Yarn, Thanksgiving and sisters
I have just enjoyed a Thanksgiving weekend with my sister. It was pure accident. She booked her flights, told me the dates and I squeed as I realised that she'd unwittingly booked to be with me over the long weekend so I'd get the Monday off work to spend with her without worrying about vacation time. Hooray!
I picked her up from the airport after work on Thursday and dragged her along to my knitting group, where we ate pasta and chatted away happily. She's knitting a beautiful pair of mittens. Er, I got teased because my sister is as insane as me with the whole 'knitting primarily with skinny yarn' thing. Heh.
She spent Friday hanging out at the house, relaxing and resting from her time in Toronto while I went to work. Then we went out for sushi for supper, which was amazing, and she introduced me to grilled eel maki which I absolutely love. Wonder whether it's totally indulgent to get some sushi takeout this Friday on the way home from the grocery store?
Saturday started out bright and early with a trip to the farmer's market followed by a drive down to Mahone Bay. We did lots of walking, bought lots of yarn (love having a knitter sister) and ate some amazing Schezchaun (sp?) carrot soup from the Biscuit Eater Cafe and Bookshop. Possibly the best part of the rather wonderful soup were the cheese and herb biscuits which were hot and fresh and divine. Between the soup, the biscuits and the chocolate espresso shortcakes, we didn't need supper that night! We had to make a quick stop at the mall on the way home (bathroom break) and I spotted the Rowan Greatest Knits book in Chapters. Hmm. I'm in two minds, largely because while some of the older patterns are fun, the patterns I love are from Rowan 42 which I already have. So it requires thought and possibly a revisit before I decide on whether to add it to my wishlist.
Sunday was a slightly quieter day. I made French toast for breakfast and then we toddled up to the mall for a quick visit to Gap before going to the beach for a long walk. Bliss. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon with our knitting and some TV before going out for seafood supper and then a visit with my aunt.
Monday was Thanksgiving and we spent the day relaxing, watching movies and knitting so that I could be on top of my game for cooking the big supper. This is the first time that I've done a major event meal and also the first time that I've done roast potatoes. Yes, it was the potatoes that had me panicked and declaring it as my Experimental Monday dish. Thankfully my recipe (trusty Comfort Food to the rescue again) was clear and concise, enabling me to produce tatties that were crispy and nicely browned on the outside and fluffy on the inside. No raw bits, no sogginess, and I'm very proud. My aunt supplied stuffing and I cooked salmon, due to my sister's non-meat-eating status. It all worked out perfectly, with all the food cooked at just the right time and lots of yummy noises at the table. Phew!
My sister goes home tonight and I'm going to miss her. We've had a lovely few days together and it's been so much fun to just hang out and knatter. We seem to get along better and have more in common as we get older, which is fabulous.
Knitting-wise, I finished my lovely purple shawl (I'm wearing it right now - the office is slightly chilly) and cast on for my Tubey sweater. The yarn that was coming surface mail and I wasn't expecting to see for months arrived on Friday - yippee! I'm most of the way across the back of the shrug section already (almost finished the second ball) so it's going swimmingly. I swatched and discovered that I had to go down a needle size so apart from the usual "OMG, will this fit?" worries I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. In fact, I'm even daring myself to have it ready in time for my Christmas trip to England. I'm insane, right?
I picked her up from the airport after work on Thursday and dragged her along to my knitting group, where we ate pasta and chatted away happily. She's knitting a beautiful pair of mittens. Er, I got teased because my sister is as insane as me with the whole 'knitting primarily with skinny yarn' thing. Heh.
She spent Friday hanging out at the house, relaxing and resting from her time in Toronto while I went to work. Then we went out for sushi for supper, which was amazing, and she introduced me to grilled eel maki which I absolutely love. Wonder whether it's totally indulgent to get some sushi takeout this Friday on the way home from the grocery store?
Saturday started out bright and early with a trip to the farmer's market followed by a drive down to Mahone Bay. We did lots of walking, bought lots of yarn (love having a knitter sister) and ate some amazing Schezchaun (sp?) carrot soup from the Biscuit Eater Cafe and Bookshop. Possibly the best part of the rather wonderful soup were the cheese and herb biscuits which were hot and fresh and divine. Between the soup, the biscuits and the chocolate espresso shortcakes, we didn't need supper that night! We had to make a quick stop at the mall on the way home (bathroom break) and I spotted the Rowan Greatest Knits book in Chapters. Hmm. I'm in two minds, largely because while some of the older patterns are fun, the patterns I love are from Rowan 42 which I already have. So it requires thought and possibly a revisit before I decide on whether to add it to my wishlist.
Sunday was a slightly quieter day. I made French toast for breakfast and then we toddled up to the mall for a quick visit to Gap before going to the beach for a long walk. Bliss. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon with our knitting and some TV before going out for seafood supper and then a visit with my aunt.
Monday was Thanksgiving and we spent the day relaxing, watching movies and knitting so that I could be on top of my game for cooking the big supper. This is the first time that I've done a major event meal and also the first time that I've done roast potatoes. Yes, it was the potatoes that had me panicked and declaring it as my Experimental Monday dish. Thankfully my recipe (trusty Comfort Food to the rescue again) was clear and concise, enabling me to produce tatties that were crispy and nicely browned on the outside and fluffy on the inside. No raw bits, no sogginess, and I'm very proud. My aunt supplied stuffing and I cooked salmon, due to my sister's non-meat-eating status. It all worked out perfectly, with all the food cooked at just the right time and lots of yummy noises at the table. Phew!
My sister goes home tonight and I'm going to miss her. We've had a lovely few days together and it's been so much fun to just hang out and knatter. We seem to get along better and have more in common as we get older, which is fabulous.
Knitting-wise, I finished my lovely purple shawl (I'm wearing it right now - the office is slightly chilly) and cast on for my Tubey sweater. The yarn that was coming surface mail and I wasn't expecting to see for months arrived on Friday - yippee! I'm most of the way across the back of the shrug section already (almost finished the second ball) so it's going swimmingly. I swatched and discovered that I had to go down a needle size so apart from the usual "OMG, will this fit?" worries I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. In fact, I'm even daring myself to have it ready in time for my Christmas trip to England. I'm insane, right?