I ♥ Portland

How I love Portland, I cannot count the ways! This trip was ambitious... and pretty successful. Take 8 people and try to get them to do more than one thing a day together: if you even get one thing done, it's pretty incredible.

DAY 1
We visited Bart. I've probably spent more time watching The Simpsons than doing anything else in my life (now that's unmotivating). So when I heard Matt Groening grew up in Portland - I just had to see all the Simpson's landmarks. We saw Bart outside of Matt's old high school and many of the characters, like Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders are named after streets in Portland.

We also visited Knit-Purl (my first but not last time). They have so many lovely yarns. Even my brother, Kirk, was enchanted by them. He asked if I'd make him a spidy (spiderman) mask out of a cashmere/silk blend.

After missing our bus because Powell's book store puts drugs in the air vents that make you not want to leave (Ok not really), we made it to the Japanese Gardens and met up with Sharman (Todd's sister). I'd been before, but never in the rain. I'll let it speak for itself:

DAY 2
Todd and I went into the city by ourselves to ride on the Portland Spirit. It rained the whole time, but it wasn't too cold, so we stayed on the upper deck most of the time. The mist was rolling over the trees and it's a very slow moving river - it was really peaceful.

The Steamroller Rose passed us by

We went wandering around the city after that. There are so many cool little shops everywhere. We found a zine shop called Reading Frenzy. Seriously, they only carry zines! And we found the Museum of Contemporary Craft. They had a gallery show from Ken Shores, whose work combines ceramics and feathers. Even their gift shop was amazing - they had handspun there! And they support a bunch of online crafter's that I love, like Bellamuse and Sublime Stitching. Can I please live here!?

DAY 3
Today was our first sunny day! So perfect, since we planned to be out in Willamette Valley all day for the Memorial Day celebration. We met up with my friend Chelsea and her family and we all went to Cooper Mountain Winery. It was great to get a feel for the country in Oregon. And the winery had a musician and artisan cheeses to compliment our tastings, so it was a cool little party.

Then we all drove back out to Portland to go to the Saturday Market. Saturday Market is a craft market. Whether your favorite craft is homemade popcorn or screen printed t-shirts, you can find it here. I love Portland for this! They really support independent artists. I was surprised at the variety of crafts - and that everything was so inexpensive.

DAY 4
Driving, driving, driving. We got to our camp really late, so we barely had time to set up and then we cooked our food in the dark.

They didn't allow fires, so we had to act like hobos.

The campground was really crowded and huge. So when my brother and I walked away from camp looking for my sister, I should have know we'd get lost immediately. Todd came to find us and started yelling my name. The only problem was that every time he yelled my name, everyone in the campground would yell it too. Todd was a bit indignant about that, I kind of thought it was funny - only because I was found eventually. It was a very unique arrangement, though. Everybody was camped so close together that you can't help but be friends with each other. Everyone's sharing what they brought and helping each other out. Would life be like this everyday if we all just had to live in a big field together?

The Gorge Campground featuring Kimberly

DAY 5
Sasquatch!!! I didn't really know what to expect from this festival. I've been to the Gorge before, and it is by far the best venue I've ever visited, but it was a totally different scene from this. We went for The Flaming Lips, The Hives, Built to Spill, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Flight of the Concords, and we found two bands I'd never heard before: Kay Kay & his Weathered Underground and Siberian - both local Washington bands. The show represented a lot of different sounds. While the Hives were jumping around for an hour talking about how cool they are, Rodrigo y Gabriela got the entire crowd to sing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" with them. Wow! ...is all I can express here.

The Main Stage

DAY 6
After all that, you'd expect us to be tired, huh? We were:

On the Red Line to the Airport

So we're sold. We love Portland. I think that we belong there. Now I just have to get through 2 more years of school. Or really, I should just concentrate on getting through Summer semester. I have 12 hours of classes every week, it's been a bit intense. But I must admit after this vacation, sitting in class isn't too hard.

Do I think I just got paid?

It would seem so. I've spent all morning online shopping. Hmmm, I didn't just paid... but I do think I can go spend money. I think this is what happens when my natural love of shopping finally breaks free of the save and starve mode I've been forcing upon it. Maybe it's all the recession talk, but I've shopped less in the past 3 months than ever in my life. Ok, so in my modern life. I did grow up on a farm where I could spend an entire summer not leaving our property. But geez, let's hope I don't go overboard here. Anyway, here's the things that tempted and conquered me:

Things I learned from Knitting (Whether I wanted to or not)

I'm going to see Stephanie in May at the Main Library, so I have to have her new book. When I'll have time to read it is different matter. But there's a great book review on Knit Review.

Stricken Socks

I've been going back to this pretty much every day and finally decided I better just buy it. It'll be my first cookie a sock, am I being a bit ambitious?

Loopy Flapper Hat

This is just two (yes, 2 times) cute, I opted for this instead of her book, since I want to make a King Arthur order today too. But her book, Going Straight, looks pretty amazing - it might have to be a birthday present to myself.

Afghan Baby Socks

Someone looking around my house might think that I have a secret, what with all the baby socks lying around. But I don't and I'm not. There is an explanation though. Last week I saw Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? at the Sundance Film Festival (set to be released in April). This is Morgan Spurlock's hilarious take on finding a terrorist. However, my favorite part of the movie was the interviews with regular people from all over the Middle East. One thing that many of them said was that they like the American people, it's the American goverment that they have a problem with. Now I was wondering what the distinction was: Was it because an American person was standing there interviewing them? Did they know about the low approval rating our goverment has right now? Or was it that Islam teaches to treat all people as your brothers, as one family said? Well that got me looking into ways that I could reach out to them and help prove them right about the American people. And I ran across AfghansforAfghans.com. Oh and they want baby socks? Yeah I can do that. So the project is all about sending warm baby items to The Cure Hospital in Kabul by the end of February. I'm using Barbara Coley's Quick Baby Socks pattern (posted on the Afghans for Afghans webiste). They are super quick and if you have some leftover worsted weight and a coupla hours, you can bust out a pair. My goal is to make 10 pairs because I got into it so late in the game, but I already have 2 pairs done - so maybe I'll be able to do more than 10. And their projects change, so there's always future opportunities to help in different ways. Throwing wool instead of bullets has always been my style, anyway.

Dancing in the Sun

I got Sundance happy this year. Ok, I get Sundance happy every year, but seven films in a week is a new record for me I think. I usually spread it out over the whole week in a half. But this year I got every movie I wanted (another new record) and I didn't have to switch up schedules and spread them all out at the last second. Woohoo! So this is what we have seen and are seeing:

The Guitar - This was our first film and the first screening *WorldwidE* - that and the fact that Robert Redford was in the audience (Amy Redford, the director, is his daughter) made everybody pretty excited. The film didn't disappoint, the story was a great idea and it was really beautifully performed. And as long as you didn't take the ending on face value, it was very poignant. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but if you need a pick me up or even some direction in your life, I'd say it's your movie.

Animation Spotlight - This was the best collection of animated shorts that I've seen at the festival. I have favorites from past years, but I usually have to suffer through something terrible to get to the good stuff. This year they were all good. The one that's getting the most attention is Madam Tutli-Putli. It wasn't my favorite, but it is excellent. It is very cool visually - It's done with puppets and their eyes are real eyes that they filmed separately and added in. But I can't say much about what it's about without ruining it. Yours Truly was my favorite. This might gross some people out, but I promise that it's not about the cooking that's being done - it's about the medium. It's a collage animation! I loved it! He took bits and pieces of film from everywhere and created a sort of gross but very intelligible and quick witted story. A few other favorites are Lapsus and The History of America, but really they were all good. And apparently they are available on I-Tunes. OK, well maybe not yet because I can't find them, but the film makers did say they'd be there, so maybe eventually.

Bottle Shock - Although this film initially has some points against it - 1st. It's not a Sundance movie, it is a very mainstream drama and should have been released in regular theaters. 2nd. It was funded by the winery that it is about (I think they are going to have a good year in 2008). Other than that, I had to love it, I'm completely in love with Napa Valley and seeing it grow up and come into its own made me love it even more. If you love Napa too, you shouldn't have too long to wait for this one, it'll be picked up quick.

Gonzo: the Life and Work of Hunter S Thompson - This is one I've been waiting for a long time and from what I've heard, I wasn't the only one waiting. Besides being a bit too long, it's a great portrayal of his life. It introduced me to more of his writing and showed what an important person Hunter was in his time. Although, he seemed very lost and ended up sacrificing his genius and family for drugs which made the end of his life seem wasted.
This one had Johnny Depp in it, so there's no doubt about it coming to theaters sometime soon.

Chronic Town - We got tickets for this because it's set in Fairbanks, Alaska - which I used to visit when I was living in Anchorage. And they got Alaskans spot on, I wondered if the writer lived there? The film was really surprising because I just thought it'd be a comedy about kooky Alaskans. But they chose to address some very taboo subjects in a place where it's hard to imagine any life really exists (anywhere it gets 60 below is hard for me to imagine). So it was a nice surprise and Todd's favorite movie so far.

We have 2 more movies to see: A Raisin in the Sun and Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden. I am very excited to see both. A Raisin in the Sun is a film adaptation of a play that was inspired by a Langston Hughes poem. I love him. And WWOBL is a film by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and I've heard he's actually traversing the Middle East on a camel looking for Osama. That should be hilarious and sad all at the same time.

And what have I been making during all this Dancing in the Sun, you ask? Toujours Pur socks I say:

These are the 5th installment of the Harry Potter Sock Club - the gift that keeps on giving - that I got last September from Tan. I really love this one and have been very excited for it's blueness, so excited in fact that I set everything else down and started them 3 times over until I got it just right. Ooooh and I love em!

Do you need an excuse to make pizza?

This week is National Pizza Week (don't ask why I know that). There's 2 reasons why I'm celebrating:

1. I'm going back to school and evenings spent reading theory are not my cup of tea. I need excitment!

2. Pizza is Todd's absolute favorite food. Last week he helped me buy a car, did all the dirty work, and pretty much made my first experience buying a car quite pleasant. He deserves pizza everyday for a week.

His response was priceless when I told him that I was making pizza all week. "You know it's not like when you catch your kid smoking and you make them smoke the whole pack to make them never want it again - this won't work." So in order to mix it up a bit, I chose three very different pizza recipes using the same crust recipe (to save time). And it is amazing! I've never made pizza dough before and this recipe turned out perfect. It's soft and chewy and raises up huge as you can tell from Monday's Monster Black Bean Pizza.
We also made Pesto Pizza, which sounded good except for the absence of pizza sauce, but we just dipped it in marinara and it was perfect.

Wednesday we made Vidalia Onion Tomato Pizza, it was the most basic of all the recipes we used and it turned out excellent!
So I think it was a success because we still wanted more on Thursday and ordered out from The Pie... Happy Pizza eating!

Coming soon, the Sundance Film Festival...

I AM MoHAir! Hear me Roar!

Mohair – A smooth, polished surface“Mohair is warmer than wool, with larger, flatter scales that contribute to an overall silky-smooth appearance. The fiber absorbs dye readily and, thanks to that smooth surface, reflects it back brilliantly.” –The Knitter’s Book of Yarn

Mohairs are positive and confident. You always strive to make a good first impression because you are a proud person, and you care a good deal about what people think of you. You are careful with your words and are always tactful. You enjoy having a broad base of support and respect from those whom you come in contact. You attract this with your warm, sunny, and inquisitive personality.

I got this in my inbox this morning, I think it's a pretty insightful quiz and short too. You can take it at Potter Craft News.

Now that's someone I can knit for...(and some other Christmas thoughts)

So I'm starting to get good at knitting things that aren't scarves. And this Christmas I actually heard: "YOU MADE THAT!" rather than "oh... did you make that?" So that's my major motivation this year - to make more stuff for more people. She got me:

KiM's NoT dEaD hat for Kimberly (sissy)

And she helped too:

Wisconsin Lace Scarf for Emily (step-mommy)

And he really motivated me also:

The Enterprise Gloves for Kirk (bro)

Dad and Grandma got gloves and socks respectively and they will probably be getting more (because they liked it). Tan and Sharman got washcloths and made me want to knit them anything their heart desired because they were so appreciative! AND thanks to Tan and Paul, I'll have more time to knit! They gave me a swift and ball winder that is likely to save me 2 hours of center pull ball winding - that I've been doing using the back of a chair and a pencil.

Oh yeah, and so Christmas in California was awesome. The 60 degree weather and charm of the Buringruds made it that way. I thought for sure we'd spend most of our time hanging around Grandma's house, but we did end up getting out a little (sometimes with all 18 of us - not to mention the other 11 that eventually made it there for Christmas Eve). We went to Berkley to Telegraph Avenue for the Christmas Street Fair. The highlight of the fair was the chanting Hari Krishnas that occasionally paraded down the center of the street.

But our big event event was the 49ers game. My Uncle Dana put on an awesome tailgate party for us and we got pumped up for my cousin's halftime show (throwing footballs into the back of a truck).

Even Santa came to the game

I've never been a huge football fan, but going to a live game is so exciting and it sort of changed my mind about football. I think it's best expressed with this picture of my sister (also not an avid football fan):

Oh yeah and the 49ers won!

Christmas Eve was beautiful, we had a big dinner and Grandma got everyone to go to church - which was a Lutheran children's program and quite entertaining. The kids were yelling their songs out at some points - "OH OH - star of wonder, star of light." And I'm pretty sure the choir director was encouraging them for our amusement.

So it was a great place to be for the holidays, a bit hectic because we left on Christmas Day - but totally worth it because we wanted to be in two places at once for Christmas. And after it's all over, I know I'm not the only one that thinks it's been way too long and that we should do it more often.

Can I get a nap?

Wow, this weekend was crazy! Friday night Sara, Todd and I went to The Golden Compass. Everyone, de-bunch your knickers and put out the torches - it is only as religious as you want it to be. It's a pretty close portrayal of the book and the actors they picked were perfect for their roles. The armored bears were definitely the best part and the ending was only slightly disappointing. Say no more, I will say no more.

Saturday, I did shopping. I managed to find everything I needed for chocolate babka, cinnamon taffy and chocolate dipped graham crackers (yes, my eyes are bigger than my stomach and my schedule) at the Baker's Cash & Carry. Then it was off to do the grocery shopping, laundry, and pick up books at the library. I didn't get to watch the Robot Chicken DVD yet, but I did watch some Christmas classics.

After all that, Todd and I went to get our Christmas tree. It was funny, throughout much of the trip Todd kept saying, "Can't we get a small tree this year?" Then all the sudden he stopped saying it and we ended up with the biggest tree we've ever had. I asked him later what happened and he told me that he saw some other people buying a small tree and couldn't help picturing how small and boring it was going to look in their house. So we got the big one!
Sunday I made cookies and worked on Christmas cards. The cookies, rugelach pinwheels, were a surprising success. I ruined the first batch, but the second batch turned out pretty and un-burnt. Then we were off to Tan and Paul's for their tree trimming party. Woah, motherload of snacks! There were red beans, 7-layer dip, cheese balls, artichoke dip, onion dip, lots of cheese, 4 kinds of cookies, maple candy, chocolate cake and I'm sure I'm leaving something out here, but it was all so good! We decorated the tree and watched one of the kids dance a ballet, she's just turned 3 and I'm convinced she'll be a star. So, it's been fun and busy and maybe I'll go to work tomorrow so that I can take a break.

Days of December

I've noticed a lot of online advent calenders this year.  There's everything from cookies to plushies.  So I thought I'd share the sites I've been visiting day after day.

Cookie of the Day
Craft of the Day
Lime n Violet's Daily Chum Advent Calender
(you have to scroll through for this one)
Tan's Countdown
Sew Mama Sew's Handmade Holidays

There's also some really good Holiday projects out there right now.  I love these print-your-own Cardigan Cards and Yeti Gift Tags.  And this Matchbook Advent Box and 19th Century Inspired Ornament are terrific.  And I seriously wish I could crochet so that I could make these Turtles as a gift.  Some things are meant to be shared.

Christmas Secrets

I've been finding it very hard to post here lately, as everything that has been going through my head is a secret. I am especially excited this year by all my Christmas secrets. I've been out of school this semester and I've had time for some homemade secrets. It may be a little selfish of me, but Christmas presents are so much more exciting when you think you may have MADE the most perfect, wonderful, thoughtful thing for a person (I'm not totally delusional, but I like to think some of my love-crafted presents will be cherished by their recipients). For everything else, I've tried to be really good and shop on Etsy. I made this pledge, that is a bit harder that it looks (when it comes to shopping for a husband), but I've done pretty good and found lots of very cool stuff. This is not necessarily what I've bought, but just cool things I found:

Dog Bone Art makes these hilarious cupcake cards:

No Demographic prints these rock'n t-shirts (among many others):

Four Seasons Fragrance mixes up lovely seasonal scents.

I'm not pregnant, but this maternity shirt from Discobelly really hits the spot:

On the subject of monkeys, I found a few things that I'm bananas for (sorry!). Toast and Jam makes these great monkey hats:

And Sock Monkey Cards makes greeting cards that really express how we are all feeling this time of year.

Anyway, that's all for now. Soon, I hope to think about something that I can talk about... :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm off to Idaho!  Happy Thanksgiving all!

Shining Star

This one is super easy! And I even have a template this time!

1. Print out the template onto cardstock, making sure to size it to your liking.

2. Cut out the outer edge of the template, leaving the inner parts alone for now. Use this to trace your three pieces. The first star will be in black, the second star will be in pretty shiny paper, and the third in a pretty colored cardstock for the back.

3. Now, using a straight edge, cut out the inner pieces of the template and trace them onto the black piece of paper. Cut those pieces out.

4. Glue it all together, sandwiching a pretty piece of ribbon in between the back cardstock and the shiny paper. Voila, a shiny star for your tree!

What's Thanksgiving?

Yes, Thanksgiving has not yet come. And yes, I have been thinking about Christmas for a while now... I love Christmas, and the earlier I think about it, the easier it is to enjoy. Imagine having all of your Christmas shopping finished, your meals already planned and your plans taken care of... you can then actually enjoy the week or so before Christmas instead of running around like a maniac getting that last present or can of fried onions - sending hate waves to anyone whose shopping cart gets in your way. So anyway, I'm thinking about Christmas. And as a crafty kind of person, I really have to plan things out because my holidays take a bit longer to produce. So I have some Christmassy things to share. I'm making paper ornaments this year, I am absolutely in love with a certain scrapbook co's new Christmas line and I must use it. So my first, of what hopefully becomes a few many, ornament is this lovely birdy.

I'd share the template, but as it comes from a copyrighted craft book, Treasury of Christmas Crafts & Foods, I think I'll leave it up to you to find a nifty picture to use.

First, I printed the bird off onto cardstock and cut it out. I then lightly traced it, using a very sharp pencil, onto scrapbook paper, this one is called "Wish." Then, using a coordinating color of separated embroidery floss, 2 stands, and a very fine needle, I started stitching. The thing about embroidering on paper is that your mistakes will show up, so you always want to poke your next hole on the top, where you can line it up with your traced design, and then find the hole on the bottom to pull through. This of course is if you are using back stitch as I have.

After the stitching is finished, I used a small metal brad to make the eye. Then glue it to cardstock and let it dry between two pages of a book before cutting it out. Back the ornament with a pretty piece of paper attaching a loop of ribbon between the two pieces of paper at the same time, glue and set between pages of a book. Cut it out one more time and there you have it, a beautiful Christmas birdy for your tree.

Knit This

All I have to say is that I am continually amazed by knitters.

knit by Theresa Honeywell

Trick-or-Treat

Todd and I carved pumpkins last weekend. We think that his turned out to look like a party guy (a little bit of "buddy christ" for those who have watched Dogma) despite the fangs and hypnotizing eyes. I'm not sure what mine is supposed to be, it turned out a little different than expected because the pumpkin is so huge. I had to keep extending the mouth until he looked somewhat normal. We ended up with a ton of seeds to roast and so I think I will be buying the large size in the future for that reason. And the seeds turned out yummy even though we didn't let them dry the 48 hours that the recipe says we should.

We even made it down to Cornbelly's. They had some cool things like the haunted beast (a giant walk-in inflated reptile, complete with organs and intestines) and the jack-o-lantern hay ride. I don't recommend them for their cornmaze, though. It was torn up from all of the short cuts people had taken through the corn. Ironically enough, we did get kicked out of the maze for taking one of them, so apparently they are trying to police the situation - they're just a little bit late. Todd and I also rode pedal karts, which was a ton of fun, but made me sore in muscles I didn't know I had.
It was a pretty good place because most of the fun things they have are open to "big" kids too, so I didn't have to jealously watch the "little" kids have all of the fun :)

Whoa Knitta!

Well, I know what I'll do with a semester off...
I'll make this...

and this...

One of these...

Then one of these...

and start this...

All in a little over a month. I haven't had this much time to knit in my entire knitting career. And I've been baking too, I made Apple Butter Banana Bread. And I want to make
Double Orange Cupcakes from Vegetarian Times and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. And yes, after eating all of those, I do have time to go hiking and work it off.

Proof of my hiking

Anyway, I really like having this semester off, Todd will have to twist my arm to get me to go back :)

Besides all that, we are getting ready for Halloween. Next weekend we are going to Cornbelly's and carve pumpkins. I found some very cool carvings at Pumpkin Gutter's. It's a pretty different type of carving than you usually see, carving just into the flesh rather than all the way through. My favorites were the muppets and Gandolf.

Gandolf looks pretty freaky all lit up like that. I love them, but I think my pumpkin will be pretty simple as I'm not so handy with a knife.

Another very cool thing is this skull font from Skull-A-Day, which is just an enertaining site any day.

Ok, well, I haven't knit now in like 20 minutes, so I better get on that, I only have 3 more months to go :)