Ask Me a ? - An Answer

This contest might not be too hard to keep track of if it doesn't pick up significantly! So far, I have 3 questions, which I'm going to try to answer in the same order that they were asked.
Here is Sharon's question: If I were to take a vacation to Halifax - how far are you from there?
Maybe I'll start by telling you a little bit about Sharon - she was a downstream swap partner of mine! I had a great time shopping for her and her 2 beautiful daughters, too. As a single working Mom to 2 growing girls, she hasn't been blogging recently. I miss reading her posts, but completely get that life sometimes gets in the way of doing fun things. Like me, Sharon is Canadian and is a federal civil servant...
So - who's planning a trip to Halifax? Anyone??? When are you coming???
By car, I am approximately 4 hours away from Halifax. That is much shorter than what it was when I first moved to the Maritimes. At that time, it was probably almost double that long. Way back then, the Trans Canada Highway, was a two lane highway through the Maritime provinces. It is now a four lane divided highway the whole way from Fredericton to Halifax.
If you let me know when you're coming, I could even come down to Halifax to meet you. I went to school at Dalhousie University, and still know the city pretty well. We could go to Tangled Skeins - I can't find a website and really hope that they're still around... Catch the ferry across the harbour... Go shopping at The Loop... Wander along the waterfront or up Citadel Hill... Maybe check out Point Pleasant Park? Eventually heading to the Hydrostone Market and LK Yarns and maybe a bite to eat at one of the restaurants?
What's that? You want to come to New Brunswick? Hmmm... That is going to take a little more planning since we want to do fibre stuff, right? I'll get thinking about this and give this question a 2 part answer.

"Ask Me a ?" - The Devil is in the Details

I'm getting some questions... There seems to be a theme to them: travel!

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about what I had forgotten: the contest closing date and time. Since I like to give people lots of time to think about things, the contest will be open until midnight February 7th, which will give a full 2 weeks. That's midnight Atlantic time... Although if I wake up on the morning of the 8th and find an entry there, I probably won't quibble.

Three - and the "Ask Me a Question" Contest

Today marks my third blogiversary! I don't seem to blog as much as I used to, but that might have something to do with the fact that I've pretty well given up on swaps. I didn't start blogging so that I could swap, but it just seemed to be part of the natural evolution of my life as a blogger. Don't get me wrong, I have had some great and excellent swapping adventures but I've also had a couple of not so great swapping adventures and it seemed to make me feel insecure. I mean, what if my upstream pal didn't like me and wasn't into it because they were disappointed in having me as their downstream pal? Worse still, what if my downstream pal hated the package that I had prepared when it arrived? And I never ever felt like I had pulled together a great package no matter how much time, effort and - let's face it - money I had invested. Oh - the angst of it all! At least swapping provided lots of inspiration for blog posts?
When I think about why I first started blogging, I think that the reasons that I have continued to blog are pretty well the same. While I like (love?) getting comments from others about either my opinions or my work, I think that I still blog primarily for myself. Perhaps it is a means of validating my own feelings and opinions and means of distancing from whatever I've made so that I can see things in a different light.
I didn't do anything special last year for my second blogiversary, but this year, I think that it is time to have a bit of a celebration again. I think that I feel a contest coming on... Here is what I want you to do for me:

Ask me a question - something you want to know about me or to have my opinion on. Please try to avoid anything that may be controversial since ideally I would like to be able to blog the answers. If it isn't appropriate for blogging, but I'm still inclined to answer, make sure that I have your e-mail. You'll get an entry for your question.

Post about this on your blog, and you've got another entry. Make sure that you let me know that you've done this. For people that come to this via your referral, you're in like Flynn with yet another entry.

I have no idea how many prizes I'm awarding this time, although I know that there will be at least two... I have two extra copies of the first Debbie Bliss magazine that will definitely be up for grabs. Who know what else the stash will cough up!

Winter Wear

Yup - the thermometer and all the white stuff on the ground confirms that it is indeed WINTER! Now I don't think that I would want to live somewhere where there weren't really four seasons, I do find that Winter always seems to stick around far longer than it really needs too... Mr. Me and Older Son enjoy skiing, but for someone like myself who is perhaps a little accident prone, hurtling down a hill at any sort of speed does not seem like the smartest idea ever. I tried it once. I didn't even make it to the top of the bunny hill... I'm telling you, it just isn't natural!

So - what do I recommend to help oneself get through the long and cold days of Winter? Handknit Winter Woolies, of course! Let's start with my newest hat. I'm calling it my Violet Hat in honour of the colourway of the yarn. It's original name is Asminah's Hat and you can find the pattern here. I'd agree with Kody May that the hat is hard to photograph, but it was a nice fun and easy knit. I did modify the crochet edging a bit. My final round is reverse single crochet, since I like the kind of picot look that it creates. One ball of yarn... Almost nothing left. We'll call that an efficient use of yarn. Right - so that is my head taken care of... Let's move on to the neck. I've talked about it and it has been done for a while, but I've only just gotten around to gets pictures of it - my Flutter Scarf! Malabrigo Lace in Cactus Flower, which I don't see in the colour selection but is a great shade of pink... Yum...

And since I can't leave anything alone it seems and like sparkly stuff, I added some beads to the cast off edges. I love, love, love this scarf. Hope that it looks as good on me as it does on the newel post!

Changes

Last Thursday Older Son's braces came off.

Before:

After:

Isn't he handsome?

We're All Getting Older...

Well, this blog turns 3 on the 24th of this month...
And Older Son turns 14 on the 29th of this month...
But they're both still younger than my niece, Princess Knitsalot, who turned 21 on the 14th.

How's that for a hideous picture of me? It is a toss up as to which is more heinous - me or the wallpaper!

The cake was a team effort. Older Son and I made it together. He is in charge of icing and other decorating. He will make someone a good husband someday!

Instant Gratification

More and more we live in a world of instant gratification. Everyone wants everything now! Whether I like it or not, I find myself sometimes falling into this exact same trap.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from our friends at Knitpicks about their indie down loadable patterns. There are some very tempting patterns over there... Now the pattern part fulfills the need for instant gratification, but would someone please figure out how to download the yarn, too? Otherwise, I'm still going to have to wait for the yarn to arrive... I find that somehow very unfulfilling. I wonder how far away we really are from Star Trek style transporters - that could work, too.
In the interests of trying to curb the trend towards the need for instant gratification, I have decided to allow this post, my 300th to pass as a regular post. I think that I may do something to celebrate my 3rd blogiversary at the end of the month instead.

Oh - and HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2010 be filled with exquisite fibres and items always knit perfectly to "gauge".