Back to Blogging- New Socks, Scrapbooking, and the Big Move

I've been away from blogging for a few months.  It's hard to believe it's been that long!  I was busy in December making the wedding quilt, preparing for Christmas and the wedding, and enjoying lots of guests.  We had several relatives in town for the wedding and it was a real treat to enjoy their presence.  I opted to enjoy the moments and not spend time on the blog or Facebook for a while.  Then- after it was all over- I was exhausted and decided to take it easy for a while.  But I've been missing blogging- so I'm back to it!

I thought I'd just show you a few things today.  These are my latest socks.  The pattern is called Hedera, designed by Cookie A.  Cookie is a sock guru!  She is a prolific designer and her socks are wonderful.  I joined a group on Ravelry of knitters who are working their way through Cookie's latest sock book- Knit.Sock.Love.  The idea is to make a pair per month for 19 months to get through the whole book.  Well.... we'll see.  One down, 18 to go.  The yarn I used is Malabrigo Sock.  It's a beautiful hand-dyed wool blend.  

This is my current sock project.  The pattern is called Chirality, designed by Star Athena.  The yarn is Sock-aholic, hand-dyed byWendy Gaal of Knitters Brewing Company.  The red is actually a lightly variegated yarn- with many different close shades of red.  It's really rich looking.  The knitting technique is called mosaic knitting.  It's done by alternating knit stitches and slip stitches.  Each row is actually only done with one color yarn.  The variations come by slipping the stitch from the different colored row beneath.  I actually took this photo a while back- I'm farther along now.

 Last weekend, I attended an all day marathon scrap booking day with a friend of mine, Tamara Sandwisch, who is a Close To My Heart consultant  selling stamps and scrap booking supplies. 
I've been wanting to organize my pictures and also help my kids with their photos and Tamara is encouraging me.

 There were about 20 women at the event and it ran from 9 am to midnight.  (That wasn't a typo!).
As you can see, it was held at a Christmas shop!  Sleighbells, in Sherwood, Oregon, is a u-cut Christmas tree farm during the holidays and a Christmas store year- round.  They also have this large room that they rent out for parties and events.  What fun!  We each got a large table to ourselves, in a room lined with Christmas Trees.  It wasn't a class- we just chatted and worked on our own projects.  For lunch and dinner, we brought food, went out- whatever we wanted.  They are planning more of these days and I can hardly wait!  If you're in the Portland (Westside) area, and might be interested in future dates, send me a private email.  No purchase necessary and cost to attend is very reasonable.

And another big event for our family- our oldest son Paul, his wife, Cady, and my grand-dog, Cooper moved to Utah a few weeks ago.  We miss them very much, but we are thrilled for them as they start new jobs and seek new adventures.  And, hey, this means we get to take lots of road trips and explore all of the wonderful scenery and parks between Oregon and Utah!  I'll be asking all of you to recommend quilt shops and yarn shops along the way!




When I took my little blog break, I started getting calls and emails from people asking me if I was ok.  I was genuinely touched- surprised that my blog would be missed.  Thank you guys (you know who you are).
After not blogging for several weeks, I wrote my first posts last night.  WOW!  So many wonderful readers (friends!) were right there, with many kind words welcoming me back.  It gives me goose bumps, I tell you!  You guys are awesome!  I have lots of random photos that I took from events of the last few months.  I'll share them with you over the next few weeks.

It's good to be back.  :-)