An Honourable Mention

Seems my blog has become a bit of a sensation in the knitting world. It didn't make the top 100 most visited blogs of the knitting variety, but it did get an honourable mention. How cool is THAT?

(That's Pluck, aka Parking Lot Kitty, who's been with us for more than a year now ... isn't she just too sweet?)

The title of this post contains the link to the knitting stats blog. Scroll down and you'll find your way to my blog under the "Up and Coming" title. A few of my blogging knit friends actually made the top 100. Kenny Chua's blog was #63 in the top 100; Chris French's was in the Up and Coming list.

I think the success has been partially because of my belly button start for circular projects, and partly because of the wedding garters I knit, and partly because of my Nieblings.

Although I haven't blogged since April, I am still spending a lot of time knitting. Here are some of the results:

This is a sweater I knit for a friend's daughter. The longhaired little girl is on the front of the Mary Maxim pattern, and the little girl standing in front of the white cupboard is wearing the sweater I knit. As a side note, I dislike Mary Maxim patterns (poorly written) and really hate knittiing with acrylic yarn, but couldn't resist knitting for this little girl.




This picture is of the PhoenixPalme tablecloth, which I knit as a Christmas gift for my dad and his wife in 2007. This was taken on their antique oak dining room table, in their home in Lethbridge. I was there in May, 2009. The PP is a Herbert Niebling design, and I spent six months knitting it.

While I was in Lethbridge, I found some old pictures. Here is one of me and my son. He'll be 30 years old next month (Dec. '09), so this photo certainly qualifies as vintage!


On the right is the Lautrec Bolera, designed by Jean Moss. I am knitting this for my sister Christine, who lives in Toronto. What can I say about knitting this? I love my sister. 'Nuff said.

And here are several more projects I've completed this year:


First on the hit parade is my adaptation of the Icelandic Shawl; I'll call it the Nordic Shawl, just so no one's copyright gets bent out of shape.


My sweetie is modelling it. He's 6'4", so you can see it's a big shawl. I made it so the top centre would fold back into a (wait for it) shawl collar.

This is a detail shot on a cotton scarf I knit for my mother. This cotton is so fabulous that unless you really know your fibres, you'd swear it was silk. This was a birthday gift for my mother this year.

The white stole is a piece I knit in early 2009. It is white kid mohair with a bit of nylon. I picked up a cone of this stuff at a thrift store for ninety-nine cents!!!

The grey shawl below was knit with a wool/acrylic blend. I haven't "killed" it yet, so it doesn't hold the blocking very well. I'll get to it eventually!












This is a little shawl I knit out of vintage baby wool. I call it "Diamonds and Lace", and it's an extremely simple little shawl. Because of it's simplicity, it was a lovely little knit, just the tonic my knitting-weary brain needed at the time!

More pics to come. Next week, my mother and I are flying to Ottawa, and will spend Remembrance Day at the National Cenotaph, and then attend my nephew's award ceremony at Rideau Hall, where the Governor General will be presenting him with a medal for Meritorious Service in Afganistan. That will be followed up with a weekend in Montreal, another couple of days in Ottawa, and then home. Thankfully, knitting is now allowed on planes, so I'll have about 10 hours of knitting time, which will take me a long way towards finishing my sister's Lautrec Bolero.

Geez, Buchanan, It's About Time!

So five months after my last post (counting on fingers) I figure it's about time I said a word or two about a thing or two.

I was elected to our local school board last November. I am now in my 13th non-consecutive year as a school trustee, having served 3 years in the early 80s (when I was still a child ;-), and 9 years in the 90s (as a teen ;-). I've been back on the board since being officially sworn in (or at) for five months, and it's certainly nothing like past boards to which I've been elected. Transparency is paid lip-service (if that), and the board has killed off two vital committees which insured some level of accountability to our electors.

I am trying to change that, and will continue to be a festering thorn until the board does the right thing. I promised that I would be the voice for those who are not heard, and I intend to keep that promise.

The week of the civic election last November, an old friend showed up, unannounced, on our doorstep, and offered me a job. Now I had been mostly-retired, semi-underemployed and really trying to stay that way. Then BOOM, within a few days, not only did I have full time work, but also the seat on the school board.

Life has gone from one extreme to the other in our house. Gone are the wonderful hours and hours spent outside, tending the garden, maintaining the pond, sitting on the deck knitting, and they've been replaced by full time work and a lot of meetings! However, I must admit, I am enjoying the improvement in our household income.

Out With The Old

I said goodbye to my faithful steed of 17 years. My 1991 Chev Blazer S10 had 410,000 km on it, and was still running very well, but the last couple of months I simply wasn't feeling as good about driving it as I had for the previous 17 years. BC has a "Scrap-It" program (check out the website, it's pretty cool!). They bought my old truck from me for $2500, much more than I would have received on a trade-in or selling it privately.

In With The New

And the old girl has been replaced with a 2005 Toyota Matrix. I like it for all the politically correct reasons, but I miss my Blazer terribly. It sat on the Toyota dealership's lot for nearly a month before the Scrap-It program came and picked it up, and many times I was tempted to run in and say "no, I made a mistake, I want my truck back!". Of course, that didn't happen, and now I'm sure my old friend is a compressed block of metal that will be turned into something else. As much as I am happy we had the money for the new car, I just can't seem to shake the feeling that I shouldn't have gotten rid of the truck (yet).

However, I'm thrilled with the mileage of the Matrix, and the sound system (boom boom boom ... heheh) and with the fact that I am driving a vehicle that is safe for my 45 minute commutes to and from work, and to get me to school board functions, in and out of town, with a degree of certainty that it won't break down on me.

On the knitting front: I have completed two shawls, a stole and two scarves to sell. Originally I was going to sell them in my Etsy store (don't bother trying to find it because it's got nothing for sale!) but I have enough interest locally that I can actually sell them for a good price and know the recipients.

I am currently knitting a slightly altered version of the Icelandic Lace Shawl, shown here on the right. Mine will be of mohair blended yarns, and quite a bit bigger, and different colours, but following the same general pattern. Once it's finished, it'll be for sale, too.

By selling my knitting, I can justify my obsessive need to shop for new yarns. I buy, as many of you know, mainly from thrift stores, and have been incredibly lucky in that way. I literally have thousands of dollars worth of yarn in my stash, and have only paid pennies on the dollar for them. I'm glad to be using some of my stash, and that people are happy to buy my knitted garments!

And, I just finished knitting a b!tch of a pattern from Mary Maxim. It's a very cute sweater for a little girl (I'll get pics up later), but the pattern was poorly written. This is only my second MM pattern, and the first one was as poorly written as this. However, I was knitting for a friend's daughter, and am getting fresh prawns in trade. An excellent deal all around!

So off to bed. I am in Kelowna, BC, as I write, attending the 105th Annual General Meeting of the BC School Trustees Association. I'll be here until Sunday, when I will then drive east again to Wasa Lake, where I'm meeting my dad and his wife, then on to Lethbridge, Alberta, to visit with family and friends, and to attend the Annual General Meeting of Blankets for Canada, of which I am National Vice President.

And yes, I'm loving my laptop, a post-election gift from my wonderful guy, who is at home for two weeks, being papa to our five cats and the dog, and all the fish in the pond!

Adios for now!

I Have Your Cat

And I don't even know who you are.

I was in Esquimalt in late September, caddying at a bridge tournament being held at the Rec Centre. A filthy, flea-bitten and emaciated cat with runny eyes and nose was trying to warm herself under cars or in any bit of sunshine she could find. The perimeter of the parking lot revealed evidence of other people's attempts to feed her.

I talked to her and she came right over, rubbed up against my ankle and meowed. Ran my hand down her back and every vertebrae poked itself through her skin. Every rib stuck out, and even her little face was skinny.

So I ran to the nearest grocery store and bought a bag of cat food, found a couple of containers for food and water, and returned to the parking lot. She was still there, and almost ran up to me when she heard me opening the bag of dry cat food. I put food and water down for her in a corner, and stood back to see her practically inhale what was in front of her.

I fed her for the next couple of days, and then decided she needed to come home with me. I felt that if her owner did live nearby, that person didn't have the right to have her and not take proper care of her.

My son and daughter-in-law were co-conspirators. They loaned me their kitty-carrier. The day I left town, I scooped up Pluck (PLK, for Parking Lot Kitty) and she settled right down in the carrier, surrounded by soft towels.

We took her to our vet, who found a tattoo in her ear. She had indeed been spayed (yay!), but the tattoo was so faded that we could not identify the vet clinic who had done her spaying, or the year of her birth. So, she's either from Comox or Mill Bay, and is either 8 or 15 years old.

She has had treatment for worms, fleas, earmites, as well as both sets of shots, which we were happy to pay for (even though we couldn't afford it).

Pluck, our little girl kitty, has blossomed living in a strictly-indoor environment. Her coat is soft and glossy, her eyes and nose still drip a bit, but nothing like before, she is bug- and parasite-free, she always has lots of the BEST cat food available (Orijen which is made in Canada of all Canadian ingredients), fresh water, clean litter and all the love and cuddles she can handle.

If Pluck sounds like your cat, please leave me your address so we can send you the bill for the veterinary care we have paid for. If you have any notion of seeing her again, forget it. You didn't take care of her when you should have, which has done you out of the option of ever seeing her again.

How Time Slips By

Yes, I know it's been much too long.

Diana Cooper was my 20,000th visitor (wooo hooo!) and won the prize package. Here is the silk bookmark I knit for her:

She also won the magazines, a linen tea towel with Canadian West Coast First Nations art, and a matching ceramic coaster, plus a 2 lb. cone of slightly-heavier than lace weight wool.

I had lots of fun doing this contest, and think MAYBE I'll run another one when my blog is approaching its 50,000th visitor.

I also knit a bookmark for an exchange partner in Washington State. She and I both belong to a monthly bookmark knit-along group. She sent me some beautiful things, including a bookmark she knit from silk she had spun herself, and a tiny tatted bookmark, along with some other cool things. On the left is the bookmark I knit for her.

And, of course, the wedding of the century distracted me for some time! Here is my daughter-in-law's wedding garter:


(The Richardson /Buchanan wedding garter)

We took our Freecycle motorhome to Victoria for the wedding, and parked it in my sister's and brother-in-law's driveway. This was waiting for us when we got there:



The motorhome is a 1976 Brougham, on a Ford chassis, and yes, it was FREE on Freecycle. We spent some time cleaning and painting, etc., as well as repairing the brakes and some other mechanical checks and repairs, and took it on our very first road trip for my son's wedding. I can't begin to express the gratitude Dorne and I feel for the Nanaimo freecycler who offered it, and eventually chose us to receive it. It's still a little beat up on the outside, but by next year's camping season, she'll be glistening and gleaming. Here she is!

Twenty-three feet of lovely old motorhome. Yes, that is duct tape on the door. Red Green would be proud of us! (I think 3-M should give us a duct tape subsidy). (This picture was taken in our own yard in Port Alberni.)

The wedding was fabulous. I will do a separate post, with pictures. The day was perfect, the bride and groom were perfect, the guests were perfect, everything was ... PERFECT! To me, the icing on the (wedding) cake was the fact that Eric's father and his wife came all the way from Halifax. My family welcomed them with open arms, making an already incredible family occasion that much more monumental.

The summer was long and hot, and we spent time cooling ourselves in the pool. The pond was a very busy place this year, with breeding goldfish increasing the population! I was absolutely amazed one day when I was doing some cleaning in the pond and saw a teeny fish scoot away from me! Careful observation revealed many babies, of varying ages (from a few days to about a month old) hanging around, under the lily pad leaves, all eating voraciously. Here are the adults (lusty bunch that they are!):

The fruit trees were extremely productive this year, too, yielding Gravenstein apples that were more than ten ounces each (yes, EACH!), copious quantities of pears, green seedless grapes, concord grapes, a few nectarines, plus rhubarb, strawberries, and a rose bush which gave us bags and bags of hips. We have been making apple sauce, apple butter, apple leather, and our own invention .. apple jerky! Who could just compost all those great apple peelings? Not us! We pureed them and spread out the puree on a cookie sheet, and let it sit in a very slow oven for a day or two. Voila! Apple jerky with fabulous taste and more fibre than a whole box of All Bran!

The concord grapes were shared with my daughter-in-law's parents. They made jelly and when I dropped by yesterday, they gave us four perfect jars of grape jelly! Look at those gorgeous grapes:

The kiwi vines were productive, and gave us a few fruit this year. Next year, after a good pruning and some vine refinement, we should have a bumper crop.

The pond (which was simply a hole in the ground last year, which Dorne and Eric redug and expanded to about quadruple the original size!) and the deck Dorne built (with decking from a fellow Freecycler!) are the jewels in the crown of our yard. What used to be a useless corner of the yard is now a beautiful spot where we relax, gaze and ponder. Well, ok, I knit and Dorne does crosswords ;-)

Last week, we took the motorhome out to MacKenzie Beach, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Here is my favourite prairie chicken, viewing the Pacific Ocean from the couch at the back of the motorhome, and a few other great shots from our four days out there:








And just to make our lives a little crazier, I filed nomination papers for the local school board. Civic Elections are on November 15th, and I'm hoping that I'll be one of the twelve candidates elected to one of the six seats available. I was a school trustee on this board for 12 years, and really look forward to getting back on the board. Keep your fingers crossed!

Ok, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more updates!

We Have A Winner!

Sitemeter recorded Visitor # 20,000 just a few moments ago.

Stay tuned for the details!

Will YOU be Visitor Number 20,000?

As my sitemeter speeds towards Visitor # 20,000, I am preparing a prize package for that lucky person.

The prizes will be as follows:
* A handknit, silk lace bookmark with the winner's initials knit into it, along with a very fetching lace pattern (I will need your initials to knit it).
* A gift of yarn, laceweight or finer, enough to knit a shawl/wrap or whatever you like. I will offer several choices.
* A vintage Circlon circular needle.
* An original August 1956 "Workbasket" magazine with a Niebling-esque doily pattern.
* An original McCall's September 1988 Needlework and Crafts, 75th Anniversary edition, with two beautiful knit doily patterns, including one that's shown as a doily and a square shawl.
* A Canadian souvenir that is actually MADE in Canada, and not imported (yeah, go figure).

If YOU are that person then you must get in touch with me. When you visit my blog, please scroll down to the sitemeter (just to the right of this post, in the sidebar), and check the number. If you are Number 20,000, you need to email me with the following information:

1. Real name and snail-mail address.
2. Internet Service provider (so I can verify that it really was you).
3. Date and time of your visit. (ditto to above)

Here is my email addy:
rosemarie dot buchanan at gmail dot com

Of course, change the "dot" to a real ".", and the "at" to a real "@" ;-)

I check my sitemeter every day. If Visitor #20,000 does not email me within two days (48 hours) of her/his visit, I will offer the prizes to the next visitor. Visitor # 20,001 will have to check my blog three full days later (I'll post it) to see if they are eligible for the prizes.

If the winner wishes to be anonymous, I will respect that, although I would like to publish the country/province/state of the winner. If you'd like your name announced, I'll be happy to do that, too!

If you are not a knitter, I will offer you the bookmark, the Canadian souvenir, and another hand-knit prize, still to be determined.

Ex-spouses are not eligible ;-)

These details may change, so please check back for updates!

Perspective, man

Sometimes, all you need is a little perspective.

And when that fails, there are other options.

Carmageddon

Evolution vs. Creationism