Lunch at the Home of Friends Niall and Leslie

Hello! Nick and I had the pleasure of having a late lunch with our long-time friends Niall and Leslie on Sunday.

They live in a beautiful apartment, high in the sky, facing westward. It was so bright and sunny in their place, that we quickly forgot the bitter cold and snowy winter weather we'd traveled through to get there.

For those of you who, like me, enjoy a little glimpse at the everyday lives of strangers on the internet, here, in pictures, is how the afternoon and evening went down ...

Crocheting : Figuring Out a Very Particular BUT Quite Magical Yarn

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Follow up : Well, I guess this cool yarn ended up being something people didn’t enjoy working with in the end, because shortly after I wrote this post, it was discontinued and is no longer available. That said, it was a challenging product to work with, so I can’t say I’m surprised.

Personally, once I’d figured out how to get it working properly, I loved it and am glad that I still have an unused skein in my stash. xo loulou

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Hello, hello. I realize that today's post will only be of interest to the crochet enthusiasts out there, so I completely understand if those of you who don't partake in the craft, quietly click away!

While writing about a specific type of yarn is a very narrow topic, I'm going ahead with it because this is information that I really wish I'd been able to find before wasting a lot of time trying to figure this fascinating stuff out.

The yarn is "Pooling Plaid" by Loops and Threads. I found it at Michaels but I imagine it's available wherever the Loops and Threads brand is stocked.

For the past few years, I've started a personal tradition of crocheting a new scarf for myself over the Thanksgiving weekend, so, back in the fall, I picked up a couple of skeins of the Red, Black and Grey colourway of this yarn, when I saw it priced two-for-one. To be honest, I quickly grabbed it based on the soft cushy texture and the colour combo, which is a favourite, thinking that it was a regular variegated yarn.

It wasn't until I got it home and looked at the label more carefully, that I realized that the colours were arranged along the yarn so that, if done properly, they would work up into an attractive tartan pattern. That was an added bonus and I became quite keen to begin my first "planned colour pooling" project.

So, on the Friday evening of the long weekend, I poured myself a glass of wine, selected the right-sized crochet hook and sat myself down. I opened up the label to reveal the instructions printed on the underside and got to work.

A couple of hours later, I was still at it, but rather than have a good foot or so of the scarf completed, as would normally be expected after that much time, I was retying the beginning slipknot and starting the whole thing over again, after ripping out my work several times over. I just could not get the tartan pattern to work out!

Julie’s Birthday Dinner at Rosalinda – 2018

Hello and Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2019 is a good year for all.

The holiday season is extra special for us because there are, not one, but, two birthdays to celebrate in there, in addition to all the other good stuff.

(My man Nick's birthday came first. Unfortunately, he was sick on the day, so we kept it quiet with gifts and cake at home and a promise to go out for a nice dinner once he was feeling better. It was one of those lingering colds that's just clearing up now, so we still haven't made it out for that, but we will.)

The second important birthday person in our lives is our dear friend Julie. She and I went to a restaurant that neither of us had been to before, where we had a delicious meal accompanied by a nice relaxed stretch of time to talk. It was great!

Rosalinda is a Mexican restaurant in Toronto, located at 133 Richmond Street near University Avenue, which comes with a "not easily noticed from appearance" surprise ... it is completely vegan.

Before you have a chance to think, "Well, I'll just stop reading now because I'm not vegan", please hold on, because neither are we! That didn't stop us from enjoying every bit of our experience at this beautiful place. And now, I'm glad to have a place to recommend and go to with our vegetarian friends.

We began with cocktails, a Margarita for Julie and a Polo Loco for me, which was reminiscent of Rum and Eggnog with the eggnog replaced with horchata which is a Mexican drink made from rice.

Holiday Crochet : How to Make a Wreath

Follow up : Hi! I used this pattern again but with a smaller ring and finer yarn, to make a couple of wreaths for Autumn and Halloween. If you’d like to see them, they are over here. Also, I made a heart shaped one for Valentine’s Day, described in this post. And, a four coloured Easter one, seen here, Thanks for visiting!

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Hello!  For those of you who like to crochet, I hope I can inspire you to make something you end up loving.

Here's a crocheted holiday wreath.  The beauty of making things yourself is that you can use whatever colour you want.  Personally, I love the colour of turquoise and felt a need for a holiday wreath in that shade.  Well, more accurately, I felt the need and I also had some leftover bulky yarn in variegated shaded of turquoise, just sitting in my stash, and a metal ring base that I'd been given a while ago but hadn't found a use for.  So, I combined those elements with some medium weight cotton yarn, and made this wreath.  The soft and fluffy bulky yarn added just the right amount of cozy wooliness to the finished creation.

Perhaps you'd like to make one too ... here's how ...

A Holiday Art Date with Andrea : Hand Lettering

Greetings to you!

My friend Andrea came over for an Art Date on a recent Sunday afternoon.  

We worked on lettering, she making some Christmas cards and I writing out a holiday quote.  (The lovely frame I put it in was a gift she gave me a few years ago, making the project more meaningful.)