Happy Canada Day and Happy Independence Day!

Welcome to summer! And welcome back to my blog. Since I switched to my Typepad account, I have been one busy person with full time work and school. Needless to say, both blogging and knitting fell to the back burmer. But I am now free from school for at least the summer and have more free time to knit and blog. And I will be blogging here!

John and I had a great Canada Day and Independence Day. On Canada Day my parents came down for a visit. Mom and I went visiting and tore up the shops. Dad went golfing at one of the courses near our house. And John worked on spreading the stone in the driveway. So everyone got to do something they wanted to! We met up for dinner at a new restaurant I wanted to try and it was great.

Today John and I met at the cottage for a family picnic. It was rainy and actually pretty cold, but the food was fantastic...I am still stuffed!

Now John is off to work and I am thinking about watching some more season 1 of Lost and working on my baby bolero that is for a baby shower on July 15! EEEEKKKK! That is CLOSE!

New Blog....AGAIN!

Please see my new blog:

http://iyearnforyarn.typepad.com

Guess what I got in the mail...

Check out the cool package I got from my yarn pal! The package she sent it to me in is truly gorgeous. It's a case with pictures of tea from around the world on it. Does she know me, or what? I wonder what's inside!



Treasures galore! Some DPNs in the size I need to make the cabled footies from the One Skein book, a recipe card for her favourite tea cookies, a box of delectable tea, and a skein of Lorna's Laces in Rain....just what I had been coveting!



Here is a closer look. The colours are SO BEAUTIFUL! Thank you so much, Secret Yarn Faerie! I can't wait to learn who you really are next month!

So my lack of posting has mainly been due to the fact that it's summer and with summer comes the activities and fun that sometimes limit your time in front of the computer. We've been busy with another wedding, visiting Canada, hosting visitors from Canada, and other summer stuff. Being in class two nights a week doesn't help either. I am really enjoying my class but I will be glad when class is over in the beginning of August.

So good news...I have been promoted! I have never been promoted before, not because I wasn't a good worker, but because I was in junior positions where there was no where to move up or because I was in a contract position. So this is a first for me! And I'm really excited. I got the word on Friday and I start my new job on Monday.

In knitting news, I am making progress on my Florida bag. I have finished the Watermelon and Sunflower bands. I must start to make more time for knitting, aside from when we're driving to Canada! ;)

Our weekend roadtrip part 2, and other oddities

So that was Saturday and Sunday.

Monday we got up and went with Anna to her pottery studio, where the magic happens. Anna is such a talented potter. She had to finish up some bells that she was working on, so we went to see where she works.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Anna and Bart went to Bangkok, Thailand earlier this year and Anna brought back this beautiful Thai silk scarf for me.

So we hit the road after lunch at a great little Italian restaurant. John was asking me if there was anything I wanted to do on the way home. We stopped at the PA Visitor's Information site, and we found some neat brochures for some shops in Amish country. We headed for a short detour to Intercourse, PA which is right in the heart of Lancaster County which has one of the largest Amish populations in the area of the country. There were handmade quilts, furniture, pottery, preserves, clothing...and it was so much fun to see. We went to one place and got some jams and jellies to try and bought a Shoo Fly Pie too. It tastes a lot like pecan pie, but without the pecans...delicious!

But the best part of our little side road adventure was the little yarn shop we found. John knew we would have to go in, and it was great. They had the standard fare, but they also had fleece ready to be spun, hand spindles, and some great handspun, hand-dyed yarn. And I bought this:

The top skein is alpaca, 600 yards of it, and the bottom skein is regular wool. Both as they came off of their respective animals. Here is a closer peek of the alpaca, it has a dark brown fiber, a grey fiber, and a lighter brown fiber all wound together....it is so beautiful, I wish I had bought more.

Then we continued the drive home. We stayed in NY state on Monday night, and then drove to John's parents' cottage in Wolcott for Tuesday. It rained heavily on and off all day, but we had a nice day with the family.

Unfortunately it was back to reality for Wednesday. Now that the holiday weekend is over, I have class two nights a week now until the beginning of August. EEEKKKKK! That makes for a lot of busy time, not so much knit time. We did decide to slow down and take a breather this weekend, though. My brother came down to visit Friday night, and we went to the Kendall Carnival. Yesterday I went to dinner, the mall and the movies to see Cars with Karen and Eric and the kids. It was a really cute movie. Today is chores and knitting day. I've finally started on my Florida bag, but I've really only cast on so there will be no pictures of that now. And I have to get started on my project for my One Skein Secret Pal exchange...what to knit...?

Our weekend road trip

One of my favourite things to do is to spend time with good friends. Over the long weekend, John and I went to visit our friends Anna and Bart in Baltimore. I haven't seen Anna since she came up to join me for a Knit Knite back in January, so it's been a while. And we had a great visit and a great weeekend.

We left Saturday for the drive down. We drove through the hills of Pennsylvania, and it was beautiful. It reminded me so much of the drive to New Brunswick, which I have done almost every summer of my life. Such great memories...We arrived just before dinner and just in time for the Canada Day Party! Both Anna and Bart are Canadian, and many of the friends they have made in Baltimore are Canadian as well, so we celebrated in true Canadian style with Canadian beer, back bacon on a bun (among other tasty dinner items), and maple leaf cookies and Nanaimo bars. There was even a Canadian trivia game with a prize pack. I was not able to participate due to my "advantage" of being Canadian, but it was a great prize pack, complete with Tim Horton's coffee from the Albion store (not quite a Canadian store, but we did the best we could).

Sunday we ventured out around town. It was brutally hot, so that did hinder us a little. I don't deal well with heat. We went to Fort McHenry, where a battle happened that inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. That was neat to see.

Then we went to the Inner Harbor, which had a lot of neat shops, the Aquarium, and a huge entertainment complex. It was very nice. Here Anna and I are at the Inner Harbor.

For dinner, we went to a local chain restaurant and had crab dip and Old Bay seasoning on our french fries (my Dad brought that back to our home years ago so I already knew how much I loved it!). Bart and John each got a 20 ounce hamburger! And they each ate the whole thing!

A cut above

I'm missing Knit Knite. Why? Good question...a combination of things. Got out of work late, had to run some errands, feeling not quite 100% today...I just needed to come home and put on my jammies and get comfortable.

So I decided yesterday that I need bangs again. I have been trying to grow them out and I just couldn't take it anymore. I went to have them cut at lunch time at the mall, but the girl didn't cut them short enough. So then I decided to cut them shorter myself....I have never done that before, and I probably won't again. I feel like they are a little short, but they will grow. QUICKLY I hope.

So I had my first class last night. I think it's going to be really good. There are only 12 of us, so it's a nice, intimate class. Everyone seems reall nice too.

We're starting to get ready for the weekend....just one more day to go...I promise I'll post a big blog with lots of pics when we get back.

Another great weekend...

I have to say my last two weekends have been pretty great. Reconnecting with people who mean a lot to you is a great way to spend a weekend. Friday night, I went out with Vicki, who I met at work and who is quickly becoming a great friend. I had to go and get my ID picture from Nazareth, so since I was on her end of town we went out after that. Pittsford has such a nice area around the Erie Canal....cute shops, delicious restaurants, and a scenic walkway. We ate at Simply Crepes, which was SO good, I cannot even describe what a treat it was. Then we went for a nice walk along the canal. There was a band playing across the way...it was just the perfect summer night.

Saturday was my niece and nephew's birthday party. They are brother and sister and believe it or not, they were born on the same day, 5 years apart! Very unique. So my sister in law has a big party for them each year. She really outdid herself this year though...there was enough food to feed an army! And it was so good! We totally stuffed ourselves. My niece Hillary liked her present, which was my fourth (and hopefully final) Meema's Felted Marsupial Bag from S 'n B. Incidentally, I was still knitting it Friday night and then had to weave in the ends, felt it, and then HOPE it would be dry enough to give to her Saturday afternoon. A fan on high speed for a few hours does wonders. Our nephew Owen liked his present too, water guns and a water rocket. We topped the evening off with a bonfire. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting in front of a campfire on a great summer night. Brings back such great memories of summer vacations in New Brunswick growing up...

Sunday we had yet another party....obviously we were very popular at the McKenney-Markle household this past weekend. We had a graduation party for a family friend. It was nice, I hadn't seem some of that family since we got married a year and a half ago, so it was good to get caught up.

So all in all, a great weekend.

And now it's Tuesday. That weekend is long gone, but the next one is coming up quickly. And despite time flying by so quickly, I have managed to get some work done on my Honeymoon Cami. Not that you could really tell, so I'm not posting any pics. I'm still in the ribbing at the bottom. I've decided to elongate the ribbing because I like my shirts a little bit longer and it looks like it was a litte short for my taste in the picture. I'm excited, I love knitting with the KnitPicks Shine, it is so soft and has a nice sheen to it. I want to start on my Florida Bag too soon, or else I fear I won't have it done this summer. Not to mention my knitted item for my Secret Pal....GAH!

Oh, and my last bit of news....tomorrow is my first day of school. I have my outfit all picked out, my lunch made...I am ready to go. SO excited! I must go and make sure I get a good night's sleep.

A little catching up...

So it's official....I'M IN! I start class next Wednesday. I'm very excited! I have to go back on Friday to get my student ID and parking pass, though. I registered today and apparently the information doesn't transmit over the system right away so the person helping me couldn't see my status with the school in his computer. Technology...so great and yet so useless.

In other news, even though it is Wednesday, I must write about our weekend. It was great. We were up in Canada for my old roommate's wedding. Jay is such a great guy, and he and his now wife Kelly were together through most of school and they are such a great couple. The wedding was in Collingwood, Ontario, which is on the Georgian Bay and is about 5 hours from our house. It was so nice up there. They had a very warm but nice day for the wedding. It was so nice to see the other roommates too, they were in his wedding party. Then Sunday was of course Father's Day and it was my sister's birthday earlier in the week, so we had a nice celebration on Sunday for both of them. I miss my family a lot. And then back to reality on Monday, but it was a good weekend.

So somehow yet again, the week has just flown by. Thankfully I got a lot of knitting done over the weekend. My felted purse that I started on Thursday at Knit Knite is almost all done, I juts have to finish the handles. That was accomplished on the drive to and from Canada. But that is all of the progress I have made, which is like NOTHING! I have so many projects I want to work on and I just never seem to get around to it.

My flower garden is coming along well...I say well, but that is well for me, which means that the plants are not dying and they are actually growing a bit so that is definitely good news.

Oh, and of course the biggest news of all. The Super Walmart in Albion has now been open for a week. John and I went to check it out on Sunday night...there is so much stuff there, it is unbelievable. I have to admit, it is convenient to have a store like that so close by. I used to have to go to Brockport, which is 2o minutes away, to find a store with any sort of selection.

Okay, off to finish the purse so I can felt it and dry it before Saturday!