This is the first thing I saw this morning (besides my kitties) ~ not the greatest photo ~ but beautiful! It's a wonderous clear day with the sun shining today ~ and the weather man said it was going to snow ~ silly guy. It is cold tho ~ 33 degrees and frost on all my neighbors roofs! Brrrrrr ...


There are a lot of craft fairs here in Portland this time of year and I went to one last weekend and got this cute little bird and tree by one of my favorite crafters, Laurie Romanaggi of Magpie Ethel. She does all these cute vintage decorations that I adore!

At that same craft fair there was a rummage sale too and got that great handpainted bowl for $5! It's one of my favorite fairs, so many creative people there.





This is a shawl I've knitted for a friend ~ think one of the easiest and fastest I've done to date ~ with worsted wool and size 9 needles. Still needs to be blocked and I'm calling it Big Orange. It will keep her really warm and sure hope she likes it!



This little angel is from the handicraft of Kajsa Wikman from her book, Scandinavian Stitches. Her hair is made from metallic thread that I hand stitched in little loops in a really bright pink. Doesn't show up very well in the picture, but she's a cutie, gave her to my d-i-l.
Kajsa's projects are so cute and the instruction are very well written and fun to make.




I have this wonderful, creative and most generous friend, Annie. She knows I love all things bird and so she made me this lovely bag ~ it has two outside pockets and inside pockets as well. Just love it and can put a ton of things in it too! I'm using it for carrying around my sewing projects at the moment, but that could change at any moment to knitting or wool work.

Thanks so much Annie! I love this bag!



I looked at my last blog the other day and saw that I have 15 followers! what a surprise! It's so nice to know that people like what I do and then say really nice things about it ~ I have been really remiss about blogging lately (well really the whole time I've been blogging).

I read a lot of blogs, mostly for inspiration as there are so many creative people out there in blogland and I forget to do my own blogging. Going to try to do more, especially next month as it's my birthday month! I'll be doing a giveaway sometime of something I've made just for it ~ I'll give you more details later.

Hoping everyone is well and looking forward to Thanksgiving.

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Here's the Angelwing shawl, finally finished (tho it still needs to be blocked) and just loving it! wasn't sure until I got it off the needles if I was going to like it and as soon as I put it on I loved it! there's all kinds of mishaps in it but still, it's a very pretty shawl. Want to make it again in another kind of yarn, something softer. Feeling very pleased with myself!


This is the beginning of another shawl ... it's called Daybreak and I'm crazy to be doing it in lace weight yarn. The pattern called for fingering but what do I know (?). Now I need to get color B, the bottom half of it. Had another yarn I was going to start it with but wanted to make it 2 tone ... and it doesn't go with this yarn, which is Malabrigo lace weight Cognac. Not sure what color I'm going to do the bottom in yet, have to go have a look see.

Hopefully this is what it will look like when I'm done.
Here's to a happy day being creative and staying dry ... it's raining out there.

Citron Shawl

So ... this is my first knitted shawl ... have done plenty of crocheted ones, way back in my hippy days they were the kind to wear (don't have any pictures, darn it).
This shawl has been a bit of a challenge for me, only because there are so many stitches, I'm known for dropping stitches, losing my place (I've gotten better, with the help of a little note book and pencil), ripping out and various other knitting mistakes. But, I persevered and today it will be finished! 4 more rows! so excited ...

Have so many things I want to knit ... love the creativity of taking a piece of string and making it into something to wear! it's amazing how it works ... I think about how, in years past, people made their clothing this way. There were no stores to go buy your clothes.

I am lucky to live in Portland, Oregon! there are so many lovely knit shops here and everyone is wonderful. I've only been to a few of them, Happy Knits is my favorite tho ... Sarah is the owner and a wonderful, giving woman who has created a lovely atmosphere for us to come knit and bond with other knitters. I have met so many wonderful people there and it has given me the sense of community I was looking for here.

We are coming up on 7 months here in Portland. It was rough at first. All the loss that happened in the year before was a bit daunting and then the move was hard for all of us ... my son, daughter-in-law and I. Adjusting to the weather, it's so much colder here than Costa Mesa ... (tho right now they are having more rain than we are! ), making new connections, missing friends and family was particularly hard ... but as the days pass, I see that it's the best thing I've done for myself in a long time!