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….