My sock pal gets around

Okay, I've told you about the stalking socking pal I have. There has been another postcard. The first ones were posted from Manchester NH and Pittsburgh PA, respectively. Then I got this one:

Ummmm, it was posted in Greerford/Windsor, in England! Seriously, this is a getting around kind of sock pal. I am utterly amazed and touched by how cool this is. This must truly be the most traveled sock pal in the world. Every day I can't wait to check the mail. It is hilarious! I'm looking so forward to "meeting" this person, you can't imagine. :)

Friday was Vanessa's birthday so we took a little trip. We did a very touristy Vancouver thing and caught the seabus over to North Vancouver for a day of shopping, sightseeing, and FOOD. So much food. There was lattes and cakes, stuffed olives, handmade chocolates, fish and chips, stuffed mushroom caps, a little libation (teehee), and then fresh fruit before we headed home. Here are some random images from the day:

This is not the seabus. Just in case you're wondering.

This is the seabus. :) What did you expect for $2.25?

The ride over.

The Lonsdale Quay/market.

A former fishing boat that now seems to be used for tourists and stuff, I'm guessing, based on the fact that it had a hot tub on the back deck.

Vanessa actually went up and touched one of these, we are still not sure if they were real or not. Bleah!
This was a very dapper gentleman we spotted. I have never seen shinier shoes in my life.

We bought this tea at the Blue Teapot shop. Look what it can do:

Kind of amazing, no? Go check out the Blue Teapot website, they have some other images of it. The tea itself was really mild and ever so slightly aromatic. It is supposed to make me young, have a great liver, and be beautiful. That's a lot for one little cup of tea, right?

Not really going to discuss this. Let's just say that the new public toilet at Main Street might not be the greatest success in the world. Bleach!

Have a great day everyone. I'm off to play on Ravelry. I got my invite! Then I want to knit for an hour before work. No overtime today. Yay!

Still alive, by the skin of my teeth

Here's some advice, it's free and I'm most definitely not using it. Once you reach the age of 38 (or so) you have no business going out to a stagette and drinking with the 19 - 26 crowd. Just so you know.

Before we get to that though, 'Nessa and I went to the production centre tour of Bard on the Beach on Saturday afternoon. It was great. Got to see the teeny tiny little mockups of what the stages will look like, checked out the costuming department (beyond cool!), and then...wait for it...we got to sit in on part of the rehearsal for Taming of the Shrew. FABULOUS! My three favourite actors were all there, Haig Sutherland, Rob Frazer, and Kyle Rideout. It was wonderful. They are doing it in the concept of spaghetti western and it really worked. It's going to be hilarious.

From there, I'm afraid things went downhill. A bunch of us were going to celebrate a friends impending (hmmm, that sounds sort of ominous) marriage and away we went. To the strippers. I'm proud to say, I had never been to the strippers before. I can no longer say that. Sigh. Before we went Vanessa and I were having a few drinks at home. Which led to a few shooters. Which led to this:


This one has some Stella in it. The dogs were having a gas with us running around like idiots.

Why yes, we are cool! It's like Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings threw up. You can tell how this is going to end, can't you? Off to the bar, more drinks, falling, having to leave the bar. Yep, I am way too old for these sorts of activities. Anyway...needless to say 'Nessa and I were just a scoach hung over on Sunday. So hung over in fact that I did not make it to my mom's house and take her for dinner. I might actually be the worst daughter in the world. I'm sorry mom! I'll totally make it up to you this weekend. :)

Also, because of the production centre tour I didn't make it to the Fibre Festival. Lavender says it was lovely. Go see the linen she's spinning, very cool!

After my interview with the RCMP yesterday (which went okay I think,) I popped over to a yarn store in the area that I had never been to, Three Bags Full. Nice, lots of stuff I hadn't seen in person before, Blue Sky Alpaca, Kidsilk Haze, Louet Gems, etc. I did pick up a few things, you know to make me feel better about missing the fibre festival. Okay that's what I'm telling myself. Some Lorna's Laces shepherd sport in purple and orange, a couple skeins of Malabrigo, and I think what might be the last two skeins of Sweet Georgia sock yarn in Vancouver. Oh, and a Noro book.

On the Sockapalooza front, I've started my pal's socks. I did end up changing my mind about the pattern about 76 times. I'm just getting to the patterning so I'll take a pici tomorrow when it looks like more. Version 76.a.1 are the Tidal Wave socks. I think the greens will look nice. Okay, that's it, I'm outta here. I got a tonne o' stuff to get done before work tonight. This working afternoons is starting to grind a bit. Have a good day everyone, I'm going to go sit in my yard in the sunshine and knit a bit before I go to work. :)

Wicked, ungrateful, forgetful,

Daft, etc. I totally forgot to show you this:

When I got up yesterday there was a surprise waiting for me. Look what Vanessa got me! How sweet is that. I wore it to work last night. I felt gangsta and knitta, all at the same time! Ta da! Thank you 'Ness. I love it!

Oh! Oh my!

That is the most Canadian thing I say. As a people, when we are shocked/distressed/blown away that is what we say. Oh! (pause, then) Oh my! Pretty hard line, right?

Anyway, I just got an email from the RCMP, they want me to come in for an interview in a week and a half. Wow, I feel a bit sick now. If change is good then this must be a whole new level of good.

Okay, off to work, and the other interview I have today. Rains, pours, blah blah blah.

Thursday, right?

I'm having some difficulties keeping track of time now that I'm on nights. So far the job is great. Last night we got far enough in our training to actually be doing the work. That's when I thought I might be severely learning disabled. I simply could not wrap my brain around all the different bits of information. So, I sucked it up, took a chance and just did what I thought was right. Got back my first 40 bits o' work and no errors! Can I get an amen? Phew, right?

It's really strange to be learning something so very new and different from what I've done for so long. So far though, the place is great and the people are really nice too. I'm very pleased with my situation right now. On Friday we move out of our training room and up to our actual desks and then it go girl go.

One really nice thing, before I go to work I have all this quiet time that I can knit or read or just about anything I want. I get some laundry done, maybe a bit of vacuuming, clean the birds, you know, detail work right? By the time Friday comes all the chores should be done and I can just hang out with my baby and Nessa. All good I tell you.

The downside though, I really miss the amount of time I had with my baby, and everyone else! Hubby has to go to bed pretty much right after he picks me up from work. Saturday and Sunday will become whirlwinds of activity I'm sure. He did the grocery shopping yesterday though so that's one time wasting task out of the way. I guess if we both do all our chores throughout the week we can just relax on the weekends.

I've been playing with the spindolyn and with a drop spindle that hubby had made me years ago. I think I'm sort of getting the hang of it. I hope so, cause I joined the Hello Yarn fiber club! Bahahahaha

Okay, I need to have some lunch and get some knitting done before work. See y'all soon. :)

Oh, one last plus to working nights, I didn't have to watch my Canucks get beaten like an old rug last night! Yikes.

Look! Look! Look!

I got my Spindolyn! I'm so excited. I also got an extra top bit?!?!?!?! for plying. Very excited. It's resting on my Poppy body. The colours aren't quite true there though, it's richer in person, more greeny/brown. I'm quite liking it. Patons SWS for the stripey bits and some Adriafil Valentino for the main body. I think that's what the Adriafil is called, Valentino, I'm afraid I don't have the ball band close at hand.

And now, some Sun Run pictures:

Masses of people

The obligatory pici of the drift of cups at a watering station

One of the bands along the route. Love men in kilts!

It's so cool to see these places that are normally full of traffic with only people. Most excellent!

Keep in mind, I did not get the best picture of the day. Picture it if you will, Sunday morning, about 9:20 am. 54,000 people along Georgia Street. My particular group of purple runners (not quite the slowest but pretty frickin' close) are all bunched up under the Four Seasons Hotel. A nice elderly couple on the 17 or 18th floor are waving at us, we're all waving back. THOUSANDS OF US, that part is important. Then, two floors up, chubby naked man throws open his curtains notices the THOUSANDS of people looking up at the building and almost frantically tries to throw himself back into his room. The whole purple section, all at once "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

It was brilliant. Of course, I didn't have my camera at the ready. Never fails, you always miss those perfect blogging opportunities.

I'm what?

38 you say? Wow, that's flipping amazing. I never thought I'd be that old, not ever! It's okay though, I usually act like I'm 12.

The rain has finally stopped here in the wettest place on earth! We broke all kinds of weather records. Most consecutive days of rain, most rain in the month of March, most muddy dog footprints I've EVER had to clean up in a month, etc, etc.

On Saturday my mom and I met up with Linda and hit the Sewing and Needlework show in Abbotsford. I was virtuous and bought no yarn. Virtuous might be overstating it, nothing really sang out to me. Which is good. However, I should be flogged for forgetting that Saturday was Linda's birthday! Can you imagine? I was her secret pal last year, there is positively no excuse for forgetting something that important. Ridunkulous. I'm so sorry Linda, I hope spending part of your special day with mom and me was at least a little bit fun for you!

There was a book vendor at the show, Copperfield's Books, and they had a tonne of knitting books. Three in particular that I've been wanting.
So they came home with me. The mitten book is a great resource book. I've wanted Charlene Schurch's book forever, but unless they reprint, that isn't going to happen. Her "Hat's On" book is amazing too, but not available at amazon.ca only at amazon.com. I should send a note and see if they will stock it. We are the great white north, we need hat books!

And, while I was at the momma's I finished up two more Dulaan hats. Only 20 more days to enter the Dulaan contest. Let me hear from you!

The Patons SWS is really nice stuff. I also started working on my Noro blanket again, finally. After I farted around with the sewing/quilting you see in the last post. Mom and I got inspired at the show on Saturday and we're both blowing the dust off of our machines. I also picked up enough cotton chenille for a baby blanket for a friend at work so I might just play around with that this afternoon. I'm pretty sure I can sew a baby blanket much faster than I can knit one so I think with all these gals at work having so many babies, that might be the way of the future for me! I'll keep the knitting time for Dulaan and me!

Okay, I'm out. I'm going to go make another cup of coffee and head to the basement for some more sewing.

Wow, is there a class for this?

Man, I have got to get better at taking picis of myself and others. Pictures of yarn and nonmoving objects, not so bad. Anything with a pulse, forget it.

There is the giggle and jiggle

The flashbulb in the mirror.

Tottally off centre

The one where I look like I have a stick up my butt.

The one where I have 7 chins and a weird facial expression.

'Nessa looks good though, such a pretty smile! Needless to say, these are my fruitless attempts so show you my new cardigan. It needs some form of closure in the V-neck area, I'm thinking a length of thin leather to tie if I want it to stay closed.

I really like the sweater, very comfy and the yarn is great after being machine washed and dried flat. Not sure I if I would use the dryer, maybe one day when I'm feeling brave.

In other much more productive notes, Ann is knitting like a mad woman. I think it is the new swift and the ballwinder driving her on. Take a look at this little sweater she made last week. So cute! I've made this pattern for a friend at work and it is a winner. Actually, the cardi above in the incredibly sad photos is from the same designer. I love her patterns. I'm lazy, I don't sew, what can I tell you.

I found a new home for the Denise needles set. Hi Darlene! They are heading east as we speak and I hope she will be very happy with them. I'm going to order my Knitpicks set this weekend and then stalk the mailman for a week or so. He likes that. I still have not found the box with the book prize, but I will, I promise. Some time this week.

I also finished a couple of Flap Caps this week during my odd moments of free time between work and home. One two strand model of sock yarn and DK weight wool like Pat did and one in Patons SWS.

I'm off to do some more work on my long in the works crocheted afghan. I think I should be able to finish it this weekend. Finally. It's only been ongoing for about two years. Sheesh!

What a week

Whew, am I ever glad it's Sunday. I'm hitting the couch with the knitting so hard today you may be able to see the rising dust cloud from where ever you happen to be!

Had the sedond interview on Friday and met the big mucky muck of the operation. It went well. I should hear about that early next week. There are some tremendously big rumblings at work though so we will have to see how all this shakes out over the next week. I need to make some lists and have some meetings. What is expected of me? What is my role? What can I expect from others? Blah blah blah. I'm too old for work drama. I think I might have like it when I was younger but not now. Home & family provide enough drama, work should not be competing for an Oscar on the drama front.

And poor hubby had a tooth extracted on Friday so he is just miserable and swollen and unhappy. I think he might be sick of Chef Boyardee Mini Ravioli too! Bahahaha.

Cats were taken to vets for blood tests and urine tests. They too were very unhappy and very vocal about it.

Tammys were also taken to human vets for yearly checkups and medications fart arounds. I was equally unhappy but much less vocal.

I'm telling you, it's going to be a pretty quiet day at the old homestead. A little rest and recharge before we charge back into the fray tomorrow.

On the knitting front, I'm working on one of my big UFO's. A top down sweater from Knitting Pure and Simple. #241 to be exact. Love their designs. The first sweater I ever knit was from Knitting Pure & Simple. I ran into a little problem though. I was almost finished the first sleeve and tried it on to check the length. Ummm, yeah, the sleeve top was built for Popeye and the forearm was more for Kate Moss. Strangely, I'm somewhere in the middle on that one. So a ripping I did go. Had to frog the whole forearm and go up above the elbow and remove 3 sets of the decreases. Now I'm just going to knit it straight, more like a kimono sleeve.

Then the problem occurs. I don't have enough of this yarn to complete the project because of the wider sleeves. It was a "Oh I have just enough of this yarn in the stash that I bought at Elann 3 years ago!" moment. You know the ones, you've all had them too.

So, stuck between the rock that is the stash diet and the hard place that is the need to get more yarn to finish a year old UFO I hit ebay. Thankfully someone had 3 balls of the exact same dyelot. It was meant to be and I'm not counting it as a slip.

I'm still working on writing up the wee hat pattern. Man, that's work. It is so hard to try to make sure you cover all the questions/issues people will have.

The sock toes have been put on hold. I was really unhappy with the joins on the needles I was using and decided to bite the bullet and order some of the classic circulars from Knitpicks. I'm told the joins are smooth as silk. The website tells me they have been shipped so I should have them next week.

I think that's about all there is to tell from here at Chez Yarn & Dustbunny. Man, I hope that's all I've got. I'm a simple woman and this much stuff in a week is wearing me down. :) Y'all have a good Sunday. If I get the hat pattern done I'll post it up later today.

Oh, and just because it's more fun to have a post with a pici, here's a shot from a couple of summers ago. Stella used to be quite the yarn thief. If the basement door was open she was in there and stealing anything not in a rubbermaid tote. This is me trying to salvage a skeif of sock yarn from Lotusblossom. I eventually just gave up and replaced it, (thankfully she had dyed another lot in the same colour!) there were way too many breaks once Stell was done with it. Up to the left on the fence you can see another skein she got the same day. It too was a writeoff. Aren't dogs great?