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. :)

No fibre pics today

I finally finished spinning and plying the August 2009 Fibre Club fibre from Sweet Georgia. Thank goodness for Ravelry. I had to look up the colourway because I couldn't find the paper description. Copperhead. I would have pics to show but the swine kid took the camera to the fireworks tonight. >:

So, instead, I have pictures of today's lunch and the lunchroom...







Vancouver is such a beautiful city. Just behind the Olympic cauldron there are benches overlooking the water - outside where I work. These aren't your ordinary park benches. They are high back wooden loungers! What amazes me is that every time I've been there, there's hardly anyone there.

Things that makes me happy:
1. Fresh fruit in the summer.
2. Looking forward to squeeing over the new Aug/Oct fibre club offerings from Sweet Georgia.
3. Cell phone cameras - the best invention ever!

More hexagons!

Y'know, these hexagons are not too bad to make. I have thirteen joined together and a whole bunch of crochet bits in various stages of hexagon completion. I've been crocheting them one colour at a time - do a bunch of centre purples, get tired of that and move on to the cream, and so on. It's perfect for mucking around on the computer. I can do a handful while waiting for LFG to pop on WoW. Multitasking at its best.

Hexagon love

I came across this tutorial on how to crochet hexagons and thought to myself...what a great way to use up leftover yarns!

I'm sure for the crochet savy folks, it's a piece of cake. It took me the whole week to make one. But once I got the first one done, it wasn't bad at all. Made a few more and thought I could piece them together to make a little blanket. I estimated I will need 160 hexagons.



So far, I've made six. I will also need more yarn - which defeats the purpose of using up leftovers. And I didn't factor in the bazillion little yarn ends to weave in.

I think the novelty of crocheting will wear off before I get this finished.

Sidenote:

Picked up my new glasses this week. I feel old. I needed bifocals. Yes, you can get them without the lines (which I did) and they're called Progressives. It wasn't too bad adjusting to them.



Happy Thoughts:

1. Extra long weekend! And it's not raining anymore.
2. Love the super lush green colour of the grass.
3. No plans for the long weekend except do eat, knit, sleep, and WoW! Not necessarily in that order.

Joong (or better known as rice wraps at our house)

Many cultures have these. Call them whatever you want but they're the Best Thing Ever. Ok, not as good as chocolate and coffee but pretty darn close. I have 60 of these. :insert happy dance here:

When asked if I wanted 60 of these, I didn't considered the amount of space they will take in my freezer. They take a LOT of space!

Creative uses for a meat mallot...

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with my sister about a pair of granny boots I used to have. I wore them until they fell apart and always meant to replace them. We were wandering through a department store shoe section at that time. Her reply was less than flattering about the selection such a store would offer.

So, with that in mind and a free Friday afternoon, I decided to wander through one of my favourite shoe store. I also heard a rumour that they were having a sample shoe sale as well at one of their stores. The store was just too crowded to look properly so I headed to the other store. Found the boots I wanted and they had my size. The only problem was that the arch on one boot was slightly higher than the other. Experience tells me that if I could feel it then, it would irritate my foot after wearing the boots all day. Unfortunately, they only had one pair my size. The other store (the CROWDED store) had two pairs and I really didn't want to walk all the way back. The clerk wasn't able to get in touch with anyone at the other store becuase of the sale and everyone was too busy to answer the phone. Then she did a very nice thing...she offered me a nice discount so I could take the boot to a shoe repair and have them restitch the lining. So I bought them.

When I got home, I took the meat mallet and went Bop! Bop! Bop! on the spot and it worked. I've had these boots for a week now and they still feel great.

Food shopping

A zillion years ago, we lived near 11th & Fraser...not too far from Famous Foods. The Famous Foods then is nothing like the Famous Foods now. This place was recommended by someone who is very particular about what she eats. Now I know where to go for my hard to find baking needs in bulk, although their stock of baking chocolate is not quite as extensive as Gourmet Warehouse. They have organic everything there. Stuff that I wouldn't think you could even get organic!

And I found Greek yogurt there. Organic Greek yogurt. I've been looking for some to try & make my own yogurt. Wish me luck on that. :)

View from the top...

There was no way I was going to say no when asked if I wanted to go up to the ring beam.

View from the freight elevator going up:


View of False Creek and Science World from the ring beam:


View of the hole in the middle of the Stadium roof as they're cutting away the panels:


It was a beautiful day to be up there.

Coffee Bag

Ethical Bean Coffee is a good coffee at a decent price. We drink a lot of coffee which means we go through a lot of bags of coffee. I think these bags are supposed to be recyclable but I couldn't help but wondering if there's something I could make with them. You know - reuse, reduce, etc...

In the spirit of my bag-making phase, I present...

the Coffee Bag!





Things I would do differently next time:
The plastic wrinkled when I turned the bag right side out. I would leave the opening larger so the bag could turn without wrinkling the bag too much. I made zipper tab ends and it added bulk to the end seams - making it very difficult to sew the sides. I think I would prefer to have the air vent facing inside than out. Mylar is slippery to sew so don't rush the sewing. You only get one chance with this material. If you make a mistake, you can't redo the seams...it leaves holes that won't go away.

The bag smells like coffee.

Round two...

I wasn't really happy with the cow bag. The cotton was a bit too soft even with the lining. This was made with some green upholstery fabric I had left over from making a teddy bear.

Oh, did I mentioned that Button Button is just a few blocks away from my new office? This is very handy.

Things you do when you're bored...

I had planned on meeting up with the Twisted tonight but didn't feel great when I got home. I decided to stay home tonight and play a bit of WoW. Tonight I really sucked at healing and wiped the group twice. At lvl 53, it's BRD...a dungeon that I absolutely hated. It was time to go do something else.

Scrounged up a zipper, some fabric, and half an hour later this is what you get...


...a little cow bag. Maybe I should iron out the wrinkles?

BC Place Stadium...end of an era

Now you see it...






Now you don't...

BC Place Stadium's roof was deflated for the final time this morning. I watched it with mixed feelings...a bit of sadness and a bit of excitment for what the next year will bring. I was also sad that not all my Stadium friends were together. We all watched it from various locations. I wish we could have all been together for this.

Hurry up and wait...

Today was Moving Day at work. They're putting in a new roof at work and we all had to leave the building. What doesn't make any sense is that while WE had to leave due to safety concerns, the contract company will be moving in and using our office area. Whatever.

The bright side was that there was a lot of hurry up and wait time. Luckily, I had my knitting with me. Any day that you get to knit on work time is a good day, right?

How Green is Green?

Earth Day 2010

For the most part, our family is pretty green. We do all the usual stuff like recycle anything and everything. We use energy efficient light bulbs. We compost. And lately, our city has a program to compost food scrapes like chicken bones, etc. So I can safely say that we're Green. But one can be a bit more Green if you look around. Lately, at work, I've been putting my sugar and milk in my coffee cup, pour a little bit of coffee, swirl, and then top up my cup with coffee. This is so I don't have to use a wooden stir stick or spoon to stir my coffee. It seemed pointless to dirty a spoon just to mix coffee. Give or take, that will save ~300 stir sticks a year. Not big by global standards but every little bit helps. I've also started bringing my little plastic chopsticks when we go for take-out sushi. No bamboo chopsticks were harmed in the feeding of my sushi cravings. I got this set at one of those Japanese dollar stores. It came with a nice little carrying case with little bunnies on the front. Really cute!

Every little bit helps.

Finding treasure

I was going through some boxes in my junk work room and came across a stash of Rowan Lima that I bought on sale. Finding yarn that I had forgotten is like finding treasure. Going through that room is like digging for treasure sometimes. The original plan was to knit the Alana Cardigan with it but not so sure once I looked over the pattern again and checked out some of the finished projects on Ravelry.

You know what I really want to knit right now? A little sock monkey pouch for my Ipod.

More procrastination

I kinda feel bad...every so often, I get requests for my knitted Waldorf doll pattern and I don't have one...yet. It was one of those pick up your needles and knit until it looked right projects. I've been telling people that I'm going to write out the intructions one of these days.

It took me forever to write up the Sock Monkey pattern. I'm a procrastinator.