The Twisted Sock . . . as ye knit, so shall ye rip!

2012-02-02T11:38:00.003-08:00

We're Wet & Moldy

Wow, with the weather being so changeable on the Wet Coast - we've gone from sub-zero to snow to slush-on-ice to Spring-is-coming - all in the space of a couple of weeks!! I work part time for Action Motorcycle School - yes, if you've ever wanted to learn to ride a motorcycle, come & take the course!!! - and the weather was so bad for the annual Motorcycle Show two weekends ago that most people didn't come. Seriously - if you've been dreaming of riding & live in the Vancouver burbs, give us a call. Training won't guarantee you a license, no one can, but it will guarantee a SAFER experience. And you'll probably see my socks on a couple of the Instructors!!

But, back to the weather - as usual, it's our changeable weather that makes knitted sweaters so necessary in our climate but so hard to gauge. Right now I'm knitting away on my Arvik Ribbons sweater, using the Ribbons-o-Round pattern from Knitter's. It's light & airy - it has another colored stripe since this was taken - but warm since it's woolen spun with not too much twist so it holds air for insulation. That's all fine & good but if the wind blows or a downpour occurs, I'll freeze & soak my butt!! What I need right now is something in a good worsted wool that will keep me warm when the wind blows or mostly dry when the rain comes pelting down. Why oh why didn't I knit an Indian Sweater for myself instead of someone else?? Or another Wonderful Wallaby in wool for me??? Or get it in gear with the Poncho Pullover??
This brings me back to unfinished projects - I'm a great starter but a lousy finisher. This is why I knit socks. They're small, portable & done before I get bored. Unless they're black, grey, brown or one solid color - then I get bored really, really fast. Because I'm a Starter, I have three sweaters on the go for myself & nothing to wear. So, you heard it here folks. Arvik, which is a couple of rows from the armhole shaping, will become my new car knitting - it's been going to Bucks for a couple of weeks anyway - and I'll get myself back to the barely started Poncho Pullover while I watch TV - if I have TV after this week. Maybe, I'll actually have TWO sweaters this year??? Since I have to recharge the camera before I can take any new pics, you'll just have to look at the old ones . . .

2012-01-29T22:45:00.003-08:00

A Little Progress

I haven't been doing a lot of work on the Arvik Ribbons sweater. I've been finishing off all the sock toes & sorting leftovers that carpet the couch I want to move. I keep thinking about being able to lay on that couch & have a nap when I get home instead of nodding off while sitting in the chair. The kids & I used to laugh at our mother when she'd sit down to watch the news at 6:00 & nod off. I'm turning into my mother, dammit. I sit & nod off.

The sock toes are done, the last pair of Christmas socks have been given away, the pink Kroy socks are in my basket & I had time today while watching Downton Abbey to knit on my sweater. Before adding another rosy stripe, I decided to try it on & check the progress only to find I have another 3 or so inches to go. I have to figure out where the sleeves will go & have decided I'd prefer narrow three quarter sleeves. This will be a light but warm sweater for spring, summer evenings & early fall chills. I hope the handspun won't be too warm.

2012-01-24T11:08:00.005-08:00

Something to Show

As I said the other day, I've been trying to recover from staying up all night & the terrible wound to my credit card. I think I'm finally over the shock of both but its now official, I've spent more on parts & repairs than I paid to purchase the Van! As a result, I'm doing more work for people I thought I'd gotten rid of last year. After doing nothing for months & months, they now need all the paperwork done, yesterday. Cut's into my fibre time this does!! But, I did almost finish a couple of my on-going projects.

My Motorcycle School Boss asked for Socks. I've worked with him for over 20 years & this is the first time he's ever really even LOOKED at my socks! And now he wants some. Everyone else in the office has a pair of the wild Regia socks in the FLAGS series like these! I got a good deal on the yarn so I bought a bunch. Chris is rather conservative. He would never wear socks like these. While Bryan & Diane, well, the wilder, the better!! They wear theirs with shorts out in the parking lot when they're teaching students to ride. But, Chris wears plain white dull cotton socks . . . . So, I cast on this plain, boring, brownish-grey Regia in early December for his Christmas gift. Boring yarn takes so long to knit. And I hate boring yarn. I found myself unable to put on more that a few rows at a time & had to knit another pair of Pink KROY socks for myself at the same time to give myself incentive. Tonight, I'll 3 needle bind-off all the toes, tuck in all the ends & proceed to spend the rest of my evening on my new top-down sweater in handspun. Must get it finished quickly because I've found a new way of knitting sleeves in a top-down sweater called "Contiguous". It gives you that fitted shoulder/sleeve without the diagonal raglan look & the sleeves can be made wider or narrower without changing the body sizing of the sweater. Sort of like knitting gussets on the side of the heel AS you knit the flap instead of picking up the gusset stitches AFTER you knit the flap.

2012-01-23T09:36:00.002-08:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah . . .

I know, been missing for a while. Nothing to report! Oh, yeah, there's one thing to report - my van is now in full working order, with no drips, no leaks. But, my poor plastic card is badly wounded. You know the old saw, One Step forward & Two Steps back?? Well, I'm Two Steps Back - Again!

In the end, after buying everything that might be needed, I needed MOST of it. Dave only works at night & my repairs took 7 hours! I arrived shortly before 8 & left about 3:30. In the AM. FOUR hours before I had to get up to go back to work. I debated about whether I was more tired or more hungry. Sleep won. And worked the next four days in a stupor. I'm too damned old to stay up all night! And if I didn't need that damned van for work . . . needless to say, all my spare cash this tax season will be paying down the credit card. And no, Dave's not a bad mechanic or a rip off - the bolts in the water pump were frozen. Some of the rad bolts were also frozen. I'm so glad he got the job because he's meticulous, he heated them, lubricated them, wiggled them, heated them again & eventually worked them loose. While the rad was the right one, he had to drill new holes in the frame to make it fit. It took 2 hours to unscrew/unbolt/undo all the bits to get to the job & one more to get it all back together again after the bolts were dealt with. I know, I was there.

So, I haven't knitted much of anything because I've been too damned tired. After staring at computer screens all day, well, I've been staggering home, eating something, sitting up like a Zombie for a couple of hours & going to bed. But the van runs like a charm.

2012-01-17T23:49:00.002-08:00

It's been a Hellova Day

Life is NOT good at the moment. My radiator has been leaking since I got the Van. Not a biggie, I just check it once a week & fill up what's lost. To tell the truth, I thought it was the wonky Air Conditioner/heater module that was causing the system to use extra water! So, I notice I'm filling up more often with more water. Then it gets cold & I'm down to checking it every morning before I start it up - some mornings it needs a little & some mornings it needs a lot. So, I travel with three gallons of water & two of antifreeze & don't go too far. I know, I know, antifreeze is not really very good for the environment. But, I've had the hoses checked. And the clamps replaced. And the water pump checked. And the rad pressure checked - there's a small leak for sure - but no one can find it. The thermostat is fine. Apparently there's a sender unit in there somewhere but no one can tell me anything unless they charge me 4 hours to tear it all out. I threw in the towel today & ordered a water pump & new rad. My customer, the machine shop guy who builds his own equipment, says it's probably the plastic reservoir inside the rad that's become fatigued & cracked. Plastic??? Inside the rad?? It can't be fixed, the rad has to go. So, tomorrow evening, I will be in his shop getting it all checked out. To save time & money, I'm taking all the parts he thinks I may need to replace. I hope this fixes the leak.

And why wasn't I in the shop today?? Two reasons. One, an SUV beat me to it & because of the terrible conditions on the highway yesterday, the new tranny was still up the Valley till this morning. Two, I went to bed with a book & a big pile of pillows last night & fell asleep. Woke up with a pinched nerve that left me unable to turn my head to the right or lift my right arm without unbelievable pain in my upper back. I took drugs - where are illegal narcotics when you really need them?? - & went back to bed to sleep or die. I didn't really care which at the time.

2012-01-13T10:10:00.002-08:00

Just a little Eye Candy

I'd forgotten how SOFT the handspun Shetland yarn is. It's like a cloud & yet it still has a lot of lanolin in it. This fleece - from a sheep named Arvik who has gone to the big pasture in the sky - was a patchwork of greys. I fell in love & bought her last two or three fleeces. At first, I divided up the colors but there just wasn't enough of any one color to do much so I just spun it up as it came. The greys range from very light to almost black with some brownish grey in there too. The pinks are hand dyed by a local artist somewhere in Washington State. I got the roving as a gift & it ranges from acid pink to a pinky chocolate - fun to spin & seems to work well with Arvik.

I'm using the top down technique from the Ribbon-O-Round sweater in the new Winter Knitter's. I thought it looked interesting - knit 2, yo - as increase rows instead of the usual rigid raglan style. I'm hoping this will work out better for my very large Apple shape that needs more width in body & a whole lot less in sleeve! So far it's almost a mindless knit except for making sure I knit BOTH strands when I make a stitch.

Other than that, still staggering if I get up too fast & definitely overworked this week. Somehow I even lost a day! I'm picking up mail, banking the cheques, pounding on the computer & hanging out with Pooches. The Pooches are happy & sad this week because a family member is sleeping over while their humans are away. He likes them but won't let them sleep or cuddle with him - he's a bit of a clean freak. He drags them out for a mile before breakfast & another before lunch & then is gone for the afternoon. I show up just after lunch, cuddle them, give treats & throw the balls for them outside. They usually SLEEP most of the afternoon while I work until he appears around 7 to drag them - quite unwilling by now - out for another mile before he & they settle in for the evening. They're too tired to chew anything up, bark & get into trouble. After all, they've gone from a walk around the block every evening if the weather isn't too bad to THREE miles a day plus afternoon fetch. And that fat little Daisy has visibly lost weight!

2012-01-09T10:39:00.005-08:00

A New Project

Remember these??? Yeah, I can hear the hooting from here! Risen from the ashes - actually from the hodge podge on the BT's crappy old couch - a new project from the remains of several others. I've been slogging through work while wishing to be home in bed & dropping into my chair to veg in front of the tube for a couple of hours when I get home at night. Now some vegging is okay but I found myself NEEDING to do something while staring at that 14" black hole before falling into bed. I NEEDED something relatively mindless without any charts, complex instructions or certain way of doing things. And I needed it to be forgiving & have limited pieces to work with - socks are beyond me right now. I HAD been looking at a pile of Knitter's & Interweave Knitting mags - there's always a whole stack on the container in front of me that's supposed to hold garbage but ended up as a side table - and a couple of things jumped out at me. I've been wanting something light - nothing heavy that you can only wear two weeks of the year on the Wet Coast - something relatively mindless that can ride in the car as "waiting" knitting & go to Starbucks to coffee with the boys. And nothing white or pastel since I don't want to be washing WOOL every second day!! And I think I found it. I think I'll even be able to use up some of my leftovers - yeah, it's handspun leftovers on my Denise circs!!

2012-01-06T12:02:00.003-08:00

No pictures, no promises

I AM vertical even though I'd prefer to be horizontal. Not much knitting going on these days but I did make it to Starbucks last night for a large, Skinny Mocha with my techie buddy Steve. Steve's usually ALWAYS ready for a trip to Starbucks unless he's only just come home & still has a full cup in his hand. He & my other Tech buddy Kelly are flashing their new Starbucks Aps to make me feel old & dumb. Well, phooey to both of you - I just LOVE my new Starbucks Chinese New Year CARD which is very difficult to photograph! Is it me or my camera?? Probably me. I keep getting the shakes or the fuzzies . . .

So, even though I feel like hell, I've been working my brains out at the office with the pooches. The pooches' Owners have been sick too - She's been flat on her tush for the last 3 out of 4 days & actually got dressed yesterday while He's slowly been getting worse & now has the cough. They're leaving this morning for the Caribbean for a 10 day cruise - I'll bet they spend most of it sleeping in a deck chair!! Meanwhile, I've been there every day banging on the keyboard, sending out paperwork, doing payroll at the last minute & trying my best to function. While they're gone, I'll be in charge of cuddling!! And bank deposits. Hallelujah!

Everybody is spinning &/or knitting with quivet these days. It seems to have become the fibre of the minute!! I haven't played with quivet yet but it seems to be very much like camel down which was available but quite expensive waaaaaaay back there when Romney Wools was in Vancouver. I loved Romney Wools. They had bins of local fleeces, fleeces from New Zealand, silk bricks from China, silk cocoons, nylon & raimie rovings, mysterious little bags of curls, red, blue & yellow wool rovings for blending, raw materials for dyeing like chrome, tin, iron etc which are considered toxic today!! I bought a lot of tussah silk & raime rovings & still have a bin full of the toxic 'natural' dye stuff I need to get rid of. One of the things they stocked was camel down. Still had the dandruff in it too! You had to separate the coarse hairs from it yourself & blend it with wool to get a very soft, yummy yarn. It was just too expensive to use on its own. Once I remember a down/silk/wool blend available in roving form - I still have a sample in my knit book!! A tiny 2" sample!! I bought enough to try but it was gone when I returned & they were never able to get any more in. I always wanted more so when quivit hit the market, I wanted some of that too. But the price, well, I decided I'd have to live without it.

Now my new husband - we're talking 20+ years ago here - & I went visiting my parents who hauled us off to the Okanagan Game Farm just down the road. We took huge bags of veggies - mom cleaned out the fridge & the excess in the garden too - because we were allowed to feed the animals but didn't want to pay for the little bits the dispensers gave out. The big male Giraffe sure knew a grocery bag when he saw one, the pig. He actually laid his head on my shoulder so his lips were closer to the bag & tried to muscle out the female & baby!! He loved the wrinkled celery!! And potatoes too. Now the Game Farm had several Musk Oxen & they were shedding huge slabs of hair. They looked really strange with them hanging on their sides & spent a lot of time rubbing against the posts in the centre of the compound. Now I, being a spinner, was interested in all the fur/feathers/hair dropped by all the animals in the pens but was not allowed in . So, when a muskox drifted over to see what we had in the bag, I offered goodies with one hand while tugging on his fur with the other. Oooops. Wrong thing to do. He charged the fence. We got out of there quickly. And the new husband & old parents wouldn't let me near another animal except the Giraffe. Damn.

2012-01-02T11:03:00.007-08:00

Rubbing the Shine Off Already

Here it is, a nice, bright, shiny New Year & the shit starts hitting the fan already. I have three tax returns to finish - just couldn't get it in gear over the holidays to save my life. And I've got an ear infection - which explains the headaches I've had for that last few days - which has given me a sinus infection - blow, drip, blow, snuffle, sneeze, drip, blow. So, my eyes are puffy, the nose is red & my damn ear is sticky, yuck. Good thing dogs love ya no matter how bad you look - especially if you have treats. And then there's those tax returns . . .

Haven't felt much like knitting the last day or so - yesterday I slept in for some reason, see above - but did put a few rows on one sock project. I started the pink Kroy socks but got sidetracked when I had to churn out another pair of socks for my Motorcycle School Boss. But I got back to them this past weekend & turned the heels on both. I thought I took a picture of them with the heels turned but apparently I didn't. Oh well . . . trust me, I'm well on the way to the toes on one & decreasing for toes on the other!! Actually, I'm to the part where I start sweating because it looks like I won't have enough yarn to finish - as usual!!

The last pair of Christmas Sox have their heels turned & are at the toe decreases as well. They've taken a while to knit because they're ugly. And plain. I've always said that ugly socks take longer to knit than crazy socks. And these ones took some time. Yeah, I know they're not BLACK socks & they DO have some variation to them but they're still plain as a mud fence!! I like wild & crazy socks. But, since I won't be seeing Chris till later this week or next week I have a little more time to finish them. I want to wear those pink ones first!!!

My Pocho Pullover has been frogged already. I started off with navy yarn, added some scarlet for fun & intended to finish with the Anniversary yarn which is a barber pole of light & dark blue. Well, I took it to the Wednesday Nite Nitters & asked what THEY thought because it wasn't looking quite right somehow & I really didn't want to start over. We all agreed that the dark top with the lighter bottom did not look nearly as good as the lighter top with the darker bottom. The dark blue is a little purple while the lighter blue is definitely in the same denim family, just faded. You see the difference quite well in the two photos. The one with the red in it is the one I am NOW making! So I frogged it & wound it into nice centre pull balls once more. Hopefully, this will be the last time it gets frogged. Other than color choice, I think the pattern is a cinch & could be knit by any rank beginner with one hand!!

Postscript - For those who don't know who the BT is/was. I tend to be a serial monogamist & he was the 2000's man, commonly referred to as the BoyToy or BT because he was younger.

2011-12-31T20:00:00.003-08:00

New Beginnings

I'm not going to get all teary eyed & sucky, but here's the chance to end it all with a smile & do it better next year. And I'm not talking Resolution, neither! No point in writing down all the things you know you should be doing but won't because it's too much trouble to actually DO all the things you know you should do or you'd have DONE them by now. I'm a Realist in a Dreamer's world. Resolutions are a waste of time & paper. I like one Blogger's idea of picking a WORD for the year. Nice Idea. Won't work for me. I have to be practical. So, I'm drinking a toast to all the mistakes I made in 2011 & kissing them goodbye like an old boyfriend with a wandering eye. I'm looking forward to some new opportunities in 2012. Nothing is written down, there's nothing to plan, no mistakes to worry about. It's all brand new. Like the shiny kitchen in a fancy new condo.

I'm hoping to complete some things I ignored in 2011 though.

-That Big Blue Afghan. It must be finished this coming year - I had no idea that it was started in 2005!! Yikes. It will go into the donation bin. And while I'm at it, I guess I should crochet those squares together too - they've also been around for years.
- The Purple Kyler's Kardigan. I need that damned sweater now.
- I must pull the BT's crappy old couch out from the corner under the window where it's been piled high with yarn & flotsam of all kinds & get it where I can use it. I'm stuck with it for a while yet so I'm gonna replace the worn seat cushions with a big slab of foam & put the red frog cover on it. So I can sleep on it. Or sit or lay on it. I might even buy one of those Couch Skins & make it look good!! If I had any brains at all, I'd push it outside in the spring & enjoy it out there all summer!!! hmmmmm . . . Now there's a thought
And that's it. Short, sweet & simple. Finish a few jobs.

2011-12-27T14:17:00.001-08:00

It Ain't Over Yet

I always hate this week between the major holidays. I guess most people love it because they get to spend time with the family, go visiting or just plain shop till they drop!! I don't do the family thing - no one close enough if I wanted too, I don't want to visit anyone with a pile of kids & family hanging about & I wouldn't darken a mall if I was paid at this time of year!! I'm not even happy about going to Safeway for milk right now! The parking lots are jammed, people are running over each other to find bargains & it just isn't worth the hassle.

So, I went to work instead. Not surprisingly, I think the only places open for a square mile around me were fast food & the Pub. A haven of peace. So, I listened to a new Audio book - The Covenant of Genesis by Andy McDermott. The Covenant is a group of former Enemies, all of the three Abrahamic Religions, who are wiping out anyone connected to certain archeological discoveries. They not only slaughter every man, woman & child at the dig but destroy the animals, equipment, data & the dig itself. One Archeologist & her fiance survive to find out why. If you like spies, war, action & mayhem, this is the one for you!!

At my other job site, I'm listening to the Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows. A total turnaround. The book is made up of letters written in 1946 between a young author & the people of Guernsey that she wishes to write a story about. The letters are read in multiple voices & tell the story of Guernsey under the Occupation. It's sad & terrible, happy & uplifting & will make you laugh out loud while you wipe away a tear. I highly recommend it to anyone.

And just so you don't think I've stopped completely - a new project!! I started on my Poncho Pullover on Christmas Day while my Italian Soup burbled in the pot & I watched Downton Abbey. I swatched & liked the fabric I got with the 4mm needle & the Briggs & Little Heritage. Problem was, it just didn't work in the actual usage. The garter collar was too tight & too small with the 4mm needles!! Okaaaay. I went up a size but found I liked the collar in the 6mm in the end. But, it's just a collar - right?? Nope, I didn't like the 4mm in stockinette neither in the round. So, I'm knitting the Poncho Pullover with the 6mm needles which is a little looser than I wanted but hey, I'll get to try it on as I go & may not need to add a few more increase rows. The smaller needles are in the Kyler's Kardigan sleeve anyway. I left the neck open a little bit farther than the pattern does - I worried about it being too tight. And I added a little color for interest. I have one more ball of this darker solid blue & then I'll probably finish the sweater with the Anniversary Blue that I used for the Carpenter Wallaby. It's a barber pole of light & dark blue - I have lots of it - instead of multiple shades of blue as I go.

2011-12-23T09:47:00.002-08:00

Twas the Day Before the Day Before . . .

I'm not sure I need to make my Annual Silly Season Rant this year since I can't find much to Rant about. Is it my imagination or is everything a little Low Key this year?? There doesn't seem to be any Public Debate on Political Correctness. I haven't heard a word about the Proper Greeting one must use if one is employed by any subset of the Government. And no one has made an Official Announcement about Decorations . . . everyone's just happily doing their own thing. Has the Government gone on Early Break to ski at Whistler?? Have we reverted to the Past somehow?? Everyone just seems to be enjoying themselves for a change. Why, I got a call from a Government Office this very morning & they said 'Merry Christmas'. Imagine my surprise!!

Meanwhile, on the Home Front, I've doled out the hats, socks & Port. Delivered a bottle of wine or two. Bought cheese, Triscuits, veggies & sausage & signed up for two 'classes' on Craftsy. I am going to do a Curvy Knits class & a Fit Your Knits class over the holidays. One class will take me through the basics of measuring & plotting out MY body on the basic diagram of the pattern & then adjusting it to fit while the other teaches me how to build in structure, choose the right pattern for my shape, choose yarns that flatter larger bodies and finally figure out where to put those damned darts & short rows. I know a lot of stuff will be similar in the courses but it seems they also teach a lot of stuff that's different too. I can FIT someone else - it's time to FIT myself for a change.

2011-12-18T11:41:00.006-08:00

The ME Project

I bounced back & forth a little but made the final decision. The Poncho Pullover will be the Project & I'm using the Briggs & Little yarn. I have quite a collection of B&G skeins. Most of them are shades of blue - don't ask - and most of them are Heritage or Regal. I have a nice skein of Tuffy - the wool & nylon mix - which I've set aside for slippers. All the rest are 100% wool with bits of straw in them which I've been picking out as I wind the skeins into balls. Is it just me?? or is B&G dusty too??? It always seems so to me. The colors get brighter with a nice soak but then doesn't almost anything? It's nice Canadian wool, wears like iron & lasts forever!! You can't get better than that!!

The biggest pain in the ass is making all these skeins into balls. Once they're balls, I can easily rewind them into centre-pull balls which sit nicely on the floor instead of rolling around while I knit. But, with no skein holder I have to hold the skein in one hand & unwind with the other then lay the skein down to wind the ball! Since the B&G tends to cling to itself, it can get into an awful mess. Yeah, I've tried winding a ball right off the skein but it winds too loosely that way . . . and still clings to itself which causes a mess. But, there's lots of movies on right now so I'll just sit in front of the Tube & unwind skeins . . .

I haven't quite decided how all these blues will go together - I had purchased them with an Adult Surprise Jacket in mind - but I think a Poncho, knit in one piece from the top down, can handle a range of colors. Before I bought this pattern, I planned to use the Nashua in hot pink & purple. I didn't realize this pattern was written for 'chunky' yarn. But I love the pattern & I think it'll be fun & easy to wear. So, I'm going to try using the B&G. There's several skeins left over from a Wonderful Wallaby I knit for a friend a couple of years ago in the Anniversary color - a barber pole of light/dark blue. I knits up to a slightly heathery look. I may use the variety of blues in the yoke & the Anniversary color as a solid bottom. I'll see what the swatch looks like. Yes, in this case, I am going to knit a large swatch in several colors to see what I think before I take on the whole project. I intend to wash it & even toss it in the dryer for a few minutes on cool. Hey, that's what a swatch is for!!!

2011-12-16T09:48:00.004-08:00

My Addiction Returns

I couldn't help it. I was overcome by yarn fumes once again & just had to get out the old sock needles & cast on another pair of socks. I really, really liked that pink Kroy that Karen found. Hell, I even like the orange Kroy. So I squirreled away a coupla balls of each into my Private Stock of sock yarns. There was this old black & white movie on the Turner Channel the other day & someone was knitting . . . I couldn't stand it & cast on another pair of the pink Kroy socks. These ones are for me this time. I'm knitting them on my bamboo skewer needles - the ones that I made - in 2.5mm. Kroy knits better with a slightly larger needle, I usually use 2mm with the thinner sock yarns, but Kroy is thicker & works better with the 2.5s. I do have a lot of socks but I notice a lot of them are getting really thin - they should after being worn & washed every couple of weeks for 5 to 10 years . . . Some of them like my purple Regia socks, ARE 10 years old. The first socks I knitted when I moved into my basement were Regia in purple stripes & a pair in rainbow stripes. And the red & blue Invicta socks which have felted somewhat & recently worn a hole in one toe. There was less nylon in the older yarns so we often reinforced the heels & toes but we sure don't have to do that anymore.

Of course, I'm not even talking about the socks-on-the-go that always ride in the car with me. Diehards always have a pair in the car for those 'waiting' emergencies!! Like when you drop off the Man to an appointment & he doesn't have a cell phone so you wait in the parking lot until he reappears. Or you arrived on time for your own appointment but the Doctor's running behind. Or waiting for Really Long Trains like the one in Langley. My current car socks are pale grey Regia in the Jet Set series. The yarn kinda fades from medium barber-pole to very light barber-pole & back again. Dull but manly. A special request from my Motorcycle School boss. It's taken him years - I've worked there part time for over 20 years - to notice I knit socks. He might even get a pair in blue to go with them!

I haven't cast on for my new sweater yet but I think it will be the Poncho Pullover from the Cabin Fever Girls. I also really like the Medocino Sweater & have already purchased it but I prefer the easy wear & the casual look of the Poncho Pullover for every day. I just have to figure out which yarn I'll use because it's a bit too cool out there for my fleece jackets!! I think the Poncho will make it easier to sit outside in the cold when I go to Starbucks. They 'remodeled" & the new chair are a pain in the butt, literally. They're the metal version of the Ice Cream Parlor chair & very uncomfortable. The outside chairs have always been nice to sit on - the only problem is the smoothness so you tend to slide but they're comfortable. And I can feed the little birds!!

2011-12-13T00:42:00.002-08:00

Just Bitching

Today is a bitching day. For the third time in less than two weeks, I've had to disconnect a dog from a mouse trap. This isn't the 'hurtful' kind of trap that springs shut & breaks something but is, instead, one of those sticky monstrosities that an attached creature can't get out of when he gets stuck. It's a little rectangle of goop about a quarter of an inch deep that lurks in corners or by back doors where rodents might travel. But sometimes dogs travel in those places too. Especially little dogs. As stated before, I spend a lot of time in a basement office with three little dogs, Barksalot, Whinesalot & Eatstoomuchpaper. One is a toy poodle & the other two are maltipoos. One of the Maltis looks like a poodle & the other is very definitely a Holy Terrier. Eatstoomuchpaper, who looks like a terrier, is my personal fav. He's the bad boy who loves to go outside where he runs & runs & runs. He shakes floppy wet toys until his whole head is wet. And he chews all the squeaks out of everything else. He's a tough little bugger. He loves to wrestle, dig & fight. He nips the other dogs & pulls their facial hair to try to dominate them until he gets a boot in the butt. He steals all the bones if the others don't guard theirs closely. And he's just so damn cute. He's also so active that he has to be first all the time & that's why he keeps getting stuck on the mouse traps when we head outside. At least you can throw away the trap if the mouse gets stuck but prying a small, active pooch off the trap is almost impossible by yourself. Bad enough that they have to be there for mice! But guess why these ones are all over the place??? There are NO mice. Oh no. Those sticky bombs are there to trap spiders.

2011-12-10T12:26:00.004-08:00

The Touques have left the building . . .

The touques & socks have gone to new homes! And I got three giant balls of some sort of yarn - none of them the same color of course - towards the next batch. But, I'm not gonna think about HATS anymore, I'm thinking about those Squares instead. The nice thing about a square is that you can make a whole lot of things with it. You might need a triangle here or there or need to crochet a little, but essentially, you can use squares to make just about anything. I've even seen socks made out of squares!!! Not that I'm thinking about anything other than blankets though!! Blankets are great. One size fits most. If it's too small - just add a couple more squares! If it's too big, hey - you kidding?? A blanket is never too big . . . They provide somewhere to hide. And somewhere to cuddle with your honey. And bring a sense of security. And colors that nature never meant to be together - they just WORK in a blanket! Leftovers work with new yarns. They can be knitted, crocheted, woven or sewed, cheap or expensive, pink or blue or some ungodly hue, but blankets are forever.

Back in the early 80s, my man of the decade traded a Mustang with a great paint job for 4 gold claims in Atlin, BC. He had the Fever soooo bad . . . he was told he could only stake 2 in his name so I gave permission for him to stake 2 in mine as well. He had to tramp into the bush to find the corner posts & put our tags on them & register them in town. Since he was going to do this while traveling to work a Placer mine in the Yukon for the summer & leaving in April, I decided to make him a wool blanket. I'd been spinning up some local dark grey fleece - probably Romney - & had crocheted several nice squares with the intention of making a blanket for the couch. Instead, I put the finished squares together & crocheted around them until the blanket almost fit a queen-sized bed. It weighed a ton!! We argued over that blanket. He refused to take it. He said it was too heavy. And people would laugh. He didn't want to get it dirty. He said he had an arctic sleeping bag. He found all kinds of reasons not to take it. But, at the last minute, he found room for it just to shut me up. I'm sure he saw Death in my eyes when I told him it better come back with him 'cause I just knew he would toss it off the truck the first chance he got . . . He called several weeks later & thanked me for making him take that blanket. Seems he just about froze that first night in Atlin in the tent until he remembered that unwanted blanket on the truck. 'Arctic' in Vancouver apparently doesn't mean the same as 'Arctic' on the Yukon/ BC border in April.

Over the years, I've crocheted a lot of blankets for other people. Usually they're the ubiquitous Granny Square or a version of it. Since I hate to sew things together, I often make ONE GIANT Granny square like the blue one or sew three Granny Squares in a strip & then crochet around them in one giant rectangle. I even have one Giant Granny on the back of my couch - first thing I made when I moved into my basement! It's in multiple rainbow shades using all the balls I could find in the Thrift Shops at the time. It's the sort of thing I've often made to cheer up newly Single friends in their empty apartments. I also knit blankets. My favorite is this Log Cabin construction created so I didn't have to do any sewing. I knit a big rectangle, cast off, turn it 90 degrees, pick up the stitches along one of the long sides & knit until my yarn runs out or I get tired of that color & cast off. Then I turn it 90 degrees, pick up stitches along that side & knit again. I keep knitting & turning & knitting until the blanket is the size I want. The blocks kind of spiral out from the middle, building one on top of the other. I often crochet around the entire outside edge in a solid color to finish it off. One big, wild, snuggly, blanket. No sewing.

2011-12-05T11:46:00.004-08:00

Busy, Busy, Busy

So it was kind of a crappy weekend for me. I stayed home the whole time, made a big pot of Italian Soup & stayed in my housecoat!! While contemplating whether I'd ever see my navel again, I kept on knitting touques. I now have 17 finished & 1 still on the needles. At this rate, I think I'll go for a personal best & knit 20 before the weekend when I'll drop them off!! I actually found some 'manly' yarn in blue, green & black - there was some red & some rust but not enough to work with - so I thought I'd better use it up in a good cause - head coverings! I know they don't look like much but they come down over the ears, they're nice & stretchy & feel good on! The afghan of squares will just have to wait till later. I may finish it up over the Holidays while watching all the OLD MOVIES on the tube. 'It's a Wonderful Life' in the original black & white was on this past weekend. You just know we're getting close when they start running that one!!

And just so you don't think I'm stuck in a rut - I made a batch of soap too! I have my favorite soap molds which are rounded to fit in my hand in the shower. I'm not fond of square or rectangular bars but I do like the shape of the DOVE bar. So I make mine curved on one side to fit the hand & flat on the other to sit in the soap dish. I love my Beehive & Lady Bug molds which I tend to use almost exclusively. Once upon a time, I made soap from Beef Tallow or a mix of olive & coconut oils & Gillett's Flaked Lye. I used the recipe out of the Reader's Digest "Back to Basics" book. I let my soap almost set & rolled it into balls which I flattened on one side removing most of my fingerprints in the process.

Then I found Voyageur Soap & Candle Company & my soap life changed forever! I'm lazy these days, I use a soap mold & buy my oils in bottles, premeasured & premixed. The lye is also premeasured for the mixture of oils. The nice part of all this is that I can get several kinds of blends that would cost a fortune to mix myself from bulk stock for a fraction of the cost. A couple of times a year I stock up & that's it. Soaping is a lot of fun but when you make it from scratch with lye, it has to "AGE" for at least 2 weeks so that the lye stops working. I prefer to age it for 4 weeks so that I don't inadvertently give myself another facial 'PEEL' like the one I gave myself with two week old soap!! It should "AGE" for a couple more months so it lasts longer in the shower too. My soap sits atop the drying rack for a couple of weeks & then goes into an airy wicker basket to harden for several more months.

2011-12-04T00:32:00.002-08:00

Another Grey Day

I woke up feeling a little achy & grouchy this morning. Even the weather was kind of grey & grouchy looking . . . no sparkle, no pizzazz! It's probably Touque Disease. I'm knitting them in my dreams. So, I decided to knit 3 more touques - that'll make 15 hats & 6 pairs of socks all together for charity - and then it's time to move on to something else this year!

It's also time to knit something for me. I have several options in the stash that would work. I bought enough baby blue & navy ETON yarn - this picture sucks - several years ago to knit Jared Flood's 'Cobblestone Pullover' for the BT. I really, really wanted to knit that sweater but the BT decided he wanted something with a deep V neck instead.The yarn went into the stash to marinate & I never found a pattern. I know, I know - I sure take a lousy picture!!!
Then I bought a whole bunch of Briggs & Little yarn out of a SALE bin at Knitopia - my favorite knitspot. It was in all kinds of blues in both sport & worsted weights. I also picked up one skein of bright red - for a little interest! I thought I might knit an Adult Surprise Jacket so the weight difference wouldn't matter but it was summer at the time so the yarn went into the stash to marinate with some left over skeins of Briggs & Little's Anniversary yarn in two-toned blue. It would all work together when it came time to knit the ASJ for moi!! Of course, another sale came along a year or so later & I bought some lovely Nashua 'IVY' in plum & hot pink for another sweater that caught my eye. Isn't it pretty??? I often open the bag & just squeeze it a couple of times!! And then there's a sweater's worth of Dalesman yarn in Fuchsia - same shade as that IVY - that I bought a skein at a time over several years because I couldn't afford it all at once. I ended up buying enough for TWO sweaters by the time I was done & even knit one - the Moss Stitch Blazer - from the Big Knits book. But there's leftovers crying to be used.

The Poncho Pullover by the Cabin Fever Girls, caught my eye & I just had to have it. It's worked from the neck down just like any Poncho but it divides for sleeves while leaving the front & back to dip into a deep V. With some fringe it would look very Western. It's so simple I don't know why I didn't think of it before I saw it on paper. I really want to knit the Poncho Pullover & I'd love to make it in the Nashua or the Eton but I suspect they're way too thin & I don't have enough to double up. I suppose the Poncho will have to be made with the Briggs & Little basket of Blues or the Dalesman yarn instead. If that happens, I have plans for the Nashua sometime this winter. There's at least two sweaters in the Winter Knitter's that're also calling my name!!

2011-11-29T11:14:00.003-08:00

Turning out Touques - part 2

As advertised in a previous post, almost a touque an evening! I can't knit as fast or as comfortably when sitting outside at Starbucks like I did last night with my buddy Steve. Why were we outside at night, you ask?? Well, a large transformer melted down in Steve's neighborhood & superheated three blocks of wiring. His landlord was on the way home from work when it happened & said the wiring suddenly glowed like red hot streaks, the transformer went "POP" and everything fell to the ground setting off a major brush & grass fire. And blacked out the whole area, of course. Everyone, who wasn't blocked in by fire & hydro trucks, met at Starbucks to keep warm & drink deeply of hot seasonal coffees. We had no choice by the time we got there & had to sit outside on the cool but comfy chairs while everyone waited to go home to light & heat.

I continued working on the latest head topper until my fingers got too cold - it's impossible for me to work in gloves!! I have 11 at last count!! After taking this picture, I realized that most of my hats are kind of 'girly' - it's the yarn I suppose - but I think I better dig a little deeper in the bin to see if there's any 'manly' yarn buried in the bottom!!

2011-11-24T10:28:00.004-08:00

Turning out Touques

So I'm cranking out a touque pretty much every evening right now. I've discovered that two strands of the donated yarn on a size 5mm needle in K2,P2 will produce a fast, comfy head warmer that should suit either sex nicely. Did you know that you lose 30% of your body heat through your scalp??? I shudder to think about all those men who shave their heads - even in the winter!! My cohort at the Motorcycle School shaves his head even when he's growing his November moustache for Prostate Cancer. At least he has a choice in his head covering. A lot of people with chronic disease who have thin, thinning or little hair due to disease, medication or poor diet have no choice. So a nice warm touque is important. This year I'm aiming to warm up a half dozen heads & toes & provide touques alone for at least another half dozen heads. Next year, I'll be able to warm the heads & toes of at least a dozen people all by myself.

And then there's all those 10" squares my Knitting Group was working on a few years back. I enjoy knitting squares & still crank out a few now & then. But the worst part of squares is sewing them all together. I hate sewing things together so they get stuffed back into a bin. I'm a starter not a finisher. Unfortunately, I can see them through the sheer side of the bin. And someone out there needs those squares sewed together so they'll get put together somehow for this Christmas. I think they would work with a quick crochet around each square in black or navy to make those colors pop before crocheting them together. Just think about the explosion of color when someone opens that parcel! Ha Ha

2011-11-20T10:22:00.006-08:00

I have HEAT

Not to be melodramatic or anything but I HAVE HEAT. Not only that, but I have HEAT in less than FIVE, yup, FIVE minutes! Not to be sneezed at this week in the minus temps that we're having!!! It's pretty damned hard to clear the windshield in the morning without heat since vans are a little too tall to scrape with any satisfaction & scraping on a slippery drive is how I fell this time last year & dislocated my left wrist!!! THIS year, I get into the van, turn on the wiper defroster & blast the window with air on high while I read & drink a tea for a couple of minutes.

I decided once my snow tires were put on that I should have the whole system properly winterized since I don't know how my new-to-me van has been treated in the past. Without my mechanic of 30+ years, I'm on my own. So I went off to Mr Lube & went for the works. I wanted all the filters - including fuel - changed, oil changed, tranny flushed, anti-freeze replaced, hoses & belts checked. It was ugly in there!! They degunked. They cleaned. They checked EVERYTHING. The fuel filter was original from the factory!! OMG. It appeared the tranny had never been flushed. I knew the oil was bad even though it's only been just a bit under 5000 miles since the last change. I wondered if they even changed the filter at all!! Typical. But, now everything works just fine!! And I got them to disconnect the battery once more while I reset the system. Holy Crap. Everything works like clockwork. I just have to get another part time job to pay for it!!!

Since I spent money I didn't have on the Van this year, I'll be staying at home this holiday season - like I bother to celebrate anyway - & knitting up a whole bunch of this 'FREE' yarn I got from Lynne at Knitopia - a snug little yarn shop around the corner from the Buy Low in White Rock, BC. I've been cranking out hoodies for the Boomer project for the last couple of years but that project is ending so Lynne found a new Charity. She says the folks down at A Loving Spoonful - they provide nutrition support to people with AIDS in Vancouver - are seriously asking for donations for adults. Touques are the biggie on the wish list this year!! I've been knitting socks but when I finish the current pair - I've turned the heels on them - I'll crank out touques from now on. Why??? Well, I have two 135 litre bins full of donation yarn that I'd like to replace with a comfy recliner . . . Are ya listening Santa??? Make it BIG, SOFT & with side pockets for my junk . . . And unknitted yarn is wasted yarn when folks out there are cold.

2011-11-13T10:36:00.004-08:00

Just a Pair of Cuffs

I replaced the battery in my van. You just know when you buy a new-to-you vehicle that they're gonna put the oldest battery in the joint in your New Baby. Surprisingly, it lasted almost a year! I always knew I had to replace it & had plans to do so with the pre-winter tune-up but it died before my appointment. Typical! But when the battery died, the air conditioning/heating/defrosting/wiping module - ya gotta bless the old modular system of doing things - reverted to some factory reset. All the lights flashed all the time. The air conditioning became dominant. And no one knew how to fix it. "You can bring it in & we'll take a look" they say. Yeah, right. We all know that means $200 to mess around & it'll still flash! I didn't fall off the truck yesterday you know.

I discovered this is a common problem when batteries are replaced in the Caravan/Voyager series. Grand Caravan owners on down to cheapo 1990 Voyagers all have the same problem if they have air conditioning. Most mechanics & shops haven't a clue what to do. They tell you it will reset in 15 minutes by itself. Lies!! The lights still flash & make you crazy for 15 minutes every time you restart the car. It never permanently resets. People have bought new control modules, rewired things, installed new air conditioning & paid out hundreds of dollars for "Servicing". One woman just duct taped over the lights!! Apparently, all it takes is pushing buttons in the right sequence to reset the whole system. A nice mechanic in Chilliwack solved the problem & put it on the net. The solution doesn't always work for everyone the first time, sometimes you have to reset it several times! And sometimes, you still have two blinking buttons that you have to live with. But it's better than 7 blinking buttons & no heat!!!

And what has all this to do with cuffs you ask?? Well, without the button solution I had a mixture of heat & air all the time. Yeah, the buttons stopped flashing after 15 minutes but the air never actually shut down so I had a cold draft up top with heat underneath. And those damned flashing buttons. So I used the sequence to reset the whole thing. The first reset gave me heat on command but 2 buttons kept on flashing. I just couldn't leave well enough alone so I had to fiddle with it until ALL the buttons went off. And now, I don't have ANY heat for the first 15 minutes every morning. When I do get heat it's a mixture of heat & air or it fluctuates between the two. If it was summer, who cares but it's winter dammit or the start of winter. And I have to keep not only myself defrosted in the morning but my windshield as well & keep it that way too.
I'm freezing. My hands are cold & that air conditioning goes right up the sleeves of my jacket. A light bulb came on & I dropped everything to knit a pair of silk & merino cuffs to wear under my jacket. They work a treat!! And I love them. The heat is isn't fixed but by gawd, I'm a hellova lot warmer!!!

2011-11-10T11:17:00.004-08:00

Still Crazy with Knitting

I've turned both heels on the latest orange socks & I'm just about to the toe shaping. This was yesterday's picture but you get the idea! They should be finished this weekend & hopefully, the grey socks will have their heels turned by then too. I have time to churn out another pair of 'manly' socks before the end of the month for sure & maybe even another if I have an extra week - we'll see. Trying to make a living beating on a keyboard & still churn out as many pairs of socks as I can for Christmas is a bit of a tear. Next year, I'll be knitting a pair a month & tossing them into the 'Basket'.

When the BT was still around, I used to knit at least 8 pairs of socks a year for birthday's, Christmas & the Parent's Anniversary. You know how these things work, once you find the 'Perfect Gift' you stay with it until you find something better. They all loved socks so I just knit all the time & tossed the result in the 'Basket'. I bought cards that caught my eye at the Dollar Store & tossed them into the 'Basket' too. When something significant came up, I shopped in the basket. One stop shopping, that's my motto.

Since they were removed from the Gift List, I've been filling my own sock basket. I had the flu & it dragged on so long that I didn't do any laundry until I ran out of socks. To my surprise, when I pulled them out of the washer & hung them up - well, I had 28 pairs of socks on the hangers. And that didn't include the short summer socks that were tucked away till next year. TWENTY EIGHT!! That's a heck of a lot of socks for one person! No wonder I've only had one toe wear out in the last 11 years of sock making! Perhaps it's time to just fill someone else's basket with socks instead. A NEW BASKET, something interesting that can sit out on my coffee table all year long & just collect warm socks & hats.

2011-11-05T09:06:00.007-07:00

Knittin as fast as I can!

Those orange socks are now history! And I've got another pair of orange socks on the needles already. I scored another 5 balls from Karen so I can knit the next two pairs with larger feet. I sure hope there's a couple of fellas out there who'll like these for Christmas!! For the more conservative fella, I've dug out some nice greyish Regia. Got a terrific deal on this yarn too - can you say TWO BUCKS A BALL??? I bought it to make socks for my Ex who has terrible feet & feels cold all the time now that he's on that damned heart medication. But he's also developed sensitive feet - can't say if it's side effect or not. I have to knit his socks on my 2mm needles now & it takes forever to knit size 13WWWW socks. And, with some yarns, even turning them inside out sometimes doesn't make them bearable so he's back in machine knit socks & I have all this grey & blue yarn I bought for him . . . oh well, into the Sock Donation Basket with it!! And at this time of year, I have a sock bag everywhere I go.

I finally gave in & brought the Jade Plant & the two Cacti in from under the patio table on Hallowe'en night. I figured if I didn't, they'd freeze out there since we're in the low single digits at night these days. Geeze, that reminds me, the Spider is still out there!! Oooops! But anyway, the Cacti was so grateful to be brought inside that it started setting buds!! One of these is supposed to be a Christmas Cactus & the other, an Easter Cactus!!! And the cuttings I chopped from it's abundant self in the spring are also setting buds & they're still in the jar of water on the window sill!! It has something to do with the periods of darkness. My mother used to tell me that they set buds only when they got 12 hours of darkness. But what about the Easter Cactus?? Oh well, I guess it's just 'Shut up & Enjoy' time.

2011-10-23T09:55:00.005-07:00

Kicked in the Ass Again

Woke up on Friday with the second half of this neverending virus. This time it's the headcold part. Felt like a brick building fell on me squeezing all the fluid to pressurize my head. The old eyeballs felt like they were popping out & the lower body just kind of wobbled. Took drugs & went back from whence I came. Slept when I wasn't upright & dazed in front of the Home & Garden channel with a big cup of hot lemonade. Did the same on Saturday. Today I'm wondering if I'll be able to pay the credit card at this rate . . . Bryan, I hate your kid!!!

Even though I was dazed, snuffling & wheezing, I am incapable of sitting in front of the tube without doing something other than zoning out - even when I'm semi-conscious. So I knit. I can't help myself. That orangey brown Kroy was sitting there staring at me. As if I don't have at least 30 balls of Other Sock Yarn laying about & at least one other sock on the needles! But I love the bright & wild stuff. It knits up faster. Yeah, I know it's all in my head but I think it's the excitement of finding out what the colors turn into that makes it go faster. And I wondered if this sock would turn out well. It was dark & muddy in the beginning with the colors blending together but I kept on knitting. Then that bright orange showed up & got in the mix and WOW. This sock doesn't seem to have the clear pattern the pink socks have, the colors tend to blend more but that shot of orange in there reminds me of a Southwestern Sunset. Aren't they grand??!! They'll probably go into my Donation Basket for Loving Spoonful but I sure enjoyed making them. And I wish I had 100 more balls of KROY.

2011-10-21T10:35:00.005-07:00

Some Fun on a Gloomy Day in October

The sun was out & the sky was blue all week & part of last weekend so I guess I can't really whine about the change in the weather too much but geeze, Weather Gods, ya didn't give us as much sunshine as we normally get in August & September after that cool summer so the least you could do is throw a few more sunny scraps our way. I mean, what did we DO to deserve all this doom & gloom??? So, in order to brighten up my somewhat gloomy life - that damned virus my little buddy Bryan shared with me is STILL hanging in there - I had to knit something wild & crazy. TA DA

Yes, that's my messy desk in the background. I spend a good part of every day pounding on that keyboard & sorting through all that paper in order to afford my addictions! But, to hell with work at the moment. Aren't those socks glorious?? And FUN? They're made from the 79 cent a ball Patons Kroy that Karen found. Kroy is a little thicker than most sock yarns today so I knit it up on my 2.5mm bamboo skewer needles that I made!! After the first few inches, I wondered if I'd have enough yarn to finish them & compromised by making them a little shorter than my usual winter sock, they're about 4 inches to the start of the heel including the 2 inches of ribbing. So, I guess that makes them officially Ankle Socks. Since I wear pants all winter - fleece lined ones when it gets really chilly!! - they'll be hidden away unless I take my shoes off. When I look at these I wish I had a pair of those see thru plastic boots everyone was buying a few years back to show off their socks.

And how much yarn did I end up using?? You can see I made it through to the toe but THIS is what's left. Not a lot. Not even enough to do a toe in another pair of socks. Good thing I didn't want a regular pair of Winter Socks. I wear an 8 to 9 women's shoe & would need 3 balls of Kroy to make a pair any longer or use my usual 2mm sock needles. But at 79 cents a ball?? Well . . . . who cares! I'm wishing I'd bought a few more balls of this color but when it comes to sock yarn I'm a bit of a slut. I can fall in love with almost anything if there's pink or purple in it!

2011-10-18T10:34:00.002-07:00

I'm Gonna Sound Like a Commercial

I am so in LOVE with the new Knitters magazine! I don't think I've seen one in a long time where I've wanted to knit so many things in the issue. Round yoke sweaters seem to have made a comeback this year - either top down as in the Ribbon-o-Round sweater or bottom up as in the Artichoke Twist! I think both of them are Up Sizable - especially the Ribbon-o-Round which you can try on as you go. I think Round yoke sweaters are very forgiving of a few more stitches & quite simple to make. Knitters has put several into the new issue which really excite me. I also love the silk lace Top Down jackets & Harvest Jewels, a Fair Isle inspired sweater!! There's even a sideways knitted Kimono style jacket!! I'm not impressed with the cover sweaters - they look silly to me & a fringed(not sure who would wear that!) skirt but all in all, a great issue!! The best part of all is that the price is the same whether you buy in the US or Canada. Yeah . . . Knitters!! I no longer buy the competition because of the blatant difference in price EVEN WHEN OUR DOLLAR IS AT PAR OR MORE!!

I really want to make the Ribbon-o-Round & the Artichoke Twist. I think someone on Ravelry is organizing or at least talking about a KAL for the Artichoke Twist. I have some Eton in a Robin Egg blue & Navy - I had planned on knitting Jared Flood's Round Neck men's sweater published in Interweave Knitting several years ago for the BT. But I think the Eton would work well for Ribbon-o-Round. Mind you, I have tons of Briggs & Little Anniversary yarn - a worsted two shade barber-pole of blue - too. I could make a true WINTER sweater out of the Artichoke Twist if I knit it up in the B&G!! Or, come to think of it, I have some Fuchsia Dalesman's Wool from New Zealand in the stash . . . Sooooo many patterns & soooooo little time!

2011-10-16T12:48:00.005-07:00

Baby It's COLD in Here!!

I love the blue sky & sunny days but geeze, it sure got COLD allova sudden!! And damp. And I've been hacking & wheezing with SOMETHING that doesn't quite make you sick enough to stay in bed but keeps you feeling achey, sneezy, wheezy, congested & sleepy. No ambition at all. And I keep seeking warm places like my car in the sunshine. Definitely WOOL Weather.

In self defense, I cast on another pair of socks. I shared in a Patons Kroy sock yarn windfall. We only had two colorways, but at 79 cents a 50gm ball??? Hey, where do I pay?? Kroy, if you haven't used it, is thicker than the usual sock yarn & it has about 30% less yardage in a 50 gm ball. I haven't used it in some time so I'm not sure if there will be enough in a ball to finish my sock - I'm using 2.5mm needles. If there isn't, it'll be close & I can easily knit the toe out of anything else. These aren't quite as long as my usual winter socks but they're still well above the ankle. They'll fit size 8 - 9 easily - just MY size - and I'll appreciate the nice thick sock when it really gets cold! When I bought the yarn, I was going to make socks for Christmas baskets but I'm keeping these ones because they're my colors!!!

This week it was warm & sunny enough on my patio one afternoon so I hauled out the old Indian Spinner & spent a couple of nice hours spinning up some more of the Brown Sheep mill ends that never seem to end. Every time I think I've spun up the last bit - well - I find another bag with a couple of 'bumps' in it. And that doesn't include all the wool/mohair blend mill ends that came in the same bag about 6 years ago. I have plans for this wool if I ever get the rest of it spun up. I want to dye all the skeins at the same time so they'll WORK together. You know how awkward things look when you have to work in a couple of skeins at the end that aren't quite right??? Well, I AM determined to do all the dyeing at the same time so they'll at least be related enough to work in the same pattern. Still slobbering over Knitted Kimonos & unless I find something so totally wondrous that I have to drop all else to make it, this wool will be a Kimono style sweater.

Has anyone seen the Fall Knitter's?? There's a terrific sweater called Artichoke Twist in there which is knitted from the bottom up, the sleeves are knitted & added to the body & then everything is knitted in one piece to make the yoke. I like sweaters like this because there's minimal sewing & it can be mostly done on a circular needle.

2011-10-07T12:10:00.004-07:00

Progress Report

Haven't been doing much since my eyes close when I sit down these days! It's either a virus or the change in the weather - depending on who you talk to. But, I have finished a few touques!!

My little 50 gm balls of sport weight wool knitted up to snug caps that will keep heads warm. I just cast on 100 stitches & knit in K2P2 ribbing until it was almost used up. I did a row of P2 tog, then 2 rows of K2, P1. Then a row of K2tog, P1 & two rows of K1 P1. Finally, a row of K2tog & sewed it into a ring at the top. Simple. Neat. And they fit an adult head.

On the circs - a simple ankle sock. I have one pair in the basket & this one on the needles. If time permits, I'll add a couple more pairs to the Donations. Or maybe some simple mittens from the pattern Karen shared with me. She found a top down FREE pattern that lets you knit mittens to fit any size from any yarn

2011-09-25T14:59:00.003-07:00

And the Moving Finger Moves On . . .

Time keeps marching on too! Only last week I put gas in the Beast, checked the glop that used to be oil & made plans to do a little maintenance on the old thing before winter. Since the battery posts were white & I couldn't find the date anywhere, I figured my next paycheque would not only get it some oil & fill up the fluids but replace the battery as well, sigh. But then, it died as I tried to beat the rain home yesterday from work. Thank Gawd for BCAA! And there goes my spare money once again.

Since my finances - such as they are - have been set back by mechanical repairs yet again, I guess my social life will be restricted to hanging out with my knitting needles this winter. Nothing like a little kick in the pocketbook to get you started on the Christmas Donations! So, I cast on for a hat. Just a simple, ribbed hat suitable for either sex when it's cold outside. I found four balls of wool in the donated stash - WOOL - but in four different colors! And about the only thing you can make with one 50 gram ball of Sport weight yarn is wrist warmers, fingerless gloves & a small hat. Don't let the picture fool you, there's 84 stitches on those wooden needles & it will expand to fit an adult head. This was the only set of DPs I had in a size that would work with the yarn - 4mm - so I went with them since I wasn't sure how far the yarn would go. I'm pretty sure this hat will be large enough for an adult head but when I make the next one, I'll use circs instead in a 6 or 8mm to make a bigger, fluffier hat. The ribbing keeps it nice & stretchy & I'm sure there's plenty in each ball to make a good sized hat. And I'll be making it again in Wine, Brown & light Grey. Wooohooo!

2011-09-19T14:10:00.004-07:00

Where Does the Time Go??

I finished the latest pair of socks & actually took a photo before they wound up on feet - MINE! Like I don't have at least three pairs of blue socks in the basket . . . but I liked this colorway & saved it for myself a long time ago. Fabel by Garn Studios. I think I like their yarn even better than the old Confetti black & blue speckled yarns that I bought by the dozen for you know who. This time around they're all MINE, MINE, MINE! well, except for the socks I volunteered to knit for the Christmas Hampers . . . Scarves & hats are just so damned boring.

So, I'm trying to knit as many pairs as I can before Christmas. And sew all those squares together for a couple of blankets - Oh, Girls . . . .

2011-09-05T12:47:00.006-07:00

Happy Labor Day

I know it's a Stat but I've got work on my desk! Apparently so do a lot of us on this Labor Holiday. I know the Unions fought tooth & nail for the benefits that most of us enjoy when we go to work but those benefits only apply to "employees". And Honey, that ain't me. Oh, I enjoy the 'freedom' of choosing who I labor for, when I go to labor, how much I will labor for & how long I will labor. Sounds great?? Well, not always! Sometimes the Self Employed labor far longer for far less in far weirder circumstances than an Employee could ever imagine. But today, it may not come to that. I suffered in sauna conditions yesterday - even put my bare feet on the warehouse cement floor to cool off because it was so hot. Today I should be in the basement office pounding on the computer but I think I'll sneak off to Starbucks & listen to a book on my new-to-me IPOD. Yes, I've been seduced by the Dark Side.

My Buddy Steve gave me an IPOD MINI for Christmas. It's a little one inch square gizmo that clips onto your collar. I love it. It stops & starts at a touch - great if you're working in an office & need to answer the phone or talk to someone occasionally. Great for music or audio books. UNLESS you get very long books with very long chapters because the gizmo goes back to the beginning of the song, chapter etc when you turn it off or pause it. I spent two whole days listening to the same chapter beginning over & over again. And when it came time to change to a new part of the Book - long books are broken into multiple parts for ease of download - I couldn't tell if I was going forward to a new part of the book, back to the beginning of the last or another piece that had loaded out of sequence . . . that was IT for me! My Creative device packed it in a couple of weeks ago so I'm left with the Mini. Steve took pity on me & gave me his old IPOD. It's a First Gen - not exactly sure what that means other than it was the first - & has a cracked screen. The screen has been cracked for a very long time but he used it anyway until one of his buddies gave HIM a new Fourth Gen IPOD. Tech guys!! But it's mine if I decide to keep it & we think we can even get a new screen. Steve's been trying to get me into IPOD for a couple of years now but I've dug in my heels because I refuse to pay for the NAME. I mean, I can get an Insignia or Creative which will hold exactly the same data & do the same thing for less than half the price!! Will people beat you up on the street for your Insignia?? Not likely. They will for your IPOD.

Meanwhile, back to Socks & Stuff. The blue Garn Studio socks still don't have their heels turned. I've been where I can work on them without enough light to see what I'm doing or been where there's tons of light but too many conversations going on to concentrate on the short rows!

I have been messing with a sample ball of Berroco Geode. It's a mix of mohair, silk & wool in winey colors that morph from a very reddish wine to a deep bluey wine color. I loved it at first feel but apparently it's discontinued so the only thing I could do when I'd finished fondling it was to make some fingerless gloves! One is finished but I'm not liking it much - I have to do something else with the thumb shaping . . .

And - I was cleaning up my kitchen counters - especially the corner with the tea caddies, pasta can & oil bottle - only to find the lone survivor of the last soap making kit I bought. One bottle of mixed Super Moisturizing oils & it's partner, 70 gms of flaked lye! I like to make my own soaps. I started doing so when I got married because he was even more sensitive than me & couldn't use detergent bars at all. I got out the old Reader's Digest 'Back to Basics' book & made my own. I used Gillet's flaked lye & Beef Tallow from Safeway when I first started. But I discovered cheap olive oil, coconut oil etc & began to experiment. Lard is too soft to make good soap & beef tallow is almost impossible to come by. Crisco is no good. The best oils I've found are a combination of olive/coconut/Vitamin E oil & avocado oil. I bought my oils in several different ethnic markets at first. When I found Voyageur Soap & Candle Company, I thought I'd died & gone to soap heaven. Everything can be bought in bulk, in kits or small containers. I like the kits because the mixtures of oils are wonderful, they're premeasured & make FOUR pounds of soap. So, after the History & the Commercial, TaDa 6 new bars!

I like large soaps that still fit comfortably in my hand. I always liked the shape of the Dove bar so I found Bee Hives & LadyBugs which are flat on the bottom & curved to fit your hand. This is a super moisturinzing bar scented with bitter almond. It lather's beautifully even in very hard water like that in Saskatchewan. I'll be letting it air dry for at least a couple of months so that it hardens up & lasts longer. I have three more kits of Coco Butter Soap to make up - gifted to me by someone who 'doesn't have the time' anymore.

2011-08-28T16:00:00.002-07:00

Not even a picture to show

I got the call on Tuesday at bedtime! The local fishermen got a two hour opening & there were fish on ice for me. I could pick them up in the morning after they were unloaded & cleaned! Since I had to work on Wednesday, I picked them up on my way home, still packed in shaved ice!! Once I got my hands in the fish, all I could think about was cutting them up, shrink wrapping them & filling up the freezer. I never thought to take a picture until it was all safe in the freezer!! Sockeye are gorgeous fish! Mine were that wonderful, bright orangey-red color under sparkly silvered scales. When cooked, they still retained that rich bright orange color & glorious salmon taste that simple cooking enhances. I simply fried my steaks up on low/medium in my non stick pan & ate them with a squeeze of lime & a romaine salad. The richest person on earth could not've had a better supper!!

2011-08-22T10:03:00.005-07:00

The Separated Arrangement

My Ex is talking about ordering Meals on Wheels. He's 73 & hates cooking & shopping. He's really fit but just about killed himself hauling & chopping wood & then spent two days barely able to move last week. There was nothing in the fridge to eat & he got mighty hungry. How hard is it to stock eggs, bread, TV dinners & canned soup?? Even I have a couple of cans of ready-to-eat soup in the cupboard! After laughing out loud, I suggested I might have to move back in. That led to a serious discussion - it might even work, I wouldn't have to pay rent & he would get fed. A simple trade. The thought of that cozy wood stove with a steaming kettle & burbling soup pot in the middle of winter when I usually freeze in my basement - well, it's kind of enticing. And a full size washer/dryer! Room in the garage for my freezer. It's a pretty small house mind you, but most of my fibery stuff already lives in bins so it could easily go outside in the enclosed garage. But I want a big deck or porch on the front of the house where I can sit outside when it's warm & spin. He loves technology but can't make it work. I'm constantly reprogramming his remote & resetting his satellite console & MP3 player. I just don't understand how a man can get an MP3 player stuck on ONE book or loose the MENU option on his remote!! I'm thinking about it. Is my freedom worth about $1000 a month in savings?? Do I want to look after someone full time again?? I could get that damned bill paid off sooner & my credit card back to zero. My buddy Steve said "MOVE" & volunteered himself & our buddy Kelly. He says they'll put up shelves, install the office & have me moved in one afternoon. Quick. The boys at the Motorcycle School said the same. Something to think about, for sure.

Meanwhile, back in Reality, I've cast on yet another pair of socks. These are for the Fall. I found a couple of balls of this Fabel sock yarn in the bin of yarn that I reserve for myself. I love these colors & they get even nicer as I knit. Fabel makes some really yummy colorways - I have it in pinks, plums & now, blues. I think I even have a pink/orange pair!! I bought this yarn at Knitopia when they were in Langley but I haven't had much chance to get down to the White Rock store to see if they still stock it. Pity. Nice yarn, great colors, good yardage!!

Oh, surprise!!! Arvik has reared her soft head once more in a new incarnation. I hope. I've been drooling over a certain sweater for years. I worked out the gauge a couple of times in a couple of yarns but it just wasn't right. The sweater was designed for Noro to show off it's long runs of color which morph into each other. Now, Arvik doesn't have long runs of color but it IS variegated since the fleece ranged in color from very light grey to almost black. It shows distinct banding when knit so I thought it might work. I'll just have to play with it & see if it comes out like I hope.

2011-08-18T13:44:00.002-07:00

Was that a 'Senior' Moment??

I work in interesting places sometimes. And I often share spaces!! Did I ever write about the time a guy built me an office in a truck box?? Yup, a truck box! Came with a phone/fax line, computer, heater, desk etc but no window or door. They hung a thick moving blanket at the entrance to keep the heat in. Oh, & the toilet was a Porta Pottie by the side of the road, in the drive - on the far side of the wet & muddy yard! The pump truck had to have access to the Pottie so it had to be on the side of the road . . . Needless to say, I didn't work there long! One of my new shared spaces is a nice ex-basement suite complete with private entrance, dinner sometimes, a window, bathroom & three little pooches. One barks too much, one whines too much & the third is a paper chewer. They bark & whine at the connecting door because their humans are gone all day. So, I just open the door when I arrive & they line up at attention at the desk. We have a routine. I let them in, we go out to the yard, they pee on command. Then they get a treat. We're still working on the barking, whining & chewing.

I stopped yesterday to buy some treats & found I was out of money! Couldn't figure that one out since I'd just put in a big check a couple of days before AND wrote a check to my EX. Oops. Flew to the bank & found I was almost TWO THOUSAND overdrawn! Oh Shit! I'm sure my chin hit the floor! Printed out the activity to find all my stuff had gone through except the deposit. Where the hell was the deposit??!! Had a thought & checked my savings . . . well, to make a long story short, all my deposits had been sitting in the Savings while I wrote checks on the Checking. Total weirdness. I KNOW I put that big one in the checking account . . . . What is it you take for memory???

2011-08-15T16:25:00.004-07:00

The Last Pair of Summer Socks

I finished the toes on the latest short socks. I chose the Barn Red because I liked it the best!! They turned out so nice that I've already found them a new home. My little buddy Bryan just loves my socks & has been watching the progress on these ones. I made them a little too big - I guess they really wanted to belong to someone else - & he claimed them! These socks have an inch & a half K2P2 ribbing on 68 sts using 2mm needles & about 6 rounds in stockinette before I started a K1S1 heel with knitted gussets at each side of the flap. I made 13 increases on each side before short rowing the heel itself. I am so glad I learned to knit the gussets as I made the flap instead of picking up stitches on the flap itself!!! I can actually SEE to do it. Oh, I used ONE 50 gm ball of 'Sock it to Me' from Elann. I started one sock from the outside & one from the inside so I could use up every inch of yarn. I think I got to about 6 rows before the toe shaping on a pair of size 10 socks. The toes are Kroy sock yarn - wonderful stuff for heels & toes!!!

2011-08-06T13:15:00.004-07:00

Saturday Afternoon in the Swamp

I played hooky this morning. I used the old 'finger in the nostril' trick to get the boys at the Motorcycle School to think I was sick so they would make me stay home today. I work all Saturdays from February to November for them & since there's no students from last week to process, they just don't NEED me there. And I'm tired. I haven't been sleeping well again. Oh I have no problems GOING to sleep but I have problems STAYING there. I NEED afternoon naps! I have work on the desk to do too. And laundry. Socks, underwear & tee shirts up the ying yang & nothing clean to wear!! I've been dragging my sorry ass home around 8:00PM after a full day of non-stop data entry & I don't want to drag that washer over to the sink & hook it up . . . I know, whine, whine, whine . . .

But, I have another pair of socks on the go! I found several single balls but nothing that would go together so I started a pair of socks from the same 50 gm ball. One from the inside & one from the outside. I was curious to see how far the one ball would go to making a pair of short socks. I figured I'd turn both heels easily enough but wasn't sure about how much foot I'd get. I'm actually doing quite well!! I'm almost to the toe which is a nice surprise. Now all I have to do is choose between the brick red & the greyed blue to finish them off. I'm leaning toward the red. It's also Kroy. It's tough & makes great toes that seldom wear out. And I kinda like red toes.

2011-08-01T08:02:00.002-07:00

Happy BC Day!

I peeked outside at 5:30am to see sunshine & blue sky! A gorgeous BC Day! Especially for all those who are heading home from a weekend spent "RELAXING". On Friday morning according to the Radio, there was a 2+ hour wait at the Border, all the Ferries were sold out til mid afternoon & the freeway East was a parking lot less than 20 miles out of town. Happy Long Weekend.
For all those who will be crawling home on the freeway in the heat, Happy BC day!
The thought of a lazy afternoon, chicken thighs on the grill, a big cold salad & an icy English Cider in the shade, well, hell, why would I want to wait for hours in a line-up in the sun??
I will spin today. And knit. And find a seat at Starbucks under the umbrella for a change.

2011-07-31T12:14:00.005-07:00

Summer, Socks & Leftovers

Apparently it's been Summer in the Lower Mainland this past week but I missed most of it. Oh, I saw some of it coming & going from two jobs but that's about all I've seen. The Office Staff at the Motorcycle School banned the boss as of Tuesday morning. We ordered him out for a week & a half because he & his family need to spend time together. And, far, far away from us!! We need to do some Student cleanup that he doesn't need to stress about!! We have all kinds of Student problems like Assessments, missing Road Rides, missing documents & where we can stuff people to finish off their Course. And, damn it, schedule who's now going to teach/hold down the office for the oversold Day School!! Then I get to go home & work in the home office. Feast or Famine, the curse of the Self-employed.

And then there's my second job. I've been doing data entry for an old client for a few months to get his paperwork caught up & finished by the end of July. Two weeks ago, I found out my thumb drive had failed & I lost all the work done to that point. You don't want to know what I screamed at that point . . . So, I've been putting in non-stop 8+ hour days to get it all back on the computer when I'm not at the Motorcycle School . . . luckily, most of it is organized & has spread sheets attached so there's less Thinking & just plain Donkey work left to do! I also had several new Murders, Thrillers & one SciFi to listen to which makes the days go faster. I've been coming home Blind & Brain Dead to eat cereal & blueberries & fall into bed. By the way, I recommend the 'Island in the Sea of Time' by S.M.Sterling!! A mind boggling listen or read that was so real I know it's a possibility!!

Do I have time to knit?? Well, a little. I've actually finished a second pair of short socks in the Saturn colorway - had to find another ball of yarn for part of the foot & toe. A second pair in some Sock it To Me stripey yarn which left me enough to start another pair but I know I'll be lucky to get the heels turned before I run out of yarn. A blue pair, from several small balls of leftovers I found while looking for something for the Saturn socks, which reminds me of the Mexico colorway in Denim, which are on my feet as I type! I have a pair barely on the needles in some other leftover stripey yarn - probably another Sock it To Me - because I am incapable of sitting in front of the tube without knitting in my hands . . .

My Taro plant now has three leaves & I recognize it. Isn't this called 'Elephant's Ear' if you buy it in the Plant Department???

2011-07-24T23:23:00.006-07:00

Another Blast of Summer

It's here!! Summer again for a couple of days . . . I have been up before 5:30 in the morning the past couple of days because it's so bright out there!! I was up & out to Starbucks this AM to meet an old customer for tea at 6:45 - he's the guy who used to bottle his beer at 6:30 on Sunday mornings. Today, we visited for a couple of hours in the sunshine. And then in walked the youngest kid of a friend who died several years ago - he was always one of my favorite kids!!! Always a big grin & too much thick, white blonde hair. I didn't even recognize him. The kid's now bald & grey!!! How time flies when you're having fun!!

Haven't been spinning much but I sure have been knitting up a storm. I've knitted up three pairs of summer socks in the last month or so & another's already on the needles!! One nice thing about summer socks, they're so short I can usually get a whole pair out of one 50gm ball!! The socks in progress in the last post are finished & a new pair - I found an odd ball of the very same stripey yarn in a different colorway - are already on the needles! I believe the yarn is "Sock it to Me" from Elann. And, since the day was so warm, I washed all the summer socks & hung them outside in the sun to dry. I must be losing it though, seems I took two pictures of the same bunch & neither shows the new socks!!

Oh, by the way, the new Super Krill Oil has arrived! I've been taking it for four days now, morning & evening. Haven't noticed any improvement in the joints but I really, really HATE the lemon/lime burps! It's also giving me morning sickness. I've been so nauseated that I had to take Gravol the past two mornings! I read the bottle this afternoon & it appears to contain extract from shellfish shells. I bet that includes crab shell. Crab & I don't get along very well . . .

2011-07-17T11:22:00.007-07:00

Just Another Sunday

My little Stinker hasn't been around to knock over the garbage can since I caught him in the act on Monday! My old cat's orange buddy came sneaking through the door though. I guess the two of them were out battling the racoons together for years & he still comes around looking for her occasionally. He used to sit outside the open door & yowl but now he just sits out there. Poor guy.

I actually had the old spinning wheel outside a couple times this week. My thumbs are better so I was able to spin for a half hour or so - don't want to make them too sore since you NEED thumbs to do EVERYTHING!! I remember last year when I tried out that Spin Gym thingie & inflamed them so badly that I couldn't even get dressed for two days. Yes, you NEED thumbs to get into a bra!!! I have been able to knit so I finished off the second pair of summer socks in the 'Saturn' colorway & started a new pair in some yarn that's been laying about for a very long time. After using the thick Regia, this unknown yarn feels thin & splits at the drop of a hat! But, it's very light, colorful & I like it!! That's all it takes to knit socks for moi.

My container garden is doing just fine in this weather. The strawberries are not only producing big, juicy berries but they're sending out runners in all directions as well! Good thing since I was down to THREE plants! I guess I'll be filling up the old Strawberry pot with offshoots this year & should have a huge crop next year. These are Ever Bearing so they produce from early June through to the first frost.

I have my first cukes!! The one cucumber plant that I bought got taken home because it looked so sad & neglected. I originally only wanted another Rosemary plant to add to my big herb tub but that cuke looked bad. I got it for free because we didn't think it would survive. But, survive it did & it is now producing fruit!

And then, the Hen & Chicks have gone nuts. Some of them have grown long stems & are producing flowers! Maybe it's because the pot has become too crowded?? I originally planted one chick that got kicked out of the hanging basket by a bad squirrel burying a Hershey bar. Now where he got that Hershey bar, who knows, but that nasty little rodent tried to bury it in my Succulent hanging basket. I planted one displaced chick in the side of the old strawberry pot. That chick grew into a huge Hen & produced so many babies it took over. One lone strawberry plant remains poking out from between the closely packed chicks.

The Ferns love this damp, warm weather & so do the Spider plants out there. The Taro has actually sprouted!! Which you can see in the top picture. About the only thing that doesn't love this dampness is me. Or rather my joints, that is. I wish that Super Krill Oil would hurry up & get here! Yeah, I fell for a smooth talking Snake Oil dealer who promises results in 5 to 7 days! I'm not paying anything but the $4 shipping. I'll try anything & who knows, it might just work. Its cheaper than moving . . .

2011-07-12T11:07:00.002-07:00

The Garbage Can Mystery

For several months now, I've been finding my green garbage can kicked over & the garbage strewn about. One evening, I even heard someone go down the back stairs quietly - my office window is beside the stairs but the blinds were down - AND HEARD the can kicked over!!! But, I didn't get out there fast enough to see the bugger who did it. I spoke to the Landlord & he's been getting his can kicked over too. I told him about someone sneaking down the back stairs the last time but he doesn't think it was his kid. He's blaming the kid next door! Guess we just have to catch him at it . . . Last night was Garbage Night - Pickup is sometime on Tuesday & if you wait till the morning - well, sometimes they come barreling through at 7:00AM when you're in the shower! Haven't had the can kicked over lately so I was surprised to see it on it's side waaaaay under the stairs. Dammit!! I had to get the broom to help me get at it & ran into the can kicker inside the can. Yup - waaaay inside with his head in one of the bags of leftovers! A half-grown Skunk. A real Stinker. He'd figured out how to get that thing on its side & jumped on it so the top would blow off - it's old, plastic, with split sides & the lid snaps on both sides just above the handles. I line it with double garbage bags but I guess he can still smell the goodies inside. He's been feasting on the fruit peels, veggie stalks & chicken bones for months. Then he gets to have a wash & a drink at the big bowl of fresh water I have under the plant stand & ferns for the local critters. And I suspect it was he, who left the stink under the stairs last week - probably met the local raccoons at the water dish. Perhaps it's time to buy a new garbage can with a hooked lid. Removing the water dish is not an option.

I bought a taro root almost two months ago for 18 cents. A lady in the veggie market was seriously checking out all the roots & I asked her what she was going to do with them. She told me Taro makes a wonderful house plant. She wouldn't tell me what it looked like but told me I'd recognize it when it sprouted. Well, it takes a long time to sprout. It needs heat & water, lots of water. It can be grown in moist soil or in a pot in a water garden because it also likes to live IN water. I tucked it into a BLACK pot & put it out in the warmest part of my garden spot on the concrete. I noticed yesterday that it had a sprout. It's been out there baking in the heat & FINALLY sprouted. I can't wait to see what it will become! Meanwhile, the Everbearing Strawberries are throwing out runners everywhere!! I suspect I'll be able to fill the Strawberry Pot with them this year!! And I'll have to check out the damage to the ferns where the Skunkette ran to hide when I disturbed his feast . . .

I've been pounding on the computer for up to 7 hours a day for the last 9 days!! Needless to say, I haven't spun a damned thing. My thumbs are not up to the task at all so I've dropped out of the Tour de Fleece. I can knit, barely, but I can report that both pairs of short socks in the Saturn color way are finished. I DID have to finish the second pair feet & toes with an odd ball of dark grey but they're DONE. Another pair are currently on the needles but only just. If I can get through all this work I've suddenly got, then maybe the old hands will get back in shape again. I've even ordered a trial sample of some Super Krill Oil from Purity Products in the US. They advertise on information & talk radio & made me an offer I couldn't refuse - for the total price of 7 bucks US, they will ship me a 30 day supply - & include the Hair/Nails/Skin product as well - which is guaranteed to make my joints better in 7 days or less or my money back. If I like it, they will ship for free! At this point, I'll try anything but heavy duty drugs!!! I have to make these hands work like this for another 10 years at least!!!

2011-07-01T10:06:00.006-07:00

Was that June?

Got up this morning to July. I know it's a holiday because no one in my neighborhood was up at 5:30 AM loading siding, crashing garbage cans or yelling from upper sundeck to lower car parked in the alley. On holiday mornings like this one, all of the above seems to happen about 10:00 instead. As I sit at my desk, I see the walkers are out, the kids are already playing hockey in the alley & someone IS loading aluminum siding on a truck. And I'm sitting in my old tee & shorts, uncombed, unshowered, pounding on the keyboard & listening to Jean Auel's new book, The Painted Caves. I'm finding it hard to get started this morning even though I have HST reports to file for a couple of small businesses before I start on WCB reports. I have to do as much as possible since the Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow & I intend to spend most of Saturday evening & Sunday morning spinning while I watch a weekend marathon on HGTV!!

When rooting through my UFOs I came upon the three balls of yarn I spun from Arvik. Arvik was a little Shetland sheep with a lovely fleece that ranged in color from light grey to almost black. I fell in love with that fleece the first time I saw it advertised on Canspin!! I have three big balls of the medium grey with a hint of brown, a big ball of the darkest yarn & the remains of the lightest grey from two small fleeces. Since Arvik has died of old age, I won't be getting any more fleeces, dammit. This morning I had a great idea. I've already made two attempts to knit a work sweater with this yarn. Instead of using my yet to be spun, wildly colored, Paua for a work shrug, I think I should make it with the Arvik instead. Since I don't have enough of one shade to make the sweater I want - I was thinking about using a lace pattern & larger needles to stretch it - I do have enough to knit a large rectangle to make the simple Lion Brand shrug. I could even use the dark wool to pick up & knit the cuffs I was considering as well. It should be warm, snuggly & the color would work in dusty warehouses a whole lot better than Paua. And it would make a really great car knitting project for the summer!!

Haven't quite finished the second pair of short socks in Regia Saturn although I've turned the heel on the first sock & will turn the second this evening. Summer socks really go very quickly since they're only a couple of inches above the ankle - great for leftovers since half the foot & toe can be in a complimentary or contrasting color! The only part that's really visible is the ankle & ribbing so any other leftovers can be used - great opportunity to make some really wild Frankensocks.

2011-06-28T11:27:00.004-07:00

What is Blogspot Doing???

I've been having a terrible time accessing my Blog!! I don't know what Blogspot is doing but they better fix it before I go somewhere else!!

I joined the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. I'm in Team Canada - CrankyPants which seems to epitomize my attitude about the world these days . . . My project will be to spin up THREE bags of PAUA from Aurelia Wool & Weaving. I just love the colors in Paua & will, hopefully, be able to keep them separated enough to get runs of one color or another as well as some blending to keep it interesting. I intend to knit up a nice big shrug using the Lion Brand pattern I found & talked about in the last blog. It's just a simple big rectangle folded in half with a short seam closing about a foot or so from each end, leaving the middle open. I could pick up the end & knit a loose ribbed cuff or crochet around the entire thing just to give it a 'finished' look as well. I suspect I'll do the ribbing. But first, I have to spin the fibre!! And, I'm actually really looking forward to spinning every day - the patio is bursting with color & it's wonderful out there in the mornings & evenings with a recorded book & a cup of tea . . . Hell, it's even better out there at midnight with a bottle or two of English Cider!!

So, what have I been working on lately?? Summer socks! I have to wear my support sneakers - yeah, I still pronate - roll inwards - & I still need a 10cm minimum heel - and I just can't wear them without a sock!!! Those cotton footlets keep my feet wet all the time so I knit short wool socks to keep the old dogs comfy. Apparently, I also give most of them away since I only have 4 short pairs in the basket!! Just finished another in the remains of the Regia - Saturn colorway that I used for Bryan's birthday socks. I think I almost have enough to knit another pair of short socks - which are already cast on the needles - they will get blue or black toes if I fall short. Was rooting in the sock wool basket & found a lot of odd balls - don't even ask why - I normally buy in twos for most socks or threes if I'm knitting Ex socks so I have no idea why I have WHOLE 50gm BALLS of one color. But, one ball will make MOST of a pair of short socks & a solid color can finish them off. I found an interesting ball with short runs of celery, pink, grey & black in it. Bit wishy washy right now but I'm sure it will work with grey, pink, black or green toes to brighten it up. Fun to make socks like that!! Not sure if it will become summer socks or baby socks at the moment - have to see.

The city is constantly digging up & rearranging the roads around here & my favorite Truck Stop Cafe has been in the middle of a Road project for the last month. I never know from one day to another just HOW to get there. Since I haven't been there for over a week, I called to see if I have to go around the ROAD CLOSED sign & con the Flag Girls this week or if they finally opened the BACK DOOR. The Builders, in their wisdom, decided to build a back road around the Industrial Park to divert traffic from the main road while they worked on it. Since the Main Road will no longer allow access to any of the existing businesses, they had to build a Frontage Road in the rear so that the businesses could operate. It turned out to be another SNAFU the friday before last. The detour was almost completed & even paved before someone said, heh - how do we get into the Industrial Park. Not only did the public have no access, the folks at work in the Park couldn't get out & the work crew couldn't get into the Cafe for lunch. They bulldozed a temporary driveway through the existing road, ditch & curb for lunch that day . . . .

2011-06-19T10:56:00.005-07:00

What's New?

Not a damned thing if you really have to know! Other than my Regia socks in the Saturn colorway. I, well, I frogged them back to the ribbing. I guess I'm just not the 'lace' type. And maybe I just like to knit without ever completing anything. I'm beginning to wonder . . .

It's been a little cool lately so I need to wear socks. When I dug into the sock basket - I only have 21 pairs of socks in there - I couldn't find a thing to wear! Most of them are winter socks. And the remainder - all four pairs of short summer socks - get worn really quickly & tossed into the laundry basket. I usually do the wash every couple of weeks since I have to rearrange the whole kitchen to pull out the washer & get it over to the sink to hook up. With the antique wiring, I can't operate anything else while the washer & dryer operate other than the coffee pot! I also can't operate the dryer if the washer's running, not because of wiring but because it's on a slightly wobbly stand & needs the washer support underneath when it's running. If it's warm, my patio becomes the drying station with my folding wooden racks because I have no clothesline but I have to stay home all day while it's out there. While this normally isn't a problem, I can always spin while the clothes dry, right now it's too warm to run the dryer - it vents through a filter INTO the house because it's tiny & it's too cold to dry outside on racks - I'd be outside for days! The only thing left to do - knit more summer socks!!

So the frogged socks are rapidly becoming two pairs of short summer socks. I have to have socks in my sneakers. I don't understand how people can wear them without. Much as I'd like to, I can't live in thongs or sandals because I need side support & a bit of a heel or I hyper-extend my Achilles tendons. All this gobblygook means that if I slop around in thongs or sandals I get burning, crippling inflammation & PAIN in the backs of my heels. So I wear thongs at home or to jobs where I'm sitting all day when it's hot & my support sneakers everywhere else - just a little compromise that would make my foot specialist cringe! I try NOT to push it too far since I spent several years in pain & TWO years encased in support sneakers every waking hour of the day to get it healed. I draw the line at heavy winter socks in the summer though . . . The heels are turned on the first pair of summer socks & the next couple of pairs are already planned out.

I still work in a warehouse on Sundays. It's so peaceful & quiet in there that I just love it. But, the floor is cement & I need a little extra covering except in the middle of the summer. Most of the year I need something light but warm that doesn't get in the way. I tried a Danish Working shawl in handspun which worked quite well but my arms were still cold. I've noticed that Lion Brand has several really simple SHRUG patterns that might do the trick. They're simple rectangles folded in half with cuffs on the ends if you want them. They cover the back - depending on the depth of the rectangle - as well as the shoulders & arms but leave the front more or less exposed, again, depending on the depth of the rectangle. Any lace pattern would work or even simple garter stitch like the one in the orangey Lion Brand Homespun! I'm seriously thinking about whipping one up to try it out for the warehouse. Just think of it in handspun alpaca or llama with wool!!! It would be soooooo comfy this winter when I watch tv or curl up to read a book. Maybe that's the project I should work on for the Tour de Fleece this year - to spin up that alpaca I was given so I can knit the winter shrug!!

2011-06-16T11:01:00.003-07:00

I'm glad I'm not a Hockey Fan

I'm glad I'm not a Hockey Fan because, today, I'd be devastated by the ruination of Vancouver's downtown core by mindless Idiots who call themselves 'FANS'. I'd be ashamed & embarrassed by the U Tube clips going viral on the Internet. And I'd be wondering why the 'fans' of the losing team have to destroy their own city in protest. Isn't there something written about not shitting in your own nest?? Even a Pig knows better . . .

As a non-fan I propose we track down all the Offenders & prosecute with every tool in our judicial toolbox. Dress them in orange jumpsuits with 'rioter' on the back & make them WORK off their debt - sweep the streets by hand, pick up garbage in the parks & on the beaches - expose them to Public scorn. All those with pictures & movies of the 'event' - turn them over to the Police, News & show them to all your friends. Let's identify the criminals who spoil all the good things in this city. They make the streets dangerous. These are the people who take away all the public festivals & celebrations. The Sea Festival & the Sand Castle competition come to mind. Don't let them get away with this behavior. You rise up in anger against the HST - how 'bout some of that anger directed towards the ignorant, mindless, violence perpetuated by rioters & looters in the streets. Or will you wait until the Playoffs are no longer held in our city?

2011-06-12T01:08:00.001-07:00

Oh Look What I Found . . .

The Traveling mug is cheering on the Team

2011-06-10T10:22:00.007-07:00

It's Definitely Summer

My Jungle is growing wildly & you just have to believe it's summer at last!! I hit the sale bin at the Home Depot after Mother's Day & picked up two sorry looking geranium baskets & one crushed pink something or other flowering basket - I have no idea what this is!! Brought them home, watered & fed them, let them sit on the floor under the table on the patio for a few days & then hung them up. WOW! All three are blooming their hearts out in hot pinks on my patio. I planted winter pansies & a 'spike' in a large pot which sits beside the door & the fern box - four feet along the shady back of the patio - is filled to overflowing with ferns of all kinds. It's a great place to spin in the early morning with a big cup of hot tea! And it's where I'll be competing in the Tour de Fleece in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure yet just what I'll be spinning - four 250 gm bags of MAGENTA Halfbreed wool or three 250gm bags of Paua - Corriedale wool in turquoise, blues & hot pink from Aurelia Wools - much prettier than in the photo to the right. And I found a whole light grey fleece in a bag in the closet. I'm leaning toward Paua simply because there's less of it, I'm tired of spinning white wool & I might just DO something with handspun sooner if its a nice color!! Ever notice how wildly colored socks knit faster than dull or dark colors??? There's that Kimono I've been drooling over after all & that very interesting wrap/shrug pattern I bought last year that can be worn backwards, forwards, right side up & upside down.

And speaking of socks - only one pair on the go at the moment. I'm knitting the second pair of Saturn Socks. I decided to put a little twist into it though & tried a simple pattern of K1, yo, K2tog just for fun. Not sure if I really like it yet & may rip it out to work a new lace pattern I've discovered @ Notions, an on-line magazine that has ceased to publish. I tried the pattern in another pair of wristletts for my niece. I like the pattern. It's a simple K1,P1, yo, K2tog, P1,K1 on the 1rst row, with Knit on K & Purl on P 2nd & 4th row & K1,P1, SSK, yo, P1,K1 on the 3rd row. It makes a nice stretchy pattern for a sock, arm warmer or mitt. The Saturn yarn may be too busy for the pattern to work well but I will definitely use the pattern somewhere else!

2011-06-06T11:56:00.002-07:00

Not much yarny stuff today

I woke up feeling pretty damned good this morning! After three DRY & SUNNY days, my hands have almost stopped hurting. In fact, my hip isn't burning either. Looks like Summer has finally arrived. I knew it was on the way when the Strawberries exploded into action but it really felt like the Wet Coast was gonna STAY wet. We'll probably go from Monsoon to Watering Restrictions in the next couple of weeks. But, the Jungle has decided to make the most of the sunshine we have. I've gone from one Clematis bloom to several & the big, furry buds just keep on coming.

Today I'm cleaning out my bedroom closet. I started at 5:38 this morning! I thought about it long enough & even pulled a few things out. But, today, it's all going to get cleaned out. I haven't done much in there for eons because I'd rather knit or spin or dye or do just about anything other than housework - yuk! But, I know there's all kinds of crap in there that has to go. Good crap, mind you, but still crap to me. Someone once said that there's FREEDOM in divesting yourself of CRAP. We'll see . . .

And then there's the Office.

2011-05-31T12:11:00.008-07:00

Dilly Dallying Around

I bought an upside down tomato planter. I have friends who swear they're the greatest thing since raised beds!! Now, I like the Raised Bed gardening system myself - no bending, fewer weeds, the soil warms up sooner, no bending, no grass to cut when you put it where the lawn used to be & the plants seem to produce better! I like it even better when a trellis system is added to the raised bed so things like cucumbers, tomatoes, pole beans & squashes can grow up instead of on the ground where they're attacked by slugs, bugs & passing feet. So, growing things upside down kinda makes sense. My mother used to pull all the tomato plants - with green tomatoes still attached - out of the garden just before the first frost & hang them upside down from the basement beams. They would ripen slowly & taste absolutely incredible. So the Upside Down planter appealed to me.
Problem was, I didn't put my tomato plants into it till this morning. I put a Beefsteak & a Tiny Tim in there together. I hope they enjoy the experience & reward me well.
I have a Patio Favorite in the top of my Strawberry Pot with two Everbearing strawberry plants. The strawberries are survivors from the Invasion of the Hen & Chicks. Silly me. I planted ONE chick in the OLD strawberry pot. It reproduced & took over . . .

My Jungle isn't quite sure what season it is. The Ferns are putting out new fronds daily. The strawberries have tripled in size in the last two weeks & are just starting to flower. The early blooming Clematis is only now bursting into bloom - it usually blooms in late March or early April - the first bud opened only this morning - while the Easter Cactus is now bursting into bloom & the Christmas Cactus is setting buds!

On the Knitting Front - Still knitting cuffs for the adopted child. Added a couple more in plain ribbing with a LOOSE cast off so it kind of flares at one end for a slightly different look. Most of the Merino Odd Balls I have knit to a worsted gauge so lace is not an option when working on 32 - 36 sts. Seed stitch, ribbing, simple YO, K2tog are okay as are twisted stitches & cables but since I don't have the wrists in front of me, it's not easy to do cables to fit. But I think she'll be happy with a wardrobe of different colors in simple patterns. If I get into Arm Warmers - well, that's a whole other story!!

2011-05-25T22:29:00.005-07:00

Ya Just Gotta Laugh

Last week I tried to get to knitting with the girls & made it to the parking lot after work with my dinner-in-a-box. Just as I was finishing dinner, I got an emergency call & ran off to rescue a friend with a baby locked in the car. She & the mother of the baby do NOT like each other much & it's nothing short of a miracle when said grandchild is ALLOWED out with Granny for an hour or two! So, when the kid got locked in the car, well, no one was gonna tell MOM. Granny has spare keys to the car - in the locked house & spare keys to the house - in the purse which is locked in the car with the baby who is happily playing with Granny's car keys with the automatic door fob. I just happen to have a spare key to the house - sometimes I cuddle with the pooch when Granny goes off for the weekend. Pooch has a doggie door, fenced yard & an automatic food dispenser at his beck & call but needs some cuddling when his Human's away!! Luck was with us last Wednesday, I showed up with the key before the daughter-in-law showed up to claim the kid! And nobody knows but us!!

Just a little shot of my Jungle-in-progress. The big Cedar planter has SIX kinds of ferns in it which die back in the winter & pop up again in the spring. While taking out the garbage, I spotted a couple of fronds peeking out from the moss along the north side of the house. I dug them up & transplanted them to my planter where they seem to be doing just fine. I've seen them before in mossy areas of the local woods. They actually grow up the tree trunks in the moss by sending out runners like strawberries!

On Wednesdays, I work for a Motorcycle School. Action used to be one of TWO in the Lower Mainland, but now, they're popping up all over the place like Magic Mushrooms! One of my last sales of the day was to two best buds who were actually sitting in the Competition's office about 20 miles away when they called me for information. Apparently when they went to sign up, the office person was yakking on the phone. They said they quietly sat there for 34 minutes without even being greeted before calling me. The office person, who still hadn't acknowledged them, was still on the phone when they left to drive all the way to North Langley to see me. And they brought cash!! I just don't know how some people stay in business! Must be a full moon out there . . .

I've finished the wild socks for my buddy Bryan at the Motorcycle School! He wants to wear them in his sneakers when he works in the parking lot this year!
I've also cast on the remainder of the Regia Saturn to make socks for ME. I've used my usual In-my-head pattern of 68 sts, top down, 3" K2,P2 ribbing but decided to do something just a little different this time. On the right front quarter, I've done ( YO, K2tog) 6 times to produce a simple lace pattern. I'll hopefully, do the same on the left front quarter of the other sock to match. I've lost count but I think the Saturn Socks2 will be Pair Number 8 or 9 so far this year . . . . I know it doesn't sound like a lot of socks but hell, Tax Season got in the way & nothing else is finished!! One thing about Retirement - if I can ever afford it - I'll be able to knit & spin a whole lot more!

2011-05-22T12:35:00.006-07:00

I Have a Camera

I can take pictures again!! Not that my life is so exciting - very unexciting around here since I gave the BT the boot, I tell ya!! But, I think my blood pressure has come down & my bank balance has gone up! But, to get to the point - I now have a camera. Turns out to be a Video Camcorder. I can take 9 shots without adding an SD chip but no movies unless I add one. Today, I charged everything up - yes, internal battery toooooo - & stuck the camera into my USB hub to unload the pictures of my two latest projects . . . . Yeah, right. Spent the last two hours trying to delete the program that self loaded & sucked up all the BMP, JPEG etc files on my computer. Do you know how many that is??? Even I wasn't aware . . . I have now deleted all the extra files & found the file with the current pictures of the last two projects . . .
Here's a pic of my latest toy!! This was a very tough shot to get since I wanted to show IT not ME. It's the size of a cell phone & does all kinds of nifty things which I will probably never use. That's toy #3 in the past couple of months! Got my KOBO ebook reader, got a personal DVD player - I can play my WALKING CDs again & now this little camcorder. I love the single life . . . . it's the only life for me!!!

I found those two balls of yarn in the Sierra colorway & finished up the socks for ME. Fall socks now I guess since Sprummer(Spring/Summer) has finally arrived on the Wet Coast! I loved this colorway when a fellow blogger showed off a project several years ago & got several balls sent to me!! I remember knitting one pair up for a friend's daughter & forgot about the remainder. Well, I found the balls & had to knit a pair of socks for myself right away - the yarn reminds me of an African mud print. I'm not normally attracted to FALL colors because I look like crap in browns, greens, orange & yellow but on the FEET?? Yeah baby! I can wear anything!

My Office Buddy Bryan - brand new daddy of Solana who was three weeks old on Friday - wanted socks for his 34th birthday! He took my Saturn Socks to the hospital with him when Solana was born because he says he freezes in there & I hadn't finished the original pair of WILD socks I started for him. I had no idea he would scarf the Saturn Socks, he was supposed to try them on for size but somehow, they left with him. And the Stinker got two pairs. Oh well, good thing I have enough Saturn to knit myself another pair . . .

2011-05-17T19:58:00.002-07:00

The Camera's on its Way!

So my new camera is on the way & I can't wait to play with another new toy!!! It better hurry up because Bryan's wild red, black & yellow socks are almost done! And I don't want to give them away until I have a camera so he can model them for the Blog! I forgot to get him to model the last ones - I usually don't carry the darned thing but I'll have to get used to doing so if I want the 'ON THE FEET' shots that others remember to get . . .

Still spinning the 'egg' shaped lumps of Brown Sheep mill ends. They're never ending!! The big bobbin on my Indian Spinner is full to overflowing with yarn & I found two more damned lumps to spin! This time, I'm determined to spin it ALL up for once & for all! I won't spin anything else until it's done!!! I think winding yarn onto the niddy noddy is my least favorite job. It's probably because the bobbin is SO big that makes winding off a real chore. I try to make those skeins as big as possible 'cause the old right arm really protests after a marathon winding off. And maybe that's why the bobbin doesn't get emptied as often as it should. Once upon a time, I even bought a skein winder from Don George - he makes lovely things out of wood - but I have nothing I can clamp it to so I can't use it - Great Planning, eh?? So I'm left with the old niddy noddy. And all that winding off . . .

This summer, I am really hoping to get more Craft Time out on the patio!! I have some macrame plant hangers to construct - I bought two baskets of Geraniums at the post Mother's Day Sale - I want to hang two baskets from the same hook. I'm making a simple double hanger so I can try to block the sun in the afternoon. Yeah, I thought about more lattice out there but then I can't hang anything high enough to keep the slugs out. I have a slightly damaged strawberry pot planted with strawberries - heh, the slugs won't climb that thing!!! & I want to hang the Geraniums above it as a sun block. I also got a Topsy Turvey Tomato hanger. The tomato plant hangs upsidedown!! I figure that will help block the sun too. I just may be able to sit out there after work & spin!! See, there is a method to my madness.

2011-05-10T10:00:00.002-07:00

So Hard to DO

I know nothing about cameras. I don't even really like cameras. But, it's hard to post pictures of the latest projects, interests, neat things etc on a Blog without one. So I bit the bullet, checked out my Air Miles points & went in search of something to take pictures with. I decided I wanted a rechargeable battery. And I don't really want to mess around with taking out & putting back a memory card if I'm only taking 2 or 3 pictures! Oh, I really should have a 'smart' camera that can adjust to light & distance because I haven't got a clue - I just try to get my back to the sun & point. I'd like to be able to get in really, really close & take a picture of a bug or a special stitch or a blossom too. Can I really get all this for around 2500 points???

Apparently I can. I ordered a GE Digital HD Video Camera - it even takes movies underwater!! It adjusts for shaky hands. It plugs into the computer to recharge. It takes an SD card or USB thumb drive. You just point & shoot. Yeah baby!! And it only cost me 1200 Air Miles points. Because it's ORANGE.

2011-05-06T18:46:00.002-07:00

In Mourning

Today, I realized my camera was dead. I didn't drop it. It didn't go for a swim. Sometime between taking out the dead batteries & replacing them with recharged ones, it quietly clicked it's last. And I didn't even notice. I totally blamed the batteries for not holding a charge. I blamed the batteries for not being as good, second class you know - they're rechargeable. I went out & bought very expensive electronics batteries to replace them. I guess I just couldn't believe it was true. The eye is open but the charge is gone. All the batteries in the world will not make my Kodak digital camera take sock pictures again . . . .

2011-05-05T09:51:00.003-07:00

Leisure Time

I've actually had a little of it lately. Leisure time, that is. Time to sit & sip a cup of tea without paper in hand, on desk, in boxes, stacked, stapled, folded, etc etc. The phone is not ringing as often & I can almost walk into my office again. The FINISHED box rides everywhere in the car again. And the spinning wheel has been outside TWICE since I came back from the Retreat!!! I actually sat in the sun the other day & spun! Still working on finishing the last of the egg shaped knots leftover from the Grab Bag I bought from Sheep Shed Studios several years ago! I love the slight spongy feel of the wool in them. It's soft, a little fuzzy but nice to touch. Reminds me of Polworth in some ways & it just appeals to me, in a very tactile way. And, I do believe, I'm down to the last three bumps. Gotta check the bag again soon, just to make sure they haven't reproduced in there when I wasn't looking!!! I won't even discuss the wool/mohair roving that remains in the bag.

Got the Knit Kimono & Knit Kimono Too books out beside my TV chair & the decision is down to three. The lacy red one on the cover that first caught my eye, the really big 'wave' patterned lace kimono - I do hate the sleeves though or the indigo one with the textured sleeves & yoke that folds at the side. I love the LACE patterns but keep returning to the TEXTURED indigo kimono. It's simplicity, folded detail & subtle texture just gets to me. Mine would not be indigo though - not really sure exactly what I'd do with dye but I am leaning toward turquoise or plum with spots of brighter color. Oh for a warm, sunny summer to dye for!

And one last project that I'm waiting for a nice, warm day to work on - the felted cover for my new KOBO. I've discovered one bad feature of the KOBO, those buttons on the sides of the frame turn themselves on & off in my bag!!! Every time I go to use the durned thing, the battery's dead. The ON/OFF button on the top rubs against the side of my bag & turns it ON all the time. Ripped the guts out of an unused pocketbook sized Daily Diary with a zip closing that was in the "Donations" box. Unused, regifted, pages out of date!! It has a couple of pockets, a pad of paper for doodles, a pen to doodle with & room for my business cards. It's a little big for the KOBO but I could stuff a Driver's License, Starbucks card, $20 & a sock on a circ in there & go to Starbucks without a purse!!! !t works until I get something felted!!

2011-05-03T08:45:00.002-07:00

A Day in the Life

It's officially OVER. I'm not talking Wedding or Election - although I could - but, I'm referring to TAX SEASON! Tried to E-file one last return just before midnight but the durned thing closed on me in mid file!!! I cursed but took the hint & went to bed. There's 5 unfinished returns left on the desk. Two will get refunds - no penalty, two always pay because they're always late & not because of me & MINE, which is also always late because I never have time till everyone else's is done! And then there's all the others who show up days & weeks or sometimes months & years, after the fact. Today, I don't care! Today I'm having breakfast OUT. Today I will read a week's worth of papers. Today I will get my mail on time. And later today, I have to take an ON-LINE course in BIDDING for EXCAVATING JOBS.

2011-04-26T18:57:00.003-07:00

Nothing but Paperwork

I recovered from my re-entry into the yellow haze of smog that encases the Lower Mainland - every time I leave for a few days I wonder why I bother to come back to the wheezing, coughing & sneezing!! If it wasn't for my clients, the Motorcycle School, my stash & friends, well, I'd stay in Hope! I keep telling the Ex that we should sell the house & most of our junk, combine forces & move to Hope!! Why Hope?? Close enough to emergency services should we need them but out of the Transit Tax, Air Care, Hydro levy, traffic jams & yellow smog. Gas & housing is cheaper & we can zip to Chilliwack or Kamloops for groceries if we need too!! Since Hope got a Timmy's & a Mcdonald's, I can get my Steeped Tea & he can have his low fat muffin & Senior coffee! I think Hope needs a Dollar Store/Yarn Store too. Lion Brand yarn should sell in Hope. Gives me an excuse to order the good stuff for me & my pals & spend the days spinning in the store. I figure we need a nice little DUPLEX with a garage for his toys on one side & a nice covered porch on the other for me. My adopted child is now working for the Hope RCMP. A nice "IN" for me . . . But, I'm still paying off that damned loan so I guess I'll be in town for a couple more years . . . .

I have two more birthdays in the Motorcycle Office. My little buddy Bryan had his 34th on Saturday. We let him leave early for the Family Bash but I had no idea what to get him for his birthday other than Corona Beer. I was thinking about a 'Manly' pair of socks when he came in & told me he wanted WILD socks for his birthday!! Great minds think alike! Okaaaaaay. I have just the yarn - Regia - in one of the Nations colorways of Yellow, Black & Red! And he asked for KNEE SOCKS. He intends to wear them in the parking lot when he teaches in the summer!! He isn't getting knee socks because I only have 100gms but I can make em come halfway up his leg!! When the batteries in my camera recharge, I'll include a picture of what's on the needles so far!! The Boss turns 50 in May. We all know what to get him. I have my order in for a nice single malt scotch from the Misty Isles because we're teaching him that Johnny Walker isn't the only action in town!!

Haven't spun a thing since I came home. I like to get outside with my wheel & it's rained every day except when I'm stuck in the office cranking out tax returns or working in the office at the Motorcycle School!! Tax Season slows down on April 30 but small business stuff continues for a month or so beyond. At least I can take the afternoon OFF & sit in the sun - if we ever get two days in a row!!! WHEN summer finally arrives, I'll be out on the patio every day spinning the last of the 'bumps' I bought from the Sheep Shed Studios. I'm getting so close to finally finishing them that it's kind of exciting. I have the light grey fleece in the closet that I want to spin this summer too. And that lovely 'shades of purple' superwash wool & nylon roving I got at the Retreat to spin for socks!! I want to knit a couple of pairs of Barn Socks for a friend who will be 60 in September!! She has two huge pooches, two enormous horses & a pond full of migratory birds, herons, ducks & frogs in the yard. She's out in boots for more than half a day shoveling stalls, walking dogs, exercising horses & shooting bullfrogs. She needs warm feet.

2011-04-18T19:10:00.002-07:00

A Surprise!

There's nothing like a little adventure once in a while! To my surprise, I got a phone call asking which bed I wanted at the Desert Mesa Spring Retreat. This was Tuesday & the Retreat started Friday . . . apparently my friend Gail sent an email a day or so before saying we were coming - if there was room at the Inn . . . Oh yeah. It's payroll week - 5 payrolls in fact. And it's Payroll Remittance week & three weeks before the tax deadline as well. What the hell, why NOT Go?? So I did what I could, threw a few things in a bag & AWAY WE WENT!! Had a good time, met some people I've been corresponding with for years but never met & spent too much money - as usual. Did NOT spend all my money on fibre this time - I bought a lovely bracelet & earrings in COPPER with an Indian motif - more Southwestern I suppose than local but very nice all the same!!! Laughed a whole lot - isn't that the reason we go to these things??? & got to see how our Blanket for the Bishop turned out!

Spent most of my time spinning up the remaining 'egg' shaped wool knots of the GRAB BAG I bought umpteen years ago from the Sheep Shed Studios in the States. I've decided to have a merry dye session later this summer on the patio & dye all the skeins at the same time! I've been slobbering over Kimonos since I bought the KNIT KIMONO book a coupla years ago & the Knit Kimono Too this year. I don't have enough handspun in any one colorway or type of wool to make any of them yet. But, I have seven or eight skeins in the basket & probably three more on the giant bobbin on my Indian Head spinner. I believe I have half a grocery bag of 'egg' shaped lumps left. There will be more than enough wool - I think it's Polworth - to make any of the short Kimonos!! Not sure what I'll do with the dye or what color I'll use yet but they'll be done all at the same time. I'm leaning towards a Kimono with a patterned yoke & sleeves with a plain body.

Found a home for two of the bags in the Office closet. The mohair curls & the best Border Cheviot fleece will go north to Quesnel. The seedy fleece will stay to become hanging basket lining. And, should there be any more fleece in there, it will go north as well. Thank you Lou for taking my leftover, forgotten fleeces!! I will de-clutter, de-stash & gain some storage space in spite of my hording ways yet!!!!

Today, I spent part of my first morning back sneezing, wheezing & watering whilst waiting in line to renew my Driver's license! What a picture I presented!! I decided not to wait one more minute since my license actually expired on Saturday & I had to drive sans license to the Driver Service Office. Some of the Nervous Nellies at the Retreat were telling me stories of rewriting the Exam & taking the Driving Test once more because it had expired. But, no one even looked at my license except to verify my address, mother's maiden name, height, weight, eye & hair color - somehow I shrunk 3 inches in the last 5 years!!! But, I'm legal again. And, the picture is now black & white - good thing because my nose & eyes were bright red! It looked about as good as my Costco picture. Whoopie - I just can't wait to whip that one out for ID!

2011-04-08T09:12:00.007-07:00

April Already!

I've been mostly Lost in Taxland with the occasional venture into Motorcycleland lately - tis the season for both! And how do they connect? Every boy & more & more girls, want to get their taxes done early so they can buy a bike. A big bike with a motor on it! And of course, they want one NOW. All the paper dust & testosterone makes me realize that I'm rapidly crossing the line into OLD AGE. I just don't care WHEN I do my taxes & the only bike I want has at least three wheels, a heater, cup holder, a radio & a trunk!

And speaking of OLD AGE, I got my Official Bank Letter yesterday - the one that says," Happy Birthday Senior!" OUCH Apparently, they're switching me to the No Fee Senior Account. I don't have to do a thing! I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad. I know I've been looking forward to the NO FEE courses at the local University and Senior's rates at the Rec Centre! Woohoo. But, the bank letter sort of set it all in stone.

So to honor my Aging self, I've been trying to clean out some boxes, closets & piles in my office. I found boxes of paper that belong to a client who DIED three years ago as well as boxes of documents that should've gone home with their owners even earlier. And in the Office closet I found FOUR BAGS of fleece! There's one bag of mohair curls/2004 - 6 pounds it says, two bags of very dirty & somewhat seedy, Border Cheviot/2005 - probably 3-5 pounds altogether & one bag - 2 pounds - of anonymous brown/grey fleece with tan tips. I suspect there's another bag hidden in the big wicker basket in the back. I found a box with dry grey roving in it last year - I think it's the remainder of some Romney roving I bought years & years ago when I wanted to knit a grey sweater. The roving was so dry it was like spinning Dryer Fluff. So, it didn't get used. I sprayed it with spinning oil - still have half a bottle from the 70s - & tucked it into a plastic tub. I'm hoping it will be spinnable outside this summer!! Sigh, AND I was going to go to the Fleece Sale this summer!!!

Before I change my mind & give it a toss, the dirtiest BC is going outside to become hanging basket fodder. I have a wire basket that's usually lined with coconut fibre but the water just runs through as fast as you pour it in. Only succulents can live in that basket! I intend to line it with dirty wool this year & replace the succulents which have become thin & weak looking. I have several baskets which hold petunias, fuchsias, geraniums etc that dry out & bake unless they're watered twice a day - they will also be lined with dirty wool to keep in the moisture this year. And the rest? I'm going to wash some of the Cheviot & see if it's worth the effort. All this wool was given to me. I took it because I thought I could just wash it & use it. Free wool after all & I was poor . . . but I've been exposed to luxury fibre by other spinners at Spin Ins, Fibre shows & the Desert Mesa retreat. Because of them, I even tried to spin cotton fluff, dryer fluff, unspun nylon, rayon & even the anonymous fibre that the hairdresser puts around your hairline at perm time! I still DO love spinning right off the fleece but the wool has to be GOOD wool to start with & I've been spoiled by a small Shetland sheep from Alberta named Arvik.

2011-03-24T13:18:00.007-07:00

It's THAT time of year again

Haven't accomplished a thing lately - not even a pair of socks! The poor Sierra Socks are still in the bag toeless. I managed to turn the heels & then got too busy to do much of anything. And I'm sleepy all the time! Spring fever?? Nope - Spring Allergies!! The Benadryl goes with me everywhere to ease the itchy, sneezy, wheezy, coughing paper shuffler I've become. Thank gawd for EFile!

For all you people who still have or are in the process of getting SNOW, Vancouver is now busting out all over. I noticed both of the scrubby bushes outside my favorite Greasy Spoon are in full bud with just a tinge of color - I'm surprised they bother since the customers dump their butts in the planter just before they go into the cafe!! My Clematis plants have TWO INCH sprouts on those dead looking branches & the rhubarb is six inches tall! I can't wait till I can fill the hanging baskets with lovely little plants with big buds on them. I've been out pruning & cutting off dead ends - the spider plant has been out all week & looks very happy in his corner. Even the strawberries have perked up in the last week or so - I do believe our long, grey, wet winter is over.

Now I'm just hoping for another couple of sunny days warm enough that I can set up the spinning wheel outside & spin the afternoon away . . .

2011-03-16T00:10:00.003-07:00

Time Tinkering

I wish the Powers that Be would stop tinkering with time! As in clocks, that is. This Daylight Savings thing kind of gets my goat. We aren't Farm Folks who plan our days with the sun's comings & goings. Most of us in this country even have electricity. When it's dark, we can turn on a light if the flickering television doesn't already light up the room. We don't go outside to find the Convenience down the path behind the house any more. So why are we still turning the clock back & forward to gain a little more daylight?? I think it's old fashioned, archaic & plain silly in this modern age. I find no real, useful reason to carry on the Tradition. And I'm sick of changing over all the battery operated clocks in my life! Instead of battling the HST - a lost cause in my estimation because it's actually GOOD for businesses - let's do battle to eliminate Daylight Savings instead!

2011-03-11T11:40:00.005-08:00

Odds & Ends

I've got this large basket of odd balls in the corner of my living room. Because I tend to knit a lot of things for Charity, I've been given quite a lot of yarn over the years & have amassed quite a selection of 50gm balls in a variety of weights, colors & natural materials. A lot of the samples are not suitable for local knitting since they're not machine washable but are also not suitable for infant caps & socks for foreign donations because of weight or content, either. So, I've accumulated quite a stash. I've tried giving some of it away but my friends suffer from the same problems as I do - what the hell to DO with it???!! My Niece - adopted her at 41 - sent me a text message asking for Wristlets or Cuffs. I think she's expecting left over sock yarns but my eye drifted over to that big basket when she also went on & on in the text about creme, tan, brown, rust & any other combination of the above I cared to find. Resting on the top of that thigh high basket were several 50 gm balls of blue, brown, tan, rust & snotty green! Amen, said I.

I found at least 10, 50gm balls of merino or merino & silk that would work for her in the basket. I also found that 50gms will make 2 pairs of cuffs easily. Cuffs are also a great way to try out new patterns of all kinds. And I discovered I love knitting with this merino! It's so springy & soft! I mean, I looked at the yarn & thought it was kind of thick & too evenly spun & wasn't really inspired or impressed. Ho Hum! And then I used some of it. Changed my mind! It's definitely mostly a sport thickness in the ball but knits bulkier. It sprongs & stretches beautifully. And I'm glad I decided to make cuffs. They're fun & warm & very quick to make. I was experimenting with a combination of seed & knit stitches in the snotty green cuffs to make something a little fancier. Originally, I tried a twisted knit stitch but it wasn't really right with the seed - I'm thinking the heavier weight merino & silk would make lovely cables with seed fill on size 5 to 6mm needles! The snotty green cuffs are in the lighter sport weight merino & silk on size 4.5mm needles. The tan cuffs are just knit 2, purl 2 in a heavier merino on 4.5mm needles. The flare at one end is just to make them look different depending on which way they're worn. Being the wild & crazy person I am, I pulled out a few other balls which may become cuffs for ME!! That cherry ball would work with my purple jacket . . .

2011-03-08T15:14:00.004-08:00

Out for the Count

Remember when the Doctor told you to get that flu shot & you said "Yeah, yeah, I'll worry about it later"? Or "Gee, I never get the flu." Well, you'll be sorry! I'm just getting over my very own personal encounter with this year's strain of the Killer Bug & I tell you, GET THAT SHOT! I've heard noises coming from my very own GI tract that I never thought I'd hear outside of a Horror Movie. It came out of nowhere, with no warning, struck a terrible blow & left me flat on my ass, wishing I could just die & get it over with. And then when I thought I was improving & ate one little piece of sushi, the GI tract went into such paroxysms of rage, that I was hammered back to square one again. So, I am back to fluids only, sleeping & taking better care of myself. I will drink shakes & juices until my damned stomach begs for something solid.

I have started another pair of socks in an interesting yarn I saw on-line a few years ago & just had to have. I know I knitted up one pair of socks but I'm not sure what happened to them! A couple of weeks ago - between bout's of coughing & sneezing which I've also had - I found a 100gm ball of this Supersocke yarn in the Sierra colorway. I immediately cast it on the needles & have been too sick to finish it up. Damn. I could use those socks right now!

2011-02-25T18:49:00.004-08:00

TaaaaDaaaaa

Pair #3 for the year - another pair of the crazy 'Nations' socks from Regia! These will be off to their new home on Wednesday. I used a slightly smaller needle this time around & I quite like the thicker fabric that .25 of a mm makes. This pair were knit on my new 2mm Harmony DPs until I ran out of needle & then switched to the 2mm circs. I was very happy I had them! I don't think I'd want to knit a Man's size 13 on these but I may use them for the next pair for myself for those dark, cold, wintry days when the mercury is heading down instead of up the thermometer!! Today, I wished for long underwear & blanket jammies to hang out in. The landlord cranked up the furnace overnight & turned it down once again, when the kids left for school!!

Just to make you jealous, here's a pic of all three pairs of socks knit since January 1!! That's two pairs on the bottom for MY sock basket & the wild one on top will be traveling. The gloves are still on the needles but I've been too busy to finish them - lucky I got the last pair of socks done!

I do have a plan to knit something else for myself but I have to figure out the math since I don't have the yarn specified & take a size larger than the largest in the pattern. Since I now have Sweater Wizard, Math Wizard, Sock Wizard & Print-a-Grid, I figure it should be a lot easier. There's also this crazy crisscross crocheted sweater that caught my eye but I may have to make it up for a kid just to see how it goes together . . .

2011-02-23T01:19:00.002-08:00

Complaints Complaints

I've been whining lately about people who have blogs but rarely update them! I have a couple of favs that I've followed for years who just stopped blogging! How could they?? Or there's the ones who leave little hints & never get back to tell you what happened - they're probably the worst. And then there's me, I notice I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks . . . well, what can I say? It's February. The month that no one pays the book keeper. I've worked double the hours I normally work to get paid half the money. Every February I think about changing careers but get caught up in the backlog & suddenly, it's Tax Time. My favorite time of the year!! So, here we go again!!

I admit, I haven't done a lot lately. Steve, my techie buddy, tore the guts out of my computer & refurbished it so I haven't had a computer for a few days. I'm still on soft food & getting mighty tired of it! And I haven't vacuumed or cleaned out a closet yet this year! I haven't finished the latest pair of socks but they are ready for the toe shaping. Haven't finished Kyler's Kardigan in the purple Marble yarn but it's back in the car as Car Knitting! Coffeed with my adopted Niece on Friday & came away with an order for arm warmers & a hoodie in wool! I feel a Wonderful Wallaby coming on! Can't decide between the remains of the Briggs & Little Anniversary yarn I bought on sale - barber pole of two shades of blue or the multiple skeins of Briggs & Little Heritage & Regal in every shade of blue they make & one skein of cherry. I bought them at Knitopia when they were clearing out the storage bin in Langley. I was thinking about an Adult Surprise sweater at the time & I didn't want it to be too boring . . . I'd really love to do a Wonderful Wallaby in red or emerald for her but Sapphire blue is her color - a true WINTER child. She's training to apply to ERT - Emergency Response Team - & I've never seen her so thin & muscular! She's 42, in better shape than she was at 22! She rides horses & motorcycles, shoots & builds dragons in modeling clay. And wants a hoodie with a 'Lord of the Rings' hood. She'll probably wear it with lace underwear. . .

2011-02-12T11:03:00.007-08:00

Eating & Drinking Again

The mouth is improving day by day although I liked it better when the Silly Putty bandage covered everything!! I'm supposed to brush gently with a very soft brush - doesn't matter how gently you brush, you make it sore, dammit!! And I can't chew on that side either but I managed to scarf down two whole bags of baby bok choy with Chinese sausage & six red grapefruit in two days!! I have missed all the green veggies & citrus fruit I normally eat!! Nothing like a trip to the Chinese grocery store to whet the appetite for Lettuce Rolls with hot sauce, BBQ Pork, Chinese Sausage & my favorite Pu-erh tea!! I think about moving away from the Rat Race in the Lower Mainland & then remember my tea, the Lettuce Rolls, BBQ pork, Sushi & Goat Curry . . .

I HAVE been doing other things besides eating. I promised a pair of wild socks to a second Motorcycling Mama with small feet so I cast on when I got my new Harmony DPs. Good thing this MM has SMALL feet because those needles are also short - not as short as the full set I bought but a little too short for me to work my magic with FOUR needles!! I now know why they include SIX to the set. It isn't to cover breakage, it's so you can knit a full sock. Here's an example - I'm about halfway into the increases for the heel shaping & there's just too many stitches for one needle! Since my heel is K1, S1, I can't break that part up onto two needles easily, I could put each one of the gusset increases onto it's own needle I suppose or do what I did on the other sock & just use a circ. I love the feel & look of the Harmony sock needles but they just aren't long enough for me to work with. I just don't find them comfortable & I'd never be able to knit a man's sock with them, that's for sure. Too bad because they're really nice.

The second sock is on two circs - not my preferred method of sock knitting but I can work with it. I had to put the stitches on the circs in order to finish the gussets & turn the heel since it was just too awkward to use THREE needles for the heel shaping. I don't have any other needles in this size so I had only the two options. I wish the Harmony needles came about 2 inches longer - 4 inches longer & I'd buy a whole set!!!! I'll probably end up making some more bamboo skewer needles in the 2 & 2.25mm size this summer. I have a 2.50mm set that I use constantly for men's socks. The whole bag was in the 2.50mm size - just lightly sanded them & rubbed them with greasy fleece! I've never broken one - I probably will now that I mentioned it!! But, I prefer the 2.25 for my socks. It's amazing, but that little .25mm does make a big difference!!

And then there's my gloves! I've been having fun with the gloves. I decided some of the wild colors looked too garish in the middle of them so I yanked it out & found other colors that looked nicer. I've finished the second finger & my only problem has been the hole at the base of the finger where you cast on a few stitches between picking up the front stitches & the back ones. I've messed with the cast-on a little but still have a hole. So, before I do any more fingers, I have to figure out how to get rid of that hole. It makes me crazy! Other than that, Gloves are easy & fun to make!! By the time I figure out the hole problem, it will probably be too warm for gloves . . . .

I found two boxes & one big bag of sock yarn leftovers - I'm sure there's even more lurking in the bags, boxes & bins around here too. I found a couple of pictures of afghans made up of leftovers but I sure don't have the patience to sew up a bunch of tiny mitred squares - hell, I don't even want to sew up the big ones!!! I am thinking about a Log Cabin style afghan with very large squares - less sewing - or starting a rectangle for the centre & then rotating it 90 degrees, picking up stitches and knitting another. Each rectangle is built upon the one preceding it & spirals slowly to the outside as it gets bigger with NO SEWING. You can end it at any point or keep on adding to it for years. Might be the ideal way to use up those constant leftovers.

2011-02-04T14:59:00.003-08:00

Recovering

I postponed, put off, procrastinated & generally avoided doing something about a little problem I had with a spongey gum which my Periodontist wanted to fix. I had the same type of little spot (it wasn't so little but easy to fix) near a lower eye-tooth years ago - a popcorn hull had lodged in both places & been overlooked by all my Dentists till I got a new one who promptly sent me to the Gum Guy. The Gum Guy finds all kinds of things stuck under gums - popcorn hulls are common by the way, so are toothpick pieces! My Gum Guy made me promise never to eat popcorn again! Years ago he talked me into having ALL my lower gums trimmed so he could hide the big hole he was carving where the popcorn hull did the damage. I was so sick, sore & mad that I wanted to tear him limb from limb the second day after . . . I swore he was never, ever doing that to me again. So, fast forward 15 years, having tried everything from Witchcraft to Begging, I'm having another surgical intervention. I allowed him to have TWO TEETH on either side of the problem. I don't give a damn if I have a big hole!! Turns out I had a big abscess in my jaw instead & from the way he was digging, scraping & sanding - it was a bit of an emergency. I heard the Assistant murmur BONE GRAFT??!! Gasp! but he said we didn't need one! phew! To make this long story shorter - he packed it with some sort of antibiotic foam, stitched what he could & plastered the whole area with a Silly Putty-like goop that seals & covers the whole thing with just my tooth bottoms sticking out! Nice. Feels weird but it makes a great dressing! I did as I was told for a change, went home, took Advil & went to bed with a cold gel pack on my face. No food for 24 hours unless I could suck it through a straw. Drank lots, took C, B & zinc. I had some soft mac & cheese late last night - yummy!! And oatmeal today. The Silly Putty bandage is still in place & I have no pain - well, when the Advil's wearing off I feel throbbing but no nasty pain at all. I think the Silly Putty has magic in it!!! What a change from last time!! Dentistry sure has come a long way - even gum trimming!!! I plan on doing all the right things so that this heals well & quickly. And this is why I haven't been knitting much this week.

But - I have been experimenting with my first pair of gloves. I've treated them like a Frankensock - a little bit of this & a little of that & found that Gloves are easier to knit than socks!! The only problem I've had is trying NOT to get a hole in the first cast-on when I separate the stitches for the fingers. That one's tough & I may have to adjust everything after the fingers are actually knit. Gloves are fun. I've always thought they were complicated & hard to knit so I never bothered with them - I've only knit mittens once or twice!! But Gloves are fun to knit! And now that I know that, well, there's all those patterns to try!

2011-01-29T15:43:00.004-08:00

Another Soggy Saturday in Suburbia

So, here I am, in the wilds of Surrey - Vancouver burbs to you foreigners - on the Wet Coast, wondering why I feel so crappy. Could it be the damp greyness out there??? The Spider Plant has been outside on the patio for over a week now & is happily producing baby spiders! I think he thinks it's Spring. But my Basement is cold, dark & damp & I just want to be outside in shorts again. It's very much wool weather no matter what the Spider Plant thinks so maybe I need to get started on those gloves instead . . .

Socks #3 are on the needles! They're in the 'Nations' series by Regia. I thought it was 'Flags' but I was mistaken. Doesn't matter though, it's still the same orange/purple etc etc that I reported before. Since both sets of my favorite 2.25mm steel needles were in the toes of my second pair of socks when I decided to start the ribbing on #3, I dug out my new Harmony circs - they're those lovely wooden needles Knit Picks has created. I just love the colors!! Anyhoo - started the ribbing on two circs which is NOT my favorite way to knit socks - I find two circs much slower to work with BUT the stitches don't fall off when you're packing the work around stuffed in your purse or down the side of your knitting bag. Part way through the first ribbing, my new Harmony DPs arrive!! Yeah, baby!! So I started the second sock on the new DPs. They're a little short for me - ouch, I'm just a glutton for punishment! With practice, I think I can get used to them, although, I hate to say it, I really do prefer my steel needles, the Brittany Birches or my all time favs, the bamboo skewers! Trust me here - if those bamboo skewers came just a little smaller in diameter, I'd be knitting on them!!!! I DO prefer the Harmony circs for patterned or lace socks though. I find it's easier to keep track of pattern repeats on TWO needles rather than three.

So, halfway through the second ribbing I realize something is wrong. The needles & the circs looked to be the same size but it turns out that they aren't. My new DPs are 2mm or size 0 while the circs are 2.25mm & size 1. Grrrrrrrr All those little stitches!!! Both socks are now on the new DPs. I notice the difference more when working with them since I'm used to knitting on 2.25 or 2.50mm needles that are at least 2 INCHES longer than these cute little wooden needles!! Imagine me with the shorter ones I bought the first time around!!! Gotta say though, this is tough & my left wrist aches like stink. My left hand is not happy with little short things yet. Funny, I just thought I wrenched the wrist in November when I fell! But, I guess the wrist bone is connected to the knitting bones . . . .

2011-01-27T10:57:00.004-08:00

Off Like a Turd of Hurdles

I made some Resolutions er, guide lines for the coming year. I thought if I actually wrote them down & published them on the blog that some of them might get done. Number one was to knit for ME for a change. Well, I've been doing just that. I decided that a few of my socks were looking definitely scruffy & I put a toe through the end of one sock!! Am I going to darn it?? Nope. I'm not going to rip the toe off & knit another, neither. They were one of the first pairs of socks I made myself when I left the Ex 13 or 14 years ago . . . I knit a red pair & a blue pair in Trekking, bought ON LINE from Red Bird Knits!! Back when I knit those socks, the only yarn shop around was down on West 4th Avenue in Vancouver!! I've worn both of those pairs of socks at least once every TWO weeks since. When I first knit them, I wore them every second day until I had a week's worth of socks! I think it's time they retired.

I've finished the second pair of my 2011 socks! I actually finished them a couple of days ago but haven't had the time to get them photographed! Today you get to see them. This is Regia yarn in Saturn, of the Planets series. I don't see any Planets but I guess the streaks & blobs remind someone of the rings of Saturn. What the hell - they'll wear well & they ARE colorful & soft. And they aren't purple or pink, for a change!

The next pair of socks are not for me - yeah, they're already on the needles - they're for a Motorcycling Mama who admired a pair I knit up for another Motorcycle Mama who's an Instructor at Action Motorcycle School. Diane's a terrific gal & I knit them up as a surprise for her summer ride to Saskatchewan with the Girls. I had another couple of balls in the same orange/blue/yellow/purple colorway for a friend of hers who really, really admired them. I have no idea why bought 4 balls in THIS colorway! What was I thinking??? It's Regia again - good quality - in the FLAGS series. Damned if I know who has a flag with all these colors but I'll bet it's in Africa!

My next project is not going to be socks. Surprise, surprise! I keep admiring the gloves my friend Gail has. They're knit out of sock yarn leftovers & she wears them all the time. I haven't been able to snag them when she isn't looking because she keeps them in her purse when they're not on her hands . . . . So, I have no recourse, I guess I have to knit my own.

2011-01-17T10:58:00.004-08:00

Monday Morning Hiding Out

Yup, I'm hiding out. I'm overwhelmed with data entry these days. With the year coming to an end, there's all that Year End stuff to be done for a number of people who show up with boxes & bags of paper at the last minute. There's WCB - Worker's Compensation to those who don't know - reports to file, Tax slips to file for employees, Tax slips to file for Contractors & did I mention year ends???? And then there's the Taxman calling about stuff that was filed by Someone Else several years ago that I know nothing about. And another Taxman calling about late payments. And yet another Taxman calling about forms that need to be filed for a person I haven't seen in several years - who's gonna pay me?? Today, I don't care. Today I will take the current sock-in-progress & hide out with the morning paper, my favorite cup & my new iPod mini with Anna Pidgeon in Colorado(Nevada Barr's Park Ranger Series). Today, I don't care about your year end or your late payments. Put on your Big Boy Underoos honey & take care of it yourself! Cause I'm goin' knittin'!

2011-01-12T11:39:00.005-08:00

Here we go again

This is NOT what 3 to 5cm looks like!! The radio & TV were yapping for two days about the snow storm coming in. Only 3 to 5 centimeters were to fall on the Lower Mainland & turn to rain immediately. Yeah right, an inch or two overnight to turn to rain. Well, it wasn't 3 to 5, maybe 15 to 30 instead. I stuck a ruler in the snow at 3:15AM last night & it was OVER 6 inches by then. That's 15cms by my calculation & it was still snowing!! Too bad it was too dark for my little camera!!! Today at 11:30 I took this picture from my home office window. I figure I've got 4 - 6 inches of slop out there although my client, a couple of miles away, says he has almost a foot & told his employees to stay home today! It's now above freezing and there's a lot of dripping going on out there so I guess, in my part of the Lower Mainland, we're going to be traveling through at least 6 inches of Slurpee once again . . . I hope it doesn't freeze tonight! Apparently we're still under a snow & rain warning!! It's pretty but puleeze come & wash it all away!!! I'm beginning to think that barnyard gumboots - wellies to you Brits - are about to become a fashion statement this Spring.

New Year Socks #2 are on the needles - you didn't think I was going to use a whole Blog to grouse about the weather did you??? I just had to get it out of my system!! I am working in REGIA again in Galaxy, Saturn. I'm not sure I've seen anything else in the Galaxy series & was hoping to find Jupiter or Mars in my collection, but I seem to only have this one colorway. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I knit it up but I sure don't see Saturn anywhere!! Course, it could just be me. Or maybe, these are Saturn colors?? I dunno. I liked the colors so it probably won't matter in the end. Since I'm only starting the heel shaping - yes, Virginia, this is the beginning of the Queen Kahuna heel! I make the heel flap & the gussets all in one by increasing on either side of the heel flap every second round as I knit. No more picking up stitches that I can't see. I love this heel. Maybe, as I knit the foot, I'll get a Saturn!! REGIA makes a good product & I have yet to have any holes develop in any of the socks I've made out of Regia!

And speaking of Regia, I was looking at a very interesting pattern in the new Knit Kimono Too book I bought myself for Christmas. Funny thing happened. I had a Brain Fart & started imagining it in Regia sock yarn . . . in MY Very Large size! I found myself calculating how much yarn I'd need to make it. Considering that I made 47 pairs of socks AND finished the Ginny in one year, I should be able to handle it. Then I started calculating how much that much sock yarn would cost . . .

2011-01-10T12:54:00.003-08:00

The First Socks of the Year!

TA DA! They're done! At last! Let's see, that's about 10 days or so . . . And the second pair have been cast on in the REGIA Planets series. I am working with Saturn. Apparently, Saturn shaped objects are supposed to appear when you knit. We'll see . . .

It's trying very hard out there to SNOW. Pretty little flakes drift down occasionally & then stop. And then start again. I guess I should get my butt out of the office, get dressed & get something constructive done. Ham & Navy Bean soup in the slow cooker today & two corporate tax returns on the menu. Blahhhhhhh

2011-01-08T12:50:00.007-08:00

The New Year

It's been a horribly busy first week of January! I've been wearing my fingers to the bone with data entry by the DAY so I've had little time to work on my new socks. But, I have squeezed in a little here & there - mostly late evening. I found VISION TV on channel 119 with a show called "Doc Martin". Thinking it was the series about the haughty London surgeon who developed a blood phobia & became a GP in a small English fishing town that has been running on KNOWLEDGE & PBS, I tuned in with my knitting in hand. It turned out to be a TWO hour show with the same actor - Martin Clunes - as a Big City doctor who runs away from a philandering wife - he finds out that all THREE of his friends have been involved with her while out at dinner with them!! He arrives in the small Cornish Village in an expensive business suit, covered in mud with no shoes after driving his car off the road! He lodges at the pub & becomes involved in the goings-on of a small seaside village. There's a blackmailer sending messages in jelly molds, a crazy doctor & a dope smoking fisherman who's feuding with his crew. Our doc goes fishing in an effort to get cell phone reception & stays. I got a little knitting done between bouts of laughter!! Found episode TWO the following night where our Doc get divorced, finds a job & becomes involved with witches & smugglers in the attempt to secure the ancient farmhouse he wants to buy. I LOVE this series & hope to knit many more socks while laughing at it's crazy antics. And as you can see, I'm just about ready for the toe shaping with my new socks!

At noon, the sun was shining, the sky was blue so I put my poor Spider plant back outside to get some rays. My basement is very dark in the winter so houseplants don't do very well inside. I had it out yesterday for a while but it got cold again. So, it's out in the sunshine when all of a sudden I hear tapping against the window. Thinking it was that damned grey squirrel peering in for a handout, I look out to see this huge black cloud & hail just pouring down! Then snow. Then hail again. I had to run out & rescue the Spider & bring it back in. Enough snow & hail fell in 15 or so minutes to coat everything, road, car, roof & lawn!! And now I see blue sky peeping through once more. I guess it's going to be one of THOSE days . . .

I bought myself a Christmas present - I couldn't resist the free shipping - I got the second Knit Kimonos book, Knit Kimonos Too. As usual, the cover Kimono caught my eye & I had to have the pattern!! The free shipping & terrific price didn't hurt neither!! I had the yarn out to knit a pattern from the first book - after socks - when I saw the second book advertised. I just love the simple kimono patterns & have been planning to knit myself one for ages. Yeah, I know, I have the purple Kyler's Kardigan to finish but it's still too heavy for my wrist to work with since it's knit in one piece from the top down - not that I wouldn't love to WEAR it right now!!!! I've swatched some of the Kimono stitch patterns in various yarns. I even did a swatch in the Arvik handspun yarn. But most of the designs in the first book call for heavier yarns than I have, except the Briggs & Little yarn, which is too heavy! The new book is different, the designs are for finer yarns. It hasn't arrived yet but I'm hoping for Monday! I have some lovely, light, hot pink/deep plum yarn which might just work out very well until I can work on the Kyler's Kardigan again.

2011-01-03T10:58:00.003-08:00

Presenting . . .

The first sock of the year!
It's Regia Design Line, Exotic Pool by Kaffe Fassett. As soon as I was able, I cast off the damned splint & started knitting socks. It's my standard plain med/large sock pattern, cast on 69 stitches(first & last knit together), K2P2 ribbing with the Queen Kahuna heel on 33 sts & 13 gusset increases on either side of the K1,S1 heel which I carry under the entire heel so that it's extra cushy.

I taught myself - with plenty of phone help from Gail - the Queen Kahuna heel because it got to the point where I couldn't see to pick up those flap stitches unless I was 1) Outside at Noon or 2) Under a Really Bright Light!
In self defense, I learned this new way to do my heels. For those who don't know the Queen's heel, the flap is made the same old way but instead of picking up the stitches AFTER you knit the flap, you knit them as gusset stitches on either side of the flap as you're making it - you M1 on either side of the flap stitch markers every second row. The heel is then short rowed as usual.

To be quite frank, I like the Queen's heel better than the old flap! It was worth the pain even though I did throw the knitting on the floor a couple of times & kick that book across the room!! The instructions were difficult to read & I admit it took THREE pairs of socks before the light bulb came on & all the Cherries fell into place. Now I can do it in my sleep with the lights OFF. I also do try to do the two circ method - best for any lace patterned socks, in my opinion - but I still knit faster & more easily on four DPs. My wrist is still a little sore so I've been using circs when my arm starts to ache which is why you see both in the picture.

2011-01-01T15:18:00.005-08:00

A New Year

It doesn't seem much different than yesterday except for the crowds. I went to work yesterday & tried to visit Starbucks on the way - heh, gotta use some of that Christmas loot!! Left turns were terrible!!! Even at intersections with left turn lights, left turns were terrible! Suburban streets were bare of traffic but intersections around malls were backed up for blocks. People were running red lights, ignoring left turn signals, gesturing, screaming & just out for blood yesterday. Apparently it was the End of The Year Dash for Alcohol. There were no parking spots to be had or seats to be had either. My local Starbucks is in between two liquour stores. So I just went to work!

All was not lost though. I'm working in the home office of an old client trying to get a year's worth of stuff on the computer before the end of February. I'm supplied with tea & space to work in the downstairs office so I can come & go as I please. In the downstairs bathroom is the most delicious Vanilla Bean hand soap - I make sure to use it when I arrive & before I leave because it smells so good!! Yesterday, I asked the wife where she bought it & ended up with a huge basket of Vanilla Bean goodies to take home. Apparently it's in the downstairs bathroom because SHE doesn't like Vanilla Bean! Holy crap. He he he - what a score!!! Vanilla is one of my favorite scents but I prefer the deep dark rich warm Vanilla Bean to the light sweet French Vanilla. Although I don't get there often enough, the Body Shop scented oils in Vanilla, Mango & Papaya are my all time favorites.

To celebrate the start of a New Year, I made a few Resolutions. These are not things I do very often because Resolutions made at this time of year are usually kicked into the trash before the Christmas wrapping paper. Money talks, bullshit walks!!! This year, I made a few Practical Resolutions.
Resolution One - I resolve to knit for myself this year!
Yeah, yeah, I know I knit socks & washcloths for myself all the time but have I finished a sweater lately??? Or a pillow? Or an afghan?? Do I need to go on???
Resolution Two - I resolve to clear out ALL the Trash.
I HAVE been taking out a bag a week each & every week since November. I can almost see ALL my kitchen floor & living room carpet. I found two more boxes under all the stuff I've already sorted, tossed or given away which I think belong to the BT. They obviously got deposited in the corner when he moved out of his condo SIX YEARS ago. I haven't opened them yet but they're going next. Then, maybe I can finally move the big ugly leather couch he stuck in my living room at the same time & failed to take when he moved 3.5 years ago. It will definitely go to the dump this year. Early this year.
Resolution Three - I will get a nice big poufy upholstered recliner with pockets, side table, massage, backscratcher & optional heating to take the place of the big ugly low leather couch I never used that took up a third of the space in my living room & just collected junk!!
Resolution Four - I will spend more time on ME. I will walk more even if it's only to Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home CDs. I will take another course or two. I will eat even more fruit, veggies, whole grains & beans. I will take the Luminosity program to improve my Brain. I will dust off the Serger & make some pants that actually fit!
Resolution Five - I won't forget to knit for Charity. Because Charity begins at Home, I will continue to make hoodies for Lynne at Knitopia so she can load up the Loving Spoonful's family hampers.

2010-12-28T10:39:00.008-08:00

I really cleaned up

For a person who tried to ignore Christmas, I've done quite well this year! Since I meet most of my clients at Starbucks, they've all contributed to my habit!! I have a wallet full of Starbucks cards! I think there's one of every kind they have.

The Techie Boys have been laughing at me since I bought a Creative MP3 player instead of one of the iPods they have. They also had iPhones while I stayed with my Motorola. I told them I refused to pay for the brand name. They got even with me! On Christmas Eve, my tech buddy Steve arrived at my door bearing a cute little box with a surprise inside - an iPod mini!! I like the mini's size - I think it weighs TWO GRAMS - but that damned Apple wants to convert all my books & what music I have to iPod only data!! I still have other devices I want to use. And the mini doesn't hold as much as my Creative device, that's for sure. So, if you get one, beware! It will attempt to take over everything. But, it sure is cute!

I made a big pile of washcloths! I think it's good therapy for my wrist. I even managed to keep 4 for myself in the end. On Christmas Day, I went to Starbucks for tea & Sushi Line for Sushi. I gave out washcloths to everyone who was working! I missed one person who came in later but saved one for her. After giving out washcloths to all my buddies, I actually have 4 left in both colors for myself!! I thought the second ball was cocoa/tan/cream when I bought it but when I got it out of the bag & into daylight, it turned out to be a pale mauve instead of cocoa! Either I'm getting old or florescent lights do strange things to color!!

2010-12-18T11:18:00.011-08:00

So this is Christmas

Here we are again. No parking at the Mall if you should need to go there - thank gawd I don't!! Everyone's begging for Money! Some have enough toys to run a Third World Country & still want more. Some aren't paying their bills this month but are out there buying electronics. Some can't buy enough groceries to feed their kids but the liquor cabinet is full. Some of us pander to our family's every want to get some peace on that one day a year. And some of us will still be paying off the bills from This Year at this time Next Year. I know people who work a second job to pay for all the STUFF they buy at Christmas & others who take their Holiday Pay early to buy for offspring who think money grows on trees. What is it about Social, Media & Commercial pressure to buy, buy, buy that creates the Mob Mentality to go into debt at this time of year???

Thanksgiving is a family holiday too but we don't go into spending frenzy mode. Has Television created this Monster? TV talks about Christmas & all the things we should be doing to Make it Bright even though the Politically Correct Police won't actually let us SAY Christmas in print fer gawd's sake !! Christmas Holiday is now Winter Holiday or Season's Holiday or Winter Break. Why aren't we calling it RED HOLIDAY?? Tis the Season to go deep, deeper, deepest into debt! No payments for 16 months!! Get it TODAY, Pay Later. Take it home, we'll work it out Next Year! No Money Down! Boxing WEEK Sales!!

Have you SEEN the oldie, It's a Wonderful Life?? Remember the tree?? And the decorations?? The Bonhomie?? I remember Christmas almost like that. We looked forward to it. We made a lot of the decorations, some were made in school - gasp, the horror of it!!! Mom made the wreath on the front door out of cedar branches. Dad put lights in the trees in the front yard. We got out decorations my mother inherited from HER mother & grandmother. We made snow decorations if we had snow. We made a lot of the gifts & we stuffed stockings with little things, special candy & toys. We baked. We packed tins with cookies, sausage rolls & tarts as gifts. We even made root beer. Families didn't go broke trying to satisfy every kid's wishes - although they tried hard to give us one special gift in with all the socks & pajamas. We looked forward to a week off, visiting family or friends & had a huge turkey dinner. It was a social time for whole neighborhoods. If we had enough snow & it was cold enough, our whole neighborhood would block off the steep hill & spend Christmas & Boxing Day sledding. One year, we had a huge dump of snow so we built IGLOOs. One of the parents sprinkled them inside & out with water so they'd freeze solid overnight. We played in them till spring!

The Silly Season has become an obligation to some. Loneliness & depression to others. Some people dread it. And it's Out of Control spending to still others. Instead of a Family, Community & Religious celebration - hey, no one said Santa is religious & we aren't even going into that - Christmas has become a Commercial Feeding Frenzy. The Media rules our desires, our wants & our needs right now & most of us don't even realize it. I say DOWN with MEDIA. Let's go back to a simple celebration. A simple celebration of all things good & giving for a change. Simple Human-ness. In the last 4000 years, we've morphed from celebrating the return of the Sun God out of the dark, the Winter Solstice to the Roman god Saturn in Saturnalia to Christianity to the New Gods of Desire & Debt. We never lost the green boughs, burning log, food & gifts from the earliest days but somehow they've taken over the celebration. It seems to me that Shopping has become the Celebration.

2010-12-09T15:51:00.008-08:00

So much better . . .

Splints are a pain in the Ass. Even removable ones. Especially removable ones because they have Velcro to which everything sticks - especially my favorite purple house sweater which I wear constantly indoors all winter!! I've had to roll the sleeve up beyond the elbow - so much for keeping me warm - to keep it from sticking to the splint. I now have a fuzzy edge to the sleeve! But this splint keeps me relatively pain free as long as I don't try to do something too heavy. And it totally gets in the way when I want to type, make left hand turns or knit. I have to take it off to knit. Then my arm & wrist hurt. And now I've developed a sore left shoulder from using my forearm to lift things that my wrist & hand can't yet - hahaha - like I said, you just can't win!!

And speaking of all things Purple, my Secret Santa sent me a Purple Christmas gift. You can see Him smirking at me from the photo at the top of this page! A face only a mother could love & he's still got straw in his hair . . . The contents of my 'Purple' box can be seen in the photo - a Purple Llama, a Purple Angel, a felted Teddy & even a Topknot to make a scarf or pair of socks - in Purple, of course!!

I've increased my pile of colorful washcloths & hopefully, will make it to the cocoa, white & beige ball before Christmas too. When I can knit, it's pathetically slow - I'll have to make up for it next year!! But, there's still a small pile growing even though a couple have gone to new homes already. Before I fell, I'd managed to knit another pair of Mitts in the Spirogyra pattern from Knitty. I'd made three pairs in this pattern & love them all. The pattern is extremely stretchy so you almost need to make them a little small if you want a snug fit! Unfortunately for me, this pair is way too big & may be going to a new home. I have half of another mitt made in a smaller size but can't manage to work with DPs yet so it remains unfinished. And that's also why the Ex's third pair of socks aren't finished. I got both heels turned & am halfway down the foot but there they remain until I can handle DPs again with my left hand. I suppose it gives me an excuse to knit something else on circs instead??? LOL I guess I have no choice but to wait until the left wing co-operates fully with the right one to make any new socks or finish the old.

2010-12-03T22:30:00.004-08:00

Knitting Night

I finally went to Knitting Night after missing two weeks. I was working on something viral the first week & didn't want to share. The second week, I'd fallen on the ice, was too damned sore to drive & couldn't knit anyhow. So, this week, well, I had to go. The Girls ganged up on me when they found out I hadn't seen the doctor & was still really sore. I was ordered to show up at the Hospital the next day for an x-ray of my wrist. This is the problem when you knit with people who are used to bossing other people around in their OTHER lives. This is also what happens when you hang out with the same people all the time, they become Family & TAKE LIBERTIES. So, as ordered, I showed up at the hospital. I was escorted to Emergency, ID'd, Temp'd, BP'd & told to wait. 5 x-rays later it turned out I'm only bruised - probably jammed small bones against large bones in the fall - & then encased in a removable splint. No fractures, no breaks! Lucky?? Maybe. But maybe I just have good bones from all that yogurt, milk, cheese, green veggies - did you say chicken & broccoli??? - & salmon that I've eaten all my life. I supplement with calcium citrate a couple times a week too. It still hurts but a hellova lot less when I wear the splint. So, hopefully, I'll be back knitting in a couple of weeks or so . . .

In the meantime, I've been working on washcloths. I can hear the laughter from here!! Hey, I found a couple of really NICE color ways in the Crafter Cotton, the Yellow below & a Beige in the same style. This is number 5 of a series . . They're so useful!! I love them in the shower with my home made soap. They lather up beautifully & are just rough enough to scrub your face & neck without taking off more than the dead cells on the surface. I make mine about twice a big as most patterns call for so they're nice for the guys in my life too. Most of them LOVE the big washcloth! And they're almost all I can manage to knit right now anyway.

Can't spin & working anything heavy is out but I am going to make ELEANOR, the lacy cowl in the Deep Fall issue of knitty. It's a lovely little funnel shaped cowl that should look good on a friend. Since it's made with only 200 yards of yarn, it's so worth it to buy something scrumptious & airy so I can ENJOY the slow knit!!! And while I was there, I also fell in love with the Ringwood gloves. I'm not sure if I can knit them with the splint on but I'm gonna try really really hard!!

2010-11-23T15:25:00.002-08:00

On the Mend

Turns out that something always hurts the most when it's starting to get better. The bruising on my knees is still faint but they're VERY tender to the touch - maybe the frozen veggies stopped most of it!! My hand is a little swollen across the knuckles & the first two fingers. The wrist is a little swollen at the base of the thumb but everything is working. I can type, I can knit a little on small projects, I can turn my wrist in all directions. I just can't pick up anything heavier than a fork without pain. But I'm moving my wrist, fingers & knees as much as I can to keep them limber but without straining them. Since us Old Farts don't heal as quickly as the young ones do, I figure it'll bother me for a week or so & then be just fine. Maybe it's all the calcium-rich foods I eat!! Next time, I'll look before I step in front of a vehicle on a cold morning . . . I had no idea how fast black ice can lay you out on your ass or knees.

I can't spin but I can knit a little. I've been able to cast on the second fingerless glove & I'm just about ready to do the thumb. I need them for these frosty mornings!! I have a thick cover for my steering wheel but my hands still freeze until the heater starts pumping out heat & the wheel warms up!! I've used Knitty's 'Spirogyra' pattern again but made them a little bigger by going up one size in needle & adding 3 inches of ribbing on the bottom. Can't wait to wear them. I see the thermostat is reading -2 at 4:00PM. That's a little warmer than the -7 we had at this time yesterday. I sure hope it stays cold & clear like this for a while longer!!!

2010-11-21T23:01:00.003-08:00

It's all gone

Sunday morning I'm usually out the door by 6:15AM to head for the Mcdonald's drive thru for coffee & then on up the road to open the UBrew for a 7:00AM customer. He bottles his brew & I hang around & work for a few hours. This week end, I canceled due to the cold I've been nursing. But, since the sun was out, the snow was almost gone & I was feeling a lot perkier, I decided to head out about 11:00 to get a paper & coffee. Since I'd parked at the bottom of my drive, the snow had melted off the drive & mostly off the Van except for a patch on the north side of the windshield. So, I turned on the Van, cranked up the defrost & hiked around the front to sweep off the bulk of the snow. And hit a patch of ice. The next thing I knew, I'm face down on the concrete! I don't even remember slipping. The whole front of the drive where the snow melted off the Van is a solid sheet of ice. I fell hard on both knees & saved whacking my nose with my left hand. Eventually, I slid off the ice, got back on my feet, backed the Van up the drive so the ice melts & got myself back inside. An hour later after spending time with bags of frozen veggies, it appears I have gotten away with bruised & grazed knees & a badly sprained left wrist. At least I think it's just sprained. All the fingers work but I don't remember sprains hurting this much or being this painful. I guess if it isn't a lot better tomorrow, I'll be getting it checked for a fracture. So much for my knitting projects!

2010-11-20T13:31:00.006-08:00

There's nothing like a little snow . . .

The first snow of the year fell on a Friday nite - good thing - it didn't close down the town like it usually does!! We had plenty of warning - hey, I got good snow tires once again - and most people slept in on Saturday morning. I planned for this snowfall by parking my car down near the END of my drive, both to minimize shoveling - I could slide right out & to maximize sun exposure - to avoid shoveling! The neighbors hate me when I park at the end of my drive since they can't use my drive to get in an out of their drive. They built a big fence & moved 3 mini-vans & 5 cars into the space inside! Normally, I park way over to the side at the top of my drive but the sun doesn't melt anything until late in the day if I do that & I knew I didn't want to shovel 4 inches of snow from my very large drive if I had to go out in the morning. So I planned. As you can see from the second photo, the snow has almost melted by 1:00 except at the side where I normally park. I'll take pity on the neighbors a little later & move Van to the side.

I was looking forward to a little snow, the world gets so quiet & some of those flakes must've been 3 inches across!! It was lovely at 3 AM & I thought seriously about sitting outside with a hot drink & watching it fall. But, I've been sniffling, sneezing, working up a cough & thought that might be a little stupid so I ended up in bed instead. A totally unglamorous way to spend a cozy Friday nite!!!

There's been precious little production going on around here but I have been working on some fingerless gloves for myself. I spun a nice singles yarn, dyed it & knit up a Danish Working Shawl that I wore maybe three times. I am NOT a shawl person - which I did know but I thought I might change my mind once I made one for myself. I didn't! So, I pulled it apart to knit fingerless gloves instead - something I will use constantly! One glove down except for the thumb - finally - after 5 attempts!! I have no idea why I was having such a problem but I've upped my consumption of B vitamins to try to stimulate the aging brain cells. I miss my gloves from last year & may just knit a second pair of these with extra long arms for warehouse jobs!!

I was asked for another work touque by one of my Tire Guys. His son pinched his. So, I found a nice ball of multi-strand pure wool in brown & am just about finished knitting a plain hat that 'doesn't show the dirt'. I figured I'd just rib it from bottom to top so it'll cling to his bald head & not fall off when he bends over to tighten those lug nuts!!

2010-11-14T16:35:00.007-08:00

Gloomy & Grey

And it's another gloomy day on the Wet Coast. I don't even want to open the blinds. Is this all there is??? Van has eaten up all my extra cash & increased my credit card balance so I can't afford to go anywhere other than to work so I'm feeling a little blue. Good thing I have the freezer & cupboards full or I'd be in deep doo doo!! The houseplants are all in for the winter & the Crab Cactus is trying hard to add a little color!

I'm feeling a little frustrated at the moment. I started the 'Spirogyra' fingerless gloves at least 5 times in the last few days. My favorite needles are being used to knit socks so I had to find others. I had about 4 inches on the found needles when I decided they were too large. I pulled it off the needles & cast on fewer stitches, only to decide I still had too many stitches on the needles after a couple inches of pattern. So I cast on again for the smallest size only to realize it was too small. Of course, it's hard to tell until all of the ribbing & at least two repeats of the pattern - about 12 rows - are done. So I found smaller needles & tried once more but with the medium size since these needles are smaller. Nope. Ripped it out one more time. And found my old set of 2.25mm Brittany Birch needles - well, what's left of them - I think there's 7 needles left. But, I'm only doing one fingerless glove at a time so they'll work. This is some of my handspun from the 'bumps' in the bag of Brown Sheep mill ends I've been spinning. I don't know what kind of wool this is but its slightly fuzzy with a lot of elasticity to it. I dribbled Worker Red & Worker Blue dyes on the yarn after I spun it. I forgot the acid to set the dye & most of it washed out!! I added vinegar, dabbed a little more dye on it & put it back in the microwave to heat. This is what I got! Ain't it purdy??? Right about now I sure wish I could find my old fingerless gloves . . .

But, all is not lost. I found a bag with two big balls of Crafter Cotton in the midst of all my junk & I had to cast on for a new face cloth for the shower! This big ball was just so bright & cheery that I just HAD to cast on immediately! I needed the burst of color to cheer me up & I may just knit several of these to replace the Oatmeal & faded Berry washcloths that now hang in the bathroom.

2010-11-08T09:49:00.003-08:00

My new Wheels

So, my new-to-me van & I have been getting to know each other this past week. Oh, I've had to fix a few things but you ALWAYS have to fix a few things when you get someone else's old car. It came with almost no rubber on the wipers - no wonder they made that strange noise when I used them!!! And there was this great Black Hole in the dash at night - someone put in a new instrument module & mickey moused the wiring. So I got the wiring fixed. The worn out fan/water pump/air belt that started to squeal was also replaced. And I learned that I have a factory Alarm/Disabler in there. I also learned how to use it without a FOB. Nice of the former owner & mechanic to tell me about it. NOT! There's nothing like sitting in a screaming van in front of a bank with no idea how to make it stop. But I learned. Like any new relationship, you enter with shining eyes & open heart forgetting about the bumps along the way. Van's pretty easy to get along with & doesn't have a lot of baggage from former relationships. His heater's hot, he has good bones, he's in pretty fair mechanical condition, his body's in good shape for a van his age & so far, he always starts when cold.

With all the damp weather we've had lately, I haven't accomplished much in the way of knitting or spinning. Although I'm casting on for some fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm - I made Spirogyra from Knitty.com twice - I'm going to try another pattern this time. My hands & fingers hurt. I'm so stiff in the mornings that whatever falls to the floor, stays on the floor till much later in the day. And I tend to wash dishes a little at a time all day so I can soak my hands in the hot water - why waste water??

Soup is back on the menu again jsut because the weather is cool & damp! I cleaned all the chicken & turkey carcasses out of the freezer & made a huge pot of soup! I'd saved all the drippings from cooking a turkey last month & added them. It was wonderful!!! I added barley & bow tie pasta before adding back the meat picked off the bones & a couple of cups of baby peas at the very end. I ate it for three days & gave some away!!! It was the best turkey soup I've made in ages!!
Today, I'm making Soup with hot Italian sausage. I cook it in chunks in the pot. I add water, a can of diced tomatoes, a package of Onion Soup, a can of small white beans or any beans you have & tiny bead pasta. 4 cups of cubed zucchini are added at the end. Sometimes I chop spinach or bok choy leaves if I don't have zucchini. And I've actually thrown in a cup of pureed yam a time or two. The Italian sausage really gives it that bite of flavor!

2010-10-21T17:49:00.003-07:00

Huston, We have another car!

One of my clients called with a line on two cars. He went & saw them, offered to bring the most likely for me to try out & told me to meet him at my favorite Greasy Spoon. Threw on my clothes - wasn't dressed yet - roared down the road in my hot "little" car & met him as he pulled in. He was driving MY VAN!!! Well, a silver version of MY VAN! I ran over & peeked inside - it was MY VAN, same interior, same seats & the steering wheel even had the Chrysler emblem on it! A TWIN to MY VAN. I got in, drove it across the parking lot & said, "I'll take it!". I actually drove it to New West from Surrey & delivered it back to it's owner so I know it rides nicely & purrs along so quietly you can barely hear it!!! Oh, it's a little newer, has a couple of extra buttons, a 3.2 litre motor instead of my 3.0 & a different color outside but it's essentially the same van. Dodge calls it a Caravan & Chrysler calls it a Voyager. Whoopee, I'm back in business! Kudos to Ralph, my sweet elderly Rock Truck owner, who spent most of the last week driving all over town to find me a car! He's getting my last big bottle of Port from 2005 that I was saving for a Special Occasion!