Final SP8 Package Received!

I finally got my final "reveal" package from Kristen today. I say finally because we were both expecting it to arrive last Friday, maybe Saturday, and it didn't come until today! Without further ado, here are the spoils:

There were two skeins of KnitPicks Memories, in Rocky Mountain Dusk (great for me, since I'm on a purple kick and I've found that it's very difficult to dye dark purple yarn myself), a bright green/blue/turquoise skein of Fantasy Naturale, a Vanilla Leaf tea bag (vanilla is my favorite flavored tea!), and a Hershey bar that didn't make it into the photo shoot. She also sent me Alterknits, which arrived from amazon.com a few weeks ago and I posted about it then. Thank you for everything Kristen, you've been a great swap pal and I'm glad I finally know who you are so I can start reading your blog! I enjoyed all my packages and I see a lot of socks in my future, kindly provided by you!

I also want to share a photo of Felis bastardus in repose on my head:

Dave snapped this one night after I'd fallen asleep. Observe the beast. Most importantly, observe how much pillow he has, in comparison to how much I have. No wonder I keep waking up with a sore neck. What you can't tell from the photo is that he was probably purring away, and that soon after this he probably woke up and starting chewing on my hair. That's what he does. Looks all cute and cuddly, and then chews on my hair. So much so that I sometimes sleep with a shower cap on, which deters him until he starts digging hair out from around the edges with his claws. Now, of course we could lock him out of the bedroom, but he's just too cute to resist, don't you think?
Ooh, I forgot to mention that I, like a lemming, broke down and signed up for Sock Wars. Yes, I'm a joiner, but I felt like I'd be kicking myself for the duration if I wasn't a part of this great event. So, even though I'm not a fast knitter, and I doubt I'll make it very far, at least I'll get a pair of handknit socks! And who knows, maybe my assassin will be really slow...there's always hope, right?

Dummies in our Midst

There hasn't been much knitting chez Emily, mostly due to the purchase of a new computer and the playing of Civilization IV. I love all the Civ games (yes, I am a dork, and I'm fine with that). I had been wanting this new one, which actually came out last fall, for some time, but my old computer (which was on its last legs (I think), hence the new one) couldn't handle it. I played it once at my friend Rem's house, and liked it, although it's more complicated than the old versions (of course). Now that I have my own, I love it. The graphics are great, it's 3D, and you can zoom way in. Plus, you can build pastures around little horses, cows, and SHEEP. It's great. I was at it for over 4 hours last night, and I sense tonight may be the same...pathetic, I know...
But what I really wanted to show you all was what I did on Sunday. We made (well, Pam and Rachel made, and I documented the proceedings) duct tape dummies at Rachel's mom's house in Gig Harbor. Here are some photos from early on in the proceedings: Pam is looking a bit more cheerful than Rachel, although we were all having quite a good time. Here's Pam, just about finished, with Kristen (left) and Shibani:
Pam and Rachel got a little punchy in their armored suits!
Pam even did a bit of knitting in her armor, using some handspun that she's making on the wheel she borrowed from a friend in Portland. Between her and Rachel (and Daisy, but she's been very busy, as you can see on her blog, and not spinning so much these days) there has been a lot of spinning going on in the Fiberphiles. The bug didn't bite me, but maybe I'll come back to it in good time. Cutting off the dummies was quite a process, and ended up requiring four people - one to cut and two for leverage, plus Pam in the armor: The dummies came out really well, and should be quite useful as sewing forms. The impetus for making them was so that Rachel could cut and paste an old UFO to the right size. Due to the complicated pattern she decided that a form (and cutting and sewing) would be best, instead of trying (again) to rip it out and reknit it to size. Here are the finished dummies, in repose on the sofa, Pam's on the left, Rachel's (with more 3D territory, as Pam said) on the right. It was a really great time, and thank you to Rachel's mom for hosting us!

The "Tapers": Shibani, Kristen, Gretchen, Rachel, Pam, and yours truly

A hiking we will go...

Phew, I had a busy weekend! Saturday Dave and I finally went hiking. It's been a bad summer for us, outdoor activities-wise. The weather has been great since late June, but there just haven't been a lot of free weekends. We haven't gone camping once, which is a real shame. But, Saturday we dusted off the boots for the first hike since early July (JULY!!!), and went to Lake Serene. Here I go, striding purposefully across a bridge:
I admit, I put that up just because I think my calves look skinny :) I also posed for a photo:It was very hot. And humid in places. And rocky. However, the lake was quite refreshing (aka freezing!) and we spent quite a bit of time with our feet in it, although there were some crazy people swimming. This was the third time I'd hiked to Lake Serene, and the first time the weather was cooperative. The first time was in the fall a couple years ago, and it was very foggy so we couldn't really see anything. It was neat fog though, in that it was very swift. If you sat long enough, the lake would be totally fogged in, and then totally clear, all within a couple minutes. We stayed and watched that spectacle a few times that day. The second time I went it was cold and rainy. Here is a photo from that hike, with me all bundled up. It was a miserable day out. I'm not sure what we were thinking but it might have been reasonably nice when we started...










Here's a full lake shot. Don't you wish you lived in Seattle?

The Wall

I've hit THE WALL. I thought I could avoid it. I ran a marathon a few years back with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. And I didn't hit the imfamous wall while I was running, in fact I was fairly jubilant throughout, somehow. As an aside, I would recommend this training program/fundraiser to anyone with a desire to complete an epic athletic feat (they also train people for 100-mile bike rides and triathalons, and the races are often in exotic locations. I did the Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, AK) and the ability to raise thousands of dollars. I'm not sure how I ended up doing this. I'd wanted to run a marathon for some time, and I got the TnT flier in the mail one day and, on a whim, went to an information session, and, on an even bigger whim, signed up. I had to raise over $4000, the vast majority (80%? I don't remember) goes directly to the LLS. The rest covers personalized training with certified coaches and trainers, as well as travel expenses to the race. It was great. I made some good friends, who I've sadly lost touch with (I'm very bad at this, well, good at losing touch, bad at keeping in it). Anyway, the race was great, I ran the whole way, and there were no walls encountered. However...
I think I have hit the wall on the Lotus Blossom tank. It's SO close to being done:
The back is probably half done, and then there is just the sleeves (straps really) and it's finished. Yet I've totally lost the will to knit it. Which is odd, because I was enjoying it so much, and I know it's going to fit, having tried it on when I finished the front, and it WILL BE DONE QUICKLY IF I MAKE ANY EFFORT WHATSOEVER. Bleh. I will push past the wall, whatever it takes, to get this baby done before the weather changes and I have to finish this:

I received a nice thank you package from Lillian. Here's what she sent:

I don't know why it's sideways, sorry about that. The photo is fine on my computer and weird when I upload it. Just turn your head. There are some cat toys for me to knit for Oliver, and some cedar blocks to keep the stash moth-free, as well as a luggage tag and some FedEx goodies. Thank you Lillian, it's been fun spoiling you! I'm awaiting my final package from my secret pal, whose identity still eludes me. Can't wait to find out who she is!

I almost forgot!

I can't believe this, but I almost forgot to post about Marlene's yarn dyeing experience! When my mom told her friend Marlene that I dyed my own yarn, she was really impressed and excited to try it herself, so we bought some Gems Opal and got right down to it, with my mother looking on:
Marlene went with varigated shades of sapphire blue, and her yarn turned out really well, don't you think?

I think I like it better than the similar skein I dyed a few months back, which was basically the same but lighter, and I think the darker is more striking. We didn't reskein it, but it looks lovely nonetheless. Hopefully she'll send me photos of the socks she makes with it, whenever that may be!

I also dyed some more yarn on my own last week, and I can show it now, because it should've gotten where it was going:

It's the pretty one on the right, as opposed to the lovely mohair on the left. I'm pretty happy with it, although it's got some white bits (adds character - totally done on purpose!). This was part of my final SP8 package to Lillian. Here is the whole box o' goodies:

I love this package, and I hope she liked it as well. We have the handpainted yarn, 4 skeins of mohair (better in the first photo), some "Footnotes," a pack of playing cards with a different drink recipe on each, and some handmade armwarmers. Better photo?These are a very slightly modified (made longer) version of the twisted rib armwarmers from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, done in Noro Kureyon. I think it's colorway 40, or maybe 50, but I'm pretty sure it's something *0. It bothers me that they don't match, but I did try. I took apart the whole second skein trying to find the same color repeat, and it did not exist. See the long teal stretch on my left hand? Nothing like that in the other skein. I've had this problem with Kureyon before (and my Lady Eleanor in silk garden, but then I didn't really mind). I made Rachel some armwarmers last fall and I ended up cutting and pasting the yarn 4 times in the second one to make the stripes match. Yes, I'm anal like that. I figured though that these looked pretty cool and obviously go together, so I'm trying to be Zen about the whole thing. I'm hoping Lillian has slightly bigger (or at least longer) hands than I do, since these are a tad big for me...

Oh, the bamboo tank? Finished the front on Monday, so I was able to try it on. It fits perfectly, although it's a bit short. Then again, I was holding it on, so I'm not sure where it will actually fall, and it can always be blocked a bit longer. And it's not as transparent as I feared. So I'm charging ahead up the back, and should be done soon! I also, god forbid, worked a repeat of the Clapotis over the last couple of days, in a last-ditch effort to appease the Project Spectrum neutral gods. I really thought I could get that done in August, but that assumed I wouldn't have spent all my time working on the tank top, which I've knitted at lightning speed (for me - Rachel could've made 3 of them by now). Tonight is knitting club and I've got the tank and the clapotis, so there will be progress shots tomorrow!

Sweetness

Now that's a lot of fake sweet goodness (outlet for scale). I figure this sets me up with Splenda for at least 3 years, assuming one cup of tea consumed per day on average! I took a trip to Costco with Rachel yesterday, hence this extravagant purchase. I figured it was blogworthy because it's such a ludicrously big box...
I also knitted some lovely armwarmers. I had forgotten how much I love Noro Kureyon until I knit these up...I've also gotten to the front/back split in the bamboo tank and I'm ripping right along, still crossing my fingers that it's going to fit. Won't be long until I can try it on. I figure once I've finished the front I should be able to squeeze into it and see how things are looking...(photos later - blogger is being uncooperative)

The Chinese Garden

I decided to dedicate a separate post to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden that we went to in Vancouver both because it was really striking and because I had a ton of nice photos to show. For those not up on their Chinese history (myself included), Dr. Sun played a leading role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and was the first president of the Republic of China. The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden was the first full-scale classical garden constructed outside of China, and was built by a team of experts from Suzhou, using materials largely imported from China, but native plants. The garden took a year to build, and is a replica of a scholar's garden of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). When you enter the garden, this is the first view. The structure here is called a ting; it's set on a pile of rocks emulating a mountain, and is meant to represent humans in their natural setting. There was also a lovely waterfall in the rocks. This is the focal point of the garden, and you can also see it buried in the trees in this photo, which was taken from the other side of the garden. This photo also shows the water, which is a key part of Chinese gardens. The water is made intentially cloudy, using a special clay lining, to intensify the reflections. You can see the water flowing under the Jade Water Pavillion here:
This photo also shows the intricate wooden screens on this building, which were put together without using any screws or nails, and if you know which piece to remove you can take the whole thing apart quite easily. Here is another view of that building:
There were many cool rocks, called Tai Hu rocks. These are naturally carved limestone rocks from Lake Tai in China. They're really neat, all pitted and holey, so that you can see things in them if you use your imagination.

The floor in all the outdoor spaces was intricately tiled, and each floor was different. The stones are individually selected for size and shape. The white bits are old pieces of pottery, and the curved grey pieces are old roof tiles. This is a good example, from the area near the first photo. Walking barefoot on these floors was like a slightly painful foot massage!

Lastly, here is an example of a penjing, which is a forefather of Japanese bonsai. It's different from bonsai in that the trees are selected for their interesting growth patterns and then pruned, instead of being forced into doing something interesting.

The garden was really beautiful - if you're ever in Vancouver you really must check it out, although I would give the rest of Chinatown a miss. I've been to several large Chinatowns (New York, San Francisco, Chicago (not so large)), and although Vancouver's is supposed to be the largest, it's very different from the others. It seems less touristy, which is good, but also means that you don't find the neat souvenirs and things that people associate with Chinatown. Plus it's bordered by a pretty sketchy area, and overall we weren't impressed. But we had good food, I got some cool stationary (I'm on a stationary kick these days), and my mom found a beautiful beaded shawl for only $15, which was an absolute bargain, so overall it was a success. And the garden, as I said, was exquisite and well worth the visit!