texture wednesday??

i bailed on texture tuesday this week...i've been trying to finish up lots of odds & ends in the sewing room & studio because...

i'm leaving!!! yeehaw, i'm getting on a plane and flying off this island!! i'm so excited i could just spit because

1. i haven't been off this island in three years

2. i'm going ALONE

for the past two weeks we've had a couple of male house guests here on a welding job. guests are great, but there is already a husband, a 17 year old (injured) son and a small white dog in this house. the warm fuzzies for male companionship wore off about 10 days and two containers of clorox wet-wipes ago.

so how convenient that my daughter is moving into a new apartment right now. her first one that is all her own, no roommates. it's a landmark moment and call it grasping at straws, but i'm pretty sure it's required that mothers assist in these situations. i'll grasp whatever i have to to get out of this house.

so i'm off tomorrow, prepared to be amazed at how fast my new 4G iphone will work in the states. i can't wait to get on an escalator - love those things - smell a skunk. go to dairy queen. finally step foot in an IKEA store. and anthropologie. and see all those cherry blossoms everyone posts about. and eat sushi without a husband asking why anyone would pay for that when he can grab a raw fish anytime...

before i leave let me share what i've been working on. it's been a long winter.

i've been knitting and felting bowls...

lots of them. it's like knitting pets, they're small and warm and soft.

some of them i lined with my hand-dyed fabric scraps,

 i like how sturdy it made them.

this is a cowl knit from a beautiful merino yarn by Katia.

it's fluffy and soft and i like the subtle pops

of colour here and there in it.

this scarf is called "Loreli's Gift," i found the pattern in the book

Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders by judith durant.

i knit it in a beautiful heathered baby alpaca - soft as a cloud.

this shawl is probably my biggest knitting achievement to date. it's just a simple triangular lace pattern, easy to follow. i started it last summer, and brought it down to the lodge/outcamp with me. i tore it apart and restarted it many many times after losing my place. i worked on it until my hands got too sore and chapped at the outcamp and my fingers were snagging on the fibers, then i put it away.

i finished it just before xmas, and decided i couldn't give it away.

i love it too much. love the colours, and the silkiness. the yarn was a gift

from my daughter, it's an extra fine italian

merino lace weight by ella rae.

like knitting a lamborghini.

and then there's these guys

the socks.

 it wasn't enough that i didn't finish the first pair i started, i had to start a second pair.

i don't think there is a winter long enough for me to be able to finish knitting socks.

but sock are patient creatures.

that's it. that's all i got. i'm off to pack for my fabulous, man-less 13 days

of no dinner-cooking. i'm sure when i return i'll have great stories

of being lost in an elevator, or a parking lot,

or arrested for jay walking...

it's going to be so much fun.

texture tuesday ~ little things

well that was a fast week... it's texture tuesday again already!

this week ms. kim didn't give us a topic, just asked that we use at least one layer of her beautiful and subtle texture "Little Things"

my pal duffy and i have taken advantage of the few sunny days we've had to head out to the beaches and gather some fresh new springtime sea glass. it's still cold and my fingers froze, but it sure feels good to see those glistening gems in the sun on the beach. and duff does love his ice water swims.

here's a bit of what we came home with:



and here it is after a photoshop spa treatment:

i set the image on soft light blend and adjusted the levels and contrast a bit. i added a cooling filter at 17%. then i placed one layer of kim's "little things" texture set on multiply at 74%, and one more set soft light at 45%. i like the grungy-beachy look.

now click here to go see what my fellow texture friends have done this week!

texture tuesday ~ soft

it's been far too long since i've had some texture in my life...so i'm back to linking up with ms. kim klassen's texture tuesday group.

i'm excited to sink back in and start seeing things with a camera eye again. since getting my new iphone, i am very guilty of leaving my camera on the shelf - i love everything i can do with that phone!

but i also love my camera, and here's what we came up with for ms. kim's prompt for this week ~ soft

i set the background on soft light blend. adjusted the levels & contrast a bit, then added a layer

of kim's "little things" texture set on multiply at 53% opacity.

removed a bit of the texture from the eggs. that's it.

how lucky are we to have friends who share their fresh eggs with us!

just in time for easter!

here it is before:

now click here to see what everyone else has done! it's all fabulous!