Hat & Socks

Back when we had the new windows put in the living room the guy who did it for us did it as a favor. So I decided to give him a couple of things that he'll be able to use this fall. He wears watchcaps all the time in the cold weather, so I knit him one of my favorite hat patterns, Marsan Watchcap. I always add 10 rows to the length after the cuff. The yarn is Patons Decor in chocolate taupe. Ravelry details here.

I also made him a pair of socks, just a plain old 2x2 ribbed sock, 68sts on 2.25mm needles. The yarn is Selection Sokken-Effekt Strickgarn. Ravelry details here.

Soon off to take the kids to the movies tonight. I haven't been to a movie in a long time, the last one may have been Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, can't remember for sure. That was at our local theatre. The last movie watched in a theatre at all might have been Transformers 2, but we saw that at an Empire Theatre. Tonight we're going to see Transformers 3.

Happy knitting!

Keji and the Beach Bash

I'm running a weekend behind, lol. On the 16th we went to Kejimkujik National Park (Keji for short). It was Parks Canada Day, so the entry fee was waived. We haven't been there, I don't think, since the Littlest One was a baby. We were later getting there than we planned, it rained up til about noon. We got lots of walking in, but there was another trail or two that I would have liked to walk had time allowed. (And everyone but me started complaining about tired feet, sore backs, etc.)

We didn't see any wildlife in Keji that day at all besides birds. On the way home we took a back road past the last campground we were seasonal at in 2009. We were almost back to the main road when we came around a corner to see two baby deer in the road. They quickly jumped into the woods beside a camp where Mama was waiting. I got her and one of the babies, but the other baby was up on the hill, and I couldn't get a picture of her.

Then the next day it was the annual Summerville Beach Bash. On the way there we saw another baby deer. Poor thing was scared to death, she kept running up and down the side of the road along the tree line. Cars had stopped in case she bolted into the road. I made a noise, and she stopped right by the car, so I took her picture. She stood there cross-legged for about six or seven seconds, then she took off up the tree line again. A lady had gotten out of her car to try and shoo the fawn back into the woods, which she finally did do, and hopefully Mama was on the same side of the road. We didn't see The Mama.

The Littlest One in the ice cream eating contest. He didn't really eat fast, I think it was just his way of scamming a free ice cream, lol.

The tallest boy in the middle won.

Him in the sack race. Anything for food! lol - I think he got potato chips out of this one. Either that or candy. The Oldest One did a couple of contests, too, but nothing that I could get in to take a decent picture.

There's always a sandsculpture contest. This one was neat. It won for the single person category.

This one entitled The Royal Watchers won for the group/family category. It was done by the Littlest One's teacher from last year.

This was the Oldest One's castle with volcano.

And this was the Littlest One's, but he got too sidetracked with competitions and swimming with a friend he had met up with.

The other night at Knit Nite I commented that I found the screen in one of our new living room windows popped out in one corner. It wasn't tore, just popped out. I wasn't sure if it was the dogs or a friend of ours who was over the previous weekend. (He had gone outside for a smoke and was looking the front window, thought maybe he pressed up against it too hard and probably didn't realize it happened.) Anyhoo, I come home that night, and lo and behold I find claw marks in my new window screens. I was NOT a happy camper! So now I have to get a rescreening kit, cut a new screen, and fix my window. So for now I put a pedestal fan in front of this window, along with my vacuum (they hate the vacuum!). The other side has a chair in front of it, so when I'm gone I just move the chair back closer to the window. The dogs are so damned nosy, anyone going up or down the road they have to bark at, especially if they have a dog, or if they see one of the neighborhood cats. I'm sure it was Jewel, Maggie jumps right up into the middle of the window where the three solid glass panes are, and Jewel always jumps up with her front feet on the sill. I'm sure it was her big feet that got flopping around and tore my screen!

Otherwise, Happy Knitting!

Privateer Days

So the long weekend was Privateer Days weekend in our town. The Oldest One got to play his first gig with the band. I asked him if he faked any of it, lol - he said just the first song cuz he really didn't know it. But he played all the rest of them. He played in a concert this Tuesday past as well and has another one coming up next Tuesday.

He also got his new bike for grading from Grampy W (he has bought the boys all of their bikes, and he did the same for my nephew). The Littlest One didn't need a new bike, so he got cash instead.

There were some rides in town for the festival.

I could never handle this one. I don't even know if I ever even went on this when I was a kid. I've never had much of a stomach for rides, I get motion sick easily, and I don't like heights.

This one started off okay for the Littlest One...

... but this time he was on with a friend instead of big brother. After it went around a couple of times his head flopped over, a sure sign he started to not feel so good.

After a break of about an hour he got his second wind, and none of the rides bothered him after that. (Luckily he didn't get sick, he just felt wishy washy.) The Oldest One loves this ride.

Last year the Littlest One tried it but didn't like it. This year was different, he liked it a lot and went on it several times.

Then there was a reptile show, I had free passes. (The perks of working for the co-chair of the festival committee!) The Littlest One is on the far end, the Oldest One at the near end, and my nephew in the middle with the orange t-shirt.

He got picked to go up and help with the snake. He thought she was going to bite him, but the guy doing the show promised she wouldn't, lol. There were lots of other critters there, but they only took a few of them out see.

Happy knitting!

Canada Day 2011

My apologies for the big gaps in this post. I've edited it fifteen times, and it just won't stop doing this. Damned Blogger.

I'll start my post by showing a FO, I finished up some socks so I'd make the SAM12 KAL (which I've been in from the start and never missed a month! That's been a pair at least a month for going on 6 years!) These are Winterscape Socks knit with Yarn Pirate in the storm colorway. I won this years ago from The YoYo's blog. Ravelry details here.

We spent Canada Day in the city. There was a big free concert at Alderney Landing in Darmouth. We took the ferry from Halifax across the harbour (which just so happens to land right at Alderney Landing!) We passed this place along the Halifax Waterfront on the way, but we didn't stop in. I just had to take a picture, lol.

Theodore was coming in to dock when we got there. (Theodore - he's a tugboat and a friendly tugboat, too - a friendly tugboat, too -- Oh, Theodore, and Emily... Foduck, Hank, and George, and the Harbour Master, too...)

This band was playing when we arrived at suppertime. They were Andrew Hunter and the Gatherers. They just happened to be driving to town after this to perform on the Mainstage at Privateer Days from 12:30am-2am. They were pretty good.

Our main reason for going to this concert was cuz the headliners were The Trews, who we absolutely love. We've seen them twice before this in concert, they're excellent, and we wanted to take the boys. At one point I recognized this Ramones shirt in front of me cuz I saw him wear it before -- this is the drummer from The Trews, Sean Dalton, standing directly in front of me! I could've grabbed me some Trews butt, but I didn't want security to lug me off and miss their show, lol.

The band before The Trews was pretty good, too. They were called Hey Ocean! and hailed from Vancouver.

People starting flowing in big time before The Trews took the stage. Once they came on stage it was crowded. I think they figured there were over 10,000 people there.

The hostess of the show was Candy Palmater from The Candy Show on APTN.

And then it was who we were waiting for -- The Trews! They are from Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

The drummer changed his shirt, lol.

At some point we must have been on CTV, he was only 20-25' away from us and pointed right at us at one point.

Then right after The Trews finished up it was fireworks time. There was another band playing after the fireworks, but we left cuz we had to take the ferry back across the harbour and get to the car, then to the motel. There was a HUGE lineup for the ferry, and it was hotter than old hell in there.
So it was a long day, but it was fun. We headed home the next day and did some Privateer Days stuff, more about that in the next post.

Happy knitting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ