A Surprise

I joined a Trick or Treat Secret Swap through one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to. This was what we were told to send to our partner. I thought it sounded fun.

1. A book with a Halloween theme (this doesn't have to be specifically
about Halloween - any scary theme will do. Witches, ghosts, monsters,
vampires, villains - you get the picture!
2. A skein of yarn, enough for a one skein project, in fall colors.
3. A pattern for something to make with the yarn. (this could be
tricky!)
4. A trick and a treat!

Today I received the parcel from my secret pal, who lives in Kansas; so I guess I can't make fun of Kansas any more.

First here is a photo of the stamps.



I have never seen this many stamps on a parcel.

I was eager to see what goodies my pal had sent but first the parcel had to be inspected by the parcel police.



And then I got to my goodies.



You can't see everything in the photo but there were 2 scary books, some Halloween decorations, a bag of candy canes, 4 balls of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn and 2 patterns.

The patterns were for dishcloths and I have made both of them but the camera is playing up so I can't take photos.

And, finally, don't you just love the gift that keeps on giving?

First Snow

No photos, just to record that it started snowing last night. Wet snow that stayed on the grass but not on the roads. Winter is on its way.

A Little Bit of Knitting

With Coffee on the Side

Last night I went out to knit. Through the wonders of modern science - ie the internet - a knitting group has been formed at my end of town. Off I trotted braving storms and pestilence (rain) and met up with 3 like minded people. Although one of them was crocheting which is very close to like minded and I am working on a crochet baby blanket at the moment although I didn't take it with me.

I wanted to take something fairly easy so that I didn't have to worry about the knitting so took the wrap I have been working on for ever and don't know when I last picked up. Not surprisingly I ended up unpicking the first 2 and half rows I knitted.

The night was not without drama. We met at a Starbucks which is close to a school and offices so doesn't get very busy in the evenings. A young couple came in and sat near us and her body language screamed unhappy. I didn't notice the guy leave but I did notice the girl on the phone quietly crying - which meant only one thing. After a while someone came and picked her up; so not only did her guy dump her but he left her to get home by herself - did I mention it was raining hard.

But I have been reliably informed by the boy child that you do not go to coffee shops as a couple as they are notorious dumping grounds (no pun intended). No wonder Starbucks is in difficulties.

Tale of Two Socks

Technically it should be the tale of four socks

I had two balls of sock yarn - different colours and manufacturers - let's call them a and b. And two different sock knitting patterns - 1 and 2.

I had decided to knit pattern 2 with yarn b which left pattern 1 to knit with yarn a. Which I did, way back in in February. Except I didn't like the way it looked. Yarn a was Trekking XXL and although self-striping it was a variegated type so blended into the stripes and just didn't look right for a pattern developed especially for self-striping yarns. So I frogged what I had done and decided to work pattern 2 with the yarn instead so then I worked pattern 1 with yarn b.

So two pairs of socks later, I decide I don't like pattern 1 mainly due to the yarn I had chosen.

It is rather dull and would have looked better in the original pattern.

Here they are, artistically posed no top of a scarf I had knitted - details to follow.

What Colour Green Are You?

So I followed a link from another blog and took the test.

You Are Olive Green

You are the most real of all the green shades. You're always true to yourself. For you, authenticity and honesty are very important... both in others and yourself. You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you. People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know.

What Color Green Are You?

Sounds too good to be true but maybe a bit boring. I'll have to show you the results from what kind of weather are you to show my otherside.

Another Baby Blanket

A girl at work is pregnant so a chance to make another baby blanket. I had some yarn in my stash mostly purchased when a shop went out of business. The yarn was ideal to make another blanket from the same pattern as last time but I didn't want to make the same thing so soon. I had seen a pattern in one of the Vogue Knitting On The Go books that I really liked. The yarn I had was thinner than called for in the pattern but I thought that wouldn't matter as I would just knit more rows and cast on more stitches but what I was making was floppy and didn't look very good so I doubled the yarn and it looked fine. The pattern is a series of squares where you start off with one and then increase every so often and when you have half a blanket you start decreasing. I was aiming to stop increasing after using half the yarn but that wasn't so easy as I had an odd number of balls so I had to guess and I didn't quite use them all but the blanket is the right size for a baby.

Here it is.



Yarn: Sandnes Garn Mandarin Petit (Used double)
Needles 5.5 mm

Saturday Sky

Haven't posted a photo for a while, so thought you might like today's view.

This is 7.30 this morning.


And this is the same view at 11.30 this morning



Not much of a difference except there is a bit more sun in the second photo.

It started snowing around 9.00 yesterday morning and hasn't stopped.

All Change

Remember this?

Well it became



and then



Although that might be a bit misleading because I couldn't turn that yarn into a cat.

I realised that I was never going to wear the jacket and it seemed such a waste of yarn - which wasn't cheap. So back to balls and onto the needles pretty quickly so that I could wear it this winter. If I left it, I was in danger of finishing it in the summer and then forgetting I had it. I have learned a few things from the original project. One is to take better notes. I am very fond of writing "used size needles to get gauge". Hmm not much help when the pattern is from a library book and I have no idea what the gauge was.

The pattern I made up from measuring a (shop-bought) sweater that I really like and I stuck to the measurements apart from adding almost an inch to the length. The ribbing was worked on smaller needles but with the same number of stitches as the main part. The body and sleeves were worked in the round as far as the armhole shaping and then they were joined and worked in the round with raglan shaping until the neck shaping.

I am really pleased with how the sweater came out and as I finished it in time for a cold weekend it has been worn.

The other thing I learned from the original project - if I don't like something when I finish it, I am unlikely to change my mind later.

Saturday Sky

It's been a little while since I've posted a photo of Saturday's sky so today you get two.

One from this morning and the other from this afternoon.




Not much difference in the sky but a couple of degrees rise in temperature makes the snow disappear. And snow in the morning was a perfect excuse to finish the sweater and wear it.

Where Have I Been?

You may have noticed that I haven't said anything for a while. Not for lack of imagination nor trying. For some unexplained reason I could not access my blog. So after a while I stopped thinking about what I wanted to write but it seems that I have access again so I will leave you with some knitting.





The photos don't show the colour well but they are lime green. Knitted for the boy child who has very cleverly worked out that if he asks me to knit him socks I pay for the yarn so he doesn't have to spend his money on socks.

Yarn: Meilenweit Cotton by Lana Grossa
Needles: 2 mm
Pattern: Basic sock pattern

Coincidences

Sometimes I have two books on the go. Usually if I am reading a book that is too big/heavy to carry outside of the house. The two books I read recently are Leonard Woolf's biography and The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. I chose the biography as I had read Virginia Woolf's biography and thought it would be a good idea to read about her husband. I thought it was interesting that in his biography it was made clear how bad Virginia's mental illness was whereas when I read her biography I didn't get that impression.

I chose to read The Enchanted April as I was looking at the upcoming plays at the local theatre, one of them being The Enchanted April and it was said it was adapted from the novel; so having seen the movie a few years ago, I decided to get the book out of the library.

The first coincidence was that from reading the blurb at the front of the book about Elizabeth, it said that E M Forster had been a tutor to her children. E M Forster was a very good friend of Leonard Woolf.

Then I was eating my lunch in a cafe downtown when a guy came in and I could tell that he was looking at me and chose a seat near me before going to the counter to place his order. I thought it a bit strange but as I was about to leave I wasn't worried. Well, he stopped me on my way out and asked me if I was enjoying the book The Enchanted April. Turns out he was an actor in the production which was in rehearsals and he was pleased to see someone reading the book, so, of course, I had to tell him that seeing the play advertised had made me want to read the book. It wasn't until later that I realized that I hadn't asked him what part he was playing.

The Weather

I was going to write about a couple of books I am reading but it seems more appropriate to write about the weather. Here is a screen shot of the appropriate page form The Weather Network.



There are two important things to note: the temperature and the feels like. Feels like everybody should be indoors.

But did you note the sponsor Workopolis's tagline - "It's a great day to look for a new job in Calgary."? Who are they trying to kid?

ps if you click on the picture you'll get an enlarged, easier to read version.

No Boxing Day Sales For Me

Two yarn stores were having Boxing Day sales and one store was having a day after Boxing Day Sale but I decided to pass on all three. I just didn't feel like swarming with the masses to purchase yarn that I didn't know when I would use or on what just because it would be cheaper than when I would eventually buy it. And I am trying hard not to add to my stash just for the sake of it.

But I did buy a bag at The Gap that was on sale that I had decided not to buy before Christmas as I didn't want to pay the asking price!

Happy Christmas

It's Beginning to Smell A Lot like Christmas

Because in the oven right now is the Christmas Cake. The spousal unit had enough of the cheapo American whiskey left for me to soak the fruit last week and today I made the cake.

The theory is that next week the cake will be marzipanned and the week after it will be iced. But it has not been unknown for the cake to be iced after Christmas so I am not bound to that timetable.

And we have appropriate Christmas weather for the making of the cake as it has been so cold the snow has been lingering, add the Christmas songs from the radio and it feels a lot like Christmas.

A Baby Blanket

One of the ladies in our walking group is pregnant (or maybe not as she has passed her due date).

That is music to my ears when a friend or family member is in the family way because what an excuse to knit (or crochet in this case). And. of course, there is nothing in the stash.

I found this pattern when looking at some else's blog. She had made the blanket when pregnant and I had saved the link in case and was glad to be able to use it. Don't you find that the blogging world is dangerous with so many links to different patterns and yarns? I actually save very few patterns or links otherwise I would be overrun with them.

The pattern is produced by an Australian company so, of course, the yarn isn't available here. But, once again, thanks to the scope of the internet I was able to get yarn details from another site. So off to the yarn store I go.

I ended up with an Italian cotton yarn, Pluto by Punto in an aqua green colour. My friend did not want to know if she was going to have a boy or a girl and I did not want to use white so I decided green was a good colour for either sex. I had to guess at the hook size as the size on the pattern seemed too large for the yarn, the ball band suggested needle sizes of 2.5mm to 3mm so I used a size 3mm hook. I think the finished blanket ended up smaller than the pattern size but I forgot to measure it before I gave it away but it was still a good size.

The pattern was very easy. Mostly double (treble) crochets and some chains and like all circular projects goes very quickly at the beginning and then it seems as if it will never end. So even though I had yarn left over, I didn't make the blanket bigger.

Before I post a picture of the blanket, I have to tell you the best thing about the yarn; the day I bought it the shop was having a 20% off everything sale which I didn't know about until I got there.

Our First Snow

Frequently, I take a picture to post on this blog and it never gets posted because I am mentally composing the post or I have no idea what to say except " here's a photo of x". This photo was taken way back on 25 October after it had snowed overnight. Although we have had a couple of snowfalls since then, this is the picture of the first one. The way the snow had melted made it look like pussy willow on the trees. Hope the photo does it justice.



There has been some knitting and crochet going on and a photo ready to post next time.

Saturday Sky and.......

I did take a photo last Saturday and I was getting ready to post it today when I saw this



So I decided you could have two sky photos today. We get interesting cloud formations which makes for wonderful sunrises. But you have to be quick as they don't last long.

And here is the photo from Saturday.



It was taken just before sunset. Unfortunately, you can't see the sun shining between the clouds and the houses.

A Cucumber

When we planted the new beds, we sewed cucumber seeds even though it was a bit late to plant them. They came up and then were all but destroyed by a late hail storm. This seemed to give them strength but it was too late for them to do anything. So I forgot about them and let the squash take over. Well this is what I found when I cleared the bed the other day.



It was a determined plant that had stretched to the end of the bed. Cucumbers will be on my list of things to plant next year if they are going to try this hard.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yes I know Thanksgiving was yesterday but I couldn't write anything before dinner and I didn't feel like writing when we got home.

The boy child and I went to a friend's house for dinner. There were 13 of us and not one person present was born in Canada. The only Canadians were the host family but nobody's going to turn down a good meal, right?

This year I bought cranberries when they went on sale as they are unavailable in November. They're a seasonal item I was told last year. They just didn't celebrate the same season as me. So now I am ready for the 23 types of cranberry sauce that I serve.

Saturday Sky

It's been a while since I've posted a photo of the sky, so to make up for it here's two from yesterday.

This is what the sky looked like in the morning. No way was it going to be an 11 degree day. Although the sun came out in the afternoon, the high only reached 6 degrees.
What I find interesting about this photo is that the camera has picked up a blue tint in the sky that could not be seen with the naked eye. I saw it through the view finder before I took the photo. To my eye the sky was very white, I do not know if the blue was there or if this is a quirk of the camera.



We did not get any snow but this is the cloud formation last night.



As usual, the weather forecast this morning is different from the report two days ago; it seems that everything is a couple of days off, so instead of it being a nice weekend, it will be fine just in time for everyone going back to work.

Finished Object and A Change of Mind

I finally finished a second sock this week. I had so many easy things on the go that it seemed to take forever to finish anything. This was a simple pair of socks that I am sure I must have started during lacrosse season but I can't remember. I used the Supersoxx yarn I bought at the Boxing Day sale. As this yarn was self-striping I worked the leg in k3 p1 rib and the foot plain. I worked a star toe which I have not done before but I am not really sure I like that style of toe. Well you don't know until you try.



I changed my mind on the shawl I had started knitting on vacation. Although I liked the pattern, I decided I didn't want a triangular scarf, so yesterday I unpicked the thing. This is how far I had got before it became a ball of yarn again.



I like the lace pattern its the shape of the shawl that put me off. I should have unpicked it when I first had doubts. But, never despair, I cast on for a stole last night in a different lacy pattern. Let's hope I like this one.

Knitting Update

Some of you may have noticed that I was a bit vague about the knitting I took on vacation. That was because one item I was knitting was a present for my mother-in-law. Her birthday has passed and present has been received and admired so I can now post photos. They are not very good photos but I think they will show the effect.

I knitted a shawl using Misti Alpaca Laceweight.
This is the shawl off the needles.



and this is the shawl while it is being blocked.



You should get the effect of how the shawl changes once it is dampened and stretched.

Also on the knitting front I finished a jacket for my niece.



And this week I finished a sock which was leftover from lacrosse.

Miserable Monday

Did you know that Miserable Monday follows Sodden Sunday in the summer calendar? The good thing is that I have not watered my lawn since returning from vacation. I knew it would rain sometime. But it is too wet to pick produce so that will have to wait until later in the week. Just hope that the zucchini are not turning into marrows as I write.

I was trying to take a photo to show how rainy it is but I couldn't get the effect I wanted and I didn't want to get wet doing it. So I am leaving you with a summer picture instead.




The seeds came from a friend who had saved them from her flowers last year. There was a little soil left after filling the raised flower beds so boy child placed it where I'd like to have a flower bed next year and threw the seeds down and now we have sunny flowers.

Critter Contact - Again

We left Nelson early in the morning, stopped at Safeways for muffins and Starbucks and continued to our next destination - which shall remain nameless for the time being. But I do rate businesses on how well they handle problems so this particular hotel may not stay nameless for long.

It was a very nice hotel with good facilities that, I expect, is relying on its location to attract business and is not concerned about the unfortunate experience of one visitor.

It was a dark and stormy night. Isn't that how all tales start? It was night and it was dark outside. It was about 10 o'clock and we were all sitting on the beds reading. When I saw this thing and I made I've seen a thing noise. I saw a bat - in our bedroom. My happiness meter dropped. Before any of you say what's the fuss it was only a bat; you need to know that the bats in Alberta carry rabies hence my concern and this bat was flying around our bedroom.

So I did what all people in the right mind would do - hid in the bathroom. And the spousal unit did what all calm, collected people do - caught the thing.

His first thought was shoo it out the window but the window had a screen on it - it obviously hadn't come in that way. His second thought was to shoo it into the corridor but that would have moved (literally) the problem onto other people. So he picked up the recycling bin, waited for the bat to tire and rest and then he trapped it against the ceiling. I had offered advice on my way to hiding - don't let it bite you!

So there's my husband standing with his arm in the air holding a bin against the ceiling with a bat inside and I was on the phone summoning help (not a time to take a picture) except no help on the other end just the infernal 'please hold'. I ran down to reception, explained the situation and that we needed someone to our room pretty quickly. Actually someone did arrive quite fast. Two women from housekeeping. One older who knew what to do. She sent the young one to get some cardboard which the spousal unit slid between the recycling bin and the ceiling and then handed the precariously sealed unit to the older woman.

Now I don't blame the hotel for there being a bat in the room. Although I do wonder how it got in there. We were in the middle of the third floor and the window had a screen and there wasn't a fireplace. But, I would have thought they might have checked on us to see if everything was OK. Not a word. When I checked out a couple of days later, I expressed surprise that nobody had checked that everything was now OK.

So when I got home and saw a couple of e-mails from the hotel I felt a little glow of happiness, but they were just requests to complete a survey. I sent a wonderful missive to the name on the survey but no response as yet. I'll give it another week as Canada Post is not the most reliable but then this hotel will be outed.

Saturday Sky

This is a photo taken on 28 July, the first day of our holiday. We were in Nelson, B.C.

It is the smoke from a forest fire. A helicopter had been flying regularly but not constantly with something in its bucket to put on the fire. It must have been some sort of fire retardant, maybe water but they were not dragging the lake as the helicopter was flying the length of the lake to land after each trip.

The smoke was a lot more red when we first went so I don't know if the change meant that the fire had been reduced but it would have made a better photo.

The next morning when we checked out of our hotel, there was a group of fire fighters leaving. They must have been working on that fire.

Not Very Helpful!

One thing that really brings you back to reality after a vacation is the laundry. So I got a BBC series on DVD from the library and worked through the ironing until it was done.

Well, someone obviously decided I was working too hard and needed a break.

We Interrupt This Broadcast.....

I know I said I would write about my vacation but I just had to show you what I picked this week



I was given some seed potatoes by a friend who had some left over and as they were late crop I had been very self-controlled and not looked at them until another friend asked if I'd been potato diving yet. What? She said to dig just under the surface of the dirt and see what potatoes I could find.

Did you know potatoes can melt in your mouth?

Home Again

I haven't posted for a while as I have been on vacation. I didn't know what, if any, Internet access I would have so I decided not to write at all while I was away. Turns out that apart from one place everywhere we stayed had free WiFi.

Before I start writing about the highs (and one little low) of the trip, I'd better mention knitting. I usually take easy projects on vacation, then I can do other things and still knit and I have learned to take more knitting than I think I'll need. One of the projects to vacation with me this year was a simple shawl. The yarn was Goldilocks by Fleece Artist which I had bought at a sale specifically for this trip. The label even includes a pattern although you don't really need a printed pattern for a simple triangular shawl.

This is what the yarn looked like after I had wound it.



I didn't wind it until the morning before we left and after winding I started to wonder what it would look like on the size needle suggested. This colourway and yarn begged for something light not dense. So a googling I went. The first shawl to come up had a lace pattern which I liked but vacation knitting is supposed to be simple, right, no referring to patterns or charts. The other pictures that came up just seemed too dense for me. But I managed to find a pattern for a triangular shawl in a lace book I had out from the library. 6 rows of knitting and 4 rows of an easy remembered pattern.

I started the shawl about halfway through the vacation but after a couple of days I started having doubts. Would I like this shawl, would I be able to give it away, should it be square, circular. I obviously wasn't happy with it and I ended up not knitting for a few days. Then on a hike I came up with a solution; turn it into a stole. I could leave the end pointed so I wouldn't have to unpick too much and I could continue the pattern and hope I guessed correctly when to start the other point so I didn't run out of yarn.

But when I returned to my project and looked at the shawl to work out how wide I would want the stole, I realised I liked the shawl as it was and carried on knitting.

Of course vacation is over and back to reality so the shawl will have to wait until the next break.

I'm A Real Knitter

I'm always amazed when I don't have the right size needles for a project. I have been knitting for ever so you would have thought I had enough by now. Mostly it is when I want to use a circular needle and the ones I have are either too short or too long, never just right.

So I head off to the LYS as I need a super dooper length of circular needle. And what does the owner say to me? You're still knitting in this weather. You must be a real knitter. I felt like asking why she was open if she didn't think anyone was knitting.

But she was very kind and said she would put the right size needle to one side for me when it comes in.

No Sky

Last week I showed how easier it was to see the Saturday Sky. This week I will show you what I have done to make it harder to see the Saturday Sky.

One of the windows we had replaced was in our bathroom which was all well and good except that now we didn't have a blind so I had to put my body through contortions to get in and out of the shower without scaring the neighbours. I want to make a blind for the window but I can't wait for the long nights to settle in so I needed some sort of temporary solution. I decided a telescopic pole inside the window with some fabric hanging from it would work fine for a while.

First trip to Linen n Things for the pole. My window width is 18 inches. There are two poles that cover that length: one goes up to 18 inches and the other starts at 18 inches. I made an executive decision and bought the longer pole which was a good decision as it started shorter than the stated length. I remembered that I have a table runner which is the right width and I thought would hang over the pole and do the job; but when I opened the drawer, I espyed something more interesting which did not have a current home:- a crocheted lace circular table cloth.

The edging was holey enough to go through the curtain rod and the cloth was the right size and colour to fit the window and room.

What do you think?




The funny thing about this is that I have always wanted to crochet a lace curtain but haven't done so because I haven't wanted to put a lot of work into something that looks awful in use. This has changed my mind.

Before & After

Not really Saturday Sky pictures but something to help me see the sky more clearly.

I mentioned that we had had some windows replaced. Well this was our bedroom window at the beginning of the week



and this is the window now




What a difference. Just need to get the blind back up as the neighbours can see us clearly too!

Beam Me Up Scotty

This week we had some windows and the back door replaced. Somewhere along the line someone had put a screen door on the back. Except they forgot to take into account the lights on the outside which the door now banged into, so to solve that problem they just removed the light bulbs. Not that we used the lights as they were security lights - just what you wanted for an evening on the deck a sudden blast of bright light. The handle on the screen door didn't work very well so you had to bash it to get it to open and the back door could be hard to open when an air pocket formed between the two doors. So as we needed to have some windows replaced we decided to have the screen door removed and the back door replaced.

I had to get a new lock for the new door so I decided to get one of those electronic ones with a key pad. (And this is not going to be a rant about not being able to change the master number. Grrgh.)

The one I chose came with two remote controls. Which was not the reason I chose this particular lock but I am sure the marketing people thought it was a good sales feature.

Up here all packaging is in English and French; so one side of the box says "with remote control" and the other side says "avec télécommande".

Beam Me Up Scotty!

Good Morning

If the weather forecasters are correct, this week promises to be hot and dry. Warm enough to go out this morning with my coffee, although not so dry that there wasn't still dew on on the ground.

This is one of the sights that greeted me.



I wonder how long it will last.

To The Lighthouse

I finished reading this book this morning and really enjoyed it. It was beautifully written and you could imagine a person's train of thought jumping around.

Why do I mention this book and not all the others I read?

Because the first time I tried to read this book I thought it was a load of rubbish and wondered why it was so well thought of. What has changed since then?

One major difference is where I was reading it. And I don't mean a different country. When I first tried to read it was on a railway commute. I read many different things on my train journeys but maybe there was too much noise or distractions to appreciate the writing. This time round I was able to read in the peace and quiet of my home and savour the writing.

The other difference is that since the first attempt, I have read another book by Virginia Woolf and a biography before embarking on To the Lighthouse.

I read Mrs. Dalloway because I wanted to read The Hours and thought it would be useful to read Mrs. Dalloway first; and I wanted to read The Hours as I thought it would be a good idea to read it before seeing the film.

By the way, I still haven't seen the film.

More Mots on Montana

I thought I would stay with the alliteration theme.

Somebody commented (privately) about the restaurants where we stayed, so let me clarify what I meant. The east side of Glacier National Park is bordered by The Blackfoot Reservation and the towns are really just hamlets. There are places to stay and in the park they have very nice views, but there are no restaurants. That's why we were glad to stay in East Glacier because it was a bigger "village" with a few restaurants to choose from.

In fact I want to mention where we ate on Saturday night, not because it was outstanding, although it was good, but because of its ethnicity. We went to a Mexican restaurant. What's so exciting about that you ask? Well, there is a dearth of Mexican restaurants in Calgary - good or bad - so this was a treat for us.

We went on a couple of hikes and there were warnings about bears. At one point I asked why I was leading and the boy child very kindly said that I would see the bear first and scream which would warn him and his Dad to run. Nice child! Sunday morning we saw a bear. We must have disturbed it as it ran across the path in front of us and, thankfully, away from us and into the woods. I didn't scream (and enough of the funny comments from Jill, yes, I scream for mice but not bears) but I did stop and then I did my own mother bear thing and gathered up the clan.

So we lived to tell the tale and gave boy child an (exaggerated) tale to tell at school the next day.

My Monday

The day started with my flip flop breaking. No big deal as they were pretty old and now I have to use my old designer ones.

I needed to prepare the batting for tonight's quilting class. I was fortunate to get some help. Just not the sort of help I wanted.



Later in the morning there was a storm. Look at my beds.



Yes that is hail. I managed to move the tomato plant as the hail started but I haven't been outside yet to see if there is any damage to other plants.

On the positive side at least with all the rain we have been having I haven't had to water very much and everything is growing.

Big Sky Saturday

As you can probably guess from the title we were in Montana at the weekend. It was about 3 1/2 hour drive to East Glacier Park. Which wasn't a bad place to stay as it had a few restaurants.

So here is a picture of the big sky



At one of the water falls we saw a bird that flew in and out of the water. It floated under the water and jumped out at just the right time onto a rock. Considering how fast the water was flowing this was an amazing feat.



I took a lot of photos over the weekend many of them duplicates because I was trying different shutter speeds and I am not going to bore you with a load but this tree fascinated me as I could not see what the roots were growing into as I thought we were on solid rock but there must have been some goodness there somewhere.

The Yarn Harlot Stole My Idea

Actually, I don't think that's true. Although she is in the same country as me I'd be very surprised if she had ever come across my blog, but I thought that the "snappy" title would get someone's attention.

The title does have relevance and is not just a gratuitous reference to the Wise Knitter. In January I wrote about how nasty some people can get on-line. This week the Yarn Harlot has written about meanness in blogs. She doesn't mention anyone by name and doesn't say if the blog post is because she has been targeted or that she has come across nastiness in blogs that she feels is unnecessary even if she doesn't know that target.

So the Yarn Harlot did not copy me but it is nice to know that other people think that on-line nastiness is just, nasty. Although there are going to be some who will say 'get-over-it'.

Knitting and Sports

I take my knitting to the boy child's sporting events. Most of the time you are sitting down so why not knit? Now that he is playing lacrosse, I take something simple that I do not need to look at as lacrosse is a fast game.

My heart sank on Saturday when I saw the referees, I have mentioned them before as they just do not call anything. During the game one of the fathers commented on me knitting. "Normally you're laid back and knit along slowly but today because the game is so intense you are knitting really fast." It was true; when a game is poorly refereed you worry about what advantages the other team will take. Especially when early on in the game a fight breaks out because penalties haven't been called. I tell you my hands were moving so fast even I was surprised.

Unfortunately, at the game on Saturday and last night's game I experienced poor adult behaviour. Firstly, the boy child scored 3 of his team's first 4 goals. So the other team's coach said get number 12. And that means stop him anyway you can.

Secondly, one of our parents shouted really loudly "ref, you're an idiot". Which, not surprisingly, the referee took exception to. To cap it off they didn't think they had done anything wrong because they didn't swear. That gives you such a warm and fuzzy feeling to know they are part of your support.

Thirdly, yesterday the sister of one of our team got into a heated argument with one of the opposing team supporters and then her mother joined in. I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. At least the mother apologised when she saw how embarrassed I was.

Anyway that is it for another year; and we won't come across these parents next year as their son's are a year older than ours. But we will come across others like them, we will see more poor refereeing and more dirty teams. Such is the nature of sports and life.

Saturday Sky

I bet you're glad you waited for this one!



In California they call this June Gloom. Not sure what we should call it here. Anywhere else it would be April showers.

The good thing - don't have to water the garden.
The bad thing - grass is growing but it's too wet to cut
The good thing - we have a water butt (aka rain barrel)
The bad thing - it's not connected to a down spout (yet)

Some Quilting

I completed the 5th project from the I Can't Believe I'm Quilting book. All the fabric used had been given to me from my mother-in-law from her stash.



I have finally signed up for a quilting class. The spousal unit gave me some gift vouchers for the local quilt store and I decided to take a beginner lesson. Although I have taught myself quite successfully, I decided that I should start at the beginning in case there were any must know techniques. I had the first lesson (of three) on Tuesday. There were only 2 of us in the class which was great as we were able to proceed at our own speed. Whereas in bigger classes you either have to stop what you are doing to be shown the next step or wait for everyone to get to the same point.

I'll let you know at the end how useful the class was.

Some Knitting Content

The other day I mentioned that some knitting photos would appear so here they are. The photos actually came out better today; a grotty rainy day than the sunny day that I originally took them. And you gotta love digital cameras; there were still a few photos that were rejects. I usually have ISO on auto and have found in the past that changing it hasn't made any difference to the photos, this time I changed it to 400 and was pleased with the difference it made to the photos.






The pattern is Tiger Eyes from Socks Socks Socks. The picture in the book does not show the mock cabling for the back of the sock. I am a little annoyed with myself as I had hoped I had knit the length of the sock so that I only used one ball of yarn for both socks, but I ended up starting the second ball. So I am going to split this ball into two and work yet another toe-up pattern with it. All the socks I have made just lately have been toe-up.

The yarn I used was Regia in raspberry. This was yarn that I bought in the Boxing Day sale.

I have not cast on any more socks as maybe it is time for a break.

Almost Knitting

Almost knitting, "what's that?" you ask. It's when you intend to post photos of your latest completed projects but the photos aren't very clear. So, in the meantime, you take photos of the next stage of the garden project.


BEFORE



AFTER




That is 6 cubic yards of garden mix and one cubic yard of mulch that was moved from the front of the house to the flower beds in the back. The beds have been planted with seeds and plants so I just have to wait and see what decides to grow.