Someone had a bad day...

Overheard on the train today...

Two construction he-man types were sitting together, taking up a total of four seats. They had their bags and dirty gear thrown over the extra two seats. One guy deliberately put his dirty work boots up on the seat across from him and pretended to adjust his laces everytime the train stopped at a station...just so people would be so grossed out that they wouldn't want to sit there. I could hear them talking about that. Couldn't miss their conversation - they were quite loud and obnoxious in their opinion of us dainty office worker types. When the train pulled into the final station, the two men gathered up their belongs and disembarked from the train. The man with the shoe lace trick left a bag under his seat. No one said anything.

That's justice.

Only crazy people take pictures of their yarn...

I will admit to being a little bit crazy...


...but this is Madeline Tosh pure silk lace, 100% Tussah silk, hand-dyed. What you can't see in the picture is the green tones in there. Silk is so hard to photograph. I could probably be able to capture the colours with the big camera but I really wanted to see what this little cellphone camera could do. The picture doesn't tell you how scrumptiously soft this stuff is. A total of 2000 yards. I have a couple of ideas for this yarn but nothing definitely yet.

Love it when the weather forecast is wrong!

Last Friday, the forecast was for rain and snow. I think they were off by just a bit.


It's late...

Another Lazy Sunday

Today's Sunday activity was spinning. And making cheese muffins. Cheese muffins are like scones but takes a lot less work.


Fibre is from Sweet Georgia's fibre club from September 2009. I'm that far behind on my spinning. The colourway is "Enchanted Forest". As I'm spinning it I can picture Robin Hood wearing a cloak made of this fibre, hiding amongst the trees in Sherwood Forest.

In between spinning and cheese muffins, time was spent playing with my new cell phone. As much as I'm going to miss my old phone, I'm loving this new one. It's basically a camera with a cell phone attached. :)


The first crocuses and snowdrops are coming up. Spring is not far behind.

Thankful for:
1. ...the lull between the storms that are the Olympics and the re-opening of the stadium.
2. ...my spinning wheel - spinning is so calming and peaceful.
3. ...our Canadian health care system.

Winter Cowl KAL

This isn't a cowl but a shawlette (mini shawl). Started Jan 1/11, finished Jan 6/11. The fibre is from Sweet Georgia's fibre club but I can't find the tag with the description. All I know is that there's bamboo in there. Yarn is handspun by me.

Pattern is 198 yds of Heaven. I added an extra repeat to make it bigger (it's still a very samll shawl...more like a scarf, really). Great pattern - fast & easy to knit up.

Boxing Day

I think, of all of the days during the Christmas holidays, my favourite day is Boxing Day. It's a little like the hump day of Christmas and New Year's Day. I don't really care for the crowds of Boxing Day shoppers so it's a stay-at-home day for me. Boxing Day is when the craziness of Christmas has past, the presents have been opened, and everyone is relaxing to enjoy their new toys. You still have plenty of leftovers from the dinners previously so no cooking is required. There is still the holiday glow but you're not quite into the New Year's celebrations yet.

It's a day that you can sit around and catch up on all the Christmas specials that you recorded but haven't had time to watch. And knit.



Excuse the mismatched hat...she doesn't have hair yet.

6 More Sleeps to Christmas!

All the presents are wrapped & under the tree, just waiting for the BIG day. I'm counting down with 6 more sleeps to go.

This skein of Madeline Tosh Pashmina (75% Merino, 15% Silk, 10% Cashmere - colourway - Fjord) was a celebratory knitting project. The chosen project was the Eleanor Cowl from Knitty. The yarn was absolutely yummy to knit with and the pattern was quick. It only took a couple of days. I didn't weight the cowl but there seems to be a fair bit of yarn left. Possibly enough for a pair of fingerless mittens.

What else have I been doing? Finished spinning from Sweet Georgia's fibre club. Unfortunately, it's been on my wheel so long that I've forgotten which month the fibre was from.

I also started another Barn Sweater. A barn sweater is just a simple basic sweater...the kind you would throw on to go out to muck out the barn, if you have one. I don't have a barn but I like comfy sweaters. I love working with the Berroco Ultra Alpaca (50% Alpaca, 50% Wool) for the Ribbed Cardigan that I'm making a Barn Sweater in brown.

Lazy Sunday

I really should have been studying but it's really cold today and we got a light dusting of snow. I took that as a sign that I should knit something warm...like a hat...Sweet Georgia's Ballard Slouch hat, to be exact. A quick knit for a slightly snowy Sunday. I found a leftover skein of Lorna's Laces that was perfect. One thing I didn't factor in was that if you wet block it, it will take time to dry. So no new hat for me to wear tomorrow.

Brain hurts

My brain hurts right now. For the past four weeks, I've been thinking, eating, dreaming Organizational Behaviour and I have another three weeks to go. I'm not used to this. I miss knitting. I miss watching tv. I miss vacuming. Ok, that last one is a lie.

Summer is really over.

So here we sit, feeling smug that we haven't broken down & turned on the heat yet. Thinking that maybe we'll make it to November. Then we found out that the swine kid has been turning on the heat. We lost.

You can really tell that summer is really over.

I wished I did more knitting over the summer...I could really use another sweater or two right now.

Things to be thankful for:

1. No leaks here at home and no leaks in my office at work.
2. I don't work outside in the rain and cold.
3. Westcoast Express trains are heated in the winter. It's all very civilized.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Things to be thankful for:

1. Growing up with a great dad. I still miss him after all these years. Especially at Thanksgiving as it usually fell on his birthday.

2. Hot water heater broke but thankful it wasn't the great disaster that it could have been. A few days of inconvenience of washing in cold water is nothing compared to the water damage that could have happened.

3. My son. Looking at my cousin's new baby tonight reminded me of all the silly things my son used to do. Now he's an adult. I'm very proud of him. :)

4. The use of my hands. If I lost my eyesight, I could still knit. But if I lost the use of my hands, I would go crazy. One can't take anything for granted.

This was my favourite vacation picture taken at the top of the hill of the Plains of Abraham, overlooking Old Quebec City.

Vacation meanderings...feel free to skip this post.

Really enjoyed Montreal and Quebec City. Beautiful old buildings with lot of history. Everything seems to have burnt down at one point or another. We walked everywhere and I do mean WALK. They weren't kidding when they said there's a church on every block. Somewhere on the second day, after visiting the 50th church, we stopped going in. Mont Royal was interesting. We were walking along and I asked my husband how far until we get to the mountain. He said we're on it. It's a very small mountain. By B.C. standards and the true definition of the word mountain, it's almost a hill. Still, it was a beautiful walk. Old Montreal was really touristy and it was very crowded. If you don't like crowds, don't go on a Saturday when the Tall Ships are in. We went back the following Monday and it was much better.

I wasn't looking but came across one yarn shop in Montreal. It was an odd little store. All the yarn was in cones and stacked in boxes like a warehouse. The prices were by the weight. You would go in and pick out what you wanted and a little old man would wind it off the cones and weight your yarn on an old scale. I couldn't tell what was the material for most of the yarn. Another thing that surprised me was how many people smoked in Montreal. Although, you can't smoke in stores, there's no bylaw that says they have to be a certain number of feet away from the entrance. There were a couple of old ladies smoking just at the entrance and it made the yarn inside smell like cigarette smoke to me. Blech!

In Quebec City, we stayed in Old Quebec. The hotel was really small and quaint but in a good way. No rusty beds. Again, we walked everywhere. Plains of Abraham, Battlefield Park, Old Quebec, the lower city, EVERYWHERE. One would think that with all the walking, I would drop pounds but paired with all the good eating we did, I'm lucky the net gain was only one pound.

Toronto could have definitely be a miss for me. What made it worthwhile was seeing old friends and meeting people I've heard my husband talk about over the years. He hasn't seen some of these people in nearly thirty years. Most of these guys knew each other in highschool band and are still playing music for fun. Some of them are in the music business there and some just play in bands on weekeneds. They got together at the place we were staying and played. That was a lot of fun. Good food, good conversation, good music, and good people.

Yarn-wise, Toronto was the only real wool stop. Visited Lettuce Knit and Romni Wools. Lettuce Knit is like any LYS anywhere. Romni Wools was filled to the brim with yarn. I convinced my friend to start knitting again. Overall, I bought one measuring tape (forgot mine at home) and one ball of yarn. Honestly, there was nothing that I saw that I couldn't get in Vancouver.

As fun as it was to go away, it's so nice to be back home. Two weeks is a long time for me...I start missing things like my own pillow and my coffee mug. Just before we left, we got our new stove delievered. I'm so glad I took an extra week off. It has been nice and relaxing. Dusted stuff (house needed serious dusting), tried out the new convection oven (baked muffins), knitted stuff (made pumpkins), and general relaxing.

Thunder and Lightning

Last Wednesday, lightning struck a house half a block away. It was loud, very loud. Thank goodness no one was hurt. The chiminey was damaged. For some reason, that affected our internet. We finally got our internet back on Friday and our WIFI back last night. It was the weirdest feeling not being able to access the internet whenever you want.

Reasonable thoughts

My brain is saying that it is completely silly to pack ALL the yarn for the projects I'm knitting during our trip. I have never EVER knitted an entire sweater in two weeks. But...in my heart, I can't bear the remote possibility of running out of yarn and not be able to knit. This is not reasonable. The only way I'm going to run out of things to knit on this trip is if the plane flew into some kind of time warp where the ratio of their time to ours is 25 years to 3 days. But still...I'm bringing the yarn...just in case.

The grey shrug is done and I love it. The green one has been ripped back and is now ready for whatever's next.

I've been in a finishing mood lately and finally finish the button bands on the purple ribbed cardigan. After four attempts, I went with my original plan of rib 2x2, simple two row buttonholes. The dumb thing was making the buttonholes without choosing the buttons first. You kinda have to keep your fingers crossed that you're going to find buttons that you like and will fit the hole. I was lucky. I found some really nice vintage glass buttons at Black Sheep Yarns yesterday. They fit perfectly and looked great on the cardigan. The drawback was that the sewing hole on the buttons were too small. If they were plastic, I could heat a needle and widen the hole but you can't do that with glass. Bummer. The buttons are great and I can probably use them with something else but the poor cardigan is still buttonless. The yarn is Berroco's Ultra Aplaca - Lavender Mix. Soft and easy to knit. Love it so much that I bought some more yesterday...in bunny colour. :)

Shrug Version 3

Version 3 is doing well. Version 3 is completely different from the previous versions as I didn't bother ripping out the original shrug. I just started a brand new one with yarn I bought for a second shrug. New yarn, new colour. I'm coming to the tail end of the second ball and already at the start of the second sleeve. Definitely will have enough yarn with just four balls. Amazing how things work out if you follow directions. This time, I'm following the pattern...with really minor adjustments.

Our Montreal/Quebec trip has been booked. Hotels, planes, trains, blah, blah, blah...all done. Knitting projects have been sorted out and ready to be packed. Itouch loaded with patterns of each project. Thought about taking my spinning wheel but decided against that. Yarn & Fibre places have been checked out on Ravelry and on the internet. Directions for these places have been printed out. All the important stuff done.

Shrugging off the Shrug

Version 1 - I hate sewing so I thought it would be brilliant to knit the shrug in the round. I always get gauge so didn't bother doing a swatch. By the time I finished the first sleeve and was well on my way through the back, I decided the fabric was too tight. I wanted something looser. Ripped everything out and started with bigger needles.

Version 2 - This time, I casted on for the sleeve and knitted 4" and checked the gauge. Close enough...just off by a stitch or two. No problem. I wanted the shrug to be on the big side anyway. Merrily knitted the first sleeve, the back, and then the second sleeve. Keeping in mind that I wanted this shrug to be loose, I added 2 extra inches. Did I mention that because I wanted it on the big side, I casted on for the largest size? Well, I did. According to the pattern, this would give me 22" across the back when all done.

This morning, I noticed that I have only less than half a ball left and I still have the ruffles to do. Odd. I don't usually run out of yarn. Off I go to the LYS and found out they were out of the colour I'm using. If I'm lucky, I might have enought to do a simple edging. Got home and knitted the last three rows. I decided to pin the shrug together & make sure everything fits before binding off. It was too big. Measured it and it turns out that it was 5" too big across the back. 27" across the back meant that it was falling-off-my-shoulders-too-big. No wonder I ran out of yarn.

Version 3 will have to wait until another day when I'm not so frustrated.

Things that save the day:
1. Picked up fibre from Sweet Georgia. Can't wait to spin that.
2. Picked up more Noro Shirakaba in a different colour in case I want to make another shrug. This time, I bought extras.
3. First time ever! Four balls of Noro and only found two knots.

Twit

Twitter is a strange bird. Is there a prize you get for having lots of followers? Is that why people get all bent out of shape if you stop following them or not follow them back? I'm afraid I've offended a few people there. Oh well. Life goes on.

Teeny Tiny Tomatoes!!

When I first saw these, I thought they were jelly beans! Super teeny tiny cherry tomatoes. Weird year for growing veggies. I think the weather got too hot too fast and the poor little tomatoes didn't have a chance to grow before ripening. They're very tasty, though. It's like all the flavours of a regular tomato squished into a little jelly bean sized package.




I'm really going to miss being down by the waterfront when the construction for the Stadium is done. One could get used to the view here. This pic was taken this morning. No filter on the cell phone camera so the colour is a bit off.



A couple times a week, there would be a cruise ship parked in this spot. I love the atmosphere here when the place is teeming with lost tourists. It makes you feel like you're almost on vacation yourelf. :)

Things that makes me happy:
1. Teeny tiny tomatoes are better than no tomatoes.
2. Living in a place where people come for vacations.
3. Gibson's Fibre Fest this Friday! And I have 2 days off!

Woohoo! Blueberry crop!

Seriously! This is it. Our entire blueberry crop to date. Ok, not really...there were three more blueberries on that plate which got taste tested.

I really don't understand it. Things that are supposed to be super easy to grow would just not grow for us. Things that are supposed to be difficult to grow would spead like wildfire. To date, we have not successfully grown rhubarb. We've tried using store bought plants from reputable garden centres and cutting from friend's tried & try plants...nothing. I guess we can now add blueberries to that list now.

Things that are Double Rainbow:
1. Stat holiday Mondays.
2. Cooler weather for knitting & spinning.
3. Ice coffee cubes for making iced coffees.

Psst to Gillian - good idea about VitD. I will look into that. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt I could convince the guys to switch from cow's milk. I don't care for cow's milk so this is a great alternative for me.

Almond Milk

I really don't know why this happens. I'll be sitting there, perfectly sane, and then an idea pops into my head. When that happens, I just run with it. If I don't, it will drive me crazy.

This one is making almond milk.

Found all sorts of recipes online (love the internet!) and this seems to be the general idea...

1 cup of raw almonds, soaked 12 hours. Take the husks off and rinse.
3 cups of water.

Blend until smooth, strain with a fine mesh strainer. That's it. You have almond milk.

My first batch earlier this week was ok. It was a bit watery as I used only 1/2 cup of almonds...one recipe said to use 1/2 cup and they will swell to 1 full cup. Too bland for my taste. This time, I soaked one cup of almonds and blended that. Much better. Some recipes also suggest blending the almonds with dates as a sweetener but plain is fine with me. So far, it hasn't killed me yet so I guess it's all good.

Apparently, you can save the almond meal, dry it out in the oven and use it for baking.

On Friday, I wandered through Nood in Gastown & picked up some silicone cupckae cups. Much to my surprise, they were on sale! 30% off! They would be perfect for making your own peanut butter cups. :)