The bad estrogen

Mother Nature is a bitch. Getting older is even bitchier. Do you know that as we (females) age we develop an estrogen which deliberately and with malice a forethought causes us to pack on fat around our waist. Which means that if you weigh 120 pounds at 30 you are not going to fit into the same size clothes if you weigh 120 pounds at 60. Now isn't that just the crapper?
Of course there is a solution. Rip out my finger nails.......It is the dreaded word.....exercise !!
For the last 6 weeks I have been using the exercise glider, much like cross country skiing without freezing your nether regions, whilst I watched the TV. Now that I didn't mind because I could disassociate myself from what I was doing.....until one of the "skis" suddenly snapped. Which of course I am never going to live down. Why couldn't it have broken when HE was on it?...sigh...I don't take teasing very well.
So, for the last week I have wondered what to do 'cause I had noticed a difference and once I got into the routine it was practically painless.
Yesterday, in a fit of restlessness, I dragged my kicking and screaming butt into "Curves."
Where I "got the tour."
Yup, I signed up. It is my way home from work so I plan on stopping off each day. It's only half an hour of "unmitigated torture" ( I lie) and costs about the same as a pedicure/manicure each month. I was not thrilled to find out that 49% of my mass body index is fat and yes they do take into consideration your age, sheesh and that is cutting me some slack cause I am now over sixty. I thought we were 98% water? Somebody lied. Bastards. I shall report in a month as that number goes down. I was relieved to find out I am only..ha.. "overweight." It is shocking to find out what, medically, is considered "obese."
So I fully expect to hate and despise the first two weeks of this. Crap, I just hate the thought of anything remotely like ..gag..."gym"...shudder. What a masochist and I am paying money for this too. Weeping and wailing. OK I will stop whining now.

Totally humiliating.

O.K. here it is, do you ever watch TV and see these programs where someone is talking about all the weight they have lost? As wonderful as that is, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that they ate all that weight on in the first place. I mean no one holds us and I mean me too, down and rams the food down our throat. We blithely go along consuming enough food and drink to keep the third world going for a month and then suddenly, if your lucky, the body hits TILT and you know it's time to diet. No one ever says anything while we are getting progressively larger but loose 2 pounds and we are all put out that no one says anything. The moral dilemma comes when you want cudos for loosing weight BUT and this is the BUT you have to admit how much weight you put on.
The Dr's say that most people have to loose at least 20 pounds in order for it to become noticeable enough for anyone to comment. Even then there may be no comment because now you have engendered "pound jealousy" and have made your friends uncomfortable. It is no wonder we yo yo diet. O.K. I have lost 12 pounds. There I admit it of course that means I put 20 pounds on after I had my gall bladder out. Crap. Which was a year ago. When my weight is where I am most comfortable my mother will tell me my face looks drawn and haggard. Hello? looks like I have to make a choice. Pillsbury dough Boy or 60 yr old woman who feels great?? No brainer.

The House

The jewelry box bought at auction

The Fireplace in the Library

The Parlour

with the Main staircase, door under the stairs leads "below stairs". I am going to draw out a floor plan for myself.

More pictures to inspire me!

The Back door

The Well

In the cemetery

the cottage

I am afraid to think too much about it too much or I will forget by the time I go to write it all down. Oh and of course there is this one too...

This what starts it all

In Search of Inspiration

I am gathering pictures to inspire me for my NaNoWriMo this year. There will be a distinct Victorian feeling to this story. I can almost feel the chill emanating from this icy railing. Hmm ??Looks like this picture could set the time of the year too.

The Solution

I phoned CNS Yarns, they market TheLily Chin Yarn Collection, in Montreal and I e mailed them also. I got home last night to find I had received an e mail from Lily heself. She is on her way to Ancorage to teach a class and had heard of the screw up. The Vogue chart is wrong and so are the directions, funny enough the only right thing is the yarn. It really is Greenwich Village. She emailed me her original instructions and I photo copied the chart and cut and pasted it back into the correct order.
You would think Vogue would get their web site back up and running. I wonder how many other screw ups there are? So if anyone else wants to knit that dress I have the corrected instructions.
Sorry Lily but I am really not crazy about the yarn and I think I will shop around for something a little more "up market." If I am going to put all that work into knitting lace it had better be spectacular!

O.K. that was a total cock up!

Lovely expression that one... cock up ... something like ... foobar... anyway...I went back to the store and they don't have "Park Avenue" and as they don't do refunds I was forced (snort) to exchange it for other yarn. The stash has been extreemly low since I got rid of everything so I felt the need to replenish. I ended up getting 10 balls of Socka colour 1050 for a nice fine 4ply weight jumper. A good mindless project to have on the needles when I watch TV.
By the way the Silky Wool man's cardi, in denim blue #32 is progressing nicely, thank you. I have passed the pocket opening on the last front. Looks like I won't have it finished for his birthday after all. Nuts. It's all my fault I added a complicated cable pattern up the front on both sides which slowed me down.
Back to the lace dress....
Sigh, now I am back to square one. I am going to have to go and see Ellen at Needles and Pins and see what she has in that weight of yarn. Between Rowan and Debbie Bliss I know there will be something. The question is, how much am I going to be forced to spend this time?...

*howling with laughter!

Lily Chin's Lace Dress

How is this for inspiration? Wipe the drool off my mouth. I want this dress for Christmas! Bless Lily she has the best of intentions but writing this pattern to fit, and I quote, an X Large and an XX Large I am not sure how flattering that would be. But hey if you can carry it off why not.
I couldn't not unless I loose some more weight. I refuse to knit this any larger than a medium.
So I went yarn shopping yesterday with this dress in mind. Ya Ya I know broke my rule again....sheesh I found the yarn the pattern called for ( Vogues 25th Anniversary Issue) but I thought it didn't look at all like the picture but decided to reserve judgment until I got it on the needles. The more I looked at the picture (page 156) and then looked at the instructions on page 215. I thought this is not right! Sure enough. Page 156 says it is knit in "Park Avenue" but the instructions say "Greenwich Village" OMG what a booboo. So after work I am taking the yarn I bought back to the store where I bought it and I will exchange it for the correct yarn. I am going to have to guess at quantities due to the screw up. I emailed Lily Chin's Yarn website to ask for help. Now I don't know what colour to get. I really don't want another red project. I am thinking black with a silver satin slip underneath. or beige with a chocolate brown satin underslip..or..or
Nuts, I can't make up my mind.

I went to the Hairdresser!

Sigh....What is it about hairdressers, they never listen. I said, " I don't want the length cut just shape the top and the sides. He proceeds to whack off about 2 inches off the top and started moving down the back. I said, "whoa! I don't want it short." "It's OK," he says," I won't cut it short." OK it's not short but it is 2 inches shorter all over. I won't know just how short until I wash it and go to style it myself. THEN there is the colour. "OK," I said," it is to light. But, I still want it blond." "You are going to like it," he says. I have no idea what they call this colour. In the sun it is entirely different than in the house. Antiquey browny goldy something. (Wiping a tear). I was there 3 hours! I was bleached, steamed, washed, coloured, washed, deep moisture treated, steamed again, washed again, cut and blow dried. I scare myself every time I go by the bathroom mirror. I guess I will get used to it but it is a LOT darker than I wanted. So back to my first question. Why don't hairdressers ever listen?

Report on the roast !

Roast was yummy. I would only cook for 5 hours instead of 6. It didn't need the extra hour. The cheaper the cut of beef the longer you would need to cook it.
It was a little sweet and I see why they describe it as "Kid friendly". If you don't like "weeds" (onion bits) in your gravy just strain it. I ended up with a lot of gravy that just needed to be thickened with corn starch and add a little salt. This would be great as "Beef on a bun" just fork shred the beef and put it all back into the pot. Suggestion for Super Bowl parties. It passed the "man" test.

Fair Isle mittens

I am getting very aggravated. I have started a pair of fair Isle mitts about 3 times. First the rosewood needles I bought were too small. So I dug out some casein needles I had. They are too long. The rib is alright but the pattern in the mitts is lumpy. My Fair Isle knitting is flat thank you very much and these mitts are just not up to standard. I bought some Misti Alpaca yarn for the job. Yummy and soft and warm. BUT I am not happy with the fair Isle transition from one needle to the other. I am knitting with 4 needles in the round. So, now I think I will knit them flat and then sew up the side seam. Seems like a cop out but if I add one extra stich and use a mattress stitch the seam will be invisible. Crap, it also means I have to purl in fair Isle...sigh....
I found the pattern whilst "googling" in "Google Images". It is amazing what you can find if you type in a subject and then google in images instead of the just the web.
I can't show you a picture cause my daughter reads this and I want to surprise her (*waves to Feyrhi).

Cola Roast

Today I am being experimental. I bought a crock pot book at Loblaws and came across this really interesting recipie. Here goes:
1 - 3 pound roast ( I can knit and sew metric but I still cook Imperial)
1 - envelope Lipton's onion soup mix
2 - cans Coca cola
5 quart crock pot

Srinkle the soup over the roast pour in the pop and cook on high for 1 hour then low for 5-6 hours.
Now how is that for easy?

Did you know?
If you take the lid off the crock pot while cooking you extend the cooking time by 20 minutes!!
When cooking the crock pot should only be half full. The hot moist air above the food is need to cook properly.
I will let you know how it turns out.

Whatever happened to...?

I have been trying for years to find a lost pattern. Once upon a time..long long ago the Toronto Star published a pattern advertisement. It was buried in the classifieds I think. You never knew what they were going to advertise. It could be a sewing pattern or knitting, embroidery, smocking what ever. My mother used to order the "Grace Knott Dots" for smocking from this advert. I ordered a lot of patterns for children's clothes as well. When Julia was a baby.....um 2007 minus 1976 equals ...
no than can't be right?...crap...sheesh...anyway like I said a long time ago I bought this crochet pattern. It was for a zig zag poncho. Which I crocheted in a denim blue yarn. I also changed the pattern into a cape and used reindeer horn buttons. I wore that cape till it fell apart. It was the handiest thing and because it was a neutral denim colour it went with everything with out screaming "Look at me I am a poncho". Every time the weather turns cool I think of that handy thing.

...cherry cloloured silk.

Sometimes a phrase, a word or a tune lodges in your memory. I love the sound of "cherry coloured silk." This is a line from one of my favourite Beatrix Potter books, "The Tailor of Glouster." (Sunday afternoon I watched the movie "Miss Potter") I had all the books when I was a child and even found a copy on cassette tape, read by Claire Bloom, for my children .

Having said all that, I have a weakness for all things cherry, jam, jubilee and lately mohair.
Aha you say, now she is going to mention the Knitter's Fair.
I met my daughter there and we had a marvelous time. Our plan was to have a walk around first and then begin the serious task of spending money.
Half way around we spotted these pewter buttons. OMG they look very "elfin" to me so we each bought 3.
In the latest vogue Knitting, 25th anniversary issue, there is a mohair coat in a dark colour. I have to have this coat so I decided that was going to be my major purchase. I was looking for something safe, neutral and practical. That would be IF I was shopping with my mother. I was shopping with my daughter remember? Suddenly we both glam onto this CHERRY coloured mohair from Fleece Artist, Nova Scotia's finest. I need reassurance from everyone that I can "carry" a cherry coloured coat. It is so gorgeous.
Now I see my daughter has referred to me as the blond bombshell so I guess I have no worries..lolol

I'm goin' shoppin'..happy dance

It is the KW Knitter's Fair on Saturday. Now, It is a given that I will buy something. Or maybe a couple of somethings.....just fess up and say I am going on a "yarn bender." Whaw hooo!

Memento Mori

It's Latin for, Remember Me, and it's a hint for my Nanowrimo project for November. So I was googling "Memento Mori" for some ideas when I came across this artist, "Kako Ueda's Cut paper Art"

This is made with an exacto knife and paper. totally amazing!

Go to the link and see some of her other stuff!!