And Then

This is the last of the vacation series, for reals!!!

One of the main draws of our Island trip was to hang out with my cousins and we spent a lovely day giggling and reminiscing and swapping news about all of the family drama gossip stories.

Even though I don’t have any siblings of my own, I am fortunate to be a part of a large extended family and so there is always something happening to keep things interesting!  And given that these gals are in their early 20’s, their life is way more interesting than mine:)

So, back to the touristy bits…  Another must on my list of have-to-see’s was a stop at Cathedral Grove.  Walking amidst these ancient giant Douglas fir trees was crazy awesome!

Mighty and strong, strong and mighty…

Tree climbing….

….can be tiring

and calls for a cold, cold drink

And etc, etc…

A bit of “country” retail therapy

Vacation :: all done:)

PS: Yes, that was my Paper Dolls in the wild.  My next post will have more details on that, I promise!

Posted by & filed under Canada, Family, Finished Knits, Kids, Tops, Vacation. This post has 4 comments.

The One With The Flowers

Disclaimer :: Plenty of pictures in this post and zero knitting content

Visiting the capital is a must for every Island tourist and so we slotted a whole day to explore Victoria.  This is one of the most beautiful cities on the West Coast and is the perfect size to pack in a lot of sights in one day.

There was something for everyone….

For the guys, Craigdarroch Castle and the Fisgard Historical Site

For the tot – the irresistible furry friends at Beacon Hill

The funny Llama called “Smoochy” 🙂

And the giants of the sea…Mama and calf, strong and sweet at the same time

And then time for my favorite, The Butchart Gardens.  I suck at gardening and so this  part of our day hit the awesome button for me!

I think I must have an off-with-their-heads effect on any plant that enters our house!

I told you there would be lots of flowers….

Rambling Roses….I had to see those 🙂

There were so many amazing beauties

And just when we thought we couldn’t take anymore of the psychedelic  array, we walked into the Japanese Garden.  Cool, serene, zen-like

Not a flower in sight but just as breathtaking

On our drive back, the majestic Malahat Summit seen from the Trans Canada Highway.  The perfect end to a fantastic day!

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An Island Vacation

It’s been 15 years since I’ve been on Vancouver Island and it was just as spectacular as I remember and then some.  Back then I was a student on The Island and didn’t really take the time to do any of the touristy stuff since that was “home”.  That changed last week because we really did pack with the whole see-as-much-as-you-can-see thing (and we might have even pushed it too far seeing I have a couple nasty blisters on my feet)!

We stayed at this adorable little place close to the Nanaimo Harbor and didn’t want to leave!  Could you blame us considering this was our amazing view?

Vineet went camera crazy as usual and so we have a ton of pictures clogging up our hard disk.  I promise I won’t break your blog reader by uploading all of them on my blog, but I want to share ‘a few’ 😉

The Old Country Market at Coombs was high on our list of places to see because of the goats on the roof!  Hilarious!!!

Surf shop at a Country Market, also hilarious!!

But the highlight was cold perfection in a cone.  I ate a huge honkin’  scoop even though I am one of the few people on earth who dislikes ice cream!

Homemade fudgy ice cream too hard to resist, YUM!

Next time :: blooms, blooms and more pretty blooms!

And yeah, there was knitting….

Posted by & filed under Canada, Family, Kids, Vacation. This post has 5 comments.

Day Trippin’

We drove inland through the Fraser Valley over the long weekend to Harrison Hot Springs.  My idea of a good time isn’t sitting in boiling water that smells like rotten eggs.  I know that it’s the sulphur in the water that imparts this stink and I read somewhere that the naturally bubbly hot water is good for you…. then again, I read somewhere else that that’s just a myth.  I’m sticking to the myth interpretation!  Our motivation behind this daytrip was that we wanted to drive through the scenic countryside and enjoy listening to some good tunes.  Music always sounds better when you’re driving through the country.

We stopped for lunch and a walkabout through the adorable town of Agassiz.  German burgers and meatloaf sandwiches  – perfect warm sammies for the overcast day we were having.

I wanted to spend more time exploring Agassiz but the troops wanted to travel onward to the beach.

Riding on Daddy’s shoulders

Harrison Lake is 60 km long and even though it’s technically a lake, it has a fantastic stretch of beach.  The day continued to remain overcast – which is perfect weather in my opinion.  I know, I know everyone likes sunny days, but I’m a rain loving kinda gal (good thing then that we live on the Wet Coast!)

So, we just had fun exploring the town and hanging out by the beach.  It was too brrr that day to get into the water!

We also walked along the trails to see some of the hot springs.  There are all these other smaller trails off the main one where there is a ton of exploring to do and where you could probably also get very lost.  We did manage to navigate ourselves alright and got to the bubbly springs and man, it reeked!

You can’t tell from this picture but that’s steam rising out of the water.  I didn’t try to walk across that log because I didn’t want to fall into that vile smelling water, but mostly because I was coughchickencough.  My family is used to my scare-easy-self so they didn’t laugh too hard.  Also, they know better since I’m the one who cooks their meals!!

To reward ourselves for this hike walk, we stuffed our faces with homemade pie.  Well, homemade by Ms. Kim of Kim’s Country Cafe and it was delish!  The trek back home seemed shorter even though we skipped the highway and took the scenic route.

Tired and happy, we slept really well that night.

We’re heading out for a family vacation to Vancouver Island next week.  I will be back with pictures of my finished Paper Dolls and some Island stories.

So, what are your summer plans?

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Porom

It’s summer vacation, yippee!!  This is a quick drive by post to show you something that I finished last week.  I knit this beret as a part of the KAL with The Amiras and it was pure instant gratification.

Deets….

Porom

Pattern: Porom by Jared Flood
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in “Lavender Mix”
Needles: Size US 6/4 mm & US 8/5 mm

Thanks to my knitting buddy Jocelyn telling me that this beret reminded her of Pink Panther, I had this theme song running through my head the entire time I knit this beret po-rom, po-rom, po-rom…

I’ve been knitting lots though and the project on my needles has been giving me grief   Colorwork….ummm, let’s just say I have mixed feelings.  My only motivation to get this done are the colors.  More on this project soon.

Posted by & filed under Finished Knits, Hats, KAL, Tops. This post has 9 comments.

Another Along

It’s June 18 which means that summer is less than a week away, yeah!

But…Ack!!!!!  This is what we’ve been seeing recently.  Forecast for the next 4 days :: GLOOMY!

It’s a good thing then that today is the cast on date for a quick KAL I’m doing with the Amiras.  It’s an accessories KAL and everyone seems to be in beret mode.  I’ve been eyeing Porom for ages now so it’s time to cast on.

The yarn I’ve chosen is some heathery Berroco Ultra Alpaca.

A no-stress KAL with my peeps.  Me likey:)

Posted by & filed under Dubai, Hats, KAL. This post has 4 comments.

Geodesic

I think I’ve kept everyone waiting long enough!!

Geodesic Cardigan

 Pattern: Geodesic Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in “Emerald”
Needles: Size US 6/4 mm

When I first read through the pattern, I have to admit that I was a tiny bit freaked out by the “semi” set-in sleeves.  I haven’t knit those in a long time and I don’t think that my scrunched up sleeve seaming efforts have been documented on the blog here.  When sleeve day came, I began the seaming session and voila…just like that, I was done.  There had been no swearing nor any need for strong drink during said session! 

After that, it was just round and round with a few decreases thrown in at regular intervals to get the sleeves to behave.  This is where my boo-boo happened.  Not the fault of the pattern or the yarn, just my knitting tension.  I was magic-looping those sleeves since that is my preferred method of knitting in the round and every time I came to the point where you need to slide the stitches to begin on the next half of your round (fellow magic-loopers, you know what I mean).  The first couple stitches would be so snug that I would have to tug them over the needle to knit and each time I felt like I would snap the yarn.  That’s when I decided that it was time to dig out my unused DPNs and try that method.  Turns out, I suck at DPN-ing.  Check out that ladder!!!  

Lesson learned, I went back to ML on the other sleeve and tugged those stitches painfully across each round.  A note about the yarn – Malabrigo Lace being 100% merino with a single ply construction is notorious for pilling. I’ve worn this cardigan only a couple times but I haven’t noticed any pilling, yet.  Just the usual fuzzy halo of merino yarn.  I’m sure the dreaded pilling will happen eventually. 

Great summer cardigan.  Great little details.  Great pattern.  L-o-v-e gazillion!

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Finished Knits. This post has 16 comments.

Coloring

I have to write up a blog post on my recently finished (and photographed) Geodesic Cardigan, but I will leave y’all hangin’ for a while longer.  I’m a meanie, aren’t I?

But that’s only because I have something exciting to show you…..

Hello gorgeous…

Fair Isle terrifies me, but I’ve decided to jump into that pool of fear by casting on for Paper Dolls.

I’ve written a blurb about how this project happened to hop on to my needles over here. If you know any South Asian, you will know that we are never too shy of wearing color – lots of it.  Not that I own a Technicolor Dreamcoat or anything, but I rarely go for the muted and mulled (look at my stash!)

I know that I should be working on my Rusted Root, but I just couldn’t help straying when ooh shiny happened.

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The Spring Garden Tee

When I was contacted by Alana of Never Not Knitting to do a test knit for her, I jumped at the opportunity.  I have a few of her patterns in my library and have even knit a couple of her lovely designs.  She is a fantastic designer and I knew that she would put out a great pattern that would be fun to knit.

Presenting…

The Spring Garden Tee in adult sizes

This is the grown-up version of her previously published pattern for girls and features some changes such as waist shaping and a scooped neckline.  The yarn that she sent me for this test knit was Be Sweet Bamboo which is such a lovely yarn :: blocks beautifully and is so cool to the touch – literally!  The finished Tee has a lovely drape to it and is perfect for summer wearin’.

Spring Garden Tee

Pattern: Spring Garden Tee by Alana Dakos
Yarn: Be Sweet Bamboo in “Meadow”
Needles: Size US 5/3.75 mm and US 6/4 mm

♥ Love, Love, Love this pattern!  There’s a KAL for this design on the NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group.

The fun didn’t end with the knitting. I got to play with picture-taking too 🙂  Pictures were  taken by Le Hubster at Burnaby Mountain which is a great place to enjoy the panoramic views of downtown Vancouver and the North Shore.

Love the rustic Totem Poles (I think that’s what they are)

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Almost There

I love when a project on the needles is almost near completion.  It’s the excitement of binding off those last stitches, laying your knitting out flat and thinking, “I made that”!  

I’m almost at that point on my secret knitting project.  As much as I would love to be able to design knitwear (maybe someday), this isn’t my design.  I’m doing a test knit for an awesome designer, so be sure to look out for the pattern release of this summery garment in early June.  I will provide details and linky dink stuff soon.

First, I have to get this project finished, blocked and mailed before Vineet leaves for Traana on Monday.

Have a great day, peeps!

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