The Mighty Mitre...

This is mainly a mini-tutorial for Carrie, my former and forever Crafternoon buddy, to show her how I did up my little mitre's so that we can do a mitre project together. As I am on the coast and she is in my hometown area, some 2500 km away, we are going to (hopefully) pull off an entire afghan by sending squares back and forth for each other to build on.

Here's the specs: Six inch squares made up of four small mitred squares knit into one, all done in cheap-ass acrylic as this blanket, (final destination yet to be determined) needs to be totally wash and wear. And with the mailing costs thrown in, it also needs to be inexpensive. Worsted weight on 3.5mm needles. We've got an entire month (perhaps less as time goes by?) to knit up a completed six by six and send it off to the other person. The catch is that we will not disclose colour choices or pattern variations, should their be any. When we get the mitres in the mail, it should be a surprise whereby the recipient will continue on where the other left off.

Now, there are a few wild cards thrown in for fun. The six inch square is our basic template, so if we get sick of knitting mitres, or just for s&g, we can knit whatever we want, as long as it's six x six inches, which may prove very eeeeenteresting when it comes time to put this sucker together!
We have not determined a final project size yet, so this may turn into a Franken-blankie, who knows. The point is that it's going to be colourful, easy to knit and fun. Oh, and BTW, if you're reading this and are confused about the whole Crafternoon thing, email me if you're dying to know.

So without further adieu, The Mighty Mitre...


Tip: You can pretty much knit a whole small square while Blogger uploads your photos whilst on dial-up speed.

This is square one. Three by three. Basic recipe is as follows:
With MC (main colour) CO 30 sts
(WS) Knit
Knit 13 sts, K2tog, K2tog, K13 sts
Knit
Change to CC (contrasting colour), K 12 sts, K2tog, K2tog, K12 sts
Knit
K 11 sts, K2tog, K2tog, K11 sts
Knit
Change back to MC, K 10 sts, K2tog, K2tog, K 10 sts
Knit
K 9, K2tog, K2t0g, K 9
Knit
Change to CC...

Continue in this manner, knitting each stripe in garter stitch so that you get two ridges of each colour. Continue decreasing until there are six sts left at which point you knit 2 tog three times, knit one row, k2tog, k1, bind off remaining two stitches, fasten off. Now you have one little square. But the real goal is to get this...



And how you get this is by doing this...



With right side facing, pick up and knit 15 sts along one side of square. Cast on 15 additional sts, for a grand total of 30. Knit another small square in the same manner as the first, which will give you this...



I think you can see where I'm going with this now. So the next square evolves thusly...



With right side facing, pick up and knit 15 sts, cast on 15 more and knit another mitre.

When you've got three mitres knit together, all you need to do, with right side facing, is pick up and knit 15 stitches from one square and 15 sts from the other. Knit a fourth mitre.



And yer done. Weave or leave your ends. Voila.

That's all she wrote for today folks! Carrie, hope you found this helpful. Lemme know when you'll be ready to swap!
Until later...

I Said Who's House?

Our house.

Swatches?

We don't need no stinking swatches!

*WARNING* This blog post is mainly craft-centric.
For those looking for life details, come back at a later date.

So what have I been crafting lately? Well, I've been swatching, which oddly enough, has been very satisfying. I've been trying out different patterns and techniques in six inch by six inch squares. I have managed to finish a pair of socks and am working on a baby blanket (for no one in particular, just cuz it's small and convenient to pick up and put down whenever I feel like it) but for the most part, my knitty attention span is only a swatch long. So without further adieu, I give you my swatches.



These are all knit out of a Bernat baby yarn, a nice squeaky acrylic that I brought with me on the trip here to keep entertained. One is a basket weave stitch, one is a lacey tulip and the other....uh, I don't remember. Lacy as well I believe.



This is the baby blanket I'm currently working on using the lacy tulip stitch that I tried out in that there swatch.



A finished pair of socks knit from Bernat Sox yarn, which, I'm sorry, is still my favourite sock yarn and it's been discontinued. Just so happens that the local knitty shop (which is also the local camera/computer/mobile phone/guitar accessories store) has a bunch, so you'll be seeing many more of these in the future.



My first argyle attempt. I'd like to do more, just not sure what shape it will take, ie. socks etc.



Some more swatches, this time in a wool blend, which is nice and stretchy, easy to knit and feels really good under the fingers.

That's pretty much it I think. Up next? A mitered square project with my old Crafternoon buddy Carrie, which I am so looking forward to!

Until later...

These are a few of my favourite things...

Well, I went, I saw, I purchased. Then I ate. And drank, obviously.
The M&M's Dark Chocolate are spectacular. If you have the means, I highly recommend pairing it with your favourite bottle of red.

Day for Night...

Sunrise...

Moonrise...

Paranoid Android...

They're out to get me. Here I was just innocently watching television last night, knitting my life away, blissfully unaware of their heinous plans until suddenly, there it was. Their evil plan laid bare and my downward spiral all but an inevitabilty.


MM's Dark Chocolate Welcome to my nightmare.

I know I will be helpless against it's power. I will succumb at nearly every opportunity, I know there is no point in fighting it. I cannot steel myself against this kind of enemy.

I have a rather unhealthy affection for chocolate at the best of times, dark chocolate especially, M&M's most of all. I know, I'm Canadian, I should be all about the Smarties (which I am as well, don't kid yourselves) but when you wrap a chocolatey coating around a lucious little peanut and paint it with some fun colours, I'm just putty in your hands. And then create a whole little marketing world with characters and toys (who can forget the Christmas when I got the M&M dispenser where you pull down the one arm and the M&M came out the other hand??? Holy jeez) and now a website where I can make myself into an M&M??? Lord have mercy.

It's a good thing I'm stuck out here on the edge of the world all by myself with the nearest down a fifteen minute drive away. I'd probably have the entire county emptied of them by now. Just like the time when I was jonesing for a Kinder Egg and spent a good two hours driving around town looking for one bloody convenience store that had one. Sadly, I was not successful (yes, I know, I have problems. Let's just move on).

*lightbulb* It may not be chocolate, but it is still satisfying...I have some yarn and a lot of spare time. Yeah, it's starting to take shape. I'm going to go knit an M&M....

....*trail off into knitty daydream....

*also check out this Smartie site if you're a fan Smarties

Life is a buffet...

If the moon is made of cheese and little girls are made of sugar and spice, then I'm of the opinion that the ocean is made of beer. It may look blue to you and I, but get up close and it's the colour of a yummy amber lager. It's very weird. As the waves crash against the beach, this bizarre foam is churned up and covers the sand as the water retreats. Therefore, colour plus foam equals beer. 'Nuff said.

It's day three of the great storm here on the south shore and at least the rain and the wind have settled down a bit, althought the waves are still providing a nice constant roar to soundtrack my day here at the leak house. That's slowed down a bit as well, but not without making the hole in the ceiling over the eating area a little bigger. This better not be coming out of our damage deposit. I take no responsibility for faulty construction.

So you may have noticed that the blog got a bit of a facelift. Time for a fresh look I thought. The other template was looking a little tired. And this just seems easier to read somehow. I must be getting older, as print looks smaller and smaller all the time.

I said in my last post that I would be getting back to blogging about crafting, and I will. I'm just waiting for a nice day to take some photos so I can compete with all the other bloggers out there. I could take my usually craptastic pics, but I'm endeavouring to improve myself. I've been informed however that the next nice day may not come until June. Que sera sera. Leave the stifling humidity of Ontario for the rainy days of the Atlantic. I hear the autumns out here are stunning though.

Anyhow, just popped in to say hey. I'm going a bit batty out here all by myself all day long for days at a time with no vehicle. I'm anxious to move closer to town. Soon hopefully.

Until later..

DIY...

Once upon a time, this was a craft blog. At some point, I will get back to posting about my creative endeavours, as I haven't given up on it by any means, as soon as all of this excitement has calmed down a bit.

Until such time though, I will give you this easy, do-it-yourself two step tutorial for ruining a perfectly good pair of boots. It's an inexpensive way to really piss you off, and you can do it at home!

Materials: One pair of perfectly functional leather boots, preferably Roots, that you've had for nearly a decade; the outdoors; rain

Step One: Wear your boots (or any pair of shoes that you care a great deal about) for a walk on the beach wherein you get a lot of sand on the soles. Leave them on the front deck so that you don't get a tonne of sand on the floor of a complete strangers beach house. Forget that they are there and wait for rain.


Step Two: Realize your boots are out in the rain, panic, bring them in to dry. Place near the electric baseboard heater. Wait for nice weather. Take boots back outside, almost completely dry and place them in the sun to allow the inside of the boot to dry. Go about your day. Forget again that they are there. Wait for hurricane-like conditions, realize you've left them out for a second time, curse your own forgetfulness and stupidity, bring them in to dry near electric baseboard heater. Check bank balance for sufficient funds to purchase new boots.

As it turns out, I didn't necessarily have to leave them outside after all. What was once the beach house has now turned into the leak house. The storm, which started sometime yesterday afternoon has been raging all night long and shows no signs of letting up. The surge never did make it over the break wall, which is reassuring. I had the video camera up and running last night, sure I was going to capture the final moments of my own demise. Instead, I've just been doing the rounds every few hours emptying the drip pans and pots as nearly every window in the front of this house is leaking from multiple locations. I feel incredibly sorry for the owner of this property. Somebody did not do their job during construction. There is some extensive water damage. You'd think, living right on THE WATER that you'd want to make the home WATER TIGHT!! It is the freakin' north Atlantic after all. Storms have been known to happen, so I'm told.

That being said, allow me to convey, though rather poorly, the awesomeness of the waves.

This shot was taken from the second floor of the house, the only spot where I could get a decent picture of just how powerful the waves are and how closely the water is getting to the house.
The wind howled all night long and at times, the house shook. I found it hard to get to sleep. I'm listening to CBC radio at the moment and they're reporting from Port Mouton (pronounced Mah-toon) which is where I am, and apparently we're getting the worst of the weather. I have to say, knowing that the waves aren't going to come up on the deck, it's kind of fun to watch the storm.

Anyhow, I'm stuck inside, all by myself, which is a really good excuse to go knit something.
Until later...

I'm A-Feared...

Peeps, I'm a-feared. There's a wallop of a storm out here on the east coast with winds upwards of 100km and the storm surge is supposed to hit at high tide. All of these elements are extremely new to me. High tide is still another three hours away and the water is already reaching the rock wall that separates this property from the beach. There's about an eight foot drop, so hopefully it won't come splashing up onto the deck anytime soon.
To top it all off, the satellite is down and Mr. Constable is working until about midnight or so. But this post isn't really supposed to be about the weather. It's about this...
The Day That Mr. Professional Driver Ditched the Jeep! (oh am I in for it when he sees this). So here's the story, or at least the version that I was told. To get to the beach house, you have to drive down a relatively narrow, private dirt road. There's not a whole lot of traffic out here as there aren't a whole lot of people out here. But there is the odd occassion when two cars need to pass one another. Such was the case yesterday when Mark was on his way home from town. He moved over to let the other guy by but the other guy didn't do the same so somehow, Mark ended up in the woods. The front passanger side wheel was buried in the mud, the back passanger side wheel was punctured and flat as a pancake. As he was only up the road, he called to tell me where he was and I walked up to see how bad the damage was.
I said I was taking pictures for insurance purposes, should the damage be extensive. I was lying. This was my true purpose for shutter-bugging.
Getting the Yeep out of the woods was a bit tricky, as it wasn't a straight on shot. Our friendly tow truck guy, Sam, and his very helpful son did a great job, even though at times I thought the Yeep might tip over, with my husband inside.
In any case, the whole event took about an hour and the constable was able to finish his drive home. Once the truck was back on the road, the only damage we could see was the aforementioned flat tire. It was a miracle that he didn't hit any one of the hundreds of trees that line the road, nor did he seem to bounce too hard off of any one of the hundreds of rocks. He wasn't really going all that fast I guess, just sort of slid off the road? I dunno.
Anyway, we took it into the shop today to have the tire fixed and on the drive into town, the front tire flattened out. So we need two tires. And as is usually the case, there was a bit more damage to the underbelly of our beloved Jeep than first though. Not terribly extensive, but it does need a trip to the doctors nonetheless. (C, T & S at ye olde Kent County Chrysler, I know you're itching to know what needs to be fixed but to me it's just a bunch of rusted metal under there. You'll have to get Mark to tell you specific parts).

Anyhow, that's the story. We were supposed to meet up with our real estate agent last evening, but due to the vehicular mishap, I called to say we wouldn't make it. She asked if it was a cruiser he put in the ditch or his own vehicle. When I told her it was ours she said, "That's actually better. If it had been a cruiser, he never would have lived that down around here." And I suppose she's right.

In any case, I don't think Mark will be driving for Joe Gibbs any time soon (that's a NASCAR reference for those of you who are uninitiated, and probably an incorrect reference on my part as well).

I'm going to go hide under the bed until the storm passes.
Until later...if I don't get swept away.

A Month By the Sea...

AH-HA! Finally! Only took half an hour to load that photo. So here's where we be stayin' for a month or so. Not too shabby. This is the view of the house from the beach.
This is the view looking straight off the deck while you're having a coffee before work.
This is the view looking to the right off the deck.

And I think that's all I will post for today folks. It's taken me an hour and a half to upload three pictures. Will I ever live in a place that has highspeed, ever again????

Until later...