While I'm not participating in the Ravelry salute to the Olympics (it looked like I had to be way to organized to follow along), I am going to work on finishing projects. I have a sweater blocking right now that I finished yesterday, am continuing to make steady progress on a second sweater (part way through the first sleeve), have the second of a pair of socks that I forgot about until after I had joined the Sweet Georgia sock club (which I justified joining by telling myself I had no sock yarn) and a pair of fair isle mittens that I decided were a good outdoor project for summer, being small but requiring some thought to keep me interested.
I'll focus on these for now. Once done, I'm sure I can find some others in progress. In fact, there is a felted bag that has been in progress for a few years, a baby sweater that I stopped when I realized it would be too small for the 1 year old I was making it for and a sweater from Custom Knits that I started ages ago. I am sure I can find a few others as well.
We'll see how far I get. It has to be a better effort than the ill-chosen sweater I was making during the winter games 2 years ago. I feel like I have a reasonable chance of success in at least finishing the list in the first paragraph.
Go Canada!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Another stay-cation
Our cat with special medical issues is keeping us home for yet another stay-cation this year. This week we've focused on nice lunches out as our different-from-normal-life routine.
Our first stop last Saturday is one of my favourite sushi restaurants in Oakville - very small with friendly owners and yummy food. It is called Kenki Sushi (Kerr Street) and, in addition to very good sushi and sashimi, they make a crispy salmon concoction that is perfect. Their bento box lunches don't seem to change and the service is fast so it is a great place to go on a busy-with-errands Saturday.
The next spot we tried was Colossus Greek Taverna. I'm not normally a huge fan of Greek restaurants due to the same-ness of the ones I've tried but this place is different. The food isn't cookie-cutter and has a little more imagination than most of the others I've tried. My souvlaki-on-a-pita had crispy onions and the salad was more like the Greek Salads I remember from Greece.
Keeping with the sushi theme, OC's at Stoneboats, in Bronte is a sort of fusion sushi place. Sushi but with some North American aspects - for example, one that we tried had cream cheese in it. I'm not sure how long it has been since the change in ownership but if our experience at lunch was any indication, this restaurant should do well. And they have the nicest patio in Oakville (which isn't saying much but it is still a nice patio). We tried four different rolls - an avocado roll topped with mixed wild mushrooms (good but the mushrooms kept falling off), Crunchy Salmon with walnuts and avocado (yum), Haida Warrior with various fishes (also yum) and the special which I can't quite remember but it featured shrimp with the aforementioned cream cheese (yum again).
Finally, today we went to Cayuga to the Twisted Lemon. Also a very good place. I had a salmon wrap with so much flavour it almost overwhelmed my senses. Very, very good. I especially liked the little bites with drinks while we waited for lunch - fried wonton wrappers with lemon and pepper. Difficult not to eat the whole bowl immediately.
That may be all for lunches out this week but with three days left, we may end up trying some others. The added benefit of driving all over the place going to lunch places is that I have been able to get a bunch of knitting done on the way. Nothing finished to show for it but at least I'm making good progress!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Book publishers must not understand inspiration
I've been looking at a selection of fabrics for my dad's Christmas quilt for a couple of weeks trying to figure out what I want to make with them. So this morning, I finally found inspiration in a Kaffe Fassett book. Perfect. It fits the fabrics exactly the way I think they should go. It even looks fairly straightforward although I will have to cut and sew carefully for a change so the joins line up. So, I have the time, I have the inspiration and the pattern requires blowing the templates up 200%. Ugh.
When I am inspired, I want to get going. I don't want to dig into the pockets of all of my jackets to find a bunch of quarters (or loonies probably), drive to the library, photocopy the pattern and come back. And my local branch isn't open on Saturdays so would have to go to the crazy busy branch a little further away or find a Staples. By the time that was all done, I would be distracted by some other project or have lost interest in quilting and would put the project aside until next time. No progress made.
I wish I was one of those organized people who plans things out in advance but I am not. I like spur of the moment and fancy that this characteristic means I'm somehow a creative type. There is the other part of my brain, which dominates at least 5 days of the week, that completely understands the financial reasons behind the publisher's approach. Fortunately the pattern is easy so I'm increasing it the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil. Except that I am ranting on the blog but will get back to the quilt in a few minutes rather than a few weeks.
On the plus side for today, I rode up to the farmers' market again this morning, watching the clouds the entire time. As soon as I turned the corner onto my street, the thunder started. By the time I was inside making myself a latte, the rain was teaming down. How is that for excellent timing? Thank you to Mother Nature, not only for the rain, but for waiting until I made it home before opening up the skies!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Happy Canada Day!
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