more class stuff

So, the Yarn Garden is on Tujunga Ave in Studio City. (I'll put the complete address up later.)

And for my next trick, I will be teaching a beginning knitting class. We will be making these darling little tech cozies. I made all of these out of exactly one ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. So fun!

busy bee living the dream

SO...
everyone who cares should come visit me at the Yarn Garden in Studio City.

It is my dream job. My kind of surroundings, my kind of people....luving it!

So, I am going to begin teaching crochet and begining knitting there.

The first class that I have worked out is one of the crochet classes. Look at what we will be making:

I also just finished the flower wash cloth from "weekend knits." I have been looking at that wanting to make on for ages and this was the first time that I sat down to do it and it gelled. I made the petals while we were at the Pantages watching Stomp (which was fantastic). The wash cloth is a part of the June Colorific Swap from Swap-bot.
I also whipped out this bag for another swap.

My plans for today and probably tomorrow

SO this is where it began...

And this is where it went. I have lots and lots of work; I love sewing for my love. It is a gift that he likes adventurous shirts.
The sushi+the navy
The planets+the blue
The baseballs+the black
The hawaiian+the purple
The purple Hawaiian

And then there are the plans for my little love. Construction, Spongebob, and train themed shirts.

This is my other set of plans. They are going to ravel into a set of baby kimonos from the pattern in "mason-dixon Knitting". Recognize the ROY G. BIV action? I am contemplating adding a white one and then it will be enough for 8 days a week. ;) It is good that my new neice or nephew is not due to arrive until December.

Damp and Lovely

So now I can show you what we saw while visiting Portland. This collection is mainly of the Columbia River Gorge and waterfalls surrounding it. It was a gorgeous way to spend the day. It was also the only day that I was good about taking pictures. These first two are of Latourell; the colors of the moss and the pounding of the water were surreal.

We went to an observatory that overlooks the Columbia River Gorge. Sadly, it reopened for spring the next day; from the state of the construction tape and unfinished projects inside, it seemed hard to believe that it would really be ready as scheduled. Redgardless, it was a breathtaking site. By the way those good looking guys belong to me. ;)
The drive was gorgeous and it was nice to stop along the way. The hillsides glowing with tulips and daffodils made up for the lack of sunshine (there was some sun...just intermitent...sun/hail/sun/drizzle/rain/drizzle/sun/drips...and so on).

I don't remember what this one is called. What I do remember is that my five year old is terrified by waterfalls and that my future father in law will kindly risk a raging river for a dropped lens cap.

As for the waterfall tour, this stop was the end of the trail. While driving through downtown, I was wondering how you could choose from all of the quality places to dine; which led me to wondering about whether or not Rachael Ray had ever done a "$40-a-day" in Portland. So, I checked when I got home and found that this last stop would have found her approval. After hiking to the top and crossing the bridge (which almost feels like verb-embellishment...it was a short trip), we ate lunch at the Multnomah Falls Lodge. It was delicious; I agree with her.

The very last thing that we did was visit the fish hatchery. It was good that we stopped here after lunch because the fishes looked delicious. Rather than wishing to eat them, we fed them; they do tricks; you should try it; seeing a trout dance across a pond is definitely neat.

Then we celebrated Easter and enjoyed each others company; we ate lots of delicious homemade goods...so tasty; I made a trivet ;).

On our last day, we ate delicious Hawaiian food and started our goodbyes at lunch time. The last thing we did was walk through the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. The flora was amazing (I kept thinking of when Patrick Dempsey told a cheerleader that she had the best pair of rhododendrons on the block in"Can't By Me Love"); the fauna was entertaining - the boys challenged the geese and there were some blue billed ducks I'd never seen before.

long awaited Trivet

For my favorite potholder, tavanb of the LA SnB found it already published online. Her finding it was a nice gift and saved me lots of fretting on how to communicate it through crochet speak. The author of that version doesn't know its origin either. I wish someone would come forward with the answer. My mom and aunt were speculating that it came for Ladies Home Journal in the 30's or a little magazine that was called something like the knitting basket.

As for the other:
So here it goes.

There are no yarn or hook requirements. Use what you like. I used Encore and a size G hook. I suggest two coordinating colors and to stay away from 100% acrylic because it will melt ( but it takes many years of use to do so). Since I have about half a skein of each left, I am going to guess that it takes about 100 yds of each color.

Abbreviations:
DC - double crochet

Chain 44.

Row 1: DC 1 into 8th chain from the end. *Chain 2. DC 1 into 3rd chain from last DC.* Repeat ** until the end. You should end up with 13 squares. (If you lengthen or shorten this pattern, be sure to end up with an odd # of squares.)


Row 2 thru 13: Chain 5. DC 1 into top of second to last DC from previous row. Chain 2. *DC 1 into each DC. Chain 2.* Repeat ** to the end. You should end up with a grid of 13 by 13 squares.


Here is where I am at a loss for [crochet] words.

Hopefully I can illustrate it well enough to make up for my shabby [crochet] prose.

Round 1: Chain 3 into a corner square. Work 2 more DCs along oneside of that square. Then work 3 DCs along the next edge. From here follow the diagram. (There is actually a diagram waiting in illustrator; I just need to figure out how to get it here. For now, I hope you get the gist.) ;)

You end up working 7 rounds.