Mmm yarn

That was great. I made it to the store (and I was first in line, don't listen to the people who showed up and then left again for breakfast ;) ). Chatted with some wonderful people and bought up some really cute yarn.

I even managed to stay ON BUDGET and not go totally crazy. I think the reason I was able to, was because I knew that I have enough for 2 sweaters at home and that is enough. For now. Until they are knitted up.

I did do a silly thing though. I bought a spindle, and some roving.. and I don't know how to spin. And watching the video I found on YouTube and reading the instructions and I'm all nervous. So I may just have to go take that spinning class. :p

But I got some more cute sock yarn, and some worsted weight. Enough for two of those Squatty Sidekick bags on Knitting Daily, in different colours. I think one for me and one for my cousin (for Christmas.. planning ahead, see?).

I also took a bit of a walk around Bridgeland, and since it's so nice I think that when Velociraptor wakes up we may just have to go check out all the noise at the Greek festival. I have a hankering for some spanakopita and ouzo.

More yarn (soon)!

Or there will be, and soon.

Make1's Solstice sale is this weekend and I plan to be down there by shortly after 9 if the buses co-operate. *grins* I'm going on a dive for sock yarn and maaaaaybe some roving.

Just a little.

And a drop spindle.

Just a small one.

But mostly sock yarn. I'm also pondering something to make my aunt for Christmas (I may as well get it now and start soon, knowing what a flibbertigibbet I am).

The Montego Bay scarf is coming along, slowly but surely. I tucked it into the pocket on my chair and forgot to take it all last week on the bus though, so I'd better pull it out and tuck it back in my monster of a purse.

Then tomorrow night I'm finally going to get out. Now I just need to convince my friend that she really does want to go to the grand opening of the new bar in the city (I put our names on the list to get in the door, I know what I want to wear, I WANT TO GO DANCING DAMNIT! It's been too long, the clubs are always crowded and expensive and stuff but it's been a year. I want to work off some energy and dance with a few cute guys before I return to my everyday single mom self. I don't cut loose enough.)

I'll try to get pictures of the Chill Chaser. It's really cute, and Velociraptor loves it, but currently it is WAY too hot to wear jackets of any kind. Summer certainly is here. He was wearing it the other week though, when it was cooler.

And I know I'm a day late, but Happy Solstice everyone.

WWKIP Day

Yup, that is apparently tomorrow. You never really hear anything about it (at least not where I go). knitting in public is what I do though. I knit whenever, I bring it to keep me busy on the bus and in lines etc.

And since I will be out and about anyway, I shall have my knitting with me. So if tomorrow you come across a tall woman dressed quite casually with a turquoise knit pouch attached to her belt and a bright orange rolling shopping bag dragged behind.. that'll be me.

I'm hitting the Farmer's Market. I haven't been all winter and I want to see what is showing up there currently for fruits (if any). Plus I have a real craving for tzatsiki and pita bread, and the best place I've found is at the market. That and the Greek Festival (in two weeks, so I will be found there on the Sunday since that is the same weekend as Make One's Solstice sale where I plan to be on the Saturday).

Maybe the yarn lady will be at the market? She's not there all the time, but from time to time she shows up with yarn (and roving, and knitted items). One of the stalls also has recycled sari silk yarn, and I get a craving whenever I pass by, but I manage to stop myself because it sheds. Shedding drives me batty. :p Some I can live with, but too much.. ick.

25 dollars and a short time later..

and the corner where I tossed my bags of yarn/knitting supplies/books/projects on the go is now ten times more organized.

I just picked up a 3 drawer cart at Walmart, sorted my knitting out into it and voila! It looks SO much better than the brown paper bags of yarn and odds and ends and stacks of books I had sitting there.

I also worked on Velociraptor's sweater last night, so I'd better do some work on it tonight and then it ought to be done. My sewing might need some work though, it's really different to sew knitted pieces together than it is to sew cloth. Have to concentrate more to make it look nice and even. But I only have to sew the side together and the hood together and on and then.. done!

That's about all the knitting content I got right now lol.

In other randomness, this video is quite beautiful.



And now I must be off to mow my weeds and make supper.

May.. now with extra snow!

It snowed today, and I dislike it when it snows like this. I had to stumble out of bed, shivering my butt off, and go dig out my winter gear (packed away the past weekend). Brrr.

This was the view out my window this morning:



and this was right beside my house.





It broke the light right off the light standard, but that and the tree appear to be the only casualties. Unlike other places in town (and not that far from myself either).

So I needed a summery project, said screw it, and started this:



I might need to figure something else for pictures. These are rather big. They'll just stay this way for now though.

Oh! And for the seven utterly random factoids meme.. I rememberd an eighth. How I could forget, I don't know.

I am a character in a novel. A published novel. If you pick up EE Knight's Valentine's Rising (book four of Vampire Earth) you will find a character by the name of Arsie/RC.

That is me! Not pulling legs or nothing, he wrote me in. :)

Busy as a bee

is what it seems like lately.

So much to do, plus it's so nice out I don't want to be inside and my friends want to get out, as does my son. And it's hard to take knitting on a hike up to Stewart Canyon by Lake Minnewanka!

So no real knitting has been done in awhile, nor finishing either (the sweater will be done soon, I guess I'm just dragging on it because.. well, I don't know why. I guess I don't quite want it to be done).

But, Gina fingered me in this meme so I figured I'd do it and here goes.

7 Utterly Random Factoids About Me:

1) I seem to have inherited somehow a crafty gene and can do a variety of crafts (huge surprise there, I know). I may not be wonderful at them, but I can do the basics in many. Lots of this was gleaned from Grandma, Aunt's, Friends of the family, Guides and Mom. I have all sorts of samples of my works kicking around (or long since disappeared) and was complimented on my small even stitches and suggested I take up quilting (by hand). I refused, as I rather enjoyed my cross-stitch at the time (another craft put on hold until little boys learn sharp needles = pain)

2) Paleontology has been my dream since I was small. How small? I'd say I was 4 or 5 when I first saw a dinosaur exhibit at a museum (in BC!) and I was hooked. Over the years I had plastic models, books, tons of those crafty kids books where you did stuff like trace a map of the world in a certain way to create Pangaea or Gondwana. And, to be quite honest, it still is my dream. I see it as put on slow for the moment though.

3) The previous one leads into the next one. In grade 4, I won first place in the science fair when I did my project on, you guessed it, dinosaurs.

4) This one is also led into from the paleontology love.. I got to go on a behind the scenes tour at the Royal Alberta Museum and got to hold this Wooly Mammoth Tooth. It was a wonderful day.

5) All scars and major injuries were caused by really silly things. Not even silly things that are amusing or just childhood craziness.. I mean really.. really.. silly things, like I broke my collarbone by falling off a swivel chair and I have scars from a parrot, helium tank, fridge and grocery cart. Need I say more? I was fairly clumsy as a kid, but especially during my teenage years. I blame it on getting so tall, so fast. I'm not as clumsy anymore. Thank goodness.

6) In grade 9 we had something called a 'Turkey Trot' at school, where we walked or ran around the field (1.something km) after telling our guess of how long we thought it would take us to the teachers (who wrote it down). We started all at once and at the ending line a teacher told us our time and we went in to give it to the original teachers. Well, I was the one closest to my guess for my grade.. and I won a frozen turkey to bring home. If I had gone with my gut number, I would've been exactly on but I gave a slightly different number (that matched the girls I was planning on walking with) instead.

7) I have been on both coasts of Canada (and traveled a fair bit in Alberta and the East coast), but nowhere between Alberta and Nova Scotia except for a few hours in an airport in Ontario.

I tag.. whoever wants to do this.

Oh, and I picked up the newest Interweave Knits today (at the news store I pass on the way home), and am extremely excited to discover a pattern for a gorgeous scarf using the Handmaiden Sea Silk.. of which I happen to have a skein that I bought awhile ago, in the amount needed for this pattern. I started the scarf pattern that came with it, stalled out and just left it while I did other things despite LOVING the yarn. But now I know what to do with it.

Is this where the excitement of stash shopping comes in? I've never truly done it before!

Finally! A finished sock!

Or not..

I finished a sock. I truly did. Thing is, once I finished the kitchener stitch and tried it on I realized.. it's too small.

Ok, not TOO too small, just my feet are big (since I am 6'1, and inherited high arches and wide feet from my Mother).

So that got ripped out and frogged back to where I started the toe decreases, so I can add.. oh, say another couple centimeters. I could have worn it, but the heel (specifically the BACK of the heel) was pulled under my foot and it was pretty stretched out. I figure a couple of centimeters, then the decreases and the heel will sit properly and it won't drive me batty.

Then I just have to knit the next one.

Once I've got them done, I will post a picture of them. I have to show off finished socks!

Oh, and I bought some new sock yarn. Didn't get to the store for stitch n' bitch (and thus missed out on the Oceanwind) but when I went the next night I got some real nice stuff that they haven't put out front yet. Or hadn't really planned on.

I already wound it into a ball, and it's such a pretty blue (they had some wonderful greens and a rust and reds there too, but I kept myself to one skein). I'll get the name later, I left it downstairs in my bag and I'm a little lazy at the moment (considering I should already be asleep..) but it's nice. I like it, and I'm looking around for a pattern to use with it. Maybe this one?

But now I'd better get some sleep.