Peak Cherry Blossom Day!

Some of my family members were going to be in D.C. this past Tuesday for the peak of the cherry blossoms. When I heard that I thought, well Portland has cherry blossoms, I should go out Tuesday and see if that's the peak. I didn't manage to get out there Tuesday, but via timberpress on twitter I saw today was close to the peak for the blossoms on the river. Yay! I've been excited about those trees blooming since I saw they lined the river on our apartment hunting trip. Anyway, I had to get over there for pictures today & will probably go back over the weekend. It even ended up being a perfectly clear, warm & sunny afternoon. I've typed enough. This post really needs to be about the pictures of the gorgeous cherry blossoms!

  
  

And then some, and we might, possibly, go back over there over the weekend if it's sunny again. Many Portlanders were out taking pictures, also saw a picnicking family, and a bride & groom having their photos done. Spring is here!

Book: The Portland Stairs Book

I really only meant to pick up a few knitting magazines today, but I picked up The Portland Stairs Book while I was in checkout. I couldn't bring myself to put it down. I was in love with it from the title alone. Then I saw the photos of stairs all over the city, so many I still need to explore. Also convincing: two pictures of cats and a chart with the location and exact number of steps to climb. This is perfect for me. Now I can see if my counts are correct!

I can definitely see this as a useful tool in planning our weekly walks. No more aimless wandering (well, we weren't completely aimless) we can now reference this book and pick the oldest/tallest/most refined/steepest. Stairs are also grouped nicely into different types: stairs with a story, stairs for sitting, etc.  I especially like the stairs in public spaces section which features grand staircases in theater and government buildings. The author has put a lot of thought into all the different ways in which the stairs of Portland can be used.

There's a section on stair vocabulary, nice for those unfamiliar. For me, this was pretty completely covered in my architectural education so I like that that's towards the back and only a few pages in length. (For more extensive information on the subject, spend time with books by Frank Ching.) The book also features 5 treks with maps. I have a couple of books with this kind of map, and I always wonder if I'll ever actually do one of the routes per the book. Even if I piece it together over time, there is still a lot of handy information in there. You can't ever go wrong with maps.

In case you can't tell I'm pretty excited about finding this book! Even more so since she mentioned the view of the March & October skies as part of the payoff for getting to the tops of the stairs. We've definitely experienced some of that, but I'm hoping it holds up into April so I can see a little bit more of it. Maybe next time from the tallest set of stairs in town?

One Evening Knit: Cable Braided Necklace

 

I enjoyed the Celtic knot necklace I made on St. Patrick's Day so much it got me thinking about other quick, one evening knitting projects that might be lurking in my ravelry queue. This one is a free pattern: the Cable Braided Necklace by Olga Buraya-Kefelian from her blog Olgajazzy. (I also got distracted while looking at the instructions by a link to a video for her infinite loop pattern, pretty neat idea!) It's made using two strips which each have many little holes for weaving them together. I really like the all white she used in her version, but I had some scrap sock yarn around. I thought I'd see what two different colors would look like for my first version of this pattern. Yep, I really like this pattern so I'm thinking it's pretty likely I'll make this again. Weaving the pieces together is the best part! While I was making it I couldn't help but wonder if it would work as a scarf with larger, bulky yarn.

The Yarn is Cascade Fixation, in Blueberry and Fern. I used the very last of the scraps, making me very scrap happy this evening!

Oh yeah! My Aunt sent me this ceramic button sometime last year.  I really liked it when I received it, but I have been trying to figure out what to do with it for a while now. I thought it was a really good fit for the texture of this yarn and the colors. I also noticed that the original version used a ceramic button by Jenny Potter, whose stitch markers are lovely.

Etsy Treasuries: For Rain Lovers and Chefs

I woke up one morning this weekend and found items from my shop featured in several treasuries!



Let it rain by ModMomME (in the widget above) features a pair of great raindrop earrings, and a vintage vinyl umbrella. I'm not surprised that umbrella has already sold; I guess I'm not the only one who has been on the look out for one.

For even more great rain picks, go over to Etsy to check out Blame it on the Rain by VenBead. Both treasuries feature my raincloud notepad, but the take on the color scheme is different in each!



Another theme that's gotten a double treatment lately is cooking! Secrets of a Restaurant Chef by JSTravelPics is above, I love the artichoke print. While the latter features the greens, Le Grande Chef by PeshtemalShop is more black metals and wood. Both feature my recipe cards.

Thanks to all the Etsy lovers who feature my items. I haven't made many treasuries recently, I'm waiting for inspiration to strike. When it does I hope my treasuries look as good as these do!

Also, only a few more days for the 10% discount in my shop for March. See this post for more details!