September Is Not Even Halfway Thru.....

.....and we've already gotten quite a few things done!

To start September off, we took a trip down to San Francisco to visit with family and celebrate a wedding. We had such a great time.

And both the kids proved that, unlike their parents, they are excellent dancers!

We got home on Labor Day and then got down to business prepping for the first day of school. And it was a biggie since both the Incredible Digit Girl AND Boy would be getting on the bus the next day.

(Big Sis kindly explained the Kindergarten jacket/backpack area for her brother)

They're both enjoying their new classrooms and getting used to the routine. It's all old hat to Digit Girl but for Digit Boy it's all new. He really impressed us by memorizing his six digit lunch payment code in just a few days.....and in time for him to get hot lunch in the cafeteria on Friday.

In addition, the first day of school also brought our Digit Boy's 6th birthday!

For a little extra fun, his dad got the trick candles so the kids just kept blowing and blowing and laughing and laughing!

(and, no, there isn't really something coming out of his nose......I don't think so, anyway)

Luckily, for the Incredible Digit Husband, the plant maintenance shut-down coincided with the first week of school. So not only did he get to be present for all the "firsts", he and I actually got to have a "fancy" lunch at a restaurant downtown. Yippee!

And to top the week off, I went with a great group of people and participated in the Warrior Dash - Northwest. And, yes, as their website states, it was one of the "craziest, frickin' days of my life".

Basically, it's three miles of hills and valleys with an obstacle course. The race completely kicked my butt and it was totally worth it. I definitely didn't set any time records: I was actually the last time in my age group. However, in the overall category there were about fifty people behind me. Considering I did very little (no) training and fell off one of the obstacles (my hip and knee are still a little tender), I feel pretty good about just finishing. The Incredible Digit Boy and Girl were pretty impressed by my layer of mud

(did I mention the mud pit with barbed wire to crawl through?)

but only the Digit Girl was asking when she could participate. Luckily, the age limit is fourteen and older so I have several years to be in good enough shape to keep up with her.

(Thanks to M & M for the Warrior Dash pics!)

Not Quite A Year

Well, I'm definitely coming in under the wire of a full 365 days........I had at least a few months before I hit that milestone. And, no big surprise, once I viewed the neglected blog I found several features not quite working. So I did a little much needed maintenance and was back in business.

Last year brought a few changes. The Incredible Digit Husband spent a few months on the job hunt and luckily found a very good position within six months. We felt very, very lucky that it hadn't taken longer. I was lucky enough to be offered a part-time job during that period, too, so we adjusted our schedules to make sure we had plenty of family time during the week.

Now, we are counting down the days until the Incredible Digit Boy joins the Incredible Digit Girl at their elementary school. He'll be starting Kindergarten and is so excited. Since I will now have roughly seven hours a day to myself a few times a week, I'm really hoping to spend the first few weeks getting organized......fingers crossed ;-)!

And with that extra time keep on the road to posting more regularly.


(a visual momento of my road trip with my mom and aunts this spring)

Knitting for Men, Pt. 2

Well, I finished the hat for my sweet husband and......he's even worn it! It wound up being just a simple 4x2 ribbed hat and I decreased in pattern so that the ribbed sections continued on all the way to the top. I used Berroco Pure Merino in Black (of course!) and I am very happy with how it came out. I love using this yarn for just about anything anyway.

Now it's on to a pair of fingerless mittens for my dear Mom who is a greeter at Wal-Mart and gets so cold every time the door opens and closes. I've chosen the Whither Mitts and will do a matching neckwarmer in the same pattern to keep her even warmer.


I'm using Lana Gatto VIP Sport which is a blend of 80% superfine merino and 20% cashmere. Yep, Mom is totally worth it!

I'm up making a few desserts for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. We've been invited to the home of some very dear friends who always include us in this holiday feast and all of us here are looking forward to the gathering. Hope you all enjoy this day of thanks wherever you are!

Knitting for Men

So recently, I decide that I would like to make my husband a hat. I figured it was about time that the man who so willingly supports my knitting hobby (addiction) is rewarded with a hand knit item. I purchase a skein of yarn in a nice wine heather shade and ask him if he'd like a hat in this yarn. It matches his winter coat pretty well so I think, hey, I'm golden. He says....."how about black". Ok, another reason to buy yarn. I can do that. So then I start working on finding a pattern.

I ask "Would you like a cabled hat?"

"Huh?", he says.

"You know, a hat with cables", I respond.

His answer, "Are those the twist-y things? I'm not so big on those."

Ok, so at this point I think to myself that I have a fair amount of knitting skill, I work in a yarn shop and I sometimes help other people figure out a problem when they hit a snag in their knitting. I had envisioned making my husband a really intricate cabled hat. I had self-centered daydreams of co-workers and friends asking him "Where did you get that great hat?". So now, I have come back to reality and accepted the fact that I will be knitting a stockinette hat....... in black.

But, hey, there's still a skein of soft wool in a lovely wine heather color just waiting to be turned into fabulous Celtic knots.....with braids......and ropes..........where are my needles?

No More.........

......training wheels on her bike. The Incredible Digit Girl decided that she had just about enough of leaning to one side and wanted to try riding without the extra "help". She took to two-wheeling just fine and we can hardly keep her off her bike.

First and Five

As in First Grade......

......and Five Years Old!

I'm blaming Facebook.........

.....for the utter dearth of entries here from the Digit household. Yes, it's true. I most certainly drank the Facebook kool-aid and have been posting regularly in the land of near instant gratification. All kidding aside, I am seriously overdue for even just a few words here.

The summer has been treating us well and the kids have definitely been having a great time. I have been pretty busy, too. I've worked several knitting/fiber related shows including, Sock Summit, the most recent (and largest). I'm probably the only person who has waited this long to post their pics/write about attending. As always, I worked for the fabulous Morgaine at Carolina Homespun and helped out at Stitchjones for the wonderful Sharon. I didn't take many pictures but Morgaine is below in the long gold-toned coat and her lovely wife Lann is at the checkout/register. They are such awesome people.

Next is another angle of the very large Carolina Homespun booth. The yarn on the closest corner is Curious Creek fibers. Christine of Curious Creek does a great job of dyeing and has some of my favorite shades in tone-on-tone colorways.
I was also luck enough to meet and work with the lovely Jen of Spirit Trails Fibers. She is just a sweetheart and dyes fiber and yarn in the most amazing colors. Honestly, her product just glows.
Next is the wonderful Sharon (center) of Stitchjones along with two of our knitting group buds - Angela and the elusive Kerin, who we don't see as often as we would all like.
I then stopped by the Abstract Fiber booth to say hello to Susan. I had knit a sock sample in one of Cindy's newest patterns, Come Sail Away, using Susan's sock yarn in the merino/tencel blend so I wanted to come take a look.

I also volunteered at the Sock Museum at Sock Summit which I enjoyed. I liked the historical items the most. The picture below is of two pairs of Civil War style socks - North and South right next to each other. Chris Lanning the person who put the whole museum together explained that the soldiers didn't have uniforms in the way we would think of them today. They had certain guidelines for color and garment style that they had to follow and provide what they could.

I didn't buy much as I was working a lot at the show but the skein below just about jumped off it's display and came home with me. It's from Royal Hare yarns and the colors just make me happy every time I look at then.

And I couldn't pass up the Elemental Affects Shetland yarn dyed by Judith MacKenzie McCuin. It's going to be perfect for a pair of multi-color mittens.

Oregon Flock & Fiber is coming up near the end of September. I attended my first last year and loved it. Can't wait to go this year. I'll have a few items for sale. More on that later.

The biggest change in my schedule has been my new part-time job at All About Yarn - a great yarn shop in Tigard, Oregon. The owner and my co-workers are a great group of people and I'm really enjoying my time at the shop. I'm there on Tuesdays and Fridays so if you're in the area and in need of some yarn (who isn't?!) stop by and say hello.