Ski touring and knitting

Good morning from the mountains!

We are settling in well in lovely Telkwa.  Tom has a lunch date with his new boss next week
 and we've been hanging out with Jill (my boss) and her husband.

Last Sunday I went for a quick jaunt up the side of the ski hill with Jill and Mick.  Man am I out of shape.  I always find climbing hills to be hard - I was totally gassed by the top.  Jill of course was leading us to the top and just powered her way on up.  During one of my frequent stops to "take in the view" (a.k.a. I can't breathe and am gasping for air), I told Mick that she was a machine!! She later told me that since I'm the youngest and should have been first up the hill.... maybe after some more practice.

Jill and Mick taking the skins off of their skis at the top of our hike.  

Finally made it to the top! Out of breath and taking pictures of my thumb.

We still have yet to find some decent furniture and desperately need a couch.  In the meantime we've borrowed two chairs from Jill - one of which the cats have claimed.  We have a futon as a "couch" but it makes our butts sore, so we are always on the look-out for something better.  Once we get a real couch we can re-arrange the living room but for now it's.... open concept hee hee

Thou shalt not sit

Our mattress should be arriving any day now and I can't wait to have a new cozy bed!

Next week we will start living part-time at Jill's place while she is in New Zealand. And then Tom starts work on the 16th!  So soon I will be flying solo during the day until I start work in March.  Can you say knitting and skiing 24/7 ?!?!?  We discovered a new yarn shop in Telkwa!  It's featured in this promotional video for Telkwa that Tom stumbled upon:

Hopefully this video works.  If not, here's the link

I finished the mittens that I was knitting.... but think I'll have to re-do the first one as it seems to be QUITE a bit smaller.  Frustrating.  I think I'll take a break from the mittens for a bit and have my sights set on finding a sweater pattern.  I've knit a few sweaters but they've always followed simple patterns.  This time I may try something more complicated and cabled.  We'll see what I can handle.

That left mitten... sheesh.  I can't fit my hand into it very easily so it'll be re-knit... eventually.

I have become OBSESSED with watching knitting podcasts.  Knitters will show off the projects they are working on, review yarns and patterns, and sometimes do give-aways of free yarn!  Poor Tom has been listening to all of them in the background as I sit and knit and watch and talk to the computer screen as if the other knitters can hear me...

I'm looking forward to practicing my ski touring again soon.  Going up the side of the ski hill means that I don't have to worry about avalanches and can go on my own.  It's just a quick hike up, but I can do a couple laps if I have the energy.  We haven't had any new snow in eons, so venturing out into the real backcountry doesn't seem as exciting at the moment.  But we still have a few months left in the season, and there's always next year.

Well, not too much else to report on for now.  I'm sure I'll have more to share once we are house-sitting for Jill and hanging out with her dogs - exploring her +100 acres of land!

Take care and we'll talk again soon!