Spring

Around here snow on the ground doesn't always equal winter. Hudson and I were out for 2 sun drenched hours yesterday morning trudging through in a fresh snowfall that made me and apparently everyone we ran into feel like Spring is in the air.

I'm not saying it wasn't cold...I was bundled up in wool and down and wearing windproof pants over my clothes...

Looks like I was going for a Michelin Man look and nailed it! Hudson was of course wearing nothing but his collar. Dogs really are superior creatures in many ways.

Anyway...

The sun was high and strong.

The snow in the shadows was a violet-blue you don't see in winter.

Best of all there was lots of springtime birdsong filling the air. What a treat!

While the change feels hopeful and fresh it's sure not close to warm out so it doesn't make you want to veer away from wearing or knitting warm woolly stuff. Its the stuff of a perfect knitting season.

I've been working on a few things as I try to follow my post op instructions to "take it easy" (2 hour walks over hill and dale were a bit much and I did "pay" for the exertion later. "Lesson learned" as they say but it was too beautiful out to spend the morning inside!)

One of the projects had an almost medicinal affect. (Okay, maybe the drugs I was on brought that feeling to the "party" but I really enjoyed knitting this stuff.)

Lofty-soft, thick and thin worked to the hollow clunking sound of the 15mm wooden needles it demanded and now...

...the unbelievable heft of the pre-blocked piece. I think it could use just the slightest drape to make it feel a bit more refined and finished so I've got a soak in the tub and gentle stretch planned for it.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Slimming Down for Spring

Before...

After...

About 7 hours total time invested and eating treats throughout the process too!
 Oh that it were so easy for  us "lowly" humans!

Spring!?!

As of late yesterday, about a month after the troubles started Hudson's "issues" have been conclusively diagnosed. Its nothing life threatening, just messy for me and irritating for him. He's on another medication for a few days then in a month or so will have more tests to see if its been effective...bla bla bla - not very interesting but the month long saga's been distracting/time consuming and sleep depriving.

Yet I must admit I feel like I've had the most wonderful winter. Yes its been bitterly cold but at the same time marked by cozy evenings, fantastic food (and wine!), fun activities in the city and movement on some longstanding goals for projects in the house.

This morning though, my monogamy with the lovely Angora/Merino mittens is turning into a feeling of "enough already and time to get on with things!".

And I'm aware "things" beyond knitting are piling up too. Some of my winter initiatives have yet to be completed as the snow rapidly recedes, cottage and gardening loom and spring "stuff" needs to be planned/resources marshalled.

Having the clocks "spring forward" last weekend and our long lingering Arctic air mass finally move off has aroused me from my winter "mode". It is time to change gears and I've a weekend entirely free of commitments in which to begin.

Anyone else hear that starter's pistol that just went off?

June!

By the looks of the morning this is NOT going to be a "Knitter's Spring" day. Instead its going to be a gorgeous day in June - sunny, comfortable with little humidity. Ahhhhh!

This is the first June in a couple of decades I've not had a child in school and so not had to navigate/manage the likes of...

Academic year end meetings, parties, concerts, report cards and teacher interviews, information nights for the upcoming school year, recitals, trips, graduations, playdays, track meets, proms, teacher/coach/instructor gifts, sports finals and semis, baking and/or cooking contributions to any and all of the above mixed in with auditions and tryouts and course selection for the next school year. Never mind the "Summer" programs and activities that start before the school year ends, overlapping to an almost cruel degree the frenzied finishing up of the stuff that's been going on since the previous September.

...the June stuff.

So I decided to embrace my "new" June this year.

Instead of making food for school events or pot luck suppers related to the kid's activities I'm making lovely light dinners for us here at home enjoying seasonal ingredients like Rhubarb, Asparagus, Scallops, Mint, Peas, Lamb and Lemon. I'm taking time to set the table in the garden where the floral action's in full swing after a sip (or two!) of wine on the patio where I keep an eye on the BBQ.

In time for the start of the month (instead of the end of it) I switched out the linens, pillows, throws, area rugs  to light, bright cool cottons, sisal and rafia. (Okay a couple of times this June we've had to put the furnace or gas fireplace on but the point is things looked like summer!)

Rather than just brute force garden taming I'm indulging, a bit each day, in seeing to the finer details that make a June garden feel luxuriously well tended. (You know sweeping path edges and fluffing up the soil, plucking wee tiny weeds just as they emerge - that kind of stuff - as if there's a staff seeing to it - the staff happens to be me but still, luxurious!)

All this while prepping the dog for the next Obedience trial in a couple of weeks and knitting and hunting down yarn for summer projects at the lake and I even plan to get out to the DKC meeting next week!

It feels like a triumph. I wouldn't change Junes passed for anything but we did them up big to the point of being "done" so now I can move on happily and in full appreciation of what this June offers...

Today, after our walk, Hudson and I are headed for the grooming table. Everyone's out for dinner this evening leaving me to enjoy leftovers, knitting and "sipping" on the patio taking in the garden views with a clean fluffy dog at my feet!

June - I'm loving it!

Almost Summer!

To me, "Summer" means primarily three things...*

Warm Weather

No School

Cottaging

I moved Number One Son out of his university residence in the most glorious sunshine yesterday so we officially now have two out of three around here.

Up at the lake the ice went so we can now launch a boat, get to and open the Cottage for the season this weekend. Then it will really feel like its here at last!

One Extreme to the Other (And Happy Halloween Too!)

About 12 hours after landing back in T.O. from San Juan late last Thursday night we were unpacked, repacked, I'd created and shipped off a Pumpkin Stalk hat complete with leaf and tendrils to Number One Son for his Halloween Festivities at University over the weekend and we were en route to the cottage.

I'm obviously modeling here.but Number One Son affixed the stalk to a dark green toque and I understand wore the leaf hanging down the back so as to step away from the "Fascinator" look the forward position conveys! He paired this with a bright Orange Sweatshirt adorned with Jack-O-Lantern duct tape face and green track pants.

Brrrrrr! Only a couple of degrees above freezing inside the cottage in the morning from just the day before being in tropical heat and humidity!

My last minute dash to the car that morning, yielded a woolly wool rather than Tropical Fiesta "just in case" project that ended up dominating my weekend knitting as I worked my second pair of Twined Knitting Mittens.

This pair are for Number One Son (another request!) so I've changed up the details a bit to yield a more masculine design. I added stripe and texture to the bottom of the cuff...

 Then aside from the thumb gusset its all stripes all the time up the finger tips.

With the technique now clear in my mind worsted yarn made quick work of these. Quite satisfying!

Also satisfying...the muted tones of our late autumn woodlands after the riot of fall colour a few weeks ago. So too the tropical scene we enjoyed last week was lovely but my internal calendar just needs to chill and frankly, eventually feel the freezing part of our spectacular four Ontario seasons. (Maybe the knitter in me needs the cold a bit too eh?)

But what a good outlook for a Canadian "girl"! I mean even the trees seem to be wearing woolly socks around here!

I hope wherever you're reading this from you're enjoying and appreciating where you are as much as I am. So many of our neighbours south of the border are suffering this week my heart goes out to them as they begin to undertake the huge recovery process ahead!

Thanks for dropping by!

This Morning...

...on my desk...

On the breakfast table...

"Peeking" in from the porch outside the kitchen...

Just outside the back door...

Under the big Lilac a shot of orange - not a colour I ever associated with spring but I love how it sets everything else off so beautifully! In the foreground is one of the smaller vines of a species Clematis that by climbing up through the shrub gives the lilac the look of white blossoms a few weeks after its fragrant purple blooms are done

Its almost magical the way the lungwort presents different coloured blooms all at the same time!...

The Serviceberry is covered in a cloud of these white blossoms...

...that will become the berries the Robins will devour.

Viburnum ``Summer Snowflake`` starting to hint at the show she will put on for us in May. I love the heavily textured leaves and little broccoli-like baby flower bracts!

In the main garden...

...Dictamnus looking rather "muscular" in its early growth phase and nearby the

Pea Sprouts are keeping company with species tulips...

And back at the opposite side of the garden door from which we started, Vinca (a long ago prize from my mother`s Bridge Club) in blue at the foot of a Golden Forsythia planted with  a cutting from my grandfather`s garden...

And waiting to be spread around on the garden beds...

...If given a choice do all knitters choose a sheep variety over the kind "originating" from cows?
Then back inside I'm finally getting around to this job...

...A beautiful morning with all kinds of potentially enjoyable activities inside and out but what isn't illustrated here today are the less photogenic but more pressing, less entertaining "opportunities" (aka char woman work) that I've been doing instead!

Thanks for dropping by!

Easter Weekend

Easter last year found my family all busy caring for my brother in the final days of his battle with cancer. For 2010 I wanted to mix things up from our usual routine for our first Easter without him. So I threw tradition to the winds. I switched our customary dinner gathering to one immediately following Easter Morning Church services, suggested we all attend one service together at my mom's church rather than our own various churches and then had everyone come back to our place for a sunny, flower filled lunch. New new new!

As for the food, I found an Easter Luncheon Menu (Martha Stewart Living March '97 Gardening Edition). which takes its inspiration from ..."a (California) valley rich with citrus orchards ringed by coastal mountains in a hundred shades of pink". I thought it sounded just like the change we all needed this Easter...

Pimm's Cup Cocktail (With Fruit Plate)

Whole Poached Salmon in Aspic with Citrus and Orange Mayonnaise

Rosemary Flatbread

Roasted Beets with Citrus and Spring Greens

Steamed Asparagus with Orange Zest

New Potatoes with Gremolata

Fennel and Apple Salad

Eton Mess

Instead of doing my customary thing of making the whole meal, I said I'd make the Salmon, the Asparagus and Bread  and then suggested my sisters and our mother divide up the rest of the recipes between them. The result was wonderful! Everyone felt a real sense of accomplishment and even my non cooking mother and sister reported very much enjoying the process of making something new and unusual. Martha recipes can be challenging but that can be half the fun and in this instance it was! I know my part had me standing on my culinary toes as I'd never before made Aspic. Its like nothing I've ever tried and night and day different from glazing or coating something with straight gelatin which is what I thought it would be!

On the floral front all the forsythia branches bloomed just in time...

The cocktail hour of our event featured Pimms No.1 laced with the juices of macerated fruit, poured over ice with Gingerale and garnished with a cucumber spear. It looked just as fresh and flavourful as it tasted! Again such a nice change from our usual wine or beer!

The sister who made the drink also brought a beautiful fruit tray to go with it as we started off our celebration in the garden.

Then we made the move inside to the dining table with a wee chocolate gift at everyone's place...

As usual with Martha, everything looked as well as tasted fabulous and everything really worked together.

The colours in the beet and citrus salad were so fantastic - especially alongside the rosy salmon and set off against the acid greens in the apple and fennel dish. Afterwards I counted and across the entirety of the menue there were about 20 different fruits and vegetables used!

After lunch the ladies who had cooked enjoyed tea and coffee from springy china cups and saucers while the guys did the minimal cleanup the kitchen required, building doggy bags for everyone to take home, loading the dishwasher and washing and drying the more delicate glasswear.

Once everyone had gone we had time for a walk before a cozy baked pasta dinner. It was by then just the four of us and we ate in front of the television watching Fantastic Mr. Fox. (That's the beauty of a vegetable laden midday meal - pretty soon there's room for a simple hearty dinner!) During the movie I started the second sleeve on the Minimalist Cardigan.

I hope to block the two fronts, the back and completed sleeve tomorrow and once that's done I'll really feel like I'm in the home stretch on this one.

I hope you had a grand holiday weekend, whatever it entailed. Thanks for dropping by today!

Who Cares About the Calendar?

Check out the time on the clock...(that's 5:30 p.m.!)

Check out the light still outside! Violet there has obviously been aware for some time now of what the calendar frankly always misses at this time of year...I don't care what the official start date is or whether there still is snow on the ground around here...the arrival of spring is well underway!

I hope you're having a great (early springtime) weekend...I am!

Interweave Knits Spring 2010

It arrived with the Friday mail. I think all knit magazines should arrive on Fridays - what a nice thing to look forward to cruising through over the weekend! (I know it isn't 9:00 a.m. Saturday yet and I've already devoured the thing but I was up at 5:30 to cook breakfast for my "little" skier who had to be on the bus by 7:00!)

In her letter from the editor Eunny Jang makes the analogy of having a long cool drink of water to considering Spring knitting from the still cold days of late winter.  For me, its more about light than beverages - the daylight is getting brighter and hanging around much longer these days. Yesterday's downhill at Whistler looked to have the same warm mid afternoon sunshine we enjoyed here in Toronto (3000 kms/2000 miles away) so it must be happening everywhere!

On first glance I would describe this issue as modern - not "mod"or "trendy", more "moderne" (think Chrysler Building in New York). Clean but detailed, structured yet open and with flowing lines. And it features a range of wonderful fibers for knitting and wearing.  Beyond that, the designs are fresh and pretty but not fussy. "Pretty" doesn't generally suit me - but I think it does suit Spring to a tee so I often find myself lamenting its absence in my Springtime wardrobe.

Besides, what better way to inject a bit of a lift into the Springtime Toronto closet than with a couple of warm hand knits that look like the season outside instead of the dark days around Christmas! This is especially so as the "tulips" and "warm breezes" type of Spring can occur at our latitude just a week or two before full on summer weather and anytime up until then, snow is a definitely possibility. The reality is we have to dress with warmth in mind long after winter knits have been put away. Springtime knits are thus most practical and in this edition IK offers lots to consider in that category.

In the "New Lace" section the "Double V Cardigan" by Melissa Wehrle in Zitron "Savanna" really caught me eye. Daffodil Yellow, feminine yet tailored. A fabulous layering piece and as a cropped cardi, not a lifetime to knit despite the lovely all over linear lace pattern.

The Chevron Market Bag in ivory (Nashua Handknits Creative Focus) cotton- a more substantial take on the traditional string bag really appealed to me. It has a flat bottom that, along with the lower sides is knit in purl brioch stitch (that sounds fun to try!) which would keep small items inside where a typical string bag might let them slip through. The purl brioch is also used in the handle to make it more comfortable over the shoulder when fully loaded.

The cable lover in me is also drawn to the piece featured on the cover - a long cotton/wool blend tunic. It looks like it would be cozy to just the right degree in cool Toronto spring weather. I don't have the lovely slim figure that piece demands but still I love the look of it!

Ann Weaver's boxy "Transverse Cardigan" from the section on knits done side to side looks like it would be very fun to knit and it features asymmetry and big buttons - both of which I love. My fear with hand knits featuring off centre designs is that instead of looking interesting and inventive as they do on some people, on me they look like I made a mistake in the knitting. This cute cardi is tailored so as to eradicate that concern. I picture it in a light blue tweed yarn. Plus knitting from cuff to cuff? It just sounds fun!

"Betty's Tee" by Tram Nguyen using entrelac, the "Ringlet Tank" with short row cap sleeves and the "Jellyfish Bag" with its ridges and folds also scream "knit me" but also aren't too fussy to also suggest "wear me" or even "look good wearing me!"

The other thing I really like about this issue is the use of finer gauge yarns. The "Tissue Cardigan" knit in Misti Alpaca Lace is a particular favourite with its lacy yoke and eyelet detail mid sleeve and around the lower hem line. (I think eyelet is as well suited to Spring as polka dots - speaking of which - how about The" Audrey Cardigan" stitched in a Swiss Dot pattern!)

Okay, okay, I've got to land and face a bit of reality - it is mid February! Whatever the sun is doing, the Winter Olympics are on and I've got a bunch of wintery knits to finish up! The prompting of Ms. Jang. can be devilishly compelling but I'm going to bury this sunny, springy issue under a stack of winter knit mags and right now see to that other Jang-esque item in my life - TY!

Thanks for dropping by!

Brand "Knew" Knitting Stuff

Despite knitting being one of my life long pursuits and given the near permanent fixtures in my hands that needles and yarn have become over the last three years in particular its interesting to me that my family, immediate and extended, consistently complain I am very hard to buy things for. No one ever thought of the obvious knitting opportunities for gifting - but as of this Christmas, it seems like they're starting to catch on!

Darling Daughter and my Baby Sister each gave me a knitting mag subscription. (VK and IK respectively) Love it!

In the gift draw for my in laws' family, the niece that drew my name was, despite being from out of town, savvy enough to stop by Passionknit when on a recent trip to T.O. and bought me a most generous gift certificate. As to what I'll use it for? Already did that - I put it toward this...

Oh my goodness its lovely stuff! 15% Angora 85% wool - all the nubby wooliness of an unbleached wool but so much softer and with the colours of the tweed adding an undeniable clean, citrus undertone the overall impression is fresh and young. I'm organizing my thoughts to work up a scarf for Darling Daughter - something wide and long and with a big cable featured in the middle.

My Beloved, a strong believer in the importance of investing in good quality tools, bought me a long coveted digital scale. No more guessing as to when I'm at the halfway point in a skein of sock yarn - yahoo! (A bit of a concern that these two "50 gram" balls are weighing in at less than 100 grams despite still wearing their labels - any thoughts on that? Yes the scale is on a box rather than the counter in the photo but in real life, the reading was the same in either location.)

Number One Son, down in the garage wood shop until the wee hours of Christmas morning won the prize for most original knitting gift with this...

Most impressive is the fact it actually fits and is sturdy enough to allow the counter to function.

I asked him where he got the mini clothes peg from. He clarified its a full sized peg that he reduced down in size to suit the situation. Darling Daughter pointed out that I will therefore be missing one. He further clarified it took a few tries to get it right so that I was going to notice I was down a "few more" than one. I haven't yet been brave enough to check the clothes peg basket to see if I have any left at all! Whatever the case though, I love it and I will use it!

What a lucky knitter I am eh?

Thanks for dropping by!

P.S. Please excuse the "look" of things around here... I started working on the side bar elements last week to bring them up to date etc. and haven't yet finished so I've chosen this template to keep them all at the bottom and out of immediate sight until I'm done.

Ahhhhhhhhh....

I am warm.

I am alone in the house.

There is no sound but the clicking of the keyboard and the blessed hum of the furnace kicking out heat.

I cannot hear blaring rock music or feel surround sound television shock waves. The living room is not strewn with newspapers and coffee cups and the trappings of new Christmas gifts and gadgets being explored. All trace of holiday decorations and Christmas trees are gone. I need arrange no lunch for my hungry masses, prepare no nibblies for what we call "cocktail hour". No guests are scheduled to arrive so the state of the house is not a pressing issue.

Despite a few challenges (Shattered dining table, dead furnace, dead car battery, bad cold or maybe seasonal flu for My Beloved)our holidays were full of everything they should be. The only things lacking (other than good health for one and all) was sleep - due to disruptions from nocturnal coughing fits and knitting due to all of the above.

We visited with family and friends, we entertained and went out to see others. There was a bit of "skiing" (more on that in a later post) and a bit of being tourists in our own amazing city. Both kids enjoyed setting their own schedules and making their own independent plans as well as occasionally tagging along with us. I even managed three work outs!

Christmas morning was an absolute delight as the kids, now past the Santa years, each had arranged surprise gifts to give others, complete with great and amusing stories to tell. They are both smart and witty people and so naturally just great to be with.

Number One Son told me on Sunday that this was the best holiday he's ever had in the city because he watched almost no television - something we have long supported, at one time enforced but which he has now embraced as his own and of which he has now seen the benefits first hand - a very satisfying moment for a parent to witness indeed!

Yesterday, on her last day of holidays before heading back to school Darling Daughter and I went to the LYS to escape the indoor cold, choose yarn for a Darling Daughter scarf and then came home to sit by the gas fireplace looking at patterns on Ravelry as we ate our lunch. Bliss for a knitting mother!

The cacophony of the holidays was fun and well deserved but I do appreciate the rhythm of quiet routine - especially after a satisfying break from it such as we've just all enjoyed. So having dedicated our heat free Sunday to vacuuming, baking and doing laundry in an effort to add badly needed warmth to the house before we baled and moved over to my sisters, Things are in good shape around here. Time then to get my knitting and knit blogging life back on the rails, visit my in boxes and regroup.

First on my list after this - draft a post about the thoughtful knitting gifts I received this Christmas - I wouldn't feel right keeping anything in my knitting world from all of you!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Look Ma No Heat!

Julia over at Kniteroo has a great description of the weather we've been "enjoying" here in Toronto over the past few days - the first real wintry weather for this season.

Here at Sel and Poivre we've been embracing the climatic conditions by seeing just how close to the outdoor temps we can make it inside our humble home. And we're doing pretty well in that regard - as I type this, the thermostat reads 49 Fahrenheit (about 9 degrees celcius).

Actually, our well maintained, recently cleaned and relatively new high efficiency furnace experienced sudden and unexpected brain death mid morning Saturday. The nature of the replacement part we need, Holiday staffing of gas technicians or the lack thereof, weather and related driving conditions and furnace issues across the city yielded a comical series of events that, taken together, mean it will likely be tomorrow before we have heat again.

In the meantime, we've been making due with a couple of space heaters, the gas fireplace in the basement and a day yesterday of laundry and baking to keep the dryer and oven/stove contributing what they could. All those efforts kept our heat loss yesterday to a mere 5 degrees Celcius but by evening when a solution was not in sight we decided finally to take my sister's kind offer to let us stay with them at their house nearby.

So I've stopped by here to check on things and run the dishwasher and the water around the house. My beloved plans to drain the water tonight before we leave it again because if its not fixed until later on tomorrow by then we could well be within striking distance of freezing pipes.

Okay, that's it, my fingers are numb - the keyboard is so cold, just touching it makes my fingers ache! Thanks for dropping by!

Merry Christmas!

Last Night, Christmas Eve, we had our annual family get together here after church to exchange gifts and have a few snacks. We didn't open any presents, just "parked" gifts for others under the downstairs tree. (This is the first time we've ever had two real trees and it has been a resounding success on many fronts - well worth the effort by everyone's account)

On the way out everyone picked up the gifts intended for them to take home as they were leaving.

The upstairs tree was then dedicated to our household gifts.
My favourite gift this morning? Its hard to choose one thing but the gift of good fit was right there near the top - check out those ski socks!
If they weren't socks you might even say they fit like a glove!

Merry Christmas! Thanks for dropping by!