I had a busy, fun weekend!

Saturday was the usual lunch with M. Then, since it was a relatively nice day, I decided to take a little trip over the Chehalem Mountains to Carlton to visit Woodland Wool Works, quite possibly one of the coolest places on earth. Spin, felt, dye, knit, crochet, tat — no matter what your fiber art addiction, they have fun stuff. I especially like their “stash room” where the discontinued and used items go to find a home. I usually end up with more than I planned on, but I restricted myself to some Crystal Palace circular bamboo needles, some Opal yarn, and a few incidentals like stitch markers (they have some flexible ones I really like) and straight cable needles. If you live in the area or are ever within striking distance, Woodland Wool Works is well work the visit!

Another cool place in Carlton (can you believe such a small town has two cool places?) is The Chcolate Sheep Gallery. Opened by felt artist Loyce Ericson in 2003, the gallery features the work of Ericson and several other fiber artists, is open for felting classes, and sells small-batch gormet chocolates like Sharffen-Berger. Being a dark-chocoholic, I indulge in Sharffen-Berger wherever I can get it. I’m not sure what hours The Chcolate Sheep keeps. They were closed on Saturday, although they have been open other weekends when I was there. If you are going only to visit the gallery, I suggest calling ahead.

Sunday I attended the parent/school meeting to discuss the New York trip in February that #1 Son is participating in. As well as seeing the sights, they will be visiting several advertising agencies to see what goes on behind the scenes. Wish I were going!

Today’s a day for thawing out. I’m happy to see that the camelia seems none the worse for wear, although I expect that some of the blossoms may drop.

#1 Son, now that he can come home instead decided to spend the afternoon at the zoo, followed by band practice, followed by work. He called very excited because tonight he gets to actually prepare food, rather than just wash dishes. A step up in the job department is always a good thing! So, congratulations, #1 Son!

And here’s hoping that it doesn’t refreeze tonight and I can pick him up after work!

In the mean time, I’ve been knitting like a mad woman trying to get the alpaca socks-from-hell completed so that I can start on my sock scarf.

“Socks From Hell” because I’m finding the Plymouth Baby Alpaca D.K. yarn difficult to work with. It has a yummy soft hand, but it’s very slick. I’ve tried birch and bamboo circular needles and sets of DP needles in bamboo, metal and plastic (Pony Pearl needles) — and different sizes of most of these. After many false starts, and one entire sock knitted and then rejected, I’ve finally settled on bamboo circular needles in size three, which seem to be giving me the correct gauge and keeping most of the stitches on the needles. I’m getting a lot of practice at picking up dropped stitches, though.

The rejected sock was too small, even though I thought I was checking well enough as I went along, and too irregular to give as a gift. It was my needle-experimenting-sock, and ended up with a lot of gauge changes and strange looking stitches.

The socks themselves are striped in an off-white shade and a dark purple. The stripes are fairly wide at 10 rounds per. I’m knitting these toe-up with a figure-8 cast-on and short-row heels. I’m not sure of the size of my friend’s feet, but I think they’re about the same length as mine and maybe a little wider. I’m making them long enough to provide some “room for growth” in the toes. I want them to fit snugly, but not too tight. They are intended as bed-socks, not to be worn in shoes, so I am working them all-over in k3 p1 ribbing, except the toe and heel which are stockinette stitch. I’m considering a fairly short ankle (not super short, but not as long as usual), with a rolled top instead of ribbing, since the whole sock is ribbed anyway. I’ll post a pic when I get them done.

In the cool-new-info department, I found out that, if you knit the entire row after a color change, the knit stitches don’t look weird in the rib pattern — in fact you can’t tell at all they aren’t perls without looking very closely — and the color changes are much more crisp. I first learned to knit something like 37 years ago, but this technique is new to me and I’m grateful to learn it!

Now I just need a better jogless jog.

In the miscellaneous department, being number 3 result in the MSN search phrase need different potatoes use warms the cockles of my Idaho-born-and-bred little heart. But leaves me wondering exactly what “different” uses would be?

I’ve been sick this week. Sick, and busy as hell when I was at work. And busy when I was at home. So there hasn’t been much blogging. I’m sure that has disappointed my two readers greatly. But there hasn’t been much I could talk about. I haven’t even been knitting. Thursday I sat in my rocking chair like a zombie with a cup of tea at my elbow and watched the entire second season of Sex And The City on On Demand. Hey… it was free.

Currently I’m watching a reporter freezing out in Troutdale. My cousin used to produce news stories for one of the local stations. I once asked him how badly a reporter had to piss him off in order to be sent to Troutdale during the Storm Of The Winter. He just laughed.

#1 Son and I go to Las Vegas for Christmas. I know that seems weird to some people. Las Vegas isn’t really the most “Christmassy” place on earth. But it’s become something of a tradition with us to get out of town during the holiday madness, and so we travel. To Vegas. Each year I make our reservation in a different hotel. This year it was The Aladdin. And each year we go on some sort of tour. This year it was to be a ghost town and gold mine. But, to begin at the beginning:

Part One: The Airport

#1 Son and I travel light and never check bags, so I usually check in and print our boarding passes over the ‘net the night before. That way we can go directly to our gate without any stops along the way. I printed #1 Son’s pass, but there was some glitch (or so I thought) that prevented me from printing mine. I kept getting a message that said: Print it at the airport.

We usually park in the economy lot and take the shuttle in. But, after dropping the fur kids off at the Cat B & B, we arrived at the airport to find the economy lot full — so full that barriers were up preventing us from even entering. Signs suggested parking in long term. But long term was full. Signs on the long term lot suggested parking in the garage. At $18/day. So far we’re doing great. NOT

Inside the airport I stopped to print my boarding pass, and then we headed for security. Since the Great Bullet Belt Debacle I was a little more cognizant of what items we were attempting to carry on board a plane. The bullet belt was left at home, as were all scissors. I had checked to make sure that knitting needles were allowed before I brought my half-made socks along. (One is now completed and the other 1/2 finished — pics when done.) What I hadn’t counted on was being singled out myself for a little extra attention.

In the security line, #1 Son was sent down the normal path, but I was shuffled off to the side, where the “special” people get to go. There my purse, bag, shoes and sweater were thoroughly examined, searched and otherwise pawed through. And a fairly rude woman patted me down, front and back, and used a metal-detector wand. I was required to unbuckle my belt, and since the pant I was wearing are rather loose, this had the unfortunate result of revealing my lovely undies to everyone in the terminal. You’re losing your pants. The TSA woman said helpfully, while the TSA man chuckled appreciatively and continued pawing through the undies in my bag.

When I was finally deemed harmless and allowed to depart the security area, I found #1 Son just putting his shoes back on. He had also been subjected to wanding because he’d forgotten to bring the key to the lock that fastens the chain around his neck, and so set off the metal detector. He had not only been wanded, but also patted down. I was neither notified nor asked permission. He wasn’t even asked if he was a minor.

Yes, I’ve complained to TSA, although I waited until I got home.

At the gate, #1 Son pointed out helpfully to me that since he had a bic lighter and a can of hairspray, he possessed what amounted to a flame thrower. I suggested that we not discuss that with any airline or TSA people.

On boarding the plane, when I presented my boarding pass the airlines employee said, Here’s the red boarding pass. You must be the dangerous woman on this flight. I made some noncommittal sound, and he replied by reading my name slowly and loudly enough for everyone at the gate to hear, thus subjecting me to further humiliation. #1 Son’s flame thrower became tempting…

Yes, I’ve complained to the airline, although I waited until I got home. (No sense in jinxing the return trip.)

Part 2: The Aladdin

So this particular vacation got off to a great start. But the flight down to Vegas was at least uneventful, and I finished the first sock while in the air. At The Aladdin, the check-in line was short. Our room was on the 17th floor near the elevators, and if we squeezed behind our table and craned our necks a little we had a reasonably good view of the Bellagio fountains. The bathroom featured a tiled shower with a glass door and a large soaking tub, but only one sink.

Every room in The Aladdin is equipped with a monitor, keyboard and mouse and has internet access via the hotel’s network for $9.95/24 hours. Yes, it’s more than most dial-up providers charge per month, but at least the access is available and “day” really is defined as 24 hours so there’s no extra charge for partial days. Our mouse didn’t work so I made sure that everything was plugged in correctly and rebooted the in-room part of the system. When that turned out to be ineffectual, I called the number provided (it turns out that the provider is Sprint). Since it was Sunday, no technicians were available but I was told that a “trouble ticket” would be issued and someone should be by in the morning.

The Aladdin has thoughtfully provided a PF Chang’s on the casino level. Since that happens to be one of my favorite restaurants, and one where vegetarian dishes are no problem, our dinner plans were easy to make. Although we had to wait for quite awhile to be seated, PF Chang’s was well worth the wait. I’m addicted to the lettuce wraps. Mom’s take on PF Chang’s:

For entertainment Sunday night, we looked no further than The Aladdin itself. Steve Wyrick is the featured act at the hotel. Billed as “Vegas’ Magician Of The Year,” Wyrick’s show promises bad motorcycles, hot girls, killer music and mind-blowing, bigger-than-life illusions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite deliver. The motorcyle (1) is there, and the girls, but the music is hardly “killer.” The illusions may be big, but they aren’t particularly mind-blowing. (Raise up curtain, roll airplane on stage. Yawn.) The smaller illusions are better. But his patter is annoying at best and his “teasing” of a woman who spoke absolutely no English and so didn’t understand the joke fell completely flat. Wyrick just doesn’t have the panache to pull off illusions of the size his act contains. After the show, the theater exit leads through the magic shop, where one is encouraged to buy everything in sight. VIP ticket holders can have their free magic books autographed by Wyrick. Non-VIP-ticket holders can get an autograph, but they have to pay for the book. We passed, and left wondering who votes for “Magician Of The Year.” If you’re in Vegas and want to see a magician, take in David Copperfield at the MGM Grand, or head over to Monte Carlo for Lance Burton. Mom’s take on Steve Wyrick:

More tomorrow, including Chucky meets Fargo at The Flamingo and the hazards of sudden downpours in the desert.

Now that #1 son is a proud possessor of that wonderous thing, a learner’s permit, he naturally wants to drive everywhere. And I want him to learn. Really. And I have to admit he’s doing pretty well. There are a few things he needs to practice: Turning is still a little shakey. He sometimes forgets to look both ways before entering traffic. And he has a propensity to drift far to the right that makes traveling on streets that have no right shoulder interesting. Other things, like pulling into the garage, he’s surprisingly good at. All in all, for a brand new driver he’s doing well.

Last night I let him drive a few blocks to a friends house. And this afternoon, figuring that the traffic would be pretty light, I handed him the keys and he drove all the way over to his girlfriend’s house in NE Portland. I know that I can be a bad passenger sometimes, so I took along my knitting to keep my hands busy with something other than clutching the door.

You can see from the picture (click to embiggen) that, after a few false starts, I’ve managed to get a sock going pretty well. It even fits me. 😀 I’m working a 2×2 traveling rib over the instep and up the ankle. I messed the pattern up in a couple of places, but the colors in the yarn keep it from being too noticeable. The heel could be better (it was worked in the car), but the toe came out pretty well.

The yarn is called Moda Dea Sassy Stripes. It has a lot of random colors that make stripes and interesting patterns as you knit or crochet with it. Unfortunately it’s acrylic, but it does have a nice soft hand. I’m thinking that these will make good bed socks or wear-around-the-house socks, and at least they will be washable.

Tonight we went to a movie and #1 son drove home. I live down what’s been described as “a really scary road.” I don’t know that I’d go that far, but there are no lights, and there is a stream running through a culvert on the north side, and it does go up and down and around some curves. And #1 Son does have that tendency to want to drift right while driving, and the stream was on that side…

It was too dark to see, but it probably would have been a good thing if I’d had my knitting with me.

I spent all weekend finishing up the ornaments for the folks at work. They were all finished and delivered on time! I’m pretty proud of myself for that. 😀

I worked a bit on the slippers that I wanted to make for K. But I’m finding that, in my zeal to make it warm, the felt I made is too thick. My poor Bernina is choking as it tries to stitch the upper to the sole. I’m not really very happy with the result. I’ll probably finish them, but I don’t know that they’ll be given as gifts.

In the meantime, I needed a TV-watching project, so I’ve decided to teach myself the continental style of knitting. I used to knit way-long-ago, but gave it up in favor of crochet, which for me has always been faster. But lately I’m finding that the motions of crochet are tough on my hands, even when I use a pad around the hook.

There are two basic styles of knitting (with a gazillion variations). I learned English style knitting, where the yarn is held in the right hand and “thrown” over the hook. I’ve always been fascinated by the continental (aka “German”) style, where the yarn is held in the left hand and picked up by the needle in a motion that’s rather like crochet. KnittingHelp.com has videos and pictures showing both styles.

Last night I knitted a swatch using the continental method. Wow… I am so out of practice! I couldn’t even remember how to cast on! Although it’s slow going right now, I can tell already that continental will be much faster than English. And since there is so little hand and finger movement, my hands didn’t feel at all trashed even though I knit for about 90 minutes straight! (I would have paid for 90 minutes of straight crochet, believe me.) I knit a few inches of stockinette stitch with size 5 needles, and then a few of 2K/2P ribbing.

If I can get this going well, I think I’ll try knitting a pair of socks. That doesn’t take too long and if the results are not what I’d like, I can still wear them in bed.

If I get really brave and back in practice, I might steal this sock scarf from Jerry at When Knitting Was A Manly Art, which he adapted from a this pattern in Knitter’s. I think the heels down the length of the scarf look strange and I like Jerry’s version a lot better. But I’d like to try it with one end as a toe-up sock and the other as a top-down.

If I get better, that is. I’ll start a little smaller.