Close to my Heart

Update

Just thought I'd check in here with a quick update, don't think I'll be resuming daily blog posts quite yet.  I'm back at my parent's home now and will remain here until after Christmas.  Dad's surgery went well but we're all pretty exhausted from the whole thing.  I will leave you with a few IPhone pictures from around Victoria.

First, a store window featuring an antique spinning wheel and Cowichan knitting (almost cut off in the shot, no wide angle lens on the iPhone!).  I think it looks kind of neat with the street reflection.

And finally a few pictures of the Parliament Buildings, all lit up.

And little closer:

 

Victoria is truly a beautiful place, next time I'm there it will likely be for a much more enjoyable event, the annual Fibre Fest in June.

Wreath

I may not be ready for Christmas yet (I'm still in denial that it's actually December thank you very much), but the outside of our house is ready to roll.  Joe put the Christmas lights up a few days ago and today I bought a wreath for our door at a craft sale.  One of my favourite things to do the last few years is to hang a handmade wreath (remember last year's wreath?)  I feel good supporting a local craftster, would much sooner give them my money than a big box store.

And further proof that it is indeed December

 

Ice forming on our poor fish pond.

Photo 365: The Weekend Edition

Today myself and a couple friends boarded the ferry for Quadra Island.  After a lovely lunch we headed over to Fun Knits for their anniversary sale.  I will show you what I bought in another post, I'm totally stoked about one of my purchases.  I took my camera with me, and on the ferry ride home, was busy taking pictures.  A clear day at dusk as well as snow capped mountains made for some gorgeous scenery.  I had a really hard time narrowing down which pictures to post here, so today's Photo 365 is the bonus weekend edition with five shots.  And if you still haven't gotten enough of the beautiful scenery in the part of the world that I'm lucky enough to call home, the entire set can be viewed here.

 

 

 
 

 

Mid day tranquility

Came upon this scene during my lunchtime walk yesterday.  I thought it was a pretty, peaceful scene and snapped a picture with my IPhone.  Right in the middle of town too.

 

Of course if I had my real camera you'd better be able to see the bullrushes in the middle of the photo, but you get the idea.

Finally!

Today's cool crisp (by Vancouver Island standards) weather featured blue sky.  I went out for a quick drive at coffee time today (also went for a lovely lunch time walk).

 

Especially significant is that I believe for the first time this month, there has been not one but TWO days of blue sky and sunshine in a row.  I do after all live on the Wet Coast. 

Main reason for my coffee break excursion?  I was having a craving:

 

(Note the sun streaming onto my desk)

No, I haven't fallen off my diet.  I prepared for my excursion, checking calorie counters on my handy dandy IPhone before heading out.  My Dad says "all things in moderation," which I think is always good advice.  I refrained from the fattening hash browns and other lovely breakfast items, and made a good choice, an egg mcmuffin at just 280 calories.  Not bad for a Friday treat, no?  And as a bonus, small coffee was free this week.

Now I gotta run, the first holiday event of the year, the annual office party.  Bye!

Just another day here....

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the States.  Here in Canada, we celebrate the second Monday of October, so today was just another work day.  I can however remember last week with fondness.  I was off on a mini vacation, travelled a short ways from home across to Quadra Island, as well as headed south on Vancouver Island.  Through these travels I managed to visit five yarn stores in a four day period.  While some of my purchases last week were for Christmas gifts, I did manage to add to my own stash as well.  Here's the spoils:

As you can see I've been playing with the blog template again.  Typepad has made it easier to personalize some of their templates, so that's what I have done.  I've also cleaned up the rather cluttered sidebar as well as updated my profile that you can access from the top of this page.

As the plot thickens....

Christmas knitting continues here at chez closetomyheart.  And here's a tip for those of you who want to up the pace of your holiday knitting: knit while listening to the plot climax of an audiobook:

 

Yes, that's Twilight you see on my IPhone.  I may be late to the party but I'm into it now. And during the last two hours or so of the book, I managed to knit just over 1 1/2 cloths.  My knitting noticeably slowed once the climax to the story was over.  Or it could have been that I was just getting tired. Now I'm anxiously waiting until the next book in this series is available for me to download from my local library (I have it on hold but there are thirty or so others in front of me).  Because now that Christmas is getting closer I don't have time to actually READ a book. 

Gotta go now, have holiday knitting to do.

Yikes, just a month?

Back to work for me today, so we'll see how this Photo 365 thing goes with less time on my hands.

Yesterday's stormy weather was for the most part spent inside, working on a Christmas present, socks for Dad.  Considering that I cast on in the morning, I think I made pretty good progress too.  Now if I can just figure out how it got to be just a month before Christmas eve already, I'd be happy.  Remind me to start Christmas knitting earlier next year.  How's your holiday crafting coming?

 

(I'm not impressed with the artifical light, that distorts the colour of this sock.  But since during the work week I'm only home darktime hours, I'll have to get used to it)

Stormy Weather

Today's Photo 365 is a little different, I did indeed use my handy Olympus Camera, however I used the video funtion instead.  The gals over at Knitting Sandwich challenged their readers to post what late November is like where you live.  Today, my last day of my vacation, it is super stormy out.  I decided that the errands I needed to do could wait for another day.  After all, it is much preferable to stay inside and knit when the weather looks and sounds like this. I didn't even leave the house to take the videos, just opened each door to our house.

(be sure to turn up your sound to best experience my weather)

Our lovely fish pond/patio area isn't quite as lovely in November as it is in the summer:

Harbour Lights Shawl

After casting off this shawl almost two months ago, I finally got around to blocking it yesterday.  After a tense moment where my knitting really did attack me (if you listen to the Knitmore Girls Podcast you'll get that reference) as a pin stabbed my finger while I was trying to move the shawl on the blocking board and proceeded to get blood on the shawl, it all worked out really well in the end.  And yes, I did indeed get the blood out.  While every lace knitter knows what a difference blocking makes, never have I seen such a profound difference as I did with this project.  I'm very pleased with this shawl, it's definitely the favourite shawl I have knit so far.  I got rather carried away with pictures, as you can see on its Ravelry project page, I'll share some of my favourite ones here.  Thanks to Buttons for permitting me to photograph around her and disturbing her nap. And thanks so very very much Sivia Harding for such an awesome pattern that was such a pleasure to knit from start to finish.