Ocean Ripple Afghan (pattern by Bernat)

After much work, I present to you my Ocean Ripple Afghan. 

This afghan was quite the undertaking. I started working on it in the summer after the family camping trip and successfully finding colours that I thought would work well together (and also match my boyfriend's taste). 

I loved the pattern by Bernat (which was one of those freebies you rip off of the stash at craft stores) and I wanted to create the blanket. I just wasn't too fond of the colours in the picture. It was too much blue (though, I suppose for an Ocean Ripple, the blues make sense...)

So I decided, instead, to go with the beige, cream white, and navy that I purchased at a tent sale at a country market in SouthHampton, Ontario in mid-July of this year. The wool was wonderfully soft, and the navy matched the colour on my boyfriend's bedroom walls. 

The blanket's construction began in during my final weeks in Kitchener-Waterloo. I got quite far on it over the course of a month. Many episodes of Star Trek, Stargate, and Doctor Who went into this - which, I figured, my man would love since he's a bit of a science-fiction nerd (all the best ones have their nerd streaks, no?).

There may even have been a few episodes of Dawson's Creek too...

When I got to BC (and yes, I took it with me because I had to finish it) the blanket was just a few rows away from being finished. So I buckled down one (rainy) Saturday afternoon and completed it. 

I also embroidered a wash tag for it, just in case.

I apologize for the terrible quality photo, but this was the finished tag, which I sewed to the bottom
of the afghan.

I brought the afghan home with me and gave it to my boyfriend this Thanksgiving weekend.

He loved it, which was wonderful. I couldn't help but take a picture of it against the backdrop of my parents' old park bench and the wonderful falling leaves. I do miss Ontario in autumn.


Blanket Materials:
- 5mm hook
- seven 100 gram balls of beige/brown (one more ball than the pattern called for)
- five 100 gram balls of navy
- five 100 gram balls of cream white
(all wool used was acrylic. use the softest wool you can find, this is a heavy blanket once finished.)

Introducing: My Man!

Back when I was a teenager, relationships and friendships were not completely christened until they became 'Facebook Official.' This was back before Facebook gave its users the ability to 'like' every photo. Instead, friends would leave nice comments to show their support - in the form of cyber gushing, oohs and awws, and whatever else.

So, to keep with social network prescriptions, my boyfriend and I made our internet debut this weekend. Since this blog is part of the internet, I figured that carrying over the announcements and officialities to my little neck of the universe would be a great idea.

So this is us. I am just going to call him Boyfriend for now.

And we have a great story.

Boyfriend and I met when we were both still in high school. We went through different high schools, and knew each other from attending the church youth group. I cannot remember why or how we first started talking, but I guarantee you that it was made possible by the wonderful world of MSN Messenger (a now obsolete 2000s reference that has been replaced by Skype and texting).

Over those years, we mostly chatted online, and acknowledged each other publically only when absolutely necessary (Boyfriend was pretty shy). Then, Boyfriend left for university. We continued to chat through his university years, going out for coffee on occasion when he was home on weekends.

Then I started my undergrad at Redeemer, and everything changed. We still chatted, but I remember finding myself more and more annoyed by him and his persistence to keep a friendship going. I hadn't realized he was interested in me until the summer when we went to see the movie 'Leatherheads' (starring Rene Zellweger and George Clooney) and honestly, I don't remember anything about the movie except that he held my hand and I was 19 years old and terrified.

And then, I pulled my favourite relationship move and ran far away. I remember not talking as much after that, and only going out for coffee once a year to stay in touch. The messages stopped. The texts stopped. And I seemed to be free to live my life. I thought that was what I wanted, and I guess in some ways I needed to spend my time 'living my life' at Redeemer.

There was a whole year where we did not speak to each other - or at least, I did not respond. 

But Boyfriend was faithful. He waited until the right moment to congratulate me on grad school, and to inquire if he could take me out (on a real date!!) before I left for two years again. I finally accepted after a few weeks of talking and catching up I realized that I was still terrified, but this time I couldn't run away emotionally. I guess I never really had, it simply took me a whole to figure out that a romance that had begun when I was a teenager was meant to continue.

Boyfriend and I always had a connection, but I was too young and too naive to realize that what we had was something more than friends. It always had been.

So on the warm June night of the date, he picked me up in a rebuilt yellow and black Ford Mustang and took me to dinner, for a walk, to our (incredibly) small town's fair, and finally to a campfire at his home where talked for six hours and shared our first kiss as a couple. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

The Exchange

Yes, we accept U.S. Dollars. No, we do not do the exchange rate. Yes, you're going to get ripped off if you use cash. Oh, you don't WAAANT to use your credit card? (The exchange will be calculated on the bill when you get it back in the mail). Why don't we return USA Dollars with USA Dollars? Erm, let's think about this, YOU'RE IN CANADA!

I don't understand why it is that when American passers through take a trip into our good ole BK Lounge, they find the need to harass us cashiers about everything from not returning their change in USA dollars, to questioning why the prices are so high, to my all time favourite ,'You don't have Iced Coffee? They have Iced Coffee in the YOU-nited States, how come you don't sell it here?' I am so sick of answering these questions.

So here we go, the Universal answers.

One.

We do not offer the exchange rate. You're in Canada, get over it. You wouldn't go to Europe and expect to pay in U.S. Dollars, so suck it up. If you weren't smart enough to exchange your money, don't cry because you are spending your Abe Lincolns on fast food. Either that, or use your credit card, don't you have enough of those?

Two.

Why should we give you back American money in change? We don't do the exchange rate. If I was shopping in the States, I couldn't just pull out my Wilfred Lauriers and expect them to be taken. Nor would I expect to be given back Canadian change, because, by golly, most USA stores wouldn't have extras of that lying around.

Three.

No, no, NO iced coffee. Get over it. Tim Hortons is 2 minutes down the road. No, there's no Starbucks. Why not? Did you read the population sign on your way in?

Four.

Not all world countries drink their Iced Tea as literal iced tea. Here in Canada we have Nestea. Nestea IS sweetened. I would assume it's sweetened in the USA too. You're in a different country, adapt to the culture. Canada isn't just an extended US ofA.

Five.

Prices are much higher here. A whopper combo is $7.10. Seems ridiculous, doesn't it? Well, my dear American travellers, I thank you for contributing to our health care and schooling systems with your purchase of a triple whopper with cheese, bacon, large fry (because the poutine is too many calories), a side order of mozzarella sticks, and, wait for it...a diet coke. Oh, wait, did I say health care is paid for by whoppers? Hmmm, looks like taxes for hospitals isn't such a bad idea. Not to mention minimum wage is higher (which they all think is wonderful).

Six.

IT'S PRONOUNCED POO-TEEEN.

Seven.

No, I cannot accept U.S. Dollar bills over $20. No, that's a $50 dollar bill. Why don't I accept it? Fraud. You don't have that in your country? HA!

Eight.

The speed limit here is in Km/h. You weren't driving 120 m/h down the highway were you?

Nine.

Erm, no, that's the price of gas per litre. About 4 litres in a gallon. ABOUT 4 LITRES IN A GALLON. Yes, thank you, gas IS expensive here. Well, you know, if our government wouldn't sell it to you so that you could sell it back to us, there wouldn't be so much of a problem.

Ten (and this is my favourite).

C-How much is a quarter worth?

M-How much is it worth in the States?

C- 25 cents, how much is it worth here?

M- 15 cents.

C- Oh, okay. But are dimes and nickles worth the same?

M-Yes.

C-What about pennies?

My job is disheartening sometime.

MCC: 78

Word of the Day: Trivial

Quote of the Day: "Two fish sandwiches please. And make sure it's two fish sandwiches, otherwise I will be getting a divorce." Old dutch man that comes in.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Do you have those friends whom you can be a part from for a year or two and pick up exactly where you left off?

I discovered this week, that I have a few of those. Jon and Cliff were two of my dear friends in High School, and I had the priviledge of seeing them both this week. It reminded me of the good old days in the cafeteria, chugging back Coca Cola, eating breakfast, playing Pokemon... These two guys are great. Cliff is a bit of a joke. He's hard to take serious, and his sense of humour is often filled with profanity and crudeness, but he is so endearing. It took me a while, but I grew to love him. He was one of those guys that knew where you could get anything, (even though he had no interest in it), poked fun at himself, and laughed a lot. I found out today that he is going to be a policeman. Which made me laugh a little, because his persona was always the kid making fun of the cops. Think...Michael Kelso from 'That 70s Show'. That's Clifford Swift (his reasoning for becoming a police officer was actually that with a name like Swift, he had to do something with a title.) My advice? Stay off the streets. They'll give him and gun and tazor when he graduates. (just kidding...)

Jon, on the other hand, is a quiet, Christian guy who is really the opposite of Cliff. He doesn't know what he wants to do with life, and that's fine. I think he's just ready to give it all up to God and follow. Jon's been a really good influence in my life tha past few years, and I am thankful for his friendship. He's okay to let Cliff steal the show. Someday Jon will be up on a stage rocking out with his guitar.

I love them both, and it was so good to see them today. 3am and that's what I had to post.

On another note, I am going to Hamilton this weekend, so I won't be blogging again until Monday. I hope that you all have wonderful weekends. God Bless.

MCC: 49

Word of the Day: Sleep

Quote of the Day: "I was going to be a paramedic, but they don't give you a cool title or a gun for that one, and you have to save people's lives. I figured that entrusting lives into my hands would be more of a disaster than anything. So I decided to be a 'po-leece occifer'. -Cliff

It's a Wonderful Life

Old friends, memories, Anne of Green Gables.

That's my weekend. How wonderful it was.

It's kind of fun to reminisce about the old days of high school newspapers, swamp monsters and charicatures. It is also fun to drink exceeding amounts of coffee and spend an evening laughing with a friend.

MCC: 12

Word of the Day: Tragical

Quote of the Day: "I read once, that a rose by any other name would not smell so sweet!" Anne of Green Gables.

Signs of Spring

In the garden, the flowers have begun to bloom, the deep dull browns of winter are passing by. All's quiet in the gardens, on the streets, with a quiet serenity to the sunshine today.

The neighbors have an old bicycle that was parked out on their driveway. I liked the look of it against the fresh grass. Seemed old and antique in the newness of spring.













I liked the juxtaposition of the new flowers against last year's oak leaves in the garden.




And now, for a little photo editting. My attempt at emphasizing the bright daffodils that have decided to make an appearance.

Alas...

Home.

is where the heart is?

I have a lot of unpacking to do.

Quote of the Day
"I'm always scared to try new dropjes, because you never know what you're going to get!"
-Kristen