James and Maria in Ottawa

James and Maria in Ottawa
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

We went to Ottawa for the weekend for James’s dad’s 60th birthday party.
We had a blast!

I won a free party!

Background: A few weeks ago I went for brunch to The Duke of Richmond, right by City Hall, on 20 Queen St. W. There was a bowl where you could place your business card for a draw. At the end of July I had an email from the Duke of Richmond telling me that I had won the draw. I was entitled to get a free party. The party took place last night.

All the usual suspects were there, and of course, making hand gestures.

The “free” party consisted of a reservation for 20 people, and snacks for such 20 people. Free chips and free salsa, free hummus with free pita, free artichoke spinach dip with free garlic bread, free fish bites (it’s like the fish on fish and chips, just smaller and without the chips).

Sadly, the beer was not included in the free party. Also, I thought that the free food was going to leave people hungry and unsatisfied, no problem, people would be able to order from the menu.
Surprisingly enough, the free snacks were enough for everyone, so there was no need to order more food.

Moses was there too, and he thoroughly enjoyed his time with the Ice Queen.

As usual, Accordion Guy brought his accordion and played for everyone: Rio, by Duran Duran.

I even gave a speech thanking everyone for attending my free party and advicing about my next party, for my birthday, in November. The theme is going to be 80s Prom and I am giving enough notice to everyone so that outfits and music can be prepared. There’s even enough time to start growing mullets!

Overall everyone had a really good time. Thanks, Duke of Richmond!
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The piñata made it to Canada

The story so far: Back in October we went to Mexico City and James got a piñata, sadly it had to stay in Mexico City because there are no piñatas allowed on Air Canada.

This time James came prepared and brought an extra suitcase, one that looked big enough to hold a pinata and bring it in checked luggage. The last day, after our trip to Tepoztlan, we went to the market and bought a Chapulin Colorado Piñata. Sadly, the pinata was too big for the suitcase and extreme measures had to be taken.

There was a sawing session in my parent’s kitchen where James “took care” of the Chapulin Colorado.

The head had to be chopped off, and an arm too. We were finally able to pack it in the suitcase and put it in checked luggage. It may also have helped that this time we took American Airlines.

There was a connection at Dallas/Fort Worth where we had to claim our luggage, pass it through customs and check it back for it to arrive to Toronto. Everything went according to plan, except that James’s suitcase was not appearing in the carrousel when we were waiting for it. Almost all the bags on the airplane were down and there was no sign of James’s suitcase, which had a hammock, apart from having the pinata.
Finally it came down with stickers that said that it had been opened in the United States for extra revision. All luggage goes through x-rays and I can just imagine the inspectors’ reactions when they saw something that appeared like a decapitated midget’s body. No wonder it got selected for further inspection.
I’m pretty sure the inspectors had a good laugh when they saw it was a pinata and a hammock a total tourist suitcase!

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New contest, just for fun

Guess the song these lyrics come from and the artist:
1. when I left your house this morning
it was a little after nine

2. Enter number two:
A movie queen to play the scene

3. You can call me pavlov’s dog.
Ring a bell and I’ll salivate

4. Was the sun through yellow curtains,
and a rainbow on the wall

5. The sinners, the saviors, the loverless priests
I’ll see you next Sunday

Bonus: Guess the theme embraced by all these lyrics.
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More knitting advance

A few months ago I got Knitting Lingerie Style and started making a really nice camisole (sleeveless, of course!) I started it before the Victoria Day weekend using Alchemy Silken Straw. Everything that I have done with this project has turned out wrong from the beginning. First I had to repeat the cast-on, then I had to do it again because I decided that I needed to double the yarn for more coverage. Then I made a mistake and knit 7 inches from the cast-on instead of 7 inches from the armhole. Now that I finally started to do the lace I have been doing a 7 stitch repeat, when I should have been doing a 6 stitch repeat with only one stitch at the beginning of the row.
I am definitely not going to rip it again, but I am just tired of it. I have been making it for more than 2 months and the progress has been really really slow. Also, the Alchemy Silken Straw is really annoying, it is not plied, so there is a big chance that you may not catch all the threads when you’re knitting. It’s tricky and annoying.

So I decided that for my trip to Mexico I would take an easier project. I looked into my stash for my skein of Seasilk and started making the Montego Bay Scarf from summer’s Interweave Knits, designed by Amy. It is a relatively easy, and repetitive stitch that fit all right for the plane ride. I also brought a skein of Silk Maiden for my mom and she started making the same scarf with that yarn.

So, after the last disappointment with the Silken Straw camisole I couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided to cast-on for an easy project that may take long (or not), but that will not drive me nuts like this has been doing. I dug in to find the Filati Fantasia Cezanne that I got more than 2 years ago. I casted on for the cardigan that I got from Knitwerx and I have already done about an inch.
Let’s hope and don’t go crazy with this project too.

Finally, I took another look at Runway Knits by Berta Karapetyan, and was concerned that it only features Karabella yarns, which I thought you couldn’t find in Canada. I made a couple of phone calls and found out that the only place in Canada where you can find them is in BC, at a store named Wool and Wicker. I called the store and they were super super nice. They said that even if they don’t have the yarn you need, they can order it for you and they ship all across Canada. It may just be worth the effort, because some of the designs are really nice. My favourite is the Little Black Dress, which uses Karabella Vintage Cotton. Sadly, it uses 3.25 mm needles, I can just imagine how long it would take me to knit it! I also like the Ruffled Cardigan, which uses Karabella Aurora 4 (they do have this yarn at Wook and Wicker, they told me when I called), it also uses super tiny needles, though.
Oh, and at the end of the book there is a substitution chart, explaining the type of yarn you can substitute for the Karabella yarn used in each project. That is quite useful, actually.
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Romantic Hand Knits by Annie Modesitt

This week I got my pre-release copy of Romantic Hand Knits by Annie Modesitt. Some of the patterns are too “romantic” for my taste, but otheres are quite nice. By too romantic I mean they have too many flares and lacey add-ons.
Nevertheless, the book is very informative and quite fun. It contains 26 designs classified in 3 different chapters:
Above the waist, includes sleeveless tops (yaaaay!), sweaters, cardigans, and blouses. The designs are cute, and there are at least two that I would be inclined to make.
Below the waist, this section includes skirts and dresses. There is a beautiful dress, the Cleopatra, It is beautiful, but if I tried to make it I would be on that project for like a year, it doesn’t help that it is knit with 3.5 mm needles and covers from ankles to neck. It uses at least 7 balls of Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple, 100% silk (that’s for the smallest size, it wouldn’t fit me, I would have to go to the third size), it retails for $28 USD each, so the project is at least $196 USD. It is beautiful, though.
There is a skirt, called All About Eve that I just loooooved, it is made of ribbon and is one big wraparound skirt. I’m definitely going to try to make it.
Accessories, the accessories section has hats, gloves, scarves, wraps and a pattern for stockings. The stockings are cute, but being a non-sock knitter, I don’t think I’ll bring myself to make them. I will probably make one of the scarves.

One of my favourite things about this book is that it has a lot of help and instructions, and not your typical “knitting basics” help, but more advanced techniques, specific to the patterns, like: basic embroidery stitches, basic crochet techniques, basic lace knitting techniques, etc. This Resources section is scattered all around the book, just after the patterns where the resources are needed.

I also liked that, apart from specifying the yarn that was used for the model in the picture, it has a generic yarn type specification, in case you can’t find, or can’t afford the specific yarn that is called for.

The book is $35 CDN and will be released on August 7, according to amazon.ca (I have to say that at today’s exchange rate, if you see that the book is $27.50 USD it should be $29.10 CDN. I don’t know why, but I feel like those publishing companies are still taking advantage of us Canadians, the price is 20% more than it is in the US, why oh why??).

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The opera tickets are here

Tonight I got home to get the best “surprise” in the mail. Our season tickets for the Canadian Opera Company 07/08 Season are here. I am so excited. Loyal readers may remember that I ordered opera tickets for me, Winona and Jean a few months ago. It took a while, but we finally got them, and yes, we’re gonna be in the nosebleeds, but it’s all about the experience.

If anyone is interested, you can google our seats, they’re gonna be:
The Marriage of Figaro: Wed Oct 24 2007. 7:30 PM. Ring 5, Door D, Row B, seats 556, 555, 554
Don Carlos: Wed Oct 31, 7 PM. Ring 5, Door D, Row C, seats 555, 556, 557
Tosca: Wed Feb 20 2008, Ring 5, Door A, Row C, seats 528, 529, 530
The Barber of Seville: Fri May 16 2008, Ring 5, Door D, Row B, seat 546, 545, 544

I also got lots of information in the package:

• Performance calendar for the 07/08 season of the Canadian Opera Company Subscriber Discount Card valid September 2007 to May 2008, including discounts for:Hilton Toronto, Tundra (delicious restaurant), Barristers, Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, Bistro on Two, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, The Strathcona Hotel, L’Atelier Grigorian, The Opera Store at Remenyi House of Music, Babur Restaurant, Cafe Crepe, Da nu la, Le Biftheque Steakhouse, Monsoon Restaurant & Lounge, Queen Mother Cafe, Ruth’s Chris Steak House (the most idiotic expensive restaurant in town).
• Information for Don Giovanni, performance on June 16, 18, 20, 2008 at 7:30 PM abd June 22, 2008 at 2 PM at the Imperial Oil Opera Theatre (whoot? Imperial Oil is sponsoring an Opera Theatre?? I know, this world is so weird) on Front and Berkeley.
• An invitation to give yet even more money to the Canadian Opera Company (ever since I ordered the tickets I’ve been hit for money (“donations”) at least twice a month)
• The schedule for Operatours 2007/2008. OMG, this is so much fun, I wish I could do them all, but especially Romeo and Juliet in NYC, conducted by Placido Domingo (I met him when I was a child, my mom has a picture with him somewhere), singing Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon (the golden couple of opera right now)
• And finally, Opera Exchange 2007/2008. Talks about the operas, including Don Carlos, From The House of the Dead, Pelleas and Melisande. I may just attend one or two of these talks!

All in all, I am so excited, I’m pretty sure this is going to be a great year for opera!

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