Knitter's Frolic

I got up early to go early to the Knitter's Frolic, here in Toronto. I was at the full parking lot at 9 a.m. The doors opened at 9. It was nice to see so many people getting to see all the beautiful yarns and yarns and yarns. And some other things.

As I was walking around, I saw a lady wearing a stunning "Harlequin Dress Coat", designed by Jane Slicer-Smith, and the pattern is available in "Knitter's", Winter 2006 issue.


I tried to convince the lady to go outside in a dark alley with me, but she laughed and immediately said that the coat stays... I had not even told her why I invited her to a duel, duh, how did she know. Well, if I had a coat like that, I would not go with anyone to a dark alley. Smart lady. oh, and the coat was beautiful.

I didn't buy the kit, but bought the magazine, although I highly suspect I already have it, but I could not take a chance not having it, and coming home not finding it. Well, I could have always gone back to the show, since I had the stamp on my hand. If I have another copy, I'll donate it to our knitting guild.

So, my plan is to make this coat with Paton's Grace. I have so much of it. I hoarded the yarn when I was in my cotton crochet/knit kick. Aren't I always? Right now it's size 10 or 5 cotton thread kick. Oh, dear me, I am so bad.

I bought 100% cotton yarn, "Londra 3" in variegated turquoise going to light blue. It's Egyptian cotton, made in Italy. I was sure I could use the yarn for my Harlequin coat, but it's thinner than Patons Grace. Oh, well, Londra can be used for something else. I am sure I can think of something next year. I still have yarn untouched that I bought in CGOA 2006 Chain Link in Valley Forge. TSK TSK.

Now that the tax return is safely with the accountant, I can sit back and relax, and start thinking of the finishing for the free pattern I started about a month ago. I am so profoundly sorry that I have left it hanging there, unfinished....BUT (why is there always a "but"?) I am a fickle individual when it comes to my knitting and crocheting. Like right now, I am soooo tempted to start the Harlequin coat, without finishing the vest I am making right now. The vest that is taking all my free time, and my time from blogging. That vest should be finished fairly soon, unless I start drooling on something else. Ok, I will not think of the other thing I need to do within two weeks. Paisleys, ouch. I am in a paisley exchange challenge again, and we are making three paisleys for each member in the group who is participating. that means I need to make 12. I was going to say 15, but I don't have to make any for myself. I made two already, that were test pieces.

And, furthermore, I bought a top for the summer, but it's very open, I am shy, so I decided to crochet something around the neckline. I started already, but put it aside, because of the vest.f that vest isn't done soon, I am going to scream.

Oops, I forgot the 2007 Crochet Calendar, half price. Today must be a forget-things day. I also bought a teeshirt, with this logo on:

It's an oversized tee shirt, and feels great. I am sure I will wear it every time I go yarn shopping. And the best of all, it was just ten bucks, mas o menos.

That's it for my shopping. I am sure I remembered everything now.

And a ball of velvet South Maid crochet thread. That's it. I promise.

I guess I have not mentioned the www.crochetinsider.com that has some of my stuff also displayed.

Oh, and www.intff.org has my element scrumbles also. That site might be busy, I could not get in, but do try again.

MeMe Quirks

Here is another thing for meme that I found in Janet's blog:

1. What are your initials? PHV

2. What is your favorite thing to wear? Jeans and tee.

3. Last thing you ate? Birthday cake last night, I haven't had breakfast yet.

4. Nastiest thing you've ever eaten? Sand

5. I say Shotgun, you say? "Whatever"

6. Last person you hugged? My son's BIL's girlfriend, she was the last to hug at the birhtday party.

7. How many U.S states have you been to? 16.

8. What state did you dislike the most? None, because they all had something interesting to offer.

9. How many of the U.S states have you lived in? none, if not counting hotel stays for a week or two.

10. Does anyone you know wanna date you? Why would they? I'm not available.

11. Name something you like physically about yourself. The color of my eyes, green.

12. What is your favorite romance movie? Sleepless in Seattle.

13. Who is your best friend? Betty.

14. Why are you still up? It’s only 10:20 a.m. and besides, I'm not up, I'm sitting.

15. Who/What made you angry today? Couldn't find the lid for my travel mug. I've only been up for less than an hour. I still have time to get angry, trust me.

16. Favorite type of Food? Italian

17. Favorite holidays: No favorites here.

18. Do you download music? nope

19. Do you care if your socks are dirty? eeeeew

20. What age did you start noticing the opposite sex? I think around 7, I was madly in love with a boy who had beautiful dark hair, and he was very shy. I can't remember why I liked him.

21. Have you ever cheated on a test? Yes, once, and had to go to the teachers room to get the notes back from my notebook. My girlfriend was supposed to watch the door, but she disappeared. I got the notes and was mortified when I realized she was gone. Our friendship wasn't the same since then. We were about 14 at that time. I got 70 from that test, but it didn't feel too good, so that was it for my cheating career.

22. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally? Yes, when I asked for it, LOL.

23. Do you love anyone? Yes.

24. Do you like Bush? N/A

25. Have you ever bungee jumped? No.

26. Have you ever gone white-water rafting? Almost, but that's not good enough, so "no".

27. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you? Yes.

28. How much money ya got in ya pocket? Had to go and check, there was a .25 cent coin.

29. Have you met a real redneck? Does a red birthmark on the neck count? Yes.

30. How is the weather right now? Looks cloudy and gloomy.

31. What are you listening to right now? Ringing in my ears, CSI NY people on telly.

32. What is your current favorite song? When I hear a nice song, it's my favorite at that moment, right now I don't hear any music, other than commercial background music on telly, and that doesn't count.

33. What was the last movie you watched? Ghost.

34. Do you wear contacts? no.

35. Where was the last place you went besides your house? My son's in-laws.

36. What are you afraid of? illness.

37. How many piercings have you had? Four.

38. How many pets do you have? None right now.

39. What's one thing you've learned? Don't worry about the small stuff.

40. What do you usually order from Starbucks? Nothing, I go to Tim Hortons and order medium black coffee (and an apple fritter sometimes).That is Tim Horton Chirldren's Foundation bus that we took yesterday to go yarn shopping.

41. What's your favorite book? The Artist's Way

42. Have you ever fired a gun? BeeBee rifle counts? then yes

43. Are you missing someone? Yes

44. Fav. TV show? Should be shows: House, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, all CSI's, Without a Trace, Criminal Minds, ... give me a tv guide, and I will list more.

45. Do you have an iPod? No

46. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celeb? Yes, but I ignored it

47. If you had a daughter, what would you name her? I would have named her Ariella but I had a boy.

48. Who would you like to see right now? My sister-in-law, Adriana.

49. Favorite movie of all time? Scent of a Woman

50. Do you find yourself loved? yes

51. Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't supposed to? Yes.

52. Favorite flower? Lily of the Valley.

53. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn? butter.

54. What Magazines are you reading? Knitting and Crochet magazines.

55. Have you ever ridden in a limo? Does airport Limo Count. I sat in a limo that was supposedly owned by Elvis, or was it just a fancy car, I don't remember.

56. Has anyone you were really close to passed away recently? no

57. Have you ever been on stage? At school, yes.

58. What's something that really bugs you? Someone in our office clears her throat constantly, and I think she does it to bug the rest of us. She's been told off about it, but the clearing continues...ggggrrrr

59. Do you prefer scary movies or comedies? I don't like any type scary movies.

60. Do you like Michael Jackson? Not really, his music doesn't do it for me. Him, personally, I never met the guy, so I can't say.

61. What's your favorite smell? Gardenia

62. Favorite baseball team? Blue Jays, of course

63. Favorite cereal? Oatmeal

64. Have you ever milked a cow? Yes, once or twice.

65. What's the longest time you've gone without sleep? Almost 2 days.

66. Last time you went bowling? Never.

67. Where is the weirdest place you have slept? In a row boat.

68. Have you ever cut your own hair? Yes.

69. Last time you were at work? Friday, it's Sunday now.

70. What is the closest orange object to you? The coaster under my coffee mug. It's done in Tunisian crochet, and is about 10 inches away.

THE END.

OOOOPS!

Where did the week go? What happened on the weekend? I was supposed to finish the free pattern, and I didn't. I am so sorry, but life got in the way.

I have not read any of my books, I have not written any morning or evening pages, I have just worked on the little round thingies, and other stuff, which I don't need to mention here.

It has been busy at work, and this week we have auditors checking our records. So far they have not bothered me, only my assistant, and other departments. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Guess what, I have not even read my e-mails. I peek in the morning and that's about the size of it. (cliche?)

For some reason I wanted to see what type of a person I am, and tested this one and my type appears to be ISFP. The test has 72 questions, and took about 15 minutes. Interesting stuff indeed.

Butterflies

This is what I made last night, instead of knitting my sock.

The pattern was in a Finnish blog.

Thanks, Orvokki! (The pattern is in Finnish)

When I was looking for the thread to make my butterflies, I found some circles that I had intended to use to make a grape creation. Of course I had to make some more with my other threads.

Well, the grape creation might have been just a whimsical idea, because now I have another whimsical idea for the circles. What is it? a purse, or something.

The persons who are following my free pattern, you will get the rest around this coming weekend. I just needed a break from my pattern writing skills. I had to recharge the flow, but the instructions will be there soon.

It's not snow

It's rain. The temperature was 4° C this morning on my way to work. The air was dreary, and drizzling rain kept my windshield wipers busy. The bright break lights of the cars in front of me kept me focused and I didn't notice how slow the traffic really was.

Raindrops kept falling. The morning pictures look sad, but there is hope for a nice weather, after the snow we are expecting in a day or two.

Below is a picture of a "button" I saw on the ground, in Canterbury. The stairs should show how many steps I had to take to get down and up. Poor me! The deer is so cute and she is there to say hello to all of us.

Tree stumps

Here are some tree stump pictures from Canterbury Hills. The third one is a picture of the creek that runs happily in the valley.

We had a big meeting in the office, not for staff but for some "important people" (tsk). They had lunch and the staff was able to have leftovers for lunch. Fortunately the sandwiches were very tasty. I had a turkey sandwich and a salmon sandwich. Too much, but nobody wanted half of my salmon so I ate it.

What is in "Simple Abundance" today? It's about our imaginary selves. Did I ever imagine that I was somebody else. I don't recall this happening in my imagination. I don't think that anyone else would be as wonderful as I am. Ha ha. Wonderful? I meant miserable, at least sometimes, like this morning. The more I read that paragraph, the more sure I am that I never wanted to be anyone else. I wanted to be somewhere else, I wanted to do things differently, but being myself. I don't want to imagine being a famous movie star, because that type life would not bring me happiness. I would like to live on an island, have a small cottage type house and lots of yarn, a road thru the woods, and some mountains and lots of trees and rocks. The island needs to be fairly big for all that. Of course I would need Internet, so I could write these silly thoughts in my blog.

These pictures show just a little bit of my dream. The place isn't an island, but there is water and there are rocks and trees, and a boat to travel. What's missing? The mountain, but I could get that delivered? The sun was hiding, but it was there, so not to worry.

First sock this year

Here it is. I made a sock. and started the partner for it. I was going to be brave and do the grafted toe. I tried three times.

It's now done with a pull-yarn-thru method, hah. Oh, and also,

I had to frog a little bit, because I made the foot part too short.

You have to understand, I tried to get the toe area in one color. No such luck. Oh, well, the whole sock is striped anyway. I am going to knit the other sock fast, just to see the color changes.

Socks, Really?

I have told my friends, my crochet and knit buddies that I will not make more socks. I told anyone who would listen, and anyone who really didn't care to listen but had no meaningful excuse to escape from my blabbing about not-making socks whining. I made four pairs last year, and that would have been my limit.
The color is faded in the picture, because I scanned the sock.


Some time ago a friend of mine sent a ball of "Fortissima Colori" Socka Colori yarn. I have been looking at it, feeling the yarn, and letting my imagination fly trying to decide what to make with the yarn. I don't wear scarves, so that would be out of a question. I'm not too fond of socks neither, but sometimes I need them, when I wear running shoes or boots. I do wear a pair that I got from the same friend, who sent the yarn; she had knitted them and I am so happy that they are a perfect fit and not too hot. She had used Regia Silk sock yarn, and boy, do I feel the softness and luxury of the yarn. Those are the socks I am wearing in the picture.

I was knitting away, at the retreat on the weekend, another "sweater- jacket- don't know what" project, and I got bored with it. I crocheted a little bit, and managed to create a scrumble, but I don't have a picture of it. I also took a class, again at the retreat, about grafting the toe part for a sock. Well, that's it. I was casted on (is that a word?) as in hooked, but since I decided to knit the socks, there isn't a hook to be hooked on. Maybe I could say that I was needled on. OFPS.

The yarn changes colors in wide stripes, as you can see. The light blue at the bottom is the heel part, and now starts the easy part, decreasing on the side and then knit away until the toe part. I want to finish this sock today. I will most definitely knit the other sock starting with another color, just to make the socks different from each other, I am a rebel.

Back from Retreat

There I walked and admired the early spring beauty. Those stairs took you down to another set of steps that led to the creek below.

Some of our local crocheters and knitters got together for the weekend in Canterbury Hills, Ontario. We had a fabulous time. We crocheted, knitted, cross stitched, and one young lady was even spinning and making her own yarn. We ate and chatted and had truly a fantastic time.

I made a square with crochet thread and painted a woman, deep in thoughts, with watercolor crayons, started knitting a sock, crocheted a freeform scrumble, and knitted something a little bit. I also wrote my morning pages on Saturday morning, but Sunday morning pages are done with invisible ink. At least I can't find anything on the paper. Well, I might write something tonight. I like planning things, but doing something about them is another story.

Right now I am going to just take it easy and relax.