Out with the old and in with the new!

The Tree of Life socks are coming along well.



I don't particularly like the heel gussets,

if I were to do these socks again I would do "normal" gussets since I don't have feet shaped like high heels. But otherwise I love these socks and I love the pattern! 1 sock down, 1 to go!!!

We got some new furniture so things were a bit hectic with getting rid of old furniture and bringin in new stuff and generally shifting things around. Luckily a friend's son is moving out on his own so we were able to easily get rid of some furniture that way. Having three households worth of furniture (our old stuff, our new stuff and Tiny's brother's stuff) would have been a bit excessive! So now we have almost all new furniture and almost all "good" stuff! I was so happy to find furniture in a colour I (we) liked and a fabric I don't hate. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find furniture that is not microfibre, leather, or faux leather that cost less than 5 grand? I hate leather, it's cold, uncomfortable, and sticks to your skin. I don't like the way microfibre looks and I think it always looks kind of dirty and dusty. Finding this couch and loveseat set was a huge big deal!

I love the new furniture and the cats are under the impression that we bought it just for them.


I don't think they understand that they aren't actually humans...

Distractions

So...I started knitting non-craft show, non-Tiny Sweater stuff...
I am knitting a pair of worsted weight socks in a very bright green and black variegated yarn for a co-worker of Tiny's...he has size 11W feet...meh...but then I got distracted by the February Lady Sweater and I knit that for a while in a beautiful rich red-red. I almost finshed the raglan increases by the second day..but on Christmas Eve I picked up another skein of Starry (this totals 3) to go with the Black Pearl Starry I already have slated for the Tree of Life Socks. This sat in the basket for a full day before I had to cast them on...Christmas day evening I cast them on and started knitting away. I am trying out a 9" Hiya Hiya circular for this project. I love DPN's and I generally don't ahve any problems with tension with stranded knitting except at the bridges between DPN's. The circular was HORRIBLE for the first 3 rows...and all of a sudden SHAZZAM! It started working so quickly and easily. I love it! Except for having to use a stitch marker-that's really annoying. My tension is better, my knitting is faster. And the yarn is truly wonderful. After knitting Tiny's sweater in a scratchy icelandic yarn and all the other not buttery soft yarns I have been using-this yarn is almost innappropriate feeling on my hands, it's soft and squishy and yummy.

I LOVE THESE SOCKS!

Finished...ish

So I cast of Tiny's Sweater today. I was about to weave in the ends and block it when I thought I should get him to try it on...especially since it's a sweater I designed and not from a pattern. Now before you think the worst, don't worry-it fit him fine and looked really good...except for the neck. The neck is HORRIBLE. It...doesn't work...I can't describe it...I don't want to think about it...
I drop kicked it across the room. I'm not even saying that for blog amusement-I actually drop kicked the sweater...
So now I have to pick out the cast-off and rip back the neck and find a new neck strategy. I am going to sift through a bunch of patterns until I find one that seems right...later...not now...sometime in the future...only God knows when...

Obviously I don't have time for blogging...

This is what I have been doing...

It's obvious I don't have time for blogging...I have a goal to finish it tomorrow...

I don't know what came over me...

Something happened. I couldn't handle it anymore. I wasn't feeling festive. Christmas was 5 days away, and I lost my everloving mind. I went on a baking rampage...
I baked 3 types of shortbread-1 plain, 1 with jam, and 1 with chocolate. I made diabetic friendly butter tarts. I made diabetic unfriendly butter tarts. I made mincemeat tarts-the mincemeat was made from scratch. I spent 4 and a half hours making delicious smelling goodies. I baked so much I hurt my back. I ended up with something like 10 dozen goodies. (I'm eating a butter tart right now). I downloaded a whole whack of Christmas songs and listened to them all day. I wrapped christmas presents. I didn't knit all day. I was generally insanely festive.
Now I have a billion cookies and tarts and nothing to do with them but EAT them! I am not going t0o any Christmas parties or family events. I made a vow not to do the general cookie give away this year because people were taking that for granted.
So now I get to spend the few days before Christmas stuffing my face and knitting...actually...now that I type it out...it doesn't sound that bad...

Call Me Ishmael

Tiny's sweater has become my great white whale...
I have been kntiting it since September, and designing it since...time immemorial. I seem to have some kind of subconscious block in connection with it. There are always other projects I need to work on. Last week I decided to sit down and slog away at it until it is finished.
Slogging is an excellent word...I finished knitting it to the point where I can justify starting work on the sleeves. I almost faltered at this point, but yea verily, fate swung her fickle locks and threw me a curve ball...I made myself a secret deal that when I finished one sleeve I could cast on a sweater for myself, and maybe start knitting some thick wooly socks for my husband's coworker...I was just about ready to sneak off and start knitting something else, when upon review of the patterns I realized that everything used the same size needles! Curses!!! Foiled again!! I can be a pretty fickle knitter but even I can't justify pulling needles from a project that I promised myself I would finish sometime this century to start other projects.
So here I am knitting away at Tiny's Sweater-which isn't so Tiny-I am going to have to find some truly triumphant music for the completion of this garment. Maybe even throw a party. I'll invite a whole bunch of people over, cook lots of food to warm up the kitchen, turn the thermostat on as high as it will go, and then make him wear the sweater all damn night...yeah...that will make me feel better...

Matchy Matchy

This was the big weekend of the Craft Fair. I did really well and had a goo dtime. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo until the end of the 1st day, so I don't have a photo of the table before selling a whole bunch of stuff!

I also picked up a few items at the craft Fair, and I had to work some serious willpower not to spend all the money I had made! Mackenzie helped out quite a bit and earned herself enough money to buy her Dad a Christmas present. She was super excited about having earned the moeny herself!
I bought a few pottery items. In the past few years I have developed a love of pottery. I wasn't keen on it for much of my life because I grew up in a place where it was pretty much shoved down my throat-that's not a reflection of my younger homelife but of our geographic location...
But in Kamloops I have discovered a potter who I admire greatly both as an artist and as a person. She is my favourite local artist, and that's saying something considering how many artists I get exposed to as the President of the Kamloops Arts Council. She is a truly talented potter and an incredible painter. I can't afford her paintings, so I buy her pottery-which she seriously underprices! It would cost me more to buy a nice serving bowl at Winners/Homesense than to buy a handthrown serving bowl from her. I have been getting her pieces through various means for just over a year now-commision, silent auction, purchase, trade and gift. I now have quite a nice set of matchy matchy local pottery and I am in love with it!!

I also have purchased a couple pieces by other potters that are not matchy but coordinate. I will continue to get more because I love it, it's functional, and durable!! (and within my price range!)

As previously promised I am throwing in a picture of the rabbit:

see that crooked ear? It's like that all the time and is way too cute. We've been having some adjustment difficulties and some minor health problems, but things seem to be settling in. She is such a nice bunny, very friendly and affectionate. She likes to pick up her brush and throw it at me- a good way to let me know it's brushing time! She got renamed completely by accident. I call her Bunny-wei, they yelled "bunny-wei!" in the Stargate movie a lot and it just kinda stuck.

Tiny decorated the Christmas tree this year. This was a big deal since he always leaves the tree decorating up to me. But last year, right after Christmas, he received some Maple Leaf ornaments as a gift and at some point her decided we had to have a Maple Leaf themed tree. It turned out really well! And next year I get a Coca Cola tree!!

Mackenzie has been kitting and getting quite good. The improvement in herfirst project from beginning to end is very cool to see. She is getting quick and confident and is now a faster knttier than some adult non-novie knitters I have met! She is on Ravelry. It`s nice to spread the disease....

so...

I know I haven't blogged much lately, but here's my inventory for the craft show this weekend...


7 pairs fingerless mitts
7 hats
2 pairs thrummed mittens
2 pairs mittens made with handspun
7 scarves
6 baby hats
6 pairs of booties
1 pair socks
1 sweater
30 skeins handspun
8 dozen custom glass pins.

It's like some kind of demented knitting Christmas song. But this is the final count. Keep in mind that on top of making all this there is labelling it all and doing the display.
I will have photos out after the weekend to show it off all together. None of it is pastel, and none of it is acrylic-which I think makes it pretty unique in the craft show world.

Now I have to finish the rick socks and Tiny's sweater...and maybe a green pair of socks-hopefully all before christmas. I have this insane dream where I actually get to knit something for myself. I have a plan...I am going to knit the February lady sweater. I have been procrastinating on it, because EVERYBODY has knit it. I mean EVERYONE. It wouldn't surprise me if my husband secretly knit it at some point (OK that would actually surprise the hell out of me, but you get my point) but I can't let that prevent me from knitting a pattern I really like. I mean, I am not going to stop wearing jeans simply because EVERYBODY is wearing them, that would just be silly...and I wouldn't have any pants to wear, so it would be impractical as well...and cold...and embarassing.
I am going to knit it in RED. I have this fantastic brilliant ruby red yarn sititng in my stash-there's enough of it to knit the February lady and I am going to do it.
...after...the rick socks...tiny's sweater...and maybe some green socks...

Slograt

when a person makes a comment on this and most other blogspot accounts, there is a word verification box to prevent spam and automated comments. I absolutely LOVE the word verification words. They aren't real words but combinations that are fantastic! I wonder if there is a word generator or if there is a committee of people whose job is to come up with the word verification combination! Wouldn't that be a fantastic job!
I often laugh at these words. The latest one was "slograt" isn't that fantastically science fiction? Something from Star Wars or maybe the Elder Scrolls video games.
I'd like to suggest that anyone making comments also mention their word verification word if they are so inclined and if the word is interesting. Maybe include a possible definition?

Twitter Went Crazy

Hi all
I have no idea what happend with my Twitter updates on the blog. My actual Twitter is fine and nobody seems to have hacked it, I think it might be a glitch with the application. I am having trouble finding another Twitter application that works, I keep getting error messages. In the meantime I will have no Twitter updates on my blgo until it's all worked...so it wasn't me talking about NASA, sore Lats, etc. I'm really not that interesting...

Happy December!

Wow, December already! I am doing a the Christmas at the Courthouse craft fair on Dec. 11 and 12th at the Old Courthouse in Kamloops and looking forward to it...I am trying not to get my hopes up because I haven't had much luck with sales at craft fairs, but I think I have some really fantastic items that people will want, so really it's all a matter of how many people actually go to the craft fair.
Today I came up with a list of what I have I already knit and what, ideally, I would like to knit before the 11th.

I have knit:
7 pairs of fingerless mitts
1 pair thrummed mittens
1 pair regular mittens
7 adult hats
1 scarf
4.5 pairs of baby booties
2 baby hats
1 pair socks
1 sweater

I will also have my handspun yarn available

I would like to knit before the 11th
1 pair thrummed mittens
2.5 pairs baby booties
3 baby hats
1 pair socks
1 pair regular mittens

Everything after that is gravy. I think this would be a very respectable inventory. I estimate it will take me about 8 days to knit what's left if I don't get distracted. This is very difficult because I have a bunch of things I want to finish up...liket he Pretty Thing, the other Rick Sock and Tiny's Sweater. I also got the Enchanted Sole and would like to knit something from there for myself. i am seriously jonesing for some selfknitting. After all the work I have done on kntiting for the craft fair I plan on knitting on one of my WIP's at the Craft show and maybe actually getting something fun finished.

I have managed to work out a system where I can scan photos for work while doing a little bit of knitting, but I can't do it too much or I start feeling seriously ADD...

Yesterday I met a Knitter

Yesterday I met a Knitter. That's Knitter with a capital "K". Her name is Kristina (I don't know if her name starts with a "K" or a "Ch", but the "K" seems fitting.
She came into the yarn store asking for advice on her current project. It was her second project ever and she was knitting a lovely hat for her boyfriend for skiing. She told me she thought it looked a "little big". I agreed it looked plenty big, far too big for a hat. She sighed and agreed and asked what she could turn it into instead of a hat. This blew me away. she didn't get upset. She didn't start frogging, she wanted to know what her wip (work-in-progress) could become instead of what it originally had been slated to be. I looked at it and came up with a couple ideas-a capelet perhaps? She liked that idea and mentioned that she had some young nieces and nephews. I suggested she could cast it off and sew an elastic around the top and make a cute little wool skirt. She liked this idea too. I then suggested we put it it on a larger needle to see how big it really was. I told her this was very advanced knitting and she was already into her designing phase of knitting-very impressive. The project was scrinched onto a 12 inch circular and looked like a giant hair scrunchy. I grabbed a 60" needled and started transferring stitches. We ended up with this

If you look closely you can see the stitches are kind of scrunched on the 60" needle. That means the project has to be at least 70 inches, possibly 80.
There are no words to describe how much this amused me. I was no longer able to be understanding and sensitive and I started laughing so hard I thought I was going to hurt myself...
Kristina took this all in good stead. She laughed too. After wiping the tears from my eyes I made the only suggestion I could thing of. "It's a circular scarf." She really liked the idea and she was excited that she had knit a scarf for herself. "Perfect for skiing!" she said. She also said when she was done casting off she would pick up another skein of yarn to retry knitting a hat for her boyfriend.
The reason why her scarf was so big was she had cast on 96 stitches, which was a perfectly reasonable amount. But she had just learned how to purl, so every time she switched from purl to knit stitches and vice versa on the ribbing she did a yarn over. On top of that her gauge was really loose (unusual in a novice and I think it points to her being a fantastic knitter in the future) she ended up with 312 sts knit in a really loose gauge on 5.5 mm ndls.
Kristina also told me that she was going to measure her stitches and see how many stitches she should actually cast on to make a normal sized hat. I thought that was AWESOME. She immediately understood a basic concept of designing with her second project knitting ever. This woman is destined to become a great knitter!
As she was leaving I told her "You know, people are going to stop you and ask you where you got that scarf because it's going to look fantastic and you can say 'Thank you, I designed it myself." She laughed and looked a littl e sheepish and said, "You know what's really funny? I'm a graphic designer..."

"I Only Knit Dishcloths"

I was at a couple craft fairs this weekend and bought some really neat-o stuff. I got a couple super delicious homemade candy canes from a heavily tattooed, super cheerful dude. I got a copyright infringed handstitch Jack the Pumpkin King Christmas ornament, and a really awesome gift that I have been planning on buying for 2 years and finally got around to getting.
I saw a lady selling...well I can't remember what, it wasn't particularly memorable-it was something crafty and christmassy. She was knitting. I looked at her display and her knitting and I said "You knit at a craft show but you don't sell knitted goods?" and she laughed and said "Oh I only knit dishcloths." I think the look on my face said it all because she immediately added "They are all I know how to knit, I don't know how to do anything else." I laughed and said "If you can knit a dish cloth you can knit anything!!!" She didn't believe me. I said "No really! You can do a knit stitch, you can increase and decrease-all you have to do is learn a purl stitch and you can knit a whoel sweater!" I then expounded on the delights of learnign to knit in the modern age with access to the internet. I think I may have come across as a bit of a fanatic. But I just wanted to make her understand. She is knitting, she is increasing and decreasing (most dishcloths are knit corner to corner), she is knitting with cotton (which is one of the more annoying and least forgiving fibres to knit with). She is comfortable knitting while doing other things (extreme beginners have a singular focus on knitting-they can't really do anything else at the same time). She is knitting in public (a sure sign of a convert). She can knit ANYTHING.
I told her about ravelry. I showed her the knitting I had in my purse (a mitten).
I don't know if she will listen to me. She might go home and throw her knitting in the garbage and tell her family that knitting is for crazy people...but she seemed receptive and she seemed really interested in teh idea of knitting other things. I hope I was able to influence her to join us...
I have taught 2 people how to knit and constantly encourage other people to try and learn or to try and learn more. I encourage everyone out there to teach others how to knit. we could be like Amway, (or JW's) only without the weird vitamins and awkward "cold calls."

It's HERE!!!

Here it is!!! This is my first written pattern design! I love these little booties and I think they would make the perfect gift!

Please send me any ideas, criticisms, etc to me through ravelry where my username is electrictree. Feel free to message me with your email address for a .pdf version.

Flynn Booties

These delightful little booties are knit with sock style architecture and a special pointy little toe, Flynn’s are a super quick knit!! These little gems have a seed stitch cuff with curled little toes. They can be whatever you want them to be: Pixie, Robin Hood, Elvish, ad on infinitum! These would also make fantastic Christmas tree ornaments!
This is an excellent beginner sock for those who have always wanted to delve into the mysteries of sock knitting. For a fantastical tutorial on sock knitting I recommend Silver’s Sock Class. (http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/) That’s where I learned to knit socks!!
I knit these booties with Lang Silk Dream and the texture was marvellous. While it may not be practical to knit baby items with a handwash only yarn, booties are small and easy to wash. If you make them as a gift, make sure you include washing instructions, or use any worsted-aran weight in a washing friendly fibre.
Size
Newborn 0-3 months
Materials
• 1 Skein Lang Silk Dream (50% Silk, 50% Merino; 98 yds per 50 grm skein) Note-1 skein will easily make 2 maybe even three pairs of booties. Make extra pairs or use the rest for a little hat!
• Double pointed needles Size US 8/5mm
• Tapestry Needles
Gauge
About 20 sts to 4 inchesé10cm: gauge is not critical to these, but it will affect the finished size of the booties.
Abbreviations
k knit
p purl
k2tog knit 2 stitches together
p2tog purl 2 stitches together
ssk slip, slip, knit 2 stitches together
sl slip stitch

Directions
Cuff
Cast on 24 st onto 1 needle.
Work cuff in seed stitch
Row 1: Ssk, *k1, p1* to last 2 sts, k2tog, turn work- 22 sts remain
Row 2: *k1, p1* turn work
Row 3: Ssk, *p1, k1* to last 3 sts, k1, k2tog, turn work- 20 sts remain
Row 4: K1, *k1, p1* to last st, k1
Row 5: Repeat row 1- 18 sts remain
Row 6: *k1, p1*
Leg
Divide sts over 3 needles-6 sts each needle.
Join for knitting in the round, a marker is unnecessary if you use the split in the cuff as an indicator for the beginning of the round
Knit in stocking stitch (knitting every stitch) for 5cm- about 12 rows.
Heel
Setup- k 14. Arrange next 9 sts on to 1 ndl for heel flap. place remaining 9 sts on 2 needles on hold until heel is finished-this is a good time to double check that your heel flap lines up with the split in the top of the cuff.
Row 1: Sl 1, k8, turn work-
Row 2: sl1, p8, turn work
Row 3: sl 1, k8, turn work
Row 4: Repeat row 2
Row 5: Repeat row 1
Row 6: Repeat row 2
Turn Heel:
Row 1: Sl1, k4, k2tog, k1, turn work- 8 sts remain
Row 2: Sl1, p2, p2tog, p1, turn work- 7 sts remain
Row 3: Sl1, k3, k2tog, turn work- 6 sts remain
Row 4: Sl1, p3, p2tog, turn work-5 sts remain
Row 5: Sl1, k5
Gusset
Arrange the 9 sts on hold for top of foot onto one needle
Set up round: Pick up 4 sts on side of heel flap. K9 sts on top of foot, pick up 4 sts on other side of heel flap, k2. Take last 3 sts on ndl and slip to next ndl.
Rather than use markers on such a small project the bootie is divided into 3 needles. Ndl 1 is the beginning of the round, Ndl 2 the top of the foot, and Ndl 3 the end of the round. At this point there should be 7 sts on Ndl 1, 9 sts on Ndl 2, and 6 sts on Ndl 3 for a total of 22 sts in the round.
Round 1: Ndl 1- k4, k2tog, k1. Ndl 2- k9. Ndl 3- k1, ssk, k3. 20 sts remain
Round 2: K all sts on all Ndls
Round 3: Ndl 1- k3, k2tog, k1. Ndl 2- k9. Ndl 3- k1, ssk, k2. 18 sts remain
Foot
Knit in stocking stitch for 3 cm-about 8 rows
Toe
Round 1: Ndl 1- k5. Ndl 2- ssk, k5, k2tog. Ndl 3- k4. 16 sts remain
Round 2: Ndl 1- k5. Ndl 2- ssk, k3, k2tog. Ndl 3-k4. 14 sts remain
Round 3: Ndl 1- k5. Ndl 2- ssk, k1, k2tog. Ndl 3- ssk, k2. 11 sts remain
Round 4: Ndl 1-k3, k2tog. Ndl 2- k3. Ndl 3- ssk, k1. 9 sts remain
Round 5: Ndl 1-k2, k2tog. Ndl 2- k3. Ndl 3- ssk. 7 sts remain
Round 6: Ndl 1- k1, k2tog. Ndl 2- k3. 6 sts remain
Place the 3 remainin sts from Ndls 1 and 3 onto one needlem there should be 3 sts left on Ndle 2.
Row 1: sl 1, k2
Row 3: sl 1, p2. Ndl 2- k3
Finishing
Cut end. Thread yarn through remain 6 sts. Weave in ends. Block

Wait for it...

I just desinged the coolest baby booties!! I think they are fantastic. Sometime tomorrow or the next day I am going to post the pattern on my blog. They are Peter Pan/Pixie/Robin Hood Booties. They knit SUPER fast-maybe an hour a bootie (at most). This will be my first foray into pattern writing for others, so I would love it if people could take a couple hours out of their day and knit them, and then give me some constructive feedback on my pattern writing.
Of course, if you want to just tell me how absolutely freaking awesome I am...that's OK too...
Feeling the suspense yet??

New Robe

I got a new robe yesterday. There are no words ot describe how I feel about this piece of clothing. It's a little ridiculous. Not long ago I came to the realization that I have never owned a brand new robe bought just for me. Every single robe I have ever owned has been given to me by my Mom, who often has a rather large robe wardrobe. They are usually new-but given the fact that she is 3 or 4 inches shorter than me, they don't always fit right. I also wear them until they die. I think I hav eonly owned 2 or 3 robes in my life. I remember the one I had through teenagedom into early adulthood ended up looking like the shroud of Turin. I wore it until it caught on something and ripped in half. I wore it so long that while it was originally terry cloth the part that could be classified as "terry" had fallen off and the cloth had fallen into the category of "flannel".
I have been aware of my robe wearing patterns for a while now but hadn't replaced the one I had until yesterday. Partially because it's a very good robe (short in the arms, and body and not wide enough but good quality nonetheless) but also because I am 5'10" so "O/S" robes don't fit that great. Because apparently all women are small. I have shopped through the mens section and been lured by giant robes, but then I get stubborn. I don't want a brown robe...
Yesterday I found my robe and fell in love with it. I was walking down the aisle in the store and I saw a brillian flash of red...I reached out to touch it and it was love...it's the softest thing I have ever felt. It's red. It's incredibly inexpensive. It comes in various sizes including XL. I was sold.
Right now I am blogging in my RED robe bought just for me. I am going to knit in it. I am going to spin in it. I am going to eat my lunch while wearing it. I hope that someone knocks on the door so I can answer it wearing it. Maybe I will do some yard work while wearing it.

Rick can be SO annoying...

Lately I have been fairly productive with my knitting. I have finished several small objects, as you can see from previous posts, and finally got back to work on the skull socks. I am not 100% happy with the design and I have a lot of tweaking to do, but they turned out all right.




I have finally got back to work on Tiny's sweater. I had to take a rather long hiatus for the sake of my hands. It was become extremely painful to knit it. I think a lot of it has to do with my refusal to use a cable needle. I knit contintental so it's really easy to slip the stitches off the needle and hold them with my right thumb and index finger while purling/knitting the next stitches and then slipping them back onto the left needle. This method is infinitely faster for me and saves me the hunt for the cable needle. But with this particular project, the knitting is very tight and the yarn is very inflexible so it requires a stronger grip on the slipped stitches, which consequently requires a stronger grip on the needles. I have found a decent balance that involves me relaxing my grip a little bit and only knitting 4 rows at a time (which ends up pretty close to and inch so that's not so bad) so progress is WAY slower than I am used to, but it's moving along instead of sitting on the edge of the couch looking accusatory.




The front is on the top. I still think the back looks like it is from a Klingon...



Turkey has been not at all supportive, nor impressed with my knitting endeavours.

I have also cast on the rick socks by cookie a. I am a huge fan of cookie a and I LOVE her sock patterns. I think they are beautiful and interesting, and unlike any other socks I have ever seen. I HATE knitting them. I bought the twisted flower pattern eons ago (they look like something the Loth Lorien elves would wear) and tried knitting it a couple times and was incredibly frustrated with it, after a few full froggings I gave up. I don't mind the occasional frog (such a lie, I HATE frogging) but having to frog the whole thing back to nothing multiple times is more than my delicate psyche can bear.
I bought cookie a's sock innovation this spring and I love the book. It's a fantastic combination of patterns and techniques and goes through some really great techniques for designing your own socks. I tried the rick pattern a few times...multiple frogs...guess what happened? I put the whole thing away for about 8 months. I didn't try any more of her patterns, I was too disheartened by the fact that I hated knitting things that I loved.
The other day I picked up the book again. I purchased a nice simple solid yarn and set about casting on rick socks...again. The level of frustration is not much lower but my knowledge of knitting has increased exponentially since the spring. I am now capable of knitting from complex charts. I can read my knitting in a way that I couldn't before-now rather than blindly follow charts and instructions I can watch what I am knitting to see if it is correct as I go (not infallible by any means, but a huge improvement). The socks still drive me mad.
I have figured out a few reasons for this. I didn't read the other projects on rick before I cast on. I shall do that from now on for ALL of cookie a's patterns. The first thing that was messed was that it says to cast on 60 sts, but most people need 72 (it's a 12 st repeat). This is not because of errors in gauge, this is because the socks were designed to be REALLY skinny. So skinny that 98.2% of the populaiton probably can't wear them. There were people that persevered with 60 sts and a stretchy yarn and ended up with socks that look terrible and distorted (like wattching 4:9 on a 16:9 TV) I got the ribbing done and 4 repeats of the pattern and realized they were WAY to small so ripped them back (there were quite a few mistakes as well).
I also learned that you need to use yarn that is amazingly unsplitty with cookie a patterns. There are a lot of stitches that aren't that easy so non-splitty yarn is a must (like ssk, or ktbl right next to purl sts...blech).
Another great thing I learned about cookie a patterns is they are not conducive to continental knitters. I thought it was just that I sucked, but it's the order of the sts and the ssk's next to yarn overs and ktbl's knext to purls that make me want to shred the knitting and then curl into a ball and suck my humb while weeping softly in the corner. After some serious thought I realized this pattern would be MUCH easier if i was a yarn thrower. This is one of the only times I will say something like this. In general continental is way faster and way easier (Elizabeth Zimmerman said so, and I believe her.) I even read in a few posts about rick that the left sock is way easier than the right sock for continental knitters (yes I am knitting a sock with different patterns on the left and right...le sigh).
And last but not least, switching the ssk's for sl1, k1, psso's is WAY easier and makes for better tension (for me)
...I also suspect that knitting with one of those tiny circular needles rather than dpn's might make for more even tension because there are yo's at the ends of the repeats, which means there are yo's at the very ends of your needles.
So after this in depth analysis of these socks, I am not trying to say the socks are bad, or the patterning is bad, or that cookie a is a sadistic designer. I still think her socks are incredible and I still LOVE the designs. They make you think and figure things out. So if they are approached in that manner, they are fabuluous. I would not reccomend them to anyone that wasn't an experienced knitter-I want to keep my knitterly friends, not have them egging my house screaming obscenities about 87 row, 88 sts repeat charts....

Tea Things

So the madder was fun, and it produced a beautiful brick orange, but it wasnt' the colour I was hoping for so more experimentation is in order (I want RED!!!). We dyed a bunch of roving as well as a skein of 100% cashmere slated for The Pretty Thing
I have developed a tea obsession. Mom and I went to Foxglove (a garden store on Saltspring) and bought a couple of tea bushes, which caused a exploration into the mechanics of tea making (Wikipedia is the greatest website on earth!) I learned a whole bunch of cool things about tea, like how it is processed and that Black, Green, White and Gun Powder tea are all tea from the camelliea sinensis plant but processed differently. This caused me to go to the local tea store and buy some fancy black tea, because I have had good tea before, but never had REALLY good tea. I bought some estate (estate means it's all from one place and not blended from a variety sources) TGF-OP1 Darjeeling. TGF-OP stands for Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, the 1 means it was 1st flush, or the first harvest of the very first buds. There are MANY acronyms to denote the quality of tea and this is one of the higher ones (although 2 or 3 levels down from the highest, that's pretty good considering there are about 20 levels of quality in tea, tea bags like Lipton or Tetley are just about lowest level of quality you can get by the way).
It was the most amazing tea I have ever had in my entire LIFE. It didn't have that bitter taste that most black teas have and it was juicy and delicious. It was so good that the next day I went back to the tea store and bought a bag of Assam tea and 2 bags of White Tea. I didn't get any green since I am not a huge fan of green to start with.
White tea is the fanciest of teas, and I bought the fanciest of the white teas (pretty fancy shmancy eh?) it cost a bundle but I wanted to try it. It's called Dove Silver Needles. This tea is picked from the first buds only from the very ends of the first leaves of the tea bush. There is only a 2 day window in which to pick this type of tea before it gets too old. The tea leaves are procesed minimally and don't got through the fermentation process that black teas go through. Most tea looks like little black sticks but this tea looks like fuzzy white tea leaves. It is the best tasting beverage I have ever had in my entire life. I can't even describe except that it's incredible. It's expensive as hell, but the really good, expensive tea leaves can be brewed multiple times and often don't come into their flavouring until the 3 brewing. White tea can be brewed a max of 4 times (the 4th time isn't that grea tbut passable), black tea can be brew 5 times. So at $16.50 a 25gm bag really good white tea seems insanely expensive for dried leaves. But at less than 2 gms of leaves per cup of tea and 3 brewings per, it ends up costing 46cents a cup of tea. That's not bad for the best beverage on earth. Really good blakc tea costs less than 25 cents a cup.
Plus you feel super cultured and foofty woofty when drinking expensive tea, and you can't put a price on that.

What'sa Madder You?

The past few days have been filled with fibrey goodness!!! I have knit 3 hats in as many days. 1 luvverly merino red random cable hat (not that's not the name of it, I really just did random cables as I went). One Silver Thaw Noro Hat-plain stocking stitch. And one Noro Kujaku Hat that I did short rows for the front of the brim and it's really quite flattering.
(You can click on photos to embiggen)




Oh and I also knit a baby sweater with a hood a few days ago-it took me a full 4 and a half hours to knit and that includes the designing of the pattern and ripping back and reknitting 3 inches...I love big yarn. It's my first finished baby project-I think I have gotten over the whole jinxing thing...try to ignore the giant ball of sari silk...it was a moment of weakness.

My Mom and I have been dyeing with Madder root this evening and it's terribly fun. Mom grows Madder in her garden (incidently my tarantula is named Rose Madder because she is a rose hair tarantula, after my favourite Stephen King Novel of the same name, but I digress...) Madder is purported to make an incredible red and has been used for thousands of years (madder dyed cloth has been found in King Tutankhamun's tomb). I spent a lot of time on the internet trying find out how one is supposed to dye Madder root and discovered that everyone has a different way of doing it and they all think that everyone else doesn't know the proper way.
Working under the theory that ancient peoples doing dyeing might not always used proper scales and measuring techniques (although I am sure that master dyer in some ancient advanced civilizations did use controlled techniques, I doubt the layperson bothered.) I came up with a recipe that was fast and easy.
Step one, we dried the roots on the stove-we then discovered that we didn't need to dry the roots and added fresh roots to the pile.



Step two-chop the roots into little itty bitty pieces. This was annoying with dried roots and hard on the wrists, but incredibly easy with the fresh ones. It occured to me that all the recipes used dried roots because the majority of people don't have fresh ones available. We ended up with the equivalent to 1 oz of dried root.


We added the chopped roots to a pot of hot, but not boiling, water. More than one person said that boiling it can turn the dye brown. We'll have to try boiling it on purpose sometime to see what shade of brown-wouldn't it be wonderful to get a rich mahogany?
Below is a picture of the pot of water immediately after the roots are added. Literally, I added the roots, picked up the camera and took a picture. Look how red it is!!!



We then crushed 30gms of calcium carbonate (aka Tums) and added it to the root bath. The calcium carbonate ensures you get a true red rather than an orange red. It also imparts a nice minty flavour. Below is the dye bath with Tums.

Next step (and I didn't get a picture) was to mordant the wool. We did this by adding 50 gms of alum (maybe 2 tbsp)and 1 tsp of cream of tartar (both avaiable in the grocery store in the pickling section-you can sometimes find alum at the pharmacy) to a pot of warm water, stirred until it was dissolved and added 75gms of superwash wool top and a skein of homespun shetland (maybe 75gms)

After the wool had been in the mordant for half an hour and the dye bath had been cooking for about an hour and half (at very low heat on the woodstove, perhaps the equivalent to low on a slowcooker) I could handle the suspense no more and took a sliver of rinsed, mordanted wool and added it to the dye bath for half and hour and ended up with this gem.

The colour is amazing and the camera adds more of an orangey tone than is actually there. I would describe it as raspberry.

It's beautiful!!!

So unable to handle it any longer I rinsed the mordanted wool while mom strained the dye bath (no spinner wants to pick out a billion bits of wood and bark while spinning) and tossed in the wool.

This was a little anticlimactic as we had prepared enough dyebbath for 75gms of fibre and on a whim added the Shetland.

The result so far seems to be a variegated coral-yellow colour with little difference to the shetland. We'll leave it over night so it sucks up as much of the dye as possible and see what the resultant colour is. Meanwhile, there is a whole 'nother pot of madder root (even more than the first batch) sitting on the warm stove waiting for tomorrow.

So far the experriment has been SUPER succesful. The only thing keeping the wool from being a rich raspberry is the volume of wool versus dye. It was super easy to do and with enough root will produce colours as bright as commerical dyes.

By the way you don't need to use heat at all with madder. You can soak the roots for 24 hours and mordant overnight or for a few hours, and then have it sit in the dye bath until the dye is exhausted and you have the colour you choose. This method makes a dye product (protein fibres only) in a couple of hours-I'm impatient.

Later this week, dyeing with walnut shells and possibly making ramie from nettles.

Right Here, Right Now

I am scanning photos, renaming files, eating soup, drinking pop, listening to music, reading blogs, and posting on this blog...all at the same time.
That's why I like knitting it's simple.

Where did the monotony go?

Ever notice how distractions equal your threshold of distractedness? For example, if you knit a gigantic king size garter stitch coverlet (I am not exactly sure what a coverlet is but it sounds rather large) and you had nothing but 6 billion stitches of insane monotonous knit stitches(...I mean 1 stitch for every human being on the planet...that would make me consider committing genocide...) than nobody will speak to you for days. The phone will not ring. The people in your house will content themselves with non-communication, the cats won't meow at you when they are hungry and there will be nothing on TV.
On the flipside, if you try to do something that requires even a modicum of attention span, like oh say...working at home-everybody wants to be around you. The phone will ring (don't worry it's not for you, that would be a pleasant distraction, but you will have to stop working to give the phone to someone else). Some kid outside will slapshot a puck at your house so that it sounds like a truck drove into your home. The neighbours, after 4 months of blessed silence will decide to play really loud music (loud enough that I know they were playing Aerosmith's version of Come Together, an altogether laudable music choice but definitely distracting). Someone will ask to borrow money and then attempt to make small talk ("What are you doing?" 1 guess as to how difficult it is not to answer "Apparently working so I can earn enough money to lend you some..."). That person will probably come back later asking questions that they could discover the answers for themselves if they cared to. Although I will admit that my bitterness over the multiple distractions have made me a little intolerant of inane conversation.
I find myself in a rather hypocritical mood, at this point I am not really pleased with the fact that things have to balance out.
On the bright side, I did manage to knit a baby sweater. My first completed baby project!! I have been waffling around finishing baby stuff (I still have a baby kimono that needs to be steeked and has been waiting since August). It just feels like jinxing. But yesterday at the yarn store I realized that I could probably knit a baby sweater in super bulky yarn in 4 hours or less and hot damn! I was off to the races!!!!
I knit a design-as-you-go hooded baby cardigan in a lovely olive green merino yarn (Fleece Artist, Big Merino). Less than 4 hours and it has a hood!
I like how it turned out so much that I may write the design down and put it on Ravelry (OK that's a wee bit ambitious I admit, but it could happen...really).
It's a rather therapeutic little sweater even after it's finished. I wanted to gnaw my way through the drywall and shove my head through and scream at my neighbours to turn down the music. and then I looked a the sweater and thought "Oh look at the baby sweater!"
so easy to anger...so easy to please...a woman of extremes I am.

Viva Canada!!!

I never thought I would say this, but I love a reality show. I have been avidly watching Battle of the Blades and thinks it's the greatest reality show ever. How can you get more Canadian than combining Hockey Players with Figure Skaters? Of a fan of both sports, I think it's a brilliant idea. The fact that they are skating for charity helps me justify my enjoyment of it.
For those of you that don't watch the program 8 retired NHL players have been partnered with 8 figure skaters, and they have to learn how to do pairs skating with all the crazy lifts and presses. It's fantastic because almost all the hockey players are gigantic (except for Domi of course) and all the figure skaters are tiny. I love watching the big manly men let loose and try to be graceful, it's fantastic!!
I don't always agree with how the voting goes, and I am very glad that the final say goes to the judges. It's pretty obvious that a lot of people vote for their favourite hockey players rather than the better skaters. I think the best pair is Isabelle and Stephane, but Battle of the Blades is not being played in Quebec, so they have been on the chopping block 2 out of 3 weeks. Because of this, last night I pulled out my computer and voted for them a bunch of times. I don't think I have ever voted for a TV thing before but I had put aside my ethics for the sake of the better skaters.
Battle of the Blades? The perfect example of how Canadian Culture can shine through our immersion in Americana!!

Giving Thanks (a blog title like a million othe blog titles in Canada today...)

I love to knit. I love to spin. I used to hate knitting, but loved spinning. Eventually I got to the point where I realized that I was going to have to do something with all the yarn I had spun and I begrudgingly sat down to knit.
Knitting used to be a chore for me. I am left handed and couldn't quite get the hang of "american" style knitting. Forget about learning to crochet, there are fewer instructions for left handed crochet than for knitting. I created a modified knitting technique, that was very strange looking but worked very well for me, but it wasn't good enough. At my fastest I still considered myself to slow. So after learning a bit more about knitting from other knitters I decided to try to knit continental. It took a while to learn and my hands hurt a LOT but I learned quickly because I already knew how to knit, I was just learning a new technique.
Today is a great day because it is know 10:40AM and I have already taught my youngest stepdaughter how to knit. She has knit about 8 rows of a potential scarf- although I think it may end up being a cowl, much more stylish and faster to knit. She is 9 years old and she can spin and knit!!
Knitting for me is like meditating, it gives me something tangible to focus on while at the same time creating something. I love making things. I think it's the greatest thing in the world to be able to pass that joy onto someone else! Especially now that I have another knitting friend to hang out with (she is already talking about goign on ravelry and knitting patterns.)
Take heed my friends, I have converted yet another disciple to our following!! MUWAHAHAHAHAH!!!

addendum

My husband pointed out to me that reading about knitting is also not knitting...
I think I married the right man...

I Only Knit Tiny`s Sweater

Fall is here, and I must say I have never been so excited by the season! I have always enjoyed fall, I love the crisp air and how everything manages to smell clean and delicious, even in the city. But this fall in particular I am excited about. This fall I am a fully addicted knitter and spinner and I am nesting. What a perfect combination for the season. Lately I have been knitting a lot, spinning often and gotten back into dying now that it's not so hot that the dye pot turns my house into a vinegary sauna.
Tiny's sweater is coming along slowly. I knit the first ball of yarn in one day and that was a huge mistake. The yarn I am using is called Samband. It is a discontinued Icelandic Lopi. It is incredibly inflexible for a few reasons a) it is single ply so it doesn't have the boing of a 2ply. 2) It is Icelandic wool that hasn't been dehaired so the hair holds it together more than straight fleece does (think mohair). iii) This wool is at least 3o yrs old. Stored very well, but despite that it is very, very dry-which obviously lends nothing to the elasticity of the yarn. Add into that that I am knitting it at a firm gauge and it has cables...well that spells pain. The 2 subsequent balls of yarn have taken nearly a week each to knit. I can't do more than 4 or 5 rows at a time because it hurts.
Now I had vowed that I would knit NOTHING else until I was done this sweater. This is not an entirely unreasonable goal for me, I have knit other sweaters to the exclusion of all else. So while I was knitting only Tiny's sweater...I was knitting very little because I could only knit 10-15 rows day at most, and that was all I knit. That drove me pretty batty for awhile until I realized that spinning is not knitting. (C'mon...it's SO not cheating...) so I did a bunch of spinning. Then I realized that dying is also not spinning, so I did a bunch of that too. Soon I was nearly in the full throes of fibre induced euphoria, and still not knitting very much. it was great for a few days, until I got to the point where I realized that i was significantly increasing my yarn stash (good) but not decreasing my stash at all because I wasn't really knitting (bad..ish).
I knit an alpaca scarf out of roving. That doesn't really count, because it only took an hour and a half to knit, and everybody know that if you don't reach that critical threshold of several hours, it`s not really knitting.
Than I knit a pair of mittens. This also didn`t count because I knit it out of handspun that I specifically spun for mittens and I was experimenting with mitten design- i am trying to design a better fitting mitten both in the the thumb and the top of the hand. It`s going very well so far. It fits my hand fabulously...although apparently not everyone has hands shaped like mine...
Right now I am knitting a hat from some red and plum colour Blue Faced Leicester wool that is plyed with sky blue bamboo. this also doesn`t count because I am knitting it to donate as a door prize for the Kamloops Arts Council AGM on Tuesday.
So really...
I have only knit Tiny`s Sweater...

I don't need a picture to say a thousand words...

I keep putting of blogging because of a lack of photos. I could blame this lack of photos on a lack of camera, but that would be a lie…really it’s sheer laziness. I seem to believe that I can’t blog without photos, like my writing isn’t enough for my readers. I have lots of interesting things to talk about with very few photos, hopefully I can be descriptive enough to be interesting.
I went to the Fall Fair on Saltspring Island a couple of weekends ago, it’s something I try to go to every year. The Fall Fair is like a mini reunion, I get to see a lot of old friends and enjoy a fantastic event. My Mom is the poultry coordinator, so I spend a lot of time with chickens volunteering. The past couple of years I have assisted the judging of the poultry, I think it is possible that I now know more about chickens than a person who doesn’t actually own a chicken should…I also attended a breeding seminar so I could learn how to breed my non-existent chickens. However, 0+0=0, so I still have no chickens.
I entered a lot of things at the Fair, I entered a whole bunch of spun yarn and a sweater. Mom entered some yarn, sheep and chickens, and Mackenzie entered yarn. We all did very well and when we gathered all of our ribbons I discovered we had 30 ribbons, 3 rosettes, and 2 trophies, which was a pretty darn good haul! Mom’s cockerel got best chicken, which was awesome because it was a record year for entries!
Another great thing occurred at the fair. I met a lovely lady by the name of Alinka who had an angora rabbit she no longer wanted. This lovely bunny included a crapload of rabbit feed (I say crapload because honestly…that’s what rabbit feed turns into…) a beautiful hutch and all the accessories needed for a happy bunny. She is a delightful bunny but I am unsure of her parentage (which I don’t hold against her) I think she is a cross because her fur is not that long. She might be part Satin or French because she has no fluffy stuff on her ears or face…she could be a French and the lack of fluffy on face and ears is the result of crossbreeding. Either way she is delightful, her name is Liela-which I was sorely tempted to change because I had a boss named Liela who was HORRIBLE-but I can’t seem to make anything else work. I often call her Bunny-wei, which is what all the “Egyptians” in Stargate were yelling all the time. She is a fantastic smokey colour, mostly grey with just a hint of brown. And she is so incredible docile and polite. She likes crackers. The cats are undecided about her. Chase brought in a baby mouse and played with it and ate it in front of the rabbit. I think it may be a warning…
In terms of knitting, I have burned through a couple projects. I knit the Louisa hat and it turned out great (I gave it to Alinka). I designed a hat pattern that I test knit and need to tinker with a bit and get test knitters for-it’s a fair isleish style pattern of a dragon/phoenix. It looks really cool and is knit from a neutral colour and Noro.
I finally started knitting Tiny’s sweater. It took me 1 day to burn through the first ball of yarn and has taken me 5 days to get through the second!!! The yarn is…not stretchy…it makes my hands ouchy. Because of this I keep looking at other patterns and get to the point where I am pulling yarn and needles out of my stash and then have to throw them on the floor while yelling ”BAD CAROLINE!” I know because of the difficulty with knitting this yarn (an incredibly inflexible Icelandic Lopi) if I stop knitting this sweater, I will never start it again. I will say that I particularly enjoy the cabling in the back because it looks like a Klingon’s back. This sweater is a circular knit cable sweater with raglan sleeves. If it turns out well perhaps I will write the pattern down and have it on etsy. I may need test knitters!!!

Time after time

Lately I have been having a hard time keeping up with blog posts. I have been finding the process a little frustrating-it is so slow to add photos even with my brand new speedy computer that I have a hard time gettting th emotivation to do new posts, and I prefer posts with photos.
I have also been very busy, already spending a lot of time on my computer so adding the time do blog posts is not a high priority. *postscriptum-the layout of this post is a little messed, another frustration with posting...
I have also noticed that the internet has become an outlet for less than happy thought for a lot of the people that I know. It's great that poeple are finding a way to share and I am glad that the internet can be used as a form of therapy but it seems to have the opposite effect on me, I read about everybody else's problems (especially on facebook) and it makes me not want to share. I think maybe people are trying to reach out in a way that is not as intimidating as walking up to a friend and saying "Hey, I have a problem..." and I totally understand that, what I don`t understand is fishing for sympathy and lolling in misery (actually that`s a lie, I understand it only too well and I know how unhealthy it is). I guess I am being slightly hypocritical by complaining about stuff on the internet myself. But I think a lot of misunderstanding is fostered by communication through the internet where inflections and facial expressions are missing. Nothing beats good old fashioned face to face, human interaction.

Our vacation finished well. It ended at just the right time, when we were ready to go home. We saw a lot of really great things and went to some fantastic places. One of the best parts was when we were walking down the street near the gay village in Toronto and 2 guys in bondage gear (seariously, one dude was wearing a leather g-string) were eyeballing Tiny like he was a tasty pastry.

The cats were really happy to see us when we got home.

I have had some pretty severe startitis in the knitting department. I have started many projects but haven't managed to finish anything. Not really sure why. I think maybe it's just that I have way too much yarn available in my stash (is that even possible?)

I just got some Fleece Artist special for an amazing price in an incredible colourway. It seems to be spurring me into a knitting marathon that will hopefully clear up my startitis.

It is Fleece Artist Angel hair and Merino 2.6. It was an great deal, the Angel Hair was basically free. I am knitting a cardigan. The top is the angel hair and the bottom will be the merino. The collar is also going to be merino, I think it will help to hold the shape of the top better. It`s a super quick knit. I am using the Mr. Greenjeans as a guide for the stitch numbers but the rest I am making up as I go. I am doing one thing very different fro how I have done sweaters before and that is, although it is top down, I am knitting the sleeves before the body. This, I think, is a better way to knit wiht a limited supply of yarn. I can weigh how much yarn I have before starting the first sleeve and figure out how long I want to make the sleeve before going on to the next on ebased on the amount of yarn I have left on the ball. I think that would be a great project, to write a book or pamphlet that is a stashbusting guide with basic patterns and ideas on how to make the most of what you have (there`s nothing worse than knitting a patterna nd getting to the ned to find you don`t have enough yarn!!)

Hopefully I will finish the sweater and continue to post!!!!

Ready to be Inundated? Dead Dolphin and more...

This blog is mostly photos...we are having a fantastic time and are in Newfoundland right now. I'll just make a comment for each of the photos because if I write like I usually do it will take WAY too long to go through this blog.
Below is the new friend I made at Lake Erie. I thought he was pretty. (no this is not the dolphin...just you wait...)
We went to the Welland Canal where there was a festival, this was the most memorable part of it...
The best part about Quebec was the food and drink. Tiny got a Cheeseburger Geant and it was...well...Geant...

Tiny and I also really enjoyed the beverages in Quebec...

Yes you can get pop in glass bottles still!

We took a trip to a Highland Village in Nova Scotia where that was really cool. everybody welcomed you in Gaelic. I got about 6 blackfly bites which I thought was kinda nifty...but now a few days later with them still horribly swollen and itchy I find it HORRIBLE. The novelty definitely wore off before the itchiness....

I saw MANY, MANY Spinning Wheels

This next one is so simple I think I might try to make one...

This is the pig who really loved head scritches.

The Ferry to Newfoundland was HORRENDOUS. So bad that I now think BCFerries is the pinnacle of transportation hospitality (yes THAT bad) I won't go into details, but I think their Customer Relations Manager will find the letter I sent her interesting...

This is without a doubt the best fish and chips I have ever had in my ENTIRE life. We got it at a Fish and Chip van (of course) in a place called Sandy Cove. It was halibut and amazing... We stopped on the side of the road to way to St. Anthony and had to cross a...field...expanse...area...covered in low lying evergreens and billions of these berries.

To get to this:

Amazing, eh?

Tiny was pretty excited about the beaver wood her found on the beach.

And then we found this...

Yes my friends that is one dead dolphin, we were downwind when we came upon it so we were very surprised when we stumbled upon the mostly skeletonized creature. Needless to say I was absolutely thrilled and took multiple photos...
I know, I have a rather unnatural fixation with dead things, but a dead dolphin is FREAKING COOL!!!

There were pretty snails.

And LOTS of rocks.

Eventually we finished driving and ended up here: St. Anthony's. Look it up on the map, I am pretty sure we are closer to England than Kamloops right now!

And that's all I have so far, well not even close, but there is only so much time I am willing to spend on the computer during my vacation!

Tomorrow we go to L'Anse Aux Meadows to the Viking Settlement!!!