San Francisco - so far

Having been in San Francisco for 2 days, I figure I should jot down my feelings of this city so far.  I have been taking pictures, but don't have a way to download them, so you'll just have to wait until I get home for those.

1) SFO (airport) needs to make getting your luggage easier...I hoofed it all through the airport (following the baggage signs) only to miss it.  I did finally find it, but DAMN.  The conveyor belt walkway was awesome though.  I don't NEED to use it, but did because it looked like fun.  Also, having the BART show up right at the airport was very convenient.

2)BART overall, very similar to the Metro in Montreal (born and raised there, so no stranger to that) and somewhat similar to the C-train in Calgary.  They definitely need to fix their announcements of the stations.  I almost missed my stop (would have definitely been an adventure then!).  Also, similarly to Montreal, not very luggage friendly.  Why yes, I love lugging my luggage up stairs and escalators ;)  Could be worse, though.

3) Mission.  Wow.  I am so glad that I am staying here.  It is gorgeous!  Reminds me a lot of Montreal, only with less french and more spanish.  Tonnes of awesome little shops that I want to explore in a bit, when things are more open.  There is a little shop that carries a plethora of books, herbs etc that also has some very funky pottery things.  I might go home with a piece of that, we'll see.  The Inn that I am staying at is fabulous!  Very comfy, antique-y and cosy.  The view from the roof top (you have to climb a wrought iron spiral staircase to access it) is awesome, and the English garden is stunning.  I would very much like to thank my wonderful sister and brother in law (who shall remain nameless in case they prefer the anonymity) for choosing this place.  It is awesome!

4) Family.  My sister and brother in law just had their first child on Friday.  I was coming down here to be the birth (and perhaps post partum) doula originally.  Well, my nephew had plans of his own.  He was originally due on the 12th of May, making my visit timing awesome.  I got a phone call on the morning of may 5th from my sister in law telling me she was in labour!  Long story short, she had her baby on Friday, May 6th, one day before I arrived.  He shares my husbands' birthday, and he is a very sweet, good natured baby, and they let me hold him!  Holding such a new life is a rare and wonderful occurrence in our culture.  My role has now changed to being a post partum doula.  I will do the best I can for them.  My sister in law is a fabulous mother, and her husband is a wonderful father.  There is no doubt in my mind that this child is well loved and his parents are absolutely devoted to him.  I never doubted them at all, but it is awesome to see it happening.  Being there in the beginning to see the bonding happen is a very magical, humbling experience, and I feel blessed that they have allowed me to be here to see their family grow and unfold.

I miss my husband terribly, as I always do when we are apart, but I know he'll be just as happy to see me as I him when I get back home.

So far, San Francisco = win.

Double Whammy

I'm not pregnant, before any of you ask.  I checked, and it looks like a solid "No" on all counts.

The morning started out inconspicuously enough.  I was to attend a course downtown at the Municipal Building about Excel.  I was even looking forward to it.  About 45 minutes into the class, I started to feel very unwell.  Luckily I was sitting at the back of the classroom and I decided a trip to the bathroom was in order.  I felt even worse after being in their, so I decided to cut my losses and just leave.  I passed the instructor in the hall, let him know that I was very sorry, but I was feeling very ill and didn't want to interrupt his class any more than I had, and I had to go home.  I was really enjoying the class, too.

That's when it really all started.  I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that being sick in a public building (City Hall, no less) is very demoralizing, depressing and embarassing.  Having a security guard knock on your stall door and ask if you are alright as you are tossing your cookies is horrible (she was very nice about it, though)

So, here I am, hoping whatever this is passes soon.  If you are going to be sick, I highly recommend not doing it in a public building.  Even getting sick at work would have been less humiliating.

Do Ladybugs herald the beginning of Spring?

As the title states, does the arrival of ladybugs herald the beginning of Spring?  I think it does:

Every Ladybug wheel has a ladybug hidden on it somewhere.  Mine is on the left rear leg.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I have acquired a spinning wheel.  A Schacht Ladybug to be exact.  Purchased from Cal at Shuttleworks, with the lazy kate included.

Just got home!

Lazy kate and treadles assembled

Ready to go!

Assembly seemed simple enough (I am equipped with a very handy husband) and I was ready to start spinning.  I had bought some Coopworth and some Shetland at Shuttleworks, and opted to start with the Coopworth.  Keep in mind, I have done some spindle spinning, so I had a notion of how the whole shebang worked.  I understood pre-drafting.  It was the uptake I couldn't get right.  After much frustration on my part (hubby was cool as a damn cucumber), and much youtube watching, we got it!

I present you with my spun yarn, hubby's spun yarn (also Coopworth) and some smaller singles I started making :)  The Coopworth is a natural oatmeal colour, and probably about a worsted to bulky weight.

My first wheel spun yarn!

Hubby's first-ever yarn!

Thinner singles!  Superwash merino in Botanica from The Sweet Sheep!

And, not to be left out, remember the spindle shots from earlier?  Well, it finally got full, and I couldn't spin any more on it.  So here is my one-of-a-kind, thick and thin singles.

Pre-washing

Post washing.  I don't think I smacked it enough, there are some overspun parts still.  I guess we'll see how that plays out.

Remember the lone mitten?  He has a fraternal brother!  They are made with Noro, that's all I remember.

I've been really busy.  Sure, my house is messy, but look at all the fibre love!

Two posts in one month?

April has been a pretty busy month for me.  I went to Lloydminster for the Recreation Facility Personnel Conference.  I was glad to have the opportunity to have gone.  I attended some pretty good sessions, mostly about leadership, as I would like to develop that side of myself, as I am not a "natural" leader, and have to work at it.  I got a lot of good ideas.  There was a "fun" session, where you got to sign up for a fieldtrip of sorts.  Instead of the spa or wine tasting, I opted for a Hutterite colony tour.  The pie was awesome (bought one to take home!), the coffee was tasty, and the tour was amazing.  The ladies that were giving us the tour were very informative, answering questions about baptisms, courtship, education and daily life on the colony.  One of our tour guides took us to her home.

Hutterites don't have kitchens in their homes.  They have a mini fridge, an electric skillet and a coffee maker, but all the proper meals are eaten communally in the large dining area.  Adults eat seperately from the children.  At 15, children "graduate" to the adult room.  There were no books that I could see in the house, as well as no radio or TV.  Their furniture is all hand made, as are their houses.  The workmanship is amazing, definitely not the disposable, mass produced pieces that are so common in our "outsider" culture.

We were fortunate enough to arrive at the end of the school day.  The elementary teacher (Grades 1, 2 and 3) is from the outside, hired by the Hutterites.  She shared her experience in teaching the children.  Hutterite teenagers graduate from school the day before they turn 15, regardless of school year reached.  The teachers are encouraged to push them as far as they can in terms of learning.  On this particular colony, the only audio/visual aids the teacher is allowed to use are the following:  Videos that deal with a specific safety issue the kids might face in the colony (ie, fire safety), and the only music that is allowed is a CD of a particular song so that the children understand how the song is supposed to sound (teacher can't carry a tune).  These aids are only allowed if the teacher approaches the colony and gives specific reasons why this should be allowed.  She says the children are wonderful to teach.

The tour was a wonderful experience and a glimpse into communal life.

Spring has not quite sprung (yet!)

Despite the fact that it is already almost a week into April, our weather hasn't quite caught up.  We received a large dump of snow over the weekend, but I've come to expect erratic weather and try to accept is as a fact of life.

I thought I would take advantage of today's sunshine and milder temperatures (+5C!) to go outside and take a few pictures of the lastest projects.

Today, I have for you a mitten and some spinning.

This is my first ever attempt at a mitten.  It is knit in Noro Silk Garden, which is Silk, kid mohair and lamb's wool.  It's mate is almost done, but due to the nature of the long colour changes in Noro, they will be fraternal twins, which suits me just fine.  Before you say it, I know the thumb is a little wonky, thanks to using DPNs which were too large for the thumb.  Live and learn.

This mitten has not yet been blocked.  I will block both when I am done and photograph them together.

Here is my first attempt at spinning.  I took a drop spindle class at Make 1 in November, and purchased this roving and spindle at that time.  I picked up the spindle again to get myself back into the rhythm of drafting the fibres, figuring out how much fibre makes what thickness of yarn.  It is a learning process for sure, as you can see by my not on purpose thick and thin yarn.  However, I love these colours together, and still have quite a bit of fibre left to spin.  What I'm not sure of is what to do once my spindle is full and the fibre is all gone.  I know I'll need to get myself a niddy-noddy, but I'm not sure what to DO.  I'll have to figure that out soon, I guess.

Without further ado, this is fibre from Sweet Georgia in the Snapdragon colourway.

I'm off to Lloydminster for a conference mid-April, and I'm told there is nary a craft store to be found, so much of my spare time will be spent knitting and spinning, I'm sure.  Did I mention that I am being carpooled up there?  And I'm not driving?  That's prime knitting time!  I'll have to load up my ravelry with patterns so I can take them up on my netbook with me!

The shortest month.

February's socks have been done since tuesday, but I have been absolutely bagged all week, so I took pictures of them today to share with you.

These are made with Yummy Yarn in colour Crab Apple Jelly.  I love the way it striped up, with very minimal pooling.

The pattern is from Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up.  They are the Lacy Rib pattern.  I didn't make them as tall as I think I should have, but such is life, and I think I got a little impatient with these ones.  They almost match in terms of colour progressions.  Very similar fraternal twins, at any rate.

Here is a close up of the pattern:

I'm having some issues with my sizing and yarn growth after washing.  Not sure how to fix it, but I will try a few different things over the next few months.  Keep calm and knit on!

Where the magic happens

Not that kind of magic, folks.  The knitting kind.

You can see my (oversized, as I thought hubby would share it with me) pot of tea, Orange Pekoe this time, nothing too exciting.  Also, my pod-growing thing that I got for Yule.

Here, you can more clearly see the yarn for this month's sock by Yummy Yarn in colour Candy Corn.  Also, my needle case from Yule, and my cat, Molly.  She is generally good natured, unless you try to confine her and then all hell breaks loose.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a better picture of the sock in progress, as well as a cowl shot.  It's still drying as it's blocking, so it isn't quite ready for it's debut.

Happy February!