Saturday

Saturday morning I spend in the garden. Well, first I spent an hour on the phone with my brother, talking about goals and finding one's passion - it was a very good conversation. Then I filled the wheelbarrow full of garden ornaments and bird houses to put away for the winter. Then I repotted several house plants and some garden plants (like geraniums and a mini rose) to see if I can keep them in the house over the winter too. I am quite amazed that we haven't had any frost yet but more surprised that it's the beginning of October and 97% of the leaves are still on my big maple tree. I am sure that they usually fall by late September - or at least change colour by now - do you recall?

When I was in Alberta visiting my mum and brother, I noticed that the majority of fall trees went from green to yellow and when I told JP about it he said "hmm, like an existential stop light"

After my work in the garden, I came in for lunch - just in time because it had started to rain. JP made me a very good sandwich - I think he's the Sandwich King. I picked up my knitting needles and watched the movie, Crash which is a very good movie, if you haven't seen it - you must. We were going to go out for dinner, but then JP decided we'd go on Sunday, so we picked up Chinese food and finished just in time to watch The Pursuit of Happyness" This is also a good movie, although near the end I had reached the saturation point for sadness (even though I know there is a very happy ending).

I am knitting another Hallowig, this time in gray but when I wound the ball I added a silver strand to it. I was hoping for more of a chain maille looking hat, but it looks more like 70's Disco glitter. Hmmm, well I will finish it anyway.

What did you do on Saturday?

It's me! Here I am!

I'm back from visiting my mum, helped her clean out her craft room - and shipped 14 boxes home to myself. Oops. That'll keep me busy for the winter!

I gave the Hallowig to my SIL for her birthday, but my brother would really like one too - I would like to make him one in grey with silver threads - it'll look almost like chain-maille and will look good with his beard!

I'm trying to catch up at work and at home and if I owe you an email, I'm sorry and hope to get to it soon.

I crocheted some slippers on the plane that I wore at my moms but haven't made anything since then. I'm just working on catching up on cleaning and house work and yard work - I will have to bring the houseplants inside for the winter this weekend - which means repotting a bunch of them. So I've got lots of work ahead of me.

THE AMIGURUMI MONKEY STORY - PART II

While I was away, JP talked to his sister. She told them that his niece said she was too old to play with the monkey (see previous posts). His sister offered the monkey back, and JP said he would take it. There's a whole range of feelings I've been through with this whole monkey thing, I won't even get into the details. So sweet of JP to help me out. But I have come to the conclusion that making gifts for others should only be for those who make things themselves. Children who come from families where everything is purchased just have no interest in anything hand-made.

Bye for now

Hey you... I'm on a mini-vacation, won't be back until Wednesday. Hope you have a good time while I'm gone. Tell me what you did for the weekend. I'll be back before you know it.

Stay. Staaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Wait for me, I'll be back

That's a good girrrrrlllll...

Two days...

It's just two days before I fly to Alberta to visit my mum for her birthday. I'd like to bring a crochet project with me, something smaller in gauge so I don't need to bring lots of yarn, but something big enough that I won't finish before I board my first flight.

I was thinking about crocheting a scarf maybe? That would be something that I wouldn't lose my place in the pattern and most likely wouldn't be finished before I'm back home. Maybe now is the time to attempt a doily? But then what would I do with it? Hmmm,

What's your best knitting or crochet project for flying? or What do you suggest I should try?


Finished last night:

Christmas Bookmark
No. 10 Variegated Crochet Cotton with a No.6 steel hook.
(I don't like that the white appears dirty.)

My weekend

Friday night, JP and I went to the Hula-versary party hosted by the incredibly wonderful Cynthia . It was an awesome party, I only wish we could have stayed longer - so that's a good thing, right?

Saturday, I cleaned out our 'linen' closet. I don't think there's one item in there that's linen but that's what it's called. I think I removed 4 large bags of blankets, sheets and towels which will go to the Sally Ann . There is so much room in there now. And I've discovered that I don't need anymore tea towels - over 45 of them! Wowza! The one thing that made me really happy was to put my sewing machine on the floor in the cupboard (same spot my mum kept hers when I was growing up). For years it's been so hard to get to that I rarely pulled it out. But now I think (hope) it will be more accessible, so I will use it more. I would have taken a photo but the hall isn't wide enough, so the pictures just don't work.

I added 24 rows to the lace shawl (12 row repeat) which I could finish at any point now, however, I feel that they are nicer when they are longer and since I have the yarn anyway, I'll just keep going for now.

I finished the Hallowig from Knitty. Doesn't this colour remind you of Kraft Dinner?

It's for my sil's birthday in October, but I'm going to take it with me this Thursday when I go to Alberta to visit my mum for her birthday.

If you want to see other versions of this hat/wig for fun, see this KAL (= Knit a long) and this one.

I haven't done much today, my headache's back again, must be the high pressure system moving in - it did rain today, but the rest of the week is supposed to be sunny. We're going to head to the grocery store today, JP found an Alfredo Sauce recipe that is based on the one from The Olive Garden that he'd like to try.

What did you do this weekend?

Here's your sign...

Have you heard the comedy routine by Bill Engvall called "Here's your sign"? It's about stupid questions people ask... well I had one last night. I ordered some food for take out and when I came into the restaurant to pick it up, the girl asked me "Do you want it now?"

durrr....No I was just seeing what it looked like, I'll come back Saturday for it.....


Here's your sign....

Dear sweet readers,

I have just returned from JP's niece's 6th birthday party and must sadly report that my Mr. Funky's Amigurumi monkey* was trumped by Bratz dolls and other commercialized plastic. The card that I had tied to the monkey was ripped off, and "oh I love the card" was uttered but the monkey was tossed into the "opened" pile into someone else's gift bag.

No, I'm not asking for sympathy-it's okay, I'm a big girl, I am just reminding you of the knit/crochet/craft rule that you should carefully pick the recipients of your handmade items. It's my fault, I should have known better.

* see post from Wednesday, September 5th (2 down from this one)

Product Alert

Aren't these just the cutest? Check out these adorable animal lunchboxes from Built by children’s book illustrator Stephen Savage:

Available here.

They belong in the "why didn't I think of that?" category! Happy Friday!

EDIT: I've just been informed that this company only ships in the US. Pity. You've heard my opinion about narrow minded American companies like this.... so if you're a Canadian (like me) and you still want one, you'll have to go here, and hope that a retail store in your area carries it. My fellow Canucks - my apologies for the tease. Frustrating isn't it?

A new monkey on the block

Here's my completed monkey from Mr. Funky's Super Wonder Crochet: I made her for JP's 6 year old niece, who invited us to a birthday party this weekend - the invitation was the inspiration for this monkey. I don't think I'll make the eye patch or pirate hat... but you never know!

Now you know what I've been doing for the last couple of nights.

Harder than getting married

It's been two months since I got married and I still haven't changed my name on the utilities, credit card, etc - why? Because I have to sit on hold for over 30 minutes for each one -and when a person works during the day, this is not an easy task. Some of these companies' automatic systems are just plain horrible. There I said it. And I hope others say it too. They don't give you an option that fits but you have to choose one because you can't get to a customer service representative without it. What - don't women have accounts in their names? Are we still that male dominated that the phone and the utilities etc are always in the man's name and therefore a simple name change isn't so simple?

Why was my driver's licence the easiest thing to get changed, but changing my name with the cable company more elusive than Big Foot?

There. There's my Monday morning grumble.

Labour Day Weekend

One thing this weekend wasn't about was labour! I didn't end up cleaning up the shed like I should have. I didn't mow the lawn and I didn't clean the fish tank. Instead, we went for a 10k walk on Saturday and a 5k walk on Monday. We ended up watching Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome which I haven't seen since around the 80's and after watching it, JP was sure he'd never seen it. I crocheted the sick pig (see previous posts) and started on the monkey from Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful - in normal colours: grey and burgundy. I've completed the body, the head and 3 legs so far. I hope to finish him tonight.

Yesterday there was a Rough Trades marathon on the National Geographic channel - this is a show where they highlight 3 extreme or tough jobs from around the world per episode; it was very interesting. I think there was about 12 episodes yesterday. This is when I crocheted my monkey and JP took a 2 hour nap.

Not all was lost as I did do some labour: I did clean up my office for a bit on Sunday and I did iron about 8 of JP's shirts. And I walked the dogs. But other than things like meals and washing dishes, I think that's about all the work I did - that's not a bad long weekend is it?

Now it's September and the leaves have already started to fall - a bit too soon (in my opinion) and it's too dark to walk the dogs at 5:30 in the morning, so I'll have to take them on my lunch break or after work. I'll begin to start the fall clean up of the garden, and maybe next weekend if it's dry, I can rearrange that shed which I should have done this spring or summer but didn't. September is a time of beginning. More so, to me, than January. September means a fresh start, a change in seasons and back to routines. Back to spending more time inside and therefore handling the paperwork and clutter that builds up over the spring and summer. This is also the time of year when I have to put the gardens to rest, but can I can also plant a few seeds or bulbs for next spring. And there is often one or two milder days when I can sit outside in a polar fleece and still enjoy the surroundings while hugging a cup of tea.

Back to school, back to work.. it's all good.

A lovely day

Yesterday JP took me for a wonderful 10k walk along the river. He made yummy sandwiches and we sat on a bench halfway for some lunch. JP doesn't like walks and nature, so I give him super-duper bonus points for making a special day of it. He even took lots and lots of pictures.

There was hardly anyone on the trails and at the bench it was so quiet. There were times when you could not hear anything, just quiet. That is so amazing considering that the Vancouver area is so full of people - I can't believe there is a spot like that left.

No wildlife was observed except two garter snakes which disappeared so fast JP missed the first one.

It was an awesome way to spend a Saturday.

Sick Pig Amigurumi

Is this really that bad? Based on the hamster pattern in Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful, I made this pig. I think I'll give him a little hanky because he's sick and just sneezed.

I just grabbed a bag of skein ends to make him, so I realize the colours are a bit odd (olive green and hot pink), but tell me - is it that bad? JP just hates the site of him. Tell me your opinion - go on. I can take it.