Hat

I think this will be the last cancer hat for Mom, at least for a while. I'm out of hat mojo. Managed to use up every scrap of the purple colour so that was nice.

Pattern: Sockhead Slouch Hat by Kelly McClure
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Blush, Sailor, Cream, and Serenade
Needle: 3.0mm
Gauge: 27 stitches and 36 rows = 10 cm

Current Weather
13C and partly cloudy.

Hat

Another cancer hat for Mom. Her favourite colour is purple. Mostly followed the Sockhead Hat patern but fudged the gauge or the fabric would have been so stiff it would stand up like an elf-hat. Probably not in a good way either.

Pattern: Sockhead Slouch Hat by Kelly McClure (mostly)
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Serenade
Needle: 3.0mm
Gauge: 27 stitches and 36 rows = 10 cm

No attempts at artistry this time

Current Weather
-5C and cloudy. The weather is certainly encouraging everyone to stay home and practice social distancing.

Hat

Another hat for Mom to wear during her cancer treatment. I've made three Wurms so far, two for winter wear and this cotton one. I struggled with the gauge on this one, it took three tries to get the right number of stitches in the right size. Adventure awaits even those who check their gauge.....

Pattern: Wurm by katushika
Yarn: Cascade Yarns ® Paradigm Shift in 3
Needle: 3.5mm & 4.0mm
Gauge: 24 stitches and 34 rows = 10 cm in stockinette stitch

Current Weather
11C and mostly cloudy. Don't let the temperature fool you there's no signs of Spring yet and we're supposed to get snow later this week.

Chemo Cap

It felt like a wild ride to finish another Chemo Cap for my Mom. Even though I only lost a game of yarn chicken once:

Well, that sucks

And I had the right amount of yarn after frogging back a few rows, it still felt like an adventure. That's what passes for one around here.

Pattern: mostly the Sockhead Slouch Hat  by Kelly McClure - I massaged the numbers a little since my gauge was different
Yarn: Lang Yarns Denim Cotton Recycled in 802
Needle: 3.0mm
Gauge: 23 stitches in 10cm

Trying to be artistic....

Current Weather

-19C and cloudy.

Weekly WIP Update

Yeah, so; these aren't exactly happening every week but there's only so many times you can repeat, "not much has changed so I didn't bother to take a picture" without being boring to the point of tears.

First up this week are some socks, sort of spring like colours but still mostly wool since this is Canada after all.

Next up are a couple of cancer caps for my Mom, I'd like her to have a few to choose from. Hopefully she doesn't get so sick from the chemo that she doesn't care what hat she's wearing.

 

And my gray vest and blue sparkly sweater have come out of sleep mode and gotten a little longer.

 

And a new, very dark brown, cardigan has been cast on. This one is worsted weight and feels like it's just flying along.

In frustrating news, I had to buy new 4.0mm needle tips this week because one of mine has disappeared. I still have one tip but it's kinda useless without the mate to go with it. Then, when I tried to use the new tips I discovered that the cable I was planning to use needs gluing and I don't have any other cables long enough for this project that aren't already in use. I was planning to cast on a cancer cap so I just cast on the grey one above instead so all is not lost.

That is the one downside I have found to Knit Picks interchangeable needles, at least the old ones that I have, this may not be an issue with a newer cable; the end join occasionally works loose. I just use some strong glue and put it back together and it's good to go, but it does mean the cable is out of commission for a day while the glue cures. This kind of glue takes 24 hours to completely cure.

Current Weather
-13C and partly cloudy. Winter came back again.

Cancer Comfort Cap

I don't think I've actually said this here before but my Mom's health problems are Breast Cancer, she was diagnosed just a couple weeks before Christmas last year. Just when she found out she could have her hip surgery any time; gotta take care of the cancer first though. In order to make sure she has something from me to keep her warm during what will likely be a difficult time as she goes through chemo treatment I plan to knit her several hats. This is the first.

I hope to do at least two more so she has a choice of hats to wear since, unfortunately, she has been told that this type of chemo almost guarantees hair loss.

Pattern: Cancer Comfort Cap by Universal Yarn
Yarn: King Cole Cotton Top DK in Grey
Needle: 3.25mm & 3.5mm
Gauge: 24 stitches and 32 rows = 10 cm in Reverse Stockinette

Fun fact, it is one of my pictures that shows up when you look at the yarn's Ravelry page.

Ahab
Also, unfortunately it's more bad news; I found  lump on Ahab. When I took him to the vet she found three more, she did an ultrasound and did not find anything untoward inside him but I still want to have the lumps removed and biopsied so we know what we're dealing with here.

Every time I turn around this year there is more bad health news. I'm actually done with 2020 and I'm quite prepared to skip to 2021 anytime now.

Current Weather
-3C and partly cloudy.

2017 Year in Review

Pets

I hate leading off with bad news but I must sadly say that I lost Squish this year. He had been ill for a couple of years with thyroid and, more recently, kidney failure but when he suffered a stroke (I think it was a stroke, he showed all the classic symptoms that EMTs tell you to watch for in a human) and was left partly blind and unable to walk I had to let him go. Rest easy my Squishy-cat; I miss you still.

Mouse has adjusted to being the only cat quite well and has embraced her Siamese genes by mewing constantly, mostly when she wants food; which seems to be every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, she has suffered from IBS for most of her life and has now added pancreatitis to her list of ailments. Watching her suffer through a flare-up is horrifying; the poor little cat is clearly in agony when it happens. And there isn't anything the vet can do for her, no medication or anything; all we can do is watch and hope she doesn't get worse.

Eclipse has not had any change in her health status but she does have cancer so I don't know how long she will be with us. Could be years could be months, with cancer you just never know.

Soccer's kidneys have started to fail so he's on medication for that. And he developed a fat lump on his side very quickly just before Christmas, monitoring for now and it has not become hard so far. He also seems to have a depressed appetite, food doesn't seem to interest him much and I had to move him onto a prescription vet diet; at least he'll eat it, he was refusing to eat anything for a couple weeks last spring and he's not a dog that should skip many meals given that he's always been a bit scrawny. For now he's still eating and doesn't seem to be in pain so we're monitoring.

Ahab seems to be that last healthy pet in the house and still loves playing Scent Hurdle. I'm keeping him running only one heat per race otherwise he seems to be really tired before the end of the tournament.

Knitting and other Fiber Arts

And now, let us take a look at the fiber accomplishments of 2017. I spent most of this year unemployed so my production level was high.


First completed project of this year was a pair of socks for my Niece. My Nephew's socks were completed in 2016 for his 2017 birthday so they show up on last year's review.










Followed immediately by a pair of socks for myself.

Then my Calgary Sister texted me a picture and asked if I could make her a hat like the one I had made for my Niece for Christmas 2015 in black or grey. How can one refuse? I called it Space Wurm not because of the colour (a true black) but because I was watching space documentaries while knitting it. Colour would have been a good reason to call it Space Wurm too.




Next, having learned that my Wee Niece's mauve Wonderful Wallaby just barely fit, I made a larger one for her. I have actually seen her wearing this in several video calls with her! Now, that's the way to get yourself hand knits. Or for your mother to get you hand knits. Either way.





Then came a pair of John Deere socks. I had originally intended these as a gift for a friend but one ended up longer than the other by about 1cm so I'm reluctant to gift them. They're waiting for me to make a decision.




Next I completed the first three of a series of Hats. I had some old Wool-Ease in my stash that I could never think what to do with. I can't even remember what I originally bought it for; so I made it up into a bunch of hats. This also lead to an important question - What do you call a group of hats? My personal favourite was a friend's suggestion of a "snuggle of toques".

Then came my UK Vacation. There were many adventures, but of relevance to knitting - while on the train from London to Edinburgh it broke down so I had lots of time to work on a pair of socks. I knit most of a sock while stuck on the train then completed the pair in the lounge of the hotel in Edinburgh. They're in my Scent Hurdle team's colours and I've been wearing them to tournaments, well, in winter that is.







And I finished another entire pair of socks while visiting with my Sister in Aberdeen. These went to my Mom for Mother's Day, which is celebrated in March in the UK so she got them early since we were in the UK and they were finished and it was UK Mother's Day. She did not get a second pair for Canadian Mother's Day but only because I didn't have time, I would have if I'd had time.


Upon returning home the hats continued to drip from my needles, it helps that Wool-Ease is a really chunky yarn, giving me a total of nine in various sizes. I originally intended to give these to charity, except for the medium green which I kept for myself, but they kept getting claimed by those who saw them on the table at the front door. In the end I kept the medium green, the solid red went to my Mom, the large charcoal to my brother-in-law, the blue with red stripe and grey crown to my Niece, the large green to my Nephew, the charcoal with red ribbing to my Sister, the small blue to my Wee Niece, and only three went into the charity box. Still, they all found a good home.

Then I did some experimenting with loom knitting, I would like to do more of this but I'm having problems finding the right tools. I have a feeling this could mean I'm pushing the envelope here. Cool beans. I did a small blanket that I ended up not liking because I chose the wrong cast off and messed up the pattern, this may get frogged yet. Plus, I have since found that double knitting works really well when you are working with two colours, so I really I feel I should be pushing this technique more and using three or more colours.


Next a sweater for me. I wore this lot through the cold snap over Christmas and New Years.











Then socks for my Dad for Father's Day.




Another sweater for my Wee Niece. The colour in the picture is completely wrong, it's actually a light blue. Since its in Scotland taking a replacement picture is tricky.






I enlarged the fish from the "A Recipe for Fish" blanket pattern and made a dish cloth.






Followed by a couple of Aww-Poo Bags. Still working on perfecting the pattern for these as I'm not 100% satisfied with it.

A flaming red 10 Stitch Blanket. My awe for the genius of Frankie Brown continues unabated. No particular plan for this at this time. I'm not worried; there's always someone having a baby.






A blue blanket. I had no recipient in mind when I made this but it worked out well when it went to a friend of my Scottish Sister who had a baby boy this year. The friend lives in Canada so there were no shipping costs incurred.




Some cotton socks for myself as I always seem to run out of summer socks. Not that I wear socks much in summer but it is good to have some.






Next some boring and practical dish cloths. As you can no doubt tell from the Franken-Cloth I was using up old stash to make these.

Another Aww-Poo Bag, this one came out a bit small, so still working on perfecting the design.











Another baby blanket, tentatively thinking of trying to sell these. And if that doesn't work out then I have plenty of baby gifts. There is a diamond pattern in this blanket, you can't see it at all in the picture but I assure you, its there.




Reached into my stash and worked up a baby car-seat blanket. The picture may not show it well but there are holes you can buckle a baby car-seat through. That way the baby can't kick the blanket off. This was this year's only crochet project.





I had purchased some alpaca sock-weight yarn to go into my Mitered Square Sock Blanket but I ended up with too much orange so I used the alpaca (why wouldn't you choose the alpaca?) to make mittens instead. There is a finger hole in the right mitten so you can text or use your GPS without removing your mittens.





Then I finished the first Christmas present, my Nephew's Star Wars Scarf. This was my first try at double-knitting and I have fallen completely in love with the technique; it is awesome. Also, I love this pattern and am still debating doing one for myself. I fear that if I do though I'd better also do one for my brother-in-law.




There was enough alpaca left after the mittens for a headband. It is currently far too cold to wear this.






And Christmas present number two, more double-knitting to make a Horse Scarf for my Niece. The colours in the picture are really off, the background should be light beige, same as in the Star Wars Scarf picture, and the scarf itself is dark purple and mauve.



And then another little blanket, blue with a leaf pattern. This picture is pre-blocking, I suspect the pattern will calm down and it will look much better once I take some steam to it.





And finally one last blanket with a single snowflake pattern but mostly stockinette stitch. Finished this on Dec. 30, although like the blanket above it still needs blocking, so it just squeaked across the wire.






Completed this year:
38 projects
36 knitting projects
9 chunky hats
7 little blankets
7 pairs of socks
3 sweaters
3 dish cleaning apparatus
3 Aww-Poo Bags (experimental)
2 double-knit scarves
1 wurm hat
1 pair of mittens
1 headband
1 loom knit project
1 crochet project

Current Weather
A balmy -20C and sunny. After over a week of -30C temperatures -20C feels positively warm.

Remember the hats?

These hats.

Well, my Calgary Sister and her family came over for dinner a few weeks ago when they were still sitting on the dining room table and they all decided they'd like a hat. So, four more found good homes. There are now just three waiting for a home. I think I'll hold onto them until my Scotland Sister comes to visit, my Wee Niece may like one. I don't think any of the ones left will fit an adult; they're more of a child's size. After that, the remainder will go into a clothing donation run.

It's always good to thing when your hand knits have gone to a good home.

Started working on a new double loom-knitting project, I have done one in the past, a blanket for my Wee Niece. And I quite like the technique, especially for some complex colour work on a blanket. I ran into a few things I didn't like though, one being gauge. They heavy worsted/aran yarn (number 5 on commercial acrylics) was almost heavy enough but not quite; I was never really satisfied with the gauge; it was just a bit too loose. I don't like things too loose, they snag and wear out quickly. Plus, with this technique you can see the strands that are being carried along if the fabric is too loose to hide them. There's a happy ending for the blanket though, my Scottish Sister likes it for my Wee Niece's pram ("stroller" in North America) so I guess that worked out in the end. But I wanted to try again.

It turns out there isn't a lot of information about loom knitting out there. I don't think it's nearly as popular as regular knitting, and what is out there did not cover much about gauge. I did learn that when double loom knitting gauge is determined by a combination of how far apart the two lines of pegs are and how far apart the pegs are from each other. I suspect how tightly you wrap the pegs will matter too but perhaps not as much as with regular knitting. But I, so far anyway, have not found out much about how to determine gauge. With regular knitting there's so much out there you can get lost in it.

So, I decided to experiment with gauge, this is never really a bad idea. The first blanket was a heavy worsted/aran weight yarn and the blanket is in Scotland so I don't have a sample, I do have more of the yarn so I may work up a sample up at a later date. In the meantime, I worked up a quick sample using a worsted weight (4) yarn and as you can see it's hideous:

It doesn't help that the picture is blurry but you get the idea.

You can see right through the fabric and the ends are pulling out even though it's done nothing but sit on the back of the couch and look ugly. I shudder to think what would happen if it was used for something. Urgh. 

By the way, the watering can and the "GO" patterns came from a book called "Tapestry Crochet, 64 Playful Patterns for Children" by Renate Kirkpatrick.

So next I tried using two strands of worsted held together. This was much better, the carried strands are hidden for the most part, although the high contrast of the colours I used does still mean you can see them a bit. This is a bit of the nature of this technique, I suspect that unless your fabric is so thick it can stand up on it's own you will always be able to see high contrast colours behind the fabric. With two strands of worsted the fabric was a little too stiff for a blanket; although it might make a nice floor rug or pet mat. (Yes, I switched to yellow when I ran out of cream. Bite me. This was about gauge and I wasn't about to run out and buy more of a yarn I was trying to get rid of, I was stash-bustin' for this experiment.)

Given that two strands of worsted produced a fabric that was just a little too stiff for a blanket I decided to try two strands of DK weight (number 3 on commercial acrylics) held together. This turned out to be my Goldilocks gauge for loom-knitted blankets on this loom. Not to tight, not too loose; just right. I love how this fabric is turning out.

I did have to buy more yarn for this part of the experiment and I was not at all sure how to calculate how much I'd need (not much on that out there either) so I decided to get (I hoped) enough to make up a baby blanket. In the end I think I bought about twice what I'll end up needing. Oh well, it was on sale and I can always make another blanket.

At some point I will try with a bulky weight yarn, number 6 on commercial acrylics, and see what happens with it. But that won't happen until I finish the current blanket. The pattern for this blanket is mine(ish), I took some free snowflake patterns and combined them, then added some chevrons and a border, to make the blanket.

The next issue is that the knitting loom I have, a Martha Stewart Knitting Loom is not wide enough for an afghan or a bedspread or something like that. In the picture above the blanket is about 25 inches wide, that's just barely wide enough for a small baby blanket. I bought a second loom (Micheal's sent me a coupon) and will try combining the two to make a wider board but I'm a bit worried about doing that. This board is only meant to be about 2 feet wide so making it wider may make it too awkward to use and there are no stands available for these, or the plastic may not be strong enough over that distance. Combining two looms will still only give me about 4 feet of width and I'd like to be able to do something 5-7 feet wide to make a blanket you can really cuddle up with or put on a bed as a bedspread.

Another option would be to make panels and sew them together. While this is certainly an option I like the idea of one single, wide panel to make the entire blanket. I will try the combined length and see how/if it works before I come to my final conclusion.

There are longer looms out there which are bent into a figure 8 shape but they're not really intended for double-knitting. I have found some videos on YouTube on adapting them for double knitting but the one's I've looked at have the pegs spaced further apart than my current loom so I'd need to check the gauge all over again. And I may end up with something too thick or heavy to really use.

I fear that, in the end, I may have to try my hand at making a knitting loom. This would be way, way outside my usual skill set so I'm not at all sure it would or could happen. I suppose I could always ask my Dad for help... I'd need to borrow his tools for something like that anyway.

Scent Hurdle
There was a Scent Hurdle tournament on Saturday. Ahab ran with our regular team in the morning and with another team in the afternoon. He did fantastically well. I even managed to talk him through picking up one of his barbells (another dog picked up the wrong one and dropped it in the race lane) and taking it to the box, he didn't really need to do this but he had picked up the barbell and wouldn't drop it, then dropping it and picking up his other barbell (which the boxloader had placed in the box after the other dog removed his) and bringing back the correct barbell. Wow. I know he's smart, but just; wow. I'm still amazed I was able to get him to do that. I really wish someone had been taking video of that race.

Easter
Not much happened for Easter around here, my Red Deere Sister and her husband came for dinner and we had ham on Saturday. That's about it.

Current Weather
Mostly cloudy, 10C.

What do you call a group of hats?

They're done, all done. I removed some Wool-Ease from my stash that I was tired of having. Nothing wrong with Wool-Ease when it's used for its intended purpose. But I was tired of having this in my stash as it was never going to get used. Now it is 9 hats. No idea what I'll do with the hats but likely they'll be donated to charity. Although, I decided to keep one of the green ones and my Mom liked the solid red one so they're spoken for.

..... and back again

Back from a wonderful vacation in the UK with my Mom and Dad. Fortunately we had moved on from London several days before the terrorist attack. Otherwise it could have been quite a different vacation. The attack occurred right where we'd been visiting the sites in London. Below is the Clock Tower (the bell inside is Big Ben not the tower itself). The attack took place just to the left of this photo. I have confidence London and the UK will not let this effect them.

The Clock Tower (Big Ben is the bell inside)

We had problems getting to our hotel, the Bedford Hotel, because there was some sort of NHS protest march going on that day and the police had blocked off the street the cabby needed to go down to get to the hotel. We ended up walking about 1.5km, with all our luggage in tow (hurrah for wheeled suitcases), to get to the hotel.

Day 1: On our first day in London it was grey and overcast and we were a bit jet lagged so we went to the British Museum, which was conveniently located just around the corner from our hotel. Entry into most museums in the UK is free, although they do ask for a donation, it's optional. We spent four hours there and only got through a few rooms - Chinese pottery, Korean pottery, some medieval British displays, and a room showing the evolution of clocks (which is tragically not called 'A History of Time'); the place is absolutely huge. I managed to bang my knee into a table when we stopped for some lemonade.

The British Museum

Four hours is more than enough to burn out your brain in a museum though so we called it a day and went for lunch at a nice pub where we started our mission to sample as many ciders as possible while in the UK. As were were leaving the museum I somehow jammed two fingers on the railing on the stairs.

Mmmmmm, cider.

Day 2: On our second day we went on a bus tour called 'London in a day'. First we swung by the Royal Albert Hall, which was indeed named for Prince Albert. Here's a commemoration of him:

Prince Albert in gold.

 And the music hall itself:

The Royal Albert Hall

Next stop was Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. That's really neat to watch and involves marching bands playing while the old and new guard switch places. It's clearly a show for the tourists and really has nothing to do with guarding the Royal Family. Except perhaps as a distraction. It was still a lot of fun to watch, the guards wear Canadian bear fur hats. They were recently replaced and it must have been interesting since bear hunting is strictly controlled these days. Since we were there in early March the crowds were fairly thin (by London standards) too. We did not go into Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace

Next came lunch and then a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral. I could not get far enough back to get a picture of the whole thing. And there was a tree in the way, at least it didn't have leaves yet.

St. Paul's Cathedral

And our final stop was at the Tower of London. Which isn't really a tower at all, its a series of buildings. The British Crown Jewels are truly amazing but you're not allowed to take pictures. I had to keep reminding myself that none of the gold was plate, it's solid and none of the jewels were glass, they're all real. It's a bit mind blowing.

The Tower of London.

From there we took a river cruise down the Thames.

Tower Bridge.

Afterwards we had to make our own way back to our hotel. After a (failed) attempt to figure out the tube we took a cab. It cost less than three of us taking the tube anyway. Once we got back to the hotel I found a bruise on my forearm. At this point I was beginning to wonder just how hard London was going to be on the body. Fortunately that was the last injury of my vacation.

Day 3: The next day we started with a visit to Westminster Abby. I now know where Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton are buried or commemorated. Plus a whole lot of other people too. Apparently Winston Churchill refused to be buried here on the grounds that he would not like to have tea with most of the people interred here. He has a plaque though, which he'd probably be mad about.

Westminster Abby

In the afternoon we went to the British National Gallery. Where Mom and I found some paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Dad had wandered off somewhere and we lost track of him for a while. We found him again later. Pretty cool pictures, you are allowed to take pictures of the pictures but it just didn't feel right, so I didn't. The gallery is right next to Trafalgar Square which has a number of interesting statues.

One of four giant lions in Trafalgar Square.

Giant thumb in Trafalgar Square.

Day 4: We were pretty beat by this point so we took an easy day and went back to the British Museum since it was close by. This time we went to the Egyptian display and saw the mummies. None came back to life and started any kind of attack on mankind. Fortunately. Or perhaps not, as there were school kids everywhere in this part of the museum and some clearly deserved to be eaten by a homicidal mummy/zombie. But I digress.

That's it for London, from here we started to make our way to Scotland and the wedding.

Day 5: From London we tried to take the train first class to Edinburgh. We also completely forgot to look for Platform 9 3/4 while at King's Cross Station.

King's Cross Station

I say 'tried' because there were transportation issues that day. First the train we were on broke down and had to get towed into York. While waiting for the tow train(?) we found out that there had been a gas leak at King's Cross Station, I guess we're not going back.

Then we were dumped on the platform at the York station and told to make our own way to Edinburgh on any train we could get on. Seriously? Anyway, we hopped onto one heading in the right direction but it stopped, I forget where, and left half the cars behind so we had to scramble to get onto the part of the train that was still going to Edinburgh and ended up standing for the last 2 hours of the trip. So much for first class tickets. Mom's trying to get her money back. We did eventually make it to our hotel in Edinburgh, Parliament House.

By the time we arrived it was late and the bistro, appropriately enough called 'MP's Bistro' was 10 minutes away from closing but the front desk agent called down and warned them we were coming so we got dinner after all. It was a relief not to have to go find a place to eat as we were five hours late arriving and exhausted.

Day 6: Having been revived by a good night's sleep we started our visit to Edinburgh by going to Edinburgh Castle. This houses the Scottish Crown Jewels including the Stone of Scone, sometimes called the Stone of Destiny. After the British Crown Jewels a rough looking sandstone block is just not terribly exciting even if there is a movie about it.  Fortunately the tour guide had warned us to lower our expectations when it came to the Scottish Crown Jewels. ;-)

Edinburgh Castle

The cafe at the castle sells alcohol. This may not seem like a big deal to someone from the UK but nowhere in Canada would you find a licensed cafe in a museum. The soup here was also terrific.

Our second stop this day was at a wool mill just to your right as you are approaching the castle. Unfortunately, we'd spent so long at the castle that the weavers had shut down the looms for the day. Oh, well, it makes for an excuse to come back another time.

That evening my sister and her daughter and fiance joined us in Edinburgh. My Wee Niece arrived wearing the overalls I knit for her. So cute.

Day 7: With our party having grown to 6 including a toddler off we went to the new Scottish Parliament Building. Mom, Dad, and I took the tour, which is about an hour long and covers a lot about the architecture of the place, apparently the architect died before it was completed and his wife took over finishing the building. The picture is the back of the building because I forgot to take one of the front and didn't feel like walking back there to do so.

Scottish Parliament Building

After lunch we went to Dynamic Earth, a geology museum. Conveniently enough for tourists it's right next to the Parliament Building. It's geared towards kids 8-12 years old so it was a lot of fun. They even take you into a very polite volcano; it only spewed non-toxic gasses and did a minimum of shaking. It was fun to go through I would definitely recommend it if you have kids. I was however extremely disappointed to find that Marie Tharp was not mentioned anywhere at all in a museum dedicated to geology. Very disappointed indeed.

Dynamic Earth

Day 8: On this day we went to National Museum of Scotland. We didn't get that far through the museum, I think we were starting to burn out a bit. And we started late due to carousing with a couple of lovely Irish couples in the lounge the evening before. The Irish sure know how to have a good time. Plus there was scotch; well, it's Scotland there darn well should have been scotch!

National Museum of Scotland

That's it for Edinburgh. My sister and her family left that afternoon. Unfortunately, we did not get to do a Ghost Tour, having a young child with us complicated things a bit and we were all exhausted by the end of the day. Another great excuse to go back another time.

In the scramble to leave my soon-to-be-brother-in-law left his backpack at the bus station. Fortunately, we were able to retrieve it for him before leaving on the train the next morning.

Day 9: Another travel day. We didn't have first class tickets this time which was just as well since they once again cut the train in two and we had to scramble to get onto the part that was going to Aberdeen. Fortunately we got seats but I can't figure out why they bother assigning seats when they sell you a ticket; it just ends up being a free for all anyway. And in the mad scramble to get onto the correct part of the train my Mom forgot her bag. She was able to get it back a few days later but it was a serious inconvenience.

Day 10: Having had yet another bad experience with the British rail system we took an easy day and went to a park with my sister, Wee Niece, and Yogi. Dad had injured his heel at Edinburgh Castle, stepped in a hole or slid off a cobble stone or something, and could barely walk for rest of the trip so he stayed behind and rested his foot. And my soon-to-be-brother-in-law had to work so it was just us girls and the dog.

Yogi at Duthie Park

The crocuses were almost finished and the daffodils were just starting to bloom. Huh, I got to experience Real Spring. Actually I'll get to experience Spring twice, assuming Alberta gets Spring this year; sometimes we skip straight to Summer (briefly).

Day 11: Another quiet day. My sister had to go to visit her horse Fern and do some farm chores so I went and helped her out. Stole this picture of Fern from my sister's Facebook page. She's a lovely mare.

Fern

This evening another of my sisters (my youngest sister) and her husband arrived, they had just spent a few days in Amsterdam. We now have 7 adults and 1 toddler living in a tiny two bedroom house. Mom and Dad got the spare bedroom and my Wee Niece is still sleeping in her parent's bedroom, the rest of us were sleeping in the RV, it's a good thing I'm single.

Day 12: A trip to Johnston's of Elgin where they process some of the best cashmere in the world. Unfortunately they don't sell yarn, only clothing and accessories. There were so many of us going we had to rent a minivan. They don't call them minivans in the UK, they call them people carriers, but that's what it was.

Johnston's of Elgin

On the way back to Aberdeen we stopped at a stone circle but I forgot to take a picture, it was quite cold and very windy so my hands stayed in my pockets. No time traveling occurred when we went into the stone circle. Not sure if I'm disappointed or relieved.

Day 13: Left for the wedding venue. Met up with a number of wedding guests for dinner, including an old friend of my sister's from High School.

Day 14: The Wedding. There were lots of kilts and plenty of caileigh dancing.

Random men in kilts picture

The bride and groom and daughter

Day 15: In order to recover from the wedding we went to Castle Fraser. It was closed for the season but the tea room was open so we had tea and cakes.

Castle Fraser

Day 16: A wander around Aberdeen was on the schedule for this day. Including into a mall where everyone but me went shopping. I hate shopping so I got bored very quickly. We walked from my sister's house into downtown Aberdeen but took the bus back after dinner that evening.

University of Aberdeen campus.

Day 17: A trip to Dunnottar Castle which was unfortunately closed due to high winds. Seriously, you were at risk of being blown off the cliff and into the sea. We did go for ice cream after lunch so it wasn't all bad.

Dunnottar Castle

Day 18: Another walk through Aberdeen to Seaton Park. The daffodils were in full bloom by this point. I thought I saw an old steam engine masquerading as a playground but we didn't end up going that way.

We also stopped in at a small church with an interesting graveyard but I forgot to take any pictures. My youngest sister and her husband left today to continue their adventure in Edinburgh.

Day 19: A trip to the Falls of Feugh, which aren't all that spectacular but the restaurant was amazing. The tablet was delicious. Tablet is a Scottish sweet I've never seen anywhere else. I expect you can get in in most of the UK if you look for it; but you'd probably have to go to a specialty import store in North America. If they'd even have it. Probably just as well really. Although, come to think of it, I suppose there's no reason why you couldn't make it yourself. Hmmm......

Then a trip to the Edinburgh Woolen Mill, which sells surprisingly little wool. It's more like an outlet store. They have shirts that Dad really likes and my Wee Niece entertained the staff by being terribly cute. She's awfully good at that.

Day 20: Spent the day getting ready to leave. Made my Wee Niece cry when I took all the sweets I was taking home and put them in my suitcase. Fortunately she recovered quickly from her disappointment.

Day 21: Home after an uneventful flight.

Knitting While Away

I finished two pairs of socks while on vacation.

First, the Longshots Socks, done in the colours of my Scent Hurdle team. These were started in Canada before I left, then I finished the first sock and knitted the entire second sock all before leaving Edinburgh. This was helped by getting stuck on the train for three hours when it broke down. The benefit of knitting is you can be productive even when stuck in a broken down train and stranded on the train tracks.

• Pattern: Improvised
• Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Solids, Heathers & Twists in Black and Dandelion
• Needle: 2.5mm
• Gauge: 41 stitches / 4 inches

Longshots Socks

Second, I finished a pair for Mother's Day. Mother's Day in the UK is the last Sunday in March so, since I finished these before leaving, Mom got these early, although with no guarantees there will be another pair for Canadian Mother's Day. However, since I returned home and was layed off from work before noon on Monday the possibility of a second pair has gotten better.

This yarn is really neat, one 100g ball made two virtually identical socks. Sweet!

• Pattern: Improvised
• Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect in a peachy colourway
• Needle: 2.5mm
• Gauge: 41 stitches / 4 inches

Socks in the Scottish sun.

I started some Father's Day socks once the Mother's Day socks were off the needles. No pictures of them yet.

I also tried to work on the cabled sweater I'm making for my sister (the one who just got married) with the vague thought that I'd leave it with her if I finished; however, it required too much concentration so I didn't really get anywhere with it. Have made progress since getting home though. She can take it home with her this summer.

I had left a hat partly finished before leaving on vacation. Mom said she like the hats I was making to use up some stash yarn that I'm tired of having and would like the red one. So, it's hers. Hopefully she won't need it anytime soon.

• Pattern: Improvised
• Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Solids
• Needle: 6.5mm
• Gauge: 12 stitches and 18 rows / 4 inches

Hat.

The Final News

As mentioned earlier I was layed off from work before noon on my first day back from vacation. This really sucks but there's not much you can do but apply for EI and start a job hunt. Also got my taxes filed, stopped my RRSP automatic withdrawal, and changed my car insurance since I  no longer need to be covered for driving to work every. So goes life.