Time for a Change

Good bye 2013!  The end of 2013 means the start of 2014 and it also means the start of a new blog.  Try looking for me here, if you're interested.

Happy new year everyone!

Present from the Wild West

Princess Knitsalot headed out west to Fort MacMurray at the end of her third year at UNB in April for eight months.  She landed herself an eight month co-op placement in the Alberta oilsands.  Nice! 
Earlier this summer, she had the opportunity to visit Calgary for a conference.  While she was there, she got to attend the Stampede, but probably even more interesting, she got to visit The Loop.  (Sorry, I can't seem to find a link for them.)
And she sent me a present!  Isn't it pretty???

Rocky Mountain Dyeworks, Jasper Sport, 100% Superwash Merino, 50 grams, 146 meters and the colour is called "Fire Rose".  Now - what to make...  I'm thinking fingerless gloves, but would love some suggestions.

How I Spent My Day

I've been travelling more for work recently than I have in a while.  It is good in some ways, but bad in others.  On the bad side - paperwork tends to pile up on my desk...  And that is especially bad these days since I have been doing some additional "acting" work during the summer season.  While it is great experience, and I really do enjoy it, sometimes it can be a bit much.
This morning I had the best of intentions to go into the office and spend an hour or so tidying up a few things.  I needed to drop off  a vehicle anyways and was then going knitting. 
I got up.  I hung out laundry.  I put on a loaf of bread.  I got ready to go.  I drove into the city.  I filled the car with gas.  I parked the car.  I went to go upstairs to drop off the keys, only to remember that I had left my cell phone in the car.  Back down to the garage.  Back upstairs...
And this is where I completely and totally panicked:  I did not have my security passes (yes - I need two on the weekend) and my office keys!  I dumped out my purse.  I dumped out my tote bag.  I started to type an e-mail explaining what had happened to the person who was expecting to find the keys in the drop box on Monday - since I'm not going to be in the office Monday morning...
And suddenly, it occurred to me that I might have left said passes and keys in my jacket pocket from Thursday morning when I hit the road.  Cue a call home.  Younger Son answered the phone, and realizing that Mom was wound a little tightly, went and checked the jacket pockets for me.
Since Mr. Me had to come and get me later anyways, I arranged for him to bring the passes and keys with him...  So laptop over my shoulder and a stack of files in my arms, I headed to the yarn store.  I needed to go somewhere "safe".
Trish stashed my work stuff for me and I sat and knit until she closed.  It was a great way to spend a day - especially because there were lots of knitters, including some ladies from Boston who were on a cruise!  LYS...  Homing beacon...  Safe haven...  Love Yarns On York!

Not a great photo - but my "name tag" from today.  Funniest part: I forgot to take it off!  I wore it to the coffee shop afterwards...

1%

Last year was the summer of the "Occupy" movement.  I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole movement, but I do find their slogan to be quite interesting - "We are the 99%."  It is probably most interesting in the North American context, since as a whole, we are, as North Americans, very fortunate, in my opinion.  Does that diminish the inequality?  Definitely not.  So - last summer I was thinking about the 1% of the world's population that owns 99% of the world's wealth.

Earlier this year, I was in the local gas station paying for some gas when the t-shirt of one of the other patrons caught my eye.  His t-shirt had a reference to a different 1%...  It was a reference to the Bacchus Motorcycle Club - a 1% club.  Not surprisingly, I can't find a link to the club...  This made me think about them again last week.

Now - here is my question:  do we think that these two apparently different 1 per cents are the same 1%?

Because Knitting Is Offensive...?

So did anyone miss the kerfuffle about the woman knitting at Wimbledon?  Who would how thought that something so simple, not to mention quiet, could cause such a fuss?!
Well - to be honest, I had a slight inkling as to the offensiveness of knitting.  The fact that I sometimes knitting during meetings was brought up at my annual performance review...  Now don't think that I knit through every meeting.  I may knit through internal team meetings, but rarely larger internal meetings, and definitely not during external meetings.  However, it now turns out that my knitting is SO OFFENSIVE that even knitting during meeting breaks where external people are present is no longer acceptable.  Pardon???  What surprises me is that it remains completely acceptable to have side conversations, to Blackberry, etc. during the meetings, and there is no way that anyone would EVER tell someone not to smoke during a meeting break.  Under the new world order, all of these things are more acceptable than my offensive knitting practices.  Who knew the power of knitting to disturb others?  Oh - the power...!

Does This Still Count?

On Sautrday I went and bought a flat of strawberries...

I washed and hulled them and put them into the blender...

After the addition of some sugar, some lemon juice and pectin, they magically turned into jam...

The small bottles on the right we used for "jam bombing" around the office, but the big ones, will help to sustain Younger Son through the long, cold, winter months.  Spoiled and fussy child (not really) only really like homemade jam...  10 quarts of strawberries turned into jam.  Here is hoping it meets his needs for the next year!

Me and the Prime Minister



Me and the Prime Minister of Canada at 24 Sussex Drive

What more can I say?  The official evidence that he did very graciously agree to have his photo taken with me, holding my knitting.  And that would be the toe of my Biscotte & Cie sheep sock.