5 And A Beagle

The Empty(ing) Nest

2009-07-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is turning into a summer of travel for some of us here at 5 and A Beagle.

This young lady headed out just over two weeks ago on quite the adventure with her school choir.
They participated in the Estonian Festival of Song and Dance at the beginning of the month and have since headed south to various spots of interest as they make their way to Frankfurt and, ultimately, home.

Someone is missing her.

Our next wanderer will be this wee lass.
She will be leaving us on Sunday. First stop Paris, then on to the Emerald Isle - County Mayo, Ireland until the end of the month.

Someone is sure to be missing her, too.

And last but not least,
this young man will be taking to the road with 4 of his long-time friends as they explore this vast country of ours over the next 8 months - Canada from coast to coast.

And guess who will be missing him?

Do those look like sad, puppy dog eyes?

You don't want to see mine!

Surprise!

2009-07-03T18:30:00.001-07:00

Well - that was certainly a longer break than planned. With the exception of 'flying the flag' the other day, it's been over 3 months. Hmmm, and what's happened you may ask - or not - . . . . not a heck of a lot . . . . just life.

In the knitting department - the Baby Surprise Jacket.

It's amazing how what seems like an indistinguishable blob while on the needles turns into a cute little jacket. And to accompany the jacket, a pair of Cat Bordhi's Little Sky socks.

All will be heading off to the newest addition to the family in Italy (hopefully without any of Miles' fur - man, that dog is shedding like crazy).

Project Details:
Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket
Started-June 24th
Finished-June 30th
Cat Bordhi's Little Sky Socks
Started- June 30th
Finished-July 1st
Yarn-a combination of Regia Sock yarn in the colourway-Canadian along with Elann's Sock It To Me yarn in navy blue.

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T00:08:00.001-07:00

April Fool and April Fuel

2009-04-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

The weather decided to play an April Fools joke on us Vancouverites.......

Snow!

But, while I was driving #5 to her early morning practice, one of the local radio stations announced a little "road side" contest. They were giving out gas cards and other goodies at a spot just over the bridge in Vancouver. With 20 minutes to spare before I had to be at work, I zipped across the inlet, scooped up a little 'April Fuel' and headed back across the bridge to North Vancouver.

Snapshot Saturday

2009-03-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Lions' Gate Bridge at Sunset

Looking towards the southeast, at a span of the Lions' Gate Bridge.

Started in the spring of 1937 and completed just over a year and a half later, the Lions' Gate Bridge spans Burrard Inlet at its 'First Narrows' and connects Vancouver to the North Shore.

The building of the bridge was financed by the Guinness family (of the Irish beer fame) so as to provide access to North and West Vancouver. The family had purchased over 4,000 acres in what is now West Vancouver and of course, with a bridge to connect the North Shore to the rest of Vancouver, development of the land would be a much easier task.

To help recover construction costs, toll booths were built at the north end of the bridge. At that time, a weekly auto ticket cost a princely $1.25, pedestrians paid 7 cents per crossing and cars were 25 cents (plus 5 cents per extra passenger).

The tolls were lifted in 1952 and today upwards of 70,000 vehicles cross it daily.

One Down, One to Go!

2009-03-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well - embroidery it was. Here is the first sock, just before the eucalan bath and block.

The i-cord of the second sock has been started and I'd be dreaming if I thought I could get it finished in time for the birthday on Saturday. B will have to settle for one sock with the promise of the second.

Your Opinion Please...

2009-03-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last night I found myself at home, alone for THE WHOLE EVENING! I think that may have been the first time in, like, 22 years! What to do, what to do?

It should come as no surprise that I sat and worked on Golden West the whole night.

One entire evening, uninterupted, with a the knitting project and all I managed to accomplish was the embroidery on one side of one sock. (The dark swirly bunch up the boot) That stuff is just a wee bit time consuming and I'm beginning to wonder if the sock really needs it.

Your opinion....to embroider or not to embroider?

Snapshot Saturday

2009-03-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

Vancouver in the spring. Guess which picture best describes what the first full day of spring might have in store for us this year?

Golden West - Stage 1

2009-03-20T07:48:00.001-07:00

The knitting portion of Golden West sock #1 is almost complete. I just need to produce a second 'boot strap' and then it's on to the embroidery.

The boot strap was to be done using the technique of Double Knitting. Do you think I could figure that out? I searched for tutorials online, watched, read, tried.....failed. I ended up picking up 12 stitiches and knitting a circular strap on double points. It's a little thicker than I would like and I don't know if double knitting would provide a somewhat flatter strap.

Any suggestions? Any Double Knitting for Dummies? Maybe I should just try an i-cord.

B's birthday is on the 28th so it's going to be a weekend of knitting to get everything done in time.

Snapshot Saturday

2009-03-14T00:54:00.000-07:00

Taken on a sunny, summer day on Granville Island in Vancouver.

These colourful aqua buses shuttle people across False Creek.

On a snowy March day. Winter just doesn't seem quite ready to fade away and let spring arrive.

Grand Boulevard in North Vancouver on Monday.

4 Stages of Stash Busting

2009-03-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've been making fairly good progress in working my way through some of the yarn that has accumulated around here.

#5 went through the stash and pulled out a collection of 'fun fur' yarn and asked me to make a pillow for her. A quick evening project and about 2-1/2, 3 skeins of yarn put to good use.

During a trip to Michael's over the Christmas season, I came across some sock yarn I'd not seen before and had to give it a try.

On sale for $4 per, I picked up a couple of skeins. A simple, basic stockinette stitch sock with Patons Stretch Sock yarn.

I received a lovely skein of Socks that Rock yarn as a Christmas gift and have been slowly working my way through the Cable Sock pattern from the Interweave Knits Favorites Socks book.

And last but not least, I found a kit that I'd completely forgotten about from the 2008 Tsarina Tsock Club. It's the Golden West sock and it's absolutely perfect for the upcoming birthday of #3's girlfriend.

She works as a riding instructor at the local equestrian centre and these are just in the beginning stages, but will hopefully knit up into this.

This is an interesting pattern that starts with an i-cord band around the ankle from which stitches are picked up to knit down the foot and then up the leg, with embroidered embellishments added later.

Snapshot Saturday

2009-03-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to "Spring Ahead" tonight!

left to right - top to bottom

1. Steam Clock in Gastown 2. Sundial in Butchart Gardens 3. West Vancouver Floral Clock 4. Vancouver City Hall Clock 5. The Birks Clock, Downtown Vancouver 6. PT Cruiser, regularly traveling the Lower Mainland 7. Mantle Clock, my fireplace 8. 'Vancouver Block' Clock

2009-03-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

According to 'The Big Read' (http://www.neabigread.org/) , adults on average, have only read six books on this list. So ... copy this list, remove my yeses and nos, and add your comments (favourable or otherwise) about the ones you have read. Don't forget to include a total.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - Yes
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien – Yes
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - No
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling – Does watching the movies count? Only read the first two.
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - Yes
6 The Bible –some
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - Yes
8 1984 - George Orwell - Yes
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - No
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - No
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - Yes
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy – Yes
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller – No
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare –No
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - No
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - Yes
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - No
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - No
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - Just started
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot- Yes
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - Yes
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - Yes
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens-No
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - No
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - No
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - No
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - No
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - Yes
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - Yes
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - Yes
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - No
33 The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - Yes
34 Emma - Jane Austen - Yes
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - No
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Yes
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - Yes
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres-Yes
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Yes
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne – Yes
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - Yes
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - Yes
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - No
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving - Yes
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - No
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - Yes
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - No
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - Yes
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding -No
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - Yes
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel -No
52 Dune - Frank Herbert- No
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons -No
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - No
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth -No
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon -No
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - Yes
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -No
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon -Yes
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -No
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck –Yes
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov -No
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt -No
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold –Yes
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas -No
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -No
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy -No
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding -No
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie -No
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - No
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - No
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -No
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - Yes
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson -Yes
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - no
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath -no
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome -No
78 Germinal - Emile Zola -No
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -No
80 Possession - AS Byatt- No
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - Yes
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell -No
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker -No
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -No
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -No
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -Yes
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White - Yes
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom -Yes
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - No
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton –No
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad -No
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupe –Yes
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks -No
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -Yes
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole -No
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute -No
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - No
98 Hamlet – Shakespeare – No
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl -Yes
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -No

Snapshot Saturday

2009-02-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

A fine balance....

(click to enlarge)

A few summers ago, while riding through Stanley Park towards English Bay, we came across this amazing array of stones balanced in the bay at low tide by Kent Avery.

Snapshot Saturday

2009-02-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

(unfortunately, the panorama shot doesn't allow for very much clarity when published here, but you just have to click for a clearer picture)

A light snowfall hit the lower mainland a little over a week ago and I took the opportunity to head over to the Vancouver side of Burrard Inlet to get a few pictures of the North Shore mountains. I've used autostitch to join them together to get a panoramic shot.

We're very fortunate in North Vancouver to live at the base of three ski hills. Outside of the shot to the right (east) is Mount Seymour, just right of center is Grouse Mountain and out of the shot on the left is Cypress .

The twin peaks off in the background of this photo are referred to as The Lions or The Two Sisters. The story of the Sisters can be found here.

I've never made the climb, but I understand there is a great hike that starts out from the seaside community of Lions Bay and heads 15km and 1,200 vertical meters upwards. (9.3 miles and 4,200 ft)

A lot of natural beauty right at our doorstep.

Spa Day for the Beagle

2009-02-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday was 'grooming day' for Miles. He's not a big fan of the occasion. I don't know how anyone else's beagle is when it comes to encounters with water, but Miles is most certainly NOT a fan.

Miles LOVES to play fetch. He'll chase after a tennis ball to the point of exhaustion. Nothing will deter him from getting the ball and bringing it back to his playmate for another go 'round. The ball's up in the garden area - no sweat, leap the 3 foot wall, get into the garden, suss out the ball and jump back into the yard for more fun. The ball's stuck in the prickly juniper shrub in said garden - again, no sweat. Just jump the wall, burrow into the shrub, prickles be damned, get the ball and jump out of the shrub, down from the wall and through the yard for more fun. But should the ball land anywhere near the sprinkler, forget it, game over. He'll slink away from his much desired tennis ball with his tail between his legs. We've taken him to the local doggie park at Ambelside beach and he'll romp around and fetch (on leash, he's a beagle after all) and have a grand old time. But again, if the ball goes into the ocean - game over. He wants that tennis ball so badly, but there is just NO WAY he'll get wet to get it.

Back when Miles was skunked the second time, we tried the tomato juice bath/rinse/torture. He tried desperately to climb out of the bathtub and in the end, although the odour was slightly neutralized, the bathroom looked like a major crime scene. Splatters of tomato red everywhere. One sunny, hot summer day, we gave Miles a bath in the backyard. All I can say is it's a good thing it was a sunny, hot summer day as we all ended up soaked.

I don't know what methods they use, how many it takes to hold him down and how wet they get, but after a session at the groomers Miles, who usually looks a little stressed at the end of it all, comes out with a lovely, clean coat - the white fur glowing.

Most days, Miles reminds me of Pig Pen from the Peanuts cartoon. Every move he makes leaves a 'cloud' of fur, but after grooming day there's a short reprieve.

It's only a very short reprieve however. Here are the completed smockies and I'm sure, woven in there with angora is a little bit of beagle.

Snapshot Saturday

2009-02-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

In honour of the day.....

One of the many trails that wind through or around Stanley Park.

Push, Pull, Stretch, Expand, Contract

2009-02-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

Push, pull, stretch, expand, contract. It may seem like I’m describing a session of blocking with some newly completed knitted creation, but no, those were the instructions given to me by a physiotherapist.

It would seem that on the eve of my birthday a few weeks ago, I’d suddenly gone past my “best before date”. Or possibly it was due to my having dangled from that precipice by just my left arm, more likely it was something having been aggravated from shoveling more snow in a two week span than I had in a decade or two.

Whatever the cause, I ended up with calcium deposits on the left shoulder and acute bursitis. My doctor suggested either a shot of cortisone or painkillers to help ride out what would likely be a “week or so” of pain. NOT being a fan of needles, I opted for the second option.

In that “week or so” I learned I can become very whiny around my family. I learned that no matter how much you want to knit, IT HURTS! SO STOP! I also learned that it’s no fun not being able to sleep on your side, properly bathe or shampoo, or dress yourself.

But hey, every day did get a little better and now, with the push, pull, stretch of regular physio, I should almost start to feel 48 again.

As soon as knitting didn't hurt anymore, I started on the fingerless gloves with the remaining Peter Rabbit Yarn.

Pattern: Smockies that have yet to be turned right side out and 'smocked'

Snapshot Saturday

2009-02-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

A new feature here at 5 and A Beagle.

Random snapshots from around our fair city of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Today, for your viewing pleasure . . . .

. . . . taken from the Stanley Park Seawall at Second Beach on a sunny day in August 2007.
Looking westward beyond the UBC Endowment Lands in the distance on the left and Lighthouse and Whytecliff Park in the distance on the right.

Knitting and Cakes

2009-02-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

We're still in birthday mode around here. It was #2's big day on Sunday and #3 will be celebrating on Thursday.

Maybe we should stick to this kind of cake. After all, there'd be fewer calories consumed.

I haven't knit any cakes, but I have finished a pair of mitts and a cowl. The pattern is The Raven from the Selbuvotter book by Terri Shea.

Soon to be mailed off to Estonia and hopefully getting there before the spring thaw.

Also heading overseas, to Italy, everything but the bear. From this book, The Lamb Scarf and a toque for piccola cugina.

Also, an experiment with leftover sock yarn - the mitered baby blanket in a size just right for someone's favourite little doll.

#5 just introduced me to the 'picnik' picture editing program. Just what I need, yet another way to lose an entire night in front of the computer.

A New Day

2009-01-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is how I woke up this morning......

istock cartoon

....clinging desperately to the precipice that is my 40's...for just one more year....

Magic Loop vs Double Points

2009-01-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

(Sock #2 in the pair of Cable Rib Socks and the first of a pair of Fingerless gloves w/Peter Rabbit yarn)

I used to think that double pointed needles were the only way to knit in the round. That was until I tried the magic loop. No more stitches hopping off the needles, no more needles that go missing.

Speaking of needles and missing....

this is my arm today, after a blood sample was taken on Friday.
According to the third, and finally successful nurse that took a stab at me, I have very uncooperative veins. I can't understand why, when I have such an upbeat blood type....B positive.

Last Knitting before the New Year

2008-12-30T18:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve

The snow finally stopped falling on Boxing Day, but there's still plenty of the white stuff around.

Even the transit buses were feeling the holiday spirit on a very snowy Christmas Eve.

Santa was very good to all of us, even Miles.

Won't someone open the door? I wanna go bury this in the snow!!

I received an early Christmas treat from Li of Life's a Stitch, as I was the lucky winner of her blog contest. A skein of delightfully soft Peter Rabbit angora yarn. I watched Dreamgirls for the first time last night and in a wee session of marathon knitting, finished this Cat Borhdi moebius with the butter soft angora.

(psst, Marina...here's a snippet of the kitchen. Maple shaker cabinets, stainless appliances and black granite counters. Notice on the top shelf above my head, I even have sheep in the kitchen)

This much is still left over, so I'm thinking ... a pair of fingerless mitts. Thank you again Li, for the lovely yarn!

I hope you all have a fun filled New Year's Eve and we'll catch you all next year!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

From 5

And A Beagle

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-21T22:16:00.001-08:00

Last night I fell asleep on the west coast and somehow this morning I woke up on the east coast. Or so it seems.

It has been snowing non-stop for the past 24 hours and the forecast is for more of the same. I'm pretty confident in saying we won't be dreaming of a white Christmas, we'll be living it. Yahoo!!

#5 and I did some more baking today (yes, the inhabitants dared to eat most of my last go 'round) and in between measuring, mixing, frosting, etc. we played in the snow.

(click on any to enlarge)