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. :)

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.