Owl Vest

A certain young man will be turning 2 in the coming week, and needs a little something to take the Fall chill off ... this owl vest has been in my queue for some time and I finally got around to finishing it. The pattern is for a smaller child, but I took a tip from another blog pal and added in a seed stitch strip on either side, substituting the seed stitch for the ribbed border.

I was fortunate to find the perfect buttons for the eyes, at only .99 for a card of 7 -- bargain! This yarn was leftover from hubby's cowl/fingerless mitts, so the whole thing was truly very thrifty.

I've been away from blogland for the last several weeks as I was out of town in Winnipeg, for 2 weeks, and then the last two weeks have been nose-to-the-grindstone, designing scrapbooking classes for the Fall/Christmas Season at the store. Oh, by the way -- take a look -- this magazine contacted me and asked me if they could publish one of my designs in their blog -- wahoo!

I made a last minute trip to Winnipeg to visit my best friend, Connie. Her husband had gone into emergency with severe back pain, which was determined to be as a result of a crushed disk. The doctors decided to do some further tests and the outcome wasn't good -- he was diagnosed with bone, brain, liver & lung cancer. He just turned 50 in April. Needless to say, it was all very unexpected and a complete shock to all. While I was there, he had surgery to replace the disk and then gamma knife surgery to deal with the lesions on his brain -- all quite successfully. We are now waiting, while he heals from these procedures to hear what/when the next course of action will be. If you're praying people, please remember Byron, Connie and their kids: Kerri (Ken), Ryan & Adam in your prayers.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

On August 15th, my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary, and what a celebration it was!

They invited my sister and I (plus husbands) to an overnight stay at Harrison Hot Springs, with dining and dancing on the Saturday evening and then brunch and a tour at Minter Gardens, on the Sunday.

Hubby surprised me by booking us in for the Friday, so we had a whole day to play before the others arrived. What a beautiful place! I hadn't been there in almost 9 years, which is scandalous, considering it's only about an hour's drive from our place. A beautiful lake and beach, a provincial park, lots of mountain scenery, hiking, biking, boating -- you name it!

We took a long walk through the mountain paths (about 2 hours) and discovered the actual hot springs along the way. Very steamy and sulphuric smelling (read: 'rotten eggs')! It was overcast, but comfortable on the Friday/Saturday and then sunny and warm on the Sunday. I took 168 photos -- thankfully, you'll only have to look at a few :)

This is a shot taken at Minter Gardens -- I thought the church was so tiny and adorable, until I went around the back of it and realized that it was a 'staged' facade, only!

Here we are, all dressed up, just before we went to dinner. How cute are they?
My mom is 70 and my dad is 75 -- not bad, eh? Hopefully, the good family genes will continue!

Hubby and I, in dress clothes -- a rarity, for sure!

And my gorgeous sister and hubby ...

The whole family together, at the restaurant. We had an amazing waiter and a fabulous meal, which was spread out over the evening, allowing us to enjoy each course, a little dancing inbetween and a lot of good laughs.

And a wonderful, memorable time was had by all! I'm not waiting until our 50th to go back there (we're only at 13!)-- I'm thinking that we should celebrate my 50th birthday there in a couple of years :)

Leaf Lace Scarf ...

During our recent heatwave, it was just too hot to do any knitting, with anything heavy. The last thing I wanted was to have a load of knit up yarn in my lap. So, I put my current projects aside and started a new one! I've had this skein of Malabrigo Lace Yarn in the 'Pagoda' colourway, wound up and ready to go, but no project assigned until now. The Leaf Lace Scarf is the perfect pattern for this yarn! It is so lightweight and airy, I hardly notice that it's there. The pattern is only 12 rows long, and bonus, the wrong side rows are all 'purl'. BTW, if you're going to knit one yourself, I highly recommend using markers between each repeat of the pattern.

I've been looking for an alternate, lace weight yarn to the Rowan KidSilk Haze, which I loved deeply until I developed a sensitivity to wool and especially, mohair. I think I've found it! The Malabrigo lace (merino wool) has the same soft feel, weight and lovely halo that I had with the RKSH, with very rich colours and only $9.99/470yd. skein -- enough to make this scarf. Yippee! Happy dance!

Thank you all for your very supportive comments on my last post -- your loyalty is much appreciated!

Summertime ...

My husband is fanatical about his grass ... it is the envy of all the guys in the neighbourhood ... plush, velvety, soft and lush ... sigh! And for the last 2 weeks, it has been devoid of humans, due to an unbelievable heatwave -- upwards of 40+C -- I saw 104F and 111F on our old thermometer -- ghastly. The fans are on overtime and we are lusting after A/C -- grocery shopping has taken on a new appeal.


I entered my scrapbooking, photography, knitting and dill pickles into our local country fair last weekend and came out with 6-1st place ribbons, 3-2nd place ribbons and one third, resulting in $35 prize money. Before you become unduly impressed, read on!


This is going to sound like sour grapes, but you're not going to believe this -- my gorgeous 'Alhambra' scarf came in 3rd to ... wait for it ... an eyelash yarn scarf!!! Yep, you read that correctly! Apparently my 16 row, lace pattern on both sides, stick a needle in your eye took me three months to knit scarf just didn't cut it. The judge preferred the garter stitch, red eyelash yarn scarf, instead. First place was given to a shawl, which was somehow entered in the 'scarf' category (go figure!) and then 2nd went to the eyelash scarf. I was scratching my head for a moment, until one of my knitting pals who volunteered at the fair whispered to me that the judge was actually a 'non-knitter' -- can you believe it???

My February Baby Sweater came in 2nd to a 'swallowtail shawl' which must have literally been cast off in the car, on the way to drop it off, because it hadn't even been blocked out! It was still in the 'before its glory, lace blob stage'.

Needless to say, it was a learning experience ... I was wise enough to keep my mouth shut while I was there, for fear that I'd get roped into judging next year's competition, which would really mess me up, because then I wouldn't be able to participate :)



The kids were away for the weekend, so we had the 'granddog' for a few days. He's very sweet and a joy to have around. My garden took a beating, but I was prepared for that. His only other foible is that he loves to chew on tennis balls. I went to the dollar store and bought 3 sleeves of balls because he can chew through one in only 10 minutes. Once he's popped it, he proceeds to shred and spit out the pieces. Once he's done that, he gets up and walks away, as if to say 'that job's done'!

Vulcan, Alberta

WARNING: Picture heavy!!!

We flew to Vulcan, Alberta at the end of June for 10 days, to visit hubby's sister. The Starship Enterprise, is the town monument and its claim-to-fame! When the recent StarTrek movie premiered, the residents of Vulcan were given 300 tickets to auction off among the inhabitants and those who won, were treated to a buffet dinner and then bussed to Calgary (an hour away) for a special viewing.

We timed our visit so hubby could go to an airshow in Nanton, about 30 minutes from Vulcan. (That's my b-i-l on the right) They were going to start up an old WW 2 bomber plane, and being an airforce brat, he couldn't resist. Also, two of his uncles were bomber flyers in WW 2 and were killed within a couple of months of each other - both were in their late teens/early 20's. They had a huge memorial wall of all the Canadians who had served and both of their names were listed.

This is the actual bomber. I have a video feature on my camera and promised to get the whole thing on tape for hubby and his one surviving uncle. My arms nearly fell off holding the camera high and for at least 5 minutes, but I got it all!

I won't bore you with further pics, but I got inside and photographed from every angle possible! It was actually quite interesting.

We noticed that there was a farmer's market happening, so we walked over to check it out. We discovered hubby's cousin (on the right) with all of her handmade jewelry for sale. She makes beautiful stuff -- I bought 3 pieces!


This is a town lost in time. It hasn't been created to look this way, it IS this way. The fenced building has a real, honest to goodness saloon on the main floor. Gotta be at least 200 years old!

I love the colourful grain elevators! They're almost becoming extinct.

Me and one of my nieces. On Canada Day, we got up early and drove to Rosemary, Alberta about 1 1/2 hours away. This is a tiny town, population 300, that for one day is at least 10x that! They have a big celebration, parade and all, and people come for miles to participate.

Here's another niece, flying the flag!

The whole gang, on the sidelines, watching the parade ... it circled the town twice, so you didn't miss anything! Volumes of candy was tossed out, so the kids had a blast scrambling to retrieve it.

Hubby, who climbed out of his comfort zone and dressed for the occasion, tattoo and all! Yeah!

Mud bog truck races ... notice the flying mud, which sprayed up and landed on those of us standing at the fence line, taking pictures :P*****
On-land, ski do races -- can you believe it?? I was down in the pit, taking photos, before someone noticed me and told me to get lost :)

And a very fun time was had by all!

The Golden Ears Bridge

History in the making! Here's what we did yesterday ... we and circa 50,000 other people walked across the new Golden Ears Bridge! This bridge spans the Fraser River, joining Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows and Fort Langley. It was opening day and only pedestrians were allowed on -- what a zoo! Unfortunately, they hadn't planned for the volume of people and actually had to close the bridge down a couple of times, for several minutes, due to over-capacity on the bridge deck. Not for the claustrophobic, that's for sure! At some points, it was wall-to-wall people -- the emergency vehicles had challenges getting through, which was an issue, as one lady went into labour!

Here's a photo of our new neighbour -- a yellow lab puppy named, Sasha. I'm puppy sitting Wednesday - Friday in the a.m., until school's out, as 'mom' is a teacher. I'd forgotten how busy and exhausting puppies are -- if I was even thinking that I might want another dog, this is definitely making me sit back and think again! Although, she is very sweet ...

Look what landed in my flower pot! I couldn't believe how tame it was ... posed for several minutes while I took all the photos I wanted!

I've had a bit of 'start-itis' lately -- this is another 'Hey Teach' from Knitty.com. I made one last summer in Rowan All Season's Cotton and was disappointed with the mega-stretch factor. Also, I think the body section needed to be at least 2" longer and I'm short-waisted! It's since found a new 'home' and I've begun another one in Jo Sharp Desert Aran -- a light lilac, almost grey colour. Very neutral and should go with everything. I came down a size in needle to 4.5 mm to make a denser fabric and I'm doing the body all in one piece this time, to avoid the whole sewing up thing, using markers to separate the fronts and back, plus I'm also knitting on the button band, simultaneously. Talk about lazy, huh?

The LYS had a huge 40% off sale recently, which I noticed as I just happened to be driving by!
Picked up some Noro sock yarn with the intention of using it to make scarves. This one is coming along nicely -- an entrelac style, also from Knitty.com -- but the name escapes me just now. I'm making it a little wider than the pattern calls for, as it was too long and skinny for my taste. As there is some wool in this yarn, I tend to knit outside in the shade, when there's a bit of a breeze blowing, to avoid the itchy sneezies -- so far, so good!

Oh yes, and a few more purchases ... All yarn 'Diamond Luxury' merino. The variegated sock yarn is designated for each a male & female BSJ and the two solids in the background for February Baby Sweaters.

Sigh ... Malabrigo Silky yarn ... need I say more? The rich red yarn on the right is also a merino/silk, but from Meribel yarns. I love that they are women run, and that the proceeds help women and children in developing countries. Nothing like paying it forward!

And one more Noro sock yarn, destined for a funky scarf -- so colourful!

Another change in life ... recently my sister and I discovered that we have Celiac Disease -- an intolerance to anything with wheat, barley, or rye in it. It is apparently genetic and 1 in 133 people may have it without even realizing it.

That has meant a drastic change in diet, as we eliminate all of these items, not to mention a lot of searching and reading labels to see where it's 'sneaked in'. You'd be amazed where it lurks! The frustrating thing is that we've likely had it since we were kids, but it apparently is challenging to diagnose.

The average age of diagnosis is 46, which isn't great as a lot of internal damage can take place in that space of time. Thankfully, by eating a gluten-free diet, we should be able to turn around at least some of the symptoms. Eating out is likely going to be a thing of the past, but thankfully, we're both good cooks and enjoy trying new things. Never a dull moment around here!

BSJ ...

Amazing how this reptilian looking blob, suddenly morphs (with a few strategic folds) into a completely reversible, cute little jacket!

My first BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket) from Elizabeth Zimmerman. I figured that since I was on a roll with the February Baby sweaters, I may as well graduate to the BSJ -- what a lot of garter stitch -- at times, it seemed endless, but quite gratifying once finished.

Yarn: 'Fat sock' from Hello Yarn - can't remember colourway.


A special thank you for the very kind comments you left on my last post ... we are so appreciative of your thoughtfulness. We have amazing friends, family and neighbours who have been so kind and supportive to us over the past few months as we have dealt with so much loss in our immediate family, most recently with our much loved dog, Brinkley. The children from next door came to the fence with tears in their eyes to say how sorry they were and how much they'd miss him and promised to share their new puppy with me, once it arrives. Too sweet! It's been lots of shared tears, hugs and memories ... amazing, really, how one dog touched a family and a neighbourhood in a very special way.

We are healing ... day by day, it gets just that little bit easier on the heart. We are trying to find a new 'normal', as the past 9 years revolved around a dog and although we are finding the house a little too empty, visits from the grandbaby give us joy and we are rediscovering what it is like to just have each other. Not a bad thing, at all!