Finishing Projects

When DS#2 and his family were visiting last week, the girls wanted to finish the quilts they had started last summer.  They also wanted to learn how to knit, and how to play the piano....  So we tackled the quilts first thing.  The oldest girl had finished the centre of her
quilt and just needed to sew the narrow pink border on.  That she did with great care.  We laid out the backing, batting and top and together, taking turns and using 501 basting spray made our three layer sandwich.  The meander quilting on machine is too difficult, even for a 12 year old, so I did that part for her.  I also (Saturday morning, before they left) sewed on the black and white binding.  Dear Granddaughter will have to sew the binding to the backing with hand stitching.



That should not be too hard, as her younger sister had that job this past week.  Her quilt was complete except for hand stitching the binding to the back.  That is actually a time consuming step, even for an accomplished quilter, so DGD spent a long time putting that finishing touch to her project.  But she did it!  Both quilts are lovely, and are the girls' own choices for material and arrangement of blocks.  Both quilts are very attractive also, and I'm really proud of them for finishing their projects and for making such a good job of them!

They both wanted to learn how to knit, so we got started on making some scarves.  There's a great, simple scarf pattern that is as follows: Cast on 18 sts.  Knit every row until you run out of yarn.  (That's supposed to be two 50gram balls.)  On the last row, knit, but don't bind off the first three stitches.  Bind of the centre 12 stitches, and let the last three stitches fall off the needle.  Pull out the first three and last three stitches all the way down to the beginning.  They will form loops on either side of the knitted centre.

 We picked yarn from my stash in colours that the girls liked.  The blue yarns are for the younger girl's scarf and the purple for the older one's.

Knitting always looks so intriguing to children, but they soon find out that it's a slow go.  The scarf projects went home with them at the end of the visit.  I wonder how far they will be by our next visit?

I taught dear daughter-in-law to knit about ten years ago, and she's done many projects since then.  This year she wanted to learn how to knit socks.  Since I'm on a toe-up sock binge right now, that's what I taught her.  She powered right through, knitting one sock from the toe cast on to the ribbing above the heel while she was here, basically from sometime on Tuesday to sometime on Friday.  That project also went home with her.  She's planning to purchase the Toe up, 2 at a time sock book from Mary Maxim.  That's an excellent book with clear explanations and very good photos to show each step.

I was able to finish the new pair of socks for my dear Sis while they were here.  I had sent her a pair for her birthday in May, but they were too big, and were lovingly adopted by her husband, who thought they were nifty.  So I hope this pair fits her.  I thought they were very attractive.  It's a Mary Maxim yarn, Aloe sock yarn in "Horizon" a self-striping yarn.  The trick then is to get both socks to start at the same place in the yarn.  These turned out rather well.

Now that those socks are finished, I'm turning my attention to finishing some old projects.  I got out a beautiful colour work cardigan that I started in 2008, as a project for our trip that year.  I soon found out that the chart was too complicated to knit in the car.  It requires careful attention.  The back is finished, and I'm working on the left front.  A few more rows and I'll be through the chart and able to knit much faster with just the background colour.  Of course, after that there's the other front, the two sleeves, sewing the pieces together and knitting on the front plackets and the shawl collar.  It won't be done in a week!

Highly Recommended

Exactly six weeks ago today was my last day of teaching for the term.  Exactly seven weeks from today I begin teaching violin lessons again.  So about half my summer holiday is used up already, and not one of my summer projects has even begun.  Why?  Well, the weeks were used up pleasurably by my travels and by hosting visitors.  Now there are just two more loads of laundry to catch up on, well, say three loads because I really should wash the rugs by the front and back doors.

June was cold and rainy.  The rain was a great blessing because we started the summer with practically no ground moisture.  The last week and a half has been very hot (for our area)--well into the 80ºF range.  I know I have nothing to complain about as most of North America has suffered from terrifically hot weather.  Plus, we have the advantage of cool nights.  Most morning when we get up the temperature is around +12ºC or 52ºF, giving the house a chance to cool off before the day heats up again.  The corn in our garden is enjoying this hot, humid time!

So I have some catching up to do here--first I'll tell you about a great, fun thing to do for a holiday treat in Alberta: On Saturday the 8th of July I drove up to Stettler, Alberta to meet Dear Son #2, his wife, two daughters and his mom- and dad-in-law.  Stettler is a small Alberta town that has something great going for it: an old fashioned steam train!

The train left the station at 2:30 in the afternoon (one of those hot days), traveled leisurely along for about an hour and half to its destination, Big Valley.  There were eleven old railway cars, of various sorts.  We ended up in the least comfortable: the seats that faced each other were so close that we had to "interleave" our knees.  The forward facing passengers' knees touched the backward facing seats!  Because of that we were assigned just one passenger per seat.

Soon after we left a "cowboy" came into our car with a guitar and proceeded to entertain us with jokes and songs.  We were invited to sing along.  I knew two of the songs: I've been working on the railroad, and Old MacDonald's farm.  The other songs were from the 70's and 80's, and were unfamiliar to me.  He was an excellent entertainer, told good, funny jokes that amused us all and were family oriented.  He was also able to quip offhand and made lots of jokes about my summer hat--a doily I had lifted from my coffee table, according to him.  All good fun.

There was a bar car (which we visited just to have a look) and a snack car where we each bought an iced cappuccino.  Good and cold, but not up to Tim Horton's standard.

At one point near Big Valley the train slowed to a stop and the conductor warned us that we were being attacked by a gang of desperadoes from Australia.  Sure enough, we heard gunfire and saw

masked bandits riding alongside us.  They soon overpowered the trainmen and boarded, stomping through each car with a large bag extended to collect the loot.  We recognized our singing cowboy immediately.










Because the "loot" was going to support the Children's Hospital, most of us willingly threw in some folding money.







The trainmen had gathered up their weapons and mounted a counter attack.  One of the robbers was soon shot off his horse and lay motionless in the grass.  His horse took advantage of the break to dine on the lush grass beside the train.

I felt a lot of sympathy for the gang members, as they were dressed authentically in drovers' coats, and were turning red faced from the heat.

With the robbers chased away (after collecting what loot they could), the train resumed its journey, stopping at the station in Big Valley.

We all got off and walked up the hill to the town hall where we were served an excellent prime rib dinner.  Iced tea, blue lemonade, water and red or white wine accompanied the meal--with generous refills.  The woman sitting next to DDIL had several refills and became quite jolly.  She was relating stories of her several marriages, while her current husband sat quietly beside her.  She became so friendly that DDIL said, "When we left I though she was going to kiss me!"

A stage show followed the meal, with a loose plot of a conflict between two country music people and four rock and roll musicians.  Lots of music was included, with keyboard, guitar and drums.  It was all high quality and very entertaining, but unfortunately so loud that I couldn't make out the words of most of the songs.  One standout was a quiet duet between the fellow on keyboard (country lover) and one of the rock and roll women who was lonesome for her roots.  They sang Country Roads and Shenandoah.  That was beautiful!!!

We then had some free time to wander around the village (pop. 350).  This beautiful old church is at the edge of town, atop a hill.  If I'd had more time, I would have gone around it and taken several photos.  But this was the town where DDIL's father went to school.  So we walked over there for nostalgia's sake.  He showed us the spot on the sidewalk where he received the scars on his knees.

On the way back to the train we came across the "Creation Science Museum"--a collection in an old house.  I didn't have time to go in, but DS did.  If I'd know it was there, I'd have made time to see what they displayed.

On the return trip this old-timer, one of the cast of entertainers on the train told us a lot of interesting things about steam trains, and trains in general.  For instance, the pattern of whistles of a train approaching a crossing is mandated: long, long, short, long.  I had learned that by living here on an acreage that is bordered by a railroad which crosses the range road just south of our place.  But I never knew the reason for that particular pattern: it is the morse code for the letter "Q" and dates back, according to him anyway, to Queen Victoria and her travels on her yacht.  When her yacht reached the harbour, instead of lining up for its turn to berth, the captain blasted the "Q" signal, and all the other ships got out of the way so the Queen could berth immediately.

Another very interesting fact related to how trains manage to stay on the rails around curves, which is complicated by the fact the the axles must be a solid, heavy bar without a differential.  I won't give away the answer here, because, just maybe, after hearing about this great summer outing, you will want to take a trip on the Alberta Steam Train from Stettler!

Batten Down the Hatches!

We had an unusually rainy June here in Alberta, and the result is that whenever we get a warm, sunny day, so much moisture is drawn up that afternoon thunderstorms form in the foothills, and then travel eastward over the plains.  Last night was business as usual, except that there were two extremely volatile cells.  We were under tornado warning for about an hour.

We could watch the storm approaching, looking quite ominous.  I also kept track of it on the government website radar.  It looked as if this storm cell would pass by us a few miles to the north, if it kept on tracking as it had been.

We switched from watching it out front to watching it from behind the house, the north side.  The atmosphere was very quiet--no winds, no noise from the storm UNTIL it came close enough for us to hear the growls and percussion of thunder.  Then the wind that rushes just ahead of the storm hit.  We took cover in the basement.

About 20 minutes later it seemed to be lessening, and we went to check.  Yes, it had moved off to the northeast.

Another cell that had blasted Calgary earlier was also tracking east, but about 50 kilometres south of us.  We were relieved to be spared damage, but felt very sorry for anyone whose crops and flowerbeds were damaged.  It seemed to hit particularly hard where last Sunday's heavy storm had dumped hail that flattened crops.

By the time we went to bed all seemed calm, but Jim woke up around 11:30 and there was lightning and thunder all around again.  I didn't hear it, and he stopped short of waking me up to go downstairs again.  But he said the light and sound show continued until about 1 a.m.  I'm glad I slept through it.

We had company last week, from Wednesday to this past Wednesday, Jim's nephew and his wife.  They used our place as a base and did some exploring from here.  All that cooking and cleaning tired me out, so I'm taking a few days off to read and relax.  Next Monday Dear Son #2 and his family arrive for a visit, so there will be lots to do then.

Redecorating and Retreating

One thing I forgot to mention about my trip to Ontario: I had planned to do lots of walking, reading and knitting, but the first day I was there I saw how the wallpaper that #1 and I had put up when they moved into that house in 1996 was peeling badly.  I suggested that for a project while I visited I would remove the peeling paper and paint the walls.  That suggestion was quickly approved.

I really enjoy redecorating rooms, especially if they're looking somewhat grungy.  So I set to work on Saturday (which happened to be a rainy day anyway).  I peeled off the old paper and washed away the bits that were left from the underneath parts.  Then I patched the walls.  There was a bit of old paint left, but most of the walls seemed to be bare plaster.  To minimize the bump where the paint met the plaster I spent a lot of time and elbow grease sanding down the edges of the painted part.  That was a really worthwhile thing to do.

Because the ceiling had a lot of water stains, I used some Zinsser white for the first coat, to block the stains.  Then I bought a gallon of Behr paint and primer, pure white to second coat the ceiling and first coat the walls.

#1 had a few pots of paint left over from some bedroom redoes--about 1/3 gallon light blue, 1/3 gallon light pink.  I mixed them together and they made a really lovely lilac, but it was a little too intense.  Fortunately there was another 1/3 gallon white from another project.  When that was added, the lilac was really precisely the right shade to complement the tiles.  It took two coats to completely cover the white.

The final step was to paint the fronts of the drawers and doors beneath the long countertop.  A little scrubbing of tiles and floor and the whole room was just simply spiffy!  What a treat to see the change! It made a great project which was much more interesting for me than just sitting around lazily.

 This morning we were completely fogged in.  When the fog lifted all the filmy spider webs were revealed, a delicate beauty.  (There's a bit of reflection because I shot this picture through the window.)  It reminded Jim of his childhood, walking to school and disrupting the spider webs with a forked stick.

Over this past weekend I had the joy of attending an Art Retreat at King's Fold, a beautiful centre northwest of Cochrane.  There was rain for most of the weekend, but that didn't really bother us too much.  This is the view from the dining room, and on a clearer day you can see the mountains in the distance.   For my project impetus I was given Psalm 139, "You have searched me, Lord."  I had taken along my laptop because I felt strongly that I wanted to do some composing.  I was able to complete three pages of a four part choral anthem with organ accompaniment, covering the first six verses of the Psalm.  I so much enjoyed the whole experience; it was very positive and the work flowed along in an exciting way.  I hope to return to that composition and bring it farther along at some future date.  

For now it's time to do some cleaning and baking in preparation for a visit from Jim's nephew and his wife starting on Wednesday.

Home Again and Bye-Bye

I had an excellent visit in Ontario with Dear Daughter #1 and her daughter, celebrating our granddaughter's graduation from Brock University with a four year nursing degree, Honours, with first class standing.  One interesting and strange thing about the graduation was the chancellor's speech.  After a few sentences, I remarked to DD#1, "He had too many bloody Marys for breakfast!"  He seemed to wander through his remarks, at one point referring to Einstein as "you know, that relativity guy!"  Another time he lost his place and had to hunt for it, but the most remarkable thing was this sentence: "The secret to creativity is, 'Hide your sources!'"  DD#1 and I just gaped at each other.  Did we really hear that?

Another unusual experience was being confined to the plane for 65 minutes after we landed at Hamilton airport.  There was a storm with lightning in the area, and because Hamilton does not have jetways, but instead a large, metal ramp that they slide up to the plane, there is a rule that no one is allowed on that ramp if there is any lightning within 5 miles.  This was NOT a fast-moving storm, so we all patiently waited until it had moved off.  What was remarkable about that experience was also that nobody complained.  We all just waited quietly until the all clear came.  I guess most of us thought this was a well-justified precaution.

DD#1 and DG#1 and I had lots of fun going out for meals, eating in (DD#1 is an excellent cook), and going shopping together.  DG#1 was looking for a new dress to wear to her cousin's wedding on Saturday.  DD#1 and I just happened to find some nice things also.  Then we went to Boston Pizza for a relaxed supper.  That was the night Wallenda walked across the falls.  We stayed away, and later watched it on tv.

I got home last Saturday evening, and the Dear One was glad! to see me.  We had a relaxed Sunday and then on Monday evening had our annual Employee's Barbecue.  Because the weather was so stormy we ate indoors.  That's actually easier to set up than hauling everything out to the deck.  The biggest hit of the meal were the tiny loaves of bread that I made instead of serving dinner buns.  We had a good time all together.

Tuesday I did oodles of laundry, catching up on almost two weeks from the last laundry day.

Wednesday I started "spring cleaning" the living room (on the first day of summer).  Didn't get too far but did get all the couch and loveseat cushions washed, hung out to dry, ironed and replaced.  The hardest part is stuffing the cushions back into the covers!  Washed the curtains, too, and one wall.  Well, the rest will keep until I get back to it.

Today I'm off again, this time to King's Fold, a beautiful retreat centre west of Cochrane.  Dear friends of mine are the director and his family.  I'm excited to see them again, as it's been a whole year since we visited.  And I'm really looking forward to a challenge and an art project.  I'm hoping to do a little composing on my laptop music program.  If not, it will be a watercolour project.  We'll see

A Good Apple Year

Here are three of the apple trees in our large backyard deck, all blossoming to beat the band!  It looks as if it will be a good apple year here.  The tree to the left is an old crab apple that was here on the place when we moved here in '99.  Those apples make very nice apple sauce if you wait until the frost has gone over them.  Farther back in the centre is a Dolgo crab apple.  They are somewhat oval, small and very red.  They also made a good sauce, but it's quite tart.  The tree to the right is a Kerr apple/crab.

Here's a close up of some of the Kerr blossoms.  Aren't they beautiful!  This tree fruits every other year.  On the in-between-years it produces just a few apples.  This year a good crop is due.  These apples make beautiful juice--clear and deep pink.  I'm pretty sure I've posted pictures of several quarts of just canned Kerr apple juice.

I use a steam juicer for most of my juicing.  It produces "steaming" hot clear juice, about four quarts for each full load of fruit.  I can drain the juice directly from the juicer into the sterile jar, top it with a lid, and because it's so hot, it will soon seal itself.

It's not a good year for asparagus, though.  We usually eat asparagus every other day for quite a few weeks in the spring.  This year the stalks are few and skinny.  Many are too tough to eat.  I think it was just too dry the end of last summer and into this spring.

You know those nice hand knit socks I sent to my Sis for her birthday?  They were too big, but they didn't go to waste.  They fit her husband and he loves them, so they became a present for him.

On Saturday evening I started a new pair for Sis.  They are knitting up extraordinarily fast.  It's an easy pattern from Knitty.com that is called "Broadripple" after an area in Indianapolis that I visited as a child.  We had cousins living there, and I especially remember the sportsplex with an indoor swimming pool.

I used this pattern once before, but they turned out so small I had to give them away to someone with daintier feet than I have (good Dutch 10 1/2's, or European 42s).  So I added a few stitches here and there to the pattern, and they're turning out very well.  I've actually gotten quite far up the leg since I took this picture this morning.  The yarn is from Mary Maxim, Aloe Sock Yarn, the colour is "Desert Sky."  It's a fun knit!

Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Ontario to be there for #1 Granddaughter's graduation with a four year nursing degree.  I'm looking forward to having a good visit there with DD#1, DGD#1 and DGS#2.  Don't know if I'll be posting at all while I'm there, so I'll see you in a little over a week.  

Not Sure About This

I finished the first of the "Double Heelix" socks yesterday.  But I'm not sure I want to keep it.

See where the knitting needle goes through the toe? It show how much too long the sock is.  That's my fault.  I had been knitting furiously along on the foot part and realized it was too long.  After taking out 10 rounds, I knit the toe part--with stripes like the heel.  That wasn't in the pattern.  I like the stripes on the toe, but it is definitely too long.  That could be fixed by unraveling several rows and reknitting--a not impossible task.

The pattern called for only 12 rows of ribbing on the cuff.  I knitted 40 rows of ribbing, but it still feels too short.

So now I have to decide: do I unravel the toe and reknit, and then add rows to the ribbing until I'm happy with it, or do I just take it all out and revert to a more traditional toe up sock?

By the way, there's a very interesting video on YouTube by Cat Bordhi (among others she's posted) about Jeny Staiman's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.  I used it on the bind off, and it's just great for socks.  If you're a sock knitter, go check it out.

Also on knitty.com where you can find the "Double Heelix" sock pattern, there is a video available by Jeny (the designer) showing exactly how to start the spiral of the heel.  A little tricky to catch on to.  Well, for me, anyway.  I had to watch it many times before I could actually knit the heel.  But it was invaluable help in figuring out the pattern.