Portland

Here I am with my two sisters, Alicia and Anita. They cooked up a weekend trip to Portland, Oregon and I was so happy to join them there. I drove down (the snowstorm that was predicted did not show up, thank goodness) and we stayed together at a hotel in the Nob Hill neighborhood. We had the best time! We just walked around, went shopping and ate in a few cool restaurants. We didn't get to half of the places we had talked about seeing so I guess that means we will have to plan another trip soon. 

Portland always seems like such a vibrant city to me. There are lots of people out and about on the streets and sidewalks, with a friendly bustle in the air. Businesses are mixed in with some of the residential areas so it has a real walkable quality to it. I think I could spend a few weeks there easily if there was a decent place to stay.  

Friendship Socks

I might be getting tired of knitting socks. This is my 21st pair since February and my sock drawer is full and I have too much yarn and I'm just not feeling it right now. 

However, this is how it goes. I got this yarn in the mail and, though I liked it, I wasn't over the moon or anything. Luanne was here and we had planned her visit so we could open this sock club package together and the pattern we both liked best was called Friendship. Cookie had some sentiment in mind when she commissioned the dyeing of the yarn - silver and gold blended together to represent the old Girl Scout song - "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold." Sorry for the ear worm.

Cookie put some thought into the stitch design as well. I'll quote her. 

"The Friendship socks feature intricate intertwining cables in diverging and converging paths. These symbolize friendship to me -- whatever paths you may take, you’ll still be together."

 

So, these socks that I don't need because I have too many pair, made with yarn that I didn't need because I had too much already, became a new favorite pair because of friendship. Friends and family, after all, are pretty much the only important things. Socks are not at all important, but these turned into kind of an art piece and they fit well and are a good neutral color.