The Time My Favourite Yarn Returned

When you find your favourite self-striping yarn is back and it’s sold as a pack – you gotta do what you gotta do.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

~~Theodore Roosevelt

The Time I Started a 100 Day Project

When I woke up this morning, I had no intention of starting a 100 day project. To be honest, I’m not even sure I knew it was a thing. I’d seen hashtags occasionally on Instagram, but I’d never really ventured down the rabbit hole to see what it was about. Just after lunch as I was scrolling through Instagram, there was a post in my feed that it started today. (I can’t even remember who it was that posted it). In that moment, it jumped out at me as something fun I could do.

Basically, for 100 days you create something. If you follow the hashtag on Instagram (#100DayProject) you can see all kinds of beautiful creations and artwork. My contribution is a bit more modest; I’m going to make a granny square a day for 100 days.

The Time I Stayed in a Castle

A year ago (even though some days it seems much longer) I had the opportunity to stay at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa for meetings. I’ve been to Ottawa many times (it’s a favourite place to visit) and stayed at some nice hotels in the downtown core. The Chateau has always been a class by itself in my eyes though. From its castle-like exterior to its carefully preserved history it has been on my bucket list of places to stay.

I arrived later in the evening and was charmed by the hallway and the old-fashioned doors and rooms. (You know it had to be nice if I wasn’t complaining about schlepping my luggage all the way down that hall.)

Over the next couple days, I loved exploring my “home” for the week. The days were long, but the backdrop made it all seem like a great adventure

Meanwhile, the view from my window overlooked the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill. The entire stay was like being steeped in Canadian history.

I even ventured outside a few times (have I mentioned Ottawa in January is really cold, especially since I almost lost my coat.

Oh, and the food was pretty good too. 🙂

As we near a year of travel restrictions, I find myself looking back at where I’ve been and longing for the days when I took travel for granted. I’m anxious for the days when we can safely return to visiting landmarks like this.

The Time I Knit Another Hat

After frantically finishing my Christmas hats, I was ready to try something different. That’s usually how I feel over the holiday break and the beginning of the new year: I decide I’m going to challenge my knitting skills and not knit the same things over and over. I decided the best way to accomplish this was to, well, knit another hat.

In my defence, it was a bit of leftover inner child who just wants to play with their toys Christmas morning. One of my gifts was the book “Saltwater Gifts” (Yay Atlantic Canada!) I love the Saltwater series but am guilty of drooling over the photos and then not knitting anything. I made up my mind that wasn’t going to happen this time.

The Time I Knit 10 Hats for Christmas

Back in November, I had this idea to knit hats for my nieces and nephews for Christmas. I used to do socks, but I lost my sock knitting mojo a couple of years ago. (I still have a substantial sock yarn collection should the urge ever come back.) Hats though have that quick completion gratification.

 

One of my favourite hat patterns right now is the Koko Bean Hat. It’s so easy to knit without requiring tonnes of attention (think TV knit). Yarn is Liberty Wool; I love self striping yarns (a leftover from my sock knitting bonanza) but they are hard to find in worsted. This one is discontinued.