Books

I am addicted to books. Unfortunately, I am really bad at starting books, particularly non fiction, and not finishing. I have made a resolution to finish my half-finished books before I buy anymore. I am in the middle of Younger Next Year for Women, one of the French Women Don't Get Fat books (the second one), The Gospel According to U2, a Platter of Figs (I enjoy reading cookbooks) and probably some others I have forgotten about.

I've mentioned the Younger Next Year book on the blog before and am enjoying it. It is a bit repetitive given that 3/4 of it has been about exercising 6 days a week and I'm generally at 5 so feel a bit like the choir. Having said that, reinforcements on the benefits of exercise are always motivational.

I am also cognizant of the fact that my blog is called Knit, Quilt, Cook and I haven't talked about cooking once. I seem to be in a little of a cooking lull at the moment for some reason. Likely because I've been spending most spare time on the weekends quilting and now that the Olympics are on, knitting. I'm solo dining tonight and remembered that I had some chili in the freezer and am quite enjoying it with some excellent walnut bread from Longos and the Olympics on TV. I must confess that while I'm excited about the hockey, I really like the curling so am watching that mainly and flipping to the women's gold medal game. the curling is almost over unless something crazy happens so will be full time on hockey before the chili is done.

Snowy Day

It's a snowman day today. Heavy snow that is perfect for making snowmen. A good workout to shovel but perfect for snowmen. One of those snows that coats the trees and makes everything bright even after dark.

Generally, I like winter. I like winter on the weekends when I don't have to go anywhere and can enjoy the cozy feeling of sitting in the living room watching the snow fall while knitting or reading and drinking a cup of tea. I like winter when I'm home in the evening shoveling snow after dinner like tonight. I don't like winter when I have to layer on the clothes before leaving the house in the morning and everything just feels so heavy. I don't like winter when it is just cold and damp with no snow to speak of. Snow makes winter much more beautiful.

Now that I have longer hair and can put it in a ponytail if I need to, I even don't mind wearing a hat. This year I have knit some particularly nice cozy hats that make winter much more appealing. They made great summer and fall projects.

Olympic Knitting or It Is Never Going To Happen

So we're about 1/2 way through the Olympics and I'm still on the back of my project. I have cast off for the sleeve section which always makes me feel like I'm almost done but really it's another several inches of knitting and only 18 fewer stitches.

What I'm taking from this Olympic idea is to be better at setting objectives, be realistic about the 24 hour clock and the amount of time my hands can knit at any one time. That said, I'm significantly into a sweater I didn't even have on my radar screen prior to the Olympic challenge and there are 5 fewer balls in my stash waiting to be knit! The two baby sweaters I'm on borrowed time with are a problem I will not be thinking about for now.

Stress

There are times when I have trouble dealing with work stress. I started a new job a few months ago and it is hard. I have thought a lot in the last year or so about the level of stress my job brings and why I have so much trouble dealing with it. Have I just reached my limit? Do I worry too much about everything? Should I be doing something else? Do I make myself too busy in my non-work life? On the latter point, I know I do a lot of extra stuff in the crafty vein but I think it helps. It distracts me, relaxes me and provides me a comfortable product at the end of the process. The pleasure of sitting under a quilt on the couch after a quick dinner watching the Olympics is not to be under valued. I'm going to do yoga this morning and hope that balances this conflict in my head and helps me face today more calmly.

A Hike for Family Day

We went to Terra Cotta Conservation Area for a hike today. We haven't been hiking in far too long and it was a great day for it. A bit cold to start off but soon warmed up enough to be comfortable in just a sweater. Speaking of sweaters, it was this one. I made this with a bunch of leftover Lopi yarn. It seemed for a while that every time I went to a yarn shop sale I ended up buying more Lopi.

After our hike we meandered home via the backroads. I have a braise on and also have some gnocchi waiting in the fridge to go with it. I'm not sure how good they will be. I don't have a ricer so am afraid they might be chunky. We'll see what happens. Complete the meal with some nice roasted carrots and we're good to go.

I made some good progress on the Olympic sweater in the car too so all in all a very good day.

Planning for spring

I just ordered my seeds for the spring!

I always plant veggies from seed. It feels so perfect to plant, grow and eat your own produce. I have quite a bit of room in my plot and have eaten almost exclusively out of my garden for the last 2 summers. Last summer did have to be supplemented a bit more by the farmers' market as the rabbits also enjoyed eating exclusively out of my garden last summer!

I also ordered a few annual and perennial seeds. I got inspired by Fine Gardening's "Starting from Seed Volume 1" magazine. There are some pretty good tips in the magazine as well as advice on plants that grow well from seed. The other great thing about growing from seed is that when it works it saves so much money. And as a person who spends too much money at the nursery every spring, this is a good thing.

The Gym

I'm a regular gym goer; not because I like it but because I firmly believe in the benefits. And I like to eat more than the recommended calorie intake for people my height who don't exercise. So the choice is exercise or constant low caloric intake. I choose exercise. And I like what it is supposed to be doing for general health and well being. Heart disease runs in my family which keeps me motivated.

This morning there were a bunch of people I had never seen before for some reason and a few of the regulars. Like the guy who I am sure is hurting his back every time he lifts weights but for some reason the staff don't tell him (or maybe they have and he ignored them). Then there was the really annoying guy to sit beside on the train (one of the new people). He is pretty skinny and yet takes up more space than a 6 foot 300 pound person. It's funny to see people out of context. I saw him lifting some weights and pictured him in a beige raincoat. Makes you think you've lost it until you realize why that connection makes sense.

And in a knitterly moment (yes at the gym) - a few weeks ago there was a lady in the change room wearing two different fun socks. Loving socks, I commented on their fun-ness and asked if she was a knitter. Turns out she is but has never figured out socks. Always wanting to spread the joy of sock knitting, I packed my favourite basic pattern in my bag. I saw her again today and gave it to her. Here's to hoping she becomes a sock knitting fan.

The socks in the picture are my fat sock recipe with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. A great yarn to work with and socks knit up in half the time.

I started my Olympic project and have already felt the familiar wrist pain I get when I knit too much. This is not good. I'll rest for a bit and hope to pick it up later today pain free. Significant progress must be made this weekend if I am to have any hope of making the end of the games. I will push through it!

I'm not normally a fan of opening ceremonies at Olympics and didn't really love last night's show. There were parts I liked but overall was ok to look down at the knitting I kept goofing up and wasn't worried I'd miss anything important. I cast on at the beginning of the ceremonies and was grateful. If I'd waited for the torch lighting I would have cast on one stitch and then fallen asleep.

Olympic Dreaming

I have entered the Yarn Harlot's Olympic challenge! I have signed up to knit Rachel from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Collection. I bought both the yarn and the book 3 years ago on a trip to England. We were actually in the home town of Rowan, in Holmfirth England. We stopped into the local yarn shop and I made 2 purchases, one of which I have finished (photo) and the other has been in my stash ever since. I made the first sweater fairly quickly. It is from the same book, called Lily, and turned out quite nice if a little bigger than I would have liked. I tend to veer towards larger sizes than I should but it is nice and cozy. I have a huge collection of buttons that relatives have collected over the years and found some nice ones that go perfectly with the brown.

Rachel is a comfortable-looking cable knit that I am going to knit out of Rialto Aran. I'm not sure whether I have any chance at all to get this done. I work all day and only have a few hours to craft in the evenings and weekends. I do knit on the commute but really want to finish another sweater while I'm in the groove of the pattern. I'll see how things go over the weekend and decide if the project also becomes my train knitting or not.

Oh yeah, I should probably do a tension swatch before the games begin ...

Go Canada Go!!!!

Retirement

Today I went to a retirement party. It was great. And other than not envying being retirement age, I did very much envy the ability to retire. Imagine the productivity that would result!

This picture is of Peanut the Wee Elephant which I made from Joelle Haverson's Last Minute Quilted Gifts. I'm don't have much sewing experience so there are a few mistakes. As a result, the intended gift recipient did not receive Peanut and he lives quite happily in my craft room!

Podcasts

I am an addicted podcast listener. My current favourites are the History of Rome (also just finished ... 12 Byzantine Emperors), Ready, Set, Knit (by the owners of Webs Yarn Store) and several CBC radio podcasts. I like listening to the CBC Radio podcast of the R3-30. I've picked up a number of great indie Canadian artists from that show including Amy Milan, Neko Case, Joel Plaskett, Metric and the list goes on.

I listen to podcasts on my commute while knitting and at home on a speaker while working on quilts. I've always liked noise in the background while I cook, study, craft etc. Podcasts are better than TV. I can knit while watching TV but get too distracted when I try to do anything else.

This quilt is an Atkinson Designs quilt. I made it for my nephew and it turned out great. The pattern is fabulous. The explanations were really well written which for me, a novice quilter, was really important.

Self Help

I don't know if it is the impact of winter (highly likely) but I'm in self help mode at the moment. The stash-busting is part of that. I recently bought the book Younger Next Year for Women. So far all it has really talked about is exercising 6 days a week. I'm about 5 so almost there. I'm hoping there is more to the message.

Today I bought The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It sounds like just the right thing for at least curing the winter blahs and hopefully beyond.

I'm making progress on a few projects these days. I have almost finished a felted bag. I just have to sew on the handles and take a photo. I'm working on a new Amy Butler quilt. A Kaffe Fassett pattern and some Midwest Modern combined with the new Love series of fabrics. I just love seeing the fabrics lying around my sewing table. They make me happy.

I'm also almost done the first sleeve of a lace sweater from Vogue knitting that I started years ago and put aside. Not sure why. I am really enjoying the project now that I've picked it up again. Someone likely was having a baby and I got distracted.

The quilt at the top was finished in the summer. Another Kaffe Fassett pattern from "Quilts in the Sun". I wasn't very accurate with the machine quilting. The lines aren't very straight. After I had finished I read somewhere to mark the sewing lines with painter's tape and using the tape is a guide to sew by. I still really like it. More half price fabric and it makes me happy too. Maybe I don't need the book :)

First Post

This is my foray into blogging. I'm not sure how long I'll be committed to it but I wanted to give it a try. I'm a banker by day but would prefer to be a full time domestic goddess but need the money to pay for my obsessions. So, I dabble.

I love cooking and crafts and am currently obsessed with quilting. I always have at least one if not four or five knitting projects on the go too.

Let's dive in. A friend recently adopted a baby boy and a sweater is on the way. Well, still in skeins but it'll get going soon. I'm going to make the placket pullover from Joelle Haverson's "Last Minute Knitted Gifts". I'd link to Amazon or something but am not sure how to do that yet!

The sweater takes Koigu Kersti (yarn pictured above) and, while I'm ok with substituting, I knew that my LYS carries it and I've always wanted an excuse to buy it. Since I'm trying to be a good stash reducer in 2010, I combed my stash. I didn't have anything suitable in the stash, so I now had a great excuse to go shopping. Turns out, the LYS is getting rid of the yarn and had it 1/2 price! And in a suitable boy colour!

I would say that those planets are never in alignment but it happened to me again yesterday. I'm making a quilt with last year's Mark Lipinski Califon (blue and yellow fabric) and don't have enough for the back. I knew my local quilt store carried it and wouldn't you know ... 40% off!