This yarn is for my secret pal. It is a mohair and BFL blend. The roving was from my LYS and both were dyed by Fleece Artist. Absolutely gorgeous stuff. I did a loose ply to make sure it stayed lovely, soft and pliable.







So I, um, kinda gave up on my Falling Leaves sock. I have many unfinished socks. It was too big. Honest! Took it too my new crafting/drinking neighbour's house the other night and she agreed with me (it wasn't just in my head). I am going to start anew with the same yarn, use 60 stitches (on 2.25mm needles) instead of 72 stitches, and keep the pattern simple.



And so blogger folks, a little shameless plugging (or pleading, could go either way). My hand spun yarns on Etsy are at a stall. The link is on the right if you want to check them out, OR click on the image to take you right to that yarn. I am shortly going to head over there and update it with FREE SHIPPING. In the mean time, have a peek at what is left. I don't have very many up right now, partly because sales have stalled. I am trying to jump start things here though so head on over, tell your friends, take pity on me etc. Thanks for looking!
Pink and brown targhee












Reds and oranges mohair







Greens merino












Purple mohair and silk












Heading out of town for a conference in Smithers as of tomorrow. I am giving a talk on the tool I have been working on for my postdoc. This tool is a model which allows managers to assess different harvest (or no harvest) methods post mountain pine beetle, given certain values. It is flexible in that the "value" being modelled can be pretty much anything: economic value (such as greatest monetary return over time), social value (such as maintenance of sacred places), or ecological (such as good quality wildlife habitat). This postdoc is almost over, so it is a nice wrap up. I officially end this postdoc at the end of February, but expect to be wrapping up until March 31. Some of the postdoc was spent preparing for my defense after all, so I owe the university some of my time and attention :)

Just made gyoza for lunch, they were pretty yummy. The intention was to make them last night, but uh well, the wine came out and I started knitting and the honey was doing stuff on the computer and suddenly no one felt like cooking. So we had soup. Back to the gyoza- pretty easy to make. I stir fried a bunch of veggies with garlic and ginger first. I had bought won ton wrappers from the grocery store and placed a little veggie mixture in each, folded it into a triangle, and sealed it shut with a little water and pinching. I then fried them briefly, then finished them off with a good steaming. Yummy! I am taking some to my friend and colleague who has been out with heart problems and now a cold. He has been immobile and so I thought he might enjoy these.

Apparently this kiddo wears the skull hat I knit him for his birthday in September every single day! Yeah successful toque! Last hat I knit for him as a babe stretched out with him and he wore it for 5 years until I finally knit this as a replacement. Picture is taken with his new digital kids camera when he was out with his mom being the junior biologist on a bird study in Nanaimo.

Spin to Knit Secret Pal Supplies a Vacation

I was sitting at the computer supposedly working but really checking out the vacation deals to somewhere warm when the postman drove up and delivered a huge package full of lovely handspun wool straight from Australia. WOW!!! Look at this beautiful yarn! Warm colours that made me kind of feel like I was experiencing a vacation (ok in my head).



The peach and blue is BFL, and the green and pink is angora.


My goodness do I love love love the angora. My secret pal Cath said she had a time parting with it and I don't blame her. This is definitely on reserve for me, thinking maybe combine it with some natural colours for a shawl? I'll keep dreaming. Cath spun and dyed it all. I am thinking the angora came from her own bunnies? But am not sure (Cath if you read this let me know).


Also included were some very nice stitch markers, and a mug. Mug has a scene showing sheep being sheared! How perfect.

Cath's blog can be found here. Thanks again secret pal, you are the best!

My brother (the non-coffee drinker and photographer) and his sense of humour.

Went to hear Serena Ryder last night at the Duncan Garage (check our her music on myspace here). Wow what a friggin voice that woman has! I love her cover of Good Morning Starshine, but ALL her songs are fabulous. She opens her mouth and fills the room with amazing sound! She has a great range and such control over every note. Even though her band is new they all looked in sync and like they were having a grand time.

The Duncan Garage is this eclectic place run by Long John (he introduced himself once we said we were newbies), located on the top of a heritage building in 'downtown' Duncan. There is no alcohol (ok, so we all commented that we did wish there was beer at least), but coffee, tea and homemade goodies. It doesn't hold too many people which makes it cozy.

And off to a play in Chemainus tomorrow night. It is so much fun getting into the local scene, I really feel a part of this great community.