and they’re off!

We take off tomorrow morning well before breakfast (but it’s worth it to make Andrew get up to drive us to the airport,  she said with a wicked smile), and this time tomorrow we’ll be a little warmer than we are now.  There’s a 31 degree spread (celsius) (that’s about three hundred fahrenheit) between here and Buckeye, so I am packing shorts, flipflops and sunscreen.  (and painting clothes.  Yay.)  Andy’s notes are done, and notes for the housesitter who comes when Andy goes snowboarding are done, an alternate pickup location for a housekey should Andy forget to leave one for the housesitter is arranged, the dogs have had their oral hygiene looked after and cursory pedicures.

I don’t know what I’ll take for knitting- I have started a reversible scarf (sorry, no pictures) and have the gear for a cute little leaf scarf (also no pictures), so I’ll just have to play it by ear.  I figure after a week of slothing Mike will be amenable to a drive, so we’ll check out a couple of fibre purveyors and see what’s what.

I finished up a couple of weaving projects, and tried out my nifty new gadget:

Triple Roach Clip?

I can twist fringe until the cows come home now.  It does do a nice job, but I need to work on getting the knots in the same place, as well as doing the same number of turns on both ends of the scarf.

Alternate use for Tofutsies

Still having fun; still amassing scarves at an alarming rate.  I did get a commission (my first, and hopefully not my last) for a scarf destined for Vancouver that I will do when I get home.

I would love to have a loom down south; might just have to buy one down there.   Somehow, sitting in the desert (or in my own little oasis) weaving just sounds like a good idea.   Socks in my sandals, a little Valdy on the iPod, glass of wine (or something with tequila), yup, great idea.

Wallace is howling because Mike is shovelling the driveway and Wallace is not outside attacking the shovel.  It is a pathetic sound, but then he is a pathetic little dog.  I will miss both of them while we’re gone- who will bark and leave hair all over the house?

We  have to leave in just over 8 hours, so I better go and put something in a suitcase.  I think I procrastinated enough that I don’t have time to hit the treadmill.  My fiendish plan is working.

We get our internet hooked up on Saturday morning, so perhaps a progress report is forthcoming.  After all, I can only talk to Mike for so long before his eyes glaze over.    Maybe I should talk to him about sports.  Maybe I’ll flap my arms and fly to the moon.

Choosing

This is why it’s really important to choose your neighbors wisely:

Really, we do have the best neighbors.   On a day when the city snow removal crews weren’t apparent even on main arteries (including one near our house where there was a fatal accident three days ago),  we  were at the mercy of the elements.  Andy took my jeep to work (and had to drive a few people back and forth) and reported little or no road clearing happening.  We only see a city grader on our cul-du-sac every three or four years, and this isn’t the year, so imagine my joy when Dale from next door snow-blowed (snow-blew?) our driveway on his rounds.  A little while later, however, he looked like a sissy when Brent from the other-side next door brought home one of his company vehicles.  Too bad we can’t compete, but perhaps heartfelt thanks will suffice.   I don’t want to seem petty, but we were hoping this weather would happen while we were away…

Big news.  I knit!

This is the Flared Smoke Ring Cowl.  I used Ella Rae Lace Merino that I purchased in Ottawa last year.  It spent some time in the timeout bin, after an abortive attempt at some Victorian Lace Today.  Victorian Lace Never, more like it.

It matches nothing I own, no jacket, no sweater.  I do love it, though (even though it will never be pulled up on my head like this), so I’ll have to improvise.

I ran into a rather snooty person at the gym this week, who poo-pood my loom.  She of course weaves on a “grown-up’s” loom.   After she told me that I couldn’t weave patterns on my loom, just one-by-one weave, I ran home and warped up for a basketweave scarf.   I think it turned out quite nicely.

He insisted on the sunglasses in case any of his friends recognized him and gave him grief about the nice purple scarf.  He’s such a wuss; not in touch with his feminine side at all.  I told him that this shouldn’t be as threatening as the cowl, but he just set his jaw and refused to talk.  To add insult to injury, I made him go and sit on top of the china cabinet with a ball cap on sideways and a pair of 3-D glasses from Avatar.   You want silly?  I’ll give you silly.

The ultimate in silly has to be last night’s movie fare.  In my own defense, I left the room.  Almost immediately.  Crank High Voltage .  I really hope that everyone involved in this movie did it tongue-in-cheek, because from what I heard and saw on my few trips past the television, well, it would be too sad if they thought they were making an art film.

Mike has very kindly finished cleaning the kitchen after supper, so the table is cleared and I am ready to resume weaving.  I know I keep saying it, but I am having way too much fun.  Housebound because of the weather?  Bring it on.

Early thaw and success from frogging

What a difference a week makes!  The cold weather we were ahem, enjoying, has disappeared, and in its stead is an uncharacteristic warm snap.  Warm enough that we are quickly losing the little bit of snow that we had.  I’m sure we’ll get dumped on later- perhaps when Mike and I are down south.

I have finished my first non-scarf piece of woven apparel.  Do you remember this?

It was going to be an ostrich plume shawl, then when I realized that it was too small (Swatch?  I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.) it was going to be an ostrich plume scarf. Then I decided that it wasn’t so much ostrich as frog, which brought us to this:

A couple of months in the time-out bin, and I decided to try this really cool vest.

Notice the purloined tape measure from that Swedish furniture store.  What a great way to measure the cloth as it’s wound!

The pretty multicoloured weaving is actually waste yarn- this area was cut out for the armhole.  I may be mentally prepared to steek some knitting now.

The cloth is mauve and green, and the vest is a little short for my liking.  The length is limited by the width of the loom, so I may start to save my pennies for a wider loom.

To keep Mike happy (even if he hadn’t considered the lack of knitting in the context of all that knitting paraphrenalia that’s been lying around gathering dust since I got the loom), I have started a Flared Lace Smoke Ring.

It’s called “Judy’s Ottawa Smoke Ring”, since the yarn was purchased in Ottawa last May.  I tried to coax it into a scarf from Victorian Lace Today, but it seemed to want to lean to the left, so I frogged it.  It seems to be cooperating better for this project, and is clipping along at an alarming rate (oh, that’s the kiss of death, isn’t it?).  Who knows how far I’ll be after tonight’s 2-hour episode of 24?

Now I’ve gone and put a hex on the whole thing.  You’d think I would know better than that by now.   At least I haven’t set a deadline.

Thursday Afternoon Notes

It is minus 30 today, plus whatever windchill is blowing around.  It’s too cold for the sparrows and finches to leave the comfort of their commune in the front-yard cedars to eat, and Attie needed help back onto the deck when she was outside for her constitutional this morning.  In other words, it is Cold.  Didn’t we just do this in December?  I don’t remember.   All I know is that in exactly 4 weeks, we will own and have possession of a winter retreat down south.   Yay.  Now that Christmas is over, I can obsess about the new digs without distraction (except knitting, weaving, and cleverly avoiding housework at all costs).  Mike thinks we’ll be making no changes, but I think a couple of rooms’ worth of painting and refurnishing will happen with or without his enthusiasm.  After listening to him change his mind on a daily basis about whether to drive down (30 hours each way) or fly down, and nodding my head and agreeing to whatever he decided, he finally booked flights down.  I can’t say I am disappointed, although this does mean that taking down dishes and assorted kitchen stuff will have to wait until we drive to Arizona, probably in March or April.  So, interim paper plates, I guess.

The reason I am all het up about taking dishes from here mainly has to do with these:

Pretty good match with the dishes, yes?

thick and thin= wavy texture.

I whipped these up in early December, taking not-too-long, although I must admit that the hemming took a back seat to Christmas preparations.  Slip stitching the hems was a royal pain, and I am sadly out of practice with that kind of needle.   I am pleased with the texture from the thick-and-thin yarn, and the fact that they are all the same size give or take an inch.   Technical info:  warp is Moda Dea washable wool (purchased a few years ago for a knitted Christmas tree skirt that refused to be knit and has come in handy for ever-so-many smaller projects), weft is Sirdar Juniper, which likewise refused to cooperate as a sweater.   I thought 6 was a good number, since I knew I would lose interest before I hit 8, aqnd 4 placemats just isn’t enough.

Geoff and Courtney were home for Christmas, and we had a great visit!  I know that 10 days with in-laws can be overwhelming, and I think Courtney did a great job of not rolling her eyes in front of Mike and me.  (I don’t have any proof that either Geoff or Courtney were rolling their eyes, but I am projecting my remembered reactions onto my children).  We did trick them into the car one night (with Andy too) and drove through the Enchanted Forest, which for those of you who don’t live here and have no clue what I am talking about, is the longest outdoor drive-through Christmas light display in Canada and maybe North America.  It winds through our local zoo grounds (although not where the animals are) and looks best when there is snow on the ground.  Some years that takes until the second week of January, but we lucked out and got visually pleasing weather on January 1st.  Even if there were snide comments and rolling eyes from Geoff and Andy  (and there were),  Courtney enjoyed it and so did I.  It’s not like we drag them through it every year- more like every four or five years- and Courtney did say she wanted to learn our family traditions.

Speaking of traditions, we get together with Mike’s in-town siblings every Christmas Eve, eat and drink too much, and sing the first line (or more if anyone knows more) of many Christmas carols.  Andy and Mike were on guitar this year, and after the first 15 minutes or so, Andy suggested that perhaps we would be interested in the Christmas Karaoke channel on t.v., so there we were, gathered around the tube singing carols.  It was surreal, but not so surreal as when someone changed the channel and we ended up singing Abba karaoke.  Nothing says Christmas like “Money, Money, Money”.  And a new tradition is born.

After taking a break from knitting (it’s all loom-related), I actually knit a hat. It turned out okay, but it is not a good style for me.  I don’t really do hats that well, and I have always blamed my hair- it’s too short or too long, too flat or too poufy, or not really that cold out.  (Like today.)  So, it’s into the tickle trunk without so much as a photo, but at least I’m knitting.  I am almost finished another facecloth for my Spa Experience Bathtub and may weave a few kitchen towels next week.

Loving the colours here.

Oh yes, and I did whip up a couple of quick scarves:

Linda, I'm sorry your Christmas present was late.

and

I warped this one at 10:30 in the morning, and cut it off the loom at 1 in the afternoon.  Too much fun.

The saddest part of dismantling the Christmas decorations?  Saying goodbye for another year.

I always have a chat with her on the way to the top of the tree, feel slightly guilty when I jam the tree up her dress, and then apologetic when I take her down and put her away.  By the next year all is forgiven.

Speaking of forgiven, I have broken all my new year’s resolutions (all of which involve sugar and exercise- you figure it out), but am not beating myself up over it.  Life is too short, and if I had a bucket list, there would still be too much fun on in.   So, to all of you in Blogland, happy belated Christmas, and I wish you a healthy and prosperous new year.   This is a fun ride we’re on, isn’t it?

Be it Resolved…

that this year I will post a little more often.

Does this count?

Yella.

Question:  What do the following have in common?     Fire ants.  Killer African Bees.  Scorpions.  Rattlesnakes.  Black Widow Spiders.

Answer:  These are all critters by which I was fully expecting to be bitten when Mike and I made our first foray into the desert last week.   Happily, I didn’t even see any of them (although there was a sign saying “move along, as the African bees have colonized in the area” or words to that effect).   We saw lots of these:

and oodles of these:

and a real Road Runner (I didn’t get a picture- it was running.   Across a road.).  Upon reflection, watching the bird wait until there was a car coming before crossing the road, I thought this is like a gopher here at home, only with feathers.  And faster- I didn’t see a single roadrunner smeared on the pavement.

I was all set to knit en route, but discovered that instead of packing 4.5mm needles, I was fully equipped with 4.0mm needles, and the resulting scarf was a little stiff.  It will be frogged, and re-done, because it is a cute pattern (and doesn’t require much of a time commitment), but not until after Christmas.  Maybe not right away after Christmas either, because I have a set of placemats to finish weaving by the end of January***, and some other detail things to look after.  Details?  What details?  Well, I’m so excited that I can barely stand it.  Not only did we take a trip to the desert, but while we were there we bought a house . Yes, I am preparing to become a Canadian snowbird and spend some time in Arizona every winter, whilst calling back to the prairies on a weekly basis just to check on the weather.  And maybe laugh.

***Placemats for the dining room table in the new house, since the ones in the house have plates glued to them.  And wineglasses glued to the plates.  And napkins glued inside the wine glasses.  And so on.

So, here’s a peek at the new Casa Under Sask Skies:  (or Under Buckeye Skies, if you want to get technical)

We bought the builder’s showhome, all landscaped and furnished (Mike has gone and spoiled my fun there).  It’s more house than I would have expected, but lots of room for company.  What really sold Mike was the backyard:

Of course, there is a little work to do on the inside:

Andy's room

Geoff's room

I guess it’s off to Craigslist or Kijiji- there’s no basement, so nowhere to stash unwanted furniture.   When we got home, it was well below freezing and there is a skiff of snow on the ground, so we felt pretty good about the investment.  We’ve had lots of offers of company from friends and family, so the place will be well used (except from June to September-a little warmish for my taste.  I’d rather fry an egg in a frying pan instead of on the sidewalk, if you get my drift.)

My loom will fit as carry-on baggage, and I have scoped out the fibre stores in the Phoenix area (although I didn’t make Mike visit any on this trip, even though I did go to a golf course with him), so I will have no problem finding stuff to do.  I’ll be like Frank Lloyd Wright, and have a winter camp in the sun.

Mike’s all het up about getting the Christmas tree up, so I’d better go and start moving furniture around.  This will be the first time in a few years that Geoff will be home, and Courtney has expressed some interest in learning our family’s traditions (oh crap, now we have to have traditions?), so yes, we’re excited for the holidays.  I may even do some baking. And don’t tell him, but Mike’s getting a big jug of sunscreen from Santa.

gone again

Can’t talk.   Packing for Phoenix.  Back in a week. Will post then.

Really.

 

 

Help Wanted

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Mike is off next weekend for an out-of-town soccer tournament, and I have a decision to make.  Do you remember last year, when Mike was away for a tournament?

I knit this one weekend whilst watching season two of The Tudors.  My sister tells me that it is her husband’s favourite “Wubbee” (remember Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom?  If you haven’t seen it, check it out.  It’s cute and touching.  And it has a Wubbee.)  I am fortunate in that my chiropractor is a good sport, and hardly rolls her eyes any more when I tell her it’s a knitting injury.

Well, as I mentioned, Mike’s going away, and I am almost ready.  Here we go again.

 

I’ll be using bigger needles (9’s or 10’s instead of last year’s 8’s).  It is theoretically going to be a Christmas gift, so I hope the 2 different dye lots won’t bug the recipient like I know it’s going to bug me knitting it, but when Michaels has a sale you pretty much just take your chances.  I suppose that if I planned far enough ahead I could order direct from Lion Brand and get everything in the same dye lot, but planning ahead ain’t my forte.

The help I need is this:  Since I am currently watching the (somewhat edited) third season of the Tudors, I need something else to watch on TV while I work on this year’s wubbee.   I thought I could dust off Ghormengast (which also has Jonathan Rhys Meyers; this alone is enough to reel me in) and then Random Passage (which has Colm Meaney, and great scenery which is also enticement), but if anyone has any suggestions for any other mini-series on DVD that would make suitable accompaniment, I’d love to hear your ideas.  I am not above broadening my horizons here Under Sask Skies.

Meantimes, I am polishing up the needles and re-reading the pattern.  I await your recommendations.

Out of the Tub

Well, the water finally got cold and my fingers and toes got wrinkly, so I’m out of the tub.  I have laid to rest Mike’s skepticism about whether I would use the tub, and in the words of the immortal Harry Chapin “I never been so clean”.  Actually, I have been out long enough to feed the new obsession, and am nurturing my weaving mojo (to the detriment of a clean house).

A sampling of the last few weeks:

Adriafil Fruttamix and Mirasol Tupa- nice bright colours!

 

Regia Hand-dye effect sock yarn- warp and weft. Really soft!

Noro sock yarn- a little crunchy, but might soften with wearing and washing

More Regia Hand-dye effect, but I ran the warp ends back in for a tidier finish

Finished today- Misti Alpaca worsted. LONG- 88" (I was seeing how long I could go, and this is the max with worsted)

So, as you can see, I’ve been pretty busy.  My son complained today that I haven’t been blogging much, and suggested that perhaps I should start another renovation.  Maybe with my next husband, because the current one would be less than enthusiastic.

Once again, Andy got into the Hallowe’en spirit:

Amazingly, he wasn’t the only Gumby at the bar.  Or maybe he was seeing double (although he said that there wasn’t really a “beer opening”, and he didn’t want to drink much because he didn’t want to have to take Jordan with him to the bathroom for undressing and dressing.).   Son the elder just sat on his apartment balcony with his wife and watched the parade go by (and ate little chocolate bars).  It was ucky here- snowy, cold, wet; only 30 kids braved the elements.  So here Mike and I sit, eating little chocolate bars.

Here’s a little something to which I may have alluded, but haven’t written about in any depth:

It was raining- the photographers were prepared.

Crazy in love...

It’s almost six months ago and I feel like I’ve had a daughter forever.  In a good way.   In the best way.

 

 

 

 

Tunnel Vision

It’s not that I am particularly obsessive; it’s just that I just can’t seem to think about anything else.

Weaving.  I wake up at night thinking about fibre combinations.  I make deals with myself:  “Empty the dishwasher and you can warp the loom for another project.”  “Put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and you can weave for an hour.”  I am sure that the novelty will wear off eventually and it will just become a part of what I like to do, but in the meantime, am I ever producing a lot of scarves.

Yesterday’s production:

It’s AslanTrends Santa Fe sock yarn with DROPS Lin. Hopefully it will soften up with washing- it’s a little, shall we say, crisp for a scarf now.

Attie is already getting bored with the whole thing.   Too bad; it’s not like her schedule was full anyways.

And in the “Nothing says happy birthday like shredded cheddar on your dog kibble” department, Wallace turned 6 yesterday.  We’re expecting maturity and the cessation of barking that comes with it any day now.