Travelogue with Fireworks

I had a bit of a whirlwind trip home for Canada Day this past weekend. It was a fun time with most of the  family there. Sunday was spent on the beach and was capped off with a great fireworks display.

I left on Friday and crossed the border at Sarnia. I had read about a yarn shop there, so I did some research and found three that I could visit within a close area. The first was Heaven is Handmade on Christina Street. I really liked the selection, especially since they carried brands I don't see much in my LYS.

I took home a couple skeins of aran-weight washable wool for a project I'll talk about later:

I started swatching on the trip because I couldn't wait to try it out.

I also took home a skein of sock yarn dyed by a local woman. I'm developing a habit of picking up a skein of sock yarn when travelling!

The colours were gorgeous and I chose this green because I thought it would be a nice darker colourer to wear with jeans (without getting too dark to work with or to see a pattern). When you open it up:

you can see that the colours are fairly spotty or random so I don't expect it to stripe too much when knit. We'll see. It's merino with 20% cashmere and feels very soft and squishy.

The second shop was Feather Your Nest on Front Street. It was a nice shop split about 50/50 with home decorator items, with the yarn in the back. (And chocolate. I shouldn't forget that they sell Godiva chocolate there too.) I had first heard about it because they hosted Stephanie Pearl-McPhee recently and I considered going. They stocked a lot of yarn that I can get at my LYS (Lorna's, madelinetosh, Handmaiden). It's all great stuff, but not what I'm looking for on vacation.

I did find it interesting to recognize their shop samples. They had a Honey Cowl out of madelinetosh. Oh wow, I made one of those for a shop sample. And they also had a Color Affection Shawl, which I haven't made but recognized right away because I've thought long and hard about making it. It soared in popularity after Stephanie mentioned it on her blog.

The address for the third shop turned out to be an empty store front. :( No hattrick for me.

The following day, we went out to the "Blue Box," which is a second hand place. (A "blue box" being the municipal container that you use to put out your recyclables.) My sister found some yarn leftovers to use for her constant making of hats. I found some old plastic needles:

I enjoy them so much, and these will be nice additions to the ones I have from my grandmother's supply. I really liked finding the dpns; I didn't have any of them. I love the bright colours, and even if they were the cheapest of the cheap needles at the time, a few decades have bestowed on them value and worth.

Later on Saturday I attended a baby shower for my niece, and now I can reveal the little package I showed a few weeks ago. This:

contained all this:

Two receiving blankets ("spit" cloths) and two bibs. I couldn't believe it when I found this pink elephant fabric. (I always have my eyes out for elephant fabric but there's not a lot of nice options out there.) I actually resisted it the first time I saw it because I didn't think I had a use for it. Well, then I invented a use and went out and got some. The coordinating fabrics are part of what sold me on it. Pink argyle elephants! Come on, how could I resist that?

Here is a detail of each bib:

And Brooke opening her gift:

Here is another handmade gift:

One of my sisters likes to make play blankets from two pieces of flannel with satin trim. Very simple, but very cute. She's happy because the trim company has finally come out with some updated colours.

Later in the day, I went to visit a friend who built a new house over the last year. She and her family were out of town for the weekend, so I actually just visited the house! But they said I was welcome and I decided it was worth it because I didn't know when I would be home next and really wanted to see the new house. I had prepared a gift to leave as a house warming, but forgot it at my mom's. Complete bummer. I'll show you anyway:

It's the latest set of "walking dishcloths" that I finished right before leaving for the trip. I truly hope that it's the thought that counts, because it isn't worth mailing them! (Sorry, Y!)

Sunday was spent on the beach and in between food runs, trips to the shoreline and visits to the art tents, I knit on my latest socks:

I decided on the Harris Tweed pattern by Ali Green. I think the pattern is perfect with this yarn combination. I finished the first sock before I left, and took the second one to work on. I made some good time on it on Sunday.

Monday I got zero knitting done because I had to drive the whole way home. Next time I won't forget to pack the hubby so he can drive!!

AIDS Walk Wrap Up

This past Sunday I participated in the 2012 Michiana (Stop) AIDS Walk. You can see that I had my knitting all set to go. I have found this one strap knapsack perfect for holding my project while I walk.

I got there early enough to enjoy some great grilled hot dogs for lunch. And then to knit some while waiting for things to start.

We had lovely warm weather. (You can tell I mean it because I'm actually wearing a tshirt.) But as we got started, we were facing a pretty dark and mean looking western sky.

Hmmm...maybe you can't see it so well in this picture, but it was mean looking. I decided to walk a little faster so I could get done before the storm arrived!

But it never did...we continued to enjoy favourable weather as we walked along the river and over the bridge.

Appreciating some lovely sites along the way...

By the time we were done, I had pretty much finished my cloth. I just had to finish off a couple rows and cast off when I got home. That made a lovely set of three:

Small (40 sts), medium (50 sts), and large (60 sts)...hopefully at least one will be "just right." Oh yes, because who is going to be enjoying these cloths? The random number generator determined that Marsha is the lucky winner!! You couldn't ask for a nicer person to win and I will enjoy giving her the prize on Sunday.

You can see that I am throwing in some of Troy's much-loved home made soap too.

Project Stats
Started: 20 Mar '12; Finished: 6 May '12
Time: 13-14 hours
Pattern: my own
Materials: 70 grams of cotton recycled from a Goodwill turtleneck (~$5)
The cloths are a very simple pattern. All stocking stitch with a garter border. These turned out a little thinner than I thought they would, but I hope they will be useful. I am someone that prefers a certain cloth for every little task so I hope Marsha will find a task that she enjoys using these for, be it scrubbing dishes or washing her face.

Thank you to all who donated this year. My total added up to more than $1,600...great job, everyone!!

Wednesday Walk Wrap up

I don't plan to write every week, but I happened to finish another dish/wash cloth today.

I walked 4.5 times last week, and 2 more this week so far. That means 3.25 hours for this cloth.

And now that I see it in the picture, I think I maybe should have knit it a little longer to make it square. Ah well...I'll let that one pass.

When I started these cloths, I just took a guess at 40 stitches and that turned out to be the smallest size I would want to do. Next I jumped up to what I assumed would be the largest size at 60 stitches.

Here are the two together for some scale:

Next up will be the in between size. I guess that would make it the Goldilocks "just right" size!

Since I'm only out for a half hour, I try to keep the speed up so I'm actually burning some calories. It actually crossed my mind to wonder if I could knit while jogging. This is absolutely crazy since I hate jogging. Could knitting while jogging actually be any better?

I haven't tried it yet. If I do, I'll let you know...

Wednesday Walk Wrap up

I'm one of those many people who needs to exercise more. And with this early spring (really, summer) weather, it's lovely to be outside. I thought to myself, if I can't get out and walk in this, then I may as well admit that I will never walk. I couldn't do that.

So I tricked myself into walking. I told myself that I would do simple knitting and would only be allowed to work on it while walking. I'm going to just time myself and turn around when I've been out 15 minutes. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that that will get me out for a 30 minute walk. Not the most extreme exercise, but better than sitting on the couch, right?

First day:

Second day:

Third day...dishcloth is done!

I don't meet too many people while walking (apparently not many people have thought of bribing themselves with knitting!) but it's interesting noting their reactions. I mean, I'm not a very outgoing overly-friendly person, but I know enough to greet people you meet on the street. (At least in a small town.) But the people younger than me avert their eyes and concentrate on walking by quickly...you can tell they were raised on a strong dose of "stranger danger." The ones my age or older at least smile, wave, or make some comment about the knitting.

For accountability's sake, first week = 4 walks.

I did allow myself to work in the ends while I wasn't walking and my first dish cloth is done:

This is also an interesting way to know how long something takes. This dish cloth was three days = 1.5 hours.

I'll be making a few more of these, but I've thought in the future I could make squares for blankets as well. If you have other ideas for what I can make with simple squares, leave a comment. I appreciate it!