More mittens and yarn (and some exciting news)

I am working on some new mittens right now, a bulky worsted weight pair on size 6 needles. Thick and warm. I have all this Noro and Létt Lopi leftover from all sorts of things begging to be used up. I actually finished a mitten yesterday, but there were so many little things I wanted to change, I figured I would just start over. There are just so many mittens I want to make and not enough time. Expect some awesome mittens in the future. My favorite part of making mittens is coming up with a good repeating pattern for the palm. This one is more of a simple pin-stripey one. I bet there is some sort of bug related Norwegian name for it. Would they be considered ants? Or lice? Or something else altogether perhaps.

On our weekend day trip I managed to finish the lace edging on the shawl I am working on. It's my first lace (and shawl) attempt. All that YOs and YO a million times knit-twenty-stitches-together-at-once stuff makes me nervous. Mostly all the loose yarn. I do love projects where there are complicated repeats over many rows. It's like a challenge to remember all those rows.

I also picked up some new yarn. I got some Kroy Socks for some gloves I am going to make. This photo does not quite capture the colour (flax) as they come off a bit cool here, but it is the perfect worn grey colour with a bit of a yellow-y tinge. The grey I'd imagine fisherman's mittens to be (as I live on the prairies far away from fishermen) Perfect for some men's gloves. I also finally bought some roving so I can make thrummed mittens. I am going to dye it some fun colours before I start.

The most exciting news is that I am going to have a pattern in the Deep Fall issue of Knitty! It comes out in October, so you will have to wait until then to see it.

Road Trip: Kenora

It being the August Long Weekend, we decided to spend our Saturday in Kenora (or Nora as B calls it). If we drive a couple of hours north, east, or south of here it's all blah and fields (and Target if you go south). I can only tolerate so many fields of corn and canola. But if we drive east just a bit, you hit the Canadian Shield where the road winds through blasted rocks and we wonder if our tiny car can actually go up hills (it can).

We set out early (but later than we had meant because we slept though the alarm). The boys took it easy the whole way there, B in the back watching Cars and O sleeping while I worked on a shawl project I just started. B got really excited when we started seeing all the rocks and water and stuff. And the flipped over car on the highway. Eeek.

We got there before noon and had a picnic lunch in the park by the lake (of the woods?) B thought that the boats were cars on the water and asked how we would get there. That is what happens when you live in the middle of a continent in a city with gross rivers. He was really amused by he boats and the tiny water airplanes. O was really amused grabbing grass. Oh how simple it is to be a little baby. We walked around a bit, as it was Harbourfest, We took B to the kids area that was set up. He was so excited to go on the bouncy houses, but changed his mind when we got closer. They had horses though, and B went on his first horse ride (just like Woody from Toy Story as he put it)  and fed a baby cow (it was really a black and white sheep) some hay. They also had lots of little games set up and B loved winning prizes and having an excuse to throw things. We walked around a bit, and ultimately decided to head back a bit earlier because the boys were cranky and needed a nap. Hottest ride home ever. Eesh. We seem to have great luck picking the hottest days to day trip. And of course, I have a sunburn now. Pout.

And this might be one of the strangest things I have ever seen. It had a rapper costume and a suit too.