Thursday, March 22, 2007

My pirate* can pick locks

So, after a few long months P is completely back on his feet and is healthy as a horse once again. He has recently rented his own office space here in our end of of he world and hung out his own shingle. We spent part of last week setting up the new office and when we arrived with the new keys in hand to hang pictures and such we discovered that we had been given the wrong key and thus were standing in the waiting room - locked out. So what does P do, he whips a credit card out of his wallet and inserts into the door and pops the lock - I was impressed, I am not sure if I want to know where and why he learned such tricks but they do on occasion come in handy. We did hang the pictures and now we have the correct keys so that no more credit cards need be harmed.

In other news, well there really is no other news. I've spent some time with a variety of lovely ladies ( this one shared her ball winder with me - thanks again) over the last week, but really I have nothing exciting to tell you - maybe one of their blogs will prove to be a little more interesting. I am supply teaching/looking for a job as usual and enjoying the fact that the little snow that we had has almost all melted and even though it is after 7 pm it is still light out.

I am knitting, but I have no pictures so I can't even entertain you with that. But oh, I can point you in the direction of an amazing gluten free pizza crust -it was perhaps the best gf pizza I have ever made and it even tastes good cold (which is really hard with gf things). I doubled it and made us 2 lovely pizzas on Saturday. I also purchased this breadmaker while I was in CA as it has a gluten free setting and I am impressed. Other gf bloggers had talked about it and I am glad I brought it home - it makes gf bread an easier process.

* You have to meet P and buy him a beer to get the (true) pirate story out of him but as others have said before - it is a good one and I am impressed that his pirate abilities extend beyond just ships.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

FO's and snow

Okay really fast as dinner is almost on the table and won't be unless I put it there before it burns




















Felted Slippers from the Fiber Trends pattern - they turned out to be exactly the same size even though they don't appear to be in photo. I knit them with Lopi and some mystery wool from my stash (Lamb's Pride I think)




















A blackberry stitch scarf knit in Noro, that I blocked very poorly and in to much of a hurry




















The stripes of R's fabulous sweater that is now finished and living in CA - there will be a better pic later
















Miss R in the snow, there was not to much snow left at Tahoe but we did manage to play in the little bits of it that we could find. G was not so sure about touching the stuff but he was happy enough to sit and watch us try to make a snowman. I have some other great Tahoe pictures but they will have to wait for another day.


too much

I have too much stuff - yes me. I have in CA for 2 weeks and I am afraid that I have more than I can fit in the bags I brought, even though I thought ahead and brought and extra one. So when all else fails break our the rubbermaid! It is small enough to take on the plane but sadly not big enough














for all this wool! This is some of my stash form stitches West and a few other stops along the way and there is no way that this is going to fit in the this box. My sister had a good laugh watching me trying to get it all in



















I figure with a little duct tape we should be fine, the lid kinda fits and considering there is a breadmaker, cushions for my dinning room chairs ( they are insanely expensive in Canada) and a few balls of wool stuffed in for good measure.














Okay so what is the wool you ask... there is an abundance from Webs (Valley Yarns Berkshire) to make a fabulous sweater for myself, some Socks that Rock cotton candy (2 skeins) and some amazing silk to make a shawl (2 skeins) from Blue Moon Spinnery















I have also got some more knit picks needles (I'm addicted to my options set and wanted the smaller ones as well) and bug finger puppet pattern book that was on clearance. Along with Knitting Vintage Socks, slipper bottoms from Fiber Trends, mobile knitting bag from Know Knits and last but not least this years sticker from the STR club - my sister joined and is sharing with me because she is fabulous. I know that some Canadians are still waiting for their box so I won't post a picture of what I got just yet but I love the pattern.















There are more pictures and all the lionks to put in but my Internet connection is not very good and I figure I better post this before I lose it all together.

PS I am currently at Lake Tahoe - yes I came to CA and drove 3 hours to get to some snow, seems crazy but my family really wanted to ski and since they had a built in sitter it seemed like a fabulous plan. I'll be back inthe Bay area tomorrow and home in the great white north on Tuesday

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Random thoughts

I made it to CA in one piece but it was a long trip. I got stuck in last Saturdays - lets shut down the Chicago airport storm - I made it out through Washington and got the last seat on a plane to SF, it was a long middle of the night flight but I made it.

On Sunday we made the trek (with cute kidlets) to Stitches West - YIPEE! I enhanced my stash with some socks that rock, a sweater kit from Webs and some fantastic silk. There will be pictures as soon as I get that organised.

I have also done a little shopping this week, me and my friend Target hung out as well as a visit to Stash and Article Pract. I was impressed with the vast selection in both stores, however the staff ( one nasty lady in particular) at Article Pract left something to be desired. Why is it that staff insist on shouting at you instead of just pointing out that they would prefer you not look at that particular book collection. I tried to find and email address so I could let the owner of the store know what happened and I how I felt but their website has no email addy. It's sad because I think that a fabulous store like that does not deserve to have a bad rep because it's staff are nasty. I was a little comforted by the fact that there are some other folks in the Bay Area who feel the same way.

okay, enough ranting - I have pics on my camera to post and need to take some of all the new fibre as well as the secret knitting that is not secret anymore. I am knitting a rainbow stripped sweater for my niece, I am on the 2nd sleeve and hopefully will get it finished in the next few days along with the sock that only needs about 10 more rows of ribbing.


PS Louise - got sock yarn, 2 skiens and tell Sarah I got her patterns as well, chocolate to follow soon.