Warning! Knitting Content!

Knitting finally!
I got my first self striping sock yarn the other day (OnLine - Tropic) and decided to try out my first short row heel (tried a toe up-short row once but it didn't work out). I messed up the first time but the second time it turned out - woo! I was planning on making these for my mum who has slightly smaller feet than me so they don't quite fit me... I have to say though, I don't like the fit of short row heels as much as I like the heel flap method.... I'm going to try another pair with a heel flap and cross my fingers that it doesn't mess up the self striping. I'm a bit disappointed because I've been scouring the 'net for months now trying to find a short row heel (ended up using the Priscilla's Dream Socks pattern for the heel and just a regular toe). I love the way it looks but yeah, it seems that when I put the sock on (even before I started the toe) I really had to pull the sock to get my heel where the heel of the sock is. That doesn't happen with the heel flap. And because I've knit enough flap heels they seem waaaaaay quicker than the short row (and take a lot less concentration).


My second project that I've been meaning to blog about is my entrelac project. I'm using the instructions for the Lady Eleanore Stole with a couple extra repeats thrown in. I'm using Knit Picks Shine Sport and alternating the colours every row - huge PITA btw... I have another yarn I'm looking at using for another entrelac project once this is out of the way. I'm making this in hopes of it becoming a baby blanket (I'll line it and probably do an applied i-cord edging or a crochet one). I definitely am fond of entrelac but it's not as good work knitting as say a sock or mitten.


Temperature: -32C (windchill: -42C --- It only takes 11km/h winds to drop the temp! They're having a blizzard where my mum lives and the windchill is in the -50s!!!)
Sunrise: 11:33am
Sunset: 4:40pm

SP Packages (and also bad news from family)....

I just typed up a paragraph about some bad news I got from home this afternoon (the husband of one of my mum's friends passed away extremely young - 35 - and this situation surrounding what happened isn't great - doctor malpractice maybe?). But because I don't know the route the family is taking it's probably best I don't go into what happened. But I'm also very concerned because this doctor was also my mum's doctor. My mum has some severe undiagnosed health issue and this doctor (only a month or so ago) basically told my mum that all her -visible- health concerns were all in her head and she needs to get over herself. Whoa... Besides the terrible loss of this friend of the family, I'm extremely concerned for my mum - to have this doctor completely ignore her and also this friend and have the friend die makes you worry a bit (even though they had completely different symptoms). Anyway... I'm waiting for my mum to call me back since she's gone to spend some time with the family.
I'm not even going to go into the 3 hours I spent at the ER/Drs office on Friday due to some extremely unpleasant health issues and my rant about one of the doctors I saw (first doctor was great, the surgeon I saw for a consult after that, not so much).



So to take my mind off things a bit, I went and did some running around (bank, got my hair trimmed, checked the mail). I got some great mail today. One of the packages I got was from my Knitty SP10. I got the Interweave Favorite Socks book (I've been looking at buying it for a while now!) some yummy dark chocolate, some hot chocolate (mm!) and tea! I love, love Tazo tea - reminds me of staying at my Aunt's in BC. The other package I got was just toiletries from London Drugs. Fun and exciting none the less!

Our weather here has been extremely bizarre - it's all people are talking about downtown. The last 2 days it's been between +2 and -5C - In January!! To make it even stranger, the sun is out! Usually when it gets warm like this it's cloudy (we have to get some pretty cold weather for the sun to come out usually). I'm definitely not complaining but you can't help but think that this weather can't be good for all the ice further north. Speaking of other weird events, there was an earthquake 90km south of here and it registered a 5.8. Apparently people in town felt it but I didn't :( I'm really sad actually. As my mum said this morning, the one person who is on earthquake watch (me!!) didn't even feel it. I was probably asleep or just getting up when it happened (just before 1pm on Thursday). I have an earthquake tracker thing on my google home page and mum and I are always keeping track of the latest ones (big, small, unusual locations). There have been a few smaller ones (3s) a few hundred kms from here in the last few months but this was the closest and the biggest.



Temperature: -4C
Sunrise: 12:06pm
Sunset: 4:05pm

Sunrise Time-lapse

Here's my sunrise time-lapse video.
I started taking pictures just before 12:00pm and stopped around 5:00pm. The camera took a picture every two minutes (note the ice fog it was -39C most of the day).

Better Late Than Never...

So we've actually been able to see a sunrise and sunset for two days now - woo!
I'm in the process of taking time-lapse photos (the ones from yesterday didn't turn out how I wanted them). So hopefully I can put them together into a nifty little animation and post it soon. I'm going to see if I can work on it in a little while once the pictures are finished being taken.

My new MP3 player arrived yesterday - a Creative Zen MicroPhoto. I spent most of yesterday putting music and photos onto it. So far I love it (I got it really cheap too since it's refurbished).

And in knitting news... I haven't had a lot of time to get much done... I'm working on Lady Eleanore with a couple extra blocks thrown in for a baby blanket and I started this drop stitch scarf last night just for something to do. I still have the Nativity set to finish too - yikes. I'm in a bit of a knitting slump at the moment. Don't really feel like spending my days off knitting like crazy (don't really feel like doing much of anything actually) like I did a few weeks ago.

Temperature: -39C **
Sunrise: 12:36pm
Sunset: 3:31pm


**(no windchill today!! You'll see in the pictures that I'll post later that we have "ice fog" a weird weather phenomenon that happens when it's too cold for the moisture in the air to dissipate and it just freezes. Unfortunately that goes for car exhaust too so it's pretty smoggy up in town.)

Still no Sun!

Yup, it's been cloudy/overcast/foggy/snow - All the things that get in the way of seeing the sun. booo.. It's supposed to be clear tomorrow.

And I'm mainly posting because of the temperature right now:

Temperature: -30C (Windchill -41C) brrrrrrrrr.... Glen ran a bag of garbage out a little while ago and just put on his neck warmer (no coat, gloves etc). The string of swear words was quite impressive :-P


Temperature: -30C (Windchill -41C) (I think it needs to be repeated)
Sunrise: 12:52pm
Sunset: 3:12pm

No Sun Yet...

So go figure when the sun finally starts getting above the horizon it gets overcast again. Hopefully we'll be able to see it tomorrow (forecast is for cloudy periods - just watch the clouds all be around the horizon).

In other news, I took down my Christmas tree today (finally! I'd planned to do it on Saturday). Our hallway looks so much bigger now! I was a bit sad to pack up my knitted Santa :( I have some irrational fear that I'm going to open my Christmas bin next year and he'll be ruined (he's in a ziploc bag and in a plastic bin I'm sure that won't happen).

We got a belated Christmas parcel from family friends yesterday (in time for Ukrainian Christmas at least!). I got a knitting book (Knitting New Scarves) and two skeins of Berroco Peruvia in a really nice rust/brown colour. K, our one friend is really into "trick wrapping" presents. Usually one person a year gets the "honour" of having one of their presents trick wrapped and this year it was my turn (I've only been the lucky recipient of trick wrapping once before - my birthday when I was 11 or 12). I unwrapped one of my presents to find a Glenfiddich case and at first I was sort of like "wtf... I don't drink scotch..." and then it hit me - Oh no, it's not a nice bottle of Glenfiddich (Glen was excited that it could've been scotch) no, I had a present STUCK in the case (insert much swearing - in a good way). It took me 2 hours to get into the damn thing and retrieve my present (the yarn). The rules are that you can't use anything sharp (fingernails are allowed but teeth aren't and of course knives, scissors and the like aren't either). I think the first time I got the trick wrap I ended up cheating after hours of struggling to find a way into my present (it was wrapped in layers and layers of black electrical tape with the end cleverly hidden - plus it was breakable so I think they finally let me use scissors in fear I'd break the present before getting into it)... So, the instructions on this present said to call after 6pm for instructions so I sat and tried to pry it open with my fingernails (running them under the lip of the cap hoping to loosen the glue) until 6 when I started calling their house. They were on the phone for a while so while I was waiting I ran the edge of the lid across the edge of my desk and voilà! It popped right open! I think K was a bit upset that I got into it so easy once I finally got a hold of them.
Now he'd better watch out because I'm on the hunt for a present for him so I can take the rest of the year to wrap it - think lots of tape and glue :) (I got him back once and it took him a day and a half to get it unwrapped :) I am a trick wrapping force to be reckoned with!). I've got to be careful though because he has access to a welder and just might weld my present shut next year...

Temperature: -32 (that's without the windchill - yikes!)
Sunrise: 1:19pm
Sunset: 2:42pm

Fireworks!

Here are a few of the better pictures I took tonight of the fireworks. As planned we walked down and stood on the lake and in my opinion we had the best view in town. Unfortunately because of the cold, my camera battery died about 10-15 minutes into the show so I missed the finale (we actually started walking back home before the finally - we were flippin' cold!)

If it's not cloudy tomorrow (and I'm up in time, heh) I'll see if I can take a picture of our first official sunrise in a month.

Temperature: -24C

The town is having a welcome home party and we're all invited...

Guess who is coming to town tomorrow?

The Sun!!!

He'll only be in town for about an hour but every day after that he'll stay a little longer.

Can you tell I'm a bit excited? haha It's been so cloudy and grey lately, it's going to be SO nice to get a bit of sunshine! The sun coming back also means that I survived the dark season once again. It's not so bad but every year just before it hits I get really nervous and then once we're out of it I'm so relieved. Like my brain is telling me that this year it'll somehow be different and it'll be pitch black every day for a month (not true, we have glorious 4-5 hour sunrise sunset combos).
Here's a little preview of what we can expect to see tomorrow (taken last year):


I know I keep mentioning it but the fireworks are tonight. I don't know why I'm looking forward to it because they're SO terrible every year. I think we're planning on walking out on the lake tonight to watch them from there. I'm going to see if my camera will cooperate and take some pictures of the action. I have a friggin expensive camera yet I haven't been able to get a successful night shot yet. It really annoys me. Oh well, we'll try again tonight and hope we don't get frost burn from the tripod.

Temperature: -23C (Feels like -33C)
Sunrise: -
Sunset: -

Presents!

I got a fabulous package from Lulu2 on the knitty board today all the way from U.A.E
It had all sorts of neat things in it - chocolate covered dates with almonds inside, dead sea soap, date bars, little Persian rug, camels on a string, coin set, little bag, pins, little South African flag, and some gum in different flavours - coffee, banana (!!), cinnamon, cardamom (!!) and mustaka. No idea what mustaka is (best I could find was some sort of herb or something related to the cyprus tree?) but I really like the flavour. It's like a cross between lavender and pine/eucalyptus (anyone remember Thrills gum? Sort of like that). Anyway, I'm totally thrilled and can't wait for the package I sent to reach her (darn surface mail :( I'm getting impatient!).

And here's a picture of the one glove I finished for the resident's mum... I didn't bring my camera to work today and she leaves tomorrow so this is the only picture I have.

Our "Bringing Back the Sun" festival is this weekend. We should have sunrise by Monday. The days are getting noticeably brighter even without the sun coming above the horizon. It's going to be so nice to have some longer days again!




Temperature: -27C (Feels like -36C)
Sunrise: -
Sunset: -

Busy!!

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Wow, the last month went by so fast! I've hardly had time to do anything between getting us ready for Christmas and getting everyone at work ready (a lot of planning goes into ordering, wrapping, baking, planning etc etc for 5 people). Things went well this year despite the fact that I was running out of time to get things done and didn't manage to get everything done that I wanted to (it was mostly the baking that got cut in the end - I made over 400 various kinds of cookies for work since I was putting together boxes to hand out to a few local places - long term care, resident's families etc. So because of that I didn't get any baking done for here and didn't manage to get any bread or buns done either - I realised at like 10:00pm Sunday night that I'd completely forgot to make buns for at work and then was way too lazy to make some for our dinner - oh well!). I was extra busy but this is the first year that wasn't full of stress and things getting all messed up. At work we order all our presents through Sears and this is the first year that everything made it on time - even the stuff they said wouldn't be here until January made it by the 23rd!
One of the resident's mums is visiting for the holidays and it's been a lot of fun having her around (I'm pretty close with the family). She originally came here for medical but extended her stay for Christmas. Because of her medical condition she has a very hard time getting around so I've been taking her out and helping her with her errands and stuff. Luckily she's a very small woman so when we go out, Glen and I just pick her up and put her in our truck (well, our landlord's truck that we're using while they're away) and then put her in her wheelchair to get her around. Most of my evenings at work have been spent chatting with her and asking questions about how life used to be up here (she's not even 50 yet and was born out on the land). It's so fascinating to hear about that sort of stuff - especially to hear about her first experiences with "southern" culture (one of her first non-northern foods was a mandarin orange and she says she can still remember how sweet it was). I made her a pair of mittens while she's been here since her usual rabbit fur mitts are a bit too bulky for trying to get in and out of vehicles. I only have a picture of one of them but I'm going to try to get a picture of her wearing them.

In other news, only 5 or 6 more days until the sun comes back - yay! The "sunrise" each morning has been getting better and better - pinks, purples, oranges. The 50th anniversary of Inuvik is this year so apparently the budget for the annual bringing back the sun fireworks has more than doubled. Should be exciting!

On the knitting front - I still haven't finished my knitted nativity (I haven't worked on it much in the last few weeks) It'll be finished before next year but it might take a while... I have a few other "urgent" things I need to get done first. I'm almost finished a super secret Secret Pal present. I've never knit anything for a Secret Pal before so I'm both nervous and excited I can't wait to post about it though.

I was going to post pictures but that will have to wait until another day... Glen is trying to watch the cricket on the other computer and uploading is messing that up.


Temperature: -18C (feels like -25C)
Sunrise: -
Sunset: -