The Blue Brick

Bedroom Reno – Making the most of a tiny condo

June 17, 2013

It’s been 2 years since we closed on the condo, and it’s taken all this time to realize that it’s actually ours and we can do whatever we like with it :) So we’re starting the expensive and exciting reno-phase!

This was the bedroom when we first moved in. It was really nice, but given that the condo is tiny, this bed orientation meant that when you opened the door you had only a narrow perimeter of knee banging space to get around the room in. The first thing we did was rotate that bed and push it against the wall.

Then we covered the walls and closet doors with paintable striped wallpaper, and in my ~~predictable~~ favourite colour palette we covered the walls and bulkhead.

We added little details on top of that, faux crown moulding with concealed lighting underneath, fabric hoops with the swatches we bought at Purl Soho, and a slightly butchered Paul Simon lyric on the ceiling.

The results! Before:

After:

Rotating the bed really opened up a lot of space, so I created a reading/knitting spot beside the bed. We added a little area rug for a touch more comfort.

Couldn’t resist a shot of some of my knitting :)

And another shot of the concealed lighting – it was easier than I thought to install, we did it using strip lighting from IKEA.

Those black-out curtains were killing all the light so we replaced them with light linen curtains. I love the fact that, even though the view is lovely, closing the curtains gives us a nice ”cocoon” sort of feeling. It’s the perfect spot for snoozing on a hot afternoon.

Because rotating the bed meant removing the bedside tables, Tito built this mini-shelf onto the back of the bed, attached clamp lights and used to it hold up everyone’s charger cables.

The bedside tables now display some of his work using copper and clay.

And – you might recognize the blog’s new look from this post :)

It’s amazing to me, the difference between making a place yours by putting your stuff in it, and making it yours by changing and designing it to suit your personality. We couldn’t be happier with the results!
Another day on the farm

June 13, 2013

We treated ourselves to a lovely selection of Kim’s jams and jellies (lemon blueberry lychee, strawberry kiwi, apple mango chutney…mmm!)

A few bottles of wine from Frogpond Farm. Of course Tito was nice enough to carry it all :) Kim and I are clearly 3 sheets to the wind.

My new best friend, Wilbur. Wilbur has been abused and has trust issues, so I was honoured that he would snurful up treats from my hands. Truly, the way to the heart is through the stomach, although I know I’m not his first love.

Kim showed us the lovely colours that her hens lay. We picked up a case of free-range eggs too – the taste difference always amazes me.

Fresh brown eggs!

Stinkeye.

Majestic horses.

Majestic cow.

This guy also tried to give me stinkeye. But he’s too chicken.

The lovers.

The beautiful Bucky. A bull that thinks he’s a kitten, at least when Kim is around.

Kim grooming her kids :)

And we put up a table!
Frogpond Farm

June 12, 2013

We had another lovely day at the Gryphon Ridge Highland Farm last Saturday – and as a treat we were invited to a wine tasting at Frogpond Farm, Ontario’s first certified organic winery.

A quick visit to their site shows that they are passionate about sustainability and clean energy. The owner, Jens, gave us a tour of the vineyard and explained his philosophy of not using insecticides on the grapes, and returning to the land what he takes away from it, instead of using commercial fertilizers. It gets better – the entire farm is 100% powered by clean electricity from Bullfrog power.

The farm has (in addition to the frog pond) some sheep and ducks and a real jerk of an omega rooster whose behind is bereft of tail feathers because the alpha rooster keeps having to haul him off the hens. I couldn’t post this without mentioning him. The, er, ‘antics’ were hilarious.

Jerk.

We also got a tour of the wine presses and fermentation areas, and I learned that ‘oak cured’ means actually cured in an oak barrel instead of a steel chamber. Seems obvious, but I am totally a wine rookie.

We finished off the tour with a wine tasting where I confess I was giggly and silly after only 3 samples. In my defence, together they were practically a whole glass :) The wine is sweet and delicious and we walked away with one bottle each of the red, white, rosé and a non-alcoholic grape juice chardonnay.

If you live in the area, the weekend of the 22nd – 23rd there will be an event called ‘Art in the Vineyard’. Admission is free, and it’s 11am – 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. From the website:

Stop by the tasting bar for a glass of wine and then head out into the vineyard to discover exceptional work by Ontario Artists. As you explore you will find fabulous oil paintings, new favourite jewelry pieces, incredible mixed media and much more.

Check out their Facebook page to learn more!
Love knows no, uh, bounds.

June 10, 2013

The pig is a shy little rescue pot belly pig named Wilbur. The cow is an uncharacteristically unfriendly highland cow named Utopia who insists on looking at me like I owe her 20 bucks. They’re in love.
Puttin’ on some fresh lipstick.

June 7, 2013

The Blue Brick has a (slightly) new look! Thought it was time to freshen up – what do you guys think?
Non-Creepy Creepy Places

June 7, 2013

Here’s a place that totally failed to creep me out. 4 of us decided to spend a Saturday afternoon wandering around in some of the abandoned homesteads in the Peterborough area. Did I say 4 of us? I meant 2 of us, while 2 of us insisted on guarding the car ;)
Creepy Places

June 5, 2013

I don’t get creeped out easily – abandoned places fascinate me, and the more decrepit the better. So when we found an abandoned factory in a place called Lyons Falls, upstate New York I was ready to settle down for a good long study.

They also had a dam and a waterfall – I mean, abandoned factory and waterfall? I thought we’d be there all day.

However, and I feel a little silly admitting this, but as soon as we got to the little beach were you could get a good view of both these things, I felt super creeped out. As in ‘We need to leave’ creeped out.

A long time ago Tito and I jokingly came up with what we call the ‘Paranormal Activity Accord’. You know, in a horror movie, there’s always that lousy significant other who doesn’t believe that something weird is happening? Who insists on checking the basement/following the blood trail/renting the cottage that everyone claims is haunted? We agreed that we would never be that lousy SO. What it means for us, at a practical level, is that if one of us feels strongly about something, the other person doesn’t need to get it, or even understand, but they need to respect it, and they need to be able to go with it. Many disagreements have been thwarted by this agreement.

However, we’ve never felt the need to actually apply it to a paranormal activity. Neither of us believes in ghosts, or gets creeped out easily. At that moment though, we looked at each other and said, ‘we need to go’. And we left. We didn’t even pack up the cameras, just threw them in the car, and left.

It shall remain a mystery. Something in the air? A watcher in the trees? Random bad mojo? Tired, paranoid people? I have no idea. Yes, I did google it, and no, it didn’t turn up anything.

Before we left though, I did get pics :) What do you guys think?
The Aurora Roving, A Novel.

May 31, 2013

The incredibly talented Leslie has finished spinning up my aurora batt, and what a beauty!

I had this idea, that I would knit this into a scarf and wear it to the arctic the day I fulfill my bucket list of shooting the aurora from somewhere north of 55 degrees. But then I thought about the yarn, and how many hands came together for this skein to be what, and where it is. Here then, is an abbreviated story of the yarn.

The Yarn Harlot featured my yarn bowls on her 12 days of gifts for knitters post. A convent in Boston read the post and became enamoured with the idea of a bowl, and wrote to me to order one.

I had decided to stop selling bowls online… but how could I say no to a convent? I agreed to make one bowl for the Mother Superior (Mother Seraphima) and became fast friends with the sister who placed the order (Mother Pelagia).

I decided to fly to Boston to give my new ‘pen pal’ her bowl and meet her in person. The women at the convent were warm and wonderful and gave me a great tour, including introducing me to the sister (Mother Macrina) who dyes batts of roving.

I was gifted, among other things, with a ‘drop spindle’ from Palestine – with a few grams of camel hair wound around it. Mother Seraphima had picked it up in her travels through the holy land.

Inspired by the spindle, on my return to Toronto Tito and I took a spinning class, where we met the lovely Leslie who would eventually spin my aurora batt.

Later that summer we caught some fabulous northern lights, just north of Barrie ON.

Mother Macrina wrote to me asking if she could use the photo as an inspiration for dying a batt of roving (I was honoured). That Christmas this gorgeous thing arrived in the post. I was totally blown away, the colours were perfect!

Not wanting to butcher it with my own fledging skills I commissioned Leslie to spin it. She did an amazing job – keeping the colour sections together and chain-plying it to maintain the gradient.

And here are the results:

I no longer feel like it’s a skein of yarn to make a thing out of. I feel like it’s a great story, filled with amazing women, who have contributed their inspiration and skill to what now feels like a collaborative piece of art. In keeping with that, my plan it to knit it into a simple tapestry to hang on the wall, framed.

And when I go to the arctic… it’s still coming with me :)
Purl Soho

May 30, 2013

What trip to NYC is complete without a visit (or 2) to the cooler-than-cool Soho neighbourhood? Ok, ostensibly to shop for clothes.. but really to go to Purl Soho. And it didn’t disappoint in the least.

Yarn purchased in a different area code is exempt from my yarn diet, right? I couldn’t resist some goodies that I haven’t seen in Toronto.

Anzula Milky way – a blend of merino and milk protein! I hadn’t gravitated to it at first but then one of the incredibly friendly staff handed me a knitted sample. The softness, colour, shine, drape and stitch definition are all exquisite. At 500 yards a skein, and solid, hand dyed colour, it’s perfect for a lacy shawl with lots of detail. I caved in to the colours ‘Curry’ and ‘Spruce’.

Anzula Squishy – and it is! And what a delicious colour! Superwash merino and just a little bit of cashmere. It’s a 385 yard skein and I can imagine just knitting this into a light infinity scarf. The yummy colour I bought is ‘Candied Apple’.

I bought a few goodies for Leslie as well, this was a (sadly not pictured, but you’d have to feel it to understand the magic in any event) rope of baby alpaca roving which the girls kindly wrapped for me, lying on the tote bag I wrapped it in. I also picked her up a skien of Madeline Tosh in a colour way to die for, called ‘Cove (sadly and similarly un-photographed, so you must imagine the goodness).

Finally, inspired by the iconic Purl Soho wall, I picked up some fabric to make my very own, above our bed. It will be the finishing touch on a little reno we’re doing, can’t wait to see if all the daydreaming I did in Home Depot works out!

I’ve read mixed reviews about Purl Soho, but the store is bright and cheery, the staff are so friendly and helpful and truly went out of their way to make sure their customers were happy. I already know it’s a permanent feature of any visit we make to NYC!
Foggy nights.

May 29, 2013

Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city.

― Charles Dickens, Bleak House

All photos taken in Toronto, last night, with the Kitcam iPhone App which I prefer infinitely to Instagram.