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.