Continuing in BC (Image heavy)

So, I promised pictures of English Bay at sunset, and that’s what you’ll get, what you won’t get however is knitting content, sorry, but hopefully you enjoy the scenic pics. First however, I have to say that the nurses who work at the blood bank are really good at what they do.

During my time giving blood, a number of the nurses would walk by and ask if I was ok. At first I figured they were just doing their job, until I realized they were only asking me. It’s probably because I’m so pale naturally, but still. Just as I was finishing up, and the needle was being pulled out, I suddenly felt very unwell. I mentioned very quickly that I felt sick to my stomach, and in a split second I was surrounded by 5 nurses getting cold cloths on me, getting me to lay on my side, raising my feet.

I was fairly out of it, but I remember being amazed at how fast they were able to get me feeling better.

Anyway, on to pretty vacation pictures.

The last day of the convention, our imported Italians came out to see what a Canadian Convention was all about (they help organize some of the cons out in Italy).

Much to the amusement of her husband, and to some extent her dismay, we were able to convince our Italian to let us put some simple Cats based makeup on her. This was due to the fact that there were 3 full Cats and one Semi Cat roaming around in our group, we’d met our Italian through a Cats forum, and she was a fan. (Click any of the pics to see them full size).

Getting her to agree was a bit of a task… The picture of me giving her a hug at the restaurant (two posts ago) was right about the time it happened. We brought up the idea and she kept saying “No! NO! NO!!!” then I gave her ‘kitty eyes’ and she hesitated…. then said “maybe…..” then looked kind of shocked that she actually caved.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We posed for pictures, were interviewed a couple of times, found Prince Charming, and hunted for fish. (I obviously didn’t find any, but I love my pout).

Just to note, I made the costume I’m wearing, and the black one with the white fuzzy chest. I did all the makeups except for the blue-gray-black cat who did everything on hers. She also helped me tremendously with my two wigs, and made the white wig worn by the fourth girl.

After hunting for fish, I proceeded to get up and almost fall into the water.

So I went to get sympathy. I also added the last picture because it was a lovely one of the painting I did on this costume. It’s based off the patterns of a gray cat I knew at the time this costume was created. The orange yarn in the tail is actually from one of the Secret Pal exchanges that I was involved in waaaay back when.

And that’s that for the costumes. Phew!

Continuing on, we went to a pub and watched a concert with Liam Titcomb who is an amazing singer. I’m so glad I got to see him.

The next day we ended up meeting up with another friend and her son. We took the Italians on a tour of Stanley Park and the Aquarium. This is where I ended up getting my first sunburn of the year… and it was a doozy.

We then went and got Poutine (of course we had to let the Italians taste true Canadian food) and had a small picnic at English Bay.

So that’s the bulk of my vacation. I have a little bit more to tell but it’s not as picture heavy. The next bit will involve yarn shopping(!!), the PNE, and a surprise!

I’ll end my post with one last picture, it was in my last post as well, but it’s my favourite shot from my whole vacation. These are my two best friends in the whole world who sadly live on opposite ends of the world from me. They were watching the sunset and didn’t see me coming up behind them, capturing the moment as they watched the sunset.

Till next time.

September 11

So, I am going to take a small digression from my vacation (at the beginning of this post) to talk about the significance of today for me. 9/11 happened when I was 18 years old, I was in my first year at college, and I was failing miserably. When I heard that the World Trade Centre had been hit by a plane I didn’t really believe it, it was too much for me to comprehend. I was actually in class when one of our teachers told us, however by the time we knew, the WTC had already collapsed.

Thinking back on that day I am ashamed of myself. I was too immature to really grasp what had happened, and it was too far away from home for me to really feel the impact it truly had on the world. My main memory from that day was that the senator in California (I think) who was being investigated for the disappearance of a young woman would be really happy now that the heat was off him.

Not my shiniest moment.

However, over the next year I changed and grew, and in the April following I watched a documentary on some of the firefighters that went up the towers. It was then that everything hit me as to what really happened that day and how much was lost. I bawled like a baby for a good 3 hours.

Turning on the tv today was hard for me, I look back on that day with so much emotion now, pain for those who suffered, both those who died/were injured, and those who survived, and Shame for the way I reacted to it.

The way I try and remember that day is with hope. While so many horrible things happened, it also brought so many people together.

Due to this, I try to think about what I’m grateful for having, that if something that catastrophic happened to me, what could I look back and be happy about.

Right now it’s this:

Good friends

A loving fiancé

A happy family

An appreciation for beauty

 

The ability to knit

And most importantly, the opportunity to give back to others.

Which is why today at 6:35, I am donating blood and why even though I’m terrified of needles, I’m going to try and donate blood more often. Being O- means that my blood is not only one of the most rare, but is also a universal donor.

On days like today, it’s always good to list what you appreciate, because you never know when it will be taken away from you.

Till next time

Phew… Back to Normal

So, my last post was small and not very impressive. I was on my way out to British Columbia and I was in a race to finish up my Mystery Stole 3. I was doing a really good job for a while, on the Thursday I finished right up to the last clue, on the Friday, I ran into my first road block, I was going to run out of beads… I had enough… back home in Ontario, so I might have to improvise. But I kept working as best I could. Then my friends and I went to the convention on Friday night and Saturday and I… had a bit too much fun…

As these pictures clearly show (Click on any of them to see bigger versions). Saturday the recipient of the stole arrived from Italy (via California) and all was well. I showed her the stole in progress and she said she “couldn’t find words”.

I worked on it a little during the vacation, but realized that it would be better with all the beads, and that the recipient would be fine receiving the stole by mail and that I would prefer to do it properly for her. Tho she was very amused by me knitting in a Bubble Tea shop. This picture has been dubbed by her as “The perfect visual description of Saff” so, if you’re wondering what I’m like, this picture apparently says it all.

I’m wearing my Picovoli in that pic too.

I’ll leave off the trip in the middle of the convention so that I don’t flood the blog with pics, but I’ll show you more at a later date, including some awesome shots of English Bay at sunset. However, when I came home I finished the Mystery Stole 3 and blocked it. So you get to see that.

MS3 Spoiler Pics Below!!! (just in case)

It will soon be on its way to Italy, and following it will be a Silver Swan pin from Romi.

Till next time

-Saff