Happy Birthday to me..

Last night I went to The Reef for a great and fun early birthday dinner with my friends - there were 8 of us all together, which is a very auspicious number :) especially given saturday's calendar date.

I had a yummy appetizer of scallops and prawns in curry, followed by the margot poisson, a lovely baked mahi mahi with roasted vegies. A few of us shared a lovely pitcher of pink rum cocktail which disappeared very quickly, and left us all quite happy.

Especially fun for me was that I was surprised by fabulous birthday gifts and treats - snacks, knitting, and reading.
Here it is together:-



and the details...

Wendy gave me "Knit Two" by Kate Jacobs. I'd read the first book "Friday Night Knitting Club" in soft cover, but haven't read this one yet. Haribo gummi bears and Tangfastics (my favs), and a huge jar of Pure Shea butter which I love using for my hands. She mined my Ravelry message posts to find my wishes...cool idea.



Marilyn gave me this fun bright bag and almost fluorescent umbrella so that I "don't get run over" on my way to coffee break. This is a private joke (ahem, now public) because we almost got run over in the mcdonald's parking lot near work one day when a guy stepped on the gas as we were crossing in front of his car. There would have been a lot of witnesses and the bonus would have been a flying lesson on Hillside avenue (which is a very busy road). The bag is big and roomy with pink handles (yes, still my favorite colour!), and has a smaller pocket inside.



Marjorie treated me to "Cashmere & Silk" for my birthday.
Here it is...

hiding in lotion form. :)
Also, she made these pretty handmade stitch markers with inspiring words (in English and Chinese). Here's a close-up:

and the card she gave me looks like a cute yarn guy - it's at the bottom left corner of the first pic.

and more - the latest Interweave Magazine Spring 2009 (hadn't bought this yet), a bottle of soak wash for my knit wear (yes, i'm excited about getting soap! - my knitwear is pretty excited about it too, come to think of it.), and a lovely and soft hand knit alpaca cord for a bronzit stone pendant (8-sided with a hole in the middle). Very pretty.



Deb found my queued wishlist and treated me to the Transition Gloves pattern and surprised me with a Namaste Cozy* in a pretty red-pink colour. *It's for straight needles.



Jen gave me a pink tape measure (handy and pink - I like that!) and handmade her gift - handmade pink stitch markers made with swarovski crystals, pearls, and sterling silver. She also handmade the box and the card -very crafty :)



Here's a close-up of the stitch markers - almost hooked Marilyn who was the only non-knitter/crocheter in our group. I could probably also use it as a pendant - yes, then, i'll always have one handy (lol).


and


From Sam, a handmade crafty envelope (she is crafty after all), and wonderful smelling tea from Nanaimo - Pink Pearl of Shanghai, and Lost Emperor's Treasures


Syl treated me to 5 packages of Argentinian Yerba Mate from Special Teas downtown - Regular, and flavoured - cranberry, mango, almond, and vanilla. I hadn't seen any of them other than the regular one. They all smell good and I've packed a couple of packages to bring into work on Tuesday.



For dessert, the restaurant gave me a fried banana smile with rum and honey sauce and 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream for eyes, with a cookie head, and lit a candle in the centre of the smile. I blew out the candle too fast; so I did a re-take and wished again, while my friends sang. Having only remembered my camera with the candle, I didn't get all of my friends in the pic.





Thanks gals - I had a great birthday party, and I've been royally spoiled this birthday. Warm fuzzy memories for years to come.

March Yarn Pirate

Almost the end of the month, and received my March Yarn Pirate - beautiful - it's called "Rain Shadow" and a combination of dark almost forest green, brown, light green, and gray.



and the front:



It's superwash BFL and a keeper, a nice change for me from the last 2 which were not my colors at all.

Back on the needles...

The Shapely Symmetry Sheath went back on the needles on Saturday, after I'd finished the shawl-collared pullover. I decided the top striping of the front piece was still good, and finished it off. I bound-off the edge of the top with the stretchy bind-off, and ended up with this neat edge.



Now, to seam and make the final cording at the waist. I'm not sure about this crochet, it looks a bit wimpy. I think I might try the i-cord after all.

Here's the progress on the Rhiannon sock, currently on hold - I'm trying to decide whether to rip back to before the heel. I had ended up with the same # of stitches (76) as I was supposed to have after ending the horshoe cable. That is, I had already 76 before the double decreases, so I would have ended up with 68 stitches instead of 76. So, I just twisted the cable like so, and it re-expanded when I went to knit the heel. Will try to knit a partridge heel also, as I don't like the plain heel flap that cookie's planned for me. Good thing she's not really watching, as I have veered a lot from her original design.

The Front so far:


and the back:



Sent these cuties off in the mail to a friend in Germany who had her baby Lara Sophie last year. This little girl has a lot of pink in her closet - so i'm sending her some green to spice up her life a little...and of course, there's still a bit of pink in there (to please her mom).



My mom looked at the one on the far left last week and said "cute shamrocks" before she realized they were really cute little butterflies.



$15.80 for postage without a tracking number...hopefully, she'll receive these little lovelies soon.

Also, Chris told me today that she receives many compliments on her beautifully felted green and purple hat. :) It's nice to knit for thankful and happy people.

Fini - shawl collared pullover

Last ball of Aurora 8 in Wine 02 started to finish off the collar of the shawl-collared pullover from VK 2005 Winter, which I started in Spring 2006, and put aside until last year. Now with the collar done, I sat and seamed the collar into the neckline, and the sleeves into the armholes. Finally, finished.



Ta-Da!

When I started this in 2006, it fit close. Now, it's more like a winter over-sweater - which still works...when that darn winter weather won't stay away.

Captivating Treats

Finally took a few more close-ups of the malswap goodies -

Here's the handspun, up-close and personal...


The cute monkey pagemarkers:



and the Dolfin Chocolates (yum!)


Another treat for me is that I finally finished up the Vera T I'd been making, and it fits great - I've worn it twice now to both knit nights.



I've started now a pair of socks - rhiannon in a yarn pirate icicle which is a merino-tencel, and a tie-wrap in bsa suri merino dawn (lt pink) that I received from yarnpiggy last bsa swap.

There's a horshoe cable on one side:

and a fancier cable on the other:

and a part that folds over at the top of the cuff:


An update about the hat for the friend in portland...turns out the measurement I was given was wrong, wrong, wrong - so it doesn't fit. I guess that's why I shouldn't try to make gifts for people who aren't where I am, as they just don't work out. Back to making stuff for me...

Here's the luxurious pic of the bsa suri merino from yarnpiggy
,
and another with a photo of the pattern i'm trying to make.


Ironically, yarnpiggy was my recipient in this last malswap:
here's what I sent to her.

I love knitting with the suri merino cuz it's so soft, but at the same time, i'm currently captivated by the cables on the socks, so i imagine the wrap'll be slow going.

Malabrigo Swap - Feb 09

I've been saying lately how I'm not going to do any more swaps, then, I sign up on a whim and receive a fabulous box. Well, it happened again...

I signed up for the Malabrigo Swap on Ravelry - which has been running for awhile now, a year or more. It's the first swap I've participated in that has so many rules, so many requirements to post, and so many check-ins. It's good because I stay connected to the group, learn more about other people on rav, and learn more about my swap partner's interests and wants. It's bad because rav is already a time suck, never mind having to post so often. Luckily, I've been able to keep up with the posts.

I received this amazing box in time for Valentine's Day:

The before:



and the after:


Here's an up-close and personal shot of the 2 skeins of Mal silky merino in hot pink:



and 1 skein of beautiful mal sock in caribeno: -


Adrienne, also included a large (and smaller sample) skein of her own handspun merino-tencel in blue-pink. (pic to come)

Also, in the picture, and hand knitted pink-and brown cowl, The Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman, a pkg of Monkey-shaped magnetic page markers, a pkg of Loose Green Tea, Dolfin Chocolates in a variety of flavors (Pepper with Cardamon, Orange, Anis, Citron (Lemon), Cumin), a pkg of Clover locking stitch markers (I use these all the time, and my friends always rib me about using them, but they're really great and useful!), and a pkg of clover cable needles (which I need, because I always seem to misplace this middle-sized white one.

Also, this little tin of polymer clay stitch markers (with the label "Yarn Snob" on the Tin):


and last but not least these very cute acorns, made with real acorn caps. They are little lavender sachets and they smell soooo good.



I was oh so very spoiled this time round.

I also had fun picking out and sending items to yarnpiggy. If she's posted her pkg items, they'll be on her blog.

In other news:-
- the DSL at my household finally kicked the bucket, so switched to cable broadband which I had in Portland. Makes it so easy to post pics from flickr. It was getting pretty annoying there for awhile.

- Finally made the requested man hat, and put it in the mail. I didn't have a pattern, so I modeled it after the one I made for my Dad, without the extra length. It was funny because I started it in the airport while I waiting for my flight to go to Charleston, SC, and I wasn't sure of the height of the hat, so I was sitting in the waiting area double-checking measurements with my measuring tape, and my head. It was not a fun project. There's nothing worse that trying to make a project for someone who requested it, but doesn't know anything about knitting. This was a back and forth request that was supposed to be a christmas gift but ended up being pushed into January by other projects and stuff at work. I finished up the one ball on my trip and finished it off when I got back. It looks like it is close to the length requested, but it doesn't matter, as he made it clear that he wouldn't wear it unless it was cold enough, and since portland is about 10 degrees warmer than victoria, he probably won't be wearing it until next year anyway. I'd say there's no joy in making gifts for people who don't appreciate them, so I'm back to being a selfish knitter and make gifts for myself or for people who I know appreciate knitted items.

- I went to the Victoria Tea Festival last weekend, and picked up some free samples of tea, coupons, and bought some unusual hot chocolates and teas I hadn't seen before. Most of what I bought this time was caffeinated, so I haven't tried it much yet.

This weekend is the Times-Colonist Book Sale, so I will most likely be going to do that tomorrow before my spa massage in the afternoon. Last year, it was huge, and I bought a few sewing books. This time, perhaps a bit of fiction, we'll see. I need more books like I need more yarn :)

BSA Swap 2 Treat

With recent issues with flickr and being able to post - here's the last part of my BSA Swap 2 gift from yarnpiggy - from my wishlist - a beautiful pink Abacus Row Counter Bracelet from Hide and Sheep in style Tatiana with a pretty pink flower focus bead. I've used it a ton already and rally love it -



A very fabulous swap package - I was thoroughly spoiled.

It followed me home...

What could I do ?

Lol - went to the Three Bags Full Sale on Saturday afternoon - just to Vancouver for the day. Crazy scene - apparently the morning line was out the door by 15 people. Luckily, by the time I arrived late afternoon, the line was just inside the door. Fabulous prices - 30% off Malabrigo Silky Merino, and 20% off the Malabrigo Sock, and Malabrigo Worsted. Surprisingly, (or maybe not so), the price on the Malsock was C$23.95 reg. price, same as the 20% off ended up being at Beehive (20% off $29.95). I guess that's either the exchange rate or extra cost of ferry and shipping to the Island. By the time I arrived, the cupcakes were well long gone, as was most of the Malabrigo Aquarella and Gruesa at 50% off, and no lonely singles. I did pick out most of what I wanted, and then some.

Here's a close-up of the Mmmmmalabrigo part:

Yum!

Sunday was the BB belated Christmas Party - interesting swap exchange, this season, I was at 3 of these gift exchanges with stealing possibilities and ended up with #1 - now, if I could just figure out a way to make that work for other things...
I made up for it anyway, by receiving by mail on Monday a skein of Italian Silk by Fleece Artist that a lady from New Brunswick was destashing on Ravelry-

It's beautiful!

Hard to believe though that 119g of yarn cost $10.66 to send from East Coast Canada (New Brunswick) to West Coast Canada (Victoria, BC)

yet costs $5-6 to go to the US, and $2.14 to send from US to Canada - how's that for fair - our economy could be stimulated probably just by lowering mailing costs.

Met with Chris and she had felted her hat over the holiday - here's the pic:

Book List and Happy New Year 2009

Happy New Year 2009!
Just catching up on some friends' blogs - saw this nifty list of books

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you really love (and strikethrough the ones you hate!).
4) Reprint this list in your own blog - so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret MitchellG
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (-Think I read this at the bookstore)
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (saw the play, does that count ?)

...hmmm..34 or 35..I guess I could read more...of these.

I actually just finished reading "The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson - on the bestseller list right now - it's a bit graphic, but a pretty enticing read.

A very Merry Christmas!

Today, I had a very merry christmas - I received my BSA Swap Pkg in the mail yesterday and waited until today to unwrap it - my swap partner, yarnpiggy, wrapped everything in lovely pink tissue paper - from the lightest pastel pink, medium pink, to a bright hot pink - all which I love. Yes, pink is still my favorite color.

Here's the before:


and the after:



I was treated to:
- 2 skeins of the lovely and very soft BSA Suri Merino in Dawn (Lt Pink)
- 2 cookie a patterns - thelonious sock and millicent (both on my list)
- yummy chocolate treats - ritter sport milk chocolate; lindt double milk chocolate mini balls (which i've never seen); and "hottie", a dark chocolate chili & cinnamon chocolate bar (also never seen - but can't wait to try) AND my very own chocolate "M"
- 3 pkgs of tea from "The Blue Teapot" in Vancouver - one is honeybush, green rooibos, and green gunpowder - love tea, and will definitely use these both at home and at work
- set of 6 pink and white handmade beaded stitchmarkers (always come in handy)

Love love love this package - and Hilary included a note saying there's another small package to come -I am so spoiled, and thankful. What a great Christmas :)

As for Christmas, I spent the day doing some knitting and reading, calling friends. My mom gave me a lipstick, and a 2009 pocket calendar, and an iou from mom and dad for new luggage, since mine is starting to wear out. My dad made an amazing christmas turkey dinner with all the fixings. The stuffing was really good, and I'm sitting here so stuffed now, and happy.

Knitting warm in this Winter Wonderland

Winter time is definitely here -snow fell early last week and our power went out for an hour or two. I tried out my new windable flashlight and it works well. This week, we were given a short reprieve - no new snow, but definitely icy parts, and parts where the snow had packed down, so it was difficult to drive. I went on a couple of adventures with my car - fish-tailing it back down the hill near my house into oncoming traffic - luckily, noone else was around. The 2nd incident was on a back country road, and traffic stopped and stared as I did my little fish tail dance as a stunned pedestrian looked on - that was on my way to work.

I met with Chris earlier in the week for our Christmas lunch - we went to Little Thai Place (yum!). For the first time ever in a restaurant, I was seated with a heater blowing on me. It was cozy. Normally, I'm next to the fan or the AC. Food was good, and she loved her hat. She gifted me a handmade clove orange, which is literally cloves pushed into an orange. It smells wonderful and is expected to last for years (10 or more), as long as I keep it dry. I hung it up next to my closet, so I can smell it whenever I want.

I finished up the cowl and fetching gloves I'd been working on as Christmas Gifts - quick and easy knits. The Malabrigo is so soft - it's very enjoyable to knit with.

Bijou Cowl -


This past week, with the winter weather - I tested out my new Hushpuppy boots (success!) - they are very toasty. Also, finally wore the handknitted socks from pdx knit in worsted weight artyarns sw merino. They're lovely, and warm. My neck cowl definitely keeps the winds out - and my camel coronet hat keep my head and ears warm. I've dug my german man's scarf out of hiding, and whip that around my head and upper body before putting on my coat. My wool coat which has stood by me year after year is just not warm enough for this below zero weather, but with the scarf, it's holding up fine. My gloves have been sadly lacking, however, though leather, the lining is a synthetic, and my fingers are icy cold.

In the spirit of keeping my arms, hands and fingers warm, I started in on the Gingerbread Dude Silkie Sock yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. It's silk and merino together - to make Evangeline arm warmers. Since it's fingering weight, i have doubled it - the yarn is making a firm yet stretchy fabric, and it is very silky soft.



The cable pattern definitely requires some attention - especially because it doesn't have a chart, so it was fine when I was watching tv, and checking each row.

Later, when I tried to knit a row here and there, I'd lose my place, and forget to knit the even rows, which are just knitting the stitches as they are (gives the pattern it's height). So, I ripped back, and did a bout of knitting last night while watching a sappy comedic tv movie. I finished 5 repeats. I've started on the thumb, but I think i'll change the pattern to a proper thumb gusset, as I don't like the instructions in the pattern. If I have enough yarn, then, i'l pick up and knit a cap,so I have arm, hand, and finger coverage. In this cold weather, I'll knit just about anything to keep warm!