It's beginning to look a lot like...

I took some time on the weekend to pull out the few Christmas decorations I have, and get this place looking a little more festive.

We've had no snow, and it hasn't even been that cold (I'm not complaining now that I'm transit commuting), so it hasn't really felt Christmassy around here.

But my little polar bears are greeting visitors with a little holiday cheer.

My pretty silver reindeer is the centre piece on Grandma's table. (Though I'll let you in on a little secret. I like it so much, it stays out all year round)

This year, a quick trip to the dollar store added something new to the decor - some twinkle lights, evergreen garland and a few crystal snowflakes now grace the division between the living room and the dining room.  I'd like to do this for the hall/living room and kitchen/dining room too, but that will have to wait until next year.

And of course, the Christmas tree and skiiing sock monkey are back

I had a small moment of panic when I realized our old tree spot (and old tube tv that broke last year) was no longer viable. The tree wasn't going to work on the flat panel. But, then I had a brainwave, moved my paperwork from the elevated part of the computer desk, and volia... Christmas can come now! I'm ready!

Three point five

I'm still working out the kinks of my homeward bound commute. I've discovered it's better to take one of the earlier shuttles, and that I can actually take the train all the way into Hamilton if I do. But the whole thing is still taking me about three hours. Next time I'm going to try the earliest shuttle and see if that can get me under the three hours point.

One thing I do know for sure....

This is how much sock I can knit in about 2.5 hours (the lost half hour is in transfers, bathrooms trips, and platform waiting, where it's too cold to knit right now). That's about 3.5 inches!

So... while It may take a while to get home, I'm super productive while I'm getting there!

FO: Wingspan

It's done...

Turns out I was overly optimistic on getting more than eight wedges. I only got seven... well... 6.5. If you look closely, you'll notice that last wedge is a little shorter than the others. I didn't even have enough yarn to do the last four rows to finish of the top edge. For that I had to dig deep - I came up with one of Mom's really early spinning efforts. It was super-wonky, thick and thin, but it was the perfect thing to finish it all off.

And despite being 1.5 wedges short, it's more than enough to wrap around my neck

While it doesn't have all the colours of the the hat and mitts, the colours it does have are a good match to call this a perfect set.

It was a really fun knit - especially with the handspun - there was just no predicting how those stripes were going to stack up. That said, a look through the other projects show that this is a pattern that works with pretty much any yarn.

I think it will make my train trips nice and cozy. And I forsee more Wingspans in my future. It was a fun, fast knit that can be adapted to almost any weight.

But for now, I've got other plans for my needles. Stay tuned!

Top cat

With all the car drama, I never did finish the clean out on my studio while I was on vacation. But it is clean enough that I can get to and work with my sewing machine.

Yesterday,  I finally sat down and finished the top on my coworker's baby blanket.

Almost anyway. I still need to get something for the sashing. I'm thinking something solid or a very small print.

When I first planned this out, I'd intended to use bigger blocks. But I cut the first blocks too small by accident. The cat print was pretty large, and I was worried about losing all those cute kitties. But thankfully

Every square ended up with at least one cat face.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the rest of the fabric to complete this - but hopefully not too long. The baby it's intended for is already a few months old.

A new normal

It's been a week since I've been officially carless. It definitely takes some getting used to. The biggest thing is getting to and from the office.

While I can work from home, I don't want to do it permanently. If I don't get out of the house now and again, I start to go a little crazy.

Plus... someone has decided to finally be a lap cat...

...just not at the ideal time. In that picture, the lap top is balanced on my right leg, and my left leg is stretched out so he has something to snuggle against. And don't think I'm allowed to work at the desk when he's decided it's snuggle time.

So.... a couple times a week, Dave is dropping me off at the office (it's not too far out of his own path to work), but since he generally works until 9 pm or so, I'm taking transit home.

Since the office is 60 km (37 mi) and six towns/cities away, and our region doesn't exactly have the best transit system, it's a bit of an under taking. In theory, it should work like this:

I take the free shuttle from the office to the local GO station (GO is the regional transit system from all outlying cities/towns into Toronto), I catch the train and take it from Toronto, through Mississauga, Oakville and get off in Burlington. From there I get on a GO bus, and ride that into Hamilton. From the Hamilton GO station, I catch an express city bus (called the Bee Line) and ride that almost to my doorstep. The whole thing should take about 2.5 hours (like I said, It's not the best transit system).

Wednesday of this week was the first time I gave it a whirl... but it didn't exactly go to plan...right from the get go. The free shuttle was 12 minutes late. Which meant I missed my train. Normally the trains run every 15 minutes, but the station closest to work doesn't get full service.... so not only did I have to wait half an hour for the next train.... but that train was only going to Oakville. So in Oakville, I had to wait 10 more minutes, catch another train, and ride that to Burlington. Of course, all this waiting, meant that I was running well behind schedule, and when I finally got into Hamilton, the Bee Line was no longer running.. so that mean instead of one quick city bus, I had to take two slower ones.

In the end... that 2.5 hour trip morphed into 3.25. But it's okay....

I'm a knitter!

Hopefully Monday will be better... if not, expect to see a completed pair of socks soon!

Friday Felines

Rupert is now Chief Plant Warmer

December wings

Is it December already? It doesn't feel like it. Those darn snapdragons are STILL blooming. They are calling for snow on the weekend, but winter still feels far off. What a weird year for weather it has been....

...either way, I'm still preparing for the cold.

Wingspan is winging right along. It's fun to watch each wedge emerge - especially with the handspun. It moves quicker than I expected too - but it's easy to forget that each row of each triangle is getting shorter as you go.

The pattern calls for eight triangles, but I'm going to see how far my yarn will take me... I may get more!