Skating and boasting but not about skating

Boasting first, I've been waiting ages for this.


First up, a rag rug I wove for my mom. I tried to find colours that would suit her new paint job in her apartment. Her cupboards are oak-ish and the walls yellow. I showed it to a few weaving friends and upon discussing it, I realized I hadn't sent along a rubber underpad. Don't slip on it Mom. It would make a nice table topper if you think it's too dangerous.

Second, another Road Trip Shawl. I knit this one for Jamie. She chose a beautiful red with a hint of black/orange to it. I knit it up whenever I needed something to knit but not think about. Must have been a crazy fall, because it was finished much faster than I expected. It is a very fine mohair and when done, it is as light as a feather with no shedding. I love it and had a hard time passing it over. Thank you for the thank you Jamie!

Next up, a 15 sided something. It was fun to knit despite it's crazy shape. I ran out of yarn before the last two pokey outs were done, so had to improvise. Sit on it a few times Natasha, then no one can tell. Natasha is a brilliant mathy person and is going to Teachers Ed to teach youth Math. Not only is she smart and beautiful and mathy, she's brave too. Good luck.

Socks. I made these red and black socks for Steve, just your basic recipe. I gave them to him last winter because he needed another pair then stole them this fall and snuck them into his stocking at Christmas. It's hard to knit Christmas surprises for Steve, he seems to hang around a lot in the evenings.

Headaches? I heard somewhere or other that lavender is a good anti-headache remedy. I knit this up for Phoebe, filled it with fresh lavender and stuck it in my closet. I made it last January, and it has been filling my closet with scent for months. Hope it still has some spark left in it. Phoebe hasn't had any headaches since Christmas but her room mate Lindsay has and she says it helps. Thanks Lin.



More socks. I made this pair for Lucas but didn't add the toes in. Lucas is no longer the little guy I used to knit for. I knew he was taller and bigger than his dad but wasn't sure what happened to his feet once he moved out of the house. I'm knitting the toes now and he should have them in the mail shortly. Lucas was so keen to wear them that he packed them up after his visit with us and took them to PEI whereupon he didn't wear them. Good sport that he is, he returned them today and knitting commences.

Just to finish being a braggart, I also knit a pair of lovely yellow socks for my mom, in a thicker, softer yarn that shows cables off. They are more for warming tootsies while reading, not so much for walking in. I also knit up most of a lovely sweater but the second sleeve is still underway. Hopefully I can boast some more next week.

On to other things.... Vote with your blades.

Steve and I have been skating twice now at the Oval Rink on the Commons and we loved it. I didn't take my camera because I am chicken and worried about losing or breaking it, so you'll have to scurry down yourselves and see all the action.

We first went on December 27 in the afternoon. We were in the first flood of people to get on the ice. This was a new thing for us because we rarely join in floods of people doing anything. In that first hour, 241 people stepped onto the ice. Now the counters were a little disorganized and there wasn't a system to monitor people getting off and getting back on again, nor was there anyone counting at the far entrance gate. Still, that's quite a number! It was so cold that as the ice wore down from all the blades, it became chippy. The corner nearest the bandstand was a bit like skating through the ice of a soft drink. And the wind! And the cold! We manage to last 45 minutes, not bad for two old duffers who haven't skated for a year.

We went again on New Year's evening, around 7:00. We knew there wasn't a chance in anything that we would stay up till midnight, in the cold, skating. Uh-uh. By 7:00, people had been skating for sometime. The ice was much smoother, the wind low and the temperatures pretty nice. And, it was jam-packed. In one way, it wasn't so much fun because of the crowds and the little learners doing their thing where ever instead of to the far right side. I was a little nervous about running into one. Of course, there are always a few hotdoggers who like to careen about. I wasn't worried about running into one of those. I stuck my elbows up high when I heard their skates skritching near. Good thing I didn't have a hockey stick or I'd have been timed out for high-sticking. Still, we had fun. It is a real delight to have outdoor skating anywhere and it being close to home was delicious. Now to phone who ever is in charge and suggest they keep a rink going next year. And you phone too. Maybe between us all, we can get a rink that stays frozen every winter.

ps. I'm very disappointed with the new photo. It is just dull witted. It hurts to admit my garden looks dull witted, but there you are. I'll keep looking.

Roadtrip Shawl, Worms and our Urban Farming Experiment

Just a bit of a spoiler for the squeamish, there aren't any photos of worms in this post. They all agreed to go off camera for “you know who you are”'s sake.

Just finished the Road Trip Shawl. This is my name for it. Check out Knitters Magazine, Fall 2007, page 42-43 for this pattern by Jane Sowerby. I had to wait for the second skein to arrive from Louet Yarns and it is a great colour match. The last quarter of the structure of shawl and the ruffle needed the second skein. There was no way to shut my eyes and squeeze it all into happening. Not only did this turn out to be the perfect traveling project, it is a dandy for when there are guests in the house.

Mom came to visit

and that meant spending more time than usual in the knitting position. There is only one trick at the first of each row and then the knitter knits merrily away until the beginning of the next row when 4 seconds of thinking need occur again. Once the ka=trillion stitches were on for the ruffle, it was more of the same except the tricky bit was on either side of the 5th stitch. Casting on a ka=trillion stitches wasn't a deterrent to conversation. Who counts a ka=trillion? You just add on until you get to where the body of the object stops, look to see if there are any glaring holes along the way or a big bunch of stitches in a single spot and say to yourself “I'll fix that on my way past the next time”. Once you arrive at the worrisome bit, add a few more or drop a few or knit a few together. Really, who looks? The only tense bit was the ending. Did I have enough yarn to get all the double ka=trillion (because by now I've added gazooka # of stitches to make the ruffle do a ruffle like wave) cast off. The answer was no. That meant either ripping back three rows to get enough to knit the second last row again and then cast off or do the amazing “Knitter Superwoman” trick of leaving the thread where it ended, and then .... crocheting off. It was diabolical from a knitting stand point. I did this tricky thing that I thought would be a complete screw up and it worked! No one can tell were I made the switch. I wish I had thought of this years ago, what a great way to cast off without the worry of is there enough yarn. If crocheting hadn't already been invented, I would pattent this.

While Mom was here, I had a chance to get the livestock organized.

Mom kept the garden furniture from blowing away during the storm of activity while the worms made sure they weren't in the pictures. It took two humans (Steve and I) to hoik the worm bin outside. I have been tossing kitchen scraps in the bin randomly over the winter. We had a bit of a drying out problem around February with the one bin, so I merged the two bins. The one bin was a clear plastic with a clear plastic lid and I think it just wasn't dark enough for worm-like shenanigans. In the blue bin, the worms settled down to serious munching. Once the bin was outside, we drained the worm pee into several bottles.

This stuff is amazing! Really and truly! I know I exaggerate but there is scientific proof somewhere that this stuff is gold. The tomatoes love it, the other plants actually rear up when they see the diluted mix coming and it conditions fallow ground beautifully. I have two bottles and a half pail of liquid, and we moved worms out of the bin and into 3 small pails. I am hoping to find homes for the worms this September when those eager Students careen into the Sustainability year one class. The culled herd is back in the basement, munching on coffee grounds.

How's our urban farming experiment going this summer you ask? Not so hot except for the tomatoes.

The lettuce is a bit sparse, I didn't get my act together around getting seeds into pots in the early spring so the carrots, onions, peas and snow peas aren't part of the crop this year. I did get some carrots into a container and some late beans are doing a nice job of looking enthusiastic. I planted 10 pumpkin seeds for the hell of it and 4 of them are up and perky. No vines yet. We need a vine before a flower can do its thing and make pumpkin babies. Still, we have the rest of August and I can pretend they are gourds. Steve wants a gourd anyways to make a banjo out of. That-is-another-story!

What we did do this year that is an improvement over last year is that we have a better sense of what we can manage to pay attention to. .......Not a lot.

We have a better sense of how hard it is to get potato sets..... impossible this year (note to selves: don't turn the last of the winter potatoes into latkes if you need them for seed potatoes)

We have a better sense of what we can't get a hold of at the Farmers Market......almost nothing.

We have a better sense of how valuable our local farmers are to our incredible tasting local diet... .....Essential!

So in an odd way by having fabulous produce around so easily, my motivation to compete with those Fabulous Farming Families is very low. I like my lettuce outside the door, the herbs are a fun addition to many things, I wish I had the green onions and I miss the idea of neat kinds of potatoes but truthfully, I prefer to go to the market.

We shop for very little outside of food and drinks. Hardly any clothes, videos or movies, next to no shoes or furniture. We do spend money on reading material and we do spend money on eating out a bit too much (Fridays- you know the feeling- there isn't anything in the fridge and it's hot/cold outside and 8 other excuses, just so you can get some great fish and chips and not have any dishes to do) But food shopping is like a puzzle. I like making up the menu for the week coming up, figuring out what meat or protein we need when, what veggies will go with what, which meals Steve will cook (thankfully most of them) and which I will burn, I mean cook. And I like eating it.

Food was Great in Grand Manaan

The chef at the Inn at Whale Cove, Laura Buckly, did a fantastic job. We had marvelous ravioli stuffed with whole scallops and a lovely sauce that I don't recall the details about. I was too busy swooning. The crab cake appetizers had a lime coulis or something that were equally divine. I know those of you who are food wheenies will say, “Can't she even remember a small detail like how the lime was part of the crab cakes?” Nope, too busy eating. Chocolate moose (I know it is spelled incorrectly but I can't find the right spelling on this spell check gizmo) with whip cream and we had a nice Pinot G. for wine. (Italian) (too busy drinking it)

Now because I have obviously failed in my attention to details, some of which I agree are important, let me clarify:

Foggy focused photographer is Ernest Cadegan at web site

http://www.ernestcadegan.com/

The marsh is really spelled Castalia (geeZe Steve)

The island is really (and I quote) “it's Manaan, not Mannan or Manan...” (Really geeze Steve)

One of the reasons these were spelled incorrectly was because when I asked Mr. G. Steve if he remembered, he was too busy playing his banjo to pay attention. (small domestic moment here folks) so I do apologize to all those who hold spelling near and dear to your hearts, unlike steam-rolling along me who loves spelling as a theory rather than a practice.

After crawling away from the dining table, we had to keep bending over to pick things off the floor to pack them up and lug them to the car, so we crashed early to the sounds of “Urrrrh....URrrrh....URrrrh” fondly known as the Swallowtail Fog Horn at the Swallowtail Lighthouse. We never saw it up close, it was too foggy. Good trip home because we had air conditioning for the first road trip ever. Amazing invention! Loved it.

Today I had to acknowledge that I do not have enough yarn to finish my road trip project.
and have had to do the unthinkable and buy yarn on the internet. I hate this. I want to see the colour with my own eyeballs and feel the texture and you know, toss it around a little bit to see if it really is the same yarn as I have been using and running out of. I went to the Louet site

http://www.louet.com/

where they have some yummy yarns and patterns. This yarns was purchased initially at Lettuce Yarn in Toronto

www.lettuceknit.com

and they were very willing to send me the same yarn but in a different colourway. This was an interesting idea because I could use it for the ruffled edge, but as you can see, I need to finish the last point on the body of the shawl before I can do the ruffle and that requires the original colour choice. This is a great no brainer project, very easy on the hands and very easy on time. My only suggestion, based on experience is that when a project says “two skeins of yarn” you don't say to yourself, “If I just use bigger needles, I can probably do it with one.” See above for results if you think this way.

This is the project I didn't take as a road trip project.

A sock knit from the toe up. The increases to get the sock to eventually head over the heel without splitting apart is increased not in the usual manner with stitches on either side of the heel section, but with a jillion stitches increased only on one side of the cable line. These will then be decreased where on a normal sock you would increase (reverse direction) but to just frig with the knitter's mind a little, a second cable is introduced on one side of these decreases and the cable work happens both on the front and the back. This is like looking in a mirror and doing that hand patting the head while doing a circle over the tummy and trying to make the image in the mirror do it clockwise while the person does it counter clock wise, all the while making your left foot step in and out. Try it.

See what I mean? Knitting a cable front and back is just a mean thing to tell knitters to do. I am going to stare at it for a day or two and see if it goes away.