I've been tagged

Instructions: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot.
one by one
Cj's Knitting Basket
wine and needles
kimberlinewyork
After Asia

Select 5 people to tag:
If you have time and need a blog topic, here you go - Michelle of Beknitted, Denise of Knitting without Needles, Susan of Susan Knits, Kristin of Med Student who Knits and Maureen at 5 and a Beagle and of course anyone else who wants to play, consider yourself tagged!

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Living in Moncton, New Brunswick as a participant in Katimavik, it was an interesting year of my life and I learned a lot about myself and Canadian culture.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

I was living in Taipei, counting the days until my Chinese New Year break so that I could go to the Philippines and lie on a beach.

List five creative things you want to achieve this year:
Knit my wedding shawl, finish P's sweater (my first), paint my kitchen/bedroom/any other walls that are ready to be painted, make necklaces with the pearls I got in Vietnam and try out quilting (on a small scale first!)

List five snacks you enjoy:
gluten free pretzels with French onion dip, artichoke and asaigo cheese dip/spread on anything, brownies (gluten free of course), Jelly Belly's and chocolate, any kind

List five things you would do if money were no object:
get a hot tub, hire 15 people to finish the house renos quickly, travel all summer, go back to school and visit my nieces & nephews as often as possible

List five bad habits:
not doing the dishes, saying yes to too many things, demanding perfection, (although I usually end up settling for almost and I am speaking my myself not others), procrastinating and leaving things half finished.

List five things you like doing:
knitting, sleeping, reading, cooking and traveling

List five favorite gadgets:
MP3 player, laptop, Denise needles, the snow shovel and cappucino makers

Name one thing you like about yourself:
I'm a compassionate person.

That's all there is, I have some pictures of the great stash I scored in San Francisco but I am out of time today, but I'll be back later this week

Yesterday continued

Okay so I ran our of time last night and then blogger was down, they said it would only be 30 minutes but I assure you it was longer than that! Anyway the second thing that I wanted to ask for your help with is also some charity knitting but of a much different sort.

There is a teacher here in Ottawa who amazes me, I first met her when I was student teacher and she taught one of the toughest spilt classes I have ever encountered. She was amazing and did amazing work with them, you could tell when you walked into her room that she cared about what she did. She is one of those teachers who gets what it means to love a child and works hard to make school a positive experience. Last year (while I was in Asia) she taught a number of her students to knit, she shared with them a piece of her world so that they may come to love the art as much as she does. I have not met any of the students that she taught but I understand that many of them took to it and happily knit up their first project.

Earlier this year this teacher was diagnosed with breast cancer and she had to stop teaching, she is very sick. One of the students who was in her class last year decided that it would be nice to knit her up a blanket, if all her friends knit squares then she could put them together and make a blanket for her old teacher for Christmas. So the young student put out the call to friends and teachers for 8x8 squares before Christmas. Well Christmas came and went and the student received very few squares, but yet she has not given up and still really wants to be able to give her old teacher something that has been knit by people who care about her and hope that she heals as she begins chemo in the next few weeks.

So to help this student out I said I would put out the word, if you have time the square can be from any fiber you have available and can have any pattern of no pattern at all. I will also draw a name from all who send in a square for a prize of stitch markers and some yarn, (see details below)

I know this makes 2 knitting requests in 2 days but if you could find a moment to knit up a square or a hat and send it this way that would be amazing. I am off to Toronto in 13 minutes, for a big 24 hour trip, I am hoping to fit a Romni trip in, I'll fill you in on the details when I get back.

Another thing to do with spare time, cause I know everyone has so much...

Just kidding, I know that everyone is really busy but I promised a friend I would make a knitting request on her behalf, actually I have two. First, my friend Catherine has a very good friend who works in Lesotho, she does great stuff including twinning school there with schools here in order to help provide essential supplies to very needy kids

Catherine has taken on the task of knitting and collecting knit hats for adults and children to wear during the cold winters (not much snow there but the nights are cold). There are many reasons that they are working on hats, without going into them all here I will say that it is a great cause. The goal is to have 1000 hats to send by March 15th. So if you have a minute or twenty and some spare wool, please knit up a hat and send it to me so I can pass it on to Catherine. Personally I am using it as a chance to finish up some UFO's and some bits of stash yarn. I was going to try to make a bunch for the knitting Olympics (like one a day) but, I have decided for the sake of P's sanity and the dogs as well ( I would be fine of course, it would drive them crazy if I knit 24 hours a day but it would not bother me at all) that I will pass on the chance, like Cate, I think it is better for all of us this way.

If you can help out and knit some up or if you have some already knit up, like that one you knit for your kid that they hated or didn't fit right (that never happens right!) leave me a comment and I will send you my address. And to make it just a little more fun, everyone who sends me a hat will have a chance at a prize, 5 stitch markers with Chinese zodiacs and some yarn (that I have not yest picked out), I will draw randomly from among the participants cause this baby needs a hat!

Okay I am so late as blogger is being a little annoying, I will tell you about the other stuff later! Happy Wednesday

Home again

I am home in Ottawa, I got in on Thursday and all is well. We are in the midst of a major snow storm today but that's nothing new here. I must say that they weather in California was a pleasant change to say the very least. I could get used to not wearing a coat in the missle of January

My last few days in SF were great, my sister and I managed to get some more stash enhancement in. We hit a few more yarn stores and I got some amazing alpaca along with a few more patterns and a new bag book as well. However, I think the best yarn scores were to be found in my sister stash, which she generously shared as she feels that her 2 little people will keep her busy enough for awhile! I got a some beautiful yarn and once I fish it all out of my suitcase I will share a photo or 2.

Well that's about it for news in my world, Kimberli tagged me with meme but I don't have the time to answer it at the moment as I have to go and meet P in 20 minutes. There are also a billion other thoughts buzzing around in my head that are knitting related but those too will have to wait until later.

I know that I have been quiet this week but...

I have a new nephew and I must say that he is adorable! He is 9 days old today and I am in love

and here is again, on the lovely Snoopy blanket that the world's best Auntie made for him, (not that I am tooting my own horn or anything)

This is his lovely big sister, she is modeling my first completed spinning project. I bought the roving in Rhinebeck, spun it half on a spindle and half on my new wheel and then knit it into a hat on my way here last week. To bad she lives in California because the hat would be perfect for a winter in the Arctic

My progress on P's Christmas sweater is slow, I have almost finished the back. I am making it from White Buffalo and using a Lopi Bulky pattern, the specs will follow eventually. Yes that it is a lemon tree the knitting is on, you can tell I am still in California, there are no lemons growing in Ottawa at this time of year

My second attempt at lace, it's the Branching Out Scarf from Knitty and I am using some of the billion meters of yarn that I got at Rhinebeck. I am not having to much trouble and I must say that this lace stuff is growing on me, even if I am cheating a bit and using thicker yarn this time

This is my haul from Imagiknit here in San Fran, some royal blue roving and cotton/tencel from Classic Elite Yarns, it is so soft, I bought two skiens for a scarf

And a posed picture of the monkeys, they are so cute

especially when the big one tries to get the little one to cheer for a picture.

Today I went to NoeKnits as well and got a great knitting calendar with patterns for each day, there are some really useless ones but some that I really like as well, I figure it was a good deal for the 10 bucks it cost.

I should be...

As the queen of procrastination I have an image to uphold, today I am doing an excellent job, as I type I should be;

- doing the dishes.
- making muffins with the almost dead bananas.
- packing for my trip to San Francisco tomorrow.
- shovelling the walk.
- sewing the back on the finished felted baby blanket that I decided need a flannel back at the last minute ( pics later).
- clipping the dog's nails.
- taking down the Christmas tree and putting away all the decorations.

I have gotten nothing accomplished from the above list but before I sleep tonight most of those things need to be accomplished, especially the packing one! But I have had a busy morning, I plyed and washed my first skein of yarn spun from my new wheel. I moved all my crap from one wallet into another and then stroked my drying yarn a little. I organized my knitting for the trip and made sure there were no scissors in my bag and I made sure that my computer was charged so I can watch DVD's on the plane if needed. I caught up on some blog reading that I have been meaning to do for ages and perhaps most importantly I sat by the phone waiting for word of my newest family member whose arrival into the world is imminent - still no word from the sunny western USA but I have my fingers crossed that all is well and I will hear something soon. Personally I think he should of waited for me to arrive there tomorrow night before he joins us but I guess I don't get a vote.

Ok I am off to get something done, well something fromthe list that is!

Happy New Year

Hmm I sat down to post and now I am drawing a bit of a blank on what it was that I wanted to write about! Oh well I guess I will come back to this later.

I do know that I wanted to ask for a small favour. I am heading to San Francisco on Friday and I was wondering if anyone could tell me the name of Nathania Apple's ( i think that's her name) store/blog in San Jose. I used to read her blog but then my bloglines list got erased and I am not sure what it was called.

I'll will be back later with some New Year's thoughts when I am a little more grounded and not rushing out the door, that is if I can pry myself away from the spinning wheel.