What's in your basket? And how did you load it?

If you can't beat the system, try a different way. Seriously? This darn bone density pill and I have a love/hate relationship. To remember to take the darn thing, I left my pillbox on the counter yesterday to remind me all day that I needed to take it this morning. Then I put the pillbox on my phone so I would remember first thing this morning. 

Then I had a bad night, couldn't get to sleep, and woke up several times. As a result, I slept in. Now you think that I would take the pill in the middle of the night, but you are not allowed to lie down for 30 minutes after taking it. 

I got up at the time that I would typically make breakfast, so I just threw in the towel. I took the pill, and I'm waiting 30 minutes before I eat. But seriously? This pill is the bane of my existence, and if it ruined my sleep, then I certainly need to do something about it. 

I need to make an appointment for a physical, and I am demanding that they wipe that prescription from my file. I hate the restrictions associated with it, and my brain is rebelling, and I don't need or want that! Another medication does the same thing without the time restrictions. 

I don't care that I am going to throw some of it away to get the one I can take without any restrictions. At this point, the medication isn't doing me any good. 

Phew -- I got that off my chest!

OK -- if you are in my Show and Tell, Forty Shades of Grey, or My Kinda Town class, you should have received an email yesterday from me. If you did not, and I just realized I forgot to do an email search, so I may have missed an email or two, then let me know, and I'll add you to the list. I'm preparing the information email that goes out to the groups, and I hope to get those out soon. 

It took me two hours or perhaps a wee bit more, and I accomplished all the errands that needed to be done by car. Well, almost. I went to return a light from the lighting store and to check on ordering a lighted house sign that they were supposed to get back to me about. I walked up to the counter with my bill and the light, only to see the Return Policy staring at me, which I had not noticed before. Or maybe I did, but it didn't register. TEN days, and it was now 24 days since I purchased the lights. 

I need authorization to return a light, so I sent an email and got a response that YES, I could return the light, so I have to go back on Monday to make that happen. The gentleman thanked me for my order—yes, you should! It wasn't cheap. 

The other light from a different store was returned, no questions asked. But it's a big box store, so that was OK. 

I stopped at Chapters to see if anything new was in. Oh my, the magazine section for knitting and crafts used to be crowded, but it's not so crowded any longer. 

The magazines left in the craft section

I am surprised that the Golden Media titles are still hanging in there. And I notice that the bookstore staff pepper the shelves with books - like the Sashiko book! And I found this on that shelf. Totally unrelated. 

A puzzle book on the craft magazine shelf

I swear, my brain loves puzzles. I decided I needed this book. OK -- so their strategy worked! It's filled with 50 logic puzzles that I LOVE doing. I've been doing those kinds of puzzles since I was a teenager, and well, if I wasn't a quilter, I'd probably have been doing puzzles for years. 

Logic puzzles

One other thing I spotted on the craft shelves was this GIANT book. I've seen and posted about them before, so it's not new, but this one was HUGE. This is a PAPER book - it's literally filled with stickers, mini books, papers, cardstock, etc so you can make journals or whatever else you want to make. 

A paper book

But look at the price!!!!

Ouch!!

I suppose if you want a variety of stuff, it would cost you the same amount if you purchased all those things individually at the craft store. So maybe it's like our quilting kits—pay one price and get it all!

Then I went to the pet store to get dog food for the girls. They do not eat the same food. I winged my way to the back of the store and spotted an employee from the dog food company as she scouted the shelves. I found the two bags of food and whipped them onto the cart. I always turn them upside down on the edge of the cart so the cashier can easily scan the code on the back. 

Then I decided to mention that to the lady from the company. So the heavy bags are placed face up on the shelf. No big deal -- that's where the pretty pictures are. But as I take them off the shelf, I have to turn them over and place them wrong side up in the cart so the pricing label shows. Then, when I go to the cash register, it's an easy job for them to scan it. 

Why can't that scan code be placed on the FRONT of the bag? Then I only have to take the bag off the shelf and put it on the cart. I don't have to rotate the bag. I can manage it, but what if I'm not as strong as I am? More on that in a minute! 

She thanked me, and I headed out. And never drop a heavy bag of dog food INTO the cart—how the heck will you get it out? I balance the two of them on the top! 

When I do my car errands, I have a route. It's about three blocks long, and it's where I buy the big stuff, like dog food, etc. There is a thrift store along that route, and Fabricland and Chapters, etc. So I start at one end and work my way to the other. I hate driving a short distance and then reparking the car, but it's practical that way. 

When I popped into Fabricland to find the bias tape, I spotted a completely empty spool rack. Hmmm --- is that thread on its way out? 

An empty spool rack

From the corner of my eye, I spotted this fabric. It's a stretch velvet with sequins on it that shone as if it belonged to Dolly Parton on a stage with thousands of lights. It was brilliant. The picture doesn't do it justice. 

A bright sparkly fabric

It came in different colors. I have no use for it, but boy was it brilliant. 

I managed to find some bias tape, so I'll use that for my bag. 

The double-fold bias tape

And I found this Clover tool for making jelly roll rugs. I have seen a video of it, and it looks pretty cool. I still have batting strips, so I thought I would try it. 

Clover Fabric Tube Maker

I bought a pack of buttons and placed the three items on the counter. All of them were face up, with the scanning code on the back! The cashier even mentioned that she had to turn them over to scan them!!! I almost died! Well, she was right, but hey, these items were a lot lighter than a bag of dog food! 

Then I was onto Staples, where I dropped off our shredding. I have a drawer in the office where all the personal papers go, and when the drawer is full (it's not a big drawer), then I bundle it up and off it goes. It's usually once a year? Maybe twice this year because I tackled the drawers in the filing cabinet. Yes - I could have a shredder at home, but I found that any shredder we had in the past didn't last long, and it was boring to sit there and shred stuff and then you had to find a home for it. I paid $6 to drop off four pounds of paper. The only negative thing is that you have to shove it through this narrow slot. 

The narrow slot on the paper shredding container

But seriously? I'm getting very good at it and have no issues. So the paper is gone, and that was my last errand. With access to this kind of service, I would NEVER consider having a shredder in the house. 

Wait -- there was one more thing to get. When I returned the second light at the hardware store, I checked for the drill extensions, but I needed to go to the washroom, and I didn't want to make any "major" decisions as there were many options. So I walked to the hardware store near the house in the afternoon. And look what I found! A set of extended screwdriver heads with two extenders. This was exactly what I needed. 

My drill extenders

My drill is old - I didn't spot anything Black and Decker in either store, but the Dewalt ones work just fine. 

And then I got to work on my table. 

Soon, I had most of the leg assembly screwed to the table top. YES—there are cords involved because this table is electric! It is an adjustable height table, and because of the size I wanted and whatever, I couldn't get a crank version for that size. I tested the legs when it was like this, and they work!!! This way, I can sit and sew, or I can raise the table to do machine embroidery! I can't wait to try it out. I still have to tidy up the cords, but I'll do that later. 

The leg assembly is almost done.

Then the leg bases went on, and I waited for DH to get home. I was certain we wouldn't be able to right the table because it was so heavy; I could barely lift one end off the floor. 

The entire leg assembly!

But he used his engineering skills, and we flipped the table on its side and then righted it!!! With two people, it took very little effort. 

My new table

Oh my --- that is a sturdy table. It's supposed to support 450 lbs. I just need it to be stable when doing machine embroidery! I now have to move two machines so this table can slide into the back area of the worktable area. Then I can put one machine on it, and I've started to bring the components of the second table downstairs, and I hope to get it mostly done today. I need to do that while the assembly is still fresh in my mind!!!

But I think I'm going to love them. How will they ever get out of the basement if we move? That's another story!

I got a chucklet earlier in the day as I spotted a gold thread - a long one this time on my quilt top that I was going to work on during the virtual retreat. There's always a gold thread somewhere.

A long gold thread

That new table surface came in very handy last night as I spread my Tequila Lime quilt out so I could remove the paper from the back. It turns out that I was working on the four corners and the four middle sections. At one point, I thought I was done, so I took the quilt into the backyard to shake all the wee bits off. 

Removing paper from Tequila Lime

No - I had done 6 of the 8 sections. But that was good progress, and I was working on the final one last night when we shut the retreat down. I will continue to work on it today, and hopefully I can get the center star points (8) done today. 

There's my little garbage bin of paper. This was near the beginning of the process. 

My bin of paper

And this is what it looked like when I shut down last night! I'll have a mess to clean up when I'm done. So better to get all the paper out in one go and clean up once. 

What a mess to remove paper from a foundation pieced project

And my new turtle is done. I just need to remove the old one from the rest of the block and replace it with the new one. That should be an easy job today. You can actually see the turtle's head now. 

The old turtle and the new

I grabbed this picture from one of the Facebook puzzling groups. This is a small portion of this person's puzzle collection. Mine pales in comparison. 

A small part of someone's puzzle collection

I guess I feel about puzzles the same way I feel about novels. Once you read them, there are so many to read/do; why would you want to reread the book? Or redo the puzzle? Unless it had a very special meaning. Nope -- get the puzzle done, read the book, and GONE!!!!

OK - I waited an hour and just made breakfast. That will work! I'll just change my schedule on Sunday morning and use up those ridiculous pills! 

I noticed people were asking questions about my upcoming Facebook Live on the PFAFF creative icon 3. That was on the Embroidery M.O.M Facebook group, and she reposted my event. Oh my --- no pressure to do a good job! But it's going to be fun, and let's just go with it! 

And yes—we have a Virtual Retreat today, from 3 PM to 9 PM. Here's the link. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89869001291?pwd=h57kT9axwTnd2xtJvuO0z2UOmUo45w.1

Meeting ID: 898 6900 1291
Passcode: 136711

And it's going to be another great day!!! 

Ciao!!!!

Just an ordinary day! LOL!!!

AHA -- the wasitabands without elastic are yoga waistbands. I should have guessed that, but it's what everyone is wearing to the gym and outside the gym! And yes—buying shorts in the men's department, and even better if they come from the thrift store, probably works as well!!! Thankfully, we have so many choices, we are bound to find something that works for us. 

We have all had those days where we intend to do one thing and something totally different happens. It's kind of like my August - I was supposed to be relaxing the entire month, and well, that wasn't the case. But you know what? That's just how I roll. I'm not a relaxing kind of person. WAIT -- don't get me wrong - I can be a slug in a heartbeat, but I need to be doing something - just not perhaps at every moment. 

If I were to completely retire - would I survive? I'm not sure. I have loads to do, but if I were the one to dictate the schedules 100% - would I be happy? Thankfully, I have friends who take charge of my schedule from time to time to keep me on track. And work does as well. I would be bored out of my mind otherwise, even with all the things I have to do. 

I had some stuff to do in the morning, and then I was ready to go downstairs to start cleaning up the cutting table and get that sewing machine out of the box. DH arrives in the kitchen and asks if I could pick up lunch when I went to the recycling depot. WAIT -- I wasn't exactly planning on going to the recycling depot that moment. I had contemplated doing it today. Then I remembered he was going to be playing golf, and thus I wouldn't have a car. Shoot! 

So I quickly packed the car with easy stuff. I grabbed all the ballast that had been sitting at the curb waiting for the scrap guy to come around, and he never did. So I grabbed some of the crappy outdoor lights and loaded them in the car. I didn't have time to sort things, so I grabbed the big things that didn't need sorting. 

Then I finished packing up the last boxes for my SIL and loaded them in the car since the UPS store is not far from the recycling depot. The UPS store owner knows me from all the quilts I sent to the US, so I get very good service from him. He didn't like the way one box was packed, so we opened it up and added more packing. 

My load of stuff for UPS and the recycling depot

You have to admit there is some satisfaction in tossing this stuff into the bin. Heave ho! 

The white ballasts are now in the bin.

But they will take all the wiring because someone along the way strips the wire to get the copper on the inside. My kind of people. So now I'm going to sort out another load and will take it another day. I don't have time until I'm back from my whirlwind trip. 

I have to say that it is so refreshing to have clutter-free zones in the house. At the end of the day, it takes mere seconds to get things back where they belong. We have a couple of rooms that fit that bill, and there are others in various stages of tidiness. It all works, but the more I clean and tidy, the more I want it clean and tidy. DH hasn't quite subscribed to that agenda. He wants neat, but doesn't know what that means! 

After lunch, I remembered I had purchased a new bra from the lingerie store but never picked it up, and I found out the store was closing. Apparently, they had been trying to contact me at my home number. So I was off on another errand, and at the same time, I was going to stop at the garden shop to get that weeding tool. 

At the lingerie shop, I bought a couple of other bras since they were on sale and I'm stocked up for a long time. I just don't want to add or subtract too many pounds, or they won't fit properly! That's OK - my weight is pretty steady. 

The garden store was a delight to visit, and I hadn't been there in years. Oh my --- look what they sell!

You can buy puzzles at the gardening store.

Yep -- that's a rack of puzzles. The darn things are everywhere! I did not buy a puzzle. 

They also have small needlework kits. I guess this is for the backyard. I mean to do while lounging in the backyard! No kits followed me home. 

Cross stitch and punch needle kits at the garden store.

They had some lovely furniture, and I looked to see if I could find a replacement for my zero-gravity chair, but I didn't find anything I liked. I've thought of this egg chair, but it's so big and, well, I'm not sure I would like it as it would fill the gazebo. So it stayed in the store. 

An egg chair at the garden shop

But yes—did you glimpse that orange bench? 

A beautiful orange bench

It's beautiful, but where would I put that? Actually, I have a spot for that bench. Hmmmmmm

And they also had this orange Adirondack-style chair. It was very comfy, and I contemplated that, but I prefer something I can stretch out in. So no furniture came home with me. 

The orange Adirondack chair

However, something else caught my eye while I was looking at the furniture. Look how beautiful this lawn ornament is! I added it to the collection along the back of the fence. 

My new sunflower garden ornament

And this metal flower as well. 

And a new metal flower for the backyard

They add a bit of color to the backyard. WAIT—did I get the weeding tool? Of course I did. 

The weeding tool and new garden gloves

I also picked up a new pair of garden gloves, so I'm all set to do my gardening clean-up this morning. That weeding tool works amazingly to clean between the boards on the deck. That was one of the reasons I bought it. It wasn't expensive, and I should have bought two, but they only had one. Now to see if it removes those errant weeds along the edges of the gardens and rocks. 

At last I made it downstairs! And I cleaned up several more bags of triangles. Thankfully, a few more held triangles that were no longer on my radar screen. So they got tossed into the scrap bucket. 

Triangles that are too small

I even found a couple that had been sewn together, and those got tossed as well. We all know that with anything, you must set boundaries or guidelines - what do you want to keep, what will you use, etc., and then you need to stick to that. Don't second-guess yourself because someone else does things differently. Make your rules and then stick to them!

Some of the now too-small triangles were sewn.

While I have made inroads into clearing those bags - I'm aiming for at least 4 a day, there are a lot of bags, and this could present a tripping hazard, so while I'm trying to clean the floor (vacuuming), I picked up the bags and put them in a bigger bag to clear the floor. Safety first!!!!

Still a lot of bags of triangles

I got the grass section cut to replace the one I made in the rooster block for Down on the Farm. I was hoping to get that sewn, but that didn't happen. It's on the agenda for today. 

The new grass section for the rooster block

The pile of scrap was exploding out of the box, and the two pet mats got filled and serged shut. 

The pile of scraps

The serger is now on the floor, and the new PFAFF creative icon 3 is sitting on the table with its embroidery unit. I can't wait to sit and play with it today. It's an amazing sewing/embroidery machine with so many cool features. I'll be doing a Facebook Live on it on September 9th, so be sure to mark that in your calendar so you can watch. 

Although I have an appointment with the physio today, I hope to get some serious sample making done. 

I still have so much to clean up - the shed, the garage, and the office; however, I don't have time at this moment. I hope to take two more loads of crap to the recycling depot before winter, and that will make me happy. I have boxes of books to schedule a pick-up and just so many other things. The hardest part of the clean-up is finding places to take things, and now I have enough places to take things that I can focus on clearing it all out, and then I'll have space to deal with what is left. 

While I keep saying I think we have everything dug out from the deep corners of the house, I keep finding other things. However, I think this is it - I honestly think we have hit all the areas at least once. But I notice that it's time to start at the top and go through the closets again, and this time, I need to be even more ruthless than last time. When the drawers don't close properly, it means you have too many clothes. 

While I was placing the new lawn ornaments in the backyard, look who plunked herself down and looked like an ornament. She looks so beautiful in that picture. 

MOM - can I be a lawn ornament? 

She is no longer on the pain/anti-inflammatory meds and seems to be doing just fine. She is still freaked out about staying in the house when we go to bed. If we try to force her to stay in the house, she goes mad and wants to sleep on the leather media chairs, which I don't really want her sleeping on. She's allowed to sleep on the loveseat in the living room, which is bigger and softer. But NO - she wants to sleep in that chair. 

MOM - I need a bigger chair

And last night, I got up at 2:30? and noticed her in Lexi's raised bed. Of course, I disturbed her and then shut the door, and she wasn't happy. The next thing I knew, she made it up the stairs by herself (GASP) and then slept in the bedroom for the remainder of the night. I should pay attention to that saying - let sleeping dogs lie! 

For my downtime last night, after I pulled the machine out of the box, I dug out the next puzzle. OK—I have a stack on the table of what is next, so I just pulled the top one off the pile. This one is doors and should be somewhat easy since it has big patches of bright colors, but there's lots of grey, brown, and black filler on the tops and bottoms of the doors, so I'm sure it won't be super easy. Can I finish it by Monday night? 

The next puzzle

I got this in a recent email. In case you are wondering what I will do with all my HSTs—there are LOADS of blocks you can make with them. Yes - mine are small, but does that matter? Absolutely NOT! And if you add sashing (or not), you can get some cool patterns. I have books just for HSTs, so it won't be difficult to find a pattern. The issue will be the color and value!! And deciding on one! Or two or three! 

As you can probably see, that came from the Quilting Daily people. 

As you know, we get all kinds of crazy things in our feeds, and this one came from "thought.minds" on Instagram. Oh my goodness -- they have so many of these mindsets, or philosophies, or whatever you want to call them, and they are wonderfully illustrated. But this one? This was how my day went yesterday!

Of the 15 included in this set, I think I concurred or followed all of them. Most of them were awesome life lessons; however, there is one I would like to change. I feel like I spend a bit of time on each line, but too much on the longer lines on the left and not enough on the lines on the right. What are they? 

From the left: to criticize, to gossip, to get involved, to encourage, and to help. 

Well, there you have it - another crazy day in my supposedly simple life. How does this happen? It's just me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

But now I must focus and get some major accomplishments under my belt today! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Persistence pays off

While I got things done, it was a frustrating day! Why? My computer just seemed to have an upset tummy! I couldn't open apps (trust me—they call them apps on the computer now instead of programs—it drives me mad) on my computer. I rebooted MULTIPLE times. I even shut the computer off and let it sit by itself to contemplate life as a dead object, and even then, I struggled. I'm not sure what that was all about. 

I did not get the blue screen of death - I got WHITE. 

Not a good sign when you need your computer!

And then during other attempts, I got the circle. 

Nor is this!

When I finally got back in, I was asked if I really wanted to open the file I had been working on, because it had caused a fatal error last time. Good grief --- what the heck is happening? 

I got scared enough to crack open this. 

A BRAND new hard disk

This is a new hard disk I bought a while back. I'm going to use it to replace the one I use every day. I suspect that one is on its last legs, and I had better listen to the computer because if that one goes, I'm in big trouble. I'll start transferring the data this afternoon. 

I also had a lot of trouble transferring files from one spot to another - it took hours instead of seconds, which isn't normal. I was NOT touching the older hard disk - I was transferring from my phone to OneDrive. So something was up with the computer, and I don't know what. But the first step is to replace that hard drive. They do NOT last, and that one has been around long enough. 

I'm still moving data around, and that is going to take eons. But I'm going away in a couple of weeks, and I might take the hard disks with me and spend an hour a day messing around, as I'll have time. But before I go -- that data needs to be transferred. 

I also need to get cracking on emptying OneDrive. It's not full, but it's getting full, and it's mostly stuff that I no longer need. So I must deal with it. 

OH - I found a folder filled with every screenshot I've ever taken, and I take a lot of screenshots. I usually save them in the appropriate folder, but they also get saved on the computer. Why? Why is there so much duplication? I don't get that, and perhaps there is a setting I can change so it doesn't save every screenshot I take. 

I managed to get some sewing done, and eventually some computer work, but not nearly as much as I would have liked - AGAIN! Now I'm running out of time and need to start prioritizing between the three tasks! 

I'm almost ready for one of the presentations, but I still need to work on the other, so that one will be my priority today. I have to at least have SOMETHING to show the class. 

I was lamenting to DH as I drove him to the train that I had forgotten to buy bananas when I walked to the grocery store the day before. I hate when that happens. It's not that I had forgotten - I just hadn't noticed that there were no more bananas. He reminded me that I pass close to the store on my way home. Go to the grocery store in the car? How dare he suggest that!! 

However, I stopped and got bananas. Can you believe that it's been well over 6 years since I took the car to the grocery store? OK - I think I've been to the grocery store in the car once in the last year. What a complete hassle! I know - I actually have to park the car and go in. When I walk- no thought required - just walk into the store. And I don't mind going every day or every second day because it's something to do, and it only takes 30 minutes to get there and back on foot if I take the shortcut through the forest. 

My bananas for breakfast

The bananas had just been set out, and all of them were green. Then I remembered to check the single-banana section, and there were three, one of which was ripe enough to eat. All was good in my world. I hadn't seen the computer issue yet. 

But while I was waiting for the files to transfer, I went to the mail box just in case. And OH MY GOSH --- there it is!!!!! Interestingly, neither the Global Tracking System nor Canada Post identifies the package as arrived!!! What is interesting is that this looks like a brand new package - not the original that was supposedly sent the first time. It was postmarked in France, and the sender's name is the person I dealt with on Etsy - Canada. Hmmmmmm. No mention of the name of the company. 

My package has arrived!!!!!

And there are my labels!!!! I'm so excited, but I don't have time to start using them yet. There are supposed to be 400 labels - I'm not about to count them, but let's say there are lots. What a relief to get those - I ordered them at the end of December, and finally they are here. 

My labels!!!!

Now that the labels have arrived and my Outlook issues seem resolved, perhaps I can go back to the house issues and see if I can resolve them. Dealing with too many issues at once is not something I do any longer. Give me two issues maximum at a time, and lots of persistence and patience, and I can resolve anything. 

And then I ended the evening with more reading—a daily 30-minute nap is highly recommended—I mentioned that yesterday—but PLAY is also good for your brain, including SHOCK—playing video games like Tetris and Candy Crush. The issue with those is that they are addictive, and you have to find a way to stop after a certain amount of time. |I will NOT play video games. My past addictive behavior with computer games is not something I want to get into. 

Then I spent about an hour with the puzzle last night. I look forward to this relaxed time with my brain - no books, no music, just chilling! 

Progress on the puzzle

I didn't quite find a home for all the pieces I had set out the night before, but I did find one of the two missing border pieces! I still don't understand why they don't just jump out! I'm loving spending an hour each evening working on the jigsaw puzzle. It's a nice diversion, and I'm so anal about the pieces. Yep -- I moved some of them, so I'm now down to three design boards, including the one that holds my current working pieces. I could consolidate them onto two boards, I'm sure. But the repetition of moving them? That's very good for your brain!! The tactile thing and keeping them organized—I love it!!!

There are lots of funky things I still need to assemble, and I'm still finding pieces with bits of yellow, red, blue, green, and purple, though I think I have them all now. I'm down to metal and woodgrain! 

I have several videos as part of my prep for the weekend classes, and I have them all set to go for when I'm back from the gym. It's going to be a busy day, and I had better get myself organized!! The extra 20 minutes I spend at the gym after my spin class has been incredible. I'm working on my stretching and working on my abs. WOW -- I will never have a six-pack, but my core is getting much stronger. And guess what that means? My stability and balance are getting better!! I used to struggle with the ab workout, but it's getting so easy. I must up my game!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!

Read the instructions

I was excited to get up and continue knitting my cowl. However, as I was knitting, it just seemed wrong. I know that I hadn't planned to make it and was just using up some knitting worsted that my aunt had hanging around, and when I started, it seemed like such a good idea. But that niggling feeling wouldn't go away. And my aunt kept saying she thought the needles were the wrong size. 

So I went back to read the instructions only because we were going to the NEW yarn shop on Salt Spring Island, and I needed to know how much yarn to buy. Yep - I wanted to make a fancy cowl with fancy yarn. 

Oh dear—I totally misread the instructions because it said to use TWO strands of knitted worsted, not one. Sigh....... That was the first mistake. Then I really looked at the instructions, and OH DEAR — the needle size is 11 or 8 mm. Well, I'm using an 8, which is way too small. Thank goodness it was super easy to pull out the stitches. 

The miread instructions

We decided to go to the yarn shop and see what we could find. The shop is called Salt String Yarn, which is a super clever name! The yarn shop was our last stop on the window shopping trip. 

Before we went to the yarn shop, we visited a couple of other places. I spotted these adorable little sweaters in Moat's Clothing store. 

Adorable sweaters

OH MY GOSH _-- that makes you want to adopt small babies into your family. The sweaters were adorable and came in many sizes, with that little one in front being super tiny!! Now, the sweater wasn't cheap - I think it was over $100, and how long would a little one be able to wear that? But it was sure cute, and we're going to talk about prices in a second. 

There were many beautiful clothes and sweaters, which seemed to be a huge thing this year!!! Of course, I had my camera out and took some pictures! 

While in the main store on the island, I spotted some small pie plates. They were cute, and I was tempted to purchase the tin ones, but I did not. I guess I should have looked in my local stores for small pie plates before purchasing the candle one, but I like the lip or the edge of the one I bought, so I must just keep burning the candle to free the dish. Or I could buy a cheap tin pie plate and transfer the candle, but I first need to find out if I have that Pie Bench pillow pattern. 

Small pie plates

Then we were off to the yarn shop, which we saved for last. That's how it should be - save the best for last. I spotted this on the wall, and that's all I'm going to say about that! 

LOL - we could say the same for fabric! 

Oh my gosh -- the yarns are beautiful. Now I do not need more yarn as I have two tubs of fancy yarn at home. And I have the "professional: needles to go with the yarn. All of that was acquired at Ruti's Needlebed (now retired), the store near me back home. But I'm here, and I didn't have any hand work, so I bought a few skeins of yarn and a few small accessories that were so cute - I couldn't leave them in the store. 

Let's just say that it might have been cheaper to buy that child's sweater for $100 than buy the yarn and accessories to make it! But we are makers, and we need to make stuff!! 

When we got back to the house, I dug out the rest of my aunt's needles, and I did some experimenting. It just wouldn't do to make a swatch. I know - I know --- make a sample block in quilting, make a swatch in knitting. But this is a cowl, so it's not super important if the size is a bit off, but it needed to be larger than what I made the day before. 

I didn't take a picture of the label of this yarn, but it's a Merino wool, and it's as soft as a cloud. It's beautiful. And this is how much I got done last night after dinner. OH -- I found the yarn on the website. 

My new cowl!

I'm on the decrease side now, and I should have no problem finishing that part off while I'm here. But I started knitting with the recommended needle size, and I didn't like the feel. Who am I to say I can determine gauge by the feel or density of the knit? It didn't feel right! So I went down from 8 MM to 6.5 because that's all I had available, and 6.5 is perfect. 

I will need a circular needle to pick up stitches around the neck hole, but I have those at home, so I'll have to wait to do any more. Shoot -- what was I thinking about not bringing any hand work? Oh well, I'll be on the move later today, and I may not have time for handwork, as I'll be back visiting Bear, and he's a handful!! Let's just say that it was nice to have a bit of room in the suitcase to bring home a few skeins of yarn. I am off to a quilt retreat next week, but I might just have to take my knitting instead!!! Oh boy --- 

They had some felting kits, and I thought of some of my friends back home who are learning to needle felt by hand. Some small embroidery kits and lots of yarn. They have classes, and it looks like it'll be a great place to hang out. I hope it succeeds. I loved it when there was a quilting store on the island, but it's long gone. 

But something strange happened at the yarn shop. When I got to the counter to pay, I spotted this flyer. Hmmm -- that name seems familiar. 

A knitting show

Of course, we had to ask for more information, and the owner said, This guy had won an Oscar. WAIT A MINUTE -- we know who this guy is because we've been to his house!!! If you remember, back in July of 2015, my aunt and I went to his house to explore his 200+ quilt collection. He won an Oscar for set decoration in the movie Lincoln. You can read all about our visit to his home in this blog post. 

I didn't remember that he was also a knitter, but apparently, I knew he was a knitter, since I mentioned it in that blog post. 

So Jim still lives on Salt Spring Island and is having a show in one of the art galleries next month. CRAP!!!! I would love to see the show, but I'm not coming back, so I will have to send my aunt on a mission to take some pictures. Now, if I were a wee bit closer to getting the next status level on the airline, I might just wangle that trip, but one more trip to Vancouver wouldn't do anything to advance my status level for the year. I should tell you the story about that another day! 

He will also be teaching a class on some advanced knitting techniques sometime next year. Hmmmm -- -it's only a five-hour flight away!!!! Let's see when it is. I'm now following the yarn shop on IG (Salt String Yarn), and let's hope that I can work something out. Anyone want to join me? It could be fun, and if we were enough, we could coerce Jim into teaching just for us! He really is a talented person. 

Wow -- that was enough excitement for one day, but we also went to a local restaurant for dinner, right beside the ferry dock in Fulford Harbour. Living on Salt Spring is such a different life. There are no Tim's around, there are NO chain stores of any kind. It is not allowed. And I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone like me to come here to live. I'm an outsider, and it would take a lot to break into the island life. 

And the place is a zoo in the summer, but so quiet at this time of year. We did not have a single issue finding a parking spot in Ganges! I wonder if people have trouble finding a place to moor their yachts in the summer? Or boat, if you only have a boat? 

Anyway, it's been a great visit, and I need to get myself moving to finish knitting that cowl - at least the part that I can. 

I haven't been walking much at all, and I'm OK with that. I don't remember the last time I checked how many kilometers I walked in a day. It's been MONTHS!!!! I will need to take control of it when I get home, as I need to adjust some goals for my 2025 Conquer Challenges. I really should be substituting the long walks with stretching anyway, so I'm going to try to work that into my goals for 2026. Less walking, more stretching - don't need to find more time, just substitute one activity for another. 

Have a wonderful day, and if you have a stash of yarn, maybe it's time to dig it out and see what you have. I'm fired up about knitting, and I know it will be a struggle to find time when I get home because there are so many quilting projects to work on. But I'll do what I can. Maybe I'll even spend my evenings with DH in our fancy media chairs while he watches TV. Perhaps I'll become a sports junkie! 

WAIT -- I forgot to mention that someone from our old vet office came by yesterday to pick up the eight quilts. I got a couple of very nice thanks via text from some of the staff members. I don't think they have all been delivered. Those couple of texts made my heart sing and made all the time and effort put into them worth it. Onen came from the vet himself, and that's good enough for me!!!! Anyone who likes pets is a keeper anyway, and most likely quilt-worthy!

OK -- I'm out of here!!!

Have a wonderful day.

Ciao!!!!