K-brow: green fire and a new little toy

I know it's Project Spectrum's Fire focus, but I'm drawn these days to the green fire of these spectacular farmers market stirfry leaves; chard, kale, beet greens, spinach, mizuna and friends. Call it spring tonic, but call me in time for dinner.

Here's another bit of green, though a cooler view, through the gates of a local temple, shot on my dog walk with Ella last week. We have so many temples and shrines in our area; this one is adjacent to Nuuanu Valley Park. I love its gates and the floaty paper flags they fly.



After a few days of mourning the irrevocable death of my hand-me-down 1999 Sony Vaio laptop, which had always been a good little trooper, surviving 2 major resurrections and hard use from P and myself for 9 fun-filled years, I cowgirled myself up and rode on over to the Apple website and picked out my new laptop. Years of pumping artificial life into the likes of the Vaio and the old Blueberry iBook have allowed me to justify the purchase of a new computer, one which will be here in just a few days...

No pix, suffice to say it's a mid-range macbook with bit more memory added. Yay. yay. yay.

pulling my weight

DisKnit is right...I neeed to post. I haven't shown my face around here since Portland, which was 2 + weeks ago, and lovely to boot. I saw snow. I got cold. I bought yarn. I drank beer. I stayed up and out til the wee hours. I knit a hat. Since the return, spring has come to Hawaii, with warmer weather, a cessation of the hideous, mud-bearing rains, and better moods all around.

No pix of the new yarny stuff; I confess, it's Malabrigo; something I've never knit with before, but I was enchanted with its softness and extraordinary colors.

To amuse myself, and to continue the endless photographing and documenting of my stash for Ravelry, I've been playing with the swift and ballwinder, and making yarncakes out on the deck. I share examples of stashdigging and yarncaking below:
Here is some delightfully Project Spectrum-inspired Woolarina Boucle, that I am wondering about. It's about 750 yards of more or less worsted weight, in a color that's absolutely enchanting:


And this is the spoils from the Virginia Fall Fiber Festival, some merino laceweight that will see my needles very soon, probably as Icarus, in a beautiful silvery green color known as lichen. Alas, it was not dyed with lichen...


Here's the view I have from the deck. Never mind the intrusive tiki torch, we in Hawaii must have our tiki torches. And our mosquito coils and citronella candles, but that's another story.


And the fruits of my "labor" are sweet:



Alas, now I have a drawer full of yarncakes and have to knit something, as Forest Canopy is finished (but not photographed) and the Austermann Sock #1 is galloping down the homestretch. I'm going to have to pick up the front of Must Have again... I've been wearing Forest Canopy as a wrinkly crinkly neck scarf, which is pleasing to me. I am a little worried about blocking it, but that's coming up, and hopefully will be documented.

DisKnit: C is for Catching Up and California

I'm home on a beautiful day that is so full of spring that it is somewhat of a regret but I'm leaving on Thursday for vacationing in California. So today is for catching up. Taxes, bank balances, laundry, phone calls, dishes (sigh). I'm definitely looking forward to my trip to California. My first visit to the central valley was at exactly this time, and it is a fabulus time to vist. Before the heat makes things difficult, but when the green is on the hills. I have a picture somewhere that captures it, but for now, you'll have to imagine it.


The trip is all about visiitng friends, and spending some days knitting with "Vermicious" of Ravelry on Point Reyes. So looking ahead is about manicures, movies, a concert at the Palms by Chris Webster.

But in the meantime, back into the land of turbotax. KBrow is going to have to emerge from her post-vacation daze and do some blogging now.

DisKnit: Backwards towards Aran Success

I'll begin with this lovely picture to let you know I succumb to the lure of buying wool today on a beautiful spring-like day in Washington:


then, I'll go back to last night when the newly formed Dupont Circle SnB group convened in Capitol Heights, Maryland for more intense revels than our restaurant's meetups allow. For example there was this:

There was no picture alas of the lovely guacomole that I made, or the cupcakes, or the tequila and punch. But they are happy memories. And I got to meet this little creature: a glider:


And best of all, I finished the Aran during the party, as documented by a picture taken by Laura. I wonder if I should make the sleeves longer . . . perhaps I'll wear it a whole day first. The advantage of having taken so long to finish it that I am okay with continuing to adjust it.


Meanwhile Curtis continues to like to pull out all his toys:

Notice the iguana, the whale, and the octopus. He's quite eclectic in his taste.

May those of you who care about the rite of the Superbowl find satisfaction.