Two, two, two posts in one....day, that is

I just thought I'd post a progress picture of the vest I'm designing. I haven't worked on it at all today, but I do have it at home, so I decided it was time to post a picture.

It will be a v-neck woman's vest when it's finished, but I think I've already mentioned that. I also did a couple of rows on the Flower Basket Shawl today and discovered (and corrected) two mistakes from a couple of rows down. This pattern isn't as easy to memorize as the Kiri shawl, but I sure do like it. Now, I have to decide how big I want to make it.

Monday, Monday

I don't mind Mondays, really. This morning, John had to wake me so I could drive him to the pick up point. I'm surprised at how deeply asleep I was. Usually, I hear/feel him get out of bed and I'm awake for the day; this morning, I heard nothing at all. That was at 6:30. I was asleep by 11:00 p.m. All in all, that was a good night's sleep!

Yesterday, we did our sofa run, but I'm not too sure why. The sofa looks awful. It's covered with grime, the stitching's come apart and it looks as if critters of various sorts have been making it their home. John seems to think all it needs is a good upholsterer; I'm thinking it just needs to be put out in an alley somewhere. The way it looks right now, I'd be afraid to sit on it.

Before we left for Vernon, I put together three sets of stitch markers, so I could give one to Bev for her birthday. We were supposed to get together with David & Bev for her birthday celebration, but it was right in the middle of moving stuff over to this house and it just never happened. She is a knitter, so I figured she'd appreciate the markers. She did. Unbelievably, she's a knitter with nothing on her needles at the moment. I just can't understand that! I don't really like going to their home; it's not one of the cleanest homes I've been in and it's not getting any better. They have two dogs, two birds and David smokes in the house. I always leave there feeling grimy, for some reason. Oh well, they do appreciate the visits.

On the other side of it, one thing I do like about their place is the hummingbird feeders. They have at least two of them in front of their living room window and yesterday, the air was positively humming. Fortunately for me, John made sure I had the camera with me. I've always wanted to take a good picture of a hummingbird.

On the knitting front, again, I didn't get much done, just a few rows on the Flower Basket Shawl and a few rows on the entrelac scarf. One of these days, I'll take some progress pics again.

Before I forget, for those of you who haven't yet let me know which is your absolute "must-have" knitting book, don't forget to let me know before the end of the month. You can find the original post here.

And now, it's time to get ready for work.

Happy 100th Birthday, Kelowna!

I really love my digital camera. I especially love it on nights like last night. As you can see by the title of this post, Kelowna is celebrating it's centennial. Last night, the celebration included fireworks.

I've always wanted to take pictures of fireworks. Have you ever tried taking pictures of fireworks on film? You have to wait to see the results, for one thing. Then, if the pictures are no good, you've wasted that film. On digital? Well, let's just say, I took 90 pictures of fireworks. The ones I'm not happy with, I will simply delete. Of those 90, I have a couple of pictures I'm happy with. I'd like to try again now that I have the hang of it, but fireworks don't just happen every night around here. My next opportunity will be July 1, Canada Day. I'm assuming they'll have fireworks again. Now, if only I can get my neighbours to turn off their dock lights.

And, just cuz I like to show off.....

On the knitting front, not a lot got done yesterday and I doubt much will get done today. We're heading out to Vernon today to pick up another sofa. This is one that John and his mother had in the basement suite they rented there. It's been at that house (owned by friends) for the last few years, but now someone's moving into the suite that doesn't need or want that sofa. So we get to go pick it up. We'll make a road trip of it, enjoy the day. Mother's Day.

Oh! Before I forget, Carol asked me to let you all know... (watch for the alliteration here...) Carol calls the coot Curtis.

Saturday morning ramblings

It's a beautiful, sunny morning in the beautiful Okanagan. I woke up to the sound of pheasants and quail in the woods across the drive but now, I'm being serenaded by a backhoe. The neighbour is working on his septic field, which is just outside our bedroom window... which is where my computer happens to be. Oh well, a few moments with you and then I'm headed outdoors. Today might be a good day to do some exploring in the neighbourhood.

If any of you read the Art of Yarn blog (where I work/play), you'll see by today's post that we're putting together some kits for the store. Sally's put together a really cute lacy poncho and I'm working on a smaller version of the entrelac scarf. Hey, I'll take any excuse to start a new project! There's something exciting about starting a project, don't you think?

Well, here's the progress so far:

As with the original entrelac scarf I did, I'm really enjoying the technique. It is, essentially, plain stocking stitch, but because you're only working on 6 stitches at a time, it's interesting. Unfortunately, all other projects have been put on hold, but only because three of them are at the store. I left them there for the duration of the move and forgot to take them home with me on Thursday evening. Oh well. The people in this house tend to view knitting as a diversion and feel I should be doing something "productive", rather than sitting around with sticks and string. (What do they know??)

Living on the lake, I'm expecting life and nature to be fascinating. Thus far, I haven't been disappointed. Now, for those of you who think we live way out in the boonies somewhere, the city of Kelowna is a mere five minutes away. We have only to cross the bridge to get to town. That does keep some wildlife away, I'm sure. We have a fair number of ducks, geese, swallows and quail to watch at the moment and we hear the pheasant every day. We think it's one, could be more.

We've been noticing this little guy hanging around lately.

It's a coot. There used to be a lot of them on the lake, but from what John tells me, when the upper lakes open up, the coots head there. It seems this one got left behind. He's been hanging around the waterfront for the last week or so now. We'll keep watching.

Ah, the backhoe's quiet.

Just to turn you green

I'm sorry, but I just have to do this. Carol asked me about taking a panoramic picture of our view last night. The setting sun was turning the sky a very pretty shade of pink. So, I grabbed the camera and did. If you're interested, you can see the result here. Sorry... I really didn't want to make anyone green, but.........

A little lightheartedness

Ok, so I haven't been doing a LOT of knitting over the last week or so. I think that's understandable given that we're still unpacking boxes and trying to get this house organized. That said, I have been been working on my own design a little bit (and forgot it at the store yesterday; I have the weekend off.. *sigh*). I don't think I mentioned what it's going to be. I'm intending it to be a woman's vest, v-necked, just to the hip. The colours in the Noro are gorgeous, no doubt about that!

In addition, I'm going to be re-working the entrelac scarf pattern so we can put it into kits for the store. As it is right now, it's knit up on 32 stitches, four rectangles of 8 stitches. I'm bringing it down to 24 stitches, or four rectangles of 6 stitches. In order to take pictures of it, though, it needs (of course) to be re-knitted at the smaller size. I started that project yesterday and will, hopefully, do some work on it today. I'll post a progress picture when there's a little more than an inch and a half and more colour than just browns to show you. If it turns out anything like the other entrelac scarf, it's going to be a keeper.

I'm quite surprised I'm liking the Noro Silk Garden as much as I am. I think, from here on in, any scarf I make will be made with SG. It is a beautiful yarn.

Now, for the lightheartedness. On Ada's blog, she had a link to a quiz to find out your Inner European. So, I did it. Even though I'm from good, hearty Dutch (actually Frisian) stock, my inner European seems to be French. In all honesty, that doesn't surprise me at all. I think I'll get John to do the same test; I'd almost place bets that his inner European is the same.

The results:

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

Just a reminder

Don't forget to let me know about your "must-have" book or books! See the post here.

We’ve arrived!

The move is done! Now, we’re about to tackle the mountain of unpacking that needs to be done when you combine three households, Rob & Carol’s, John’s and mine. (What does one do with five sofas, anyway?)

This morning, the cable guy came and got us hooked up to that great highway, also known as the internet, so I could, at the very least, update you all on what’s happening here. On the knitting front, that’s been very little, as you can well imagine.

I did, however, do one thing. While at the store yesterday, I drew out, planned and started knitting my first, very own design. It’s not my first design, but it is the first one I’ve actually started knitting. It’s a vest for myself. (I could picture it worn over a white shirt.) Last week, we got in a bunch of Noro yarn, Kureyon and Silk Garden, and two of the Silk Garden colours just would not leave me alone. The colours are gorgeous. The one I chose just cried out to be something for me, but not a scarf. When pencil met paper, the vest design showed up and I couldn’t wait to start it. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going. So far, I’ve only got three inches of ribbing to show you, and that’s not terribly exciting, is it?

Alright, so now that we’re finally here, on the lake, I suppose I should share a picture or two. I can do that. Yesterday, John had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for work and I had to drop him off at the pickup point by 5:15 a.m. When I got back home, by about 5:45 a.m., I simply couldn’t go back to sleep, so I sat on our deck with my knitting, a mug of tea and the camera. It wasn’t a spectacular sunrise, but it was my first sunrise on the lake and that made it special.

Tot Ziens (... or See You Later)

It's time for me to put my computer to rest for a week or so. Today is Tuesday. By Friday, we want to be all moved in to the new house. That means I need to concentrate on things around here. There's still some packing to be done; there are boxes to drag over to the new house; there are toilets to be cleaned. You know what I mean, right?

So, the knitting, the surfing and the blogging have to be temporarily put on hold. If all works out as it should, I should be back up and running by the middle of next week. Do, please, continue posting your comments concerning your "must have" book or books. I promise you that the gift I have in mind is well worth a few minutes of effort on your part.

Now, to leave you with a smile....any real crafter will appreciate this one!

Input requested -- What's your "must-have" book?

We're setting up our next newsletter for the store and one of the things I decided to put in it is a piece about each staff member's must-have knitting book. While I was sitting and knitting this morning, I decided to open up that question to those of you who read this blog.

Which book (or books) do you consider a "must have" resource? Which is the book you refer to over and over again? Which book, if it disappeared overnight, would you run out and replace as quickly as possible? You get my drift.

Let's make this a little more interesting. I'll leave this open for one month (end of May). Then, out of all the entries, I'll randomly choose two names (or I'll let John choose them). Those two people will receive a small gift from me as a thank you. Sound good?

I won't tell you my favorites yet. I'll wait till we get nearer the end of May.

Random thoughts on a Sunny Saturday

It's going to be another glorious day in paradise. The sun is streaming into the windows and by this evening this house will be hot; I'm glad we won't be living in this house through the hot Kelowna summer. It was so nice out last night that we were all outside till almost 11:00. The sky was clear and the stars were bright, in spite of the neighbour who has a barnyard light in his backyard (very annoying; we still haven't figured out why they have such a bright light in a residential area... oh well... 6 more sleeps and it won't bother us anymore).

I did knit another 20 rows on the Flower Basket shawl yesterday afternoon, until my hands got so sticky from the heat that the stitches just wouldn't move anymore. For some reason, on almost every row, I'm forgetting one yarn over. That's an easy one to fix, though, as long as I count my stitches after every row. This one's going to work!

This afternoon, we're going over to Rob & Carol's to bottle wine, 60 bottles of it, both red and white. According to them, it's not great wine, but it will do for the move. Next time, we'll choose a higher quality starter kit, not the Costco special. I shouldn't be drinking it at all, anyway; I don't need the headaches that accompany the wine.

That's enough of the random thoughts for today. I think I'll try doing a couple of rows on the shawl; or I'll pack a box or two. Or something... it's just that kind of day.

One down, two more on the needles

Ok, call me addicted. I'm supposed to be packing for the big move next week, not casting on new projects! I have other projects to finish; the last thing I should be doing is starting new ones. But I did.

One project will be a very quick one to complete. Interweave Knits came out with their web patterns and one of them is a variety of baby socks. I've already got one sock knitted up. As I said, they knit up quickly. That said, I also tend to change sock patterns around to suit my preferences. For instance, I don't use 2 mm dpns; I use 2.25 mm. That makes the socks slightly larger already. I don't like doing short-row heels and toes, so I've substituted the standard heel and toe shaping. Ann Budd used some very nice, soft colours of yarn for her socks. Me? Well....

Then there's the shawl I started. I've decided that the Country Silk (the one that didn't want to be a Kiri) wants to be a Flower Basket shawl. It's in the Summer 2004 Interweave Knits. I'm already up to the 6th set of the 10 row pattern and no mistakes. I'm taking the precaution of putting in a lifeline every 30 or so rows, so that the yarn can't talk back tooooooo loudly! It's looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. For the time being, I'm limiting my knitting time to ten rows on the shawl per day; I'm three days ahead of myself.

(close up of the stitches; the photo is pretty close in colour to the actual yarn)

Today, though, just isn't a knitting day. It's about 24C (or 74F for you Americans) and sunny and I'm not used to the change in the temperature yet. My hands are simply too hot to hold yarn. When it's this rapid a temperature change, I limit my knitting to the mornings and evenings.

I think it's time to see how many of last year's summer clothes actually still fit me. Scary!!

A totally finished FO

Yes dearie, it's the Kiri! She's completely done, washed, blocked and dried. To say I'm pleased with the way it turned out would be an understatement. I'm rather proud of it, actually!

Here's a picture of the finished Kiri Shawl. I'm going to post the picture on the Art of Yarn blog as well, with a link to the pattern (it's also in my sidebar).

In review, it was a reasonably simple lace project. I'd recommend it for an intermediate knitter who isn't afraid to experiment. The start confused me a little when I read it, but sitting down and just "doing it" made it simple. I finished it in about two weeks, and that's with preparing to move and working.

Now, I've cast on for another shawl, Evelyn Clark's "Flower Basket Shawl", from the Summer 2004 Interweave knits. I'm hoping that the Country Silk will cooperate and be willing to become this shawl. So far, I've cast on and knitted the first 15-20 rows five times. It will be a slow go on this one, but only because we're in the middle of the move. (For those interested, after the 26th, we'll be able to move the rest of our stuff into the new house.) As well, the pattern is charted, not written out as the Kiri was; I'm not a big fan of knitting from charts. For some reason, I can remember the pattern better when I "read" it, rather than knit according to "drawings". I may just type out the row instructions, rather than work from the charts... if it gets too confusing.

Today, I'm off to the doctor to see whether or not my blood pressure is something I should be worried about or not. That would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?? Doesn't worry raise bp? *sigh* (she grumbles under her breath... getting older sucks!)

Birthday wishes!

Even though she'll probably never see this, I want to wish Alaina a very happy 21st (oops) birthday today. She's in Abbotsford, doesn't have access to a computer and is sick today. My thoughts are with her. Happy birthday, kid!!!

Kiri's an FO.... sorta

The knitting's done, at any rate; and it's off the needles. Now, it needs blocking. I can do that. The only problem is that my box of pins is at the new house... and I'm not. Once it's blocked and dry, I'll take some pictures of it.

I guess the knitting will have to be on hold from here on in, till we're settled in the new house. *sigh* (Another 10 days, or so)

As to the house, John & I went there in the morning to let the chimney cleaner in. John mowed the lawn; I checked for missing or broken light bulbs and puttered around a bit. It was a gorgeous morning, with the sun shining, and no wind. I had taken the camera with me and wandered around the property taking a few pictures. Here are a couple of them:



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As well, I met Penny, who lives next door with her husband Tim and two canine children, Casey and Tyson. Both are dogs. Tyson's a boxer, one year old and very rambunctious. Dogs make me nervous. Enough said on that subject. I think I'll get along just fine with Penny, though.

Circular needles

Every now and then, I like to try my hand at making things. I suppose that's what comes of being a carpenter's daughter. I've made knitting needles for the store when we couldn't get 8mm needles anywhere (neither could anyone else in town). Well, a couple of days ago, I found directions for making your own circular needles, so I couldn't wait to try making them. The process was simple, so I've decided to share it with you.

Here are the supplies you'll need:



A dowel in the desired size, a ruler, a knife or saw to cut the dowel, sand paper, a pencil sharpener, a drill and a length of weed eater line.



Cut two six-inch lengths of dowel.



In one end, carefully drill a hole about an inch deep (or so). Do be careful with this part. Once the hole is drilled, sharpen both ends in the pencil sharpener.



Sand both pieces until they're smooth, paying special attention to the drilled end. You want the join to be as smooth as possible.



Once the pieces are sanded smooth using finer sandpaper to finish, insert the desired length of cable with a dab of wood glue and let dry for 24 hours or so. If necessary, lightly sand the join so that it doesn't catch. If desired, you can lightly oil and buff the wood to a nice sheen.

There you have it. I suggest that when you go to pick out the dowelling, take your needle gauge with you. That way, you'll know what size of needles you'll end up with. I do know that 5/16" is equivalent to 8 mm. For anything larger that that, you may need a different pencil sharpener. That's about the biggest my sharpener will handle.

Have fun!



In answer...

A funny thing happened when I started working at the yarn store. Once I started knitting socks, I, like may others, became "addicted". Socks are fun. Socks are a small project that you can actually finish. I have made approximately 15 pairs since we opened last August. Somehow, I became known as the Sock Lady at the store. It was about that time that Priska came to work with an old Paton's sock book that she gifted me with. This week was the second old sock book she gave me.

It's not so much that I collect them; I may just have to. I find them fascinating. Some of the patterns, I would never knit, but some of them do look interesting. How many sock books make one a collector? I suppose I AM collecting them now. And as long as Priska keeps finding them for me.......... well, who am I to say no to a new collection??

Surprise!

When I got to work this morning, there was a little surprise waiting for me by the till:

On it, was a note...

I do love the people I work with! Thanks, Priska!!

Kiri's up and running again

Phew! I frogged back about six rows on the Kiri to fix the mistake that put me out by three stitches the other day. It only took me about 8 hours; I took it to the store with me and knitted in reverse when I had the opportunity. By the end of the day, I had corrected my error and was happily knitting again. I worked on the shawl at SnB last night, too. Speaking of SnB, it was just Ellie and myself there; where was everyone else??

Today, I really haven't done a lot of knitting. I did go and have coffee with Ellie (who has a small coffee shop), where we both sat and knitted for a little while, but all in all, I was busy with other things today. This morning, I went to the lab for some blood work. I worked on the Old Shale sock there, as it was quite busy. It took about an hour for my turn, so I was very happy I had the sock with me. The little old lady sitting next to me was very impressed that "young" people (she WAS referring to me) these days still knew how to knit.

This afternoon, I made a batch of my Knitter's Hand Cream for the store. It's a product I make exclusively for the store and the store, at this point, is the only place that sells my products. Now, I need to make a few more products to market there. But I digress; that's the other blog!

Dinner... what to make, what to make?

Just what I wanted...

...another visit to the frog pond! NOT!!! However, while merrily knitting away on the Kiri last evening, I discovered that I was out by two stitches on the first half of the row. Looking at it carefully, I realized there was a mistake about four rows down. I have no idea why I didn't notice it on the next row (where I could have fixed it without frogging), but I didn't.

So now, I have to frog it... or tink it. I'm certainly not going to take this off the needles or, knowing myself as well as I do, I'd rip it all the way back to the beginning. And after getting to 22 repeats of the pattern, there is no way I'm going to do that!

Incidentally, one 100 gram ball of Country Style DK, for anyone interested, gets you to 10 repeats on each half of the shawl, or 20 repeats. Not bad. This entire shawl will need only two balls, I'm thinking. That puts it's price at just under $20 (before tax).

Can you see where I messed up? I forgot a yarn over where the arrow's pointing. I must have missed another yarn over as well, as I'm out two stitches. *big sigh*

New Friends, New Inspiration

Oh my! How dangerous it can be to meet new friends. Lynne (aka Socklady) was in town and came to the shop today, along with Sandra (from Summerland) and her friend, Margaret. Lynne had promised to show me how to spin and she did! I'm definitely inspired and once we've settled in to the new house, I will attempt to do some spinning.

Here are a few pictures Dianne and I took at the store today. Dianne had her camera with her as well, and will post some pictures to the store's blog. (The link is in the sidebar at the right.)


From left to right: Sally, Ev, Lynne and Margaret




Sandra, who I finally got to meet




Some of the rovings that Lynne had with her; the colours are amazing! See how the blue/green one matches the top I was wearing? Love it, love it, love it!



...and Dianne tried to split a 100 gm ball of yarn in half. She had a ton of fun trying to untangle it all. We all sat there and laughed at (oops.. with, 'cept she really wasn't laughing) her.

Thank you, Lynne, for coming in and taking the time to inspire me. I very much enjoyed myself and I do hope we will meet again! Once I start spinning, I'll let you know how it goes.

Out and About

Other than working on the Old Shale sock for a little while this morning, I've done very little knitting today and probably won't. We're going to be doing some packing today, getting things ready for the truck on Friday. I did do one positive thing this morning. I went for a nice walk. The weather's gorgeous, so I took the camera with me. I was a little disappointed in the lack of colour in the pictures, but it IS still early spring and the colour is just beginning to show through all the dead leaves from last summer.

Here are a couple of pictures I took:

I love magnolias. This one's a Star Magnolia. A house down the street has a beautiful big Star Magnolia tree. Awesome!

I call this picture "Dreaming of Summer". We really are fortunate to be living where we are!