Saturday Sky

Here's a shot I took from my parents back yard earlier this month:

And some pictures from last night:



It was cold and rainy but Max and I had a great time out last night. We went to CPK for dinner and took the Metro downtown to see Circque de Soleil's Corteo. Plus I bought this really cool top:

Mom's Lady Eleanor

Lady Eleanor was completed some time ago, then machine washed and dryed right before I went up to Canada. My Mom was very happy with it, wore it to my sister's wedding even. Here she is posing with it in the garden on the morning before I left:





What she hasn't realised yet (and I'm not going to tell her and you totally can't tell from the pictures) is that Lady Eleanor is a little tipsy. When laid out flat, it becomes quite obvious that the final shape in not rectangular. More like a trapezoid. If I had realised this before I needed to pack it into my suitcase for my trip, I might have ripped it back to make it the right shape... but it's really not that noticeable, and I was in a hurry. Just a personal design element, right? :)

My sister's wedding

As you know, my sister's wedding was on the 14th in Canada. I arrived at my parents' house the night before at 1am while my sister was asleep. She was awake and out the door to get her hair done before I got up around 7am. The day started out rainy and cold. My mom and I went to get our hair done at 9am. On the way back, we picked up my sister's bridal bouquet. It was so heavy! When we got back to the house, the photographer had already started and I hadn't even had a chance to say hi yet. Her photographer, Derek, was great! The pictures were very beautiful and he was really cool.

The ceremony was held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hamilton, Ontario. The church is just as I remember it, run down but still beautiful and very cold... it's where I was baptised when I was five and where I went to mass for many years. When I walked in and saw it for the first time in probably 20 years, a lot of memories came rushing back and I got all emotional. More so perhaps since I don't go to church anymore. I'm not sure if they had the heat on but if it was on, it was set on low. I wore my winter coat through the entire ceremony. And a wool wrap over my coat. All the bridesmaids were freezing in their spaghetti strap dresses, gauzy chiffon wraps, and strappy high heel sandals. I sat in the second pew with my parents and Max and took a few pictures. Max was on video recorder duty.

After the ceremony, Max and I went back to my parents house to change out of our fancy clothes for a little whilte and rest until later. The bridal party showed up at the house just as it began to hail.

Around 4pm, we headed over to the hall. The reception was at the Olympia Banquet Centre. We took the family photos before most of the guests arrived and everything started. Here's a picture of me, my sister, and my brother:



As for the reception, there were many courses of dinner, strobe lights, dry ice, a fog machine, a flaming sword show for the cherries jubilee dessert... it was like something out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. There was an open bar but I only got drunk at the very end of the night. By 11:30pm, I was totally exhausted. Shortly after I got back to my parents house, I went to bed and passed out.

Still here

Sorry I've been away so long but I got hit by a cold pretty hard as soon as I got back from my sister's wedding. Just hoping I'll make it through the work day... so I can sleep! :)

Took this Sudafed last night - wow, great stuff! Taking Contact Cold to get me through the work day.

My sister's wedding day

is here! It's cold but at least it's sunny. I got my hair done with my Mom this morning. We're leaving the house at 11:30 and the ceremony starts at 12noon. Cutting it close? Probably but my sister is the bride and it's her day!

GD MF Snow

So. We were supposed to fly into Buffalo this morning. The flight is cancelled. Why? The airport is closed. WHY? Because there is 2 FEET of snow in Buffalo. ARGHHHHHH!

We rescheduled our flight but there's no way of knowing if we'll be able to get on it. My Dad said there is a driving ban in Buffalo. That people have been on the road since 10 PM last night. So even if we make it there tonight, my Dad still has to drive and pick us up. I suspect that the usual 45 minute drive will probably be more like 2 hours.

Wish me luck.

SP9 Contest #1

MY SP9 hostess is having a contest! With this entry, I will be entered in a drawing to win either a handmade bookmark or a set of 4 stitchmarkers, made by Patty!

List of my favorite:

Actor - Brad Pitt
Actress - Reese Witherspoon
Animal - domestic house cat
Band - The Bare Naked Ladies
Book - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Bubble Bath - Body Shop's Cranberry Bubble Bath
Candy - Snickers
Color - Blue
Flower - Orchids
Food - Shrimp
Lip Balm - Clinique Almost Lipstick
Lotion - Curel Continuous Comfort Moisturizing Lotion
Movie - Gone with the Wind
Song - At Last by Etta James
TV Show - Dead Like Me
Vacation Spot - Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom

Eleven years

On this day, eleven years ago, Max and I kissed for the first time in Xi'an, China. In highschool, there was usually the question, "Will you go out with me?" to determine that you were in fact going out with someone but Max wasn't one of those guys so after we decided we were in fact going out, we chose the day we first kissed, October 11, as our anniversary - which we celebrated every month following until we reached our one year anniversary.

Four years ago, on this day, Max and I had our wedding in Topsfield, Massachusetts. We were already married (at city hall), so for the wedding ceremony we renewed our vows and exchanged rings. Our family and friends travelled from all over the US, Canada, and China to attend.

On Sunday, unable to contain his excitement, I let Max open his anniversary present. This morning as Max woke up, at 6am, he whispered to me, "Happy Anniversary" before he left for work and I fell back asleep. Tonight we will celebrate simply with dinner and a movie.

On Saturday, Max will wear one of his new ties for my sister's wedding.

Two Swell

Yesterday my office was closed for Columbus day and I scheduled to have the carpeting in my house cleaned. The guy was supposed to show up between 12-1pm. He came at 3pm and left around 5pm. Needless to say, I won't be recommending him to anyone.

Just imagine alot of sitting around and knitting... not the worst way to spend my day off but it was so nice outside yesterday and I would have loved to knit in the park or something instead.

I finished knitting the Cambridge Jacket sleeves last week sometime. The bottom half of the back is finished, and I started the armhole shaping last night. That's alot of brown knitting!

To take a break I finished Marvin's Swell hat:



Second time around did the trick! This is size M, using size 6 needles. Fits my head perfectly but Max said he'd like a size L for just a little more room. He's not used to wearing hats (I'm not used to seeing him in a hat) and so this close fitting hat felt a little tight to him. I love how it looks!

Later this week, I'm flying up to Canada for my sister's wedding. Still haven't decided what to take as my knitting but probably it will be my project bag that I've been toting back and forth on the train every day. My commuter knitting has been mostly these tiny green wool scarves to go with these teddy bears I got from work. I have two so far but need more if I'm going to personalise them all for my family for Christmas.

Waterford Fair

Yesterday, Max and I went to the Waterford Fair. There was so much to see that we tired ourselves out before seeing everything. There was some great fall foliage, period costumes, crafts, yarn, spinning, weaving, and many of the vendors had their knitting sitting nearby for when the crowds died down!

Saturday Sky

Orange mums in my front yard, gray sky

Red Scarf lunch

I had lunch with four of my co-workers today so we can work on our red scarves. There are 6 of us in the group altogether (whoever can make shows up) and it's fun to be meet and not discuss work (the whole time at least). But the article about John Parks is the real reason that I'm doing this - that we're all doing this.

I forgot to bring my camera so no update picture this time. Our next lunch is the 19th.

SP9 Questionnaire

1. What are your favorite yarns to knit with? Soft yarns like Alchemy Bamboo, Manos del Uruguay cotton stria, Luxury Yarns Cashmere (from AC Moore), Lion Brand Microspun, Red Heart Soft

2. What do you use to store your needles and hooks in? A needle case and a large tin

3.A. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Since December 2004
3.B. Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Intermediate

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes

5. What's your favorite scent? Cinnamon apple, vanilla, and flowers

6.A. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes
6.B. Favorite candy? Snickers, Jelly Belly jelly beans, Crunchie, Werther's

7.A. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Baking
7.B. Do you spin? No

8.A. What kind of music do you like? Jewel, Bon Jovi, Goo Goo Dolls, Clay Aiken, U2, Enya
8.B. Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? Yes

9.A. What's your favorite color? Blue
9.B. Any colors you just can't stand? Bright pink, orange, lavender, and anything murky

10.A. What is your family situation? Married, no kids
10.B. Do you have any pets? Two cats

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes

12. What are your favorite items to knit? hats

13. What are you knitting right now? Cambridge Jacket, Red Scarf, Swell hat

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes!

15.A. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Depends on the project, like using both
15. B. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Depends on the project and the yarn, but almost never use plastic since most of my needles are wood, bamboo, or aluminum

16. Do you own a yarn winder and swift? Yes!

17. How old is your oldest UFO? More than a year old - my Viking Turid

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

19. Is there anything that you collect? cat stuff

20.A. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? The Knitter's Messenger Bag
20.B. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Interweave Knits

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Hmm... nothing comes to mind

22.A. Are you a sock knitter? Not really
22.B. What are your foot measurements? Size 7

23. When is your birthday? June 18

This and that

The Cambridge Jacket
So I started a couple of weeks ago on the sleeves and had to frog and start over using smaller needles. After knitting about 8" and measuring the rate of increase, the sleeves were going to be too long before they were the right width. Frogged again and started over. The good news is I got to use my new swift! Yah! So then I started over again. This is the third attempt, so far so good. I just started the cap shaping last night and it seems to be going fine.

Swell
Needed to take a break from all the brown yarn. Once to cast on Marvin's swell hat and knit the first 12 rounds in blue. And again to do the colour work in blue and white. I love making hats! I measured the gauge on this 2nd hat (using size 6 needles and 88 stitches) and it is bigger. Will it be big enough? I'm going to knit it to the end and figure it out then.

MagKnits
The October issue of MagKnits is up. I love 12:01 (the pumpkin basket) but since I'm not really into felting, I don't know if I would ever make it. Not so sure about any of the rest of the patterns though. They're fine, just not catching my interest. Which is good. I have too much to knit right now anyway!

Saturday Sky

The Lava Bar Contest winner is m. from mega(k)nits! Congrats! I'll mail out the prize next week. Please let me know how (if) you like it.

Knitting Needle Bracelet

How cool is this bracelet?!? Made by Liana Kabel in Australia, its cool enough that I found myself checking the shipping info! Shipping is to anywhere in the world. Hmmm... that's about $33.55 in US dollars. Tempting.

10 Knittery Things you didn't know about me

Following the lead of Grumperina, I'm challenged (seriously, it was a challenge) to come up with 10 Knittery Things that you don't know about me. Erin probably knows about most of these but here you go:

1) The loss of my knitterly innocence occurred within the first year of knitting. I was working on a lace stole for my sister using Moonlight Mohair. The yarn label said "MACHINE WASHABLE" and despite the 28% mohair, I believed it and stuck it in the washing machine. It felted.

2) There are 59 feeds in my knitting blogroll, but usually more than 100 unread posts at any given time. When I'm on vacation, it usually goes up to 200-300 unread.

3) My needle case is skulls and roses on the outside and red silk on the inside. I spotted the same skulls and roses fabric on Scrubs as The Todd's surgery cap.

4) I have made my own knitting needles out of bamboo skewers and pine dowels from Home Depot using a pencil sharpener and sandpaper for the points, buttons and beads for the ends. Had to ask my Dad to re-sand the points for me because my sandpaper wasn't fine enough and the yarn still caught on the rough spots.

5) There is only one project I have ever ripped back to yarn, a "pocket purse" in sparkly gold yarn that was endless rows of stockinette stitch that could not hold my attention even after I transferred it to new rosewood needles. I started it last June and finally ripped it back last month. It had been over a year people!

6) The first thing I knitted after my "learn how to knit" piece was a kerchief for myself. I then proceeded to make many more since they were easy and quick. Usually I wear these on Friday or whenever my hair is not looking its best.

7) My first lace project was using a pattern from The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches, size 15 needles, and Manos de Uruguay cotton stria yarn. I was totally winging it. I made a stole for a friend's 30th birthday. It was full of mistakes and the pattern meandered all over the place but my friend thought it was great.

8) Strangest place I have ever knit is in the dentist chair waiting for the anesthetic to work. When it did, my hands and fingers started tingling and I had to stop knitting. At the time I was working on my MIL's cardigan. Go figure.

9) My yarn chest is divided by colour. At any given time, the blue section is almost always the most full.

10) The most ambitious project on my to do list is the Icarus Shawl using the darkMerino Lace yarn from my secret pal. I'm not ready for it yet, especially since I have so many other projects on my to do list, but mostly I need to work up the courage to use this fine yarn. Don't say it Erin - I'm not ready yet.

Check the links for pictures!

Lava Bar contest

I received the Lava Bar a few weeks ago but with my diet, it was hard to find a way to fit in 280 calories. But then I didn't eat much one day and decided to treat myself with the ice cream and "the world's first liquid chocolate bar." The people at Lava Bar suggested I try it over ice cream and so I did. Add 110 calories.

So how did it taste?

It's good, but... it doesn't taste like chocolate syrup, rather it's a cross between melted chocolate fudge and chocolate brownie batter. And there's a slight after taste that I can't identify. From the ingredients, your guess is as good as mine. Over ice cream it clumped and became more fudge like but for me, that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Max took one taste and decided he didn't like it. Ringing endorsement indeed.

Would I buy it? No, probably not.

So, now here's the contest part: Who wants to try it? I have two more Lava Bars. Leave me a comment between now and Friday at midnight. I'll randomly choose a winner and announce the winner on Saturday.

Saturday Sky wink

Yesterday

Red Scarf Project
Yesterday was the first red scarf lunch at work. There were three of us for this first meeting and we were all starting our scarves. For mine, I used size 5 circular needles and cast on 88 stitches (since most college students in their first year this year were born in 1988), joined in the round, knit 3 rows of seed stitch, and then switched to stocking knit. I was hoping that the seed stitch would keep the bottom from rolling up but so far it still is... maybe I didn't do enough rows. I'm using Red Heart Soft and Red Heart Super Saver, alternating every row to produce stripes.

Alex's Birthday
Last night Max and I went to my friend Alex's surprise party. He was totally surprised! His girlfriend Natalia made dinner and the birthday cake. Everything was yummy, I tried everything and was just careful not to have too much. Alex and Slav did not hold back at all - a great compliment to the chef I think! Alex liked the card and the present we got for him.

Cambridge Jacket
Since I was out last night, I did not get a chance to work on the Cambridge jacket.
Limedragon asked, "What color are you knitting Cambridge in?"
Not something I would have picked for myself or to even knit with but it's all about the recipient, right? I'm using Lion Brand Woolease in Cocoa. Every time I pick it up to knit, it hits me - this is the perfect the colour is for this recipient. I'm pretty sure that person doesn't read this blog but just in case, better not to say.