I wasn't sure what I was going to use this blog for when I first started it, and I'm still not totally sure but for now it can just be the place for thoughts to go. I'm not sure who (if anyone) even reads my blog but I've decided that it doesn't matter if anyone reads it, it's a place for me to get my thoughts out of my head.
A lot of things have changed for us in the last 5 years, more than changed in the previous 20 years we have been together.
I got laid off from my 20 year job in 2002 and I started Beaker's Stained Glassworks then. I opened the studio on Lakeshore Blvd West in Toronto July 1st, 2002.
During this time, unknown to me, my hubby was scoping out this property that he had been watching for 3 or so years. We went and looked, fell in love, listed our big house in the city and moved our three sons (12, 14 and 16 at the time) 100 km north to near Dundalk, Ontario. The moved occurred at the end of November 2002 but only I moved up here at first (with Buddy). We let the kids finish out 2002 and have Christmas at school with their friends and all that in the city and then moved them up here. We still had the house in Mississauga until April 30, 2003 so the move was painless. We just moved a bit at a time.
So now we live on a 200-acre grain farm in Melancthon Twp just southwest of Dundalk. We have a tenant farmer who has crops here every year. He's a great guy and I love to see the stuff growing.
I was a life-long smoker. I tried to quit on a number of occasions but failed each time. In January 2004 I made the decision that I would quit for good during that year. I went to see the doctor in Mississauga and he gave me a prescription for Zyban. Well, it worked for me! I've now been more than 4 years cigarette smoke free!! That really feels good to say that now...I'm SMOKE FREE!! I get sick less now and hardly ever get colds anymore! Yeah, I gained a little weight with quitting but I was already grossly overweight.
That brings me to the big changes that started in November of 2007. I decided it was finally time to do something about the 100 excess pounds my poor old body has been carrying around for just WAAAAAAAY too long (more than 20 years!) and I joined Herbal Magic in Orangeville.
Well, I must say that it is going VERY GOOD! As of last Saturday (April 19th) I am down 60 pounds. Yup I said sixty....the big six-zero!! Sixty pounds gone forever!! I can feel the energy coming back, my knees don't hurt anymore, my ankles aren't crying out in pain and my feet finally don't feel like someone's driving metal stakes into them!! My clothes are literally falling off me! TeeHee, giggle, giggle. I feel soooooo great!!
The years and years of chronic depression are fading. I've been battling it for a long time. I'm not a pill taker (well, other than the Zyban that helped me to quit smoking) so pharmaceuticals are out of the question so it just kinda got worse and worse until I felt myself doing a slow crash in late October of last year. I am so thankful that I have the most supportive and giving husband anyone could ever ask for. I love him so much.
This was just a quick blubbering from me. Like I have said repeatedly, I'm not sure what this blog should be used for. I'm not sure if I want to just have a separate blog for knitting stuff or what. I guess the last thing I need is another page to maintain online :-S
Well, I really should get back to the laundry. It's a very windy day here so stuff is drying VERY quickly today. Really, what smells better than fresh laundry on the line??
Monday, April 21, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
No, Spring hasn't really sprung here, the new pictures are old ones
It's been very rainy and generally icky around here lately so I thought I'd post some pictures from spring of 2006.
I love the 'Sea of Yellow' as I call the lawn before the first cut of the dandilions. People spend too much time and money on chemicals to stop the dandilions. I love them. To me they are Spring.
I hope that I'll be posting pictures of the growth this spring here soon!
Cheers,
B
I love the 'Sea of Yellow' as I call the lawn before the first cut of the dandilions. People spend too much time and money on chemicals to stop the dandilions. I love them. To me they are Spring.
I hope that I'll be posting pictures of the growth this spring here soon!
Cheers,
B
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
April Fool
Wow, the melting!! It rained most of the day, sometimes quite hard yesterday and into the night. There was a great thunderstorm just after dark that was a joy to watch, I really LOVE thunderstorms.
This morning it was incredibly mild but really windy. It was still raining a bit when I headed into town. When I came back from town I noticed that the river was exceptionally high so I thought I'd snap some photos of it. Here you can see that the river is at least 50 feet the wrong side of the fence! I hope we don't lose any posts to it.
The picnic table and two benches are down by the campsite. I hope they survive the current!!
Like I said, it's extremely windy today. For anyone that's been here, they know that it's ALWAYS windy here (thus the reason for the massive wind turbines) and when I went to the house about an hour ago, the temperature had dropped significantly. I hope that the weather keeps going like this...melt one day, freeze for a day. That will stop the roads and everything from getting too soft too fast.
It's difficult with 4 dogs trying to keep all their paws clean! I spent a good while the first time the dogs went out today. Well, except for Buddy. He hates to be dirty or wet and somehow avoids walking in the mud. I only had to clean the very bottom of his paws. Princess is another story. She loves to get wet. She's the first one into the river in the summer so I'm extra careful with her right now. There are massive chunks of ice floating down the river and now in our fields.
Well, I must get ready for knitting class tonight. It's the Fingers & Toes class tonight. We get to start our Mystery Project. I'm so excited....wheeee.
lol.
L8Rs
B
This morning it was incredibly mild but really windy. It was still raining a bit when I headed into town. When I came back from town I noticed that the river was exceptionally high so I thought I'd snap some photos of it. Here you can see that the river is at least 50 feet the wrong side of the fence! I hope we don't lose any posts to it.
The picnic table and two benches are down by the campsite. I hope they survive the current!!
Like I said, it's extremely windy today. For anyone that's been here, they know that it's ALWAYS windy here (thus the reason for the massive wind turbines) and when I went to the house about an hour ago, the temperature had dropped significantly. I hope that the weather keeps going like this...melt one day, freeze for a day. That will stop the roads and everything from getting too soft too fast.
It's difficult with 4 dogs trying to keep all their paws clean! I spent a good while the first time the dogs went out today. Well, except for Buddy. He hates to be dirty or wet and somehow avoids walking in the mud. I only had to clean the very bottom of his paws. Princess is another story. She loves to get wet. She's the first one into the river in the summer so I'm extra careful with her right now. There are massive chunks of ice floating down the river and now in our fields.
Well, I must get ready for knitting class tonight. It's the Fingers & Toes class tonight. We get to start our Mystery Project. I'm so excited....wheeee.
lol.
L8Rs
B
Monday, March 31, 2008
The Mystery Project
Well, I got my ball of yarn rolled up. That was a huge pain. I'm sure there are tricks that people will be able to tell me to help with that in the future.
I remember my grandfather sitting there holding the skein between his two hands and my grandmother rolling it off. Unfortunately, my grandfather was not available to help today so I had some problems with the skein. But at the end of it all, my ball is rolled, there are no knots or breaks in the skein and I didn't rip out too much of my hair doing it.
So tomorrow night I get to find out what we're making. I've got my cabling and 4mm needles all ready. I've never made anything with a cable on it so this will be a learning experience for me for sure!
So getting back to the winding of the ball. I was doing some research last night and discovered a tool called an Umbrella Swift. If I were going to be using yarn in the skein form a lot, I would look into buying or making one of these. It's used to hold the skein while you roll it off into a ball. Oh yeah, I'd probably invest in a ball winder too but for now, by hand will be fine.
For an interesting article on Umbrella Swifts:
http://www.knittersreview.com/article_tool.asp?article=/review/profile/020808_a.asp20808_a.asp
I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first Marathon Sock and it's looking great! I'm really loving the way the stripes are working out.
Well, I best be off. I think we're gonna lose our power soon. There's a thunderstorm rolling in. The satellite dish just went out and I keep seeing the sky light up with lightning.
Later
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Beaker's Glass Box holding Beaker's Beads Stitch Markers
This is the first prototype display box created for the knitting stitch markers. I only had a small piece of mirror in stock and needed to make the box quickly.
This box is located at Woollys Yarns, Shelburne, Ontario.
www.woollysyarns.ca
This box is located at Woollys Yarns, Shelburne, Ontario.
www.woollysyarns.ca
Marathon Sock Yarn - Maui
K. I'm just checking out how to create a blog entry from Flickr.
This is the sock I started during last Wednesday afternoon's knitting group.
I'm using the 4-ply self-striping Jacquard sock yarn and 2.25 mm DPNs.
I'm just having fun with software here...tee hee. I know, NERD ALERT.
This is the sock I started during last Wednesday afternoon's knitting group.
I'm using the 4-ply self-striping Jacquard sock yarn and 2.25 mm DPNs.
I'm just having fun with software here...tee hee. I know, NERD ALERT.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Knitting Group 27-Mar-08
Tonight's group was great. Sharon was working on her knit doll making the other shoe for it. I'll try to remember to take my camera for next weeks group and get some pictures of it. It's quite amazing. The entire doll is knit and assembled. Then she made a bunch of clothes for it. She's still working on the wig, etc. She's making it for her daughter.
Max was working on yet another square for her poncho. She may own the store and own the farm that has the mohair goats but (oddly enough) she didn't know how to knit. So the Lianne and Leeann (seriously, that's the two women that work there!) are teaching her to knit starting with a project that uses a bunch of squares made on large needles.
I continued with my Marathon - Maui sock. I'm a couple inches into the stocking stitch of the first sock using 2.25mm DPNs. I really like the way this wool works up. 1/2 inch Jacquard stripe and then a 1/2 inch blue stripe.
I was sorry that Zehava had a bad headache and couldn't make it to group tonight. She's a laugh and it really wasn't the same without her.
A bunch of new wools came in. I picked up a ball of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn and a skein of Auldcroft Angoras lace weight 60% Mohair, 40% wool, which will be used in next Tuesday night "Fingers and Toes" class that I've joined too. It's a mystery project. All we know is that we need 4mm needles, a cable needle and a skein of this Auldcroft Wool. The colour I selected is called Cupid's Dart, a combination of pinks and cream. It's hand painted and still needs to be made into a ball (thus the reason I bought it today, not next Tuesday.) The Fingers and Toes class is a year long thing. The first Tuesday of every month. I just joined tonight so I missed the first two things they made.
Okay, I just mentioned earlier in this blog post that Maxine has mohair goats, well Auldcroft Angoras is her own brand of wool. The mohair is sheared from her goats and then sent to a mill near Elora where its spun and blended with wool. So this wool is VERY local. Actually for Wednesday afternoon class both Maxine and Lianne were away shearing the goats.
There is an ongoing used book/magazing/patterns sale going on a the store. The proceeds from this ongoing sale are going to another member of the group, Paula. Paula is raising money so that she may be permitted to attend a walk-a-thon for cancer. It's an agressive event, 60km walk in 2 days! Also required is a minimum of $2000 worth of pledges. I think she's well over $500 so far and the event is in September. There's also a Knit for the Cure event at the store. May 3rd, from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Sit around and knit for 6 uninterrupted hours, they serve a light lunch, snacks and drinks!! I am sooooo looking forward to this event. I really hope the weather is nice and we can sit outside the store in our lawnchairs. Meg is coming from London and I hope that I can get Diana to come from Mississauga for the event.
I've been selling Knitting Stitch Markers at the store on consignment. I left them 7 sets of 5 for up to 5mm needles and they have only 2 left. Then we thought that maybe loose might be better so I made a glass box with dividers in it that divides the box into 6 compartments and made 130 smaller stitch markers. I'll take a picture of the box the next time I go into the store. I just made it today kinda last minute. It turned out pretty well but I just used normal window pane glass so it's not schmancy or anything. They've asked for more of the sets in the packages and for larger loose ones. I figure Rev B of the display box should have smaller compartments but more of them. I was limited to the piece of mirror glass I had for the bottom of the box today.
I should create a seperate blog entry for glass stuff! I have a bunch of orders that I need to get on top of! But, I'll leave that for now. I guess I should stop drinking coffee in the evenings...I am totally wide awake still and it's 1:43am! I'll be a zombie tomorrow if I don't get some sleep soon.
Maybe I'll just knit for a few minutes.....
Please feel free to make comments, etc. I'm new to Blogger so please be gentle :-)
Max was working on yet another square for her poncho. She may own the store and own the farm that has the mohair goats but (oddly enough) she didn't know how to knit. So the Lianne and Leeann (seriously, that's the two women that work there!) are teaching her to knit starting with a project that uses a bunch of squares made on large needles.
I continued with my Marathon - Maui sock. I'm a couple inches into the stocking stitch of the first sock using 2.25mm DPNs. I really like the way this wool works up. 1/2 inch Jacquard stripe and then a 1/2 inch blue stripe.
I was sorry that Zehava had a bad headache and couldn't make it to group tonight. She's a laugh and it really wasn't the same without her.
A bunch of new wools came in. I picked up a ball of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn and a skein of Auldcroft Angoras lace weight 60% Mohair, 40% wool, which will be used in next Tuesday night "Fingers and Toes" class that I've joined too. It's a mystery project. All we know is that we need 4mm needles, a cable needle and a skein of this Auldcroft Wool. The colour I selected is called Cupid's Dart, a combination of pinks and cream. It's hand painted and still needs to be made into a ball (thus the reason I bought it today, not next Tuesday.) The Fingers and Toes class is a year long thing. The first Tuesday of every month. I just joined tonight so I missed the first two things they made.
Okay, I just mentioned earlier in this blog post that Maxine has mohair goats, well Auldcroft Angoras is her own brand of wool. The mohair is sheared from her goats and then sent to a mill near Elora where its spun and blended with wool. So this wool is VERY local. Actually for Wednesday afternoon class both Maxine and Lianne were away shearing the goats.
There is an ongoing used book/magazing/patterns sale going on a the store. The proceeds from this ongoing sale are going to another member of the group, Paula. Paula is raising money so that she may be permitted to attend a walk-a-thon for cancer. It's an agressive event, 60km walk in 2 days! Also required is a minimum of $2000 worth of pledges. I think she's well over $500 so far and the event is in September. There's also a Knit for the Cure event at the store. May 3rd, from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Sit around and knit for 6 uninterrupted hours, they serve a light lunch, snacks and drinks!! I am sooooo looking forward to this event. I really hope the weather is nice and we can sit outside the store in our lawnchairs. Meg is coming from London and I hope that I can get Diana to come from Mississauga for the event.
I've been selling Knitting Stitch Markers at the store on consignment. I left them 7 sets of 5 for up to 5mm needles and they have only 2 left. Then we thought that maybe loose might be better so I made a glass box with dividers in it that divides the box into 6 compartments and made 130 smaller stitch markers. I'll take a picture of the box the next time I go into the store. I just made it today kinda last minute. It turned out pretty well but I just used normal window pane glass so it's not schmancy or anything. They've asked for more of the sets in the packages and for larger loose ones. I figure Rev B of the display box should have smaller compartments but more of them. I was limited to the piece of mirror glass I had for the bottom of the box today.
I should create a seperate blog entry for glass stuff! I have a bunch of orders that I need to get on top of! But, I'll leave that for now. I guess I should stop drinking coffee in the evenings...I am totally wide awake still and it's 1:43am! I'll be a zombie tomorrow if I don't get some sleep soon.
Maybe I'll just knit for a few minutes.....
Please feel free to make comments, etc. I'm new to Blogger so please be gentle :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
