My three sets of fingerless mitts:
The blue set is for a good friend, the pink are for me, and the gray/pink on the left are for my sister-in-law-to-be.
And here are pics of the easy yummy yummy chocolates Mr W and I made. Pictured here is white chocolate, pistachios, and cranberry bark, and milk/white chocolate almond bark. The dark chocolate, almond and cranberry bark didn't make a very good picture, being all brown :)
We have the Christmas tunes going around here. And the weather is cooperating, it uncharacteristically feels like Christmas with all the snow and chilly weather we have had in the last week. It is quite lovely, I don't mind a little bit of snow once in awhile. This picture was taken with our cell phone which has a 2MB camera yesterday evening as we walked the dogs and enjoyed the sunset out in Cowichan Bay.
We are making several gifts this year. I have been madly knitting fingerless mittens for a few people, including my brothers fiancee (they just got engaged last week, yay!). I had knit one lovely one for her only to find out she is allergic to wool, so lucky me, I will keep it for myself and hope to knit up its partner soon. Each mitt takes about 2 nights to make, not bad, I like instant gratification.
Mr W and I also started making chocolate for his sisters and brother. We bought some fancy pants Bernard Callebaut chocolate from our fancy pants grocery store, melted it poured it over: pistachios and cranberries for the white chocolate, and almonds and cranberries for the dark. It is hard not to nibble, I finally had to put it away so we didn't keep indulging. We need to buy more of the bulk bricks because it didn't go as far as we thought (regardless of our eating the results!), but each brick is almost $10. Told you, it is fancy chocolate. But yummy!! And hopefully all will appreciate the gifts.
We have had 2 days of rain here on the island. In the interior of BC they have had record breaking warm temperatures, which they were long overdue, since last week the temperatures were mid-winter like. From winter to summer within a week! Above is a picture of spring flowers out a few weeks ago. The willows and currants and other shrubs are the first to bloom in the spring and put on quite a show. Right now the Easter lilies are out soon to be followed by purple camas fields- I will post a picture when that happens!
Anyway, because of the rain, the garden the Honey and I had hoped to have dug this weekend is only half complete (we had high hopes it would be all dug with new soil this weekend).
Instead I have been inside dyeing and spinning my new fibre from Saltspring bought last
weekend, and catching up on dyeing some of Grandma's skeins. It is fun to experiment with the different fibre. The lincoln takes a very bright dye, while the new wool/alpaca blend dyes to a slightly more muted colour. I really like the ease of one pot hot pour dyeing so mostly have been doing that. The exception is the blue skein in the picture. This is for Best Bud's birthday, and I was using contrasting colours so I dyed the blue and brown seperately (not at the same time).
The yellow and reds really are bright and are the colour of tulips out right now! I felt like some spring colours and boy did I get it! I am currently spinning the lighter brown alpaca (on the wheek) to ply with a skein of wool for Mom. Originally I had given her a single ply skein, but she would like a thicker yarn to knit up a hat.
My next spinning will be a blend of this beautiful orange colour
with the alpaca to make a heathery orange/copper lightweight yarn for myself. I want to modify this pattern from knitty to create a lightweight wrap sweater for summer. I know I have had my eye on this for awhile!
As for the socks, YES I have finished the first! I have even started the second, but I have been very distracted by all the wonderful roving in the house so have been spinning in the evenings rather than knitting :)
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.
Four years ago I started knitting a sweater for a friend of mine. She and I travelled across Canada one summer when she moved back from Ontario to Victoria. We had a good time, were silly, drank lots of wine, camped and saw some amazing country. And agreed that I would knit a sweater for her and she would make me a dress. She bought the wool, I bought the material. Well. I decided for some silly reason to make up a pattern as I went a long. A year and a half the sweater was finished (while the dress was done in 4 months) and it was horrible. Awful. Big, ugly, bulky. I bought her a sweater and we called it even.
I didn't pick up knitting needles for at least a year after that!
But I found the awful sweater the other day and thought I should felt it up. Here it is. I threw it in the washing machine and washed it about 4 times on the hot and cold cycle. And then today I was inspired to turn Ugly Sweater into Funky Tea Cozy. Not bad eh? It is now a gift for that friend, and I can't wait to give it to her.
Here are the crocus in the lawn. 
And some views from Maple Mountain taken in the sun yesterday. This is the beautiful place I live! I am so lucky! The Honey and I went up for a hike on the mountain with the dogs and were searching for the perfect picture for the logo of our new forestry company. We got a great shot too.
Check it out! She got my yarn!
http://zarzuelaknitsandcrochets.com/blog/?p=184
I have no idea about secret pal etiquette- am I allowed to share who she is? I am just very excited since I have never participated in a secret pal swap before.
For guidance on hot pour dyeing see where I got the idea from at Yo Mama Knits:
http://www.yomamaknits.com/?p=105
Glorious sun is out! After dismal days in November and December (dismal even by coastal standards) we are back into a more typical pattern of rainy days interspersed by warmer sunny days.
Crocus are coming up in the garden. And to my surprise, since this is a new house for us, also in the front and back yard! How terrific! I have always wanted a spring lawn full of flowers. In fact, the front is still gravel from the house being built so it is amazing these hardy little bulbs are poking through everywhere. I promise pictures when they bloom.
On the knitting front, still working on my falling leaves sock. I plan to dye up a new batch this weekend for secret pal skein # 2 so I promise more pictures of fibre.
The Lincoln fibre is spinning up lovely. I am having a great time with it- trying to spin something lighter for my secret pal so she isn't stuck with 1 skein of unusable bulky weight. Nothing wrong with bulky weight, I just thought a lighter yarn might allow more flexibility in whatever she intends to use the yarn for.
The colours are very pretty and much more vibrant than my camera portrays. I am using my Honey's Olympus C-770. It has been a great camera for landscapes but is proving more difficult for taking pictures of my fibre. In particular it does not capture the blues and purple colours well at all. It makes them all a bright, nondescript electric blue, very unlike the colours I dye. I had a bit of a break through last week though and upped the redness in the picture, which brought out more of the true colours, but it is still frustrating.
My other current project are the falling leaves socks in Lorna's Laces sock yarn. Oh. my.
goodness. Why did no one shake me and insist that I try REAL sock yarn? It is LOVELY! My previous socks have been using dk weight yarn, and there is no comparison (I am reformed! I AM!). This yarn was purchased as my post-defense treat, and I am having a great time knitting up "real" socks with "real" sock yarn.
But here's the problem, the cash flow is, well for the most part, nonexistent these days. Despite the enormous amount of work I have on my plate, as a consultant I have to wait for invoices to be paid, and in the mean time scrimp to get buy. I can't be spending $20 a pop on socks when I really need new underwear. Can I? Can I maybe knit underwear? Would that be as cool as socks? I would likely want to show them off all the time, which might label me as a tramp. Damn social niceties anyway!
Ok and the other thing I wanted to say about these socks is that this is my first time knitting on double pointed needles. I am thinking now I really am more of a circular needle kind of girl. These points just get in my way, and mostly I am glad I wear glasses so I don't have to worry about poking my eye out. Cause it could happen! The Honey and I were driving to Victoria (and I was knitting to relieve my stress at having to go to a meeting) when I had 2 incidents with the needles. The first one was just me worrying that if I were in an accident head on I might die from injuries caused by knitting needles penetrating my body. I don't worry about that with circulars! So I put away the sock and in doing so dropped one of my needles beside the seat. Because I am obsessive I had to retrieve the needle at the next stop light by opening the door so I could run my hand under the seat. As I opened the door the needle went clang onto the highway (I guess it fell right near the door), I whipped off my seatbelt, jumped out of the car, and scrambled around on the ground, finally pinching the darn thing between my nonexistent fingernails. All the while the Honey is yelling "What are you doing" and I am wondering what happens when the light turns green - do I abandon the needle- but then I couldn't knit after the meeting if I wanted to- but all was ok, needle was safe, I was back in the car and THEN the light turned green.
I have been looking for another project and I think that since spring is coming (I know it is January but on the island here, daffodils start poking up in a month) I may knit this crop sweater. I am considering knitting it up for Best Bud since she: 1) Hates February and this would be a nice treat, 2) is going to Mexico in 6 weeks and could sport this over a bathing suit, and 3) has a birthday (like me, actually only 4 days later) in April, so this could count as an early b-day present (if you think me cheap, please refer to the rant about money and underwear above). Although these are pretty fabulous too, and may have to be a fourth project/adventure.
I love how this whole fibre thing is actually adventure, and wow does it ever keep me sane (really it does)!
urvived the holidays with a minor amount of drinking (a new craft friend said she is a Christmas alcoholic which describes things well- don't worry Mom I am laying off the sauce for awhile). One minor mishap cooking our first ever extended family dinner. I forgot (yes forgot) to cook the vegetarian dish, and half the guests were vegetarian. I remembered just as we were about to dish up! I had made perogies by hand for the veggies, so I can't believe I forgot to get them cooking! Fortunately they are easy to cook and were ready in no time. Here we are sitting down for a lovely meal. Everyone fit in the dining room, but barely! It was a hoot.
After Christmas we headed up to Ucluelet on the wet westcoast of the island to my cousin's wedding. She said "I do" amongst the roar of crashing waves on a beautiful gorgeous brilliant sunny afternoon. Her new husband sang her a love song on his ukuelele (sp?) and we had a roaring good party afterwards.
hugging Grandma, so I will post it here. This is the couple I knit wedding socks for. I figured that the key to a good marriage is toasty feet while cuddling: on the top of a mountain (they climb), after surfing the waves in Ucluelet, apres-ski in the back country somewhere, and just in general while starting new loves in rainy Seattle. But no pictures! Sad!It still hasn't sunk in that I am a PhD.
Interesting thing to note though. Prior to obtaining those letters I "had" degrees. As in I "have" an MSc. Suddenly though, and entirely without thinking about it, I became my degree. I AM a PhD. [shudder]. People say that all the time, and it wasn't until now I thought about it. I think I prefer (and therefore should watch my language) I HAVE a PhD in Forestry!
Post defense activities: knitting (yay!), hiking, starting a good book, cleaning the house from pre-defense clutter, and yes, working (bills have to be paid).
On the knitting front I am have a great time knitting my first lace scarf. It is addicting. I can't wait until the evening when I can sit and concentrate on each little lovely lacy row. The yarn is wonderful too, it is kid mohair with a glitter thread throughout from Rowan. Here is a picture:
Also, here is a photo of completed celtic vest. 
You will notice the snazzy ties on the side. I didn't have the brooch the pattern calls for, and was wanting to wear it at the craft fair so I knitted up some ties and sewed them on. I actually think it looks stylin' :) General malaise and the need to bounce back post-defense prevented me from offering you a picture of the vest with me in. Maybe next time.
Quick note, because I need to take pictures of knitting (celtic vest complete and new project) before posting more. BUT:
I successfully defended my dissertation on Tuesday. I am a PhD!!!
I have minor revisions to do, but it is otherwise finished.
After almost 4 years of constant worry there is only a huge sense of relief.
To celebrate on Wednesday I knit and knit and knit. New project is a scarf for Grandma called Angel Pearls designed by Sivia Harding in Vancouver. Grandma fingered the sample in Urban Yarns when we visited post-defense (isn't life good?) but hummed and haahed, so I scrambled off with it when her back was turned. In the end she choose Celtic Vest as well, so she, Mom and I will certainly be matching. It is turning into our own little knit along!
Here is a picture of our lovely table at the craft fair last week. Sadly, I have to report that we were disappointed overall with sales. Very disappointed. But I will not dwell.
Starting on the left, Susan made lovely cloth bags and gorgeous cards with felt angels. I think the bags would make excellent knitting bags. They are light, and have pockets for needles.
Clare makes crocheted hats, along with her sister Esther (who wasn't there). She also makes the coolest bags out of 100% recycled materials. They come from signs, awnings, scrap vinyl, anything she can find. Clare also makes photo cards and photo magnets.
Here is my wool. Looks lovely doesn't it? Not one customer bought any :( However, it caught the
eye of several other vendors, so I did have some sales in the end as well as fabulous trades (coffee, and soap).
So the good part of this adventure was bonding with Clare and Susan, who I really just have met. We had some fun crafting and waiting for customers to come by. The other great part was meeting some other wonderful crafty people here in Duncan. Turned out the Honey (when he stopped by) knew the woman who locally roasts coffee- her company is called Peaks Coffee. She also did a BSc in Forestry at UNBC. Small small world. Then we met some great women fibre artists- Kelly Burgess and her friend Caroline. Kelly makes very lovely and interesting quilts and Caroline had made the sweetest tea cozies I have ever seen.
These women are all keen on craft night, along with the fourth new acquaintance, Katie, who works at the local radio station here. She doesn't craft, but bakes so craft night at her house means she will be baking up a storm.
I am pleased meeting all these great women. Duncan really is starting to feel like a community to me!
On a final note (and probably very important) in 2 days on Nov. 21 at 9 am I will be defending my PhD dissertation. The day has finally arrived. I am scared, nervous etc., but I think that is normal. Let's hope when I next post I can call myself Dr. and it all will have been worth the pain :)
I finished my first socks ever! And survived! And will wear them! They are warm and thick and were perfect in the snows of Kamloops. It is so warm back here in Duncan that they are a bit too warm, but are great winter socks.
I had to post this picture of our pumpkins on Halloween. We almost ran out of candy because of them. We live down behind other houses off the road and were worried no kiddies would venture this far. Solution was to carve up 5 pumpkins and yes! we had lots of ghouls knocking on our door.
Thought I would update with a view of the vibrant colours which spawned from the dye pot this week. The Honey said the blue and green was his most favourite so far. The orange and browns were inspired by J. from craft night.
Let's see... All the roving is merino. The dyes Jacquard dyes, new to me. I am not as happy with these as the Maiwa dyesbut maybe I just need to make a stronger solution? It seems fine now, but they were more smelly, and I think more expensive too. Starting with the far left we have a small merino skein I dyed up from some leftovers. Beside it is a silk skein. The silk is definitely not as vibrant in colour as the merino, but pretty. I think I will ply it with the red merino ball top right. The first blue/green is merino (from Grandma), beside two skeins of lincoln (also spun by Grandma) in orange and then blue green. I love spinning lincoln! It has a much longer staple length than merino and once I got the hang of spinning it I loved the sheen. It has to be spun worsted because of the staple length, and produces a nice soft smooth yarn. My lincoln skein is still undyed and thus not pictured. Grandma prefers to spin merino though, it is all a matter of preference. Top right is a small ball of taupe alpaca. Lovely, but no idea what it will get plied with yet.
I will be spinning the blue/green roving tonight and then taking this project with me on another Kamloops trip: sox on two stix from knitty.com. I am knitting in the same handdyed purple yarn I used for my celtic vest (which is awaiting finishing and blocking). I followed the pattern but didn't check my gauge so I tore out the first sock this morning to redo on same needle size with 16 rather than 20 stitches. We'll see!
