whackadoodle coconut

my average monkey making time has been perfected to about 3 days a piece.  this is taking my time and steadily working.  it takes a week if you get right down to it, since I need a bit of time between monkeys to rest my hands from the furious knitting.  it also helps to reduce monkey fatigue. here are three of the four needed to finish the set.  I will have some leftover yarn and I'm thinking about making some other animals to use it all up, but I'm not really sure what to make yet.  I'll have to look in the book and see what else strikes my fancy.  there's always buns to make!

this last week Ari and I took the early morning and shot some great landscapes in Arroyo Grande.  several of our favorites are follows -

yesterday was a long awaited play date with my friend who is the photographer/artist.  I haven't actually ever been to the dunes to take photos, but the entire experience was really good.  let me clarify, as I reread this - I've been to dunes a million times, just not to photograph them.  this is the real time that I've been that didn't involve work, kids, teaching, etc. challenging as it was the photos turned out really good!  we had a ton of catch up to talk about and the photos in the end were the cherry on top. I did 28 photos, many repeats, I had tried to get just the right photo.  it was especially difficult because the sun was high, the sand was soft and a bit breezy and I'm still learning.  I guess that I should mention as well, that I didn't edit any of these photos so that's another improvement.  getting it right the first time. So here we go, take a look -

so, I've agreed to make a set of monkey's for a friend and I've started them last week. my reward is to ply that lovely merino and silk I spun.  okay back to monkey's.  I've finished one already and started number 2 yesterday evening.  I keep passing the one in my basket and it's creepy.  kind of like the faceless manikins from doctor who's first episode with the ninth doctor. ugh so creepy.  too much working up and expectations for this one (sorry about that). he seems to say hello, but he doesn't have a mouth.  I'm not going to put a face on him/her yet, since I want the monkeys to match somewhat and have a set of "siblings".  so we can see what they will look like.

this past weekend my hubby and I used a gift that we were given to stay in Solvang and a couple tickets for the Theaterfest and had a wonderful getaway that I can't even explain its luxuriousness. the Petersen Inn was old world styling and the décor matched and exceeded my expectation.  we had reservations at 5:30 at their café and I couldn't have had a better meal. for a complete rating check out my  cookinator blog. everything was amazing!  I love lamb and knew I would order it when I got there. it was THE BEST.  overwhelmingly the best lamb I have ever eaten on the planet.  J ordered the filet and I tried it and it was also so good!  flavorful for a filet and of course it was so tender you could probably have eaten it with a spoon. the show was so funny!  we saw Spamalot and it was also exceptional.  everything we've seen in solvang has always been great, but this really outdid the previous.  we both really like monty python, so...

I don't really have anything to tell you about today.  a little bummed that it has been slow lately.  there have been a few adventures, but I'm really not at liberty to say.  there are fun outings planned for, but when I get there I'll tell you about it. what I do know is, I have a serious case of ocd just shy of a real problem. do you see it there?  yes by some kind of crazy that only I exhibit, my first nail polish purchased in over a decade, it is identical to the color of my phone.  what the hell?  really? what's funnier to me at least, as I was looking for just the right color, not comparing or anything, I saw several colors, too purple, too bright, too sparkly.  this one was just right...and sure enough it's the same color as my phone. I normally don't take photos of feet, except when they are in socks I knit, so it's not like I "like" feet, but this was uncanny.

yesterday I visited the quilting group in Orcutt at the Old Town Quilt shop.  the group meets once a month and they work with scraps.  it was a nice midday "retreat" with a ton of information.  they started with a brief overview of using scraps and then there was some show and tell.  I didn't know I was supposed to bring some, so I just enjoyed others.  and they finished with a short discussion of paper piecing and using your scraps. there was so much information I was furiously taking notes to get it all.  I did learn two new patterns, one is the paper piecing and the other is a larger 9 patch square that you cut into four pieces and then rearrange. very cool. I didn't take any photos, but if your interested you can contact them here . next, today is the second to the last class for my quilted duvet cover so I am excited to get it put together and ready to use. lastly, I've decided to join the tour de fleece a couple weeks ago and I've done a terri...