around 9pm.

First off, let me show you (some) of what I've been working on.


This is a baby blanket for one of the women in my knitting group. Her little daughter, Namoi, was born on the 13th of this month. I did not the entire blanket. It was a group effort as far as the blocks went (I knit 10 of them). I did, however, do 100% of the put together (including weaving in almost all of the ends). All of the neutral color little strips between squares? Me. It was a lot of work, but not as much as the beautiful little baby who now has a nice, warm, full of love blanket.


These are the pieces (thus far) for my Knitter's Handy Carry-All, from Knit Picks. So far I've got the outer bag (gray), the inner bottom, outer pocket, and part of the inner side (green).

The other two projects I've got going are secret. One's for a swap and one's an X-mas present.

Today was one day of the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (as you might have guessed from the title of this post). I did a small amount of shopping (I've got so much yarn and fiber right now I can hardly store it all). The first thing I bought was a pattern.


Sorry it's a little blurry, the camera kept jiggling at the last second, and I was too tired to fight it. It's a gorgeous circular-knit jacket. I've been eyeballing it for ages, and the designer was there with the patterns and samples and all and I caved. It's so very---elegant.

We walked around for a while after that (I went with Amy, Allison and Jill, Amy's mother in law). We watched some very enthusiastic sheep dogs herd some very aggravated ducks. We looked at pretties. We met up with Beth and had lunch. At lunch Amy showed me something she bought, and I loved it, so after lunch we went to Peru (well, not literally) and I bought this:


It's 100% alpaca from Peru. And if it looks long it is. I comes to about 2 inches above my knees. It looks good with jeans, but will be really cute with tights this winter. And it's got llamas on it!!


(That picture was right side up before I uploaded it).

We walked around lots after that, seeing pretties, woolly animals, more pretties, and lots and lots of pretties. We all started to get tired (and i was getting a headache) so we wrapped up our trip with a last go past the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth, where I got this:


It's Socks that Rock lightweight in color "Spike" from Buffy. It's black, reds and white, and will be excellent winter socks. Vampire serial killer socks.

Finally, I want to leave you with pictures of my new teapot, which I painted myself at the do-it-yourself place downtown.


(that picture was also right ways before I uploaded it. I don't know what's up)

How have I lived so long...

...without a garlic press? I picked one up last weekend at IKEA and I used it for the first time last night. It's brilliant! I can't wait to cook more stuff with garlic.

Speaking of IKEA, there are those of you out there who are waiting for pictures of the big purchases. I finally got around to taking the pictures today (I've only had this stuff for a week, it took a little while to get everything settled). I'll give you the before and after picture for each piece.

First, the TV area.


There was a small blue shelf with quite a bit of wasted space. Also, it wasn't quite sturdy enough to have a teenage hooligan jumping on and off of it several times a day. So I replaced it.


This is the MALM 4-drawer chest in birch. It's quite a bit larger than my previous dresser (next furniture picture) which means I've been able to make more space in my closet for sweaters and other bulky winter clothes. It is shorter than the shelf, and it took me about a week to figure out how to raise Westley's Window Spot to it's previous height where he could lay around looking out at the world. I finally wrapped an old pillow in his blankets and it works great.


So I got a new dresser and dumped the shelf. But I need a shelf, so I replaced the old dresser...


...with a new shelf.


This is an EXPEDIT series shelf, and I filled it with KASSET boxes (six of which I already had). See the little orange moose in the upper middle cubbie? That was an impulse purpose at IKEA. I don't feel too bad, it was only 49 cents. Four of the boxes and the bottom two magazine holders are still empty. I love having room to grow.

I also replaced my desk chair with a TROBJORN, since my old one hit right below my shoulder blades and made my back hurt, but I didn't photo it. I got the black one. It's comfortable.

Finally, the biggest change of all is my bed. My old bed was a traditional bed, but in this small space it took up so much space, and I decided to do something about it. So I went from this...


...with this:


Doesn't look much different, still sort of bed like? Well, it also does this:


This is the PS frame with the LOVAS mattress. It's a futon-style sofa bed that is very comfortable for both sleeping and sitting. It's awesome to have a sofa again! I didn't get the sofa cover since I didn't want to a) strip and remake the bed everyday, or b) find a place to store my sheets and comforter during the day. Having the sofa bed now gives me lots more room and makes this place feel bigger. Westley loves having the extra space to run.

So far I've sold the old bed, old dresser, and old shelf. I'm also selling my old desk, which has been in the house game room since April of last year. Someone is coming at 2pm today. I'm also thinking of selling my "living room" chair since I now have the sofa. I haven't sat in it all week, in fact it's buried in stuff. I'd like to replace it with a small side table so I don't have to keep my lamp, book, and glasses on the floor next to the bed.

In other news:

--my thesis is moving forward.

--I've finished the outer body of the Carry-All bag.

--I've got 2 more rows to attach to the baby blanket.

--Percy is hibernating.

It's time for lunch, both mine and the Westley Monster.