ook ook

Just monkeying around...

Happy Thursday!

a little home improvement and a little yarn

First up - a "before" picture of our back steps:


Narrow, covered in outdoor carpet which I could never sweep clean, sloping, squishy when it got wet, hard to sweep out the leaves underneath it, and rotting.

May I present our new back steps:


Cedar (aka rot resistant), fragrant, easy to sweep off, non-squishy when wet, top step is wide enough to hold many bags of groceries, it's level (!!!!), moveable for easy leaf removal, and will give us many years of stomping pleasure. Yay! Thanks to hubby for a great construction job.

I stopped by my lys to pick up my prize (from their first anniversary celebration). It contained two skeins of (no longer available) Sweet Georgia superwash sock yarn in the colour Framboises.



And 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca.


I'm such a lucky knitter! Thanks Three Bags Full!

Afterwards, I went over to Grete's for some lunch, tea, and knitting. Knit nite has been cancelled for the month of August so we're in a bit of withdrawal. It starts up again next Wed but we couldn't wait. So I headed over with a box of goodies from a chinese bakery and Grete's daughter (also a knitter) joined us and brought some homemade cream puffs. Double yum! I showed off my prize yarn, we looked at each other's knitting, and I tried not to steal any of Grete's yarn (I wasn't frisked on the way out). I brought some knitting with me but I didn't get much done because I was too busy eating! LOL! It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Socks and a scarf, plus some shopping

My first piece of Christmas knitting is done! I'm going to do Branching Out scarves for Andrew's preschool teachers. There are four of them, and I got enough Silky Wool yarn at that Kelowna yarn store to do scarves for each of them. Branching Out is a great scarf pattern, really delicate-looking but fun to work on. It took about 4 days to finish the first scarf.


That was not the case with these Pomatomus socks. This pattern kicked my ass because I kept thinking that I'd memorized it, and stopped referring to the chart — a total mistake, let me assure you. I've ripped out more doing these socks than all the other socks I've ever done, combined! But now that they're done, I love them and I'm looking forward to wearing them.


I'm also going to be making Fetchings for my co-workers this Christmas. We're in an old building, and the office gets really cold, so I think they'll like having fingerless gloves for working on the computer.

The only annoying part of the pattern is making the thumbs because I don't have short DPNS. I've been looking online, and the shortest ones are called glove needles, at 4" and 5" in length. The online prices are reasonable (around $4-$6/set) but when I found these at Dressew, I had to get them.

They're actually cable needles, priced at $1.99/set. But 5 sets of cable needles makes 2 sets of 5" DPNS, one at around a size 2 and the other at about a size 5. Perfect.


And they also had cute buttons for 49 cents a pack. I couldn't resist.

Here's a closeup of the planes and trains. I'm planning to do a bit of knitting for the boys, and these will be so cute on their sweaters.

sniff sniff

Hubby's got a cold and I think I may be catching it. I'm sneezing an awful lot the last day or 2. It could also be seasonal allergies. I never used to have them but I was particularly sneezy this spring. I must be getting old.

So we didn't go to the PNE on Sunday because hubby was feeling poorly. We hung around the house and did stuff. I cast on a second chestnut sock for Trish and I started a Monkey sock for my pal.



The chestnut sock is actually ready for the heel turn and the heel flap is finished for the Monkey sock.

I ordered sock yarn from Trish for my Monkey pal. So all that's left is to order a sock pattern and all my Monkey shopping is done. Yay!

And Trish asked me to give her a copy of the pattern that I'm using for her socks. Apparently, she's getting requests for it. So I'll be typing it up this week and testing the heel/toe instructions while I knit the chestnut sock. It'll be a free pattern so I'll post a link to it in the sidebar when it's ready.

Tomorrow is our 9th wedding anniversary so I went shopping yesterday. Traditional gifts for a 9th anniversary is pottery or willow. Believe it or not, I did find some willow furniture but it didn't fit into my car so I couldn't buy it. So I got hubby some "pottery". I won't spoil the surprise - just in case he reads this (he says he doesn't read this blog but you never know). I hope he likes it. We're going out for supper tomorrow night but we haven't decided where. It really depends on how he's feeling. Poor baby.

I finished sealing our new back steps yesterday. It's still drying. When hubby gets home from work, he'll help me move it into place. It is such an improvement over the old steps. I can't wait!

I won!

Three Bags Full - my favourite lys celebrated their first anniversary today. And as part of the festivities, they held a random draw. Guess who won some Sweet Georgia yarn? Me me me me! I am such a lucky knitter! I'm going to call them tomorrow to pick out a colour.

Today was the mystery quilt day. I didn't get to make mine because I was just too busy with other stuff. You can see the finished quilts here.

I was busy doing a little demolition. We are replacing our rotting back steps. I used the pry bar to yank the old steps out and take it apart so that it fits in the garbage can. Lots of fun! Then I got to help hubby measure and put the new steps together. It's a lot fancier than the old steps. It's still 2 steps but the top step is more like a platform. I can put my groceries down (and not have anything topple off and roll under the steps) while I unlock the door. We also made sure that the top step was completely flush with the door threshold. Previously, the top step was 2 inches below the threshold and people would trip coming in the back door. And we built it so that we can pull it away from the house so that I can sweep the leaves in the fall. I still have to put the grippy stuff on and give it a coat of deck sealant before it can be used. So for now, we can't go out the back door unless we're willing to jump.

My break's over - gotta finish watching Queen Latifah in Last Holiday.

River Rapids FO

Lookit - another FO!



Pattern: River Rapids sock by sockbug
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill supersock in Moody Blues
Needles: 2.5mm dpns
Mods: Knit the sock toe up using the chart as is; used two different versions of the Sherman heel; knit 2x2 rib on the back of the leg rather than the lace for a better fit

And I did a little shopping for my Monkey swap pal.


I still haven't decided whether I'll knit her Monkeys with this yarn or if it's yarn I'll send her. But I should decide soon so that I can get them knitted up!

I have been helping out at Kids Quilt Camp on Mon and Tues plus we were out all day Sunday. So Phoebe was particularly clingy every time I sat down yesterday morning. See -


Usually, she only lasts 15 mins or so per lap session. But she hogged my lap for over an hour before I had to turf her so that I could make myself lunch. After lunch, I sat back down for a little more knitting and she stayed until I had to get up to go to work. She's back to normal today.

super Sunday

We got up early today and headed out to the Ladner Quilt Walk and Classic Car Show. The weather was pretty drizzly but the forecast predicted that it would stop around noon. So we stomped around Ladner with our umbrellas. I looked at quilts and hubby drooled over the cars. It was pretty quiet on the streets because of the rain so I was able to take my time and have a good look at everything.


On the way home, we stopped in Steveston so that I could visit a tea shop. I was at the used bookstore on Thurs and I saw a Poirot tea package on the cash desk. I asked about it and the clerk said he bought it at Nikaido in Steveston. Normally, I don't buy tea because of the name but this tea is rooibos based and I love rooibos. My favourite rooibos is a Belgian chocolate blend that I buy from the Thread Bear tea shop. Nikaido had several teas that were tempting - rooibos chocolate mint and a rooibos tiramisu (with real chocolate chips!). I only bought the Poirot and I will be drinking it during the Poirow Mystery Quilt next Saturday. That reminds me that I still need to cut out all the fabric for it. Yikes!

On the drive to Ladner, I knit a little swatch using the cotton/acrylic Daiso yarn that I bought on Friday.


It knits up very nicely. It stretches and keeps it shape even after pulling on it. The fabric is dense enough for socks and is actually quite thick. It feels almost as thick as my sportweight socks. I got 8 sts/inch on 2.5mm (US1) dpns.

So after stopping in Steveston, I convinced hubby that I needed to go to Daiso to buy more yarn. Mental note to self: never go to Daiso on a Sunday afternoon. There's no parking (if you make it into the parking building) and it's a zoo inside the store.


There wasn't enough beige or white to make a complete pair of socks so I got 8 skeins of pale yellow (Gladys - 4 are for you if you want to give the yarn a try). I also bought another chopstick case for my dpns.

I got some knitting done yesterday evening. I did a few repeats on my second River Rapids sock while watching "Open Season". We started with "Tristan & Isolde" but after the mass butchering and the chopping off of someone's hand (all within the first 5 minutes or so), I demanded something less gory and violent. Hubby is upstairs watching the rest of the movie without me. He'll have to tell me how it ends.

spoiled rotten

This lovely package of goodies arrived this morning from the UK. Thank you, Ronnie! She sent it to me as a "thank you" for getting her addicted to Kool Aid dyeing. Ronnie dyed the yarn especially for me. Her note says that she added the other colours because she thought all purple yarn would be too purple-y. Ronnie - there's no such thing as too much purple! The yarn is very soft and smells wonderfully fruity and the quilting book has lots of interesting projects. I am so lucky to have such a nice knitting friend.

There hasn't been any knitting this week. I helped some friends move on Wed and I also had to work. Yesterday, I went to my weekly quilt drop-in and did a bunch of errands afterwards (bought hubby a new electric shaver cuz his died and stopped at the used book store to pick up a few things that I'd been looking for). I didn't get anything accomplished when I got home. My legs are really sore from squatting to pick up boxes and climbing up and down all those stairs.

Today, I did some more shopping. I went to Daiso and it was worth the hour long drive. It's basically an upscale Japanese dollar store. Almost everything is $2 and most items are exclusive to Daiso. There are a lot of quirky Japanese things - like everything you need to build yourself a miniature zen garden for your coffee table. Other novelties include: chopstick cases, a bajillion different ways to store A4 paper, iron-on kanji/katakana characters, make-your-own cell phone charm kits, animal themed everything (want a frog hankie to go with that frog tote bag? Daiso has it), etc. Their specialty is housewares but they also carry cosmetics/beauty, crafts, hardware, bed & bath, and Japanese food items.


I came home with some yarn - 4 x 25g skeins of fingering weight 60% cotton 40% poly. I got enough for a pair socks. It feels like a thinner version of Lion's Cotton Ease. I got an enormous mesh washing bag. It's 2ft x 2ft - perfect for hubby's cycling clothes. There's a package of "europian color" origami paper for card making/scrap booking. And I got a chopstick case to store my dpns in - did you think I was going to use it for chopsticks? And I got the cutest little ironing board - a perfect match for my Clover mini iron. I restrained myself from buying all the Winnie the Pooh items. I did pick up a few other things but I can't show them to you cuz it's a secret. Shhh.

Speaking of secrets... I have been assigned my Monkey Swap Pal. Yay! I have made first contact and I'll be doing a little yarn shopping soon. And my secret pal has contacted me and I need to come up with a yarn wish list for her. I may shock her when I send her a very long list.

On my way home from Daiso, I made a quick stop at Dressew (an amazing place for fabric and costume making supplies - they have the largest and best selection of fake fur) to pick up some plastic toggles for the knitting/project bags. I also had to get a package of googly eyes. I was helping hubby sort through some of his "stuff" and I was vacuuming the dust off a Christmas decoration that his Mom made him. Well, the vacuum took off one of the eyes. So I have to fix it. Sigh...

fee fie FO fum — and Wollmeise, too!

Yes, Dotty, I do have FOs to report, but first, I've got to tell you about the GORGEOUS Wollmeise that I got in the mail today, from Jen at Knitting Sutra. She had a contest about pooling sock yarn, and I was the one that the random universe chose that day!

Jen sent me a gorgeous bag from Amsterdam (they didn't have the fabric I originally chose, but I think this one is even nicer. It's got a bunch of handy pockets for my electronic toys or knitting gadgets, and the strap is a nice length to be either a purse or a project bag. And inside that bag were a cute pair of wee ceramic Dutch clogs and a wooden tulip — and of course, a skein of Wollmeise yarn!

The knitting blogosphere has been raving about this yarn for the last couple of weeks, and I can see why. It's soft and the colours are so intense and beautiful. I don't think you can see just how deep indigo the purple is in this photo, transitioning to gorgeous blues and a green that Andrew declared was his favourite colour. (I did have to make clear to him that this was my yarn, not his.)

And then there are my FOs -- plain stockinette socks in Online yarn, summer colours.

The first pair is for Rebecca, the daughter of one of my oldest friends, and someone we trust to babysit our kids. These will serve her well for back-to-school socks.

The second pair is for my friend Catherine, who just came up for a 1-week visit. She's going back to California heat, so all she wanted was a pair of anklets for "winter" in Palm Springs. I got a photo of them on her feet the night before she left.

And here's a photo of Catherine hanging out with Tony, after picking blackberries for the boys. She didn't get much summer while she was here — it even rained a couple of times on her!

Now I've got to get back to the Pomotamus socks for the Ravelry Sockdown. I'm at the heel flap — all those purl-through-back-loops are annoying to do!

Monkey Sock Swap 3 Questionnaire Answers

Here are my answers to the questionnaire:

Q: Do you consider yourself a beginning sock knitter, an intermediate, or have you been doing this so long you could probably knit a pair in your sleep?
A: I am probably an intermediate sock knitter.

Q: Shoe Size?
A: 7 to 8 depending on the shoe & socks

Q: Foot circumference
A: 8.5" - 9"

Q: Foot length
A: 9.75"

Q: What colors do you love?
A: Purple, lavender, amethyst, eggplant... Did I mention purple?

Q: Do you prefer solids or variegated?
A: Either

Q: Do you prefer wool, cotton or acrylic yarn?
A: I like wool sock yarn with a little bit of nylon for durability

Q: What colors would you never wear?
A: I'll wear any colour for socks. But I don't wear taupe, green, orange, peachy-pink or yellow clothing.

Q: What are your favorite brands of yarn?
A: Where to start... there are so many. Cherry Tree Hill is very nice (and unavailable in Canada). My other favourites are Indigo Moon, Koigu, and Fleece Artist.

Q: Are there any new brands you would like to try?
A: I hear about Claudia Hand Painted a lot and would like to try that. Ditto for Socks That Rock. Also on my list is Lorna's Laces, Fleece Artist Sea Wool, and Fleece Artist Nova.

Q: Which of her patterns have you already knit?
A: I've only knit Monkey. I've made 3 socks using that pattern.

Q: Which pattern(s) would you like to knit and don’t already own?
A: I have copies of all the free patterns. I would love to knit the knee high ones but seriously, my leg shape is too weird. I think the ones I like the most are Thelonius and Twisted Flower.

Q: Would you be willing to have an international Monkey Pal or do you prefer one in the US?
A: I would be happy with an international pal since I don't think there'll be another Canadian participating.

Q: Do you have any allergies?
A: Yes to food but nothing serious.

Q: Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals?
A: My home is smoke free and I share it with 2 cats.

Q: Are you on Ravelry yet? If you don’t mind having new friends, what is your Ravelry name?
A: Yes, I'm on Ravelry and I'm yarnfloozy.

I can't wait until I find out who I'm knitting for. This is going to be lots of fun!

random Tuesday

I finished my first River Rapids sock yesterday.


Sorry 'bout the bad picture. I just couldn't get a good shot of my foot without completely obscuring the lace pattern. It really looks better in person.

In a moment of weakness, I signed up for the Monkey Sock Swap 3. Signups run til the end of August and your swap package needs to be in the mail by Nov 1. Check out the blog for more details. Ann and Ronnie were having so much fun last time that I was feeling left out so I had to join round 3.

I got some good mail today. The rest of Wendy's fabric arrived. She sent me some lovely cat fabric. The cats are so hilarious.



I also got my Fall IK. And it wasn't late this time! I picked up the Fall VK when I went out to mail Trish's socks so I have lots of good reading tonite.

"Just give me the good catnip and I'll stay out of your way" - Phoebe

my favourite things

The number 19 - as in pairs of socks knitted (not including single sox) since Sept 2006. Yay!


This is my first completed pair for Indigo Moon.

And I got an unexpected package (rather, I totally forgot about it) in the mail today. It's something that combines my favourite things - cats, knitting, and fabric!


It's a fabric FQ of knitting cats! It's soooo great! I sent Wendy some fabric last month that she needed to complete a quilt. I found her request at Missing Fabrics and we agreed to swap. It's a great service. Last year, I helped another person by sending her some Hershey's Kisses fabric in exchange for (what else?) cat fabric. I am going to save this FQ for something special.

I am finally knitting the cuff of my River Rapids sock. I should be able to finish it tonite. Double yay!

feeling the love

What a very busy weekend. We shampoo'd all the carpeting. That didn't take too long. What took the longest was getting all the stuff off the floor. Hubby stores a lot of books under his side of the bed. Now that everything's dry, we get to put it all back.

I missed the mailman on Friday so I went to the post office yesterday and picked up a box of yarn.


Yay! More Trekking XXL in that now-discontinued colour #126. I love this yarn sooooo much. I bought one skein last week but my co-blogger, Gladys has that skein now. Hubby went with me to the post office and his jaw hit the ground when he saw the size of the box. I had to assure him that there was only 5 skeins of yarn. I don't think he believed me until I opened it to show him the contents.

We went over to Gladys' for a BBQ yesterday night (her hubby got a new grill last week and he's looking for any excuse to use it). And some friends gave me a late birthday present.


It's a nightshirt but it's not any ordinary nightshirt. It's scratch'n sniff. If you scratch the chocolates in the box, it smells like chocolate. I kid you not! I love it!!! Thanks, Grace & Eric! And do you know what's really sad? It's not my first scratch'n sniff chocolate scented nightshirt. Many many years ago, some other friends went to Disneyland for their honeymoon (I was the grown-up flower girl at their wedding) and they got me a nightshirt. It's got Eeyore on it and it says, "Chocolate makes me smile". If you scratch the chocolate chip cookies, it smells like chocolate. The scratch'n sniff is long gone on that nightshirt but I still wear it. I have the bestest friends.

Today, I took all the can't-use-it electrical stuff back to the hardware store. I went to another hardware store and bought more stuff that (fingers crossed) will fit. And I installed it all with only minor cursing (those GFCI outlets are a lot deeper and are harder to cram into the electrical box). So all that's left is to fill in the gaps with filler to eliminate any drafts.

The charges against Ricky have been stayed. The prosecution stated that there was nothing to be gained by seeking further punishment.

"purrrrrrr - me loves brushes" - Ricky

PS. Gladys has at least 2 FOs so expect a post from her soon!

Innocent on all counts

I have hijacked Mommy's blog to plead my innocence.

I did not chase Phoebe up the stairs. By the time we got upstairs, she was behind me. And she wasn't supposed to stop and defend herself. She's supposed to jump up on the bed - out of my reach.

And as for the kibble bag incident... I blame it on the string. Yeah, the string made me do it.

The People vs. Ricky

(No knitting content. I over-knit and my right hand was hurting Wed night and Thurs so I'm taking it easy.)

There are two cases pending against Ricky, the accused.



The alleged guilty party: Ricky (aka NoRicky, BadRicky, StupidCat, Blondie), a ginger flame point, DSH, part Siamese, approx 8 years old and 11lbs, liberated from a local shelter

Accused of:
(a) attacking Phoebe at 2am and causing an all out cat fight in our bedroom. Both Mommy and Daddy were woken up. Daddy was forced to imprison Ricky in the downstairs holding area.
(b) Knocking over the large lidded garbage container in the laundry room. Pulling out the 2 empty kibble bags. Chewing on the empty kibble bags. Making a very, very big mess.

The people - "Ricky, how do you plead?"
Ricky - "Huh? Where's breakfast?"

Stupid cat.

zoom zoom

That's the sound of my sewing machine yesterday. I made 8 knitting project bags.


I was hoping to make more but the clear vinyl was out of stock at the store. No, they're not for myself. My co-blogger has been bugging me to make the bags and sell them on Etsy. So that's what I'm getting ready to do. I'm still figuring out how much to sell them for, what to charge for shipping, and all that other fun stuff.

One of the fabrics (the light blue one) has little tea cups on it and I'm going to call that one "Tea Bag" - get it? Ha ha! I crack myself up sometimes.

Gladys showed me a new heel on the weekend. It's called the Sherman Heel. It's a short row heel without yo's or wrapped stitches. Here's a close up:


It's a little looser than I'd like but there's no ridge on the inside. I had a really hard time getting the heel to work out yesterday night. I frogged it several times before I gave up and went to bed. It's still not perfect. On the very last row of the heel, I was off by a stitch. It doesn't look bad but I don't know what I did wrong. I should practice with scrap yarn before I do another heel.

So the heel has been turned on the River Rapids sock.


I've decided to put 2x2 ribbing on the back of the leg rather than knitting the lace.

And here's a boring ho hum picture of 3 of 24. Looks exactly like the first 2 socks. Not very exciting, eh?

adventures of Dotty, the electrician

We have three outdoor receptacles - one on the front porch, one in the carport, and one by the french doors at the back of the house. The receptacles are beyond old. They are so worn out that when you plug something in and let go of the plug, it half falls out. That's not good.

So our "weekend warrior" project was to replace all 3 receptacles and bring it up to code by installing a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt). Our plans got messed up a little when I had to pick up hubby and his fancy schmancy bicycle after he got his second flat yesterday morning. So I ended up installing the receptacles by myself today (while hubby went on another bike ride).

Now, I'm not afraid of electricity. I spent several years in an electrical engineering program so I am comfortable around electricity. I turned off the breaker and went to work. The first thing I noticed was that the carport outlet is not on the same circuit as the other 2. OK, I'll need to buy a second GFCI before I can upgrade that one.

So I tackled the one on the front porch. After I took off the faceplate, I noticed that the receptacle was cemented in. Someone covered the screw while filling in the gap with mortar. Humph... I need a hammer and chisel to chip the cement away. I decided that I would do the one out back instead.

I got the faceplate off and pulled the receptacle out. I immediately noticed that there was no way I could get the GFCI in there. The GFCI faceplate won't fit in the space available without cutting away a section of aluminum siding. No biggie - I can install a plain one and put the GFCI in the front porch since they're on the same circuit. The replacement went smoothly except I had to run inside to get a small nail to poke into the wire release holes.

Then I went to the front porch and started chipping at the cement (when I went inside to pick up the small nail, I grabbed a big nail and a hammer). I got the receptacle out and looked at the wires. There weren't enough. I need 5 wires for the GFCI - 2 hot, 2 white, and 1 ground. I was missing one white. The GFCI really needed to be installed at the back as originally planned. Sigh... Not feeling comfortable installing the GFCI with one less wire, I installed a plain receptacle instead.

So nothing went as I'd planned. There was a lot of cursing every time I ran into another problem. Hubby was glad he wasn't around. In the end, I have 2 outlets changed (yay!) out of 3 and no GFCI installed (boo!). At least, the power won't cut out when I'm using the hedge trimmer.

And I did get some knitting done (while watching Flushed Away and The Great Muppet Caper). But it looks exactly the same as the first sock so there's no point in taking pictures. I haven't made any progress on the River Rapids sock. Maybe half a lace repeat or so. I'm getting close to turning the heel so I need to make up my mind about knitting ribbing for the back of the leg instead of the lace. I can't believe that there are some people who have already finished their August Sockdown socks.

"Mom! Can you turn the light out when you're done blogging?" - Ricky

camel in the house

I went on a little shopping trip on Friday - a lys just moved and I wanted to see the new digs. Still no parking lot but at least street parking is abundant and free. You have to drag yourself up a long flight of stairs but the store has lots of unobstructed windows now so you can see the true colour of the yarn. The new place is a lot smaller than the old one so I don't know if they'll continue to have as much stock.

I went in to get some dpns - my 2.75mm set only has 4 and I really need 5. I picked those up but I also came out with a little bit of yarn.


It's baby camel! On the label, it says "100% One-Hump camel". Like 2-hump camels are no good? It's soooo soft and smells soooo nice. I have 3 skeins for a total of 351m. That's plenty for a nice scarf. Hmmm... I wonder what I should make.

On the way out, I saw a box of free patterns so I looked and brought a few home with me:



The one with the White Buffalo yarn patterns (red cardi on the cover) is neat. I don't think that yarn is available anymore but I do see it at thrift stores once in awhile.

I got some knitting done.


Sock 2 of 24 is done for Trish. This one went a lot faster than the last one. It only took me a week rather than 3 weeks. I don't have to stop and measure all the time.

Hubby went for a bike ride with Gladys' hubby yesterday and I had him drop off her Knit Picks needles and some Kaffe Fassett sock yarn. In return, she gave him my sock yarn from our joint Little Knits order a few months ago.


The 3 Winter skeins are 150g each. One skein is enough for a pair of socks for my hubby's big feet so the blue and green skeins are for him. I'll probably use one of his skeins for mittens. I made him a pair a few years ago and they're pretty worn out. I'm actually kinda glad he wore them out. They were a little too small for his big hands. I was running out of yarn so I had to cast off a little earlier than I wanted to.

What I did on my summer vacation

I knit socks on a beach. Monkeys, to be precise. I figured I'd better get on that bandwagon before it left without me.


The next day, we met up with a friend from my mom's group, and played in a really nice park in Peachland. Geoff likes to hang from anything he can find, even if it's at the very top of a slide. He gives me plenty of grey hairs.




Then there was a ride in a pedal boat shaped like Ogopogo. (The Okanagan's equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster). Andrew steered the boat while Tony and I pedalled. How come we got to do all the work?

Then there was some mini golf. Andrew now loves to play golf. I'm going to have to take him to Playland this summer, for a mini golf round there.

And on the morning we left, there was some falling down at a yarn store. Look at this yummy yarn porn -- Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, at 50% off! They're going to be made into scarves for Christmas presents.

The store is called Art of Yarn, and they're moving to a larger store in a couple of months, so they're reducing their inventory. I got the store tip from the Under Sask Skies blog, and the sale was still on when I got there. I also bought some Online Linie Solo (bottom left green yarn) because I want to try out this yarn, and make a fast scarf. I first saw this novelty yarn on the Yarn Harlot's blog, and I had to buy it when I saw it in person.


The store has TONS of yarns on sale (including Debbie Bliss SoHo, which also tempted me). They will mail order, too. And they barely flinched when the boys came into the store. They even gave Andrew a skein of yarn to wind and unwind while he was waiting for me to fondle yarns and make up my mind on what to buy. (I explained that I do most of my yarn shopping online, because most yarn stores can't deal with two little kids, and watching them means that I can't shop very well.)

And finally, there was more sock knitting on the drive home. My finished Monkeys on my feet, and a pair of Online socks for my friend's daughter, who has bigger feet than me, and she's 13!

This photo was taken right by the Coquihalla tollbooth, to which our husbands will be cycling in September.