Have Daypass, Will Travel

It was a lovely day traipsing around downtown with my daypass.

Stop #1 : Queen Street West
I wanted to go back to Romni Wools and look around a bit more. I didn't get a chance to look at the discount bins, or the knitting books on my first trip, and I wanted to pick up a ball (or two) of sock wool with the idea of practicing smaller stitches and possibly making a little pouch for my mp3 player.

To get to Romni, I passed by MissBehav'N where live models were dancing in the windows wearing nothing but pasties and lingerie. Only on Queen Street West. It was a bit shocking to walk by the storefront, look over and see these ladies happily dancing away.
On my way back from Romni, I stopped at Ten Thousand Villages and coveted everything in the store; and Outer Layer, where I sampled dirt scented perfume, and gingerale scented perfume to cover up the very convincing scent of dirt from the first sample. Why oh why would anyone want to smell like dirt?

Stop #2 : Kensington Market
Oh how I love cheese! I indulged in my cheese cravings even though I suspect I will pay for it later. I sampled half a dozen different types of cheeses: Stilton, Appledore (Lancashire w. apples & cinnamon), Oka Classique, and a mild blue cheese. Half these cheeses I probably shouldn't eat, but I really couldn't resist. $9.18 later I had a bag of Oka, Blue Cheese and the Appledore.

Next stop HAD to be My Market Bakery to get some fresh bread to go with the cheese. Fresh bread to go, and tiramisu for the road (again, I gave in to a craving).

Last stop was the South American store where I bought 6 Pupusas. I love that you could miss this little hideaway pupusa place if you didn't know it's there. It's at the back of a tiny little grocery, and two women are busy making pupusas for a good part of the weekend. I've been going there since I first found my way around Kensington 6 years ago. It's quite a little find and the pupusas are really quite lovely tasting. I bought a mix -2 cheese, 2 bean and 2 everything. They'll make good lunches throughout the week at work (and for $2 ea. you really can't go wrong).

Stop #3: Canadian Tire
On sale: 3' Lighted Christmas Tree, $7.99 (reg. $24.99). I've been looking for an artificial Christmas tree. I've tried real trees and although I like them much better, the only trees I can find are potted and can't be left indoors for more than a week (or they come out of dormancy). So off I went to pick up the little guy. It's a bit of a Charlie Brown christmas tree, but it'll do nicely for this year.

Knit one, purl two

How beautiful is this yarn!?! I went shopping today after work with a friend who knows more about knitting than I do. She took me to Romni Wools, an amazing store in the Queen St. W. neighbourhood. When you walk in you you're immediately hit with the smell of wool. You look around and all you can see wall to wall are the vibrant colours of balls and balls of yarn of all different shapes and sizes. Balls of yarn tumbling onto the floor. Soft cottons, silk and mohair yarns to itchy, coarse wools. Everything you could possibly imagine, in dyes that are almost beyond imagination! It's sensory overload.
This was my first knitting project. It started off as my practice piece, but was just the right size to fold in half, stitch up the sides with a blanket stitch and add a drawstring at the top for a hot water bottle cozy. I tried out a few different type of stitches in this piece and had a bit of fun with it. It's not the nicest knitted hot water bottle cozy, but it's a start.
Millie likes the yarn too. :)

On a retreat

I'm back from a weekend retreat in the Muskoka. It was a lovely time spent with my family away from family. It was nice to talk with people in a less formal setting. It was even better to be away from the city, not a high-rise in sight, you could stand still and not hear any traffic or city sounds. And though the ground was soft, and rather mucky, and the skies were grey, it was beautiful outdoors!

D.I.Y.

I've spent a slightly frustrating evening trying to get my curtains up. Frustrating because this has been an on-going process since August. And it shouldn't be that hard.

I have beautiful white curtains (thanks to a friend!). I have 2 8 ft I-beams with all their fixings. I have hooks and lots of eyes. The problem has been drilling the holes to hang the I-beams. There are 8 holes (4 per I-beam) - all to be drilled into the ceiling. I carefully measured the holes so the I-beams line up straight and drilled starter holes. The first 4 holes went well - I was able to drill them with my girlie cordless drill, and the screws stayed secure. The other 4 holes have been impossible! For some reason that side has concrete which my poor little drill can't penetrate. My super tried with her drill - still no luck, just uglier holes. So we needed a hammer drill. Unfortunately her hammer drill was "in the shop". And so I waited, and waited, and waited. Here it is, November, and finally she was able to use her hammer drill to drill the holes. The problem is now the holes are too big for the screws, even with the little plastic plug-thingies. So now I'm trying to figure out how to keep the screws from popping out of the holes. Any suggestions? I'm thinking something like contact cement...but I don't know if that's the right solution.