Bird Breath

Just a quickie today. Thom and I are off to take Nana to the FlyOver Canada 4D experience for her birthday. She is so excited! The family already joined her at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Sunday for the big celebration. It was raining when we got there but kindly let up so we didn't get too cold and muddy. Here's The Birthday Girl feeding the chickadees:

I managed to bring along my iPad since it's the only functional camera I've got at the moment. I had great fun switching between the regular camera and Hipstamatic. We saw owls, five in all: two great horns and three saw-whets. Very cute!

We fed the ducks:

We watched the sandhill cranes:

And the silly coots:

And saw a pair of bald eagles way up high:

The wetlands of Westham Island are particularly beautiful this time of year:

OK, it's beautiful any time of the year! 

And then we all went and had pizza, mac & cheese and birthday cheesecake with warm raspberry sauce. Yum!
 
Happy 88th, Nana!

 
 
 

Family Fun

Oh man! This has been a wild and wonderful week! Driving, camping, family, heat, cold, fish, rain, corn, bloggers, public transit and a whole lot else. Do let me elaborate. It might take a couple of posts to catch up.

First there was the Fambly Campout in Manning Provincial Park. We drove in with Nana (Thom’s mom) and enjoyed the first weekend sharing a couple of campsites at Lightning Lake. Nana had a comfy room in the lodge but spent her days with all of us: two of her three sons, two daughters-in-law (including me), and a couple of grandchildren plus significant others and, of course, one great grandchild, Our Little Miss Rosebud (who’s real name is kept off the interwebs but she’ll introduce herself to all and sundry in person). It’s amazing how one four-year-old can wear out all nine adults!

(Sorry I’m the only one not in this photo since I was taking it.)

The weather was lovely, the bugs were (mostly) insignificant, the company delightful and the campout successful. That Sunday we drove Nana back home, Thom’s younger brother and his wife carried on further with their summer vacation, their son and his girlfriend went home and our daughter and her family stayed on. We stayed home one day to water the garden, wash clothes and re-pack and were back up in Manning Park by Tuesday for another four days of camping with our daughter’s family.

On the way back we stopped just outside Hope to explore the Othello Tunnels.

This series of railway tunnels had been dug (and blasted) out to accommodate the Kettle Valley Railway through a very narrow canyon back in the early part of the 20th Century.

(See us in the reflection? I love that.)

The railway line was decommissioned in the 1950’s due to unprofitable upkeep expenses: avalanches, rock falls and the like. Now it’s a trail system and the tunnels were very popular with visitors while we were there. It was hard to get photos without a dozen random people cluttering up the view! There’s only one original trestle left in this series but replacement bridges for pedestrians and bicycles have been built instead over the Coquihalla River. Only one tunnel is at all dark inside and we managed without our flashlights though it did remind us of some of the lava tubes we’ve explored. We had a lovely walk.

When we got back to Manning Park the weather was somewhat cooler but still lovely. The fisher-persons (Thom and our daughter with the assistance of the littlest grandbeastie) caught two rainbow trout which we ate for dinner Saturday night! (Yum.)

(So lovely! Now I want to go back again…)

Each night we experienced the wonderful world of the Park Nature Programmes – totally hilarious, especially with Rosebud wanting to participate in everything! She actually did pretty well for a pre-schooler and even asked a few relevant questions. She got to be a moth (for the bat to eat), a wolf (dominant – ears up! or submissive – ears down!) plus a pika and a hawk. Fun! And we all learned a few new things about the park and its inhabitants.

However, grumble… I managed to take a tumble on the second trip and not only broke a plate and a pot handle (I was carrying the clean dishes back to our Westie) but also managed to damage my eyeglasses. So now I have to see if they can repair the nosepiece and make the lens stay in better. It’ll be a few months before I can afford to replace them. Unfortunately progressive lenses are not a dime a dozen. More like $700 for one single pair. Ouch. Meanwhile I’m wearing them anyhow. The good news is that I didn’t really hurt myself much apart from needing a couple of Disney Princess bandaids on my skinned knee but my arthritic hip actually improved afterward. Go figure.

Then we drove home on Friday yet again in a delightful rainstorm. Yeah, I know, but it’s been quite awhile since it rained good and proper! I was so happy that I didn’t have to spend time watering the garden again. It’ll help all the grass and trees too since we’re now on Level 3 watering restrictions which includes no lawn watering at all. We stopped in Chilliwack for some of its famous corn. To go with the trout of course.

Next instalment of the week’s saga coming up. Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving Day: Aftermath

That was so much FUN!!! Twenty-one total family members from Great-Nana down to the tiniest new little one. A couple more sadly couldn’t make it but the house was full, tummies were full and hearts were full. We didn’t get into bed until nearly midnight. Whew. Obviously a big success! 

And there’s enough leftovers in the fridge so we don’t have to cook much for several days. Good thing I have a big fridge! We had blueberry GF pancakes with leftover whipped cream for breakfast this morning. Total yum. Also we now have toys and crumbs strewn from one end of the house to the other. Guess I need to get cleaning to wear some of that good stuff off, huh?

But first, here’s the last of the completed knitting FOs:

Segue Socks

 For:  me

Begun: September 13, 2013
Completed: October 5, 2013

Yarn: Phildar Preface, 70% wool/30% nylon, colour 010 (white), 211yds = 50g, used 2 balls.

Needles: Clover Takumi dpns, 2mm

Pattern: Toe-Up Socks With a Difference by Wendy D. Johnson, free Ravelry download

Mods: Began with 24 sts and increased to 64. Used lifted increases (right and left versions) instead of kfb (except on heel turn). Moved toe incs inward one stitch each side to make a deeper toe box. Knit 5.5” of foot before gusset which fit much better than the 6” I used last pair. Before beginning leg, dec the extra stitch at the end/beg of next plain round which hides the dec in the edge of the heel stitch area. Knit leg to 9” and began 2/2 rib to use up entire ball of yarn.

Comments: This was the first results of my Segue Dyeing experiments from a couple of years ago. Took me this long to knit it up! Guess I was waiting for a toe-up sock pattern that I liked, huh? Trying yet again with Wendy’s pattern. It’s getting easier! I used stitch markers to help with the heel gusset and paid closer attention when I did the heel turn so it came out correctly. I definitely like the way these fit my foot. Extra-long cuffs fold over for warmth.

I have yet another knitting project nearly finished though it does need a dye session to complete. More anon!

Oh, and thanks for all the lovely wishes and comments on yesterday’s post! You all are so sweet.

Sewing Lessons

The biggest grandbeastie, The Art Princess, had a fun overnighter with us while her brother stayed with their other grandmother and the parents had a dinner date. Of course she wanted to sew with Granny! This time I managed to convince her to try making real clothes so we made a skirt.

Everybody sews in their nightgown, don’t they? We used some more of that bright magenta pink cotton/lycra interlock, the same freebee fabric that I dyed for my recent dress. Of course she liked the colour best in its unadulterated state! Though she did mention that it might be fun to have a dye day sometime. Anyway, it turned out a little long and a smidgen loose but since she’s growing like a weed it won’t be long before it fits just right. Here she’s showing off the designer label she made with a piece of grosgrain ribbon and a Pigma pen. This was totally her idea too. Other new experiences were using the rotary cutter and the serger (both with me hovering over biting my nails). She did pretty well and was proudly modelling her first Garment Make for her grandpa’s approval:

As you can see the colour works perfectly with nearly everything in her wardrobe! The skirt is not quite this long when standing but it’s actually my fault because when measuring I forgot that girls these days wear their bottom layers at the hip instead of the waist. I’m so old-fashioned, aren’t I? Get with the Twenty-First Century, Granny!

So what else? I finally got seeds planted under the grow lights. Lots are coming up after just a few days so I’m not quite as concerned about starting things too late. The weather has been delightfully sunny and relatively warm so spring is busting out all over around here! I would have my peas planted by now but I found out I don’t have any seeds left. We’re taking Nana to the garden shop on Thursday so it will have to wait until after that. I promise to get them in before April 1st.

Things have been kind of busy in the last while so not much else has happened in Damselfy’s Pond. It promises to continue busy too – at least into next week – which means it might be a bit quiet on the blog. More whenever!

Birthday Princess Adventures

My oldest grandbeastie recently turned 8 and what she wanted for her present was to come and stay over and make stuffies with Granny. Yay! Another Maker in the family. Do I have lots to teach her in the future or what!? Must not overwhelm…

So we stole her away after her swimming lesson on Friday and the first order of business was to check out the new playground at our recently revamped park. Then it was on to a second nearby playground, one she was more familiar with since we’ve been taking all of the grandbeasties there when we have them over. Exhaustion was setting in for the Princess and her granny and grampa by then so home we went and got down to business.

The Pencil Princess decided that she needed to draw a picture of what she wanted to make: a moon, an apple, a fish and a dog. We deliberated and thought the dog might be a bit complicated for a first session but the other three items were quite possible. So while her grampa made us dinner, she and I repaired to the studio to work on the first stuffie. Using her awesome Pencil skills, she drew the pattern piece on freezer paper, I added the seam allowance and she cut the doubled fabric pieces out. We both sewed and stuffed and here he is:

This is Mooney. He’s made from a piece of the hand-dyed sheets that I used for my Rag Quilt. He is stuffed with polyfill and has beady eyes and a red Sharpie mouth. He of course belongs in the sky:

After a yummy barbeque chicken dinner we all watched an episode or two of Doctor Who before collapsing in bed. The next morning the Princess and her grampa made French toast for us and then she was raring to go on the next project. I got her stamping the fish’s fabric with scales in green metallic fabric paint so we could let it dry while we made the apple. The leaf was the hardest to do because it was very small, too small to turn and stuff. So we left it raw-edged and unstuffed. We stitched the veins on while learning how to switch the sewing machine from forward to reverse. The stem was easiest to make with a simple piece of brown jute string. The finished apple was named Singer because, even though she doesn’t have eyes or mouth she sings all the time.

The fish was a bit trickier. We had an important lesson in how to use the seam ripper when we forgot that the scales side goes on the inside when you need to turn the piece right-side out again. The fins were very small so I used the tiny tube turners to get them turned. Too hard for the Princess but she had no trouble stuffing them and we machine-stitched them to the body pieces securely before sewing the body together. By this time, she was brave enough to push the sewing machine peddle herself (though I still helped “steer” the pieces) and she’s an expert at stuffing. Her whip-stitching skills improved so much that all I had to do was hold the body steady while she sewed up the final tummy seam. The fish’s name is Lucy. She has googly eyes and is really cute. She can stand up on her fins. Very talented.

Here they all are:

I also gave the Pencil Princess her own sewing kit. My friend Kirsten made it from felt with a cute angel stitched on the cover and I won it at our guild’s Christmas exchange one year. I think the Princess will get more use out of it and it’s a good way to keep the sharp things contained. Inside there are needles, pins, scissors, thread, measuring tape, seam ripper, dressmaker’s chalk, and a wooden needle case made by her grampa.

And there’s more! After lunch we went over to Cambie Street for a street fair. The Princess got her face painted (sparkly swirly heart), a balloon dog, a helium balloon, a whistle and, after standing in line for about an hour, she got a cartoon drawing of herself in Paris. She was so patient while waiting. She was watching the man draw everyone ahead of her with great interest and said she wanted to see what the “cartoon me” would look like. She knows about this stuff – after all, her daddy owns a comic book store! She is definitely an artist in the making.

Later after we took her home, she generously gave her yellow balloon dog to her little brother who missed her (and was possibly a little envious). He will get his turn to spend time with Granny & Grampa too. We usually have them both over together because it’s more convenient for everyone but sometimes it’s really nice to have a Special Time just to focus on an individual Beastie.

That was fun! Now it’s my turn to make stuff for me in the studio. I’m working on some tops to take camping. More anon.

Stop Thief!

Some jerk has been stealing from us. And over a period of a few weeks too. Not money; not household items; not anything you would expect. The *%&^#$ have been stealing branches from our curly willow!

We might not have even noticed if they’d just taken a few small twigs but no, they took some pretty big chunks out of the poor tree. We could even see the white scars from the house! And not neatly done either. Grrrrr… now we have to prune more than we would prefer to even it out and tidy things up. Yes, I know these things are pricey at the florist but really! This tree is on our property even though it’s right at a very public corner. Man, I wish I could catch the so-and-so. I doubt the cops would come but I would at least be able to give them a piece of my mind! That tree was planted over 10 years ago with a branch from our son’s wedding arrangement. It’s special. Go grow your own, darn it. Oh, yeah. I guess you can now, huh?

Moving onto happier things. Last week I got to spend a couple of (exhausting!) days with my littlest grandbeastie, Rosebud, while her parents attended a conference. We had so much fun!

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Unfortunately it was raining so we couldn’t go to the park. We had to find amusements at home. Keeping up with a one-year-old is impossible! Even if she’s not quite walking yet, she can sure get around and into everything. Toss the CD’s, DVD’s and books on the floor? Check. Pull the tablecloth off? Check. Spread toys from one end of the house to the other? Check. Now I know why I had my kids when I was in my early 20’s. I was young enough then to try to keep up.

Rosebud was really good though and had nice long naps in her playpen in my study so I could have a bit of a break. She didn’t even cry when she woke up. I just heard her singing to herself! This kid has sound effects for everything, even crawling. (“Ee-oo, ee-oo, ee-oo.”) So cute. She’s just learning to talk so we worked on “up/down” and “open/shut” along with watching the birds at the feeder. She confused me with “hi, jee-jee” until I realised it meant “hi, cheep-cheep”. The only difficulty we had was when I tried to cut her bangs for the first time so she could see. (Yes, I got permission from mommy and daddy!) I got one chop in and that was that. So they’re just a little crooked. Somebody will have to get her while she’s asleep to finish the job! The first photo shows how long her bangs used to be. At least now they aren’t in her eyes and bugging her.

Of course it took me two days to recuperate afterwards! Plus several shoulder and neck massages. If you babysit all the time you build up to it, but I only get to do this once in awhile. I’m pretty strong for an old(-er) lady but a toddler is heavy. Just try schlepping a 25-lb sack of flour around for 2 days and you’ll have some idea. Toddlers are a lot cuter though.

So what else have I been up to? I finished the Embers Cowl and it’s washed and blocking. I tried to use every scrap of the qiviut yarn but I still have a tiny ball left. That stuff goes much farther than you’d expect! But then it had better do since it costs the earth. It’s quite lovely and I’ll show it off as soon as it dries and I can get some photos.

I’ve been plugging away on the Ten Stitch Scraps Blanket. It was an easy thing to pick up and put down while I was babysitting. I tried winding an super-ball of sock yarn scraps but didn’t get much farther than a couple of lengths before I realised that although I think of this as random, it’s not really. I still like a little control over where things end up and how long the sections are. It does help if I can at least make smaller balls of connected lengths though so I don’t have to constantly stop and join a new one. I’m quite liking the effect but it’s slow going. Good for TV watching but not especially good for reading because there’s constant turning and joining going on. What really surprises me however is that all sock yarns are not the same diameter or texture. Somehow they just go together fine anyway.

No sewing has ensued but hopefully I’ll get to some of that later today. I need to play with patterns for a bit before cutting out my next project. More anon.

I’ve Been MIA

Sorry about that! My sister had a wonderful visit. We spun yarn; we dyed yarn; we knitted; we shopped; we ate and drank. We did not take photos. Oops. She and her family are now in San Diego and will soon depart on a (very safe) cruise to Hawaii. And I’m left here in the Deep Freeze! It’s been ridiculously cold for the last few days with a skiff of snow. I’ve shovelled, or more accurately, swept – twice. Tomorrow it threatens to warm up and rain it all away again. Winter in Lotus Land is very unpredictable. Either we’re complaining about the grey and the rain or we’re complaining about the wee bit of ice on the streets and the need to clean off the sidewalks before 10am (city ordinance). No pleasing some people.

On the crafty front, I’ve finished a few items but haven’t written them up yet. I have some photos (yay!) but they’re still in my new camera. I have also recently received an email from a weaver with many questions on an article I wrote for the now-defunct Weaver’s magazine way back in the dark ages of the ‘90’s. I do NOT remember the details and so far I haven’t located either the article or my notes. She wants to weave it this week. Ummm…

Doing well here, aren’t I?

I have to admit though, it was a lot of fun to spend some quality time with with my sister, D:

She’s two years younger than I am but we only met 20 years ago. (We are half-siblings and were both adopted out separately. It’s a long story.) But right away we discovered that she loves many of the same things that I do. She had a loom, a spinning wheel and angora bunnies. Me too. (Though I no longer have the bunnies.) Interesting, doncha think, in light of the fact that we both grew up in different families in different cities? Genetics. However, she resembles our mother and I don’t. Genes are funny things. Heh. Doncha just love her beautiful silver hair? Envy.

So for the first time ever with nearly a week to ourselves, I managed to give D a few pointers on her spinning. She was rusty but reasonably competent. The problems she was having was with her Louet S-90 wheel (yes, just like mine!) which needed a new drive band. I set her up with a piece of S’getti String (round plastic lacing) but it wasn’t a total solution for her because it kept jumping off the whorls. It worked well enough though to get a number of skeins spun so she could learn how to dye-paint them. We went to Birkeland Bros for some wool and Maiwa Supply for dyes so she can do more spinning and dyeing when she gets home. She also spent time at Maiwa deciding on some of the beautiful Ajrakh block-printed duvet covers and coordinating pillow cases for her guest house in Haida Gwaii. So fabulous.

And there was even more shopping. We went on a pilgrimage to Voyageur Soap and Candle in Langley. D makes her own soap and other bath items so she had mail-order experience with this company but had never actually been there before. She picked up some potassium lye which can’t be mailed to her and a bunch of cute soap moulds. I managed to squeak out of there with only a few new jars for cream and lip balm. Somehow I keep giving them away. Don’t know how that happens.

Interestingly, although D can crochet she was unfamiliar with knitting (as was our mom) so after she dye-painted her yarn in fun bright colours we had a knitting lesson. Because she was already able to crochet, I showed her how to knit Continental style which is the way I’ve knit since I learned from a German friend in the ‘70’s. I never wanted to go back to the English method that I learned as a child and now I can barely knit that way any more. At least Continental uses the same tension system as crochet so it’s a little easier to learn for someone with those skills. After a period of awkwardness and a few mistakes, D was doing pretty well. I know she was having fun because she packed up her yarn and knitting to take with her on the cruise!

Now the house is much too quiet. Last night I slept like a log for about 11 hours and feel much brighter. Obviously we aren’t used to having guests in our little house! They were great anyway and didn’t mind the rather primitive conditions. We only had D’s husband and teenaged son for one night but they’ll be stopping through on the way home again.

And I need to get back to accomplishing something other than food, laundry, dishes and entertaining. Tonight is my weavers’ guild meeting. Hope it doesn’t snow like it’s supposed to. I’d like to get home safely before it warms up and turns to rain tomorrow. More anon. Maybe even with pictures!

The Week Between

To me, this is kind of the breathing space between holiday chaos. T-Man is working at home for 3 days and gets tomorrow off again. We need to go grocery shopping because the cupboards are bare! We’ve been staying as far away from the shops as we can get over the last few weeks but can’t hold out forever. Maybe if we go early enough on Friday morning we’ll avoid the crowds.

Christmas was lovely especially with all the little kids around. Nephew and Niece-in-law hosted the thundering hordes for The Feast and there were lots of willing hands to help. Especially her poor mom (voluntarily assisted by my Québécoise sis-in-law) who did a fantastic job in the kitchen. Their new house has lots of room to spread out and a plethora of toys to amuse the little ones. I’m sure it took them awhile to recuperate afterwards however!

The gift situation has mellowed a lot in the last few years. I flatter myself that I’ve had some influence in concentrating on the children and perhaps one’s immediate family rather than trying to lavish on every single relative. The kids were indulged and everyone seemed happy. Moving right along. It’s Stargazer’s fifth birthday today and I have no idea what he might want that he doesn’t already have. I have a few days’ reprieve before we see them to come up with something. At least his parents have finally started celebrating his birthday when it really is – instead of in June (half-birthday) or in conjunction with his big sister (August). He’s old enough now that he has opinions on it for himself. Happy Birthday, Stargazer!

So what have I been up to – besides holiday indulgences? I finished my jacket!

Minoru Jacket

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For:  me

Completed:  December 27, 2011

Pattern:  Sewaholic 1103 Minoru Jacket

Fabric:  100% polyester water-resistant mini-check, black, 60” wide/2.2M.
Lining:  100% cotton batik, blues, 54” wide/1.5M.
Interfacing:  medium-weight fusible, 1M.
Notions:  30” separating zipper, black; 18” zipper, black; 2”-wide elastic, 2M (had about 30” left); polyester sewing thread, black.

Comments:  For a change I only needed a couple of simple adjustments to this pattern. I used size 14 but went to a 16 at the waist. I also needed to chop 3” off the sleeve and tapered to a size 10 at the cuff. I used the elastic measurements for a 16 (waist) and 10 (cuff) to match. Otherwise it fits very well although there isn’t a lot of room for layers underneath. Being fully lined, it’s pretty warm by itself and the outer fabric cuts the wind completely.

The instructions were pretty good except for a couple of missing seam allowance numbers (note: typos!) and a few things that could use more detail. I was a little confused about what to do with the top of the zipper tape to make the transition smooth at the corners. Plus I’m pretty sure I didn’t use the right seam allowance for the slightly wonky zipper and the lower hem was more like 3” than the stated 2” before turning down the top fold. It will be interesting to see Tasia’s sewing process step-by-step during her sew-along starting in a couple of weeks.

This was really a lot of sewing! It took 2 sessions to get the pattern traced, 2 sessions to cut out the fabrics and interfacing and 4 sessions to sew it together. A session is anywhere from 3 to 5 hours and is as long as I can work without getting tired and starting to make mistakes. I went slowly and carefully on purpose and the completed jacket looks good but unfortunately not perfect at close inspection. I definitely like how it looks on me though so it was worth all the work. I haven’t been able to find anything comparable in the stores at any price. Total cost: ~$60.

Making Christmas

OK, it wasn’t actually Christmas but close enough. I spent rather a frantic day yesterday getting ready for our Solstice Dinner at Milady Daughter’s. I made chocolate bark with almonds and craisins, shortbread cookies, a large green salad, and 8 greeting cards, plus wrapped 5 sets of little jammies. I cleaned up the kitchen. Twice. And I managed to get it all done by 4pm. I was going to take photos but ran out of time and light. And energy.

Of course that wasn’t nearly as frantic as Milady Daughter’s day. She somehow managed a yummy turkey dinner with all the trimmings! She rushed home from work at lunchtime just to get the turkey in the oven and rush back to work. Their nanny helped out during the day with some of the housekeeping and prep which was a blessing – along with looking after Rosebud. And I supplied the green salad, cookies and chocolate while Nana supplied the dessert. T-Man supplied the wine and the kids supplied the entertainment.

And they were very entertaining too. Super-Princess really got into the Disney karaoke while her brother learned how to go bowling with the Wii. Super-Princess gave her little cousin Rosebud the gift of a cool jewelled necklace she made for her which was very well received. Presents and cards were exchanged and the Grandbeasties even liked their jammies which they promptly tried on. Perfect fit for all. Yay.

We had such a good time that we didn’t get home until after 11pm which for us is kind of like 1am for most people. Today I have a migraine. Bleh. But it was lovely to spend time with our kids, grandkids and of course, T-Man’s mom. She’s the last of our parents so that was 4 generations together for our Winter Solstice celebration. Now on to the actual Christmas at our nephew’s and then, ummm…we kind of slipped and said we’d host New Year’s Day at our house. Yikes! What were we thinking? Must have been all those Holiday Peace and Love fumes, huh? Don’t think that’s what caused the migraine though.

Catching Up With December

Well we had a lovely time with Rosebud on her First Birthday – in spite of missing her nap plus the four nasty immunisation pricks she got at the doctor’s and feeling rather grumpy as a result. Rosebud’s grumpy is most babies’ normal! She’s usually incredibly easygoing. Her birthday party on Saturday also went very well and she had a great time showing off her new crawling skillz while playing with her cousins. Her other grandparents made it over from Victoria so we made sure to let them have lots of time with the Birthday Girl. We live much closer and get our baby fix often so were quite willing to share. It was nice to see family and friends and to finally meet Rosebud’s new nanny now that Milady Daughter has returned to work. Good to know our littlest grandbeastie is in capable hands. And no, I didn’t take any photos. T-Man did but hasn’t shared them with me. It’s hard to get good pics in a milling group of bodies. I’m much better at photographing inanimate objects or scenery. People are difficult.

We also managed to fit lots of walking in this past weekend. Here’s a few photos from Saturday’s walk down to False Creek. I got a few new lenses and film for the Hipstamatic app on my iTouch so I thought I’d play with it! It somehow makes the ordinary look fantastic.

 

Sleeping mallards.

A view of Cambie Bridge from Habitat Island. We’ve nicknamed 3-Million Dollar Island because that’s apparently what it cost to put it in. It’s only a couple of years old now and people have only recently been able to access it. Birds and fish are liking it a lot so far though.

 

Bird houses on a snag tree, Habitat Island.
Unfortunately couldn’t catch the seagull on the top in the fog!

Snowberries in profusion.

The weather was chilly but sunny so we took full advantage. Also avoiding any yard work while we were at it! Well, most of it anyhow. We did put the water garden into the greenhouse and moved the barbeque up to the top deck in its place. Now T can grill while mostly remaining out of the weather. I wonder why my poor shoulder has been sore lately? Does lugging toddlers and other heavy items around have anything to do with it? Anyway, we enjoyed some barbequed honey-garlic pork ribs that we picked up at Granville Island for dinner last night. Yummy.

I’m still knitting fingers on my Dark o’the Moon Gloves but I also slipped up and cast-on for a pair of mitts for Rosebud. It was a special request from her mom so her hands won’t get so cold on walks in the stroller. I decided to make them thumbless so she can suck her thumb (important!) but still tuck thumbs in if necessary. Also the tops will be open and ribbed long enough to cover her fingers but can be folded down if she needs her fingers. I’m really not at all sure if she’ll be content to wear them but we’re experimenting here. Since they’re pretty teeny and fast to knit it’s not a big deal if they don’t work out.

As soon as I’m done the Sucky Mitts I’ll be looking to cast on a new and hopefully more mindless pattern. I haven’t wanted to start anything for the last while in case it distracted me too much from the gloves. It’s been hard to finish them because I can only knit on them for short spurts in broad daylight. I really want to get them done asap now since my last pair are looking rather ratty and I need some replacements. Baby, it’s cold outside! Frost in December. And more than one day in a row of sunshine! Who’d a-thunk it?

Back To School – But Not For Me

I’m thinking of my grandbeasties today – the bigger ones at least. Stargazer will be starting full-day kindergarten – a big step for him. He won’t be 5 until the very end of December so he’ll likely be the youngest in class. He has had some experience with playschool a couple of days a week, but I feel fulltime is hard for kids who haven’t been in daycare. I really hope he has a good experience and enjoys the learning. His big sister Super-Princess is off to grade two. She’s still struggling a little with reading and writing but her math skills are excellent. Her problem is mostly with an innate embarrassment about making a mistake. This year she should be able to get over the hump and make friends with words. It opens the doors to learning everything else.

Oddly instead of having weather that smells of fall and back-to-school, we’re having some of the warmest and sunniest days of the entire summer. It’s almost making me wish we weren’t heading inland on Friday where it’s actually going to be hot! We aren’t fooled though. We’ll be in the mountains where it could change into winter in the blink of an eye. I’m wisely packing enough clothing for any eventuality: shorts, skirts, sunhat, sandals, pants, fleece vests, raingear, boots, woolly scarf, gloves, undershirts, longjohns, turtlenecks, hoodie…  Good thing I have an expanding suitcase. Comfort trumps fashion any day.

In crafty news, my knitting these days seems doomed to difficulties. I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve started a new project just to have something on the needles for those rare downtimes in the Packing Frenzy. In case you missed it, it’s the Ardsley Jacket, a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn and it’s a cutaway shape in a double-moss stitch with pockets, collar and i-cord edging. (Ravelry link, pattern link.) I’m using a cone of 2-ply oatmeal tweed wool that I found in the weaving stash. No idea where I got it but it was probably transferred from somebody else’s stash. Anyway, for certain it’s rather…ahem, vintage. I started knitting the pockets as a swatch and needed to go down a needle size to 5mm to get gauge in this moss stitch. So far so good:

No, it’s not really crooked, just my camera angle. And it’s also not yet blocked. Wanna see the i-cord edge up close?

I think it’s quite cunning! I had to go down 2 needle sizes to 4mm dpns and then pick up only the front loop of the bind-off stitches to get it to work properly. I also picked up the stitches on the pocket one at a time with the end of the dpn as I went along so the next stitch was in place to knit it together with the last i-cord stitch. It’s much easier than trying to knit 2 tight stitches together from 2 different needles. I like the finish the i-cord gives even if it is rather tedious to knit. I’ll have lots more practice before I’m done this sweater!

However while knitting the second pocket I discovered a break in one of the yarn plies. Then another break about 8 yards later. I started winding off to see what was up and after a couple more I think I’ve come to the end of the breaks. If not, there will be a few joins in this sweater! Par for the course when using vintage wool. This type of damage is often caused by carpet beetles rather than moths. They dig in to one spot so the yarn breaks in the same place as the cone unwinds. The critter is long gone though so there’s no need to give the cone an “arctic vacation” in the freezer. I’m getting a sweater for free except for the work of knitting it so I’m not really complaining too much. This project is coming with us – among others. I’d hate to run out of knitting halfway through the holiday. There unfortunately aren’t a lot of yarn shops where we’re going. (I am going to try to get to Fabric Depot in Portland however. It’s reputed to be the largest fabric store in America. Sounds good to me!)

Yes, I know I should be spinning for T-Man’s Brownstone Sweater but first I have to card more wool. And I can’t start knitting it until I wind some cakes from the washed skeins that I’ve spun so far. I plan to spend the rest of the day upstairs. Cleaning up the studio/study area and packing the knitting supplies, patterns and books to read is my Big Job for today. I have been skipping from one project to another for ages so it’s quite a mess up there. Add teasing, carding and spinning the fleece and it’s dirty as well as messy. Wish me luck. I’ll try not to get distracted with all the possibilities in my personal Fibre Heaven.

Off I go!

Annual Fambly Campout

I’m back! Well, actually we’ve been back since Wednesday but we’ve been so busy in the garden since then that I haven’t had any real blogging time. Somehow with T-Man around I manage to keep busier than normal! Sheesh. I’m going to have to watch for this tendency when he retires. (Soon!) We’ll have to develop a New Normal. Heh.

Well Manning Park was fun though cold and damp for at least the first few days. Saturday night it even froze as you might imagine by the amount of snow still on Mount Frosty there. We all froze too even though I had an extra quilt on top of my heavyweight sleeping bag. The Rosebunting kept Rosebud fairly warm but she sure didn’t like not being able to munch on her hands. She was so layered up that she couldn’t even bend her arms! There were campfires going even during the day which is unusual for us. Stargazer wouldn’t keep his coat on but at least his Granny-knit sweater kept him warm:

I’m amazed it still fits him he’s been growing so fast. The trail through Strawberry Flats was even more snowy than usual too but we managed to get to our traditional stopping place where we had our traditional snowball fight.

This is where the path got too covered in snow for easy walking. It felt good that I was fit enough to be able to truck Rosebud this far in her Snugli:

She likes it when she’s facing front to see everything. She even kept her hat on! I wisely swapped with her dad for the return trek though.

By Sunday night however Ms Rosebud had had it with camping and kept waking up every hour crying. So they all packed up and Super-Princess fed her a last bottle before the trip home. Then the remaining grandbeasties went fishing:

Stargazer was so happy to catch his Whopper! (There was a little help from Grampa with casting out.) He’s been going on and on about it since last year when his sister got the big one. No slouch, she of course got one too:

(Love the model pose!) He made sure to measure his against hers and declared that they both win. Too cute. Then they also went home Monday afternoon and left us to the peace and quiet for a couple of days. At least it warmed up somewhat.

On Tuesday we decided to hike around the whole of Lightning Lake. This is the south end where we, um… got stuck. Perhaps it was those spawning trout that you can just see in the photo? Or perhaps the late snow melt clogging the upper slopes. Anyway, just over the little bridge and up the trail a short way we ran into a mama black bear and her yearling cub. Too close for comfort! So we had to turn around and go back to the Rainbow Bridge and by that time decided that a nice relaxing rest back at camp might be a better idea. Notice there are no photos of the bears. We were too busy retreating with alacrity!

We did stop long enough to see lots of new growth in the forest: some pretty flowers such as avalanche lilies, paintbrush, arnica, and the not-so-pretty newly emerging devil’s club. This one is a fairy slipper orchid (Calypso bulbosa). So tiny and delicate.

Getting back on Wednesday turned out to be a tricky endeavour. We unfortunately left Manning about the same time as the huge mud slide happened on Highway 1 near Bridal Falls. They hadn’t got the warning signs and barriers up yet so we ended up having to turn around and go back 26 kilometres to Hope to get over to Highway 7, the narrow winding alternative route. Of course everyone else was going that way too! In total it took us 4-1/2 hours to get home – half again as long as it usually takes.

It was lovely that so many family members managed to make it this year. Besides our kids and grandbeasties, there were T’s brother and his family (including extra friends), a nephew and his 2 kids (though one got sick and had to be returned home), and our daughter-in-law’s dad. A total of 19! Nana was very glad she opted out because she would have been much too cold the first 2 days until it finally warmed up.

How do you like the new Rainbow Bridge that T-Man discovered?

Changing the subject abruptly, today is T-Man and my 40th wedding anniversary! We are celebrating by ourselves and have reservations at the Pink Peppercorn for dinner tonight. Yum. Yes, we were babies when we got married! Those who know us are not surprised that we’ve made it this far I’m sure. We’re a little bit grayer, a little bit fluffier around the middle and (I hope) a little bit wiser but otherwise we’re pretty much the same as we were then.

Right now though we need some groceries. The sun is out and life is good.

A Father’s Day Weekend

Whew! That was fun but exhausting! T-Man and I had the bigger Grandbeasties over on Friday for a sleepover while their parents went dining and dancing. (Lucky them!) This was the first time we had both kids (they’re 4 1/2 and nearly 7 now) overnight at the same time. We don’t have a spare bedroom – because our craft stuff resides in all the other bedrooms besides our own – but the living room couch pulls out to a double bed. They are pretty good sleepers and we wisely wore them out as well as we could first so there were no midnight shenanigans. Stargazer woke up really grumpy for some reason though. He’s usually pretty sunny in the mornings like I am but I suppose everyone is allowed an off day every once in awhile.

Did you know that my refrigerator is really an art gallery? It’s covered with drawings and paintings, up until now all of them by just one artist – the lovely and amazing Super-Princess. However, I finally scored a painting by the up-and-coming new artist, Stargazer! Hooray! And Grampa T-Man got a fabulous book by Super-Princess featuring all of the My Little Ponies. I especially loved watching Stargazer mix paints: “Hey! Red and green makes…brown!” So cute. He’ll be starting kindergarten in September. Time flies when you’re having fun.

After they left on Saturday we got a visit from the other set as well. We were heading out to a grand-nephew’s first birthday party so Milord and Milady and baby Rosebud tagged along. Unfortunately, what I didn’t know was that the party venue had changed from Stanley Park to a bookstore in North Van because of the iffy weather. So we wandered around the park looking in vain for the party. Sheesh. And it wasn’t raining either! Nothing like sending the change by impersonal Evite email only a few hours before the party. I never had an opportunity to check it before we left. A phone call might have been more definite. Oh well. Stuff happens. I did receive a heartfelt apology from my sister later and all would be forgiven – except that we weren’t actually mad about it. We were sorry we missed them though.

It was a lovely visit with Rosebud and family anyhow. I managed to finish the last pair of baby socks and give them to their recipient (who tried to eat them but dropped them on the floor instead):

Clown Urp Socks

For:  Rosebud

Begun:  May 31, 2011

Completed:  June 17, 2011

Yarn:  Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Stretch Color, 70% superwash wool/23% nylon/7% Elité (stretch polyester), colour 81 (multi), dyelot 51724, 199m = 50g. Used just over half a ball.

Needles:  Blackthorn carbon fibre dpns, US0/2mm.

Pattern:  Damselfly’s basic baby socks on 44 sts, 3.5” before heel flap, 3.75” before toe decreases, dec to 20 sts (5 per needle), dog ear reduction to 16sts.

Comments:  This slightly stretchier yarn should be comfortable in her boots. She keeps growing so these are just a little larger than previous pairs. Unfortunately this yarn has less yardage per ball than the usual sock yarn so I will likely have to create “decorative” toes for the second pair! I’ve already started on them.

T-Man declared that Saturday would be considered his Father’s Day because he spent time with all of his offspring and his offspring’s offspring. Made him very happy! Me too…

Which was good because on Sunday we went to our local Car Free Day:

Don’t know if you can see in the photo, but those masses of people in the street just goes on for blocks and blocks up the hill. The area was longer but I think not as interesting this year. No cops blowing bubbles. (They’re still upset about the riots last week. I think we all are.) Not as many funky activities. More merch booths and food stands. The amplified (and mostly canned) music drowned out the unamplified musicians. It was family-friendly but missing the wacky edge that I enjoyed so much last year. We did like the belly dancers and the flat-track roller derby skaters though. I was hoping to spend some time spinning in front of my local LYS but there were only two knitters and someone helping small kids weave but there was nobody there that I knew so I didn’t bother. The other LYS was pretty crowded because they had less space available and they were also unfamiliar faces. Am I getting out of touch with the local fibre scene? Quite possibly. Even my Ravelry knitting group weren’t in evidence in their usual coffee shop venue. We enjoyed our walk anyhow but it’s hard to stroll so slowly in the crowds when we’re used to keeping up a much faster walking pace.

Meanwhile I cut out one pair of capri pants and 2 pairs of shorts out of 2 metres of stretch textured cotton knit (black of course) and am currently sewing them. So far they are rather loose particularly on the legs even though I began with a size smaller than my measurements would dictate. Jeepers. My fluffy middle vs skinny legs issue again. At least it’s relatively easy to take them in more. Details later. I need to accomplish something real today besides pixels on a screen.

That Was The Week That Was

My! I’ve certainly been slipping with my blog posting lately, haven’t I? Either I’ve been super-busy doing other things or I just have nothing interesting to say. Today it’s raining, T-Man is at work and I have some quiet time to myself.

So what did happen? Gardening, watering, walking, errands, reading, sewing, family visiting, babysitting, cooking…you get the drift. The weather has still been cool and iffy but I’ve been slowly working my way around the front garden, weeding and planting annuals. The veggie garden is about half-planted now and actually starting to produce salad greens along with the daily pick of kale buds and asparagus. The tomatoes are now finally in the dirt in the greenhouse instead of in pots. The shade cloth is up on top though it’s mostly rolled up because it hasn’t been sunny enough to need it quite yet. I made some cute little plaid sandbags to hold the plastic mesh in place because there’s nothing to tie it to. You can just see them hanging here:

I have to be careful when I roll up the side so the sand doesn’t dribble out of the bags! When unrolled it covers nearly down to the tinted row and helps keep the inside a little cooler in the hot sun from the south-west. The east side will be shaded somewhat when the walnut tree actually gets leaves on it so we don’t have to worry about covering the whole top. Otherwise we would need yet another shade cloth.

I’ve also been sewing a bunting bag for baby Rosebud’s first camping trip coming up next month. I found a McCall’s pattern (M6963) for one with a hood and fold-over mittens:

I decided to download the pattern to avoid it perhaps getting caught in a possible Canada Post strike. (They are threatening us with a 72-hour notice.) Even without a postal strike, it could take ages to get here and I need to get this done before the Annual Family Campout happens in a couple of weeks. I paid a little more than if I’d waited for the $2.88 Memorial Day Weekend sale at BMV. (You’ve got until tomorrow night if you want to take advantage! And Vogues are $3.88. Dirt cheap.) But it still cost less than if I could actually find it in our not-so-local fabric store. It takes more time and effort to print out the pages and piece it together but I found it pretty painless. This time I used a glue stick instead of tape and it worked really well. I adjusted the largest size (12 months) to have a wider and straighter foot section and for a separating zipper and snaps at the bottom so it opens all the way to accommodate Rosebud’s necessary boots and bar. I’m currently about halfway through sewing the bunting using some super-soft fleece with a stretch sweatshirt fabric for the lining, both in a deep rose colour. Even though she might not get much wear out of this thing at least I’ll know she’s not going to be cold sleeping in a tent in the mountains in June! The things a granny will do for her grand-babykins, huh?

Speaking of sewing patterns, I spent quite awhile downloading a heap of them for free from a Russian company, Lekala or Leko (I’m not sure which is the actual name). Their patterns are normally available by email for a fee. You send them your basic measurements and they send you the pattern to fit them. You can also get collections on CD from sewingpatterns.com. They are still fairly standard models though – not adjusted for any particular body fitting issues. Right now the women’s patterns in size 168-100-82-106 (equivalent to BurdaStyle magazine’s 44 or US pattern size 14) are free. It says “one month” on the website but there is no clue as to how long this actually will be available. Since we’re almost at the end of May, it might end tomorrow! Or not. A lot of the styles are very cute and wearable: maybe a smidgen less “fashion-forward” than Burda but much more stylishly European than the Big 4 American companies offerings. For me a 44 is right in the middle of my fitting adjustments: a little big on the shoulders and a little small on the bottom. So it’s a good size for me to start from anyhow. If you can print on A4 paper (metric/European) there is a smaller size that is always free to download for testing. I’m not sure of the exact measurements (maybe a US10?) but the notations on the pattern pieces are in Russian instead of English. Not a big deal really.

The larger drawback with these patterns is there are no instructions unless you can read the Russian “technical description”. For an experienced seamstress it shouldn’t really be a problem but if you need your hand held to know which piece goes where, you can’t rely on the online translators to help with sewing terms and there are no diagrams. A good sewing book is handy to have for the basics anyway. Don’t forget to also save the illustrations so you have a clue what you’re making! And it’s not necessary, but I really enjoyed downloading the “design picture” files to see how the pattern looks as it was actually drafted. They’re a great learning tool even if I can’t read the Cyrillic notations. I went nuts and picked up several dozen of these patterns and now am itching to sew a couple to try them out. But I need to finish the RoseBunting first.

Sorry I really didn’t give anyone much time to take advantage of either the sale at BMV or the free pattern downloads at Leko. Sheesh. Bad damselfly. Busy damselfly.

In other news, T was off work on Friday in lieu of last Monday’s Victoria Day holiday so we went walking in the rain/sunshine. On Saturday we had adventures with one of my sisters who flew south from her home in beautiful Haida Gwaii on business. We took her to Granville Island and she was in heaven buying nuts and fruit to take back home today. Maiwa was a big hit too though neither of us bought anything. She stayed with us Saturday night and then at another sister’s in Surrey last night. It was lovely to see both of them and I made us all a blueberry pancake breakfast yesterday morning when sis #2 came to pick up sis #1. After they left we got the grandbeasties for the afternoon while their parents went to the art gallery. The weather yesterday was lovely so we went to the little local park to play. Later when everyone got back I fed them all ham quesadillas for supper. They were a big hit with the picky beasties! However now I know why I’m kind of tired today. Whew.

Yikes! It’s nearly 11am and I’m still in my jammies. Must. Get. Moving.

A Happy Mother’s Day. Almost.

We had a very pleasant Mother’s Day dinner yesterday. The weather cooperated enough to barbeque the pork roast and it was delicious. We had a really good visit with the family and I got to try the green hoodie on Rosebud:

It fits better than I thought it would! The bib kind of spoils the effect by hiding the cute green heart zipper pull but if you look at her drooley chin you will see that it’s a necessary fashion statement. I took a whole bunch of shots all of which seemed to include her tongue sticking out, an expression which translates to mean happiness in Rosebuddian, especially when accompanied by flailing arms and legs. And her grandpa was having a challenge trying to hang on to her. Plus she ended up wearing (and drooling all over) 3 out of the 4 new bibs I made her before they headed home. She’s messy but so adorable!

Unfortunately I made a big mistake and went to check out the damage to my garden from the hailstorm on Saturday. It’s so sad! And very frustrating. So many plants are badly torn and flattened. Here’s the biggest lettuce so you can see how shredded the leaves are:

Poor Esmeralda! Hopefully it will recuperate but I’m really concerned about the coreopsis which was even more decimated:

I’ve already planted some new seeds but they will take awhile to catch up. The blueberries lost a lot of flowers and the walnut tree’s unripened catkins were knocked off onto the ground. It should have been a good year for them but now they will be much reduced. The kale of course held up without a scratch. Man, that stuff is invincible! Even the hailstones madly bouncing off the greenhouse roof didn’t hurt them. I think that was the worst hailstorm I can ever remember. It’s the one that affected me personally the most anyway. It was kind of exciting and exhilarating to watch until I realised how much damage it caused to my garden. (And I’m sure others as well.) There were still pockets of hailstones left 24 hours after the storm was finally over.

In the studio I haven’t been sewing like I ought to. Instead I started dumping out my supply drawers. I spent half a day happily sorting the buttons:

These range from quite new to very vintage to possibly antique. Some are from T-Man’s granny’s button collection which I inherited. Some are from other people’s cast-off collections. A few are from my earliest sewing days or recycled from discarded clothing. And the rest I purchased for various projects and then weren’t used for whatever reason. There are some sets and some singles. Lose a button? I could probably find something closely matching! Now they are arranged in half a dozen old ice-cube trays waiting for a chance to be used. Or passed on yet again.

I also sorted out the zippers and trims, elastics and lace and threw out a bunch of dirty old junk that will never get used. (Have you ever noticed what horrible sleazy fabrics the manufacturers use for commercial bias binding? So much nicer and easy enough to make it yourself.) I bought several plastic baskets from the dollar store to keep everything captured in and they just fill the 2 shallow drawers in my old bureau. The bureau also holds patterns and projects in its 2 big drawers and just fits underneath the slanted ceiling in the south corner of the room. Nice to get it all cleaned out and now I have a better idea of what I have. There are lots more drawers to tackle still so I’m not finished yet.

Speaking of organising, I played some more with the My Stuff app on my iTouch and now have the beginnings of an inventory for my sewing patterns. I experimented with importing and exporting and it worked very well - except for some duplicate entries which were probably my fault for not checking or unchecking an option in the import. Easy to delete them anyhow and I’ll try to figure out how to avoid that next time. Now I can much more easily add items using Excel on my computer instead of thumb-typing on the iTouch screen. The photos don’t get passed back and forth unfortunately so they need to be added with the iTouch, very easy with the built-in camera. However they do get saved with the Backup feature and can be Restored if necessary. My Stuff seems like a really adaptable and powerful database application and you could use it to keep track of anything really. When I’m done the patterns I hope to start adding the fabrics, most of which I already have in an Excel file.

Did you see the latest issue of Threads magazine, #155 (June/July 2011)? They have an article on fabric shopping in Vancouver featuring all my favourite places! The only one I hadn’t heard of was the leather shop. Otherwise they hit all the highlights including Outdoor Innovations (right in my own neighbourhood), Button Button, good old Dressew and my fave magazine shop. If I’d known it featured a photo of Mayfair, I’d have shown it to them when I bought the issue there! It makes a complete circle, don’t you think? Mayfair in Threads in Mayfair…OK, I’ll stop now.

I need to go wash yesterday’s massive pile of dishes. No, I wouldn’t let anyone do them for me. It would have interrupted the fun and anyway I don’t mind.