Close to my Heart

Park It

We have so far had a most lovely Victoria Day long weekend here.  Seems like nice weather on a long weekend rarely go together, which somehow makes this one even nicer. 

Last summer, Joe decided to make a fish pond, something he has wanted to do for a long time.  Well the fish pond blossomed into our own private park like setting, including cement walkways, and at my request, a cement patio where I can enjoy the fresh air, listen to my ipod, and play with fiber.  This weekend was the first weekend we've really been able to enjoy our "park," since it was pretty much fall by the time it was completed last year.  I think it will give us lots of enjoyment this summer, and it feels like we have really increased our living space as well.  I thought I would share some pictures with you today:

And over on the patio from my new favourite knitting spot, my current somewhat neglected sock WIP enjoys the pond:

I've joined the and I think this will be a great summer sock knitting spot.  Hopefully the combination of the KAL and a great new knitting spot will bring my sock knitting mojo back.  I've only completed one pair so far in 2008, when normally I knit a pair of month.  But lets face it, what with paper crafting and my recent spinning obsession, knitting overall has suffered a lot in 2008.

Another good thing about our Park is that since it is fenced, the kitties can enjoy it.  Normally our cats stay indoors (our street is too busy)however they can now enjoy the great outdoors under our supervision.  They have been a little timid, but overall, really enjoyed it today.  I love this action shot I got of Buttons:

Frisbee was much more timid so I wasn't able to get a good picture of him. Whenever I pointed the camera in his direction, he ran back into the house.  I will keep trying however, because now that Buttons is back on the blog, Frisbee must appear as well!

Back from the City

Arrived safely home from Vancouver this afternoon.  Had a great visit with my sister, but am glad to be home now.  I did lots of shopping (of course!) visited three different yarn stores, ate great ethnic food, and connected with old friends (two university friends I hadn't seen in about 23 years, and a former co-worker who moved away and I hadn't seen in 9 years).  I'll show you my fiber acquisitions another day, but for now, I leave you with my traveling sock enjoying the view from my sister's 25th floor downtown Vancouver condo.

Rainy, Relaxing Weekend

What a difference a week makes!  Last week I was blogging about our wonderful summer weather.  Not long after I wrote that post, things changed.  It's been overcast, rainy, and yucky ever since.   Sadly, I'm back to wearing my flannel nightgown again, which I think is just SO WRONG for almost the end of July.  Sigh.  I even dug some soup out of the freezer for dinner tonight, one shouldn't be eating hot soup this time of year either.  I think I'll be casting on for Kauni very soon (maybe it will indeed be necessary to knit a wool cardi during the summer months), I finally printed out the pattern while at a friend's house this afternoon.  Our Epson printer seems to have bit the dust, and a Google search revealed problems with ink clogs for this particular printer.  Printer recommendations, preferably for those that use inexpensive cartridges and/or cartridges that can be refilled would be much appreciated.

In an attempt to allow Mother Nature to mock me yet again, I FINALLY have blocked the Pinwheel Cardigan that I finished knitting almost a month ago. 

As much as I am looking forward to wearing this, I'd much rather it be too hot for even a cotton cardi!

Well I'm really not as miserable as I sound here!  At least lousy weather provides a perfect excuse to stay inside and relax, and that is what I've done today.  I'm past the gusset decreases and therefore on the home stretch of my current sock WIP.  And I just frogged the Sweatermaker Yarn that I bought at last year's Filberg Festival, and immediately abandoned because I didn't like the pattern I had started with it, and am about to cast on for Shelley's Squiggle Shawl  instead.  I recently read the brochure for this year's festival and that reminded me of this lovely abandoned yarn.

It's been a long time since I've shown kitty pictures here.  Frisbee has just been so cute the last few days, and I've been able to capture his cuteness with my digicam.  First, here he is in one of his favourite sleep spots, next to my big stuffed lion. 

The way he often thunders around this house, I'm sure he fancies himself as a mighty lion!  He also can't resist planting himself on top of my clothes, seen here just before I was going to hang them up last night:

So tired, and so cute!

Better go check on that soup now.  Hope you're having a good weekend, and I hope the weather is better where you are then here on the Wet Coast!

TGIF

Well, being back at work has definitely interfered with my blogging time, unfortunately.  It's been quite the adjustment getting back into the swing of things after five weeks off.  I could certainly go for another five weeks, if the truth be known.  But it's Friday and I've ALMOST survived my first week off.  It's been a busy week though.  I've been out three nights (back to skating twice a week, plus skating club executive meeting one of those nights).  I have however managed to knit a bit each night.  I'm really enjoying knitting with yummy Malabrigo.  I'm knitting a simple top down cardi, as I felt that would best show off this wonderful yarn.  I haven't yet cast on for the second Monkey sock (see last post, too tired to link), but have cast on a picot edge stockinette sock from very spring like Lorna's Laces Daffodil colourway yarn.  I knit on that at the executive meeting  the other night.  I'll hopefully get to work on it during coffee break at the Bucks this morning.  WIP pictures coming this weekend.  And I played with the blog last night before skating, I'm happy with this new clean look design.  Hope it looks good on everyone's monitors.

We've had unseasonably cold weather here on the normally mild and rainy west coast.  We have snow on the ground yet again, and the temperature this morning at 7 am is - 10 C (14 F).  Normal low for this time of year is only - 1 C (30 F).    Brrrrrr.

Well, TGIF.   Fridays mean we treat ourselves to take out dinner.  Tonight will be sushi.  I don't think I've had sushi for a couple months and am really craving it, yum!  Have a great Friday, and I'll be back on the weekend.

Bring on Christmas!

I cast off the last Christmas gift first thing this morning.  The presents are all wrapped, and I'll do a little bit of baking tomorrow.  Other than that, I'm happy to say that I'm ready.   Now I can eagerly anticipate Christmas with my family.

Speaking of my family....it appears that they have discovered my blog, so I can't show you my Christmas knitting until after the gifts are opened.   Here's a little spoiler for you though:

Frisbee says "Just wake me up when Santa comes."

to you and yours!  Enjoy your time with friends and family. 

Snow Day

Well the snow did fall as forecast.  It fell through the night, and stopped around the middle of the day.  It sure does look pretty if you don't have to worry about driving anywhere.  I took the opportunity to go for a walk with my camera.  First though, I fortified myself with yummy hot scones:

This is an old recipe from my Mother.  It's been too long since I've baked these and we enjoyed them today.  I've posted the recipe for you on my neglected Quick Recipes blog.

With warm food in my tummy (and fresh ground coffee coursing through my veins) I ventured outside.  The first two pictures are taken on the walking trail behind our house.

A close-up of the pretty white fluff:

I thought this picture of our roof and the sky was kind of neat.  Last time you saw it, Joe was on top of it, remember?

This vacation snow day also included knitting and card stamping.  The second Ariann sleeve is complete, and I'll join it to the body while watching enjoying Sunday evening television. 

So nice to be on vacation and have more time to post, perhaps it will even be a daily occurance, assuming I have anything blog worthy to tell you.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Thanks for all the feeback about what to knit with the discontinued Cotton Ease.  I haven't yet decided what that will be, hopefully I'll make a decision by the upcoming weekend.  I must say though that I'm leaning away from Scoop right now, mainly because I'm not sure that I really like the neckline, and don't feel that my knitting skills are quite up to adapting that.  I love the ribby cardy, but as I eventually plan to make a white one in a cotton blend for spring (just waiting to find the right yarn) am wondering if I really want to make three.  I'm probably leaning towards using the top down raglan, and changing the ribbing to make it similar to the Scoop. But any of this could change at any given moment. In fact, since writing this, I'm now thinking more about the Ribby.  Indecision at it's best, I tell ya!

It was a fairly busy weekend, and I didn't get as much knitting in as I had hoped.  I could however resist the Mason Dixon Knitting lure no longer.  I purchased the book a while back, after seeing so many Ball Band Dishcloths, Baby Kimonos, and Log Cabin Blankets popping up all over Knitting Blogland.  It's a great book that I highly recommend.  This weekend I knit a couple Ball Band Dishcloths.  What appears to be blue in this picture is actually green; the green and yellow will be great in my sunflower kitchen.  I also discovered lots of cotton in Christmas green and red in my stash.  I think that combined with a nice soap, these would be great little Christmas gifts.

Flex Day today, and after a great sleep in this morning (I've had better sleeps this weekend than I have in a long time) I'm planning a relaxing day.  I got the laundry done yesterday, have just a few groceries to pick up, and really should go to Curves.  I hope my Knitpicks needles come today.  I had not one but TWO dreams last night that they arrived, strange eh?  Anyone else care to admit dreaming about knitting, knitting purchases, or the arrival of mail order knitting supplies?

Finally, I want to mention that I've had the nicest first time comments and e-mails the last few days from blog readers who tell me that they've been reading a while and enjoy what I have to say and show.  This completely made my weekend.  I'd like to encourage those of you who are lurking and have never commented to please do so.  In return, I'm going to make a concerted effort this week to comment on some of the many blogs I lurk on.

Thanks

for all the birthday wishes.  I think the last post was somewhat self-seeking, posting about my own birthday, but I sure enjoyed all the comments!

I had a nice quiet day at home.  Joe hasn't been feeling that great, so we ordered Chinese food in for dinner, and will go for a nice meal out sometime when he is feeling better.  I finished up CeCe #2 and she is blocking on the kitchen table.  And I also cast on for another pair of socks.  Actually, I'm enjoying knitting on this sock so much that I need to finish this post so I can get back to my knitting.  I didn't mention the particular pattern I'm using when I posted about my sock dilemma, so stay tuned.

My Mother-in-law brought over this yummy cake, lemony with whipped cream (and pretty fresh purple hydrangas decorating the top):

One of Joe's gift to me was this purse from Tilley.  While at the LYS in Nanaimo recently, the manager and I were talking about purses.  She proceeded to show me her bag, which she said was just perfect for carrying a sock WIP.  I loved it so much that Joe ordered it (well okay, I found it online and even selected the colour myself) for my birthday. Look at all the inside compartments:

The bag is much cuter in person than on the Tilley site, not sure if my picture does it any more justice or not.

Do you think this has become the Summer of Bags for me?   I may not have put this on the wish list if I'd known about my great consignment find of last week.  This bag will probably wait for Fall before I use it now, but I still love it. 

I also received some money for my birthday.  I just may have gone to the Knitpicks site this afternoon, and spent said money on some new knitting needles.  Resistance is Futile!

Time now to salvage a little more Birthday Knitting time before it's time for bed.  Back to work tomorrow, and a busy week ahead.

Sunday Market

Well the weather is much nicer here today, despite the deceivingly overcast skies.  I made my usual Sunday trip to the Farmer's Market.  Had a great time looking around, and ended up leaving mainly because I was too warm.  I love our Farmer's Market.  It's a great way to pick up fresh produce and home made items.  There are lots of artisans there as well, this year there's even an Alpaca Vendor, selling handspun yarn and handknit items.  Another vendor is an authorized Ashford dealer, how dangerous is it having her in my own back yard?

Today, in addition to homemade perogies, a baguette, cheese, green peppers, and cucumber, I also purchased this great bag.  It my not be purple, but this orange is so bright and cheery.  I think I'll get a lot of use out of it, it can serve as a knitting bag, Farmer's Market bag, grocery bag, or even to haul my stuff back and forth to the office.

Hope you're having a great Sunday.  Next up for me is grocery shopping and laundry, then time to sit down with my knitting and crocheting.  I've cast on for a second CeCe (and my next post will be to show you the finished first one), and am making good progress on the crochet baby blanket as well (had to, rumour has it that the shower may only be a week away).

Thanks

to everyone for the thoughts, comments, and e-mails, checking in as to how my surgery went.  It went really well, I'm recovering fine, and went back to work as planned on Wednesday.  My energy level isn't 100% yet though, so I'm looking forward to the nice long Canada Day weekend ahead.  Stay tuned tomorrow for my one day late June Project Spectrum post.  Knitting on my Blue toned socks should finish tonight, and I also have a crochet baby blanket WIP (blue for a boy) to show you.

In the meantime, I leave you with a picture of the lovely plant that some of my co-workers gave me to welcome me back to the office.  I must say, even through something small like minor surgery, I felt so valued and cared for by so many people.  Feels good!