“After Dark Tour: The Unexplained at Colborne Lodge”, Toronto, ON

Trish and I did After Dark Tour: The Unexplained at Colborne Lodge this evening. It was dark and rainy out … perfect atmosphere for a ghost tour!  Bruce,  our Toronto History Museums guide, was entertaining and informative.

Join us for a chilling tour at Colborne Lodge in High Park. Visit the gravesite of John and Jemima Howard. Explore ideas about death and the afterlife from the 1800s and hear true tales of paranormal activities. Experience some of the museum’s dark stories if you dare!

We started in the coach house where there were lots of exhibits. 

Island Foods, Toronto, ON (Gladstone Avenue)

Trish and I had supper this evening at Island Foods at Gladstone Avenue/Queen Street W.

I had my usual ... a boneless chicken roti.

Knitted Wavy Gravy Hat

I knitted a Wavy Gravy Hat to donate. 

I found the pattern here and adapted it to a bulky yarn. I used a Caron Anniversary Cake (the colour is Tropical Breeze) and 6.5mm circular needles.

Cast on 72 stitches. Join, taking care not to twist and place marker at the beginning of round. 

• Round 1: purl
• Round 2: knit 
• Round 3: *(k2tog) two times, (yo,k1) four times, (k2tog) two times* rep from * to * to end of round
• Round 4: purl
• Round 5: knit 
• Round 6: knit 
• Round 7: *(k2tog) two times, (yo,k1) four times, (k2tog) two times* rep from * to * to end of round
• Round 8: purl 

• Repeat rounds 5 to 8 a total of 7 times. 

• Knit two rounds

Decrease for crown: 

• Round 1: *k7, k2tog* rep from *to* to end of round (64 sts remain) 
• Round 2: knit 
• Round 3: *k6, k2tog* rep from *to* to end of round (56 sts remain) 
• Round 4: knit 
• Continue decreasing 8 sts every other round until 8 sts remain 
• Draw yarn through the remaining stitches and fasten off

KC's tree, Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto, ON

I stopped by Trinity Bellwoods Park this morning and visited KC's tree. The leaves on the trees in the park are still changing colours so you still have time to take them in.

Knitted scarf

I knitted a scarf to donate.

I used a skein of Loops & Threads Sweet Snuggles Lite super bulky (#6) and the colour is carnival. It’s almost 5 feet long and warm and snuggly. 

I cast on 25 stitches on a 6.5mm needles. 

I did a border of 4 rows of garter stitch.

Pattern:

Row 1: knit across the row

Row 2: knit 4, purl 17, knit 4

Repeat these rows until the length desired. 

Knit a border of 4 rows of garter stitch. Bind off.

Book ~ "Twice" (2025) Mitch Albom

From Goodreads ~ When he is eight years old, Alfie Logan discovers the magical ability to get a second chance at everything. He can undo any moment and live it again. The one catch: he must accept the consequences of his second try - for better or worse.

He grows up correcting his mistakes and saving himself from adolescent embarrassments. He even takes foolishly dangerous risks, just to see what it’s like to come close to death, before tapping back to safety.

Eventually, Alfie turns his gift to his love life, studying his crushes and going back to make himself more appealing. In time, he falls deeply in love with Gianna, the woman he believes is the one. He seems to find contentment.

But as the years pass, Alfie’s eye begins to wander. Which is when he learns a lone caveat to his power: once he undoes a love, that person can never fall in love with him again. Knowing if he gives into to temptation, he will risk losing what he has with Gianna, Alfie makes a choice that changes his life forever.

The book begins many years later, after an ailing Alfie is arrested for allegedly cheating and winning millions at a casino roulette wheel. As a curious detective interrogates him, he slowly uncovers Alfie’s incredible story, and its most unlikely conclusion.

Alfie has a secret ... ever since his missionary mother passed away when he was a kid in Kenya, he’s been able to relive any moment of his life twice. All he has to do is tap his body and say the word “twice” and he gets a do-over. The first time he lives something, the second time he knows what’s coming and can try to change it. At first, Alfie uses his ability for small stuff ... fixing mistakes, avoiding embarrassment, etc. Eventually he meets and falls in love with Gianna and tries to use his power to make their relationship perfect, which he finds isn't possible.

It's been a lot of years since I've read a Mitch Albom story and I thought this one was okay. It's written in third person perspective with an interesting twist ... it's also first person perspective in Alfie's voice when his composition book about his lives is being read. The story starts off in his present, where he’s been arrested for supposedly cheating in a casino in the Bahamas and then jumps back and forth from Alfie’s past to the present day (the chapters are labeled). I like time travel stories so it appealed to me as it has that aspect.

Diagonal garter stitch scarf

I knitted a diagonal garter stitch to donate. It was surprisingly an easy pattern, which I found here. 

I used a skein of Loops & Threads Sweet Snuggles Lite super bulky (#6) and the colour is carnival. It’s about 7 feet long and warm and snuggly.

Cast on 3 stitches. 

First Section - increases:

• Row 1: KFB, knit to end, KFB.
• Row 2: Knit all stitches.
• Repeat rows 1 and 2 until there are 23 stitches on the needle.

You can adjust the width of the scarf by knitting more or fewer stitches. The finished edges of your beginning triangle (the two edges that do not have live stitches) give a close indication of how wide your scarf will be when complete.

Middle Section - main length of the scarf:

• Row 1: KFB, knit to end, k2tog.
• Row 2: Knit all stitches.
• Repeat these two rows until you are nearly out of yarn.

Final Section - decreases:

• Row 1: Ssk, knit to end, k2tog.
• Row 2: Knit all stitches.
• Repeat these two rows until there are 3 stitches left on the needle. Bind off.

Garter Stitch Scarf

I knitted a scarf to donate.

I cast on 25 stitches on a 6.5mm needles and the pattern is garter stitch. I used a skein of Loops & Threads Sweet Snuggles Lite super bulky (#6) and the colour is carnival. It’s almost 5 feet long and warm and snuggly. 

Book ~ "Scared Off" (2021) Barbara Ross

From Goodreads ~ Three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween night get spooked when high schoolers crash the house for a party. But no one expected to find a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant, dead in the backyard dressed in a sheet like a ghost. 

With her niece traumatized, Julia Snowden must uncover who among the uninvited guests was responsible for devising such a murderous trick.

Page, Julia's 13-year-old niece, is having a sleepover with her friend, Vanessa, at their friend, Talia's house. Things gets out of hand after some uninvited classmates and older kids show up. The night quickly takes a scary turn when the elderly woman who rents an apartment upstairs, dressed up like a ghost, floats down from upstairs and is found dead in the shed in the backyard. With nothing else to do since her family's business hasn't started up for the season and she's not running a restaurant in the off-season anymore, Julia starts to work on figuring out what happened that night.

This quick read (it's a novella) was written in first person perspective in Julia's voice. It's a cozy mystery so there is no swearing, violence or adult activity. The whodunnit came out of nowhere at the end. At the end, there is a recipe that was mentioned during the story for gluten-free pumpkin cookies.

This novella is 9.5 (of 12) in the Maine Clambake Mystery series. It works as a stand alone so you don't have the read the previous ones to know what's going on. I've been reading the series recently and will keep moving through the series.