And everything in between

Blog posts have been few and far between, the combination of travel, starting new business, and dealing with a crawling baby leave little time for things like blogging. A lot has been going on, so as usual when I have a lot to talk about I am going to do a photo montage.

First imagine a photo of us at the Cowichan Fleece and Fibre Expo and tonnes of people shopping and buying our yarns and us almost selling out of everything and me with an annoyed look on my face because I forgot to bring my camera but happy because we sold so much.


I finished Tiny's sweater! It looks really good and is really warm, and is really scratchy!


Patrick styled his own hair with boogers.


Patrick and I went to Saltspring for Mom's birthday.


Tiny and Mackenzie carved a most excellent pumpkin/s


Tiny and I went out for Hallowe'en and saw Larry who we don't get to see to often. He seemed to be doing really well even if he was rather irreverently dressed as a 6'7" Jesus with a sock belt. I paid him $5 to sing "Knocking on Heaven's Door."


We got home from our fun evening out to find that our babysitter had her sleeve stuck in her braces.


9 days ago Patrick learned to crawl (he went from 0 to across the room in about 2.2 seconds), 5 days ago he learned to pull himself up and stand, yesterday he learned to let go and stand on his own. ...I'm not ready for this...


Our business bought a Pat Green Carder with roving attachment. This is a huge deal! Onward and upward I say!!!


The people we bought the carder from had kittens. After seeing them I couldn't resist and took one home. He is a Himalayan X and a polydactyl!! (To be honest, if he hadn't been a polydactyl we probably wouldn't have taken him home). His name is Ozymandias and 24 hours in our house he is right at home.

Dyeing

Lately. my life has been filled with colour! I have been dyeing yarn for my and Mom's electrictree endeavour! I am really enjoying experimenting with colour and creating what I planned or being pleasantly surprised with a colour combination! Right now I am trying to pick what colour to knit for a sample.

I have been trying to make sure I dye colours that might not be my favourite (as well as coolours I love of course!) so that there is something to appeal to a broader range of tastes.
I have also joined a chorus group! It's so much fun! Tuesday was the first night I went, it's a four part harmony barbershop style singing group and apparently I sing lead or bass (which all the bass singers were ridiculously excited about.) The first song we are learning is Little St. Nick by the Beachboys (which of course means we'll also be able to sing Little Deuce Coupe) The regular members were rather excited about how ridiculously excited I was to be singing with them!
This Friday (tomorrow, egads!) I am going to be singing the National Anthems at the Storm Hockey game. The Canadian National Anthem is no big deal I have done it lots, but I have only sang the American one once, and it's a hard weird song to sing (I have a hard time remembering the lyrics because most of the time they don't make sense...) I'll have my cue card with me jus tin case!

Neglect

I have been rather neglectful of my blog lately. Things have been really busy lately and I have found that I prefer doing things rather than write about them when my time is strapped.
The busyness has not been a bad thing, some of it has been lots of fun. I have recently begun playing guitar again and so practicing has taken up a fair amount of time. This guitar playing differs significantly from the playing I did as a teen. I am lot less self conscious and less worried about playing it exactly as the original artist did. Consequently while my skill level is lower, I think that I am a better player. I sing now too, which I never did before. I hav ebeen having lots of fun finding songs to play and sing and I got to play at the Bizarre Bazaar (a local artisan market) which was a great experience.
I have been doing a lot of yarn dyeing and am exciting to be doing some work with my Mom on that score. We will be debuting our yarn products at the Summerland Fibre Festival on October 9th! I am really looking forward to the work and slowly expanding our business into a yarn empire!
Patrick has ...expanded... he's much larger, weird how that happens... he can sit up on his own, roll over front to back and back to front, popped his first tooth and will be doing the second and hour now. He charms every person he meets. Right now he is in the Jolly Jumper jumping on Mackenzie's head...
Mackenzie goes back to school tomorrow and we had a good time shopping for school clothes. We went to Winners and got some great deals on some "fancy pants" (my name for trendy jeans). I spent the morning hemming jeans and steampunking a shirt for her. She gets her haircut this afternoon and is excited to be going back to school with "the best wardrobe ever."
My next post will be all about yarn!!! I should be getting a yarn order in this week for dyeing!

Reverb

I recently got working on my Reverbnation account. Reverbnation is a place where musicians and fans can share music. Lately I have been working on my guitar playing. after several years of not playing at all they are severely weak. I have added 2 songsto my reverbnation account and while they are basically first takes and the guitar playing is...crappy, the response has been good and I am #10 in the Kamloops local Rock charts (out of about 30 musicians).
So check it out here and if you like it become a fan! Hopefully I can add more stuff soon!

Kitty Wool

Today I washed a fleece...apparently for my cat...





Can you see her?



How about now?

Fuzzy Boots

I am making fuzzy boots. It's kind of fun because I had no plan to make fuzzy boots in the first place, but that's where I ended up. I had this idea that I would make myself some felted boots for my SCA garb (the SCA is a medieval re-enactment group). Leather would be more authentic but felted botos doesn't require me to learn a new skill set. I thought they would be a smooth felt, not ridiculous looking mukluks...
I contemplated several different techniques and options, perused the internet for hours looking for a good pattern to no avail. Eventually I decided to design my own. Next came choosing the yarn. The idea is that I wanted to make a pair of thick durable boots. Eventually I choose a six strand "yarn" simialr to White Bufallo. With giant needles that looked like they were more appropriate for staking vampires I knit a giant sock. I mean GIANT. So big, that I could wear it as a toque. I felted it in the washer which was great fun because it looked like there was a giant wet Wookie in the washer. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the process which was great fun.

All in all, it was a fun project and very quick, which is great because knitting time is few and far between right now! (I don't even have time to write this post!)

Photo Montage

A picture says a thousand words right? This weekend Patrick and I headed down for a trip to Saltspring. It's always a good time and getaway. Saltspring is where I lived until I was in grade 12 and I tend to go back every couple of months for a visit.

Patrick travelled well

He was very happy to see the grandparents.




One of my favourite things about going down there is the food...


Fresh fresh fresh eggs, freshly plucked that morning and eaten right away...yummm unborn chickens...


Goatmeal crisp with fresh goatmilk!

Whenever I go down there is always some kind of fibre preparation! This time we were trying out Border Cheviot fleece which was mostly horrible, but I found a small pîece that wasn`t too bad.



Springtime is always great on the mountain because there are always chicks and lambs about.

I will try to remember to get a pic of the lambs in the next post.

No trip to Saltspring is complete without a giant cloud of poisonous gas created by Tim (my brother, and no joke, it really was poisonous gas...)


There was lots of sunshine




Mom always finds awesome dead things for me


A raven skull, the top of a chicken skull, and a racoon skull complete with mandible.

Saltspring is awesome!

Retreat!!!!!

This weekend Patrick and I went to the Twist of Fate Retreat at Sun Peaks! Sivia Harding instructed us on beaded lace. It was a blast! My aunt was also there so it was a nice visit. She brought me some yarn, it's my first skein of Socks that Rocks and I might sleep with it under my pillow I love it so much.


My aunt has been knitting for quite a bit longer than me so by giving me yarn I think that makes her kind of like a drug pusher...

Sun Peaks is a small ski village, and there aren't even a dozen shops there but my aunt and I somehow managed to find yarn! There was a clothing store that had a couple baskets in the corner.


I bought a skein more for the principle of the thing rather than from any real need or desire.

The pattern we knitted is called the Ophidian Shawlette and it's a lovely little garment knit in soft fingering weight yarn. Picking out our yarn and beads was enjoyable and there was much covetting going on after choices were made. There's nothing like hanging out with other knitters to reassure me that my knitting obsession is not totally insane! It makes me wonder if crazy people don't feel crazy in the nuthouse!

Unfortunately I was so obsessed with the actual knitting, I didn't take any photos until the last hour of the retreat...


So just imagine people more peppy and excited and that's what the retreat was really like...


In addition to the Ophidian Shawlette, Sivia also showed us her stash of beads and I couldn't help but think that beads are so tiny and a bead stash must not be as guilt inducing as a yarn or fibre stash! We also learned some new cast-off techniques and blocking.


The whole weekend was yarn-knit-bead gluttony and I loved it! Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory was across the street from the hotel which really helped with weekend enjoyment.


During Sivia's blocking demonstration my knitting (in the orange) got a little fresh with some other people's projects.

The first thing I did when I got home was take a whole bunch of pictures of my knitting, this is something my friend Kirsten calls Yarnography (...kind of like pornography...only with yarn...)


See the pretty beads? They were clear with a copper coloured lining, but showed up all warm golden when introduced to the knitting.


I took pictures inside and outside but unfortunatrely my cheap little camera couldn't do the colour of the yarn justice.


It was a wonderful time and Sivia is a great person who really has a knack for teaching!

A great week!

Today has been an absolutely fantabulous week!! It was my birthday on wednesday, which was low-key but still very nice! Tiny got me the coolest present ever!
Next week I start fight practices so I need a helm! I am super excited! It's going to be painful, difficult, possible horrible, and totally AWESOME!

Patrick is getting better at tummy time.


Like his little tattoo? We went to a tattoo show last night and Patrick was sporting his own very badass tattoo.

He doesn't get as much tummy time as he should because he hates it. He almost always gets really mad. He's a big baby with a big honking head so he often spends a large part of "tummy time" face down yelling at the ground. It's almost as funny as when he gets mad at his hiccups. He's getting better at it, and I am determined to make him do it more because I realized he was going to be walking before he could crawl. The kid has crazy strong legs and can stand just fine for a few seconds as long as you balance him. So I am encouraging him to crawl because you're supposed to crawl before you can walk...that reminds me of my little brother who never did learn to crawl-he used to drag himself around with his incredibly strong arms with his legs limply trailing behind him, like a naga.

I have been kntting the February Lady sweater...again. The first attempt was with a lovely red wool, but I somehow majorly screwed up the increases and it was really wonky. I also didn't like that particular yarn in garter stitch, the fabric was not pleasing to me. So this time I am knitting it in a linen/cotton blend. This yarn I had used on another project and it was horrible. It was stocking stitch and every little difference in tension showed up, it was very unforgiving. Luckily this yarn turned out awesome for this project. I figured since I now have several hand knit sweaters in wool, linen/cotton would be a nice alternative-something comfortable and non-scrathcy that I can throw over a tank top on a summer evening. The colour is also ideal for my wardrobe of black, brown and green.



This weekend I am super excited to be going to my second knitting retreat. The first one was so cool, if this one is even half as fun I'll be really happy. My aunt is also going, so I'll get to hang out and knit with her! The retreat is up at Sun Peaks ski resort and last night I realized I didn't have any hats that fit Patrick anymore so I whipped up this little number in leftover Malabrigo Worsted Merino.


I made up the pattern, I like how it spirals.

So I am off to learn beaded lace knitting with Sivia Harding! Wahoo!

You know you did good when...

You know you did good when you tell people you made your sweater and they don't believe you.
I am loving my luminen sweater. I love how it looks and feels, I love wearing it. I know it's going to pill like a crazy mofo and I have already forgiven it for it's future transgressions because I love it and it loves me. Do you know how I know it loves me? Because it makes me look good when I wear it and that baby is true, true love.

Patrick had a bad couple of days...oh wait I digress...I had a bad couple days while Patrick was merely grumpy. His grumpiness was the simple product of his refusal to nap during the day and he subesquently got grumpier and grumpier as the day progressed.
He totally made up for a bad couple of days with today though. We went to a really awesome wedding and he was exceptionally well behaved and charming the whole time. So I think he was saving it all up for today and I am totally OK with that.
The wedding was for friends of ours who have been together for quite awhile. Gord and Dawn have 6 kids, 4 of them together, so it's about darn time they got married! Just kidding, I don't care if they live in sin, sinning is fun! I am happy they got married because it's something that Dawn has been wanting and she's a nice lady and deserves to be happy.
The best part of the wedding was that it was held on a ball field.


I thought that was pretty fun. Tiny liked it because he could have a beer during the ceremony. My favourite part was they were so far away we couldn't hear them and they couldn't hear us so we all just chatted until the very end and then we cheered. We didn't have to listen to all that wedding mumbo jumbo.
I dressed Patrick in a special outfit for the occasion.



I also took some photos of my friends daughter who didn't want her photo taken but I think they turned out cool and kinda artsy.



Lately I have been eating a lot of homemade smoothies. Like everyday. Sometimes twice a day. I have figured out how to make super duper delicious (pronounced delish-ee-ous) smoothies that taste like my favourite smoothies at booster juice except at a quarter of the price. I made so many smoothies I actually broke my blender. I somehow managed to crack the base. Luckily Tiny went and bought a brand shiny new one the next day!


(haha see how I trick myself into thinking I bought a really expensive booster juice smoothie by using my reusable booster juice cup for a home made smoothie?)

I get close to my full daily serving of fruits (and veggies since according to those Canada Food Peoples they're pretty much the same thing-I guess they never tried a green pepper pie) in one single smoothie. I buy bags of frozen fruits, sometimes I have 3 or 4 different kinds in the freezer. I thought I would share my smoothie recipe with you since it's so insanely delicious. Put the ingredients in the blender in the order I give for easier blending.

1 cup of juice-I prefer BomDia an acai blend but I'll use any kind of juice
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (turn on the blender for a second to mix the powder and the juice or you'll end up with gooey chunks of...well...goo...)
1 banana
1 cup of frozen fruit
3 big tablespoons of yogurt (I use vanilla activia)
Blend until deliciously smooth.

I highly recommend the protein powder and yogurt in your smoothie because it helps to fill you up and is especially good if you work out or do physical labour. Plus it makes the smoothie creamy and delicious!

To finish my slightly ADD post I leave you with a picture I took on the walk Patrick and I went on yesterday.
I am thankful that these people left there irrigation system on so I could take this beautiful photo, and I am only a little sorry that while I was taking it I could hear the pssshht sound of an irrigation system that was broken from freezing.