Things to be thankful for...

A few nights ago, I was watching a documentary on a study of how people's attitude and frame of mind can affect their health, physically and emotionally. Each night, one group would write down things that they're thankful or happy about, a second group would write down complaints, and the third group wrote down whatever they wanted. No surprise that the first group had a better outlook on life and was generally happier and healthier.

So, here are three things I'm happy and thankful for:

1. My hands still work - sometimes they ache when I knit too much but they work.

2. My family - no matter how bizarre my hobbies and interests may be, they say go for it.

3. Pumpkin pie - especially one I didn't have to bake. :D

Where has the day gone?!

Husband went golfing early this morning and I was supposed to weave until my eyeballs fall out (or until I get to the end...whichever came first). I thought I would spent a few minuts on Ravelry...you know, take a few pics of my stash yarn or something. Next thing I knew the morning was gone and it's time to start Thanksgiving dinner. I did managed to do a bit of weaving but nothing spectacular.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Look! I'm weaving!

Heh! The first part of converting non-fibre obsessed family members is to have them try it. My son was watching me work on my sampler and wanted to give it a go. He thought it was fun. heh!

Now, all I have to do is to get my husband to try. Actually, I think he's already resigned himself to the fact that there will be a loom in our future.

It's slowly making sense, I think. I'm trying to keep the edges nice and neat.

Ok, this is what I've learned so far...

1. If I pull the wool snug so that it pulls the last edge warp thread in as I put the shuttle through, when I squish it down with the beater, it will make a nice edge. The trick is to keep it consistent.

2. Same with beating - keep it consistent and use even pressure.

3. The pattern one is trying to achieve is a combination of raising the warp threads in sequence to produce the weave pattern. The more harnesses you have, the more possiblities for patterns.

This is fun! :D

Got my Ravelry invite!!

One minute, there was 885 people ahead of me and next minute, my Ravelry invite came! And I'm there as LavenderKnits. Lavender was already taken. The place is overwhelmingly huge! It's everything people said it was and more!

I'm not sure I'm ready to confront my entire stash and catalogue everything but it would be fun to go through my stuff and see what I have.

Good news/Bad news

Good news is that Burnaby Knitworks is having a major sale. Bad news is that it's their closing out sale. When I saw that, I couldn't believe it! I had to phone the store to confirm. Yes, they're closing out after 12 years. I'm hoping this isn't the down trend of knitting. I've seen this happen so many times. Knitting makes a comeback and stores open all over the city. A few years later, they start closing out. This is the second LYS in the past year.

Another bit of good news is that Urban Yarns has opened up their second store in Edgemont Village in North Van. Good for them.

Football first

I can't believe I watched the whole game of football on Saturday! My boss hosted a suite at BC Place & we were invited. I think if one has to be there for an entire game, that would be the only way to do it...in a private suite. The food was good and drinks were plenty. If I had to endure the whole game in the stands, I would go stir-crazy. As it were, it was bearable because you're not limited to sitting in the seats but can move around the inside of the suite and talk to people. I had to walk around a lot. Football minutes can last a lifetime. I had my knitting with me but these business types would probably not understand so it stayed in my bag.

It's a rainy Monday today but I don't mind. I'm home today...YAH!!! Kid is at school and hubby is at work. This morning was spent doing a few miscellaneous chores and the rest of the day will be spent knitting & spinning. Or maybe I'll start on my FATC swap.

Reply to Gillian: we don't spray our apple trees. How big is your tree? Sometimes the apples are not doing well because the tree is too big or the soil needs feeding. And it could also depend on the variety of your tree. Some may need a longer growing season than others and some apples takes time to mature after picking. Our apples need another month after picking before they're ready to eat. I don't know if you're in my area but there's the Apple Festival coming up at our local university.

FATC Swap

The Twisted by Choice group has decided to do a mini Fibre Artist Trading Card swap with each other.

I'm excited! This is going to be fun! We talked about the different things we could do last Wed & might plan an Embellishment night or something. I feel very lucky to have a group of friends with such similar interests. It makes one feel very normal.

First day of Autumn

How do we celebrate the first day of Autumn?

...by harvesting apples from our tiny apple tree. Last year's yield was 2 apples and this year we got a total of 11.

Not a lot to see...

It may not look like much but this is the blood, sweat, & tears of my first weaving class. Winding warp was not as easy as it looked.

I had a great time and so looking forward to the next class. We're putting the warps on real looms!

Excited...

I'm excited and can't sleep. My first weaving class tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to this. It's something that I knew I've always wanted to try.

Husband just reminded me that I'm not to buy a loom.

Rainy Sunday

It's raining today...

I really don't mind the rain. The garden could use the water. Tomatoes might not care for it...they tend to split with all the excess moisture.

I'm so tired today. I really don't like working Saturdays...especially for stuff like football. I just don't get football. What a waste of a weekend.

I was going to go to the LYS on my way to work yesterday. I wanted to pick up some hemp yarn for a vest. At the last minute I decided to go to Lougheed Mall instead. Bad idea. How can someone miss a shopping mall the size of six city blocks? Next thing I knew I was in Vancouver and I knew I've gone past the mall.

Bad idea #2. I wasn't in the mood to turn around to find the mall so I thought I would do a bit of Shoe Shopping downtown. It's been a long time since I've been Shoe Shopping. Now, I've gone shopping and bought shoes but there's a difference between Shoe Shopping, with a captial "S" and buying shoes while shopping because you need them. Three pairs of Fluvog shoes later, I felt much better. Heh! One pair was actually practical and I can wear them at work. It's all good.

I need more yarn

I have to work this Saturday. Bah! I told them that I'm not going in to work at the crack of dawn. If they need anything, it has to be done by Friday 3:30pm. I'll be there on Saturday at 4pm and that's it. No more crap like last year. That's ok...I'm planning a detour to a LYS on my way to work this Saturday. :D

The grey cable cardigan is coming along quite nicely. I'm more than halfway up the two front pieces now. The patterns are easy enough to do without carrying around the charts with me, making it a good travelling project.

These are the most amazing tomatoes! Cherry tomatoes that grows in hanging baskets and they're so good! I usually don't eat tomatoes but I love homegrown ones. Storebought tomatoes are too acidic for me. I've been popping these like candy.

A little bit of knitting...

The back of the cabled cardigan is done and I've casted on for the front pieces today. The cables are straightforward enough that I don't need to have the charts with me. It's knitting up fairly quickly once I stop procrastinating with other projects.

This is the earless monkey. The sample ear is just pinned to the head. I think the ear should be smaller and rounder. There's not enough yarn left so I have to pick apart all the sample ears to re-knit.



Ravelry

I take heart that there's 8316 people behind me on the waiting list but it's daunting to see there's another 11652 people before me. I've given up kicking myself for not taking that invite. I'm glad the person it went to, used it...no hard feelings. :)

Sock Monkey ears

I'm running out of grey for the Sock Monkey ear experiments. I've tried 3 different styles and not really liking any of them. My son thinks the problem is not with the ears but the head is too small. I think he might be right. This might mean a Sock Monkey head re-knit this weekend.

Last week was my 20 year anniversary at work. I got another clock (4th one now - wonder if they're trying to tell me something?) and a pretty good gift certificate. When asked what store would I like, I thought of several LYSs, Maiwa, Opus, even Treenway. I ended up with Sears. It was easy for my boss to get to. I was asked if I could really spend that much on yarn. Hahahaha!!!!

To Angela re: resin - I don't have a lot of resources for resin but you can buy liquid resin at Michael's and Opus. I got the idea from Crafty Chica. Opus has the set with the resin and catalyst all together as one package. With Michael's you have to buy each separately. I worked out the prices and it works out more or less equal. I think buttons would be a cool project to try. I've been thinking of what moulds would be good. Or, if you just pour the resin on a smooth surface, it would be too runny...unless you let it sit a few minutes first and let it thicken. It's a thought. If you make buttons, I'd love to hear how that worked out.

Lists

I've always made lists...lists of things to do, lists of things to pack for holidays, lists for gift giving, etc. It wasn't until Amber brought up the subject one night at our Twisted group, that I gave it more thought. It was just something I do. It was one way of keeping myself organized so I wouldn't forget things. I'm a very forgetful person. If I don't write it down, I will forget it.

I came across this site today...Listography where you can create lists for just about anything. Shopping lists, list of favourite music, list of songs you love, list of songs you hate - you get the picture.

For me, it's not practical using an online list. I barely remember to update my electronic daytimer for work. I still prefer the old fashioned way of writing things down.

Post-Vacation blahs

The three weeks was wonderful! I think that even if it was three months it would still be not enough.

Whistler was fun. The weather was nice for the most part but it doesn't matter. Rain never bothered me. Kinda felt bad for the hubby who had to run in it, though. He was up at the peak running and I was snug in the hotel room, watching the rain make its way down the mountain. :)

The List:

1. Still spinning the silk for the MS3. I think I'm just going to spin up the silk and save it for something else. I have some nice laceweight merino that I could use if I still want to knit the stole.

2. Silk noil plyed and waiting for a project.

3. Decided to card the Corriedale into batts instead of the indigo merino. I have 12 batts completed. The weather was too nice to be indoors carding.

4. Started the cardigan with the Kauni yarn. I decided against the Kauni Cardigan. As much as I like the pattern, let's face it...I'll never finish it. I like my sweaters plain and fuss-free. It is now going to be simple top-down cardigan.

5. Almost finish the miniature rug. I still have to decide on the fringe.

6. Made the ice cube ornaments. I also found a couple of plastic trays at the dollar store that will make interesting molds. Maybe this weekend?

7. Didn't make more soap.

8. No brownies still but made ice cream and banana bread. Three loaves of banana bread barely lasted a day and half here.

9. Still working on the grey cable cardigan. I'm really liking this merino/alpaca yarn.

10. Changed my mind on the Orenburg-ish shawl swatch. I think I will have to rework the pattern. It's too fussy.

11. Annual Trek was fun!

12. Made an appointment to get my eyes checked.

13. The Modern Masters exhibition was really enjoyable but crowded.

14. I still love the Museum of Anthropology! When I was in high school, I was fortunate enough to have a teacher who was a good friend of Bill Reid. He took the class to visit Bill Reid a few times and watched him work on the Raven and the First Men sculpture. It was amazing to listen to him talk about Haida art.

15. Signed up for weaving. I'm really exited about this!

Other things not on the list:

Sock monkey is almost finished - just trying to figure out the ears. I've made 2 sets but they don't look right. The consensus is that the head is too small. It will have to be picked open and reknit.

That's about it. I think I relaxed too much on vacation. My brain still feels like mush. People come up and talk at me and I have no idea what they're blabbering about. I'm sure my work-brain will come back soon.

Vacation update

So far, I'm at the 2/3 mark of my vacation. It's been really nice and relaxing. Spent a lot of time perfecting the perfect iced coffee. The secret is use coffee ice cubes. Reading my favourite books over and over again. Watching my favourite movies over and over again. When I say "over and over again" I meant it. I think I've watched Howl's Moving Castle at least 5 times in the last two weeks. Still love that movie. Yeah, I get a little obsessive sometimes. The book is much better than the movie. Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favourite authors.

It was nice to visit with the Twisted By Choice ladies on Wednesday night. It was one of those rare occasions that we were all together, with the exception of Rose. No one had to work late, no one had to teach that night, no one was away. It was just a nice night spent with friends, talking fibre.

Amber brought her natural dye project to show us. I'm really impressed with the depth of colours you can get with natural dyes. I wish I had my camera with me that night. Maybe next Wednesday, Amber?

So, it's a done deal...I signed up for Weaving classes at Place des Arts. I'm looking forward to this. Weaving was always something I knew I wanted to try.

My new needles should arrive any day now. Can't wait to see them. :D

I still have to decide on how I want to do the Kauni cardigan. As much as I love how everyone else's sweater looks, I'm not a big fan of knitting with two yarns...and steeks. I think that's what stopping me from jumping in. Just the thought of all that steeking is making me stick with the cable cardigan.

Next week is the trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Museum of Anthropology. Followed by Whistler and then back to work. ugh.

I think, by most people's definition of vacation, mine is pretty boring but it suits me fine.

Resin Cubes

The resin ice cube experiment is sort of going well.

Things to remember:

1. Food colouring is an inexpensive alternative to the very expensive resin dyes. The little green cube in the photo was tinted with a drop of green food colouring. You need to really make sure the colouring is well mixed unless you want tiny blobs of dye imbedded in the cube.

2. When you pour the first layer of resin, the mixture is still quite runny. All the embellishments sank to the bottom (which will be the top of the cube once inverted). You have to let it sit for 5 minutes. Any longer will result in a too thick gelatenous goop. You can push your embellishment through the goop but it may cause ripples in your final product.

3. The little paper stars kept floating because of the air inside. Make sure all the air is taken out or use solid embellishment. Another thing is to coat the item first before laying it in the goop. Tiny air bubbles can be trapped on the object.

4. The tall narrow ice cube tray was not so great for resin cubes. The narrowness of the cube made it hard to add embellishments properly. I need to find a tray with flat wide cubes.

If you click on the picture, you can see all my mistakes. The cube in front had all the stars floated up and almost out of the cube.

*giggle* Skinny monkey butt

I'm juvenille enough to laugh at skinny monkey butts. At the start of my vacation, I made up a list of things to do...none of which was to make a sock monkey. It's one of those things that if you don't do it, horrible things will happen. The world will come to an end if I don't make this sock monkey.

This is actually the monkey's second butt. The first one was red and pointy. *snort*
This butt is a bit more refined, I think.

And since I'm deviating from my list, it's banana bread instead of brownies. Does it count if I put chocolate in there?

Thai food

I love Thai food and my husband doesn't care for it at all. That's because he's never had REAL good Thai food. There's a new Thai restraunt in Coquitlam that's been getting a lot of buzz lately - Chada Thai. Well worth a visit to this restraunt. A tiny little place (used to be a vitamin store) across from Taco Bell, next to a fish & chip shop. If you blink, you'll walk right past it. The food was amazing! At the end of the meal, I asked hubby what he thought and he said he really enjoyed the food and wouldn't mind coming back! Yah! Finally a Thai restraunt that serves good Thai food and it's close to home!