Jane Doe Jenn - anonymous musings from someone you likely don't know - yet.

Catching some Zzzzz's

2011-08-20T20:31:00.001-04:00

This is my 7 year old son. He fell asleep on the couch during the afternoon - yet he thinks he's too old for naps, ha ha. Yet, he fell asleep holding on to my kids book of knits, New Knits On the Block by Vickie Howell. It made me laugh and think to myself that it almost looked like he planted the book there to hint for a particular gift, but that's not his style. This was a gift from one of my clients, and has some awesome project to make for kids. I love how it's all categorized in such a fun way - "weekend at Gramma's" for example, means you can knit that project up while your kid's away at Gramma's for the weekned. I'll be casting on to make a rockin' guitar in black and red. When I showed the pattern to another client of mine, she was so excited about it that she went out of her way to go get me the supplies I would need, including the stuffing! That was so nice of her. And this weekend, I'm doing something nice back for them...

This is the project I've just finished for her son. It's a Crayon Caddy I've knitted as a big brother gift, because he became a big brother yesterday. We were all so excited! I'm going to deliver it tomorrow, but will make it a quick visit because they need their rest. I am very happy with how this one turned out: I used Bernat Handicrafter cotton, in green stripes. He loves green, and it was so easy to make! It's basically knit in stockinette for about 17 rows, then garter stitch for the rest and fold over the stockinette for the front. Then just sew together lines where you want the crayon sleeves to go. I made an extra crocheted chain to loop around the button for an easy toddler closure. Note: I'm going to go back and shorten the chain a bit, so it's not a choking hazard.

Casting on today - Filigree

2011-08-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

Today I'm casting on to knit with my magic yarn ball. A friend of mine came by to see if she can peek inside the yarn, curious as to what's inside. But no, this yarn is well wound. No peeking.

It was a close decision, between this and a really neat beret some of my ravelry buddies suggested (which I will knit later). I also was thinking of using this for a shawlette, as there is enough yardage. But instead I will knit Filigree mitts by Robin Melanson. It's from her book "Knitting New Mittens & Gloves". The pattern calls for cotton yarn, but doesn't actually mention the WPI/thickness of the yarn. I guess I could go over to ravelry (since I spend so much time there anyway) and look up their suggested yarn for gauge, but I feel daring today. So I will live a little risky and just start knitting it up with this fingering weight yarn and see how it comes out. After a few rounds, I will measure for gauge or just slip my wrist inside to see how it fits.

This colour is going to look amazing! And with the remaining yarn, I will make either a scarf for a cowl, whatever I have enough yardage for. I always say that, and then end up making another pair to give away. Oh, maybe if I only have a bit left, I'll make me a headband to cover my new botched haircut. :)

Time to Unwind Some Magic

2011-08-18T19:55:00.000-04:00

Well, now it's my turn. My magic yarn ball arrived in the mail this week, and it turns out my partner is Sassysmom. This was a secret partner swap, and she was very good at keeping her identity a secret. I had no idea it was her! Here are some pictures of my little girl helping me unpack it from the box.

The color is a bit off in the photos, as we had just been taking sunset photos outside and I forgot to re-adjust my settings.

This yarn is a blue dream - lots of different shades of blues, as well as some purples mixed in. Sassysmom actually got it bare from Knit Picks, then hand dyed it herself. I just love hand dyed yarn, I find it such a joy to work with.

I spent a good deal of time staring at this yarn, trying to decide if I will unwind it all now to see what's inside, or get the 'real' experience of discovering each item as I knit... and call me silly, but I think that's the best part. So, do I unwind it now, and see what's in there? Or do I pick a pattern and see what comes out as I knit? Decisions, decisions... what do you think?

Magic Yarn Balls

2011-08-10T18:40:00.000-04:00

This summer, I participated in my first Magic Yarn Ball swap.
I had a lot of fun getting my partner's yarn ball together for her, and she really liked her goodies.
I was pretty excited when I first heard about this: you take a skein of yarn, buy some knitting notions, goodies, sweets, or just about anything you think you can manage to wrap inside the yarn ball, and wind the yarn around each item until it eventually resembles a ball. Sure, it will be lumpy and bumpy, but for the most part it will look like yarn. When your partner receives your magic yarn ball, the idea is that as they knit something with it, things are revealed as the ball unwinds... or so I thought. In our swap group, everyone so far has been too excited to wait and actually knit with their yarn ball. They are so thrilled to have it arrive that they immediately unwind it to find their little surprises, then wind it back into a ball. I feel glad that my partner GuapaM got to unwind and find lots of great stuff, but I feel bad that she had to go through all that unwinding to find it. I'm talking all the way to the end of the yarn for that last item (custom large buttons from my local yarn store). I ordered her a cone of fingering weight yarn, and according to the swap requirements we had to do a minimum of 100 grams. I ordered 150 grams of yarn, but saved 15 grams for me to do a swatch with (for a future order). Which left me with over 700 yards of yarn to wind, if I did my math correctly. That took me quite a while to wind. Here is what her yarn ball package looked like when it arrived there:

I sent her some of my favourite coffee from Tim Hortons, as well as a Noro Coffee Cup cozy that I knitted myself by hand. I love knitting with Noro! It's a pleasure knitting with this yarn, but it's even more fun to be able to give it away to someone who will enjoy using it. This really does keep your coffee warm, and feels great to hold. The Dare Bear Paws crackers are something I chose because my GuapaM likes crackers, especially cheddar; and I was sure she hasn't tried these yet. They are fairly new on the market. Here is the other picture, which shows all the stuff she managed to unwind from her yarn ball:

I can't wait to see what she ends up knitting with the yarn I sent to her! She is such a talented knitter.
Wait a second... that yarn looks like it's been wound up with a ball winding machine - now I don't feel so bad about making her unwind so much yarn, ha ha ha! Not bad, eh? Look how much stuff I had hiding inside that ball of yarn! I think I've impressed myself, too. Sadly, there was no way to wrap the cracker box in yarn. If you can accomplish that, you have my greatest respect.

August finished knitting #2

2011-08-02T13:04:00.000-04:00

Ha ha ha, it looks like I mismatched the photos when I sent them in via email. Oops!
So this is the picute of the fingerless mitts I was just blogging about. The other picture in the previous post was of the Noro Kureon coffee cozy. It has become my favourite coffee cozy to make so far, and certainly the easiest. I love how it shows off the colours!

I made both of these for a friends birthday that was yesterday. She loves to drink tea, and also carries her own water bottle around. This cozy does a great job of insulating both warm and cold drinks.

I think she'll like them. I just have to weave in the ends and I'm all done!

Newly Finished Objects

2011-08-02T12:55:00.000-04:00

I've just finished up 2 new projects this past weekend. One is a pair of fingerless mitts - the pattern is designed to show off malibrigo yarn, so I will try it again sometime with my beautiful malibrigo skein. For this one though, I chose to use Universal Yarns with gradual changes in green hues, with a tint of blue thrown in here and there. A blend of wool and acrylic, this yarn was easy to work with and I would be happy to try it again in other patterns that show off it's colours. I think I have just enough of it left to make one more pair of fetchings, and since my little girl kept wanting to try them on, I think I might make her some arm warmers for fall.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Thanks Angela!

2011-07-15T23:56:00.000-04:00

This is the really cool parcel I just got in the mail today from my friend Angela on Ravelry.
Here's my first item out of the box: an awesome market bag!

This bag is so cool, it's made of rectangles, and actually looks like it's somehow knitted together without seams. I'm going to have to ask Angela how she did it. My friend was visiting when I opened it up, and I thought she was going to try and leave with it! She kept holding it and turning it around and around, checking it out. I barely got to hold it, until I got her to take a photo of me holding it! :)
Inside the bag was amazing blue yarn, with changing shades! How does everyone else score so well in finding these shades? I'm so spoiled! Angela could have easily ended it there and I'd be a happy camper. But wait, there's more...

These blue stitch markers she gave me are a perfect match to my new yarn,
it's like yarn jewelry!

She didn't just spoil me, she also spoiled my kids.
Here is one of the books she gave Emma.

There was also a Princess ABC sticker book, which Emma loved pointing to the letters she can name.

Evan got a cool Hot Wheels emergency vehicle, which is interesting to him because we had to call 911 the other day to help a nearby car collision. We were first on the scene, and it was our first time calling 911. Ok, I'll fess up - I actually called them when I was 6 years old to see if it really worked. It did, and boy, did I ever get in trouble from daddy! The kids also got sticker books, tattoo stickers, and water balloons!

Next out of the box were more goodies for me: A shiny pair of scissors for my projects, a package of summer themed buttons (Emma and I played a matching game with the shapes already), some dpn holders, and wooden dpns. Looks like a lot of them, eh? That's right, I got spoiled...

I got so many dpns that I could make a peacock with them! Angela was paying attention when I mentioned how I have gone from a one-at-a-time project knitter to a several-WIP's knitter. This means that I would run out of dpns often and have to either finish a WIP to use the needles again, or get some stitch holders for my WIP's. Now I can do lots and lots of fingerless mittens on the go! One WIP in each purse, yay!

Poor Evan, thought these were for him. In my defense, he already has a cool pair of camoflage slippers I bought him at a bazar last winter. Now I have my own, and they are quite comfy! They are a darker blue than the camera is showing.

Last but not least, Angela was so kind! She heard I had started a free beginner's knitting club at my local community centre, and donated this set of needles for their use. Now that's paying it forward!
Thanks for all the goodies!

Learning to Spin at Joseph Schneider Haus

2011-07-15T20:25:00.000-04:00

The Joseph Schneider Haus is a museum in downtown Kitchener. The staff dress up in their historically accurate clothing in a Georgian frame farmhouse built by one of our area's first pioneers, Joseph Schneider, back around 1816. This is one of my favourite childhood field trip destinations as a child, and is not to be missed if you live around here. It's a good tourism catch too, and very affordable with admission costing only $5 for a whole family! That's for a guided tour, and these historians really know their local history! Every week is a different theme which teaches about various aspects of what life would have been like back then.
Last week's theme was Wool Processing. I was lucky enough to hear about it on Ravelry, and was so thrilled! I went over with a friend on Saturday, and was determined to finally learn how to spin, as they were to be giving demonstrations. It was fantastic! For a special treat, they had live sheep there in the front yard who were visiting from a local farm.

The little blue guy in the front is the flat traveler our family is hosting for a few weeks. His name is Kyler, and he has traveled here from British Colombia. All the people in Kitchener who have met Kyler have been very friendly to him, and he seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit. We exchange these little characters and show them around our city, then send them home with souvenirs.

Here is me and my awesome friend, who was nice enough to put up with my yarn obsession, and didn't once during this trip threaten to send me to Knitters Anonymous. Of course, I don't think I was actually knitting during this trip (though I probably did have a little project in my bag).

After learning about how the Schneider Family would have sheared their sheep and washed their fleece, we were shown how they carded the fiber (forgive me if I forget what exactly the fiber is called at this stage). The staff were so nice! I actually got permission to participate with them, so here is a photo of me carding for the first time!

This spinning wheel is a replica of what the family of this house would have used. I was thrilled to be given a quick lesson, and even more thrilled that they allowed me to give it a try for myself!
I thought the foot pedal would be as easy as a sewing machine's foot, but I was wrong. It was not easy for me to get it in to a rhythm, and then when I would have to stop to get my yarn twisting right I'd have to start the pedal going again. But it was so much fun! She even had a drop spindle for me to try.

Look at me!

Spinning, all by myself!

It was so nice of my friend to come along and take photos - I'm sure they'll be making their way into my scrapbook!

And check this out! This is called a Walking Wheel, because they would stand and walk back and forth in front of the wheel while spinning. This was a No Touch item, but we did get permission to stand in front of it.

Now that I've given it a try, I have a much greater appreciation for hand spun yarns. I already adored them, but I'm glad to have a new understanding of just how much work goes into a lovely hand spun yarn.

I was so tempted to get myself a drop spindle when we left. What a great trip!

Summer Swaps

2011-07-14T18:17:00.000-04:00

I meant to mention this in my last posting, but I had already yapped enough for one post.
I usually don't knit in the summer, switching to scrap booking. My friend says I do it backwards - that I should be knitting for winter in the summer, but I like to knit winter stuff in the winter. It makes me feel cozier, but then no one really gets much time left to wear the things I make for them since they finally get them at the end of winter. So this year, my goal is to finish the winter knitted gifts by the end of fall. I haven't done much of it yet, to be honest, because I'm having too much fun knitting things for my swap pals in the summer swaps I've been participating in. I'm also making a really cool Bri Bag for myself. If I do a good job of it, I'd like to make one for others as well.

I had been participating in a yarn De-stash swap in June, but was unable to send out my parcel by the cut off date due to the mail strike. So instead of selecting yarn for my partner from my stash, I ended up buying some nice for her online and buying her a pattern from her Ravelry Wish List. I selected for her the Montego Bay scarf, and it looked so nice I will be adding it to my own list of patterns I'd like to try out. I even bought some yarn for it, but I might not get to it till the fall.

We had secret partners for this swap, so I didn't know who's turn it was to spoil me. Turns out it was Rosa, who sent me a great package! She got me lots of goodies, including things I've had my eye on but didn't mention. She must have Swapper's Intuition! Here are some pics of us discovering the contents of Rosa's swap package.

Here is Emma shaking the card up and down to make the googly eyes go all googly.
Shown to the left is a special dessert treat Rosa sent for us to make together.
This will be fun, as my kids love to make pudding!

And here is a photo of the actual card.
See the cute little eyes?

For the pattern, this was a perfect fit for me! I've been wanting to knit this one ever since I first saw it on Ravelry. I don't know if I've actually added it to my queue list yet or not, but I can't wait to get it started.

And guess what? The perfect yarn for this Girlfriend Market Bag arrived along with it! I'm going to LOVE knitting this bag, and will post pictures when it's all done. Such nice yarn, eh? I haven't seen any of this yummy stuff around my neighbourhood yarn stores. Maybe I'll have to put in a request...

Now for this swap, all that was required was yarn and a pattern. Rosa went above and beyond, sending me lots of goodies to go with the yarn. Here are some the extra goodies she spoiled me with:
inside a pretty little sachet were 2 lovely pearl stitch markers, 6 cool looking triangle stitch markers (they will fit nicely on my dpns), and 2 awesome boots that I call my knitting socks. I tell the kids they help keep my needles warm when I'm not using them. These socks come in so handy, you can never have enough! I wish they would make mini ones for my dpns - I have those green and purple cone shaped ones, but they aren't as fun.

Another goodie I've been dreaming of, that I was spoiled with, is this absolutely amazing tool from Knit Picks. It's an emergency fix keychain for when you accidentally drop a stitch. When you are out and about, and haven't brought all your knitting tools with you, this comes in very handy! I just saw this one on our Happy Blue Year group discussion thread, and thought to myself how neat it would be to actually have one of these. And now I do! Yay!

Now for the last picture, I present to you my son Evan, who is teaching me how to wear my yarn buns like Princess Leia. Thanks again Rosa, for spoiling me completely! Hope you had fun de-stashing!

Summer is On!

2011-07-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

I have to admit, this summer is way busier than I expected it to be.
I figured most of my clients would be taking turns going away, and I wouldn't be busy enough. Wrong.
The number of people wanting me to watch their kids for the summer surprised me, flattered almost. A few people had to be turned down, as I'm careful not to go over my numbers. But this blog is not about work, so here I come with the newest on my knitting adventures...

Last week I got to visit 2 local yarn stores in one week!
This first one is Shall We Knit, in Waterloo. This so far has been my favourite yarn store. Ok, so it sort of counts as a new store. They had previously been set up in New Hamburg, a nearby town. Now they have moved to Waterloo, they have a larger store with much more yarn than I had seen at their old location. My first time there, I embarrassed myself so badly that I don't think I'll be able to go there again without a bag on my head. See, I had been waiting and waiting to go there, and every day when I'm finally done work they are usually closed. Or when I am done before they close, my hubby is still at work so I can't leave the kids at home. This was one of those days, and I really wanted to get some Noro yarn for my swap pal in the US (the machine washable one). I love how it changes color so nicely, and it's pretty much the only yarn I can get my hands on here that will do a striated color change, aside from one sock yarn. So I packed up my kids and went to the yarn store. They are usually fairly well behaved when shopping, except that they love to ask me to buy them this and that, etc. I had a special trip planned for the kids, and we were just going to pop in here first on our way. But while we were in the store, my children suddenly stopped behaving. They kept interrupting me when I was trying to question the staff, and my daughter kept wandering off when I was in the middle of reading a yarn label. Twice she reached their sink and sampled the soap (she loves to wash her hands). They were not impressed. In fact, even though I spent over a hundred dollars there (which I likely wouldn't have spent so much without the kids there, but I couldn't think straight), they seemed very impatient with me by the time I was ready to pay for my purchases. They also seemed relieved when I left the store, and didn't bother to even say 'thanks for coming', or 'come again'. When I said that next time I will come alone, they barely even acknowledged my comment. I felt so embarrassed. If I didn't have my mind set on getting something special for my swap pal, I would have gladly left without purchasing anything. I don't usually let my children get away with poor shopping manners, and the rest of their special trip was cancelled. I thought a few minutes at the yarn store would have been a great pick me up, as it usually is. This time, it actually felt worse having gone there. The only good thing was that I was able to get a fantastic yarn and some nice goodies for my pal. As well as some yarn to make her special project with (which I forgot to take a photo of). Now I'm not sure what kind of a reception I will get next time.

A few days later, I had the opportunity to go with a friend (no kids this time) to a spinning demonstration downtown, so while we were there we hit the Kitchener Market where I got my first glimpse of Yarn Indulgences. That was a nice pick me up. We had a great time at the spinning thing (more on that later), and visiting the market was a great experience! What a perfect name for the store! And I have to say, the staff there were very friendly and helpful. I picked out some buttons for my button swap, and some yarn for a scarf I hope to make. Fantastic shimmering yarn! It was sunny out, too, just what I needed. A perfect morning - spending time with my friend, learning to spin, and discovering a new yarn store. The afternoon went just as well - I spent the rest of the day with my family doing things our kids chose. A wonderful day.

Waterloo Park

2011-06-18T13:50:00.003-04:00

I haven't been here since last summer. You'd think with it being just a short drive away, I would go here more often. I really should. My kids love it, and the pace is so nice and relaxing. Just walking about, letting my kids explore, and when I bring my camera I take a few hundred photos. After taking that little photography course last winter, I should have been taking photos every week to not forget what I had just learned. But after a windy photo session, I noticed my aperture was stuck. There is something catching in the gears.

Thankfully, Nikon has a 5 year warranty on their lenses. I kept putting it off, but I finally went to Henry's on Friday to see if it was as easy as they said to send away my lens. Even though I didn't purchase it there, I brought in my lens and my receipt. They filled out a form on the computer, printed me off a shipping receipt, and away it goes. Hmmm, wait a minute. What about the postal strike? I didn't even think to ask them how they are getting it to Nikon to be fixed. I wonder if they have a private service, or if it will be in limbo until the strike is over? I guess I'll have to wait and see.

So I brought my zoom lens to the park, which means no portraits of the kids in 50 mm. But still good for brushing up my rusty skills. Here's a couple I think came out alright.

We thought it was very amusing when the swan came this close to us. A little too close for comfort, though, as I remember the last time a swan chased us for our corn bread! We no longer snack while watching large birds.

March Side Swap

2011-04-16T23:58:00.000-04:00

It's arrived! Now that I know my partner has her parcel safely delivered, I can post this without risk of revealing her package before it got there in the mail.

This is a photo my little ones helped me take of the parcel we sent out to one of our friends on Ravelry. This was for the March Side Swap theme, Anything Goes!

The children helped me wrap the items up and put stickers on them all. We used spring stickers, of course. The fingerless mitts and coffee cup cozy I knitted myself. The other items were selected based on careful consideration and the children saying "Pick that!".

The kids especially liked the spring themed items we chose, like the chocolates wrapped in Easter Egg fashion, and the spring fabric bags we used to place goodies in. The spring scarf I saw in a local shop and thought right away how it would be perfect for a spring swap.

It was a fun swap.

March Side Swap - Anything Goes...

2011-04-11T23:12:00.000-04:00

Here is Part 2 of the previous post. I'm sharing with you some of the photos I took from the swap parcel that arrived from Frances for me. She was so kind, even adding goodies for me to share with the kids!

Evan was out with Daddy, so it was just Emma and I to unwrap all these fun things.

Here is the group shot of the second have of the swap goodies in the box. Frances is very talented at packing - it was like a Mary Poppins bag of never ending goodies! Wow! Something for everyone, too!

For me, an awesome pattern for fingerless mitts, which I will be putting on my queue list. I have to give her credit, Frances really did her research. I guess she must know how much I adore fingerless mitts! Bonus points for doing your homework, Frances!

Frances also gave me a knitting magazine, see that amazing sweater? It reminds me of one of my favorite yarns, Moda Dea, that was discontinued only after I had just discovered it.

Evan and Burk will both like checking out this book on how to draw cars and trucks. On top of all that, Frances sent us her state quarter to add to our quarter collection.
We were missing this one, so thank you for contributing!

Something else that will be enjoyed by all of us is the illustrated story book about the countryside, which is local to Frances. I will also enjoy reading the local magazines Frances included for me to learn more about her area. I really appreciate all the thought Frances has put into this swap. It really shows. I'm quite impressed.

Here is Emma checking out her own little Mary Poppins bag. I wondered why the bag was so heavy...

inside it was a bag of Hershey's mini chocolate bars (the kids were very excited to share these!),

2 packs of crayons, and tons and tons of stickers! Emma is in the photo pointing to her favorite ones.

She then got to work and promptly decorated the bag with as many stickers as she could put on it.

I thought it would have made for a great little project bag, but clearly Emma has her own plans for it.

The bag now holds her crayons, stickers, and some coloring pages inside it. She likes to carry it around. I'm glad it helped cheer her up, especially after having a fever most of the weekend.

Here is Emma showing me how to zip up her purse. The zipper on it is special to Emma - she's never seen such a cool zipper pull. She was so impressed that she could open and close it all by herself.

Now she's ready to shop.

Thank you so much, Frances! You really spoiled us!!!

My little assistant

2011-04-11T22:42:00.000-04:00

Here is Emma opening a parcel we just right now got from the mail man. I didn't even have to chase him down! He came right to my doorstep!

Emma had a rough time opening it up, as it was well taped. I got out the scissors and gave her a hand. I saw on the box that this was from Frances, but I was a little confused as I wasn't her partner in any current swaps... but wait, could it be? Is Frances my secret pal in the March Side Swap on Ravelry? OOOH! So fun!

Here is the first view upon opening my mystery parcel. Right off the bat, I can see it's packed to be discovered in layers. :)
I do like to unwrap things. Emma was thrilled, too.

We have a nice spring themed card from Frances with a hand written note inside, a post card from her area to add to our postcard collection, and a really cool slogan sticker that I have on my fridge door. "Beware of the sleep deprived mom!" It would look equally good on top of the coffee machine.

Next is a group photo of some of the things I opened.

I had to take 2 group photos, as this is the most stuff I've ever gotten in a swap, and it all wouldn't fit together.

Lots of goodies!

Here is a cute little bunny broach for Emma to wear on her sweater. She tried it on her pajamas and checked it out in the mirror, then told me to try it on, too. It's adorable! I wonder how small the needles were for this? Emma then asked me about the spring stamp.

Next to become unwrapped was a treat from Lantern Moon... I love their notions! I have a rosemary wood cable needle from them that is amazing! This was a package of handknitted flower stitch markers, in such fresh spring colors! Emma right away asked to have one. I showed her how they like to hang on mommy's knitting needles to make my yarn pretty.

Here is not one, but two skeins of Blue Ultra Alpaca Berroco yarn! Nice an squishy, too! I wonder what it will become?

Even some new things to discover... like the delicious honey with nuts inside it. It's supposed to be good drizzled over ice cream, so I'll be getting some ice cream at the store this weekend.

That's not all... I'll have to do a second post to propery share the photos.

Lantern Moon Flower stitch markers


Ice Cream honey treat

Spirogyra going well...

2011-04-11T21:38:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited! This is the perfect pattern to compliment the gorgeous yarn that SnazzyB hand dyed for me.
I can't believe just how well this pattern is going! Look how far I've gotten already! It's like the stitches are just flowing over the needles! I love this yarn! I love this pattern! I thought it would be much more complicated than this. And this was the pattern I chose for my birthday, only I couldn't find the right yarn for it. The beautiful yarn I bought for my birthday at the LYS was not the right gauge - one skein too large, one too thin. They will both be lovingly used in future patterns, of course. But I can't say enough how happy I am that I finally get to knit this pattern!!!!

Casting On for Spirogyra

2011-04-08T15:42:00.003-04:00

Here is my long awaited cast on photo for the Spirogyra fingerless mitts I'm knitting in the Happy Blue Year March KAL group. Don't worry, I have until May 15th to complete it.
This pattern is by Lynne Vogel, and will be my dream mitts. I expect to have a few challenges, but it'll be worth it.

Cluster Maps view counters

2011-04-06T15:32:00.000-04:00

Who's reading your blog? Cluster Maps has a cool app that lets you see how many hits you get from different parts of the world. Don't worry, it doesn't give away any info like your specific location or things like that, just what country readers are viewing my blog from. Which is really cool. I like to see my stats now and then, and find it really interesting when people farther away are reading. I don't have too many regular followers, which is ok by me. It's good to have a few friends to keep up to date with.

But I do wonder sometimes to myself, do people find my blog by mistake? Do they google something that makes mine pop up instead of someone elses? I've read lots of great yarn/knitting blogs, so I know mine is nothing that will win a blog award or anything like that. But if people enjoy reading it, that's good. I do wish people who are popping in for a visit would write a comment to say hi though.

So check out my latest Cluster Maps numbers:

United States (US)	167
Canada (CA)	78
Germany (DE)	8
Russian Federation (RU)	8
United Kingdom (GB)	7
Sweden (SE)	7
Peru (PE)	2
Belgium (BE)	1
Netherlands (NL)	1
France (FR)	1
Hong Kong (HK)	1
Taiwan (TW)	1
Turkey (TR)	1
India (IN)	1

Once I had someone reading from Australia, but no more. :(
If anyone does read me from Australia, and happens to know my old school friend Morgan Reynolds who last I heard lives in Mila Mila (or is it Milla Milla) please tell her hello for me. After I moved we lost touch. And she's not even on Facebook! It's been 13 years since I last heard from her... and I'll bet I'd break my back if we were to have another wrestling match (we pioneered girl's wrestling back in the day). Too much info? Just pretend you didn't read that then.

Onto more knitty things, then?

I got more mail today, 2 small parcels, in fact. I love getting mail in dreary weather. Grey skies today, with snow that melts when it touches the ground. Cold. Brrr. Good thing I have those new mitts to wear. :)

Today I received my first Ravelry Round Robin swap. It's a little different than the other swaps. You get the parcel, choose something inside that you like, then put something else nice in that someone else would enjoy. I don't think it includes things like chocolate though. It's knitting related items. Here is a photo of my first Round Robin swap parcel.

And here is a photo of the new parcel I will send out, with the new items I've traded in. Can you see what I took out?

I took out an adorable miniature tapestry carpet bookmark, that Emma keeps trying to borrow for her dollhouse. It fits perfectly to scale in there, LOL. I also took out the mini zippered pouch, as it will do nicely for a small notions bag for one of my WIPs. My goal is to eventually have one mini pouch/bag for each of my WIP's, so I won't have to search for one to take with me when I grab a WIP to stuff in my purse on the way out the door. I also took the 4 adorable heart shaped buttons. I think it will be used for something I will knit for my toddler. Not sure what, yet. I replaced these items with a little pack of beautiful stitch markers - I know there are already some lovely stitch markers in the parcel already, but I had already bought these to go in before it arrived, and think someone would like them. I also put in a package of book labels, as I thought this was a good trade for the bookmark.

I added a knitting themed emery board that I purchased at my LYS, which is fun looking to me. And my favourite item, which hopefully will make someone laugh, is the humorous sheep birthday card. You'll have to wait till you get yours in the mail before finding out what it says on the inside. I thought it was funny.

I hope these items will be claimed by someone during the round robin, we shall wait and see...

Winter Lingers into Spring

2011-04-05T14:34:00.000-04:00

We've had our first spring shower in April, which was so refreshing. It melted the little bit of snow that had come the night before. But it didn't last. Only two days later and the snow is coming back again. It got cold, too. I don't mind the rain when it is warm enough to walk through, or the snow when there is enough to play in. I also like it cold enough that I have a good reason to wear my winter gear. Yes, I do love my winter accessories. I love my toques, scarves, and most of all mitts!

I ended up getting an extra surprise in the mail from my swap pal Alix. She sent me a hand knitted pair of fingerless gloves, and a craft activity for my boy to play with. I love these mitts! I keep showing them to anyone who I chat with during the day. That brings my total collection of owned knitted fingerless mitts (not ones I have made, they are always given away) to 4 pairs.

I'm so glad I got back in to knitting swaps. It's so fun! Thank you very much, Alix!

Part 2 Beat the Winter blues

2011-03-30T19:22:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful circle of colors here, from my ravelry partner Tsita in the Beat the Winter Blues swap. Yes, I volunteered to be paired up with 2 partners for this round, so everyone had a partner to swap yarn with. I've arranged these items into a circle for the photo, as I found they each had something that blended to the next thing. The yarn that changed color from green to blue, then the blue Cascade yarn (I've never got to own a skein of Cascade yet, so this week has been full of yarn spoiling for me), then some beautiful postcards for my postcard collection with cherry blossoms and a blue sky... and so on. The postcards are awesome! Lots of attractions from Tsita's area to read about. I hoped for one, and she didn't disappoint. I had seen the world's tallest man at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in Niagara Falls during our honeymoon, but I didn't realize he was from that area. Cool! I also didn't realize he only lived to the age of 22. That was sad, his poor wife. The chocolates even fit in the with color scheme here, as Tsita spoiled me with Godiva truffles, some of which were mint chocolate with green wrappers. And in the top right corner you will see a cool looking blue flower, which is the music CD Tsita made for me. Tsita is also making me a custom dream catcher that she will send to me when it's finished - she is so talented! I am always amazed when I see how many talented people I see on ravelry.

Thanks for such an excellent package, Tsita! This sure helps in beating those winter blues! And all in good time, too, as we still have plenty of snow on the ground. Hopefully not too much longer, though...

Snazzy's scrumptious yarn!

2011-03-30T18:39:00.000-04:00

Look at this fantastic new yarn that arrived in my mailbox today!

This yarn has been specially hand dyed for me by my ravelry friend, Snazzy B.
She knew how much I liked working with colors that gradually change, and how hard they are to come by around here, so she went to work at making me this one of a kind yarn. Snazzy was even nice enough to ball one skein, so I could get to work on them right away.

I know just what I'm going to do with it, too. I may need to tweak the pattern a wee little bit if my gauge is off, or I could just use the right needles. Yeah, that would be better, wouldn't it?

Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? That's a photo of the pattern which I will cast on tomorrow... I'd love to do it tonight, but hubby says it's date night. He didn't like it last time I brought yarn to the movies.

Beat the Winter Blues arrival!

2011-03-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

Here is my beautifully anticipated package from SaucyMinx. Isn't it lovely?

Perfect for the weather this week. I could almost think it snowed just so I could appreciate the timing of my parcel's arrival that much more. We have plenty of snow outside still, as we got over a foot of snow this week after having had green lawns last week. But that's Canadian Spring for you.

I would have liked to take better photos, but my camera is out of service right now, so I've used my phone to take the photo. Almost everything is in this picture. Alix sent some extra treats for my kids to eat, so those treats are gone. They were thrilled! I read the card to them before opening the rest of the package, so they knew something was for them. Then they got all antsy, ha ha ha.
Look at all these goodies!
Alix sent me so many things, I don't know how she managed to pack them all in the box - I had to take out the cracker jacks in order to fit it all back in the box... yum yum! I haven't had this kind of treat for years, it was nice. She also sent me some premium Belgian dark chocolate, which is safely hidden in the fridge.
The real candy, though, was the yarn. Alix totally spoiled me. Not one, not two, but three different kinds of yarn was I given! The first was two balls of Sirdar CHUNKY Denim - I love chunky yarn! I'm looking at it, thinking it would make a great little bag; I will have to look up what kinds of purses I can make with this, or perhaps another eReader cozy for my Kobo. Next was this really cool kind of yarn that I've never seen before. It not only changes color, but it also changes slightly in thickness and in pattern going from solid to stripes here and there. I can't wait to knit it! It's called Aldente, made in Italy. Then there's the icing on the cake... something I thought about splurging on for myself, but decided I might have to wait until next March for it. Well, it looks like I get to be part of Malibrigo March, after all! Alix sent me a skein of malibrigo Kettle Dyed pure merino wool - it's sooooo soft and squooshy! I love it! Thank you for the yummy yarn, Alix!
To make sure I would be able to use my yarn whenever it called to me, Alix also gave me two different sizes of large circular knitting needles, and one chunky crochet hook. Now I am well supplied to try on some new patterns! Emma has her little hands on the crochet hook in the photo, checking it out.

The other things you will see in this parcel here are a Lilac Mist scented candle, which reminds me of the lilac tree we stop to smell on the way to the park in springtime, and a Sonoma bar of natural lavender soap. I would grant bonus points for this item (if there were a points system) because this soap company donates 5 bars of soap to people in need for every bar you buy. www.cleantheworld.org is their link, if you want to check it out. The butterfly decorated note paper is so beautiful, and it comes in its own case that is shiny with a gold-like edging around the patterns. Very pretty. Alix also included for me a set of blue patterned greeting card set of blank cards for me. Now I can try out card-making with some of the spring stamps I got. I'm sure Evan would like to do this with me, as he is very creative and loves to do crafts and art.

I've been spoiled! Thanks for everything Alix, I appreciate all the lovely things you've sent me. I will send you photos of my finished objects when I'm done knitting with the yummy yarn you sent me. :)

That's all I can write for now, as we are going to turn off our lights for Earth Hour 2011 and chat in the candle light together. Happy Earth Hour!

What happened to spring?

2011-03-23T08:04:00.000-04:00

No one told me this was coming.
2 days into spring, no less.
I don't want to go out in this today!
My teenager heard me grumble about the snow and said to me, "You know, mom, if I didn't have to go to school today I could walk Evan to school today. Hint, hint."
To which I replied, "That's nice sweetie, but you can't skip school to help me out. I can deal with the snow."
He got ready for school and headed out (finally wearing the green camo hat I made for him last year - yay!) to catch his school bus. A few minutes later he came back in, smiling. I figured he missed his bus and thought, that won't get him out of school, he can take the city bus.
He exclaimed, "Snow Day!"
"Huh?"
"Someone drove by and said the buses were cancelled today!"
"Oh, honey. You were pranked. Someone is playing a joke on you. Better go back out and catch your bus."
"No mom, really. Three people came and told us the buses were cancelled today. No school!"
"Let's check the storm centre online..."
Sure enough, all the buses in our district are cancelled. For this little bit of snow? OH. This means there will be more snow today. They are expecting much more snow. Great.
The radio just had a weather update. It will not stop snowing till after dinner.
Hey Mr. Mailman, today would be the perfect day to get my Beat the Winter Blues package.
Now I'm off to get one of my favorite mugs and make some coffee.

Looking for Video Tutorial - Any Suggestions?

2011-03-22T14:58:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to think this premie baby will be all grown up by the time I get her Baby Kimono finished and sent in the mail....

I've finished the eyelet row at the bottom, and have bound off. Now I'm at the hard part.

I have to pick up stitches on the arm holes.

See the picture?

I'm pointing to where I'm supposed to pick up stitches, only there are bound off stitches aw well underneath, as it is an arm hole. The pattern only says to pick up stitches on the holder and knit flat, then seam them up. I'd rather knit in the round and save myself the seaming after, as this yarn might be tricky to seam with all the little bumps.

I've been looking for a youtube video showing how to pick up stitches for a sweater sleeve, but can't seem to find any. Am I looking with the wrong search terms?

Any suggestions?

I'm sure this will seem easy once I've seen how it's done, but for now I just want to learn how to do it properly, and before this little baby outgrows it. I wanted to have it out to her weeks ago, and by now she must be at least 3 pounds. Even if she grows out of it in a week, it will be special to me if she can wear it and snuggle up with her mommy with it. Then later she can use it for her dolls to wear.

Comments welcome!

A Good Day for Mail

2011-03-17T18:40:00.114-04:00

St. Patrick's day turned out to be very nice. The sun was shining off and on, and melted most of the snow on our front lawn. We can easily start to believe that Spring is now on its way.

Being March Break this week, the kids and I have spent much time out of doors. Even in mud puddles. My winter boots still keep me warm, but are no match for the puddles we have been presented with on our walks. Some of them we can jump over, and it's fun trying. But you know those puddles that are a few sidewalk squares long, and stretch from edge to edge? I tried to be smart and go around it by walking on the grass, which was so saturated with water that my foot smushed into it like mud and all the water gushed into my boot anyways. ha ha.

I was looking forward to getting something in the mail this week, and was not disappointed. In fact, today was like a jackpot of mail. We received 2 parcels and one postcard, all in the same day! All from my Ravelry friends.

The post card was from Cornwall, England. It's a picture of Pendennis Castle from the air. My family has a thing for Castles, and medieval themes. One day, we would like to take a tour of some of Europe's old castles. We might to wait for retirement before we get there, but it's on my bucket list. Evan (now 7) was so impressed when Pippay wrote about being able to see the castle from their house, that he looked intently on the postcard to try and spot where the house might be. He was so impresed with how much detail you could see in this photo! Especially the cannons on the ground by the castle wall. We might have to get a frame for this post card...

Then we opened our first parcel, which was from my Ravelry Winter swap pal SaucyMinx. It was a Valentine's package with some goodies inside for me, which I shared and then hid to save some for later. Look at the beautiful card she made for me.

Inside the parcel was a 2-DC mix she made for me. I was quite impressed with this. Way to do your homework... all the songs contain the word 'blue' in either the title or the artist's name. How fun! I will listen to it after dinner, when the kids have settled down. Check out the song list!

And here is my little Emma showing off her smile while displaying the Sweethearts candy and blue sticky notes from our Valentine's pack.

I love the little blue sticky notes - I'm using them to flag pages in my knitting books for patterns I want to knit. This will help remind me better, as my bookmarks fall out too easily when I stuff these books into my knitting tote. These Sweetheart candies were very sweet. I haven't had these since high school. I told Emma no, so when I was reading my greeting card she quietly reached over to try and sneak one. She is very good at noticing when I'm distracted. It was a nice day to enjoy treats, as I had none left in the house.

Then I opened the next parcel. I couldn't figure out why GuapaM had sent me anything, as we were not in any current swaps together. What an unexpected treat.

What a lovely tulip. It reminds me of some of the Dutch tulips that my sister gave me for my garden. Dutch tulips are my favorite so far, and here in Canada we have a lovely tulip festival every year in Ottawa (which I have yet to visit). The tulip is a symbol of beauty and friendship, and our city has something called Kitchener in Bloom - you can nominate your favourite residential gardens to be entered in the city wide contest. I believe the winners are entered into Cities in Bloom, which competes against other cities for the best landscapes. There are several categories, and I'm very glad to see that one of them is for environmentally friendly practices, or drought resistent gardens. My tulips are not one inch out of the ground, so I look forward to watching them grow.

The Kinder Schodolade was a much coveted treat for the children. I read the card aloud, and got to the part that said "I added a little extra for your kids" and the kids got so excited that they were jumping up and down and screaming "Yay!". They knew it was for sharing. This Kinder Schokolade was made up of 8 little bars, so the kids got to each have their very own chocolate bar, with extra for me as well. They were so delicious! My little Emma loved it so much, she would not accept the fact that hes was done when she had finished eating. She kept looking around and asking, "chocolate? more?" until I showed her the empty box. I have kept the box because now and then she still asks about it. It's much easier to show a toddler the empty box so they know there is none left, than to try and reason with them through a fit when they are sure there is more.

Look what Emma is doing with the box now...

After the Valentine's Swap with GuapaM, I had mentioned to her that we had never heard Lena's music before (she sent us a Lena CD) and liked it very much. Evan and I sing it together in the car, and I really like to play it while house cleaning. Lena had recently come out with more songs, and GuapaM was so nice as to send me the newest CD. Wow, that was so unexpected, I feel very spoiled! Here is a pic of Evan showing the CD.

So thank you all for spoiling me and making this day brighter!

Beautiful bookmarks

2011-03-14T09:43:00.003-04:00

I just received this bookmark in the mail from Viola, who was doing a St. Patrick's day flat mail swap with me. She sent me lots of wonderful goodies. Tea, beads, crayons, stickers, colouring pages (that in use right now), and a cool door sign. Also, some patterns, recipes, and a lucky greeting card. I will enjoy the Green Tea & blackberry current tea this morning, and look forward to trying out the recipe for Irish Soda bread. That will be fun. And I know my hubby will love the irish beef stew. We love stews.

Thursday - casting on

2011-03-10T09:37:00.001-05:00

With only sleeves left to do on the baby Kimono now, I'm certain I'll be able to finish it today/tonight. Next I will be getting ready to make my March Side Swap pal a little something. I will have to make it a quick little project, as I still have WIP's that I need to get out in the mail. The waffle stitch mitts for my sis, the cabled mitts for my friend, and a pair for my mom.

So I was looking through the pattern database on ravelry, trying to find a quick but nice project when I remembered the French Press Mug cozie I may a few years ago.

I think I could make it a little faster, having gone through the pattern once before. There was another one I was thinking of doing, that looks just as nice.

This one here is called Kureyon Coffee Cozy by Michelle Molis.

I think either one would be lovely, but I don't have any of that beautiful Noro yarn to make a cozy with. I'm trying to de-stash, and would like to use this yarn that I've just balled up this morning. It's the second skein of shetland handspun yarn I received awhile ago from a swap pal. I loved working with it for the fingerless gloves I made.

It doesn't look as nice in a ball as in the skein shape, but most knitters know that.
Here is what it looked like in a skein.

So I just have to decide which pattern to use...

Premie Kimono with Clementine Cotton

2011-03-09T12:17:00.000-05:00

This is what I've been working on for the past month, as well as a few other WIP's. My friend told me that I could knit faster if I have other projects to help break it up, making it seem less daunting when it starts to feel like it's taking forever. A fresh break, I suppose. So I took her advice, and did a bit of this and a bit of that. I have just a few inches left to go, and the arms. I actually thought it would have been finished last weekend, and was wrong. These tiny stitches and tiny needles are not what I'm used to, but the Knit Picks yarn is so soft that it's a pleasure to knit.

The other items I've managed to knit up during this time are an eyedrop scarf - no picture though, I've sent it off to my Beat the Winter Blues swap partner along with some matching yarn in case she wants to make matching mitts or a hat. I'll have to post a photo when she posts hers.

I've also knitted up a cabled hat, my first one, using Patons SWS yarn in denim. After knitting it up, I was so disappointed to hear they are discontinuing this line. Why does this keep happening? After I find out how much I like a yarn? Is it a fashion thing? Out with one yarn, in with the next? Here's a pic:

The pictures don't really show off the pattern well enough. This is just using my computer's camera. My Nikon lens got some dust in it (which will teach me to not take photos on a windy day near a construction site). I have to send it away to get cleaned, which is covered by their 5 year warranty, thankfully. This hat was supposed to be a slouchy hat, but there is no slouch what so ever. I was supposed to use one size up in needles, I think. And I thought, I'll just knit loose. Well, not enough. It is quite a comfortable hat, but not slouchy. I hope the person I've sent it to still likes it. I've not put it on my Ravelry projects page yet, so no one will see it until it gets to my swap pal in the mail.

Fabulous Friday

2011-02-25T13:47:00.000-05:00

Ah, Friday is here again. It was so nice to have a 4 day work week, after having some time off on the long weekend. Monday was Family Day, and we enjoyed spending time with relatives on our out-of-town trip.

I can't believe I'm not overly tired today. I stayed up way too late last night watching Episode 1 of Wives and Daughters on Netflix. The link is there incase you aren't familiar with the mini series, but if you like Jane Austen type movies, you may like this one. I liked it, and ended up watching all 4 episodes at once, figuring I'd fall asleep at some point. I didn't. I very much liked the movie, but at almost 4:00 in the morning I was disappointed that I hadn't fallen off to sleep yet. So I put on my audio book of Persuasion, which usually puts me out within one chapter. Not that I find the book boring, but the voice is good to fall asleep to. I fell in and out of sleep, and didn't feel well rested. You know that tossing and turning kind of sleep? After that I figured I would be extremely tired today. Granted, I'm not as perky as I usually am, but I'm not tired.

It's a nice quiet afternoon, too. Right now it's quiet time for the children, and those who are not napping are watching Veggie Tales on TV. I tired them out quite well at play group this morning.

I am getting anxious to finish this baby kimono I'm doing. I'd say that I'm almost halfway done now. I had hoped to finish it ahead of time - I'm not late for sending it out, but I wanted it done sooner. It's made with Knit Picks Crayon cotton yarn in Clementine colorway. Here is a pic:

We had more mail this week from the Ravelry's Valentine's mini swap. I should count them to make sure I haven't forgotten to post a picture of one of them, I would feel bad if I had overlooked anyone by mistake. This week we got two packages in the mail - boy, were the kids ever excited! They think whenever there is a large envelope in the mail, there's a good chance that some of it may contain goodies for them. They weren't disappointed. In this first one from Melissa, we received a handy blue bag that she made for me. I love it! I can use this to store my dpns, or my circs. I don't really have a place for my circs, so this would be perfect. I keep losing them in my large knitting bag. Also in this parcel was a nice glittery card (my toddler especially likes this. She shines it in the light), two Valentine's themed pencils, some mentos mints for me, some Blue's Clues stickers for the kids, and several mini packs of Skittles with Valentine's card stickers attached. The kids and I thought that was fantastic! I won't forget to mention the French Vanilla hot cocoa mix, which didn't make it to the photo shoot. It has been snowing, and after playing in the snow for a good hour we found a good occasion to make some up and enjoy. We also enjoyed the Creme Brulee hot cocoa mix I got last week in the mail, but not enough snow came down last week for me to justify opening it up. It was way too mild. But we are expecting a snow storm over the next day or two, so I'll have no problems finishing off my hot cocoa supply. Yum!

Next - here is a photo Emma and I were playing peek-a-boo on photobooth using the Valentine's cards from Angela. Emma likes to hold them up covering her face, then look at the camera and shout 'boo!'. I especially like the vintage Valentine's Day card Ang was able to find for me. Included in this parcel was an adorable blue bracelet, and 3 CD's with Blue's music on them. There is only one CD showing in the photo because one CD is in use. One of the things I liked about this swap was that music was optional: some of sent each other music mixes to listen to, and I have lots of new music to listen to now. It's been really fun so far. I like this group. I hope everyone has been enjoying the music I sent out as well. I made a different mix for each person. I tried looking for Blues, but ended up filling most CD's with Jazz both new and old. I haven't heard back if any of the Austen Powers soundtrack CD's were liked or not. That was sort of a joke, to go along with their evil laugh comments posted (mwahahaha). I hope it wasn't too over the top. Would you laugh if someone sent you one? Mike Meyers does the best Dr. Evil laugh, so I thought it was all good.

I have two more knitting WIP's to finish off this weekend, then will post a photo of my swap packages that are otherwise ready and waiting to be mailed out. There is no danger of being discovered though, no one from over there reads my blog. All the discussions are being done via discussion forum threads nowadays. I could be wrong though, I might have a partner who is really good at friendly stalking and discovers my thread. If so, well done... and don't read this weekend's post. You wouldn't want to spoil your surprise... would you?

The Mail is here...

2011-02-22T15:23:00.000-05:00

Here is a photo of one of the valentine's swap packages I received this week. The other one I somehow messed up on my computer, so I am unable to upload it. This one has a nice blue hand-made valentine's card, with a lady bug on it. My little girl and I like lady bugs, so we thought it was cute. Also included were some nice chocolates - they didn't last long. Mmmm! We received some buttons, a pattern for a scarf that I intend on making for myself soon, and an adorable pattern for a mini mitten with some yarn for it. I can't wait to make that one, and will post the photo when I'm done.

The other package came with two valentine's cards - one of them was a vintage card. I like vintage stuff. It also came with a few CD's of blues music, which I've already started listening to.

There were a few nice stamps that came with my packages, so I put those into the little stamp scrapbook style album I've started up for stamp collecting. I used to collect stamps in grade school, then lost them all when I moved. I thought it might be fun to start up again with my kids, so I put this one together. It's just a mini album, but if it goes well we can move up to a larger album as it's needed. It might also get my kids into the habit of writing snail mail to their relatives. This is something that's almost died off with email and facebook. By the time you get the letter, it's old news. So I thought I'd get them to send out art and other goodies instead. I bought a few postage paid post cards to start us off.

Feb 19th, knitting update

2011-02-19T15:35:00.000-05:00

It's been a nice week for weather here, slowly getting warmer each day. That is, until today. Yesterday I had posted this question on the discussion board for our Beat the Winter Blues group: What is your favourite winter scene or cold moment in a movie? We got some great answers, but the one that stuck out in my mind the most was The Day After Tomorrow. This is the movie where everything freezes super fast, and if you weren't in a super warm room with a fire that was well insulated, you wouldn't last. A few people shut themselves into just such a room in an old library and started to burn large old books to keep warm. I've never seen a fireplace in a library, so I don't know if this library was fictional or not. But it was so cold! I had that movie on my mind last night before going to sleep. I also had on my mind the characters from the tv show Heroes, as I rented that DVD and was watching it last night. So guess what kind of dream I had? A severe winter storm with superheroes battling it out. And me, trying to survive the winter storm amidst all the drama going on around me. Of course, there was of course an appearance of Angela Petrelli's sister Alice, who could control the weather. Only this storm was so big, it was beyond her reach. All she could do was to try and work with the storm to try and detour the big winds and snow gusts away from the us. She couldn't take away the cold. BRRRR. I woke up feeling cold and shivery. As I drifted from sleep to wake, it was a little hard to tell the dream was over, since there was very loud wind blowing. There were high winds blowing this morning, and it sounded like they were threatening to rip the shingles off the roof. Not exactly the weather we were expecting for the weekend - it was supposed to be mild. So right now, I'm wearing a warm sweater and running the kettle to get warmed up. My back is stiff from being so cold. I'm sure my house is warm, but I feel so cold! I haven't had our fireplace on all winter, but maybe today's the day I start it up again.

On to warmer thoughts, like knitting. I'm sure once I get going with my bamboo double-pointed needles I'll feel warmer. That's the good thing about knitting with wooden needles - they act as insulators, keeping your body heat from escaping your hands. If you knit with metal needles, you may notice that sometimes your hands feel cold after awhile, because it conducts your body heat out of your hands. Some people with arthritis use wooden needles for this reason. I'm also going to make some broccoli cheddar soup if I don't warm up soon.

This week I have a few knitting projects on the go - more than I've had any one time before, I am sure. I have my sister's black Waffle Stitch Fingerless Gloves, that I have decided to knit in the round even though the pattern reads flat. Do you think I remembered to pay attention to that? Nope. I am about two inches into the pattern, and have done about two of the main pattern repeats. It looks interesting, and I am tempted to just keep going with it this way and see how it turns out. I was supposed to knit rows 1 & 2 (k2, p2) flat, which I believe would have meant (k2, p2) for first round and (p2, k2) for second round, then rows 3 & 4 were knit for flat, so for round it would be knit one row, purl the next? I'm still learning, but I think that's how it would go. But I've forgotten to convert, so instead of the interesting waffle stitch, it looks more like little purl squares here and there. I'd take a picture, but this yarn is like jet black and wouldn't show the stitches on my web cam. I'll try to get out the better camera to see if I can't capture it with some nice window light on the stitches. I've decided that there is enough yarn (I hope) to make both the right set of mitts, and the wrong ones I've started. When I'm done, I'll post a comparison for you.

I have three other projects I'd like to finish by the end of this week. One is the baby Kimono I'm knitting for the first time. The pattern is for a 7 pound baby, so I've decided to go to smaller needles in hopes of making one small enough for the premature baby I'm knitting it for. This will go out in the care package I've got all ready to go for a friend. All I have left to do it the kimono. I have a gorgeous pair of cabled fingerless gloves done in Blue Skies hand dyed yarn. They feel so lovely! I must admit, it's not so easy to knit with baby yarn, especially with those little bumps. The yarn is so soft but it really is slowing me down, probably due to me being a slightly tight knitter. I have to relax my tension a bit to let the stitches slide off easier. I'm at the point of the pattern now where I have to learn something new. It says I will need to divide for sleeves and body. It started off at the neckline. I have to knit 18, cast on 4 stitches (this is the part I will hopefully figure out, then slip next 26 stitches (left sleeve) onto a stitch holder, knit 32 stitches (back) ... I'll take photos later to show my progress.

Ok, children are demanding my attention now, so we'll finish up later.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:01:00.001-05:00

My first parcel arrived today from the Valentine's Swap that we've been doing on Ravelry. This swap is so full of goodies. I was surprised at just how many goodies my pal from Germany was able to stuff in the little bubble envelope. Lots of German chocolate, hot chocolate, which makes me happy because I absolutely love to get things that are local to where my pals live.

She was very thoughtful in the selections in per parcel. I love the music! Songs that are so catchy, but I've never heard. Puts a smile on my face when I listen to it. Which is also perfect, because today is such a dreary day outside. Both rain and snow, with slush and ice on the sidewalks with big puddles to walk through. I enjoyed reading on the inside of the CD jewel case the way she decided on this particular dance mix.

Pretty much everything in this package had blue on it, as this was part of our theme. I also got a cute little make-up size bag with hearts and my name sewn onto the side. I really like that. Inside the bag I found more goodies, like a face mask to pamper myself with later, as well as some adorable star shaped bath confetti. I've never seen this before - it's cute! As well, I was given natural aloe hand cream and some lip balm to help get through the rest of winter.

All these goodies were wrapped in a beautiful blue tissue, enclosed with a large blue shiny heart that readn "Happy Valentine's Day".

Thank you, GuapaM for such a nice Valentine! You spoiled me!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Valentine's are on their way

2011-02-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

In ravelry, I am participating in a Blue Valentine's swap. I got all my parcels out on Wednesday at the post office just before they were closing. I didn't get a chance to go by after work or before knitting club, so I rushed there right after. They were about to close, and saw how many parcels I had (7 of them) to send out. I was told there was no way they could get out 10 packages in the next 10 minutes. I quickly said, "Oh, I only have 7, and they are all addressed and ready to go." She hesitated, and so I asked if we could just get out as many as possible today I'd appreciate it. She was so nice, she served me and actually stayed a few minutes past the deadline to let me get them all sent out.

I realized after the fact that I had not taken any photos of the stuff I put in them. They each contained one music CD, which I tried to customize to suit each person. We'll see how off I was at that when they receive them... the theme had hinted at sultry blues, but I kept going back to jazz for my selections. I also threw in a special Austin Powers soundtrack CD for those of them who were notorious for doing that Dr. Evil laugh through our discussion boards. I really hope they get a kick out of that. Most of the selections I chose were big band - Glenn Millar, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman. But I also included Russell Gunn (Fly Me to the Moon), Count Basie (Ain't Misbehavin'), and Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (My Funny Valentine).

I made a different Valentine card for each person, and above is a photo of one of the cards I made with my son. We used scrapbook paper for the outside of the card. Inside we used glitter glue, tissue paper, and yarn for the heart. I think that's called an I-cord? We glued it around in a heart shape.

I'm hoping to convince my hubby to watch a chick flick this weekend, though I don't know which one. We may settle for watching The Rock in the movie Tooth Fairy with our kids.

Happy Valentine's weekend to everyone!

Today by the pond

2011-02-10T21:31:00.003-05:00

This photo was taken on one of our typical walks to get the mail. I love seeing how the pond changes throughout the seasons. This time we saw a loop of tracks through the snow. We were wondering if it was a curious cat who went across the ice to see what was int he fallen log, or maybe even a fox that we saw years ago before much of the trees were cut down.

More snow :)

2011-02-09T21:47:00.001-05:00

My kids are hoping for another snow day, but as today is only Saturday, no chance. It started coming down just as I was finishing my shopping for the Blue Valentine's swap that I'm doing on ravelry.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Birthday Goodies

2011-01-25T13:10:00.000-05:00

Last week ended up not like I expected, but with a good end.

It started with that mitten mix up that wouldn't give up - I am glad to say that it didn't get the best of me. After frogging, dropping stitches, losing my on the thumb and frogging again, getting my guage wrong somehow and redoing it yet again, it finally got done. I could have gotten a whole new pair done in the time it took me to fix that one mitten. What a sigh of relief. And sadly, what was my favourite pattern may now not get looked at for awhile. What a shame, because the hand dyed Merino wool from Bristol County Dyeworks finally arrived in the mail... right on my birthday! That was exciting, and in the New Moon inspired colours. I was waiting for this to arrive so I could make myself a pair of Alice Cullen inspired Pulse Warmers for myself with this very skein of yarn. But I need to take a break from this pattern. It will happen, but not now. Besides, I have my twin sister's birthday waffle mitts to make. Yes, they should have been done by now, and would have, had it not been for those horrible mitten mixups last week. I will be visiting my twin next weekend, so that gives me just enough time to get her mitts done, and hopefully no mess ups. A fresh new pattern will do me good. And the yarn I am using for her is brand new so that will be a treat to work with.

Part of that mitt was finished while spending a long night in the local ER waiting room. I'm not sure how long your average wait is where you live, but over here people wait on average about 8 hours. For most parents with a cranky child (and most children are at least agitated there) this can be a very long night, and physically draining. My little Emma had lost her footing for a moment and fell backwards. She would have been fine, only when she landed her head made contact with the foot break pedal of the play pen which was nearby. I never noticed just how much that pedal sticks out. It never got in the way before now. I cleaned it up, iced her head, and told my husband she'd going to need stitches - let's go. I knew it would be a long night, so I packed well. Stroller with the big cargo basket underneath, a pillow, blanket (it does get cold there with the doors so close to the wait area), her favourite machine-washable toys, water and snacks for all of us. Oh, and my knitting for whenever she falls asleep. I was certain I'd have enough time to finish a project there. I have to say, Emma surprised me by just how well she handled the wait. She was in surprisingly good spirits, as long as I was right there with her at all times. She was so happy that big brother (age 7) had let her borrow his new moo cow pillow that moos when you squeeze it. That was a big deal to her, and she kept showing us how to make it moo. It really does sound funny - this cow doesn't just moo, it moo snores! When she finally fell asleep around 1:00 am, I took out my knitting. I must have been really dragging, as I didn't get more than a few rows done in a couple of hours. This was when I did all the unraveling, reknitting, losing track of my rows and trying again. When I realized I was too tired to knit efficiently, I put it away with only a few rows gained.

I won't go into details of how utterly unimpressed Emma was with the poor bedside manner of the doctor. He was wanting to get the wait times brought up to speed, so his visit with us was prompt. I didn't expect him to be quite so rough handling a toddler though. It was hard for a mom to watch, but that's why I'm the mom and he's the doctor. All I can say, is that when I told her "It's over. It's all done." I took her in my arms and she held on so tightly. She didn't relax until we had her back in her car seat buckled in, and then she let herself drift off to sleep again. We were both exhausted. I got home just in time to start work. My good friend and client was so nice to me, she mercifully brought me a Tim Hortons coffee. I got through the day, but had a difficult time getting Emma to bed on time. So another late night for me. The next morning, so surprise, Emma and I were both sick.

Sick, just in time for my planned girl's weekend. We were going to have my family over, and some friends, go bowling, have a wii zumba party, watch a movie... whatever, something like that. But now feeling so ill, I had to cancel plans. And rest.

When we were both feeling better, my friends brought me out for an evening coffee. I had a Caramel Macciato (spelling?) with extra whipped cream for my birthday.

I was spoiled with this nice goodie package from my friends. Knitting magazines, flavoured coffee, chocolates, a book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee that I was eyeing, a page-a-day dog lover's calendar, a night light for my Kobo ereader, candies and hand-dyed yarn.

There was more chocolate than is in the photo,
but I am kind hearted and shared it with my friends so it's no longer there.

Here is Emma showing the cute little knitted bag she was given. Her birthday is next week. She loves to run around with this little purse, it's so adorable!

I was even given a link for a free birthday pattern to knit from MinKnit on ravelry.

Last but not least, my husband and children took me out for brunch, then to the yarn store for dessert. I picked out some needles and yarn for my birthday pattern. That was very nice of them. They score bonus points for this one. I was really only hoping they would clean the house for me, but this was both unexpected and well enjoyed!

ARG!

2011-01-18T15:36:00.000-05:00

OK. So, I got my friends mitts done. I screwed them up nicely. I relaxed a bit too much on the second mitt, and the gauge changed a tiny bit. You can see it here in the photo. If you stretch the first mitt, you can make them look the same, but when I wear them I can notice a relaxed fit on the second mitt. I am tempted to make a third mitt in a relaxed fit as well. I might have enough yarn left over, but it's hard to tell.

Aside from having the mitts being one tighter than the other, I have a problem with a blob of color showing up on the hand.

You see it? Does it look to you like someone spilled something there? I tried to make the second one identical by casting off at the same point. I thought this would make it so that when finished, you could wear the blob on the insides of both mitts. Of course, it turns out I made two left mitts or two right mitts. This pattern is designed so you can wear the mitt comfortably on either hand, which is true. It feels good wearing it. But I wanted mirror twins, not like this.

I thought I had read somewhere that there was a way to make the color spiral the opposite way, but I don't recall how it's done.

Here's what the other side looks like. It would have made a nice outer side for the hand.

But this is what I get...

It doesn't even look like a pair, does it???

I really wanted to have this project done by this coming Friday, as my friend comes over for my birthday weekend celebration. I'll try not to pout... on the bright side, I will be learning something new. Can't fix a mistake without learning a lesson. Just breathe...

Preemie Knit Patterns?

2011-01-18T09:35:00.001-05:00

One of the members of a disscussion group I belong to has just had her baby - early. 24 weeks old, and just a pound. So I have decided to knit her some baby clothes, as they are much needed. This of course will mean another :) trip to the yarn store, right after I had said that I would be limiting my trips there and going from my stash. But I do not have any baby yarn in my stash, and I think a preemie would have especially sensitive skin. Would organic cotton or Blue Skies cotton silk be soft enough? I have very limited amounts of those anyway, but maybe enough for a baby hat. Or I could be smart and knit them into colour rows; then 3 half skeins may make enough for one Owlie Sleep Sack.

I need about 200 yards for this pattern. I wonder how to make it small enough for a teeny baby, as this is newborn size in the photo. I'm guessing I would take the same pattern to the yarn store and get smaller yarn and smaller needles, and hope for the best?

I'm trying to find something to try out patterns on, like my toddler's dolls. If needed, I can try to crochet my own something, but you haven't seen how badly my self-designed crochet projects turn out, as I don't post them. Here is what I have to work with:

The teddy bear might be the closest in size for now, but this baby will grow...

If you have any suggestions out there for preemie baby patterns, please send me the links in the comment section. Thanks!

New Year's Goals for 2011

2011-01-17T19:32:00.002-05:00

Instead of Resolutions, I am going to write my goals for this year. As a friend suggested, unmet resolutions can make one feel like a failure or discouraged enough to stop trying. So I am going to write Goals rather than resolutions. It's been proven that when people write down their goals, they have a much higher success rate than if they were to just make mental notes of their goals.

So here they are, better late than never.

Spend more time with family. I am making it a priority to spend more 1 on 1 time with each of my three kids, as well as making at least one day a month as a special family event. This is not so easy, as my husband works too much so having a day where he is home to do something with us is not easy to come by. His days off will usually fall on a day when the kids are in school (homeschooling was great for this, but my boys would not take their school work seriously).
Transition my volunteering commitments to home-based things like charity knitting rather than leaving the house to volunteer, as my children miss me and complain I’m not home enough when I volunteer. This will be a hard one for me, as I love to volunteer in my community and don’t like to turn things down. I’m committed until June, then I may allow someone to replace me. Last year I was asked by my family to quit volunteering, and I did drastically cut down the amount of time I went out to volunteer. But I get so much out of it, I decided to stay on board for another year.
Knit from my stash as much as possible before drooling over new yarn at my local yarn store. Very challenging, as I have just last month started to frequent this cute little store with Blue Sky alpaca…. Of course, I will allow myself to purchase things there for swaps, or special gifts, birthday projects… see how hard this is? But I definitely want to see if I can use up all my stash. That would be awesome, even though I don’t have a large enough stash. Also, yarn given to me doesn’t count for a stash diet, does it???
Learn how to knit and read at the same time. That would be great! I knit continental, but can learn the other way if that’s how people do it to read while they knit.
Really pay down my debt. Also, to set some money aside for savings/investing. That will make my hubby happy.
Actually get my taxes done on time this year. Oh, and return ALL my library books on time this year. The library makes enough money off my late fees to possibly open a new wing...
Declutter the basement. It’s No Man’s Land down there… but I want to get ALL the junk out. At least half of it by Spring. Start finishing the basement by the end of next fall.
Have knitted Christmas presents for each member of my family/friends done for 2011 Christmas. I wanted to do that this past Christmas, but started too late and only got a few done. This year I will plan ahead, knit ahead, and have each finished object in a Ziploc freezer baggie for me to see and remember it is done! I’ve already started by organizing a space in my closet for this, with empty freezer bags labeled with names on them. I will be going through my stash and putting the skeins for intended people inside the bags to help prepare. And maybe the pattern if I think of it.
Get in better shape. I plan on doing this through the winter with Wii Zumba, which is so much fun. This includes losing a few pounds/inches. I want to get rid of the muffin top, but also have more energy.

I will check back every month and see how these goals are going. Wish me luck!

Guess what I just got on Etsy???

2011-01-16T17:31:00.002-05:00

OK, so first see the photo on the post below of the Alice Cullen mitts. OK, so anyone of you who have actually seen Twilight's NEW MOON movie, may notice that these mitts are a little off in colour pattern. The ones in the movie (you can see the photo and view pattern details on ravelry, but pattern is in the book Vampire Knits ).

This has been driving me crazy! The yarn here is hand-dyed, so I can't find anything that would make these cute little splotches of colour. So I found out from the designer, Nancy Fry, that the hand-dyed cotton is available on Etsy. There were two skeins left! I don't know if they make more or not, but it was called New Moon. The colour was apparently inspired by the hues in the movie. So I got one! I know, I know... why didn't I get two? tsk, tsk. I'm sure once I start working with it I'll be kicking myself for not getting more. By the way, you are the only ones I've told. No one else knows! Can you imagine how much trouble I will be in when my best friend finds out that I didn't get a Twilight yarn for her, too? She is a huge Twilight fan. I wonder what knitted goodies the next movie will inspire? And do you think Alice knits her own things? She would be fast enough, and has the designer's flare. And would Bella take up knitting when she becomes a vampire, as she won't have clumsy hands anymore. She wore those really nice warm pair of grey double knitted cable mittens in the first one, the day of the slippery ice incident. So she might take it up, but as she doesn't care much for fashion, she probably wouldn't. I myself am fashionably challenged, I have not of the fashion world. But I love knitting!

So - if you had super speed and accuracy like the Cullens, what would you do with it?
Would you knit a pattern that you like but have never bothered with due to skill level, length of time to finish, etc?

Itching for a winter knitting swap!

2011-01-16T17:06:00.003-05:00

I'll start by showing you what's on my needles today. This is a pair of Alice Cullen inspired fingerless mittens. I got the pattern from Vampire Knits, which has lots of mouth watering winter knitting projects. Bite me. :)

I'm making these for my college friend Debbie, who will be coming to visit me for my birthday next weekend. I didn't get to see her for Christmas, and realized I have never knitted anything for her. She doesn't knit, but I know she likes to stay warm. And the weather where she lives is slightly milder than here, so fingerless may do well for her. At least for spring, anyway, or fashionable shopping!

I have discovered a local yarn store in the next town over, and have been finding excuses to go back and wander around. I picked up a few more skeins yesterday as an early birthday present to myself, as well as some new dpns. The very nice lady at the store answered my questions and was kind enough to demonstrate for me how to knit in the round with 2 circular needles. Now I know, so I may have to pick up some extra circs to have 2 of each size. My circs were not long enough to do that 'magic' whatever it's called method. Forcing it to fit only made my yarn catch and snag where the cable met with the needle. ARG! So I'm using dpns to knit mitts, which is fine with me. I LOVE bamboo needles. They make knitting pure pleasure.

Now that I have gotten into the groove again, I am itching to join a swap! Back in 2008 I participated in a few, and made friends with some wonderful people. Most of us drop a line to one another via blog comments now and then. It's nice to stay in touch. I really liked connecting with people who live in other parts of the world - it really makes the world feel smaller (or closer, if that may be a better word).

Unfortunately, the swaps I joined back then do not have a repeat swap going. I was really looking forward to bumping into some of those guys and gals in another round.

Now I am going to have to seek out a new one to join.

I can knit, I can shop for fabulous yarn to send out, I can spoil my buddy with goodies like chocolate, coffee, etsy things, but I don't sew or do hand-made cards or things like that.

I hope to find something soon with a winter, chocolate, coffee, mystery, or something like that theme to join in on. Too early for spring themes for me. It's not even ground hog day yet.

If you are happily involved in a swap right now, I will try not to be jealous.
Now off to ravelry I go to check things out...

Huh?

2011-01-12T10:23:00.003-05:00

So, today I am trying something new. This funny yarn - I forget what it's actually called, as it has been in my stash for a long time. I think it's called Fun Fur?

So for tonight's ESL kitting club that I'm volunteering for at the community centre, we are doing a simple garter stitch dishcloth knit-along. I wanted to show the other participants how you can make different things with the same stitch, like a scarf. How different can you get from cotton than fun fur? So, I pulled it out and cast-on. I quickly realized it was too tight, and had to start again. I was knitting the second row, thinking to myself how I will explain yarn tension to the group, and the same thing happened again; too tight. How will i be able to undo this???

If I can barely find the stitch buried in there to knit, how on earth do I undo stitches? :)

I guess this one had better be perfect, but inside all these tangles, I doubt if anyone would actually be able to tell what blunders lay there.

Normally, I knit Continental style. But as most people do it the other way, I thought I would brush up on English style knitting for tonight's meeting. At least I won't be going too fast for anyone. I wasn't sure just how new some of these knitters are, so I decided not to pick out a pattern with purls in it. Am I wrong? I think it would be challenging enough to try and teach a new technique, and new knitting terms to those who are struggling with the English language. It's conversational English we are trying to focus on, so I would like the participants to be as relaxed as possible, not having to over-complicate things. I've met a lot of wonderful people while volunteering at the community center. Our neighbourhood is very diverse, and through some of these programs we are able to get neighbours to reach out and say hello to one another.

I am a little nervous about my teaching ability. Knitting is something that I haven't been able to teach my kids, and I wonder if I'm just terrible at explaining it. I am bringing some youtube videos that show in slower speed the beginner steps. I won't be the only volunteer there, but it makes me feel better knowing I have expert backup if needed.

Wish me luck!

Getting There...

2011-01-11T18:15:00.004-05:00

So I have taken stock of my finished knitting projects since November, and realized I have actually completed 7 projects! Wow! I guess I am definitely showing signs of improvement in both speed and skill. I think I still knit slowly, I'm just getting better at finding little bits of time to knit with. It helps that I take my projects along with me in my little knitting bag that can stash into pretty much any purse.

I still don't think I'm skilled enough (or patient enough) to complete a sweater. The last one I tried to crochet was such a disappointment. After running out of yarn, I bought more that was a non dye lot yarn and it didn't match up at all. So I had to wear it as a vest, but it just didn't cut it. At least from that I've learned my lesson of not underestimating how much yarn you need. Better off having extras than not enough.

Most of the projects I've done this winter have been fingerless mittens of varying sizes from toddler to adult. I started with the Alice Cullen inspired fingerless gloves, then made a pair of Sucky Thumb mitts from Ravelry, then made multiples of these for family and friends. From there I moved up to the Irish cabled fingerless gloves for one of my sister's Christmas gifts. I wanted it be special, so I ordered her yarn from fabulousyarn.com and I was so happy when it arrived. Skinny Dyed Blue Sky Alpacas 100% organically grown cotton... it felt soooo good to work with. However, I am still not too experienced with cabling. I had only one small sized cable needle, and found out it was making my stitches too tight. So I tried using one of my extra dpns to hold on the cables, which kept sliding off. Then I'd drop a stitch here and there. Then I used metal dpns instead of my wooden ones to speed things up, as it was getting dangerously too close to the Christmas mailing deadline. Wrong choice: I had entire rows just slide off the needle when I went to pick up my project out of the bag. Back to the wooden needles. Back to the yarn store to find a solution - happy silicon protectors! Sigh. This pair of mitts ended up totally missing the deadline for Christmas shipping, and finally arrived in England today. I've been eagerly waiting to find out what she thought of them, and was ecstatic to find out that the mitts were indeed received with joy. :) :) :)

This got my confidence up, and I made the exact same pair for practice in another colour of the same lovely yarn. This time I got the pair of mitts done in only a week, and only dropped stitches twice. I had to frog two rows, but only because I was knitting late at night and lost track of my count. I knitted a few extra rows past a cable row and had to go back. But they turned out nicely as well, and I will deliver them this week to their recipient who is looking forward to wearing them. I tried them on as well, for this photo.

Mind you, I have not finished blocking them so don't mind that. They feel so nice to wear! I am going to make a pair for myself. But when? It's so hard to resist knitting things for other people when I get to do the whole "Ta Da" thing when they are finished... and see that smile on someone else's face. It's so tempting...

Maybe if I do a 5 to 1 ratio of things for others and then a little something for me?
What's your system? How do you choose when to make something for yourself????
Maybe because I'm still new at this. Does it get easier in time? Seeing how many UFO's my friends have, I doubt it.

Speed Knitting for Express Post

2010-12-10T11:10:00.006-05:00

Christmas is coming, time is ticking too fast, and I have a thousand things to finish knitting!
But after having had my needles dormant for so long, it feels great to be back at it! So I'm not complaining, it's actually kind of exciting for me. Especially since everything coming off my needles ends up looking good and getting great reactions from my gift recipients. What has been on my needles?

A few weeks ago I was wandering around Ravelry, when I saw a project that I just had to do. It was a pair of Alice Cullen inspired fingerless mittens. OH, I wish I had that hand dyed yarn! I am a yarn addict. I've somehow managed to not have an entire basement overflowing with yarn, probably because it has too much other junk in it. My husband doesn't realize what a blessing that is. :)

My friend has been encouraging me to only purchase yarn that I am about to use. But when I see yarn, I can either picture a project that I don't end up getting to... or it's so delightful that I am determined to find a project later for it. So she has been coming with me to the yarn stores when I need to get a 'now project' supply of yarn. This has been helpful in keeping me accountable to my budget - what a true friend. I try to return the favour, but I'm not sure it helps as last time we went shopping, both of us ended up purchasing one of those eReaders. For my friend, I'm certain it was a good deal as she reads at least 2 books each week. This will very quickly pay for itself for her; for me, I think it will encourage me to read more often as this is something I've been wanting to do but haven't. These eReaders come with over 100 classic books, which I love. Especially Jane Austen. I've also been reading Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Anyways, I've been knitting a few mini projects for this kids to get my gauge steady enough before knitting my sister's Christmas gift, as it has cables in it, and slippery silk/cotton yarn. The pattern is so lovely, I can't wait for the whole thing to be finished. If you want to check it out, and know my username on ravelry, go there to see what I'm knitting. I can't post a photo here yet, as my family sometimes reads this blog. But when she gets it in the mail, I will for sure post a photo of it.

One of the things I've been knitting to warm up to this project has been such a success with my clients, that I'm now making a pair of "Little Thumb Suckers" for each of the kids I take care of during the day. My kids are also requesting a pair, as well as one for each of their friends - in army camouflage yarn of course. They are so adorable, and great for when I am taking kids to school. The kids in the stroller don't like to wear mitts. But with these, they still have most of their hands covered and have their little fingers sticking out to play with toys. I got the pattern over on ravelry. Here is a link if you want to make your own pair. Please let me know if the link becomes broken.

small moments

2010-12-10T07:44:00.003-05:00

I was sure I'd written more often than this. In fact, I remember writing a post that didn't get published, most likely I was led away from the computer and someone else started using it... my DH assures me that he always opens a new tab when I am working on something.

But here we are, and I am typing this up as my toddler sits beside me at the kitchen table gluing Christmas foamy shapes onto her green construction paper. It will later be proudly displayed on our wall for everyone to see. Her favourite part is lifting the foam shapes off the paper to watch the glue smear all over. Oh no. Now she is gluing shapes onto the table. Small interruption here and there... eventually this will get done.

Has it really been so long?

2010-07-26T16:38:00.006-04:00

This Friday, my baby will be 18 months old. She's healthy, sleeps mostly through the night, and gets into everything! My oldest son, who will turn 14 years old next month, says she is such a trouble maker now because she will be a goodie-goodie later... we can only hope. :)

She has us all wrapped around her pinky, even her big brothers. At first, her older brother thought she would be just the same as any other baby he's seen. He has since realized that her personality is one-of-a-kind. He is crazy about her! He will go out of his way to be goofy, or do anything to get her to laugh. She has such a great laugh.

All the smiles make up for the trouble she gets herself into when asserting her independence. She has learned so well (like her brothers before her) how to climb up on things she shouldn't. She climbs up on the dining chairs, but refuses to climb from the front - always from the side... today she found the consequence of that when she found out she was just heavy enough to make it tip over on top of her. Poor thing. :(

She has also learned how to climb over the baby gate, just like a fence. I can't believe she would put her little toes into those small holes and dig in, but she does. None of the other children I've watched have even tried to climb that high; but she does. Emma will climb up high enough that she can fall onto the other side, but doesn't go over - she just yells out to anyone who will come and rescue her and act like it was our fault for letting her climb up on the gate! I'm going to have to get one of those baby gates with the plexi-glass sides so there is nothing to grip her little toes on.

Then there's the table, both under it and over it. Emma likes to hide under the table, but is always trying to stand up straight when she's underneath. Then screams when she hits her head on the wood, or the holts underneath that hold the extension leaf together. I'm always reminding her to stay out of there, but curious minds will explore... and yesterday she decided to climb all the way on top of the table and sit right on the edge with that proud smile of hers. She sure knows how to get my heart racing!

Having three beautiful children is full of both blessings and sacrifices, as any parent can tell you. There are days when my life is so fulfilling that I'm 100% content to have my complete identity be "mom". When watching all the little things my children do is worth giving up (or putting aside) all my hobbies, accomplishments, or things I would still like to accomplish for myself... like my photography, scrapbooking, volunteering, or just sleep. Even those little things like household chores get put aside if I'm needed, then keep piling up. I was so blessed this weekend when my old college friend came by for a visit - she stayed the whole weekend and helped me sort through the children's outgrown clothes to give away. It feels so nice to get things done, especially after feeling like I've been drowning in housework. Not that I'm complaining, it's such a funny way that things have gotten undone. My little Emma likes to help with all the chores. When I'm unloading the dishwasher, she likes to help by passing me dishes. Of course, when I'm loading the dishwasher, she still likes to unload and pass me dishes... same thing for the laundry. She follows me around and likes to unload all the clean, folded laundry out of the laundry hamper before I get a chance to put away the clothes. She has so much fun with that, you should see how she giggles when I say, "No Emma!" and then she tosses the clothes out of the basket.

But there are times when I feel so tired, and really miss doing something for myself. I haven't finished (or started) a knitting project for so long... but I'm determined to get back some of

'me'. I was inspired by my sister, who is mother to my adorable nephew! She gets up every morning before he is awake to do some Wii Fit exercises. Since it feels like I don't have a waking moment to myself, I decided to do the same thing by claiming some time before anyone else is awake in the morning. I bought a new Nintendo Wii system off Ebay (great deal, I was happy to save some money) and a fitness program for it called Jenny McCarthy's Your Shape. I think the term "Wii Workout" would have been more catchy and fun, so that's what I call it at home. Well, it's been only one week since we've had it, and I feel great! I don't mean that I've lost any weight yet, but I feel like I have more energy, and I'm happier. It feels nice to do something for me again.

And tonight I'm going to a beginner Zumba class at the Community Centre... I keep hearing how fun these classes are, so I signed up for a summer session. I'm not going to put pressure on myself to do all the moves I know I can't do yet, but I will be going there to have a good time working out with other moms. As FlyLady says, "Progress, not perfection".

Burk's hidden gift

2009-08-23T16:03:00.003-04:00

Would you believe it? My little boy has gone from toddler to teen! He's now 13 years old!!!

When my big sister was visiting us last, she gave me a gift to hide until Burk's birthday.

I thought carefully about where to hide it. Somewhere Burk would never look... and decided to put it in the bottom of our baby's diaper bag. There it was, in almost plain sight to anyone who might check inside there to get something for the baby. A few times I've asked Burk to go get me a diaper from Emma's diaper bag, and he was always in such a rush to get this task overwith that he barely look in there. In fact, he'd usually just reach in the bag and pull anything out that was closest to the top. Now and then I'd asked my 5 year old to help me out by bringing me something out of the bag, and while he was a very good helper he never did get to the bottom of the bag. Now don't get me wrong, my older boy can be an excellent helper when needed, but he has an aversion to diapers or anything related to them. I wonder if it's genetic, and if he get's it from his father? And I wonder if there is a world record for the person who has changed the most diapers? I'm sure it would go to one of the caring ladies who has worked in an orphanage most of her life. But for someone to claim that title they would have to actually keep track of each diaper change... not something I would have the time to do.

Emma's first spoonful!

2009-08-18T18:27:00.001-04:00

Time flies, eh? Emma is now 6 and a half months old, and time for
her to start baby food. So my friend came over to watch Emma take
her first taste of baby food. Ok, so she's already tried a Farley's
biscuit to gum on when she was teething, but this was her first spoon-
fed baby cereal. We made it very thin, and didn't give her too much.

She loved it! Hubby took photos while she tried it out. Her first
bite was interesting. She waited for the ta.ste to sink in, then
tried to grab the spoon!

Then she went down for a good nap.... zzzzzZZZZZ

Here are some of the photos.

By the way, I'm STILL not finished my table runner yet, but at least
I did finish the crocheted hand towel.

Two very good friends of mine are coming over on the weekend to help
me do a serious de-cluttering of my house! One to help me sort, the
other gets to play with Emma while we sort through the junk into give-
away and throw-away piles. We try to donate to both Cerebral Palsy
and the Canadian Diabetes foundations on a regular basis through
their clothing pick-up program. It's an easy way to pair down on
your closet - if you can't actually walk through your 'walk-in'
closet, just grab a large garbage bag and start tossing things in
it. Then either drop it off to your local Value Village store, Sally
Ann box, or call for a clothing pick-up. Don't worry if you think
your clothes are out-of-date, anything they can't use will get
recycled or turned into other things through one of their many useful
programs.

Newbie Geocachers

2009-07-31T16:01:00.000-04:00

Looking for something fun to do on a budget this summer? Why not try
geocaching!
This outdoor hobby is becoming quite popular, and with a handy
website database, you can participate all over the world.
As most kids like to go treasure hunting, this makes for a great
family adventure, with fresh air and good exercise to boot.

Some people go out and purchase a GPS device specifically for this
purpose, while others just use their iPhone, Blackberry device, or
the GPS on their portable navigation system like TomTom, or Garmin.
From what I've heard from the people I've bumped into on our
adventures, the Garmin is the way to go. I can't tell you how many
times my TomTom has been off course, even though I had just updated
the coordinates or satellite. Mind you, as far as driving directions
go, my TomTom is awesome! We never get lost! But when you are
trying to find a treasure in the middle of the woods, you don't want
to be off by 40 feet, or it makes it exponentially harder to find.
Some caches (treasure) we managed to find even being off course,
though it took several tries. Other times we were spot on.

The last one we went to, we were so far off that the family who hid
it offered to help us find it. I'm glad they did, it was no where
near where we were looking! We had a good time exploring through the
woods. One thing I like about the Kitchener-Waterloo area where we
have been geocaching, is that the other geocachers are very friendly
and helpful. And each forested area we visit seems to have it's own
character, so it's never like going to the same place twice. If you
are into nature walks, bird watching, or any type of nature study
then geocaching would be a great hobby for you to try out.

My kids like to search for new and interesting bugs while we are out,
and we take photos of them to research when we get home.

My Little Artist

2009-07-30T14:49:00.000-04:00

This is Evan, my 5 year old. He is so crafty! He will stay up waaay
past bed time inventing craft projects if only his little eyes would
stay open all night.

When he found out that there were no Transformers trading cards, he
decided to solve that problem right away by making his own. He has
folded a paper several times to make it as sturdy as a real card, and
then stapled it (with a child safe stapler) to make sure it stays in
place. He has several of these that he gives me, and others that he
brings to the park to make sure there is enough for anyone else who
is needing some Transformers to play with. His favourite ones are
Optimus Prime, and Megatron. I'm sure these would do perfectly well
for a Flat Stanley project. Maybe I'll look into that..

Emma's first bite

2009-07-15T18:52:00.001-04:00

We were at the park with the kids and a friend of mine was sharing her crackers. I was offered some, and before I could put it in my mouth, Emma reached out and grabbed it with both hands! I thought, she's just about ready to dolids now, so I let her taste it. She stuck it in her mouth, and after a few jabs she took the tiniest little bite! The rest didn't really make it to her tummy, though she did enjoy gumming at it and watching it crumble in her fingers.

dogs on Thursdays

2009-06-25T13:09:00.002-04:00

I found this blog from a dishcloth KAL that I had joined back in April. You wouldn't believe how far behind I am... anyway, this lady's blog has a dog on the top of her blog that reminds me of mine, so here's the link if you want to see a funny photo.

Daddy's Little Girl

2009-06-21T15:28:00.000-04:00

Daddy's Little Girl

You're the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold,
You're daddy's little girl to have and hold.
A precious gem is what you are,
You're mommy's bright and shining star.

You're the spirit of Christmas, my star on the tree,
You're the Easter bunny to mommy and me.
You're sugar you're spice, you're everything nice,
And you're daddy's little girl.

You're the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold,
You're daddy's little girl to have and hold.
A precious gem is what you are,
You're mommy's bright and shining star.

You're the treasure I cherish so sparkling and bright,
You were touched by the holy and beautiful light.
Like angels that sing a heavenly thing,
And you're daddy's little girl.

Bobby Burke and Horace Gerlach

New Recipe: Puffy Popovers

2009-06-16T17:52:00.002-04:00

Puffy Popovers

This recipe I found over on baby center

We like to try new things, and this looked like something simple and fun to try out.

It's not too different from a basic muffin recipe, but with different proportions.

I'm posting the recipe, incase you might like to try it out sometime yourself.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes

Traditionally served with roast beef, these light, airy popovers are a treat with any roasted food or simply served with hot tea.

Ingredients

2 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus butter for greasing the muffin pan

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups flour

Salt and pepper

Preparations

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly butter a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs.

Add the milk and beat well.

Sift the flour over the mixture (I don't have a sifter, so I fluff up the flour with a spoon before measuring - my Home Ec. teacher taught us this trick in high school and it works fairly well) and stir to create a smooth batter.

Add 1 tablespoon of the melted butter and the salt and pepper.

Fill the prepared tins about two-thirds of the way full.

Drizzle the remaining melted butter over each of the popovers and bake on the middle shelf for 15 minutes.

Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 15 minutes, or until the popovers are golden brown and puffed up.

Makes 12 servings

(\__/)

(='.'=)

(")_(")

knitted baby dress/sweater

2009-06-16T11:44:00.002-04:00

Need a nap?

2009-06-10T02:21:00.000-04:00

One of my favourite photos.

Our friends gave Emma this udderly adorable moo cow. It's so sweet!
When I was a little baby, my mother used to put a hot water bottle
wrapped in towels next to me, and I'd nudge right up to it.
She said it worked wonders for me. So I tried it with my boys when
they were babies, and it worked. I was always nervous, though, that
the end would come undone and then you'd have hot water leaking near
a baby. I've never heard of it really happening, but you never know...
So this cow is special - it's filled with lavender, and it's
microwave heatable up to two minutes. I find with our microwave,
that it only needs about 45 - 50 seconds to be cuddly warm.
I put it next to Emma when she falls asleep and she snuggles right up
to it! It was so cute when I saw her first grab on to Cuddles' ear,
and she held on to that ear for almost her whole nap!

Now, whenever she gets tired and starts to become fussy, all I have
to do is bring her Cuddles and she calms down so fast, like she knows
it's quiet time.

This cow is so soothing, so amazing! I love it, and I hope we never
lose it.
Maybe I should buy another one just in case... I did that for my
eldest son's stuffed dog, Tracker.
I'd hidden it deep in my closet, to keep it safe. One day, he came
running to me, almost out of breath.
"Mommy! Mommy! Tracker has a brother!!!" He had found the double. I
didn't know what to say. I was thinking, "Oh no. What do I do now?
Do I get 2 more of them, incase we lose these guys?" We did not, and life went on. We have since lost the 2 little doggies, but he remembers them fondly, and we did take photos of them for our scrap book.

Smiles Galore

2009-06-09T02:38:00.000-04:00

Love those smiles!

My spider boy, with his own home made mask...

my nephew in his cute blue boots...

some of their favourite toys...

ahhhh... what a sweetie!

he can just fit those little legs under the bridge

and there's his daddy - they are playing chase!

ok, so that's not a smile, but such a funny face I had to include!

there's the smile!

and here is my twin sister holder her baby, my adorable nephew! And her is her husband holding my adorable baby! They are going to be such good friends, it's too bad my nephews live out of town.

She's doin it!

2009-06-08T02:51:00.000-04:00

After figuring out this week how to grab her own fingers, and knees,
Emma has now figured out how to grab a toy!!!

Ok, so this post was scheduled for the middle of May (the 17th) to be published, but wasn't. After looking into it, I found out you have to hit the Publish button after post dating a post, not the save button or it will go back into the draft section. But I'm posting it anyway, since it was so exciting! Emma is really liking to hold onto things, but is not very good yet at aiming things into her mouth if they are an odd shape. Poor thing, she bonked herself with a teething toy the other day and wasn't impressed.

Luci's Mudhouse

2009-06-07T02:43:00.000-04:00

My boys and I went to Luci's Mudhouse, a.k.a. the Art Studios (I liked their old name better, so I still use it). They have pre-fired pottery there you can paint, and then pick up after it's been glazed. The boys each picked out a project, and they helped me make a travel mug with baby Emma's handprint on it. I've been wanting a new travel mug for awhile now, and one that's not made in China, so this was great!

Evan made this robot, he calls it his Transformer, and was a little disappointed to find out that it doesn't actually transform. But he likes it anyways.

This is his robot and the one his little friend made. We invited 3 other kids to come along with us, so it made for a good field trip.

And here is Burk's shark. It's actually a secret storage box shark. The top lifts off for you to hide little things in, like his chore money. He's saving up to get the Playstation game, Little Big Planet, with that cute little sack boy. I've downloaded a pattern for one that he would like for me to knit. I think it's way above my skill level, but a friend has offered to help coach me if I need it.

And here is my new mug! Emma's hand prints are on either side, within the painted heart shape. They are a little squishy, but I think it's great! Evan even painted the inside of it.

Sheltie & mini me sheltie

2009-06-06T02:08:00.000-04:00

Here big brother is trying to get the attention of both Levi, and his
little sister. He sure knows how to make her laugh!
But she doesn't know what to make of it when Levi gives the webkinz
dog a shoulder ride.

Emma's new sweater

2009-06-05T07:54:00.001-04:00

My mother came by the other day for a visit, something I will miss when she moves to Toronto this summer. The boys love having her around! She's only about a 10 minute drive away, and my DS5 knows what her Toyota Highlander looks like - so when we were walking around the block together he saw one and said, "there's Gramma's house!" I had a hard time convincing him otherwise, as he saw the facts. If it was her car, it was her house. No disputing it. I'll have to drive him over to her place to show him where she lives again, and possibly over to Toyota to show him all the cars they have in a row that are the same, but not all of them belong to Gramma. What a cutie!

Gramma brought over the most adorable sweater for Emma; I love baby sweaters! Emma seems to look cute in anything she wears, but this little sweater reminds me of a princess. Gramma's neighbours are very experienced knitters, and made 2 dolls for her, and a mouse. Big brother Evan had decided the tail of the mouse was no good for Emma, so he cut it off! Good thing he's not opposed to the braids on the dolly, or she's get a buzz cut, so I won't mention her hair to him. I have to make sure Emma has her blanky when wearing the sweater, though, since she started teething and is constantly putting things in her mouth. I wouldn't want her to chew apart the fine knitting on the collar, or to chew off a button.

Swiffer wet jet cover pattern

2009-06-04T12:26:00.005-04:00

I found this neat pattern for a DIY swiffer cloth. I think that's an awesome idea! No more throwing out swiffer cloths. I like to use my swiffer for light mopping, but feel bad about throwing out the cloths. This is an environmentally friendly alternative, as you just throw them in the washer when you are done. Now if only I could find a way to refill their solvent container with more earth friendly cleaning products, but I can't seem to hack into the container without ruining it.

http://ddrbroderick.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-swiffer-wetjet-cover.html

I do have a microfibre mop, but it works so well as a janitor's broom that I don't really use it for mopping. If I were to buy some more mop heads to have handy, that would work better. I should put that on my to do list.

I'm going to see if this is on Ravelry, and que it to my list of things I want to do. I love Ravelry!

...been a little busy

2009-06-04T09:04:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine said to me yesterday, 'What happened to your blog? You haven't posted since...'

I'm not the only one, though. Some of my blogger friends haven't posted for months, and I wonder what they are up to as well. So I'll update mine and tell you all how I'm doing.

I am doing well, and have lost most of my pregnancy weight, though I still have some weight to lose that honestly was there before the baby, but people are nice enough to pretend it was gained during pregnancy. DH had bought a Bowflex home gym that was on sale half price during the winter, and we figured we'd save money by not having to pay our gym memberships anymore. I We finally got it put up - not by us, of course. We meant to get to it... but it never happened. So someone suggested us getting a handyman to put it together, and we found one at great recommendation to us. He not only put the home gym together, but he allowed our DS12 to be his helper and learn to use some of the tools like the Alan keys and the ratchet. Then he fixed our eaves trough that had fallen off, and installed the new shower head that was waiting. Then he came by on another day to put together our swing set that I bought and partially completed last summer (now I like to put things together, but I blame the heat & pregnancy for not finishing that one). So I'm thrilled now to have so many things finished and in working order!!!

It was almost too good to be true, and our washing machine must have gotten wind of this state of well-being in the house, for it shortly thereafter broke down! I had of course, fallen slightly behind in my laundry and the laundry room had become Mount Washmore. I had one load in the dryer, and one in the washer when there started the 'thump-thump-thump-thump' sound that had become accustomed lately. We were told the drum attachment was started to wear out prematurely (a common problem I was told of GE front loaders recently) due to laundry detergent residue. You know how they say to use only HE detergents with front loaders? Well, when I called Tide to ask them (3 years ago) why they didn't have a Cold Water Wash detergent for HE washers, they said you didn't need one with an HE washer since they were already so efficient. I still wanted to save more, and use the cold water cycle, so they suggested that I use the regular Cold Water Tide, but use only 1/4 of the recommended use. So that's what they did. My DH didn't care for us buying the HE detergents, as he thought it was just a scam for getting people to spend more money for the same amount of loads that the regular detergent would do.

Now we find out that when you use the regular detergent, even at a reduced amount, it leaves a residue on a part of the machine that wears it away, eventually breaking it down. The cost of the repair for this? About $600. Ouch. And what a good wife I am... I didn't even say, "I told you so" or "you were wrong", nothing of the sort. I did, however, make him promise to never use regular detergent again on the new washer we will be buying, as we can't afford any more $600 mistakes - I included myself in the blame for that mistake, and I also include Tide for telling me I could use regular detergent but less of it. But I'm not mad at them, as they have kept my clothes clean for many years.

So last night hubby and I went on a date night... to the laundry mat. Baby slept through our whole date. So this week we are researching and shopping for a new washer that is energy efficient and environmentally responsible (this means most of the parts will be recyclable, and any other features that help contribute to the cause).

Springing to Life!

2009-05-17T02:01:00.002-04:00

I can't narrow it down further than this. I love it when my tulips
start coming up! It seems like it lasts for such a short time!
But maybe that's what makes them so special to me... I can only enjoy
them for a drop of time each year.
This is one of my most favourite parts of spring.

So, what's your favourite one?

One of my favourite spring photos is the one that Alaina took of her
flowers last year. She's really good with a camera.

I'll see if I can find the link for it.

P.S. if you're wondering why I'm posting this one so late in the spring, it's because I thought I had already posted it, but found it amung the drafts in my dashboard. What a shame...

Dogs on Thursday

2009-05-17T01:53:00.001-04:00

I've read that some people blog about their dogs on Thursdays. I'm
not sure if that's a group they belong to, or just a fun trendy thing.

On Thursday of this week, we planned on bringing Levi, our sheltie to
the park to meet up with two other shelties to play, and take some
photos.
Well, it started to rain before we were about to get out the door,
and I know that most other people in our area don't bother taking
their dogs out in the rain.
I don't mind taking my dog out for a shower, and neither does he,
because it usually means he gets a nice brushing afterwards.
But I'm not into taking my 3 month old baby out in the rain.

The next night though, we went out hoping the other dog owners would
figure a rain date meant the next night, same time. But wouldn't you
know it... not a dog in sight. Perhaps the ground was still too
mushy for their paws or something. We started to head back home, and
we came across these two wonderful dogs and their nice owner. She
had a gorgeous newfoundlander, and a daschound (spelling on that
one?). She also has a bulldog at home, but takes him separately for
walks as he pulls on the lead quite strongly.

If you see in the picture below, the newfoundland dog is SITTING
beside the stroller. Sitting. His head is easily as tall as my
stroller.
Then he was given permission to say hi to my baby girl. I noticed
her looking at him, and I think he may remind her of her cow,
'Cuddles the Cow' that we have at home.
She likes to grab on to Cuddle's ear, or his foot, and shove it in
her mouth - she's teething now, so I did go out and get her some
teething toys to save the poor cow. Don't worry, it's a baby safe
cow. All the eyes and nose parts that you see are embroidered
thread, there are no choking parts.

Do you see the resemblance of the two? From baby Emma's perspective,
you can see that they are both larger than she is (or the cow was, at
first), and they both are adorable, they're both similar in color
markings, and they are both soooo fluffy! Trust me, I got to pet
this dog and he is just as soft as the cow. Of course, only the cow
smells like lavender, but we won't count that against the dog.

So we let the dog come in for a closer look. I was really trying to
see how her expression would be to him; if she would think he was
her cow, or if she would notice he was different. He licked her, so
she obviously wasn't counting on that. It was so funny!

We tried to get a shot of all 3 dogs sitting at the same time, but
the little one was a bit antsy. Do you see how the large dog lying
down is as tall as my dog sitting tall?
Such a sweet dog! He has the nicest temperament! My dog pranced
home, happy to have met up with a dog after all.

Love Letters

2009-03-29T05:03:00.002-04:00

Do you like to write little love notes to your sweetie? I just found this great page for fresh love letter ideas on a button over on Knitting the Night Away's blog.

I like to write little things for my hubby, but it's some time since I've done anything that fancy. I usually just send him faxes to his work in different fonts, with inside jokes or comments that he can read into but hopefully not too obvious that the other staff don't notice. I've tried leaving notes on the computer desktop, but it's too cluttered to be noticed. I've also written him notes on our whiteboard at home - that's hit and miss, depending on how tired he is from work. I've discovered, thanks to a friend of mine for making it obvious to me, that I have to put the note write smack on the door at his eye level for him to see as he's coming in from work. She suggested stringing it to the doorway like a spiderweb - I'm sure that would work, but I'll save that one for another time.

Mystery Knit Along

2009-03-28T21:58:00.010-04:00

.........................................................................Tonya is celebrating her Blogoversary with a Blog Candy Contest! Check it out! There's a few days left and she will ship anywhere for the winner!

If you look carefully at the third photo, you'll see that my baby has just learned to make bubbles with her mouth!

Yesterday I signed up for a Knit Along Group at Rachel's Knitting Room.

I went to pick out some cotton yarn for this month's mystery Knit along. Usually they do dishcloths, but this month they have decided to try something different. Most of the cotton yarn at this particular store were only in 50 gram skeins - too small for this project, as I needed about 500 yards worth, not to mention they didn't have enough matching dye lots. I managed to find some 100 gram balls of yarn by Lion Brand called Cotton Ease, and found 3 skeins with the right dye lot.

Even though everyone else is on day 12, I'm going to try it anyway. Hoping to catch up to the rest of the group, but not putting too much pressure on myself. I've unravelled a couple times so far - no major mistakes, it just looks sloppy. I think my being rusty has led to my knitting not being as consistent with the tension as I thought it would be. It was mostly too tight, so it would barely slide across the needle. So I don't have a photo yet of any progress to show you, but here's a couple of the color I chose. Of course, I had to get my little princess to be in the photo, too, you know. My computer doesn't take the clearest of photos... if you're not completely still, it blurs a bit.

Today, I also went out to do some Easter candy shopping for the boys. Unfortunately for me, they were aware of it when I brought in the bags and so of course they now have the exciting temptation of finding it where I've stashed it away until I can hide it for our easter egg hunt. I managed to hint to them that I won't hide easter candy in messy rooms... let's hope that motivates them to tidy their room real good by then. It's not too bad right now, but I don't want to step on any of the legos on their floor.

My mother and I went out to Sheridan Nursery today to look at the spring plants - it was a nice 'pick me up' after a rough week. I bought her some Shamrock plants for her birthday, and a planter with various bulbs - mostly tulips and crocuses. Yellow and Purple they were, so we also choose some beautiful matching pansies to plant in our planters along with the tulips. I'll take photos of them tomorrow. I was hoping to transplant them today, but got sidetracked with other things... oops! I left them all out on my front porch! I sure hope it doesn't get too cold out during the night! I'd better go bring them in the house.

I think I'm like the mouse in that children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Muffin, or was it a pancake? I have a few of those books...

... if you let Jenn go to Michaels, she'll buy some yarn. When she buys the yarn, she'll see how pretty the colour is. It will remind her of one of baby Emma's new jammies. The jammies are a pinky/fusia colour similar to that. Then she will look for something for Emma... she will spot a pink sand bucket - a little young for playing in sand, but it's so cute! The pink bucket will remind Jenn of easter egg hunts, so Jenn will want to get easter eggs to put in the bucket. Jenn goes to another store to buy eggs and chocolate... but get's sidetracked with all the other things in the store... etc. and eventually makes her way back home.

No wondery DH doesn't care to go shopping with me! I had only plans to go to one store today, but found I had made my way to about 5 of them. At least I was in good company!

TGIF

2009-03-27T18:31:00.009-04:00

After what has been for us a very tiring and emotional week, we have decided to celebrate by baking cookies and getting out the balloons. I'm declaring today to be a STRESS-FREE day, and my home will be a no-stress-allowed zone. Only minimal homework required today. My boys and I are making balloon animals together.

DS5 calls his Super Dog.

DS12 calls his the White Knight Helmet.

I also made a pink panther one, but it broke before we could snap it's photo. Don't worry, you didn't miss out - just picture the dog in pink. Most of my balloons look like a version of the dog. I can fool most of the children into thinking that it's any four legged animal. We have fun inventing different things and figuring out if they turn out the way we expected. I made a flower once, turned it upside down and the kids thought it was a sword.

Getting back into it

2009-03-26T18:49:00.002-04:00

My mother has just moved back into town, after having lived up North in the country for several years. We are so thrilled! Before she moved away, we used to see each other all the time - usually every weekend. And we'd chat on the phone regularly, but when she moved away long distance charges meant less phone calls, and the harsh winter weather up North meant less visits.

So it's especially exciting to me that she is here to meet her new grandaughter, and spend time with us again.

When I went to her place for a little visit yesterday, I noticed there was a knitting pattern book with a picture of a delicate baby sweater on the front. Two feelings at once came over me; one was excitement that she might be picking up her needles again. I think it's been at least 10 years since she has knitted or chocheted anything. Second, I got that feeling you get when you find out what your surprise was before you are supposed to know. Even though it's for baby Emma, I just felt so sentimental that she might be getting a sweater hand made by her gramma.

It really is such a special thing to receive hand made gifts. I think that's why I got so excited when I would participate in those knitting swaps online, but I haven't done one for awhile, as the last one I was in I ended up getting it in the mail late and it was such an embarrassment! I had put my outgoing package in the mailbox with decent time, only I didn't realize that ground mail going overseas too at least 3 times longer than air mail, and I should have sent out my parcel during the first week of the swap and not later on. But, you learn from these things.

Once I do a few projects so I'm not too rusty anymore, then I'll be quite anxious to get involved in another swap. Maybe something simple like a dishcloth swap to get me started. My husband thought I was nuts sending things to people I had never met, but when you get a package in the mail, it feels just like Christmas or birthdays! I loved the anticipation, but most of all I liked meeting new people and making new friends. Now that I'm back online more often as I'm finally starting to get a wee bit more sleep through the night, I'm curious to check all your blogs to see what I've been missing.

By the way, if you have an 'easy' pattern for some fetchings that I can make with some gorgeous dark blue alpaca yarn, please send me the link!

Our New Arrival

2009-03-23T09:58:00.005-04:00

We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, so all we had were boy hand-me-downs. Rob and the boys decided to pick up a couple of girl outfits on the way to the hospital when Emma was born. In these photos, you can see she is wearing her brother's baby football sleeper. This was rather fitting, as she was born just before Superbowl Sunday. The word FOOTBALL is written across the behind.

I love this one! This is Daddy and Emma, snuggling on the couch. Anytime he holds her, she almost always cuddles up like that right away and falls asleep on his shoulder or chest. I think it's adorable.

Above is big brother Evan holding his new little sister. He is so proud! He's also very curious, always asking how she's doing, if she's awake yet, and being a good little helper bringing me her receiving blankets or picking out what sleeper she will wear next.

The photo below is Rob holding Emma, and she is wearing one of her first girly sleepers that my friend bought for her. She's also wearing the knitted newborn cap that the hospital gave her. Most of the baby caps for newborns are too tight on her head,

as she was born at 10 lbs, 7.5 oz.

False alarm

2009-01-22T16:10:00.003-05:00

My husband, who has been known to sleep through fire alarms, is so anxious that he has become a light sleeper over the last few weeks. This is very rare for him.

Now being almost at my due date, I find it quite difficult to turn over in my sleep. I feel very much like a beached whale, and have to make quite an effort to turn from my right to my left side. This time, when I woke up and decided to turn over, I noticed that there was another obstacle in my way; I had my husband to one side of me, and someone else on the other side. Apparently, my 5 year old boy had woken during the night and decided come sleep in our bed. I was sandwiched. Not wanting to wake either one up, I tried my best to turn over in this confined little space. We really do have a large enough bed, so I don't know why I would be squished... anyways...

I had made so much grunting or groaning noises trying to turn over, that I had woken up my husband. He said, "Is it time?"
Of course, I was out of breath from all the effort and panted out to him that no, I wasn't in labour. I was just turning over.

Funny thing is, I don't recall having such a difficult time turning over when I was pregnant with our other children. I remember feeling big, but not necessarily beached.

5 days left... Anytime now!

2009-01-22T15:07:00.003-05:00

Long time no see? Sorry 'bout that. Here I am!

So what's new? I see that my blogger friends have lots of things going on. Anyone get the winter blahs yet? Hopefully not.

I saw the doctor today, and he says anytime now! The baby's head has dropped down, and he says I migh just have the baby before our next scheduled visit that is one week away. I'm so excited! For the last couple of weeks, he kept jokingly saying that he thought this one would be a late baby like our last one. He thought it would wait until beginning of February to be born. But today's visit was a pleasant surprise - I thought he would say the same thing. I told him that I have a bit of extra energy this week compared to last week, and I was told not to do too much with it, or I may get too tired out for labour. My doula said the same thing.

On the way home from the doctor's, I stopped off at Walmart to get some shelves for the basement. I've been spending much time down there sorting junk: give away, throw away, put away. My husband would prefer for me to throw it all away... but I can't do that. I have one shelving unit dedicated just to my yarn stash. I didn't know I had built up that much - it makes me feel a little bit accomplished that I am actually building up a decent stash. And yarn is a naturally good insulator, so that's the added side benefit to having a yarn stash in the winter. Then I have the kids' toys; all the extra ones that we don't use on a regular basis or that I don't want to throw away just incase we want to play with them some time. Then there's the craft supplies... I had no idea that I had so much until I tried to organize them all into one place. Wow.

Then there's the question of hand-me-down clothes for the boys. Do I keep the older boys clothes for our younger son, even though there is 6 years between them? Or do we donate them to let someone else use them and save the space?

I'm not sure if I ever posted a photo of the rainbow scarf I crocheted for my sister last winter... I mailed it out to her, and the staff at the postal outlet goofed up on the address so it got returned to me. By the time she finally got it, spring had almost arrived. I saw her wearing it this winter, and it looks so great on her! She mentioned how she would love to have a funky coloured hat to go with it, so I picked up some more Bernat Rainow yarn and crocheted a hat for her. I finished it this week, so I'm going to mail it out to her using express post or registered mail.

I'm posting a couple photos of the hat so you can see the colours, and a belly shot so you can see how big I'm getting.

23rd Week, with sniffles to boot

2008-10-01T10:24:00.003-04:00

So, I am now 23 weeks along!

According to the online pregnancy calendar I've been checking out, here are this week's stats for our baby's development:

Baby's crown to rump length is 21 cm or 8.3 inches.
Baby weighs about 500-600 grams or 1.1-1.3 pounds
Baby's lungs will be developing.
Alveoli are forming.
Baby develops a hand grip reflex and startle reflex.

Apparently last week the baby has grown it's eyebrows and eyelashes! My husband thought that was cute, although baby won't be opening his/her eyes to bat those lashes at us for a few more weeks; I think it's about 26 weeks when baby's eyes are developed enough to open them.

We go see our family doctor Friday morning to find out the results of the ultrasound that I went to on Saturday. My husband finally got to see the baby, but for less than one minute. The technician was in such a fowl mood - we went to a different ultrasound clinic this time, but we were running a few minutes late so I can't say it was all her fault. I called to say we'd be about 8 or 9 minutes late as we were unfamiliar with the area, and started by going the wrong direction. The receptionist was very nice on the phone and said it would be fine. When we got there, the technician rushed through our entire appointment. I can understand, as my being late may delay the rest of the appointments, making her late for her breaks, lunch, etc. I'll do my best to make certain for next time we arrive super early, but this was supposed to be my last obstetrical ultrasound. Any other ones I get will be for the kidney only, so I'll have to bring along some chocolates to treat them if I want to sneak a peek at the baby.

When she was done all of the routine checking, she called for my husband to come in the room, gave him a very quick glance at the baby's head, back, tummy, and arms, and printed off some rushed pictures of these shots. She was pressing so hard on the little wand device that we ended up getting what looked like a skeletal head shot rather than a baby with facial features, but my husband isn't complaining. He's just happy that he finally got to see the baby. I was just hoping he would get enough time to see the baby kick, or waive, or something. The baby did at least open and close his/her mouth, so he was thrilled to see that. You know, I get to feel all these cute little movements, which are still barely felt from the outside; I got to see the baby do summersaults, turns, and kicks for my previous ultrasounds when he was not able to be in the room with me. So I just wanted more for him to be involved in or excited about.

But as the baby grows stronger, he'll be able to feel the kicking more from the outside. Well, more punching or elbowing than kicking, unless the baby changes position. One thing we did find out at the ultrasound was that our baby is in a breech position at the moment, which can change any time. So we aren't worrying about that, but being aware of it. With our first boy, he moved all the time, all over the place, and was always kicking in different spots. That was a lot of fun trying to guess what part was kicking or poking. With our second, he was always in the same place - quite content with where he was, but we could never figure out till he was born wether the poke was coming from a foot, knee, elbow, or fist.

I first thought the baby might be in breech when I noticed there would be pressure on my bladder, even after it was emptied. I could feel what I thought were little kicks, but they would be always kicking very low - never anywhere else, just right down low. The kicking may change spots, but it's almost always below the belt. This week I started getting pokes above the belly button, which seems to be an elbow based on the head being at the top. Just in case the baby decides not to turn, I've bookmarked a website on how to turn breech babies, as I really don't like the idea of a C section. Did you know there are about 17 ways to turn a breech baby? I had no idea! But none of these really apply till thirty-something weeks along. There'd be no point turning baby now, as he/she can just turn right back. My mother delivered my older sister breech, so I can't wait to ask her to tell me all about it.

News on the kidney stone: it was measured and I was told it is "about 9 mm" in size, but have to wait to hear from the doctor officially. I'm happy to hear that, because even one millemeter smaller is good. If I can get it smaller than 7 mm, I can possibly pass it, with much pain. But the smaller, the better. Keep drinking that lemon juice!

I'll try later to upload some of the ultrasound photos for everyone to see.

Conversations with 4 year olds

2008-09-27T18:09:00.002-04:00

My adorable 4 year old son comes up to me and says out of the blue, "Step Mothers are evil."

I respond, "No they're not. I have a step mother."

His eyes are now wide open in surprise, "You DO?"

After taking some time to consider this fact, he then asks, "Does she give you hugs?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yep."

...thinking some more, then I see that look on his face and know another question is coming...

"Does she try to kill you?"

I did not see that one coming. Trying to keep a serious look on my face, I let him know that she never tried to kill me. He looked so stunned by this. He mulled it over, and decided that maybe not all step mothers were evil.

I'm glad we took care of that... now off to find out what big brother let him watch while I was out today!

Getting excited!

2008-09-26T10:02:00.002-04:00

Less than 24 hours till I go for my ultrasound! My husband is finally going to see the baby! He's missed the last ones, not all his fault. For the first one, he had to work and I went with a friend. For the next one, he came with me. We were arriving a few minutes late, so he dropped me off in front of the building and went to park the car. When he came in, he went to the office on his left instead of down the hall and to the right; he ended up in a lab waiting room and waited patiently. When he asked when he can come in to see the baby, they told him he was in the wrong office! He quickly went down the hall, and found the ultrasound lab. The receptionist told him to sit down, and they'd call him. She didn't realize that they'd already just called his name twice! Poor thing! So when I came out, he looked so let down.

The next ultrasound was really just for my kidney, and not for the baby at all, but I asked the technician if we could sneak a peek since we have all that goopy gel on me, anyways. I was not far enough along to feel kicking yet, so it would make me feel releived to know that the baby is doing alright. She was not in the best of moods, but allowed me to see the baby. When I told her that my husband was in the hall and had not yet seen the baby, she said, "That's ok. He'll catch the next one when you do your routine 20 week ultrasound" and wouldn't budge on that. So I got to see what looked like the baby sucking it's thumb, which made me very happy. When I came back out in the waiting room after it was done, my husband looked at me and said, "You've got to be kidding!" He missed it again! He was not pleased with this at all.

So at our next prenatal, I told the doctor about this, and he said I didn't really need a 20 week ultrasound as I've had plenty! But... since he knew Rob missed them all, he was nice enough to schedule me for one last baby ultrasound (we had to go for another kidney one, anyway, so why not?). So I told Rob this was his last chance to see the baby before it's birth day. He scheduled around it so he can be there with me.

I'm getting really excited! I can't wait to see all the wiggling and kicking!
I feel kicking every night, around 9:30 pm, but you know how cool it is to actually see your baby squirming around inside.
I'm also curious to see what position the baby is in. I think by the way it's kicking into my bladder, it must be feet down. Now and then I get a nudge in my lower left side, but usually all the kicking is straight down!

Today I also opened up my knitting trunk, and found a dishcloth that had been started. I'm thinking it must be the Optomist Prime one my son asked me to make for him, so I'm going to find the pattern and see how rusty I am at it.

I also baked 3 batches of muffins this morning... baking, blogging, knitting... anything but cleaning up the house today! I don't know how it got this messy last night, but I'm procrastinating. I'll bet it will only take about 10 minutes to pick up, but I'm just in a doddling mood today. Perhaps I will see if my 12 year old wants to make some extra chore money today?

That little something extra

2008-09-24T11:52:00.003-04:00

Wondering what that little something extra is?
Nope, it's not twins - though my husband was routing for that. My uterus was a little large at first, so they sent me for an ultrasound to double check the date and number of babies in there... just one baby, due January 27th, 2009.

I noticed toward the end of my first trimester that I was having some back pain, and it would come and go. One weekend it was getting pretty intolerable, and I took some Tylenol. By the evening, it came on suddenly and felt like I was getting stabbed in the back! The pain was spreading right around my side, and was really starting to frighten me, as it wasn't just my back. I didn't think it was premature labour, had never felt anything like this before! My 4 year old son said, "Is the baby coming out?" which I was surprised to hear, because I don't recall telling him what labour was supposed to be like. I told him the baby wasn't ready to be born yet, and my husband got on the phone with the on-call service. They quickly called an ambulance after putting me on the phone briefly. They said that they didn't want to risk something happening to the baby on the way if my husband were to take me to the hospital in his car (he of course made it there before the ambulance).
I was not allowed to take any more Tylenol in the waiting room, nor given anything else for the pain, nor was I or my unborn baby checked on again (aside from the initial triage nurse on arrival) until it was my turn - the next morning at 7:00 am. Thankfully, I prayed through the pain most of the night and was able to pass out at around 3:00am when the pain went away.

As the pain was not there when the doctor finally came to check me out, all he could say was, "It's probably kidney stones." And had me go for a kidney ultrasound to confirm... It was in fact, a kidney stone, measuring over 1 centimeter in size. For my American friends, that's almost half an inch.

I was told this is too large to pass - your average painful kidney stone can pass at 2 or 3 mm in size. I've read about one pregnant woman who actually delivered her baby,and at the same time also delivered/passed a 7 mm stone! Aside from that, I haven't heard about any pregnant women with stones this large. It was suggested I go for a procedure called Lithotripsy to have it removed. The urologist said there was only a 1-10% chance that I would go into labour. At my stage of gestation, this would mean a miscarriage, which is not something I'm willing to risk. So we have opted to wait until at least 37 weeks to have this procedure, if the doctor insists I go through with it. If I am able to drink lots and lots of water and keep the stone inactive until after labour, that would be best. I've had to cancel my midwife service, as the doctors feel I should be cared for by an obstetrician as I'll have to be monitored more closely and am no longer 'low-risk', although I'm not 'high-risk' either. So I've been interviewing doulas, so I can have someone else with me for the birth at the hospital to help ease some of this tension and let me relax a little. I don't want to worry about 'what if' scenarios, or any other complications that this kidney stone might arise, so a doula will help me to concentrate on the most important thing - the baby.

I've missed you all!

2008-09-16T09:47:00.003-04:00

I can't believe my blog has actually passed 1000 hits, and I missed it!
I wanted to make a big deal of it, have a contest... you know. I guess I'll have to do it at 2000.

Finally the morning sickness has gone! I'm now in my second trimester, and I feel great! I have my energy back, and lots to tell you about!

First, I want to give a shout out to all my blogger friends and say how much I've missed reading all your posts! I have a lot to catch up on! I had felt soo drained during my first trimester, that I didn't actually do any blogging or reading up on anyone. In fact, that queasy feeling I had was so strong that every time I picked up a pair of needles to start knitting, I would feel dizzy. Just the thought of those needles click, click, clicking made me feel oozy. So I haven't knitted a single thing all this tme!

I am wanting to get back to it, so I'm trying to think of what's the first thing I should knit? Will I remember how to read patterns? Will I have forgotten any of the new techniques I was learning???

Obviously, I'll have to keep it to something simple like a dishcloth.

I'm also going to try and scan my baby ultrasound photo to show you all! This pregnancy has a little something extra thrown into to it, so stay tuned for the next post (I'll be working on that tonight) and you can find out what it is!

The irony of it all

2008-06-07T14:20:00.002-04:00

This is the weirdest thing. You know how we just had that amazing Spring Fling Coffee Swap? Remember that fantastic package I got in the mail from Lizet, with all those delicious flavours of coffee? If you don't, scroll down a couple posts and check out the photos - she totally spoiled me. Well, when it arrived, I noticed our coffee maker was missing. I think I had donated it for one of those donation programs that comes around asking for your things so they can sell them and donate the funds to charities. So I went shopping for a new coffee maker. I was determined to buy one that was made in America, or from somewhere with fair trade practices. At all the deparment stores I've been to, as well as houseware stores, not one of them was made anywhere but China. As I have been learning about BPA's leeching through plastic, especially when heated, I felt it was important to get one where that would not be the case. As it turns out, most coffee makers have plastic coated baskets or water compartments, and do not label them as per the type of plastic. So the only place I could find a coffee maker that labeled it's parts was actually made in Canada sold at.... Tim Horton's! I think that's kinda funny. I brought it home and couldn't believe how great it worked. My coffee tastes so good! Now for the weird part...

After a few days of enjoying coffee in the morning in my new coffee maker, I brewed up a pot and as I was pouring it into my new Spring mug, I couldn't do it. I couldn't drink the coffee. Something about the smell, which I usually love, was really bothering me. Next day, same thing. I couldn't bring myself to drink a single sip of it. I still make coffee for guests and watch them enjoy their cup, but I can't have any. What a shame, to get such nice coffee, and to now have a sudden aversion for coffee. This has been going on for over a week now, and I've had to force myself to get to bed at a decent hour every night because I know the next morning I can't rely on coffee. Same thing with tea - I can only bring myself to drink cold water. In fact, this aversion to good smelling foods and beverages seems to be aflicting me with many of my normally favourite dinners. I'm having quite a hard time cooking dinner and figuring out what I'll be able to eat. I'm getting so bored of crackers!!! You know what else I find strange? I can't have the same thing twice. If I enjoy a particular meal and have no aversions to it, then try to duplicate that dish later (hours or days) then I just can't stomach it. What the heck? I find this to be so annoying! This of course does not apply to cold sandwiches or subs. I seem to be able to eat them fine, in small proportions.

Other news in swaps: I still haven't registered for the summer dishcloth exchange. I feel so guilty about sending out my package late to Helen, by partner for the Coffee Swap. I was sick and ended up sending it out late, but it was still sent out by mid-May. I can't beleive it hasn't arrived there yet! I can't figure out why the mail is going so slowly, but I emailed her and offered to send out a new package by RUSH mail if she'd like. So even though I'd like to do another dishcloth exchange, I'm a little hesitant at signing up right now. I want to make sure my partner gets her package and that she's happy with it.

Knitting news: I haven't picked up my needles for about 2 weeks. I'm not sure if anyone goes through a knitting lull? I just need to find the right pattern or something. I have a few WIP's and I'm just not motivated to finish them right now. I also just realized that my nephews are reaching the ages of 6 months and 9 months, and I have yet to knit them some baby clothes! I have to fix that before they quickly grow out of baby clothes. I'll check ravelry this weekend for some cute baby patterns.

No photos today: I have lost my camera's memory card, and the 'spare' one. Hope to find it soon, as I really want to take photos of the baby rabbit that is hiding under my front porch where the garden gives it shelter. It's sooo cute! A little Peter Cottontail!

Chunky Monkey Hand pampering swap

2008-05-28T11:11:00.007-04:00

I got my package!
It was such a warm sunny day, we were outdoors almost the whole day. The perfect ending to a perfect day was to find a package for me in the mail box. It was from Dianna in B.C. who is my partner in the Chunky Monkey hand pampering swap on Ravelry. Chunky Monkey is a group we are both in for those of us who love to knit with chunky yarn. I have discovered that almost every member in that group is both younger than me, and is a far superior knitter (from what I can tell). But they are a lively bunch, and seem to have a lot of fun there. I like a fun bunch of people.

So, I couldn't wait to get home to open my package. This time, I was able to open it all by myself - without anyone trying to steal my new treasures. Why is that? The boys were both outside in the sand box, pretending to be Sandman from the movie Spiderman 3. This means burying themselves as much as possible, including sand in the hair, then quickly standing up and proclaiming, "I AM SANDMAN!!!" and watching all the sand and dust fly off. They stayed out there for an hour doing this! :)
You should have seen all the sand in my carpet, not to mention all the sand on the bathroom floor during bath time.

So while my boys were occupied in the sand, I happily opened my package, wondering if my partner had gotten hers yet and if she'd like everything. When I'm in a swap, I always wonder if my partner will like what I've sent. So far, my packages have been well received. I guess it's good that there are questionaires so you can't go too wrong in getting what people ask for, right? But I'm sure there are people out there who don't like what they've gotten, and I'd hate to be the sender of a bad swap package. I wasn't too thrilled when I got a 4 out of 5 rating on a recent Swap-bot event. But of course, there was no real questionaire to go by, so I'll let it go. Can't please everyone. As it turns out, my partner did get her package, and blogged all about it before I had logged in to Ravelry to see if she had gotten it. I'm so glad she liked it! She even took photos for her blog!

I love being spoiled. I have been spoiled in every swap I've been in so far, and this was no exception - completely spoiled! First, there's the gorgeous spring fetchings that I'm wearing right now. Such a beautiful pattern on them! I have no idea how to describe them, or what the pattern might be called, but I love them! If that were the only thing in the package, I'd be happy enough. But there was more; Clover bamboo circular knitting needles, in size 15/10mm. How awesome is that? And as I was thinking to myself, "I wonder what I will knit with these? I can't wait to find out"... out comes a ball of yarn. Not just any yarn, but Alpaca wool by Sirdar Peru. I've never even touched Alpaca wool before, so this was wonderful! I kept squishing it in my hands, feeling it next to my cheek, looking at the gorgeous dark blue shade. Welcome to my stash! 2 skeins of it, whatever shall I do? :)
Then there's the hand lotions - Dove night cream, Time & Again lavender therapy cream (perfect size for my purse, and smells lovely!), and 3 bottles of luxurious lotions by Got2b in2spa: silk works, smoothie, and hand shake. Each one is different from the next, so I will have lots to choose from! I was given cute little souvenirs from Prince Rupert, like a moose key chain and a crab key chain (that was hand made with beads - so cute). The funniest thing of all was the moose droppings that came in a brown paper bag. I looked at it and laughed. Then I opened up the bag (it said they were chocolate rosebuds) and took out the plastic wrapper containing warm, squishy, melted brown stuff. I had to laugh! The parcel was in the end compartment of the super box all day, with the sun beating down on the metal to warm it up. So it very much resembled what I imagine fresh hot moose droppings would look like, not like rosebuds. This was hilarious! It has now cooled down to a solid brick of chocolate. Every one in my family thought it was a priceless moment. Too funny!

So that's all for now! I'm going to Ravelry later today to see what patterns I can find for my new bamboo circs!

Spring Fling Coffee Swap Package

2008-05-12T10:32:00.004-04:00

Firstly, let me say sorry to Lizet and everyone else for delaying this post for a whole week. I expected to post it first thing when arriving home, only to become terribly sick on our return. My clients were so nice in giving me time off work to recover, and I'm so happy to be myself again!

Thank you Lizet for such a great package! I've never seen so many wonderful flavours of coffee all at once! They all look so nicely displayed together! My 4 year old likes to help me pick out which one I shall try next, though I haven't tried any yet. I thought I would make sure this was properly posted before indulging in them, and I can't wait! We are going to go shopping for a new coffee maker for me tonight (a Mother's day gift) so I can set a timer for the coffee machine to start in the morning.

On to the photos...

Here is the group photo, with the mug missing in action.

My partner for this swap is from England, and must know how much I love souvenirs, especially from England. I'm always delighted to get trinkets from where my swap pal may live. She was so kind to send me these seeds, playing cards, and clicking pen. The pen is now in my little knitting bag with a WIP, the playing cards have been played with, and the seeds are safely hiding from my children. We are going to plant some this week in our little garden in the front, and perhaps make some more room in the backyard for a some more flowers.

I couldn't wait to tell my mother about this one! It's a Tea for Two set, complete with a bonus honey dipper! When I was a little girl, I often played with my mother's tea balls not knowing what they were used for. Now I have my very own, and I know how to use them!

Here is the fine selection of coffee that Lizet sent me. I really have no idea how she was able to fit all these things into that little box - she's very good a packing! They were buried inside those little peanut shaped packing pieces, so you put your hand in the box not knowing just how many delicious surprises were to be found! Right when I would expect there to be no more, I was wrong! My little boy had a blast helping me to unpack them; he was certain it was Christmas! He is going through a phase right now when every time he may get something or ask for something, it must be due to Christmas. He knows his days of the week, but a month or several months is just too inconceivable to him right now. It sure is fun to observe his enthusiasm for Christmas, though!

Here is my little boy trying to sort the coffee packages in various orders. If you line them up, they almost look like little houses in a village. Use your imagination!

Here is the yarn she sent me. Isn't it so Spring! I keep holding it and pondering about what I might do with it! So many possibilities! Something for me. Call me selfish, but when I get yarn from a swap I just can't seem to part with it by making things for other people. I simply have to make something for myself to enjoy! Also, there is a great guage/needle size tool that was with the yarn, and for some reason I didn't get an extra photo of it, but it's in the group shot above, just behind the hand cream.

See the adorable lady bugs on my new mug? Every angle has a little something different going on with the lady bugs of this adorable mug. Definitely Spring!

Here is the little project bag, or sock bag as some people call them. The picture just doesn't do it justice. It looks like shiny glass marbles all adorned in spring colours! And I can bring it anywhere to do my knitting! It will fit inside my purse nicely, and even has a belt loop so you can walk while you knit or to keep it securely by your side.

Wow! This was my first time trying organic Hispanola chocolate. It says "plain chocolate" but I'm convinced it tastes like dark chocolate. Organic food always seems to have more flavour in it. I have hidden it away and sneak little nibbles of it when I am craving chocolate.
Aren't these so fun? I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but those are googly eyes on the ladybug socks. My friend says she can't believe how much fun I'm having with them. They are a huge hit here. You can't wear them and not feel cheery.
My son was convinced that this was sent specifically for him. By this point, it was impossible to convince him that this was NOT Christmas. You can't get all these toys without it being Christmas, don't cha know? This tape measure is so cute! The ladybug is knitted on, though I can't imagine just how difficult it must be to make one of these! I finally have a retractable tape measure - whoo hoo! Now that I have one, I can also see why knitters with kids keep several of them, as they are quite the comodity. I'm always being asked by the children if they may borrow it, or if I can make them one. I don't think my skills are anywhere ready for that yet, but it would be something fun to do when I have learned a few more techniques.
Lastly, here is the soothing hand cream Lizet sent me. This Helping Hands cream is from the Lush company in England, where they make fresh handmade cosmetics with natural ingredients. I can't tell you how impressed I am with this product. I had no idea there was such a thing as handmade cosmetics, so I especially want to thank Lizet for sending me this. I love it!

I love everything in my swap package! I hope you had fun shopping for me, and thanks for everything!

Weekend Retreat

2008-05-03T20:04:00.006-04:00

This is my 4 year old and the chef in residence statue. He likes it, but tells me that they are not buddies.

Next is a photo of my mother and I. There was too much light behind us for you to see the nice landscape out the window.

These photos are taken at the Avalon Clearview Bed & Breakfast near Collingwood, Ontario. My mother, my sisters and their families all joined us here for the weekend. We have the whole place to ourselves! This is a great place to go, with a gorgeous view! I can't believe I left my camera at home, but I took a few shots with my computer's camera. My sisters took shots with their cameras, and will send me a link to them after they get home and download. I might edit some better photos in later. But for today, I've been chasing around everyone with my laptop and taking photos. "Here, look at my computer and say cheese!"

My 11 year old, and my husband, liked to block their pictures being taken just for fun. They will remain anonymous.

This is me and my husband.

This is my sister, her husband, and their darling baby playing the piano.

We had a lot of fun playing duets that I haven't played since elementary school. I finally found that key I had missing in the Waltz.

The view overlooks Devil's Glenn, which is a well known ski hill over here. There is also a pond in the back yard. Funny how I was just blogging about a day outdoors with trees and grass, and all that. And here I am! I didn't spend too much time outside, as there has been so much rain here today, but I did get to take a nice walk and explore the grounds. You can't tell from the photos, but down by the edge of trees, there is a little tiny stream that you can hear rippling by. So serene. In the afternoon, we enjoyed watching the fog roll up the hills nearby; making everything but the closest edge of grass disappear.

Keep in mind, my camera for some reason flipped the photos like a mirror image. The pond is actually supposed to be way over on the right side. And that's glare from the window you are seeing over the grass.

I did the smallest bit of knitting today (so far). I have only about an inch to go on my coffee mug cozy. Then I will try to make one in wool, to see how it feels as this one was in cotton. I'm so happy that I can now knit in the round; it's not as hard as I thought it would be.

If it weren't for the deck being wet from all the rain going off and on, I would take a chair and sit outside and knit for awhile. Maybe tomorrow.

I took this picture of the coo-coo clock because I think they are cool. I used to love seeing these go coo-coo when I was little. I love all the little cottage nick-nacks that were all around. The french doors were made of stained glass, the kitchen had barn animal tiles, and there were ceramic chickens here and there.

Oh! And did you know that wild turkeys roam this property? I'm not sure where they went off to when I took my walk, but I couldn't find them once I went outside. But now and then you see them through the window strutting their stuff straight across the yard. There was a telescope set up in the living room for us to get a better view of the turkeys. Once was enough for me though, they aren't too pleasant to look at compared to other wild life.

just a quick note...

2008-05-03T09:04:00.002-04:00

I'm going to a beautiful Bed and Breakfast up north in Collingwood this weekend. I wonder if there is a yarn store up there?

They have wifi there, so I'll be bringing my notebook to post an update. I got a marvelous swap package in the mail, and can't wait to tell you all about it!!! I tried to blog about it last night, and the photos weren't going the way I wanted them to so I saved the draft till I get to our destination spot and then sort it out properly.

Stay tuned for more..

Spring Fling: Topic # 4

2008-04-29T19:27:00.002-04:00

"Let's pretend for a minute we all live in the home of our dreams, have land, and don't have to work so time is unlimited! It's Spring planting season! What would you grow? A little veggie garden? A bed of bright spring blooms? Or is your thumb so far from green that the only thing you'd be planting is your tushy into a nice chair on the porch to get some knitting or crocheting done in the nice breeze?"

The home of my dreams has a lot of land! Definitely enough to run around in, perhaps enough to play a game of soccer on. That'll do for me. We would have a small forest at the edge of our land, to go exploring in. In the forest would be all sorts of ferns, bushes, mosses, and plenty of Trilliums (Ontario's flower). So many different shades of green to please the eyes. There would be lots of evergreens, and one giant one in the front that we could decorate every winter.

Somewhere in the back yard we would have a few apple trees; they would grow the most delicious fruit.

There would be wild tiger lilies growing just about anywhere; I remember the first time I discovered a tiger lily. It has been my favourite flower growing up. Some of our land would have gentle rolling hills, and there would be a meadow with tall grasses to run through. By the house there would be a few lilac trees, and the beautiful light scent would just reach the windows. Just in front of the house would be a flower bed spanning the whole width of the house. I would plant flowers that I don't yet have the names for, and would add new plants to it every year. I'd plant flowers to attract birds and butterflies, and sit outside on a warm sunny day with binoculars for bird-watching and I'd listen to the whispering breeze touching the tree tops.

I would also have a huge vegetable garden! It would have it's own little picket fence going all around it, or maybe even a miniature hedge. We would grow it like a walk-through maze, just for fun. In the middle would be a tee-pee grown from bean poles. The boys could have a secret hide-out in here.

Since I'm given the luxury of all the time in the world here, I would also make it a sheep farm, and get another sheltie for our dog Levi to play with. He would be so happy to do some sheep herding, and I would learn how to spin wool from the sheep. I'd take some spinning classes, and I'd even learn how to hand-dye my own yarn.

Did I mention the raspberry bushes? I would plant a whole bunch of those, and some strawberry patches without telling my children. Then I'd watch in delight as they discover them. Maybe I'd make them a secret treasure map for them to find, and lead them on an adventure. After we find our treasure (it would be a treasure chest filled with a picnic basket inside, ready to go) we would fill it up with a new treasure and decide where to bury it for someone else to find.

I would want to have a giant weeping willow tree, with a tire swing.

This is my dream house. Now, if this happens to be your house I would be most happy for you. I'd also be delighted if you'd like to invite me over for tea/coffee for an afternoon. I intend to find a place like this for my vacation, be it P.E.I. or Ireland, I'm sure I'll get there.

Frog with a silver lining

2008-04-29T14:37:00.005-04:00

Firstly, I'm giving myself a pat on the back for learning something new - I figured out how to replace that boring title banner of mine with a real photo that I took myself. Those are the geese that live in the pond by my house.

Next: weekend update. We ended up going to London to our parents. The boys were so excited to see their Grandma, and she was saving something for them - Christmas presents! A whole load of them! My 4 year old had been asking me all week, "Is it Christmas yet?" And I said, "not for awhile", yet when we arrived at Grandma's house she had tons of gifts wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper! She got a good laugh out of that. We had such a nice visit, and relaxed. I got to finish my "heart in hearts' dishcloth, but gave it away to my dad before I took a photo. He said, "not bad, only one flaw" and pointed out the flaw I hadn't noticed. I I had slipped a stitch, picked it up, but ended up increasing in the middle of the row. Oh well.

On to the title of the blog for today: Frog with a silver lining...
I've been working on a Mug for my partner in the Spring Fling Coffee Swap. I thought I would try it with cotton yarn in spring colors, although the pattern calls for wool like Cascade. I figured it would be ok to use cotton. This was also my first time knitting in the round; I got to use double pointed needles as well as a 'magic loop' for knitting in the round. The sides are worked flat with circular needles. I thought I was doing fairly well until I noticed that it looks like it's getting wider as I go. I have to admit; I didn't do a swatch. And my circ needles are one size larger than my dpns, which explains why the side stitches are larger than the ones on the bottom that were done in the round. That completely sucks. So I may have to frog the whole thing. A friend of mine says I should just get a larger mug for it. I'm thinking I may finish it just to get some more practise on this smocking technique, but I will make a new one for my swap pal with Cascade yarn. So that's the 'frog' part; to frog or not to frog? The silver lining part is that I got to learn something new on my knitting: I noticed one ribbing looked very stretchy, as if there was something missing. Then I turned it around and almost screamed! I dropped a stitch! I was about 3 or 4 rows back! Eeeek! What to do, what to do! This was my first time dropping a stitch like this, although I hoped I would be the one it never happened to, but now I can join the club. It was a purl stitch on the ribbing and I couldn't help but notice it looked like a crochet loop hanging there... so I grabbed the smallest crochet hook in my bag and found I could gently pull it through the other stitches loop by loop until it was all caught up. I am so pleased with myself for having solved this one all on my own! What an accomplishment. Are you laughing at me? I had to share this with you all. I picked up a stitch! Yay!

A Weekend Getaway!

2008-04-24T14:14:00.001-04:00

My family and I have the whole weekend, including Friday, off work. We've been talking all week about ideas for what we might do... go to Niagara Falls? Montreal? Visit relatives? We've been checking out Expedia.ca to see if there are any last minute deals. I think we just want to go somewhere to relax, but we also would like to bring our dog with us. So we haven't figured it out yet. We don't have a passport, so I'm pretty sure that leaves out U.S. (unless it's by car, so just the northern area we could do).

Any ideas?

Any pet-friendly Bed & Breakfasts you've been to that you'd like to recommend?

I told my husband that I will be bringing my needles with me, and he laughed. Does he think I'm joking? I have to say, he's really come around to accepting this new hobby of mine; he asks me what I'm knitting, and doesn't ever ask me to put the needles away. I've learned to use my beautiful bamboo needles when he is watching a movie. They are so much quieter than my metal ones. Thanks, again Brenda! I love bamboo!

So for knitting progress this week:
I finished most of my boggle purse/bag while in the waiting room of the local hospital. I'm on to; the last handle, and then just sewing up the seams. I brought a friend there who wasn't feeling well, and while I waited for the doctor to have her seen, I was knitting away! She laughed and said she couldn't believe how much enjoyment one person can get in a hospital waiting room. I actually struck up a conversation with the person sitting next to me. She looked a little bored, so I said to her, "I have some extra needles if you're interested." Then realized that was probably the wrong thing to say in a hospital. Needles? Oh, boy. That got the triage nurse looking at me quite funny. Thankfully, the lady I said it to was a knitter and smiled, but declined my generous offer. I even had extra yarn! But we did get to talking about my next project, which will be a (can't say yet) for my Spring Fling Coffee Swap pal. I'm not sure if this item really counts as a "spring" project, but it's coffee related so I hope that will do. I'm actually torn between 2 projects, and one is crocheted so I may have time to do both and that should guarantee a happy acceptance, eh?

Boggle Bag

2008-04-22T09:35:00.001-04:00

Almost done!!!

I have 2 lines to go till I get to put in the gorgeous Clover Bamboo needles for the top edges of my bag! On one hand, these size 15b bamboo needles that I just bought are so nice it would be a shame to have to glue them into place... never to be used for another project. But they do tell the world, "Look at me! I knit!" According the the Yarn Harlot in the book Knitting Rules, I do not yet qualify to be in the 'addicted to knitting' category. Or was it 'obsessed'? I'm just starting my stash, see, so I have a long way to go before it's bursting at the seams. There's still time.

I just wanted to share how excited I am that I'm almost done my first bag project, and I can't wait to see how it looks with these beautiful needles in them! I would have bought dollar store needles in that size if I found any, as it's just for looks. But oh well... I can still admire them in my purse. I messed up with a few stitches about 2 rows ago, but I don't think it looks too noticeable, and I will use that side as the back of the purse. I think I somehow dropped a stitch, and when I picked it up the best I could it ended up backwards or something, because about 3 boggles ended up being offside. The rest of the row turn out fine, somehow. Maybe I'll post a photo of it later and see if anyone knows what I did wrong?

Spring Fling Coffee Swap Topic #3

2008-04-16T21:26:00.003-04:00

Tell us how you started drinking coffee. Were you in high school or college and making it through all nighters? Did you get it from a family member? What drives your love of the bean?

It was always a special trip when my mom would bring us to Timmy's with a friend for coffee. We didn't get to drink any, but we'd get a muffin and it was a treat. She'd tell us that when we turned 12, we'd be allowed to try some. I don't actually remember what my first sip tasted like, just how I was making sure I sipped it slowly. I remember being taught to stir my cup so that the spoon wouldn't clank on the sides and upset the people at the next table. Truth be told, I like the little clanking sound when I stir the sugar in my coffee. My high school friends would put so much sugar in their coffee... no wait. That was me. I still love the smell of Timmy's coffee. I can tell a Timmy's coffee blindfolded, without tasting it. I wish they would put their scent in a candle. My husband admits that while he doesn't care at all for the taste of coffee, he does like the smell of Tim Horton's coffee.

Spring Fling Coffee Swap Topic # 2

2008-04-16T20:37:00.003-04:00

Since some of us are beginning to see glimpses of Spring, while others are still getting snow have you changed what projects you are working on? Have you put away the hats, scarfs and mittens, and brought out the cute tank top sweater projects and lacy wraps? Have you changed yarn to something more lighter and cooler, not so heavy and bulky?

The very last little bit of snow that I can see in my entire neighbourhood is just about melted in my own back yard. It was from that snow pile I shoveled snow onto in order to make my dog and children some cool trenches (or snow maze) to play in. The remaining snow hill is now only a few inches high. Good-bye Winter, hello Spring! I still have a few sweaters promised to children, that I must finish. I am trying to convince them they want short sleeved sweaters, so they can still wear them or I fear they will be too warm. And I don't plan to make any more hats for awhile. But as I am wanting to do some cabling, I have an irish scarf on my queue list from the book I received from my Scavenger Hunt partner. I love that book! One skien projects; what a brilliant idea for someone to make into a book! I also intend on making some fingerless gloves. Then it will be on to felting and socks. Were you wondering if I'd gotten round to that yet? Well, I am still just a beginner knitter, so I am likely slower than you are. Also, in my defense, I do not have one of those fancy little "Round Tuit"s that people send one another. I wonder if they really work? :)

My bobble purse is 3/4 done now, I'm so thrilled! A few more rows, then I just have to sew it up, make handles, and put in a lining. Oh, and I keep forgetting to get that pair of size 15 wooden needles to use for the purse edges. This is my first bag/purse project and I'm quite happy so far with it. I won't tell you how many times I've had to frog it when I forgot what row I was on and completely messed up the pattern... but I've done so much better now that I'm using the abacus bracelet I got on Etsy. (sorry for not using links in this post, I'm trying to finish up before hubby gets home from work or he will think I'm hogging the computer)

Coffee Swap Topic # 1

2008-04-16T18:58:00.004-04:00

First off, I'd like to apologize to my fellow coffee swappers and my secret pal, whoever you are, for having been so far behind in my blogging. Better late than never! I've put on "Alvin and the Chipmunks" for my boys to watch, and am taking some time aside to catch up on my blog and then I can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to! So on to topic #1...

Browse around some of the other blogs of participants, and find one person who enjoys a similar roast coffee to you - share something interesting about them that you find on THEIR blog, and tell us what you've been working on knitting or crochet-wise this week!

This was an interesting blog from one of the participants. What a great knitter!

I really like the color changes she uses in her knitting.

I found that Sarah and I have something in common: we both love Mocha flavoured coffee! She also likes tulips, as do I. It's so sad that they don't last long enough.

I discovered that Penny likes Tim Horton's coffee, like me. I'm still not sure if Tim Horton's coffee is considered a 'bold roast' or what? I guess they must be 'regular', but I think they use fine grind.

I'm going to take my secret pal's advice this week and try buying a little bit of coffee beans to grind in my blender. It has a button labeled "grind" so I'm going to see if it works for coffee beans.

What's new for knitting? This week I finished 2 dishcloths for my partner in a Swap-bot dishcloth exchange. I thought I would try signing up and see what it was like. I have to say, I enjoyed making 2 dishcloths to send away for someone, but it's not as fun as participating in a blog swap! The requirements was to just do 2 dishcloths and send them away. That's it. No special notes to your pal, no extra goodies inside, no extra requirements to ponder about, no extra shopping to do. It's still more fun to get a surprise dishcloth from someone else as opposed to making your own, so I'm not knocking it at all. Just that now I've tried both, I know that I really enjoy the full-out blogging swaps better. Hope I'm not offending anyone. I haven't received my 2 dishcloths in the mail yet, and am really looking forward to it. Guess what I made for my partner? For my first one, I was looking through Ravelry for a pattern and I spotted an Optimus Prime transformer truck. My kids were so excited about it! I just had to make one! Of course, when they found out I was mailing away the coolest dishcloth ever, you can imagine their disappointment. I'll have to knit a new one for them. For the second dishcloth, I decided to crochet a crosses & losses pattern. I really like the texture change in it, and after my pal Alaina liked hers I thought I would try it again. This time I tried it with a variegated cream color and light brown. I thought it came out pretty funky, almost like it was a cream color cloth that someone has spilt coffee blotches on. Hopefully the recipient will like it, too. Sorry, I completely forgot to take photos of the cloths! Oops!

Spring Distractions

2008-04-07T21:39:00.004-04:00

I've barely touched my computer this week! I have to catch up on all my online friends' blogs and see what everyone has been up to. I've been spending a lot of time outdoors this week. It's the first time we've had a whole week of sunshine, whoo hoo! The snow has been melting away, and I could actually see the dirt in my garden. All 6x2 feet of it! The kids have been helping me check for signs of spring on our walks to the pond. We've been taking pictures of the Canada Geese that are flying home. There's more and more of them every day, taking over the sidewalks. The children are amazed at how close the geese will let us get to them when we walk by ever so slowly; we are careful not to invade their personal space. Yesterday we bought some soil and seeds, and today the children and I are starting the seeds off using empty containers we have been saving, like apple sauce jars and small yogurt cups.

I noticed that a few of my tiger lillies are starting to pop out of the ground, as well as my tulips and irises. Just enough to break ground, but it makes me smile every time I look at them. The children like to 'pet' the scottish moss in the garden whenever we come home from our walks.

On to knitting content: On Thursday night I decided to take my knitting with me to the community meeting. I've never taken knitting to a meeting before (I took a dishcloth once, but didn't take it the needles out of the bag). I was determined to knit during a meeting. Just another right of passage into the knitting world, eh? So I packed up my giant ball of Red Heart yarn into a huge canvas bag, along with the second half of my boggle purse that I'm knitting. I also brought my abbacus bracelet that I got on Etsy, to keep track of what row I'm on. So picture me at this meeting, listening to the speaker as I'm contently knitting away, and as I get to the end of the row I realized I had one too many stitches left! What the ???!
My face all scrunched up as I realized I must have forgotten to k2 at the start of the row, before continuing with the pattern (*kpk in same stitch, p3tog,* repeat). Of course, I knew I couldn't frog the row and start over, while actaully paying attention to the speaker, so I huffed as I put the needles back in my bag and commenced to give the speaker my undivided attention. As I was sitting in the front row, she was most pleased to see me put the knitting away. She must be a non-knitter.

Spring Coffee Swap Questionnaire

2008-03-24T09:07:00.003-04:00

Coffee

1. What is your preference? Whole beans or ground? Ground, please. I've never tried whole beans, as I don't have a coffee bean grinder. Unless my blender would do the trick? There is a button that says "Grind". Maybe I should try it?

2. What kind of coffees do you enjoy? A rich, bold roast; a light, fresh one, or something in between? Leaded or non?
Is there really such thing as "leaded" coffee? I hadn't heard of leaded, so I will say no thank you to that one.
Otherwise, I enjoy a light or regular boldness. I would take any kind if it comes in mocha, LOL.

3. If you were headed out right now to buy some coffee for the house, what would you be picking up?
Nescafe instant Mocha Cappuccino (as I'm currently out of filters). Othewise I would be getting a Tim Hortons fine ground coffee.

4. Do you drink for caffeine, pleasure, or both?
That depends. Mostly just for pleasure, but if I'm having a rough day or anticipating stress, I enjoy a cup for the caffeine. Then there's those nights when I stay up late to watch a movie on TV when I really should get to bed... and I'm so tired the next morning! I usually have tea in the morning, but on days like this, tea doesn't always cut it.

5. Do you enjoy flavored coffees? How about add-ins or flavored creamers?
Yep! "That's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it..." (I've got songs in my head today) Mocha, irish cream, french vanilla, hazelnut, etc.

6. A large, lovely mug or a small, dainty cup? both, as long as they can go in the dishwasher! :)

7. Describe your perfect cup - not JUST the coffee, but how you'd enjoy it!
I have a special mug my sister gave me with teddy bears on it, and it makes me smile whenever I use it. So a 'warm-hug-mug' with a cup of coffee makes it a treat. I also have a lovely "Thank you" mug from a client, that makes me feel appreciated. I used to have a cute cartoon moose, but not sure where it disappeared to? Anyways, I would start some coffee in the afternoon just after I come in from the cold outdoors. I'd put the toddlers down for their afternoon nap, and enjoy some coffee while I take a short break. This is when (if all is quiet) I like to catch up on my blog reading to see what everyone else is up to.

8. You're sitting down to enjoy a nice cup in the local coffee shop, knitting bag in hand, iPod all tuned up - or maybe you're there with a few friends for knit night! What treat do you pick up to enjoy with your coffee? A sweet, rich brownie, or something more healthy? How about a salty treat? What goes best with that great cup and company? I would have a chocolate chunk cookie, or a chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie. MMMM!

Yarn

1. Do you knit or crochet?
Both - I've just gotten into knitting recently and I'm really enjoying it!

2. What are your favorite types of yarns to work with? Soft, smooth, cozy, cottons, and bulky yarns. There are so many types of yarn I haven't tried yet... but I like yarns that feel nice while you work with them.

3. What do you have on the needles (or hook!) right now?
Needles:Red Sugar 'n Cream cotton to make a heart-shaped dishcloth, blue-grey yarn for a bobble purse I'm halfway done
Hook: a camouflage vest that I have to put the buttons on.

4. What are your favorite colors in yarns? What about those that you'd never find in your stash?
I like most jewel tone colors, and most earthy tone colors. A color you wouldn't find in my stash is orange, unless I'm using it on a project for someone else. It just doesn't look good on me.

5. What sort of needles or hooks do you enjoy using? Any you just detest?
A pal sent me a pair of Clover bamboo needles that I adore! I like hooks and needles that are easy/smooth to work with.

6. Are there any particular notions you absolute do NOT need? Some of us swap a lot - are you sure that you have enough tape measures to last your lifetime? Enough stitch markers to mark every stitch of a 10 foot wide afghan?

Ha Ha. The only tape measure I have is the kind I have to keep together with an elastic band. I've just gotten my first set of Etsy stitch markers, too, so I'm just in the beginnings stage of my notions collection.

7. You walk into the yarn shop and have exactly and only enough money to purchase 2 skeins of yarn in their 2 for 20 special they have going..The choices are a soft, thick cotton/viscose blend in your favorite colors, slightly variegated..a beautiful sock yarn that's just squishy and sproingy in your hands.. a soft, worsted weight wool like malabrigo.. and a lovely bamboo blend with colors to just die for. Which do you walk out the door with?

I haven't seen Malabrigo at my LYS yet, so I would have no choice but to pick that one. Otherwise, it would be a hard choice.

Spring

1. We're starting sign-ups on the first day of Spring - is it already truly Spring-like where you are?
*Chuckle* Not here! The sun is shining a bit brighter, so that's nice. But with 5 foot high snow banks, we have a ways to go still before we see signs of spring. Occasionally we see a bit of grass on the edge of sidewalks where someone has shoveled.
-sigh-

2. What's your favorite spring flower? Do you have one?
I love to see the tulips pop up! That's one of the first beautiful things we see here in spring. My other favourite is the Tiger Lilly and the Iris, but they come up near the end of May.

3. What do you most look forward to about springtime?
Taking slow walks through the neighbourhood to find the first hints of gardens blooming.

4. They've predicted a gorgeous day tomorrow - Sunny and about 65 with a nice breeze - how do you spend your day?
Part of it outside taking a long walk. I'd bring my dog along, so he can greet all the other doggies out with their owners.

5. The day after, it's going to be cooler and pouring down rain - does that impact your mood? How do you spend that day? what helps cheer you up?
We'd play some indoor games with the kids, like magnet fishing in the living room. Later I would have a hot chocolate while knitting something warm.

Odds n Ends

1. Do you collect anything BESIDES yarn and needles?
interesting pens from different places, stickers (for my kids' artwork), and chocolate (that always goes missing)

2. Are you allergic to anything? no

3. Do you have pets?
one dog; he's a sheltie named Levi

4. Is this your first swap, or are you an old pro? What are the last 2 swaps you participated in?
This will be my 3rd swap. The names of the last 2 swaps I've been in are:
Defeat the Winter Doldrums dishcloth exchange, and the knitter's Scavenger Hunt swap.

5. List 3 of your favorite blogs - craft related or not - and tell us why you love them.
I'm still trying to figure that out. I have a few on my google reader that I like to get updates on, like the secret pals from my last 2 swaps. It's fun to stay in the loop. I also like to discover new blogs to read, by clicking on the various links on other's blogs. Hope that's ok for an answer.

New Swap... Dare me?

2008-03-21T17:55:00.003-04:00

I just found a link to another swap, posted on Miss Me's blog.

It's a spring coffee swap, and here's the link.

Should I do it? Do you dare me to join another swap? We only have till the 25th to sign up!

It's not really spring, here in Canada. We might not see the beginnings of green grass for yet another month!

And if I do, should I keep my present "secret email", or get a new one incase I'm lucky enough to spoil the same people I got to spoil in the last 2 swaps I participated in? What are the odds of that? Have you ever gotten the same partner in a subsequent swap?

Letter from Al Gore

2008-03-21T17:38:00.006-04:00

I got this email today from Al Gore. It's something I strongly believe in. I'm curious how many of you (bloggers) out there have joined in the fight against climate change? Has Al Gore's efforts made an impact on you? Have you learned anything new, or adapted new strategies in your everyday lives to help slow down climate change or fight pollution? I would love some feedback on this one!

"Dear Friend,
Global warming is a problem of unprecedented magnitude and that's why we've launched the largest mobilization campaign ever. Actions by individuals like you will be the driving force behind this campaign and our ultimate victory. We're going to succeed, but I need your help today.

More than 850,000 people have already joined us, but if leaders in business and government are going to make stopping climate change a priority, we need you to urge your friends to get involved today: http://wecansolveit.org/invitealliance

We need to grow to 1,000,000 members by April so we can send a loud message that we want action now. That is why I need you to forward the email below to all of your friends and family right now and ask them to add their voice.

Thank you,

Al Gore"

Scavenger Hunt Package is here!

2008-03-15T16:06:00.002-04:00

I checked the mail, and guess what? My package has arrived from Krystal in Ohio! Thanks, Krystal! Unfortunately, my blog is not allowing me to post more than 5 photos, so it may take 2 posts to show you all the goodies I got!

First, here is the 'something hard' category. I think it's a soduko cube, and will be fun to try out. My husand claims he is very good at it, but won't be allowed to try it until I'm done!
This is so awesome! Krystal knitted me a pair of fingerless gloves! This was part of the category 'Spoiler's Choice: Somthing Warm'. I've been longing for a pair of these, but haven't gotten around to making a pair yet. Now I get to enjoy my very own! I absolutely adore them! Isn't she a great spoiler?
Second half of 'Something Warm' was this yummy Hot Cocoa from Starbucks! Winter's not done here, yet, so I'm saving this for the next blizzard. We are supposed to expect more snow this weekend.

This is my other favourite item from the swap; a pattern book called "One Skein Wonders" that will let you do projects using one ball of yarn. Each pattern shows just how much yardage is needed, and what kind of yarn they used for their sample. I think this book is great, because I do have a few balls of yarn from purchasing too much, etc. and I would love to use them up when it's time to destash. I've already decided which project I will start first! Oh, I almost forgot to tell you what category this was from: Something related to the letter T: Try something new! I like how creative Krystal is!

This was part of 'Something Green'. It's a skein of Patons SWS, which stands for Soy Wool Stripes. Natural wool, and feels so nice! I don't have any of this in my stash, and I'll be picking out a pattern for it from my new book that Krystal gave me. The other item from this category will be in the next post, as well as a few other goodies! To be continued...

I've been spoiled!

2008-03-15T13:14:00.004-04:00

... continued from the last post. Here are the rest of my goodies... from Krystal in the knitter's Scavenger Hunt Swap.

This is the rest of my something green category; it's all natural Tazo Duet, Herbal infusions of black and green teas. The inscription on the back of the tea pack reads, "Like tea itself, good fortune is best when shared with others." And the packaging was made of recycled material, so definitely a good 'green'.
I had to get a photo of both hands in my new fingerless gloves, so here's me in the mirror!
Something funny/whimsical, this bling bling emory board (I know I won't loose this one around the house! LOL)

This beautiful lilac colored yarn is the Something Round. It's called Catania, made by Schachenmayr nomotta and is 100% cotton. I do not have any yarn this small, so I'm curious as to what I will make with it? Once I've entered it into my Ravelry stash, I intend to see what others have made with the same weight yarn. For those of you curious of the gauge, it says 10 x 10 cm is with 36R and 26M (I assume 36R means rows, not sure what the 26M stands for, other than perhaps stitches across).

Next is Something Local: It's a cool bragging rights pen for the local sports team from Ohio State. We like to collect pens around here, especially pens we don't see everyday. My husband got a good kick out of it, too, as he was invited to play for them back in high school.

This has been such a great swap to be involved in! I had a great time spoiling my pal, and I have to say that Krystal did a fantastic job spoiling me! I love my stuff!

And thanks to Carly, for putting on such a great swap for all of us!

Finished Scarf

2008-03-11T16:24:00.001-04:00

This is the scarf I finished crocheting for my sister. I really enjoyed working with such bright colors! It really made the whole house seem warm, even though we have so much snow outside!

We got another snowfall over the weekend. Notice that you can barely see the tree anymore, it's actually stuck in the snowbank! Now it just looks like a few twigs sticking out of the snow. Boy, my shoulder is sore! But we had sooo much fun playing in it today!

LYS shopping spree!

2008-03-11T08:03:00.004-04:00

What a great weekend! It started out like this...

The doorbell rang. This brings an automatic response in our household of children running around screaming out, "Who is it? Who is it?" which in turn, gets the dog all excited and follows suit. So our mail lady is greeted by barking, screaming, giggling, and jumping all in the background. I shoo them all away for a minute, "Go read a book together on the couch while I'm at the door". This seems to work, for a brief minute.

The mail lady says, "Wow, this is a pretty big package, I wonder what it is this time?" to which I reply, "it must be my package from the knitter's scavenger hunt I was telling you about. That's the only thing I'm expecting in the mail right now." We cross paths regularly, so I got to tell her all about the cool swaps I've discovered while getting back into blogging, like the Defeat the Winter Doldrums and the Scavenger Hunt Swap. She loved hearing all about the great dishcloths I made for Alaina, the fun I had while searching for my items to send JoAnn in the Scavenger Hunt, and the wonderful dream package I got in the mail last week from Brenda W. in the dishcloth exchange.

The package that the mail lady had was oddly shaped; a rectangular cardboard box that was long enough for an umbrella to comfortably fit inside. The label was on the other side, so I couldn't see who it was from.

"You'll need to sign here, for the package. It cleared customs, and there are no fees or duty to pay."

I put the package inside the front hallway, just behind me as I signed the form to accept delivery. She could tell I was pretty curious myself... what might be in there? I gave her the pen and clip board back, and smiled.

"I look forward to hearing all about next time I do my rounds. Have a nice day!", then she was on her way. We have the friendliest mail lady! I waved good-bye and closed the door.

I turned around to bring the package to the dining table to open - it was gone!!! Who did this? The evidence was so obvious; the pitter-pattering of little elephants upstairs! My children do not tip-toe lightly. This was now a rescue mission! Operation Find-My-Package!

Before I even got to the top of the stairs, I could hear the box being opened; I can tell that my oldest 11 year old son is in cahoots with the younger ones, or they never could have opened it that fast! Then I hear packing material being scattered about, and loud laughter. I arrive at the crime scene, only to find the little yarn thieves are taking evasive action! I am being bombarded by those little foam packaging peanuts. They're coming from everywhere! Quickly, the suspects (I can't call them criminals, just yet) fall back and retreat to various hidden locations within the house.

All I am left with is an empty box, and a note. At least I can enjoy reading it and find out who my secret pal is, while I wait for the surrender of those sneaky little yarn theives. I still have the upper hand - I'm in charge of snacks in this house! No package? No banana muffins for them! I open the envelope carefully....

Then I woke up.

There was no package in mail for me yet, but I was glad to have an amusing dream to laugh about in the meantime. It was one of those dreams that seem so real, you don't realize till you wake up that you were dreaming. Not too often do I get those anymore, I can usually tell that I'm still asleep.

On to other news (no more fiction, I promise):

A friend emailed me to say there was a sale on at our local yarn store. Apparently, Cloth & Clay is closing and has everything 50% off! I was saddened to hear that just after I discover a LYS it has to close! ARRRG! But on the bright side, it's a great sale! I did find out that they have another store not too far out of town that will be staying open. I convinced my husband to let me spend some money there due to the sale. We had already agreed I would not purchase any more yarn this month, so don't even ask what I had to do to convince him....

I got a few hanks of wool to felt with, some organic cotton for my baby nephew's bath mitt that I'll be knitting, and a few balls of sock yarn to try out. I tried to get some Malabrigo, but it was sold out. So the brands I did manage to get (you can tell me if these were wise purchases or not, I'm unfamiliar with any of them being a beginner knitter) were:

Regia - sock yarn made in Brasil

Lana Grossa's Mega Boots Stretch Softcolor - 3 different balls/colors

ARAN by Briggs & Little (made in New Brunswick, Canada) 2 hanks of Natural White

Regal by Briggs & Little - 2 hanks of Horizon Blue, and 2 hanks of Midnight blue

Cash Iroha by Noro (made in Japan, and feels so heavenly!) 2 hanks each of brown, and red

Cl0ud Cotton, (made in Peru for Estelle) 1 hank, very soft, gentle green color

I also let the kids pick out this cute little frog sitting on the cotton hank, shown in the photo above. My 4 year old son has a fetish for frogs, and green creatures like lizards, grasshoppers, and dragons.

So as you can see, I've kept myself busy this past weekend. I'm so happy with all the yarn I've picked up. I usually purchase yarn when I have a project in mind, but I couldn't resist. You should have seen the quirky smile on my face all day. Now to figure out what to do with it...

No signs of spring here!

2008-03-08T19:03:00.001-05:00

This is me outside shoveling our sidewalk. My DH took the shot from our upstairs window.

Can you see the snow on the shovel? That poor little tree beside me is almost up to its branches in snow! I'm wearing the hat and scarf that I crocheted myself. If it weren't for snow, I'd have no excuse to wear them! The reason you can't see me very well, the wind is blowing snow everywhere!

Our dog Levi loves to play in the snow! This is him after he came inside. He's not good at getting all of the snow off him.

A beautiful evening shot of our front yard. Still snowing, and all the shoveling I had done is now covered up again. See that tree again?

Here's my little one making snow angels. Can you believe that my two children wanted to walk to the store in this for some treats? My 11 year old was given some spending money today, and can't wait!

We are watching movies tonight, and sharing the goodies they got from the store (jube-jubes and chocolate bars) and I'll be finishing the rainbow scarf I am making for my twin sister. The colors are so warm and cheerful, there's no way you can wear it and get the winter blahs!

Oh, we are also turning on the fireplace tonight!

Look what I got!!!

2008-03-05T18:14:00.010-05:00

I was just going out to pick up the kids from school, and the mail
lady knocked on my door. Look what she brought...

I was so excited! I told her it must be from my secret pal, so she told me to open it upside down if I don't want to read the label and find out what's inside (customs form has to declare contents).
Then my husband looks at the box and says, "It's from..."
"DON"T tell me!", I shouted back. "I have to go pick up the kids still, and I want it to be a surprise! I'll open it when I get back!"
When I came back, I got out the camera, and wouldn't you know it? Murphy's law kicked into play - my batteries were fully drained. OH NO! I wanted to take photos, so I had to recharge my batteries.
Talk about a build up of suspense!!! Finally, the batteries were charged, and the kids and I could hardly wait to see what was inside the largest box I have ever gotten in the mail!

The gift bag inside was so cute! Little fuzzy animals everywhere! I wondered what was inside, and by now my little 4 year old was exploding with excitement.
What's in it?

Look at this! A lovely gift basket! Full of goodies! Who was it from???
Not the yarn fairy... (though if there was one, this would be her)
My secret pal for Defeat the Winter Doldrums is....

Brenda W.!!!!
A.K.A.
Mamere knits too much

I finally know her identity!
The funny thing is, I've been checking out various blogs from the Winter Doldrums swap and I had no idea it was her!
I read her blog a few times and she never gave herself away!
What a great secret pal!
Ok, I know you all want to see what's inside that huge goodie bag, so I'll show you:

Look at this beautiful dress! I think it could also double as an angel. So pretty!

What an adorable Lady bug! This one scores extra points with my kids, too!

Wow! Look at this! Isn't it amazing? I'm so spoiled! I'm not going to wash dishes with this one! It's going to have a place of honor on the counter, just underneath my coffee mug!
What a wonderful way to start my mornings, with a hot cup of coffee/tea so beautifully displayed! The detailing is so lovely! Brenda has a really nice photo of it on her blog (I just checked it out, and you can see more of the details on her blog).

This Cucumber & Aloe soap is handcrafted by Arcadia Aromatics, and the scent just tickles my nose! So charming and fresh, it reminds me that spring is coming!

Then there was this; a pair of Clover Bamboo knitting needles just for me!!! I know Brenda was reading my blog!

I can't tell you how much I've been wanting to try knitting with a pair of these! Now to pick out which yarn to use with them first...

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So by now, I'm jumping up and down and giggling with glee, and my kids are wondering if it's my birthday. It might as well be!
Underneath is the cute card she got me, letting me know her true identity! When I found out it was "mamere knits too much" I had to go and tell my husband!
I have a wonderful friend, who is also an honorable "mamere" to my youngest, as she was so kind to step in and be my birthing coach when my husband fell ill with food poisoning (That is a whole other story by itself, LOL).
So to my child, she has earned the endearing title of "mamere". It was an intriguing coincidence that my secret pal should have the same nickname.

Talk about having your cake and eating it, too! What a dream!
My secret pal really went to town!
I have not been able to find this cotton anywhere yet, and keep reading in everyone else's blogs about how fabulous this cotton is.
Now I see why! It's so delectable!
Not only was I overly spoiled with many skeins of Sugar 'n Cream cotton, in all these yummy colors, but Brenda was so sweet to send them in this pleasant basket to store my new stash in!
I am so spoiled! I'm going to so enjoy dipping into my new stash... now for that hard part; deciding what one to use first! My new yarn basket is all settled in the living room, for everyone to see!

Here's a closer shot, so you can see all the different flavors of Sugar 'n Cream that I was spoiled with!

I don't know why, but I am quite taken with this one in particular:
I'm sorry the picture just doesn't do it justice. It makes me feel calm and serene just holding it... something I likely need.
I'm going to love knitting with it! On the label it says it's called "Soft Ecru", and it's slightly lighter than the cream color.

So, altogether for a group shot of all my new goodies? Here it is!

What a great experience this has been! I've had such a great time spoiling my secret pal, Alaina,
and being spoiled myself by Brenda W. She's left me a few clues here and there in my emails, but I never did figure it was her.
I will keep an eye out for the next round!
Now I'm off to write a thank you note to Brenda, who has outdone herself!

My new knitting books

2008-03-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

Look what I got in the mail! I ordered these with a gift card given
to me by one of the children I take care of.

Defeat the Winter Doldrums Topic # 6

2008-03-03T19:34:00.002-05:00

For this topic we were asked to go through the other participants' comments for the last topic, and mention which one we liked best and why.

Alaina's day away was a favorite pick for many, and I have to agree with them. But as I don't get away much, I have to say there were many 'one day vacations' that I would love to go on. This one posted by Grace seemed so calming! I've never been on one of those long boardwalks, and it is something I would love to do. I can just imagine the scenery!

I also liked the idea of spending time with horses from Pony Knit's blog.

I could have a lot of fun skiing if I were offered unlimited hot chocolate for the day!

Then there's this:

I can't believe other people are getting flowers coming up when we have nothing but snow! There's still a good 6 weeks to go before we get any sign of plants sprouting out. But a spring garden is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.