Beyond

There are less than 24 hours to go in 2011. I thought it might be a good day to reflect a little on what's happening out there.... you know.... beyond.  Beyond, as in, beyond my little world... beyond, as in, the whole scheme of things. All year I write about the things that affect me... after all it is my blog... but sometimes it is really good to step back and think about the almighty Out There. As you may or may not know I am an avid sky watcher. When I get really down I always know that if I look up, then I will eventually feel "up", whether it is looking at the sky in the day or the night. Still, there's something good about lifting my chin and staring at the great beyond and realizing how insignificant are my little problems.... for that matter how insignificant is me. It is a good thing to remember.

You see, in the whole scheme of things, means that any burdens I bear are really insignificant. Because tomorrow some great event like a new nebula will begin to develop somewhere out there and my little bursting nebula is likely to be like popping a zit compared to it. I mean really, when there are things in this universe like this....

the fact that I didn't get my Christmas knitting done, the fact that the dust bunnies are chewing on my ankles again, or even the fact that I didn't succeed as well as I hoped in my latest assignment for the MSP, really doesn't matter at all. Sure it matters to me but maybe it shouldn't... Maybe I should just let it all go 'cause in the greater scheme of things, life is awesome... it's a real ride.... you just have to look around you and see.

Beauty is sublime and it is everywhere, and that means in every thing and in every one, even the old batt (wink wink) who lives next door to you. How lucky we are to be able to experience such beauty, and such greatness. And if we can just remember that, I'm pretty sure our whole world would be so very different.


Already in the South Pacific, there are people who are looking forward to the new year and are beginning to experience it... but I for one am going to take a few moments to sit today and think about all the good things that have happened this year. I will try not to dwell on the bad things because we do that automatically and I'm going to try to be a little different. Beside there will be bad things in 2012... it's just the way life is... and there will be plenty of time to dwell on those when the time comes. For now I am happy to look up to the great beyond and envision all the good that resides in possibility.

 

On The 6th Day Of Christmas

We've had some more company today... only this time for breakfast. Our friends turned up at just after 10 a.m. and we sat down to a great table set for a king I think.
We had the Wife Savers Breakfast.... only jazzed up to my version. (See recipe in my Recipes section... which I will be adding to the right momentarily).

This is my Christmas version just before it went into the oven. It was delicious. (Even if I do say so myself.)

We had a plate of toast and another of sausages and bacon. Homemade apple juice and some lovely coffee. Then Teapot entered with the most gloriously beautiful fruit salad I have ever seen (which he made) and everyone ogled it in all its glory. It looked like this.

Filled with good things like Star Fruit and Watermelon, Cantaloupe and Grapefruit, then there were oranges and that white and black stuff on the top was Dragon Fruit. It was almost too pretty to eat.

What a morning... it all turned out so nicely. However, yesterday turned out to be a great day too. We did something a little different. We went to the woods for our lunch with company. It all started with me getting the brilliant idea that it was such a warm day with all the newly fallen snow that we could easily have a day with our tea in the woods. And then I was lamenting the fact that we had guests coming which would cut into our time in the bush, when all of a sudden I realized that I could  finish cooking our meal at home and then take our guests to the woods with us. And so it went.

While I was cooking our meal and getting everything together, Teapot headed down into the bush to find the right place, which needed to be sheltered from the wind but open enough to get some sun. Then unbeknownst to me, he set up a lovely bower to receive us and our guests, and it was close enough that it was in yelling distance to our house. I even brought beads to decorate the spruce bower that welcomed our party.

You can just see the red and gold beads in the spruce bows.

And what was on he menu?? I made soup. Cream of Turkey Curry soup.... and we had sandwiches. I made ham and jalapeno cheese with lettuce on rye. I made ham and Swiss cheese on rye with mayo, sliced apple, and Red Chili sauce, (the apple toned the Red chili Sauce down slightly). I made sausage and cheddar with curry mayo, and tomato on multigrain. Then there were home made corn chips (unsalted) with jalapeno cream cheese dip and chocolates and mini oranges for desert. It was a gourmet meal and we ate it by in the most unlikely of places.... I mean who ever had a gourmet meal by the side of a fire in the forest?! It really was an awesome day though, and our friends seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Here are a few pictures....

Hot Mochachino while the soup was re-heating.

Our friends starting to goof around.

.... and then they start to get rambunctious.

Then we had to get a group shot and I am as usual glad to not be in this one.

So after our guests left yesterday, we had some more friends show up in the evening. And last night was night of leftovers.. which is a good thing because the refrigerator was starting to bulge at the seams. 

After all is said and done, we are having a relaxing afternoon this afternoon. We just watched Gnomeo and Juliet (the movie) and I loved it so much that I might have to buy a few of those cute wee gnomes for my deck! Still, I am feeling somewhat pooped out and I might just have to go for a snooze soon. Later, we will be watching the last installment in the Harry Potter series. With no more company till tomorrow night, which I think will be fairly easy since there are only two coming, I am ready to laze, snooze and maybe spin some more. Then, we will ring in the new year with two days left of vacation time before getting back to normal.... if that ever is this case in this house.

Christmas this year has been a great time and reminded me somewhat of the Christmases of my youth... when visiting and going out or inviting friends and family in were the norm. I have been missing those. But this one may have reaffirmed my cheer and enthusiasm for Christmas Season even with all the fake/plastic sentaments/decorations.

Maybe Christmas is not so bad after all. : )

On The Fifth Day Of Christmas...

Well actually there is more company coming... this time for lunch. I like doing Christmas lunches because the guests leave early in the day and you can still sit around in the evening and watch movies.  It's actually a really great way to enjoy your friends. Then this evening teapot has invited one of his co workers over for a beer. It'll be them in the kitchen while I spin in the living room and his kids and my kids get along greatly.

On the forth day of Christmas... yesterday... Teapot and I took the Daughters and went to Chetwynd for an afternoon of swimming. It was great! The public swimming pool there has been a great favorite of ours for many years and this year they have added a wonderful new water slide. I swam back and forth and back and forth till my poor little legs (and shoulders) were ready to fall off and Teapot and the Daughters went back and forth between the slide the pool and the hot tub. Then Teapot went into the sauna for a half hour and fell asleep. I had to send Daughter #1 in after him! The afternoon was rounded out with a long leisurely soak in the hot tub for all, and the great thing is that there were very few people there and we loved having the deep end to ourselves. Then we headed off to the local Chinese Restaurant for a a lovely meal. (Well we had burned all those calories... so we needed to replace them... I mean really!) After all was said and done, we headed home tired but replete. It was a great way to spend our 20th anniversary.  (And a big Thank you to L... we found the card in the door when we got home...).  When we get to our 25th we are planning a trip to Prince Rupert on the train.  That's something we've wanted to do for a very long time...

And guess what... we woke yesterday morning to newly fallen snow. The ground is nicely white and it actually feels more like Christmas. This morning it is lightly snowing again but I can see clear sky on the horizon so I am expecting the snow to stop and the sun to come out.  The trees look so pretty with their coating of snow on the branches. Very pretty indeed.

In between all the fun and games I have been spinning.... I am working on my level 3 project. A baby blanket which will be dyed in 25 shades of Logwood I am trying to kill two birds with one stone. It is two questions in one. After Christmas it will be back to the level 5 homework... but for now this merino baby blanket spinning is fairly mindless and can be done with company here...

So for the moment I had better get back to work... First Cream of turkey curried soup for our company.... and then some dainty English style sandwiches... and I don't know what for desert. Maybe we will eat out in the bush with a big old fire... yeah maybe that's the way to go.

20th Anniversary

Well, Teapot and I are celebrating our 20th today. There have been some lovely anniversaries and there have been some really awful ones. Last year was an awful one. We planned a big party and then no one came. But there have been really lovely ones too. There was the year my mom and dad came to stay with us, (that was before children) and took us out for dinner at a hotel in Kenora, Ont. It was lovely with a beautiful view out over the Lake Of The Woods and it was lightly snowing. There was something magical about the crystal and china dinnerware and the snow swirling outside the wall to wall windows way up high in that tower restaurant.  Then there was the year that Teapot and I got a baby sitter (something we never did) and went out for dinner only to discover that no restaurants were open during the Christmas season except one take-out..... so we took take-out back to the church hall (because it was the only place we could think of to go, that wasn't home and I had the keys for it). We had dinner and then we played music on the CD player that the church owned, and we danced some lovely slow dances all around the hall. It actually stands out as one of the nicer anniversaries.

20 years gives you plenty to think about and in our case we are lucky to think mostly happy thoughts.
Happy Anniversary my dear, dear Teapot.

Great Goodness... We Got Gifts

Well, Christmas is over for another year... hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!! That was maniacal laughter if you weren't aware.

So the big day is over and I feel rather like something momentous happened but I'm not entirely sure what.
I need to back up actually to a few days before Christmas. And I have pictures to prove it all....
So Daughter #1 and Teapot arrived home from their trip into the great white north where they had had a bit of every kind of weather imaginable. Daughter #1 survived her trip into the wilds with no snow pants and I was very worried about that but the weather stayed on our side and she wore several layers of pants with wind/rain pants on the outside. The weather stayed warm and wet though the last night they were there there was a dump of about 8 inches of snow, but by then she was in her shelter and sound asleep. Yes she had built herself a great shelter that looked like this...

...that's her sleeping bag in there.

They were out there for two and a half days and had two meals for the whole time unless you count the squirrel they managed to catch, cook and eat.  Eeew!Well it was wilderness survival!

But when she got home she was as hungry as a bear and so was Teapot so I had promised them a pan Scramble and pan scramble they got....

Hash Browns, onions, tomatoes, corn, garlic, egg, and cheese.

And while that was cooking I made the cranberry sauce for Christmas day dinner...

They spent the rest of the day recuperating.... from their trip but really they didn't look too worse for the wear.... and in the end a good shower to wash off the stink and they were as right as rain.

Meanwhile I was still working on Socks... remember the first socks that I made that I had trouble dyeing... well, I finally got them finished on Christmas Eve and they looked like this when they were finished....

I know one sock looks bigger than the other but they are not. I tried them up against each other and they were the same size so lets just put it down to bad photography.

I also came back from shopping the day before Christmas and had a party for the Knock-out Knitters.  Here we are enjoying our gift exchange....

Then on Christmas eve day we went to a friend's house and had brunch. we left the Daughters there as they were having a blast playing video games and Teapot and I came home to finish putting up the Christmas village that I hadn't put up yet....

After that other friends showed up for a short visit and one thing led to another and suddenly it was time to go to church. The service was lovely and I had a nice compliment from a fellow who sat in front of me and told me I had a lovely voice. I loved singing all those old familiar tunes and tried to sing them all the best that I could.... I loved that.

We got home late and the girls hung their stockings.... and went to bed leaving Teapot and I to finish wrapping and stuffing stockings. 2:30 a.m. we crawled into bed after taking a couple of pictures of the tee and all the stockings lined up on the couch....

The next morning we were up and opening gifts thanks to Daughter #2 at 7:00 a.m. (she was very excited....)
Here are some of the highlights of Christmas morning......

Surprisingly she did like her present but she wasn't pleased about having her picture taken...

Daughter #1 liked her hoodie too.

I can't wait to try out my reeds.

Teapot needs new glasses I think!

New slippers which I haven't taken off.... except at night when Narmin's nose moves in...

A very happy Daughter #2 getting her Christmas iPad "cheese"

Daughter #1 getting her iPad.... "awesome"

 And then stupid got all choked up... not sure why... lets just put it down to age...

.. I do have to say that I was so pleased that the girls liked their gifts... we also gave them a new snow jacket for Daughter #2 and ski pants for Daughter #1.

After all the gifts were open at our house... we went to my parents house.... and opened more gifts there!

Mudder getting her new bird feeder...

Here's Pops getting a new book...

New boots for Teapot...

New boots for me too...

Dinner was just fine. We have much for which to be thankful...good food, wonderful family time, great gifts of things that we need. Plus a few things that we didn't need. Yesterday was a down day to pat our bellies and no we didn't get out into the bush for our tea because the wind which has been blowing for days and the ground is now covered in ice that is polished to fearful rink. So we will wait a few days and wait for the snow that the forecast is calling for and hopefully then we can go out in the bush without breaking our necks.

This evening there is company coming for dinner and tomorrow Teapot and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary.... then who knows what for the rest of the Christmas season....

But for now I am off to drink another cup of tea and spin some merino rovings.

All's well that ends well...

Shopping?!!!... Really?... On Boxing Day!... Huh?

I realize that there are a lot of people out there who think of boxing day as the best day of the year... because they can go shopping and get great deals on all the stuff they wanted and didn't get for Christmas. I'm not one of them. They can't count me among their numbers. I couldn't shop today for all the money in the world.... well maybe if I had tons of money I might go shopping for great deals. But the money is blown and now is the day I enjoy best of all days of the year. I put my feet up and read... in my jammies, till late in the day if I want... I don't go visiting and we don't invite anyone in... (though I do try to get dressed before 3 p.m. since someone of their own accord might drop by). We might even watch a movie. Later when there is enough daylight we might even go for a mug up in the bush. Daughter #1 will saddle up her horse and down to the forest we will go. We will light a fire, and have a wee drop of tea (probably from one of the nice new ones that my sister-in-law sent) and munch on left over turkey and some of that homemade cranberry bread I made (see my recipes to the right for the recipe) then afterwards we will maybe pass around a box of chocolates and the dogs will beg for left over bits of turkey the horse will munch on some hay and we'll throw a little more wood on the fire to help keep us warm as the wind blows through the tops of the trees. It is warm these days so no fear of getting too cold. i almost wish it were a little colder. Somehow all the ice and warm wind has taken away all the good things about winter. It will be a grasshopper summer... I am sure. But for now I won't worry about that. I'll savour my breakfast of Chilean cherries, and Fruileano cheese, Birdseed bread toast, and grapes. Yum...Then I will the email ( I hope to hear from you) and ignore all the boxing day sale events that will be there from Interweave Press to Amazon.ca to Indigo Books and Cold Water Creek. And then I will go and get that book that I just started on Christmas eve and put my feet up and be taken away into another world, another time and another place.

Hope your Boxing day is all that you want it to be... whether full of boxes and stores or quiet home pleasures, or skating, skiing, or quiet walks in nature. It is the one day of the year you can choose to do exactly as you want!

To Family And Friends Alike

Christmas Poem 2011

I know I moan about it and get a little cranky
But Christmas Day is here again, it's not by choice, quite frankly!
All the preparations seem daunting day by day,
I don't do well with deadlines, they make my hair turn grey.

But this year I am trying hard to see what is so good,
And adjust my attitude to match the predominate Christmas mood.
I've been playing Christmas music and decorating the house,
I've even been a-smiling lots at the Daughters and the Spouse.

But still it crept upon me and the cards sit in a pile,
They haven't been sent you see, and won't be for a while.
I guess that after Christmas when things have settled down,
I'll pass an afternoon or two, and post them when in town.

They'll have to be for New Year's instead of Christmas Day,
But still I'll do my best to have something nice to say.
The year has passed so quickly, we don't know where it's gone,
It seems like only yesterday I was out mowing the lawn.

But now there is no grass around, no single bit of green,
Except for our plastic tree, at least... nothing I have seen.
The white is lying on the ground, I'm sure you have it too,
And if I was to be quite honest, I'm waiting for a slew.

Last week, the school closed up again, for Christmas holidays,
We hoped for skiing parties and parties in other ways.
But here the wind is howling, as Solstice came and went,
And so we sit and read inside, and wait for the jolly old gent.

Our lights are shining brightly in yellow, red and green,
And shiny coloured parcels are hidden where can't be seen,
Where secrets are awaiting to see the light of day,
But until then that's how it should be, it is the Christmas way.

Now there you are in your house, no doubt, somewhat like ours.
But it doesn't seem to be at all like Christmas in bygone years.
The excitement of being a child and looking up at the tree,
Seemed something really special to the very youthful me.

Yet Christmas Eve will come, I know, and in the church I'll sit,
And sing the old familiar carols, while the church is candle lit.
And then the time will come, when we'll all stand for that story
Of a baby child, and a star so bright, and a wintry night of glory.

Now if you are a little like me, you'll stand there with a tear.
And sing so faithfully the tune that in our hearts we bear,
Of Silent Night so holy, so quiet, and so calm,
The soothing melody you know, is to the soul, a balm.

So when you are a-singing, think of me and I'll think of you,
And I will pray a little prayer, of good things old and new,
For you and for your family, and peace, and joy and love,
And whisper all my prayers, to the sparkling stars above.

Merry Christmas to one and all......
From Ye Olde Batt, Teapot, and the Daughters

On Our Way

We are headed off to town to finish our Christmas shopping. I would rather suffer having my finger nails pulled out! But the roads are good though it is dark. I'm looking forward to having this day over. I have finally concluded that my Christmas sock knitting will be given next year. I will have to buy gifts for the knitting non-recipients. It's too bad because the socks that I'm currently working on are truly coming together beautifully. So for now I will sit here in the dark and worry about the knitters party at my house this evening and wonder if I will be home in time to get everything done for that! Arggghhh!

Twas The Night Before A Knitters Christmas

I am up to my ears with no reprieve in sight. Three socks to go and they have to be ready on Christmas Eve morning... I can't even finish them on Christmas Eve day. We will be going for a Christmas brunch at our friends house on Christmas Eve and somewhere in there I need to do a painting and make Raisin bread toutons (pronounced towt'ns). So I'm madly off in all directions as I have to be at the Cameron Lake centre to piss away an hour pick up Teapot and Daughter #1 from their camping trip.... and I'm still not finished all the shopping.... I have AB-SO-LUTE-LY NO-THING for Teapot! Argh..... so it is 6:52 a.m. and I have 3 hours before I go to get them.... I HAVE to knit.

Finished the Christmas newsletter for the PCSW last night late.... you can go here to view it.

In the meantime, I read this Knitter's version of Twas the Night before Christmas, on another blog. I really enjoyed it and thought you might too....enjoy!

‘Twas The Knitters Night Before Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all around me,
Was unfinished knitting not under the tree.
The stockings weren’t hung by the chimney with care,
’cause the heels and the toes had not a stitch there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds
but I had not finished the caps for their heads.
Dad was asleep; he was no help at all,
And the sweater for him was six inches too small.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I put down my needles to see what was the matter.
Away to the window, I flew like a flash,
Tripped over my yarn and fell down with a crash.

The tangle of yarn, lay deep as the snow
And reminded me how much I still had to go.
Out on my lawn, I heard such a noise,
I thought it would wake both dad and the boys.

And though I was tired, my brain was a bit thick,
I knew in a moment, it must be Saint Nick.
But what I heard then sure left me perplexed,
For the names that I heard weren't what I expected.

“Move Ashford; move Lopi; move Addie and Clover,
Move Reynolds; move Starmore; move Fraylic–move over”
“Paton, don’t circle just stand in the line.
Come now, you sheep, you're working just fine!

I know it’s hard Noro, it’s just your first year,
I’d hate to go back to eight tiny reindeer.”
I peered over the sill, what I saw was amazing,
Eight woolly sheep on my lawn all a’grazing.

And then, in a twinkle, I heard at the door
Santa’s feet coming ‘cross the front porch floor.
I rose from my knees and got back on my feet,
And as I turned round Saint Nick, I did meet.

He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe
And his clothes were handknit from above to below.
A bright Fairisle sweater he wore on his back,
and his toys were all stuffed in an Aran knit sack.

His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace,
A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.
The scarf round his neck could have stretched for a mile,
And the socks peeking over his boots were Arrrrrrgyle.

The back of his mittens bore an intricate cable,
And suddenly on one I spied a small label.
SC was stitched, right there, on the cuff,
“Hey Nick," I asked, "did you knit all this stuff?”

He proudly replied “Ho-ho, yes I did,
I learned how to knit when I was a kid.”
He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man,
And I laughed to myself for I’d thought up a plan!

I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,
And the next thing he knew he was tied to a chair.
He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap
Where I’d laid my needles and yarn for a cap.

He quickly began knitting, first one cap, then two;
For the first time I thought I’d really get through.
He put heels on the stockings and toes in some socks
While I sat back drinking Scotch on the rocks!

So quickly like magic, his needles, they flew,
Soon, he was finished. It was quarter to two.
He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free,
And over his shoulder he looked back at me.

And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon,
“Next year start your knitting sometime around June!

Update From Here

In the quiet of the night I am writing to pass a little time till the doggies come in. The old cat is out the new cat is in her box hopefully settling down for the night after having pooped in the front porch and making me clean it up. The new fenced run is finished for the doggies and they hate it.... I can tell. Narmin is oblivious, mostly because he has managed to figure out how to scoot between the wires. But the other two are terribly unhappy. I, on the other hand, am ecstatic. I now no longer have to worry about the dogs heading for the bush each time the door opens. I don't have to worry about a deer goring the hell out of the wee one (unless he scoots between the wires which he doesn't do much especially if the other buggers are out). And I no longer have to worry that the dog catcher will catch my dogs because they are out on the road. Teapot has moved the alpacas closer to the house in a paddock that allows them more safety from the coyotes and also gives them shelter on a cold nasty day. So the animals are safely where they should be and all is well. Even the hay situation is satisfactorily settled and we have a pile of hay.... a mound of hay....a mountain of hay in our yard nicely piled up one on top of the other. It feels good to be so well settled for winter.

Meanwhile Teapot and Daughter#1 are away for their winter survival trip. Daughter #1 headed off with a empty stomach which is her own darn fault since she didn't eat a very good breakfast and she won't be getting food till midnight tonight... unless she catches it herself. They have taken some traps for mice and squirrels... I wonder how that will go over. Each night at midnight, they will have a proper meal, a cooked meal of rations provided by National Defense. They have sleeping bags but only the tent that will act as the first aid centre.... they have to build their own shelter. It is mild.... which is good but it is also bad.... good because it is warm.... bad because they will be wet. Wet snow means wet pants and jackets... wet pants and jackets means cold bodies. Yes, I am a little worried. I would have been happier if it had been about -5 or -6 degrees... then the wet would not have been an issue. Right now the snow is dripping off the roof of this house.... so I'm sure they are all wet and miserable. Teapot brought some extra dry clothes and I'm pretty sure so did Daughter #1, wrapped nicely in plastic so that when it is so miserable that they can't stand it any longer they can change into something dry.... if not warm at least. I will be glad to see them back on Wednesday morning. I am planning a nice meal. Daughter #1 asked for a pan scramble.... I can do that.

Well the doggies have just come in and I am heading to bed... it is too late to write more... but tomorrow I'll give you an update on the current socks... plus I'll give you the low down the PCSW blog that I have been working on....

Night night....

More On The Sock Saga And I Promise No Swear Words Today!

They are coming along.... here's a picture of the latest pair...

I'm really liking these socks.... great for a 12 year old gal.... I hope.

I've been having no problems with these socks.... and I'm really hoping it stays that way.  (I'm knocking furiously on wood now!) I am starting to dye for the next pair which will be similar to these but for a boy so the colours will definitely be different. I am doing them in grey (background) with blue, red and black. At least that is the plan. But then... with socks... plans are always subject to change with no notice!

I went to the NPSW Christmas party yesterday.... Oh joy of joys.... it was a great day.  If you want to see pics you should go here....

I got a lovely scarf as my gift....

...so soft with all those nice pastel colours.... I think it is predominately yellow... but I am told that I am wrong. However, I refuse to believe that it is predominately pink... that would be just wrong. Still it reminds me of Easter and spring... and there is nothing wrong with being reminded of spring.

Today is foggy... eew! And... I have an oven to clean since the last two times I heated anything in it, I had a fire... obviously something really spilled over in there and though I've scraped out some crud I'm just not willing for the Christmas turkey to turn into a fireball! Teapot is going to clean off the front deck so that our house doesn't continue to look like a Christmas disaster, and finally get that fence fixed so that the doggies have a proper run and are not running all over the place. That way they can now stop hunting, and eating mice from the hay bales and then promptly spewing them when they come in... yesssss!

But for now I'm heading to the couch to knit the ever lovin' socks.... (sigh)!

Survival

For the last few days I have been looking forward to Christmas vacation with something almost akin to pleasure. For five days I have been counting the sleeps until Teapot and the girls don't require a hearty breakfast each morning.... till they would be home and we could really start enjoying home time. There has been a nasty stomach flu circulating the school and rarely does Christmas season come and go without someone biting the dust and spending a night praying to the porcelain god and bugging out on the couch for a day or two. We even have had it happen on Christmas Eve and forget turkey then. So one of the reasons I have been looking so forward to the end of school is because I think that if I can just get everyone to that day then I can get them past the nasty flu. So each morning I wake up and look at Teapot and saying things like.... 4 days left dear... or 3 days left dear.... or two days left dear. This morning I woke up late and Teapot, bless him let me sleep since he knew that I put in a nasty night of tossing and turning. So when I came downstairs the dear ones were just finishing their breakfast of cold cereal (poor ones). Teapot handed me a nice cup of tea because the expression on my face said Caffeine In Some Form Or Bust. I looked at him and said... one more sleep.... and he responded with this... Ah... I forgot to tell you that the JCRs are doing an outdoor survival camping trip for two days starting Monday.

I promptly cried, which I can only put down to not having enough caffeine in my blood stream. So Teapot and Daughter #1 will head off into the bush to sleep on the ground with nothing other than snow and leaves to cover them which means no sleeping at all and will return on Wednesday so tired that they wouldn't be able to fight a bug if it collapsed on their forehead. Anything remotely to do with Christmas that doesn't get done on Saturday and Sunday will have to wait till after Wednesday.... sometimes it just doesn't pay to look forward to something. Sometimes it's better to just stay in bed.

I wonder who will be doing more of the survival training... them or me!

On a brighter note.... Knit Night tonight.

My Relationship With Christmas

You have, I'm sure, heard me say that I hate Christmas. But actually that is not really true.  There are aspects of Christmas that I really hate but there are things about the season that I really enjoy too. So I am here to spin a more positive view of Christmas today for a change.

The Tree:
As you might or might not know the Daughters and I put our fake artificial tree up back at the end of November this year. That for me is extremely early. I have never done it before. I also finally embraced the fakeness of Christmas and bought us a cute little plastic and prelit Christmas tree from Sears last year. Part of mine and Teapot's tradition has always been to put up the tree quite close to Christmas Eve...usually somewhere between the 20th to 23rd. We would, as a family, march ourselves out into the bush to look for a suitable Christmas tree and then spend the next 24 hrs standing it up, thawing it out, watering it, and then decorating the hell out of it. But last year I finally put my foot down and bought an artificial tree for a variety of reasons.
Reason #1:
Having grown up in NFLD, where trees of the evergreen variety abound, picking, cutting and bringing home a Christmas tree was an easy job. Each year we would go out into the bush and we would look for a tree of epic beauty and bring it home to grace our home with ease. But when I moved away from NFLD I realised how spoiled I was. Trees on the mainland grow much faster than they do in NFLD. Trees in Nfld are barraged from the day the poke their first bud through the ground with an onslaught of high winds and cool (if not cold) springs, short growing seasons, and my experience has always been that even the smallest of Christmas trees would have a substantially large trunk. By the time a tree is 6 ft high it has already put on about thirty or forty rings of bark. This makes for standing a tree in the stand quite and easy job. So you can imagine my dismay when I went looking for a Christmas tree the first time on the mainland and discovered that a thirty year old tree is usually about 40 ft high. This will not fit into my living room no matter how hard I try. Therefore all real trees that we have had since leaving NFLD have been spindly and pathetic or doctored with extra branches that turn brown two days after Christmas.
Reason #2:
I've always hated putting the tree up so close to Christmas and then having to clean up the mess when there is wrapping to do and visiting to do and Christmas programs to watch or listen to. With our artificial tree we can put it up when ever the mood strikes, and there is no mess. Daughter #2 and I put up or tree last year as soon as we got it and it took 6 minutes from the time we started till the time we had it ready to put the bulbs on. I loved that... and while I miss finding pine/fir needles in the corners of the room in June, I don't miss the mess they make in December. We decided to put it up early this year, and believe me I've taken some criticism for that, but really it has been truly wonderful. Each night Teapot and the girls have come home from school tired and exhausted (there's flu going around our school and there have been some nasty scares as they have fought not to get it) and we have turned on a Christmas movie or a DVD of a Christmas concert and for 1 or 2 hours as we eat our dinner, enjoy a little Christmas spirit... this has been completed with a glass of homemade eggnog (far nicer than the store bought stuff) or a little Christmas chocolate or cookie. Getting an artificial tree and putting it up on the first day of Advent was the best thing we've ever done. So I think it has become a new tradition in our house.  We have even decided to name our Christmas tree. (It's name is now Yawnus).  As for real evergreen in the house... I've even taken care of that. We purchase a real wreath from a group in town that sell them as a fundraiser and I always order fresh Holly from the florist. Unfortunately, there is no smell (or very little) of fir, pine, or balsam but if I need it I can always bring in some bows or light a candle. I just love, love, love our cute little plastic Christmas tree. It has been so freeing.

Christmas Gifts:
I love Christmas gifts.... well who doesn't. Still I buy them or make them all. It is a stressful thing to take care of the wants and desires of everyone we know, and make sure that they get it in time for the big day.  Recently I've tried to be less uptight about the whole process. I can change my mind about things at the last minute if I want, and if people don't get it in time for Christmas day then I'm not going to give myself a heart attack worrying about it. There's always Old Christmas day (also known as Ukranian Christmas or the Twelfth Night) and if you don't receive your parcel in time for Santa Day then you can celebrate Christmas any day in between.... and you might just have to when my parcel arrives.
Also, while I hate spending a fortune on Christmas gifts, and hate going into debt each year and spending the next 6 months trying to dig myself out, I do enjoy giving gifts. So a few years ago I decided that I would try to make more of our Christmas gifts.... not only to save money but because my time is precious and when I take the time to figure out what you might like and then I take the time to make it, then you know that it really is a gift of the heart. This adds somewhat to the burden of stress before Christmas but I have tried to overcome that problem by allowing myself to change my mind at the last minute. I recently had planned on sending my sister a scarf, and her husband a pair of hand knit socks, and her son a hand knit toque. But when Teapot said he liked the socks it changed the whole thing. My sister and family are receiving gift cards and mugs of goodies, and Teapot will get the socks. I had planned on making socks for a family of four who have been our longest standing friends since moving here to HH.... I've changed my mind on that one too. The two kids are getting hand spun and hand knit toques (less work than socks) and a gift card from Coles book store. The parents are getting a box of homemade bread with jams and herb dipping sauces.
See easy... just change your mind... no stress no fuss. And when people open their gifts on Christmas day and then send you a thank you or give you a big smile it really makes you feel like a million bucks.

Christmas shopping:
While you have heard me say that I hate Christmas shopping, I can also say that there are things about it that I like. I do like to hold the door open for everyone as I'm entering a store, mall, or boutique..... and that includes that crabby old lady and the burly middle aged man who only has getting in and getting out as quickly as possible on their minds... with a cheery "Merry Christmas" wish and a smile. But you can see them suddenly become human again.... I love that. I love to drop a $5 or a $10 or a hand full of change into the SA kettle by the front door of which ever store that I walk into. I always stop to pass the time with whoever is sitting by the kettle and offer up a cheery "Merry Christmas" to them too. They deserve our respect and heartfelt gratitude for what they do.
I love the bins of colourful wrapping paper and spend long moments choosing which colours will grace the packages under our tree and the parcels we give out at Christmas time. I LOVE  the music of Christmas and find myself warbling along as I drift in and out of various stores that I visit. I'm sure those in hearing distance must think I'm a nutter. But that's ok because I usually give them a chipper smile and say something about loving to sing Christmas carols. Then I get a wicked laugh inside when I watch the look of surprise thatcrosses their face because a perfect stranger (me) whose obviously a weirdo, just spoke to them. And then when all my shopping is done including all the online faceless stuff I get a great sense of satisfaction that it is done and I look at all the loot and think how this one is going to love that and that one is going to love this.... etc.

Lights:
I love the lights of Christmas.... it's that simple!

Cozy comforts leading up to, and surrounding the darkest day of winter:
I love the cozy feel of my family, each one doing their own little thing, unknowing of the great surprises I have planned for them, as I tear out the toe on the latest pair of socks, or blend the most recent combination of fibre on the drum carder, or spin the latest thread. I love to get up in the morning and have a cup of jo as the dawn slowly rises on a morning of grey and crystalline frost, or the white downiness of new fallen snow. I love carmel tea with a very small splash of Bailey's (I only allow my self that at Christmas). I love walking in through the door after a cold walk when the heat of the house hits you. I love warm mittens and warm boots. I love crawling into my bed at night a staring up at clear skies full of stars and looking for the Christmas star and wondering what it was like for the three wisemen.


Christmas Eve:
I love church on Christmas eve. I love that a full church sings altogether, Christmas carols as old as memory. I love the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ. I love the expectation on the faces of children. I love that in the quiet of the night you hear Merry Christmas called out as people leave the church and head for home and a night of surprises and wrappings. I love being the last to leave the church and turn out the lights and lock the door.... I love the quiet of the church and thank God for peace, love, joy and hope. And I love... just love,  that as I head to my vehicle I know that a waiting Teapot and Daughters are glad to see me come. I love dropping in to visit friends after church and before we head home. I love hanging stockings... and then filling them. I love that every Christmas Eve Teapot gets out his camera no matter how late it is and takes a picture of the tree and the stockings  laying in wait for the next morning.

After Christmas:
I love sitting around on Christmas Day till 3 p.m. in my jammies.... as smells of roasting turkey waft from the kitchen. I love Christmas dinner... turkey... just one word... yum! I love boxing day... it's the best day of the year. One word to describe that day.... relaxation. I love skating (though I don't do it anymore because of my back), I love sliding parties, and I love skiiing (though I find that hard to do too).... More than anything I love when people drop in for a visit.... awesome. I love our Christmas family portrait that we take each year and I love that after we have taken 10 or 12 and everyone is tired, we take one that is completely silly and totally goofy.  I love celebrating New Year's Eve with a bonfire and friends. I love ringing in the new year with some sparkly beverage.

December 28th:
I love Teapot and thank the heavens above that we got married.... and I even love that we got married during the Christmas Season. It will be 20 years this year.

Old Christmas Day:
I love that we have special antique stockings that we rehang for that day. I love that we have made a tradition of taking down Yawnus (the Christmas Tree) on that day and putting him back to sleep in his box. I love that for a whole 10 months... we don't have to think about Christmas anymore. I love that at this point you can notice that the days are starting to get longer and the long drowsy days of spring are just a short while away.

So that's it... a bunch of things that I like about Christmas. I hope you can take the time to find all the positives that make Christmas good for you. Remember dwelling on the bad will make you wrinkled and old before your time.... enjoy your friends and family.... and smile a lot even when you don't feel like it because I promise it will make you feel a whole lot better. And if that doesn't work I guarantee that a half bottle of Rye (or Whisky, or gin, or Rum) will!

Really.... I don't drink... ; )

F*%#$$%#%#ing Socks

OK.
It is Not fair!
No... really it's NOT
See the picture of the socks in the last post.... oh hang it I will post it here again for pitty sakes...
Just a minute I have to go find the damn thing.....
Ah... here it is...

Now take a close look at this picture..... can you see anything that might possibly be wrong with it?  I mean there's nothing wrong with the picture... albeit it's not the best picture in the world... but I am referring to what is in the picture.... do you see anything wrong with the F@#$#&*ing Socks....

Ah yes....one sock is substantially longer than the other.....@#%$@^$%&%^*^&*^&(&(&$%#$@

Sorry I had a momentary lapse of sense.

Yes it was only after I had posted this picture yesterday that I realized that one sock and another do not always make a pair. The upper sock is lovely. It configures as a sock should... nice shaft.... lovely heel... wonderful instep.... perfect toe....

The lower sock however does not configure as a sock should.... the shaft is alright... yes it looks good... doesn't it.... the heel is fine... I counted the rows.... yep it looks fine. The instep is ok...... yes it is. It's the damn toe.... (cut the bugger off I say!) The toe is far too long and this sock would fit a hobbit for God's sake.

So I had to take out the toe and ravel it back and re-knit the toe... I had repeated the pattern once too many times and so I had to take back the extra repeat in the toe of the sock too and then knit the toe back on.... now it looks right.

Meanwhile the socks in the dye pot.... yeah we're not going there.... at least not tonight... I've done enough swearing for one day. (sigh)

Sock Saga

So the sock saga continues....

I have two pairs finished but I'm in a bit of a quandary because the dye job on the first pair is still not satisfactory. Then the lady who is getting them for Christmas popped by today and there on the coffee table in my living room sat her socks! I didn't draw any attention to them and gently just dropped a knitting basket that I was sorting through on top of the socks and hopefully she didn't notice a thing. So as I sit here tapping out this post I have a pot of dark grey dye brewing.

The socks are not in yet but they are soaking. They will be going from dark forest green to dark grey and I will have to embellish them to purdy them up and bit.  I have an idea for that... add in a little orange embroidery and voila. They will look awesome when I'm done.

Meanwhile socks number 2 came off the needles at 12 midnight last night and so I am working on a little side project that may have something to do with Christmas socks in the end but not sure. Socks number 2 are awesome.

Teapot tried them on and liked them so much that he confiscated them and so they will not be winging their way across the country to my sister and her family.Instead she and her husband will be getting nice little gift baskets full of yummy stuff. Actually I am kind of relieved about that because I was getting down to the wire (and actually over it) on timing for Canada Post to get my parcel to them in time for Christmas. This way it will go in the mail first thing tomorrow and would get down east in time for the big day.

So the little side project that I got caught up in this morning and that I spoke of in the previous paragraph came into fruition quite spontaneously since in the last few weeks the two cats have discovered my laziness. Back in the fall when I did my cleaning and moved the house around to accommodate the new loom I had taken the lazy man's attitude and pushed a bunch of small balls of home spun/hand spun yarn into a bag without sorting through the mess. then I had some left over silk with was meant to go into a baggie and get put away in my stash. This did not happen and as I said the cats discovered my laziness and decided to play. In the bottom of the basket that I had poked everything into was a bunch of baggies of fibre from a workshop I had done two years ago and had never been properly put away either. When the cats discovered my basket of goodies sitting on the floor of my studio, all vestiges of order melted into kitty chaos. So today was the day, the day of days to organize that basket.

The first hour was spent pulling apart the many small balls of yarn and untangling them, and then reballing them and organizing them into baggies of similar colours. Then I took all the little baggies of fibre from the previous year's workshop and out came my drum carder and I decided to blend multiple colours and fibres to get a mish-mash of roving with mixed up fibres.

The rest of the day was spent spinning the mess of fibres together. So far things are looking civilized and somewhat pretty. I'm spinning fairly fine... so not sure if I will use the resulting yarn in a shawl or maybe I'll put several singles together to make a nice sock yarn. We'll see how that turns out.

Now that I have the hang of turning heels I am anxious to try out other sock patterns. I have bee perusing the many patterns that litter my pattern books and have settled on a pair of dress socks that are unisex.... they look so pretty in the book and somewhat simple so I will give that a try next. I still have five more pairs to finish before Christmas...

So with that in mind, I must be off to spin a little more before bedtime... for tomorrow I knit!

Christmas Rant

Recently I have been checking out some of my favorite blogs and low and behold some of them have shopping lists.... lists of things that they think we, the reader, might like to buy.... I hate that. I think that is totally stupid. So anyone of you who has a blog and is thinking about giving everyone ideas about good gifts, or for anyone thinking about Christmas in general, here are a few things you might consider before falling into the abyss of Consumer stupidity.

First of all, let me say that what you might think is a great item for the masses, to someone else probably is stupid. Recently I was on one site that suggested we should all go have a look at a Solar Powered Queen..... ! And what does the Queen do once she is powered up.... she waves at you. Now this is the heights of stupidity. I mean we all know that I am a Royal fan but a stupid plastic waving Queen is not my idea of the all purpose Christmas gift that is going to make me say WOW!  (Well it might make me say WOW but not in the way that the giver would appreciate.) It is one more thing that is made out of petroleum products that defaces our planet and has absolutely no meaning except for the manufacturers pocket and maybe the Queen. So what I am trying to say in my miserable way is that what you might think is an awesome gift, to me would be one more thing on the way to the landfill.... (I'm starting to sound like Chuck V here now with his spiel about the landfill). Better still and the best gift I could get is a visit from you and not some plastic junk.... remember the anniversary party to which none of our friends showed up.... that was the worst, meanest gift we've ever gotten. I would rather have your company than a solar powered waving Queen.

Second: In this world of complaints about our economy and our environment, a solar powered Queen can only damage your pocket book and piss me off as she lands in the landfill. I really do not want to have to watch anyone declare bankruptcy because they over spent at Christmas purchasing a dumb object like a solar powered Queen. (Knit me a Queen instead if it must be a Queen... I at least know then that my relationship with you means enough for you to spend some time on a gift). Again, in my own stupid way I'm saying your opinion of a good Christmas gift might not be mine since I don't believe people should give gifts if they can't afford it. All you're doing in spending money you don't have, is making the credit cards companies richer and bringing down governments... i.e. Greece (who by the way doesn't have a Queen and wouldn't want a plastic solar powered one if they are in their right minds.)

Third: stop sending me cards with just a signature.... and make a card instead of waiting for the CNIB or the Heart and Stroke Foundation to send those dumb freebies through the mail.... once upon a time getting a card in the mail meant something.... you would find out what people were doing and it was so nice to catch up. Sending cards out is not a popularity contest. "Oh look I sent out 59 cards this year," says so and so. "Well I sent out 78," says another so and so.... "Well I can top that.... I sent out 102 cards this year." (Thanks Mrs Beaver, for the lovely card..... by the way... so far yours is the only one with anything written on it, beside your name.) (And to Sweet Davey.... keep this in mind when you send yours through the mail... I keep hinting each year that you should write something on your card but this year you're getting a direct hit! Write something besides, Sweet Davey and family. Perhaps you could tell me you're a Grandpa... that might be something you could write instead of letting me find out on the family website!!!)

The other day I was listening to The Current in the Evening on CBC radio. Anna Maria Tremonti was talking to poor people and asking them what it was like to be poor in Canada. It was an eye opener as well as a tear jerker. People were calling into the show and talking about what it is like to be poor in Canada. (Yes we have lots of poor people in Canada.) Story after story of poor people...people who are struggling just to keep food on the table were being broadcast... each story more heart renching than the one before. One lady called in and talked about how she went to a friend's house for a sleep over for the first time as a child, and the friend's mother let her have a bubble bath. She laid out on the bed a perfectly pretty flannel nightgown and a beautifully thick towel and ran a bath for her with bubbles from a bottle of Mr Bubble (remember those pink bottles of bath bubbles). The lady talked about how she remembered sitting in the bath until every last bubble popped and it was the greatest gift anyone could have given her.

It's the small things in life that mean so much.

So don't tell me that a solar powered Queen is the best gift ever....it's not. Instead, just go do something nice for someone and then write to me about it.... and tell me you were thinking of me when you did it because that is way better than a solar powered Queen... or any other piece of junk.

See... I really wasn't kidding about the Solar powered Queen.....and I'm not giving the link... purposely because I refuse to encourage anyone to purchase this piece of s*#t oops maybe I shouldn't have said that.

Where Do You Find Your Inspiration

Inspiration is a funny thing. Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't.  I've been thinking in the last few days that a muse would not be such a bad thing. It's been really hard to find inspiration in the last little while. Sometimes I think that I live a somewhat limited lifestyle... especially in the winter. Summer time is great and I go out as much as I can but in the wintertime, I stay close to home mostly because I can't afford to slip on the ice and damage my back any more than it already is.  Recently its been quite icy, which means that I'm not getting out as much as I would like and certainly not finding the all illusive inspiration.

Nothing inspires me like the great outdoors. Nothing inspires me like paddling down a lake or a river with my paddle dipping quietly in and out of the water.  I usually do that in spring summer or fall, but what I really want to do is take a canoeing trip in the winter.... no I do not want to camp in the winter but yes I do want to paddle down the river when snow is falling and while the banks are showing white and frosty. I want it to be cold enough that the snow that falls is not wet snow but warm enough that we're not freezing our buns off. I want to be able to pull out my camera and take pictures of the pristine silence of winter.  Inspiration?.... I think so.

Nothing inspires me like new experiences. I'd like to do something I've never done before.... and while paddling in the winter would meet that criteria, I can think of other things I'd like to do too. I'd like to go for a horse and sled ride... a real horse and sled ride. Not these modern concocted things that lots of places put off for Christmas that are so slow moving that when you get off the cart at the end of the ride you are surprised to look in a mirror and realize that your hair hasn't turned any greyer than it was when you first got on earlier in the afternoon (at least that was my experience). I remember reading in my Little House On The Prairie books when Laura (the main character), spends a wonderful afternoon with Almanzo, (her future husband), going up and down the main road in a fast moving small cutter singing Christmas carols. They would whip down the road and well out onto the prairie before making a wide arc and turning back onto the main road again. I can only imagine how much fun that must be and since reading that I've always wanted to do it.  How inspirational that would be! You'd feel charged for months.

Nothing inspires me like good music... and I love the symphony.  It's been so long since I've been to a concert with a symphony. Over 20 years.  When I was growing up, my mom, who also loves the symphony orchestra, would buy tickets to the Saint John's symphony... (I don't even think there is such a thing any more) and we would go together for an evening of beautiful music that transported you to another time and another place. I try to get the same affect from time to time by playing some of the classical music CDs that I have here. It's not the same though. Somehow you cannot replace the thrill of the drums that raise to a crescendo and as it does so you can feel it all through your body. Somehow you cannot replace the movement of all the violin bows moving in unison or the harps trilling. I miss that.

What is it that inspires you?  When Teapot asks me what I want for Christmas it is this that I know must be my response.... I will say, " Dear, all I want for Christmas is a little inspiration!"

I wonder if I will get it.

OH...NO... Not Now...!

So I am in it (up to my neck in poo) again... bad back. One whole year without a bad flair up. But this morning I find myself crawling up and down stairs since last night something exploded inside my back when I sneezed.  It has been seriously twinging in the last few weeks anyway... so somehow it doesn't surprise me. Last night I could not find a place of comfort anywhere so out came the painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Today I will get Teapot to pick up the newest meds that are specifically geared to nerve pain.... and we'll see how that works... hopefully it won't fog up the brain like last time. 

What really ticks me off about it all is that it's three weeks before Christmas. I had a five week stint last year and I really don't want to spend Christmas eve and day trying to suffer through severe pain. Besides I have socks to knit and it is seriously difficult to knit fast when your hurting.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my aches and pains.

I finished a good book yesterday.  Yes I do read in between knitting and other stuff. It's called before I fall. It's actually a youth novel but Daughter #2 finished it last week and suggested to me that I might like it. I did. The title is Before I Fall and it is written by Lauren Oliver.

It is the story of a teenager who dies in a car accident and has to come back and relive her last day seven times before she finds out what is wrong with her life and why she is stuck in limbo. There are no goofy angels or anything like that there is no supernatural world, just reliving the last day over and over again in different ways.  It's a really interesting concept and very well done by the author.

Books here lately have been back on the agenda... if not actual paper books certainly audio books. I finished Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (sister to Charlotte and Emily) in Audio books and I've finished several paperbooks, including the one above.  I tend to go through fits and starts with reading throughout the year.  At some points in time, I'm so focused on the homework for the MSP I can't even think about reading... but at other times (when I'm knitting socks for Christmas) I read before going to bed and when I'mbored with the knitting or needing a break for my hands. I finished Before I Fall yesterday and today I'm reading Siege Of Heaven which is a book about the first Crusade in 1039 A.D. An interesting read and for me an opportunity to learn a little more about European history.  It is a story told from the point of view of a spy for the Holy Roman Emperor.  I've always read about the crusades but usually from the point of view of the Brits not from lower countries in Europe...I've always wanted to learn more about the Medici's and Borgia's... it's funny because since my father started figuring out our family history I've taken more of an interest in lower European history... my several times great Grandmother had the last name of Avis or Ayres. There is some secret history that we are not sure about and a trunk that went missing with her real name on it which would prove her real ties in Europe... (this would have been around 1600 A.D.)...but if her last name is Avis then she has ties to Portuguese and Spanish royalty... this is really hard to prove... but she did have lots of money... how she ended up in a small fishing villiage in Newfoundland is beyond me. But it is just before her time that the Avis family got turfed out on their butts by another line of of the Spanish royal family. It's all very intriguing actually... I love family mysteries. : )

Anyway I've been sitting long enough behind this computer with my very sore back... I guess it is time I go and try to find a place comfortable enough to keep me knitting cause I have to finish that sock... and oh yeah I need to dye the green ones too... sock pics tomorrow hopefully....

Whirling Dirvish

The wind on Thursday was so bad that the road on which we live, was blocked to all traffic for a few hours yesterday morning while they cleaned up the trees which had fallen across the road. Then we discovered this....

That's our barbecue... it had been picked up and thrown over on it's side with the propane tank... and the tank was full. Now I would say, that's a pretty good wind! We have not walked our fence line to check for damage but I suspect Teapot will do so today. It is meek and mild this morning. Quietly, becoming daylight. It all seems so peaceful this morning after those high winds.

Teapot and I took the girls to town yesterday for dental appointments and shopping... Christmas shopping that is. After the girls were able to come away with, no cavities for Daughter #1, and only one in a deformed tooth for Daughter #2 (her first ever cavity), we went to Chinese buffet at our favorite restaurant. Then we hit the stores. I realized how much I miss the relaxed atmosphere of downtown St. John's, Nfld with it's boutiques and wonderful small stores as we rushed from Wal-Mart to the mall. There's very little boutique shopping in FSJ, though there are some pretty good places to shop if you are willing to drive. Main street is quite spread out and walking is treacherous with the ice on the sidewalks.

I totally struck out in Wal-Mart... (I hate Wal-Mart, but sometimes it is a necessary evil). I was looking for Socks for Dad who uses a specific kind of diabetic sock that Wal-Mart carries and no where else. I was also looking for a dog kennel for our wee dog who thinks it's great fun to chew and rip if left in the house for any amount of time by himself....but there was no luck there.... then I was looking for a set of cotton Jersey sheets in queen size... no luck there because they just had twin and double. I did find a table cloth though it was ogangey red.... which really doesn't match at all, but will do. But I did get some rabbit food and some wee stocking stuffer things. Then on to the mall where we hit Coles book store to drool dreadfully over the things that we want.... and ended up buying gift cards for nephew and friend's kids, (because we have no idea anymore what they have read, thus the gift cards). Then we went looking for a new artificial tree for my Dad who wanted a tabletop sized pre-lit tree. Well let me tell you how hard that was. FSJ has a  serious shortage of service industry workers, so, many stores are nowhere near ready for Christmas. After checking Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, TruValue, and the Real Canadian Wholesale store we finally found a 3 ft colourful fibre optic tree that I think will suit at Home Hardware (we were working our way from down to up in FSJalso cleverly known as South to North.) By that time we had to go drop Teapot off at the dental office for his appointment.... by that time we were pooped so we headed to Tim Horton's for a Mocha and a break. There, I got some more gift cards for Christmas gifts. After we were sitting for a wee while Teapot walked in looking like this...

he couldn't have a Mocha because it would have either A. dribbled out the side of his mouth... or B. burnt his lip without him knowing (if it was hot enough which it was).  This sent us all into reams of laughter and I thought Daughter #1 was going to pee in her pants. She had never seen her Dad with half his face not working (which was somewhat disturbing to me)!

We had one place else to go before heading to the grocery store. We hit a religious book shop... (no we are not fanatics).... it is the best store ever...  It reminds of the boutiques of old. Kurios carries everything in there. DVDs with stories where you hear no swearing or see no blood and are really nice stories... (if you pick the better ones)... They also have really nice educational stuff. Right now they have wonderful Christmas ornaments and beautiful CD's of Christmas music. I ordered a Study bible for my Dad, which he has been asking for, in large print. He can't see well enough to read his own bible any more, so large print is almost a necessity.

After doing the grocery shopping, (and getting a free Christmas turkey) we headed home exhausted but repleat with knowing that we had achieved almost everything that we wanted... for now.  I know there will be more Christmas shopping... but some of it I can do online.  The whole trip to town was a bit of a whirling dirvish just like the wind from the day before.

Today is cleanup-the-house-cause-company-is-coming-for-supper-and-cook-a-smashing-meal day. I also have to knit on some socks that I have on the go... (I broke two of my rosewood needles yesterday in the taking of them with me).  I think I will go and order some Signature nickle plated (that means slippery) 5 inch dpns in a variety of sizes for Teapot to put in my stocking, while I drink my tea.... then I have the day set out before me!

Hope your Christmas forays into shopping are more relaxed.....

Socks, Socks Everywhere And Not a One To Wear

So I finished my first pair of socks and they look quite strange at the moment... I ran into a little problem. I decided to use some yarn that I had spun back in level 1 and I'll be honest, it was pretty inconsistent yarn. But I wanted to use it up and get it out of my stash. So I gathered up all the balls I had, which were several and I started in on knitting the socks.

I finished one in no time and realized that it would need to be dyed since I was using the ugliest colours on planet earth. They were all beiges and various shades of putrid yellow because this was the yarn I had used to do the dyeing portion of level 1. No wonder I wanted to get it out of my stash!

I finished the first sock and was proud that I had turned the heel with little or no problems. I then proceeded to finish the second sock. That's when the problems started.

The pattern that I am using in the men's socks from the latest issue of Piecework magazine called Manx Loaghtan Boot Socks.  I followed the pattern precisely for sock number one and then I followed the pattern precisely for sock number 2.... After I had them finished, I threw them into the dye pot with the idea of dyeing them a nice Christmas green (this was Daughter #2 idea) however, I stupid-like used my rice steamer which is a dyepot and actually not a rice steamer, but sits on my counter in the kitchen waiting for stray dyeing projects which happen on the spur of the moment.

For small projects the rice cooker works like a charm. So I mixed up the dye, brought it to a boil, stirred it vigorously with the vinegar already stirred in. It looked great, so in went the socks. When I went back a short time later all the dye had exhausted. Perfect except there was a portion of one of the socks that had pushed up from the bottom and was actually out of the liquid. Thus the dye had not taken evenly. This I knew would not be a problem because I would just redye them and make sure they were fully submerged in a slightly darker shade of the dye. I took them out of the rice cooker and rinsed them out and hung them to dry... I did this because I had used up all of my vinegar in the previous dye bath and I needed to go to the store to buy more.

All day, the next day, I waited for Teapot to come home he was going to pick up the vinegar from the store on his way home from work. That evening I mixed up the pot of dye with the new bottle of vinegar and grabbed the socks with the intention of rewetting them before throwing them back in the dye pot for round 2. It was then that I noticed a problem... one sock was shorter than the other!

How on earth could that have happened.... I thought. Well I had followed the pattern and where I had used 16 repeats of the pattern in sock number one I had written it down and done exactly the same on sock number 2. I knew I had. Really. I was sure.

I sat there staring at my first socks ever in dismay... that when I thought, Ok check to make sure they are actually the same. I counted the repeats of the pattern and sure enough I was right. 16 repeats for sock number 1... 16 repeats for sock number 2. Yup right... perfect. So what was the matter... I closely examined the socks. That when I realized that sock number one was larger than sock number two because my spinning sucked. The yarn I used for sock number one was the early spinning and was therefore thicker.... the yarn I used was yarn from the same batch but it was slightly thinner than my first yarn. Inconsistent spinning makes for inconsistent knitting. so now I had a useless pair of socks. I wanted to cry!

I threw them down in disgust and worked away at the next pair of socks also in the same pattern which I was knitting for my nephew. I kept thinking about the other pair of socks. I wanted to cry some more. But I got a brilliant idea. why didn't I pull out the knitting back to where I started to decrease for the toe and just add in one more repeat of the pattern. Would anyone really notice that one had 16 repeat and the other had 17 repeats?! So I did that. and now the socks match.... well... at least in size. Daughter #1 tried them on and said that they felt great. But as a result the socks now look like this...

I will need a very dark colour indeed if I am to have them look even remotely consistent. So more than likely I will dye them black or very dark charcoal grey and then maybe I will add a little embroidery to make them look pretty. Meanwhile after I had Daughter #1 try them on, I started to realize that maybe the other socks that I was knitting might be too small for my nephew... I thought the size that I was knitting (men's size large) seemed to be a might bit too small for a 16 year olld teenager boy. Hmmm....

So after raveling back the socks I am now re-knitting them one size larger and on slightly larger knitting needles. so far so good.

Still after all that work, there are socks, socks everywhere, and not a one to wear...

But stayed tuned because I'm determined that all socks will eventually be wearable and beautiful too....