May 21/06 Me and Gloria with her honourable daughter #1. Goodbye Gloria...wise Gloria....Auntie Glo....the keeper of Gloria's Ocean....the sister-in-law who made the rest of us (5 or so sisters-in-law) feel safe and welcome.

The polar bear.....oh he loved the snow, born on Christmas Eve 1993....our big yellow dog....such a lovey thing. Goodbye Dunny boy. We cannot prolong your suffering and must help you over to the other side. Wednesday will be a very sad day indeed.

Making progress with my silk and sea cell "lace" scarf. Ooooo but I see the photo shows my little mistake clearly...perhaps it won't be so obvious when it is wrapped around my neck....because I am NOT ripping this out yet again...a perfectionist I'm not.


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I've changed my mind, this silk is far too expensive not to be knitted up correctly and I just found another mistake. Besides the sample scarf in the shop was knit on much finer needles than we were told to use and I think I liked that scarf better. So out this one will come, once again.

Third time is the charm, they say.

But I think I may just put this yarn away for a bit and do the scarf with Lorna's Laces sock yarn instead. It won't be so slippery and maybe then I won't drop a stitch so frequently.

A pretty porch from a pretty house on a pretty street near the Beaches.

My "kids". 

Beginner's Lace. Beginner indeed. I enjoyed the class and I am enjoying this sometimes frustrating new technique I am learning. I am in awe of some of the lace projects I have seen out there. I love the fibre - 70% silk 30% seacell. So soft and the variation in the dying gives the scarf depth. 

http://www.thebirthhouse.com/ I've just started reading "The Birth House". What a wonderful lyrical writer Ami McKay is.....like listening to a fine story teller....but she is from downeast - Nova Scotia and that explains it all!

Tonight Brenna and I are going to re-watch Pirates of the Caribbean #1 and then tomorrow night (after my knitting workshop) we will be off to the movies with all the crowds to see #2. Can't wait.

It is a beautiful summer day today....just the way I like it, clear blue sky, fine weather not too hot and not too cold and the air feels fresh and clean. The humidity has taken a break.

TGIF

Tomorrow.
Arrrrrr yumm

Yarn Stash!! Yesterday I went to "Unwind" to sign up for a beginner's lace workshop that is happening this Saturday. The scarf is absolutely beautiful and soft and they say it is easy. We'll see. I chose Handmaiden silk and seacell blend in that coral-pink colour for moi and the plain purple for my friend Alice. You can see these in the 2nd picture. The class is a 2-for-1 in July so this is my gift to her....a class and the yarn. I think it is the perfect birthday gift for someone who has everything and we get to spend a few hours learning a new technique.

Of course I had to buy some other skeins...just because they were so pretty and/or interesting. I bought 2 skeins of "Lorna's Laces"...those two pretty variegated yarns, perhaps for 2 more (gift) scarves, or I will need to pick up 2 more skeins on Saturday if I decide I want to makes socks with them. I got 2 skeins of gold hemp (on sale). I've never knit with hemp...a new venture.

My boys want these beanie hats. I must get started on those as well. But of course I'll need more yarn because I don't seem to have any cotton in my stash for this project. Oh dear.

July 5th....and summer has begun. There is where I would like to be! 

Knitting News.....finally eh? First, the dark blue colour I have finally chosen for "Claude", the cardigan in the next picture.


The colour I originally chose for "Claude", but I want to make the cardigan a bit longer so I needed more than I have here.










So......I might make this t-shirt with - someday. 

Here is a picture I like. I twirled around at the edge of the garden - in front of the wild P.E.I. rosebush - when I took this photo.

And down the side.... the freshly painted clawfoot tub is my lettuce garden with a few impatients for colour and then hostas along the retaining wall. Miniature roses.

 

Around the back....can't seem to blog more than 4 pictures at a time. These hanging baskets are my herb gardens. This is the first time I've tried this and it is working. The begonia bag on the shed is very happy and the next picture is of the oblesik...you can't see it now! And then the purple clematis.


 

All around the front. Everything has filled in so much.


 

He's a very sick puppy. My old (13 years) yellow lab has been battling an ugly nose for awhile now. First the vet thought it might be a fungus infection, similar to the fungus infection he had up the butt. When the nose began to get even more gross, bleed and smell like a dead mouse...off we go to the vet again. This time they fear it is cancer and that it has spread to inside his nose. Oh my poor doggy and my poor doggy's boy, shown here. Dunny was Adam's dog from the get-go. Dunny has been on prednisone and antibiotics and an eye drop as well for a week now. He is improving but we know we are going to have to do "the deed". Soon. Sniff. Our sturdier friends are telling us to do it now! Tell me where it hurts Dunny and then I'll decide??? 

A new kitchen?

Not this year...nor next. Our a/c pooped out in the middle of the 2nd heatwave of the year. After 3 visits from the "pros" we learned a new a/c was needed. Our units are 16 years old and with the new technology this makes our (heating and a/c) units very expensive to operate. Basically it boiled down to $1,300 to fix the a/c or $2,300 for a new energy-efficient model. We decided to go for the new a/c AND furnace because you know how it goes.......attach a brand new a/c to an older furnace and there will be problems down the road. The furnace was cheaper than the a/c!!

So, another coat of paint will go on the kitchen cabinets - yet again. And the line of credit will take another beating. Supposedly we will save 50% in hydro spent operating the a/c and 40% in gas for the new furnace. I will also save on the monthly insurance plans I have with Direct Energy...these won't be needed because the units come with a 10 year guarantee!

I had Direct Energy in this morning to give me a quote on a new roof. The roof quoter was here at the same time as the Direct Energy a/c guy who informed us of the need for a new a/c. Poor roof quoter guy ---- he knew he lost a (roof) sale when the need for new heat and air required.

Ahhh my dog and my boys. Check out the pose. Ryan is ready, if need be, to slap Adam in the gut and Adam is prepared for a backward slap up the side of the head. Funny

This picture is here for a reason....I'm not vain....I don't want to show off and I am definitely not happy with the 25 lbs. post-cigarette-quitting a year ago, that I have packed on. The reason this picture is here is for an opinion from an knitting expert before I start one of her patterns. Anna (from England) I need your advice. Is "Claude" for me? I fear I might be too ample........my body shape resembles one of my favourite characters in "Rosemary & Thyme" and I don't mean the skinny lady!!! I think "Claude" could possibly, maybe, perhaps work under a flowy tunic and pants of a soft fabric such as raw silk???? Oh I don't know. What do you think?

Anne Marie & Peter Campbell