In which I go to Fibrations 2012

....and forget to bring my camera - FAIL!

BUT, I had a great time, hanging out with my sister-in-law and also my friend Melissa from MisoCraftyKnits. Fibrations 2012 was once again held on the St. Ann's Academy grounds in their beautiful orchard. I must say, I was really impressed with the number of booths; quite a few Bees were representing as vendors (Emma from Everything Old and Linz, who I'm not sure if she has a website, but is one of the fastest crochetters I know!). I also finally got to meet in person Rebecca from Nook, and her lovely handknit monsters (I so need to pick one of those up for Z for Christmas!), as well as Shannon from Luv in the Mommyhood fame ;). I met Jane of Jane Richmond patterns, though not for the first time as I met her a few years ago at the once annual Victoria Fiber Fest, which is now no-longer running (hence Fibrations). Oh, how I wish I had my camera with my today to snap photos of everyone's great booths! Jane had this great line hanging above her booth with all of her pattern cards attached and fluttering in the breeze, it looked great! Plus she had all of her patterns on cards kindof how you would see a paint sample deck, with the bare details (ie yarn requirements, etc) on the back... genius idea!

One of my favorite finds this year was Kattikloo Fibre Studio which my friend Melissa pointed out to me. Oh my goodness, what beautiful yarn she had on display. I was immediately drawn to this gray merino mulberry silk lace blend. It's tonal variegation was stunning going from a soft light dove gray to a darker graphite. I squished it with my hand and it felt cool to the touch. Turned out it had just been dyed last night and was still drying! You can't get much fresher than that! I bought a skein (over 800yds at $20, what a steal!), my friend Carol bought another, and when we swung by the booth only 45 minutes later the other two skeins were gone! Popular colourway indeed! Kattikloo also had stunning felted silk scarves. I would have loved to have purchased one, but I had to draw the spending line somewhere! Fiona Duthie (the artisan of Kattikloo) was very lovely. I'm so glad I got to meet her and enjoy her beautiful creations!

So, that was today. Yesterday the hubster and I (and Z) trucked it to home depot to get supplies for a little home improvement project. HD was disappointing, so we went instead to Lumberworld and were very impressed with their selection (and their customer service... plus I've been told that they're locally owned, so let's support them!). What did we buy? Well, our gutters have been failing at the corners (ah, homeownership), so we needed some caulking to fix those. We also needed another downspout as we only have one for the entire stretch of the back of the house. We also decided to buy a rain barrel to tie the new downspout into! So, with no more further ado, meet our new rain barrel!

 
Any name suggestions? And, of course, it wouldn't be a true update without a snapshot of my tomato plants. We're just starting to get some ripe ones (though hubby gobbles them up pretty quick!)

  

 

Because he loves me

I know, I know... if I've been married almost 9 years, then by now I should know for sure that my dear hubby loves me, and I do! But there's nothing like receiving a bouquet of flowers on the day of love from my hunny to help seal the deal, or at the very least make me feel special. I find myself looking at them every time I go into the kitchen, and thinking about my husband, how much I love him, and about the years we've been together so far. I love tulips; they're cost effective, and they remind me of Holland, the home of my ancestors. Plus, they come in so many beautiful colours and they signify spring.

It's been starting to feel more like spring out there. My husband asked me the other day if I thought it might still snow this winter. This is a typical topic of conversation for the people of Victoria. We don't get much snow, but we often get one or two "dumps" in a season, typically after Christmas, and usually when we least expect it (let's be honest, we rarely expect snow in Victoria). Then the whole city goes into practical lock down mode as we really don't have the infrastructure to deal with more than a couple of inches of the stuff.

But, why am I talking of snow??? It's beautifully bright and sunny out as I speak! I've managed to get out in the garden in the past few weeks, clearing away the dead and making room for all the new little shoots that are starting to pop up. On the crafting side of things, I've managed to finish this giant pink cardigan I've been knitting. I know it sounds atrocious, but it's really quite lovely, a pattern I've been meaning to knit for a number of years, and a project that I started back in June. Considering since then I've finished a school year, finished a pregnancy, and endured/enjoyed the first 6 months of my son's life, I think I've done fairly well! I'll take some pictures once I sew on the button (those who know me know that could take a while... ugh, finishing!). Since that project has been off the needles, I've been working on frogging (ripping out) a sweater I never wear to reclaim the wool.

You may recall, I held the yarn doubled for this project; that's a heck of a lot of yarn! I was hoping to hold off posting about this until I had the entire sweater frogged and the yarn re-balled.

So far, I have ripped out the entire sweater, but separating the yarn (since I had it held doubled), re-skeining, and then winding into balls has proven very labour intensive (aka huge pain in the ass). Suffice to say, I have about half of the sweater/yarn done and I already have five good sized balls! I think I should be able to get at least two sweaters out of this yarn.

For the record, I don't think it will snow again... bring on Spring!!

Actually sleeping... and other developments

It's interesting for me to come here and read my last post (which I had already completely forgotten - motherhood is good for that... completely forgetting about things as soon as they're out of your sight!). For the second night in a row, Z has slept through the night. I'm not talking about the textbook term of sleeping through the night (six hours of uninterrupted sleep), though that in itself is quite nice. No, for the past two nights, Z has had a final feeding around 10-11pm (a "dream feed") and then has not woken me until 8am the following morning.

Wow.

The first night, I still awoke like clockwork at 4am (our standard mid-night feeding time), used the bathroom, and paused outside his room, reaching with my ear to hear any sounds of hungry rousing. But, all I heard were contented little murmurings and so I went back to bed. The morning was not so comfortable, as I'm sure any moms who have breastfed can attest, but that seems more than a fair trade for an actual full night of sleep. Last night was even better; my body didn't wake me at 4am, and I wasn't nearly as uncomfortable in the morning. I'm hesitant to say that I could get used to this. Heck, I was even hesitant to post anything about this, for fear that I might upset some delicate balance in the universe that is allowing this to happen! But, I've given myself this pep-talk before, that it's nice to be overt about the positive and not just the negative. It's easy to send out stories of annoyances and trials into the public domain. Sometimes it feels necessary to solicit sympathy (and advice) just to help get yourself through the situation. But, it can be equally nice to send out reports of the positive as well... celebrate a little!

In other developments this week: we went swimming for the first time with the little guy, I bought an Ergo carrier (I no-longer feel like I'm carrying a 20lb sack of potatoes with my shoulders - thank the LORD!), and we started solids this week (quite possibly the reason for the recent sleeping-through-the-night development!). Also, I bought a skein of yarn... GASP! Without a specific project in mind... double GASP!! It's very difficult to hold out on buying local artisan yarn when the artisan actually attends your local knitting group! Here's a picture of the lovely fibre specimen from said artisan's blog,

via

Beautiful yarn, no? I bought one skein and it's even more gorgeous in person! There's only one more set of props (and a linky-link) that I'd like to give. I bought my Ergo through Funky Tricycle which is a great local online business that posts one "groovy deal a week, for moms, dads, and kiddies." Including the Ergo, I have bought two items from them now, the other being a great Ju-Ju-Be convertible backpack diaper bag. Their prices are typically 40-60% off retail, and because they're local to Victoria there's no shipping if you are okay with picking it up! The business is run by two sisters. I've gotten to meet both these lovely ladies and they are super nice.

This article was originally posted on http://ayeartoexpand.blogspot.com/ Any reproduction on any other site is prohibited and a violation of copyright laws.

Stash

I am a knitter.

For those of you who knit, this is all the explaining I need to do. For those who don't knit, there is a whole culture associated with knitting that you may or may not be familiar with. Cue the secret knitting terms (really, they're not that secret):

UFO - unfinished object
FO - finished object
Frogged - object that has been ripped out (rip-it, rip-it... get it?)

and, my all time favorite?

Stash is how knitters lovingly refer to their collection of yarn. I believe it's used commonly in other crafts as well (ie stash of fabric). Dictionary.com defines the word stash (noun) as
- something put away or hidden: a stash of gold coins buried in the garden.
- a place in which something is stored secretly; hiding place; cache.
- (slang) a supply of hidden drugs.

Sound familiar my knitterly friends out there? Secret, hidden, drugs? Heheheh... seems to describe STASH to a T! Sweet Georgia, MadTosh, Sweatermaker, Indigo Moon, pretty much any hand-dyed indie yarn I could die for! Cascade, Berroco, Drops, commercial yarns that I looooove to use! I always say to myself, "yarn never goes bad," especially if you keep it in ziplock bags like I do (a residual habit from when we moved). But sooner or later, as the STASH builds up and inevitably outgrows your storage, one starts to wonder if maybe things have gotten a little out of hand.

Like many of my knitting friends, I have accumulated quite the stash, and it's always tempting to buy more, especially when you have visions of new projects dancing in your head and your LYS is having a sale. But, with all the wonderful yarn in my STASH, buying more can leave you feeling a little guilty and I've come to wonder if I might be better off simply buying yarn ONLY when I need it (and by "need" I mean actually need... like I'm about to start a project right then and there, because let's be honest here, "need" can be a slightly subjective term).

So, here is the challenge I am giving myself, call it a resolution if you will. My aim this year is knit primarily from my STASH, and to not buy ANY yarn (I cannot believe I'm saying this) unless it is absolutely necessary for a project that I'm going to start right then and there. I have some really GREAT yarn in my STASH that keeps being put aside for the newest flame. To help me out, I have given myself the goal of pairing the great yarn I have with the equally wonderful patterns I've been hoarding. And, because I think goals should be measurable (I think this one is), and should have a time frame, I am giving myself until the end of January to pair these fibres with their pattern destinies!

This article was originally posted on http://ayeartoexpand.blogspot.com/ Any reproduction on any other site is prohibited and a violation of copyright laws.

Knotty By Nature

Today, I checked out the grand opening of one of my favorite LYS (local yarn stores) in their new location. They used to be on Government between Herald and Chatham St, but are now located in Fairfield (1704 Lillian Rd) just past the Ross Bay cemetery.


Knotty By Nature was conceived by Stephanie and Ryan a few years ago. I remember meeting Stephanie for the first time through a mutual friend. You can tell that they truely love fibre and fibre arts and are excited about sharing that love with the community around them.


I was so excited about checking out their new location. The moment I walked through the door I was enveloped with the warm smell of cedar used in shelving and accents throughout the store. The store is divided into two rooms, the front for consignment sales and classroom space, the back for the traditional yarn store fare: yarn, fibre for spinning and dyeing, notions, and books.

One of the things I love about fibre arts is the tactile experience involved, and KBN does not disappoint! Check out those cool shelves made out of coloured yarn! I always love going to KBN to see interesting ways they present their fibre and all the locally handmade goods.


I'm sure they'll be an awesome addition to the neighbourhood. If you're ever in the area, I encourage you to stop by, even just to see the shop and experience the warmth of the store!


Congrats Stephanie and Ryan!

This article was originally posted on http://ayeartoexpand.blogspot.com/ Any reproduction on any other site is prohibited and a violation of copyright laws.