Gnocchi

Gnocchi is a new yarn from Lana Grossa. It looks like a whole lot of Gnocchis strung together. The pompoms are like chenille. I started to make myself a scarf out of the black luxe last Friday night. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself. Then I started another one out of one of multi colours. The black one is 8 stitches, the multi is 6. Here's what they look like.

I'm putting fringe on the black one but think I'll leave the multi as is. I bought a new winter coat last week (to those who know me well, yes I am a coat slut. I love coats.) It is a deep amethyst colour with a black over collar so the colours in this will go very nicely with it.

I've been working on a cardigan for myself using Cascade 220 Heather colour 9336. It's an asymmetrical cardigan, fairly short, with a deep ribbing. I really like the pattern. I think I'll do another one out of our Organic Cloud Cotton.

I've almost finished the baby sweater for Dan's secretary. It's so cute. I made both hat sizes also. I finished the larger one and thought it was too large so I made the smaller one also. It looks more baby head sized. Anyway, I'll give her both. I'm sure the baby will grow into the larger one.

I'm only going for physio once a week now. My range of motion is good as is my gait. I still have some pain on the inside of the joint. I guess it's something I'll just have to live with. I'm wearing shoes today that have elastic across the instep. I can really feel pressure on the right one to the point that it is uncomfortable. Which is a total drag. Two of my favorite pair of shoes have elastic across the instep. Oh well, I'll just have to buy a new pair of shoes (and yes, I am a shoe slut also. My friends at Bell used to call me Imelda).

I still haven't been to check out the new McNally Robinson store here in Toronto. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I did order a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking from them to be sent to my sister for her 50th birthday. I was very impressed with the service. I received a personal email from their customer service thanking me for my order.

I can't believe my little sister is turning 50 this weekend. 50 isn't so bad, it's kind of liberating. Her husband and daughter are planning a surprise party for her. Don't think she'll be impressed but you never know.

Well, I'd better go. Have a great weekend and Happy Knitting!

Susan

It Bloomed!!!

The night blooming cereus bloomed on Saturday night. We took Christine, Steve and Derek up to the golf club for dinner and got home a little after 9:00. We went into their house and sure enough the two blooms were starting to open. This is what they looked like at 9:15. That's Derek standing behind them. It took just over an hour for them to come into full bloom. The outside is covered with thin pink tendrils. As they opened, you could actually see the tendrils move. Here they are partially open.

And here they are fully opened.The flower only blooms one night. Christine said she was up around 1:30 and it still looked the same but in the morning, this is what it looked like.

The fragrance it emits filled the entire house. It was pretty amazing to watch. I wonder when or if it will bloom again. I'm going to prune mine back on the weekend and maybe start a few cuttings.

The plant growing in our courtyard is a grain of some sort. It's getting bigger and frothier.

I decided to make a baby outfit our of our Cloud Cotton last weekend. I'm almost finished the second sleeve. I'm making the wrap sweater that Lynn Cullen designed for us last year. Last weekend was the fourth anniversary of my brother's death. I don't know why but I just felt like making something for a new life coming into the world. I'm going to give this to Dan's receptionist Lindsay. She's have a little boy in January.

Speaking of Dan, I only saw him once this week. I'm back again on Monday. He says structurally I'm fine, it's the sensitivity on the bone at the joint that he worries about. I have to keep doing my exercises and friction it with my fingers. That hurts so I probably don't use enough pressure. I'll keep walking on the weekend.

I'm debating about going to the KW Knitter's Fair tomorrow. I'll give my friend Susan a call tonight and see if she wants to go.

I'm off to get my hair cut after work. I had an appointment for next Friday but I can't wait that long. My hair is changing as I get older. Now when it gets a little longer, it starts to curl. For someone who has had poker straight hair all her life it's really hard to get used to. Oh well.

Have a good weekend and Happy Knitting!

Susan

It's not corn!

Well, the mystery plant growing in our courtyard is definitely not corn. I don't know if you can tell from the photo but it looks more like a grain of some sort. We'll see how it progresses over the weekend and I'll post another picture next week. The night blooming cereus next door still hasn't bloomed. We're thinking it will be one night over the weekend.

The warehouse has been hopping this week. We had 5 skids come from Lana Grossa and 3 skids from King Cole. We've also had several huge shipments go out. It's pretty crowded back there. This is a small portion of some of the Lana Grossa yarns on the back table in the warehouse. It was twice a high a few days ago.
When I first started working here I found the amount of yarn we have overwhelming. Now I hardly notice. But I do get excited when the new yarns start to arrive.


We had pizza lunch yesterday for the first time since March. Normally we have it once a month when we meet our targets. I'm pretty sure we've been meeting our targets so I don't know what's up with that.

It's Labour Day weekend. I don't have too much planned. We're going out for dinner tomorrow night and I think a friend and I might check out the Don Mills Centre. The weather is supposed to be fantastic so I'll be walking everyday. I'm going to try going a longer distance, maybe over to Birchmount and back. I'm back to walking my 3 km in my pre ankle break time, mostly without any discomfort. I sense my time with Dan is coming to an end.


I'm not sure what I'm going to knit this weekend. I might start a baby sweater out of our Cloud Cotton but I'm not sure. Not like I don't have enough already started.

Have a great weekend and Happy Knitting!
Susan