Portland Trip Part Two

So guys, part two of the trip!  It was so much fun!  I really am just sharing the bare highlights of the whole thing.

Tuesday, Cotton Top and his colleague were jammed packed at their conference.  So her granddaughter, Volly, and I spent the day at the whole Washington Park complex.  We started out with the Zoo.  Now, I will be honest, I have never been to a proper, normal zoo before.  I know that is crazy, but I haven't ever really thought to go before!

There were a few parts that were closed because they are expanding Africa, but it was so much fun!  We both just wanted to pet and snuggle just about ever critter that came across our way.

I am just going to share some quick pictures with you guys of the animals.  I don't want to bore you with a virtual zoo trip, but I love me some animals!

 

I just love this little guy.  He was "having his lunch" on a random bench at the zoo.  I just love some whimsy!

When we had finished up at the zoo, we took the park van over to the Japanese Gardens and Rose Garden.

I really wish that I could have spent more time at the Japanese Gardens.  By the time we got there, we were physically exhausted, but didn't want to lose time by "taking it in" at the gardens.  We still had one more stop and didn't want to run out of steam or time.  It was so stunning through and the way it had grown up, made its own climate within the whole park.

If you are ever in Portland, go to the gardens!  It was really special.  Their own website will do a much better job at telling their history.  Please, go and check that out! Japanese Garden History

This garden really was restful and rejuvenating.

Our last stop in the park was the Rose Garden.  Holy Cow!  No picture will really show you the magnitude of roses in this garden.  No, unless you have ever been standing in terraced garden where you can only see roses for your whole view...  You can't understand... I was reading that there are over 10,000 bushes and almost 700 varieties!

The smell was the most amazing perfume you could imagine.  It isn't rose scented.  It smells luscious, green, floral and clean!  The whole complex smells super clean, but the smell of a garden jammed with flowers...  It was just a dream!  I took a lot of pictures for color planning and inspiration.  I was so over whelmed I couldn't get a good picture to show you the magnitude of this garden!

I tried so hard to get a good picture or video, but I couldn't get even half of the garden in a shot with either camera.

The Rose Garden was our last stop of the day.  We took the train back into downtown and met back up with Volly's grandmother and Cotton Top for the night.  The two of us were exhausted.  My Fitbit saw this as 25,000 steps and 47 flights of stairs and that was before the night's walk to dinners and events!

Wednesday, we really didn't do anything exciting.  Volly and I were still worn out from the park, hiking around Mt. Hood and Cannon Beach the days before!  So, we kept it simple and went to the mall.  We had planned on doing some more local shopping, but we just didn't have the energy left.  Volly was also starting to get sick by that morning.

We found her some great clothes for back to school but the biggest find for me was a Bigfoot softie! Now, I know that this sounds silly for a grown woman, but I really wanted a Bigfoot to go with my Champ softie from our Montreal/Vermont trip a few years ago.  I now have two cryptid softies living on my vanity.  I took this after my nap, so excuse my messier than normal look.

So, for now, I am going to wrap this up.  When I come back later this weekend, I will have Thursday's adventure and what have I worked on since then!  I was super sick for a whole week after we got home, so there was quite a bit of sofa time when I got home.

Until next time!

Knitcrate Unboxing Month 1

So guys, welcome to the first change this month!  Here is Vlog post one explaining what I am going to be doing and how this will work for the next few months.

I am going to be reviewing yarn subscription boxes and assessing not just the quality of the yarn, but the patterns and flair in the boxes.  I feel like just having yarn is fine, but are you being encouraged to work with it not just horde it?

I am very excited to start working with the yarns I received this month.  The cowl pattern for the first box is what I am dying to jump into right away!!!

I won't be counting this towards my budget, however I will be counting towards other goals for the year!  I am very excited and scared to be posting this out into the world.  I am not very comfortable with seeing myself in this format!

I did however think that video format would be far easier for me to get this out in a timely manner.  I know that if I keep working with the video format I will get better and this will become more cringe worthy, but I am going to go with it!  If I never start, I can't get better!

So, thank you guys so much for the support and encouragement!  I am looking forward to the changes!  I will be continuing my postings here and there will be content here that isn't shared through my Youtube channel.

Portland Trip Part 1 of I don't know...I could go on forever about it

So, you have read about the saga of my luggage.  I did finally get my large bag back.  It took hours of calls, 20 some Tweets (I really don't use Twitter) and 4 days...  She made her way back home though!  It was one of the most frustrating situations I have ever dealt with while traveling.  I truly hope that United handed poor Neil Penney's bag over quicker than American handed mine over (4 DAYS) especially as my bag was never "lost" it was just not where it was supposed to be.

Part of getting my bag being back in my possession means I can start sharing what I worked on (not much at all) and what I got while traveling around the greater Portland area.  Most especially my birthday/travel yarn purchase (also a plug for the sweetest yarn store to ever exist)!

Love the messed up hair!

So, the flight to Portland was pretty standard, nothing to report, cross country flight.  We flew from SC to Dallas at o'dark thirty.  I had one single hour of sleep going into the airport, but I was jacked up on travel adrenaline and the big ideas in my head that I have to circle back to at some point...  I took my hexies on the flight thinking that between those and my kindle I should be entertained the whole way to Portland.  Lack of sleep caught up to me very quickly...

So, don't get me wrong, I did get a lot of crochet done, but I was way over ambitious on the flight project thing and with only an hour of sleep...  I kept nodding off but never quite getting to sleep all the way to Dallas.  Cotton Top was out a lot of the first leg.  He could have slept the whole way if he had taken the window seat from Dallas to Portland.  I was picking up my crochet as I was awake but having to put it up again while nodding off...  It was a mess.

Finished hexies

This went on the whole flight.  I did get to sleep about half an hour when we were over the desert...  But yeah, it was frustrating.  By the time we got to the hotel in Portland I had crocheted all of my tiniest balls in the basket into centers (1 and 2 round circles) so that was at least done, but I had over a gallon bag full of balls for the outsides and "whole hexies".  I never did get a count on my centers that were completed, but it was a samie bagish amount.


The whole week, I was toting around this 2 gallon bag of bits of yarn and circles.  I am sure that if anyone had noticed me getting to and from cars, in and out at our destinations, the hotel lobby...  They would have thought I was nut bag.  I didn't take it on our train and walking destinations and I did forgo taking it to the nightly parties.  I did manage to remember to take my cutting pendant off every night while changing clothes (I am prouder of this than I should be).

Yarn left still in basket

The craft time on the flight back was about the same until we were most of the way back home (last 2 hours in the air) because I was just getting sleepy. 

I finished a total of 54 hexies while I was gone.  25 have their ends woven in.

That is it!  Seriously, this was the least I have ever knitted or crocheted while on a vacation ever.  Especially a vacation where we were traveling for Cotton Top's work!  Normally I find myself in the hotel most of a trip while he works, but Portland was so easy to navigate on foot and train!  I also had the teenage granddaughter of a colleague to go to the zoo, gardens and shopping with.

My yarn and look at that bag! LOVE!

I want to share my yarny purchase before I start on the vacation portion of our trip.  First off, I am not counting this towards my "Great Craftdown" this is something we do every trip we go on out of state.  This is somewhere between a memory reminder and trip "scrapbook" for me.  It was also my 35th birthday while we were traveling, so Cotton Top is the one who kinda bought it for me.

Garden out front

Thursday, August 16th, we went to Wooly Wooly Wag Tails Yarn in Washougal, Washington.  A) Isn't that just the cutest name for a yarn store?!  B) Jennifer has an amazing shop.  I didn't get pictures of the inside because we had people waiting on us.  C) Jennifer is also just the sweetest shop owner!  I will get around to that in a
second.

So, as always I asked Jennifer if she carried anything local or unique to her store.  No romance, right to it; we had two other people traveling with us who aren't yarnies or married to one.  She took it in stride and was very gracious!  She carried a wonderful variety of colors and textures to share with me.  I purchased 3 brands and different fibers.

The blue yarn is Mountain Colors Hand-Painted Yarn.  Holy cow this stuff is visually so intoxicating!  I am beyond in love just for the look of this yarn!  The color way is Avalanche Lake.  The fiber content is 100% Merino Wool.  The fiber is sturdy but not rough at all.  I have no idea what I am going to make with it, but it will be for me and I am going to just love it!

The lavender yarn is Traci Too by Imperial Yarn.  The colorway is Sweet Plum.  The color is just right up my alley with the dusty lavender, but the texture is so soft and bouncy!  I have worked with a similar yarn years ago, it was one of the first high quality 100% wools.  I loved how the bounce in the fiber stayed into the finished project.  The two balls I got of this will be turned into Architexture by Jennifer Weissman.  This yarn was displayed in that pattern in the store and it just had to be mine!

My yarn and new coffee mug

The Fuchsia is Teresa Ruch Tencel.  I only got one of this to make a shawlette (I haven't picked a pattern).  It is just special.  This is the kind of yarn you buy with every intention of making something, but end up petting it for years because you are just in love with the yarn itself.  On its own this is a stunning fiber and I want to just love it as it is until the right project comes along.

Now as I was checking out, we got to chit-chatting and Jennifer was so gracious and sweet and gave me a birthday gift.  The circular needle and the soft pink yarn both were birthday gifts from her based on our conversation.  I just felt so blessed and happy to have met her and spend the little time I got to spend in her store.

Please take time to go and see Jennifer if you are in the area!  The address is 982 E Street-Washougal, WA 98671.  Come on, the store name alone you guys!!!  Wooly Wooly Wag Tails Yarn!  How sweet!!!!

Cannon Beach, Haystack Rock

Sunday after we landed, we went to Cannon Beach.  I didn't get anything there.  Believe it or not, with the number of shops that were open, I couldn't find a single shirt to fit and I really wasn't looking for jewlery.  Most of the places with local art were closed by the time we were done taking in the Pacific ocean (first time for 2 of us).

It was freezing.  I was the only one with sleeves and pants.  Everyone else was still dressed for South Carolina.  I was amazed at just how different the beach was from the Atlantic coast.  I could have easily just stayed here and taken up "writing that novel".  It was just stunning, the air felt so clean and the water just freezing!

How many times do you have a lovely drive through mountain passes to get to the beach.  There was a house off in the distance that I just really was in love with.  Not that the house was that special, but the view that house has...  OH MY GOODNESS!  LOOK!!!  How can anyone say no to getting your morning coffee looking at that!  So, now I know my millionaire house!  LOL!

This house will be mine!

Monday afternoon, we went up to Mt. Hood!  I was able to grab some more normal stuff like shirts.  I also grabbed this bag that I am using as a project bag for my Cakes Two to Tango Shawl.  I know it is so silly, I only have 50 bags around my house!

Tote bag

This was an easy drive and so much fun!  I wish I had gotten a shot of it while we flew in, but I was pretty out of it Sunday.

I did however get some shots coming around the bend to see the mountain.  I will have to edit those into videos that I can share.
It took everything to not stop and take a picture every mile we went.  It was just so pretty and the air quality was so clear when we first got to Portland.

Mt Hood coming around the bend

First full look of the mountain

These are untouched!  These are like my normal "ugly" natural pictures!!!!  Look at that BEAUTY!!!!!  Look, I am 100% a mountain person.  The beach was stunning, however, I was dying at Mt Hood and Trillium Lake.

Yeah, we were done with the mountain fairly quickly as none of us are skiers and no one was prepared for hiking.  So we decided on our way back down, we went to Trillium Lake to see the view.  I could easily spend a week redoing the Mountain and Lake.  The weather was just perfect and really showed both off to their best.

Trillium Lake with Mt Hood

 I swear the landscape just makes it so easy!  I look like a pro with this scenery!

Cotton Top and Me

Over the weekend, I will get part two pulled together.  I still have pictures to round up onto my computer.  I am hoping that later this week I will get my regular WIP post up and take some time to let you know what the next few months will hold for us.  I might have to rearrange some things because I came back sick (like always) and have had to post pone starting my next crafty adventure.

I am so sorry Neil Penney in TX...

So guys, I just got back from Portland, Oregon.  I loved our trip over all, the flight there went just fine (other than TSA covering my laptop in white powder and hiding the slip that showed they went through my whole bag), the natural beauty was enough to bowl me over, spending my birthday at waterfalls...  

The way back across the country was another story...  So American Airline texted us on the way to the airport that our flight to Dallas, TX was delayed so late that we had no way to make our flight back home.  We go to the ticket counter as our flight is getting further and further and further delayed...We can't see any way to get home before 10 pm the following day...  We stop and grab a doughnut at Blue Star (I got Cointreau Creme Brulee - go and get one now!) and slowly made our way to get our luggage from the car (because our flight had been delayed beyond 4 hours and we couldn't check it until 4 hours before flight time).  As we are trying to get all of this sorted out, they kept accidentally printing tickets and baggage tickets for Neil Penney because he was on the same initial flight as us.  We should have known...

We ran into some of our travel companions and they found a Delta flight to Salt Lake to Charlotte, NC....  Well, that didn't come up in our search...  So...  We traipse across from Gate D5 to C19 to find an agent to look and see what we can find because obviously we missed a combo of flights...  We finally found a United flight with a connector in Houston, TX.  We described our bags, gave them the check bag numbers, told them the names on the bags to pull from check luggage and they were going to transfer them to the United flight.


We land... after a SUPER cramped set of flights (we had First Class upgrades with American at least part of our trip-economy on United).  We make our way out to baggage claim.  There weren't too many people waiting around the carousel so we knew it wouldn't be too long for us to be on the way back to the house!

Out pops Cotton Top's duffel with his flair from his conference, out comes his black duffel with his dirty clothes and then out pops my small roll bag...  No over sized, 52 pound roll bag...  We wait... We wait and the last bag to pop out has a rather large tag with the name Neil Penney on it...  CRAP!  They pulled this poor guy's bag and not mine.  It was moved airlines, it was sent half way across the country...  So instead of going home, I had to report my bag missing and say a prayer they could find a way to get me my bag...

This morning (Saturday) American called Cotton Top and informed him that we "left our bag" in Dallas and they were holding it for us...   He explained that it wasn't left in Dallas, it was supposed to be on our United flight, then it was requested by United to be sent here, and now he was requesting that it was put on a plane to our airport because without it I will have to buy things like jeans, curling iron, hair dryer, ceramic roll brush...  "Oh, if you have things you need in the first 48 hours go buy them and we will reimburse you if it is a necessity item!"  What is a necessity item?!  My mascara, my yarn projects, my curling iron?!  What do you consider a necessity item?!

The 8 pm drop off time came and went so we called United and the last thing they had was the request to American.  We called American and they just left it sitting in Dallas...  Yes, they ignored the description of my bag in the first place, United requesting it, Cotton Top telling them to send it through, and now we are hoping for a Sunday delivery...  If it isn't on a plane by 10:34 am tomorrow morning, I am going to have to start replacing things for the next few days including my jeans, workout pants, make-up, curling iron, hair dryer...  I don't own cheap stuff...  I don't want two of these things...  So I am hoping that my bag will be here tomorrow.

Since by bag is still MIA, I can't show you much of anything from the trip as all of my goodies were in that bag...

To make this comedy even funnier...  I think I have a cold now...  At least I will be on Eastern time by Monday when I have Tater Tot and Nilla Wafer!  

I am going to be sharing a video on Youtube soon I think.  I have two ideas that I want to move to a video format.  There will be a written blog post to go with most, but I think a video will be a better way to share.  More to come!

I hope that you guys have a wonderful day and I will update you all as soon as I can!

Yarn Sales Are KILLING Me!

For the most part, I haven't too many issues with staying clear of buying more yarn.  I have been very happy with the reduction of my stash.  My room looks so much cleaner when I don't have yarn falling all over the place...  I haven't spent much on yarns, but I am a sucker for the caked yarns' color stories (I got a few balls of Sugar Wheel from Hobby Lobby on their big clearance).  This last 2 weeks though have been torture!  Everywhere I look, there are Caron Cakes for $3, Sugar Wheels for 30% off, fluffy rovings for $4, Vanna's Choice for $.99 (I did grab those, there were 6 balls of gray on that clearance)...  All of the yarns I want to use all of the time were on sale and in front of me everywhere!

Here I am doing my best to not buy what I don't need and even Wal-Mart is rubbing my nose in it.  I am not saying that never did I find super sale, bonus clearance yarns before, but the more than 50% off sales I did buy from were big deals for everyone including me!  These were Holy Grails; myths until we saw them in real life.  Now, every time I turn around there is a 75% off clearance and I want them so badly!

Let me remind you all how little I need yarn...  The big yarn wall is my "For Me" horde/stash.  All of that yarn is just for me, only for me and no plans of sharing it!  Well, we all know that isn't 100% true, I still do a lot of charity work out of that yarn.  The small yarn wall, under my wreath on the far left, is my charity yarn wall.  This has been collected, gifted or purchased to make charitable donations.  What does this all mean?  Carrie Doesn't Need More Yarn! 

Let's be honest here, the Great Craftdown of 2018 might just push over into 2019!  I have considered getting a knitting machine to work things a little quicker.  I love doing boarders so I could flat knit a blanket in "no time" and hand crochet or knit a boarder onto it.  Or doing hats on the circular knitting machines and finishing by hand...  Just so I can work my stash quicker.  That still would leave me with my horde of paper and fabrics to work through, but...  That would take my stash down by 1/3...

ARGH!  First World Problems! 

Speaking of working through stashes... 

I haven't started anything new (Thank Goodness!) but I have made progress on what I am working on...  My C2C Rainbow Scrapghan is coming along.  Apparently I measured wrong again, but I have
a fix that works so I will be keeping it under 7 feet long!  I just started adding in the green yesterday.  This is the last bit before I start decreasing, so I guess I am just over the 50% mark!

I also have been planning my projects for the flight and while I am on holiday.  This is what will be in checked bag, yes, I always start packing at least a week before we leave.  I am terrified I will forget something actually important.  I have a clipboard of patterns in there somewhere.


I am taking this on my flight though.  I am not sure why I didn't stay on top of my hexies like I have done for the last 16 months, but apparently I lost my mind and forgot...  At least it will be easy flight crafting.  Maybe it isn't as bad as it looks, there are some finished hexies in the bottom too...  Still!  That is a lot of scrap yarn! 

You guys!  I had this whole bin empty of yarn after Nilla Waffer joined us for Grandma baby sits time...  It hasn't been that long.  I know that Summer break is almost over, but where did all of that yarn come from?!

I suppose that is about it for what is going on here!  I hope that you all take care and I hope to have something to post next week!

Hugs and Kisses!

What happened to the month of July?!

Hey guys, I know I only have about 6 of you regularly reading here (Hi Mom!) but I have kind of vanished for the whole month of July!  OOPS!  So, July was a kerfuffle and I'm not sure if August will be much better... I have been slammed outside of crafting and I have been working on a lot of large projects.  So it was hard to even think of things to say on top of just not having time to say much...

So the first week that I missed posting...  We were working on the ceiling leak, my Darling Husband was home and we were trying to get things done around the house.  Week two my computer died...  It died and was killing me because we had some issues with MS and getting my new hard drive up and running.  These last two weeks have been spent doing things around the house, adjusting to my new schedule and trying to find 10 minutes for some time off...  All of this while fighting insomnia...

So, a little "About Carrie..." I have issues with sleeping when my schedule gets thrown around willy nilly...  For the last few months, my schedule has been some super early (for me) mornings with no naps and no set time for going to bed mixed with super late nights and sleeping overly late to "catch up".  What that ends up doing after a while is my body can't figure out when to sleep and will kind of freak out and just not let me really get sleep.  Even when I sleep during the day - so I'm not a zombie- I can only get at most 4 hours.

Most of the time when it is a freak out like this, I am pretty good to be up.  I will cook, clean, craft...  I will do most of the stuff that I would normally do in the morning.  Sadly, this last month it hasn't all been nights like that.  Many nights, I have sat on the sofa in the living room staring at the TV with no idea what I was even seeing.  I couldn't function at all.

So, needless to say, July wasn't a bust, but it was super hard for me to find time to write and keep up with doing things around the house.  Hey!  I also needed time to make things worth sharing!!!

August will be prep for being gone for a week, being gone for a week and then getting things back together again.  I am hoping that I will have time to post, but...  I will have the grand-kinder the week before and the week after our trip, so I am going to be pretty hemmed in on what I can do.  I am taking a slew of patterns with me, so I will have things to work on while flying and during down time.  DH is rolling his eyes already.

Some exciting side news.  I got my entry tickets for the SC State Fair!  I entered into just shy of 100 entries.  I have 16 projects completed and another 16 started.  This won't be a huge turn out for me, but I am excited.  A few years ago I submitted over 115 items but I was doing baking and canning that year.  I won't be doing any foods this year.

-LOL! I couldn't find a post it to cover my address and that is this post in progress on my screen-

SO ON TO THE FO AND WIP SECTION!!!!!

So, since Nilla Waffer has joined us Grandma has gotten kinda kicked out of the living room...  So I have been working at the computer in the study while they watch TV, play and demolish my whole living room.  There are pros and cons to this arrangement, but it does make working on blankets so much easier!

I have finished my blue and gray granny blanket.  I used a different join for this one.  It is a join as you go in granny shells.  I have to say that I really like the join!  I just need to block out the blanket now.  I think I am going to think of this one as my Dude's Granny Blanket.

I am sort of annoyed, I got my size wrong on this, so I actually have 11 extra squares to start my next blanket with...  Cue the massive eye roll.

I also found ANOTHER giant Rubbermaid tote of scraps in my workout room.  So, I split the tote up into colors and neutrals.  I am not quite sure how so many little and big boxes of yarn have stayed hidden for almost a year and a half...  I hope that I don't find another one someone where... 

I have taken the colors from sorting and finished a Giant Rainbow Granny Blanket.  This ended up so much larger than I meant to make it...  Oops!  It is so pretty though.  I really like how it turned out.  I am hoping that my friends Michael and Mark let me gift it to their daughter (she is one, so I will be asking for parental permission to store a 5.5 foot square blanket until she is in a twin bed at least).

I had enough of the colors left in this bin, I have already started in on a C2C version of this blanket.  I am up to the yellow now and the first side ended.  I love how this one is turning out.  With the granny, I let colors end into corners but didn't worry about the round.  This one I am keeping the color changes at the sides.  I am hoping that it doesn't mess me up with using some of the smaller balls.  I was about 8 blocks short on the first yellow ball I added in to do a second row.  Frogging almost a whole row was so sad...

I have needed some instant gratification with yarn (OBVIOUSLY!) so I have been making some of these balls.  This is such a fun pattern!  I had a bit of the spangled red left over after using it in two blankets...  So I wanted to finish it off.  I got 8 balls out of it and white from the neutrals box.  I also made the green and pink set for the grandkinder.  I gave my friend Michael a pink/red and a blue/yellow for her daughter.  I also made a set for my friend Peggy to have for her grandkinder.  So, I made 16 of them this week.  I think I might give them out as Christmas gifts this year.  Many years ago, I used to give out ornaments to our family and friends as gifts around the holidays.  These are so much fun, I think everyone's tree has room for these guys.


The pattern is over here at The Secret Yarnery.  It is called Holiday Accordion Ball.  Also, while you are watching her tutorial  I would recommend going and watching her Vlog/Podcast.  Her life is super interesting and I have gone though this whole week and started working my way through her whole channel.  I joined or am waiting on acceptance in her Facebook Groups.  I am just gonzo for her channel.  It has kept me working on the C2C so far!  Check her out.  If nothing else, you can go and be super jelly over her yarnery...


So lastly, I don't think I am going to share pictures, but I have done over 15 scrapbook pages.  Too many have the grandkinder in them and I really don't want to wait for me to edit their cute faces out for posting here...  I will however share my shelf in the living room where my books are living.  I still need to title the book spines.  Right now we are just color coded.


So far in 2018 I have completed 71 groups/things.  I have spent $109 on stashables.  Most of those have been things for card making or scrapbooking.  I didn't really have much in the way of embellishments going into this, so there has been need of some things.

I am going to sign off here with a picture of Pippin.  This was taken while I was scrapping one day in the craft room.