Off the Clock

I remember a vacation we took to the east coast many years ago when the kids were about 1 and 3. We drove through the states and went through New York State and Maine before heading back to Canada in New Brunswick. One of the highlights of this camping trip was to buy a fresh lobster in New Brunswick and cook it for myself; the very first time. After listening to the advice of the well seasoned lobster-meister I put about an inch of water on to boil to steam this bad boy. Well, I dropped him (or it could have been a her I suppose) into the pot where he immediately tried to climb out. Can't say as I blame him. Feeling just a little sick I pushed him back in and held the lid on until the required amount of time went by. I didn't enjoy this feast nearly as much as I thought I would. In fact I don't think I've eaten a whole lobster since. Giddy with the success of the rolled brim hat I started a matching scarf, but I wondered if there was enough yarn left for a pair...

That's it! The Christmas knitting is officially DONE! Of course I haven't done any wrapping yet, or even finished the shopping for that matter. But now I get to knit for me; woohoo! ;) So I whipped up this hat. I needed a hat because a) I live in Canada where owning a hat is mandatory by law and b) because it's been really cold out this last week. I guess it's not that I didn't have a hat already, it's just that the hats I own aren't very flattering, to the point I'd rather freeze my ears off. Then comes the rolled brim hat. I've never had a rolled brim hat before. Never even tried one on. But can I say that I love this style of hat? I find the rolled brim very flattering compared to the "usual" hats I get with ribbing that just looks wierd on me. All hail the rolled brim! Of course DD says it's ugly and made fun of me, to which I had a not-very-nice reply that I won't post here. What do 17yo's know, anyhow! Now I...

A comment on yesterday's post by April has inspired me to post on "where I'm at". Where Windsor is in relation to our north american geography is sometimes a little surprising, even to me! On the map I'm at the little circle the arrow is pointing to (at the bottom of Michigan). So what this means: I'm at the same latitude as northern California or Des Moines Iowa. I'm south of at least 16 U.S. states. I'm probably 750 miles south of London England (where I was born). I'm literally a stone's throw from Detroit (which has some great restaurants!). Mmmm. Like Greektown. Or Mexican Village. Ok, school's out. Now I have to head over there for supper tonight. In knitty news, I was up until 3:00am working on one of my Christmas projects, I finished up another one this morning and by George (and who's George now?!) I'm pretty much ALL DONE my Christmas knitting! Now I do have someone I thought about knitting something for but didn...

Can you believe this? It's not even Christmas yet. This isn't North Bay, it's Windsor for Pete's sake. (and just who the heck is Pete, anyway?) We're supposed to be the sunbelt of Canada. You know, "down south". Just look at all that snow. And this is the winter that I said I'm not putting the sleds (that's snowmobiles for all you non-snowmobilers) on the trail. But do you notice the nice clean edges on that snow? That would be because of my new toy, the snowblower. About time I broke down and bought me one of those babies. So while I've been working on the Christmas knitting I was thinking that I'm going to get stoned (as in hit with stones, not smoking pot; sheesh!) when people see what little knitting there actually is. All this talking about knitting you'd think I'd have a whole wardrobe knit up here, and I'm going to be a little embarrassed when you all say "what, that's it?!" when the post Xmas pi...

Well, maybe not on the shopping. Or much with the decorating. But I've been sampling the Xmas rum (just to check for quality, I swear!), and the knitting is coming along nicely! I haven't been posting much lately, mainly because (a) my lovely offspring have been very busy reminding me of why some animals eat their young (to the point that it warrants bold emphasis on the very), and (b) because all the current knitting is for Xmas and I don't want to ruin any surprises. I did make it to Prattes (one of my LYS's) yesterday. I bought some 2.25mm round needles now that I've discovered I much prefer magic loop to dpn's (if for no other reason than they're much more transportable in my purse without feeling like I'm trying to pick up a porcupine every time I reach into my bag) and while I was there I picked up a couple of balls of St. Ives sock yarn. (Boston begged me to let him model it; really!) It's a really pretty brown with blue tinges, perf...

I was up in Toronto last week for CAW Council, and decided to visit one of the country's largest yarn shops; Romni Wools . I did my homework online before leaving Windsor and apparently it's only 5 short blocks from the hotel! Well, at least I thought it was only 5 short blocks. Apparently just because the street address is only 500 higher than the hotel doesn't make it a "short walk"; it was a brisk 10-15 minutes - brisk because I was trying to get there before they closed. Then as I walk up to the door to enter "Nirvana" I notice a little hand written sign on the door; "Closed for inventory - Dec 1". Aaarrrggghhh! SO went in to see if they would let me in anyway, and I'm not too sure exactly what they said in return, but he was not a happy camper when he came out again. (I wisely stood outside out of the way to peer in the windows!) We did get a fabulous dinner of raw oysters and arctic char at Rodney's (or is it Big Daddy'...