Crafting Morrighana

The Hills are Alive

Life is so lush right now!  Everything is growing so quickly and becoming more and more lush every day.  We have TONS of birds at the feeder, the air near our place is perfumed so gently with some absolutely gorgeous trees currently in blossom and the world is so green.   

Rather than doing my usual Friday Flickr Five (FFF) I thought I would just send you over to my flickr page for you to peruse my latest excursion.  Last Sunday Kev's family and I ventured out to a greenhouse near their cottage and I decided to use the excuse to play with the Nikon some more.  Check out some of the beautiful flora and fauna I've come across recently by clicking here.

Have a great weekend!

All good things,

Morrighana

Friday Flickr Five

It is Friday, right?  Oh please say it is!!  What a week!

Knit night on Tuesday, looking at several houses on Wednesday, work was...well let's just not talk about work.  The house hunting is going well, although we haven't seen anything that really grabs us yet.  It's interesting to look at these houses and get a glimpse into other peoples lives.  At times I feel like I'm invading their private space and it feels awkward to be walking through someone else's house.  At other times, I feel like I've found a house belonging to a family that I could really identify with.

Oh there are so many things to consider and while I find it a somewhat overwhelming process, Kev seems to have a really good handle on all the things that need to be considered.  We are both very excited, a little scared and feeling very hopeful about the future.

At any rate, I managed to get some time to work on my Central Park Hoodie which is coming along beautifully.  I still am not sure that the colour is a good colour for me, but I'm enjoying the process of knitting it regardless and it's giving me a chance to work from the stash instead of buying new yarn.  It's a happy knit for sure!

Unfortunately, I don't have any recent photos for you of my CPH but I'll try to get some taken this weekend.  I have both sleeves done and about a 1/3 of the back.  Oh how I wish I'd jumped on this bandwagon months ago.  I don't know why I waited.  Ha ha!

I do have some photos taken on various excursions with Kev and my Nikon that I thought I would share with you in loo of CPH photos.  I hope you enjoy them!

 

I have been trying to catch a photo of these magnolias for three years now.  They bloom all over our city every spring and are my favourite trees.  This year I managed to photograph some. :D

 

My handsome little man.  Taken this past winter in a rare moment of stillness for Pooka.

 

Some eggs dyed by my sister and my neice Tulia this past Easter/Ostara.  Aren't they gorgeous?

 

An old school in Cambridge Ontario.  This building just BEGS to be photographed.

 

And how could I leave out my new little neice, and Tulia's little sister, Gracie.  I took this photo last weekend at our Mother's day gathering.  Such a sweetie!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that the sun is shining where you are! Some CPH updates coming next week as well as a glimpse into my latest Castitis obsession.

All good things,

Morrighana

Fall Colours

As promised (since I now know it is REALLY Friday...heh heh ahem...) here are some photos that I've taken in the past week.  I took a lot of them during some beautiful fall drives around South Western Ontario.

I call this guy the Demon King.  He is part of a sculpture park Kev and I discovered in
Elora.  Every year they put up new spooky sculptures to celebrate Samhain/Halloween.  Aren't they awesome??!?



A very tall spooky Raven


And your little dog, too!


A wind turbine at the Amaranth Wind Farm in Ontario


Golden fall mums on my front porch.


One of my current knitting projects nestled into the pink mums on my porch.


Some beautiful fall colours up at my in-laws cottage last weekend.

Okay, well that was more than five today, but the colours have been so beautiful this year I just couldn't resist sharing.  If you would like to see some other photos that I've taken recently, check out my Flickr album by clicking the link.

Have a great weekend!
All good things,
Morrighana

ACK!

Okay, I wanted to continue the recount of my vacation knitting but today has been NUTS at work and I didn't get a chance!!

So today, to make up for that, I will resurrect my FFF or Friday Flickr Five so I don't leave you hanging for the Labor Day long weekend.  Here are some pictures I took of some local colour when Kev and I went walking with the camera the other day here in my town:

Guess What?


The Physics Institute in Waterloo (I love this building)



Beautiful Pheasant in Waterloo Park


You must be getting so sick of these...Papa Peacock in Waterloo Park


A Garden Path (not in my garden though)

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!
All good things,
Morrighana

And to All A Good Night...

Snow snow snow

WOW! We have had so much snow in the past 24 hours!  It's a winter wonderland here in Waterloo as I'm sure in many places right now.

To brighten things up even more (because I am a firm believer, being a January baby and all, that snow is BEAUTIFUL!!) here are your Friday Five!  Enjoy and Happy Weekending everyone!

Here are a few cute little candles my Mother-in-law gave to me the last time I saw her.  I thought they looked so cute with the Noro Kureyon I was knitting with at the time, so I got a little camera happy with them.

Again with the colour-bugs but this time on my Lizard Ridge square (the first one completed!!)

Normally I'm not big on hunting animals, but this one was hunted for legitimate reasons and now resides in my in-law's cottage.  Pretty neat story behind it actually.  I'll have to tell you about it sometime.

This little red chair looked so sad and lonely covered in snow outside the cottage.  But it made for what I think is a neat picture.

And what FFF would be complete without me putting in a picture of my adorable little neice.  I just love the little bunny hat that my sister found for her.  Too bad she'll be growing out of it soon...if she hasn't already.

Okay, hope you enjoyed this installment!  The weather is so beautiful that I'm hoping to get some great snowy pictures for you this weekend!
Have a good one everyone.  We'll see you next week.
All good things,
Morrighana

FFF The Winter Edition

Morning and Happy Friday!  I'm so happy today.  I went to a girlfriend's place last night and she taught me the beginnings of crochet and I actually managed to do it! WOOT!
It is so nice to finally be able to sit down with someone and learn.  It didn't seem to matter how many books or magazines I went through, I just couldn't get it.  Sometimes hands on, practical experience and teaching is the best way to learn.

Anyways, here are a few wintery pics for you for Friday.  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Our little garden buddha that is currently on our patio covered in snow.  He looks so cozy.

When my grandfather came home from the war, he brought one of these little pill boxes with him for my grandmother.  She loved them so much that he ordered one from England every year after that.  After they both had passed on they went to my mother and father.  I love how small they are and how delicate they look.  I took this pic last time I visited them in London.

An ornament my mother had up at their place over the holidays.

One of my absolute favourite flowers.  Taken at the cottage I think.

And a little more colour from my mother's window.  I just can't resist that colour!

All good things,

Morrighana

Sweet, Sweet Georgia

OMG!  I'm just too excited for words!  Look what was between the doors when I got home!!

Thank you so much to Connie at Pick up Sticks in Aurora, Ontario for sending my order to me so quickly.  And while the cute little Joy ornament didn't come with the order (I already owned him) she was very generous to send along a Pick up Sticks project bag as a little bonus!  THANK YOU CONNIE!!
Sigh...Sweet Georgia in Saffron and Dragon...I'm in love.  I can't wait to get my mitts on this yarn and make me some SOCKS!!  These socks are for ME, ME, ME...well...once my holiday gift knitting is done.  Ha ha!

In contest news, I haven't gotten any photos yet, so if you are worried that your stash just isn't going to cut it, don't be fooled!  Send in your photos to me if you'd like to enter the contest.  Don't be shy!  My husband is only judging the photos that are submitted to me with their counts, so don't worry about the people with giant yarn stashes that haven't entered.  I am looking forward to people getting involved and I've really been enjoying putting together the Knitters Care Package as well as the prize for the Smallest Stash.  Hope to hear from you all soon!! :-)

Okay, here's your Friday Flickr Five comin' at ya with some festive Yule pictures!  It's a beautiful snowy day today full of big fat flakes where I am.  Hope you are getting into as much Holiday spirit as I am!

Here's Akira decorating his own little tree.  Actually, we can't leave it on the floor or the rabbits will eat it!!  But Akira did his best this week to help me decorate the tree to sit on top of their cage.

The holiday spirit showed up this year in my Christmas Cactus a couple of weeks ago.  I always get excited when it starts to bloom on my window sill.

One of my favourite ornaments.  We decorated the house this week, and I made sure to put this one out where I could see it from anywhere in the living room.

And of course, I had to make the newest addition to my stash feel good about itself.  I tried to share with it the joy that it brought me!  *sigh* I can't wait to knit with this stuff!!  Did I mention how much I love Connie down at Pick Up Sticks AND Felicia from Sweet Georgia (she makes this beautiful yarn) Hee hee hee!

Okay, time to start the work day!  Remember to get your photos in to me for the contest before December 20th!  I will be accepting entries right up until midnight of that day.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

All good things,

Morrighana

More Flickr Fun...and a Contest!!

Wow!  I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one out there that feels the way I do about television!  Thanks to you ladies for taking the time to let me know I'm not completely insane. *grin*  Gives me some hope when I am tuning out the clackers in the lunchroom today.

So I'm thinking I might put together a little contest soon.  Nothing is formalized yet, but if it goes the way I want it to, it'll involve your (the knitting readers) yarn stash and a camera.  *rubs hands together evilly*  I will try to get something up in the next week, but I still haven't formalized the plans yet, so be patient my fellow knitters.  Just you be patient.  I'm going shopping for the prize this weekend so keep your eyes tuned to my blog when you get a chance and I'll be posting more about it later in the week.

Okay, so here it is, it's Friday!  Guess what that means?  No, this time I DID remember to get some pictures together!  WOOT!  Okay, here goes:

Kev's nephew while we were playing on the dock at the cottage this past summer.  He's such a sweet kid.  I think we were making mud sculptures on the dock when I took this.


One of my favourite flowers ever.  I believe this was taken in Waterloo Park this past...um...summer...Eesh, I know there is freezing rain outside today, but you would think I would have some good FALL pictures at least.   Ha ha! Oh well, I like this one nonetheless.

The tortoise and the hare in the pen at Waterloo Park.  They just recently introduced the tortoise to the park this year and placed him into the rabbit pen.  The baby bunnies there seemed to enjoy whizzing past him as though they were taunting him.  It was cute, but I imagine the tortoise wasn't amused...heck, I wouldn't be!

This is the forest beside our house.  It looks so beautiful in the summer.  Even though there is an expressway not to far away, we've seen owls, deer, hawks, mice and a whole other slew of animals and fowl in there.  Of course, my favourite one in there is the Crows and Ravens.  The trees are so tall, that a HUGE murder of crows takes over the tree tops every year.  I love to hear them calling out all at once.  Even more impressive is when they all take off at once.  It's like a huge black cloud rising from the forest.  Craziness!

Here's me getting all artsy...heh heh.  It's a piece of quarts on top of some funky striations of rock up at the cottage.  I think I just liked the way the colour worked in this one...

Okay, well I'm off to start my work day.  I figure 7:44am is as good a time as any to get back to work..ha ha!  Have a great weekend everyone!
All good things,
Morrighana

Sunday and She's Sorry (FFF Revised)

Eesh!  Completely missed my Friday Flickr Five for all of you on Friday!  VERY sorry about that everyone. :-(  I made sure to torture myself with an extra helping of dessert this weekend to make sure I would type double time this week for you.  I figure if I have to work off all those calories then that makes for more reading for you!!  Hopefully that doesn't come off sounding too conceited...Hee hee!

At any rate, life has been C-H-A-O-S lately and so when my sister told me she was coming from Toronto with my new little neice and THEN told me that my parents would be popping up from London, Ontario this weekend to say hello I was completely revved to see them all.  They even brought our family dog Duff with them!!  (Yes, the rabbits were very happy to see their Uncle Duff again!)
With all the negativity swirling around and the frustrations galore, I was in desparate need of some serious family time.  Since we are all so widespread across the province it's hard for us to get together with any sort of regularity, so when we do, we try to cram as much bonding and catching up as we can into one day.  Oh sure, there's email and the telephone (which we also use frequently) but there is nothing like being able to SEE your sister's smile while she's describing how her daughter discovered her feet for the first time this week.  And there's nothing like being able to FEEL the many hugs hello when they first get in the door of your house.  I really needed those hugs and they certainly made life a lot more enjoyable on Saturday.  I feel rejuvenated after spending time with them.  My only regret was that my brother and his girlfriend couldn't be there and my sister's husband had to mark report cards that day so he stayed in the T-dot as well.  Oh well...next time.

So as of today, I am half way through both the alien illusion scarf, and the skull and crossbones scarf AND I started a pair of socks for Kev.  Wanna see??  Of course you do!  Ha ha!  Have a look-see then:
Now, here's the thing...there's supposed to be a K1, P1 for 10 rows at the top...I kinda messed that up.  But the point here is that I am actually knitting on MORE than two needles people!  WOO HOO!!  This is a first, lemme tell ya!  I'm so excited!!  Kev says he doesn't mind the mess up at the top with the ribbing, he's just happy that he's going to own a pair of home-made socks.  Hee hee!

Anyways, thanks for popping in everyone!  I've been reading up on the Yarn Harlot lately.  You'll notice that she, among a few others have been added to my Blogtastic! blogroll over on your right.  I decided to find out what all the fuss was about when I was at work on Friday afternoon, since every knitter and her mother seem to either have her on their blogroll or are talking about her.

I figured she must be big in the knitting world, but MAN!  She is so hysterically funny!  I started reading her first blog entries on Friday afternoon and I WAS ROLLING ON THE FLOOR it was soo funny.  She is definitely worth the read, and I have added her books to my Chapters Wish List for Christmas this year.

Hmmm...speaking of which.  Maybe I can do some knitting for the homeless again for some Christmas drives...*lowers voice*  Pssst...just don't tell Kev, cause he already thinks I have enough on the needles already...*snickers*
Okay, back to the needles I go and then I'm hitting the sack.
All good things,
Morrighana