Yay! It's finally spring

Would ya look at that! A cherry tree in full glory. Love it. Means the cold, icky, horrible weather we've had is likely at an end. I was starting to think that we'd never see the giant yellow orb in the sky again. I actually left the house without a jacket today and did not get hypothermia. Not even a goose bump. Yay!
This afternoon was spent spinning with friends. It was great. Lots of laughs and Judy made some really yummy treats and tea to help us keep spinning all afternoon.
This is Judy spinny with her corgi in her lap. They both look pretty relaxed, don't they.


The change in the weather has really helped me be more productive. The plain socks are done, fancier socks are on the needles, the Nihon sweater is designed and cast on, and I pulled out some fiber to spin. I didn't feel like climbing into the wool room (don't ask, Holly peeked in when I opened the door and wound up snickering every time she looked at me for about a half hour), but lucky for me, the Lisa Souza fiber I ordered a while back was right up near the door.


This is BFL in LimenViolet. I split it into three roughly equal sections and predrafted it out. Then made a nice three ply sock weight. Hopefully it will be socks by the next post, but no guarantees.


I want to thank everyone for being so positive about the book, especially you, Denise. Hopefully you'll let me cry on your shoulder every now and then. I think I've come to terms with the fact that it won't be for everyone. It's nice to know that others are as tired of the recent trend in knitting designs as I am. I'm ready to do something about it and you're all welcome to come along for the ride. At the very least, it should be pretty interesting.

Drive by Gnoming

Holly and her daughter Orion came up for a visit this weekend. There was much shopping, driving and eating. Not necessarily in that order.
We went to the Sewing fest out in Abbotsford which, unfortunately, was very sad. There used to be a mix of booths, sort of half sewing and half crafts. Now it's pretty exclusively sewing. Which is great if you sew, but not so much for the likes of us who do other stuff. It was a little disappointing, but I did manage to get a great deal on a couple of Aussie stumpwork bug books. Even the monkey likes looking at the pics in them.
We decided to pick up assorted coffee influenced beverages at the great coffee corporation on our way home and were treated to this:
Disembodied voice: Welcome to Giant Coffee Corp! Can I take your order?
Holly: Uh yeah, two tall, unsweetened, green tea lemonades...
DV: Two grande sweetened-
H: No, tall, unsweetened
DV: Oh! Extra sweetener-
H: NO, unsweetened!
DV: Okay, two tall, unsweetened green tea lattes-
H: No. Two. Tall. Unsweetened. Green. Tea. Lemonades.
DV: Got it! Two tall, unsweetened, green tea lemonades. Is that all?
H: Nope. One tall mocha frappe light with coconut syrup...
DV: The frappes are iced.
H: I know, I said light.
DV: Okay, with ice.
H: Light!
DV: Iced.
Holly: Light. L. I. G. H. T. Light
DV: Oh! Light! So a grande mocha frappe light...
Holly: Tall. With coconut syrup and a tall java chip frappe.
It went on a little longer and screwier from here but you get the idea. Funny, but kinda not.
They went to dim sum this morning with Angela and her guy, but we begged off. We missed the dim sum so we could put 20 garden gnomes on Angela's front lawn. It was the only way we could do it while she wasn't home and still have Holly get to see it. Of course, I'm a twit and forgot the damn camera. So you'll have to hope Ang or Holly post pics. It was truly weird and her neighbor must think we're nuts. This poor guy was out gardening when we pull up, unwrap almost two dozen garden gnomes and place them around the front yard.
Definitely a drive by gnoming.

I have been unable to get motivated to do anything I really should be doing for a while now. Maybe it's sleep deprivation. I don't know, but it's making me crabby. Feels like I've got all this stuff to do and all these deadlines, and I just don't do it. WTF?!
I've decided to start a pattern book. I'm sick to death of all the "knit it this weekend!" crap out there and want to do something challenging and wearable. There's a certain designer out there who needs someone to slap her and let her know that a 36" bust is NOT a large. No more waify little models, who obviously haven't knit a stitch, wearing knitted skirts on cliffsides with their hair blowing in the breeze. I wanna see knitters. Knitters of all shapes, sizes and ages, doing things that knitters do, perhaps even, god forbid, KNITTING! No more sandwich deprived 15 year olds pinned into garments that some brain trust decided we'd make even though they're only showing the effing collar. (That one's for you Kerry)
The problem is, how challenging can I make it without alienating everyone? It keeps me up at night. I don't want to hold anyone's hand, be a grown-up people. Read the instructions. But will people actually read the instructions? This is going to take me a while to figure out. And I haven't even got to all the legal end stuff and printing and test-knitting and and and and
Crap. Hyperventilated a bit there.
So bear with me. Today I give you a picture of plain socks. It's all I've been capable of lately. Sorry.

Answers, Winners and an FO

First, the answers to my little quiz:

1. Monty Python. "Spell bolour with a "k"? Kolour! Oh what a silly bunt!" I used spinny to avoid being sued and because it worked for me a bit better. BTW, people have to do something truly appalling for me to spell "bunt" with a "k".

2. Cat hair, but I would have accepted any answer. And Lorinda, it's always been Kirk. I mean, come on! The guy has managed to avoid dying from galactic vd who knows how many times. You've got to admire his resilience if nothing else.

3. A garden shed that may someday soon become his new home so that I could use the old garden supply room as my wool room.

4. Older than me! He will always be older than me. That is the only acceptable answer.

5. Guitar building or Luthiery. And yup, I actually did make a decent living in my chosen field for a little while. Got some REAL interesting stories about musicians too. Ask me sometime.

6. Johnny Depp.

7. Aie ya IS a sentence. I use it in polite company instead of swearing. It manages to convey all sorts of emotions, but mainly horror and disgust.

8. I got tendonitis from knitting for the Vogue Nihon class. My Dr kindly suggested I just stop knitting and spinning for a few months and it would clear up. He then went on to suggest that I knit and spin less to stop it from flaring up. He stopped talking when he saw the look on my face and then suggested tylenol and ice.

9. I am continually treating my addiction with wool. So far, it hasn't let up. Hmm, I wonder why methadone doesn't work...

10. Tubal ligation with a rusty steak knife. Usually after a trip to the mall or mistakenly finding myself in a Chuck E Cheese.

And now, the winners!
Uli - sock yarn
Frauke - bags of mohair
Dad - food stuff
Irene (Rusty) - sock yarn turned into socks
Myriam (via write in vote) - topknot
Lorinda - handspun skein (please email me with your address)
Denise - roving (now you must tell me where you live, mwahahaha)
Anthea - sock book
Kerry - socks ( I KNOW where you live)
Heatherly - laceweight mohair (address please)
Jacqui - sock yarn ( I need your address too please)
I added an extra prize 'cause it seemed silly that only one person wouldn't get something. Ian Sim doesn't count as he is the monkey. Silly bunt thought he was being clever. I think his prize shall be a cuff upside the head. He didn't even get #6 right!


These are the finished monkey socks from the Second Sock Syndrome Swap. Debbie knit the first one for me and now I've got a pair. I like this someone else knitting one sock for me business. Any volunteers? I have a 7.5 foot, it's not that big, doesn't take long to knit a sock for that size foot.

Blogaversary Contest

Well, it's been almost a year. As usual, it's just whizzed by and I didn't get nearly enough done. It all started with this pic:


In honour of my managing to post on a semi-regular basis without offending a large amount of people, I'm going to give away some of my vast and terrifying stash. There's some of my handspun, a pair of socks, laceweight mohair from Ami Ami, Fancy Image sock yarn, Regia, a topknot, some BFL, the Vintage Sock book and TWO FULL bags of Rhapsody! Before you get all excited, you have to answer a few questions to earn the goods. Everyone can enter, especially my friends! I love sending stuff to my friends. Come on guys, everyone wants free stuff!


These are the prizes. Good incentive? Dad, the red peppers and peppercorns are your prize.
So, here's the deal. Answer one question, answer a few it doesn't matter. I will give points for creativity.

1. Where did I get the idea for the name of my blog? Your answer must include the word "bolour" and the letter "k".

2. What is this?


a) dryer lint I plan to collect and make into a sweater for the monkey.
b) the amount of fur I got off the duvet cover in one day.
c) a desicated tribble that ran out of grain on the Enterprise.

3. Last summer, the monkey built a:
a) garden shed.
b) his new home.
c) a wool room.

4. How old is the monkey?

5. What is the career I actually went to college to learn?

6. Who would I leave the monkey for in a cool second?

7. Use the phrase "aie ya" in a sentence.

8. How did I get tendonitis and what did my doctor suggest would clear it up?

9. Do you think I have a treatable or untreatable fibre addiction?

10. What operation do I threaten to perform on myself?

Have fun! I'll post the winners after March 17th.

What a Great Pal

It is a small world. My spoiler for the Second Sock Syndrome Swap was my spoilee for SP9. Debbie sent me all kinds of wonderful stuff. There are great smelling candles, a beading mag, a very pretty bracelet, bath stuff, tea, woolwash (a brand I haven't tried yet), and, of course, weird candy. I love weird candy! She found me cackling chocolate eggs. There were a lot more of them, but those sort of things don't last long around here.
The absolute best thing in the parcel was the sock. It's the monkey sock from Knitty done in a bright blue Jitterbug. She claims it is only her 5th sock, but I think she's lying. It's really nice and I plan to make it's mate as soon as I can.
Thanks Debbie! You spoilt me rotten and I had an awful lot of fun opening all the goodies.

Effing Groundhog!!!

Meet Punxsutawney Phil. He said we'd have an early spring. I say, he'd probably make a tasty stew as this is NOT my idea of an early spring on the Westcoast:


Just yesterday morning, crocuses, snowdrops and even daffodils were blooming. Today, this. Obviously large hole-living rodents aren't accurate predictors of the weather.
On the up side, my Spin to Knit swap pal sent me this beautiful skein, a pair of vanilla candles, some great goodies and a pen the monkey will never steal (it has marabou and a chocolate on the top).


The skein is three ply romney/mohair/merino/silk chunky weight. It's very soft and has a nice little halo that I think will really bloom when it's knit. This one's looking like a chunky ribbed hat for me. Many thanks Jaimie, it's gorgeous!


I think the cats have the right idea. Snug in and sleep till spring comes.