Deconstructing

 My knitting group, Chilliwack Common Threads has been so lucky this new year, as people are going through their stash, they are donating to us. These yarns are especially good for making hats and baby items for donation. Big bag of yarn! Dog for scale.

 I am trying to cook the perfect soft boiled egg- for me.

 This was just a bit too runny. I will try 7-8 minutes. The croissant is from a local baker, Magpie, who uses a wood fired brick oven! You can only get croissants on Friday and Saturday, and don't look for bread on Monday. That's when they do all their prep.

I was heading to a rather difficult meeting. We are looking for a new minister (ours is retiring) and I so appreciated the glimpse of rainbow on the way. It is a sign of hope. We can only do what we can do, surf the seasons. 

 It is Robert Burns season. January 25 is his birthday. We haven't hosted an event for a few years, but we did play at one in Aldergrove. Gotta say it's a slice of some kind of culture. I don't enjoy the company there much. They invited us to pipe....

 And they provided ear plugs on all of the tables. Hmmm.

Last week was also the removing of some fillings and replacing them with new. I don't get to complain about my dentist. He is wonderful and gentle and quick and thorough. But after the freezing wears off, my jaw really hurts. This was the second week in a row (the first was setting up a temporary filling), so I was also anticipating it. The home made mac and cheese helped a lot.

 And the "conversational" knitting. Love Martina Behm and Strickmich. Just knit garter stitch forever. This is the Match Maker. I will try to get pictures up of the finished item which is now resting on a towel and blocking.

 In anticipation of cross stitching D a new Christmas stocking, I got out the little bobbins and organized all the floss. I also took the graph to the office and did some major blowing up. It started Ok, but I have to use day light in the sun room to manage. Luckily, we are gaining 2 minutes of day light each day.

 But when it rains, oh boy. This is my favourite hat for walking the dog. Not only did I go out of my skin at the New York Public Library, this hat has the perfect peak and brim to keep my glasses dry.

 We have had several rain warnings this year. I still bundle up and take Carly for a walk.

She loves her towel at the end.

 In other crafting, I finished vintage tea towels and added crocheted Flower Power dish cloths. I am still not sure that these will be received well. They have been moved down the gift calendar to Mothers' Day.

 For my mom's 80th birthday, in a few weeks, I knocked out a Heartsleeve half pi shawl in a luscious ballet slipper pink bamboo and silk from Sublime that I had stashed for her. This was a 4 day event and blocked beautifully. The picture shows the picot bind off. It took extra yarn, but I was happy to break into the fourth skein.

 The puffed sleeves on this sweater, a gift to my mom in the 80's, have kept her from wearing it lately. What do I do? Offer to rip it back and reknit the sleeve cap. It sounded like a good idea.

When the cap was worked, partly using Ann Budd's formulae, I felt like a genius. It sure fit when I sewed it on. But I hope she will forgive the change in the look of the stitches. Blocking has improved it, but it will need some futzing.

 Things I love: my fresh Sugar Rose lip treatment. That's the one I bought last year, with a new one in the box! Such a treat.

 Also, my new evening bag that I bought on clearance in Palm Desert. It fits my flask! Which was great when we went to the Delta Police Pipe Band Burns Supper with D's cousins and some of our band. What a fun evening and the beginning of an annual event for us.

 It was in Tsawassen. We usually drive there, about an hour, to catch the ferry. But there are palm trees flourishing all over the place.

Yesterday was 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 American)! After walking the dog, I trimmed the red twig dogwood in the driveway, and by trim, I mean hack and carve. I ended up with two huge pots of red twigs to try to make wreaths from.
 Just winding some Sweet Fiber for a Hayward Shawl for the Susan B Anderson Knit A Long. Break it down and turn it into something new.