Road Trip

Not to worry, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Actually I just took a quick jaunt to NB. Once there I remembered why I had liked living there. And some of the reasons that I didn't. It took a short time to recall the lay of the land and get accustomed to the noise and traffic of Saint John. And the smell. Can't forget the smell. In NB highways are in good repair. There are wide open spaces. Lots of places to see. It's familiar. Grand Bay-Westfield where we used to live is a beautiful area. Pumpkin Patch is better stocked than Avery's any day!

We visited the Atlantic Salmon Museum (outskirts of St Andrews By The Sea) again, and walked the trails. If you happen to ever visit, don't forget your wallet; they have a very nice gift shop!

(Ignore the date on the bottom of these photos. I didn't reset it when I put new batteries in.)

That's Natasha (my step-daughter) and her son, Dawson (my step-grandson!). Have I mentioned that I'm too young to be a grandmother, step or otherwise? Although my husband has been commenting on the amount of gray hair on my head, and may have mentioned something about hair colour. Something about the gray making me look old. Good thing I love him.

On the way home, I took a bit of a detour to check out the sights of NS. Here we stopped in Pugwash, home of the Windsor salt mine.

Incidentally, don't waste your time with the tourist bureau there. Waste of time. The girl was hopelessly clueless. Grrrr.

From there, we drove to Jost, stopping only long enough to snap a few pictures of sheepies.

They have some great photos on their site. Just click on the photos icon on the right.

Photo-Free

What a concept. No photos for you today. Ha.

The mystery shrug is kicking my rear end. I've lost track of the number of times I ripped back the first lace stitch sleeve. At least I didn't have to re-knit the cabled cuff each time. Good grief. At the last attempt, I made a command decision to pick up extra stitches so I don't have to hurt my brain while attempting to keep track of increases while knitting lace. So I cheated a bit. Big flippin' deal. Get over it. I do what I have to do to keep my sanity. I don't need a tapered sleeve. Seeing how this is a mystery shrug, I have hope that all will work out in the end.

The end.

P.S. Pandora remains MIA. So sad.

Sentimental

Yesterday, with the pouring rain and the still-missing cat, had me feeling blue and moderately out of sorts. Not depressed; I have happy pills for that. Just this feeling I still can't shake.



I miss Pandora, the furry little mouthpiece. Here she is with Sam, at one and a half months old.

This was in one of those forwarded emails I received recently. Puts me in mind to do something like it the next time I receive shoddy service.

There is little that I tolerate with less grace than bad or no service. I've worked in the service industry for years, and learned that rarely is it the product that brings people back as a repeat customer (unless there is no other supplier). Good service wins every time. Quality of service is one thing that can make or break a mom 'n' pop shop. So with all the competition for the all-mighty dollar, why are big box stores not making quality service part of their repertoire??

Picture it: yesterday, 'Z' store. Miserable day. Not a lot of shoppers out and about. I walked up to a checkout with several items. One item rings up over-priced. I point it out. The cashier says that that's what comes up. I suggest she verify. She stands there and points to the screen. "Can you get someone to check?", I ask. She finally calls and we stand there waiting, while long minutes pass by. I am getting irritated. No one responds to the call. She looks at me, with a look that clearly says to accept the price. She finally decides to do the price check herself, not securing her till (there wasn't anyone else waiting in line or another cashier around). Wow. Time passes. More time passes. She returns with a couple labels, none of which match my product. I consider saying all sorts of horrible things but choose instead to leave the items there and walk out of the store fuming. Grrrrr....

So Sad

Harvest. Who knew that freshly picked lettuce and cucumbers still warm from the sun, could taste so delicious? I've been supplementing my garden's harvest with weekly produce from the local farm market, only a 10 minutes' walk from home. I love summer in this valley. I am so sad.

Have you seen this cat?? She's been MIA for three and a half days now. She answers to Pandora. We suspect foul play. She wears a red collar with little silver fish and a purple flea collar. She's eleven months old and quite small.

Clue #1 done. Those are cuffs.

Dorothy asked what I am knitting, but all I can say is that it's a mystery. Yes, the joiner in me signed up for another mystery KAL, (hosted by the lovely ladies of Sweet Paprika group on Ravelry,) this time a shrug. The last one was a shawl. It's still sitting in a bag with the clues and vials of beads, in infantile stages. I am hoping this mystery will be revealed before it joins the shawl.

Last night I even did the math for clue #2. Am I on the ball or what!?

In the mean time I've completed another pair of ankle socks for myself and started on a pair in the same colour for Brianna. She was quite offended that I dared knit yet another pair for me before getting her socks done and delivered. She'll get over it.

I've discovered a taste for BBC Videos. The knitting has been moving at a rather swift pace while I've been enjoying Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers. Quite good. I adore the costumes. Beautiful.

Revealing a Mystery

Actual swatching. Shocking, I know. The first one was done on 3.75mm needles, the top one on 3.25mm needles. Technically my gauge isn't spot on but close enough as far as I'm concerned. Then there is the fact that this is cotton, so although I didn't wash and dry my swatches, I expect a certain amount of growth in width, some shrinkage in length. I will make adjustments as required.

Start of clue 1. I adore this colour. This cotton is sooo soft, and so shiny, and so beautiful. From Brazil. Let us not discuss the length of time it has languished in my stash.
That's progress as of bedtime last night. Haven't touched it today except to admire it. Still liking it. NCIS is good to knit by. Mark Harmon is inspiring. (Hunny, just pretend you didn't read that last bit.)

I'm totally into making those cute little stitch markers. So much fun. I wasn't able to take a decent picture tonight. I'll try again tomorrow.

New

I have a new toy to play with: beads, lots of them, and wire, and snazzy pliers with pink handles. Did I mention the beads?? Lots and lots of pretty and shiny and sparkly beads. I've been making stitch markers. Oh, what fun!

Autumn?

It sure has cooled off here the past couple days. Enough to make me wonder if my garden will be able to produce any tomatoes with this decline of warmth and sunshine.

But at least it's perfect knitting weather.

Knit on.

Sock Love

I am nuts for Nutkin Socks. Oooh lala. Beautiful and free. Go see.
The Nine-To-Five are nice too.

Did you all know that there is another Knitting Magazine coming online, starting Aug 4th?? No, not Twist Collective. Another one!

More socks

Dorothy, you're not the only one taunting me with socks. Check these out. Beautiful, eh? I want some! I adore that colour! Oh, I'm feeling faint...

I am knitting on the Show Off Stranded Socks. I am making mine four stitches smaller than what the pattern calls for because I didn't want to rip out the cuff and start from the very beginning. I've discovered that this stitch pattern does a pretty decent job of disguising the ladder problem area. So far so good.

Busy

Halls Harbour, NS.

Dorothy, I suppose I deserve all that teasing. I finally buckled under the pressure and cast on a sock.

That's how far I got before ripping back to the cuff again. See that ladder? So not cool. This yarn contains 7% elastic which makes it lovely and stretchy, which I totally adore, but which also makes it a bit of a pain to knit. Any hints on knitting with this yarn without over-stretching??

Hubby loves me. He bottled my wine today. Talk about an all day evolution. I think this batch is called Neirsteiner, from Germany. At the wine store it's sold in pretty blue bottles. Yummy. My hubby correctly stated that there is a lot of knitting in those bottles. *as I walk away laughing gleefully*