Northern Needles

Repeat after me, knitting is not an olympic event.
It is not an aerobic activity.

I had the pleasure of trying to teach a friend to knit this weekend. Those that know me know well that I only recently learned to purl but I managed to find someone that knows less about knitting then I do. Was it ever funny!!! Needles flying everywhere, I swear she was trying to stitch using her toes at one point!

We are completely different people when it comes to knitting. I’m not a swatch maker. I could care less about the whys and wherefores. If it doesn’t look like something right away or I can’t make something usable I move on. My friend, let’s call her “M”, is the complete opposite. She was happy casting on, taking it back off, casting on again for hours on end. Practice she called it. Waste of time to me, I could have knitted half a scarf in that time!

I can already see she’ll be a swatch maker. I’m more of a “what’s the point”…you could have been that far ahead on your project.

And “M” wanted to learn all the different cast on methods. Epe! I know one method, that’s all I need to know. Why clutter my mind with useless information? It was mind blowing.

However, we are both determined to knit a sweater this winter. LOL…watch she’ll be the one to actually do it and do it perfectly! 3 sleeves? why not. No head hole? Call it a touque and be done with it.

TV, cable, internet, hydro (electricity to non-Canadians).

We survived a 12 hour blackout at our place. I missed my TV!!!!!!!! The winds were just terrible yesterday and our hydro kept going off and on and then finally went after 3 pm. Lots and lots of trees down on the Alaska Highway!!!!! Good thing we have the ol’wood stove so we were nice and toasty warm at least. Unfortunately our lamps don’t run on wood power so I couldn’t read, stitch, knit…watch all the monday night tv shows! Las Vegas, LAX, CSI Miami. Plus countless meaningless commercials I missed.

We did however sing a lot of new songs JP (my girlie) learned in school. All together now, one green jelly bean, down in my belly bean….LOL. Many a story were told to firelight, all dealing with princes and witches and castles galore. I love my girlies’ imaginations. What goes on in their little minds?

The hard part was this morning. Morning coffee? Eeeeep. My favorite tv shows? No SG-1 on the Space Channel? No House Doctor on the Women’s Network?

Oh well, alls well that ends well. (so many wells in that sentence) Hydro was restored! We could once again run water, turn on lights, use the microwave, MAKE COFFEE!!! At least it didn’t happen in the middle of winter, even though it got down to freezing our water pump didn’t freeze. And the house was all toasty warm due to fire power. And now my shows are on and the internet has been restored. All happy dance now with me.

I have to say I’m addicted to RRs. I love being part of a group of stitchers. I stitch with 2 groups and will continue to do so as long as they’ll have me. There is an internation group of us, we call ourselves stitching divas…lol and I think I’ve been in 3 RRs with them…or is it 4? And then there is a group of fellow Canadians that I stitch with and this is my 2nd RR with the group. I’ve been in others in the past and they didn’t work out so well. Joining a round robin is taking a leap of faith and sometimes things don’t turn out so well. But with my 2 groups I lucked out and made great friends and got back wonderful finished pieces. Its just so much fun, waiting for the next mailing to see what is coming through the door. Everyone’s taste is so different so you have an opportunity to stitch something you never would have on your own. Sometimes you discover new loves. Sometimes you vow never to stitch a certain style again. And when your finished piece comes home you have a work of art, a little piece of all your friends to hang on the wall and look upon each day.

The one I’m working on today (and last night, while watching Amazing Race so it doesn’t really count as I was distracted) is for a fellow Canadian, Dina. She chose a Cross My Heart leaflet called Minuature Village that is just wonderful! She stitched Welcome across the top and we each get to pick a house or storefront from the booklet to line the street. Suzanne picked a pretty gazebo and park to place in the centre of the block. I figured the church would look nice up against that so that is what I’m working on. Its very detailed and takes about a million colours but I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end. Seeing Suze’s gazebo is really spurring me on to finish.

Luckily the mailout on this one isn’t till November but I’m really enjoying it so you never know, it could be done this week.

Ok, I haven’t stitched since I started this blog…all of 15 minutes ago…but if your interested in seeing prior stitchings (including what I finished yesterday) my web album is link is on the left (Northern Needles Gallery). Have a look around.

Happy stitching!

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first start blogging. I think I have it sorted out except how to retitle my web log but for now it can stay as is.

Thank you Steve for setting this up for me! I hope it didn’t hurt too much, remember I owe you a triple latte with extra foam. I’ll send you an A&W coupon. You are the bestest.

A bit about me….Tansi! (which is Cree for hello! hi! who the heck are you and what are you doing in my boat!) I live in the Yukon, which is a territory in northern Canada. No we are not a province!!!! And yes we are near Alaska!!!! No we do not live in igloos and I don’t have a polar bear in my backyard. LOL…actually I’m not far enough north in the Yukon for polar bears. We do have lots of bear, moose, wild bison, wolves, coyotes, and sheep (that would be mountain sheep not knitwear sheep). At the moment I’m surrounded by snowcapped mountains and the leaves are all gold and red. There is just a hint of wood smoke in the air. Everyone better have their woolies out already!

I’m a cross stitcher and newbie knitter so be sure to check out my Needle Stories category if stuff like that interests you. And if it doesn’t check it out anyway, you might be intrigued!

this is me impersonating Viv