Without a Plan : An Afternoon Outing and a Meeting With Santa

My friend Kim and I had agreed to get together last Friday afternoon but had not made any definitive plans as to what we would do. Rather we thought we'd wait to see what we felt like doing when the time came.I met her at her place where we had a cup of coffee and then we hit the streets. I had a store in mind to get a gift for Nick and she had an errand to run, both of which would mean going over to Yonge Street, so we aimed for that general direction.Going eastward along King Street West as we did, had us passing right through Toronto's financial district. That's where the tallest of the office towers are located, each of which had beautifully decorated lobbies and front areas. The day was relatively warm, as were the spirits of the people we passed along the way.

Cat’s Christmas Portrait 2014 and This Year’s Christmas Card DIY

If this cat of ours was to be dressed up in anything resembling a costume he would gladly wear clothes all the time. He really seems comfortable and happy whenever I put anything on him. Well, that is anything except for a normal cat collar. No, he'll have none of that, and we have the memory of many the lost collar to prove it.

For this year's Christmas portrait, I quickly made him a snappy bow tie from a short piece of ribbon with hearts on it (that I had been saving for years, just waiting to find a purrfect use for it).

Eddie was already relaxing on the white duvet cover, so I tied the bow on with a length of ribbon and set a string of twinkly lights around him. Then all I had to do was snap away, for cat knew exactly what was expected of him. He sure knows how to turn on the cute when he needs to.

Christmas Gift Wrapping : How to Make a Tiny Wreath Gift Topper

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A Trip to The Bay (The Store, that is, Not the Beach)

Nick and I had an appointment near Yonge Street and Queen on Wednesday afternoon.

Then we made a date of it by admiring the Christmas windows at The Bay and going inside for a bit of shopping.

The Hudson's Bay Company is as much of an iconic representation of Canada as anything is. According to this Wiki page about it, it was North America's (that includes the Unites States) oldest company, having been in business continually since 1881.

Even if you don't live here you might recognize the coloured stripes that represent the brand. This pattern began being used on woolen blankets that were used as currency for trading. They were given different numbers of points based on their size, which explains why they were originally called 'Point Blankets'. (There's in interesting story them on The Bay's site, here, and I did a story about the pattern here, where you'll also see some photos I got of a handsome dog wearing a Hudson's Bay Blanket Coat.)

I'm not a big shopper, aside from regularly going treasure hunting at the thrift store (where I went yesterday incidentally), but when I do feel like or need to go shopping, I love The Bay. It's a beautiful store filled with lovely things of good quality.

First, let's look around the outside of the store ...


The animated miniature dioramas they put in the northern windows are such a favourite of mine (as indicated by previous posts here and here). This recent story on the Toronto Life Magazine site talks all about it, including that it takes a team of 5 to 10 people a week to put the models up.

I'm not the only one who loves them; although they were meant to be used once in Toronto and then sent to the Montreal Store, these windows, along the northern side of the store, have been the same every year for 7 years now, due to popular demand.

Hot Off the Hook : A New Crocheted Hat

The truth about this hat is that it started out being a headband ear-warmer. I had a small remnant of red yarn and a keen desire to try out a new-to-me stitch called "Chevron Lace", designed by the creator of the crocheting blog Moogly. The pattern, found here (for free!), is actually for an infinity scarf, but as mentioned, I only had a small bit of suitable yarn at the time, so I thought I'd practice the stitch by making a headband.

After I'd finished it I wasn't thrilled with the results. I loved the Chevron Lace pattern and now have some yarn to make the full infinity scarf as per the pattern, but I found that as a headband, it was a bit too wide. I tried it as a neck-warmer and it was ok, but too loose to be very warm and too short to be a cowl. So I set it aside, chalking it up to a sample of a newly learned stitch.

Then I found a second small remnant of red yarn tucked into the back of a drawer where I keep some crafting supplies. It wasn't quite the same weight and colour, but it was close enough that I got to thinking about how I could use it to turn my headband into a hat!