Wherein We Escape

We're headed to the home country (ie: Saskatchewan) for a week or so, and the blessed quiet of no internet, no cel coverage. Because I love you, Intarweb, but sometimes a little distance & quiet is a good thing.

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And the best part is, a friend is staying here at the house, so I don't need to worry about the yard crisping.

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And even better - I'm the sole adult in charge of packing the jeep, which means that I don't have to feel sheepish about how much yarn I take along for a week at the cabin.

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Back to the packing!

Random Smattering Thursday

Yesterday, I was wildy sleep deprived & somewhat bemused about it. I wasn't taking it personally; it was just the way it was. A princess coffee helped a lot.

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Today, I've moved past that into an unfortunately unstable state. I is tired; I isn't angry at the littles who kept me awake. I wasn't angry after I took a lotion bottle away from Am & (re)instructed her to wash her hands. When the lotion bottle fell into the toilet, however, I did hit batsh1t rage for a second. I didn't act on my first impulse, which was to fish it out & throw it. Instead, I fished it out, washed it, and then threw it. I'm owning that crazy; throwing it made me feel better, and washing it made it hygienic.

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Eleni is napping, and I should probably join her, but I've got laundry & some digital chores to take care of. I need to let go of my affection for an upcoming pattern's current format; I know that I need to add in a smaller size. But right now, my page break is exactly where I want it!*

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I think I'll keep puttering unless I have another 'moops' moment. I'd settled in to work, then realized that I needed El's monitor, which is upstairs. My lizard brain took over on the brief jaunt, & I stopped just before I opened her door... need the baby's MONITOR, not the BABY. A fine & subtle distinction, to be sure!

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Wish me luck.

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(I typoed lick. You can wish me lick, too, if you really want. Pretty much a sure thing though, El's been really chewy & kissy lately.)

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*All you yearbook/school newspaper types know what I mean.

I Kinda Forgot About This Stage

Things that Eleni has tried, with varying success, to eat in the last 24 hours:

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1) my face

2) sweet potato

3) spaghetti

4) cell phone

5) remote control

6) strawberries

7) Addi cable

8) computer cable

9) purse handle (Amoryn's)

10) apple

11) blankie (Z's comfort blanket)

12) cat food

13) oatmeal

14) her toes

15) cheerios

16) yarn bits

17) anything else that she sees

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Sigh. At least Amoryn is on board for yanking things out of Eleni's grasp. Maybe a little too on board, but that's another story...

Best. Cell Phone. Ever.

No, I didn't get a new iphone. My phone - my old beater Motorola - is amazing though. I'd forgotten it on the roof of the Jeep*, and although it held on on Glenmore Trail, Crowchild was simply too much for it & it went flying.

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I only figured it out the next day. I beat my head on the wall, blushed, confessed to the man, then headed off for a fun day of lace design.** He suggested that I drive past & take a took, because it was still ringing so he figured it was okay.

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I figured that he was nuts, but I tried anyways. Didn't see anything.

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The man was so committed to his concept that he went for a drive the next morning - and he found it! Open, face down, on the side of the road. Still working. The battery hadn't even been wiggled loose.

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Most amazing cell phone ever. It lived through the car surfing and TWO rain storms. Awesome.

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(But I still kinda want an iphone.)

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*Yes, I know. I had other things on my mind.

**More about that later.

The Vorpal Blade Went Snicker-Snack

So I've been working on a small shawl/scarf made from Curious Creek Fiber's Etosha. It was going quite well, until I started to cast off.

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Turns out, I should have stopped one series of stripes earlier. I shrugged, cast off in yellow, and figured I'd try to cadge another 6m of the purple from someone who went to the yarn tasting.

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(The fateful join.)

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Then it occurred to me that that wasn't very re-creatable for a pattern, so I decided to pick back the bound off edge, go back to the prior stripe, and cast off again. No big.

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.....except have you ever tried to frog mohair? It's fiddly. Turns out that unpicking the bound-off edge of a mohair scarf leads to madness. The above photo (& its 4" of progress) took at least half an hour.

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So I got a little crazy. And I got the scissors.

Yes, those are my sewing shears to cut off the bound off edge. I figured that I'd lose one, maybe two rows, and still have enough purple to finish the edge.

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And if it didn't work, there's a firepit in the backyard.

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Are you shocked yet?

(Not for the faint of heart, no.) (Or the sane, possibly.)
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Now, the only part of the procedure that really made me think I was an idiot was the fact that I'd JUST vacuumed.

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I know that it looks quite tidy here, and almost like a finished edge in & of itself. However. This was before the yarn salvage operation began.

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Yea, and the mohair shreds fell like rain...
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This part, although messy, was quick enough. A little more fraught with tension; I was starting to wonder if I'd have enough yarn, and if a three inch piece of yarn was long enough to save for potential spit-splicing. I was also wondering how awful spit-splicing mohair would be - hairballs, they aren't just for cats anymore?
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I decided to make the cut-off length six inches. And after I vacuumed, I bound off. Again. And this time, there was enough yarn. Thank heavens. I didn't really want to light this on fire:

(Sneak peek of Thaylor, a striped scarf/shawl that has a crocheted neck edge. I stash-dove & used a wee bit of Oban - also from Curious Creek Fibers. Thaylor's release is coming soon; provided that we all survive Stampede!)
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(Yes, I crocheted. I figured after the scissors business that it would have to go well. I was right.)

Ah, I See

Yes, the piano is actually in mid air. The man is the one working the come-along.

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And no, I don't usually make Am wear rubbber boots to play the pisgano.

It Feels Like November, No?

Well, the weather has me in a rotten mood, so I was going to blog about the epic journey of my piano... but I have No Idea Where My Camera Cable Is.

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And I don't think I'm in the right mood to look under the couch.

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So, for now, you will have to imagine my husband, my brother, a come-along, a reinforced roof rafter, and a piano that weighs 400-600lbs. The piano is an old upright; I think from '39. It has the original ivory & ebony keys, and is in pretty good shape, considering. There's a happy ending to the move, but it was kinda spectacular to see.

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Amoryn loves the piano. She calls it the "pecano" or the "pasgano"; and wants to play it all the time. Her playing is actually pretty tuneful, so once I get the piano tuned, I guess I should figure out when you can start children in piano lessons.

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I was also going to show you a couple FO's that I'm delighted with, but.... that's not happening. So. I'm going to go fix some knitting. I know it's kind of a high-risk activity if a person is already feeling testy; but I'm in the mood to rip.

Yeeeeehaw!

It's Stampede time! If you're here in Calgary, I'm quite sure that you've noticed; it's hard to miss. I've been twice already; apart from the rain, it was great. (We went once with the kids, and once with the adults for the chuckwagon races.)
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How great? Well. Here's my top ten list of great things at the Calgary Stampede this year:
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10. I love, love, love women in hijabs with cowboy hats over top. (And jeans & cowboy boots too.) I vote them the most awesome cowgirls of Stampede. Totally trumps the tarts in cut-offs & tube tops.
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9. Speaking of tube tops, the chuckwagon that was advertising for "Busted". (A lingerie store in the Calgary area. I believe they said they stock up to a 52L.)
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8. Those little donuts. Mmmmmmmm.

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7. The fact that they use not one, not two or three, but FOUR tractors to drag the race track. Awesome. (Cell phone pic, sorry it's dark.)

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6. The girls' glee. I didn't get a pic of them in the double stroller in all their glory, so here's a substitute of them in the double Costsco shopping cart. This photo is from about a month & a half ago, when they had just started riding together. I'm glad to report that there have been no unfortunate incidents!

It was horse day in the barns - heavy horse & miniature horse competitions. "Look at that horse, it is big & strong & tall." "Yup, it's a Percheron." (And ENORMOUS. Hooves same size as my head.) "And that horse is lower." "Yes, indeed." (A miniature that's about the same size as Amoryn.)

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5. A little wee carved wooden bird that an artist gave to Amoryn.

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4. The fact that A_____ talked Z____ into riding on the slingshot. And the fact that her reaction involved screaming, and a video that I've posted on Facebook.

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3. My second place ribbon for my skein of yarn! This is the first yarn that I've ever spun using a wheel (thanks for the loan AuntyTink!), it's Cheviot fiber that I dyed using a pink & orange sunset as inspiration.

(It's not quite as impressive as it sounds; there were only two entries in that class. I'd entered my yarn just because I was so pleased with it, and I suspected that it would be a small category that I don't want to see disappear.)

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2. Amoryn's custom decorated cowboy hat - we got a pink foam hat & sparkly foam stickers & she & Z___ had a blast decorating it. It alternated between being a princess hat, a farmerboy hat, and a cowboy hat. She wore it the whole time though!
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1. My third place ribbon in the knitted accessory category - there's a lot of competition in this class, so I'm delighted by it!

(Mistaken, which I've talked about here here .)
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Hm. My writing - and thought processes - feel a bit awkward today. Could be because I haven't had my daily princess coffee yet; could be because we didn't get home from Stampede until midnight & I didn't get to bed until 2 am! Either way, I'm signing off now. Yahoo!

Nature Or Nurture?

She takes after her mother.

(And her mother’s yarn.)

Ah, Lilacken

This is Lilacken, a small shawl that makes the most of your luxury handpainted or variegated yarns, and features the same stitch pattern as my larger “Mistaken Shawl”. You can chose which weight of yarn you want, whether you want to work from charts or written instructions, and once you’ve cast off, whether or not to block your shawl. When unblocked, the shawls are quite springy and ‘alive’; once blocked, they are soft and have a wonderful drape. Whichever choices you make for this shawl, the end result is something that you’ll love.

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You may have seen Lilacken already - Kristine from Curious Creek Curious Creek had a sample knit in her new colorway, Enchanted Isles. It's the blue shawl that she had on display at Make1 Yarns here in Calgary , and her colorway was inspired by a trip to the Galapagos.

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I was inspired by the pleasure my hands found in working "mistake rib", and by the desire for something small & soft to wrap around myself while I waited for nicer weather...

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I may still be waiting for the weather - hail stones the size of tennis balls, anyone? - but we can all have this delightful little shawl right now. The pattern includes line-by-line directions as well as charts, is written for laceweight to worsted yarn, and is almost infinitely adjustable to suit your yarn. It's now available for purchase, $6.00 USD through Ravelry or the link below.
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If you'd like to see more photos, please check out my project pages on Ravelry!