Autumn

I know the first official full day of Autumn is not until tomorrow but the day is sunny, crisp and cold just like it should be. The sky is a bright blue and the leaves are turning golden. Yesterday when I went for my walk, the leaves were gently falling towards the ground.....yet some had a kamikaze pilot approach to their demise and dive bombed to the end.
I made sure to take my bear spray with me therefore ensuring that I would not encounter a hungry bear trying to fatten up for winter. The only time you see one, really is when you forget to bring it along and you are far into the bush with not a soul around and only an old, deaf 17yr old Shep/Husky cross as your would be defender.
As for knitting....it's been a bit of a disaster. I recently stayed with 2 of my nieces and as a sort of Thankyou, I thought it would be nice to knit a little something for them. I bought some Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Worsted and got to work on a Waterfall Scarf. It was a quick easy knit but at the very end when you are supposed to "encourage" some of the stitches to drop, it just did not happen. If anyone has any ideas about how to encourage these stitches to drop I would appreciate it. I have tried EVERYTHING!! I tried talking nicely, shouting, cursing, cajoling, reverse psychology, bribing, begging, pleading......nothing worked! Grrrr. Now it looks like a plain (twisted) garter stitch scarf:( Not what I imagined at all.
As for the second scarf, I am attempting 198yds of Heaven........which undoubtedly will turn into 200m of Hell.
Happy Knitting and Happy Autumn.

Happy Canada Day!

What are your plans for today? Todd has gone to work but earlier he was building a stage to park the drums and amps on for tomorrow nights bonfire/jam session. A few friends, some appies, bevies, live music and a fire! Should be fun....or at least until my grumpy neighbor shuts us down:(
So as for my plans today.....mowing the lawn, cleaning house and preparing said appies!
I am knitting some cute little boy socks from some Sisu. More on that later. Finished but not felted yet are these slippers:
Have a great day. I'm going to watch for fireworks later.

summer

happy flowers















warm woolies felted booties....yet to felt

Moose

I was tired this morning. Not sure why though. I got up a bit later than usual and while having my first cup of coffee, I went to check on my pumpkins. I planted about 12 of them. They are just in those little peat pot disks that puff up when you put them in water.....grow monkeys for adults:)
Anyway.....I looked outside to see these 2 moose calves trimming the willows.
I went outside to get a couple of shots but didn't see momma until I went back in.....ooops! She walked from behind where I had been standing. I went back out to get a pic of her too.......all the while being warned that she might charge! Yeahyeah! She didn't.

I am slowly working on my Jaywalkers. I picked up some Sisu to finish the cuffs. I think it matches quite nicely. However, I broke one of my Knitpicks Harmony DPN's! Boo Hoo:(

April showers

April showers bring May flowers....does that include SNOW SHOWERS???????
Brrrr....cold. I do have daffodils and rhubarb poking up:)
Had the bike out a few times already though to get groceries with my back-pack; and it's the easiest way to 'run' the dogs. They are sled-dogs and do not WALK, heel or any of that rot.
Todd & I went for a walk on Friday afternoon and he didn't want to go on the same old boring trail so he veered off and I (of blind faith) followed.
I was not prepared for bush-slogging and consequently ended up with two soaking wet (cold) feet. The trail was OK but it petered out and we ended up on the edge of someones property, which we skirted for a bit (more bush-bombing) as he was sure the trail would come out at such-and-such point! As it turned out we were way off course (surprise!). I am not a fan of stumbling around in the bush having no clue whatsoever! where we are.
I was glad to jump in the tub when we got back and Todd made me a nice cup of hot chocolate. OK, I forgive him:)
Just cast on Jaywalkers, but I am doing them toe-up because I don't have much yarn. It was from a swap, so I don't even know what it is.

March Madness

I made some mighty tasty muffins today that are gluten-free. Followed the recipe on the back of Bob's Red Mill 'Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal' except that I use brown rice flour instead of white because I think it is healthier and I can never follow a recipe to the T.
I used my new red silicone muffin cups that I got HALF PRICE!!! They work so well. The muffins just pop right out. Yummy.


I am experimenting with some gluten-free recipes so if anyone has a good bread recipe they would like to share......? The kind you could slice up and make a sandwich with:)
I am making some Mexican Taco Seasoning mix by adapting a recipe I got from a cookbook called Miserly Meals....by someone (sorry can't remember the author). It makes 15T which is the equivalent of 5 packets of store bought mix...which I don't like because of all the additives and stuff.
Currently knitting up a pair of ankle socks for a RAK (random acts of kindness group) gift. Can't share any details just yet. Will post pics and details once the have been gifted. What fun.
I received my first RAK yesterday from Buzzyratt. It was the Green Thumbs pattern. Can't wait to get just the right yarn to start them.

Recent stuff

I am truly sick of people at work not adhering to the Fragrance Free policy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tired of not being able to breathe properly. Wasting my hard earned cash on meds! Grrr.
OK, 'nuff of that. Besides, I've vented about that before.
Current FO's: a cute bulky yarn headband and a pair of Briggs & Little Heavy socks.
Current wips = One row lace scarf and Catch me if you can socks.
Newest purchase: Flusi sock yarn! So cute and pink.
Fav lunch @ the mo: Miso soup:)
Recent activities: Ran a 6 km trail the other day with one of the dogs (the hyper-nut). It was a good run....old trail made newer, longer by someone. Did a great job.
Hiked to Livingston Springs on Sunday. We were going to snowshoe but the trail was so good and packed that they were not needed. The trail is about 4km each way.
The water is about 10C so the plant life grows year round. On the way home we saw 4 Trumpeter swans in the Crooked River!

February already!

Where did all the time go since Christmas??? Work I guess. LOL.
I've been doing some knitting of course. Been pretty active with
xc-skiing too. Running...not so much. Did some runs though with a
couple of the dogs.
Had a bit of the flu....despite having TWO flu shots. It was the type
where you lose 5lbs at one sitting (so to speak...haha) So that knocked me off my feet for a few days:(
Now, two of the g-kids are in town visiting so we went on a walk in "the jungle" with one of the dogs. They did really well...especially the 3yr old.....probably did 3km. I called her my little pumpkin, though she insisted she was a BIG pumpkin until she wanted to be carried. Then she was a LITTLE pumpkin.....LOL
In the middle of making Pumpkin/choc chip muffins with cinnamon...YUM