Catching up

My blog posts have not exactly been much lately, just swappy stuff. So, go grab a cup of coffee, or tea, or a glass of wine if that's what you need, 'cause this is gonna take a while.

Ready? Ok.

Cate referred to the day we wound her yarn. Not a single stitch was knit as we used two swifts (mine and Charlene's) and a ball winder (which belongs to Alison, but lives aqt my house) to make some lace weight cashmere (heaven!) and sock weight cashmere (delish!) into tidy little centre-pull yarn cakes.

The hemp?



The sadistic nut who put that into a skein should tied up with it. 4 skeins, twisted and crazy.

We should have wound the cashmere last. Like a reward.

In other news, my cousin and her family are here from Ontario. She's heading home soon, which sucks because it's really nice having her here. She needs to move back home.

Anyway...

We went out for Sushi the other night; myself, Phil, Karen and her husband Thomas and Karen's brother Richard (who, coincidentally is also my cousin). Karen had never been and was eager to try it, Thomas had to be convinced (and promised a burger if the whole thing went bust).

Phil entertained us with a drum solo while we waited


Aren't they a sweet couple


We had some appetizers, and I tried tempura battered calimari and discovered it's actually pretty good, while Thomas discovered that miso soup was not so bad.

Then our entrees came

The rolls were fairly innocent looking


However...Phil's dish was very clearly raw fish

Do you see the suckers attached to his Octopus? Ew!

Thomas was all..."Yeah, that looks pretty...but don't let it touch my plate"


Thomas had the teriyaki chicken (on my recommendation) and I had the same, but with shrimp too. I can't believe I did not take a picture of the plate, it was so beautifully arranged. But it was also delicious!

We went to the Hamachi Grill and Sushi House, I urge you to check it out. Lovely atmosphere and excellent food.

Hey, remember that I knit?

Inspired by this post by the Yarn Harlot (aren't we all inspired by her?) I did a project round up. Oh, ok fine. I cleaned up my living room and uncovered my UFO's ok?

Anyway...

So I decided to get pics so I can post them on Ravelry, but for those of you who have not recieved your invites yet, here is the pile:


1) Is Sheldon. He was meant to be a birthday present, but he has a weird ladder I have not figured out how to close. He may need to be frogged and knit again, and I am not moving forward with legs or shell until I solve the ladder issue. He's knit in acrylic, for easy washings as he's meant for a wee boy.

2) Cam's tiger socks. In Opal rainforest. I've gotten as far as the end of the gussets, and I need him to try it on so I can measure how far I have to go. My goal is to have them done for the first day of school.

3) Branching Out in Alpaca Silk. This is why nothing else is getting knit.

4) Flower Basket shawl in white Euroflax linen. Now that I've found it I just need to figure out where I am in the pattern, so I can pick it back up. This was supposed to be worn at Jamie's wedding, but I did not get it finished in time. Now it's destined to be Cate's as a trade for making my dress. Bonus: my hatred for it has gone away.

5) Gabriel's cardigan, from the Daisy pattern. Just needs the sleeve sewn on (yup, just one) and a zipper sewn in. I have no idea why this is not finished.

6) Red Euroflax Linen scarf. Sooo pretty. I'm going to pick this back up today :)

7) Grace's top-down cardigan. Stalled because it's still summertime.

And now my pile of shame:


Frog land

1) Mom's socks, Opal cotton. Sorry Mom, but lacy tops just aren't working out. I've started and ripped back 4 different designs. The yarn told me it wants to be Monkey socks.

2) Falling in Love socks. I hate these. This is the Cherry Tree Hill yarn I snagged in the Tangled Skeins sale. I have one sock done and #2 almost done and I know with 100% certainty that I hate them. They are not well done. The pattern kicked my ass. This yarn wants to be something else.

3) Clapotis. Needs to be adjusted to accommodate yardage. I'm so sad about this. Bright side? I get to knit with sea silk again :)

Well, that's it for now. Grace has just informed me that "I'm hungrwy, Mommy! I need my lunch."

Duty calls :)