I have a stalker…

and I kind of like it! My sock pal, sorry, Sockimus Palimus, has been sending me little missives through the mail. First there was this one:

Then there was this one:

This was the most wonderful thing to come home to after a 12 hour shift. I laughed so hard that snorting was heard. It was brilliant! I love my Sockimus Palimus.

The other thing I came how to was this:

A puffy from the Sweet Sheep. So nicely packaged and there is this awesome little pin with the sheepy logo. Very cute! So yeah, yarn diet, that was sooooo yesterday.

Here you see some Fleece Artist Sea Wool (squishability factor of 13), Shelridge Farms Handpaint (squishability factor of 12), and Mama C*EYE*BER Fiber (colour factor 1,000,000 – it’s called blood orange, swoon).

Okay, shower and back to work. Thanks for coming out kids!

Survived the week!

Except for the fact that it is Monday and the beginning of another week. Oh well. Five more weeks of this overtime insanity and then life will slow down again.

Last weekend the hubby finished up his pool and I was a bit afeared about how bit it was. I was just not correctly picturing how big a 16′ pool was. Here is is before water:

Then, last week, hubby and Vanessa they carpenter belts on and created a deck. They they put up the sunshade. Patio furniture was not far behind of course. Now, the best looking most matching room we have isn’t even in the house. Ironic. The deck/sunshade set has the added bonus of adding scale for the pool. Now it doesn’t look so unbelievably out of place!

It’s nice. The yard has stopped looking abandoned, which is awesome.

I also cast on and finished a couple inches of a Cafe Curtains sock from Kurrajong Handcrafts. Really pretty pattern. I drew up a chart to make my life easier. I just can’t knit from words anymore. I’m using handpainted yarn from Shelridge farm. Really nice stuff. So nice in fact, I ordered more from the Sweetsheep. They actually have some of the handpaint in so if you want it you better hurry. It never hangs around long.

That’s about it from me. Lucy asked me to do a meme but it will have to wait. I gotta go have a shower and head off for my 13 hour shift! Happy Monday y’all!

Summer Knitting Goals

Ali, over at Skeins Her Way, is having a contest. You could win some yummy Blue Sky Alpaca cotton and a really cute pattern for a summer top. Go here to read all about it.

Here is my hopeful list of things to complete this summer:

Already on the needles:

Poppy Sweater
Chicknits Ribby Cardi
Sockapalooza socks (nevermind hope, this will happen!)
Noro mitred blanket

Not on the needles:

Trekking socks

I know, it isn’t much, but that blanket is gonna be big and I’m trying to set reasonable goals, blah blah blah.

Spring

Yep, it’s finally here,

ETA: For Kat – these are Chinese Tree Peonies. You can find out more here. This one is huge, almost 12 inches across.

and here,

and here,

Ah springtime, when a young man’s fancy may turn to love but an older man’s fancy starts thinking about summer. Then he starts the prep work for a pool. ‘Cause he can’t handle the heat like her could when he was young!

And he has a helper,

Since the new neighbours moved in behind us this is all you see of the dogs:

She has cookies and kids. All you see is three bums and three wagging tails poking out of the shrubs in the back of the yard. If the dogs are sleeping in the living room they know when the neigbours come home. It’s like their pagers all go off at once and boom, they fly out the back door.

And then you have the beautiful Jane, taking a moment to smell the dandelions.

And a nice shiny Stella:

And, finally, a little scrappy dog, all tired out and sleeping on last years pool in the sun. p.s.
Sock 76.a.1 – yeah, that didn’t work out. Back to the drawing board!

Quick one

Working on husband’s year ends and knitting on the Sockapalooza sock when I get too frustrated. Just wanted to share this. How cute is that????? Almost makes me want to have kids so I can make them hats. Not! Bahahahahaha. Just kidding mom!

Still alive, by the skin of my teeth

Here’s some advice, it’s free and I’m most definitely not using it. Once you reach the age of 38 (or so) you have no business going out to a stagette and drinking with the 19 – 26 crowd. Just so you know.

Before we get to that though, ‘Nessa and I went to the production centre tour of Bard on the Beach on Saturday afternoon. It was great. Got to see the teeny tiny little mockups of what the stages will look like, checked out the costuming department (beyond cool!), and then…wait for it…we got to sit in on part of the rehearsal for Taming of the Shrew. FABULOUS! My three favourite actors were all there, Haig Sutherland, Rob Frazer, and Kyle Rideout. It was wonderful. They are doing it in the concept of spaghetti western and it really worked. It’s going to be hilarious.

From there, I’m afraid things went downhill. A bunch of us were going to celebrate a friends impending (hmmm, that sounds sort of ominous) marriage and away we went. To the strippers. I’m proud to say, I had never been to the strippers before. I can no longer say that. Sigh. Before we went Vanessa and I were having a few drinks at home. Which led to a few shooters. Which led to this:

This one has some Stella in it. The dogs were having a gas with us running around like idiots.

Why yes, we are cool! It’s like Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings threw up. You can tell how this is going to end, can’t you? Off to the bar, more drinks, falling, having to leave the bar. Yep, I am way too old for these sorts of activities. Anyway…needless to say ‘Nessa and I were just a scoach hung over on Sunday. So hung over in fact that I did not make it to my mom’s house and take her for dinner. I might actually be the worst daughter in the world. I’m sorry mom! I’ll totally make it up to you this weekend.

Also, because of the production centre tour I didn’t make it to the Fibre Festival. Lavender says it was lovely. Go see the linen she’s spinning, very cool!

After my interview with the RCMP yesterday (which went okay I think,) I popped over to a yarn store in the area that I had never been to, Three Bags Full. Nice, lots of stuff I hadn’t seen in person before, Blue Sky Alpaca, Kidsilk Haze, Louet Gems, etc. I did pick up a few things, you know to make me feel better about missing the fibre festival. Okay that’s what I’m telling myself. Some Lorna’s Laces shepherd sport in purple and orange, a couple skeins of Malabrigo, and I think what might be the last two skeins of Sweet Georgia sock yarn in Vancouver. Oh, and a Noro book.

On the Sockapalooza front, I’ve started my pal’s socks. I did end up changing my mind about the pattern about 76 times. I’m just getting to the patterning so I’ll take a pici tomorrow when it looks like more. Version 76.a.1 are the Tidal Wave socks. I think the greens will look nice. Okay, that’s it, I’m outta here. I got a tonne o’ stuff to get done before work tonight. This working afternoons is starting to grind a bit. Have a good day everyone, I’m going to go sit in my yard in the sunshine and knit a bit before I go to work.

I was feeling a little blue…

then I read this:

I don’t feel blue anymore. I’m just really happy to be who I am and living where I live and when I live. Wow. I first heard about this book from Bookslut. Thought I would give it a try. Picked it up on Sunday and started it on the bus home . I finished it last night after work and then had an awful time trying to go to sleep. There is some amazing/brutal/stark/desperate imagery in this book. There is this fine cord of love and humanity in it though that is really very beautiful.

NOT a light read. I think I’ll go read a Terry Pratchett to get the taste of this one out of my brain.

Who will you be?

From Knitting by Moonlight. I loved these books and I’m dead curious to see what the movie will be like. Go see who you are.

Wicked, ungrateful, forgetful,

Daft, etc. I totally forgot to show you this:

When I got up yesterday there was a surprise waiting for me. Look what Vanessa got me! How sweet is that. I wore it to work last night. I felt gangsta and knitta, all at the same time! Ta da! Thank you ‘Ness. I love it!

Soooooo, wanna play golf?

My beloved Canucks lost 2 – 1 in second overtime last night. If we could all have a moment of quiet…..right, that’s enough of that.

Okay, here it comes. Are you ready for it? There’s always next season! Man, I am some kind of tired of saying that!

Anyway, nothing I can do about that. Look at this neato thingy I found in a thrift store for $1.00.

How cool is that? Just built for multicolour projects. What was that bleak future movie that kept showing tv commercials and one had the guy who just kept saying “I’d buy that for a dollar!” Robocop? Running Man? Anyway, I would and and I did buy that for a dollar!

Then, just now, when I went and opened the front door for a bit o’ natural light to take the above pici I found my Scout’s Swag club package on my front porch! Sweet.

Mmmmmmmmmmm, lavender and mint. Love it. There is gorgeous sock yarn, lip balm, Heal My Hands for hands and sample for heals, and a facial scrub. Yummers.

Don’t tell hubby, I sort of joined the club in a moment of weakness. I never thought I’d be picked in the lottery. ‘Course I was picked and ‘course I was secretly delighted! Duh, who wouldn’t be. But, shhhh, he doesn’t need to know. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t stop by here. Vanessa, don’t you say a word!