Thursday morning happies etc

Last night was knit night and I almost considered not going. I was cooking supper and getting pressed for time in getting ready (which explains my bad hair last night and the wardrobe malfunction I experienced on my way there). There were sheets in the dryer that I really needed to remember to get back on the bed before I left (I forgot). I was multi tasking like a mad woman and thought "Maybe I should just stay home and get this stuff under control". I did not do this. I went out to my first Wednesday night knit in a month and I am so glad I did (except for the bad hair and split blouse). Knit night revives my desire to just sit and knit. And to knit BETTER. I like sitting with like minded people and chatting about yarn, yarny things, patterns, colour selections, critiquing magazine layouts, family, TV, books,jobs, schooling, etc etc etc. In that 3 plus hours I got a much needed jolt of society and feel much better for it. Thank you knit night.
A great idea came up: a price book for yarn and supplies in the Montreal area. Many shops stock the same stuff but have different prices and offer different incentives (such as Effiloche's 10% discount to Montreal Knits members). This "book" would list the products..say Berocco's Ultra Alpaca, and the price of said yarn at each shop that stocks it so that we MK-ers know at a glance where the best price on that yarn is and can shop to our fiscal advantage. Thios will take a loooong time because tehre are only 4 of us discussing this and we don't shop THAT much. Ok...maybe we do but its a HUGE amount of data to colate..collate..I don't know how to spell that but you know what I mean. I don't have the Excel-Fu so Angela mentioned she might be better for compiling the spreadsheet...LOL Holy understatement Batman!
Last night I got quite a bit of Lorne's mitten done but I am not real happy with it. I think I will rip it and go again. I am using the Red Heart MacIntosh that I got last week for him in a grey, black, and white twist. I like the hand feel of this yarn and its not tooo splitty. Unforseen was my difficulty in counting my rows because of the black/whie/grey combination. Holy eye blurring!
Weather wise:SNOW again. And more on the way. Last night it started before I left the cafe and its was a slippery walking to the car. It got progressively worse as I drove home. I had HM's vehicle since HE has winter tires. I haven't any yet. Canadian Tire has had major back logging of folk needing their tires and I haven't been fit in yet. My car needs to be dropped off the night before so that we get a place in the early morning First Come First Served line up. Today I will not be taking the car anywhere.
Last nights supper was a pretty danged good slow cooker beef madras curry. I usually make chicken and haven't done a beef curry in a long time. This morning HM had COMPLIMENTS for my cooking. Gasp! Shock! Awe! heh heh I made a saffron basmati rice with peas as the side and a cucumber raita for a condiment(cools the mouth from the curry's heat). Tah Dah!
Here in this town imported foods are not always readily available and I like using the Patak's products (curry pastes etc) and in this tiny epicerie fine(Saveurs Unies), they had Patak's as well as other spice sources!! I got a garam masala spice mix that I have to grind in my morter and pestle and they had ground spice mixes for other dishes. I will be going back to expand my already bursting spice cupboard. They have lotsa goodies there that the average grocery doesn't stock. Me likey.
The Christmas tree lots are up and running here, are they going there? I bought a couple of new ornaments yesterday and some new LEDs. We got coloured ones last year and they are so dim. I like a bit of sparkle to my tree so I got some soft white minilight style LEDS for maybe give a bit more sparks of light. Here's hoping. The Alfred Sung collection at Zellers is oh my goodness gorgeous. I was drooling. The retro and nature based collections also had me going Oooh Aah. SO..I got 12(?)glass mini balls(heh heh balls) from the Sung "choclate" collection (pale blues, whites, and browns) because I like the colours and glass is just so much shinier than the "unbreakable" versions, I got two birch bark star ornaments from a nature collection, and those LEDS I mentioned. It was hard to stop. Our tree is ecclectic. We have mostly non glitzy ornaments of the homemade variety with some not very shiney store boughts. Some of them need to go away because I just don't like them anymore and I am thinking of replacing them with retro glass ornaments for their quirkiness and gloss. Also more nature based ornaments would be nice. And I always love when my kids make ornaments at school or we have a crafty session because thats what holiday memories are made of. Popsicle stick and pipecleaner angels. Popsicle stick sleds. Craft foam reindeer faces. Our tree topper is not lit. Several years ago I got a raffia angel at a craft store and fashioned cotton lace robes/dress for her. I think the boys an I are going to paint pinecones this year and add glitter too. Those holiday balls in IK's holiday issue would be TOTALLY at home on our tree. But see how the holiday tree in this house is lacking in shiny? I'm adding a bit more shiny. It must be done.
Do you have a kid? A craft enjoying type kid? Here's how to make pinecone holiday trees: You need pinecones (nice fat open ones), miniature terracotta flower pots, paints and stuffs for decorations.
Paint the pinecones green (or whatever floats your boat). You might wanna paint the flower pot too; again, this is your boat and whatever floats it. When paints are dry, glue the fat end of the cone into the top of the mini flower pot so now the pot is the tree's stand. Maybe give the ensemble a spritz of spray varnish to give a sheen (or use a matte type...rememeber the boat?)and this will help protect your paints from getting scraped off or flaking.
Decorate the "tree" by gluing teeny tiny stuffs that will look like holiday ornaments. Boa yarn? Garland. Crazy tiny pompoms or shiny beads? Balls. Crazy tiny star or angel or whaever? Topper. Glitter? Glitter. You get the idea. When all the glues and paints are set fasten a hanger of some sort to the top of your creation and Voila! A wee pinecone holiday tree. Wanna make it SMELL like a tree? Leave the bottom of the terracotta pot paintless and each year add a drop of pine, spruce, or balsam fir essential oil. It will soak into the clay and smell awesome.
At Zellers they had painted pinecones of various colours for SALE. Holy lazy, man! Go FIND some pinecones in a park, bring em home and paint then yourself. I highly encourage anyone to scope out the ornament areas and get ideas and inspiration for homemade versions that you can do with your kids. Get a fine Sharpie and add the year somewhere on the ornaments because eventually you lose track of when you made them together.
Hmm..what else is rattling around in my brains..there's lotsa room for the rattling...
I think that covers it.