No, it is not me!  Miriam Tegels, who holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for the World’s Fastest Knitter (that is for 118 stitches in one minute) was sponsored by KnitPicks at the North Portland Library tonight.

I decided to be brave (I’ve never really been to NoPo, outside of Lloyd and Convetion Center areas) and took the bus from work up to the library. That took over an hour! I arrived about 5:45 and she was almost done talking. The room was packed and it was hard to hear. KnitPicks was taking lots of video so hopefully something will make it on their site. There was also someone going around videoing people’s hand’s knitting (maybe my hands will be famous some day!)

Sadly, I had messed up the settings on my camera and everything came out grainy. I fixed them up a bit in Photoshop.  I loved this building.  A lady I followed in said it was a Carnegie library.  I’d love to come in and do a photoshoot there.  The downstairs was packed with books and people and computers.

After the talk, she sat down and knitted and people could gather around and watch and talk with her. A pleasant evening, that ended with a raffle! I didn’t win (I was one number off) but Kaaren won a Renaissance Sampler!  (Kaaren and Dallas below)

More knitters:

And some grainy, sorta blurry videos.  Must remember to check camera settings next time!

Miriam Tegels Demonstartes Knit Stitch from akimbo on Vimeo.

Miriam Tegels Demonstrates Purling from akimbo on Vimeo.

Celiac blood test results are… Inconclusive!  Next stop…. Gastroenterologist! That’s assuming I can get an appointment…

I leave you with this cute slide scan from what I can only guess from the date on the slide is Easter 1980.  I’m on the left, my sister, S on the right.  Her blog is 6skinnyfeet.

Did mom actually put lipstick on us for this or is that colored chapstick/lipgloss, or is it just a trick of the image? Curious.

Things I learned from eliminating all dairy so far:

• Eliminating anything dairy related is really really hard.  Butter, cream, milk are only the beginning.  There’s stuff like whey and casein in lots of stuff.
• I don’t think I’m lactose intolerant. My symptoms have not gone away, but I’ll stick it out the two weeks.  Supposedly lactose intolerance symptoms can last 2 hours to 2 days.  Looking forward to a big glass of milk and some PIZZA.
• Soy yogurt is more like low sugar pudding.  And expensive! And not low cal! 160 calories in 6oz!  At least it was edible
• Most margarines have milk derivatives (whey) in them.  Nucoa margarine does not!
• Trader Darwin’s (Joe’s) Vanilla Soy protein powder is icky and chalky.  I just don’t think I like soy protein powders period.
• MRM Egg White Protein powder is fine, but it would be awesome without so much stevia in it. Let me add my own sweetener!
• Blue Diamond Vanilla Almond Breeze (milk) is YUM.  Makes great smoothies.  I can even drink it straight, which can’t be said for soy milk.
• Trader Joe’s Soy Mozzarella cheese is good melted on pasta.  I didn’t care for it cold from the package though.
• Asian food is a safe bet to usually be lactose-free. Asians have a way higher percentage of the population that are lactose intolerant.
• Good dark chocolate has NO DAIRY!

One more week to go.  No results back from the Celiac test yet.

Carry on!  Mooooooooo!

image courtesy of http://www.freefoto.com/

I’m now on plurk.com as akimbo.  Plurk is sort of a micro-blogging/life-streaming site.  Its vaguely like twitter with conversations.  I’ve put a widget on this site in the upper right (random thoughts) that has my plurks.

If you’d like to sign up, use this link invitation and I’ll get “credit”

In other, more annoying news, Thursday I had blood taken to test for Celiac.  I’m also going completly dairy free for two weeks to see if I’m lactose intolerant.  Without going into detail, hopefully one of those will explain my recent intestinal issues of unknown origin.  Going completely dairy free is sooooo annoying.  Lots of label reading.  At least I’ve found Vanilla Almond Breeze. YUM.

I haven’t felt like sewing in a while.  Or I’ve felt like it and stared at my sewing area and sighed.  A nightmare!

PR (patternreview.com) is having a contest in July for one item sewn with knits.  I figured I’d try and see if would get me moving.  I ordered Jalie 2796 and I plan on making the skort with the short underneath .  I also have a matching top design floating around in my head.  Something sleeveless for summer!  I love Jalies, they acutally go up to my size!

I’ve obtained some light grey and light blue DriFit wicking lycra from Mill End Store (which I’m pretty sure they got from Rose City Textiles as the vendor code started with RCT )  I have made workout capris from the same stuff in black that I had left over from when I worked at Nike.  Great fabric, not flimsy, and I wear them all the time!  I may have some scraps of other colors in my stash for accents.  I also picked up some reflective piping for accents if needed.

This should be a great project to finish on my new coverstitch machine too.  Poor baby only has had one thing sewn on it! (and I still haven’t got a picture of it).   So lots to do in July!  I’m still waiting on the skort pattern to show up in the mail, so last weekend I got a bit of cleaning done in my sewing room (also my bedroom).  The room is 12×16 so there’s pleny of space.  I really need to get it all de-cluttered this summer so I take a trip to Ikea and get the components to make my dream cutting/storage table.

Some day I’ll make it to Rose City Textiles (RCT) to get more workout fabric.  I have tried two Saturdays and they haven’t been open.  The first time I didn’t know they were only open the first Saturday of the month, the second time was last weekend, and the sign said they’d be open the second Saturday becuase the first Saturday was a holiday weekend.  Blah!  I then ended up going to Fabric Depot, the big Mill End Store and Pendleton Woolen Mill outlet.  I found a few yards of decent wicking fabric at Mill End so I should have a few more months before I try RCT again (and I’ll call first and make sure they’re open!)

I don’t often have humans willing to have their pictures taken.  These are my nieces from my trip to Texas last week.  Ages 5 and 8.

The boyfriend and I had a brainstorm this morning that resulted in my first CafePress shop. Vote for John McClane in 2008! America’s favorite hero!  Get your gear here!

Memorial Day Weekend + Sunriver rental house + thunder + lightening – knitting (sprained finger) +

(hail)
+

(more hail that won’t melt)

= lots of

These are my remaining Raven colorways was from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Yum. I have four skeins of Woobu, the rest I only have one.

1. Woobu in Thraven, 2. Luscious Single Silk – Thraven, 3. Socks that Rock mediumweight – Corbie, 4. Silkie Socks that Rock – Tlingit, 5. Socks that Rock heavyweight – Rook-y, 6. Socks That Rock Mediumweight Thraven

Started Monday night. They’re currently about 2 inches longer than this picture. The Spiraling Master Coriolis socks from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One. Yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight Raven Clan color Haida. Yummy dark black and blue color, but stains my fingers. Washes off easily at least. Must remember to wash socks before wearing! I also joined the new Knit-Purl Sock Club. (Thank you economic stimulus check!)

Maybe this should be a photo blog, I never seem to have much to say!

I love me some magic loop.