Summer projects

Sometimes keeping everything afloat in the summer time can be tricky.  The professor has been gone for the last week (he just got home last night) as he had a conference to attend.  We were busy.  A lake, two wading pools, a bakery, a book store, a grocery store, two dog walks a day, the human rights museum, a special robot coding workshop for kids...and more.  

When I fit in work last week, it was late at night.  It is a miracle anything work-related gets done at all!  This article just went live on the CBC though:

No need to reinvent the wheel with 'Made in Manitoba' solutions...

It's about how our growing city can come up with urban solutions by simply looking to cities who have already dealt with things like noise pollution, drug crises, and infill strategies.  (We are not the first city to face this stuff!)  It featured this great photo of taxis in NYC.

On the making front, I just mended a small tear on one of the Professor's shirts.  It is 100% silk, so I would not want to just throw it out (think of all that silkworm work!)--and it was a very quick fix.  Hurray for darning...

And, I have just finished the latest Nanodistal.  This is a dark photo of this, as was still wet when I shot the picture.  However, it's one strand of a boucle silk yarn by Handmaiden called Rumple and another strand of Knit Picks Lindy Chain (a linen blend yarn.)

This was my purse knitting project and I whipped it out whenever I was with kids and I needed to do something to stay busy until the next thing....piano lessons, appointments, and playgrounds.  I need a new mindless project to stuff in my bag now!  Must dream one up...

Summer in Winnipeg has been beautiful and --well-- hot.  (I think I maybe am really a Canadian now, as it hasn't been nearly as hot as summers when I was a kid in Virginia!)

Speed Demon? Not

Here's my latest CBC piece:
Winnipeg needs more traffic enforcement-just not more cameras

(This ran on September 9th, but I was busy getting ready for Rosh Hashanah and missed posting about it.  Oops!  Better late than never?)

River Trail

Last Sunday, we took advantage of some fabulous warmer weather (we've had highs in the 20 to 30F range, or for folks in Celsius, highs around -5 to 0C) lately.  I'm still really lacking stamina from the pneumonia, and one of my kids got knocked out by a big hives episode last Saturday, so we're doing things slowly.  We have been very sorry to miss the skating season--but we took the River Trail's walking trail and went out on the river.

For those who don't know what this is, every year, our two rivers freeze solid in Winnipeg.  There is an amazing effort to create kilometers of skating and walking trails on the river.  We have an international competition to build architecturally interesting warming huts.  Folks commute, walk their dogs, (or skate their dogs), drag their kids in sleds, and spend time outside every winter.  This year has been a special event:  10 kilometers of groomed river trail AND, as of yesterday, 69 days open to skaters and walkers--a new record.
The trail is weather dependent. Some years,it opens late, the ice is too bumpy, or it just cannot be made longer.  This year, we hit the jackpot and I was just yearning to see it...although even this one extended outdoor outing was still pretty hard for me.

The weather was perfect and everyone we saw seemed to be grinning with enjoyment. One joke that ran on the river trails "conditions" twitter feed was something like: Our Canadian Olympic speed skating champion, Ted-Jan Bloemen can do 10 k in 12 minutes.  How fast can you do the winter trail?

We did only a fraction of the trail, bumped into some friends, saw a few warming huts, petted some amazing dogs, (one husky weighed 170 pounds!) and nearly got run over by three cross-country skiers.

After we climbed off the trail, we headed back towards the Forks on the river bank trail--pictured here.  You can see a clear warming hut up ahead, where people are putting on their skates, and a maybe the big blocks of snow--(We have snow sculptures all over at this time of year)

You'll also see the weird circle in these pictures, the professor's camera got humidity inside the lens from transitions between warmer and colder places.  We also were very bundled up--me, because I am still sick--and the boys were wearing snow pants so they could stay dry and climb on things. It wasn't cold though--at least, not for us.  (Yes, we were out walking on the ice, so context matters!)

On the way towards home, we stopped to see the Nepinaks. These  elders offer their time every year to invite people into a warm teepee at the Forks to cook bannock and talk.  We cooked bannock together on whittled sticks and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  This was a highlight of the day for me - a beautiful way to make connection and break bread and acknowledge that we are on Treaty 1 land.

We topped it off with some ice cream on the way out and headed home.
I paid for all this by being absolutely worn out from the physical effort--definitely still not 100% yet, but it was well-worth it.  I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure!

On the brink

You may have been wondering what happened to me.  (Me too, frankly....)  So, first, there was winter break. It was long. And hard. We'd hoped to do all sorts of fun things. We did fit in a play date, a classmate's birthday party, 2 museum visits, and a couple of meals out. We went to a kid's theatre production. We tried hard to set up fun things to do. However, we were stymied by a few crucial things:

1) The professor was sick.  He often gets sick at the end of a term, as an academic term can feel a bit like a marathon to a teacher sometimes, but this time, he was sick with what we thought was a respiratory or cold virus, more or less all break.

2) Like much of North America, we had some extreme cold which meant that it was just too cold to go anywhere.  Unlike most of North America, our extreme cold means you can get frostbite on exposed skin in 8-10 minutes.  We aren't talking "put on an extra tuque" weather, or zip up your parka, wear some snow pants or anything like that.  That's normal cold for Winnipeg. We're talking wind chills of -40 or lower for days on end.

We get this in Winnipeg, it's not a huge shocker, but it's hard over winter break when you are trapped indoors.  Plus, although our hot water radiator heat works well and gas fire places, designed for British Victorian homes without central heating, were pouring out the supplemental heat...there were problem areas.  Like, our 100 year old house does not have insulation in the outside walls, and if you stood next to an outdoor wall for more than a moment, it felt like Harry Potter's dementors were sucking out your soul.

3) Kids can get restless when trapped indoors. We had indoor toys and games lined up, but ended up resorting to weird made up games like "button hockey" and "Swedish scooting" and other things you could play on the floor without hurting anybody or freezing to death.

4)Somewhere during break, one twin got sick with a virus with a fever, and even though we'd all gotten the flu shot, we now suspect it was a mild case of the flu.

5) On January 5th, I had a big birthday, and I announced we would go out to dinner, since I didn't want to have to bake my own cake or make dinner.  The windchill was about -25F(-32C) when the family walked to the restaurant and back.

Finally, after many days, we were rounding the bend. The kids would go back to school. I would start working again. Finally, I would get to be alone sometime soon...  On January 7th, we went back to a normal routine, and on Sunday morning, we went to a kid music class, where I didn't feel all that well. Yeah.  Hah.

I started running a fever on January 7th, and it got pretty high before it went back down again.  I ran a fever for 5 days.  I had the flu the way everyone is scared to get it--the reason for getting the darn flu shot in the first place. (I did, honest!)  I literally helped get the boys on the bus, went back to bed, and stayed there nearly all day every day, all week. The dog kept me company. I felt like dying was a really good idea somewhere in there. I wished someone would loan me a 2 by 4 once or twice.

I did get to a medical appointment ("congrats, you have flu") and my temp was over 39C at that point. (103.5F) I eventually got a chest x ray on Thursday morning, but I still have not heard back about it.  A person could have died of pneumonia by now... and although my fever is down, I'm still coughing a lot.

I had to reschedule several appointments last week, and I'm hoping to catch up sometime soon, assuming I get better sometime. Twin #2 and the professor seem to now be having mild versions of the flu, but we may be kidding ourselves, we are running no marathons over here. In the meanwhile, here's a new article I wrote during winter break.  It has an odd resonance; I hadn't mentioned the flu as a plague, but now I think maybe it's relevant too:
We should be more civilized

Stay warm and stay well, everybody!

A Sale, Slow Fashion and Fun

Thanks for all the kind thoughts about Harry-- we appreciate it and miss him very much.
And now, some knitting talk:
A while back, I wrote about my stash and a sweater I'd just made.  Here's the thing--I made the sweater, and the kid was happy wearing it.  Very happy.  However, I just didn't love the yarn, it felt droopy to me, so I gifted it to my mom in case she could use it.  It went to Virginia.

Time passed and my kid loved the heck out of this sweater, and it stayed in good shape.  However, this year, when he put it on, the sleeves were way too short, and so was the length of the sweater.  (This kid's one long string bean in shape!)
I dug in the stash but could not find the leftovers...as they no longer lived in Canada.  My mom came to the rescue and mailed the yarn back from Virginia...so re-fashioning this sweater cost a lot in international postage.  (Thanks, Mom!)  Here is a quick snapshot of the sweater, with it's new additions.  Note the stripes on the sleeves and two additional orange and blue stripes on the bottom.  I also ditched the seed stitch at the bottom in favor of ribbing, as the seed stitch made it look even more droopy.  Kid is back to wearing and enjoying this enormously.  I still find Rowan Felted Tweed DK a bit limp, but it knits up nicely and has worn very well.

This year, I realized it was not possible for me to be coming up with much to say about slow fashion in October, as I did last year, as I really live it all year round whenever I can.  This sweater remake is a great example.

Also a good example?  My twins were doing horse races in the yard a few days ago after school.  I made their race horses--they are hobby horses.  I doubled old Smart Wool socks with big holes to make those horse heads, and used bits of felt from felted sweaters (from diaper soakers when we cloth diapered) to make their eyes and other features.  The only costs were many hours of my time and the broom sticks from the hardware store.

In honour of Canadian Thanksgiving, I am running a little Ravelry sale on my patterns.  Until October 16th (ends midnight, CT US & Canada), my knitting patterns will all be on sale with the coupon code: Thanks

Also, I've learned recently that my local bookstore, McNally Robinson, has copies of all three of my books available online here, and actual print copies of my latest book, From the Outside In are now available there, too.  So, if you like to do things the old fashioned way and buy your books in person in Winnipeg, now you can!

Summer knitting

Some people don't knit in the summertime.  Weird, huh?  I am of the opinion that there is no bad time for knitting, and further--I live in Winnipeg.  Winter is always coming.  My twins have outgrown nearly all their mitts, and we're a family that wears double layered mitts when it's cold.  In the last month, I've done 2 pairs of kid mittens and am on to #3.  (I'm aiming for a minimum of 4 pairs of kid mitts, but maybe more, we need back ups)

The ones pictured here are based on an old Penny Straker pattern I have altered significantly but used for over 20 years!  This project started around the time we travelled to Virginia in late June.  I am now working on a stranded pair of The hole inside mitts, in green and orange. (Stranded = warmer)  At home, the mitten project happens solely when we are listening to audio books before bedtime.  We're currently having a binge: the Henry Huggins Audio Collection.  It's something like 15 hours of listening, all doled out 20 minutes at a time before twins go to bed.

I also had a little grocery store experience (oops) where I spent more than I meant to--I was feeling relaxed in the air conditioning...it got out of control.  Little did I know that the store also was looking to give away a lot of Canadian blueberries for free, and I ended up with 8 lbs of blueberries, free upon (big) purchase.  So, lots of frozen fruit, 10 cups of jam, fruit salad and crumble later, we're making progress on that front, too.  Like a bear, I'm preparing for winter hibernation.

I'm swatching up a new design project: I want to see if I can come up with a sweater pattern done in strips or sections that are easy to carry around.  I am currently knitting a top down cardigan and I'm on the second sleeve.  That thing is so heavy and hot there is no way I will bring it anywhere!  Hence the strip idea.
After a lot of cooking, canning and cranking out a couple of articles, I felt the need to sit outside, and yesterday, I actually took one of my spinning wheels outdoors, sat on the back porch, drank some iced coffee, did some spinning and read (using my Ipad) at the same time.  It seemed remarkably indulgent and delicious.

If you're a summertime knitter like me, did you know that:
A) I also sell patterns on Loveknitting?

B) Loveknitting is having a BIG SUMMER SALE?
(I get nothing from telling you about the sale--nothing but the feeling that I am helping out friends, right?!)
Happy Summer!  (We're having a really fine weather, mosquito-free one here)
PS: Yarn choices...
White mitts: my handspun, unknown medium wool odds and ends
Blue mitts: Patons Wool Worsted and a strand of Kroy sock yarn (please don't felt these,my twin who felts mitts)
Brown Swatch: Lopi Einband, naturally colored brown, knit doubled

Distal: A Shawl for Winter

dis·tal

ˈdistl/

adjective

Anatomy

adjective: distal

1. situated away from the center of the body or from the point of attachment.

   "the distal end of the tibia"

A while back, my professor was doing some research concerning the distal-less gene in butterflies and moths.  I must have proofread a paper draft or attended a lecture...but in any event, I learned a new word. (definition above)

About a week and a half ago, I picked up some lovely Létt-Lopi yarn that I bought last winter at a yarn fire sale. ($1 a ball!)  I had three skeins in the same color and dyelot.  I also had an idea in mind.  My mom wove me a wonderful shawl out of my handspun brown wool yarn several years ago.  She wove it on a triangle loom from Hillcreek fiber studio.  I've worn it to death and it is beginning to pill and show its age.

I wanted a handknit version--and I started knitting. Maybe 10 hours later, I had a shawl.  It was stunningly fast for me, given the twin lifestyle around here.

Here's the result.  I cast on Monday and I bound off on Friday.  It was blocked and ready to go by the middle of the weekend, and the pattern practically wrote itself.  My lovely tech editor, Donna, reviewed it at the speed of light.

 

I present: Distal -- a shawl for wintertime...#10(6mm) needles, about 327 yards of Aran weight yarn, and only a few hours of knitting...a perfect combination for this time of year.  Published on Ravelry yesterday; wore it on my dog walk at 7pm this morning.  Knit fast!  Stay warm!

 

DIY Winnipeg?

Here's my latest article (note: I do not choose the titles!):
DIY Winnipeg: coming together to fix the city's problems

I'm really proud to have an opinion piece up at the CBC!  It was posted online late Friday afternoon, so not many people saw it before it just became part of another news cycle.  What I meant about gaining grassroots involvement in Winnipeg is not that everybody go out and fix the potholes themselves. However, my hope is that educated and intelligent people try to help fix city problems by offering city officials suggestions, help and expertise rather than throw up their hands after electing these folks to political office.

(We've got a long winter ahead--so maybe we can use the time to come up with better ways to fix infrastructure?!)

Stay warm...it's woolly weather now.  For all my knitting, weaving, spinning,crocheting (etc) readers, check out this cool website, Wovember, for more warmth and fibery goodness this month. 

Last but not least, if you're feeling cold now that frost has settled in here in Manitoba, remember, you can always knit yourself a sweater! :)

A little Sumpin Sumpin

I have finally found summer.  Here.  In Winnipeg.  A couple of days ago, we could even shut our tap off and it isn't dripping anymore.  (yes, frozen pipes were still a concern until after Canada Day.  Oy.)  Even though I am thrilled to see flowers, greenery, heat, all of it...we're still very covered up here.  You see, we've had torrential rains, massive flooding in the Province (but not in my basement, thank goodness...) and now--MOSQUITOES.  One of my 3 year old boys (the smaller twin, for those who know us in person) has a terrible allergic sensitivity to the bites, which is not surprising, given that the Professor and I are both allergy-prone.

Well, he has had three bad bites near his eyes since the beginning of June.  Yucko.  This requires lots of "loopy sleepy medicine"(kid Benadryl) as well as "sauce"(cortisone cream) in order to keep from having the yucky antibiotics, which he had the first time he got a bite.  Anyhow, the boys wear long pants, socks, shoes, button down long sleeved shirts sprayed heavily with bug spray, and Tilley sun hats, also perfumed with bug spray...and even so, they get bitten on their hands, their wrists, their faces...it's bad.  The city will start spraying tonight and to be honest, I am just grateful.  It is terrible when you can't play in the sandbox, enjoy a slide, or try out your new tricycle because of bugs.

Also, morning preschool ended...camp (mornings) doesn't start 'til Monday, and our mother's helper went away to visit her family.  So, we are having 10 days without any childcare.  In order to sell this to the boys as something fun and not an alarming sentence (which is what it sometimes seems to us--3 year old twins, without any help or breaks or anyone willing to watch both of them while they are awake but us...and oh, did I mention they still don't sleep through the night too often?!)...anyhow, I sold it as a "Holiday with Mommy."  Every day, we tried to do something fun together and I tried to tire them out.

Meanwhile, I relied heavily on precooked food from the freezer, the slow cooker, and deep calming breaths to get through all the potty breaks, accidents, tantrums, and random assaults on one's brother...

OK, on to the good stuff.  At night, when I should be sleeping, I was working on this.  As one of my brothers would say, with a sort of mischievous smirk, a little sumpin sumpin.  Here's a link to Sumpin, my latest knitting design.



It's an easy cellular lace pattern, only 4 rows long, and absolutely lightweight and airy in something like silk.  (This is Handmaiden Sea Silk, in Ivory)  It's meant to dress up a t-shirt, or, in my case, to cover up stains!  If I ever have to look nice again, I might want to wear/knit/own something like this.

The Professor shot these photos of me outdoors one evening after the twins were finally asleep.  It is light here until 10 or 11 pm this time of year and our twilight lasts a long time.  However, the mosquitoes were also thinking that this scarf was "sumpin" and our photo shoot was actually very fast.

This shot of me with my face all crinkled up and laughing was really like "Get on with it!  Hurry up!  Do you want to be eaten alive?!"

If you're curious about how I could possibly be designing or knitting now, well, I wonder that too.  I shot a photo of a chair in my bedroom...stacked with my knitting bag, a copy of Knit Green so I could answer somebody's question, and this last project, this silk scarf.  Knitting gets done in the tiny windows of space when I'm a passenger in a car, when the boys are drinking their milk before bed, and in the few minutes during naptime or before bed when I am trying to calm down and stealing sleep time to do it.

It is a time that is hazy around the edges, just like these shots...but a few minutes of knitting (or spinning) a day really keeps me feeling just a little bit sane when trying to sell 10 days without childcare or playdates or any local family or even any babysitting while someone is awake as...umm, a holiday with Mommy. :) 

Drip drip drip

If you're looking at our kitchen faucet and wondering what the green tape sign says, it says..."Please leave water dripping."  I bet for many people reading this, they are totally confused.  Why is a person who cares about environmental issues a little bit, one married to a biology professor, purposely leaving her water dripping?

We're on the risk of frozen pipes list.

In Winnipeg, it is still most definitely feeling like winter.  Yes, the sun is a bit brighter and spring is slowly moving northward. (we hope.)  The ground is still ice and snow covered, and boy, that snow is looking dirty! This morning when I walked the dogs, it was -6F.  Right now, it is -15C, or 5F, with bright sunny skies.

This winter is the coldest Winnipeg has seen in 35 years, and the frost line-that is how deep the frost goes beneath the soil- is at around 8 feet.  (2.5 meters or so)  You might guess, if you were thinking about plumbing, that there are water mains at that depth, and you'd be right.  Water mains are breaking in Winnipeg, and a whole lot of houses in our city do not have water.

Our next door neighbor's pipes are frozen, and she has water because her water line was connected with the neighbor on the other side of her house.  We live on the corner, and our one neighbor has no water and is connected to the other neighbor.  We hope our pipes don't freeze.

In our favor, we have twin two year olds and use a lot of water so it is still flowing!  We run the dishwasher and washing machine every day (potty training, but still using our share of cloth diapers...!) and that has helped.  Then in mid-March, we heard our neighbor had lost water and we started the trickle at the kitchen sink, 24 hours a day.  The city put us on the at-risk list and may compensate us for some of the water loss...but it is a necessary cost, no matter who bears it.  We so don't want to lose water!

If I think about it (and I try not to), this situation begins to sound like one of those bad comedies where things have to be funny so you don't cry--there are businesses and homes here who have been without water for weeks.  The professor talks about our "coy pond" and makes jokes about streams, water falls, and fountains.  In between my sleep deprivation (the boys have had a cold and they just don't sleep through the night) and the dripping water and a sinus headache or two, I think maybe I am feeling a little like I know how people in horrible war time work camp environments might feel.  (just kidding, definitely a first world comment)   I am even more upset now that so many people in the world do not have easy access to clean water...just the threat of it is scary to us.

We collect the water in the pitcher and try to water plants, fill the dog bowl, our water glasses, etc. with it, but we're using a lot of water.  Luckily, we are blessed with a lot of water here in Canada.  Drip drip drip.  Can you hear it running over there at your house?

I so can't wait for spring.  Please drop me a note or leave a comment or something if you can see flowers or the ground or even a melting pattern where you live!

Festival du Voyageur

The professor and I are both really, really tired. It has been sort of a long week, and it isn't over yet. That said, I think I should post about his adventures last weekend before we completely "lose the plot" and become too tired to reflect on the fun stuff.

Festival du Voyageur is a festival held here in February that celebrates the French fur traders and First Nations' roots of Manitoba's history. There are lots of people who dress up in traditional fur trader clothing, interesting displays, and plenty of time to stand around outside in the (very cold) beautiful out of doors.

I loved it last year but nixed going this year because a) I can't stand up for too long b) the twins in my belly do not dig the cold and c)bathrooms (washrooms for you Canadians) are in short supply--which really doesn't work for me these days.

Instead, I sort of helped the professor arrange a "play date." I still want him to go out and do fun stuff even if I am just better equipped to sit on the couch these days. He went to Festival with a biomedical engineering professor and a microbiology professor. I daresay they had fun together! This is a photo he took of his two friends admiring one of the snow sculptures. Note the sculpture has 3 knights and their steeds. 3 friends? 3 knights? sweet, huh?

Since it was cold, they spent time inside the heated tents. They made maple syrup taffy with the snow.

They visited with the blacksmith, who was apparently a one man show. A bunch of school kids visited, and one said, "I saw you here last year!" The blacksmith never missed a beat and said, "Is that so? You know, I think I recognize you too! You grew a lot!! Oh, and is that a new pair of winter boots? A new coat?"

This was said very earnestly. The professor and his friends were laughing quietly because of course, this would apply to most any kid who came by the blacksmith display. That said, the kid felt very proud and acknowledged, I'd bet! The professor told me that just in case we were considering doing living history at some point in the future? He thought maybe he could try out blacksmithing... You know, for when butterfly and moth genetics research wasn't paying the bills or something?!
They visited the fur trading/general store area and saw the "store" doing a brisk trade. Just as an aside here, the fur trade is still alive and well in Canada these days and you can buy all sorts of pelts in Winnipeg to make your winter time mukluks or your caribou parka. I'm serious about this--you see people wearing mukluks all the time here in winter. Every year on the CBC, you hear radio features about the warmest winter garb. Someone is ALWAYS swearing by his handmade parka, and usually it is made by a friend or family member. Check out this recent article in the newspaper to learn more about this traditional process.

The professor saw several handspun yarn displays, including this one. He made sure to snap a picture in honor of all the new spindlers I taught in February!

I am sure they visited another tent and listened to a band or two. They might just have visited a First Nations living history interpreter who talked about winter time activities in his teepee. The teepee I visited last winter was remarkably warm, considering the outdoor temperatures...

Eventually, they made their way over to see my friend (and wife of the microbiologist) Carol. She is well known for her beautiful fingerwoven sashes. Check out more about her and her work here.

All in all, a great day out that I have enjoyed vicariously--I hope you did, too. I could go into detail about why we're so tired (a grant proposal for the professor, a lot of doctors' appointments for me, and a childbirth class that lasted over 2 hours...but I won't. I will say though that either I am really old, or carrying twins is just hard, or maybe I just am NOT a night owl. I'm not sure I will make it through these 7-9:30 pm classes. I get the feeling the babies will come out one way or the other in any case....but next week, I've got to schedule in a nap somehow.)

poke in the eye?

My letter to the editor appeared today here in the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper.
For those who haven't heard about this case, recently a judge decided that a Manitoba rape victim's clothing implied "consent" and decided not to assign the rapist ANY jail time. Here's the latest on the case.

Unfortunately, one of the newspaper columnists had some convoluted reasoning when it came to this case. Her conclusions involved thinking that knitters were safe from sexual assault. I wish it were so...but alas, that is just not the case.

On a lighter note, I have more to post this week--the professor took some lovely photos of Festival du Voyageur. He went with some friends last weekend. --I stayed home as the windchills were -40 this year. However, I look forward to sharing the photos with you!

away in wool and sunshine

I've been away from the computer lately, enjoying a visit with my father. The happy confluence of sunshine, warm fall weather, and time to be outside took precedence over all else! We had friends over to our sukkah for wine tasting and dinners and desserts. We had fancy cheeses and 2 kinds of fish and homemade potato/leek soup. We've had make your own pizza night and fudge brown pie and apple pie and...lots of ice cream on top. We also ate out at lots of restaurants with my dad. It's been a great few days together.

While my dad was here, we took a boat ride on the river. We happened to pass the Manitoba Legislature Building, and you can see from this shot that it was a) a beautiful day and b)we've had more than our share of rain this season. (Look at the steps...underwater.) You might remember this view from 2008, when I took the boat tour for the first time and spotted a spinner right here...where the water is now. Here's a link to another sunny day in drier times! When our boat ride went under one of Winnipeg's bridges, we saw the knitting installation that crossed the bridge 2.5 times! It was a weekend full of arts and activity here.

Also, because it was Culture Days, there were events all over the city. We stopped to watch First Nations' drumming and hoop dancers. We saw big hoop dancers...and little ones.

My father left on Monday morning and began his long drive home. He complained while he was here that he hadn't gotten to see any moose. I mentioned that wasn't surprising--they don't just hang out on city street corners waiting for tourists to spot them. Imagine my surprise when he just happened upon not one but several moose on his drive east through rural Ontario. He even got a photo!

My recent photos are of more domesticated things...In my basement, I've got, oh, about 10 fleeces or so. I spent today packing up 7 of them to be sent off for processing. In order to do this, you have to stuff the wool tightly into bags. It's a bit like putting your sleeping bag in a stuff sack if you're more familiar with camping terms. Imagine doing that for a couple of hours or so. Right. It's been sort of a long day in the basement.

The good news is that I've got them almost ready for their trip to the post office. We're taking a drive on Friday to mail off some things south of the border in the U.S. This isn't worthwhile, say, for one small package, but if you've got multiple things to ship and need a little drive out of town, it seems like a nice day out. I'm excited because the Sock Knit Along starts on Friday, October 1st. I seem to have organized several hours of knitting in the car to coincide with the start of the KAL, and I can't wait!

In the meanwhile, it's off to prepare Cotswold and Cotswold cross wool, Jacob/Icelandic cross, Icelandic, and Romney wool for mailing. Hope you're having a warm, sunny fall day!

rain rain all around

It started raining here just in time for the weekend. Winnipeg doesn't have an enormous amount of precipitation compared to, say, Kentucky. In fact, when I looked up yearly averages, I found out that it had half as much. (Winnipeg has 20 some inches of precipitation a year as compared to 40 some in Bowling Green, KY.) Therefore, a big rainstorm can be an event here.

This might be because we live on the prairies, so when it rains, there is nowhere for the puddles to go. They become ponds or lakes...here's a smaller puddle that I could see from our house. Crossing the street can sometimes be like fording a fast running crick in the middle of a storm.

Last night we (the professor, our resident student and I) went out for Greek food. We walked to the restaurant and settled in for a leisurely dinner. We tried to draw it out as the sky got dark -again-and it started to pour. Unfortunately, even after a cappucino (for me) and a big slice of cake (for the professor and his student) it was still raining. It was even leaking and raining inside the restaurant! We pulled on our raincoats and hats and set out.

Within a few moments, our feet were sopping wet. Then the wind turned. The rain went down the neck of my raincoat. Worse yet, it somehow went up the bottom of my raincoat and within minutes, my linen pants were about 3 lbs heavier with water than I'd expected. When we got home, every piece of clothing had to be taken off and changed. I took a hot bath to warm up. The professor slipped on the basement steps--wet from a drippy raincoat--and hurt his toe enough to draw blood. It was a damp situation... We all seemed ok with staying indoors and giving up on the evening relatively early.

From our third floor we look out on the top of a building. This is what it looked like between rainstorms. The flat roof is literally full with rainwater.

This afternoon I am volunteering at the Manitoba Craft Museum and Library for Doors Open. I'm bringing along some spinning, since I imagine the crowds may be small. The rain hasn't let up, and although Winnipeggers are hearty folk, I suspect most people would rather take a nap at home than wander through the city in the rain. We'll see!

Today the professor and his student are working on bottling up the homemade wine that he's been making in the basement. It's a good weekend microbiology project...including collaboration with a colleague, who is loaning them some equipment. (It's always nice to feel I help to support nontraditional science learning at home!)

Introducing...

Introducing....(drum roll please....) the Winnipegger. Several people voted for names that had to do with my new city, Winnipeg, and I decided that they were right...the name fit. Actually, all the other names were neat too, but I eventually had to make a decision!

There is actually already a "Winnipeg Neck Scarf" design on sale at Ravelry, and it's crocheted rather than knitted, so I'll go for a slightly different name when I manage to get my pattern written up. (soon, I hope!)

I will definitely owe several free patterns to my kind readers at that point, so if you were one of those people... Romi,(Romi comes up with amazing names for her own patterns, I might add...) PghCathy, and Sherry (who doesn't even read blogs!), I will try to get those patterns to you as soon as they are ready!

For everyone else, I must say that although I have finished the slowest socks to knit--ever--, I will have to write their story on Wednesday. Things around here are busy with preparations for Passover, as well as an unexpected leaky washing machine in the basement. The excitement never ceases in terms of house stuff here, must say...and the washing machine is pretty much brand new!

OK, off to see what the professor proposes regarding the newest house related repair...

Have a meaningful and Happy Passover if you celebrate it!

Festival du Voyageur

On Monday, we had a provincial holiday in Manitoba. It was called Louis Riel Day and you can read more about it here. Provincial holiday means that not everybody in Canada had a holiday, the federal government still went about its business, but our province took the day off. I celebrated the day by doing a lot of things outdoors! First I went skating on the river, which was the first time I've done that. It was bumpy and windy. (no photos, I can't skate and shoot photos at the same time.)

Then I walked my dogs, which is a normal daily activity. Then....the professor and I went to Festival du Voyageur. Festival (with a French pronounciation of fest-ee-vaaal!) is a chance to learn about Manitoba's fur traders, Western French Canadians and the culture of the early Red River Colony. It's also a chance to have fun outside, see amazing snow sculpture, hear fun music and eat fair food.

It was a bright sunny day and very crowded. Here's the line to get into the reproduction of Ft. Gibraltar. We parked very far away and walked a long while to get to the line. I was very sore the next day from skating, walking and tromping through snow and wished I'd brought my snow shoes!

Then we went to see my friend Carol, whose beautiful weavings are featured at the festival. These traditional sashes are handspun and woven very tightly. The commercial yarns Carol uses all have to be "respun" to make them stronger before weaving--the original use for "energized singles!" The fur traders used these sashes to carry hundreds of pounds of fur on their backs as they travelled long distances. They are also very pretty!

Carol weaves the sashes in a variety of ways. Some are done on a loom, and some are done with finger weaving or sprang. Her sashes are in big demand in the province.

After saying hello to Carol, we sampled some bison jerky and even some bannock cooked on a campfire outside. We visited a tipi and the fort museum. We heard live music from loud speakers, but didn't manage to settle down in one of the tents to listen for any length of time. There was so much to see!

We also watched these fun games where adults in canoes (with wheels) competed and had to use their paddles to beat other competitors. They tried to use their paddles to push off of snow banks and other canoes. The only thing they didn't try to do was portage the canoes! All in good fun...

We finished off our visit with some hot mini doughnuts coated in cinnamon and sugar. We limited ourselves to 15, but we could have bought an entire bucket...and they even offered bucket refills! While that seemed decadent and unhealthy, we could see the temptation of hot fried sweet food that boosts the energy of people who spent all day outdoors working in the cold.

We admired all the snow sculptures (there were lots) and then took the long trudge back to the car. I ended the day with a hot bath and woke up with sore muscles, but it was worth it!

(I hope I made up for the lack of photos in the last post! All photos here are courtesy of the professor, who took these. My hands were too cold and I'm not good with the camera while wearing my mittens...)