buriedinfibre.com

No really, it’s been swell, but you should go home. Thanks for coming, thanks for not slagging us too much, please go home.

I don’t think I was the only one in the lower mainland that got up this morning and breathed a sigh of relief. Relief that the Canucks play tomorrow, that we can drive where ever and whenever we need to again, relief that we can use transit and possibly sit down, and mostly relief that we won’t be hearing “I Believe” every 10 minutes anymore. I’m REALLY happy about that last one.

Things generally went pretty well. I’ve never seen such patriotic spirit from Canadians before. Ever. It felt good.

Here’s some pics from the Victory Ceremony we went to last Tuesday:

Mounties in dress reds raising the olympic flag.

Standing with McIvor for the national anthem during the medal ceremony.

Billy Talent after the medal ceremony. There was a mass exodus of raisins at this point in the evening which was pretty funny to watch.

The rings in the inner harbour gold for another Canadian gold medal day.

The flame cauldron.

As we were walking towards the caldron that night, we saw this long line of people and wondered why the line for viewing the cauldron was so long. We’re still about five blocks away from it, in Gastown, at this point. Mur decided to ask a cop if this was the line to see the flame. It wasn’t. This line that stretched down to the steam clock and around the corner to the waterfront was for… wait for it… free CTV pins. Mur had to take the pic as I was laughing to hard to get one that wasn’t blurry. We figured that half the people in the line had no idea what they were lining up for, but if there was a line, it had to be good! Sooo crazy.

A couple last things about this past week. To the lady who said she didn’t think the Canadian women’s hockey team set a good example for young girls by having a beer and stogies on the ice after the game: if I had a little girl I would tell her that if she won an olympic medal she could have a beer, even if she was 18. Hell, I would probably buy it for her myself.

And to Ryan Kesler, a Vancouver Canuck by occupation and an American team member by birth: saying you hate Canadians to the press in the town you work was maybe not the smartest thing you could have done. Don’t expect a warm reception when the Canucks return. I for one hope they trade your sorry ass to an American team on wednesday so they can put up with your piss poor attitude and we can find someone who wants to be here.

Since we had all the olympic excitement in last week’s post, there’s pretty slim pickings this week.

The weekly socks are not quite finished but their intended victim *er* recipient was here on the weekend and after a few (or maybe it was a lot, hard to know/remember) she agreed to model the one sock that was actually complete:

It’s Pyroclastic by Marlowe Crawford, done in Cherry Tree Hill Sock in some random colourway I’ve had for eons.

This pattern is tight, and I mean tight through the ankle and instep, but the person getting them has wee little elf like feet, so it fits her very well. They’re fun to knit, but I’m not convinced that the increases along the sole will wear well. Guess we’ll find out.

This person with the wee little feet also brought much sock yarn with her which she left at my house. It was very nice of her (I think), but it also increased the todo pile in a most unpleasant way. And I really need to get back to larger garments.

Note to self: buy larger house to provide more room for ever growing stash. Man live in tent? Hmmm…

We have one last olympic event tomorrow, the victory celebration with Billy Talent. Should be good. We’re taking the car this time so I don’t yak on the skytrain.

I don’t think we really had any idea what to expect. We knew there would be a lot of people. We knew it might be a bit of a circus, but I don’t think we had the foggiest it would be like this.

The weather has been pretty awesome, which is good and bad. It’s great for people wandering around Vancouver and taking in the events, but not so good for the skiing and such happening on the local mountains. Things are being postponed, the press is being not so nice about it and the locals are getting a mite testy. I think we need to look at it as there always going to be someone looking for a negative angle, it sells. Do we really care? The things I’ve heard about Vancouverites are so insanely stereotypical as to be almost mythical. Why on earth should we get heated about it?

In fact, it’s great.

I was downtown yesterday and I looked down Granville and all I could see were the North Shore mountains with the sun glinting on the their snowy tops. I could smell the ocean and the trees were coming into bloom. It was beautiful. If I didn’t live here already, I would want to move here. Let the press say as much negative stuff as they like, we don’t need a giant influx of ex-pats from all over the world!

The madness started for us locally last Tuesday at the ass-crack of dawn down on the White Rock waterfront with this:

A wonderfully thrilled man jogging up the street, grinning from ear to ear with the torch. It was pretty cool.

Then on Monday we went to the women’s Canada/Switzerland game. We had seats that would have been amazing if the volunteers had been able to keep the VIPs from walking in front of us so often that we missed a couple of goals. Since the game wound up 10-1 Canada, Mur says that really we only missed 20% of the scoring, so it wasn’t that bad.

Yesterday we went to the USA/Switzerland game. I’ve gotta say that the security measures are fairly ridiculous. We had to walk all the way around GM Place to get to the security station. They had blocked off all the streets surrounding the building. Mur set off the metal detector repeatedly and yet he wasn’t even asked to remove his coat. We wound up missing the first half of the first period thanks to this and an accident in the tunnel. Trust me, we had left lots of time to get there, two and a half hours.

It was a decent game. 3-1 for the US. Once again, we had excellent seats:

Even the zamboni was olympic:

One of the really great things they did for the first time ever in olympic history was to let people actually touch a medal. So we went to Royal Canadian Mint Pavillion and stood in line for an insane amount of time so we could do this:

And yes, that is a special glove that they gave everyone to wear. It says, “I touched an olympic medal”. Even the guys answering questions and making sure no one made off with one were wearing them.

The medals are really beautiful and weigh in at just over a pound. Each one is different and together they make up the original artwork called, ” A Pod of Whales”.

We have tickets for a victory ceremony next week and that will be the end of events we have tickets to. It’s been nice seeing some of the action in person. It’s really a once in a lifetime thing.

PS: These socks are number seven for the year:

Saviano by Yarnissima. Love ‘em, will make more.

… blogging will return wednesday due to us going to olympic hockey games. There will be pictures.

Be afraid.

Six more weeks of winter.

It hasn’t been cold around here, in fact the spring flowers are coming up and the cherry trees are blooming. But I could really do with some daylight. You know, the sort that involves a large bright disc in the sky that provides warmth. It’s been pretty grey lately.

They’re not a spring flower, but the mild winter made for really pretty and abundant helle blooms this year.

The next pair of socks is done:

Sottopassagio by Yarnissima. Cool design as the instep increases occur along the side of the cable. That cable then disappears into the one running up from the heel:

The next socks are already cast on.

I think I’ve finally got a design in mind for the handspun from last month. The swatches just weren’t doing what I’d hoped, but I think it’s a go now. It has to be ’cause a sleepless night last week produced 3 more designs that need to be swatched and written up.

The neighbours selling their house are doing a bang up job. Today they have a moldering christmas tree on their front lawn that appears to have been casually pitched out the front door. I’m sure buyers will be flooding them with offers!

I finally managed to get a pic of Looshie that wasn’t just blurry teeth. Apparently, once he’s finished chewing on the camera, he will strike pose after pose.

And yes, he always looks that menacing.

The olympics is less than 2 weeks away, streets are already closed, False Creek is shut down. The city lock-down has begun.

The weather has been mild but incredibly grey around here for what seems like months now. Somehow, the trees and flowers have decided that it’s spring. The cherry trees are blooming and my bulbs are coming up. I hope the mild weather stays, but we could really use some sun.

The monkey and I decided to make some lifestyle changes for this year and so far, so good. Gir’s enjoying the evening walks, our bank account is liking the dining at home thing and we both like game night and the regular out to a movie. Slowly but surely these things are becoming habits.

I’m already behind in my work and I’ve decided not to go to Madrona this year. I plan to make up the lost time a bit this month.

I did get caught up on the pair a week:

Pair 5 is done (an alpaca blend from Dianmond) and pair 6:

A Yarnissima pattern in Malabrigo sock, is on the needles. I got so used to cranking out the plain ones (they’re what I prefer to wear) that I forgot how nice it is to do a pattern. And the pattern is working up quite quickly too. Think I’ll do more patterned pairs for the next little while.

Seriously.

I am a professional procrastinator. This making sure there’s a post every Monday is giving me hives. But I am here with yet another post to bore you with the work of the past week.

I’ve started swatching the handspun and it’s knitting up very nicely. I haven’t quite got the stitch pattern sussed for what I want yet, but it’s ont he right track. I’m thinking plain with cable and garter trim. Just have to find the right cable.

I’m falling slightly behind the pair of socks a week pace I had, but here are the fourth pair:

The amount of stuff in the to do basket is looking almost manageable now and January isn’t even over yet. I’ve also managed not to add to the stock pile. These are both very good things.

The next spinning project is on the wheel:

It’s a yak/merino blend ( I think) in Puck’s Mischief from Blue Moon. Lovely soft stuff. Got a square shawl pattern in my head that hopefully will translate well with this yarn. There’s a lot of fibre though, so the spinning is going to take quite a while. Especially as it’s laceweight.

And yeah, I did take that pic in my bathroom. I have an evil cat that likes to chew drive bands. Wanna make something of it?

So drunken neighbour who chops wood at 3am is selling his house. Even when he gives me something I want, dude screws me over. He’s selling it as a lot at below assessment value. There’s been realtors all over the place since friday. I have visions of a giant stucco behemoth blotting out the sun and a summer spent suffering construction noise and dust.

I hope our neighbour’s next neighbours are worse than he is. Bleh.

Or does this year have a transition feel?

It’s not even three weeks gone and it feels like change is on the way. Maybe that’s what the endless litany of craptasticness last year was preparing us for.

It’s kind of upsetting my tea cart right now. I feel off balance and out-of-sorts. The hibernation urge is very strong, I don’t want to go anywhere, talk to anyone. Hopefully, it will pass.

Things may already be looking up as I noticed a “for sale” sign on drunken neighbour who parties all night and chops wood at 3am while intoxicated’s house. Of course, he’s trying to sell it himself and hasn’t done any work on the place, so this may take a while. Still, it’s a hopeful sign.

The spinning for cardy is done:

2lbs of 2ply light worsted. It’s soft and lofty. Swatching starts soon. Hopefully I’ll be able to design it this week.

The third pair of socks for the year. Haven’t decided what to do for the next pair. Maybe a pattern, except I like to do this while I’m doing other things so I need to not have to pay much attention to it. Hmm, have to think about that.

This is the lovely piece Lorena sent:

It’ll be going up on the alder in the yard as soon as the weather’s a bit better.

Now I know why I hadn’t been posting much, sometimes the weeks go really fast and thedaysallblurtogether.

It’s been pretty status quo around here over the past week. The monkey’s back at work and I’m trying to get through my pile of “to do”.

We started walking around the neighbourhood in the evenings with Gir. That new habit got off to a bit of a rocky start on day one when an elderly lady tried to run Gir and me over. I’ve had some close calls before, but this one was the closest ever. We were at a pedestrian controlled intersection and had the little walky guy in our favour, she was turning right. I made eye contact with her, because I never trust anyone with my life, she saw me and then came right for us. It took me jumping (almost) out of the way (she was coming fast) and yelling before she even stopped.

Scary.

The monkey said he thought I scared HER and I really hope I did. Next time she and some other pedestrian may not be so lucky.

Fortunately, all of our other walks have been really nice and completely uneventful. Unless you count Gir chasing big dogs on the beach. Which was just funny to watch. Wish I’d had my camera with us yesterday for that. It was a beautiful day and the view of the mountains behind the Peach Arch was lovely.

The Canucks have pulled out of their losing streak just in time for Olympic hiatus. Speaking of:

Our tickets finally came. Only took 6 months and a metric crapton of money. I’m sort of looking forward to and dreading the olympics. It sounds like Vanoc is effectively shutting down all roads in and out of any venue area to all but transit. Since we live in an outlying area, this is going to make getting to and from the events a very lengthy process. Here’s hoping they beef up transit enough to support the events!

Stop laughing!

This is the spinning that was accomplished this week. That’s 2 giants skeins (over a pound) of light worsted for cardigan knitting. Should have the rest spun up and washed this week.

First socks of the year are done and this is the second pair. Yet another item that should be done this week. The colour is more red and brown than the pic, but it’s a very grey day here and the flash screws with colour. It’s Zauberballe, thanks Kerry! I love the little pouch too. Already have my tools in it.

My friends may have limited wrapping skills, but I assure you, they are talented in other ways. Which I will have to prove in next week’s post as the mail was very unkind to my present and it needed a little TLC. Thanks Lorena! I love it and don’t worry, it’ll be right as rain as soon as the glue sets.