I'm finished with knitting Fake Isle hats for now.  I've knitted 9 of them since May.  I got these done just in time to give to Robin and Kal Kaufman at games night on Thursday.  We won't be having another games night until after the new year.

I love the colours of Kal's hat, especially the greens right at the rib brim.  Robin's worked out pretty good with chocolate brown as the motif colour.  I'm going to continue knitting hats, but do different styles.

We usually get a tradition Irish Christmas Cake from George's mother every year.  I have never cared for fruit cake until I had my mother-in-law's.  This year Ethna didn't make any cakes so George decided to use her recipe, which he's had for years, and make his own.  He had to make several substitutions for dried fruit the recipe calls for but that isn't available in the US.  Here's a quick photo essay of the cake.

George soaked the fruit in the good whiskey as we didn't have any inexpensive stuff in the house.  George let it sit for several days so all the whiskey was absorbed into the fruit.


George was convince that his mother used a huge pan for this cake so I ended up getting a 12" round pan at a restaurant supply house. Following directions over the phone from his mother in Capetown, SA, George lined it with lots of parchment paper.


Mixing up the batter in the Kitchenaid.  George called his mother in Capetown because the recipe just said "add eggs".  She had forgotten to write down how many eggs in the recipe she gave him over 12 years ago.


Blending the fruit and batter in the biggest bowl in the house.


Filling the pan.  The cake has a milk mixture poured over it.


The cake got very high while baking and then cooled to this.  George was very proud of himself.  We both thought the cake smelled delicious.

George & I went to visit his friend Muhsin and his family yesterday evening.  Eda, the baby, is growing fast as is Janelle who is almost 5.  George had fun playing with Eda while I spent time playing hide-and-seek with Janelle.  Banu and Muhsin both look completely exhausted, but also very happy with their girls.

Janelle, Emma, George & Eda

I knitted the Fake Isle Hat pattern in some solid colours of alpaca for Louise, who is allergic to wool.  We found out she could handle alpaca when she spent 15 minutes petting the stuffed alpaca I got for George at Alcapalooza 2007.  She was so surprised that her thought hadn't started closing up.

We went to So Much Yarn together so Louise could pick out the colours.  There aren't many colours available in the alpace/tencel yarn we decided on so Louise went with these.

I discovered that alpaca grows a lot after washing.  This is a little loose on Louise.

I took the yarn for Lyndol's hat to Italy with me, but never got around to knitting it.  We were having so much fun that I barely knit.  I knitted the hat this month and gave it to Lyndol at games night.  He likes to wear his hats above his ears I found out, so any future hats will be shorter.

I took enough yarn for two hats and a pair of socks to Italy with me.  Since I ended up taking the wrong sock pattern book, I didn't get that done.  But I did knit and finish a hat for Deb.

I checked my notes when I got home and it turns out I had taken the wrong colours with me for Deb's hat, but she liked it anyway.  Good thing she forgot what colours she had picked out. hehe

I may have taken 3 projects, but we were so busy I really didn't have much time for knitting.  I mostly take knitting for airplanes and airports.

George indicated last year that he was interested in going to his 20th reunion at Trinity College Dublin, but he didn't want to spend yet another vacation in Ireland.  I suggested that we go to Dublin for 4 days and then on to Italy.  This idea went over well and so we were in Dublin for the last weekend in August 2007.

Boy, was it hot.  Ireland was suffering was a heatwave and I mean suffering.  Don't try to find air-conditioning most places.  The dining room at Trinity College was sweltering even with the doors open.  I fortunately remembered to take a fan with me and had people offering to buy it off of me.  We had a great time catching up with George's college friends both at the formal dinner on the Saturday but also the evening before at a pub and then restaurant.

To be continued...

In the beginning of July, while telling his father that we were going up to Vancouver, BC to visit some friends, George found out that his great-uncle Dick O'Reilly was living in Ladner, BC.  Up to this point, we thought that Dick and his family still lived in Thunderbay, Ontario.  George got Dick's email address from his father and arranged for us to meet Dick and his wife Margaret while we were up in the area.

Dick and Margaret are both 90 years old (Dick will be 91 in August).  Dick emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1938, while his second wife Margaret was born and bred in Thunderbay.  We found out while visiting that they had been living in Ladner for 14 years.  Margaret's daughter and family had settled in BC and finally talked them into moving out away from all the snow in Ontario.  Dick still rides his bike and Margaret swims three times a week.  We had a great visit and extended our time with them by going out to dinner.  Dick told us stories about his experiences in WWII.  When I commented that he was one of the many Irishmen who had joined the British Army during WWII, he protested that he had not joined the British Army, he had joined the CANADIAN Army.  That's when I found out he had emigrated in 1938.  He was in a tank battalion and lost the hearing in his left ear during the war.  He was stationed in North Africa and then later in Italy.  Dick has a great way with telling a story.  Margaret also had some wonderful stories about growing up in Thunderbay, Ontario.

George & I plan to visit Dick and Margaret again when next we go up to Vancouver.

George & I went up to Victoria, British Columbia for a long weekend with our friend Alan. 

We left Seattle at 9am on Friday morning and were on the 12 noon ferry from Tsawwassen.  We have never made it up to BC that quickly before, but then we've always left around 2-3pm before.  We're still in shock about how quickly we got there.  I think there were only 3 cars ahead of us at the Peace Arch border crossing.

We spent Friday afternoon at the Victoria Butterfly Garden.  We saw some wonderful butterflies:

and some gorgeous flamingoes:



On Saturday we wandered around Victoria and then headed out to Butchart Gardens for the afternoon.  Here are George & Alan in the Japanese Garden (George is in the yellow):



After Butchart Gardens, we drove up to the viewpoint at Mount Douglas.  It was a clear, beautiful day and we could see 360 degrees.  In this photo, you can see Port Angeles, WA:



George also got this photo of a hiker on the ridge:



We had dinner in a restaurant on Victoria Harbour Saturday evening and in the morning, we took the ferry over to Port Angeles and drove home down the Olympic Peninsula.

This is the first trip I've taken where I really enjoyed myself.  Some things didn't go as planned, but rather than concentrating on those things, I let them go and truly enjoyed myself.  It was a wonderful, new feeling for me.  It was also very freeing.

I wanted a brighter hat for those days I feel like standing out so I knitted a second hat for myself.  I kept the side motif this time and shortened the number of even rounds used in the top motif to make a flatter top.  I really like this shaping.  I knit this over the weekend while George & I and our friend Alan were in Victoria, B.C.  We had a great weekend and I got lots of knitting done on the ferry rides.