Month: February 2011

It’s been a while since my last post…. again.  I haven’t had too much to say I guess.  Strange for me.  Haha.

The Winter Blues have set in nicely.  Maybe that’s why I don’t have a lot to say.  The Winter Blues suck A LOT.

BUT, the days are getting longer.  It’s starting to be light out when I drive home after a night shift.  I’ve been off this weekend and the days have been bright and sunny.  Helps my morale.

Went to Ottawa for an overnight.  Good food, good wine, Beaver Tails (can’t go wrong with those), a lot of walking and some shopping.  I found some yarn to line my Fiddlehead Mittens.

My sister and I finally went to Le Nordik.  It’s been a whole year coming!  It was lovely.  We got massages, sat in saunas and hot-tubs and spent the whole day together.

I knit a lot and spun a lot.

This is Shetland that was donated to our spinning guild.  We’re all spinning and knitting 8×8 squares to put together into a blanket.  When the blanket is together, we will sell tickets and the proceeds will be donated to the Dunvegan Museum in order to restore the Weaving Room.

This is what I spun.

This is square number 1.

I spun some alpaca/sea cell.

I’ve been working on the following knitted projects:

The Tilted Duster.

These are Jody’s socks.  I’ve already used some of this yarn to make her daughter’s socks so, I started these toe-up, learned a new heel and a new cast-off.

Saturday night, I had a bunch of my cousins over and we ate and watched a bunch of old home movies from when we were kids.  It was so awesome to see videos of my grandparents.  I miss my grandmother’s voice.  It was fun to see the cottage where we all spent so many weekends as kids.  It made my heart full.

Today is Family Day.  I took Jacob and his girlfriend Josee skating.  The social committee at my work organized a Family Day event.  It was great.  I did pretty good on my new-old boy skates.  Didn’t even fall.

Now I’m going to squeeze in an episode of Glee (awesome!) and then attempt a nap before work tonight.

Until next time!

I used to own skates.  I even took figure skating as a child.  Eventually, skating wasn’t cool anymore and I outgrew said skates.

Last year, Big Brothers and Big Sisters were giving a whole bunch of old skates away.  They had an extra pair in my size so I took them.  Remember when Scott and I went up to Ottawa to go skating on the Rideau Canal?  My shins hurt from those skates for ate least a week – maybe even two.  They killed my feet.  Plus, clumsy as I’ve become, I kept tripping on the toe-picks.  Duh, right?

Maybe you remember the flood in my basement on September 30th (my birthday) while Scott and I were in Boston.  Well, I chucked the skates in the bin when I cleaned out the basement.

This year, I decided I would buy used skates – but boy skates with no toe-picks.  We went to the store.  Jacob and I each got a pair of (obviously) used skates but each got shiny new laces.  After the said purchase, we had to kill some time before Jacob was due at work.  What do you think we did?  Good guess – we went skating!

The minute I got on the ice, I went to take off in the manner in which I am accustomed to – with my toe-pick.  My toe just kept rolling and I almost lost my balance and gave the ice a big wet kiss.

Skating with boy skates, when you’re used to girl skates, is quite challenging.  I’m sure I looked like a child skating for the first time.  Mind you, I did ok backwards.  Go figure.  That is until I hit a little pot-hole in the ice and fell on my arse!  I suppose a few bruises aren’t so bad.  can’t be any worse than what I suffered as a toddler – the egg in middle of my forehead.

We had a blast, Jacob and I.  It was cold and we weren’t dressed but he sure did get a good laugh at me.

Here are some photos:

The little pond at Lamoureux Park by the St. Lawrence.

The cute little bridge that’s great for photos.

Pretty swirl I made in the snow with my skates.

My new old boy skates.

Jacob showing off that he’s totally better at skating than I am.  He didn’t believe me when I told him I took figure skating lessons when I was little.

Haha.

There’s me in all my knitted things:  hat, scarf, mittens and socks (which you can’t see).

THEN, when Jacob went off to work, I went with my sister to visit three sisters I was related to once.  Long story.  I hadn’t seen them in years and years and years.  I had such a wonderful time catching up and laughing with them.  I’m committed to seeing them more.

Today was a snow day.  I haven’t seen this much snow in a couple of years.  I’m so very glad I got snow tires this year.  My farmer friend only plowed large enough for my car – then the snow drifted in.  I hope I can get out tomorrow morning at 5:30!  It’s going to suck if I have to pull out my emergency kit to try to get un-stuck.

I finished Carley’s socks last night.  Then I worked on my Duster.  It’s working up quite quickly.

Work tomorrow, spinning on Friday and maybe a little adventure on the weekend.  😉

The other day, I was at the grocery store and spotted some leeks.  I’ve never cooked with leeks before.  I thought it would be really fun to make garlic & leek soup.

I had no recipe.  I had half of a left-over Spanish onion.  I read that if you roast your onions, garlic & leeks, they won’t be as strong (aka: stinky).

Here’s what happened:

Ooops!  I think I left them in the oven too long.  I’m easily distracted.  What can I say.

So, I picked off what wasn’t charred and put it in the blender with a little broth.  Then I mixed it all in a stewing pot with some lemon juice, salt & pepper and some white wine.  It tasted awesome!!!

Even if it looks a little funny ’cause all the “stuff” settled at the bottom and the broth sat at the top.  Oh well… it still turned out… despite my flakiness.

On a knitterly note, I’ve been working on these little socks:

Totally cute right?  Only they’re for a two-year-old.  I think they look big but, I had mom measure little Carly’s feet and everything’s bang-on.  Whatever I have left over after these little things are done, I’ll be making mom’s socks with.  They probably won’t be long ones.  I plan to separate my left-over “ball” into two “balls” of even weight and making mom’s socks toe-up.

I’ve also decided that today is the day I’m going to start my Tilted Duster.  I’ve had this project in my Ravelry queue for a couple of years now.  I got the yarn when my mother and I were last in Ottawa – in December.  The yarn I chose, Berroco Peruvia in Abusar (color 7183).  Should be nice.  I really wanted the charcoal or a nice mossy green but they didn’t have enough at the store.

People have been writing that there are a few “peccadillos” with this sweater – that the sleeves are tight or that the skirt starts mid-bust.  Some are great though.  Guess I’ll just have to wing it.

Well, that’s it for me for today.