Ravelry.....

I am addicted. I cannot stay away. I didn't think this would happen to me but it did and it's weird. I wasn't one of the first to jump on the Ravelry bandwagon and as usual not the first in the know about it either. But its got its hooks and needles sunk in and won't let me go! Its a little sad and pathetic..not to mention scary. Now I see how gamers get hooked on something and spend hours online.
For those that visit and are not in the know, Ravelry is a knitting community that spans the globe. Its all located there and people from all over join and share their love of yarny things through groups pertaining to any subject they share an interest in, posting project and stash pictures, sharing pattern sources, organising their own Yarniverse by keeping an online record of their stash and needles and books etc, people find friends they know and make new ones.... Its all encompassing!
The closest I ever found to this was a parenting site I was involved with while my kids were smaller and Ravely actually out strips that in terms of camaraderie since people are forming groups about everything there could possibly form a group about and finding other birds of their feather. The linking factor is YARN . Amazing!! Crocheters and knitters rub shoulders in some groups while other groups are a bit more segregated to one skill or the other. Wowee wee wow.
So, thats where I have been. that and xmas knitting and xmas shopping and I also broke down and went to the used bookstore on Thursday and have been devouring the 3 novels I bought (on the last one now). Needed a reading fix bad. Now that I have had it, I will get back to my knitting again and do housework again (yeah right). Dust bunnies aren't reeeeeeaaally a health risk unless you are asthmatic, right?
Yesterday we went to the Christmas parade in Montreal and froze our asses off. Then we hit a Walmart on the way home that we had never shopped at, so that Ben could have some winter boots. While there I found actual wool yarn! GASP!! Its the Walmart near the 440 at Bois Des Filions. i got so excited I started to hyper ventilate. And yes I bought some. So much for that yarn diet I keep mentioning, but 3 of those skeins will go to a holiday gift for my soon to be nephew from Saskatchewan. I forgot about him when I planned my holiday list. i have my 5 girlies but now my nephew will be marrying next summer and his fiance has a 7 year old son. They will be in NS this year so how could I omit him now that I have recollected him?? I am hoping to make him a quick hat and mittens of an acrylic(70) wool(30) blend called MacIntosh by Red Heart. Classic greys with white twist. Good for guys.
Today though I have big plans! I will be attending a Therapeutic Touch workshop in Montreal this afternoon and am also picking up a package from my friend Nathalie, of 20 vanilla beans for making vanilla extract and vanilla sugar. Very thrilling since the price is insanely good because she buys in bulk for her business of soap and beauty product making. Happy happy joy joy. I gotta buy more vodka(thats my extract base) and hunt out a good bottle for the project. I had one but I think its gone now. Maybe I will just use the vodka bottle and wait on a nice one for when its ready to use.
Therapeutic Touch is a healing modality that involves energy work and is a therapy used by some nurses to give comfort and relief to patients. Unlike Reiki it is not an initiatory practice meaning its methods are available to anyone not just those initiated into the practice. Its not the same as Reiki but a valuable tool in a healers arts. While in my journey person's course (level one of Crescent Moon School)I found my niche of green witch and healer. I have been waiting and looking for opportunities to further that study and the skills that I had been unknowingly gathering for years by reading books on herbalism and stones among other things. For this I will always be grateful for the events that brought me to Montreal, to Crescent Moon and its teachers and students, and for the richness they have added to my spiritual life.
I should probably get something to eat and shower in preparation for heading out. Have a marvelous day everyone.