Felting

I finished my second felted bag today!
It was a biggie. It was over 2ft tall when I knit it, but now that I shrunk it, it is closer to 16" high.
Here's the before:

(See, almost the width of my kitchen table!)



And now:




My house now smells like a combination of wet dog and moth balls! I had done the felting in my kitchen sink by hand, and it took a good hour and really smelt!

Coldest night of the Year

So my friend Krista and I did the 10 km walk on Saturday evening. It was a bit of a crowd to walk in, so the first km was a little crazy, but we made it through and finished in one hour and 40 min.

Here's the note from the director...

"Thanks so much to all of you who took part in or gave money to The Coldest Night of the Year in Salmon Arm.

We were all blown away by the turn out and community support for this event.

We had over 400 walkers, over 50 volunteers and raised over $53,000 for the Lighthouse Shelter.

Thanks so much to all of you who raised money and to all of you who helped out, we could not have done it without you.


Craig Pulsifer took some truly great photos of the event (go to http://craigpulsifer.smugmug.com/Events/ColdestNight and check them out)


Thanks Everyone - See you next year!!!


Chris Moore
Salmon Arm CNOY Event Director"

So I think it was a success and I was glad to be part of it. My feet were pretty tired by the end of it, but otherwise I felt fine. It was fun to take on the physical challenge while also knowing that the money raised will go to a great cause.

A is for...B is for....

I started another photo project of the food alphabet....
(I have a set started on Flickr.)

Grade 2

I stopped into the grade two classroom this afternoon.
This is the couch in their room, and Liam was officially the "couch potato" and got the privilege of sitting on it today!!


Though his self portrait makes him look a bit like a black boy...I must admit he had a great tan at the beginning of September!

All the little numbers and letters and kits and pockets...just love it.

They all have a spool knitting tool on the go and get knitting every Wednesday or if they have finished their work early.

And here is some of Liam's epic artwork.

We love GRADE TWO!! It's been such a great year!

Picture update

I've managed to keep up with my 365 photos project and have taken a photo a day since I started. It has been good and I am getting quite comfortable with manual, but still have a ways to go.

I sure like having the ability to take a picture in a really dark room and have it look this bright...maybe borderline too bright.


I made buns yesterday...

I have a cute and growing boy....

Today strawberries were on sale...yummy!


And I ran a mile today at the rink! A first for me...I usually just walk the 5km as fast as I can, but I picked it up a bit today. I'm walking a 10km this weekend for the Coldest Night of the Year, and who knows, maybe I'll even be able to run through part of it!
Anyway...I know that was random, but computer time is limited these days!
Have a great week!

Little Lukie

My brother is Luke, and this is his baby.

I think that picture looks so much like him!!



And in this one he looks like his big sister Claire.

Babies are so cute. It's fun to have one around again!

Walking in winter.

I forced the boys outside with me for a walk down by the wharf so I could bring my camera outdoors for a change. I brought all 3 lenses and only used manual, so it was a good practice shoot for me. I still find it hard as the sun was strong behind me, so anytime I turned, I'd have to adjust something, but I will figure it all out. The more I practice, the easier it'll be.
Make sure you look on Facebook for the other photos on the walk.

Learn Chinese

Oh man...I just saw this on Facebook and got a good giggle.
Sorry for the swearing, but it makes it funnier.

happenings at our place....

Who is that crazy character you may ask?? It happens to be Riley. He had a random dress-up-as-anything day at school. He wore a karate outfit with a black wig and china hat....so he was a sensei. For as shy as this kid is, he will sometimes pull off these kind of things with no hesitation.

Shea had preschool today, and brought home some gorgeous artwork.

He loves his time at school as much as I do! I've been keeping up with my walking at the rink and then run all over town doing errands while he's there.

Liam now is in Intro to Hockey and Sockeye Fries (which is a swim club), and he is getting to be quite the little skater and fish. He doesn't care as much about hockey, but I thought it was important that he was given a chance to try it out. There are so many kids in his class that spend hours at the rink a week, but it just isn't for us (phew). I had a run-in with a nasty hockey-mom and it has kinda ruined my enjoyment of the sport. That and sitting on a hard cold bench for 2 hours a week doesn't help! I'm not sure quite what Liams' "sport of choice" is, which is weird as he's quite athletic but just doesn't want to put the effort into it. For now we're just trying him at a little bit of everything. Greg has taken them up skiing twice so far, and they have had a great time. Next year we might just try to get the family pass.

I went to my knitting club last night and have just started a massive felted bag. It is made with two colors of wool and will be huge until I shrink it down. I will show you progress photos soon.

Greg is enjoying his new job for which we are so thankful! He goes to hockey on Thursday nights and is quite involved in the church worship time, both playing guitar and leading.
Anyway....there was a quick update on us. Lately I've just been posting photos, but it is getting hard for me to keep up as I also post them on facebook and another group. You'll have to check them out there if you don't find them here. Thank you to all for the comments and encouragement on my photos. It has been a great project so far and I'm definitely getting more confident in the manual mode.

I'm so grateful that January flew by quickly, as it was a terrible month of sickness and lack of sleep. We're hoping for healthier and warmer days ahead!