Powering down….

Did you do your bit for Planet Earth on Saturday evening?

Yup – I had signed on, for Earth Hour that is! I was willing to give up a little light on Saturday evening for the betterment of Planet Earth.

Still, you know what they say about best laid plans and all. The G-man and I were dining at the at friends home around that time, and although she was definitely up for the cause, and we tried to dine by candlelight (how romantic!), cooking by candlelight on the BBQ and ensuring that e-coli was not part of the menu proved to be a greater challenge than we anticipated!

We thought we’d check out the night sky, but 8pm was not really late enough to get the pitch black we needed to see the stars very well. When the big power outage happened a few summers ago across the South-Eastern US and Canada, each evening we would step outside to watch the stars appear. Interestingly, this was when I met many of my neighbors whom had not ventured out on the street before, usually just zipping in and out of the garages with their cars, rarely stopping to say hello. And the night view back then was fantastic to say the least – it was something you would usually not be able to see inside the City limits.

As well, I had not considered that by not being home we would not be able to execute the powering down of all the lights set on timers in our home, which is the way we conserve power on a daily basis. Most of our major power guzzlers, with the exception of the refrigerator, are on some sort of timer, which shuts them down completely (no standby power) for 8 or more hours each day. The first year we did this we saw a 25% reduction in our hydro bill for the year! To achieve Earth Hour we needed to be home to manually override the timers, and so we failed the challenge.

The boys tried humor me and play along during dinner but they were not as boy scout as I know the G-man can be. He is actually a great boy scout, with lots of hand crank operated radios, flashlights and other fun toys, which have come in very handy now and again, as we are often without power here in the west end of Ottawa.

I heard the results this morning – only about a 4-5% reduction in power in the participating cities – I thought it would be more but considering our own lack of involvement, I’m not really surprised. Actually I’m a bit disappointed in myself, as I could have planned better and made a bigger personal impact.

Here’s an un-related thought for the day: "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not using it in a fruit salad"

Knit on…..

Just checking in…

Our weekend in the Quebec Eastern Townships was lovely – even the weather was very nice, lots of sun, and little signs of spring everywhere we went. We saw white geese, black turkey’s, and lots and lots of deer kicking up their heels in the corn fields. The streams were running under the snow, and the maple trees were tapped for sap, and sugar shacks were in full production. I love maple syrup and Quebec does produce some of the best in the country!

I got a chance to go to Sutton, PQ and did get to go back to Boutique Le Cotillon (sadly, no website) and returned home victorious with 4 balls of sock yarn. After all, what’s a trip without a few souvenirs? Three balls of sock yarn from the gorgeous Holiday Collection from OnLine in my favourite colors of orange and chartreuse and also blue jean friendly colorway, and one ball of Regia in a muted burnt orange, brown and soft purple. They were all duly fondled and ogled over at TAFK last night, and various members made pitches as to why they should be the recipients of the completed socks!! Can’t say as I blame them – the colors are simply luscious – they look like candy wouldn’t you agree:

And I’m finihsing up the toes of the On Line socks – no way could I have finished them over the weekend as planned – travel knitting time was completely wasted in the car due to the enormous (way bigger than usual!) potholes that the Quebec roads are famous for! My kidneys near gave up the ghost for all the bumping and bucking the car did! I could barely stop my chattering teeth let alone manipulate 2mm needles into fingering weight yarn. So sad, 8 hours of prime knitting time wasted! Anyway, DD2 is thrilled with the almost finished OnLine socks colorway 82, and they bring spring to mind every time I look at them

So there you have it. Now I’m back on track with the divine Citrine socks. No distractions please!

Knit on….

Recipe for Kate.. (thanks Susan!)

The Recipe For Kate

3 parts Daring 2 parts Magnetism 1 part Laughter Splash of Seductiveness Finish off with a little umbrella and straw

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

All over the place………

My plans to work on one item at a time to finish some WIP’s are failing badly, but I am so ok with that!! DD2 and I were so enamoured with the ball of ONLine Supersocke colorway 82 (sadly discontinued according to the ONLine website) that I picked up at Knit Knackers 2 weekends ago, that I have cast on for a travelling sock, my usual plain Jane ribbed and slip stitch heel flap version, and I’m cruising along at top speed, because it is hard to put it down the colorway is so pretty. I’m in love with the uniform striping and hope I can match it on the second sock. You better believe DD2 has staked her claim to this pair:

Little progress on the Citrine socks. See previous paragraph by way of explanation! But I wore these babies finished last week to work – very cushy inside my work boots, so the double stranded heel is a nice pay off for the slower knitting and weird coloring:

I’m off to the Eastern Townships of Quebec this weekend, to visit my Aunt. The Townships are so nice to visit and I’m looking forward to some great food, and the long but very pretty drive (if the weather co-operates) – good for knitting either way! With some quick work, the ONLine socks might be done by the time I get home. And I have brought the Citrine socks to work on too.

And I am hoping to get to Sutton, PQ to visit Boutique Le Cotillon the store where I originally bought my Sockenwolle Kits to learn to knit socks. At the time I was very intimidated by socks (still am a little) and so I did not into venture into the stores downstairs area where I was told resides oodles of luscious wool. I think I’ll go down the stairs this time if I get the chance!!. It is hard though, as I will have both my elderly Aunt and the G- man in tow – not a particularly good scenario for yarn shopping since you know how long that can take!

Wish you all a lovely long Easter Weekend!

Knit on!…

Moving Along….

Last week at our TAFK (Tuesdays Are For Knitting) evening get-together, I pulled Susan aside from the chatter to give me her expert opinion of my giant short row heel, and after some discussion she has convinced me that a) it was done correctly, thank the gods, and b) the heel will not have the same bulky look when the Citrine Sock is knitted up in the pretty golden Hailuoto wool from Sanna. So I am moving forward with these little socklets as I am enjoying the cabling, and getting better with each row at following the pattern chart.

My downward spiral into the deep dark stash diet abyss continues. I have ordered from KnitPicks a needle case for my cable needles and some extra inserts, and magnet chart board (to assist with the issues I have with keeping my place on the chart rows) and, managed to restrain myself slightly and only allowed 2 skeins of lovely Essential Sock Yarn in Meadow Multi to get into (ok – actually stay in) my shopping basket. It should be arriving any day now!!

And speaking of my poor stash dieting, I recently read an article about having pride in your stash, and about not apologizing or lamenting about the size of the stash, as I, and many others in blogdom, often do. The article talks about seeing a stash for what it is, a collection of memories of places we’ve been and people have met, the potential to try something new and step out of our comfort zone, and a major source of inspiration for our next project. Now that is something I definitely do. I love to dig through my stash bins and find what I’ve forgotten, and think of the reasons that caused me to purchase the yarn in the first place. Often I have seen or dreamed something that I would like to make, and being impatient, I need to head straight for my stash to see what I have to make it come to fruition as soon as possible. Both my fabric and yarn stash are a valuable part of my creative spirit, and I need to learn not to be so hard on myself for having and enjoying them so very much. Naturally this type of thinking does nothing to impede the growth process of my stash, and I feel I will always have to “diet” now and again, just like I have to frequently remind myself that cookies to not HAVE to come in pairs! However, I will also remember that a little self-restraint can be a good thing, and that using up yarn makes way for new acquisitions.

In the spirit of continuing to catch up with myself, I have finished these:

An exercise in reinforcing the heel flaps where I have a tendency to wear sock thins, so I added a second strand of one of the colors from the striping that I had leftover in a solid – I should have picked a darker stripe to match to the reinforcing yarn too – it is a very obvious bright heel, and looks a bit strange, but since they are for me, I can live with them.

Knit on…………

Practicing….

Tonight is TAFK, and it promises to be a rocking evening as there will be 7+ knitters squeezed in my family room, all vying for elbowroom, needles clacking away.

In the interest of being able to work with only one eye on my sock, I thought I better practice a short row heel. Yes, I made just a heel. Looks terribly strange all out on it’s own without it’s gusset, leg or toe, but there it was - one giant heel!

DD2 got a kick out of it, claimed I was a bit strange, but after trying to do it with my lovely Citrine Sock three times, I decided a practice heel was the way to go.

I hate it. Aside from the fact it look funny as just a heel on it’s own is ought to do, I don’t like the way the sssp decrease looks on the right side, and I don’t like the ridge on the inside of the sock the k2tog decrease on the opposite side produces either.

I’m going to try a heel from my Crazy Toes and Heels book by Queen Kahuna. I have some more reading to do, but I think hers are more closed and if the pictures are to be believed, the decreases lie quite flat along the heel. As well she has some crazy technique involving orthodontic rubber bands, which promises to end the massive counting that I keep screwing up!

That is all. My heel and I are going to take a walk.

Knit on….

A wee bit of snow!

So we had a little snowstorm this past weekend (about 51cm or 20 inches, about 1.5cm shy of some record set in 1947), and this was the view from my upstairs family room window on Sunday afternoon after it was all over:

I didn’t mind. Really. We were ready, having done the groceries and any other necessary errands a few days before, and so it was very lovely to just sit beside this and soak up the radiant heat:

And while my aching bones basked in the delightful warmth, I knit on this (Sanna, do you recognize the wool? Yes, it is the Citrine Sock being knitted in the gorgeous golden Hailuoto wool! Lovely to work with, just lovely!):

This very old little man also enjoyed the heat and snoozed nearby to keep me company:

I had lots of this to keep me from falling asleep by the fire:

I had a few of these to share with the neighbors who managed to brave the swirling winds and hike through the snow to visit:

And those who came to my kitchen were treated to these heavenly smelling daffodils (from the G-man just because!), the promise of spring for winter weary souls:

And the G-man was in his element ‘wrastlin’ his ancient snow blower throughout the neighbourhood, dispensing the joy of cleared driveways to weary shovel-ers everywhere:

Yesterday I finally ventured outside from my perch beside the fire to survey the sights and soak up some of the afternoon sun that had appeared. There were some really big snow banks blocking the view of the other houses:

And the back loop of our street is impassable since the big snowplough got stuck at an ice drift that has formed, and I think we have lost part of the cedar hedge from the weight of the snow. I heard on the news this evening someone's house had the roof split in half because of the weight of the snow!

Now I know what you are thinking, and yes, we have confirmed that we are covered by flood insurance, since you know that it’s going to melt sometime and Lord help us when it does! We’re going to need an Ark!

And now a few little Public Service Announcements:

1) Did you change your fire alarm batteries when you changed your clocks forward (for those of us on Daylight Savings time)? And don’t tell me you were late for work this morning because you forgot to change your clocks too!

2) With the incredible volume of snow around your houses, please don’t forget to clear off your natural gas meter, pressure regulator and appliance vents to ensure they are clear of snow and ice. Snow and ice should be gently cleared from natural gas equipment and vents with a broom to prevent blockages of deadly exhaust from your home.

That is all. Please attend to the above-mentioned chores and return to your knitting as quickly as possible.

Knit on….

Interesting differences………

I am intersted to know what you think....

Last week a colleague returned from a trip to Vietnam. Just another vacation you say, well not exactly, and the discussion has been ever so interesting around the office.

You see he, a white Canadian guy, went to meet a potential bride. No, not mail order. She is related to the wife of a friend. Was the introduction arranged? Of course it was and it has been in the works for quite some time along with months and months of long distance conversation.

So you can imagine the conversation flow about the office the morning when he arrived back wearing a spanking new wedding ring!

What interested me the most around the office is whose sensibilities, male or female, were offended the most by this arrangement!

I’ll get me out of the way first (and actually all of my female colleagues funnily enough). I don’t really have a problem with it in this particular circumstance. Now don’t role your eyes and get your feminist knickers in a knot. Does that mean I would be happy to have had my marriage arranged? No. I wasn’t raised that way, and this is the culture to which I am accustomed. And I live in a world that doesn’t have a problem if I don’t even marry at all, and there is no stigmatism attached to being single and female. Lucky me. However, this is not the case in some countries. It is often difficult, both educationally and economically, for women to compete inside such male favoured societies. Do I think it fair? No. Do I think it is reality? Yes. Would I like to see it change? For sure! And one way that might happen is when an inter-cultural marriage introduces a new way of thinking into an extended family. If logic follows, then my colleague’s new family will not only have choices never before available, but will also be exposed to different ideas about the value of women in society. I see this as a potentially good thing.

What is interesting is to watch the reaction of the guys around me. Some simply have no opinion to share, offer their congratulations, and move on gently wishing him happiness and contentment. A few are even openly happy and excited for him, but they are the minority for sure. Many others however, behind my colleagues back, make disparaging comments and shake their heads in disbelief, muttering words about lack of foresight or better judgment. This is something I didn’t expect. I expected most of them not to really care to have any opinion, for them to be more in the first category. What makes it more than interesting, is just how many of those particular ones who disapprove have shared in the past their own negative commentary regarding their own marriages. Hummmm… makes you wonder – could they be a bit envious that my colleague just up and went and found himself the dream girl he’s always wanted, instead of just settling for a passionless and less than adventurous lifestyle.

My colleague has searched for years for a life partner, and not found the right one. He is a simple guy with simple life goals, wanting only to work hard, and share his life with someone along the way. With every passing year, he grew sadder and more than a bit bitter at his inability to find an uncomplicated match. I’ll grant you he can be a stick in the mud at times, making his options all the more limited, but I do believe that everyone deserves a little happiness in life. I applaud him for finally, at middle age when most people are who they are and highly resilient to change, expanded his thinking to entertain the idea of a potential match from another culture, another society who doesn’t carry the same stigmitisms and complications, so prevalent in we Western girls (myself included!). Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so in this case, for both parties. She is more than old enough to be making her own decisions, and even past an age enough to decide that there will be no children. They both seem to be getting what they want, safety, security, and companionship and perhaps with time, the bug they seem smitten with will bloom into full-fledged love and respect. Stuff of pipe dreams you say – well maybe, or not. Stranger things have happened.

Oh, I am not so naive as to think that this semi-arranged marriage is not without its possible pitfalls and risks, in particular to my colleague. She could get here and a few years in, leave him taking half his life’s work with her. I can only hope he’s sensible enough to have protected himself in all the ways possible. Although not much mends a broken heart, now does it.

But for now, I choose to have faith that with love all things are possible, and will enjoy watching my colleague learn all about the ups and downs of marriage from the sidelines.

I suck at dieting…

I knew I was doomed to fail from the moment I typed the words “stash diet”. It’s like saying I won’t eat cookies. Ya right.

Last Friday I agreed to go with my friend, the other Kate (sadly blogless), to Knit Knackers this coming weekend and any other girly place we feel like going, which of course means I’ll break the stash diet guaranteed. But at least I’ll have something good to show you I hope.

For now, I have this question – if I bought cheap, I mean incredibly cheap, machine washable worsted by the pound from Giant Tiger enough for a sweater because a) I want to test out a top-down raglan style without spending any money, and b) because DD2 really liked the color and asked me to knit her a sweater and since she doesn’t have much regard for laundry care I didn’t want to spend any money on the yarn and this fit the bill, does this count as busting my stash diet?

Really? It does? It’s really, really, really cheap acrylic for crying out loud! So cheap I won't waste camera memory taking a picture of it!

It counts doesn’t it………..

I am so screwed……….

Knit on………

Ta- Da!

I told you previously I was making this bag, but you have yet to see the finished item, so here it is:

I had done Tunisian crochet years ago, learning from my ex-MIL when a difficult pregnancy kept me flat on my backside for several months, and I had continued with regular crochet after, but hadn’t picked up my Tunisian hook in probably 25 years. Still, it’s just like riding a bike, you never forget, and I was binding off the bag body in no time! Fast, easy, fun and practical – all of my crafty requirements in one project – it doesn’t get any better than that!

I had very little problems following the crocheted pattern, my first time ever actually following a real crochet pattern, abbreviations and all, although I have crocheted for many, many years, just never with a pattern. It is one of my little goals for myself this year: learn to read crochet pattern and I think this was an excellent start! Overall I am very pleased, but would and likely will do, a few things differently. Still it will make a very fine knitting bag!

And there likely will be a next time or even two, as DD1 and DD2 have both expressed more than a passing interest in having one! I could definitely see adapting the pattern size as well for each girl’s particular style! And the Tunisian single stitch pattern makes a wonderful grid-like canvas for designing your own embroider work of art!

Things I would do differently: My stitch count for the round ends was dead on, and it matched up easily to the sides but the result was that the center of the rounds were a bit bulgy, I could either do less rounds and fudge the stitch count to attach it to the sides, or try crocheting the rounds with a smaller hook size as likely my gauge with the Tunisian hook used for the body was different than with the regular hook used for the rounds.

Also, I should have doubled the yarn used for the embroidering. I used the same worsted weight as the bag is constructed in, but it seems a little thin and the colors do not show as predominantly or richly as I would have liked. Again, good enough, but I’d beef it up next time.

Lastly, I will be changing the way the strap is attached to the body of the bag as I think with any weight, it will put too much strain on the stitches attaching it to the body. I think I’ll use some D-rings to spread out the stress from the strap, and I can actually join the D-rings to the plastic canvas lining for added security. I did put two buttons on for closures, as one just was not sufficient given the length of the opening.

Kinda cute, don’t you think??

Knit (or crochet!) on……