The Space Between

We had a short but sharp earthquake last night, 4.3 magnitude, with an epicentre somewhere near Sidney on Vancouver Island. Both of us were still awake at the time and reading in bed. It felt like someone shook the bed really hard back and forth. You could hear the dishes in the kitchen rattling around. A couple of plates tipped over but didn't break. It was totally scary! I know that folks in LA or Tokyo would laugh but I couldn't go to sleep for another two hours. That was the worst one I've ever felt. They're always trying to get everyone here to prepare for The Big One. Hah! I was frozen in place, unable to even think. So much for "drop, cover and hold on", eh? 

But in spite of myself, I even survived the Christmas Hordes! We had 24 for dinner and the super-expensive old fashioned-style fresh turkey was happily gobbled up. Along with an amazing volume of snakes, sides and deserts! There's still a few fambly gatherings left on the calendar including having the Biggest Grandbeasties overnight tomorrow and into New Years Day. At 9 and 11 they're old enough now to stay up until midnight and bang pots and pans with us to welcome in 2016. It'll be fun!

Meanwhile in crafty news I finally finished the Ribbon Cardi: 

The yarn is Lion Brand Incredible, a nylon ribbon yarn, in colour way Copper Penny. I recycled most of it from another sweater and ended up also washing the unused balls as well because they shrank quite a lot. The pattern is Garter Stitch Swingy Sweater by Jenn Pellerin, a free pattern on Ravelry. It's a top-down asymmetrical cardigan in only one size - Not Mine! Of course I modified it quite a bit including making it wider at the hip, lengthening the body and tapering the 3/4 sleeves. I used 3 polymer clay buttons that I made years ago and they blend so well you can't see them in the photo. Oops. What you can see though is how all the balls were definitely not all the same dyelot! But actually I think that just makes it more interesting. It was a PITA to knit that ribbon so it took two months to finish but it was nice to reduce the stash by 10 balls that have been hanging around for a very long time. The finished sweater fits fine (even though I used the wrong sized needles) and although heavy it's surprisingly warm.

I had lots more to talk about but I'm falling asleep here. More soon. Good night and I hope my bed remains still tonight!