Migration Instincts

Upon waking yesterday, Mr.Q totally redeemed himself when he told me of a conversation he'd had at the club the night before. Seems some friends were asking about me and he told them I was in bed, resting up for the big yarn sale. He told them I planned to leave early, to line up before the store opened.

"Do you mean, she's the line-up?" one of them asked. He was still shocked about it when he was telling me about it the next morning. "I told them they obviously didn't know much about knitters," he said. "I just had to educate those Muggles!"

Awwww! Well, he may not knit himself, but after that, I think he's earned an honourary exemption from Mugglehood. He walked me to the bus stop and sent me off with an encouraging "Have a good accident!"

I trekked up to Three Bags, and found other knitters coming out of the woodwork almost as soon as I got off the bus. We were the first in line, but were almost immediately joined by another woman who told us she'd been walking up and down the street, waiting for someone else to line up so she wouldn't be alone. There were a handful of other Ravellers that I knew: beentsy, Plae, and yarnpiggy. We went over the sale list, our wish lists, and planned our strategies together. And it's a darned good thing we got there early!


The very nice staff at Three Bags came out with a plate of mini-cupcakes for us while we waited patiently. (And, of course, we knat.) In return, we let them get out of the way when they opened the door, before herding in like a bunch off...well...sheep! It were a bit crowded in that tiny shop.



It took me about 35 minutes to find what I wanted/needed (and I was rather impressed at my restraint!) - and about 45 minutes in line for the till. Fortunately, I had my knitting. And other knitters to talk to. (Really, what other group of people would consider the invasion of personal space and fondling of strangers' clothes to be the height of etiquette? An odd bunch, but they're my peeps!) On the way out, I had another cupcake from the cupcake tree:


Beentsy & I waited outside for yarnpiggy for awhile (we lost Plae almost immediately - she is a most efficient and self-restrained yarn shopper!) A woman on her way out of the store came up to me: "Hey, I know you! You knit on my bus every morning! That's a new sock. What are you using....?" Knitting does bring the world together!

Eventually, after a coffee down the street with beentsy, I made my way home with my treasures. Happy coincidence, Jel was at our neighbourhood cafe when I walked by. She came out and grabbed me, and I got to do another show and tell. And Mr.Q played the role of excited spouse quite well. (Ummm...even when I told him how much I really spent. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head, but he just gulped and said nothing.) He even came outside with me this morning to photograph the new stash:



There's some Cascade Eco-wool (another larval sweater); some Dream in Colour Classy (for baby sweaters) and Smooshy (supposedly for a swap, if I can bear to send it away); one skein of Malabrigo Lace (white, for a scarf of some kind) and two skeins of Silky Malabrigo for touching and fondling and loving forever.

In other, non-yarny news, Mr.Q did indeed get himself to a dentist yesterday afternoon. One that's reasonably close to our neighbourhood, and who comes recommended by several of his co-workers - always nice to have a recommendation for that kind of thing! His tooth has indeed abscessed, but can be saved with a root canal rather than extracted. The dentist sent him home with antibiotics and Tylenol-3s in the meantime (and we got to try our new prescription cards - rather than having to sent out receipts and wait for re-imbursement - that's fun!) And Mr.Q is feeling much better this morning. Which, because I'm not entirely heartless, makes me happy.

And it's a long weekend, which makes me even happier! Going to tackle a bit of laundry, then we're going out for a play date. TTFN!

Can't Sleeeeeeppp!

It's 3:27 AM. I want to be sleeping...I need to be sleeping! But I'm not sleeping. Mr.Q is tossing and turning with a toothache. A really bad one, from the sounds of it. (Not to mention the complaining he's been doing about it all day.) I don't sound very sympathetic, do I?

Frankly, I'm not. He's been kvetching about this particular tooth on and off for months now. Months. And I have been telling him for all those months to go to the bloody dentist already. He keeps muttering on about how we don't have the money.

Well, maybe we don't have the money, exactly. But thanks to his job, we have frackin' dental insurance! F**k a duck in a hurricane!

I took some painkillers in to him a few minutes ago. He looked up at me with sheepish eyes and asked if I was mad at him. "No, not mad. Just trying not to say I told you so."

"Oh, you can go on and say it."

"OK then. I told you so."

I just hope he can find someone open on a Saturday that can help him. I won't be around to find out, though. I have a Very Important Date. Which is why I need my sleep! (I got myself all packed up before bed tonight, to maximize efficiency. Camera: check. Knitting, for waiting in line: check. Cell phone charged: check. Phone numbers of fellow bloggers, to finalize our strategy in the morning: check. Credit card hidden and unavailable to me: check! All stowed in my Ravelry bag, chosen not just for knitting hip-ness, but for sturdiness and size. I do like morning S.E.X.!)

OK. The pitiful moaning seems to have stopped. Perhaps I'll try going back to bed. I'm not as heartless as I sound. But I am tired, very. Also a little PMS-y & thus the filters are down and I'm more likely to call bullshit. I do hope he feels better soon. But I'm not feeling like coddling him much at the moment!

Fish & chips & vinegar

We met up with Sis and her husband yesterday and all went out to Steveston for an afternoon adventure. It was a perfect day for strolling and window shopping, but first we had to fortify ourselves. Pajos Fish and Chips has a stand right on the wharf - best fish & chips in the Lower Mainland, in my opinion!

The line-up and the wait were long, but well worth it. Though even the "small" combo was ginormous...think I'll try the kids' size next time.

We poked around a few shops before Mr.Q herded us into a thrift store, in an old converted church. I was a little nervous - there were records and books both for him to get into trouble with. But I'm glad I went. Turns out, if you go to church, good things happen! I found an umbrella swift, old but in great shape, for a whole two dollars. Squee! Mr.Q was appropriately excited for me.

In another shop - one of those uber-trendy overpriced gifty-type shops, with the hottest new bags on Oprah's must-have list, and odd kitchen gadgets of indeterminate use and all other manner of expensive knick-knacks - they also had some very cool sock monkeys. The coolest of the bunch:

Yaarrr(n)! I heroically restrained the debit card which was trying to escape from my wallet. Barely!

We made our way back to the water, and wandered along the boardwalk for a bit. All kinds of boats and wharf-side fish sales and birds and yummy smells, before heading back to Sis's place for the evening. We stopped at the liquor store for some refreshments, where I came across a Truly Canadian Beer, which I shall have to try:

Sis cooked us a super-tasty dinner (as always!). But dessert was the highlight - she made - from scratch - molten lava cakes. Ummm....YUM! I love being her guinea pig.

We also got to try some honey mead they'd brought back from Nova Scotia. It was interesting. I still can't decide if I liked it or not. I really loved the initial taste, but the aftertaste was quite floral. I could really taste the honey, which was a little weird. I like honey - but it tasted like the bees had used pollen from trees, which gives a very different flavour than other flowers, and one I'm not always crazy about. Still, it was interesting, and I would try it again. We spent the night, and in the morning, she made us pancakes. Then they drove us home, where I got to play with my new toy:

It works marvellously! I want to wind up all my skeins right now. But I do think delayed gratification has its place. Either way, Mr.Q is glad I found it. He's never complained about having to hold the skeins while I wind them, but he's never actually volunteered, either. (Did I mention I got it for only two dollars?!)

I like the weekend adventures with Sis. I think the next one needs to be a tour of a couple of the local wineries. Apparently the fruit wines here aren't quite as nice as the ones they brought back from the east coast...But they are about 4500 km (that's about 2800 miles) closer!

Now...I need to see if I can muster the guts to move the yogurt-container-spider-trap from in front of the bathroom so I can have a shower. Another Very Large Fracking HUGE Spider came scampering down the hall this morning. About 10 minutes after Mr.Q left. The worst part - it came from the bedroom. Guess who's going to shake out all the blankets and pillows before bed tonight!

This is what happens when you feed the animals!

Yet another birthday (I guess there's not much to do in late fall?)...this time, our nephew Levi...monkey-boy extraordinaire, who is celebrating the last of the single-digit birthdays today. Happy Ninth to my favourite brainiac, and a kid who knows how to have fun!







Hope you're not too old for cuddles just yet, kiddo! Even if you are going to be taller than me by Christmas...

Existential Questions

Question: How many partially-full containers of fermenting sour cream does a girl need in her fridge?

The correct answer, for extra Quimby-bonus-points, is: "Why, she needs all of them!"

Such an interesting variety of colours! Like a rainbow in the fridge, but without the pot of gold or the leprechaun.

And of course, being all enviro-geeky and stuff, I couldn't just toss 'em all; I had to clean out the containers to be recycled. (Does all the water I had to use cancel out the recycled plastic?)

Good times!

Done like dinner! (If, you know, I felt like cooking dinner. Which I don't. But you get the idea.)

Whee! After much, much finicky finagling, I finished the second Noro mitten this afternoon, and I am done all the projects I had signed up for in the the WIPs Wrestling Event. Woot woot!

One of the Damned Mittens:

The thumbs fit a little funny, but I don't mind. I love that they're more fraternal mittens than identical. No taxi driver will miss me this winter!

The Touch of Whimsy hat & scarf were a bit of an adventure. I had 2 skeins of Malabrigo worsted...one wasn't quite enough for the scarf, but I wasn't sure how much I'd need for the hat. And I really wanted the hat. If only to have a couple of knitted pieces that match when I wear them at the same time. But I didn't want to break the yarn - it's pretty bulky to join.

(Doh! I could totally have spit-spliced it. The Noro, too. I just thought of that this very moment. I'm such a git sometimes!)

Anyway. Because I hadn't thought of spit-splicing at the time it was relevant, I needed to find a way to do the hat from the same skein that the unfinished scarf was still attached to. What to do?

Why, knit from both ends, of course! I can be clever sometimes! Though this was a bit of a pain to move around, it worked quite well:

The finished set will be most tasty to wear when the weather cools down (more). Plus, frankly, the colour looks fabulous on me:


That little coil of yarn next to the hat? That's all the yarn I had left over when I bound off the scarf. I was pretty happy about that, too. Malabrigo, like good chocolate or wine, is not to be wasted. (Who am I kidding? Like any chocolate or wine!) To give you a better idea of how little remained:


Finally, I had to take all my FOs out into the yard to play:


Who's going to be a toasty warm Quimby this fall? Hmm? (And, despite the hat-and-scarf set, who's also going to be a walking fashion disaster? I can only hope that the Knitting Police have sharper, pointier sticks than the Fashion Police!)

Feeling the Ravelympic love:

Now to find that can of Strongbow hidden at the back of the fridge to celebrate!

Can you feel the love tonight?

...Coz I sure can't. I am half of one mitten away from accomplishing my Ravelympic dream, and y'all, it's kicking my arse. Big time. The thumb...well, it doesn't resemble any opposable digit I've ever seen on a Human Bean. Also, it turns out that an 8-month hiatus (and trying to reverse-engineer a "pattern" out of my own head with no notes at all from the first time around) has led to an astonishing difference in gauge. Though it could just be that I'm using the wrong-sized needles. I have no way of knowing. And I'm damned if I'm going to start it again!

So I am coping by re-organizing my stash; trying to plan my next project(s); discovering other long-forgotten WIPs (half of a Fawkes sock! I thought I'd screwed it up, but am delighted to report that, in fact, I haven't!); putting Tuscany on scrap yarn to see how much further I have to go (about 4 repeats...the pattern only calls for one more, but I want it longer); etc. etc.

I haven't quite got to the point of re-organizing the kitchen cupboards, but that's not far off, I don't think. At least I'm a constructive procrastinator. I tell you, I was never a better housekeeper than in university when I was trying to avoid starting a term paper!

However, I've got a secret weapon up my sleeve: my public library. My neighbourhood branch just sent me an email to say that one of my requests was in: the first season of Stargate SG-1. I figure it's time to rectify the gaps in my sci-fi geekiness, and this is a good place to start! Plus, it's oodles of uninterrupted knitting time.

In other exciting news, we had to de-flea the cats yesterday. Which is not as tedious as it used to be - merely a matter of applying (Very Expensive) goop to the beasties. Trouble is, as soon as I get one, the other two know what I'm up to, and it's a real adventure trying to get them, too. Also, I think Bagheera must have licked Brigid's medicated neck, and he was throwing up all night and this morning. I almost slipped in some on my way to the bathroom this morning. Good times. He seems back to his usual self today, so I'm not too worried. (Though it's hard to tell when all he does is sleep anyway.)

Last week, he spent most of an afternoon like this:


Dignified, wouldn't you say? A regular testament to feline grace.