Cold Front Indeed.

I spent high school in a place called Manitouwadge, Ontario. It is a small mining town "Nestled in the Canadian Shield" north of Lake Superior. Please take a minute and click on that link because it is a perfect illustration of what living in an isolated community in the winter time can feel like.

Now, I've been citified to the point that I feel like -15 is frigid to the point of danger but grew up in a place that spent 4 months of the 8 month winter in -30 to -50 degree weather. I maintain that once you're below -30, all other temperatures are meaningless. At those temperatures you dress for it and go out because otherwise you'll catch cabin fever.

Besides, it was a dry cold not like in Terrace Bay. Brrrr. (Also, unlike Terrace Bay, we didn't smell like Pulp and Paper, we smelled like Gold and Lead mining, aka the Northern Rose!)

At Christmas I got my very first Spunky Eclectic fibre batt. Jason 'The Dreamboat' Gemmill got me a fibre subscription for my big gift this year. Now I'm regular AND warm!! (Ed: So sorry I couldn't resist)


I give you Cold Front. Pretty appropriate since I feel like Toronto is freezing instead of snowy this year.
I aimed for my first 2-ply with colour work. This meant paying attention to which ends of the batt I spun up first. Generally just paying attention which isn't my strong suit on the best of days. Once I had the 2 bobbins approximately the same weight I committed to the plying process.

I did pretty well guestimating the total length of singles on each bobbin, I only had a couple of metres left on one bobbin at the end of plying. I used those for a rug hooking project that I'll finish in 2063.

Doesn't look like much now does it...but wait! Not too shabby! I'm still playing around with tension here and every once in awhile I get freaked out when I feel like it both looks and feels good at the same time. I didn't want to lose momentum so I wound it, washed it and caked it to get going.


We're talking about 298 metres of pure pride right here.
The greens, blues and turquoise still appealed to me and the colours look like lakes on those sunny, painfully cold crunchy days. Kind of made me want to make a quinzee. Then I shook my head, ordered in some sushi, poured a glass of wine and remembered that I've been citified!

Michelle had done a list of possible shawls she'd like to knit last year and from that list I found the Adamas Shawl. You see, Michelle is not only an amazing photographer but she's got a great eye for patterns. I needed to get on the lace wagon and needed something that I could adjust to make a small shawlette.

That being said by the time I got to the last 2 rows I was *painfully* tight on yardage. There was about 8 inches left by the time I cast off my new favourite scarf. Now that I'm really looking at this picture though I think I can be a bit more aggressive with my blocking. I think I'm going to reblock it right now.

I love this shawl. I love that I made it from fleece and there wasn't a point in the process that I wanted to put it back in the 'bag of unfinished projects' I started it on January 3rd and finished it the day before the Olympics began. HERE ME ROAR! Speaking of Olympics. The blanket, she grows. The colours, still wrong in pictures.

Olympics Day 4

Did Bilodeau bring tears to your eyes too? This is the best Olympics EVER. I'm totally caught up in it. I'm watching Jaimie Gregg and Nagashima in the 500 speed skating sprints. Rivetting.

My knitting olympic project is the the Baby Moderne blanket (or a variation) in more adult colours for a collegue at work. I work from home so I don't see any of my workers that often. After a particularly difficult client had done a number on this colleague and I, she and I had a debriefing call during which I found out she is an avid quilter.

A blanket exchange was arranged.

Here is the yarn:

Here's where I'm at right now. The colours aren't accurate at all and I'm falling behind. Maybe now's a good time to learn continental...

Random Sunday

We had one of those weeks that everyone got sick and yet through the tumult of it all we had unbelievable luck.

Bad: My youngest sister Liz flew to Ottawa on Friday (last week) so we drove out to Brockville for a family weekend. Fenner started to barf on Saturday night.

Good: We got to go skating on the Rideau Canal for Winterlude before she got sick.

Bad: While Fenner barfed on pretty much every set of sheets and blankets that Charlotte had (Thank you for hosting us Charlotte!!) Jason and I were up pretty much the whole night. On Sunday we had to cancel our visit to F's Grandparents - J and I were exhausted and I was *uber* sensitive.

Good: Fenner got to be snuggled by 2 of her Aunties when she wasn't feeling so hot. Liz lives in Victoria now so any time we get to spend with her is golden. I can't believe I'm going to admit this, but snuggling a 2 year old is facilitated by sick.

Bad: Fenner stopped barfing for the entirety of our drive back to Toronto, but started up again on Monday morning.

Good: Jason could take the morning off work so I could have some meetings and I took the afternoon off.

Bad: By the time I got sick, out caregiver was sick so I wasn't able to sleep it off until I finally cried uncle and called Jason to come home. I felt guilty and ashamed for not going solo - then I realized that it's a stupid cross to bear if it's not necessary.

Good:I slept for the next 8 hours and woke up in time to watch the Olympic ceremonies and send Jason off to make the funny. Meet my Olympic yarn. Come the end of the Olympics it will be a beautiful blanket for a coworker. I can't wait.

The Further Adventures of Nanny Debbers and the F-Bomb.

January was a whole pile of ass crackers and crazy head time for me. I cannot tell a lie - I'm not sad to see the ass side of it on it's way out. It's February 2nd and I already feel like it's the new year.

Debra has hooked her sweet self up with an iPhone. She likes to take pretty pictures and her last phone just couldn't scratch her photographic itch so to speak. Apparently, as the kids say: "There's an app for that!"

Without further ado I give you the: "Spring has Sprung in January" series courtesy of Nanny Debbers (make no mistake, she is a super hero) and her sidekick the F-Bomber.

Baby Mushroom grows in Scary Neighbourhood Tunnel

Sarcastic Anime Character
Dough, and the Hands that Play with It
Generational Hipsters: The making of a douchebag
Cuteness: My Super Power
Disney meets Buddy Holly
I don't know what the app is that Debra uses but we love getting the pics again. Best use of household wireless internet. Ever.