Where there once was a wall......Now there's a window.

This is my DS house which we're helping to reno. I have since figured out that between doing renovations at our home (because of a flood) and working on DS house, I much prefer the demolition side of tearing down and throwing out. Finishing work like drywalling, sanding, and trim work is a pain in the backside, and takes long to do.It started out all innocent, 'Oh let's open this up and it'll make it brighter in here!' To then actually stepping back and thinking that this is a support wall so we'll have to do some creative building. Thus an extra wall was built to support the support wall and put in a header before we cut the opening. (The headers not up yet in this picture.)

Renovations continue as well downstairs in DS house so that we can utilize the basement suite, and make it it's own contained space. So a couple walls were put up to close it in. The entry into the suite. (Primed and waiting for molding and baseboards)The kitchen area.

Finally the last wall in the laundry room. Enough about renovations.....there's been some weaving going on at my house.I can't describe how exciting it's finally been to sit down and finally start weaving. I'm using left over yarn from the stash, and if I would have had one straight afternoon I could've had this scarf done. Saturday night I couldn't stop. 10:00pm rolled around and I thought I should really stop, but then it soon turned 11:00pm and I was starting to make mistakes and I decided to quit for the night.

The biggest challenge was warping, and then tieing on, threading it through the heddles, and getting my coordination working with the loom. I was exhausted but just thrilled that I had tackled it along with a couple great books which were a BIG help
Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson
Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving by Betty Linn Davenport

More sock knitting is happening as they're great for packing along.Calloway Sock Pattern by Cookie A. I'm using Knit Picks 2.25mm dpn, Yarn: Briggs & Little Durasport 1 ply in colourway: Smoke. It's a tough little yarn and I'm putting it through it's paces. I like to knit my socks with a tight gauge and this 1 ply seems to be holding up. 80% Pure Wool 20% Nylon.I love this pattern. Diagonal Lace Toe-up Socks. What makes it even more loveable the price is FREE!! From a wonderful designer WendyKnits. You'll find the pattern on her website under Free Patterns with the added bonus of over 40 more free patterns. I'm using Knit Picks Harmony Wood 2.00mm dpn's. Yarn: Regia The Sockwool Jet Set Color. 4 ply.One more shawl that I spied on Smoking Hot Needles. Monika was knitting this up and I had to follow. I'm such a follower of people with great ideas ;)
Pattern: Multnomah designed by Kate Flagg. It is a free pattern you can find on either Ravelry or Hello Knitty. I'm using Knit Picks Harmony Wood Circular needles 3.25mm. Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light. Colourway: 4275

Anyways that's all folks! Time for a nap....

I'm holding on.......

to this great weather we've been getting. ;) It's November 4 and the temp today is expected to hit +15C. Our average is around +1C, but hey the shorter winter is around here the better. I've been bitten by the touque bug, and the solution I've found is in 'One Skein' by Leigh Radford. Asymmetrical Cable Hat

I'm using some Drops Alpaca from my stash. Colour 6834, guage 23st x 30 rows, addi dpn's 4.0mm. This is more of a lace weight, but I loved the colour for a man's hat so I used all three skeins stranded together. I still had to increase my cast on to 81sts. to get the right guage for the circumference of the man's hat. This is going out in the mail today to my DD's boyfriend Nathan who is in hospital starting on another round of chemo.

Also in the same book there is a pattern for a baby hat. I have a friend who works in the maternity ward at one of our local hospitals and I thought I would love to do some stash busting and make up some to donate. So again I'm having to play around with gauge and I think I've got it down now.

Last but not least....updates on the basement reno. We've now got it insulated with rigid pink, and pink fibreglass. The framing was put back up along with the electrical back in place, and the vapour barrier. So now DH has been putting up the drywall. Slowly but surely the basement is coming back to us. I'm not sure if it'll be ready for Christmas though.

I have an azalea plant that was given to my mother-in-law back this spring. She lives on Vancouver Island, and didn't want to travel back there with it so she handed it over to me in full bloom. It was beautiful and I thought, oh I'm probably going to kill it with neglect. I generally don't keep houseplants because I'm constantly forgetting to water them. Anyways this thing loves my west facing window in my dinette. It's constantly blooming and it doesn't mind getting dried out. So far it's been the perfect plant! Who knew!

Next post I'll try to blog about our trip to Phoenix coming up this Saturday. I've got several yarn shops located on the GPS so hopefully DH won't mind coming along on my fibre hunt.

**An afterthought......I used Clover's Pom Pom maker to make the pom pom on the above mentioned blue touque. After some initial studying of instructions, and rotating it around and figuring out how it works I started winding the yarn on it. I couldn't contain my amazement at how wonderful that pom pom turned out. I've shown everyone who has been to my house. Like I'm hoping everyone tries this thing out because my exasperation at using half circle cardboard cut outs just never worked for me. So just a heads up if you see one and you've had the same problems making really nice round pom poms...you'll love this thing.

Busy Busy Weekend........

In between working on the basement I managed to get some knitting done.

Also some spinning was managed. The 80 merino 20 silk fibre from Aurelia is finally done, and I'm navajo plying. I stopped in at Fabricland and picked up some material to make a kitty and scotty dog stuffed animals. Just a little something for DD and Nathan. DD is missing the kitties at home here, and is desperately wanting a pet of her own in Vancouver. She has terrible allergies and I'm thinking somehow maybe this will alleviate those withdrawals of not having a kitty to cuddle. The Scotty dog will be for Nathan. Just because :)

Next came the books I ordered from Knit Picks. They have a book sale going on until November 4 and I couldn't resist. In Cables Untangled, there is some awesome patterns, and reference to cable stitches. Interweaves Knitted Gifts, is wonderful! There's several patterns I'm wanting to knit up, but one in particular 'Ballet Flats' by Marta McCall. Also if you are a Fair Isle Knitter Alice Starmore's book is an awesome reference book as well it has some wonderful timeless patterns.

Saturday was our 25 Wedding Anniversary which was spent out at a concert with some friends. It was different as the kids aren't home anymore and weren't with us to celebrate, but we had a great time anyway. The next day Sunday was our turkey day. The plan was to have our Thanksgiving around 6:00pm but when DH brought the turkey up in the morning something was off. I mean really off. I kept smelling something, and in the pit of my stomach I was hoping what I was smelling wasn't the turkey, but it was. Bugger. I ended up phoning Costco as I bought the thing only the day before from them. Costco's good that way with returning things, and they told me to bring the turkey back with my receipt and I'd get my $ back. Turns out that a half hour before I got there another lady brought her stinking turkey back as well. So I don't know what was going on with the fresh turkey's from Lilydale. After standing in line up there we ran to Superstore and got a frozen turkey, and Thanksgiving supper was served at 8:00pm instead. With a great bottle of Chenin Blanc from Quail's Gate everything tasted great.

Monday was DH's 52 birthday. Again just the two of us celebrated after a day of working in the pit called our basement renovation. Some progress was made after we did a major backtrack with the insulation. We ended up taking down all the framing which we just finished doing to put in pink rigid insulation to bring up the R value to 20. One of those things that we had to do so there'd be no regrets later on. My camera has this neat feature to take panoramic pictures. (Click to Embiggen) Framing is just about finished. Next comes hooking the electrical back up, and then drywall.

Picking up where I last left you.......

Unfortunately the hazard of not blogging consistently means this post is going to be a long one....

Before I start with my present day knitting projects I just wanted to post an update on our bathroom renovations downstairs which is the main reason I haven't been around.

Just to back track...the start of demolition going back to January 2008. Yup this has been going on for long time.











Fast forward to the summer and Dale's jackhammering a hole to start re-routeing the plumbing for shower, toilet, and vanity. My contribution was/is as official photographer, digging and hauling of concrete and dirt, and general grunt work/passer of tools to DH who was/is the lead in this excursion.






Again fast forward...pipes are now moved and refilling of the hole.

As time passed over the summer and I neglected to take pictures of the concrete being mixed and poured. We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Drywall is up, and now we're laying infloor heating....................................................>


Over this past week we were laying tiles, and grouting, and sealing.

Still a fair ways to go yet, but now comes the fun stuff with painting and decorating. I'll post as progress is made.


So in the evenings I got on a sock kick.

Favorite Socks 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave. Can't say enough about the really nice sock patterns in this book.

I'm knitting these for a ladies size 10 so I've made increases to the pattern for foot length. What caught my eye when searching patterns was the lace design carried down the back for the heel.

Yarn: Trekking Pro Natura, 75% superwash wool, 25% bamboo. Knitted with 2.5mm dpn's.



After finishing the purple sock I was smitten with another design out of the same above mentioned book.

Undulating Rib Socks, knitted with 2.5mm dpn's. Yarn: Lorna's Laces Hand-dyed yarns. 80% Superwash Wool, 20% Nylon. Color: 403 Tuscany.

I love this pattern, and I'm totally in love with hand-dyed sock yarn. Knitting this went by so fast. The repetitive pattern was interesting enough not to be borrowing. (I just came back to re-read this entry and discovered my spelling error, lol, I meant boring! Not borrowing. What was I thinking? It must've been the caffeine, yeah that's right I'll blame it on the caffeine ;) )

So I was on a roll throwing caution to the wind, and I started on a toes up knitted sock pattern. It's always intriqued me this toe first idea because people were saying it's easier to get the length of the foot right and not run out of wool. I really enjoyed this technique, and I'll be on the look out for more patterns toe first.

I had to do some major increasing on this sock to fit my size 10's. I fell in love making these bobbles, and loved the yarn I used which was a gift from last Christmas.

Pattern: Bacchus Socks, by Alice Bell. From Interweave Knits Fall 2008. Yarn: Knit Picks Essential, Colour: Inca Gold Tweed 65% Superwash wool, 25% Nylon, 10% Donegal. Knitted with 2.00mm dpn's.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Happy knitting!!

More Progress.........

on the bathroom reno downstairs. This past weekend dear hubby unfortunately got the dirtier end of the stick when he was knocking out some old cast iron plumbing, and got his finger pinched. The nail immediately turned purple, and I'll spare the details, but the nail is coming off....eewwwwww.

But here's a picture of what he got accomplished on Saturday......he worked so hard. Sweat dripping off the forehead hard. Purple finger throbbing hard. It's all new abs black piping put in. It doesn't look like a lot was done, but organizing where we wanted everything to go was half of it. Plus a couple trips to Home Depot, and the day turned into 9:00 pm by the time we were finished.

Words can't say how proud I am that DH has the shutzpa to take this project on. He has no fear. It's going to be great when it's done Dale!

DD was gone this past weekend to Seattle, and she bought me a nifty apron....So this morning I had to take some pictures of the apron with the Bath and Bodyworks, and the Mr. & Mrs. Smith DVD which were both bonus gifts.

Now you may think, 'What!? She gave her a flippin apron?' The thing is I love aprons, have always used them (bad habit of wiping my hands on pants) have sewn some, and try to find unique ones through my travels.

This white apron was bought during a stop while on a cruise to Alaska in '06. It's silk screened with a landscape shot of Creek Street, Ketchikan, Alaska. I haven't used this one yet because in no time I'd have it dirty and it would need washing, and I'm not sure how the silk screening would stand up. So for now I take it out once in awhile to look at, and then it goes back in the apron stash.

So this morning I put on my new apron and headed out in the garden to take some pictures of what is newly sprouting in this part of the world, and of course the kitties came out.....

My Noodles in the Hosta patch. The hosta's are now starting to unfurl their vibrant green leaves. Noodles seems to be doing well considering she has renal failure. We changed her to a special diet food, and she seems to be maintaining her weight. She sleeps a lot, but when she's up she has her fitzy moments running around thinking she's a young filly.

Anna on the other hand....wants her privacy. Which we give her, but she's just so soft, and grey, and well she only allows so much cuddling............More Hosta's, Day Lilies, and ferns in the background.

We stopped at our local Rona last night after our visit to see Uncle Otto, and they had pond plants...so we bought this Zebra Rush.
Scirpus tabernac-montani 'Zebrinus.' Hardy to -30Celsius. So I'll do more investigating and see if I can leave this one in the pond over winter.



So on the knitting front I've started a sweater pattern from one of my new favourite knitting magazines Sandra The Knitting Magazine. Printed in Austria. January 2008 issue.

It's the Fluffy Ajoure Sweater, Model #2. I'm taking a leap here, but I'm pretty sure that Ajoure is french for perforate. So I'm assuming that they're referencing that it's lacey. I'm using my handspun from 100% alpaca. By my estimation I'm going to need 12 hanks of 123m each. So I'm spinning and plying as I go along...I just about have 4 hanks right now. I never thought I'd get this much satisfaction, and enjoyment knitting my own handspun yarn. I was having too much fun just spinning the stuff.

Progress so far........I'm using Addi Turbo Lace 4.0mm/120cm. Very nice circular needles I purchased from The Yarn and Fiber Company. Free delivery within the U.S. and Canada. I've had very prompt and reliable service from them.

Coming up in projects to do....I'm waiting for my Serger to come in hopefully by Friday. The sewing bug is biting, and I'm getting inspired by some of these gals blogs.... All things Heather
and Nova Made. Very talented people.

This is no Extreme Makeover Home Edition......


Though I would like to have all those people helping. Especially when we were hauling all of the concrete, and dirt out.

DH was jack hammering pretty much for three days, on and off. It started out as this small hole, but there is plans for it to get bigger.




A little bit bigger here with all the old marble tile taken off. Some people might think, 'What? Taking out marble?' But it was put in by the previous owner over 26 years ago. He was a tile layer by trade so what was put in our bathroom was all the leftover stuff he had from other jobs.








The excavation part is now close to being done. You can still see the tiles from the old shower. Again that's the previous owners method of tiling onto the foundation wall. No wonder it was always freezing in there.

Speaking of freezing, it's not freezing outside here anymore. We had a great weekend of weather which allowed us to get a lot of work done outside. The pond is now cleaned out and running. No fish yet as we've got to get all the bacteria levels balanced. This picture looks like it's kind of murky water, but it's the peat moss pellets and barley we put in to keep down the algae growth.

Unfortunately hardly any knitting or spinning has been done. I'm still working on Dr. G's memory vest which I'm hoping to get done before this weekend. One project that I finished awhile ago, but didn't post about, is the finished Sugarplum Shrug.

Modelled by DD.









I wore the shrug on the plane to Las Vegas. It was just enough to keep from freezing from the air conditioning, and light enough that I wasn't sweltering when we landed in Vegas.

Speaking of sweltering. The cutie patootie living next door, Seika, was rolling around enjoying the summer breeze. That's what I call living in the moment.

She abruptly stopped, as soon as she heard the camera clicking, giving me this shy look saying....'What's the big deal? Haven't you ever rolled in the grass before?'










Have a great day!!!!

Yes I'm a delinquent blogger....it seemed after Thanksgiving and then my DH's 50th birthday there was no time for knitting or blogging over the past two weeks....so warning....this a heavy laden picture post........

It started with trying to keep party plans a secret from DH, but alas it was not to be.....he found out, but I had a few things up my sleeve that I could keep secret. For instance......His reaction was, Oh my god', when getting the newspaper first thing in the morning. The other was an advertisement in our cities newspaper.

It was an especially busy day this past Saturday, we were running all over getting balloons, food, etc., and without DH's help I don't think I could've have gotten it all done. Thank you D!! We invited approx. 36 people, and had a combination party for my Mom's 70th b-day.






A good time was had by all. It was great catching up with people we haven't seen for years, and of course ended with the blowing out of a lot of candles.....I was very pleased by the cake we ordered from the new Walmart supercentre. It was deeeelicious. The decorating on it was great (autumn flowers) the only problem was that I ordered a white cake, and to our surprise when cutting it open it was chocolate.

I wanted to pass on the recipe that Sheri from Loopy Ewe posted on September 14.....everyone really enjoyed it, and I made it ahead of time which really helped.Italian Shredded Beef

3 lb. rump roast
2 pcks. Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1 pck. brown gravy mix
1 cup water
BBQ sauce (optional)

Put 1 package Good Seasons mix, gravy mix, and water in crockpot. Add roast.

Cook on low for 8 hours or longer.

Remove meat from cooker and shred (I use 2 forks to pull the meat apart.) Return meat to cooker and add second package of Good Seasons, plus barbeque sauce, if desired. Cook another 1/2 hour. Serves 8-10. Great with Frito-Pea Salad!

With halloween coming up my nephew was enjoying wearing a mask at the party, as well as
DH wolfing down his cake, literally.




















So in the meantime I've managed to tackle some long delayed projects. One was our front door which was needing a makeover, unfortunately I don't have a before picture. It is a six panelled solid cedar door that had a tikki type design on the front which DH routered out and glued in flat panels. I stained the door with four coats of Minwax waterbased stain, colour Spice. Next came four coats of Minwax wipe-on satin polyurethane.....







Noodles is loving the new screen door. Favourite past time is lying in the sun and smelling the fall leaves.










Second thing on the to do list is a vest that I was hoping to finish for DH's birthday, but instead he's going to get it a bit late.....that's okay he got something else to tie him over.

So far this is the right side, and back of the vest. I loved working on this pattern from Elsebeth Lavold. All that's left is to start on the neck and arm edging, and sew together......more pictures and blogging to follow as soon as I have my cup of coffee ......Have a great weekend!!