Life's a Stitch

How about this? Every other year we celebrate the gift buying, tree lighting Christmas and every other year we let those who believe have the holiday to celebrate the true meaning. Half the money spent and half the stress. I guess as I get older and time goes by more quickly Christmas seems to come twice as fast.

The other day I drove Marielle to the airport for her return flight to Switzerland. I felt sad that she was leaving and needed some comfort, so I drove the extra twenty  minutes to Steveston, a historic fishing village. It was a clear, sunny, unusual Pacific Northwest day. The colours were beautiful – turquoise sky with puffy yellowy peach clouds, forest green/grey mountains dusted with snow. Someday I’ll dye yarn that colour. On the dock in Steveston Gracee and I watched a Christmas concert of about a dozen talented kids and their fiddles. Santa arrived by Zodiak accompanied by two full dress Mounties and an antler bedecked Zodiac driver. I sat on the dock and ate fish sans chips (thought the coleslaw would be healthier but the copious mayo surely had more fat than fries), followed by two skeins of Manos Del Uruguay. That’s right, Steveston has a yarn shop. Smarten up chickies and enlightened males, Li doesn’t drive all the way to Steveston to see Santa. She drives to Steveton to feed her habit. I refrained from buying yarn for my fellow addicts, so I was relatively good.

On the way home I tried two different Hallmark stores in hope of finding the James Taylor Christmas CD that only they sell. No luck, I hear it was an instant sellout. Other than that it was a perfect day.

Vancouver is known for its natural beauty combined with a colourful mixture of cultures. There are many English language schools that attract young people from all over the world and there is a large market for international home stay families. We have hosted over fifty students in ten years.

Vancouver as a cultural mecca was driven home to me the other night when we sat around the dinner table for a farewell party for the Swiss Miss, Marielle (second from the left). There were ten of us, four "older" adults, six students in their 20’s, and eight countries represented at the table: Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, the US, Canada, Korea, Japan and England.

On the knitting front, I have one less UFO, not in the usual sense, because I FROGGED the Autumn Silk Cardigan. I wasn’t paying attention and grew frustrated with knitting it back. That Estelle Mystik frogs so easily! Not like the sticky mohair I’ve used in the past. Oh well.

Here in Canada legislation requires product labeling to appear in both official languages. It has reinforced my high school French vocabulary. Friday night, on the way home from work, I picked up some egg nog. What a laugh we had when we realized the literal translation for egg nog in French is “chicken milk.” Brought up all sorts of images of milking machines on a poultry dairy farm.

Here is the progress on the Autumn Silk Cardigan. Oh what a fun knit. I tend to judge lace patterns by comparing them to the Charlotte’s Web shawl. This is way easier and a very satisfying lace pattern knit over four rows, two of which are purl and the other two identical except for one stitch. Almost too easy.

That was supposed to read 100 59 Things About Me but the strike out feature doesn’t work on the title. I have aways had 40+ things on my "About" section and have never been able to come up with the hundred that others manage. It’s probably due to the fact that my weekly newspaper mini-columns are only 155 words and it requires that I get to the point fairly quickly.  I’ve added a few more, so here is my updated 59 Things About Me:

Things About Me

I am…
1) Polirican  (Polish and Puerto Rican) 
2) a mother of three, two girls ages 21 an 19 and a boy age 14
3) owned by a Scottish Terrier
4) the Executive Director of a non-profit society
5) a bad Catholic
6) allergic to nuts, papaya and tyramine
7) in a committed relationship for over 24 years
8) creative
9) a typical first born

I love…
10) the sounds of birds
11) the sparkle of gem stones
12) musical theatre
13) finding a bargain
14) knitting
15) travelling
16) red wine
17) to eat
18) unlimited North American long distance
19) peppermint foot cream
20) colour and texture
21) leaded crystal
22) smooth writing pens
23) mail
24) computers
25) swing and jive
26) big family dinners
27) long short legged dogs

What bugs me…
28) the clutter in my life
29) whiners
30) long distance driving
31) shopping for swim suits and bras
32) uncomfortable clothes and shoes
33) my lack of gardening talent
34) my habit of confusing Spanish and French
35) being cold
36) aging
37) I can’t drink more than two glasses of wine without getting a headache.

I have…
38) a Master’s degree in counselling
39) a 16 year old Grand Am
40) hosted over 50 foreign language students
41) dual nationality – Canadian and American
42) a spicy tooth instead of a sweet tooth
43) written over 250 newspaper columns on parenting and the early years
44) a collection of cast iron Scottie door stops
45) migraines and two different annoying arrythmias
46) a family that spontaneously breaks into song (a la Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You).

I…
47)  drink Diet Coke at breakfast
48)  eat the salt first and then the pretzel
49) was born on the Ides of March
50)  convinced my family to go without TV since 1998; my husband has had to cope without his video valium.
51) wear socks 24 hours a day, very sexy, eh?
52) can sing almost any song ever performed on Broadway; our home is not a quiet environment.
53) grew up with the name Lilice Lesinski
54) have had mail delivered to the name "Lice" and a Latin teacher who called me Lilla-che
55) prefer a pencil to a pen
56) eat breakfast most mornings at Mac Donald’s – they have my "bacon and egg bagel, no butter, no sauce, half cheese" waiting for me
57) grew up in New York and always moved west to Michigan, Nebraska, Colorado (for two weeks) and British Columbia.
58) learned to knit in Brownies
59) am a better mom for having been a working mom

I’ve become a loose woman. I used to be a tight knitter but recently, when swatching for two different projects, I have had to come down two needle sizes.

There are some things in both my knitting life and regular life that continue to confuse me. I know if I sit down for a bit and really take the time to figure these things out my problem might be solved. The first one is gauge. I need a rhyme (like I before E or 30 days hath September) to remember if you get more or fewer stitches when you change your needle to a different size.  I was trying to figure out gauge on some Noro yarn and a woman told me that the needles sizes on the label were Japanese! Someone at work told be that there are old British and new British needle sizes as well. I have enough trouble with Canadian (metric) vs US needles sizes.

Now for the second – I moved to Canada long enough ago to have figured out things like the metric system and Celsius. I still do the conversion thing in my head – 15 degrees times two plus thirty. I remember in my first weeks here trying to figure out my gas mileage; converting miles to kilometers, gallons to litres and Cdn dollars to US dollars. I’m a walking math problem.

Last Christmas I didn’t send out cards. I have a thing about Christmas cards and letters – if I can’t do something original I don’t do it at all. It fulfills my need to be different, a hold over from childhood. So, Mari’s high school graduation pictures were never sent. This year I designed my Christmas greeting and gathered all the photos together. Today the BAD DOG, Gracee Mae, happily chomped her way through the cardboard envelope, consuming seven photos along the way.

Back to the knitting, gauge under control, this is the start to my Autumn "Silk" Cardigan in cotton/rayon.

It was in December, the 8^th or 12^th, and I was in 8^th Grade. I was anxious to get the Christmas lights up. We lived in a colonial style house and each year my parents would put an electric candle in each window in the front of the house. My father told me I was “rushing the season,” but if I insisted I could do it. And I wonder where my kids get it from. After school I dug out the candles and put them in place.  As I was finishing, my mother arrived home from working at Lord and Taylor with a coat for me to try on. She suggested I go outside to test the coat’s warmth as it was a windy, blustery winter evening. I went outside and had the opportunity to admire the lights in the windows.

Back inside, I could hear a sound coming from my parent’s bedroom. I asked my mother if she heard it and she said “It’s probably just the wind.” A few minutes later I heard it again and went upstairs to investigate. The entire wall of the room was engulfed in flames. By the time the fire department arrived the fire was in the walls of the house. The heat was so intense, the window glass melted. Turns out one of the candle cord was damaged and it set fire to the drapes.

That night, when my father arrived home from work, we all moved into the family room for the night. The firemen had suggested we stay in a hotel since the fire might still be in the walls. I think money was an issue so we stayed at home. I couldn’t sleep, and watched Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, on TV and scared myself royally.

Although my parents did a really good job of not laying on the guilt, the moral of the story from my childhood is, “Don’t rush the season.” My dad died when I was 16, but I can still hear him saying it. I don’t like the holiday hype anyway, so we don’t decorate until Christmas week. I do start the Christmas music on December 1st, though.

On a brighter note. I took this from our driveway. A rainy climate makes for good contrast.

Back to knitting tomorrow.

I like to shop from my seat and not on my feet. I stole that from my sister’s Pampered Chef website. Yarn, by mail order, is always full of surprises. Colour and texture are a gamble and you have to add in the cost of shipping, both in ordering and returning. You do save on some of the sales tax at times and there is a savings in the convenience. Ordering in Canada is not all that great if the parcel comes from another country. There is a $5 charge for handling most packages unless it is marked as an unsolicited gift with a value under a certain amount, I think it’s $60.

I recently ordered the Autumn Silk Cardigan from Ram Wools in Manitoba. Their costumer service is great and it arrived in seven days. The yarn, Estelle Tussah Silk, was not what I was expecting. It is a "raw" type silk and looked like twine dyed almost black, perfect for casual wear, but not what I wanted for a dressy lace sweater. It was a kit and was supposed to be returned as a kit. I loved the pattern and called to ask for an exception. I really appreciate good customer service, people who can think beyond the basic policies and help you come to a solution that works. Initially I was told, no, I couldn’t keep the pattern. After the woman was willing to listen, she agreed, keep the pattern and we’ll exchange the yarn portion of the kit for something more suitable. I’ll be back at Ram Wools again in the future.  It would have been nice if I had the option to order the yarn and pattern separately at the beginning, but I was willing to give it a try. This is a picture of the Estelle Mystik I ordered. You can see the sheen of the thread that winds around the cotton.

Yesterday we decided on the casino alternative, but added on mailing Christmas packages to the US relatives while we were down there. Trouble is that to cross the border gifts can’t be wrapped. I would have mailed them from Canada, but the US gov’t has declared anything edible as a potential source of terrorism, and they cannot be mailed from Canada unless a preauthorization number is obtained. So, my mini-van turned into a gift wrap station. I brought scissors, wrapping paper, tape, packing tape and mailing envelopes along and spent an hour wrapping and packing in a grocery store parking lot. Chuck went into the store and brought out some eggnog to make it feel more festive. What a sight we must have been in that steamed up car.

The casino was fun, not something we have ever done outside of occasional vacations. How many vices can a woman have? Knitting, gambling… Chuck was up enough to cover our anniversary dinner (at B’Ham’s Pacific Cafe, a favourite of ours for almost 20 years) and a pound and a half of supposedly wonderful coffee from a small place in Lynden, WA. It was a good day and we didn’t even hit any knit shops.

It’s not bad enough that I am a yarn addict, but I am an enabler. The LYS’s in our areas are few and far between, so when you have the time to go, you make sure you get orders from surrounding knitters. At my office we have a new knitter, and two knitters just getting back in to it. So, I was able to feed their addiction and get vicarious shopping thrills by buying yarn for them. Not only did I pick up these two Fleece Artist scarf kits for one, I bought an extra shawl kit knowing I could entice somebody into buying it. Besides, if they didn’t want it I would gladly incorporate it into my stash. Oh yeah, I bought one for me, too. I’m bad, I know.

Today is our 22nd anniversary and we both have the day off. Haven’t decided whether  we’ll go stateside and hit a casino or to the tree nursery (the beauty of living in a mild climate) followed by the Dickens Christmas buffet at a nice restaurant. We didn’t really start celebrating our anniversary until we were  married 20 years. It wasn’t that big a deal. We don’t buy gifts but make it a point to do something together. I don’t think a stop at the LYS will count as special.

Friday again. I went to my follow up cardiology appointment. It struck me as strange to be listening to his Muzak and hearing the "Stand Up" song you associate with ClubMed – "Give me your heart, give me give me your heart…" All is good. I can stay on my Rhythmol which will now treat the two different arrhythmias I seem to have. I do have to be better at taking it regularly. I have a healthy heart that wants to beat to a different drummer. So? That’s about sums up how I’ve lived my life so far.

The kerchief is finally blocking. I decided to sew the beads on after blocking as it seemed too tight when I followed the directions. It is a completely different shape than the first one, more like the picture on the pattern. It is also different in that I purled back every other row. I like the effect better than all garter stitch.

Have a good weekend.

I crack up sometimes when I read what people are searching for when they end up here. This week some readers arrived after googling: band saw massacre, little nipples, Pacific Northwest spiders, I am an acne pimple, the life cycle of a frog, and I love food. Here are my two favourites: someone arrived at Life’s A Stitch, a knitting blog, by searching for "what colour does breathalyser go if positive" and "who invented the potato powered clock." It makes me conscious of how I arrive at other’s sites. I’m sure my searches have left bloggers scratching their heads.

Here in the Northwest, when it’s sunny it rains. Now when someone googles about Northwest weather they might arrive at a knitting blog.

I’ve had several questions about the definition of worming and the felting process with Touch Me. Here are the answers:

1. Definition of worming: Chenille, due to its construction, has a tendency for stitches to pop out. If you look at a flat piece of work, the wormed stitches look like little caterpillars. It’s almost as if the stitches unknit themselves. Very annoying.

2. I had seen examples of felted Touch Me items at two knit shops. The third place had never heard of it, but when I saw the suggestion in Sally Melville’s book I went for it. My worms were HUGE loops, just not acceptable. I put the scarf in a large lingerie bag, washed it in hot water AND put it in the dryer without the bag. It is a hard little lump after washing and the dryer turns it into a nice fabric. At one knit shop the woman actually boiled it, but I thought her colours looked faded and colour is part of the beauty of Touch Me. Go for it and let me know how it turned out.