Fun and frolic with friends

This weekend a very dear friend came visiting. She's a fellow newbie knitter and we decided to explore some of the Toronto wool shops I haven't had time to visit. It was a lot of fun. We lingered for quite awhile in the Purple Purl before heading to Lick's for lunch (I've been assured that there will be an equally unflattering photo of me on her blog).

In the afternoon we checked out the Naked Sheep. I'm beginning to realize that each wool shop is its own unique place. They sometimes have overlapping stock but really there's something different about each shop I've visited (perhaps that's a duh for more experienced knitters). Needless to say there was some wallet damage and I'm full of ideas of projects for the future.

The weekend was topped off by two potlucks. Phew, I'm pooped.

Starting again, and again

I've restarted my next knitting project twice now. The first time I wasn't sold on the pattern, the second time I wasn't happy with the size. The wool is great and I think what I really wanted was a fairly loopy design. What I got was a pretty but tight fabric. I got this far before frogging and starting with larger needles.
I'm slowly putting Christmas away. Last Sunday I held my second annual Post-Holiday Tea. Which features the annual destruction of the gingerbread house. Some before and after photos.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008!

I've had a really great holiday; family, baked goods and knitting... I finished my baby sweater. The pattern was from Dogs Steal Yarn. The yarn is a dark blue so its a bit hard to see, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. There is no baby to model it yet, he's still in the works but perhaps I'll be lucky enough to get a snap of the little chap in it once he's on the outside. I've also got some more wool for my next project. This one will (hopefully) be a blanket for another friend expecting a baby. Its a lovely green baby alpaca that feels so soft. I think it'll be nice to work with.
Today it snowed and my parents and I went for a walk. My family are big walkers but today we couldn't resist testing out my Dad's Christmas snowshoes.
Even Toronto can be a gorgeous winter wonderland. Hopefully it'll be less wintry for tomorrow's commute (back to work, erg).

Pre-Christmas madness

I think I now understand why some people find Christmas so stressful. I'm usually an uber prepared Christmas elf. I love to shop early and have everything smugly stowed (usually wrapped) way before those last few crazy shopping days. This year for some reason I was in Christmas denial and really didn't get started until just recently. Shopping close to Christmas is not fun! There are hoards of people and inevitably the item you want is sold out. There's nothing worse than a smug sales person saying "Oh, that's a very popular item, we're all sold out" as I imagine the sad look of my niece when I present her with nothing on Christmas. In the end I had to do a bit more running around (thank goodness for Lavinia) but it is all done. PHEW!!!

Now I can concentrate on finishing the Christmas baking and gingerbread house assembling.

Sadly my knitting project has made no further progress...Blah.

Falling behind

It has been awhile since my last post. I don't feel as though I've accomplished all that much and yet I've been pretty busy. I've been making really good progress on my baby sweater but I've hit a snag and will have to consult my knitting friend for some advice. Sometimes there just isn't a substitute for a real live human being showing you what to do. My knitting book just isn't cutting it right now.

I'm starting to get in the Christmas spirit although I've been a bit late off the mark. I'm usually very prepared for Christmas ages before the big day. Thankfully, many of the items on my family's wish lists have been on sale recently. Woo hoo!

The weather people are forecasting some big snow for the next day and a bit. While I usually enjoy a good snow, this storm means that my dear friend wasn't able to visit. She was going to stay over tonight but sensibly decided to head home before the storm hit. SIGH sometimes its tough to be sensible.

The wind is howling outside and I'm glad to be snug inside my little house.

A Little Bit of Everything

I've had an extremely busy weekend. So much so, that I'm not sure how many tags to use for this post. I'm feeling very well rounded as I've baked, done some kitting, played my bass guitar, done some gardening and some other handy tasks.

Here in Toronto the weather has been so warm that the garden just kept on going. Most of the trees still had their leaves until very recently. So I've been putting off my annual winterizing tasks. Then of course it snowed last week. Today I was out in the garden doing a bit of remedial winterizing. During the horrid rain of last week that quickly became snow, I did a couple of basic tasks like disconnecting the downspout attached to the rain barrel and turning off the outside tap. I didn't manage to drain the rain barrel or to drain the hose. So today I had to contend with an icy layer in the barrel and a practically frozen hose. The barrel is sorted but the fate of the hose won't be completely clear until next spring.

I've also embarked on an ambitious knitting project. I've got a number of friends expecting babies (YIKES!) and I've decided to knit something for two of them. I started on a little sweater for my friend who is expecting a boy in February. I bought the yarn at Lettuce Knit in Kensington. So far its going pretty well. Here's a photo of the navy cotton yarn I've chosen and a photo of my gauge swatch.



I did a lot this weekend so I'm pretty tired, that's enough for today.

An Arty Weekend

I'm feeling all hip and arty this weekend. Last night I went so see Shara Worden a.k.a. My Brightest Diamond at the Drake Hotel. She's a friend of a friend which almost makes me cool. I'd had brunch with Shara but had never heard her perform live. I really enjoyed it (ipod updating in progress). She put on a great show and had the audience laughing and nodding along, there was even a little bit of dancing (goodness!). Of course it was even more fun to watch my friend France watch the show. I got the occasional tidbit about the songs and set list.

This afternoon I went to the Tarragon Theatre to see Hannah Moscovitch's East of Berlin. I thought it was very good with a couple of caveats. Early on she describes one of the characters, Hermann, as someone who is worldly and as someone of whom his schoolmates are in awe. The chap portraying Hermann didn't seem worldly to me. He seemed shy and hesitant. The actor brought an interesting character but he just didn't jive with the earlier description. I also felt that the ending was a complete cop out. Perhaps I was the only one who found the ending dissatisfying; other theatre goers seemed impressed. To me it seemed as though the author couldn't figure a way out of the dilemma she'd written and chose the quickest solution. I'd definitely recommend seeing it, the actors do a good job and the staging is very clever. The objects arranged on the set increased in meaning as the play progressed (very interesting).

A brief synopsis (with some plot spoilers!!! WARNING):

Rudi grows up in Paraguay knowing that his German parents had been somehow involved in the war. His friend Heinrich tells him about the concentration camps and his father's involvement in gruesome experiments as a camp doctor. Rudi attempts to atone for the sins of his father in a number of self destructive and life affirming ways. In the end he can't reconcile the love he has for his father and the guilt he feels for loving a monster.