A sale! An article! A finished object

Let's celebrate summer!  Every year for maybe five years now, I've participated in the Canada KAL (Knit Along) by offering a discount on all my Ravelry patterns!  This year, I'm also offering four free patterns to folks who participate in knit along.  To find out more, check out the Designed in Canada Ravelry group here.

To cut right to the chase, my patterns are all on sale until midnight (ends CT, Canada and the US, on Canada Day, July 1st.  To get 25% off, just use the coupon code:
Cankal2019

Hint: You can use this discount even if you don't want to knit along with anyone else!
In other news...This past week or two has been a bit rocky.  I described some of it in this column I wrote for the Jewish Independent.  It's called Being positive can be hard.

Cause, yes, it has been a bit difficult to be positive.  My car still has two broken windows. We have had more than two weeks of sidewalk and street construction right beside our house.  Last, but not least, before we knew that the construction was happening, we scheduled a renovation job....and had insulation shot into the walls of our house.

On the good side, getting insulation into our 100 year old, empty walls, will be amazing in the winter time now.  Hopefully, when you stand by an outer wall inside our house this winter, it will not feel like the dementors from Harry Potter are sucking out your soul!  On the bad side, there was a lot of drilling, blowing, and other construction sounds to add to the jack hammering on the street.  It was a long few days.  (And we still have more renos happening in July.)  We've been hoping to do this work for a long time, so now I just have to grin and bear it!

I've also been doing a big editing job so haven't had a chance to write up a knitting pattern for a while...or frankly, think much beyond what we would have for dinner.  As a little palette cleanser, I took a ball of Japanese cellulose yarn that my brother-in-law and sister-in-law brought me back from Japan and I turned into this little crocheted pouch.  That wasn't enough though, I had to make a lining and a zipper, too.  It turned out ok, too!  Here it is, blocking, with a plastic bin inside to make it stand upright. Sometimes making something, from start to finish, and ending up with a useful item helps combat the feeling of chaos all around me...

Right as the insulation job was starting, we found out that they would not be able to drill all the holes on the outside of the house.  So, the professor and one of my twins worked all last weekend to move anything fragile or delicate out of the way.  This is what my office looks like right now.  There's just a bit of room on the edge of the futon, between the wheels and the loom bench, for me to sit while working, and if Sadie the dog is careful, she can sleep near me on the futon, or on my foot.  It's cramped.  (And it will all be moved again, after the walls are spackled and repainted.  It might be a while...)  Happy summer projects!

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?)

like a stab in the eye...

This infill development is proposed for two residential lots, about two blocks from my house.  Here's my opinion piece for the CBC about the issue.

PS: I guess I posted too soon about our trying week--if I'd just waited til this was published, I would have had something more positive to say!  (I didn't know then that it would be published. Surprises make life interesting, right?)

hot, hot, NOT!

Like a game of duck, duck, goose, the weather has been playing with us. Last week was warm (70F/20C) and sunny. On Saturday it rained a lot, which didn't help our enormously flooded rivers. Then, overnight the temperature dropped way, way down and it turned to snow.

The professor knows that I am missing some of our regular household routine. My world has gotten increasingly small. I am now 34 weeks pregnant and have to spend a lot of time in bed with my feet up. (I've got a lot of swelling going on, as well as a variety of other symptoms--it isn't so fun just now.) Anyhow, I usually wake up earlier on the weekends to feed the dogs so my lovely spouse can sleep. Since I'm not so able-bodied, the professor is doing this too.

Here is a photo he caught of Sally the dog, rushing into the house for breakfast. I love how it is all ears and tail and long pointer/hound legs in a blur. This is definitely Sally's morning attitude!

In order to prove to the world that indeed, all the snow had melted and we did have sunny days last week, the professor includes this photo of the new condo construction across the street. We are baffled as to why they changed the design and construction plans to make a frowning face that is pointed directly across from our house. When the professor sits at the dining room table, he looks out the window at this building and spends time debating what would make the face more cheerful. I'm wondering if we need really thick curtains or something so he'll stop worrying about this!

After breakfast, the dogs go on their walk. I have not gotten to take a solitary dog walk since January, and I really miss it. The professor brought his camera along to show me how much everyone still enjoys their walk. You can see the amazing skeletal canopy of our elm trees, which line the streets. Even in winter/spring/late fall, their size and natural architecture is impressive. Although Winnipeg has to actively fight against Dutch Elm Disease and a percentage of the trees die each year, it is one of the few cities in North America that still has its elm trees left. This is one advantage of our very cold climate. I love the majesty of these trees!

Sorry for the brevity of this post--wanted to tell you that I am still alive over here and that there are no babies on the scene as of yet. I'm just waiting patiently and now having a doctor's appointment and an ultrasound every week....along with a lot of unpleasant "twin pregnancy" symptoms that I'd prefer to live without.

Patience is a virtue, right?

view from the office

You may remember last summer a house was demolished right across from our house. Since then, I've been watching a new building take shape across the street. This is a building that will house 3 condos and even has garages in the back. It's quite an undertaking. Today is bright and sunny (and even warm for a Winnipeg February, at 16F/-9C). I decided to snap a photo so you can see the construction progress too. It's through a window, so that's why it is a bit smudgy.

Lately my world has gotten much smaller, so I haven't been able to come up with a lot of blog photos. The professor provides me with some, but a bright and sunny February day in my office is now worthy of a photo...let me explain. As the "pregnant with twins" experience progresses, I am learning more about my body and about the human body than I expected.

For instance, when I saw the doctor last, he pointed out that right now, in the middle of my second trimester pregnant with twins, I was experiencing the symptoms and physical size of a normal woman at the end of a normal singleton pregnancy. That, when I got to the third trimester, I would be in a place (in terms of size, symptoms, etc.) that most pregnant women never go. He told me this at a morning appointment and I must admit that it took me the rest of the work day to process the information and/or block it out. He probably just thought he was being honest with me, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know that information!

So, yes, here it is, week 24 and I can't lie, I am out of breath quite a bit these days. I take medicine for heartburn (which I have nearly continuously) and I have to eat in only small amounts--all the time. I have to rest a lot. I am outgrowing the maternity clothes. This experience is causing me to slow down and take notice. I do a lot of sitting still and I haven't been going out as much. I don't cook as much, either. I do a lot of reading, working, knitting, and hanging out with a dog or two.

That said, I do not want to have to give up my sunny 3rd floor office just yet! My house has 3 floors and a basement. Some days, I really need to limit my stair climbing, so I plan out my trips carefully and make little piles to bring from one floor to the next. (The professor does a lot of the transporting so I don't have to...) I bring snacks with me when I go up to my office, because a quick trip to the kitchen (1st floor) is really out of the question on an hourly basis!

When I get settled on the futon (note the extra pillow to support my back!), I don't get up very much. The laptop gets put on my lap and that rolling stool becomes my foot stool. My feet are up and I start working and answering emails.

I am also slowly--very slowly--trying to tidy things up in here. This is because I suspect that someone may end up staying in this room and sleeping on the futon when it is time for the babies to arrive. Perhaps it will be the dog sitter, or a relative--it's hard to tell. I also don't know when or if I will no longer make it up to my office anymore. While I don't keep things very tidy normally, I'd rather not leave it in a mess for months, either!

There's no reason to suspect I won't be able to get up to my 3rd floor office. I'm in good health and no one in the medical profession has said a thing to me about bed rest. No one with any medical training has said anything much to me about twins and how they often are premature. However, lately I've been constantly reminded by others that I should "prepare" for all this. The others are relatives, acquaintances--random, well-meaning people who don't actually know the status of my health or well-being. Usually they are doing this long distance, so if I do have a problem, they won't be here to help, either. They just want to worry me with scary information that I probably don't need to hear--at all. If something more serious should happen, I'll experience it myself soon enough. No need to anticipate what probably won't happen...yet, I hear a lot of people who can't wait to tell me what they think is "the worst." I can't see how this is helpful, but it surely does produce needless anxiety.

Every day that I go up to my cluttered, sunny 3rd floor lair makes me happy. I am trying to clean up, really I am, simply because I'd feel embarrassed if anyone had to maneuver around here right now but me.

What I am hoping is that the visiting person who ends up staying in this room appreciates all the fibery books and supplies on hand. Imagine all that reading material... I'd love to be put up in someone else's studio--but in the meanwhile...

If you get an email from me in the next few weeks, please keep hoping it comes from up here. You know, from my sunny 3rd floor retreat, where Harry the dog usually sleeps on the futon next to me. I hear one can do email and write/edit on bedrest, but I'd really rather not find out!

1 pair of socks+other random stuff

The other night I finished my Mary Jane Socks (pattern found in Fiber Gathering) and I tried them on before I'd woven in all the ends. Before I knew it, the professor snapped a couple of photos. While the socks themselves aren't exactly the right color here-they are much darker purple in real life- the professor thought the tableau was perfect.

Note the copy of the book, the socks, and Harry the dog snoozing across the room. Beyond, you can see my Canadian Production Wheel. If you happen to have a copy of Fiber Gathering, you may have seen this pattern, these feet, and that spinning wheel before. Quick! Go look at it--does it look familiar? (hint: It should.) Only difference is the shade of yarn used in the socks themselves!

In other news, the professor installed a new wireless router over the weekend to our replace our 7 year old router. Who knew wireless could be this fast? Well, now I do. Whew, it sure does make downloading big files easier!

The other random thing (I'm listing them in threes here) is that yesterday, I was talking on the phone to my very nice knitting buddy, Christine. She's the kind of person who I really value as a friend...as my mom would say, she's got her head screwed on straight. (translation? Her priorities seem really ethical to me and make good common sense.) So, there we are, talking, and I look out the front window. Uh oh.

Ten skateboarders between the ages of, say, 14-20, drive up in two cars. They suddenly start using the construction site across the street as a skate park. They move some wood to make a ramp. They are doing tricks off the second story of an unfinished structure. You know, the kind with big holes and concrete everywhere? The kind of building where the construction workers are working hard every single work day. They didn't deserve that.

I got to make a wee little phone call to the cops then. Christine let me call her back, cause, you know, she is a nice person. Plus, I think seeing someone crack his head open would really turn my stomach. All that blood? Yuck. On a practical note, if they hurt themselves while being stupid, well, we're all responsible for the medical bill here in Canada, aren't we?

Luckily, the police don't seem to be busy on Sunday afternoon, and maybe someone else called too, because they chase the skateboarders away not once, but twice. As Christine would say, Good on ya, police guys!

So, three random good things--I hope this doesn't mean I'm due for anything randomly bad to happen. Anything good happening with you? Do tell!

Random

I thought I'd include some photos of life around here...and narrate them. This is my second attempt (I somehow hit two keys and deleted the post...) so this may not be as insightful or patient as the first post attempted to be!

This is a photo of scarf #1. It's coming along. What's it made of? It's got a silk/wool warp (and it's nubbly silk) and a mishmash of yarns in the weft. A commercial mohair/wool/nylon boucle that I bought from a mill in Ireland, a handspun Polwarth single ply yarn that I spun with bits of gray, pearl, pink, peach and copper silk waste threads mixed in, and an odd ball of Lion Brand's long discontinued Kool Wool, a wool/nylon yarn I really liked when it was being produced. Dealing with the broken and uneven tension in the warp has been an exercise in patience--I'll look forward to getting this first scarf off the loom so I can readjust things again.

The second photo is of some 3 ply chained handspun yarn I finally washed this week after plying. (Chained plying is also called Navajo ply) It looks non-descript, until you remember this post. This is the Rideau Arcott cross wool I was given last spring that was full of burrs. This is a great example of how you can use (and enjoy) wool that is less than perfect. I get tired of hearing the phrase "trash in, trash out" when people talk about wool for spinning. Throughout history, spinners have not always had perfectly clean fleeces without vegetable-matter, yet we've managed to make it work! You can do beautiful, useful and functional things out of less-than-perfect materials. It sometimes takes work. (Good metaphor for people sometimes, huh?)

My husband, the professor, continues to find "views" without having to climb large observation towers! He went to run an errand before work and caught this photo in a parking lot while waiting for the shop to open. This is just a snap shot of the prairie sky above a parking lot. What a view... It sure isn't like the sky in other places.

At the university campus, someone is feeding the squirrels and birds some peanuts. Here's a magpie having a snack.

Finally, the construction across the street continues at a brisk pace. It's pretty interesting to see what gets accomplished each day. Staring out the window has been fascinating, particularly because my loom faces the construction site. While I weave, I watch the building commence.

It's been a long week...some very sad news from a good friend, as well as a lot of work for the professor...and he has also been doing a lot at home as I have been under the weather... but despite all this, I think our household really enjoys finding small things to admire and appreciate whenever we can.

I hope, wherever you are, that you'll get to find beauty in small, every day wonders this weekend.

ain't doing no Twist

To follow up on that last post--I can't say that I've been doing the Twist here. (nor the Mashed Potato....) No dancing at all, really. I've been feeling a little under the weather and also accompanied by bad allergies. As a result, I've been spending time staring out the window. I tried to catch a photo of the daily construction taking place across the street. It's hard to tell in this photo, but on the left of the picture, there's an enormous truck on the street. Then you can see an elm tree (bisected by the sun) and a straight up and down thing. That was a bright orange thing, easily several stories high, that I think they were using to shoot concrete into the structure. The building itself now has a basement, and a floor on top of that, and it grows more by the day.

It is pretty dusty in our house as a result of this construction. That said, I've been amazed by the quick progress. Also, the workers have been pretty respectful. They come early, they stay late, they work hard. They don't make unnecessary noise and they seem to avoid the usual trash and other mess that I have seen around other construction sites. So, if you have to feel off your game and staring at something, this isn't a bad thing to watch.

Last weekend, I warped my loom with some cream color, 60% silk, 40% wool yarn. The silk is filled with "nups" which means that it is shorter staple and likely from cocoons where the bug emerged from it, leaving a hole rather than being stifled by heat or steam. The shiny silk that comes from the stifled cocoons is very strong; this yarn wasn't.

I envisioned yards and yards of easy to weave scarves in my near future. About 6" into my weaving, I went to advance the warp and the worst possible thing happened. The tension was too much for the yarn and about two-thirds of my warp just broke off where it was tied to the front of the loom.

I acted fast and retied the ends as best as I could. I can't lie--I did pause briefly to mutter a few choice bad words! It isn't easy weaving right now, and I'm not thrilled with how the first scarf is coming out--the weft is all uneven because of the uneven tension of the retied warp. I will likely cut this off the loom when I am done with it, and try to retie the warp ends again to hope for better results. I am still new at choosing good warp yarns, and maybe this wasn't the best choice.

Some weeks are like this...maybe not memorable, a little yucky, and yet, there to be gotten through anyhow. The good part is that I've been doing a lot of reading! I've loaded up on library books, including Margery Allingham's mysteries. I find it amazing how entertaining and compelling they feel, despite the fact that many of them are 50 or 60 years old. Definitely still worth reading.

Had any warp end disasters? Reading anything good? Do tell.

KAL starts tomorrow!

The Sock Knit Along starts tomorrow on Ravelry! Although most of the participants will be doing the Ploughed Acre Socks from Knit Green, I am going to do Mary Jane Socks from Fiber Gathering. I even got the skein of yarn all ready in a ball to start knitting right away on October 1. (For those that know me, yes, that yarn has purple, green, blue, black, and even a bit of white in it. Perfect to match nearly everything in my wardrobe.)

The hole across the street that used to be a house? Today they poured concrete for the new building's foundation. I could watch the process from my office. After the truck left, the workers walked the top of the wooden shell, carefully smoothing out the concrete at the top.

It's hard to see here through the trees but it was quite an interesting thing to watch. I'm sorry I didn't catch a photo of the enormous yellow crane thing they used to shoot the concrete into the wooden foundation molds...every time I got up from my loom (I wove today) I watched the action! Despite these photos, it was a very sunny day today. I shot these through a window, and the window itself is, well, a bit cloudy.

It's been a quiet but very joyful day here. Lots of sunlight and a breeze to dry some laundry outdoors on the clothes line, some dog cuddles, and I wove about half a rug. Tonight is the first weaving guild meeting of the year, too.

Tomorrow, I get to start my first KAL with friends and I have plenty of time to knit tomorrow for starters! What could be better?

(Mint chocolate chip ice cream with fudge sauce? World peace? A self-cleaning house?)