In Kinoosao

I am absolutely in love with Kinoosao Saskatchewan, Canada. Even my hair feels fabulous (the water here is so clean you can drink from the tap with no problem and there is not so much crap in it to make your hair feel like straw after a shower). Located right on the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Kinoosao was a all-white community that thrived off of a booming fishing industry. However by the 1970's, the area had been over fished and in 1997 it was converted into an Indian Reservation.

The community consists of 1 large extended family. Two brothers and their sister moved there some time back in the 1960's and had their own families. In other words, everyone in this town, (except for Nathan's aunt who teaches there), is related in some way. Though there is a small convenience store in the town with 1 gas pump, it is awfully expensive and the nearest supermarket is a 3 hour drive from home. Nonetheless, the people here are happy, hunt duck, caribou, and other wildlife when buying meat is not an option, and live simple lives. They do have modern things like cars, televisions, and trampelines. But because the town is so small and everyone is related in some way, more often than not, people interact with people more than they do video games or YouTube.

Contrary to what many of you may think, I have not been knitting. Truthfully it is not boring up here. In fact, we've been walking around the town, digging through old dumps for old bottles (Nathan and his aunt love rummaging in trash for "treasure"), taking pictures of the breath-taking views, and just chatting and eating with each other. I did knit some Fetchings as a gift for Nathan's aunt on the trip up here but have not done much knitting at all.

Anyway, that is all for now. Surprisingly it is not that cold up here. I'll have more pics about the trip and maybe some knitting if I get to it when I return to the USA.

Blast From the Past

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I went to the Historic Adventist Village in Battle Creek, MI. It wasn't voluntary. I needed some credit for this class that I'm taking about the history of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Here are some pics:







It was not too bad. I actually enjoyed some of it, but after 2 hours, and only seeing the welcome center and the home of Ellen G. White, we were starving and it was that time to go. So we headed over to Hobby Lobby to pick up some DPNs (no pic) because the last set kept on breaking, and then we headed over to this Chinese buffet restaurant.

Just to go off topic, have any of you guys noticed that no matter what "ChinaMan" buffet you go to, wheter it's in Florida or Michigan, Maryland, or Mississippi, they all look somewhat similiar? I mean many of them have the same set up, some even have the same furniture, and of course the majority of them have the exact same food items for sale. I figured that maybe there is some kind of Chinese mafia that helps the people that work there get green cards so that they can enter the US and start making money. The only requirement that the mafia places on them is that they start up a restaurant that looks just as how the mafia says, That's just my imagination speaking. Seeing that China is a communist country, not many people are leaving (I don't think) and so maybe the people at alot of Chinese buffets could be Korean, or Japaneese. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Man that last paragraph sounded so ignorant. In my attempt to not offend, I think I might of offended readers of this blog of those particular backgrounds. I'm just trying to show you guys my thoughts, no hard feelings?

Knitting

Now for the real reason why you are here:



My boyfriend is so talented, isn't he? He designed the intarsia motif himself and it was his first time doing this type of technique! Even though we're both knitters, he doesn't do as much pre-planning as I do. I got to make a swatch, wash it, let it dry, check the gauge, find a pattern I like or draw up one of my own then find a stitch pattern I like (yeah, reading this sentence alone gets you tired). My boyfriend, on the other hand, never makes a swatch and if he has to rip it out, he does, no cursing or tears involved. My type A personality when it comes to my knitting is completely opposite to his knitting personality. I guess that's a sign of me wanting everything to come out perfect the first time (that also includes non-knitting things like school work). But I won't be loosening up any time soon.

Back to the hat. The hat is for his 70-year-old aunt who is teaching Native Canadians in northern Saskatchewan. He absolutely adores her and were going to visit her this May. He hasn't seen her in about 10 years or so. It will be an interesting experience.



Yeah, I know I haven't finished these, but the weather in Michigan has been getting so nice that I could not resist working with cotton (I guess in an attempt to quicken the death of winter). The design is my own. I really just wanted to do some lace work with out having to use thin yarn and small needles. Plus, I like knitting garments that are fitted and wearable, so sweaters, tops, and vests are my favorite things. But I do like accesories so hats and socks are cool too.

This week is looking good. Spring break comes after Wednesday, so I'll get 10 days off of school (that includes the weekends). No, I'm not going on vacation. I'm staying put, working at night and doing school work in the day. I know it is a time to relax, but I still have assignments that need to be completed and turned in after spring break. But seeing that it's my normal class load, I won't be breaking a sweat (unless I procrastinate). So pray/wish/grant me the desire to not procrastinate these next 10 days.

Changling

It seems like the last time I was here, I spoke about a touchy subject that no one was willing to respond to. That doesn't mean that you guys did not read (you know you check your traffic stats too, LOL). That's okay. I promise today's post will be light like whipped cream and strawberries (YUM!).



Case in point, remember these socks from a few weeks ago? Well they were just too plain simple. After attempting to turn them into these, the socks proved to be too tight to even go over my foot and I was 3/4 of the way done. So I ripped it out and turned them into these socks.



The pattern is quite lovely and if I spent some more time with this project, I'd memorize the pattern after 1 or 2 more stitch repeats. I'm worried that the sock will end up too lose, but I figured if they are too big, I'll give them away to my husband's aunt up in Saskatchewan, who appreciates hand knit socks like nobody's business (don't you love people like that?).

Revelation

It took me 2 weeks of ripping and knitting to figure this revelation out. I'm a product knitter, so that means it was frustrating as hell to have to rip back after hours of knitting. However, on the bright side, I learned a lot about the importance of gauge. For my whole knitting life I thought I was a loose knitter so I usually go down a size without even thinking about it. I was knitting Jaywalkers on US 0 needles (which is crazy). Turns out that I'm a tight knitter and need to go up a needle size or 2 (or just need to freakin' relax). I figured this out because I had knit a swatch for a sweater I'm going to start soon. I used the needles called for and I got 26 stitches in 4 inches. The label said I should get 24 stitches. Then I started to notice that as I knit with the needles called for, the work was stiff and did not lay nicely. It was hard to push my needles in and out of stitches, and I was using Addi Turbo's.

Long story short, I would recommend that you figure out if you're a tight or loose knitter and do it fast. It will make your knitting experience so much more enjoyable and your hands, arms, and shoulders will thank you for that. Plus your knitting will look better, and more professional looking.



Now off to work. It is Monday you know!

What To Do Next

So remember a couple weeks back I told you guys I was going to Saskatchewan? Well Nathan, Enoch (BF's Bro) and I are leaving tomorrow night after work. The drive will be about 30 hours long and we should be in the middle of nowhere by Sunday afternoon.

So the big question is: Am I bringing enough knitting projects to keep me busy during this whole trip? I was thinking of knitting 2 pairs of plain jane stockinette socks for the ride back and forth and while I am there, start my twin nephew's Christmas sweaters (yeah I want to start early this year). However, my boyfriend says that I will not have much time to knit because we will be doing things like fishing and hiking and other outdoor stuff. Still, the small New York City girl inside of me says, "We are going to the woods. The nearest market is a 3 hour drive! You must be crazy if you think you do not need a truck load of yarn, needles, and patterns to survive this next week!" So do you think I should bring more or is what I have now good enough?

Thursday Teaser

Remember yesterday? Let's find out what those pictures were about. As you guys all knew my boyfriend was away in Florida for the past 6 weeks on business. Being a fanatical knitter, I searched for some yarn stores near Orlando before he even left Michigan. I asked him to stop by and buy some sock yarn for this project. However he came back with these colors:



Obviously the wrong colors for Clessidra. Nonetheless it was a pleasant surprise because he made it seem like he did not have the time to go while he was down there (BTW, for you Florida knitters or knitters planning on visiting there soon, the store that Nathan visited is called The Black Sheep in Winter Park, Florida). Boy was I surprised when I saw the two skeins! He's a trickster, that boy. Despite that, he is a good man because he knows what his girlfriend likes--YARN!!!





Not only was my BF busy buying me sock yarn, he was also busy knitting me this bikini top. I asked him for this a year ago, and the pattern I asked him to make came from the first Stitch & Bitch book. However my boyfriend is a maverick knitter who seldom uses patterns. He came up with his own design. Here are some more shots:





Unfortunately the top makes my boobs look funny. Either way the fact that he could have been out in the Florida sun instead of inside knitting for me is a very nice thought.

That's it for today. I have alot of stuff to do before we leave for Canada (like pack). It's a roadtrip so we got to go buy snacks and other provisions today. I'll try to write a short post tomorrow before I leave for 10 days. If not, you'll know where I'll be (or at least have an idea, right?).

Trip Pictorial

So we returned this past Sunday afternoon but it has taken me way until now to actually get situated and sit down to write. This post will be filled with pics so please be patient in terms of allowing for the photos to load.



Kinoosao was a great place to vacation. By the end of the week, we seriously did not want to leave! As you can tell by the picture above, it is a wilderness with only one road to access it:



When we drove to Kinoosao, Saskatchewan, we took the quickest route possible. However, states like North Dakota aren't the most exciting places in terms of landscape and photo oppotunities. So we decided to take a longer route back to Michigan and drove on the Trans Canada Highway from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay to Sault Saint Marie and then entered the US from the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. The following is a map of Michigan so you guys know where we entered:



While in Kinoosao we did alot of things like camp under the stars and watch some Aurora Borealis:

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* Top pic is Internet Photo

We also built a fire by the lake, cooked some hot dogs, and Nathan even caught a fish:



I was very proud of him to say the least. We decided to cook the fish with some salt, pepper, and butter over the fire we had built for the day. It was a Freshwater Pike Fish. Very tasty!



The time spent with Nathan's family was grand. Here is a pic of them:



From left to right Allison and Jerry (married), Enoch (Nathan's Bro), Me, Aunt Deanna (Nathan's aunt, Jerry's mother).

We also got some great shots during the trip. For example, while driving up to Kinoosao, we saw a beautiful sunset:



However, 9 days later the weather looked more like this:





Still, we were able to visit some falls like Pisew and Kakabeka in Manitoba and Ontario:





And I even got to buy some yarn at this fabulous store called Egli's Sheep Farm & Animal Park on the side of the highway:



They have a website and they also sell other wool products like rugs, handknit sweaters, even cosmetics.

The trip was long:



With many signs warning us of the length of space between rest areas (don't worry, it's in kilometers, not miles).



So I was able to get some knitting done:





Another pair of Pomatomus, this time for me. I finished the pair for my friend but it turns out that the heel is shorter on one than the other! No worries. I'm not ripping it out!

All and all, a good vacation:

Time Warp

So this is what has been taken up much of my time lately:



Looks like a weird science project, eh? Actually, I've been growing zucchini seeds in them for 4 weeks. And FYI, there is absolutely no dirt in the container. Just SumiBalls. These seedlings were actually ready to be planted by week 2 but I've been carrying them around town showing people how cool this stuff really is. Check out the blog to learn more about these SumiBalls.

Knitting

In addition to cool science projects, I've also been casting on. I started these socks back in May. Look at them now:







The yarn is Indigo Moon and you can get it (where else) at the Loopy Ewe. The pattern is Paraphernalia (rav link) and I got the yarn during our travels to a magical land called Lanigan back in May of this year. It's in Saskatchewan (that's in Canada if you weren't paying attention in geography class back in high school) and the landscape reminds me of all the other boring plains states like the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, etc.

It was so much fun being up there with 4 dogs, 1 cat, several different humans, lots of alcohol, and of course knitting. It was my husband's family reunion so we had a good time. The yarn is super cool to work with and is from British Columbia, Canada. That's why I got it. I know, I know. I told you a few post ago that I didn't need any more yarn. But vacation yarn doesn't count! Besides, people always buy t-shirts that say "I went to __________ and all I got was this stupid t-shirt" even though they don't need any more clothes. And who of you out there need another shot glass that shows famous landscapes and iconic structures of whatever city you are visiting? I didn't think so.

I can't take the Empire State Building home with me, but I sure can go to Purl in Soho and pick up some cashmere. Now THAT'S my type of souvenir.

Saving for Yarn

Remember a couple of months ago I told you guys about my financial plan for my future? Well my boyfriend came up with a wonderful idea that I think may help not just knitters, but anyone with a hobby that takes up alot of money.

Nine weeks ago, Nathan (the BF) opened up an ING checking account. Apparently this is very new to ING because when we opened our savings account with them in March, they did not offer this service.

Long story short, my boyfriend loves photography (last post he took the pictures of my shawl). However, when you're poor, you can't donate alot of money to your hobby. So he opened the ING checking account so that he can fund his photography obsession.

When he told me about it last week, he suggested that I open one for my habit (knitting). So that's what I did yesterday.

And the great thing about this method of saving for yarn is that I can still access my money, plus this account accures interest (about 4.5%, just like the ING savings account). Lastly, I automatically save as much as I want every week because it comes straight from my other checking account.

I'm glad I got the account. I see this new account not just as my knitting fund but also my "Just for Fun" account. That means lets say I want to get a pedicure or a massage or do some other leisurely activity not in my budget; I can use the money I saved for that purpose. It's great!

Knitting

I have been knitting on the bag, but if I had taken a picture of it, you guys would have thought I was lying. So here is a picture of a simple sock:



This is the first sock to a pair for Nathan's Auntie Dee. The way this sock is going (84 stitches around with 9 stitches to the inch as gauge), I might finish it by September, which is perfect because that's when it starts to get cold in Saskatchewan.

Well, that's all for now. On to more job searching!