Still Life With Books

My Book Arrived Today! :)

2012-01-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Its not just my book. Its a book I share with other people - some very smart other people, several of whom I am happy to call my friends.

Here's my contribution:

It feels like a very long time since I wrote this - sometimes when I read it, I forget that it was really me who wrote it. I hate that. :-\

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Did everyone have a fun New Year's Eve? I hope you weren't all hungover this morning!

Mike and I opted for a quiet evening at home, most of which was spent with me catching up with my swatch blog, with the various NYE celebration shows (New York, Niagara Falls, Toronto, etc.) on in the background. (Gotta have Dick Clark there to welcome in the New Year, even if it is shown on a 3-hour delay out here!). We chose this option because we wanted to head up to Whistler bright and early this morning - we figured that all the hard-core partiers would stay in bed, and we'd end up with a pretty quiet mountain. And we were right!

Do you see the early morning (8:30am-ish) huge mass of skis, belonging to all the people in the ticket lines, bathrooms, and/or doing other preparatory things? No! That's because it wasn't there! :)

This shot was taken near the bottom of The Glades in Symphony Bowl, at exactly 10am. While I was skiing, I was the only one there - a few others started to pass me as I was taking the photo. :)

We had a great day skiing - and now that I'm skiing post wrecked (and now repaired!) knee, my desire to avoid falling at all costs is making me pay more attention to my technique. Good thing Mike is pretty skilled at teaching the finer points of skiing! (although I will probably try to take a proper lesson soon - that was the plan last year, until we had to cut our ski vacation short).

Given that the holidays are now coming to an end (although we still have tomorrow off - yay!), I thought I should update you on all the holiday things I had wanted to post, but didn't get time to do...

Let's see... I left off after Christmas Tree Day...

On Christmas Eve, we gave Gus his Christmas present. If you remember, for the last year and a half, Gus has been living in a vase on the desk in our office. Recently, he'd been looking a little bored and cold, so we decided that it was finally time to upgrade.

This is Gus' new home - a 5.5 gallon tank, complete with a heater, some new decorations, 2 mystery snails, and four little tetra fish friends. The snails are named Norman and Rockerfeller; our little orange-striped tetra is Napoleon, and the larger, black-striped tetra is called Fletcher. The two little cardinal tetras are new to the tank, so they don't have names yet. In rather a sad turn of events, it turns out that Tetra fish are really good jumpers - not that the people at the pet store told us this. So a tank with no lid, and a rather high water level (due to the heater) unfortunately resulted in two dead little fishies! But don't worry, we went to a much better pet store and got a lid, so now our fishies are nice and safe!

Since we stayed in Vancouver for the holidays this year (as per our three-year cycle of Mike's Family, My Family, and then No Family), the plan was that we'd have Turkey Dinner at my brother's house. Ostensibly, this was decided so that my 1.5 year old nephew, Max, could go to sleep in his own bed at his proper bed time, rather than having to keep him up super late (and overexcited) at Grandma and Grandpa's (aka: my parents' house). But of course it turns out Max is a bit of a night owl, so we probably could've had Christmas at the folks'. :)

Anyway, my contribution to the dinner was Tourtière, a French-Canadian spiced meat pie. This year I decided to try a new recipe, since the one I've used in the past was always a little bland (I was given the basic recipe by Mike's mother, but the 'secret sauce' eludes me - my pie did not taste like her pies!).

Here's the filling, simmering away.

And here's the finished pie, awaiting transport to Maple Ridge.

Dinner was a lot of fun - not least because we had this guy to entertain us.

This is Max's ' Who me? But I'm innocent!' expression. I think he gets this one from his father!

Here he is tackling a gift from my parents... you'll see what it was in just a bit.

I gave Max this guy...

I thought he was a monster, but Max assures me that he's a "Bo Bot". :)

For my brother, I "made" this gift...

his very own, do-it-yourself Gingerbread House Kit. A little late, perhaps, but who says it can't be a New Year's House?!

Here's my Dad, calmly watching all the present shenanigans from afar.

(oh sure, he likes cats now, but what about all those years when I wanted a cat, but the answer was always 'no!'?!) ;)

After a bath and a change to PJ's, Max decided it was time that his father put together the tricycle that came out of that great big box.

Keep an eye on Max here... "Yay! Daddy and Granddad are building my bicycle!" (that kid is such a ham)

Two seconds later...

"Ooo, now that they're distracted, I'm going to go play with this camera that I'm not supposed to touch!"

Good thing that kid's so cute - he gets away with murder!

Max's monster, and his blue counterpart, were the extent of my Christmas knitting this year. Mike's sweater didn't get finished, because it turned out that my sewn steeks weren't nearly as secure as I thought... but the kind people from the Dale of Norway Ravelry Group have given me a number of suggestions on how to fix the now partially unravelling armscye/body stitches, so hopefully I should be able to fix that and get on with finishing it. There was a woman at Whistler wearing a machine-knit version of the same sweater (I'm guessing, given the leather DaleGarn Patch that was sewn on to it), and seeing that definitely made me want to finish this one soon.

In other news, I successfully finished my year of swatching - 257 swatches in total. You can read my final comments, and get some info on the 'next steps' here. For now, I'm going to bed!

Christmas Tree Day!

2011-12-19T16:36:00.002-08:00

On December 10th, Mike and I decided that it was high time we went out and found ourselves a Christmas Tree. As you may remember, we generally get our trees from a U-Cut style Tree Farm, since this ensures the freshest possible tree.

This year we went back to the same farm as last year - the weather was just about as grey, but at least this time the ground was mostly frozen, so we didn't have to wade through mud puddles to find the tree.

Here's Mike with our tree right before we hoisted it onto the car.

And here he is all tied up tight, ready for the drive home.

Once we got home, we stood out little friend in the corner, and decorated him with lights and tinsel and ornaments. Now he's such a happy little tree!

We also have a Charlie Brown-style tree this year - Mike took a fall while hanging our window lights, and unfortunately this branch wasn't quite strong enough to support him. But now it looks so festive on our mantelpiece! :)

A few days after the tree went up, I baked the traditional gingerbread cookie ornaments... good thing I didn't actually need them for the tree, because they haven't made it to the decorating stage yet (hence the lack of photos). They're far too yummy on their own!

Steeks!

2011-12-11T20:32:00.001-08:00

Remember Mike's Olympic Sweater? It has been lounging in my UFO pile for quite a while now... I knit most of the body fairly quickly, but then had to rip it out and re-knit it because my gauge was off, and the piece was too small. That was finished by March 2010. I worked on the sleeves (very) sporadically, and finally finished the second one back in October. Then the whole thing went on hold for one very "simple" reason: steeks.

For the non-knitters out there, steeking is the act of purposefully cutting open your knitting. It is a process not for the faint of heart - especially because it is almost always done to knit pieces that incorporate a great deal of colourwork. It's kind of the point really, since the whole point of steeking is that it enables you to knit your sweater in the round, so that you never have to purl a row with multiple colours - apparently, cutting open your carefully-stitched colourwork is supposed to be easier than purling a row with three colours at once.

Anyway, after knitting that sweater body twice, the last thing I wanted to do was ruin it with a few badly placed snips. So, after reading a few blog about steeking, and a recent article on the subject in Vogue Knitting, I did the only smart thing: knit a practice swatch.

You will note that this was knit flat, and that there are 3 colours in that centre row.
For the record, purling with multiple colours is not that difficult.

Once the swatch was knit, I hand-sewed a line of long stitches with white thread, to mark the point at which I wanted to make the cut. The next step is to sew (with a sewing machine) two lines of stitches on either side of where I wanted to make the cut. These secure the knit stitches, and (supposedly) lock the whole thing into place so it doesn't fall apart after you cut it.

Here's my swatch after sewing and steeking:

Then I was ready to tackle the real thing. There are two kinds of steeks on this sweater:

At the neck placket, the pattern required what I can only call a steeking panel - a group of 3 (I did 5!) surplus stitches that span the area to be cut. You cut the centre stitch, fold back the edges, and then pick up the neckband stitches along your fold line. This one is less terrifying, because at least you have some wiggle room - if you mess up, there are still a few extra stitches in here in which to correct your mistake!

The sleeve steeks are more terrifying because you have to cut into the actual knit piece - lose a stitch here, and you're probably going to see it in the final product. In both this pic and the previous one, you can see the red stitches I put in with the sewing machine. I was trying very hard to sew down one half of the 'V' in each knit stitch. This sweater was knit in sport-weight yarn, so you'll have to forgive my less than straight seams!

Okay, seams in (about 3 to each side of each steek...), and its time to start cutting! Here's the neck placket after a few snips:

And after cutting all the way through:

And here is one of the sleeves, fully sliced, and folded back to reveal the interior floats.

Now that I'm past this hurdle, I can get moving on the final steps - sewing in the sleeves, hemming the bottom, knitting in the neck placket and collar, and sewing in the neck zipper. And then (hopefully) Mike can stop telling everyone about his sweater that may never see the light of day! ;)

Mini-Break!

2011-12-10T23:06:00.001-08:00

Mike had to go to New York for work in the last week of November, so we took advantage and took a mini-break to the Big Apple. Since we only had a few days, and nothing really specific that we wanted to do, we spent the time wandering around some of our favourite neighbourhoods, and eating at some of the amazing restaurants we used to visit regularly.

Our good friends Elizabeth and Brian were kind enough to let us stay at their place while we were in town. We went to dinner together the first night we were in town (although we never managed to take a photo with them!). The second night Mike and I went out on our own, leaving Elizabeth and Brian time to pack for their Saturday morning departure to Hawaii. We headed uptown to South Harlem, our old neighbourhood. The business association has gone all out with Christmas lights this year, making it look very festive.

As is typical of being in New York, we spent most days just wandering, covering a good 5 to six miles every day. We lucked out with the weather, too - about 9*C and sunny every day (a good 5 or more degrees warmer than Vancouver than weekend), so there wasn't much motivation to seek out more sedentary, indoor activities.

Central Park

On Sunday we got adventurous and took the tramway across to Roosevelt Island - that long skinny island in the middle of the East River. We didn't have too much time to explore (we had to be at the airport at 4, and had other errands in the city to accomplish), so contented ourselves with a walk down the west side to the southern tip of the island. We found an abandoned (though well supported) ruin down there - turns out its a smallpox hospital that was built in 1856.

The Queensboro Bridge, as seen from the tram

Manhattan, as seen from the Island

There's the tram! (We opted to take the subway back)

We really enjoyed being back in the big city - I'll have to make sure that Mike takes another business trip there soon so I can tag along again. The only part that wasn't great was when I dragged Mike down 5th Avenue on Saturday afternoon so I could check out the sweaters at Abercrombie & Fitch (I get one every few years - check the content labels, though, their quality is slipping fast!). Picture a slightly wider than normal downtown sidewalk of about 5 blocks long, crammed with thousands of people and about a hundred cars. Nobody was getting anywhere fast! But at least I got a cute sweater out of it!* :)

*In my defense, there were only 2 A&F stores marked on google maps, and the other one was way downtown. And shopping in the states save me money too - sure, A&F and JCrew now ship to Canada, but the markup on the Canadian prices is ridiculous! Almost makes it worth it to shop exclusively in the US for certain goods, provided you can find a time when the border crossings aren't ridiculous!

Zombies ate my brains!

2011-11-04T17:56:00.001-07:00

Actually, it wasn't zombies, it was my friends Rachel and Colin and they're much too alive to be considered zombies. Doesn't really matter though, because I'm still going to use it as my excuse for not posting much recently. :)

For now, I'm just going to show you the best Halloween candy ever - sent to me by my amazing friend Claudia

Get it? Its a screme egg, for Halloween!*

*Fine. Don't find it funny. I'll just sit here and laugh to myself while I eat it! :P

Oh, that's right.... I've been doing some knitting

2011-10-18T16:42:00.001-07:00

I was talking to someone the other day about how much the internet has changed knitting. I remember even as recently as 2004, spending hours searching the internet for knitting patterns - now you just go to Ravelry, and you have everything you need in one easily accessible place. (The old lady in me now wants to start whinging about how kids today have it so easy!) ;)

Anyway, it occurred to me the other day that my so-called knitting blog rarely features any actual knitting. Again, Ravelry has taken over that duty, and since anyone really interested in the details of my knitting can log in and see it there, I kind of just forget to post things here too. So, to rectify that, here's a summary of some of my recent knitting projects! :)

My little nephew Max is about 15 months now, and is starting to live up to his father in the wild child department. So I decided that he needed his own Wild Things outfit.

I had intended this to be a birthday gift back in July, but it took me ages to get the ears right, and then it seemed much more appropriate as a Halloween costume.

Do you remember the socks I made for Mike last christmas? They have been so well worn that they were starting to get a little thin in the heels. A skein of tapestry wool later, and you have a new set of sock heels!

I can't say I'd do this to every pair of handknit socks, but really this yarn is just so soft and squishy that it would be a shame to let them go to waste! If you're wanting to do this yourself, make sure you do it before there are any actual holes in the socks - then its just a matter of swiss darning over the thin spots (I did the whole bottom of the heel just to be safe). As for me, I think it may be time to start knitting moccasin socks for Mike!

Last spring I fell in love with the Tuckernuck cardigan from Interweave Knit, and decided to try and up-size the pattern so it would fit me (which reminds me... where are those pattern notes?!). Its a very craftily designed pattern, so I figured it would be easier to knit a test version of it before adjusting the pattern. How convenient then, that I happened to know a little girl who would fit the existing pattern sizes just perfectly!

(Speaking of that little girl, I think may have something else in my not-quite FO collection which will be perfect for her this winter! What did I do with those buttons?)

The last one I'll show you is the little gargoyle I made to help ward off bad ghosties from my friend Darcy's place. She had been talking about wanting a gargoyle at a house-cleaning party she held back in July, and then I happened to come across this pattern.

His name is Gargy, and apparently he has a tendency to move about when you're not looking at him! :)

I have lots of other projects, but I think I'll share those another day... sometimes its very difficult not to let knitting take over everything! :)

Why I don't do mornings...

2011-10-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

Mike has been busy at work this week, which makes him a little stressed. When he's stressed, he doesn't sleep - and when Mike doesn't sleep, I don't sleep in. Today proved (yet again) why I really should not be up and attempting to be productive before I've had my full 8 hours of sleep.**

So much for my idea that a nice hot bowl of porridge would be the perfect thing at 10 past 7 in the morning! (at least my porridge jar didn't break!)

**It is my belief that getting up before ~~seven~~ sunrise should be reserved for special occasions - ski days, going to the airport to leave on vacation, and getting up early on summer camping (or sailing!) trips to watch the sun rise and contemplate the glass-like surface of the nearby ocean or lake. Getting up and trying to be useful while its still dark just leads to disaster. (how can you tell I don't have children?!)

Wool à la carte

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today's breakfast: Boiled eggs with a side of boiled wool. Would you like white or multigrain toast with that?

I have a sweater in my freezer...

2011-09-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

About two months ago I found out that after a year and a bit of not reading Ancient Greek everyday, my eyes had improved and my prescription actually needed to be made weaker. After today, I'm starting to think about pulling out those old glasses!

A woman came into the yarn store the other day with a sweater that had been attacked by moths. Those little beasties are really evil - they know to go right for the most difficult parts to fix - collars, hems, and in this case, the cables. And why is it always the dark coloured sweaters that they eat? At least on a white sweater you can easily see all the threads they've eaten through!

Here's one of the larger holes from today's repair

About 10 minutes later, it looked like this:

Fixing this one was like a bad medical drama -"We saved the patient, but I'm afraid the cable just couldn't be preserved!" :) Fortunately, the sweater's owner just wanted to be able to wear it again, and wasn't too concerned about making it exactly perfect. We'll find out how she really feels when I give it back to her later this week! :)

Now that the holes are repaired, I've returned the sweater to the freezer - where it has been for most of this last week. I'm pretty sure the sweater was washed before I got it, but the last thing I was going to do is accidentally bring some moth larvae into contact with my stash!

Desolation Sound

2011-09-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

If you hadn't guessed from my post at the beginning of the month, Mike and I spent the first part of September on a 10-day sailing trip in and around Desolation Sound. Despite the relative popularity of this place (especially amongst west-coast sailors in the summer!), few people really know where it is, so I thought I'd start by showing you this little map...

(V iew this larger map, and then scroll south to find Vancouver)

Since I know my father loves to follow our trips using google maps, I'll give you the overview of our route, and then get to the photos. Are you ready Dad? Here goes...

We chartered the sailboat from Nanaimo, and had made it up to Lund by the second night (the first night we stayed in Smuggler Cove, on the Sunshine Coast). We spent the next two nights in Prideaux Harbour, an anchorage in Desolation Sound Marine Park - that photo I posted the other day was taken in Prideaux Harbour. We then sailed up and around the east side of East Redonda Island, and back down into Walsh Cover Marine Park. Day Six brought a stop at Refuge Cove for supplies, and then a night in Malasipina Inlet, tucked in behind Neville Islet. On day seven we went to Gorge Harbour on Cortez Island, passing by the Royal Family-Owned Twin Islands on the way. On day eight we finally had to think about heading south again, so we motored down to Comox, and stayed at the Sandy Island Marine Park. We had an amazing day of sailing on day nine, which brought us down to Scottie Cove on Lasqueti Island (look on the North-West Corner for Lindbergh Island - we were one of the many boats you see anchored in behind it!). Finally, for the last night, we went back to Nanaimo, and tied up to the charter dock. They make you clear out of the boat for 10am on your last day, so staying anywhere else would've meant a really early morning - the fact that we were up and having coffee by 7am anyway isn't really the point! :) And now that you know where we went, lets have a look at some of those photos! :)

To get to Nanaimo, you have to take a ferry from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver. What the ferry crosses in less than 2 hours would take a whole day in a sailboat!

Goodbye Vancouver!

Sunset at Smuggler Cove

This is the same sunset, but later on - we hopped in the dinghy and went out towards the entrance of the Cove to watch the sun disappear.

Starfishies! I love how purple they are - so few things in nature are purple. Why is that?

Sunset in Lund... no great photos from the day - its hard to take photos when you're sailing 8 knots!

This is the view as you sail towards Desolation Sound. The pointy mountain is Mount Denman - at 6532 feet, it stands out pretty well!

At anchor in Laura Cove, one of the bays in Prideaux Haven

The evening sun makes the trees look really yellow! :)

In the morning, the ocean is so still its like glass. Of course that also means that there's no wind, but we weren't planning to sail that day anyway!

Oysters, anyone? Sadly, there were signs in the area stating that the oysters in this particular area were contaminated due to the large numbers of boats that come into the area, and the fact that the water in these bays isn't well circulated - something about the tidal currents, combined with the deep bays, and the particular geographic location. But we had neither the fishing license nor the very protective gloves required to harvest them, so it wasn't really an issue.

Instead, we went and played with the starfishies!

(pulling the bigger ones off the rocks would have resulted in me falling out of the dinghy, so I contented myself with this wee baby one instead!)

We found this little deer as we were exploring the area in the dinghy the first night. She wasn't the slightest bit afraid of us, so we were able to row the boat right up to the shore beside her. In the end, we got bored and left before she did! :)

As you sail around this area, you can't help but be amazed at how the mountains just jumo up out of the water. This photo was taken part way up Homfray Channel. There is a spot not far from here where the channel is almost 2400 feet deep - its the second deepest sounding in North America. And what makes it more spectacular is that right next to it is Mount Addenbrooke (on East Redonda Island), which is 5140 feet high.... so basically that's a 7500 foot elevation increase, over something like 2.5 miles. Glad I don't have to climb that... :)

Here's Mike after a long day of touring around. You can tell its the end of the day because the wine has appeared... funny how it knows just when to do that!

At this point, Frobisher wants me to tell you that sailing is not all just looking at pretty scenery and meeting the local wildlife. After spending several days getting his sea legs, Frobisher took over the running of the boat. Driving the boat,

adjusting the traveller on the main sail,

and then hauling in the sheets. Of course, after a few hours of this, Frobisher decided he'd had enough, and let us take over again.

But he was sure to make his reappearance as soon as the wine and cheese came out!

On our way down to Walsh Cove, we turned into the mouth of Toba Inlet to have lunch, and take in some of the scenery. The 'inlet' is really a giant fjord, about 20 miles in length. The anchorages are pretty limited, so we didn't want to head up there on this trip. These kayakers had made the journey though - with the deep waters of this area, its often easier to find a campsite than a shallow anchorage.

This was one of many seals we met on our trip.

We found many more of them resting on this rock in Malasipina inlet.

Sunset in Malasipina, not far from that 'Seal Rock'. We had great sunsets on this trip. :)

We had amazing weather on our trip -all the summer weather we didn't get in July and August showed up for early September, complete with clear skies and temperatures in the high 20s. The drawback, of course, is that sunny skies generally bring very little wind. Here I am motoring along, on our way from Cortes Island to Comox.

The full moon rises over Scotty Bay, on Lasqueti Island

The weather started to change on the last day, reminding us that it really was the middle of September.

And now that we're back (and its pouring rain again), I think I'm ready to move into fall. Just think of all those warm woolly sweaters I can start knitting now! :)

Amelia and Harrison's Wedding

2011-09-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Back from holidays now, but before I share pics from our trip, I thought I'd jump back even more weeks to share some pics from our summer adventures.

A few posts back, I shared pics of the gifts I'd made my friend for her wedding shower. I was actually in Amelia's wedding, so in mid-August I headed up to Vernon, BC to help her celebrate the big day (and the several days of events that came before the big day!)

Despite the somewhat sketchy summer weather Vernon (and most of the province!) had been having this year, the weather gods made sure we had plenty of sunshine for the wedding. So of course we had to hit the beach at least once...

(here's Amelia and Harrison, the happy couple to be)

(I'm hiding from the sun, in case you're wondering - I burn really easily, and I didn't want to get a sunburn 2 days before the wedding!)

Amelia grew up in Vernon, but now lives in Toronto. Since so many of us had to travel to the wedding, her Vernon friends were kind enough to host a wedding shower for her.

In this shot, Amelia's delightful outfit was thanks to one of the shower games. After the present opening, we added this lovely headdress to her ensemble. :)

Later, the post-shower bachelorette party required yet another costume change... and since we didn't want Amelia to get into too much trouble, we made sure that Harrison was present to help supervise! :)

Bonnie, one of the other bridesmaids, broke her leg about 2 months before the wedding. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to have it removed in time, so we had to make the best of it.

Sorry, Harrison. Getting married means you can no longer watch the disturbingly inappropriate (and almost offensive!) dancing silhouette girl videos they were showing at the club. ;)

The night before the wedding, we had a BBQ at another local beach

And then is was the big day!

I love the father-daughter dance - and Amelia's dad is such a great dancer! That's his band playing too - he's also a great musician.

Amelia's wedding was amazing, and we all had such a great time. And just to prove how fun it was, we even had the cops come by and close down the dance-floor due to the city's noise restrictions - apparently you could hear the band all the way downtown! :)

Gone Sailing...

2011-09-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

A new addiction (or two)

2011-08-19T09:50:00.001-07:00

Did I tell you that Mike got me a new sewing machine for my birthday a few months back? Anyway, he did, and since then I've been making a collection of random items with it.

Fist was a picnic blanket, seen here in progress, and below, in use by Felix.

That was a project I've been thinking about for a while - waterproof, gortex-like fabric on the bottom, and fun patterned fabric on top. Perfect for the beach, damp grass, or anywhere else you might want to sit in a city that sometimes gets a lot of rain. Plus, if it starts to rain, you can always put it over your head as a makeshift a poncho!

Next up were some little drawstring backpacks, which I made for the nephews' birthdays... but genius me forgot to take photos of them, so I'll have to wait for Tara to send me photos before I can show them to you. :)

My most recent project was another one I've been thinking of for a while - and my friend Amelia's wedding shower seemed the perfect opportunity to make them up!

These are little lingerie bags for when you go travelling - put all the clean ones in the "Wear Me" bag, and then move them to the "Wash Me" bag after you put them to use. Aren't they fun?!! :)

For the lining of the bags I used this pretty rose fabric that Tiffany gave me as part of a "you have a fun new sewing machine, now you need supplies!" gift.

For the fronts - which require close-ups, because they're just so cute - I found (and modified) vintage embroidery patterns, and then stitched them in by hand.This embroidery thing is really fun - I already have LOADS more ideas for what to make next! I should be careful though -between this, sewing, and knitting, I may never have time to do anything else!

Just to show you that I'm still knitting, here's a pic of the other gift I made for Amelia:

Handknit, pure silk knickers - the perfect wedding shower gift! ;)

dyEd in the pot...

2011-08-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went over to Darcy's to dye yarn. The initial motivation for this escapade was this stuff:

a really nice wool/silk tweedy yarn that I love, except for the colour. The goal was to make this into something a little more wearable, so I could finally take it of my stash (after about 5 years of it sitting there waiting to be used up!). I also brought along the DK and laceweight jaeggerspun yarn that I used for Max's christening set last summer - the yarn is fabulous, but it just didn't want to be white any longer.

Henri and Frobisher gathered up all the dyes, and then we started soaking the ~~spaghetti~~ yarn in vinegar and water.

We used acid dyes for this yarn, which requires a little bit of extra care -

the dye is carcinogenic, and comes as a very fine powder, so you have to use gloves and wear masks while scooping it out of the jar and mixing it together.

Mmm... green yarn soup!

I dyed three batches of yarn altogether. This one is the JaeggerSpun DK:

This is the laceweight:

And this is the Rowanspun Summer Tweed:

We had so much of this yarn that it had to be dyed in two batches - when it first came out it looked much darker, and it was harder to tell the batches apart. Now that its dry, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to alternate dyelots to make sure that I don't get odd colour patches in the finished product... which might be interesting if I knit this in the round as I was planning. Hmmm...

(Darcy died her yarn a lovely silvery grey/black colour, but you'll have to go check out her blog to see it).

While Darcy and I were mucking about in her kitchen, Mike was out getting a little exercise...

(for reference, you can see Vancouver way off in the distance there on the left side - most of us only ever get to look at the front of these lions!)

Nice view from up there, eh? :)

Houseguests!

2011-08-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

In the last week of July, Mike's brother Dave, his wife Tara, and all the kiddies came out from Ottawa for a visit. "All the kiddies" of course being our nephews, Owen (who turned 6 while they were here), Felix (age 4), and Emmett (age 2).

We took the kids so many places during their visit -the kids got up between 6 and 7 every morning, and it seemed like we were out of the house by 8:30 almost every day. Mind you, that may have had something to do with our "don't let the kids annoy the downstairs neighbours" plan... :) The following pics are roughly in order of our adventures...

Owen meets a friendly moose at Whistler on Tuesday

Hiking in Stanley Park on Thursday

(Wednesday, they went to Science World, but Mike and I had to work)

Meeting turtles at the Aquarium

Playing at 3rd Beach after the hike

We visited the Burnaby Heritage Museum on Friday - this is a restored streetcar that used to run through Vancouver and Burnaby

Checking out the Vintage Carousel pre-ride - the carousel turns 100 next year, and they're promising fun celebrations!

Friday was Owen's 6th birthday, so Tara and I made him a Swimming Pool Cake. Interesting fact: 2-year olds think its more appropriate to play with blue Jello than to eat it. Maybe Emmett was on to something!

bedtime stories!

On Saturday, the lowest tide was at mid-day, so we headed out to Spanish Banks to play in the beach flats...

mmm... squooshy mud!

As the tide comes back in, the water stays really warm - great for swimming, provided you don't mind a bathing suit full of sand! :)

I had to work on Sunday, so Mike took everyone up to Cypress Mountain for some hiking. Here's a family photo, taken at the lookout about halfway up the mountain.

Once up top, they were able to do a little hiking

In the evening we put the boys to bed early so we could have a proper 'adults dinner'. Here's Mike teaching the boys about space, in place of a bedtime story (we started out by colouring in pictures of spaceships [thanks Crayola.com!], but clearly my way wasn't fancy enough !)

On Monday morning we headed over to Granville Island - they have an amazing water park there, complete with water slides, sprayers, and a little stream that drains all the water away.

In the evening, we had a big barbecue at Kits Beach and invited my brother and parents, and a few local friends. It was such a great week, and we enjoyed having everyone to stay - can't wait till you guys can come visit us again!

House (cleaning) party

2011-07-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Frobisher (who is much happier now that he's dry again!) and I headed over Darcy and Henri's housecleaning party - kind of like when you have all your friends over to a new house for a painting party, except we did a whole lot more cleaning than painting (well, I did at least - only one wall and the giraffe needed painting).

Frobisher and Henri (and Totoro!) supervised, and made sure that the (mini) chocolate peanut-butter cupcakes were up to scratch.

Charlie Fluffypants took over the sleeping and resting up duties,

and the aforesaid Giraffe of a Different Colour just kind of hung out and enjoyed the sun... after taking on that different colour, of course! :)

In other news, I want to send out a belated Happy Birthday! to my youngest nephew Max who turned 1 last Thursday. Here he is with his Dad, practicing his look of innocence so he'll be able to use it on us later! :)

Frobisher takes a bath

2011-07-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon Frobisher went to the beach with one of his little friends. He said he hadn't been out of the house for a while, so it was about time he got down and dirty with his buddies.

Who knew that he meant 'dirty' in the most literal sense...

All that fun in the ~~sun~~ sand made for a very dirty little bear - good thing we have a Frobisher sized bathtub, complete with lots of Eucalan bubble bath! (his little red and ~~grey~~ white sweater is in there somewhere too!)

Hmm... he's been in there quite a while now. I wonder if Frobisher knows how to swim?

Le tour des tracteurs

2011-07-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

July is Tour de France season in our house, so every night we watch the Tour coverage from earlier in the day (recorded, of course... there is a 9 hour time difference, after all!). This was just one of today's hightlights...

Watching today's stage also helped me figure out why Mike seems to be putting in such long days "at work" this month...

Happy Fathers' Day!

2011-06-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to my parents' house for a celebratory happy fathers' day/my birthday dinner. So of course that required a little preparation on my part....

A strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert,

Cinnamon buns baked especially for Dad (with leftovers for my brother's family, and for Mike and I!)...

And a little knitting to keep me busy during all the rising and baking. :) Altogether, a great way to spend a rainy Saturday!

Happy Fathers' Day Daddy! :)

Too funny...

2011-06-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a reposter of things, bit this was just too funny not to share.

Anti-Terrorist Cupcakes

I'm running out the door, so I haven't read more than the first two paragraphs, but I do hope this is true! :)

If you're going to San Francisco...

2011-05-31T23:54:00.000-07:00

I forgot to wear flowers in my hair in San Francisco, but given the crazy winds we had while we were there (60km/hr at one point!), they probably wouldn't have stayed put for very long anyway! :)

Mike and I spent the first 3 days of our trip touring around the city. We rode the Cable Cars, took a boat trip out to The Rock, and basically just took in the sights and character of the city.

This shot of Alcatraz was taken from the Recreation yard out back - if you were a good little prisoner, this is about as far from the building as you were likely to get...

If you were a bad little prisoner, you only got to see this view - usually right before you got thrown into 'the hole'.

If you do go to San Francisco, be sure to have an Irish Coffee at The Buena Vista Cafe - legend says that the North American version of these drinks was 'invented' here in 1952! :)

When we'd had our fill of the city, we headed north to the Sonoma Valley. What with all the wine tasting, we seem to have forgotten to take any photos...

The original plan had been to end our trip with a few days in Yosemite Park - but then we realised that our visit was going to coincide with the Memorial Day weekend, which meant that cheap accommodation in the park was long-since sold out... So we headed south instead, and wound up in Carmel and Monterey.

Carmel Mission, founded in 1771 and restored in the early 20th century

Real estate in Carmel is crazy expensive, a fact that is reflected by the very posh shops and galleries lining the main street. But then we saw this beach:

I think $8 million is pretty reasonable for a 4-bedroom house overlooking this beach, don't you? ;)

Since the draw of Carmel and Monterey (for me, at least) was really all about the ocean, we decided to take a whale watching tour on one of our days there. Summer is Humpback Whale season, and our trip did not disappoint us!

First you see the water spout...

...then his back...

...and then his tail, as he dives deep underwater! :)

(We actually saw two whales swimming along side by side, but without a proper zoom lens I couldn't get a good shot of the two whales together)

There are also several species of dolphins in Monterey Bay, who love to come and steal your attention. In these photos you can see a group of (apparently rare) Northern Rightwhale Dolphins riding in the bow wave of our boat.

Look closely - these guys don't have any dorsal fins!

And of course, no ocean-based boat trip is complete without seeing harbour seals and sea lions

While we didn't make it up to Yosemite, we did manage to take in some of the California redwood forests. North of Santa Cruz (which is between Carmel and San Francisco) is the Big Basin Redwoods State Park. You drive along this highway

(which is only slightly wider than one car, even though its a 2-way road!), and then in the centre of the park you can take a little nature walk and view the 'Mother and Father of the Forest', two of the tallest trees in the park.

This is the Father of the Forest, 2000 years old, and just shy of 240 feet tall. Just think - this tree was alive when the Augustus was taking over the Roman Empire! (sorry its crooked - that was the only way to get it all in the shot!).

In the midst of all the sightseeing, I even managed to drag Mike into a few yarn shops. Keep an eye out for pics of the yummy yarn I picked up. For now, I need to get to bed so I can recover from all our vacationing! :)

And so it goes...

2011-05-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

I've really not been keeping this blog up recently, have I? Things just keep trucking along as usual, and there doesn't seem to much that is blog-worthy among it. But let's see if I can catch you up a little...

My ski injury turned out to be ~~less~~ well, different than originally expected - the ACL didn't tear at all, but was stretched out enough to make it pretty loose (hence the initial misdiagnosis!). After an MRI, it was revealed that the force of the fall managed to bang all my leg bones together, causing significant bruising on the tops of my fibula and tibia (and a little on the femur too, if I remember right). The plus side of this is that i won't need surgery. The (slight) downside is that bruised bones can take 6 or more months to heal! But I can still walk and stay fairly active (as long as its all low-impact!), so really its not all that bad. For now I'm just looking forward to 'graduating' to once-a-week physio!

There has also been loads of knitting going on (as usual) - but only a couple of UFOs:

I made this little guy for Max for Easter (obviously), because you're never too young for a visit from the Easter Bunny. Last I heard, he was clinging desperately to his ears as Max happily flung him around. Frobisher assures me that he'll let me know as soon as he gets the SOS text, notifying us of an ear-ectomy!

Amidst all the swatching, I managed to sneak in this little cardigan for me - I made it out of the Teeswater wool I bought at Woolfest back in 2008. I was hoping it would use more of the 490g, but I still have just over 160g left. I thought about making it into a little baby garment of some kind, but its a little on the itchy side. (I think its back to the Ravelry pattern search for this one...).

On Saturday we head to San Francisco (and area) for a little over a week - I promise I'll have much more interesting news to share when I get back... for now, I have to go watch the ~~end of the~~ replay on the goal that the Canucks just scored against San Jose! Go Canucks! :)

Spot the Spot Prawns

2011-05-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Vancouver's 5th Annual Spot Prawn Festival, a foodie event created to mark the opening of the Spot Prawn fishing season. To take part, we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf where they were cooking up the little beasties.

3 Prawns, plus salads, bread, and local beer, wine, and coffee tasting, all for a mere $10 - what a steal! :)

The food was prepared by some of Vancouver's finest chefs - had one been so inclined, one could've also bought the cookbook they were selling on-site (featuring yummy recipes from these very chefs), and then run around collecting autographs in said cookbook. (this one was not so inclined - if I want to eat very fancy recipes prepared by local chefs, I'd rather go sample it at their respective restaurants!)

The festival was very popular - they temporarily sold out of tickets at one point, after we'd bought one ticket, but before we'd had a chance to run and get cash to buy the other two we needed. Fortunately, they were able to round up a few more prawns to throw on the BBQ, so we didn't have to fight over one serving! :)

After lunch, we headed over to the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise information booth to learn about sustainable fish sources, and do a little fishing of our own.

These kids are being trained in the "catch and release" style of fishing.

Part of the emphasis of this event was to encourage the public to make smart choices in selecting their seafood, by choosing only sustainable fish and seafood sources. To learn more about making ocean-friendly fish choices, check out SeaChoice.org where you can download portable guides to sustainable seafood and sustainable sushi! :)

Royal Escapades

2011-04-28T12:30:00.001-07:00

Wow, has it really been a month since I last blogged ? I have to admit, with such frequent updates on the swatch blog, I tend to forget when I last posted here... I got a little stuck on the last topic for the Knit and Crochet Blog week (it was something about how/where you set yourself up for crafting), and then I guess I just forgot to come back to it. But you haven't missed much, so no worries... :)

Yesterday Darcy and I spent a relaxing day visiting yarn stores, followed by a few hours of knitting at a coffee shop. Henri and Frobisher came with us - little did I know, but Frobisher was plotting all along to befriend Camilla and the Queen (who are currently visiting Urban Yarns) and then talk them into giving him a last minute invite to Will & Kate's wedding.
Everyone seemed to get on rather well, but I gather Frobisher didn't get that invite - he's currently off pouting in the corner, refusing to speak to anyone! :)

KCBW, Day 6

2011-04-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Day six: 2nd April. Something to aspire to.

As I mentioned the other day, I can't really think of anything in knitting that I don't yet feel capable of doing - at least not in terms of 'difficulty'. There are many thing I haven't done, but most often this is because I have no need to make them. Lace, for example, is not something I've knit very often. Max's christening set is the only lace project I can think of, but even then (except for the shawl), its not really knitted lace. There are lovely lace shawls out there, but I don't think I'd wear them much (nor would anyone I might knit for), so I've never had the desire to actually knit one. The same goes for Entrelac. There are some very pretty entrelac projects, but most of the ones I like are in shawl and/or wrap form, so again, I haven't found a reason to knit it yet.

What I do aspire to do, however, is to design and knit clothing for adults - complete with up-to-date styling, flattering shaping, the right balance between texture and type of yarn, and, hardest of all for me, a clearly written pattern that can easily be used by others. Of the few garments I've designed and knit for kids, not one of them ever got more than a few scribbled notes on paper to qualify as a pattern. My goal is now to re-knit them so that I can translate those notes into a pattern, but for the moment I have too many other things that need knitting.

Which reminds me... maybe there is one aspect of knitting that I do not yet feel ready to tackle - steeking! I promised Mike I'd make him a Whistler sweater for the Olympics. (Its possible I may have at one point specified that I meant the Vancouver Olympics, but I'm trying to help him forget that part!). So far I have the body finished, and 3/4 of one arm. I knit the body of this 1 1/2 times (my gauge was off the first time and it was much too small), and then the colourwork sections became fairly labourious so the project couldn't travel (or qualify as TV knitting), and then 2010 Olympics came and went and summer came and I kind of left this aside. And so you have the makings of a UFO, to which I'm sure all knitters can relate. Anyway, I'm now back to working on this as much as possible (I've promised it to Mike for his birthday at the end of the month - not that he believes me!), and I am becoming a little concerned about the steeking that will be required to finish this. You can see the neck steek location - its that red and white dotted line above the maple leaf in the center of the chest. I also have to make two cuts into the sides, where the arms will be sewn in.

In principle, I'm okay with this. There are very many tutorials available, and I've done this before on other (much smaller and less time-consuming) items. What worries me, therefore, is my sewing machine... The tension isn't really reliable on it, and most sewing projects require considerable fiddling about and ripping of stitches, until I finally get fed up and decide that the never-properly-tensioned bottom thread isn't going to be seen anyway, so I'm just going to have to be content with all the knots and tangles, because at least this time the bottom thread can't be pulled out like all the other 5 times I've sewn this seam. I think I need to just suck it up and buy a new machine. Hmm, maybe if I hurry up and finish knitting the sleeves, Mike will be forced to let me get one, just so I can finish his sweater!! Now there's a win-win situation if I ever heard one! :)

KCBW, Day 5

2011-04-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Forget this knitting week thing. Today's post is about the single best thing that knitting has brought into Glenda's life - ME!

I. Am. Frobisher Bear.

(Don't believe me? Click here to see just how great I am!)

...out like a lamb

2011-04-01T10:08:00.002-07:00

How did it get to be April already?! This year is passing by far too quickly.

Despite today's rain, I wanted to point out that the weather gods listened to my knitted plea and March really did come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Yesterday was bright and sunny and warm - I think I counted 4 people wearing flip flops!

But of course, since Vancouver weather inevitably turns wet in the spring, we decided that this little guy had best not be without a coat to keep him dry.

KCBW Day 4

2011-03-31T20:50:00.121-07:00

Today's topic was supposed to be a "Where are they now" discussion, but since I give most of my knits away, I've lost track of most of them. Never mind the fact that since I knit lots of baby gifts, I expect that many of them have probably been outgrown and either passed on, or stored away for future use. So instead, I'm pulling out the wildcard topic - Embellishments.

Generally, I would say I'm a minimalist when it comes to knitting design. I like straight lines, smooth yarns, and limited additions of fringe, bobbles, etc. In some projects, however, a little bit of embellishment is the perfect thing to take the project from nice but average, to really amazing.

Like on this little cupcake that I made for a friend's birthday last year. It started as a chocolate cupcake with pink icing. A crochet border and a few beads later, and its a proper birthday cupcake.

Another time, I wanted to make a stuffed toy for my little nephew, who was in and out of hospital a lot during his first year (he's much better now, thanks to the great doctors at CHEO). I pulled out my pattern books, and decided to make him a little elephant.

According to the pattern, you just embroider the face and then you're done. But this elephant needed something more...

so I added a little I cord, and a miniature (and heavily modified) tomten jacket, and voila:

The quiet, unassuming little elephant became the obstreperous Dr. Igor, who came all the way from Russia to watch out for little Emmett! :) (because everyone needs an obstreperous elephant looking out for them, obviously!)

I've used little knitted embellishments on lots of projects. This bunting looked pretty plain before I added a few flowers, and a couple of leafy closures:

Another time, I took one plain grey sweater (a February Baby, minus the lace), plus a few knit flowers...

...and made one very cute little girl's sweater!

Other times, its as simple as adding some fun buttons. This one was inspired by a kid's rhyme...

"Slugs and snails, and puppy dogs' tails, that's what little boys are made of"

None of these embellishments were very hard to make (or find, in the case of the buttons!) - some had patterns, some I just made up on the fly (When's the last time you saw a pattern for a stethoscope!). Try it out for yourself some time - remember, anybody can knit a sweater, but its how you finish it that makes it special. :)

KCBW, Day 3

2011-03-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Day Three: 30th March. Tidy mind, tidy stitches.How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised?

Me, organized? Um, yeah...
I do try to keep my stash organized, but I think 'contained' is probably the best I can manage most of the time. Here's what my stash 'corner' looks like today, after spending an hour or so tidying it all up again...

The white chest that you see used to house all of my yarn. Mike built two of these bins years ago, when we lived in a very cool, but very short-on-storage flat in Ottawa (it was our first official apartment together, actually...). That was such a great flat - it was in the basement of a 1920's Art Deco building, but because of the way it was built, our sub-street level flat was actually ground level with the neighbouring sub-street level park - to get into the park you had to go down a flight of stairs at one end, or down a ramp at the other. Anyway, this place had only 3 closets - one in the bedroom that was about the width of the door, one in the hall that had shelves and was only good for linens, and one in the hall that was actually triangular - much like the overall shape of our flat! (I think the linen closet was triangular too...) :) We built these two chests as window seats but never got around to upholstering them (the one thing that flat did not lack was windows!). Mike used his for outdoor/ski/sport clothing, and I used mine for hats, scarves, gloves, and of course, yarn.

Fast forward about 7 years, and that box has become the basis of my storage 'system' for all things fibery and fabricy. As my stash(es - one yarn, one fabric) outgrew the box, I acquired the plastic boxes (I also seem to recall a point where I was paranoid about getting moths, so I put the yarn inside the boxes, and then put those into the wooden chest). When we moved here, the whole lot was moved into a walk-in closet that adjoins our office/TV room... but it was awkward to always be climbing in and out of the box, so I lined the bottom with my fabric supplies, and threw in my collection of scarves, hats, and gloves into the bin (Ottawa was cold - I have a lot of scarves!). That takes up about half the space...

So here's my system: The rest of the bin houses yarn I don't want to knit with just now - sweater quantities, UFOs I've stalled out on, some acrylic, and some yarn that needs over-dying before I will knit with it (mint green was a poor colour choice for me). In the blue bin, I've put the yarn (and a few UFOs) that I have ideas for, and want to start knitting as soon as I can. In two of the clear boxes, I have sock yarn - some is for socks, some is for mittens or scarves, and one bit is for a kids' sweater pattern I've been wanting to try out. A third box is all my cotton stash (I have small amounts of many colours, so this is great for when I want to crochet something), and the fourth box is all my bits and pieces of leftover wool. I 'created' this fourth box for my ongoing swatch a day project/blog - whenever I finish a project, I always keep those last few grams of yarn so I can use them sometime in the future. Looking at them helped convince me that I needed to do this swatch project, if only to use them all up! :) I'll do the same with the cotton too, I imagine - for now I'm purposely using only wool and wool-blends in my swatches so that they can eventually be made into a blanket. The plastic bag on the top of the pile is also a new addition - it contains all the larger quantities of swatch-friendly yarn, which just wouldn't fit in the box. :)

Okay, so that's yarn. For needles, I have three cloth rolls - you can see them tucked into the wooden basket that used to be my 'current project' basket, but is now home to my 3-months worth of swatches, as well as a few on-the-go projects. One roll is for straights (I made this ages ago), and there's one each for my circulars and my KP Interchangeable set (I bought these two from etsy). My DPNs are in the hot chocolate tin (thanks to Lucy for that idea!), and my (quickly growing) button stash is in the coffee tin. In the white basket, I have a stack of bento boxes - one is buttons (I told you it was growing fast), one holds my -g. labels, one has miscellaneous sewing tools, and one has miscellaneous yarny things - pompom makers (in 4 sizes!), stitch holders, yarn bobbins, and I can't remember what else. There are a few other random things tossed in the white basket too - needle gauges, a magnetic chart board, spare dowels for my swift, stuff like that... I'm in and out of this basket a lot, so I don't know how else to store it all.

The whole corner looks so very organized now, but let me just say that its a very good thing that we can close the door on that little room and lock everything inside. At any given time, the coffee table in the adjoining room can be (and usually is) covered in stray yarn, extra needles, stitch markers, scissors, patterns, projects, stitch dictionaries, the (almost) permanently attached yarn ball winder, and who knows what else. Nevermind the non-yarny things that collect there also, like magazines, mail that doesn't get filed properly, books, tv controllers (I swear that they multiply when you're not looking too!), and whatever else we happen to be using that week. Mostly I can keep it controlled by way of a weekly tidy... but then every so often it kind of just takes over and requires several hours to straighten up again.

Some days I think this is fine.. it makes me feel very crafty to be straightening up my desk and find a few of my swatches or design sketches mixed in among the other papers. Other times, its all just a little too overwhelming. But when I do get it tidy again, it makes me very happy to remember that I'm on a self-enforced yarn diet and stashdown challenge this year - this abundance of yarn is going to get used up this year, whether it likes it or not!. Who knows, after a year of this, maybe I'll actually have space in my yarn bin again! :)

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 2

2011-03-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

Day Two: 29th March. Skill + 1UP
Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year.

This sounds a little snooty, but I find it hard to think of any form of knitting as 'too hard' to do. Very complicated and hugely time-consuming, yes, but not too difficult - with the right guidance (printed, online, or otherwise), I think most knitters can eventually tackle just about any project. You just have to have the confidence to dive in and start knitting!

I think I acquired this approach from the way I learned to knit - after a preliminary intro from my mom and cousin, I pretty much just taught myself. I generally ignored difficulty ratings, and just picked up projects that looked interesting - if I ran into trouble, I'd ask for help (it was handy having a house-mate who knit!), go look it up in a book (this was very much pre-Ravelry. Internet assistance and patterns were available, but they took ages to find!), or just fiddle around with things until I got the desired effect. I also get bored easily, which may have helped me along - I think I knit one garter stitch scarf (in very scary DK-weight baby acrylic!) and almost immediately moved on to worsted-weight socks knit on 4 DPNs, followed by a chunky-weight sweater for my brother. As a result, I developed a very 'no fear' approach to knitting, and had no problems adapting patterns to suit my needs.

Unfortunately, as I became a better knitter, and began to understand more about the craft, my desire to improvise went downhill (this is about the time I became a yarn snob too, just for comparison!). Suddenly, it was more important to make sure I knit properly, and to make sure that the finished product looked perfect - especially since much of what I knit was intended for other people. Over the next few years I kind of stagnated, knitting only from professional patterns, and leaving all the complicated, time-consuming projects to someone else.

But how does this apply to my last year of knitting? Well, after deciding one year that I really should start knitting a few sweaters for myself, I began to realize that I (like most people, but we all like to think we're special!) do not have the same body-type as most of the models in knitting pattern photos: I cannot just knit an item, and presume that it will fit me as well as it does the model (I discussed this in an earlier post, if you recall). I would knit and finish a sweater, try it on, hate it, and eventually relegate it to the frog pile - just this past Sunday I frogged one that had been there since 2007, and now have 350g of lovely Alpaca-Silk drying in my living room!

The only solution to this, of course, is to start designing my own patterns (or adapting other ones, but I've never been one to do things half way!). In the last year, this has been my focus - although so far, I've limited my design work to toddler-sized clothes - I knit for a lot of babies anyway, and kids have the added appeal of not needing a great deal of shaping! It also helps that kidswear is at its low-commitment, since it only takes a few evenings to finish a baby-sized jumper!). This spring, I'll be taking on a me-sized sweater, as part of a "You deserve it!" KAL we're doing on Ravelry. Let's hope I can remember to write the pattern down clearly this time (as opposed to in a bunch of hastily scribbled notes), so I'm actually able to share it with others!

The other big project I tackled this past year was a christening set for my brother and his wife (well, for their son Max really, but I think they appreciate it more!). I hadn't knit a proper lace project before this - lacy shawls aren't really my thing, and I've never been able to justify the idea of knitting something just to say I'd done it. This time, I knew the effort would be appreciated - so I had no problem setting out to knit the (giant!) shawl as a surprise gift. And when my sister in law asked me to knit a gown and bonnet (not knowing about the shawl), how could I say no? :)

I think this set may be the most technically complicated project I've ever knit, but I can't say it was all that difficult really. Just take your time, pick out mistakes as and when they happen, and eventually you reach the cast-off row. And when you see the final product in use, all your hard work is fully justified.

Oh yeah, I also learned to crochet this last year (thanks Paul, for teaching us last spring!). I don't crochet very often, but it definitely has its uses. How better to create quick little projects that bring big smiles to little (and not so little) faces!

Knit and Crochet Blog Week, Day 1

2011-03-29T00:14:00.000-07:00

Today's topic:
Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

My name is Glenda, and I am a yarn snob. I like to think that mine is a refined snobbishness - its not based on brand, or price, or even on fibre content. I only require that the yarn I knit with be of good quality - it has to look good, feel good, and stand up to a decent amount of wear. I used to base this solely on the fibre content of a yarn, always assuming that natural fibres were great, and anything made of acrylic should be avoided like the plague. Over the years, I've come to realize that this is a ridiculous standard - yes, most acrylic is just plain scary and should never have been created in the first place, but there are also some equally horrific all-natural yarns.

Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, for example, is a really great yarn. Its a 50% cotton/ 50% acrylic blend in worsted weight, which sells for about $4-$7 per 189 metre/100g skein (depending on where you buy it). Its also soft and squishy, vibrantly coloured, and completely machine washable.

I'm sure I've said this before, but this is my go-to yarn for kiddie items - I've made about 6 blankets from it over the years, as well as a baby cardigan, and several dishcloths. One of these cloths is in our sink at the moment - after a year of regular use and washing, it has only now developed its first hole - and I strongly suspect that the hole only arose as a result of Mike trying to scrub clean our cast-iron grill pan yesterday! I would buy this yarn again in an instant - my only complaint is that although it comes in 21 different colours, only about 6 or 8 of them are readily available in Michael's Stores across Canada (usually those seen in this feather and fan blanket). The newer, bolder (and much more squooshy) colours generally have to be ordered from the Lion Brand website, although I have also occasionally seen them for sale on Amazon.com.

At the other end of my love-hate spectrum is an all natural yarn from KnitPicks - Wool of the Andes Worsted, made of 100% Peruvian Highland Wool. I bought this yarn ages ago, intrigued by the idea of an inexpensive all-wool yarn. I eagerly awaited its arrival, knit it up into a quick-knit cropped cardigan, blocked it, tried it on, and then never wore it again. Okay, sure - part of the problem was the pattern, which didn't suit me as I'd hoped (that's a whole other discussion). But the other problem was that this yarn, once blocked (and in those days, my 'blocking' was little more than a soak in some water and then laying it flat to dry), lost all of its vibrancy and texture. And after I'd I frogged it, it looked even worse - it was flat, splitty, and just plain drab. The 8 skeins I'd ordered were soon relegated to the bottom of my stash box, only to be retrieved for the odd felting project, and - more recently - for use in a draft-dodging dog that will bravely keep the cold air inside my poorly-insulated stash/storage closet, and out of our adjoining office/TV room.

Now, just for comparison, let me show you another 100% peruvian highland wool, which I bought for an equally low price - Elann.com's Peruvian Highland Sportweight yarn (now discontinued, much to my disappointment). I bought this yarn for a few bucks a ball - about the same as I paid for the KnitPicks yarn - probably less really, what with the shipping costs and exchange rates involved in order from the US. I bought this yarn to make the cabled pullover you see here - but after I got this far, I decided it was too small and frogged it. Later, I decided to knit it into something else (I can't remember what now), but ultimately frogged it. Last spring, the yarn tried to be a cardigan but it didn't like that either, so I frogged it yet again. Throughout all this wear and tear, this yarn still looks amazing - slightly fuzzy (as real yarn should be!), squishy, soft, and vibrant - there is depth to the colour of this yarn, and it doesn't look the slightest bit worn or stressed. This is quality yarn, which just happens to come at a low cost. The brown yarn really was cheap, whereas this one is merely inexpensive.

I'm sure I could make a similar comparison between more expensive yarns too - I can think of several pricier yarns that feel lovely and soft on the skein, but which - due to their single-ply, lightly spun texture - pill like mad before you even get them off the needles (don't even think about using them for something like mittens!). And wasn't there a particular manufacturer of British yarn who was sued for claiming to have cashmere mixed into one of her yarns, when it wasn't actually there? (and who, as I recall, always managed to have slightly less yardage in their 50g balls than their competitors?!) Price and texture do not define quality yarns... you have to feel them, examine them in the light (look for shine - if it looks plasticy, it probably is!), and sometimes do a little research. But don't feel too bad if you buy a yarn that looks good, but turns out to be a dud - sometimes even plasticy, squeak-as-you-knit-with-it 100% acrylic has its uses:

Block(ing) Party

2011-03-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months, Darcy and I have been knitting Jared Flood's Guernsey Wrap, as part of a Ravelry Knit-along. We finished them this past week, so of course it was time to block them out. Blocking is never a great one-person job, so we decided to make a deal: the use 46 square feet of my real estate and (very few) blocking mats in exchange for Darcy's extra mats, blocking wires, t-pins, and lessons on how to block 'properly' (there is no one way to do this...). Overall, I think I got the better end of the deal, especially since I'm pretty much incapable of crawling around on the floor just now!!

Aren't they pretty all blocked out on the floor like that? :) My GW is the green one in the front here.- knit with 2 strands of Rowanspun 4-ply that I bought ages ago for about £1 a (25g) skein. I have 13 skeins of it, and this used up just over 7 skeins - I'll have to be creative to find a use for the rest of it! Using the 4-ply made this a mini-GW - after blocking, its about 69" x 16.5" (175 x 44cm).

This blue one is Darcy's GW - she knit it in Cascade 220, so its much closer to the intended size of the wrap - that's why it got its own stretch of blocking mats off in the corner (this one is 84" x 19") The yarn blocks out so well, and the texture of the fabric is just amazing! The little purple guy is Darcy's creation as well - but you'll have to watch her blog if you want more info about him! :)

Cookin' it Old School

2011-03-21T16:15:00.001-07:00

Do you use a slow cooker?

This is ours, a super old-school one that we got from Mike's Mom ages ago. She got it second-hand when she was in university, and we took it on the understanding that it was just a temporary fill-in until we found a new one in the shops. Six years later, we still use it several times a month.

This one really lives up to the 'crock pot' name - it really is just a stoneware 'crockery' pot, which sits on an electric heating plate. Check out the date stamp on the bottom of the hot plate:

Can you read it? September 18, 1952 - I love it! ;)

Its in really good condition, considering its age - it even has the original cardboard "Inspected by Underwriters' Laboratories Inc." label on it. Something tells me that most modern kitchen appliances won't be in perfect working order sixty years from now!

Possibly the only drawback with this is that I don't trust it enough to leave it plugged in when no one is home to keep an eye on it (note the cloth cord, and non-grounded, slightly beat-up plug in the last photo!) - I can't quite trust this thing not to short circuit and/or melt the surface underneath the hot plate (hence its typical location in the middle of the stove top!). It has occurred to me that this kind of negates the whole purpose of using a slow cooker, but its not enough of a problem to make me want to buy a new one! :)

Today I'm using the crock pot to make Ginger Chutney Chicken - super easy, and really yummy!

1/2 cup (125 mL) mango chutney
1/4 cup (60-ish mL) hot sauce (or to taste, especially if its a strong hot sauce - I learned this the very ~~hard~~ hot way!)
2 tbsp (30mL) quick-cooking tapioca (often found in baking sections, or near the jello packs)
1.5 tsp (8 mL) grated fresh ginger OR 1/2 tsp (3 mL) ground ginger
12 chicken thighs (4 lbs), bone-in, but skinless.* (I usually buy the non-skinned thighs and peel the skin off myself before tossing them into the pot - its not too difficult, and it saves a bit of money)

Throw everything but the chicken into the crock pot and mix it together. Then add the chicken, making sure to coat it with the sauce. The recipe says to let it cook for 5-6 hours on low, or 2.5-3 hours on high. Our crock pot only has on or off, and it tends to cook the chicken in about 3-3.5 hours... you'll know its done when the sauce is liquidy, and the chicken is falling off the bones!

*The recipe calls for 12 chicken thighs, but we generally use the same sauce quantities with only 4 to 6 thighs. We serve this over rice, and you have to have extra sauce to go over the rice! :)

Raincoat Bag

2011-03-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was at Dressew (Vancouver's discount sewing mecca) and found a 2 meter piece of teal raincoat fabric on sale for $1.99. At the time, we were in the middle of several weeks of grey, rainy weather, and the teal vinyl seemed like the perfect thing from which to make a bag...

Several weeks (and a few trips to other local fabric shop later, here it is! :)

Here's a shot of the inside - complete with an internal zippered pocket, a custom-sized cell phone pocket, and magnetic closures. (please don't look too closely at the stitching - I make no claims at having sewing skills beyond those I learned in grade 8 Home Ec!)

There are dozens of tote bag tutorials out there if you want to make one of your own - my bag is based on this tutorial from a blog called The Longest Year, as well as this zippered pocket tutorial. The whole thing cost me about $20 - the hardest part of it was fighting with my sewing machine, which kept eating the vinyl (put some lightweight paper between the vinyl and the machine for easier sewing) and can't hold its tension to save its life.

Of course, now that the bag is finished and ready to brave the rain, the weather gods have decided to bring us a week of sunny weather! But when it comes back, I'll be ready! :)

In other news, Darcy and I headed out to Fibres West in Abbotsford today to partake of some fibrey goodness. It was less fibre-festival, and more shopping-oriented than I was expecting (there were no sheepies, alas!), but it was still a great opportunity to be able to see (and fondle, and buy!) so many locally produced yarns all in one place. I willingly fell of my yarn-diet to buy these little lovelies:

This is 2-ply Organic Merino from West Coast Fibre Works, in the SaltSpring colourway. This one called out to me, leaped into my hands, and then insisted on coming home with me!

And then I found these guys...

Well, to be honest, I found one of them, and then a very lovely knitter who was holding on to the other one decided that I needed it more than she did, so she gave it to me and bought something else instead. I didn't catch your name, but thank you whoever you were! :)

And now to go decide what these guys want to become...

Presto-Change-o!

2011-03-10T08:26:00.002-08:00

This guy was on my swatch blog a few days ago, but I thought I'd put him over here too... My friend Darcy recently loaned me Knitting Block by Block, by Nicky Epstein. The premise of the book is just 150 different blocks (made of lace, colourwork, cables, i-cord designs, and more), along with a number of ideas on how you can construct garments, bags, and other items by simply sewing a number of blocks together. Its a great resource for my swatches as well, although some of the blocks seem a little more like finished products rather than samples of a particular stitch pattern. Anyway, this is one of the cuter, but more involved uses for a block.

Start with one 10" square of stockinette:

Fold it, sew some edges, add a few bits and pieces, and voilà:

A little lion!

I think this square-to-critter is most often done with a rabbit, but this book mixes it up a little and shows you how to make a cat, a lion, and a turtle. I think the rabbit would probably be most effective though, because from a certain angle, even this guy looks a bit like a rat in a fancy costume! (don't tell him I said that!) :)

Now I just have to find the guy a home (and a name, actually)... anyone know of a good safari park?

ETA: I forgot to mention that at the end of the month I will be knitting a little lamb (pattern yet to be determined), and I fully expect the weather to be cooperating with this scheme! That means you Mister Weather Gods! I've had quite enough of these wind, rain, and thunderstorm warnings, thank you!

An FO!

2011-03-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

Our friends Rachel and Colin had a little boy in January, so I decided to make him a little blanket.

I made it out of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease which, in their new selection of bright colours, is one of the squishiest, kid-friendly (ie: machine washable, and super-durable) yarns I've come across (the paler greys and pinks are noticeably thinner and less squishy). Its a shame these colours are so hard to come by in Vancouver - Michael's doesn't carry them, so you have to order them directly from the Lion Brand site, or one of a handful of re-sellers on Amazon. (you can get them at the Lion Brand Studio Store too, should you happen to be in NYC sometime!)

I backed the blanket with this fun purple and teal amoeba-like flannel - ideal for a doctor's kid, I think! :)

Here's what the blanket looks like when spread out - I knit the squares in six vertical stripes, to make the sewing up a little faster. (Mike made up the design - he was showing me how to use PowerPoint to make a template I could play around with, but I like the first "sample" design he came up with!) ~~If doing it again however,~~ Who am I kidding?! WHEN I make another one, I think I will make a collection of separate squares, and then take the time to sew them up one by one - you can tell that this was knit in strips, and personally, I quite like that quilted look you get with all the seams.

Yarn Soup

2011-03-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

I don't think I've mentioned it here before, but this year I decided to take part in the yarn diet and stashdown challenges that are being hosted by the Pre-Process Knitters Ravelry Group. The goal of these challenges is pretty obvious - stop buying yarn, and work your hardest to knit up as much of your yarn stash as physically possible over the course of the year.

These challenges are becoming difficult. Even though I didn't really buy all that much yarn before (although you'd never know it by looking at my stash!!), the fact that I can't buy yarn makes me feel a little deprived. There have even been a few moments when I have pictured myself walking into a yarn store and falling off the diet wagon in a very disastrous fashion - only problem is, I haven't the faintest idea what yarn I'd actually want to buy!

(My friend Al here says its all relative, although I'm not really sure what he means by that)

Anyway, for the time being, I seem to have found a solution:

From now on whenever I feel like I really need to buy yarn, I'm just going to frog one of the many sweaters (and other projects) that I've knit, but never wear/use. Or, in the case of this particular yarn, a sweater for which I knit all the pieces, but then neglected to seam up because the sleeves grew several inches during the blocking process!

sizing issues

2011-03-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

I have a number of store-bought sweater (mostly cotton, interestingly enough) which, whenever I wear them, people ask me if they are handmade. I also have a collection of sweaters that I did make, but which I almost never wear. One I like, but the alpaca yarn its made from is too itchy. Another is cute enough, but makes me look a little frumpy because its too boxy, and makes me look short and wide. A third one, a wrap sweater, is too short in the body, and rides up higher than I'd like it to - and its also too boxy, and not very flattering when worn. I can think of a number of others as well, but they've already been relegated to the frog pond, to be made into something (hopefully) much more wearable.

Anyway, the point of this ramble is to remind myself of my innate ability to look at a picture of a sweater I like, completely ignore the size and/or body shape of the model, and then convince myself that if only I were to make that sweater (exactly as written, no less) it would fit me perfectly, and look just as good on me as it does on the model. Even when the model is waif-like, super tall, and very long in the torso (all of which I am not, clearly!).

And now that I have reminded myself of this fact, I will return to my regularly scheduled allotment of knitting - none of which includes a sweater for me. I just thought this would be a useful reminder to myself as I start to search out my next set of projects, which (I am determined!) will include something for me! :)

Max's Christening

2011-02-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

My nephew Max was christened today, which means I finally get to show you some finished objects from last fall!

They christened him Maximilian Constantine Alexander McDonald. I think my Brother and Sister in Law expect great things from this little guy! :)

The happy family, post-ceremony

So you've probably guessed that the finished objects I wanted to share were the various parts of this christening set - the gown, bonnet, booties, and matching shawl.

Here are a few close-ups, so you can see it in more detail:

For the dress and bonnet, I used a pattern from the GarnStudio site, but I had to recalculate the numbers a bit to match the DK weight yarn I was using. I aimed for the 6-9 month size, which worked out well given that Max is now 6 months old.

Initially, my plan was to make only this christening shawl, assuming that Dominika would have a family gown that she wanted to use. But then when she asked me to make the dress as well, I made sure to use match yarns to make it a complete set. (The shawl is made from JaegerSpun's Wool-Silk Zephyr lace weight, and the gown is their Zephyr DK weight).

These are the booties, which you can't actually see in any of the photos.

To round out the gift, I found an acid-free textile storage box, with acid-free tissue paper, so the whole set can be stored safely for future use. It was a bit of an extravagant extra, but I figured it was worth it for 5 months of work! :)

The benefits of winter

2011-02-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

Today Vancouver got it's one hit of winter - beautiful sunny skies, sure, but with morning windchills of -11*C (trust me that's really cold for Vancouver!). On the plus side, are the lovely pink sunsets we've had this week.

Sorry its a little blurry - but at least it captures the colours properly!

With all the leaves gone from the trees, we get a lovely view of the ocean - by the time summer comes around, all we'll have left is the ocean-scented air! ;)

Whistler!

2011-02-22T14:19:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth and Brian came out to visit us from New York last week. After a few days of wandering in the city (well, them wandering, me sitting at home, and Mike at work!) we headed up to Whistler for a long weekend of skiing. Elizabeth, Brian, and Mike skiied on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday Elizabeth and I left the boys to the hill and headed off to Le Spa Scandinave for an afternoon of relaxation. I think Elizabeth was quite happy to take the day off from skiing - I think she found the ski runs to be just a little daunting! :)

One of the hotels in Whistler Village, with a view of Blackcomb Mountain in behind

While the others skiied, I took a wander around the village - I even found some soap that smells like minty chocolate! :)

Blackcomb as seen from the Village Plaza - you can see the Olympic rings on the right, next to the Whistler Brew Pub.

On Sunday afternoon, we finally gave in and took Frobisher out on the town, to experience a little of the apres-ski lifestyle. Here he is with his inaugural pint of Granville Island Honey Lager.

Shortly after this, we had to cut him off, pull him down from dancing on the tables, and force him to apologize for trying to steal their menu!

Recovery Never Tasted So Good!*

2011-02-10T09:29:00.001-08:00

Mmmm, Froot Loops - Breakfast of champions. Or in my case, injured wanna-be champions.

I don't think I mentioned it before, but last weekend Mike and I headed up to the interior of BC for what was supposed to have been a week-long ski vacation at Big White and Silver Star Mountains... It was great in the beginning - we had excellent driving conditions on Saturday (the highway goes through two mountain passes of 4068ft/1240m and 5760ft/1728m, and is know to have winter storms even as late as April or May), and Sunday morning had great weather, with the promise of 30cm of fresh powder by Monday morning. And then what appears to be my current streak of bad luck took effect....

My thanks to the lovely Ski Patrol guys who dragged me down the mountain (and I do mean the whole mountain, since I was at the very top) after I had a very stupid fall. I didn't think it was all that much at the time, but unfortunately I managed to tear the ACL in my right knee - which means no more skiing for me until after I can get it repaired (so, next season, basically)! :(

So now I'm back at home recovering, forced to sit on the sofa all day as I wait for the swelling to go down, and all my necessary doctor visits to be scheduled. At least I have knitting to keep me entertained! :) And to be honest, its not all that bad - I'm not in pain, I can still walk around (albeit a little slowly), and I should be (almost) back to normal before too long. In the meantime, I think this is a great excuse for a little pampering... anyone know a good masseuse? ;)

*So says the advert for Neilson's Chocolate Milk that is printed on the side of my skim milk carton.... the idea being that chocolate milk is an ideal post-workout drink, what with it being made of 1% (semi-skimmed) milk, and containing added omega-3 fatty acids. Do you think 'post-workout' could be extended to include post-physio workout? ;)

22km and counting...

2011-01-31T09:29:00.000-08:00

We had a week of rain last week and then all of a sudden it cleared up and the sun came out again. So what else to do but head up to the slopes for a little more skiing! :) This time we went cross-country skiing up in the Callaghan Valley. If you're not familiar with this place, its a valley about 20 km/12 miles south of Whistler, and it was used as the site for all the Nordic events at last year's Olympics.

There is an extensive network of trails at the Callaghan Valley Nordic center, although only one of them actually goes up the Callaghan Valley to Callaghan Lake and the Callaghan Lodge. We decided to take that trail - it was 13km on the map and we'd read that coming out was much faster than going in, so we figured we could get to the lodge for lunch, and then get back out in time for the closing of the park.

After a slightly later than usual start (we got to the base at 10:30 instead of our usual 8:30am Whistler starts) we headed out on the trail. After only a few kilometers, we quickly realized that the reason why all the reports we'd read said that coming out from the lodge was so easy is that the trek in is uphill pretty much the whole way! (always pay attention to the topo lines on cross-country ski maps!) :) It wasn't too bad though, and the constant climb brought us some great views of the surrounding mountains and glaciers.

Powder Mountain - look closely at the left near the tree and you can see what look like ski tracks on the glacier. Anyone up for a little heli-skiing? :)

Brandywine Glacier (I think). There were tracks up there too!

After about 2.5 hours of skiing, we made it to Callaghan Lake. The Lodge was another 4.5 km away, and one of the skiiers we met along the way cautioned us that there was a 500m elevation gain over that distance. (That's quite an incline - by comparison, we had just gained about 490m over the course of the 8.5km we had just skiied!).

If I look a little puffy here, it was because I had all my layers of clothes on during the lunch stop - it was only about -8 C or so (which is warm for skiing), but the wind was absolutely freezing! :)

Given that it was now coming up to 2pm, we decided to have our lunch at the lake and then head back out the car. As expected, it was downhill the whole way - it took us about an hour and a half to get back to the trail head, and that included a short stop to talk to a fellow skier, and about 20 minutes to climb the last 2km of trail back to the parking lot - it was all uphill, and we hadn't a smidge of grip wax left on our skiis! :)

A view back down the trail, looking towards Garibaldi Park - you can just make out Black Tusk in the center of the pic. The tusk is part of an old volcano, and you can climb it in the summer. It's on our list of hikes to do while we're living in Vancouver! Anyone want to come with? :)

I think we'll be doing this route again soon, but next time we'll make sure to get an earlier start. In an ideal world we'd actually book into the lodge to stay overnight, but at $400 per night (meals included, mind), I'm not sure that's really the best idea just now! :)

Back up your data!

2011-01-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

Go on. Do it right now. I can wait....

You think I'm kidding don't you... I almost hate to admit it, but this month we became those people. You know, the friends of a friend who suffered that thing that everyone is afraid of, but which you never want to believe could actually happen to you? Well as of this month we've become the people who serve as a warning to everyone else about the importance of regularly backing up your data, because you never know when something will happen to cause you to lose it. Of course the kicker was the fact that we had backed up our data, on an external hard drive that usually does nothing more than sit on the shelf next to one of our computers, where it stays out of the way yet is fully accessible over our network. Plus, we'd spent the last 3 months talking about how we really needed to reinforce this backup system by investing in some sort of RAID array, so that if one drive fails, at least you have a back-up copy on a second drive. (But then we're good at that - talking about things, but never actually getting around to doing them).

And then one day in early January, the hard drive fell.

Not far, either - not even two feet to the floor below, but next thing you know, Poof! That's 8 years of data gone... pictures, files from old computers, more pictures, and even some music. Actually, I remember it being more of a THUD! It really didn't seem like that big of a deal at the time - until we heard that ominous ticking sound when we tried to start the drive up to see if it was okay. (FYI - that's always a bad sound for a hard drive to make. Do not let it continue to run when you hear that sound!).

Anyway, to spare you all the agonizing details, I'm happy to say that we were able to get our data back, thanks to the lovely (but not inexpensive!) people at ReStoringData.com. And we are now the proud owners of a RAID array and a portable hard drive, both of which might very well end up living inside a very well-padded, waterproof, and fireproof (but breathable!) box! (I am also looking into online storage options - I'm losing my trust for physical storage options!)

K, now that you've read this, GO BACKUP YOUR DATA!! :)

(public service announcement over - we now return you to our regular scheduled blogging)

'Shrooms

2011-01-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

We have a Japanese Maple Tree that lives in a pot in our living room. It's deciduous, and therefore has no leaves at the moment, but as far as I can tell the bare tree is still alive. Recently, however, we noticed some strange growth at the base of the tree...

Apparently, we have started our own little mushroom farm without even trying! :)

I've done some reading, and its apparently not uncommon to have mushrooms show up in a plant pot - the spores likely came in with the plant, and showed up now that it lives right next to the radiator, and gets regular water. Now I just have to figure out what kind of mushrooms they are, so I'll know how careful I'll need to be when curious children and/or pets come over to visit! :)

Alice the camel has one hump

2011-01-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

Mike sent me this photo this morning.... he's in Abu Dhabi for work, and thought I'd like to meet his new friend. :)

more skiing! :)

2011-01-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

Last week we had four days of very heavy rain in Vancouver - but at Whistler, that amounted to almost 80cm/30 inches of fresh snow! We headed up bright and early yesterday morning, and were greeted with a beautiful sunny day.

Here's the view from 7th Heaven, a ski area at the top of Blackcomb mountain.

Looking South-West(ish)

Looking South-east(ish)

If you look closely at this picture, you can see a snow covered lake - its the half-round indent in the snow, just above the group of people near the centre of the photo (its partly covered by the debris from a recent avalanche). Here's a shot of that same lake last summer, looking back up to the spot from which this winter photo was taken! :)

Blackcomb Lake, July 2010

The snow conditions were fantastic yesterday - knee deep powder that wasn't too heavy and damp (as coastal powder so often is). We even managed to get in some tree skiing! (don't worry Elizabeth, we won't make you do this!) ;)

We had such a great day of skiing yesterday - who's coming with us next time?! :)

A Swatch A Day..

2011-01-06T11:55:00.001-08:00

The last few months (well, all of last year, really) kind of just flew by, leaving me feeling like I'm not quite caught up to the actual time of year. So with the start of 2011 - which completely snuck up on me! - I've decided I need to start paying more attention and stop letting things slip by without me noticing. This applies to everything - work, my knitting projects, family, etc.

As part of this decision, I've decided to start knitting a swatch a day, as a means of expanding my knitting techniques and focusing more on the details of knitting, rather than the final projects. You can follow the progress of these swatches over on my new blog, Still Life With Swatches (not the most original title, I know!). I'm sure there are lots of other people out there knitting and posting a swatch a day, but to give credit where its due, I got the idea to make this blog from the now-defunct, but still very useful blog NonaSwatches.

At the moment, many of the swatches are based on work I'm doing for the City & Guilds hand knitting course that I started in December, but I expect they will soon include swatches for various projects I'm working on, and sometimes just random techniques that I feel like playing around with. The goal is to post at least one every day - let's see how long I can keep this up! :)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T17:53:00.007-08:00

What did you all do for New Years Eve this year? Mike and I decided to host a little soiree for my extended family - kind of a last minute decision, but fun all the same. Here are my lovely parents - don't they look like they're having fun?! :)

In preparation, I made about three different kinds of appetizers - the best one of the three were these Mini Chicken B'Steeyas, a Moroccan-inspired recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart.

You mix up the chicken filling

roll it in phyllo pastry

place the rolls on a baking sheet, brush them with melted butter, and freeze them on the sheet for an hour before transferring them to an airtight container.

When you're ready to eat them, take them out and bake them for 20 minutes, then (if you want) sprinkle them with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Mmmmm! So yummy! :)

By Sunday, Mike and I decided that we'd better start working off all that yummy holiday food, so we headed up to Cypress Mountain for a little cross-country skiing.

It hasn't snowed in several days, but there was a thick frost everywhere that made the snow look like it had been covered in feathers.

Isn't it pretty?

I'd forgotten how nice it is to have such beautiful (almost) wilderness only 30 minutes from the city!

Have a great 2011 everyone! :)

Christmas(es)

2010-12-29T09:03:00.008-08:00

Last night we got back from a quick Christmas visit to Ottawa. We only went for a few days, just enough time to catch up with family, eat lots of turkey, and (for me at least!) be reminded of how much I appreciate the fact that Vancouver winters do not bring wind-chills of -25 degrees! :)

Here we are on Christmas Eve - the calm before the storm! ;)

Santa came!

And here are Mike and Felix on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas, for my US friends!), waiting ever so patiently for the leftover turkey dinner to be prepared!

Felix is such a cutie!

Since this year was our year to go to Ottawa for Christmas, we held a mini-Christmas with my family the weekend before the real thing.

Here's my dad, the proud grandfather, helping little Max open one of his gifts.

And this is my brother Gavin, modelling the Dr. Who scarf I made for him...

...at almost 12 feet long and 1 foot wide, its not quite as long as the original, but I think its close enough! :)

Other Christmas knitting was limited to a few dishcloths I made for Mike's mom, and this super fun pair of stripy socks that I made for Mike, using wool I bought on Salt Spring Island back in October.

Now, if I want to make it safely to the New Year, I have to get back to work on Mike's Olympic sweater which has yet to acquire any sleeves! :)

Cookie Day!

2010-12-16T21:09:00.005-08:00

Last Sunday was Christmas tree day, which meant that Mike and I got to trek out into the wilderness to cut down a tree. This year's "wilderness" was a tree farm in Richmond, which came complete with muddy fields and rain puddles - a slight change from the 6-12 inches of fresh snow we usually find at the farm.

(not a great photo - it was a very grey day)

Here's Mr. Tree at home, in all his decorated glory.

In past years, we have always decorated our tree with cookies - partly so I have an excuse to make them, and partly so that we don't have to find the space to store loads of tree decorations throughout the rest of the year. This year, however, we finally seem to have reached the point where we have enough randomly collected ornaments to decorate the tree without need of the extra cookies.... but of course that didn't stop me from baking them anyway! :)

Here are a few of my favourites from this year

a reindeer in sheep's clothing

Here's Hermey the Elf, with one of Abominable's teeth...

and poor Abominable, after Hermy attacked him (skip to 8:45 to see the evil attack!)

And a random green monster, just because. :)

Scenes From a Run

2010-12-10T12:43:00.003-08:00

About half way through my run this morning, I was reminded of why its so hard to leave Vancouver once you've lived here for any length of time.
These were some of my views today - +8°C in Mid-December, in the middle of what is supposed to be a "rainy" week.

If it weren't for the puddles you could almost believe that Vancouver is like this all the time! :)

I really am having way too much fun with this Retro Cam App! :)

What did you do this weekend?

2010-12-05T22:03:00.004-08:00

Winter came early to Vancouver this year, bringing with it lots of snow for the mountains. On Saturday, Mike and I took advantage of the early season skiing, and headed up to Whistler for a day on the slopes.

It was a beautiful sunny day, not too crowded, with fantastic soft-packed (and sometimes not-so packed) snow in most places. The more adventurous skiiers were able to make fresh tracks in some areas, but it also came at the risk of hitting a couple of rocks along the way (it being early season and all). Mike and I both have relatively new gear, so we opted to save the ski edges and stay on the more groomed runs.

I forgot my camera, so these are just a few silly pics I shot with my phone. The saturated colors and fun borders are thanks to the Retro Camera app. :)

Here's Mike, chillin' in the Roundhouse.

Lift line at the Harmony Express Chair!

(This lift has an added bonus - a group of Whiskey Jacks live nearby, and they like to fly around the lift line looking for handouts. If you hold your ski pole (or your hand) up high, they'll come land on it and say hello!)

This is the inukshuk at the top of Whistler Peak.... he looks a little colder than the last time we saw him. (but not quite as cold as when we visited him a few winters ago) :)

More FOs! :)

2010-11-22T13:13:00.003-08:00

Wow, its feels like ages since my last post! I'm participating in an Implicit Career Search program these month, which takes up most of my days. Add that to the general business of life, and I just can't seem to keep up with it all! :)

Anyway, when I made the two cardigans from the last post for my friend, she also asked that I make an extra cardigan and hat set, to give to her friend as a gift. The recommendation for colours was something green or yellow, since the little girl in question has dark eyes and hair.

This is the cardigan I came up with - I loved the combination of the green and brown, and I thought the row of flowers around the middle made it feminine without being too girly.

For a matching hat, I went with a basic toque, with some added ear flaps to keep her little ears warm all winter.

These were knit Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn - its half wool, half cotton, and so squishy!! Great yardage too - the whole set took less than 2 skeins of green, and less than one of the brown.

That's all for the knitting updates at the moment - with December approaching, my knitting projects are mostly all gifts - so you'll have to wait till January to see them! :)

Knitting!

2010-11-03T10:44:00.005-07:00

Bet you thought I had forgotten that this was supposed to be a knitting blog! :) I have actually been knitting like mad all fall, but most of my projects have to remain hidden until the projects are finished, and have arrived safely with their new owners. But today, there are some projects that need revealing!

Over the summer, a friend of mine commissioned some kiddie sweaters and hats from me, for her darling little girl (she's about 15 months, for reference)... Some colour suggestions were made, but otherwise it was all up to me to design them. And here are the final results:

This set started as a suggestion that teal would look lovely on the wee one, and that maybe a little pink could be thrown in to make it more girly.

A basic raglan design, plus a daisy stitch band in the middle, teal ribbons to give some structure to the button bands, and voila, one cute little sweater! The hat is a basic toque, with earflaps added to keep wee one's head warm.

The second sweater is really more of a coat - my thought was a sort of matinee length coat, that could be worn over a little dress, or over trousers and a tunic top. Then I found some fun clasps in the sewing store, and my idea was ready:

This photo is a little dark, so here's a close up of the upper body:

(On second thought, that one's not a great deal better either - its been really wet and grey here recently,

which makes photography a little difficult!)

The hem, cuffs, and stand up collar are all picot-edged, so I carried that theme into the bonnet as well.

I'm hoping it will keep the little one's head warm, without looking like too much of a helmet! :)

Details are all on Ravelry, if your interested.

Anything is possible when you know the word 'on'!

2010-10-13T09:57:00.004-07:00

I'm off to New York for the weekend... back soon with lots of fun knitting projects to show you! :)

ETA: if you don't get the reference here, go watch this and then come take another look at Grover. :)

Playing on the Spit

2010-10-03T14:05:00.008-07:00

The weather gods determined that Vancouver hadn't had quite enough summer this year, so last week they sent us four more days of 20 degree weather with lots of sun and clear blue skies. On Saturday, the last of those four days (for the moment, anyway - it should be 18 again by the end of the week!), Mike and I decided to go check out Iona Beach Park. This is a small-ish park out by the airport, which consists of not much more than a beach, two jetties (one has been left au natural, and the other is a 4km paved path), and two small marshes. But I assure you, this park is definitely worth a visit!

Mike and I chose to walk out along the north arm of the park, which is the more beachy-looking spit. (those are the mountains of the North Shore/Sunshine Coast in the background, just for reference)

The tide was in, so we were limited to actual ground (when the tide is out, the bay between the two jetties becomes a huge mudflat). But even then, it was hard to see just how far out we'd be able to walk. The path just kept going and going! :)

Iona Beach Park sits at the mouth of the north arm of the Fraser River, right where it flows out into the ocean. Its nicely sheltered behind Point Grey (seen here - its where UBC is located, if you sort-of know the city), so it makes a great place for the logging industry to store their big "barges" of logs before dragging them off for use in sawmills and pulp and paper mills.

The park is also just north of the airport - on Saturday, we were directly under the landing line for all the propeller planes coming in to land. This wood sculpture was clearly designed for aerial viewing.

Turns out that regardless of tides, you can walk the full 2.75 miles to the end of the beachy section of this jetty - from there on, its just a 1.5 mile-long rock pile, topped off with a little light post at very end. Look closely, maybe you can see it!

Here's the view looking back the way we came:

Next time you're in Vancouver on a sunny (or at least not rainy!) day, I highly recommend a trip out to this park. Just remember the rules: no camping, no fires,

and no cocktail parties! :)

PS: I have not adjusted the colour saturation of these photos - the skies really are that blue out here! :)

Nashville

2010-09-29T13:54:00.007-07:00

Our friends Elizabeth and Brian got married in Tennessee on the weekend, so Mike and I headed down to help them celebrate.

The wedding was beautiful - the ceremony was held at a little church in their hometown, followed by a reception at Elizabeth's family home, Bloomfield Farm. I was not having a great photo day (most of them are rubbish!), but I did manage to get this one good photo of the bride, looking as beautiful as ever!

On Sunday, we went to a lovely brunch hosted by Elizabeth's relatives, and then we spent a few hours wandering around Nashville before flying home.

An old train station near the river

The Bat(man) building

Printer's Alley (not the most tasteful of places to be in the evening, so I'm told...)

The Ryman Auditorium - the original home of the Grand Old Opry, from the 1920's until the mid-70s. Its also the Opry's current home - Opryland was flooded in May, so they've relocated while the necessary renovations are undertaken.

This is the sign marking the back door of the 'World Famous' Tootsie's Orchid Lounge - a bar in which all of the big Country Western singers made their start. (forgive me if I get some of this wrong - my knowledge of Country music is very limited!)

Fountains outside City Hall. They were hosting a huge outdoor yoga session in the square outside the courthouse - not something we'd expected to see in Nashville! :) (we caught one person texting as they did their yoga moves - is that allowed?!)

A steamboat on the wall of Hard Rock Cafe

Some of the neon signs for the honky-tonk bars and restaurants in the 'District'. This place must be wild on a Saturday night! :)

All of the bars had live bands playing, even though it was Sunday afternoon (I imagine they have live music almost all the time really!). We stopped in at this place to have a beer and take in the atmosphere.

It was a very fun trip, despite being a little short - Next time we'll be sure to stay long enough to have some southern BBQ for dinner!

Claudia's visit to Vancouver

2010-09-27T14:37:00.010-07:00

Claudia came to visit last week, so of course we spent the whole time gallivanting around the city and enabling Claudia to single-handedly improve the local economy. :) But this time, we were determined to get in a little sight-seeing as well! :)

We started the week with a visit to Fort Langley, the HBC fur trading settlement that led to the creation of the colony of British Columbia.The fort has been rebuilt to resemble its original form, and there are lots of costumed people running around to give you demonstrations in things like blacksmithing, barrel making, and how to write with a nib pen that needs to be dipped in ink after every other word. :)

One of the buildings is made up to be the old trading room - its full of HBC point blankets, beaver hats, and animal skins of various kinds.

Frobisher was getting on well with one of the bears, until things suddenly turned ugly...

Good thing Wilma was there to help out! :)

Other highlights of the week were a trip to Granville Island,

a ride on the False Creek Ferries,

a visit to Michaels where Wilma made a new friend,

a trip to the Aquarium,

I call this guy the 'Darwin Fish' - gotta love a fish with legs! :)

Sightseeing in Stanley Park,

(that's the Lions Gate Bridge in the background. See all those clouds behind it? That's why I won't live on the North Shore anymore... the weather is much nicer when you move away from the mountains!) :)

and a morning picnic at Dundrave Beach in West Vancouver.

Claudia was well impressed with this German Friendship Globe - its a solid stone globe that weighs 2.5 tonnes, and floats on water. When left untouched, it sits on the same axis as the real globe! :)

Oh, and we musn't forget about all the yummy food! :)

Rice Crispie squares at Granville Island

Home-made Cinnamon Buns (Wilma tried to sneak away with half of them!)

Yummy desserts from Tomato Cafe

Chips from a chippy in Deep Cove

(here's what they looked like afterwards - how these two put away so much food is beyond me!)

Fish and Chips from Go Fish at Granville Island (some of the best fish and chips I've ever had!)

And finally, scones and blueberry tarts for breakfast on Claudia's final morning in town (bonus points for anyone who can tell me what the mug says!)

I took Claudia to the airport on Friday morning, and on Friday night Mike and I went back to the airport to fly off to Nashville for the weekend... Photos from that trip will be up soon. For now, I need to go finish recuperating from our busy week! :)

Wilma takes Vancouver...

2010-09-23T22:26:00.001-07:00

Wilma and Claudia arrived in Vancouver last week, and we have been running wild in the city ever since. Come back next week for a full re-cap, complete with lots of photos! :)

Labour Day Weekend

2010-09-13T15:04:00.007-07:00

The first weekend in September is Labour Day weekend in Canada (and the US, of course). Its the official reminder that summer is over, and that soon everyone will be back to school, work, rainy weather, and no white shoes.

We took advantage of the long weekend by heading back to Ontario to spend the weekend at the cottage, and catch up with our Ontario (and some Quebec City!) based family. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great most days, so much of our time was spent indoors, playing cards and reading.

We did get one day out in the sun though, which conveniently fell on the day that Dave and Tara brought the Munchkins to the cottage! :)

Owen and Emmett played on the beach (Felix was napping).

I hid from the sun in the hammock.

And then we all took a walk up to Blueberry 'Mountain'!

The day was so fine that we decided to have our dinner on the patio.

Emmett - looking very grown up for a 1 year old!

Owen is 5 now, and Felix is 3. These two get up to all kinds of no good - but I think Felix is the real trouble-maker, despite that look of innocence! :P

Just as we sat down to eat, a thunderstorm started blowing in across the lake - fortunately, it stayed dry just long enough for us to finish eating, and then clean up and get inside. The heavy rain started just as the kids were being clicked into their car seats!

It was such a great visit, and I hope next year we can find a way to spend more than just one weekend at the cottage!

Busy Weekends

2010-08-22T22:20:00.005-07:00

When you live in Kits, you're almost obliged to adopt a more healthy lifestyle. I think its something in the water - Greenpeace was founded here in the 60s, back when this was an inexpensive, and therefore very counterculture friendly area. These days, it seems like you can't walk on the streets here unless you're super-fit, deeply tanned and/or sporting something from Lululemon or Mountain Equipment Co-op (both of which were founded in or very near to Kits!). Anyway, the need to feel athletic, combined with all the amazing weather we've been having has kept us out of the house as many weekends (and evenings) as possible.

Last weekend Mike and I went hiking up at Grouse Mountain, one of the local ski hills. You take the gondola to the top of the hill, and then walk up around the back of the very peak of the mountain - when you see the "Caution - Bear in Area, Do not Approach" signs, you're going the right way (We couldn't figure out if they meant don't approach the area, or the bear, so we just kept walking). ;) The weather was great, but of course that meant for lots of (fortunately non-biting) bugs, so I haven't any photos from the hike up...

but here are the views from the top!

(can you see the little arrow? that's roughly where I live)

Mid-week, we decided to take advantage of the warm evenings, and have a picnic on the beach. Ok, I say we, but it was really Rachel's idea...

Mmmm... yummy dinner!

And here's the sunset - our queue to pack up and head back home to the warmth!

Cake!

2010-08-13T09:59:00.005-07:00

With all the fresh, locally produced fruit and veg that's available at this time of year, its hard not to go a little overboard at the produce markets. What's a girl to do with all the extra fruit and veg?

Bake, of course!

This yummy carrot cake was last night's successful attempt to use up some extra carrots. (Not so successful: using my too-small, not very sharp $15 food processor to grate the carrots and breaking part of it in the process!)

As I was taking the photos this morning, a cake monster snuck in and stole a piece and then escaped on his bicycle. I think I'll have to keep an ear out for the sound of bicycle cleats when photographing cakes in the future! ;)

PS: I am not the Little Red Hen. Who will help me eat the cake? :)

Augustus Fish

2010-08-09T09:07:00.006-07:00

Do you remember my friend Stanley? Ever since he chose to leap to a carpety demise, we have been wanting to bring another watery friend into our home. But with our schedule of moving house every year or so, it wasn't very realistic. Until now, that is!

Meet Augustus Fish, our new pisciform friend! He moved in on Saturday, and will hopefully be with us for a good long while! :)

ETA: I just realised that Augustus has come to live with us in August... but Gus assures me that his name has nothing to do with that fact! :)

Mmmmmm!

2010-08-04T12:00:00.005-07:00

I'm not usually one to feature recipes on the blog, but this one was so good that I decided I couldn't not share it! :)

We had picked up some fresh BC ling cod* at one of the local fish markets on the weekend (I so love living next to the ocean again!), and when it came time to cook it yesterday, I thought I'd attempt a version of the cod-based dish that we often get at our favourite Cantonese restaurant here in Vancouver. A little internet searching later (all done during the 40-minutes I had to spend on the phone in order to book flights with travel points!), and voila - Cod in Black Bean Sauce that actually tastes as good as it does in the restaurant!

(hmm, on second thought, this picture doesn't make it look nearly as appetizing as it really is!) :)

The recipe is from the UK's Good Food Channel. I won't re-type it here because I pretty much followed the directions as-written, aside from leaving out the bamboo shoots and celery, and replacing them with green pepper. Mike and I love black bean sauce, and I've tried various pre-mixed, or powder variations in the past - but none of them have been even half as good as this from-scratch version (which I suppose should be as expected, yet isn't always true with me and Asian food recipes). Look for the salted/fermented black beans at a Chinese grocery - they come in smallish bags and aren't very expensive - my 227g bag set me back a whopping $1.09, and given that you only need a few spoonfuls at a time, I figure it should last me a while... but then again, the fish store is just down the street, and I do have to make dinner again in a few hours.... ;)

Bon Appetit!

*Interesting fact I just found out... Ling Cod isn't actually a species of Cod Fish. No wonder I like it so much better than regular cod! :)

Escape to Whistler Mountain

2010-07-26T16:20:00.011-07:00

On the weekend, Mike and I decided to escape the number tags and run off to Whistler for a few days. We've been wanting to get out and do a little hiking, and what better place to do that than on the top of a mountain! :)

The plan for Saturday was to head up Whistler, do some hiking, hop the Peak to Peak Gondola over to Blackcomb mountain, hike a little more, and then make our way to the bottom. Unfortunately, the mountains had other plans for us...

Rubber duckies at Whistler Peak

Last winter was particularly snowy on Whistler and Blackcomb. Combine that with a not very warm spring, and you're left with an unusually deep snowpack on the mountain tops. So much, in fact, that the trail we wanted to hike was closed... Well, technically, it was 'hike at your own risk/pay for your own rescue' open, and came complete with deep snow, and unmarked cliffs and crevasses. But that wasn't really the kind of hiking that we'd had in mind, so we gave it a miss.

One of the whistling alpine marmots, from which Whistler takes its name. They're supposed to be pretty elusive, but this guy wasn't much bothered by us.

Just to give you an idea of the amount of snow that's still up there, here's Mike next to one of the 'snowbanks' that line the road from the peak of Whistler Mountain down to the main lodge at the top of the lifts. Not exactly typical for this time of year, I don't think...

Since we couldn't hike (much) on the Whistler side, we decided to hop over to Blackcomb, by way of the Peak 2 Peak Gondola - a cable car that spans 4.4km/2.73 miles (3km/1.88 miles of which is stretched between only 2 towers!) and sits about 486m /1430 feet above the ground.

Here's a shot taken while in-transit - that straight cut through the trees is the path of the gondola...

On the Blackcomb side, the trail we wanted to take was also marked as 'closed', but no one seemed to be paying much attention to the signs (probably because it didn't have the 'you pay for your own rescue' note attached!). So we followed it along a bit, and had lunch in an alpine meadow.

Then we walked a little further, and found a little (slightly frozen-over) glacier lake

The benches were still buried by the snow... yet more evidence of the unusually deep snow pack!

After that hike, it was getting time to head back down the mountain. Earlier, we had wondered why all the designated hiking trails were at the top of the mountains... on the way down we saw some possible reasons for this restriction:

Can you see the bear in the middle of the run? Here's a close up, taken as we glided over top of him. I always think they look just like big hairy dogs...

He's just a little guy, probably about a year or so old. His buddy was down the hill a bit, in the next ski run over...

Later, we saw signs for guided 'bear watching' tours, featuring (most likely) these two bears. Guess that's why they don't encourage hikers to walk down the mountain on their own!

On Sunday, we decided to hire bikes and explore the valley a little. We didn't manage to take too many photos (too busy biking!) but here are a couple from Rainbow Park, where we took a little break to stick our feet in the lake.

We also saw a third bear as we were biking - just a cutie little cub this time - but he was too far into the woods to get a good photo. Let's hope he soon moves up the hill with the other guys, where he's out of reach of the tourists!

Revenge of the number tags...

2010-07-23T08:27:00.005-07:00

When the movers were packing up our things, they assigned each item a number before loading it on to their truck. That way, when they later moved our things into the warehouse, on to a second truck, and, finally, into our new flat, it was a simple matter of checking off all the numbers to make sure that everything arrived safely.

(There was a brief moment at the end of the 'moving box bingo' game when both a mirror and one of my boxes of yarn was unaccounted for... I didn't care about the mirror, but there would've been trouble if that yarn had disappeared!) :)

Overall, there were only 174 pieces in our shipment. But, somehow, now that we're in the final stages of unpacking, the numbers just won't go away!

Everywhere we turn, there's another number sticker staring you in the face...

I'm beginning to think that they might be reattaching themselves at night, when no one else is watching! ;)

On the plus side, we finished painting all the main rooms on Wednesday, which meant that we were finally able to set up our furniture. Our living room now looks like a living room!

We still need to find a side table to house the microwave and toaster oven (it will go against the wall opposite the stove, and thereby give us back our counter-space!), but here's the before and after of the kitchen that I promised you earlier.

This is how the kitchen looked when we first moved in:

And this is how it looks now:

Would you believe its the same apartment? :)

ps: most of that nice "wood" trim in the first picture wasn't actually nice wood... it was just cheap plywood or plastic crown moulding that had been painted to look like wood, using this really awful faux finish. And don't even get me started on that "baseboard"... who installs a baseboard that's flush with (and sometimes even inset from) the bottom edge of the drywall?! I know this is an old building, but seriously! But this is what happens when you rent, I guess... :)

birthdays

2010-07-14T15:09:00.004-07:00

Meet the newest addition to the McDonald Clan!This is Max, my new nephew! His parents are my brother, Gavin, and his wife Dominika. Max is one week old today - hope you had a good week little guy!

Today is also my nephew Emmett's first birthday - Happy Birthday Emmett! :)

This kid has the craziest hair - I love it! :)

EE-I-EE-I-O

2010-07-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Old McDonald had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-o.

And on this farm he had a reunion, ee-i-ee-i-o...

In 1910, Old McDonald (aka, my great-grandfather) moved his family from rural Ontario to very rural Saskatchewan. 100 years later, just over 100 of his descendants returned the farm for a great big family reunion!

(the keen-eyed among you will notice that the cake says MacDonald, even though I'm a Mc... this is a much debated issue in the family - my grandfather was one of 9 kids, half of whom decided that they should be Macs, not Mcs, and changed their name accordingly... no one really knows why, although I suspect it had something to do with the Protestant/Catholic associations with each name... But we've seen the original land deeds, and my great-grandfather was definitely a Mc!)

The reunions actually happen every year (I went at least 3 times as a kid), but this year was special because it marks the 100-year anniversary of our family owning the farm. More than 100 of us showed up to the celebration, although I can assure you that this is a mere fraction of the whole group.

The farm is in a little tiny town in rural Saskatchewan, about 50 miles south of Saskatoon. In the 20's it was a booming place, with as many as 6 grain elevators, two hotels, and a garage run by my great-uncles! Nowadays, its a little smaller... after a recent population boom, the population has soared to a grand total of 80 people!

The first thing you notice in the prairies is how flat everything is. I find it a little disturbing sometimes - there's just too much sky!

Here's a view of the farm from out in the fields, to give you an idea of how it looked in the old days:

The barn is almost original - the first barn burnt down very shortly after it was built, this is the replacement.

Rumour has it that the cost to replace the barn took up the money that was supposed to go towards a new house. So great-granny Hannah had to raise all her kids in this one little farmhouse

(you can see the corner of the new house in behind the old one)

One of the oddest things about old farms is how no one really takes away the old things... they just get left on the property, where they slowly fall to pieces.

Old cars..

Old buildings...

Old possessions...

Sometimes the old things are re-vamped and put to a new use. In Outlook, the next town over from the farm, there is an old rail bridge that was built in 1912. The tracks were removed in the late 80's, and then in the early 2000's they decided to turn it into the SkyTrail.

Now its part of the Trans-Canada Trail, a hiking trail that goes right across the country. The bridge is 3000 feet long, and stands 150 feet above the South Saskatchewan River. And trust me, the view is amazing!

Paint!

2010-07-09T11:27:00.003-07:00

We've been in Vancouver for about 2 weeks now, and we are STILL waiting for our furniture to arrive. This living out of a suitcase thing is starting to get a little old!

On the plus side, an empty apartment is an easily painted apartment! And believe me, we are taking full advantage of that fact - the bedroom, office, living room, kitchen, den, and hallway are all getting a fresh coat of paint. Here's the before of the kitchen (it opens out into the living room):

Come back soon to see the after! :)

Welcome to the Wet Coast!

2010-06-28T11:51:00.007-07:00

So it's official - we've moved! This is where I live now:

The movers came last Wednesday, and in about 8 hours two guys packed all our things into boxes. Disturbing, really, seeing as it took Mike and I more than 2 weeks to pack up last time!

On Thursday they brought along a third guy, and between them they took about 7 hours to wrap all our furniture in blankets and then move everything out of the flat and into their truck. Leaving me with just enough time to clean up, hop a cab, and then climb into a plane. And that that was it - I'd left New York for good! :(

I made it to Vancouver on Friday morning, after a brief, and very unexpected sleepover in Toronto (which was at least paid for by Air Canada). Since then, I've just been hanging with the 'rents*, enjoying the perks of being at home again...

like having Daddy make you waffles on Sunday morning, using the Frankenstein waffle machine that we've had since I was little (and which will soon be making its way over to our new place, in case anyone wants to come over for brunch!). :)

*Mike is still on the East Coast, doing stuff for work.

Dinobot, anyone?

2010-06-19T06:08:00.004-07:00

One of the inevitable parts of moving (even when you're not doing the packing) is going through the fridge and freezer, and using up all your leftover perishables...

and so that one bag of (probably 1/2 cup of) leftover frozen rhubarb just has to become a pan of strawberry rhubarb crumble... even if it does mean having to buy strawberries and rolled oats just to make it. And those chocolate bars that have been hiding in the freezer to avoid melting in this heat? Oatmeal praline-mousse-filled-chocolate-bar-chunk cookies of course! :)

And now, just for your own amusement, I thought I'd show you some of the goods available at Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company that we came across last week...

anyone care for a can of immortality? :)

Moving On...

2010-06-15T12:20:00.004-07:00

Somehow it has become normal for us to pack up and move house at least once a year... so it should come as no surprise that we are preparing to move house once again...

My job in New York will soon be coming to an end, and when it didn't seem as if there were going to be any immediate job openings (local or otherwise) for me, we decided to move on a job option that had come up for Mike. Long story short, we're moving to Vancouver at the end of next week!

Posting will likely be a little slow here for the next little while - we have a busy rest of the week planned, and then the movers will come pack up all our stuff next Wednesday & Thursday. Fingers crossed their delivery schedule brings our things to Vancouver at the beginning of their 3-week shipping time frame, and not at its end!

In the meantime, here's a pic from my birthday dinner last weekend - we all went to this fun little restaurant called Supper, down in the East Village. Thanks for coming out everyone! :)

just your average day in the city...

2010-06-07T11:04:00.005-07:00

So I'm wandering past the Museum of Natural History the other day, when something catches my eye as it runs around their side lawn. I look over, expecting to see a dog of some kind - but what do you think I saw?

Its Mud, a tortoise from the Museum's herpetology department! :) There were two tortoises out there - apparently, the staff brings them out on the lawn to let them catch a little sun and snack on the grass as a bit of a treat.

Here's another shot of Mud, as he runs to catch up with his buddy - he's a quick little thing!

This one is Hermes... he was hiding out in the shade, munching on the grass and weeds.

I love the random things you see on a lazy Saturday afternoon in New York! :)

More FOs! :)

2010-06-04T09:33:00.006-07:00

Two more recent FOs to show you today, both of them gifts for little ones or soon-to-be little ones.

First up we have this fun little cotton sun hat, made for little Roma. Another fun crochet project, which took almost no time to make. The ribbon makes it look very dressy, but you can easily take it out to dress it down a little. :) Details on Ravelry, for those who are interested.

The other FO was a gift for my brother and his wife, who are expecting a little boy in July (my nephew-only streak continues!). When we were kids, my brother was a huge lego junky... so what is more appropriate for his son than his own baby-safe lego man?! :)

His name is Jørgen; he stayed in New York just long enough for a photo shoot, but then had to be taken out to Vancouver to my brother's place - Jørgen and Frobisher just did not get along!

It started all nice and friendly-like, but then Frobisher decided it would be funny to see what Jørgen looked like all in pieces...

At this stage, I had to separate the two, and send Frobisher off to bed without any cookies for dinner. Needless to say, he didn't make the trip out to Vancouver this past week! :)

Jørgen's Ravelry details are available here.

directionally challenged crochet (an FO)

2010-05-27T21:22:00.006-07:00

Crochet is my new favourite way to use up my insanely large yarn stash. Especially those teeny little bits of yarn that I insist on keeping, despite the fact that some people (Jo, this means you!) make fun of me for keeping them. :)

My most recent creation is this little guy, Curtis the Caterpillar, a pattern from the Lion Brand collection.

Only problem is, I think I'm crocheting backwards...

So my question for all you experienced crocheters is this: when you are crocheting around in a circle, are you supposed to be turning the work in a counter-clockwise direction, or a clockwise direction? I turn it counter-clockwise, and as a result, I'm pretty sure this guy is technically inside-out! :)

But then I guess this shouldn't be that much of a surprise - when I knit in the round, I usually do that inside out as well! :)

FO: Squidgy Squares with Frills

2010-05-25T12:35:00.007-07:00

Mike's cousin Rick and his wife Kathy (would that make them my cousins-in-law?) had a little baby boy in March. As usual, a new baby in the family means a new blanket on my needles!

The design for this one came about rather randomly... To start with, I had 9 colours of this cotton-ease yarn, in varying amounts. I wanted something portable, so I could easily take it to the Olympics, and work on it during the bus trips to Whistler and Cypress Mountains.

Individual squares were the perfect solution - so I took the colour of which I had the least amount, and knit until I ran out of yarn... one false start later, and I had the perfect size - 46 stitches, by 46 garter ridges. Repeat this 8 more times, stitch 'em all together (with alternating ridge directions, just for kicks), and voilà! A baby blanket in need of a border...

That too was a little random. I couldn't find anything good online, so I went to Knitty City here in NYC (love that store!) and started flipping through their collection of edging books until I found the one I wanted... turns out its the same frill used on the Mrs. Beeton handwarmers, but worked in the opposite direction.* Doesn't it just make the perfect blanket edging! :)

The backing fabric was sewn on by hand, which makes for a neater transition from backing to frill. I also fudged a bit of "quilting" around the edges of the orange (centre) square, just to hold it all together... if you've been paying attention the last few years, you'll recognize the fabric from the blanket I made for Felix several years ago. I think its good for 2nd cousins to have things in common, don't you? :)

Add one baby Joshua, and you have a perfect blanket!

*more details available on Ravelry