Old enough to know better ??!! ..... apparently not :(

well, there's a reason why I'm posting on Tuesday for events that happened over the weekend .... I felt like bloody crap (and it was all my own fault).

I've joined a website called MeetUp ... it's a great place to find people with similar interests and get together. there was one group that caught my eye, but I've never been available on the days that they planned their outtings ..... that is until this past Saturday. Friday night, I just happened to get onto the MeetUp website and noticed that the Mississauga/Oakville Bicycling, Walking & Actvity Group was meeting on Saturday morning to cycle along the waterfront trail. the description read as follows "We'll pedal along the waterfront trail eastward for about 10 K. 20 K round trip about 2 hours". this sounds perfect, says I to myself, so I RSVP'd "yes" and just prayed that I'd be able to get my backside out out of bed Saturday morning to see if my bike was rideable, I could find my/a helmet and I could figure out how to attach the bike carrier to the truck.

OH MY GOSH ... Saturday was a beautiful day, and to make a long story short, let's just say that I was able to put everything together and figure out how to carry a water bottle along during the ride. everyone was great, what a friendly group of people. we all started chatting right away, and the pace was just fine (especially for someone like me, old, over weight, out of shape, and haven't been on a bike in a few years). when we reached our "goal" turn-around point, we looked across a bay and could see the CN Tower (thru the smog) and the Toronto skyline. it looked so close and we estimated it would probably take 30-minutes or so (famous last words) to get there ... so a group vote and off we went, further east towards Toronto. after all, my only plan for the day was to go home and get yard work done, so what did I care.

well ..... it was a BEAUTIFUL day, spent biking along the shores of Lake Ontario, with a very nice group of people ...... and 35km & 3.5 hours later we returned back at our cars. to be honest, although I felt a wee bit tender (some spots more tender than others) I felt great. my 1 water bottle didnt last very long, but I had remembered my asthma meds which I took before leaving so I thought I had survived rather well (mind you I was expecting to feel the physical symptoms as the day wore on). my biggest bother, as time wore on though, was my head, it started to pound and I wanted to sleep. after trip to Home Depot to get some needed grass seed & bags of soil, I dropped my bike off at the local shop for a tune-up and accessories for my next outting. by this point my head was worse, but I assumed it was just hunger, so a quick run thru the Taco Bell drive-thru and I headed home.

the rest of the day was a right-off, and I couldnt figure out why, other than I felt like crap, and my head was pounding, and I felt like I was burning up. about supper time, I happened to look in a mirror .... OH MY GOSH .... my face was BRIGHT RED and swollen. no wonder I felt like I was burning up !!! the tops of my hands were in a similar condition ..... I had done so well, under the circumstances, remembering my water & asthma meds ...... what I didnt remember was sun block cream !!! now, in my defence, we were only supposed to be out for a nice little 2-hour bike ... and on top of the breeze (very cool at times) and the smog alert that morning (the first for 2008, WOO HOO) we really didnt notice the sun.

well, I felt "hung over" all Sunday, which made doing my yardwork no fun at all, and Monday as well (nothing better than going to work, and sitting infront of a computer all day while being expected to think, while you feel hung-over). fortunately, thanks to all the cream I slathered on me, by Monday, I wasn't as red any more, but still a wee bit swollen still. fortunately today, I feel more like my old self !!! what makes this all the more daft is that as a ginger-head, in a family of ginger-heads .... I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER !!!! ( especially at my age).

ok ... and now on to a knitting update ...

my Mobieus Zig-Zag is done, except for the grafting (I hate that part). I'm pleased with how it turned out, and I think there's enough in the skein for another one. (picture doesnt do it justice, will have to re-take in day-light)

Wendi gave me some beautiful sock yarn for Christmas, and I've known from the moment I saw it what pattern I wanted to do .... Annetrelac. the problem with all entrelac socks I've seen done is that they only pattern the leg portion, and the rest is knittined around ... it looks "odd" and I dont like it, especially as I prefer short/ankle socks, it almost seems not worth the bother if you only pattern the leg. I wanted to do the pattern down the foot also, but then I knew that I was going to end up with an odd striped toe, heel and cuff .... so off we went to our LYS, Spun Fibres, for a solid to do the toe/heel/cuff in. after a huge debate about whether to compliment or blend this solid, I decided to take the safe route and "blend". the solid almost exactly matches the sock's main yarn.






Friday I balled the skeins (can you tell it was my first time??)

casting on the 2 toes was easy, I struggled thru the first one on Saturday evening, and the other was done Sunday evening ... piece of cake .... then came the entrelac part. well, the last (and only other) time I did an entrelac pattern was approx 100 years ago (ok, how about 10-12 years ago) and I honestly had no memory of how to do it. following the (cuff-down) pattern made absolutely no bloody sense, especially as I was trying to do 2 at one time toe-up. FINALLY, after deciding to work on only one at a time, and playing with it for a while, a light in my head came on, and it started to work. I stayed up WAY too late last night, but I finished the base triangle row, and 2 full-block rows of one sock.

and after all that, I'm going to pull it out. the pattern calls for a round of 72sts using 2.25mm needles .... I didnt have them so I cast on using 2.5mm which is my standard sock needle. I also only cast on 60 sts, as that's the approx number of stitches that seems to fit me. there was a note made in someone's blog, who had already made these socks that the entrelac pattern is not stretchy and she found the 2.25m needle make them almost too tight to get on over her heel, so she did her 2nd sock in 2.5, but would move up a wee bit more for the next time ...... so I cast on my 60 sts using the 2.5, then moved to a 3mm for the entrelac/foot pattern. TOO BIG !!! now that it's at a point where you can see the sock shape starting to emerge, I tried it on ..... way too big !!


so, it's frog time tonight, back to the toe, and I'm going to re-start the entrelac pattern keeping with the 2.5mm needles. I tend to knit loose, so I think I'll be ok .... plus I'll keep trying it on to make sure. apparently the tightness may show up when I do the heel, so I'll be careful. plus, now that I'm ok with the entrelac pattern I may go back to working on both socks at one time (but I haven't decided that for sure yet). I'll keep everyone posted (yea, I know you're sitting on the edge of your seats, in anticipation of my next posting !!)

yea ... and I know that the toe it too pointy .... that's what you get when you cast-on with a "hang-over" :( but I'm not frogging it again !!

WE HAVE SOCK !!!

my goal was to knit a sock. I found (what seemed to be) a wonderfly simple pattern Single-Bed Machine Knit Socks by Ruth Rogers. last night after we finished butchering the puppy coat of DD's foster puppy Emmett, and they went off to her dad's place .... and after I had a nice wee nap ... the mutts and I headed down stairs for an attempt at knitting a sock.


it was shortly after 8:00, and after 2 or 3 attempts at knitting on the ravel cord (without running out of cord and losing half of my scrap-yarn cast-on), and trying to figure/remember how to set the machine not to knit the stitches in HP ... I was on a roll !!! the heel/toe decreases were easy (I remembered them from my lesson with Pat) but I had trouble remembering how to do the increases .... I don't know if they are right, but I eventually got it.




the good news ..... about 10:10, I was heading back upstairs with what closely resembled a sock ... or at least what was going to be a sock. I was thrill to bits .... not only did I do it, but even with the re-dos, dropped stitches, corrections, and the odd exclamation of WTF ... it still only took me 2 hours !!!



OK well, with good news there is always bad news .... I learned a lot last night.

1. the sock is a wee bit small for me, but would probably fit DD
2. there's a hole on the outside heel, from a dropped stitch .... oh well, this was practice
3. my grafting (kitchener stitching) SUCKS !!!!! and it's not even like "oh well, I'll get better with practice ... because I don't want to .... I hated that part
4. HOWEVER ... what I hated even more than grafting ..... sewing/joining the inside seam .... I'd rather go to the dentist, or be hit on the back of the head with a plank !!! so, needless to say, it didn't get done !!!

so, here's the long & short of my single-bed machine knitting sock ..... it took me 2 hours to perform the actually "knitting" (including set-up, mistakes, re-trys, etc) ..... it took me from about 10:15 until I FINALLY tossed it aside @ 1:00am and went to bed to get the daft thing half sewed together !!!

and today's lesson boys & girls ..... I'd better figure out how to knit socks on my knitting machine in the round, or I'll never end up with a pair that's wearable !!!

we have knitting !!!! ...... and wine :)

so Pat at Cardiknits is my new hero. I don't feel too bad though, it took her a few unsuccessful cast-on attempts before we finally discovered a method that works with my machine. with her help I knitted this teddybear's hat (or at least it will be when I sew up the side seam), and we went thru and made this "mini-stocking" (don't quite understand how it's to be grafted together, but at least i got the idea). I picked up a "reasonable" cone of "practice yarn", and a couple of books for me to try out ... then I spotted a cone of really cool marrelled yarn, and decided to buy it too !!!

OH MY GOSH ... the weather has been absolutely marvelous this weekend .... and there's no better way to spend a lovely weekend than knitting, being with friends and drinking wine ... and that's how I spent this weekend.

Today was the Wine & Cheese Show in Toronto. fortunately, it was in the same building as the Motorcycle Show, that Wendi's DH was interested in. last year, the three of us went to the wine shoe, but as Wendi isn't (or should i say WASN'T) a big wine drinker, that allowed her DH and I to enjoy ourselves and she would be the d.d. ..... this year, DH went off to his show, and just us girls went off and enjoyed a dram or two (or 20) of wine. some good, some not so good, but we found a couple of excellent ones that we decided to re-visit for numerous taste test (just to make sure that we liked it). for the most part, we were trying local vineyards, but discovered a wonderful white from Germany, and I have a new favourite red from Australia. on the way home, we had Wendi's DH stop off at the big new LCBO in Milton, where we picked up a couple of bottles of our new favourites !!!

don't know if it's a really good idea (under the circumstances) ... but I'm going to head down stairs tonight, to re set-up my knitting machine, and see if I can actually use the thing without supervision (but if I cant, I'm blaming it on the wine)

DogGuide Open House, A Reunion & Knitting Lessons

well, the Anisette Wrap is done, blocked and dropped off. oh my gosh, I'm SO pleased with how it turned out (as you can tell by the number of pics I've included !!). not much more to say about it. I stopped by the foundation this morning while everyone was getting ready for the OpenHouse, and handed it off. I'm looking forward to hearing how much is brings in ..... if you're in the Oakville area today, please come by and BID HIGH !!!

well ..... I decided it bring Betty with me on the short trip to the foundation. she left the DogGuide program last August, so has been back home for less than a year. Betty's Trainer, Brenda was wonderful, and truly loved her. we get to the Foundation, park, get out and are walking around talking to friends, seeing lots of people and DogGuides (in various stages of their training ... from young puppies thru to ones ready to graduate). as we're walking down the hall toward the lounge, I see a number of trainers gathered, and there is Brenda ... they all see & greet me, but I wink at Brenda .... "OH MY GOSH, that's not who I think it is, is it ??!!" Betty had been as good as gold up until this point, walking so well, and not really being distracted by any of the other people or dogs ..... that is until she smelled Brenda's hand. WELL .... she started wagging, and jumping up ... i dont know who was more excited Brenda or Betty. Even Leah was happy (the Senior Trainer for Betty) to see Betty and got lots of kisses in return. it was wonderful to see how happy Betty was to see Brenda (and visa versa, of course). I think the only person that Betty would happily leave DD and me for would be her Brenda ... and I suspect Brenda would take her in a heart-beat.

OK ... enough goofing off .... time to jump in the shower and get headding out for my day. going to stop by PakMail to see Wendi for a bit, then it's off to Hamilton. I have a knitting machine lesson @ 2:00, and will hopefully be able to fit in a coffee with my Mum sometime while I'm in the area.

To Block, Or Not To Block

ok .... so I'm blocking ..... this is the Anissette Wrap (sorry the pic is blurrey for some reason). I'm very pleased with how it has turned out, even if I haven't been able to take a picture that does it justice. I dont see colours well, but this mohair is a lovely shade of dark blue, with almost a metalic twinkle. the Lions Foundation of Canada DogGuide Open House & Silent Auction is Saturday, so if all blocks well, I should be able to drop this off Friday for them to add to the silent auction.

it was a hard decision what to do with this project ... my original intent was to send it to one of my Pay It Forward recipients, but my heart goes to the charity and I'm really hoping that my wrap will help bring in some well needed funds to the program. the cost of raising and putting a DogGuide out to work is between $20,000-$25,000. the foundation doesnt get any goverment funding, all money is raised thru private donations .... and then they turn around a give the trained working dog to the client at no cost to them. I'm honoured to call a few people with working dogs my friends, and when you see how these dogs enhance their lives, the choice is easy. between DD and myself, we're on our 6th foster puppy.

1. Hasia, a black lab, was in training for SSD (Special Skills Dog) but then transferred to the Breeding Program. in May 2006 she welped 10 of the cutest puppies you've ever seen, all of who went into training. we've had 1 pass away, 2 graduate in the SSD program, and 3 disqualify (but one has been adopted by a Senior's Home, and is "working" in her own way). after retiring from the Breeding Program, Hasia went in to train for the CVC (Canine Vision Program), but at 3 years old decided that she'd rather come home so that's what she did, and we're happy to have our "forever" puppy.


2. Neung, a Thai Ridgeback, was one of a test group for the foundation to see how the breed would work out ..... let's just say they didnt, and leave it at that. Neung is now living with a wonderful couple in Toronto, and is enjoying being spoiled by them


3. Betty, a black lab was recalled and went into CVC training. ironcially, it was her class that Hasia joined. training was going splendedly, but unfortunately, as happens with some dogs, she stressed out from being in kennel, a month away from possible partnership and graduation. Betty was DD's favourite, so needless to say, she's been adopted by DD and now we have two "forever puppies"


4. Fawn, a chocolate mini poodle, was DD's first foster puppy on her own. she was recalled into the HED (Hearing Ear Dog) program, and graduated in December. Fawn is now living in Montreal with her partner, and we hear that they are doing great.


5. Maisie, a chocolate standard poodle, was recalled in October of last year. coincidently enough she has the same birthday as Betty, and they are the only 2 dogs we've had home for their 1st birthday. Maisie is currently in HED training, and I've got my fingers crossed for her (I want one of MY puppies to graduate !!!)


6. Emmett is an apricot standard poodle .... he's a HUGE 10-months old, and DD's 2nd foster puppy. he's also, the clown of the group. we dont know when he'll be recalled, or what program he'll be training in, but we have our fingers crossed that he'll do well.

so .... if you're one of my PIF people, and were hoping for this wrap ... I hope you'll understand why I've decided to donate it instead. I think you can see why I have a passion for this charity.