Knitting and Geocaching

 We love to Geocache when we travel, but we haven't done a lot of travelling lately. This weekend was warm, and sunny and geocaching seemed like a good idea. In case you don't know, geocaching is a reason for a walk in the woods, as you try to find "caches" or small hidden containers, using a GPS.

In 2008, I taught geocaching at an inhouse day camp of a local tech company. For the camp, I hide a container on the nearby hiking trails. That container is still there (amazingly), but was in need of some TLC so we took our favourite Gr. 4 student off to the woods to find it.

As you can see, we weren't the only ones enjoying the nice weather. Nothing could be more iconic that a pair of Canada Geese standing next to a maple tree!

The mornings have been wooly sock weather, so more socks need to be made. I am working on a pair of socks in Christmas stripes.

My silly bird picture of the first sock, the sock is now finished. The second is well on the way.

I received some nail stickers, and I put a couple on to see if that would inspire me to get back to sewing.

They may be helping. I cut out the pieces for a new bag, today. If things go well, it will be done by the end of the week.

Hotumn

 I saw the term Hotumn on social media and thought that defined it. Our weather has been going up and down. Today it is 13C, while on the weekend it was 31C. However, it still looks like autumn.

The flowers are still doing their thing.

Meanwhile, I've been knitting, and frogging.

This baby sweater will never be finished, so I got real and turned it into yarn I can make hats and mitts from.

My September socks got finished, 4 days into October. Mudd helped with the photos.

I was helping a friend learn how to quilt on her machine, so we made Hemmingway style bags. These are our first ones (a pair of fat quarters makes 2 bags.)

It was a lot of fun to sew together.

I actually got a start on a new bag. I have the card pocket panel finished.

One should always check to make sure that a credit card actually fits in the pocket. I once sewed a bag together without checking and one side was just a tiny bit too small, and the cards didn't fit on one side. Lesson learned.

I made a quick project bag for a friend, and added a ball of yarn and a pattern for mittens. I thought she needed a project bag for waiting rooms and the like.

The epic clear out continues. It is amazing how many things you realize you just don't need. We took a car load of stuff to the church flea market. Hopefully it all sold and raised some money for the church. 

It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. No big excitement, no turkey, just a quiet weekend, with nothing that needs to be done. Hope you all have a peaceful weekend.

Finish or Frog

I joined an online challenge for September (and maybe October) where we are challenged to find some unfinished projects and either finish them, or decided we are never going to finish them, and, in knitting terms, frog them. I found a few.

First, I had the three pairs of promised baby socks. These two pairs were finished.

While looking for some yarn to make one more pair, I found a nearly finished baby sock, so my first finish of the month was to complete the found pair.

Three pair, finished and delivered.

Next, I had started a Musselburg Hat. This had is hugely popular in the knitting community but I found it an incredible bore. So hat...

became a ball of yarn, No doubt it can be made into more baby socks.

Next was a pair of fingerless mitts, that I started in April, but only made one mitt.

Now there is a pair.

I'm currently working on a cowl, I started nearly a year ago.

You need to pay attention to the knitting, so this will take awhile, yet, but maybe in October, I'll have it finished.

I also finished my July/August socks. That is pair #6 for 2025.

I rewarded myself for all those finishes with some bright new socks for TV and meeting knitting.

Another batch of happy socks.

The cats have been leaping from my new cutting table to the window in the basement, so we made them a ladder from IKEA storage boxes.

I'm not sur they have the idea yet.

I will leave you with a picture I caught after supper recently. Sometimes, you look out at just the right time.

Aurora Watching

For a few days, around October 10, the Aurora Borealis created a glorious light show that was seen in most of North America (and Europe). 

I live on the edge of a major Canadian city, where light pollution makes it so the sky isn't really ever dark, but this is what we saw.

 I want a nail polish in that colour!

My son, in Northern Alberta, sent his sky at the same time.

Much further north and away from any big cities.

So, I got some fabric that help my granddogs remember the lights.

I am making them bandanas.

I am also making them Halloween bandanas.

This is called Little Tricksters.

Fall is here, but last week, I got one last treat of late raspberries at the farm stand. 

My last summer breakfast until spring, raspberries, granola and Greek yogourt.

It was a chilly morning, so I added a DIY Cafe Mocha.

I just add milk free hot cocoa powder to brewed coffee and add some "squirty" cream.

The trees are at their best. winter will be here soon. It is already snowing in the north.

So I started a winter cowl in the same colours. This is a really mindful project, requiring a lot of concentration.

I am actually further along than this, but it will be and interesting knit. The yarn is called "French River- PEI" from Ancient Arts Yarn. The pattern is called Shocktopus and is by Kim O'Brien Evans.

I am continuing to sort through my craft supplies. I have a bag for the garbage, today, as well as 4 bags of donations to groups and friends. I saw somebody refer it it as Swedish "I Will Have To Move, Someday" Cleaning, and I think that is a great description.

Col. John By Day

In Ontario, the first Monday of August is a holiday. Each municipality calls it after some historically significant person to that area. 

 After the war of 1812, the British military felt there was a need to be able to move goods from Kingston, ON to Montreal, QC without risking the loss of goods to the Americans.  They called Lt. Col. John By out of retirement to oversee the construction of a canal, from Kingston to the Ottawa River. 

The Rideau Canal is an engineering triumph of its time. It was completed in 1832.  The canal is 202 km long, much of it dug by hand, It is the best preserved canal of its type in North America. It is still in use, after 190 years, and the equipment is largely unchanged. It was named a National Historic Site in 1925, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

Many years ago, as a newly graduated Engineer, I was hired by Parks Canada as a Canals Engineer. I wasn't there for long, but I became very familiar with the canal. It is still a very special place for me and I try to visit a lock station or two, every summer. 

We took my grandson, on Friday, to Hartwells Lock Station. This is a hidden gem in the city. Over the years, the city has grown up around it, but the lock station remains much as it was in the 1800's.

The boats are lifted or lowered 6.5 metres in these two locks. Each lock is 41 metres by 10 metres. In this picture the men are standing at the top of the upper lock, looking downstream. It looks like we are in the middle of the countryside.

This is Carleton University, which is just on the other side of the lock basin. There are walking and bikeways along this part of the canal.

If you click on this picture to make it bigger, you can see a couple of cyclists lifting their bikes up to walk them across the top of the lock gate. You can also see the waste weir on the right side, that carries excess water to the river under the pathways and the road. We did get to see 4 boats lock through, while we were there. The lock gates are still operated by hand, with 4 Parks Canada staff cranking the gates open and shut. 

Today, in Ottawa, we celebrate Col. By Day. Without the canal, Ottawa would not have been made the capital city of Canada. The presence of the canal made the city a safe place from possible invasion. Of course, the railway replaced boats as the means of transportation to Ottawa. The canal is now a recreational waterway (and the home of the world's largest outdoor skating rink). 

P.S. When I worked in Canals Engineering, I didn't get the day off, because I worked in Gatineau, across the Ottawa River, in Quebec. It isn't a holiday in Quebec.

Done is Better Than Perfect

 I have finished my mystery quilt (well, the binding needs a bit more sewing.) There are a couple of things I'm not completely happy with, but it is finished, quilted, trimmed and the binding is sewn to the front. 

We had snow yesterday. Not unusual except that we have not had significant snow since November. I got up, yesterday and saw this.

They look like magical halos on the fence. They are actually the tomato cages we hang from the fence to keep the dogs from tramping on them in the snow.

In the dining room, we have a touch of spring.

It has lots more flower buds, so we should have flowers for quite awhile, yet.

Week Five of Social Distancing

Other than walking trips in my neighbourhood, I have been at home for over a month, now.

On a short walk this morning, I saw this fellow social distancing, too. I loved the contrast between the cardinal and the branches.

A classic sign of spring around here is a robin. This one seems rather plump. I expect there will be babies, before too long.

Last fall, my grandson and his grandad planted some crocus.

They are popping up all over in my yard, now.

I finished the family taxes, and my clutch bag, this week. The taxes just look boring.

The bag is lots more fun. It is tiny, so was more difficult than I expected. I think I might try the bigger size next.

This is the bag, with my phone beside it. I used two fat quarters from my stash, as well as stash hardware. I may need a hardware order, before long. I think I will make a list of some bags I would like to make, and check my hardware stock to see what I might need.

The bag is called Carol, by Sincerely, Jen Pattern Company. 

The hardware is Emmaline Bags, and the zipper tape is from Blue Calla Patterns.

And the cell phone does fit!

Clean Sweep

Last week, we put all the items we wanted from IKEA on a list and actually bought them. We finally got the new bed we have been wanting. We got my little guy his big bed, as his third birthday present. And, I got a Kallax shelving unit to store my fabric in. The price of shipping is per delivery not per item, so it just made sense.

If you live without IKEA then you might not know about this marvelous piece of furniture. It is a box of cubic holes, that you can place storage bins into, or store books, or use their drawer insert and add a cat bed.

This is the one I bought:
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/kallax-shelf-unit-white-80275887/


And, of course, I picked up the cat bed for it.
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/lurvig-cat-house-black-80376551/

So, the next order of business is to move the boxes and bins out of my sewing room, so I can put the shelving in to store them.

Progress is being made, but I need to move some more out. I am not showing you the mess that is still to be moved. At the same time, I am pulling fabric for some projects for my upcoming quilt retreat.On the couch, you can see the start of that. Not much sewing is being done, but I am hopeful that I will have some better organization soon.

I have been knitting.

One of a pair of baby socks, the yarn is leftover from an adult pair in Turtlepurl OM colourway. The pattern is Kate Atherley's baby sock, my favourite baby sock pattern. There might even be a hat from the leftovers.

It was garbage day on Tuesday,  and you always see the most interesting things.

A crow (or possibly a raven) is inspecting the neighbours' garbage for items they were suppose to put into the organic composting bin.  Obviously the city is getting serious about keeping organics out the landfill, and they have hired this guy to check our bins.