FO: Raha scarf in 100% Qiviut

This took a few months to finish up, mostly as I didn’t work on it.  A good solid week in San Diego took care of that however!  I made 13 repeats of the lace pattern, and the length is perfect for a good office/spring/fall scarf.  The lightness, softness, and warmth of qiviut are unmatched!

I wore this with my summer dress in the office today as the air conditioning was on full blast, which made for a chilly morning.  The natural brown coordinates with many outfits, and is a lovely soft colour.  The pattern is from Lace Knitting of Estonia by Nancy Busy, the yarn is from Cottage Crafts Angora in Quebec, I used one ball of yarn. 

Well, its official: Mr. J and I are shacked up, living in sin, etc.  We’re on Day 2, and so far no one has killed the other yet, in fact I think we’re both enjoying it.  It will be much better once he’s all moved in, and the boxes get out of the garage.  Tuesday was all about moving vans, so yesterday, Canada Day, was very low key for us.  We worked around the house, took it easy, and worked on getting things settled, and stuff put away.  It was also Mr. J’s birthday, so I bought him beer, and made him dinner.  Men can be so easy to please at times!  He already learned a very important family rule (this one goes way back, way before my time in my family) “When ya take a cold beer outta da fridge, youse put a new one in”. 

I hope all my Canadian friends had a great Canada Day, and to all of you south of the border, Happy July 4th!

Olds Fibre Fair Stash Enhancement

The Olds Fibre Week that is, which even though the Vendor area is in the maintenance area for the College, and the decor is sadly lacking in ambiance, the vendors came through for those of us just up for a few hours to shop.  (Aside: once again the weekend weather was lovely, and the grounds are gorgeous, why oh why does someone not rent these people tents to get them out of the machine shop???) All the vendors has wonderful items on offer, but I spent all my money in two places, which is a tad predictable for me.  I also got to see just how big my shopping bag could stretch:

Erynn from Twist of Fate traveled out from Kamloops bringing lotsa goodies.  Her booth was Extremely Lovely, she brought so much nice stuff.  I managed to get the two presents taken care of early, picked up a beginners spindle kit with fibre, and a Sabine shrug kit:

The yarn is already wound into two balls, ready to go, I’m very excited about this! 

The next rave is about the Wild Geese booth.  The lady who runs Wild Geese was unfortunately at a class while I was there, but her fill in was very helpful.  Working closely with the processing mill in Biggar SK, they have been developing some really interesting yarn.  The first item I picked out was a laceweight: it is a black fibre spun with green fibre.  You can barely see the green, but I think you will see it more once it is knit up:

Can you see just the hint of green fibre peeking out?  Also on display were black/blue and black/purple.  Second up in irresistible treats was some of her worsted weight, I bought a sweaters worth:

I’m thinking an EPS with the pink yoke detail, with some lace thrown into the yoke as well, as I love the fit that that gives across my shoulders.  The beauty of this yarn is the different fibres that go into its construction.  I had to take it outside into the natural light to truly see all the nuances.  Natural grey fibre, with small quantities of blue and pink fibre thrown into the mix:

There seems to be a beautiful relationship going on between the local fibre producers, yarn designers, and fibre mills in this area of the country, and I’m loving it all.  Is it any wonder I was so excited to head up to this show to see what was on display?  I was so impressed by what I walked away with, and by all that I sadly had to leave behind.  Each one of us shoppers displayed great restraint and discipline in that cold, echoing maintenance shop, and I’m proud of us all!

The Great Escape from Saskatchewan!

Will hopefully commence at 1 pm today, after a meeting with the client.  I’m currently waiting for a blower quote (for air silly, nothing else) to finish up at the hotel here.  Tis a beautiful day here once again, big sunny sky, and a lovely breeze caressing the landscape. 

The last two weeks I’ve taken advantage of traveling to focus my projects down, with much success.  In San Diego I finished my Raha scarf, which is waiting for me to block it at home.  Here in Saskatchewan I’ve been working on my February Lady’s Sweater which is being made in Silky Wool:

Since that photo was taken I’ve done a bunch more, and in another two inches of Gull Lace I’ll start the garter stitch edging, then go back for the sleeves.  The silky wool isn’t too hot to work with in the summer, but the summer hasn’t been exactly warm here yet.  This is going to be a really good three season sweater, as I can see wearing it on cool summer evenings as well.  It won’t be warm enough for full winter however!

My purse/travel project has been the Bettie Stockings, I’m up to the upper leg now on Sock #1.  This pattern is beautiful, wait until you see it stretched out.  Its coming out beautifully in the Smoochy sock yarn:

Remember my fishnet stockings?  They wouldn’t fit over my foot, so they need to be frogged and restarted on larger needles.  Hence the last minute replacement of the Bettie Stockings!

California Souvenirs

I left California on Saturday, made it to Denver, and got stuck overnight.  Oh well, I did make it home on Sunday, changed out the suitcase, and left again Monday morning.  At least Mr. J is at home spoiling the kitties with lots of lap sitting and scritches under the chin.  However the weather here in Saskatchewan is lovely with a big open blue sky overhead, and a beautiful breeze.  I keep wandering away from the water plant to go and visit the local lilac tree, just to smell the wonderful scent.  I went on a bit of a bike ride down the road yesterday evening the highlights of which are: slight turns left and right, and a 0,0001 degree hill, hardly noticeable until I turned around and went down it.  I rode a half hour, then turned around, and was able to see the goal, the steeples of the church in the distance.  Sure is flat out here!

I was able to find a cute little beading/yarn store in Old Town San Diego, and treated myself to the perfect California Souvenir: Golden Sock yarn specially dyed for the Sheperdess yarn store.  Isn’t it lovely and sunny?

I’m going to save it for winter, so that the cheery sunny colours cheer me up.  I also enjoyed all the flowers in California, there were purple flowered trees everywhere, and we were walking on a carpet of purple:

Its always important to stop and smell the flowers.

Today I Fell in Love With Georgia O’Keefe

Specifically this White Trumpet Flower painting on display at the San Diego Museum of Art.  Of course I’ve seen copies or images of the paintings before, but never a real one, which I found overwhelming.  It is so powerful in its simplicity. 

Having this day off, and taking a break yesterday evening even from sightseeing has helped slow life down again.  Things were going by so fast, rushing from one “to do” to another, its hard to take it all in much less savor a moment.  Slowly down again, taking the time to look at a painting, imagine how it was painted, why it was painted, and if I like it is one of life’s supreme pleasures.  Tomorrow I head home, and Monday I’m back on the road to le Bourg de Gravel, and life is due to speed up to lightening speed again.  Today I breathed, smelled the flowers, and enjoyed.

I did wander down to the zoo after awhile, giving into the hoopla.  My honest opinion is that the Singapore Zoo is still the best in the world.  All zoos however have those people banging on the glass, yelling at the animals so that they will look over for their “picture”.  Another honest opinion is that zoo photos are some of the most tedious in the world, which is why I tend to avoid taking them.  But this one, I couldn’t resist the uber cuteness:

Sorry about that, I hope the cute factor overwhelms the tedious factor.  Screaming children have been edited from the photo for your viewing pleasure.

SK Rivers, Lakes And….

The Saskatchewan River (from my travels last week, still getting ya’ll caught up on my whirlwind adventures)

Fishing Lake:

And…..

Sandy Claus!!!!  ‘Cause no trip to Saskatchewan is complete without a visit to Santa Claus.  I asked for baby alpaca with silk on top!

MSRide and Charity Sale

Or in the sub-title: one busy weekend!  We had wonderful weather for the garage sale, and really good traffic flow due to the huge neighbourhood garage sale that was going on.  Over 175 homes participated!  We sold a tonne of stuff, but didn’t have much luck with the higher priced items.  Overall Mr. J and I raised $650 to donate to the MS Society, $341 of which was from the sale. 

Sunday was just as nice, and we had a great ride.  There were people participating on all types of bikes, of all ages, and of all sizes.  The lady who most impressed me was a Mum with a two month old baby, at each rest stop her Grandma would bring her over to breastfeed!  Now that is dedication on the part of her Mum! 

Next year Mr. J is looking forward to riding both days, which I think is a capital idea! 

I’m down here in San Diego now, and enjoying the Water Treatment Conference.  For me this is such a great chance to see so many old friends and co-workers, and make some new contacts.  I love catching up on all the gossip, and finding out how everyone is doing. I am however finished my socializing after a busy night last night, and tonight I’m taking myself over to Little Italy for a nice quiet meal.  Last night’s socializing involved a reception on a boat in the maritime museum, and a tour of a Russian sub (adroitly handled by me in my dress, somehow I managed to fit through the tiny hatches without revealing any secrets to the guys).  Photos tomorrow!!!  Now….food!

Also a note: The Western Canada Oddball Blanket Society is having an online auction to raise money to become an official charity by selling some items.  Check it out here!  The Thorpe hat made by me is made with Manos del Uruguay, and is slightly felted to be super warm.  The little baby hat is made with superwash wool.  Just don’t bid on anything I”ve got my eye on!!!

WWKOADD

Happy World Wide Knit on a Dinosaur Day

My dinosaur was blue with daffodils?  What colour was yours?

Tuesday Take-off

Tomorrow we head out for a highly exciting work road trip to Saskatoon.  Wooohooooo!.  Okay, so no one is very excited, and no one wants to drive in particular, but why not pretend we are having “the best time evah”.  Perhaps we will?  Hopefully I’ll manage to get some highly exciting Saskatchewan road trip photos for you, perhaps the biggest stalk of wheat, or a particularly funky elevator.  Not a silo. If I’m really lucky I’ll stop by the Wool Emporium in Saskatoon and visit their “Wall of Saskatchewan” which is truly a sight to behold. 

Next week (Sunday after the MSRide) I’m off to San Diego.  With my one day off after the conference, what should I go see?  I think I’m feeling in need of some culture, a museum, or art.  I’m planning on eating fish all week, and hunting up some tex-mex to feed my obsession.  Calgary unfortunately has a dearth of good Tex-mex restaurants.  I’m already drooling…

Snow, Hail, Rain and Sleet…

Cancelled our yard sale this weekend.  We woke up to snow falling gently down onto a city really pissed off at having to cancel their entire weekend, softly blanketing our houses, flowers, and other things we didn’t want to freeze.  Fireplaces were switched on, marathon mini-series were watched inside as outside it proceeded to either hail, rain, snow or sleet all day long.  All day.  Sunday was cold and windy, therefore all hopes of having a charity yard sale were abandoned to next Saturday which so far looks like it will be warmer.  I’m really disappointed, but I hope we do well next weekend.  We have until the end of the month to get the funds into the MS Association, and therefore plenty of time to raise as much as we can.  We have tons and tons of donations which is wonderful, my whole garage is full of really cool items to sell. 

With all our plans out the window we put in some good couch time, and I even got busy organizing the next few knitting projects.  I’m going to be traveling the next week and a half, so I need stuff ready to go.  We got a good photo of my wonderful ball winding technique, helped along by Piper who insisted on being attached to me in some way all weekend long.  I think all the boxes of donated items have been weirding her out.  If I wasn’t providing her a lap to sit on, she was demanding that my lap become horizontal for her, rather loudly.  She did a lot of glaring and dirty looks this weekend, poor kitty.  Don’t anyone tell her the lap is actually going away for 1.5 weeks, she could lose it completely.

As for my extremely fashionable get-up there, give me a break, its the weekend and it was snowing!  I’m winding some pretty pink alpaca lace for a new shawl!