Gung Hai Fat Choi!

It's not really a resolution but I decided this year I was going to try very hard to finish one project at a time and not start anything new until whatever I'm working on is finished.

I started the Kim Hargreave cardigan over the Christmas/New Year break. It was going well. The sweater was supposed to be done in seed stitch but after doing half the back, I didn't like the look. Ripped it back & did only 16 rows of seed stitch for the border. It was much better. The rest of the back took 2 days to finish. I knitted both fronts together. Forgot to mirror the shaping and ripped back. Got to the shoulder shaping and decided the measurements from the pattern would give me a small armhole. I like my sweaters roomy. Ripped back & added a few centimetres to the armhole. Ripped back the back to match the addition to the armhole. Started both sleeves and that went well. Got to the top shaping for the sleeve cap & realized I didn't add any extra length to compensate for the larger armhole. Ripped back & re-knitted the cap. Just about to cast off both sleeves when I re-read the pattern. I'm 20 stitches short at cast on so the sleeves are very narrow. Ripped back to seed stitch band to add stitches as side increases. That's where I'm at now.

So when my son said he wouldn't mind a nice warm scarf to wear, I jumped at the chance to do something else. As much as I love this sweater, I need a break from it. It also meant a trip to Black Sheep Yarns today. Guess what he picked? The same yarn in the same colour as my doomed sweater! I managed to convinced him to go with a different colour finally. The scarf pattern is the Henry scarf on Knitty. I didn't realized (because I didn't read the pattern) that it's knitted lengthwise. That means 452 stithces!

Row 1 is basically knit 1, yarn over all the way across and row 2 is slip 1, knit 1. For some reason, I slipped 1 knitwise instead of purl. I knew it would sit backwards on my needle but thought it would be a good idea. So the next row, I had to turn every second stitch around so it was facing the right way. That's a lot of stithces to turn around. My brain is still on holidays.

It's Chinese New Year here and this weekend was full of family get-togethers with lots of eating rich food. That's my only excuse.

Good fortune to everyone!

Thankful for:
1. Flannel sheets - really love crawling into bed with warm fuzzy sheets.
2. A mom that cooks like nothing you've ever seen!
3. A family that loves anything seafood. Every family gathering is a feast of seafood of some discription.
4. No snow this weekend - the forecast was for "flurries" but it was sunny all weekend.

A White Christmas and then some

I think this year, the weather has been trying very hard to make up for all those green Christmases! I can't remember seeing this much snow in one year before. Love snow but glad I had the past couple of weeks off (and next week as well).

Despite the pain-in-the-butt factor of icy roads and having to shovel the snow, I love it! It appeals to the kid in me. We stayed at home more than we would otherwise. It was really nice to spend quiet evenings cozy at home. Definitely a plus!

This year has gone by so fast! It has been a good and bad year for me. When I look back, most of the "bad" was from work. That's something that I'm thankful for...strange as it sounds.

Son graduated from high school with honours and a couple of scholarships. The Asian part in me played that down but I'm a really proud mom! :D He started university and seems to be doing well. He's healthy and happy...a bit messy but that's a teenager.

Hubby slipped in the snow a few weeks ago & ended up with back problems. He's going to the physio right now. Considering how hard he fell, I'm glad it wasn't worse. Another reason for a quiet Christmas this year. He's not moving around very fast.

Work had been very stressful this past year. I won't go into it again. The new year is not looking any better. For the past couple of months, I've been seriously rethinking my options but have decided to tough it out here. Olympics are coming and the opportunity to be part of it is too much to give up now. I made a decision to stay at least until the end of the Olympics...after that, we'll see. It's easy to look back when you're in a quiet time and think maybe it wasn't so bad. I'm sure reality will slap me in the face when I get back to work. When I get stressed at work, I buy yarn. I predict a lot of yarn buying this year.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Taking an extra week of holidays and actually finding myself relaxed and happy.
2. No one I knew got into any car accidents because of the snow.
3. My family.

And things that makes me happy:
1. Found a box of Halloween chocolate I forgot about.
2. Snow - it has been a beautiful White Christmas.
3. Ten balls of Rowan Felted Tweed to make into a nice soft sweater.

oh Pooh!

It's December 5th already!! I hate it when December sneaks up on me and I'm not ready yet. No homemade fruit cake this year. Just did not have the time. I really should be putting stuff like that on my calendar..."Make Fruitcake - August 20, 2009" "Start advent calendar - Oct 15, 2009"

I don't think I'm alone in my obsession of Advent calendars. I absolutely love them! Especially hand made ones. There's a group on Flickr that shows so many super cool ways you can do an advent calendar.

Things that makes me happy:
1. December
2. Bright shiny Christmas lights
3. Christmas music

WotLK in 2 more sleeps!

Wrath of the Lich King will be out in 2 more days...technically 1 more day as it's past midnight here. It should be interesting with all the problems Blizzard has been having with their updates & patches. They've been running special events to promote the release. Today, the regular maintenance encountered a huge glitch and all the servers were down until late this evening. WoW players from all over were experiencing withdrawl symptoms.

Interesting note to add that, out of 8 people on Ravelry who plays on Moonrunner, 5 has now joined Dropped Bears. Knitters are taking over.


Ah! Some people are just poor party guests!

Things that makes me happy:
1. The ball of KSH slowly turning into a lighter-than-air scarf.
2. Tomorrow is Wednesday...much better than if it was Monday.
3. Leftover Halloween chocolates.

It's Monday!

This past year has been very busy and very very rough for me, work-wise. I can't see things changing until well into 2010 or later. It may never get better. Overall, I do enjoy what I do. I can deal with stress but not to the point where I'm working 6 days a week or more on a regular basis. I never manage to take enough time off to compensate...there's always something else looming up around the corner. Everyone at work are in the same situation. Last week, people were walking around looking white with stress.

I took three weeks off in the summer. During my time off, I was called regularly 2-3 times a day or more. Honestly, I didn't mind because I was so damm grateful just to have three weeks off in a row. That is really sad. I've been seriously thinking about my options.

Anyhow, on to cheerier things. I have today off, it's not raining (in fact, the sun just came out), and no one else is home. Just me, the dog, and a whole lot of fibre stuff to do. When faced with all the possibilities of how to fill my day today, I'm overwhelmed. I'm going to go finish my coffee and take the dog out for a stroll and see what I feel like at that point.

I noticed I've stopped doing a Thankful for list. I don't know why...it just happened. I think with everything at work, it has been affecting me in my Real Life more than I thought. I've been grumpy for way too long and it's wrong.

So, to revive and revise a good thing, I'm going to make it my Things that makes me happy list...

Things that makes me happy:
1. Sunshine peeking out from rain clouds.
2. A ball of pale, pale lavender Kidsilk Haze sitting on my desk.
3. A dog waiting by the door because I said the W-A-L-K word.

Optim Merino Handspun - Hyacinth

Date started: can't remember ~ 4 weeks ago
Finished Date: Oct 5/08
Fibre: Optim Merion - 100% wool - dyed by Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
4 oz - 270m

I love working with the Optim Merino. The fibre spun up very nice and smooth. I did noticed as I was spinning that there was still a faint smell of vinegar on the fibre. There were also bits of second cuts in the roving but they were easy enough to pick out. The yarn is very soft to the touch. There should be enough yardage for a scarf or a pair of mittens. I love the sheen on the yarn.



Hmmm...I'm beginning to notice that I have a lot of yarn in the purple tones.

Clapotis Revisited

Start date: Sept 1/08
Finished date: Sept 15/08
Yarn: 3 x Silk Garden Sock Yarn #S252 Lot A (Blue/Green/Yellow)
Pattern: Clapotis

As much as I love Noro, I absolutely hate all the knots in their yarn. I have yet to use 1 one of Noro without knots. Every single one of these balls had at least 1 knot. One ball had 5 knots!!!

Other than the knots, I love the Silk Garden sock yarn. I would NOT recommend it for socks, though. Even with the high nylon content (25%) I would really be doubtful of using this yarn for socks. Some bits were really thick and some thin bits were really thin. It would make a very uneven sock and would not wear well. I love the way the colours flow from one to the next and the thick/thin-ness of the yarn for the shawl. For the Clapotis, it was perfect! I would consider using this yarn for a light sweater.

I wanted this to be more of a shawl than a scarf so I added extra repeats. I didn't bother counting the repeats. Knit until it looked wide enough, knit the body until it was long enough, and start the decreases to finish.

It was such a nice warm day today that I thought I would leave it outside to dry as it's blocking. A quick wash on gentle cycle in the washing machine after work today and masses of pins and the job is done. I was a bit apprehensive about the washing machine part but it turned out well. As long as the dog doesn't try sleeping on top of it, it should be dried in a couple of hours.

No such thing as too many bags!

Last February I went on a hunt for the Nameste Laguna bag. I wanted the lime green one. Lime green to match my lime green shoes. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it was on back order. The colour was so poplular the bags would sell out immediately. The store I was going to order it from had no idea when they would get more. They would add me to the waiting list and let me know when it's my turn.

Months went by and I forgot all about the bag...until I walked into Black Sheep Yarns, a new LYS that just opened a few weeks ago. They sell Nameste bags and I promptly ordered one...in Olive Green. After looking at them again, I think the olive would be a better choice if I'm dragging this thing on trains & busses. The bag came today and I love it!



It's not Lime green but it matches my shoes better! The bag really does have room for EVERYTHING!

Husband: How many bags do you need?
My answer: One more than I already have.

My Summer Vacation (so far)

I think it's time for an update...what have I been doing?

1. Dyeing. Lots of it. Mostly silk fibres that I have kicking around for eons. The weather has been nice the first week I had time so it seemed like a good idea. I look at it as stocking up for winter spinning.

2. My BFL came in the mail. I knew it would show up the day after the Twisted met up. Yup, it did. I got my weeks mixed up & thought we weren't meeting up last Wednesday but it was this Wednesday that everyone is away. Sorry ladies, you'll have to wait to get your fibre.
It's so tempting to throw all this into a dyepot and go wild. BTW, it's not all mine. The big bag is mine...5 lbs.

3. Knitting Olympics. Well, this year's Knitting Olympic was less than stellar for me. It was a rough start with me getting my dates mixed up. The yarn was spun up and ready to go when I discovered I misplaced the magazine with the pattern. I ended up winging it which wasn't difficult. The Ribwarmer vest is pretty basic. The problem was that I didn't start knitting until Monday. The Monday in the SECOND week of the games. Oooo! I was cocky! Should be no problem. Then I got distracted by sushi and lunches and fun outings and dye project and other stuff. It's almost done but close enough doesn't win medals. It's going to be hit & miss if I have enough yarn to finish the vest.

4. Played WoW...a lot. My druid is a smidgeon away from level 70. I never thought I would ever get this far when I started playing. It's been fun. You get to level up crafting professions like cooking, fishing, first aid, etc. It's quite an amazing game. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at 70 though. At 70, a whole new game world opens up. I can start playing the high level instances that the BIG BOYS play. You start playing with people who takes the game much more seriously than I do. Ack!

I've been thinking that I might hold off hitting 70 for a little while longer. You get bumped up to the next level of battlegrounds and it's going to be harder going up against other level 70 with their purple epic gear. At 69, I'm at the top of the heap right now. This way, I can get a bit more honour points before hitting 70.

I've also been busy leveling up alts. One of my favourite is the little Gnome Rogue. She's going to be my battleground pro. :D She is such a cutie pie!

Franzenstein, if you're reading this, those are your legs sticking out in the snow.


And it doesn't help that Ravelry has a WoW guild too. Of course I had to start a toon (or two) to play with the Ravelry knitters.

So that pretty much sums up my first two weeks of vacation. Much better than camping in someone's field.

Summer stuff

Other than winning a zillion $$ lottery, having three weeks off in the summer and a new LYS opening soon (if not today) is right up there under PERFECTION!

I finished spinning the yarn for my Ribwarmer for the Knitting Olympics. Whee! I'm hoping that I will have enough yarn for it. *cross fingers & toes*



It was a last minute decision as to what "event" I was going to do. My first thought was the shawl but realistically, I knew it was not going to be likely. I completely lost track of my days & thought the Olympics started 2 Fridays ago & thought I missed it. It turned out that it was only last Friday. With the yarn finally spun, I can cast on today. A few days after the Opening but better late than never, right? Despite the rough start, I think I might have a chance in finishing.

No plans for my vacation except to knit, spin, weave, & play WoW. I'm a little glad we don't have any set plans. Originally, we thought about going back east to the land of giant mosquitoes. Attending a school reunion with a bunch of people I've never met or will ever see again. And the worse part of it is CAMPING. That's the reunion. Honestly, I am just not the camping type. Been once (and I was told it wasn't real camping) and I almost had to kill people.

World of Warcrack

Somehow, I managed to get a co-worker hooked on WoW. Heh! Honestly, it really didn't take any convincing at all. I just mentioned that I play and she said oh? next thing you know, she's on a trial account & signed up a week later.

:D

The next step will be to get her knitting.

BBWWAAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!

DPNS

Did I mentioned that I started a little Rogue on WoW? A little tiny Gnome Rogue named DPNS. My son nicely informed me that it's supposed to be DPS (Damage Per Second) but I said no, it's a knitting thing...Double Pointed NeedleS. Appropraite in so many ways as the Rogue will be dual welding and specializing in swords and daggers.

Figures in Silk

Last week, I picked up Figures in Silk and read it through in one sitting. I wasn't expecting to like the book. Historical fiction is usually not my first choice for a book but it did say SILK WEAVING on the cover. I was expecting it to be badly written, along the lines of Maggie Sefton's books. There were a few weak spots but overall, really enjoyed the book and will defintely read it again.

Over the weekend, I finished plying the first skein of the BFL from Yummy Yarns and started spinning the second skein. It was nice spinning in the morning because it was still cool enough that the fibres didn't stick to my sweaty fingers. As far as weekend goes, it was perfect. The mornings were nice and cool so I got a fair bit of fibre stuff done. The afternoons & evenings were spent with family & friends, bbq'ing & relaxing.

How I spent my Friday night...

I'm at work...I'm actually hiding in my office. We have an event happening and I'm waiting for my family who are here to watch the event. I'm going to get some food, put on some music, and finish my sock. I will have 3 hours of uninterupted knitting time.

I was just thinking it's too bad I can't load up WoW on my work computer.

Silk

Hand-dyed silk tussah ~ 100 gms (give or take with all the fluff sticking on clothes) and no idea on the yardage. I lost count somewhere past 100 wraps on the the niddy noddy. Again, Navajo plyed. I love Navajo plying. I love the results.

It's hot today...~ 29 deg here. Not complaining but it would have been perfect if the change was a bit more gradual. Nothing like going from heavy winter clothes to summer tank tops in 3 days or less. Tried to do a bit more spinning but the silk kept sticking to my fingers.

Sunshine!

Ok, sunshine can hide a multiple of faults. The skein doesn't look too bad...at least I can tuck the faults inside. It's Navajo plyed to keep the colour blocks a bit more together. There were a bit of barber poling but not too bad. It still needs to be set and whacked.

Didn't get around to do any dyeing today. It was too nice to work that hard on a day off. I did finish spinning the silk I've been working on FOREVER and even started plying it. A little silk really does go a long way. It's going to take a while to ply all this.

Pst! Angela, can't remember the name. Do you know where T&T is in Chinatown? The restraunt is in the Tinseltown mall, upstairs near the food court. They have a dinner buffet too (haven't tried it but heard it's good too) with lots more selection and lots more seafood.

All you can eat Sushi

...is a bad idea for lunch. It's scary how much one can really eat at an "all you can eat" place. Good sushi, good selection, good service...all for $9.99. That's a lot of sushi.

I feel like crawling under my desk for a nap now.

Woohoo!! Long weekend!

Technically, next Tuesday is the Stat Holiday. July 1st is Canada Day. As much as I wish I was taking Monday off to make it a super long weekend, I'm ok with just taking Friday off and making it a normal long weekend. Monday will be fairly quiet and hopefully the rest of the week will be uneventful. <--wishful thinking on my part with the upcoming game happening on July 4th.

As usual, no big plans for the weekend. I was thinking of dyeing some fibre on Friday. Sunday morning is the Fibre Party at the Farmer's market. I needed to pick up fresh veggies anyway...and hubby is going kayaking so I don't have to worry about him.

BTW, just finished plying the Yummy Yarn fibre last night. I won't bother with pictures. It does reinforce my thought that I need more practice spinning wool again. I've been spinning so much everything else that I can' remember when I spun any wool last. BFL is REALLY easy to spin and there will be fibre for sale there on Sunday. (I know...I know...it's not like I don't have any wool...it's just that I don't have any handdyed BFL fibre.)

I've been trying to figure out if I have enough heddles on my loom to weave the huck lace project. Counting up how many heddles I'll need on each shaft, I'm short. I've ordered extra heddles but wondered if it would be a good idea to dress the loom and add the extra heddles when they arrive? Ok, after reading this over, even I can see it's not a good idea. I'll have to be patient and wait.

WoW content...
It's the Fire Festival on WoW right now. That has been a lot of fun, running around putting out fires...you get really good xp for just doing that. Hit 60 and got my super fast mount! Man! It really is fast! It's a bit nerve-wreaking to think that I'm getting up there...almost high enough to play with the big kids soon. I do need to do more battlegrounds for practice and honor points but I just can't bring myself to do that yet. Thanks to Drop Bears and my son, my druid is ready gear-wise but I'm not sure I have enough experience yet. I keep telling myself a few more Outland quests and I'll do battlegrounds.

International Knit In Public Day

...was a big success. Knitters all over the world got together & knit in public. Locally, we had groups meeting up on the Skytrain, beaches, & community centres to knit. A lot of the information got out word-of-mouth through Ravelry, an online knitting forum.

*photo courtesy of Inara

Yup, knitters come in all sizes and colour and there are girls on the internet.

Highlight of the event was me winning the draw from Yummy Yarns.

It's being spun up right now.

Thankful for:
1. A few hours of sunshine today.
2. Roses are blooming.
3. It's summer!

A Very Full Weekend

It was our 21st wedding anniversary, Internation Knit In Public day, Father's Day, and my son's high school graduation. Luckily, the weather was nice.

I wish I could say I was organized enough to bring my camera to the Knit In Public but I didn't. Forgot I had my cell phone camera with me. It was so much fun! Lots of local knitters came by. Some of us brought our spinning wheels and we have a new wheel convert now.

(Sorry Maryhanna...it was just a matter of time, you know. Did I mention that the Little Gem is a great accessory for your new Suzie?)

For a knitting function, I got very little knitting done. Lots of talking and socializing happened. And Yummy Yarns did a prize draw at the end and I got new fibre for my stash. :)

The commencement ceremony went well. The kids all had a great time and it was a little sad to see them all so grown-up looking.

Thankful for:
1. My son for turning out so well despite having a crazy woman as his mother.
2. My understanding hubby who puts up with my obbessions.
3. Everyone at the Knit In for all the fun.

Oh Dear!

Last night, after playing many hours of WoW, I stayed up later than usual knitting...just so I wouldn't dream of killing giant spiders all night long. Top that off with a very full lunch and your eye lids will droop in the middle of the day. I have two very long and boring meetings this afternoon and I'm not sure I'll survive.

Help!

Better go get another coffee...

The new shafts are here! Picked them up Saturday. It was a busy day but I had to insist that we make a stop at Rusty's place to pick up the stuff. It was hard waiting until I had time to put it all together though. Finally, on Monday it was done!

It was pretty straightforward. One thing I didn't think of was to order extra heddles so I don't have to move them around. I'm lazy that way. :)

Everything works and everything looks great. The only problem I ran into was removing the old rod from the treadles. It has a locking washer on both ends which the instructions say to pound one end of the rod with an hammer. Not a good idea as it mashed the end so the treadles can't slide out. I ended up using pliers to pull off the washer on the other end and everything slid out.

No warp on the loom yet.

Sometimes my husband surprises me. I was looking at the apron on the table loom, wondering if I should move it the floor loom. He looked at it and said that it's just a piece of cloth so can't you just make one?

Light bulb moment. I have canvas...lots of it.

The rest of the day was spent quietly spinning & knitting, with few rounds of WoW in between.

Leveling up on World of Warcraft is going slower now. I've been playing "tourist" and exploring a bit more. For me, the game is not all about getting to level 70 as fast as you can. It's a fun game with so much going on that you want to take the time to play and poke into corners and buildings to see what's there.

Thankful for:
1. Rain - I love how lush everything is.
2. A week off - no explanation needed.
3. New toys. :D

Two more LONG days!!

I am really looking forward to having next week off!! No set plans yet as to what we're going to do. So far, we've changed our minds 4 times. I would be perfectly happy staying home vegging in the backyard and knitting or spinning.

The silk I'm currently spinning is going fast. I'm using one of the lace bobbins with the very narrow core and it's still filling up fast. I've almost filled one bobbin. No idea what this will be yet. This will probably end up in a basket with all the other single skeins of silk & whatnots.

Thankful for:
1. Vancouver is a great city to live.
2. Feeling very blessed.
3. All the things that goes well but you don't want to say out loud because you're superstitious and don't want to jinx things.

What did you do this weekend?

Me and a friend thought we would just hang out at the bottom of the Sunken Temple.

Silk: The Spice of Life

Dyed silk always looks like something the cat threw up. Silk is absolute magic! You take your silk and "pop" it and it turns into a shiny cloud of softness. I can't remember when I dyed this but it was done with the starter Procion H from Maiwa.



It's not like I don't have other spinning projects on the go or I'm out of things to do...I decided to start spinning this silk today. Just because it's Saturday and it's sunny, I guess. Reasons enough to do whatever you feel like.

Silk is my favourite fibre to spin...not that I would give up all my other fibres but silk is the best. :D

Thankful for:
1. Cool breeze coming in the house.
2. Laundry is done and folded.
3. Going out for dinner so no cooking.

It's not raining!

I just didn't think of it but this long weekend would have been perfect for blocking my grey cardie. Someday, it will be done.



Finished the Monkey Socks and the heels match! The temp yesterday was 24 degC. Today is looking a bit cooler but still not sock weather. But I'm ready.

Next OTN will be another pair of Elfine Socks. Not only is it a great pattern but I love the book reference.

The Spirogyra are well on the way. The right hand is done except for the thumbs and I'm up ~1/3 on the left hand. I spend too much time on WoW.

It's going to be a strange day today. My son's grad is this evening so from 4pm onwards, I'll be a basket case. As hard as it is, you gotta let go sometime.

Thankful for:
1. Beautiful weather and shady backyards.
2. A fantastic kid for a son.
3. Fibre distractions.

Priorities...

This morning, at work, we are getting ready for a MAJOR PRESS CONFERENCE. It's a big deal. Those of you who knows me IRL and have read the daily newspaper probably know what I'm talking about.

Exciting stuff but I'm more excited that I just put in my order for another 4 shaft for my Minerva loom. I am SO excited I can hardly type!!! I've been planning my next project & now wondering if I should wait. No, I think I would like to get something on my loom. It looks lonely when it's empty.

I'm also excited because it's Friday before a long weekend and it's sunny. And I'm also excited because I found a nice guild of players on WoW. I had been thinking of transferring my toon over to Draenor so I could play with the other Ravelry people when I met up with Drop Bears but I rather stay here. They're a fun group with a good semi-serious/casual attitude. It's amazing how serious some people take this game.

Thankful for:
1. Friday before a long weekend
2. Knitters and fibre freinds online and IRL
3. Magnolia tree is blooming

Testing, testing

Not the best picture in the world but I wanted to try uploading pictures from my cell phone camera. At only 2 megapix, it's not terrible. The blurriness could be contributed by me having too many cups of coffee tonight.

At the very last minute today, I asked if I can have Friday off. Usually, the Boss is not big on last minute requests but he was in a good mood. I have the day off tomorrow. It's supposed to be nice so the plan will be to sit outside & spin. If it's not nice, sit inside & spin.

Bah! Monkey!

As much as I was hoping that WoW and knitting would somehow mesh together, it's probably not a good thing. Monkey socks are done but the second heel is shorter than the first. It bothered me so it will be frogged. Bah! That's what happens when you knit heels while playing on the computer.

I started the Spirogyra with one of the Trekking yarn but decided it would be better as socks. I'm using the yarn we (Twisted by Choice) used as mop-up yarn when we did the sock yarn dyeing. I've done three repeats of the pattern and but haven't decided if I'm going to keep going for the long version. I like to think that I'm a pretty fast knitter but it's kinda scary how much knitting I got done this weekend while playing WoW. It's those long flights.

One of those days...

Today's kind of day is my favourite kind of day. A quiet boring day at work. A short staff meeting. I got cake & chocolate (Denman Island chocolate). Came home and no one felt like cooking so it was dinner out. I got yarn in the mail. Any day that you get yarn in the mail, chocolate, AND cake is a good day.



Thankful for:
1. A boss who thinks meetings should start with pastries from Thomas Haas.
2. Good coffee done in a french press to go with said pastries.
3. Yarn in the mail.

DING! 40!

A momentous occassion! Thymeformom, the Nelf Druid, hit 40! I got my mount! I think I'll call her Spot, the spotted Frost Sabretooth.

Westcoast Colours

There's something so appealing about fibre and sunshine. I love the colours! This is the Superwash Merino/Tencel I got from Fibre Fest. I felt like spinning on Saturday and it was too nice a day to spin grey (Ping - yes, that's still a WIP).



Thankful for:
1. The local Art Knapps.
2. Sunny Saturdays.
3. Lots of fibre fun to chose from.

Yay! It's Thursday!

It seems that I have been remiss in updating projects and stash enhancements on Ravelry as well. According to my Ravelry stash, I have 19 different yarns. heh! It just seems like a lot of work to put photos on Flickr. As well, unless you have a paid account with Flickr, you are limited in how many photos you can store.

The last Monkey sock is half done. Just one more repeat & on to the heels. I changed all the purls to knit to make it an easier take-along project. Did I mention it was the Trekking Pro Natura that I'm using? I love this stuff!

Can't wait until my yarn order arrives from Webs so I can start the Spirgyra. I ordered more Trekking. :) Some of the yarn is for the WoW Knitalong - a project to be knitted only when playing WoW. Another great thing about Ravelry...you can do a search on just about anything and you will find other knitters AND there will be a forum set up to discuss your obsessions. Athough, I'm not sure I want to measure how much time I've spent playing computer games by how much knitting I get done! lol!

Thankful for:
1. Tulips are up and looking very spring-like.
2. Twisted By Choice - I really missed you all the last month.
3. Boring days at work - once in a while, it's good to have a quiet boring day.

Shhh! Don't tell!

I haven't finished twisting the fringes and the thread ends are still hanging out and it hasn't been washed yet. I don't care. I wore my scarf anyway today. It was so cold this morning.

Snow? Really?

When I heard that we were expecting snow on the weekend, I was doubtful. It didn't snow on the weekend but it did on Friday. BIG FAT FLUFFY FLAKES OF SNOW! Luckily, it didn't stick. There was nothing on the ground on Saturday.

Jean's Finishing class on Saturday was everything I thought it should be and more! It was fun and tiring at the same time. My brain was so full! Good thing I brought a thermos of coffee with me. I even had enough to share. :)

Now I have no excuse not to seam up my grey cardigan. That's a project for next weekend.

The rest of the weekend was spent gardening in the sunny areas (coz the shady areas were so very cold!)...and playing WoW on the Ravelry guild while knitting my Monkey socks. I was hoping the Trekking I ordered would arrive last Friday so I could start on the Spirogyra gloves for the knitalong.

Warning! Lots of WHINING

/start of WHINE

What can I say? I haven't fallen off the face of the earth (although, falling through space would be relatively peaceful in comparison) it just has been very busy...and stressful lately. I had hoped things would settled down at work with this new position but new things kept popping up. That very reason was what kept me from taking this position years ago. It seemed like the right thing to do this time but I'm having doubts. When work interferres with RL, I'm not happy. Usually, it's busy in the Spring season and I'm hit & miss with fibre functions but this year has been the absolute worse.

/end of WHINE

On to fibre stuff...

I am so looking forward to Jean Wong's workshop tomorrow. All my swatches are finished, labeled and ready to go. There is very little that compares with a full day workshop with other crazy knitters who are equally obsessed with fibre as oneself.

The monkey sock is still plodding along. SOMEONE played with my row counter and I lost my place. It took 4 rows before I noticed and ripped out the offending rows. It looked messy and since I was still so close to the beginning, I ripped it back to the ribbing. I'm knitting these socks in the green Trekking I got from Fibre Fest. It's a wool/bamboo blend and it feels really nice. Knits up nicely too.

I ordered some more of the wool/bamboo Trekking in different colours. One of the colourway reminds me of Murloc scales so I'm going to use it for the WoW knitalong. :)

Finally finished the scarf on the loom. Reason #423 why you shouldn't warp with only silk boucle...it makes really ugly fringes. Now, I just have to weave in the 6 zillion ends and it's done.

Wow! Busy couple of weeks!

It's been crazy here. I thought it would be quiet with the kid off to Europe but it has been very busy. Two weeks goes by so fast. He'll be home tonight. I took the day off to meet him at the airport.

We've been spending most of our free time (time other than working or sleeping) helping my MIL pack & ready to move. Thankfully, my brother-in-law will be in town to help with the actual move tomorrow. Good thing because I wasn't able to get both days off. Given the choice of taking the day off to pick up my son or go help my MIL move, I'll be selfish.

Friday is his 18th birthday. Poor kid might still be too tired to celebrate. Saturday will be Easter dinner at my mom's place. Sunday and Monday will be do nothing days. Really looking forward to those days!

There is very little going on fibre-wise. I started the monkey socks with the Trekking I bought at Fibrefest but have not gotten far with them yet. I have about an inch done on one sock...which is just the ribbing. That's it. Too lazy to wind the yarn into two balls to knit both together.

I think I will make Sunday an all day fibre day.

Thankful for:

1. Mini daffodils in my garden.
2. My sweet violets made it back again this year.
3. Son will be home soon so the dog will stop moping around.

Fibrefest 2008

I laid out all my Fibrefest goodies & realized I don't have a camera. The old one has no juice because the battery pack went to Europe as the back-up battery.

Oh well.

It was a fun day as usual. Lots of gabbing with old friends and made new ones. It's always fun to run into people I haven't seen since last Fibrefest. It was at a new place this year and it was a bit of an adventure finding it. Other than that, it was still fun.

Since there will be no pictures, I'll just list out the stuff:

From Princess Farms:
2 - 100 gms skeins of 60/4 cotton & silk
2 - 100 gms bags of Cria baby alpaca roving in grey (so soft!)
2 - 50 gms handdyed stretched merino roving (you have to see this stuff!)

Misc Venders:
Handdyed superwash merino & tencel roving
220 Cascade wool (for my swatches)
Trekking sock yarn
Dark brown alpaca roving from Sterling Farms
M&K Eco Cotton
Four Harness Huck booklet by Evelyn Neher
1 Schacht slim boat shuttle

The only thing I had on my shopping list this year was to pick up some yarn to do the swatches for the Jean Wong workshop. The rest was just to go & see what was tempting...and there was a lot to be tempted with.

When I got home, dinner was already made.

Then I spent some time on WoW. Usually, I muck around with one of my son's lower level characters but I decided it was time I had my own. I'm Thymeformom on Moonrunner. :D

Time flies

Been busy with family stuff, knitting, and other fibre stuff. I should have taken some pictures first but the camera is being charged up, ready for my son to take to Europe. It's been a whirlwind of activities here trying to decide what he should take and what he would really need. Two weeks and a zillion different stops. That's the kind of trip one takes when one is young and has a lot of energy. Tomorrow, we pack the last minute stuff and he's all set. All the kids are so excited! They've been working hard towards this trip for over a year now. The teachers are great...this is their 6th trip. Over half the kids going are kids he's grown up with. It's so strange to see them as young adults. I still see them as little wee guys running around our backyard.

What am I going to do for the two weeks he's gone?

I think I'm going to play WoW until my eyeballs fall out! :D

Thankful for:
1. My son.
2. His group of good friends.
3. Wonderful teachers at his school who organized this trip.

I love this fleece!

This was all the grunge that was picked from the fleece, pre-washing. No second cuts and VM to speak of. A good fleece.

The fleece was carefully divided up and bagged in mesh lingerie bags. These are great! They're a dollar at the dollar store and are perfect for dyeing and fleece washing. The bags won't last forever but the price is right.

Sunday was a good day for fleece washing - it was warm and sunny. I usually do the first two washing outside because I'm paranoid of the grease clogging up my washing machine. After the initial washes, the rinse/soaks are done in the washing machine with no agitation.

Wet fleece drying on a rack...to accentuate any home decor. I'm just itching to start spinning this.

Thankful for:
1. Fibrefest is two weeks away.
2. I got the Friday off to go to Fibrefest with my friends. Yay!
3. Daffodils and tulips are coming out of the ground.

Perendale/Romey fleece

Canada Post is great! Why? Because they bring me all the neat stuff I ordered. Yesterday, 2.5 kg of smelly Perendale/Romney fleece (plus an assortment of silk fibre as well) arrived for me at work in a little itty bitty box. Good thing the people at Treenway pack well. I can just imagine people coming in my office, wondering about the odor. I love the smell of raw fleece. The best part is opening up the package and have all that fleecey goodness explode out of the box. I did that yesterday but didn't have a chance to look through the fleece until tonight. It was a Guild meeting tonight and if it wasn't for the fact that we had a special speaker, I might have decided to stay home to play.


Not sure if I can fit this all back in the box.

The washed sample came out really nice and fluffy. No plans for the fleece yet except wash it this weekend.

I love the colour but that's going to be a lot of grey wool. I might dye some of it. That's what I love about raw fleece...unlimited potential. You can change something at any stage of preparation and that will change your final product.

Thankful for:
1. Kindness of strangers - a very nice bunch of people let me in the line up ahead of them at Costco. The amazing thing was that it was three different groups of shoppers...each with a very full buggy.
2. The person who left a box of Ferrero Roche on my desk. :) Chocolate is always appreciated.
3. Snowdrops in the front garden have started to open.

I'm so ready for Spring!

It's snowing again. It's not supposed to happen here. I can't believe I was actually wishing for rain. Enough already!

These past three weeks have been just a blur to me. Life at work is always insane at this time of the year. Made worse by the fact that now it's my department and I feel, well, a bit more responsible for things. I have to remember to take deep breaths and fondle more fibrey stuff.

The poor old grey cardigan is still languishing in the knitting bag. I looked at the cabled shoulders yesterday and just couldn't find the energy to work on it. But I did find the energy to start a new sweater...Bianca's Jacket from Interweave Knits - Fall 2006. This is a pattern that's tailored-made for knitting in one piece.

On the loom, I have some silk boucle as the warp. In hindsight, I probably should have used the boucle as an interest yarn - as Rusty suggested, rather than for the whole warp. (Next time, I'll email you first.) It did seemed like a good idea at the time. Another reason not to do things when you're tired.

No luck in finding my missing charts for the shawl. I have the swatch sample so I guess I can rechart the pattern from that. Not looking forward to this at all.

Warping Board

We made a warping board last weekend. Ok...hubby cut, drilled, and hammered while I did the measurements and supervised. :D

I got the free plan & instructions from allfiberarts.com. We had to make a few modifications because we couldn't find the right size oak boards. The plans and instructions were easy to follow even for us un-handy types. The board works well. It still could use another light sanding and one more coat of finishing though.

Now I can wind longer warps for yarn painting too! :)

I still haven't found my charts yet. Unfortunately, they were my own. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I left them at work.

July 14/13 - Edited to add: the measurements between the pegs on the long side is 10" from centre to centre of the pegs. The measurements between the pegs on the shorter side is 4" from centre to centre.  It looks like All Fibre has updated their plans to show the measurements better. After all these years, I still use my warping board. Not just for weaving but handy for winding out long lengths of anything.

Drat! Drat! Drat again!

I can't find my charts for my shawl. This is serious because it was my one and only copy. I did this up on the computer before things went haywire and we lost everything last year. It was backed up on the external but that went weird too and lost everything there.

I've looked everywhere in the house. I think it might have fallen out of my bag on the train. Crap! It took me so long to work out that design.

It's a snow day here!

After two attempts to get in to work, I did the smart thing and phoned in to say I'm not going in today. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at things) I can do some of the work from home and there's nothing urgent that can't wait until tomorrow.

Finished & washed!!!

Finished measurements are 19"x96". Originally, I was thinking of making this into cushion covers but it's a nice snuggly wrap. It's long enough to wrap around me a few times. Perfect for a day like today.

Thankful for:
1. Being able to stay home today.
2. Family was able to stay home today.
3. Computer & internet so I can do stuff at home without getting behind.

Snow Queen

This is my last Ice Queen and I'm keeping this one. This is #5. It seemed appropriate to photograph her in the snow. Not sure what's up with the weather but I think we had more snow days this season so far than any I remembered.

Apparently, the gifted Ice Queens were well recieved. I'm glad. I think the last minute decisions to switch from socks/mittens was a good one. I might make one more Ice Queen as one of the mitten recipients has been eyeing my Ice Queen.

Psst! Angela, stop by & say hi!

Thankful for:
1. My dutch oven.
2. Hot chocolate with a spicy kick.
3. Warm fuzzy slippers.

What to do?

What to knit when you have stuff to knit but nothing you want to knit? And all you want to do is start another knitting project when you have stuff you should knit?

Doing all those Ice Queens have put me in a lace knitting mood. I've started my new shawl in Harmony but it's too finicky to be a mindless knitting project.



Boy! Lace in progress is really ugly stuff!

Warning: Bright Colours!

Really didn't do much, kniting-wise. I just made another ear for the Sock Monkey and sewed that on. Now all I have to do is knit another ear & he's done. Not sure why I keep procrastinating on this. Poor monkey.

I've been working on the weaving off & on today.

I really like the gradual colour changes of the Kauni wool. You can see the little mistake when someone was talking to me as I was weaving. I'm not at that point where I can talk and weave at the same time. I thought about un-weaving to fix that but the thought of picking out all that was just too daunting. I had to un-weave 3 rows and that almost killed me. I was thinking of repeating that "mistake" and call it a design feature. :D



I have the yarn wounded on the bobbins in the order it came off the ball. This way, I can try & keep the colour sequence and have the colours gradually fade from one to the next. The bag was the inspiration for the pattern. I couldn't figure out how to to do the the horizontal stripes between the diamonds so I kept it simple.



Thankful for:
1. I'm thankful my family is whole and intact.
2. Wool comforters.
3. My sister.

Too lazy for pictures

My other balls of Jojoland Harmony arrived in the mail yesterday. The little express envelope was so packed, it was like a tube. When I opened it up, 4 balls of Harmony exploded out of the bag. Call me weird but that was so cool!

What have I been up to?

I'm redoing the warp on my loom. After doing a few inches, I decided that the Kauni would be much nicer in a rosepath weave. So I cut off the sample bit and redoing everything. I can't wait to see how the colour changes will work out on this pattern.

On the wheel is Ping in progress still. It seems like I'm spinning and spinning and there's no end in sight. The bag of fibre doesn't seem to be getting smaller. Once in a while, I switch bobbins and spin some silk that I dyed last summer.

I still have to put my grey cable cardie together but first, I want to reknit the shoulders. I didn't like the shaping. That was part of the things I wanted to do over the Christmas holidays. I think the best thing to do is to set aside a weekend and get it done.

There's talk on Ravelry that we might be able to catalogue our fibre and other non-knitting work soon. I've been looking at my stash and wondering how much of it I should divulge on Ravelry. I'm slightly embarrassed by the sheer quantity of yarn and fibre I have. Not to mention, there's only so much space in a free Flickr account. And the work it takes to photograph EVERYTHING.

Thankful for:
1. Seat belts.
2. Things are going well at work (touch wood).
3. Just a feeling that I'm truly blessed (touch wood again).

Placemats are finished...

...sort of...

I've finished weaving them and have taken them off the loom. I still haven't decided if they will be used as placemats or made into a bag. I'm leaning towards a bag. The placemats are really kind of ugly. The edges are uneven and there are missed threads on the back that I didn't noticed until I passed the point of no return. With knitting, if you made a mistake, you can rip back or drop stitches and reknit to fix things. Can you do that with weaving?

Still, it was fun and I did learn a lot.

I went to Place des Arts to wind another warp but didn't bring enough yarn. I have to go back on Saturday & finish. Don't ask what I'm making next because I'm not sure myself. I just wanted to weave something the whole width of the loom just to see what it will look like. And I wanted to use the reed I cleaned up. The Kauni wool I'm using will be perfect for this. If I don't like it, I can felt it and make another bag.

WOW!!

I looked up Jojoland Harmony on Ravelry to find out more on this yarn since I've never used it before. There were some really beautiful shawls knitted with this yarn. The colours were soft and I love the way it gently fades from colour to colour. I was lamenting last night that I couldn't decide whether to use the Jojoland Harmony to weave something or knit a lacy something. Hubby's response was why don't I phone the store and ask them to put away a couple more balls and I can do both.

Done!

"I'm just going to look"

Famous last words.
My husband always reply with "sure you are.."



Don't they look like delicious woolly apples? 5 balls of Jojoland's Harmony - 800m @ 50g of beautiful laceweight. They should be shown off in a fruit basket, I think.

Thankful for:
1. A hubby who encourages me to buy yarn - a keeper.
2. A hubby who drives me to faraway yarn places.
3. A hubby who makes pit stops at unexpected yarn places.

The Best Present Ever!

I got the best present ever from my hubby. Before I show it to you, let me give you a bit of background history...

Last year, my hubby suggested we each make a present for us. If you know my hubby, you will be floored by this suggestion like I was. I was good with that idea.

This year, we (I) decided to continue this new tradition. He grumbled and groaned about how much work it was last year. My response was that's what makes the gift special...you're giving a bit of yourself in the gift. In the end it was decided that those who felt like it (me)will make stuff.

Christmas day rolls around and there's a long flat package under the tree for me.


...it's a shelf for my loom! And knowing how un-handy this man is, I appreciate this a whole lot more.

Thankful for:
1. Hubby' shelf.
2. A light dusting of snow on Christmas day.
3. Dog didn't throw up until after everyone left.

Good Year!

I wrote a great long post about my feelings and thoughts on this time of the year and what it means to me...blah, blah, blah. It was long and wordy and it really didn't say what I wanted to say.

In the end, all I wanted to say was that I wish you and your family the best for this upcoming New Year. I hope that, after tallying up the good and the bad, 2007 was a good year for everyone.

Thankful for:
1. A sound and solid house to live in.
2. Family and friends to eat, drink, and be merry with.
3. Good health.

I'm not ignoring you...

It's not that I'm trying to ignore anyone...it's just that I've run out of time.

I'm sure December is the shortest month in the entire year. And this is with us doing only the bare bones for the holidays.

Ack!!

We all scream for Ice Queen

Sometimes you just can't help yourself. I have no willpower.






Ice Queen at Knitty.

A simple feather and fan lace pattern with beads knitted in Kidsilk Haze. Knits up super quick.

Thankful for:
1. Good tires on the car.
2. One of the bestest week off work ever!
3. Christmas tree done.

Stalled Christmas Knitting

My MIL has larger hands than I do. That's a problem because, while I do know her hands are larger than mine, I don't know how much larger. So I guessed. And I think I guessed wrong. The index finger might be right but the rest of the others will be too small for her. Darn!

I have three options here...I could reknit them, I could turn them into mittens, or I could go and buy her something. I can't even keep these for myself as the index finger is too big for me.

This is what happens when you anger the Knitting Goddesses by boasting that you're on schedule with your Christmas knitting.

Thankful for:
1. Today's sunshine.
2. Dog didn't throw up.
3. Tree outside looks wonderful with the Christmas lights.

Dog, Fibre, and Chocolate

I asked my husband to remind me how much we love the dog. My one week off is slowly turning into a week of carpet cleaning, thanks to him...the dog, not the husband. On Monday, as I was cleaning one area, the dog was busy throwing up in another room. Today, same thing. It's really not his fault. He's old and he eats too fast. Add that with the household upheaval of moving furniture, etc, he throws up.

Yeah, sorry...dog barf is not good blog material.

On to fibre stuff...

Last night was the last class for weaving but I signed up for another session in January. I did learn a lot in this class. Considering that I knew nothing at the start, I think I've come a long way and still have much more to learn. Now, I know what is the difference between weft and warp.

The Christmas Knitting has been picked up again. I'm halfway through the fingers for the first glove. Fingers knit up fast but are tedious. You have to knit them one at a time. The cuffs for the second pair have been started.

I've added a new project to the list...a knitted teddy bear. I couldn't resist when I saw the Blue Sky Suri alpaca sitting in a basket at Three Bags Full last week. It just looked so bear-ish.

I think the carpet is dry enough to go move the furniture back now. This afternoon was going to be devoted to chocolate making but I'm out of chocolate. Not true...I'm out of the chocolate discs. I have a slab of Valrhona but don't feel like chipping it. It might be a quiet afternoon of knitting instead.

Placemat #1

WOO HOO!! Halfway through placemat #1! :D

I seem to be having a problem keeping the tension on the warp. It's either the brakes are slipping or I didn't do the warp properly.

Thankful for:
1. A week off.
2. Continuous Christmas music playing on satellite sations.
3. A warm and toasty fireplace.

PS...the previous post was deleted due to me not paying attention to what I was doing.

Pithy details of the loom

There really isn't anything more boring in this world than sitting through 8 hours of WCB regulations. That was my day today. I think my brain melted and leaked out of my ears around 2pm. How I made it to 4:30pm without falling asleep and, thereby, falling off my chair and embarassing myself, I don't know.

Anyway, here's a couple pictures of my Minerva. I removed the really bad tape marks off with something called GOOP OFF! It smelled really toxic but it was my last resort. I used oil and got a little bit off. Next came vinegar and that took off a bit more. Murphy's oil soap got the loom nice and clean but didn't do much for tape marks. I tried Citrisolv and that worked for most of it. The hardcore stuff like GOOP OFF! removed the final really dried crusted tape.



It's not an 8 harness but 4 harness. It has slots for another 4 and it looks like it should be easy to install should I go that route. I emailed Leclerc and they said I can still get harnesses for it. The total width is 25.5" and 39" tall. Fully opened, it sits 34" long. It's a nice little loom.



I think I will get a new reed for it. It's going to take me a while to clean the rust off the other ones. I want to start weaving NOW!

Thankful for:
1. Having so much to be thankful for that it's hard to pick 3 things.
2. No snow yet.
3. Random kindness of strangers - Dunn's Tailor seamstress.

Christmas countdown

1. 1 pair of red gloves.
2. 1 pair of grey gloves.
3. 1 pair of socks.
4. Weave 4 placemats (optional)

That's all I have left of my Christmas knitting. I have 30 days left. Piece of cake, right? If I don't finish the placemats in time, I'll just put everything away and pretend they don't exist.

Other things to do for fun (and me):
1. Block and sew grey cardigan.
2. Knit Misson Falls sweater.
3. Finish Kiri shawl.

Funny string pictures

This is where the cord is. It's nicely chained and out of the way. One diagram I came across had this attached to the friction brake wheel.

But there's another cord that's attached to the brake wheel on the botton. This is attached to the lever and it's working well.

The missing crank is for winding on the warp. I think I can find a socket that will do the job for now.

Thankful for:
1. Full moon - it's really beautiful out tonight.
2. Warm woolly mittens - it was really cold today!
3. Cheese nachos.

Minerva Loom!

The loom is in excellent shape. She bought it new years ago and other than dust, it's fine. Ok, there's tons of tape marks...she went wild binding everything up with masking tape. I'll have to find some kind of solvent that will take off 15 year old masking tape.

I think there's a crank missing that she can't find. There are two reeds but they're a bit rusty. Hubby thinks the rust can be cleaned off. It's missing the treadle hooks. I have thick wires that I can use.

It took me forever trying to figure out the brake thing. From what I can tell from the diagrams on the Leclerc website, I may have to take the whole thing off and start from scratch.

I got got a huge bag of bobbins and a bobbin winder but she couldn't find the boat shuttle. The warping board was in excellent condition but her husband had taken it apart and now it's missing a side. Not terribly useful, a three-sided warping board.

There are cords all over the place that I haven't worked out what they do. I think it's going to take me a while to figure everything out.

Pay It Forward

I found this on someone's blog and had to do a bit of blog chasing to find the tail end to join up. I like this idea...kinda like a good deed, craft-style.

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

Football can be fun

The Kiri shawl is coming along very slowly. I've been sidetracked by the Halloween socks. I picked up the yarn a few days before Halloween and was going to save it for next year. Hah!! I tell myself that I'm in between commuting sock projects, I might as well start this one. It will only be for commuting. I LOVE the speckles in the yarn and I can't put it down!

The plan was that I was going to knit while the BC Lions played yesterday. If you're not much of a football fan and you have absolutely no understanding of the game and you're stuck there until the end of the game, what else can you do? It was going to be 3 hours of Kiri knitting. Then I had the brilliant idea of going to Three Bags Full. They were only 5 mins away.



Two skeins of Koigu in varigated red and 12 skeins of Misson Falls wool in dark green and light green. I was thinking of doing the Rowan Neaty in this. Three Bags Full even offered to wind my Koigu into balls in case I wanted to start them. As it happened, I had 2mm needles in my bag - doesn't everyone carry 2mm needles with them?

I also picked up another copy of Interweave Knit Gift issue. The pages seems to be a poorer quality paper what was used in the regular magazine. The pages were really flimsy and tore easily. I left my first copy on the floor and my dog laid down on it and ripped some of the pages. That was my fault but even before that, I was finding the pages would tear on the edge as you turn them. I hope Interweave is not planning switching to this type of paper for all their magazines.

I got back with enough time to start the toes of my next pair of socks. Best football game ever!

Thankful for:
1. Having today off.
2. Rain.
3. Fireplace.

Iris Chang - The Rape of Nanking

We went to see Iris Chang - the Rape of Nanking movie tonight. When I first heard about this movie, I thought it was about her book (of the same title) but it was more on the personal journey of the author - Iris Chang. Her parents were there at the end of the movie for question and answer.

I've been sitting here sorting out my thoughts on this movie and the subject matter. It's hard as this really does hit very close to home. I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to think about.

Thankful for:
1. A job that I can whine and complain about but still it's a job that I have.
2. My family is safe and with me.
3. My biggest decision today was what to have for breakfast.

Decisions! Decisions!

When I started my weaving classes, I knew I wanted a loom. I thought I wanted a small loom, maybe a table loom. I found a small floor loom...a 22" Minerva. I haven't seen it yet but it sounds nice. Good price.

Now, I have choices. There's a nice 36" loom 4 harness that sounds really nice too. A bit bigger than what I originally thought of getting. And there's a 45" 4 harness that's even better. I've been told that big is good because it means more possibilities. And then there's a 45" 8 harness for a bit more money but still good especially if I want to weave complicated patterns in the future.

The problem is that I do so many different things. How much time will I have for weaving? The reason I thought of getting a small loom is that it would fit nicely in a corner of the family room. I can weave and still be with the family. The larger looms will have to go upstairs. It's lonely up there and other than using the room as storage (or when I'm doing something messy) I don't do much up there. For me to weave up there would mean that I have to set aside a block of time to just weave. I'm used to leaving my projects all over the house for when I have a few minutes to spare. The 36" might fit in the space in the family room but the 45" definitely wouldn't fit.

All this might be a moot point as no one has returned my calls yet. All the looms might already be sold and I have to wait all over again.

Thankful for:
1. Coffee.
2. Roof is not leaking.
3. Family who puts up with my fibre addictions.

It's the end of a long weekend.

1. Didn't block or sew up the cardigan.
2. Finished the weaving sample.
3. Finished the background for the cards.
4. Skeins are in centre pull balls.
5. I have a couple of ideas but not sure what to make yet.
6. Didn't knit until my brains leaked out but I did play Diablo until my eyes fell out.

Thankful for:
1. Family dinners with lots of leftovers to bring home
2. The people who kept this country safe for me and my family.
3. Iris Chang.

TGIF!

It's Friday before a long weekend and I'm leaving at 1:30. It's perfect because I can stop off at the Circle Craft Fair before heading home.

So, it's for sure now...I'm going to get a loom. I've been waffling back and forth - should I get one now or should I wait? There's no reason to wait since I know I want one.

On our round-robin samplers, I made a mistake threading the pattern and had to re-do it. It wasn't hard to fix but I felt bad because now everyone has to re-weave their samples. I re-did mine and brought the loom back last night. It didn't seem as hard the second time around. I think I might actually like this pattern from hell. I shouldn't say that out loud until Irene checks it to see if it's right first.

Things to do this weekend:

1. Block and sew up cardigan.
2. Do the next weaving sample.
3. Work on the FATCs some more.
4. Wind the hemp skeins into balls.
5. Think of something to make for the Guild's Green display.
6. Knit until my brains leak out of my ears.

Thankful for:
1. Long weekend - that's a given.
2. Christmas music on the internet.
3. Quiet day at the office today.

Feeling sorry for myself

It's 9:30pm and I'm at work. There is a football game on tonight and I have to be here. I really don't understand football. Normally, I can go when I finish everything I needed to do...which should have been hours ago. But I'm waiting for the family. They're here at the game. So I'm sitting in my office knitting.

I'm knitting Kiri again. I made a Kiri shawl last year and gave it away to a friend who ran off to get married in Germany. It was hard to part with but the look on her face was worth it.

It was a toss up between the Flower Basket and the Kiri. I still have 2 Flower basket shawl waiting to be blocked. Do you see a trend here? Not much gets past the blocking stage of finishing.

I think at some point, I must have planned on making a few more Kiri shawl. Apparently, all in the same colour...Dewberry...because I found another bag of Kidsilk Haze in Dewberry. Good thing I like that colour.

Thankful for:

1. game is almost over.
2. 3 hours of quiet knitting time with no one to bother me.
3. Sushi.

I'm stuck!

I'm at a loss. I don't feel like blocking the grey cardie tonight. I want to knit something. I have old UFOs but nothing I want to work on (most of these I don't remember what they were supposed to be). There are always socks on the needles but they don't count. I'm thinking of a shawl, perhaps another Kiri or the Flower Basket shawl. Or another sweater but I can't make up my mind.

All day at work I've been mentally going through my stash, trying to decide what to knit next. It has to be something on 4.5mm needles because I'm dying to do a project on my Darn Pretty Needles. :D

I think I'll go spin some more of Ping for now.

Thankful:

1. It's Friday.
2. Daylight savings - we get an extra hour this Sunday.
3. Pumpkin seeds.

Ping!

Meet Ping. Ping is a blend of 90% Pygora goat and 10% merino. And yes, it is as soft as it looks. I've felt pashmina shawls and they feel like sandpaper compared with my pygora cowl. A little of Ping goes a long way. Last summer (maybe?) I bought a small sample of Ping to try. I think it was an ounce. It was more than enough to knit a nice lacey cowl. I loved it so much, I bought more Ping. All that she had. The plan was to spin it fine and knit a shawl with it. It sat in the plastic bag (bad me) until now. Last month's guild meeting on down fibres scared me into bringing this out to spin. They had samples of what would happen if you hoard your fibre. Someone had brought a sample of supersoft angora fibre that felted in the plastic bag and it was scary!!



It may not look like much now but once it's plyed, washed and whacked, the yarn really blooms and it is yummy stuff!

I still have a bag of Ping's sister, Apple when I finished this. Ping and Apple came from Mountain Springs.

Thankful:
1. Willpower not to eat all the leftover Halloween chocolates.
2. The bus came on time today. Never did find out what happened to the missing bus.
3. Seeing someone do a good deed.