Park Knitters!

It's so ugly out now. Winter seems to have just rushed in without much time for fall, which is really my favourite. It seems like a heck of good time to remember park knitting which we were only just doing a few weeks ago.

Here is Josephine in progress:


And my first pair of Audi's:

And Emma! Looking good and knitting away:

And Donna, who is a knitter, and Josie, who wants to be a knitter:


And Jocelyn rocking out and knitting:

And Reena- new knitter:

Ah, good times.

Less knitting, more blogging!

Yes, its been a crazy summer. We were invited to 6 wedding this summer. We only made it to 3. But saying you went to 3 weddings doesn't come close to capturing the craziness of it all. Bridal Showers! Stagette weekends! Engagement parties! Pedicure parties! Stag Caberettes! Yes, I said caberettes. I was a dancer.

Anyways, it was all awesome. I am exhausted and broke.

But on to the knitting!!

Here, kind readers, we have the Fad Classic from Knit and Tonic. Judging by the debris in the background (passport, Californian wines, Tony's backpack and clothes) I would say this was finished in around July-ish.
So, this guy was knitted in Knit Picks Shine Worsted. (If you will recall our internet shopping adventure of April 2007.) The yarn is a little bleh to me. Sure, its totally soft but is sure does have a halo to it and the colour is kind of greeny black, which tends to bug me. If it doesn't get more halo-y I will forgive its colour. Also, probably great for kids stuff but doesn't exactly make me look sultry and sleek. Hmmmm, perhaps that is not the fault of the yarn.

The actual pattern is quite nice. I'm not sure if it looks great on me but its too warm yet to really do a fashion show. I sure do love vests though, especially in November. I reserve the right to revisit this bad boy till a colder month to pass judgement.

There's more!

You will recall Knitting School.....

This is my work in progress. I missed the last class so I am hoping that I am going in the correct direction. I am thinking I might go up to 3 Bags Full and sit there and knit while my teacher is working. I need someone to hold my hand.

(Also, check out my new sheets! Yes Andrea, I actually bought myself some sheets and didn't just wait for mom's hand me downs. Anyways, they are the best sheets ever! Not to mention a good backdrop for knitting. Yeah, Winners!)



O.kay, that's enough blogging for tonight. I have knitting to do. Sadly, there is also laundry to fold. I have more knitting to show and tell but no more tonight. That is all. Andrea: I will try to be funnier next time.

Knitting School

That's not what its called but it really should be.

So, as of July 1 (Happy Canada Day) I became a non smoker of 1.5 years and I needed a present. Generally I would go for jewelry but I had been eyeing a class up at Three Bags Full for a while and I decided that was the present for me. So I'm taking a design your own sweater class and its fabulous, not only because I get to say things like "I'm off to Knitting School!" and "I have a lot of knitting homework to do!". Although, getting to say those things is pretty darn good.

Now I must apologize, its been quite a while since I've posted. Its not my fault. Well, its a little my fault but people keep having birthday parties and there are camping weekends and out of town visitors. Oh and Vancouver had a disgusting heat wave last week and like I could even move. I have no knitting related photos to post so I poached a few from Facebook to prove that I am still alive and as geeky and photogenic as usual. The first photo (up there) is me channelling Paula Abdul. Obviously. There is something about the song "Straight Up". I just can't control myself. I can't explain it.

This one, well, I'm just not sure. I obviously found something hilarious. Almost as good as knitting photos?

Dear Blog

I am very sorry for not posting but it has been a very busy couple of weeks. I'm moonlighting right now. And I've had a few other commitments. Like Alisa's Stagette:

That's me on the right looking like I had an unfortunate accident. All that wetness is of the sky variety. Alisa's Stagette was comprised of a scavenger hunt on the rainiest, stormiest day in Vancouver that I can remember in a long time. I, being so hip and modern, did not own a rain coat and was terribly miserable. That's my partner Laura on the left. She owned a raincoat and was slightly less wet. We rocked the scavenger hunt and came in second (it came down to a foot race. Doesn't always? I was a running disappointment and we did not win the heart shaped key chains. I did win some gum though. The best prize by far was the 3 pack of socks, which I bartered for a pair of. My feet were soaked after we fell in a knee high puddle outside of The Landing.)

There was a second half of the Stagette which included a lot of alcohol (Jager Bombs should not be consumed by people over 30...) and bad dancing to Justin Timberlake, etc. I have photos of that part of the night but have some pride and will not post them. It says a lot that I am more than happy to post a picture of myself looking like I peed my pants on the Skytrain but will not post the drunk dancing photos. I should really just delete them now lest they fall into the wrong hands.

Anyhoo, I got myself a new raincoat:


I got Tony one too as you can see. We needed them because it was supposed to rain all last weekend and we were off to Savary Island:



That's my sister Andrea. Let's see if she actually looks at my blog..... She made that hat. She makes loads of things. She's a crocheter but I still love her.

So, while it apparently rained like a s.o.b. in Vancouver, Savary was lovely! This was good because my friend Anne got herself hitched:

What a great photo, no? It was an all out 4 day affair. I tell you, planning a wedding on an island without electricity or heck, even paved roads makes me want to cry a little but they planned it perfectly. Came off without a hitch. Here is a picture of Karl cooking his own wedding feast:

So you see I have been busy. There have been other things too. Ah, I went to see Roger Waters the other night (amazing) and ah, other things that I can't recall off the top of my head. But look, I managed to finish this:

Please focus on the sweater, not the shininess of my forehead. We took like 7 pictures. Sadly, that was the best one.... So, yes, Flair from Knit and Tonic. Made with Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton. I love that stuff. Anyways, its great. Worn it twice this week. Heck, I'm wearing it right now so I guess that makes it 3 times. It might make me look slightly pregnant from the side, but I don't care, I still love it. The interior buttons were a bit hard for me. I only put 3 inside and I thought that I had sewn them in very loosely but they pucker a bit so I guess not loosely enough. Like the slightly pregnancy aspect I also choose to ignore that.

Well, I guess that's about it. This is kind of a long and exhausting post. I'm on my way out to Surrey for my friend Christine's Annual Surrey BBQ. She lures us all out there with loads of great food once a year. Its more than worth the excessively long Skytrain ride. Tomorrow is the inaugural meeting of the Park Knitters Club. But it is supposed to rain so it will be inside like all the past Living Room Knitters Club meetings.

Here's a couple more pictures of Savary (taken the day after the wedding aka Hangover Day)cause its awfully nice there.

I lost my buttons

Seriously.

I don't know how it happened. Actually I have a theory that someone's boyfriend started cleaning a little over zealously and they ended up in the garbage. There was a 4 day search party and now they are considered lost and presumed dead. I'm going to go to Button Button today to replace them.

I was kind of bummed about that this week. I was also bummed because they let Paris Hilton out of jail. I am evilly filled with glee now that she has been sent back. I am a small and petty person, I know.

Return of the super secret baby project

I had to use a really big picture to celebrate the glory which is the completed Super Secret Baby Project. Look at it! Its a beautiful thing!

So what you see here is a hat made by Donna. She also made the pale green booties. And those little green booties with the pale green ties were made by Jocelyn. And me I made that sweater, but that's old news.

It brings a tear to my eye. Look how great it turned out! And Donna and Jocelyn have come so far. They're real knitters now. Its heartwarming.

I'm not sure what patterns were used for the booties and hat (D and J- why don't you leave it in the comments?). I do know that it was all knit in Blue Sky Organic Cotton. We love that stuff.

I got new buttons!

You know that Kids in the Hall sketch, well how would you know if I can barely remember it? Um, it takes place in a hipster clothing shop and 2 of the Kids (I can't even remember who) are female shop clerks. Um, I think. Anyways they are talking about all sorts of hipster shop clerk type things (circa 1989), punctuated with lots of "Oh my god!"'s, etc and one of their topics of conversation is about a girlfriend of theirs who had a fabulous jacket and went dancing. Something was haunted. Was it the dance floor or the jacket? I can't remember. Mmmmm, this is a good story isn't it? Suddenly, due to the haunting, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER BUTTONS POPPED OFF!.

No....!

YES!!

Well then the girlfriend comes into the store at the end of the sketch wearing the fabulous jacket and announces "I got new buttons!!!"

Good rendition, no? Anyways, more to the point- I got new buttons!! Here's a nice upside down shot:

Yes, Donna picked me up at work yesterday and we had a lunch date at Button Button. Man, that place is seriously a good time. I've never been in there, just drunkenly looked through the windows late at night after leaving the Cambie.

These little suckers are going to go on to my Flair jacket which is blocking as we speak. (I'm a little worried about my blocking abilities on this one, but that is for another day.)


I almost bought some awfully excellent yellow vegetable ivory buttons that just faintly had cowboy images on them. Those were really some of the coolest buttons I have ever seen, but after about an hour of discussion with Donna, the shop woman, and other customers I went with the subtler buttons you see. New in 2007, a subtler Tracy. (I am so buying those cowboy buttons for another sweater...)