Quicky brag n' whine

Brag
The picture below is of the package I was finally able to send to my 'whose lace is it anyways' pal. (Remember, the way these swaps work is you have two partners: One anonymous who sends you a package, ie. Lynda, and one to whom you send a package, ie. not telling yet because she hasn't gotten it yet.)
I couldn't send it until the hank on the left arrived. It took over a month to get to me from the States, and I admit I'm a little disappointed. I don't think I'll be shopping with that particular retailer again, at least not if I'm on a deadline.
Anyways, I'm happy with this little package: zephyr jaggerspun for a flirty ruffles shawl (even after all that complaining I did), hand dyed mohair for whatever, a bamboo circular for the shawl, matching handmade stitchmarkers, coordinating glass beads, and a handmade journal. (The hand-made-dyed stuff by me, of course, in my lonely hours while I waited for the yarn to get here.)


Whine
Today is a four cruise ship day, with a potential 6000 passengers. In addition, there will be thousands of people in Halifax from out of town for one of two things: the Stones concert or the NHL game. All of this means that it will be a very busy day at the museum.... and I'm on admissions. Didn't I want to leave The Shoe Company because I didn't want to be a cashier anymore? End of whine. Actually, it's not that bad. People who are on vacation are usually more relaxed and not in a big hurry, and many of our visitors get prebooked into tour groups, so you only deal with one person for a big group of 50.

I love purple

This week I received my lovely purple package from Lynda. Wowie wowie wowie. This lovely lady sure did her research. So many goodies! As you can see from the picture below, she sent me some gorgeous purple blackberry ridge yarn to make the Lacy Lattice Stole from fiddlesticks. (Yes, my love affair with the wonderful designs of Dorothy Siemens continues.) Don't worry Lynda, I did get four skeins, but I've already wound one up and am deliberating which needles to swatch with. This yarn is so squishy! It's wonderful. And because of the fabulous lavender-scented soap and bathstuff and eye mask that Lynda included, it smells faintly of lavender, too. Sweet dreams for me!
As you can see, Lynda also included her own book of poetry, and some intriguing chocolate, both of which are being saved for a non-busy time to be savoured. It's hard to see in the picture, but there's also a little tiny purple-glazed clay pot in there, next to a purple candle. Precious!
Thank you Lynda!




In other knitting news, the baby sweater is all seamed up. It needs a final wash to get the kinks out, and some buttons. I don't have a picture because as you can see from the other flash-nasty pictures in this post, it is cloudy for the first time in a week and a half today. (Why always on my day off? Yesterday it was sunny and 26!)

More purple:
a wool and silk blend from fleece artist in some absolutely gorgeous purples (better than the picture) being knitted on chartreuse coloured plastic needles (remember how I love the coloured plastic needles?) On its way to becoming a scarf-sized Clapotis.

Richard got new skates yesterday. I think his old ones are close to 10 years old. Since then, there have been immense steps forward in skate technology hahahahahaha...sorry. Um, apparently, the nicer skates have a composite in them, that when heated, will mold to your foot. So Richard got his new skates baked yesterday. I guess it means less time spent breaking them in. Also, who knew that you can't get just plain black skates anymore? These have silver 'racing stripes' . Click to see!

Crochet Earrings

I saw some crochet lace earrings on Whip Up a couple of weeks ago, and I really liked them.
Theirs (click to see!)

Mine:



and the artsy shot: being modelled by our 'fiesta' pepper plant.

These were really quick and easy to do! Especially when compared to the hours and hours I put into knitting. But knitting is still better for in front of the tv- with these I really had to watch what I was doing.

Project updates:

Bikes
Richard bought a tensioner (no, I don't know what it is. Something that gives tension?) for his single-speed bike off ebay and is having some difficulty installing the thing. Not because there's anything wrong with the part - something about the geometry of his current frame. Naturally, he wants to buy another frame. "Ha!" I say. "We'll see about that." If things keep going like this, he'll have more bikes than he does fingers within a year. ("Did I tell you that I really love the single speed bike?" "Yes dear." "I want another one.")


Baby Sweater
Despite assurances made to my mother when we spoke on the phone the other day, still unseamed. Maybe tomorrow.
I should just stop knitting sweaters: I can't seem to finish the dang things.

Peacock Shawl
On the home stretch. Ten or so rows and a crochet cast-off to do. The cast-off may prove to be my undoing: I have no problems with crochet (see above) but I have all of two crochet hooks. One is very very tiny (again, see above) and the other is very very big. May have to go to Zellers.

Summer Tank
What summer tank? It's 18 degrees and raining. It'll have to wait for next year.