She's Away on Holiday!

Now that I have had the taste of another yarn shop, I decided to go even further. I am off to visit Sealed With A Kiss in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Of course, the visit will be made all the more wonderful by the fact that our son and DIL live in Norman, OK.

I'll be back on June 14th or so! I will visit blogs while I am gone, but no posting! First holiday with J in 15 years! We travelled so much while he was in the Canadian Military Service that it is difficult to go away much now! I hope to change that with a son in Oklahoma and a daughter soon to be in Germany!

Just think how many yarn shops I can visit.

Time to Re-think projects!

After my brain was rested, I thought about my Fleece Artist sock yarn purchases. I like my socks on the long side and wear a size 10 shoe. I just don't think that 325m of yarn is going to work, unless I buy a solid to coordinate for the heel and toe! One idea I had for one of the skeins was to make a Branching Out scarf! This is a pattern from Susan Pierce of I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can!



This is a photo of my first BO scarf done in a wonderful Merino! I went on to knit one in a beautiful red for a fun contest on our local radio station! It is a great pattern and so much easier the second time around. I used 'lifelines' when knitting and this was my first application of this trick. A 'lifeline' in knitting lace, for me anyway, is necessary, if I am to keep all my hair on my head!!The felted 'bucket' beside it was made from my stash of Briggs and Little yarn and I used the method that Susan used for Nantasket Basket!

The contest was run by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) on their Saturday morning show. Cheryl McKay, who is the MC, learned to knit this spring when CBC was on strike. Why not turn a pig's ear into a scarf - or something like that. She did a complete Saturday morning show on knitting! From this show, the idea for a scarf exchange arose and took off! If you would like to read about the contest, go to http://www.cbc.ca/nxnw/knitting.html and the second scarf from the bottom in the second photo down is my scarf, I think. They thought they might get 50, but it was near 400 before all the fibers settled down and the air was clear. They plan to run another contest this fall/winter. I will enter again.

Here is a photo of the beautiful mobieus scarf that came to live with me from the scarf exchange. It is knit from a tubular variegated cotton and the gal even crocheted a flower and put it on a beautiful clasp and I can wear it on the scarf or on a jacket without the scarf. As I have 'power surges' at my age, the wearing of turtle neck sweaters is out for now! So scarves are great - easily removed until a cool breeze comes and makes live easier. I asked someone when hot flushes/flashes stopped and when she said that her Aunt was 80 and still having the odd one, I quickly grabbed a chilled wine and dwealt on something else! The scarf is much more beautiful in real life and very versatile!


You know, now that I think of it again, a mobeius scarf with one skein and a BO scarf with the other might just be perfect!!

Sometimes we buy yarn for a project, sometimes we buy yarn because we love it and sometimes we change our mind on the project! This all sounds quite logical to me and I have been known to buy yarn for a project, start the project, rethink and then use it for another project! Does the yarn mind? I think NOT!

I Found Myself in Knitters' Heaven!!

I got back from Victoria with my daughter late this afternoon. It was such a wonderful time spent with her in a city that she knows so well. She went to University there and also lived there for a few years before she moved away with her DH! I wish we had taken more time to just be together in the years she has lived here, but no point in dwelling on the past. She is one wonderful woman, and everything was her treat to me. This was my Mother's Day and birthday gift combined!

The weather was changeable, but that does not stop a shopper. One of the first stops was to the Beehive Wool Shop and it was wonderful. Unfortunately, the first clerk I dealt with was not experienced, she was helpful, but then we all have to start somewhere. I went with a few patterns in mind, and I have one comment about patterns! If a pattern is written for a specific yarn, I wish the yardage of the yarn per ball or skein were included. It is difficult to substitute when
(1) you are not sure of the yardage of the skeins mentioned,
(2) you have to substitute, as the yarn shop does not carry the particular yarn mentioned in the pattern,
(3) I don't mind buying an extra ball, but sometimes you do not get to complete the project right away and then you cannot get the same dye lot
(4) at the cost of yarn, I hate to buy several extra balls!

Perhaps all of these comments are just me, but I sure would like to see yardage mentioned on skeins or balls!

I got to see and feel the Silk and Seaweed yarn that Fleece Artist carries, and I need to save my pennies for some of that. The colours are just beautiful and the feel is fantastic. I can see a nice shawl, wrap or scarf!

I had my heart set on getting some Fleece Artist, and below are my purchases. I plan to make a Flower Basket Shawl from the Silk Stream ($45.00 a skein)- I know, it will be #3, but I love the pattern and the yarn reminds me of pansies! This will be a project to remind me of my daughter's and my visit to Victoria before she moves to Germany for four years.



It is Silk Stream by Fleece Artist which is 50% Wool, 30% Silk and 20% Nylon. Each 250g skein holds approximately 600m!!

Then, since it is the Summer of the Sock for me, I bought two skeins of Merino Wool by Fleece Artist, and a 115g skein holds 325m. These cost $22.00 C each, so I did not think that was too expensive. Some special socks will be knit with it and the second picture is of Jawoll Superwash and I have it sitting beside the Best of Show Socks in Socks, Socks, Socks!










I will write more in another post of sharing time with my daughter! But I want to include a photo of me with the Yarn Swift that J made for me and me balling my Silk Stream Yarn. As I write this blog, J is balling up the sock yarn. Now you know why I have been married to him for almost 46 years. He is a real keeper!!

Away for a few days!

I will be away for a few days with our daughter in Victoria, BC.

Our daughter gave me a gift for both Mother's Day and my birthday in July of a trip to Victoria - just the two of us. We leave tomorrow morning and return Thursday evening. Not much time I know, but we are both very busy.

Our daughter has lived here with her hubby and two girls for almost 15 years, but the service, of which her DH is a member, has posted them to Guilenkirchen, Germany! We are thrilled for them. The girls are 16 and 13, so it is a perfect time to go and they will have a great education (A NATO school that they will be bussed to daily) and the best education of all is living in Europe with so many different cultures and so much history. They are within a few hours drive of both Belgium and Holland! The only draw back is that we are not going - but we will visit! I think I could find the odd yarn shop or two in Germany to visit and buy some wonderful yarns.

Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Victoria. I plan to pay a visit to Beehive Wool Shop and am most interested in the Fleece Artist yarns. Also, I want to know them and get them to know me - gasoline is expensive here and so mail order, which Beehive does, is the answer for me and my yarn desires.

Michele is our only daughter and is 42. She is a lab technician with a BSc in microbiology and a wonderful human being. I know many of you are not even that old, but I am a young 66!! Age is really a state of mind and I feel young and cannot believe that we have a son 45 and a daughter 42.

We will probably eat out a few times, visit Chinatown, visit the Imax and just hang out together. They leave on June 30th, so I have been slowly adjusting to their moving - not easy, but I am up for the challenge of just my J and me and our children in Europe and Oklahoma. We are off to Oklahoma next week to visit our son and DIL. They could have been posted to some rather uninspiring places - but we are lucky. Both places have great yarn and great children!!
I'll be back on line on Friday for a few days. So don't think I have deserted you. Oh yes I ordered some wonderful yarn from "I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can". The colourway I was lucky enough to get is Tourmaline and I think I will try the P-word socks! I have included a beautiful scarf from Susan - Mountain Stream and also a Nantasket Basket - both of these patterns she designed and I knit!





While I am away, I leave you with this eagle nesting site to visit. http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/

Some Knitting!


I finished up my CeCe sweater and it is blocked and ready to go on a holiday! It is a 'crinkly' (Sh!) acrylic with rayon and it does not block smoothly! I was nervous about blocking it too severely and I am happy with the results! If I were to do it again, I would probably make it a size smaller, but I do not like things tight. I am sitting in a wooden chair made by my Dad, with my mug of tea and CeCe. This is the chair I use when we have great weather like we are having now and I knit and listen to music or books on tape. That is our Cairn Terrier, Tibbie, in the background and one of my favourite hostas beside me!



I also finished the Eleanora socks. You can see that there is a colour difference at the very end of the toe. I could have frogged back the leg of the first sock and made it a bit shorter - there was no way I wanted to make the foot shorter! Anyway, I do not like to frog good knitting, so since I never wear open toed shoes when I wear socks, this is perfectly acceptable to me.


The 'tiny' socks were knit by my grandmother for my doll! I have cherished them for all these years. My grandmother, who taught me how to knit, would be 142, if she were alive! She was a patient lady and could be a bit stern. When I was younger, I wondered if she really loved me, but when I look at those beautiful little socks, I know she loved me. Who would take the time to fiddle with such tiny socks for a child - only someone who really loved the child! After checking her birthdate, I realize that my grandmother died when I was 5, so she must have taught me to knit when I was about 4 or 5! What a lucky little girl!










The baby sweater with the 'daisy' buttons is for charity! It is a washable cotton and hopefully it will be just the ticket for some small child! I am currently knitting the little "Star" hat from Susan!

I just finished making a "Victoria Sponge". In Canada, the weekend closest to May 24th is always a long weekend and it is known as Victoria Day Weekend. Queen Victoria was a rather stern lady, but one of our longest reigning monarchs. The term, "I am not amused!" has been attributed to her! You may a simple sponge cake, slice it in two across the diameter, fill it with jam or, as I did today a pastry cream, plop the top back on and serve it with whipped cream, fresh fruit or ice cream. Ours will be accompanied with fresh mango! Ribs are on the BBQ, rice and beets in the oven and fresh asparagus soon to be roasted. Do you think she might be even slightly amused by this meal to be shared with the family?

My pictures are large, and we had quite a time getting this post set up! Any suggestions? Blogging is not for the feint of heart!

I Once Was A Hooker With A Stripper!

That little statement could make a few eyes roll! I used to hook mats with strips of fabric or yarn and when I used the wool fabric, I had a stripper to make the strips in varying widths!

Since yarn and knitting needles have come back into my life with a fury, the rug hooking frame is stored away with a dust cover thrown over it and the stripper sits idly by - dejected, but ready whenever the urge to hook comes back. I have no doubt I will hook mats again, but for now the needles have won my interest!

The mat I have included here is actually a wall hanging! The yarn in it is red and black eyelash yarn for the hair on Bertha and Beulah in the centre of the mat. The remainder is mostly from recycled old skirts/shirts and pants! The story of Beulah and Bertha started back when I first found out I had breast cancer. No matter the problem you are dealing with, about 2:30 am you are wide awake and alone in the dark with your thoughts. These 'voices' would tell me that I was not going to make it; the doctors and nurses were sugar coating the outcome; I was not as lucky as I thought; the lab results had been mixed up and perhaps I did NOT have cancer; or perhaps the results were worse than I could imagine. These thoughts do not make for a restful sleep and I found it hard to put on a 'happy face' in the morning. My one goal, once I found out I had breast cancer, was to try to make this journey as easy as I possibly could for my family! How could I tell them about all my doubts and these 'voices'. I thought of these voices as belonging to two hateful and ugly women or witches. I gave them two names that I do not care for - Bertha and Beulah! My apologies to all the Berthas and Beulahs of the world.

The mornings that I was tired from Bertha's and Beulah's ranting at me, I would tell J (my DH) that Bertha and Beulah had visited last night and it made it easier for me to deal with it all! After a time, Bertha and Beulah did not hold sway over me as much; after all weeks, then months passed and I was stronger and healthier than I would have dreamed before B&B started coming in the night! About a year ago, when I had now lived without (I pray) breast cancer, I thought more about B and B and decided that they were really my guardian angels, but they were so new on the job that they did not quite know how to handle this gal with determination who would doubt their 'wisdom'! I had always thought of them in shades of grey, beige and taupe. So, the two gals on the outside edges of the mat are B and B when they first found me and the two in the middle are them after a day of having their hair and make up done and then a visit to $1.00 day at Sally Ann! They look so much better and now we get along very well and I talk to them once and awhile about helping others who are going through a bad patch - use sweet words - they help more than bitter words!!

For those of you who do not know about $1.00 day at Sally Ann, here is the story. I am sure all of you have heard of the Salvation Army and the fact that they help folk throughout the world when they have fallen on hard times. Well Sally Ann, as we affectionately call them, also run thrift shops and if you are looking for cheap woolen garments, or even wool and (SHHH!) acrylic yarn, they are a great source and the money you spend is paid forward to help others! I have bought yarn there for my charity knitting and you often can get some pure wool yarns! The shawl I am wearing in the photo of me by my profile was knitted with a huge ball of a crinkle cotton - probably for crocheting - and it cost me the princely sum of $3.00! I used the Flower Basket Pattern for the first time and I often wear the shawl as I knit! Many of the wool in the Bertha and Beulah go to Dollar Day at Sally Ann! mat I dyed myself. I love to do variegated dyeing for mats, as it gives beautiful effects!

A mat like this is a way of working through problems. There are knitting projects that are the same. The 'thrup' sound of the hook pulling the wool through the backing, or the rhythmic clicking or the needles is good for our souls! I have a few more mats that I did for this reason, but they will appear later in the blog!

I have been cancer free for nine years! I can hardly believe it myself. I tried on CeCe this morning and she fits fine, but is perhaps a little large in the bust! Do I need to frog her - No, NO, NNOO!! I can just insert larger tit bits into a larger bra! To some of you that may sound flippant, but you have to laugh about being breastless or you might just cry! As I always say when someone comments about my body shape is that I was in a war and wars create battle scars!! The fact that I am alive and sitting here is far more important than a few scars!

I did not start to write today's blog with so much philosophy, but sometimes I need to work through it again. If you know someone who is a cancer survivor and they get a little philosophical, it may be because someone with their type of cancer has just died and it makes one think - "How did I get so lucky?"

A Second Sock

Why do we find the second sock a problem sometimes? I have thought of knitting two at a time with the ? loop method, but I really enjoy knitting socks on 4 to 5 dpns from the top down. Perhaps this is because I was taught this way and knitted socks that way for over 45 years! It is relaxing and I am not in a hurry to end the process. I don't think there is only one hand knitted sock made by me around anywhere, except for a pair I knit for a boyfriend in 1958 and I broke up with him before I knit the second sock. No loss on the boyfriend and so no loss on the sock!! It was a Fair Isle sock in a deep blue with white snowflakes! All I can remember was that his name was Paul and he was tall with large feet! I did marry a tall man with large feet (NOT Paul), but for him the extra knitting is no problem! However, I do not knit him sweaters anymore, as he is just too warm to ever want to wear them!

Anyway, I completed the first sock of Eleanora - it has a different colour toe for the last four rows, but I remember that when I did the provisional cast on it did not work at first, and so I tossed (a good lesson learned - I will hang on to every scrap of yarn - even if it is only 3 inches long - until a project is complete) that bit of yarn! Foolish woman, what was I thinking! Let's be honest, I was not thinking! Anyway, I am hoping that when this second sock is complete that there will be enough left over yarn from the second ball to go back and knit the first toe in the original colour! Sometimes lessons in life are more costly than this one, but the lessons hard learned are never forgotten - well almost never forgotten!

When I knit socks, I usually cast on the second one immediately the first one is completed, but this time something got in the way, so Eleanora number 2 has been waiting. If the original Eleanora de Toledo were alive, she would not be amused. I read a few things on her, and she was not a lady you would want to cross! With all the Eleanora socks being knit just now, she may be busy enjoying them and not notice that #2 is not moving along as quickly as #1!!



CeCe - Here she is pre-blocking and with her button just sitting there waiting to be sewn on. Knitting lace is a lot like trying to make a silk purse or shawl or sweater out of a pile of noodles! Lace can be very discouraging pre-blocking! All lace patterns should come with this warning! It will look 200 times better once you carefully block it!

CeCe is now drying and I will include a photo of her in her glory in the next blog! She is off to Oklahoma City in about two weeks. It is very warm there, as any of you who live in the South could tell me, but my DIL said that sometimes in stores and restaurants the air conditioning is very cool, so this little sweater will cover the top of the bare arms! She will get to go to many a shop while on her first trip away!

Have you ever read in bed while your sweety was sleeping beside you. If you have not read Yarn Harlot's second book, please buy it, borrow it or get it from the library. As he lay sleeping last night, I was reading about her adventures with the fleece and yarn stealing grey squirrel in her back yard, and I was shaking all over and trying not to laugh out loud, it is just too funny!! She certainly has a sense of humour and I love some of her little sayings, such as, "Pay cash and don't leave a paper trail!"

I am off on a day trip tomorrow for about four hours of wonderful knitting time. Eleanora should move along and I have taken a wee baby hat from Susan's pattern just in case Eleanora gets difficult to knit and my hands need a break!We are off to see some vineyards on the southern end of Vancouver Island. Might bring home a bottle to enjoy with tomorrow's dinner! Also a nice bottle to toast Queen Victoria's birthday, which we celebrate here in Canada this coming Monday! Here's to you, Victoria! Another lady who is not easily amused! What is it with these royal personages?

Sunshine and Flowers!





We are enjoying a few days of very summer-like weather. I have been taking CeCe outside and she is enjoying the fresh air! I need her completed by the 30th of May, and have only a bit more knitting! I have enjoyed the pattern, but with lace that needs decreasing at four arms/fronts/back seams, it makes for a funny bit of the pattern at the seams! If, I were to knit this pattern again, I might do it in a different lace pattern just to avoid this 'funny' bit at the seams. I will get a photo for the next post!

This is our beautiful white tree peony and the later purchased magenta! You can see it takes a few years for it to become a "tree". I enjoy them so much and it is a good lesson to me for knitting. I would have more tree peonies, but they just seemed so pricey and I only have two of them! Sometimes I see a beautiful yarn and I think darn but that is pricey! Now I am going to remember that if I love it, I will buy it. Sometimes these 'pricey' things bring so much pleasure and who worries about what it cost further down the road!

I went to the Fleece Artist web yesterday and they have a yarn of silk and seaweed! Got to have me some! This little business is about 20 mins. drive from where I grew up in NS. I am not sure if they have mail order, but I emailed them to check on it. They have their yarn in a shop three hours drive from me, but with the cost of gasoline these days, the cost of mailing seems to be so much cheaper. Also, if I get it direct from the manufacturer, I have a chance of getting what I want. If after a 3 hr. drive, they just don't have what I want, I would be sad and frustrated! The different colourways that are available are so beautiful, and I just want some in my stash. I am embarking on the Summer of the Sock, so I do need some more sock yarn.

I got Yarn Harlot's second book yesterday and the first story was about knitting a HUMUNGOUS (?sp) afghan for her brother and his wife for their wedding! She finished the story about their happy faces when they opened her gift of a punch bowl! I love her blog, her sense of humour and her beautiful work. It really makes me feel that I am not the only person who works diligently with hope and assurance that the project will be perfect, only to find that it all needed to be frogged or sent off to some dear soul to finish the project or NOT!!

I knitted a dress - a shirtwaist style - in a crinkle rose colour; about 30 years ago, so I forget the yarn content. Anyway, the bottom of the dress, sleeves, button plackets and collar were all in seed stitch and the rest was stockinette! I did not knit stockinette for a few years after this fiasco! Anyway, the dress fit fine, but about an hour after wearing it, it was at least two inches longer!! After a few more hours, it was mid calf and then it was toast! You know, I was so sick of that yarn that I didn't even frog it. It sat in the cupboard for a few years and then was off to charity. I learned a lot from the project - do NOT, under any circumstance, knit another dress!!! I was so naive in those days and I did not knit a gauge! I don't think that would have helped at all with the 'growing' dress! So after reading Yarn Harlot's book, I felt that I was not alone in having high expectations of a HUMUNGOUS project, only to pass it on and chalk it all up to experience. After all, I am trying to learn that it is all about the process!

I guess my post today is about getting the things you love when you can, as they will bring such pleasure down the road. When I am having trouble deciding whether to get something, I think about how it will affect my life in five years time. If I know I will be happy with that beautiful silk/seaweed in five years, it comes home to live with me!! Oh dear, maybe I am starting to create a stash. However, Margene, I only have four balls of sock yarn in waiting!

I Love Flower Basket Shawl!

My Flower Basket Shawl can be found sniffing the rhododendron (it has a beautiful clean citrus smell) and then it moved over to a viburnum! These photos are so much better than the one for the previous post! The sun certainly helps!

This is the second shawl from this pattern and now I have the pattern down pat and I want to knit one or two more! I do not pull out the points quite as much as I have seen on other blog pics, but I like it less sharp! The first shawl was done with two strands of a coral crochet cotton and this one was done from Grignasco Merinogold! Oh, the merino was such a joy to knit with. Soft and beautiful and it did not split! I have seen some beautiful Trekking sock yarn and I want to knit the shawl in a sock weight yarn! Will I need two strands or one - I will try it first! I do wear the coral shawl a lot, but the beautiful Robin's egg blue shawl is going to a charity auction! I need to give it a home until October, so I had better get busy on the next one or I might be tempted to wear this shawl!!


Thank you to the gals who took the time to have a look at my blog! I hope it all gets better, not only for my sake, but especially for yours!

Every Monday for the past 20 or more years, I have sent a weekly update of news, views and general ramblings to family and friends. You would think that I would have chatting in type down to a fine art. I know who I am writing to in the update, but not on the blog! It does make a difference. Maybe the blog is more freeing, maybe not!

When I first started the updates, I had five people - my Mom, my MIL and my two children and my best friend - that I wrote to each week! Since the computer became part of my life, the updates have spread to more friends and family! I still mail out seven letters a week - some 80 year old cousins are just NOT going to get a computer! Now I find myself in the questionable position of being the top generation of the family - no parents, aunts or uncles to look up to! It scares me to think that I have family looking up to me. I have not told any of them about the blog! Maybe in time! Why don't I tell them? I am not sure and just now I am not going to analyze that too closely!

On my needles just now I have CeCe - a lacy short sleeved sweater; Eleanora - a beautiful sock that I bought from Mim (I will link her site once I learn how to do that!!) a moebius scarf and a baby hat! This scares me!

How do you feel about four projects on the go at the same time? Now some are for mindless knitting - the kind where you just knit and enjoy the process!! The sweater is up past the addition of the sleeves and I need to finish it by May 30th. I have learned so much knitting with the new yarns. The yarn for CeCe is (Shh) acrylic and rayon in a greyed taupe! I tried knitting the sleeves on a set of 4.5 mm steel dpns and the needles were just too heavy - kept slipping out of the work! I had to buy a pair of bamboo needles and then the work went along with no slipping!

My mother would be 106 if she were alive and I am sure she never had more than 15 pair of needles in her life! How did she do it? Of course, yarns have changed a lot since then. She would mostly have knit with pure wool! Dozens of pairs of men's work socks in grey with cream or red stripes at the top and the legs all in a 2X2 rib and mittens in the same grey wool! She would often knit new heels and toes! I learned to knit from my grandmother and I have thought as I knit with pattern striping yarns, got patterns off the internet, shopped at stores on line and read blogs that these two good women would be amazed and I hope they would take to it like I have! To look at a wonderful pair of hands on a video teach me how to M1 or a multitude of other skills would blow these ladies away!!

Enough rambling for today!

What Would You Do?

I have a few problems on my plate at the moment.

1) How to put images of the Olympic medal and also the Six-Sox-Knitalong as a sidebar. We have had help from two kind bloggers, but so far no luck!
2) This is my Eleanora Sock in the photo. You can see that the little pile of wool by the needles is not enough to finish the foot - I wear a size 10 shoe! I am planning to use the brown yarn in the left of the photo for the toe. The reason for this is that I paid about $6.00 for the pattern and for two balls of Regia Silk, I had to pay $22.98! Now, if I were to buy another ball of Regia Silk at $11.49, these socks would cost me $40.47 pattern included!! I never wear socks in open toed shoes - my thought is to use the brown wool blend and have a $28.98 pair of socks!
3) I also need to buy another ball of Merino wool to finish a shawl, but this is only $7.49 a ball, and as it is for charity, I will go for another ball!

In time we will figure out how to put things in the sidebar! When we got a photo of me beside my profile, I am sure the neighbours could hear the shouts of joy. Now how did we get the same photo at the bottom of the blog?! We need a 12 year-old child here to help us with lots of hands on computer time!!

I have wanted a blog for sometime. I keep wondering if I am creating a monster for myself, but like everything else in life, if it isn't working for me, I will move on to something else.

I have been a lurker for so long and am tired of reading strange letters at the bottom of blogs so that I can publish my comments, that the time seemed right to start!

I was always an owner of too many UFOs and when I hooked rugs, I vowed that I would not start a new rug until the current rug were completed. This vow does not seem to carry over to knitting. I currently have four projects on the needles! I have worried that my 'mojo' might quit before I get these projects completed - life is too short for such worrying! I will work at them in my own time and eventually they will be done or frogged!!

Now I need to figure out with DHs help how to post pictures, set up links, etc. I am sure some of you were just like this at the start, so I will persevere and take it one post at a time!