Just a Few Images.........

We're back from Vancouver visiting DD. Her and her boyfriend Nathan live in the downtown area which explains the following pictures.I loved this window which was huge. It reminded me of some castle window I might find in England.

We took the new Canada Sky-Train from the airport to the Waterfront Station where the hotel was. This train line was finished in September of this year, and I believe was part of the plan for the Olympic crowds which will be arriving sometime in Jan/Feb. 2010. The view from our hotel room at the Fairmont Waterfront.

In the evening.....We took the SeaBus over to Lonsdale Market in North Vancouver. How much more Christmas can it be watching this children's school choir?

The tugboats outside Lonsdale market.Seabus ride from North Vancouver back to downtown Vancouver...Canada Place in the background to the right.More shopping the next day over at Daiso at Aberdeen Mall in Richmond. Of course we had to check out the wedding dress shop.A perfume shop with a pretty display of samples.A goofy lunch at the mall.Dinner that evening was at Foundation (A view from our table) on Main Street, Vancouver.

After dinner we took a drive around Stanley Park to take a look at the Olympic rings.The shopping highlight of the weekend was when I stopped in at Dressew on Hastings Street. Nashua yarn motherload at $1.99/ball!!!! You know you picked the right man when he can be convinced to stuff yarn in his suitcase until it's near bursting. Thank you Dale you don't know how happy that yarn made me. ;) XOXOMiss you Nathan and Nino!!!!! We had a really good time!!

New Header, New Mugs.......

My daughter informed me yesterday that Starbucks had these really cool mugs with a knitted texture, and my reaction was 'Get'em'. Is this a new product this year? I don't remember seeing them last year, anyways they're really nice. My new blog header was my DH and my breakfast this morning.

I've got a bit of startitis happening with knitting projects right now and on top of it all I got the sewing bug. My latest project waiting for me upstairs......












I recently paid a visit to Fabricland, which is the only material store in Edmonton, and I couldn't stop mushing this embossed Cuddlelucouis fleece. This stuff is so soft and all I could think of is what a nice housecoat this would make. So when I found out that it was 40% off I was sold.

Actually the same day I decided to go to one of my lys (River City Yarns) and use my birthday gift certificate I got in September.


Four balls of Noro Silk Garden as required to make the Noro striped scarf I saw Yarn Harlot posted about here. There was a limited supply of Noro, at River City Yarns, but I'm quite happy with these two colours
#47, and 269.





The rest of the gift certificate went to four skeins of Cascade Yarns The Heathers, 100% Peruvian Highland Merino Wool, Col. No. 4010, 100 gr., 220 yards.

Last but not least another skein of sock yarn by Arequipa. Made by Estelle Yarns. 65% Superwash Wool, 20% Alpaca, 15% Nylon. Col. No. 201. 400 meters/100 grams.

I'm loving these colours. I have no plans for them, but that's most of the fun dreaming about this craft/obsession.

Have a great day!

Blog...I'm back....

It's almost overwhelming. Where to start?

Back in August we had heard about the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival that's held the first week of October in British Columbia. We thought about going, but our first priority at the time was for our Uncle Otto. Since his passing on September 19th our days before and after the funeral were so emotionally draining, and busy that it was a welcome reprieve to think about getting away. So October 3 we left for Valemount, B.C. picked up my mom and headed for British Columbia's wine country for some wine education. A few pic's......



Fall colours heading into the Alberta Rockies







Just taking a leisurely walk alongside the road.








A view from the balcony at Gray Monk Estate Winery.










Grapes waiting to be processed.










Mom and DH tasting some grapes right from the vine.











The cellar at Mission Hill Winery.













The view from the outside bistro at Dirty Laundry Vineyard.












Wine tasting at Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Winery.






It was great to get some knitting in while driving, and I started a new sock KAL designed by Kirsten from Through the Loops. The free pattern can be found on Ravelry: Fans of Through the Loops.

I had full intentions to get all these 'in progress' sock pictures with the vineyards as a back drop, but after the wine tasting I never remembered to do it...Geesh.

A great time was had by all three of us. We visited 16 wineries in five days, and we all agreed it would be something we'd love to do again. There are so many wineries and vineyards in the Okanagan that a person could go back and not visit the same ones.

Of course no trip is complete until I've visited the local yarn shops. There was only one shop in Kelowna. Kelowna Yarn and Needlecrafts........




I bought this......

And I couldn't keep my hands from smooshing it the rest of trip.

The second fibre shop stop was in Armstrong B.C. on our way back to Valemount. We stopped in and had a visit with Sharon Wickstrom from Homespun Haven. What a wonderful shop she had! It's in her home in a big room situated over her garage. I was inspired, and she had such patience with all our questions. I found out that she's hoping to teach some courses at next spring's HWSDA's conference at Old's College in Olds, Alberta, May 22-24, 2009. Hopefully next spring I'll be able to attend one of Sharon's classes.









I've never seen so many spools of yarn. Click to embiggen.










Sharon was showing me one of Ashford's looms. This ones called The Knitter's Loom. She gave us a mini demo and I'm putting it on my Christmas list.


I bought this for the stash...............










This grey is something I never heard of before. It's combed wool in a natural gray colour. It is a bit on the itchy side, but it has some wonderful fuzziness to it which I'm hoping to incorporate in some projects..................................>






So I need to take pictures of my works in progress right now. That'll be my next post....Stay warm everybody!

WooHoo!!!!!

What better treat, besides Chocolate, is there? Getting fibre in the mail? I think so!

All the way from Ontario..............








Jody and I sort of did an unplanned fibre exchange. I picked up some Finnsheep fleece for her, and she sent the following loveliness.....



All neatly packed for a new home.








Beautiful handspun alpaca. One thing about alpaca you can feel the weight. More so than merino which is lighter.




This is great! Tagged with the name of contents so I'll never forget.








Black Corriedale from a Canadian Supplier. Val from Life With Sheep.
Such a deep rich black.









What more can you say about dark fawn Alpaca, and...







Fawn Suri Alpaca.....it's like feeling clouds in you hands.







Noodles enjoys opening presents as well. Especially when she smells, and discovers that there were other kitties living where this came from.

Thanks so much Jody! You work so hard with fleece. Cleaning, combing, spinning. I can tell that it's a passion for the love of fibre. It's great emailing with you and sharing in this obsession.

The last of the ordered stash pictures.......These needles and fibre were ordered from The Yarn and Fiber Company. I was browsing through Ravelry and this came up as one of the places to shop online and the bonus is that they have free shipping to Canada. The roving was not in stock at the time, but they were great in notifying me about this. It took approx. three weeks before I got my order.
The fibre I purchased is Harrisville Fleece Roving in Hyacinth and Magenta colourways. This is not the greatest to spin after I've been spoiled with spinning Alpaca. It's kind of like when you go skiing at your local hill, and then skiing in the mountains....no comparison. It was inexpensive $12.60 for 1/2 lb bag. I could see using this roving more for needle felting projects, but for now it's going to be spun up and used in some felting project.




The Yarn and Fiber Co. had the best price on Addi Turbo Lace Needles that I could find online. I have to admit I've been using my Knit Picks Harmony Wood circular knitting needles on a lace project, and I'm loving them. I also picked up some sample packets of Soak wool wash. I've been using Eucalan Lavender, and I wanted to try something else with another scent. Out of the three that I got, Flora was my favourite Aquae came second.



Here's a close up pic of the needle points on both circulars................


The Harmony's are about half the price of the Addi's so it's nice to have an option if you're on a tight budget. Luv'n the Harmony's

Next package came a week later from Little Knits another online shop.

Out of all of the online stores this one was the quickest in delivery (two weeks). I found Little Knits ad in Interweave Knits magazine. I took a couple pictures documenting how things are packaged up..................... I hate admitting this, but I have a habit of liking expensive wool that I can't afford. So when I visited this website I was impressed with their sales on this.....
Sock yarn...
It's self explanatory I guess it'll be made into socks, for who I don't know yet, but I love the colourway of the Opal Hundertwassers Collection - The Soul Tree (Yellow variegated Color #1431).
The price of the Trekking XXL, another sock yarn, is approximately $8 less than what I paid here in Canada. Colourway: Crimson, Lilac, Midnight Tweed. Last sock yarn is Lana Grossa Multi-Effekt 3090, again another great price.

Also from Little Knits some Noro Kureyon colour 194, made in Japan,100% wool, 50gr. 100 meters. All four balls are the same colourway just wound up differently. Noro isn't a particularly soft yarn, I've never knitted with it, so this will be used on something like mitts or a scarf worn on the outside of a jacket.

Last package...really....I haven't posted for just about a month so now it's all coming back to me what's been going on..............

This is from The Loopy Ewe. Again pictures of how everything is packaged up.








Some extra little things Sherri from The Loopy Ewe included......................







The fiber bought this time was Lorna's Laces. Super soft so I'm hoping to use this in a chevron scarf inspired from the book, Scarf Style by Pam Allen editor of Interweave Knits.

Left view: Lorna's Laces, Color: Vera, Shepherd Sport, 100% Superwash Wool, 200 yards/70gr., 6 sts=1" on #4
Right View: Lorna's Laces, Color: Bittersweet , Shepherd Sock 80% Superwash Wool 20% Nylon, 215 yards 7 sts = 1"

These skeins will be used in socks. Lorna's Laces, Color: Tuscany, Shepherd Sock. Same ingredients as the above Bittersweet.

The latest Interweave Knits really got the juices flowing. I fell in love with the idea of the elegant little knitting bags that could hold a small project that a knitter could take anywhere....So I went looking in my material stash and came up with a couple of little bags that can hold my socks in progress.
I had fun making these. I feel a couple more of them being sewn up in the near future.

Last but not least another new sleeping spot for Noodles......

Noodles, my shadow of late. She's not been feeling well. We went to the vet's about three weeks ago to get annual shots and some blood work done, and renal failure is continuing to haunt her. She's 14 years old now, and at present her kidney's are operating at 25%. She's lost two pounds, but I think that's due to an upset stomach off and on. So the goal right now has been changing her food over to a prescription diet, and I'm treating her sensitive stomach with some Zantac. So far she's really picked up. The appetite is back, and she's getting extra love and attention which is starting some bad habits. She only wants to drink out of the clear glass by the kitchen sink which requires lifting her up and down, but she's a great communicator with the meowing, and so far she's back to being her old self after the vet's visit.