March Madness

I told Aunt P that I thought I would not start any new projects in the month of March. I would just work on the ones that were under construction. Never, never, never put yourself under law. That being said I did finish two projects.

This is my version of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi Shawl. I had a lot of fun making it and experimenting with different stitches. The concept for making this was to double the number of stitches on the needle every time you doubled the rows. So after casting on nine stitches and joining in the round I knit for two rows then doubled my stitches by doing yarn overs to 18. Knit for four more rows and doubled my stitches to 36 and so on til I got to 576. I could have gone on to 1000 something - I had enough yarn but I had been working on this long enough. Looking back I kind of wish I had since the finished shawl is a little small.

For the edge you just cast on eight or so stitches and work back and forth catching an edge stitch on the "forth" for 576 stitches. This makes a nice garter stitch band that doesn't pucker - the bane of a lot of bind offs.

One more large project done.

This wallaby was made from Briggs and Little yarn. I was afraid I wouldn't like it as it was very scratchy as I was working on it. Only when I washed and blocked it did it lose its roughness. Nice yarn. I was ready to cast on right away for another wallaby with this yarn in another colorway. But did refrain. Prudence won.

And since I finished two huge projects I gave myself liberty... to experiment.

I thought I would experiment with some yarn that has been bugging me for a long time. Now experimenting is not the same thing as starting a new project. (Do you get the idea that I'm trying to convince myself?) I have tons of this Paton's crayon looking yarn. I've tried cardigan sweaters, pullover sweaters, scarves, shawls, and socks (with minimal success for Chuggy). I've even made a bunny sweater which has probably been the most successful for this yarn. But what to do with 18 other balls?

Every time I decided to make something out of it I would get part way into the project only to decide I didn't like it. Well, I've been looking at shawl patterns lately. Believe it or not I've been enjoying the warmth and coziness of a shawl over my shoulders this winter. Our house is quite drafty, not unlike an old war house that's seen too many damp Vancouver winters. And a shawl is perfect to ward off the chill. This pattern looks great in this yarn so I've now got this on the needles:

This is a version of the popular feather and fan pattern. It's been around so long that you can't go very far surfing the Internet without coming across it. In fact, Bruce's aunt made a baby blanket for LeAnne 25 years ago and used this stitch pattern.

And I think it is going to stay until I finish.

Another experiment I've been working on is dish scrubbies. Someone gave me one and I thought it looked cinch to make. So voila! The first side is cotton and the second side is scratchy acrylic. Perfect for scouring pots and pans. So this experiment turned out to be more like a finished project. Or two. Or three. (They are very quick to make. Say 15 minutes?)

I found one problem with the yarn though. It could be annoying. When the plastic gets wet it smells! Then I read the label. Apparently, you need to wash this "yarn" in a pH balanced soap. Does anyone know a dish soap that is pH balanced? Do I need to give a bottle of it every time I give a scrubbie away? We'll figure it out.

And finally, a note LeAnne left on our kitchen cupboard doors:

"Due to rising energy costs the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off." (Anonymous...to me)

At least Gypsy agrees!

Cheers!

Pheasants, Peacocks and Sunny California

Ha! And you thought I was never coming back. Well, I told you it was a long winter. It's not over yet. Yesterday (or was it the day before?) we had some more flurries but they didn't stick.

On the way to work from downtown Bruce drove down our old street to bypass the train we didn't want to get stuck waiting for. Well. We drove by the house and I said, "They have peacocks!" When we lived there it was not unusual to see pheasants meandering down our 200 foot driveway so Bruce told me I must mean pheasants. "No, back up." And this is what we saw.

I remember it being unusually warm on this side of the house. That must be why he is here. On a sunny day in the middle of winter you could sit out here, close your eyes and dream you were in sunny southern California.

And guess what? We didn't miss waiting for the train.

The Long Winter

Yep! It's snowing again. We woke up to snow and it's still snowing now. And winter only started two weeks ago! Check out Laura Ingall's Wilder most boring book: the long winter You will find that book perfectly describes the long winter they had where she lived that year. Just like the book itself - long, tedius and boring. (By the way, I really did like her books for the most part and read through them several times). And that describes what we are going through right now only to a less severe degree.

"Startitus"

I have "startitus". Now, before you get the crazy idea that I have some terrible terminal disease let me explain. It's not a physical ailment, it's more mental. But it is an ailment. Maybe it is incurable. I don't know. I'm working on the cure right now. The major symptom is this: An incessant desire to start a new project (be it knitting, in my case) without finishing previous ones. Now, does that sound too bad?

Let me tell you my reasons for this "startitus":

1. There are too many cute patterns out there. Too much temptation.

2. There are so many different kinds of yarn that one must try a skein of each.

3. There are so many projects that beg to stay on the needles because of a dilemma or problem that needs to be figured out. Left to simmer on the back burner.

4. Some huge projects do get boring.

5. Some projects are more portable and thus more suitable to working on in the grocery line. I mean, you really don't want to see me knitting away on an afghan at Safeway, do you?

6. Some projects are just too challenging for my poor tired brain and need to mellow before I tackle them again. Think: kate, the kitten .

7. There are so many women having babies that one must stop all projects in view of the upcoming arrival of the little one. Actually, this problem helps alleviate "startitus" and kills two birds with one stone, so to speak. You get to try that new ball of yarn (a baby sweater only takes two) and they usually have a deadline (ie, a baby shower).

My cure is this:

(And it sort of sounds like a new year's resolution.)

Finish two projects before starting another. Simple. Clean. Easy.

Maybe that's another symptom. Putting yourself under unnecessary pressure for no good reason at all.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! What better way to celebrate than with a new batch of snow?!! Yep, it happened again last night. This morning we woke up with a new blanket of the white variety. I love it.

After meeting last night there was a new year's celebration of a sort. Most of the ladies brought goodies and those with kids brought games. We did eat our selves silly but the games stayed in the boxes. The kids had more fun with charades. Brought back memories of our young peoples' celebrations in the 70's. Only they played a very modified version. Example: Bethany stood up and hugged herself and you were supposed to guess "Hugging". Tara put her two fingers up to her hair and you were supposed to guess "Hair cutting". All fun. Those girls are dramatists for sure. And then ladies all brought out their yarn. Check out Chatty's blog for photos.

Bruce and I stayed at the meeting room as long as he could stand being awake. (I had my knitting so I was prepared for the night). That ended up being around 11:15. Even the four year olds had us beat this year.

Even though we got to bed at a decent time I still heard the revelers at midnight. It made me smile as I looked at the clock and rolled over and went back to sleep.

And finally, finished for Shy Guy:

A little big but that's the beauty of knitting for babies: at some point, sooner or later, it will fit.

Vans and VW's

We sold our van. We now have one van and two cars among the five of us. In the very recent past we were trying to park three vans and three VW's in our driveway and along the street with not much success. We usually ended parking four in the driveway and two on the street. Invariably the vehicle that was parked closest to the house had to be the one who had to get to work first. And then it was time for "musical cars". What fun.

Snow and More Snow

Okay I give up. The snow falling here has been incessant. It won't let up. Therefore I give up. So here are my snow pictures for the year. The news says that this will be the first year since 1971 that all of Canada will have a "White Christmas". Except for a little patch of green in Halifax where you would expect tons of snow.



The van on the right has not been driven for awhile, but the van on the left was driven yesterday - last night, actually. So the accumulation is for less than 24 hours. Bruce finally did go out and shovel that snow. You can see the broom on the hood where he left it to tend to more important parts of the driveway. He wanted me to come and help. Hah. I told him that I would when the snow stopped...


Just a view from the back porch going down to the patio:
Not going to be shoveled until the girls come back from CA.




B and I drove by the meeting room yesterday on the way to visit his mum and the parking lot has two feet, if not three feet, drifts. The entrance is totally blocked from the last snow. Last night and now there was (is) another dump. I doubt there will be meeting tonight.

A lot have gone south for the conference so who knows how many would have showed up anyway. We may have had just a handful even if the weather was good.






We took LJ and Heidi to Jacobsens' on Monday night to spend some time with Betsy before they flew out of SeaTac. The J's took them to the airport around midnight where they spent the night since their plane was to leave at 6:10 AM. They wanted to make sure that they didn't miss their flight. I heard they were going to pull an all nighter and not sleep at all. I wonder if the airport Starbucks closed down before they could get that last Venti to get them through the night. They must have done okay since I never heard from them after Emily called to see what flight they were on. She would have called if they hadn't made it.

The temperature went down to -12 degrees on the way back home.






A pair of fingerless mitts made from the GAS yarn LK brought back from Belgium last year. For her, of course. Too bad I finished them hours after she left for her trip south. I didn't think she would need them in Mexico but it ended up she drove down the coast instead of flying because her flight was cancelled on Sunday night. (Snow conditions)

Wasting Time

We're home today. Can't get out of the driveway because of the snow drifts. Bruce has a great idea of "walking" up to the Safeway. He also wants to shovel the front (which we already did on Monday). I say stay home and look at youtube videos on knitting.

Some people have nothing to do. Maybe she ran out of yarn.

what to do with your left over ramen noodles

What she going to do with it? Eat it?

Snow

Every blog that I've visited recently has posted about the weather. This will be no different. Since you all know what snow looks like, I will spare you the pictures. We've had snow and it has "stuck". None of this here today, gone tomorrow stuff as we have had in past years. It seems the Arctic has shifted south.

Our van came equipt with an outside thermometer. It was intriguing to watch the temperature drop by degrees as we drove from Vancouver to home. I don't remember it ever being this cold. Have you ever heard of -11 C much less felt it? And they (the weathermen) say there's a blizzard coming on Sunday.

Knitting Tubes

I found these at knitpicks and knew they were just what I was looking for. My knitting kept sliding off my double pointed needles because the yarn was too fine for the needles. They are actually ingenious.







All you do is grip the needles together and slide them into the blue end.





Then the red end slips over that.



Give the tubes a little twist in the opposite directions and you've got your knitting secure. Works well. The only thing I don't like is the price. Even though I received two sets, cardboard should not be that expensive. But then, they are light weight and if I take care of them, they should last a long time.

Thanksgiving Feast and Fingerless Mitts

Because we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in November (when it's suppose to be celebrated!) and because you all live so far away (Union City was far enough to go for the week-end) we often go to Tacoma to "celebrate" (read: eat ourselves silly). This year was no different with no less food and all delicious!

Noah and Heidi

Hannah

I brought my own stash for the trip down:

These are new in Canada. At least I've not seen them before. They are chocolate coated mint kisses. I thought they would be mint flavored chocolate. And with a mocha I was set. To knit, of course.

Here's what I finished on the trip. Don't be fooled. With a mocha to power you and lots of down time you can get some serious knitting in.

Heidi liked them so well she wanted a pair for her birthday. Which happens to be tomorrow!!! Today was going to be my day off to stay home and knit but some problems with our US bank account warranted me coming into Richmond for the day. With that taken care of - at least as much as I can do (including a trip down south) - it was too late to go back home. Thankfully, she wanted Greek food for her birthday dinner and there's a restaurant conveniently located up the street from our house. As for the fingerless mitts? How fast do you think I can knit?

Chocolate!!!

When we buy chocolate, we buy chocolate!

Games, Yarn and Hot Fudge

Andrew was over the other day. He and I usually play a variety of games (which he invariably wins!) For some reason or another both he and I got up to do something (probably getting ice cream with hot fudge) and Felix took my place. Sometimes I think he would like to be me...It's probably all that yarn.

At the Driving Range and Ubiquitous Knitting

Sometimes after work Bruce and I go to the driving range.

No, I don't hit golf balls. But I usually grab a cup of coffee and a sweet treat. (I know, I really shouldn't. Starting tomorrow.)

So there I sit.
I can wait. I can wait for anybody. And I can wait for a long time.
But only if I have my knitting with me.

Now, to find someone to fit this...

White Houses in New Brunswick

When we were in the East I noticed that house after house was white. I'm not sure why but perhaps it's a vestiges' habit from the 1800s.