This is a month I won't miss much

February can be quite unattractive any year, but the one we are having in 2011 will certainly be a record-beater. We aren't out of the woods yet - there's another system barrelling its way toward us as I write - this time, we will get rain and freezing rain as well as snow, so perhaps we will lose some of the piles and piles of snow left from previous storms. And, of course, perhaps we will lose our electricity and be in the dark for days. Only time will tell, and luckily I have knitting to keep me busy. I suppose we can count this a sign of spring, that we are getting rain as well as snow. I'm trying for optimism here.
This is the last day of Fred's medical leave (per se) so he's in town today getting errands done and the like. We went to the gym at lunchtime, so after work we'll be able to pick up a couple of movies and a big bunch of groceries, and head straight home to hunker down with fingers firmly crossed that the power stays on.
My lovely sister sent me a care package of yarns from the West coast with a friend who was visiting - 2 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca (colour above), 2 skeins of Jacques Cartier Qiviuk Merino Silk (80% merino, 15% qiviut, 5% silk) in lime, 1 skein of Jacques Cartier Cashmere in dark blue, and 2 skeins of Jacques Cartier Heavenly Alpaca in green. The latter is laceweight - I think a shawl or fine scarf is in order. I have one other skein of the same, in a blue-green, with which I tried to make the Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing - but it's too fine for that. I don't know if it would work for my cowl-and-fingerless gloves combos. The Berroco surely will, however, as it's a worsted weight. Ah me! Off to seek out the perfect pattern from my patterns drawer in the filing cabinet!

Deep, deeper, deepest

    Brrr, it is COLD! We've had just two days of -16 degrees, complete with WNW winds around 40 k. making for just above -30 with wind chill. It's hard to get the house up to temp. (around 20 is nice) in the morning when we get up and in the evening when we get home. This is where being a knitter really pays. Throw on another sweater, and another couple of logs into the furnace! Our wood is quite big this year, and rather more white birch than we usually see, which isn't good. It doesn't have the heating capacity of beech or maple. The one advantage: it is self-kindling!
    We've been to Halifax, and I made another visit to LK Yarns while there. I've decided to make up a few sets of cowl (or scarf) plus fingerless gloves (I hate doing fingers, especially finishing them) for next Christmas, so I've been trolling my stash to find appropriate yarns. I found a fingering-weight alpaca in bright red, which I bought at The Loop a while ago, and made a Yarn Harlot Pretty Thing with Fishtail wristwarmers to go with. The Pretty Thing was easy, and I THOUGHT the wristwarmers were as well, but the second ended up shorter than the first, so it is on the frog-and-reknit list. No big deal. Then I bought three skeins of Balmoral, a wool-alpaca-silk DK, and made an Eleanor cowl and a pair of mitts with one of the motifs on the back of the hand. They are quite short, so I'm not sure how much I like them.
   Anyway, I was on the hunt for more fingering-weight yarns for cowls at LK Yarns. I am always so overwhelmed by choice when I'm there (compared to Owl's Hollow) that I am not sure I make good selections. However, I got some Cascade Yarns solid royal blue, a skein of Estelle Arequipa in oranges, Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in burgundy, and a skein of Fiddlestix Knitting silk in a light purple. It is halfway or more to being another Pretty Thing. I fell for a mystery skein of turquoise merino-and-angora laceweight too - 1000 metres! Whatever will that become, I wonder.
Then an couple of days later an order I'd made early in January to Knit Picks arrived. Mostly lace weight (2 skeins each colour, or 880 metres) in a medium gray, burgundy, bright red and basalt - which is a greyish-purplish. They are all heather colours. And two skeins of sockweight - in a lovely brown mix called "Kindling" and a blue mix. They are tonal colours so no mad stripes or pooling to contend with. Now, if only I didn't have to work, and could just cozy up at home and knit to my heart's content!
   I've been signed up for the 11 shawls in 2011 - even though I didn't get the 10 in 2010 finished - I just had seven completed. However, seven is pretty good! I must try to do more of the really small ones - just shoulder-size or scarf-like...Then I should be able to complete.

We're Back! And it was wonderful.

We were staying in Glengarriff in County Cork the second week, and one day we did some of the walks in the neighbourhood. There are many of these, and they are well-utilized. The above photo is of the waterfall walk in the local forest reserve. There was a high school group on a field trip there as well.



This is the view out our bedroom window in Glengarriff. The island you can see isn't Ilnacullen (the one with the public gardens - it's off to the right) - but it was a lovely, lovely way to start the day, looking at this. (Ilnacullen was wonderful too.)


One day two of our happy band decided to do a walk on the Beara Way, from Ardgroom to Eyeries. We dropped them off at Ardgroom, and went to Kenmare to shop. The yarn shop I was seeking had closed, unfortunately, though we were able to indulge in bread-and-butter pudding and cappuccino at jam, a very nice cafe there.
When we got back to Eyeries to pick them up, there was no sign of them. Our plan was to meet in one of the two pubs in town, and we visited both of them. Everyone we asked agreed that they should have returned - we had given them three hours, and most thought that was plenty - we were envisioning sprained ankles at the very least - when they showed up, an hour late. Apparently neither of them had a watch!
We waited in the pub with this view out the back window. Glorious! Apparently Eyeries was a film location a few years ago for a film called "Falling for a Dancer" and there were stills on the walls - believe me, Eyeries is a lot more colourful now.


Bantry was our local big town, where we went for groceries and other supplies. I even found a tiny yarn shop there, and bought some Happy sock yarn and a celtic cross cross-stitch kit for 'way too much money. We also were able to find free wifi on the street, as the wifi at our cottage wasn't very reliable. One day, we visited Bantry House and Gardens. This is the view from the front rooms.

More to come!

Heritage, Valentines, and Fantasy

We had a splendid time at the Private Lives Ball. The Prince of Wales Ballroom (built 1933) looked surprisingly good, given it's now used as a gym. Plenty of swathed fabric, and lots of minilights over the windows. White tulips in big bowls on the tables, as well as beads and candles. They had put clip-on lights, like little book lights, on the edge of the bowls of tulips so the water was lighted up. I should have taken a picture of that.
There were many pictures taken, however. Here we are dancing. It's a bit dark! We actually won a prize for "Most Improved Dancers". There was lovely free champagne(-like drink), crepes and a chocolate fountain. They pulled it off really well, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. We will have to do more of this ballroom stuff, and quickly, before we forget what we know.

As it's Heritage Week, Fred is busy almost every night. We both went to the Heritage Awards on Monday - best award: Chuck and Albert for preserving Acadien culture. They were a hoot. Hugged everyone on the platform, got everyone into the photo, and Chuck wondered aloud: "where his Ipod was?" [two students, winners of the poster contest, were presented with Ipods. Unfortunately the adults had to make do with certificates.] Then last night it was certificates for designated heritage buildings in Summerside. Fred wasn't home until 11:30.

Tonight's just dance class, with maybe a trip to the gym beforehand. It will be nice to dance to straightforward jigs, reels, hornpipes and so on, rather than wondering just what tempo this tune is and what one should dance to it. There were some very good dancers at the ball, of course, so we just watched them when we were unsure!

The rest of Heritage Week in Summerside includes a bean supper tomorrow night (but we're expecting a big snowstorm so that may be cancelled) and the Mayor's Heritage Tea on Friday, I think. I've been to that before now, and it's always a big deal, with folks in costume and everything.

I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately (Judith Marillier's stories of Irish myth and magic) and watching "Doctor Who" as I knit in the evenings. Very strange combo, I know. I am also reading another of Nuala O'Faolain's books, this one the autobiography. So, it's her for the bike at the gym, Marillier's Dark Mirror on CD in the car, and her Child of the Prophecy in book form otherwise. It's just like my knitting - I'm all over the place.

Speaking of which, I'm finally working on Fred's Durrow sweater - I've frogged and ripped the first sleeve a number of times, and I think I'm better off just LOOKING at the photo of the cable than trying to read the chart. I seem to go terribly wrong when I'm following that - I can be absolutely correct, every stitch in the right place, etc., and then on the very next pattern row I have too many stitches in one spot and not enough in another. But K's teal beaded socks are done, and now I must pull up MY socks and get a few things finished - My Teach is still on the first front, E's first kilt hose still in mid-calf, and the Durrow has to be finished before it gets too warm to wear it!

I've been awfully tempted by various vests, however. I have two different sorts of lilac-coloured yarn, one Briggs & Little (2 skeins of Regal, I think), and one Shetland DK (VV find, 4 skeins, 50 g. each). I'm terrified that neither is enough for a vest, though. After all, vests are just like sweaters without sleeves, and sweaters take a LOT of yarn. I have several skirts which would be greatly enhanced with a lilac-coloured vest. How about THAT! Thinking that far ahead is very unusual for me. I usually just choose fabric or yarn I like because of the content or the colour, and worry later about what to wear with!

So, waiting for the next snowstorm (we're actually down to one every two weeks now, instead of one per week.). The piles of snow are unbelieveable! It just hasn't melted since before Christmas. You risk an accident at every corner because visibility is so bad, due to the enormous piles of snow. I usually scorn the idea of "going South" but this year...it looks attractive!