Memory book for my Mom

Last summer about this time Amy and I went to see my Mom and Richard in Northern Calif. for a week. While we were there my Mom gave me some lovely photos of her family. I decided since then I wanted to make my Mom a fabric memory book with some of these old photos.

The 1st photo is of my Grandma and she is holding me. I find this a special photo because she rarely smiled in any of the photos that have been taken of her. The 2nd photo is of her Mother who was my Great Grandma, I never met her but it is really nice to have such a lovely photo of her.

Spring break, the week away!

Here is a few photos from our spring break!

Amy and I at Illaya's in Sequim
Dave and Amy practicing at Crescent beach
Dave at La Push



We took the week off and spent the week up in the Port Angeles area. For the beginning of the week we had our daughter Amy with us. We spent each day at Crescent beach. Dave had just bought a new sit on top surf kayak. Amy and Dave went out her in his sea kayak with him in the surf kayak. She got around the island and splash with lots of laughing as she went over too far and fell out. So it took a few minutes but she got back in. Then they went over by the rocks he went into the surf to see how his kayak was on the waves. Then they came back in to the shore so he could help her practice different ways to get back in the boat.

Monday, Amy and I went to Sequim to see my friend Illaya. We spent some time visiting at her home and then she took us to lunch. We had a great time with Illaya but it ended too soon.



On the next day we were all out in the water with Dave getting Amy in the white water boat and the surf kayak. I was out there playing in the sea kayak. Tiny waves are fun to practice bracing on.

We took Amy back on Tuesday as she had other things she wanted to do on her break. We then went camping for 3 days at Salt Creek.

On Wednesday we went out to La Push! The waves there were great and Dave got to surf his new kayak there to see how it worked in bigger waves. He had a great time out there while I read or slept on the beach....ahhhh how nice it is to relax on the beach!!!

Thursday we spent hiking around on the beach and the trails at Salt Creek. Its a really nice camp ground even with the teenagers who were camping next to us LOL

Friday its back in town again for the Port Angeles kayak symposium! We helped out again in the morning. Then we spent time talking to Sarah and Gerry at the Washington water trails tent. We later in the day had the wild harvest class with Jennifer Hahn and Mac Smith. This was a great learning experience on how to harvest sea weeds and small shell fish.

Saturday I had the wild cookery class with Jennifer and Mac this was so much fun watching them cook up stuff from the harvesting we did the night before! Dave had some classes in the afternoon and our friend Bob came out so we were hanging out with him till the slide show that Jennifer had that night about her solo paddle through the inside passage! It was a wonderful slide show and she is a gifted story teller that I bought the book just so I could read it for myself.

Sunday we both had volunteer duty and on the water classes which we both enjoyed. We had a great week and I can't wait to do it again.

Pretty knitting needles

I finally got around to making up the needles for knitting
multidirectional scarf.

I had borrowed the book, Modular knits by Iris Schreier from my local library. In the book it says to take dpn's and add something at the top to keep the stitches from falling off the needle's. So I found some polymer clay bead's that I got in a swap, then I glued them on.

I think they look pretty nice if I do say so myself.

Circle of friends

Circle of friend's








I finished my project for this month for the Bead Art Exploration. It is a bracelet that I have called "Circle of friends". The beads in it remind me of a song that my daughter's camp fire group use to sing at the end of the meeting.
If I remember it correctly it goes something like this.

Make new friends but keep the old one is silver and the other is gold.

That's about all I can remember but I was thinking about the lesson for this month and this song came to mind.

So once I finished this bracelet that I was just making for myself it all came together for me in my mind. It is made with magnet beads that I had bought at Ellen's lbs while I was there with her a couple week ends ago and turquoise cathedral beads. I have some friends who have very magnetic personalities and some that real gems in my life and they are my "circle of friends."

Edited to add:
The magnetic beads are suppose to help with arthritis pain which I have problems with my right wrist so that is where it is going to be worn.

Have a happy week, Helaine

Learning to spindle

I now have a spindle but I did not know how to use it. This lead me to looking for ways to learn how to use it before I get my shetland wool back.
So I joined the "Spindler's" yahoogroup, on there I met Heidi from The Artful Ewe. She told me of the local spinning guilds and the fact that she will have people over on Wednesday to try out spinning wheels at her place. There was going to be someone there who could help me learn how to use my spindle!!!
This was pretty cool as there was wool, books, wheels, looms and spindles everywhere I turned. I got to watch people on spinning wheels and see some different wheels in action. I got the help I needed plus some yummy wool to turn into yarn and a spindle to try out at home. So much fun and so little time to do it in.

Unusual pin from Ellen

On the Bead Art Exploration for January, we had to do an unusual project. It had to be made with something unusal. So Ellen made hers with lichen and beads. Here is the one she made for me at the retreat this last week end. She is so sweet to suprise me like that. I was sitting next to her the whole time she was making it LOL Then she gives it to me!

Woman's PJ retreat week end with Ellen

This is what I made this last week end while I was at the woman's pj retreat week end with my friend Ellen. This year was a bit different as there was a huge storm heading our way early Saturday. We woke up to no power with huge winds that had gusts up to 60 mph. From where we were sitting in the craft area we could see huge waves and the trees were swirling around.
We worked on our projects and mine was a felted cap by the time I got done with it. I had started it at home by wet felting around a tennis ball. Once I had finished tossing it around in the dryer I cut it in half to get the ball out. I used seeds from a necklace I have had for a very long time and an assortment of beads. On the top is a felted ball that I beaded before I had attached it to the cap. On another note there has been mention that it would look cool as a "boobie cup" instead of a cap for a doll. Hehehee

close encounters

I finished my alien cloth that I am making for my daughter Dawn's birthday next month. I had fun making this as it is the 1st time I have knitted something that had a design in it. I have to make a 2nd one. I was thinking it would be cool to make it into a table runner or something like that. After I finish the 2nd alien cloth I am going to try the dragonfly cloth pattern in some really nice cotton yarn I got at Sweet Stitch www.sweetstitch.com in Bremerton.

Sunday at the pool

This Sunday, Dave and I met up with the South Sound Area Kayakers at the Shelton, Wa pool. We all spent 2 hours practicing rolls, wet exits and to re enter our boats. I wish I had pictures of this but I was busy trying to learn how to get back into my kayak by myself as well as getting on the back of the boat to enter it that way too. I am proud to say that I managed to do these things so now I feel a bit better that I might be able to do this on my own if I went out paddling with others when Dave was not with us to help me in my boat.
Afterwards we went out to eat with a few of them and we had a great time just sharing paddling stories.
While we were driving there I did see a couple yarn shops I would like to check out when I go back to that area again.

My 1st ramble

Welcome to my blog

I hope to share my thoughts and some of my creative work.
I just started knitting this fall. I love working with fiber and fabric. It has actually taken over for now my bead work. The scarf is the 1st project I have finished as well as a fisherman's scarf I made for my step dad but I did not have time to take a picture of it because I needed to send it to them for Christmas 5 days later .


Then after that I finished a crochet bracelet that ended up going to my daughter Julie. I finished this for the bead art expoloration project for the month of December. Actually I finished it at the beginning of January.

This last week end I went to Port Angeles to meet my hubby and some friends of ours to go paddling. I stopped 1st to meet my friend Illaya at the Mingled yarn in Sequim. This is a lovely yarn shop next door to a country store and garden shop right off the hwy. We spent at least 1 hour drooling over the yarn . Illaya bought some lovely fiber to keep her busy for a while. I bought some 2nd time cotton yarn that is really beautiful in maroon with some dark purple running thru it. I also bought some brittany needles. I spent the time I was not in my kayak that week end knitting up a wash cloth. I plan on buying more of this yarn as I really liked working with it. I think there is enough to make another wash cloth too.