Knit Witch Contest!

I found this on one of the blogs I visit, and heck, it looks easy and won't cost you a cent!

Check it out: Knit Witch Contest for a new yarn store opening up. Contest ends July 31st! Act quick! Amia Yarn Company.

They are concerned about American and local products. I share in those concerns!

Surprises and Gifts...

My partner thinks I have an over-abundance of yarn, rovings, and fleeces. (I do, and he would prefer that I start using up some of my stash before buying more.) But there's something about surrounding myself with these wonderful things that can be transformed into objects of beauty, function, and fashion--well, maybe not the fashion, this is Vermont, after all! I'm quite positive I lived during the 1880's through the 1930's. I have the "Depression Mentality" where I need to have dry and canned goods stocked up to take us through times of trouble, and I also am horribly drawn to the Victorian England time period (as a "Born to the Manor" type, of course.).

Click on pics for a larger view...

J and I try to do as much as we can to reduce our carbon footprint on the planet. We hang laundry outside in the summer, have a small drying rack to dry hand towels, dish towels, etc., and have changed most of our light bulbs to the energy saving kind. (Although, we are both concerned about how to dispose of these when they die--they have mercury in them.)

So, (there was a point to this) I was out in the garage, fumbling through the stacks of boxes of yarn, rovings, and fleeces (sorry--no pic; it's way too messy) looking for this large wooden drying rack we had when we moved from Burlington to Jericho a bunch of years ago. Alas, I never found it, but I found that I had all this fiber I had totally forgotten about.

In the stacks I found (among tons of other great stuff): 2 pounds of dark brownish-gray wool roving (enough for a sweater, plus), 1 pound of Icelandic roving (unfortunately, it's the rough, long and itchy stuff), the Russian cashmere spindles I bought at SOAR '97 at Smugglers' Notch, a Judy's Kick 'n Spin spindle, a Takli and bowl (for spinning cotton), and 1 pound of mohair dyed pinkish red, and sky blue. What finds!

In today's mail, I received another box from Kenny in Houston--fabulous yarn for socks! Fibranatura Yummy 100% superwash wool, in turquoise blue, salmon-orange, browns and greens (I'm color blind--what do I know.), and a skein of Acquerello superwash wool/nylon hand-dyed in a deep, dark reddish brown. A color he promptly described as, well, blood-clot red. Tigger is in the above pic modeling the yarns. There are two pics of tigger, as he's so darn cute. Thanks to Kenny for the care package. You are a great friend!

And, you ask, why does Tigger look so grumpy in the pic with the yarn? Because I moved the newspaper he was sitting on so that I could take the pic! He will not sit on our laps, but the second a piece of newspaper is put down, he jumps right on it and curls up and takes a snooze! I was reading the paper and he decided to plop his royal butt right on the paper! He's really quite a character!

Knitting projects: I finished the second of the Jewelled Steps socks. Love. Them. Although I have to redo the bind-off. And, I started a pair of Monkey-Socks by Cookie A., but the toe-up version. Although, now that I've done 2 reps of the pattern, I kind of like the idea of the purled base under the "V" in the pattern. What do you think? Leave a comment!

I'm using the Audacity yarn by Black Bunny. She's a member of the Knitters for Obama group I'm in on Ravelry.com. And, she's fabulously talented. I'm doing the linen stitch on the bottom (see second sock pic) for more durability.

Oh, I almost forgot! In the Knitters for Obama group, we are doing a second fundraiser--an afghan of the U.S. flag. The red and white stripes consist of squares with raised reliefs of the states. J and I were on vacation in Seattle and Victoria, and they were so sweet to save Vermont for me to do! Woo hoo! Here's a pic of my square before I sent it, and a pic of all the squares before being sewn together by one of the group members.

A couple of my friends are experiencing some rough medical problems with family members, so I ask all my friends out there if you could take just a minute or two out of your hectic life and say a little prayer, meditate, or just send some positive, healing, and loving vibes out to the Universe.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated!

Peace and Love to you all!
Chris

Government House Gardens, Victoria, BC

Oops! Forgot to add the write-up of the Government House Gardens!

The Government House Gardens, were just minutes from where we were staying in Victoria. While we thoroughly enjoyed the Butchart Gardens, we were amazed at the GHG! There were only about 15-20 people milling about the gardens, so we were able to enjoy the gardens at a leisurely, relaxed pace.

Enjoy!

Gardens of Victoria and Vancouver Island

Two major highlights of our trip out west were to the famous Butchart Gardens, a short drive from Victoria, and the Government House Gardens, just minutes from where we were staying in Victoria. The gardens offered a wide variety of views and perspectives for differing tastes and interests; from rock and cliff gardens, shade and wet gardens, to Japanese, Italian, and other formal designs.

Top three pics are in the Japanese Garden at BG

ETA: I just received an e-mail from Graham Bell, the Advertising & Promotions coordinator at BG, who pointed out a couple of errors pertaining to driving distance and costs, along with some suggestions for enjoying the gardens at less visited times (such as first thing in the morning, or early afternoon).

Wow, I had just barely posted this entry! The miracles of modern technology. I thank him for his astuteness, as I certainly wouldn't want to post inaccurate information. The paragraph above has been edited to delete the inaccurate information...

Pics at right are in the formal garden and Italian Garden

I'm going to have to cull about 400 pics to 8 or 9, so if you would like more, just e-mail me and I'll send you a batch!

Next four pics are in the sunken garden.

There were also lots of annuals just planted--geraniums and many other flowers. They are probably just blooming now! I can just imagine beds of color, streaming around the bottom of groups of trees, bushes, and perennials.

Sigh, only about 1/2 of the stuff we saw are able to safely grow in our planting zone...but, hey, with global warming, in perhaps another ten years I can plant some of them! lol. (not really lol.)

This was just stunning. The flowers were gorgeous, and one thing I really appreciated are the layers of color and texture of the evergreens, interspersed with deciduous trees and bushes. Seriously, I have oddles and oddles of fabulous pics. If you want more...

And, the trip continues...plus sock update

I decided to continue my quest to finish unfinished objects/projects, and instead of starting the Rose of England again (which I shredded last night), I picked up the second Jewelled Steps sock. I started the expansion arch last night, and finished it plus started the heel. I love, love, love knitting socks with the two circs! No more DPNs! (double pointed needles for non knitters...)

Note: click on pics for larger view...

If you remember, our trip left us in Port Angeles, Washington. It's now Friday morning (June 20th) and we have ferry reservations to Victoria, BC. Above is a pic of the mountains as we are leaving the port. That's Washington, US.

We were eagerly anticipating the Victoria harbour, which had been much ballyhooed. However, neither one of us were thrilled. It was overbuilt with hotels and condos, and took away from the dramatic presence of the Empress Hotel and other old buildings. But, it was still kind of cool to ferry on in, waving at people in smaller boats and such. Not being a sailor, I guess that's the sea-farin' protocol!

Jeff successfully negotiated driving our rental car out of the ship's hull, and we took off for our B&B, Trutch Manor.

I was pretty tired, and my general rule of thumb is to find the hotel/B&B, make a pot of tea and put my feet up. We were only blocks away from the B&B, and I called them to let them know we had arrived.

Here's some pics of the B&B, with the welcome committee of the neighbor's cat and a stray! Cute. We stayed in The Parlour. For better pics and a panoramic view, click on the link...

One thing we both enjoyed about Victoria was the flowers and gardens. So many of the homes were surrounded by flowers: plantings, on the lawn, in buckets, arbors, arches, etc. And lots of flowers were in bloom. We are in zone 3b in Jericho, Vermont, and it fluctuates from 3a-4a depending on the year. I think Victoria is like zone 7! It's not how hot it gets, rather the minimum average low. Sigh.

Many, many pics of the flowers, building, and gardens to appear shortly! Stay tuned...