While Tangerine Dreams

Green Machine

I joined a new Flickr group created by Curious Bird. Collages of Colour. Funny how this collage excercise brings to my attention how I'm always surrounding myself in green in this chapter of my life. New beginnings. Especially in my knitting. Come to think of it, even my "K-is for Kathy and for Knitting" bag is quite obnoxiously green as you can see for yourself:

This was one of my first ever knitting projects so that explains me looking a little "MRF" (for any of you who also think that Arrested Development is only the best show EVER! - for those of you  who don't know that yet MRF stands for "Mildly Retarded Female" - Charlize Theron's special guest star appearance character).

I guess we can safely lable it Apple Green. My world's colour right now. The first colour Edie Tangerine has ever seen. I like it.

I start a knitting class on Sunday. Again, at my new favourite LYS, Make 1 Yarn Studio - half owned by Indiegirl of Indiegirl Knits. Super stoked! Saturday, instead of my usual SnB get-together I am joining Edie's favourite babysitter, Nivine - who's so Divine, for a morning yoga class. I need to balance my life here. Less online, more Divine!

But first, I'd like to show and tell what I will be posting on Ebay hopefully next week in case there are any takers reading:

A hemp baby sling (Little Star):

And a tv baby monitor my mom got me after she asked me if I wanted one and I said no thank you (never used - brand new). God love her:

Have a great weekend! Get lots of knitting done!

Sweet Tweet

Well, well, well, what have we here. Let's have a little looky, looky:

Oh! Good mornin' mate! Isn't this just the bee's knees? I love it!! This is a beautiful collage concoction of Jackie's from Littlest Flower. All the way from Australia. I think the reason I'm so drawn to it is because it reminds me of this corner of the Horniman Ranch:

Very similar, no? There's always swallows zooming in and out of the little house Craig built for them. The collage literally sings to me. I'm so pleased. Thank you for your beautiful work, Jackie!

 

Things are going to get Hot!

The first sign of skunk cabbage in the Horniman brook. We usually trek out around this time to hang out on our land and drink in Spring - so much more pronounced in that neck of the woods. Craig's planning a roadtrip within a couple of weeks. I'm still debating whether or not to join him. Still a little chilly in the trailer for the munchkin! Plus, Craigy will get much more done without our sorry, needy souls. We'll see.

Craig busted me (yet again) emerced in reading all those wonderful, creative blogs out there and plopped this book beside and grunted "Read this":

Unbeknownst to him, I'm actually the one who purchased the book a couple of years ago (okay, maybe that is beknownst to him). This book is so nifty! Teaches you to build a cob packed, fire-fueled hot tub within a day. Oh, yeah. We just happen to have two (not one, two!) clawfoot tubs sitting in our backyard right now waiting to be all cobbed-up on the Horniman Ranch. We scored these through the Bargain Finder a couple of years ago. A house that was to be torned down sold us both tubs for only $300!! Score!

Anyway, we really need a bathing situation on the land - pronto. The plan is to build the hottubs side by side so we can enjoy a cocktail in some form after a long day of frolicking in the forest and just hold hands. That way Craig can have his very own water space lest he chooses to jacuzzi his without totally grossing me out. The beauty of cob too is you can morph beautiful images into the tubs and surrounding benches. Here is a work of the author of the book, Becky Bee:

Blissful it is. So, the hottub project has been laid onto my hands while Craig focuses on building an office in the woods and implementing infrastructure such as electricity, permits, clearing of area, well drilling etc. I'll get right on it just as soon as I quickly check out Soule Mama, Crafty Bird, now Curious Bird, Posy and also Posie and, and, and...
 

Leg Warmth

Et, tada! Voila, ici estan mon leg warmers (my apologies if you speak French or Spanish - I think I may have offended both camps). These are from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book under the chapter entitled "Two to Four Hour Gifts". I'd like to offer they rename the chapter "My Ass". These took forever! Like, a month of steady Edie nap time. And she naps like a little baby sloth! Oh well, the joy is in the process.

Craig busted me trying to take pictures of my tube-intombed legs early this morning. I thought his eyes were going to roll right out of his cute head! He muttered something about being empathetic and offered to take a picture of me modeling these puppies. I'll spare you that scariness. Momma's got to get up mighty early to beat the Tangerine to precious morning alone time to get such things done as writing this right now.

Long story short, in the picture I'm sporting the maternity moomoo that I still find comfy and embracing a crack-ho after a late night a'crackin' appearance. I want to maintain my Calgary's Martha Stewart facade so here's a shot instead of me right by the Calgary Tower working on the legwarmers while waiting for our city's fine, clean n' green living LRT service on our big "walk" to the library on Sunday:

Oh, yes. Wondering minds want to know the deal with the felted soaps (I even got a phone call from merry ol' England about that - hello Natashia!). The deal is the wool acts as a built in wash cloth. I tried it and it is heavenly!!! Honestly, not too weird. If anything, weird in a cool way. Plus, it looks really pretty in the soap section of your shower (away from the spray, People!). And I'm thinking, once the soap's all gone, throw the leftover felt in the wash, take out, shape it, air dry and voila! Coaster! Bob's your uncle!

That Felt Good!

I got around to felting some bars of soap this weekend. Oh what fun! Lots of soap groping involved but that' okay 'cuz I love my soap! Here's the tutorial  I found in case you're into giving this a whirl. It's very addictive I should warn.  Was tempting to slip ET some kind of magic pill to buy me some more "mommy time" to felt up a few more! That would have been naughty.

As mentioned, Make 1 Yarns wants to talk soap stuff so I thought I'd present them this week with the lovechild of my two passions, soaping and knitting (fiber anyways) to see how that goes over. As soon as Craigy's done his granola I'll have him guinea pig this in the shower to see if it's all I hyped it up to be or just a gooey mass of wet sheep (ooo, how's this for a tagline - "I Always Wanted to take a Shower with Ewe" ?  Perhaps Mommy should work on that one a bit more. Here's a handy dandy shot:

I hope you had a glorious weekend. I know I did! We had a great family excursion to the main library, welcomed a friend's baby to the world at a babyshower, had Herb Mama and family over for potluck and bonfire Saturday night and, last but not least (actually it was first), Friday night's Chick Flick 'n Knit was so fabulous. We watched Love, Actually (you know, Hugh Grant, your typical British Prime MInister)and I got tonnes of knitting done. Tonnes, of course, in relation to how much I can normally get done with the munchkin around when we're trying to watch a movie.

It was almost a religous experience with the perfect movie lighting in the store, Emma Thompson's droll, stoic mutterings backdropping the soft click, click, clicking of about twelve lovey ladies stitching their love into their handywork. So enjoyable and looking forward to the next one (I believe it will be Zombie movie night though - zombie droning will be just as dramatic a backdrop I'm sure)!

Daffy Dills

Daffy Dills
Originally uploaded by While Tangerine Dreams.

This is the closest pic of spring I can muster right now. To be honest, it's a pic from last spring even. I have no FO's to share unfortunately but I'm sure things will be different come Monday.

Tonight's the much anticipated Chick Flick Night at Make 1 Yarns - lots of knitting will be accomplished tonight while knoshing and crying from on-screen sappiness (or at least tears of laughing from the cheesiness of it all). So sweet the owner, Amy - of Indiegirl fame. Really embracing the concept of a local community of knitters/crocheters, she requested when I popped in for a quick visit yesterday that her store carry my line of soaps to sample in the loo as well as displayed to sell. Wohoo! Thanks Amy. Nice to tell my husband that a yarn store visit has been lucrative for a change!

Edie's Birth

We had a former coworker of Craig's come by with his wife last night to talk about birthing. They are quickly expecting and wanted to hear about a positive birth experience so I was way too happy to oblige. I can talk about natural child birth till the cows come home. This is one of my favourite shots of that special weekend.

Enough baby talk already. Oh. wait. Here is some of that loot I need to discard due to our possible move here shortly. Please email me at yo(underscore)gagirl(at)hotmail(dot)com if you are interested in any of the below (paypal or swap - go ahead, try me. I am trying to lighten my load, so something light) before I post it on ebay:

Here's a Tummy Tub. Suppose to mimick the womb to comfortably bath baby. I only used it twice. Too dry here in Calgary to bathe a babe much. (Asking $35 USD)

And staying on the water theme. Here's a Taylor Made water sling to take baby swimming or showering with you  (they get slippery when wet those little buggers!). Used maybe twice (I own seven slings. It's an addiction) Asking $20 USD:

More slings n things tomorrow. Must feed the munchkin. She's ravenous lately. Growth spurt squirt.

Make Tonnes Yarn!

Yippee! My new favourite LYS is set to be open to today! Check out its total luciousness (ooooo, that felted Kureyon blankie):

Oh yeah... my boney butt's going to be making itself a happy home on that sweet Archie Bunker type spot to the left. Make One Yarn's blog has a listing of all their fabulous yarns that are all just too unreal to be real. Thus, to prove its realness, they're offering a yarn tasting tonight that I unfortunately won't be able to attend (darn, snacks will be provided). But off my Archie spot! I'll be there for chick flick night on Friday (I have forwarned my husband - there might be some rowdy knitting/cosmo drinking/chickflick watching going on)!

On another note, I was able to use up my credit, birthday coupon and gift certificates all in one excursion to the other place and here's my bootie (not my boney one):

From left to right: baby bonnets for both Edie and her best friend, Yma (might need more, huh? Love it though, Rowan Kid Classic!), some cashcotton DK for the E.B. for E.T., and found some Plaid for Mama's Creeper sweater. Still need some stuff for Craigy's sweater so I'll be booking it early on Friday for a little pre-girly movie shopping!

Geez, look at the time. Monkey's still sleeping and we have music classes at 10:00 - yikes. That's her most favourite thing in the whole world. So terribly cute. Tomorrow I'll be offering sneak previews of stuff I need out of my house before posting them onto Ebay. Hint: mostly baby related. See ya!

Next Big Tape Thang

This is what I scored from Knitmum through swaparama at Knitty coffeeshop - for soap of course. I remember looking at the Tape Thing book a long time ago and thinking "ooo, must get this for some summer knits" and now that I have it, everything I'm interested in is of the crochet family. Must learn to crochet! The Next Big Thing was a bonus thrown in exchange for a couple of Potty Mouth lipbalms. Thanks Knitmum!

So, like I said, we're probably moving here sooner than later and me and Craig had a family meeting about destashing our book collection. We're both book whores but I have to say we've both been pretty good lately but I'm totally going to get busted here seeing as I think he reads my blog. BUT! I came across these puppies on the kitchen table this morning as I was setting up my laptop and coffee:

It's kind of funny the contrast of the two sets of books, no? The Buddha book he got with Edie in mind. She's such a little bookworm. I took her in for a reading with an excellent Tarot reader in town and was told she was to grow up to be one of those sexy librarian types (tight buns, glasses. Look out when she peels them off). Totally happening already - except the sexy part. And the book to the right is one of the many yoga books he's been collecting (and reading) lately. My baby's so on the yogic path - truly inspiring. Especially in the morning when I sneak into the living room to grab the laptop and there he is looking so blissfully fierce in Warrior I, breathing his rejuvenating victorious breath, his body mildewy with pranic energy. Mmmmm. Yeah. My coffee tastes good.

Happy Spring!

I'm so excited about Equinox. I love living in a part of the world that the seasons are so distinct yet blurred into one (Calgary is known for snowing at some insane point in the summer and for scorchers in the middle of winter thanks to menopausal Sister Chinook). Here's the beauty of a typical never-know-what-you'll-get-in-the-morning morning here on our street this weekend:

 

The branches are all sugar-iced in crystals looking like they're just on the cusp of melting away  - making you want to stay outside and inhale the melting icing to become one with the day. But... I had to go to the coffeeshop, get a latte in me and get knitting!

Et voila! I finally finished the back of the Electra Vest from Rowan #38: Man, I love this project. The striping is so relaxing and purdy to look at as it unfolds. I'm using Spring as a springboard to giddyup on this cuz I gots to get started on Edie's Easter bunny surprize (I was going to present it to her on Easter Sunday. I'm gonna sneak out of bed and replace my body with the Easter bunny, ala Godfather horse head scene).

I also finished one of the legwarmers but I don't want to expose you guys to its itchiness lest it affects your laptop monitors somehow. The itchy factor could be all in my head I suppose. I was psyching myself out for a sticking my foot in and enveloping my lower limb into a soft cloud of hot pink cotton candy experience. Perhaps I should have then purchase the recommended mohair/silk blend yarn as oppose to some mohair/can't pronounce the chemical name blend? Stupid rookie knitter.