If I Can Dream...

Thanks to Jacquie for learnin me how to post youtube videos!
Now I can share with y'all one of my all-time favourite moments in rock n' roll history....

The Big Reveal

The final Secret Pal 10 package has arrived along with my Secret Pal's reveal. It's bittersweet really. I've loved all of my packages. She's been such an amazing spoiler. I'm a-gonna miss her BIG time!

wait for it...wait for it...

baaaa!!!

Dublin, New Hampshire

My pal is a spinnin-dyin-knittin' babe from Dublin, New Hampshire. She owns and runs the Dublin General Store which has a yarn shop inside. You can buy yarn, booze and snacks all at the same time! Can you spell heaven!? She hopes that in the next year she'll convert her 3 acre backyard into a farm with sheep and chickens and whatever else comes her way! How cool is that!?

mmm...mmm...good!

Many of my favourite things. The dark and mint chocolate are to die for! mon dieu! Bamboo dpns and sheep stickers and little yellow booties to put on the end of my needles and...

Happy Rocks

Directions: Give a Happy Rock to someone you love.
Watch them smile!
Slowly but surely, the smile will fade as it is absorbed
into the heart of the receiver.

I love the sentiment behind these Happy Rocks. I do my best to carry little stones with me every where I go, sometimes in my purse or jacket pockets. They remind me to be thankful for all that I have. How perfect to have smiley face ones!

Hippos Who Knit

And these are just adorable. Knitting hippos! Too bad that the photo sucks. I believe these are chopsticks. But they're just too cute to use. I will keep them on my desk for when I need a good chuckle.

1967

Some stunning sock yarn that was hand-dyed by my awesome pal. This one is superwash merino. I've named it 1967 because it is just too groovy for words, only numbers will do. And I do believe this was a very, very good year!

Purple Rain

This gorgeous skein was also hand-dyed and it is 100% merino. I've named it Purple Rain. It's so sexy and soft I may need to wear it around my neck. I adore it!

Thanks ladybugboo! You rock! I'll be checking out your blog and your pix. I hope that you've enjoyed this round of SP as much as I have. You are an amazing spoiler! And if I ever make it out to Dublin, I'll be ringin' your door bell fer sure! Thank you, thank you very much.

TTC KAL...A day in pictures...

And it went something like this...Saturday June 9, 2007....

The very brave Lisa asked that I co-captain TTC Knit-a-long Team West with her. Our team reached 21 knitters by 10:00am! I usually can't speak till at least noon, especially on a Saturday. Particularly after a Drunken Knitters Night! But we held it together, or maybe I just faked it really well....

Captain, my Captain

First stop, Village Yarns. They treated Team West to a warm welcome, loot bags, a big arse raffle and some sweet snacks....these were the napkins on hand...

can ya dig it?

Thanks to Lisa for making the mimosas mucho delisio! These lovely ladies came in from Waterloo. Fabulous dames. Lotsa fun....

Waterloo-nies keep keepin on!
(Amy, Lynn and Beth)

Patrick mixed mimosas and gave us a tour of the fabulous shop. Talk about a know-it-all, this dude really knows his shtuff! I was dizzy from all the info, or it coulda bin the champagne. shhh...

Village Yarns' Patrick and The Wall of Sock(s)

One of the things that gets the hub out to the west end (besides my wonderful family) is Patrick's gy-normous Bouvier...

Zoe guards the Noro

Team West grabbed there goodies and headed off for their long trek to the big city and the mecca known as Romni. I don't have any pictures of this stop. I was too busy lei-ing myself in fleece artist and peek-a-boo-ing with the babes (see Sophie's silly pic). And then after a brief stop at the neighbouring Second Cup the knitters were off to the groovy cool Americo....

We "heart" Americo

Here I am with Brooklyn sporting one of their stunning cotton hoody-shrugs. This beautiful baby-blue number was donated to the KAL as a kit for the Most Original Knitted Object Prize. After feeling up and sniffing all of the Americo we headed to Kensington Market for some much needed lunch and a Lettuce Knit fix.....

Enter at your own risk

We were greeted by the lovely ladies at Lettuce Knit. Denny had made some delicious treats for us. My fave was a Martha Stewart specialty, topped with Nutella!

Denny & Megan

We all took a bit of a time out in the Market and sat out on the lawn lunching and stitching. At one point a fella came running over from the bar across the street yelling, "Is it really International Knitting in Public Day? Somebody please gimme something to knit!" So I handed him a garter stitch shawl I was working on and to our surprise not only did he knit, he picked! Yup, he got all continental on our asses!

Pickin' and a-grinnin!

He said he learned to knit so that he could pick up his friend's grandmother. Nice. Seeing that I had to rip back the stitchin' he had done, I'm sure he didn't have much luck with the grandmother either!

I see Wendy and Glenna and...Wonder Woman!

We packed up our gear and headed on out to the last stop on the whirlwind KAL - The Naked Sheep....It took us one Spadina car and two Queen cars to get there...

Are we freakin there yet!?

But we made it. A little late, but better late than never... This is the only pic I have from that stop.

Dirty

Some knitters had already been there waiting for an hour so we had to make the prize distribution quick and take a moment to stop and shop. And then to a patio for some snacks and relaxin'.

Waterloo-nies keepin me sane!

Much to my dissapointment the patio did not have a liquor liscence. What!?? I almost lost my mind! I had a bit of a tantrum, ordered a cola (!?) and pulled out the knitting. Thanks to the Waterloonies for helping me keep my sanity!

And thanks to everyone else who took part in this Krazy KAL. Hope you enjoyed it, hope that you're out there somewhere fondling yarn! Until next time....

Brooklyn in Americo!

Look who I met today! I stopped by one of my favourite haunts during my lunch break and there she was - Brooklyn! Isn't she just the sweetest!?

Americo's Silent Partner

Brooklyn, Javier's "daughter", is one of the cutest, chic-est Jack Russell's I have ever met. She gladly posed for a pic and insisted she show off some Americo! Doesn't the purple cotton just bring out her father's eyes!? Stunning!

Warrant Officer Bruce on Parade

My nephew, Dustin, had his Annual Ceremonial Review Parade with the 75th Toronto Scottish Regiment Cadet Corps last Tuesday. It gets better every year and so does he....

Dustin and his troop

His sister, Kassidy, must really enjoy this. He's bossing other kids around instead of her and - he's in a skirt and a purse, uh, I mean kilt and murse.

the Band

Besides watching our boy march, this has got to be one of my favourite parts of the ceremony. I LOVE the band! Bagpipes and all. The drums simply rock. It takes everything out of me not to full out dance. I must admit, I shake my booty slightly and hope nobody notices. shhhh...

Fierce

The sound system is really bad at Fort York. It was as if Charlie Brown's teacher was hosting. When Dustin's name was called out for the Training Officer's Award for General Proficiency, he didn't hear it. They called him out a second time and he saluted and said "Sir!"Although it kinda sounded like "Doh!"

Very well deserved indeed!

But the hoopla didn't stop there. He was also awarded a medal for five years of service. It's hard to believe that he's been doing it for that long. And it's even harder to believe that he's doing it at all, coming from a family of hippie freaks. But kids rebel in their own ways, right?

Five swell years

And even though there weren't any fancy floats at this parade and Santa never showed up, these clowns still happened to have a good time...

Peace & Love

You done us proud, my friend. Keep it up! You're making the rest of us look good. Always and forever, Titi.