Knittingupastorm

Upmcoming Classes!

2009-11-17T12:58:00.006-05:00

February Baby Sweater– $50.00 + materials & includes EZ Knitters Almanac book November 29th & December 6th, 10am to noon.

Class Length: 2 – two hour sessions
Instructor: Kate Atherley

If you need to knit a quick gift for a new arrival or want to upsize this pattern for yourself, (http://www.flintknits.com/) join Kate to master this wonderful pattern. Included is EZ Knitter’s Almanac book which contains 11 more patterns you can knit in the future. Please print the lady sized version pattern from http://www.flintknits.com/. Thanks Pam for a great pattern!

The baby version, knit with 400 yards of dk weight yarn and 4mm needles

The Toddler (knit with 4 balls of Silk Garden & Adult version (knit with 5 skeins of cascade220):

2008-08-14T10:47:00.002-04:00

Hi guys - it has been so long since I last updated -that sentence sounds like I should be in a 12 step program! I have been so busy the last few months and can finally share some exciting news.

I am the proud new owner of the Naked Sheep, located in the Beach, Toronto, Ontario.

This blog will not be updated anymore, but will keep it around for sentimental reasons. Blogging was such a big part of my life and if I wasn't so crazy for it, I wouldn't have known about all the yarn/pattern trends, forums and of course what a wonderful big community the knit world is.

Please check out our website and blog in the next few weeks because they will be ALOT of store changes, sales, new yarns, books, some great classes and workshops I hope will be helpful.

If you are in the Toronto area or are visiting, please drop by, I will be in the store 4pm to close and on weekends. Emily and Sarah will continue to work at the Sheep and I think I would be lost without them! They have welcomed me to the store and have some fabs ideas to make the Sheep the yarn store for you.

To all that have read my blog over the last few years, Thank you so much for taking an interest in my knitting and my life. I have 'met' quite a few other bloggers over the years and will continue to read their blogs.

2008-07-03T13:38:00.002-04:00

Hello, I am still alive but busier than hell. I am working on a big project that hopefully will be officially complete by next week and I will share more with you then.

I am knitting three pairs of socks for my friend who gave me the dining room table and sideboard. I've completed two pairs and working on the first sock of the 3rd pair. Her feet are going to be super duper warm this winter.

At this point, I am thankful I have these plain socks to knit, because my brain is not ready for anything complicated.

2008-06-23T16:19:00.002-04:00

Modelled picture of me wearing Green Gable:

and another one, just for good measure:

Looking at this picture of me reminds me I either a: need to get bangs or b: botox. I understand bangs are cheaper. But boxtox lasts longer.

2008-06-16T09:08:00.002-04:00

FO: Green Gable, Long Sleeved
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease
Needles: 4.5mm Knitpicks Options
Gauge: 4 stitches to the inch. Pattern calls for 5 stitches to the inch
Verdict: LOVE IT!
Mods: Waist decreases and hip increases. Knit long sleeves (pretty obvious!)

Very easy project indeed! I was inspired by Brenda's black inky (ravelry link)- what a copy cat eh?

Want more knitting? I am knitting three pairs of socks for my girlfriend who gave me the lovely table and sideboard. Here is the first sock of the first pair, I am using Austerman Step and what a lovely yarn it is:

I am about to start the heel of the 2nd sock soon. Of course, I forgot my knitting at home, so the heel will have to wait until later. I NEVER leave home without my knitting. NEVER people. First time for everything.

Below are the two skeins I am going to use for her other two pair:

Some Lion Brand Sockease:

and some Arequipa:

Thankfully my girlfriend's feet size are very small, so I can whip these out in no time. When I look at the picture of the sock I can't believe these will fit her, but I had her try it on and it does. Wow. Thankfully she doesn't have giant feet. Whew.

2008-06-03T12:14:00.002-04:00

Holy geez - did you anyone watch the Pittsburgh/Detroit game last night? Maddie and I only made it till 10:30pm, and Chris and Julianna watched the whole game - till
1am! Jay is only 9 years old - I couldn't believe she stayed up so late to watch this amazing game. Even more surprisingly, Chris allowed her to. Must have been one hell of a game.

I have finished one sleeve of my Green Gable and started the 2nd one today. Shouldn't take me too long to finish because the sleeve is only 91 rows long.

Have a good one.

2008-06-02T10:21:00.002-04:00

I am in the home stretch to finish my long sleeved Green Gable:

In other grand news, my friends GAVE me this wonderful table:

and this wonderful sideboard:

I promptly put it in the sitting room in my bedroom, and now this little corner is my craft area!! YEAH!! I am one lucky girl. I haven't moved all my yarn over yet, or organized the book shelf (that was in Chris' office) yet, but that will come.

Time is something I rarely have, so it will get done, when it gets done.

I must be in a nesting/organizing/feel like spending mood. Here is my new bedset:

It matches my couch and furniture perfectly. I have been having great sleeps in my new sheets and blanket.

My neighbourhood was having our annual garage sale day on Saturday so the girls and I went and poked around. They bought a bit of this and that and I bought a beautiful piece of artwork to hang in my new craft room. Once it is up, I'll take a picture to show you.

2008-05-26T10:14:00.002-04:00

Hey guys - thanks for the welcome back. I am getting really bad at replying to comments lately. I think it has a lot to do with lack of motivation to blog. After 4 years of blogging, I guess I am at the point where I might just end updating this blog. I don't find as much joy in it as I once did. No decisions have been made, yet. Anyhoo, here is a nice change. New hair and glasses:

I am going to a new dude - and man does he do a freaking fantastic job. Like it?

2008-05-20T07:33:00.003-04:00

We are back safe and sound from Punta Cana. Whew - what a trip. We had a fantastic time. We are relaxed, rested and NOT looking forward to getting back to our regular routine. I wish I could show pictures to you, but I can't upload pictures from our new camera to flickr.com unless I pay 25.00 buckers to upgrade my account. At this point, I am not interested in doing that.

The resort, water, pool, food, staff and entertainment were just crazy amazing. Trust me. We stayed at the Majestic Colonial - and I totally recommend this resort. It is all around fantastic.

I managed to finish a book, and knit one sock and almost finished the second one:

I am done now.

These were originally for me, however, the yarn I am using - Dyed In The Wool sock yarn is quite drapey on 2.5mm DPNs, so they turned out quite large. Now Chris has a new pair of socks. Good for him, bad for me. It is quite nice yarn, so I will buy some more and will use 2.25mm or 2mm DPNs next time around to get a firmer fabric.

Before I left I finished knitting these, other than the afterthough heel so that I could use the needles for the above socks:

I bought this sock yarn last summer to make socks for my girls and then they decided they didn't want wool socks. So now they are for me. I have one ball and a bit left over which I am going to send to a lady in Macedonia so she can make a pair as well. She can't buy Regia there, so I am happy to send it to her. Also my husband was born in the same city she lives, so I feel it will be going to a good home.

When I came home, I decided it was high time to felt the two hedgehogs I knit for my girls so long ago, I can't remember when I knit them.

Just waiting for them to dry so that I can stuff them and sew on the eyes and noses. I wish I didn't cheap out on the fun fur because they are not very fluffy at all. I want to make another two, so they actually look like hedgehogs.

2008-05-06T08:56:00.002-04:00

Thanks to all for your kind birthday wishes. It was pretty uneventful. I haven't been knitting, posting or reading blogs the last little while, because I feel very burnt out. It is so hard to work up the energy to get ready for work these days, much less anything else.

I don't even have the energy to post about everything that is gone on. Here is a summary:

bought a front loader washer/dryer set. Jury is still out if I like the washer.
Jay made her Atom B team
Chris is now the novice rep team coach, which my younger one will play on
the four of us are going to Punta Cana for a week on Saturday

The last one is pretty cool.

2008-04-29T10:27:00.002-04:00

Well my FIL can not fix the washing machine. Not because of skill, because NO ONE can fix this thing. So Saturday I am going to the stores to buy a washer/dryer front loaders. Lucky me.

Still knitting for the webkinz. Yep, lucky me. All their friends that see them want one. Who am I to say no to kids? I really can't.

Oh yeah, and today is my birthday. I am now 37. Closer to 40 than 30.

2008-04-24T09:09:00.002-04:00

Based on my last post re: riding the crazy train for knitting for corks, it is nice to hear I am not alone. I have stopped though, but only because I don't have any corks to knit for!

I did, however start a new project this morning. The Squirrel and Oak Mitten pattern from Hello Yarn:

I am knitting these mittens on 3mm needles using Patons Kroy sock yarn and some burdgandy mohair yarn I bought at the 2006 MW&SF:

I am trying very hard to knit my stash down - aren't we all? Thankfully it is slowing going down because of all the webkinz sweaters I've been knitting. I've knit a few more sweaters and will take another group shot of the girls' toys soon.

Non knitting news and pretty scary all at the same time is when you come home and walk into the laundry room to witness this:

This is what remains of my washing machine. My husband and his dad took the whole sucker apart to find the part that was causing the leak. Quite a surprise I tell you. It would have been put back together without me having any knowledge of this little adventure, however, they do not have the tool they need. HMMMM...

Guess where I will be on Saturday afternoon? At the laundry mat, just like last Sunday afternoon. Lucky me!

2008-04-18T07:39:00.002-04:00

I think I've bought a ticket to ride the crazy train. I am knitting stuff for corks people - CORKS. I know I'm not riding this train alone because there are 230 other people on the train with me. They are cute, but come on - knitting items for corks? Chris thinks I've lost my mind. Maybe I have.

Cute eh? I think so. I have about 3-4 corks left, so I'll knit stuff for them too.

Sorry for the crappy picture. I had to use my daughter's camera because my big Canon's battery has died and I can't re-charge it. Should do something about that in the new future. And I can't upload pictures to flikr.com with my smallish Canon because I don't have an upgraded account and the quality of the pictures from this camera is too good.

Sigh.

2008-04-17T07:45:00.002-04:00

I am at my limit people - if I knit one more webkinz sweater I think I'll scream. Look at Maddie's pile of webkinz:

And Julianna's pile:

Believe it or not, I have only knit sweaters for 1/2 of their webkinz toys. I do think the amount of webkinz they have is kind of nuts. However, most of them were rewards for hockey accomplishments, b-day presents, and some they bought with their own money. Plus, I really like them and when I see a cute one, I scoop it up. I'm an enabler I guess - webkinz style.

Even though these things are getting quite boring to knit, two things good things have come out of knitting all these sweaters. 1. I am using ALOT of stash yarn for these sweaters. You know all the odd balls us knitters own and don't know what to do with. But we keep just in case. At one point, I was going to Goodwill all these odd balls because they were driving me nuts to look at, but I am glad that I didn't.

The 2nd reason is my girls are so happy. Well, at first they were, now they kind of expect me to knit one for each of their toys. I have to remind them to say thanks now. Sheesh.

2008-04-16T10:12:00.002-04:00

Thanks guys on your congrats of my girls' accomplishment this last weekend. It means a whole lot to me.

All I have been doing is knitting sweaters for webkinz toys. All the freaking time. I don't mind because my girls LOVE them so much. Kids are so great and it doesn't take much to make them happy. Knit them a sweater for their favourite stuffed animal and they are over the moon.

Not only am I knitting for the girls' toys, Julianna asked me to knit some for her friends' toys as well. I've knit two out of the three she requested. Here is the pink poncho I made:

Cute, non?

Once I get most of them done, I will post a picture of them all lined up in their cute little sweaters.

Have a good one.

2008-04-14T06:37:00.001-04:00

May I present the 2008 Ontario Womens Hockey Association Gold Medalists, Novice C division:

My girls rep hockey team competed in the Ontario hockey provinicials this weekend and they went all the way = won all 5 of their games and came home with the gold!

These girls worked hard all year - came in first in the regular season, won two Golds in tournaments, including the tournament their own association hosted! Plus, in the other two tournaments they played and didn't win, they played in the semi finals, but lost. What a feat for this team.

On their rep team, only two girls played rep before, the other 12 were first year rep players. Including my six year old, which earned her place to 'play up' on the team. The novice division is for 7 and 8 year old girls.

My older daughter had a tremedous year and I'm sure if they had a MVP award, she would totally be considered for it. She scored:

50 goals in rep hockey
41 in House League - she is 8 and played up in the 9 and 10 year old division
22 in House League - for the novice division - 8 and unders. But after three games was moved up to the older age group
10 goals at the provincials

For a grand total of 123 goals for the season. Holy crap. We are astonished how well she did. I think she got, maybe 5 goals the year before.

I am so happy for my girls that I could burst with pride.

Bragging over.

More pictures of webkinz sweaters to come this week. What Fun!

2008-04-08T14:14:00.002-04:00

Look what I finished knitting and blocking:

Project: Lady Eleanor, Scarf Style book
Started: March 17th 2008
Ended: April 4th 2008
Yarn: Noro Taiyo - 4 balls
Needles: 5mm
Size: 21" x 60"
Made for: My mom's 70th Birthday

This is a nice close of up of the blocked entrelac:

Full size laid out on the floor:

After knitting the above, I wanted to knit something small and easy. Here are two sweaters I made for my girls' webkinzs:

My girls have an absurd amount of Webkinz, so I will not be surprised if they ask me to knit a sweater for all of them. If they do, that is all you will see for the next little while.

I got this pattern from Cheri at Runs With Needles. Thanks for a great pattern.

2008-03-28T09:35:00.003-04:00

I went to Michael's Art and Craft store last night with my two SILs to buy some 5/8" magnets to make more of these:

They are so much fun to make. However I don't like how the magnet and the marble are the same size. I wanted a 5/8" magnet size, but Michael's didn't have them. Boo hoo.

Oh well. I did get the 5/8" craft punch, so when I find the magnets, I'll be all set. This is where I got the instructions to make these cute little magnets.

I also bought these two knitting bags. Cool non?

and the inside of the bag:

I can fit my medium size knowknit bag which is holding Lady Eleanor, plus all the other stuff I need to tote along with me. It is such a great bag.

I am not sure how well the little sock bag will work for me because I like my little knowknits bag for socks. You can easily stuff it into your purse and it won't take up that much space. We'll see.

2008-03-26T11:21:00.001-04:00

Update picture of Lady Eleanor with an obvious error at the top right hand side of the stole. Oh well. Hopefully blocking will fix that or no one will notice it because I;m NOT ripping it out.

Almost halfway through the third ball:

2008-03-25T09:09:00.002-04:00

Thanks guys on your well wishes on my Lady Eleanor progress. I am about to join ball number 3, so it appears I am about 50% done. I've made a few mistakes, which I haven't ripped out, but compensated for in the next tier. No biggie because this Noro Taiyo yarn is thick and thin it hides quite a bit! I am working on this thing while making dinner, on conference calls at work, in the morning and about any spare moment I have.

I want this sucker to be done ASAP and nothing is going to stop me. Unless I get hit by a bus, and then I'll have bigger things to worry about then finishing a scarf.

Have a good one.

2008-03-22T10:07:00.002-04:00

Wowzers people, look how far I've knit on Lady Eleanor:

I've joined the 2nd ball and am so motoring through this project. It is such mindless knitting, that everytime I finish I rectangle I can't believe how quickly I knit it.

I've received quite a few comments stating Entrelac is on their fearless list, and let me tell you - it shouldn't be. If I can do it without looking at the instructions anyone can do it. It is so freaking easy.

I am using the Scarf Style instructions and find them much clearer than the instructions on the internet. The how to's I found through google seemed very complicated and too wordy. The less points a pattern/instruction states, the better.

Hopefully I finish soon so I won't bore you to tears with pictures and updates.

Have a good weekend.

2008-03-18T10:06:00.002-04:00

Looking at entrelac makes one think it is a pretty complicated process, but guess what? It is so freaking darn easy. For moral support my blogless friend Carol and I sat down at lunch yesterday and read the instructions together as I knit them.

I am surprised how easy it is. Here is my progress so far:

I do hope blocking helps this scarf, which I can't imagine why it wouldn't. It is pretty fun to knit, and I understand the process, which makes this knit so much easier. My mom is turning 70 on April 16th, so this will most likely be a pretty boring blog until I finish it because this is all I will be working on. Trying to meet a deadline is a pain in the ass, but it has to be done. If not, I'll wrap up what I have done and finish it after the date. Lets hope it doesn't have to come to that. I want to start Chris' sweater and I can't do that until this is finished.

2008-03-17T09:22:00.002-04:00

Hello! My mini vacation to Niagara Falls was so much fun! I did get some knitting done, see:

The knititng on Petal is done! Yeah me! I made some modifications - not much, but here goes:

I used the YO for the increase at the raglan to make it less bulky and feminine
Knit the body about an inch longer so it hit at my hips
Knit the short sleeves with a 2x2 ribbing
Gauge at 22 sts versus 20 stitches the pattern states

Yarn: Tess Designer Superwash Merino, Nedles: 4mm

Also I knit a swatch using the Cascade 220 yarn for Chris' sweater. This stuff is quite nice to knit with and I totally can't wait until I get the long sleeve Green Gable sweater done so I can use the 4.5mm needles.

However, I do have to get going on my mom's Lady Eleanor - which is going very slowly. I knit the first set of triangles, which were quite easy. Now, I have to move on to step #2, and I've hit a roadblock. I need to find some quiet time so I can truly understand entrelac. Once I do, I am sure it will be smooth sailing.

One can hope right?

2008-03-11T14:17:00.003-04:00

I am going to Niagara Falls for the next few days to have fun at the waterpark above the Sheraton on the Falls. I think we are going to have SO MUCH FUN.

Hopefully I will have a finished Petal when I return. The sleeves and body have been knit and I just have to pick up the stitches around the neckline and fronts, knit about 8 rows and it will be done, done, done! Yeah.

I swatched for Lady Eleanor this morning before I went to work and am getting 16 stitches per 4" not 14 stitches per 4" as the pattern states. Oh well, it won't be as big, which I don't mind. The person I am knitting it for is only 5'2", so at the stated size, it would look like a huge blanket on her. Hopefully now, it will be more scarf/shawl like.

Have a good week folks.

2008-03-07T09:32:00.002-05:00

Brenda my friend, why oh why did you email me to go Romni yesterday lunch? I ask you WHY? WHY? WHY?

She wanted to go there for size 2.25mm DPNs. She bought them. Guess what I got? Some Noro Taiyo - a new 2008 Noro yarn.

I want to make Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style as a birthday gift for my mom. Her name is Eleanor and I think it will be perfect for her.

This is a surprise gift and I know some of my mom's friends read this blog, so if you are reading this - DO NOT TELL HER!

Next up, Cascade 220 for a sweater for Chris:

I wanted to make Elizabeth Zimmerman's seamless hybrid in a cardi version like Brooklyntweed's. I'm such a copy cat.

I am in the home stretch of finishing the body of Petal and won't start anything else either on the needles or new until I finish this sweater. Hopefully the spring weather comes and when it does I will have a nice new knitted sweater to wear. Yeah!

2008-03-05T15:14:00.003-05:00

Here she is - in all her different moods:

Flipped down collar:

Flipped up collar:

Open collar:

Close Up. Apparently when you buy used yarn at the local thrift shop you can't always get all the same dye lots. Oh well.

Thats a wrap folks.

2008-03-03T09:11:00.002-05:00

The 28 30 is almost done, see:

Weaving in ends, blocking and buttons sewn on still need to be done, but the knitting is done like dinner.

Pattern Specs - 28 30 by Zephyr Style
Yarn - 6 skeins of Rowan Magpie found at local thift store
Needles - 5mm Knitpicks Options Needles

Mods:

- knit a full length version because thankfully I had enough yarn, plus I am short waisted and would like shorter with the cropped version.
- slipped the first stitch of every row purlwise with yarn in front for a nice neat edge.
- no decreases for the arms, I like lots and lots of room in this area.

I had about 840 yards of Magpie Aran, and this is all I had left, PHEW:

2008-02-29T10:15:00.003-05:00

See, told ya I'm almost finished the 28 30:

I am using Rowan Magpie Aran I picked up at the local thrift store for about 2 bucks. Not bad. Wish I would have known the first skein I used was a different dye lot. The collar is slightly darker than the rest of the sweater. Sigh.

I ordered some of Knitpicks yarn to swatch and see what they are like:

I've recently discovered knitting podcasts and now have more than I will ever need downloaded to my iPod touch. It has made walking and sitting on the train to work much more enjoyable and quicker. I didn't think I would enjoy them, but I do.

For years my husband has tied the girls' skates, but now my older one can do her own, as well as her sister's. See:

Nice, eh!!!!

2008-02-27T10:08:00.002-05:00

Hello, it has been about a week that I've posted because life has been hectic around these parts. Even though it has been busy, I've been knitting! I am closing in on the body of the 28 30 sweater. I've decided to make a full length version, however I am unsure if I'll have enough yarn. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

I wish I had a picture to share with you, but I've not been home long enough to take one and upload. Soon, my friends, I promise.

Stay warm.

2008-02-19T10:20:00.002-05:00

I think I've had the most busiest weekend I've had in my life! I can't believe I woke up when the alarm clock went off. Lets re-cap, shall we?

Friday, 10am, the girls play their first of 4 hockey games in a Tournament
Friday 11:30 - head up to Dagmar Ski resort to ski for the rest of the day
Friday 7pm - arrive home from skiing dead tired, I might add
Saturday 5:30am - wake up to get ready to go to arena for 2nd hockey game to start at 7am
Saturday 1pm - house league hockey practice
Saturday 330pm - 3rd hockey game of the tournament
Sunday 12pm - the 4th and final game which they won!!!!! Yeah champs!!!!
Sunday 2-4pm - celebratory lunch
Sunday 630pm - dinner and dancing with friends arriving back home at 1am
Monday 9am - head down to the Canadian International Car show arriving back home at 5pm
Fall asleep on couch at 830pm, right after the kids go to bed

I have not had such a busy weekend in such a long time. I need a vacation to recover from it!

As you can imagine, not a lot of knitting was squeezed in, actually none at all. However I do have a picture of the current state of Petal. I've put the sleeves on waste yarn and merrily working on the body of the sweater:

I started another Green Gable using Lion Brand Cotton Ease and will knit long sleeves for this GG:

I am still plugging away on my 28 30 sweater and just finished the collar. Hopefully I can find the time and energy to pick it up.

2008-02-13T13:36:00.004-05:00

Lookie what arrived in the mail today from grannyscloset? A DPN holder, crochet holder and a tissue holder:

They are so cute! Check out her other items she has made because they are super duper cute. I've already filled them, see:

In knitting news, I've put the sleeves of petal onto scrap yarn, which I don't have a picture to show you because I forgot to upload that one, so you will just have to believe me.

Started another Green Gable using Lion Brand Cotton Ease, no picture - same reason as above.

I also bought the twentyeight 30 pattern from the zephergirls. I plan to use the Rowan Magpie yarn I found at Value Village for 1.99! I am not sure how good this thing will look on me, but it looks like a quick knit so I will find out shortly. My progress is further along from this:

After the big snow fall Toronto has experienced, my husband used his snowblower to blow all the snow in the backyarnd into one big hill for the kids to snowboard and toboggan down. They love it and it is so much fun. I know this because I went down it about 15 times yesterday. Here is a not so good picture, but you get the idea:

2008-02-07T20:18:00.000-05:00

FO Alert! Tilted Duster is done like dinner. Here it is pre blocking with all her strings hanging out:

I would have shown you a picture of it completely done, except I am frogging this sucker and using the yarn for something else.

Sounds crazy eh? Let me try and explain. When I first saw this sweater, I really truly like it. Then I saw FOs in blogland and started not to like it. I still didn't like it but decided to knit it anyway. During the whole process I kept thinking, I am not going to like it, I am not going to like it. Guess what? I don't like it. It is really small across the shoulders and arms making it very uncomfortable. The ribbing on the back clings to my butt like saranwrap on a sandwich. Trust me - it doesn't look good and I wasn't sharing that view with the world.

Plus I think it looks like a maternity sweater on me. All open in the front, like the two fronts should meet, but they can't because of a giant stomach in front.

Enough said. Good Bye my Tilted Duster = it's been a slice.

2008-02-04T13:10:00.000-05:00

Look what I've finished over the weekend, the Tilted Duster Skirt and picked up the stitches for the collar:

I've also finished this neckwarmer:

I used 100% wool from Romni Wools own yarn line.

I'm on a roll folks!

2008-02-01T09:40:00.000-05:00

I knit this top down raglan two years ago come this March:

I really love it, but I haven't worn it because I couldn't find any buttons for it. I didn't put button holes on it, which I totally regret. I've tried all different kinds of buttons, and didn't like them until I found these:
\

I like them, alot. I think they would work. Except I couldn't find them in the house - ANYWHERE. I thought they might have fallen behind the couch, so I gave up looking for them. So one day, I picked up my cardigan, and saw the button I had been looking for. I went to take it before it fell to the ground and realized, it was sewn to the sweater. Holy crap people, all five buttons were already sewn on! I don't remember doing it. I must be going nuts. See:

Needless to say I was quite happy. All that was left was knitting the icords. I knit only the top two i-cords and got to wear my sweater. I love it!

Alls well that ends well.

2008-01-24T10:35:00.000-05:00

I've been knitting! Just a bit, but stitch by stitch, row by row I just might finish something. Here is the Tilted Duster:

And Petal:

Both projects are quite large and take some time to finish a row, but I keep plugging away on them.

2008-01-21T09:01:00.000-05:00

Thanks all for your comments regarding getting better. I am back to 100%, but poor Jay is only at 90%. She stayed with my in laws on Friday and all she did was watch TV for the whole day. I packed her book, markers, paper and Nintendo DS and she didn't touch any of it. Today she is feeling alot better, so I hope it stays that way.

I picked up my Tilted Duster and knit about 1.5" of the skirt. The ribbing looks so good and squishy. I wish I would have brought it with me today to knit it on my ride into work. But, I didn't. Instead, I listened to my brand spanking new iPod Touch. This thing rocks! I have 166 pictures, 133 songs and one video uploaded on it. All this only takes up less then 1 gig of memory. Holy moly, I can not believe how much stuff you can have on it. Wow. This thing is impressive.

For those of you out there that don't like cooking, like me, I came up with a system that works very well for me and I hope it helps others. So, here goes:

On the weekend I scour Racheal Ray's and Foodnetwork.ca websites for interesting and easy recipes. I save them to my PC, print them, put in plastic covers and put in my black douatang:

Then I decide what I want to make for the week and write down each day's meal on these little green papers:

Then I put them on the side of the fridge in order:

I then wirte all the items I need to buy to make it and go food shopping on Sunday or Monday night. Easy eh? I think so.

We've had such great meals these last three weeks and my whole family can't wait to see what we are having. So much so, that if I don't make a new dish, my older daughter is very disappointed. AND my husband is bragging about all the meals he is eating. He has NEVER been impressed with my cooking. Frankly neither have I. So I am doing something about it.

2008-01-19T17:59:00.000-05:00

After years of not having bangs, on Friday I decided I wanted bangs. See:

I really like them. I am surprised that I do, but I feel younger!!!!

No knitting to report. Sorry. One day soon, I hope.

2008-01-14T17:11:00.000-05:00

I'm here and only slightly alive. Both my older daughter and myself are very sick with some kind of throat and chest sickness. Thankfully it all started Sunday evening, after the girls' hockey tournament - which they won first place! Yeah. I am so happy for them.

It was their own league's tournament, so it is much sweeter when you come in first place. They got gold medals and everything. The best part of the whole thing is, they get to hang the big ass banner stating they won it all at our home rink.

Go girls go!

Here are some pictures of them at the tournament:

2008-01-08T14:55:00.001-05:00

Remember that one thing I said I was knitting throughout the holidays? Well, it is done. Toasty Topper courtesy of the winter 2007 knitty issue:

It is too small for my nephew and too big for my niece. Well, it will eventually fit my niece, but I betcha dollars to donuts it will be the wrong season to wear it, when it finally fits.

Oh well. I DID knit something.

I have also been working on my Petal sweater and am getting pretty close to putting the sleeves on scape yarn. Progress my friends, one step at a time.

2008-01-02T09:10:00.000-05:00

Well it has been a while since I posted because frankly the last few weeks have been quite a blur. I haven't been busy which is extremely unusual for me, so I guess I just took it easy. Christmas was a complete blur because I was so exhausted. I hit the wall of tiredness and couldn't move. Thankfully my mom and mommy in law did all the work - cooking, cleaning, etc.

I am finally feeling back to normal and working my way up to getting back to a routine that is not as hectic. Yeah, who am I kidding? Just let me have it that thought for awhile, k?

Because I haven't knit all that much, frankly, hardly at all, here are some pictures of our Christmas. Aren't we lucky, Santa came to visit us on Christmas Eve:

My girls were so surprised that they were speechless!!! They didn't know my husband Chris was going to do this and man, were they SO happy.

Not all the kids were happy:

It only lasted for a short bit:

Two VERY happy girls:

Chris wasn't too pleased about doing this, but once he had the costume off, he was glad he did it.

Here is a picture of my mom and me. Why you ask am I posting this? This is the one and only picture I have of my mom and me and she is smiling. AND her eyes are open. AND she is looking at the camera. I swear, once my mom sees a camera, she becomes very weird in front of it. BUT this picture, is pretty great.

Hope your holidays were great!

2007-12-20T09:38:00.001-05:00

There will be no knitting content today. Surprise, Surprise. However, it is picture heavy and all about my rink, skating and the kids.

Samantha, these next few pictures are for you.

Here is a pic of Chris snowblowing the snow off the rink on Sunday:

Chris puts so much work into getting the rink ready for the girls.

The first skate:

All my hockey players:

More pictures of the rink, it isn't as big as it will get, but it will be big!

Daddy giving how to shoot instructions:

Here is a picture of my two kids and the neighbour kids enjoying the first big snowfall of the winter season:

How much fun do you think they had in the snow?

Visiting Santa:

That is it for now.

2007-12-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

Not much knitting happening around these parts. Just.Too.Tired.And.Busy. Just like everyone else. I have lost my knitting mojo for the moment and sure it will come back someday. Hopefully soon, because I need something to keep me sane.

Last night, we were at the hockkey rink from 530pm to 9:15pm. Sounds crazy eh? My younger girl's game started at 6pm and the older one's started at 8pm. Man, oh man. We were all tired. Pooped.

It is a killer on us all. Normally we take the younger one home between the games, but because it was pizza night, she stayed with us. For future long start times between games, we are going to take the older one to Grandma's until it is time for her to come to the game. This will give her a nice chance to relax and unwind from the day before coming to the rink.

We will also take the younger one home to the other Granny so she can go to bed earlier. Thankfully these large gaps in game start times doesn't happen often.

I look forward to a few weeks off from hockey, well not actually watching it, but a break from having to drive and wait, and wait, and wait.

If I don't blog before Christmas:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

2007-12-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

What a quick little knit - a Christmas present for my mom:

She lost one of the pair that I made her two years ago, so I thought she could do with a new pair. I used some Romni Wools' own 100% wool. It is quite nice stuff and I am interested to see how well they hold up. Time will tell, of couse if she doesn't loose one them! I'm not joking BTW.

My older daughter was called up to sub for another player this past Sunday and the spare jersey they have has number 99 on it:

No pressure to perform well with that number, eh?

2007-12-12T08:18:00.000-05:00

May I present my new niece, Anna - not yet 1 day old in this picture:

I have only seen her twice, but I love her so much already. She looks exactly like her big brother did when he was born. Speaking of her big brother, my nephew, who is three years old is the best little guy on the planet. The other day when he was playing cars, he told his mum (my SIL), that he was going to pick up Auntie Lisa and Uncle Chris. What an amazing little dude.

I don't get to see him that often, but when I do, I spend all my time with him - he is just so special to me.

Normally my girls do not get a lot of time at home to play dress up or play with the toys. However this past Saturday we decided to skip hockey practice, so they got a chance. Because they have a new cousin, they played with their babies. Oh yeah, and dress up all at the same time:

Crazy girls.

2007-12-11T09:15:00.000-05:00

Thanks guys for your lovely comments on Chris' cobblestone sweater. I hope to have the ends seamed in shortly, so that he can wear it.

I've admired these prints from Ingrid since she first posted them and thought they would be great gifts for my girls if she had ones holding hockey sticks. So, I took a chance, asked Ingrid if she would draw them for me and this is what she came up with.

Hockey Girls

My intention is to give them to my girls for Christmas. I know they will love them, but won't appreciate them completely until they are much older.

Cute, non?

Cobblestone is Done Like Dinner!

2007-12-10T08:20:00.000-05:00

Here it is folks, Chris' cobblestone:

A close up of the yolk:

I still need to weave in the ends and graft the armholes and steam the yoke so it is a bit flatter and more even.

I am really pleased with this sweater. There isn't too much I can say that hasn't been said before...It is an awesome and very easy pattern to knit. Specs:

Pattern - Cobblestone
Source - IK Fall 2007 issue
Size: 43 1/2"
Yarn: Tahki Donegal Tweed - about 6 and 3/4 skeins
Needle Size: 4mm

2007-12-04T08:42:00.000-05:00

It is so hard to remember to update my blog because there is so much going on. Christmas is coming very quickly and there is still so much to do. Yesterday I took a vacation day to start and finish my present shopping. Whew, that is done, thankfully. One thing done, many more to go.

I am having a party at my house on the 8th and the 16th, so getting ready for that is consuming a lot of my time. Cleaning, organizing, etc. Man, nothing like having a party to get your house in tip top shape. It pretty much is the only time I will clean top to bottom. Everytime I clean this much, I vow to keep it this way. I have never kept my vow, but maybe this time I will.

It shouldn't be too hard because I am never home. We pretty much live at a rink. Take tonight for example, my younger daughter plays at 6pm and my older one plays at 8pm. It is picture night, so I won't be home until about 10pm. Life of a hockey mom.

It is that time of year to put the ice rink up, and that is exactly what Chris did last night:

Poor guy was out there for hours putting the boards up, screwing in the tarp and putting water in it. This is no easy feat because the rink is 40' by 50', so there is quite a work.

See that smile? He is so happy to do this for our girls. He loves skating and so do they. I think if he didn't build a rink starting 6 years ago, I doubt we would have known how much the girls love hockey and skating.

What a guy - I love you honey!

Knitting news? I finished my friend's socks, but didn't snap a picture before gifting them. Here is the last shot of them I have:

I finished sewing the fleece backing on the baby log cabin blanket. My job doesn't look too bad, but I wish I would have found a way to tack it down in strategic places so it is firmly in place. But since it is a baby blanket, that will be take quite a bit of abuse, it will be just fine.

I finished it just in time because my neice Anna came into the world yesterday evening. I can't wait to see her. I'll snap some pics and upload as soon as I can. I want to share her adorable little face with the world!

Sorry for the long post, but I am not sure when I will be able to get back to post.

2007-11-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

My cry out for help was for not! After a good night's sleep, I picked up the needles and followed Jared's instructions. Voila, everything is turning out great. However, I think I will not have enough yarn. I am about 5" into the yoke, and only have one skein left.

I'll check if Romni has anymore, if not, I'll look in Ravelry and hope someone has some to sell to me. Keep your fingers crossed.

ETA: Went to Romni at lunch and dug deep down into one of the bins and found the lone skein in the same dye lot. Yeah for me.

Before going to Romni I sent a message in Ravelry to Kate of needlesonfire to see if I could buy her two and she said yes. So now I will have three skeins. One to finish the sweater and another two to make something else - maybe a cable hat for Chris!

Cobblestone Issues

2007-11-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

I am not sure why I don't understand the short row instructions on the Cobblestone sweater. I did the first two short rows, but when I get to the 1st short row, pick up the wrap and continue to knit around, I should actually be purling because if I continue to knit, it screws up the garter in the round.

HMMM.....Help me, I am desperate.

2007-11-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

I am back from a wonderful week in Punta Cana. We stayed at the Majestic Colonial and had a fantastic time. I totally recommend this resort. I read, slept, drank, ate and believe it or not got some knitting done.

I finished the sleeves for the Tilted Duster, they need blocking, but to proof they are done:

My friend's socks are coming along nicely:

I knit about 20 rows of Petal, using Tess Design Superwash Wool:

And before I left, I attached the sleeves to the body of Chris' Cobblestone sweater:

It appears I am in the home stretch on all three projects, so it is quite difficult to choose which one to work on! Oh the decisions of a knitter. This is a much better position to be in then casting on for a bunch of projects, and all of them turning out sucky!

2007-11-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

I really have to say that I don't like sewing on buttons (even though I just bought a whackload), but the more I do it, the easier it gets.

Before I leave on Sunday for PUNTA CANA, with my friend (no kids, no husband), I wanted to finish this sweater:

Isn't it the cutest thing? I used the Pure & Simple Top Down Baby Sweater pattern, a free one to boot. I made a few mods to the pattern. I put in button holes, because I am not a fan of the i-cord ties. They scream 'hand-made'. I also knit two stitches between each decrease instead of one, and the obvious thing I did was knit a collar instead of a hood. All in all, I think it has turned out okay!

I finally uploaded pictures from Halloween. Here is a picture of my cheerless leader:

They should be scowling, but I like the smiles much more.

I will be back one week from Sunday. Enjoy your week, I know I will.

2007-11-05T08:25:00.000-05:00

I love when I am finished knitting the largest part of a sweater. It feels like I am in the home stretch. Here is Chris' Cobblestone sweater knit to the arm holes and the start of the 1st sleeve, which BTW is almost done too:

Not the best artistic photo, but hey, I was in a rush.

In my girls' hockey news, this weekend my younger daughter was informed she has made the 8 and under rep team!!! Yeah for Maddie. She is 6 years old and is playing 'up' at a rep level. I am so proud of her. She is over the moon excited. Now she gets to play on the same team as her sister.

Both Maddie and Julianna play on a houseleague team that is coached by my husband, but after three houseleague games, J was moved up to play with the 9 and 10 year division. So, we are happy that they get this chance to play on the same team. That was our intent, however, over the summer J found this burst of confidence, and dominated the game. Not fun for her and not fun for the other little girls. When the score is 20 to 1 for your team, and one girl scored half of the goals, you just feel bad for all. Including J's feelings. It was way too easy for her, and now that has moved up to play with the older girls, she is much happier!

I am one lucky hockey mom - two girls that LOVE the sport and know that if you work hard, it pays off. This weekend Maddie finally got to realize what I was saying was true.

Hope your weekend was great.

2007-11-01T09:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to Fabricland near my house to buy some buttons for the baby demin jacket I just finished. As well, I needed some buttons for this cardi that I finished 2 1/2 years ago:

I love this sweater and haven't worn it because I just can't seem to find buttons for it. Until now. I think I've got the right ones. Fabricland is closing this location due to end of lease issues, so everything in the store is 50 to 75% off. Holy moly people, I went hog wild crazy buying buttons. See:

I doubt I will ever use all these buttons in my lifetime, but I HAD to have them. BTW - I am going back because I can't miss the opportunity to save so much money on buttons. They had whackloads more. Yeah...Such fun.

I also bought this pin cushion. Cute, non?

I think so.

2007-10-31T08:42:00.000-04:00

I am almost finished the top down cardi I'm making for my soon to be born niece:

This looks like a little jean jacket so I am hoping to find some silver buttons to complete the look. I am using stash yarn - Debbie Bliss Demin Aran. NICE! Since my SIL loves jean jackets, this is a perfect gift for her little girl.

Other knitting news - I started the 3rd skein of wool for Chris' cobblestone. I am a bit worried that I might not have enough wool because when the 3rd is finished, I will only have three skeins left for the arms and yoke. Eeecckk...I don't think it will be enough. Hopefully I will be able to get another one. Fingers crossed.

Have a good one.

2007-10-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

I am a knitter OUT OF CONTROL people! I can't stop casting on for new projects, even though I have a tonne of shit on my needles. Man oh man, for the love of God, someone stop me. Nope, just kidding, don't even try it!

I am almost finished one of these - Saartje's Bootees using some Sockatta yarn in light blue with flecks of white. These will be for my soon to be born niece. I don't like babies in pastel colours, so I thought these would be perfect. I'll post a picture of them as soon as they are done.

I also want to knit this (I love this lady's one - it is perfect!!). The pattern is from the Summer 2005 IK issue. Also these booties will be made to match the sweater. I will be using elann's sonata in a deep chocolate brown. I also have some alpaca in a deep wine colour that might look smashing for a baby sweater. Yep, I want my niece to look styling.

I also plan to make a whole bunch of the ball band dish cloths, but I can' t seem to find any sugar n' cream cotton in Toronto. WTF? Damn Lewiscrafts for going out of business. I'll have to settle for the Bernat Handicrafter cotton, which isn't as nice as the Sugar n' Cream. But you have to use what you can get, I suppose.

Anyhoo, in other news, my friend and I have booked a trip to Punta Cana leaving on November 11th. It will jsut be the two of us. I am so freaking excited to get away!!!! I still can't decide what to bring to knit. Yeah, feel sorry for me.

Because I know how lucky I am to be going away, I've started a pair of wool socks to give to a good friend of mine, who is a hockey mom like me. See, I'm not that selfish!

Have a good one.

2007-10-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

I finished Jay's toe up socks using some Regia sock yarn I bought in the summer:

She wanted ankle socks and I was happy to comply with her wishes. I should have had these done a while ago, but they were very boring to knit so I put them off until she nagged me to finish them.

Nice mother, eh?

I think I have my ravelry account all set up and all pictures of projects uploaded. I can not believe the amount of knitting I have done over the last 5 years. The scary thing is, I couldn't find pictures of all my FOs, so I know there are many more that I could have added. Wowza.

Find me on ravelry.com under the username Lisafarm.

2007-10-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

Last night was so exciting for my two girls. They got to skate at the Air Canada Center at the first intermission of the Toronto Maple Leaf game! Tim Hortons sponsors my girls' hockey novice division and this is a special event from Tim Hortons to the timbits of their league.

My youngest daughter was goalie who got a shut out! Looks like she was born to play this position:

And my older daughter scored the one and only goal (thankfully my girls were on the same team!)

They had such a blast last night. I am so happy and proud of them. We also got four tickets to watch the 2nd and 3rd period. What lucky ducks we are!!!

After the game was over and we were heading back to the bus to take us home, quite a few people congratulated my older daughter on her goal. I am sure this is one night they won't forget.

On to knitting. Here is my progress on Cobblestone after knitting the first skein:

2007-10-16T14:39:00.000-04:00

Done like dinner folks:

This is a baby sized log cabin blanket knitted with 4.5 skeins of Cotton Fleece in pink, orange, purple, lime green and black for the center square and mitered border. I hope my soon to be born niece loves it!

At the moment, the need to knit baby items hasn't stopped, so I'll be starting some booties and hats shortly. Progress pics to come!

Have a good one.

2007-10-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

Almost done!!

The purple stripe is done now. All that is left is to knit two stripes of orange and lime green. I think it will be about 26" x 26" or there about. With this blanket, I'll knit a mitered border in black to match the center square. I've also decided to sew a fleece/flannel panel to the back. The thought of sewing scares me, so I hope it works out well. Keep your fingers crossed. It will be so worth it as I think it will look kick ass keeping my soon to be niece nice and cozy.

I've had Jay's socks in my bag forever now and started the short row heel for the 10th time on the ride home yesterday. Hopefully this time I will have short rowed just the right amount of stitches for the heel to look good. One can hope.

In other non-knitting news, BOTH my girls are playing hockey and they had their first house league game on Tuesday. My husband is their coach and he decided to put my younger one, Maddie, 6 years old as the goalie. She has never played in a game, either as goalie or a player, so I am so proud of her that she has that much confidence to put on the pads and give it her 110%. I'm not suprised she would do it, but am really surprised how well she did. I just might have a goalie on my hands! She looked awesome in the equipment and it looked like she had been wearing it forever.

During the game, one of the girls from the other team stated to Maddie that she had a really great player on her team. Maddie's response? "I know, she is my sister" with a huge proud grin on her face. AAHH. How great is that? Both my girls are highly competitive with each other (what siblings aren't?), and in all things they do. I am happy to know, they are extremely proud of each other and they share this feeling with others.

2007-10-07T09:02:00.000-04:00

And then there were two:

How cute are these little guys? So cute I must say! If I didn't start this baby log cabin blanket, I might have finished the ninjabun that goes with these carrots.

I am using Cotton Fleece because it is nice and soft and really good for a baby and care of the blanket. However, I do not think this yarn is the best for a log cabin. It is kind of floppy and my stitches are not as even as they could be. I am using 3.5mm needle size to tighten up the stitches from a size 4mm, but still, it doesn't look as good as my first log cabin. I am going to plug along on it and hope a good soak and blocking will do the trick.

I wish my camera would pick up the true colours of the purple and green - but alas it doesn't. I will have to plant a bug in my husband's ear to upgrade the camera to a newer one. Keep you posted on my progress.

I swatched for the Cobblestone sweater using Tahki Donegal Tweed and get 4.5 stitches to the inch on 4mm needles. Man, I was hoping I could get gauge with at least 4.5mm needles to make this sweater a fast knit. But no - on 4.5mm needles I get 4 stitches to the inch. I would adjust the pattern to use the 4.5mm needles, however the stitches look too big and lumpy. So the 4mm needles are the ones I have to use. Sigh.

Have a good one.

2007-10-04T10:19:00.001-04:00

Oh man, look at this little carrot sans eyes:

Cute, non? Didn't take long at all, if I would have blinked, I would have missed the knitting of it.

2007-10-03T09:38:00.001-04:00

Brenda, Brenda, Brenda - why oh why did you have to email me and ask me to go to Romni for lunch yesterday? Why, I ask you! After our wonderful pizza lunch at the best pizza place on the planet - Pizzaiolo, we went to Romni. What did I buy? What didn't I buy should be the question. No, I didn't buy that much, but enough to make Cobblestone for Chris and some Cotton Fleece for another log cabin blanket for my soon to be niece.

Taki Donegal Tweed:

Cotton Fleece - aren't the colours just so freaking great? I LOVE them!

At this point I have quite a few projects started, some I want to start and have no time to knit. What is a girl to do? Any ideas?

Have a good one folks and knit on!

2007-10-02T11:14:00.000-04:00

The Tilted Duster is 50% complete! Three out of the 6 pieces have been knit:

Doesn't look like 50%, but if I go by the number of pieces complete, then 50% sounds good to me.

I must be very weak, because once I saw this, I had to buy it. It is so freaking cute. I MUST make this for my soon to be neice! She is cooking in my SIL's belly and due in December. I am so excited to see her. Well, maybe a bit less than her parents, but excited nevertheless.

Oh yeah I can use stash yarn!

2007-10-01T10:34:00.000-04:00

Another project almost finished, some toe ups for Julianna using Regia sock yarn:

Aren't these the cutest? I wish the stripes were a bit more narrow, but I guess they would be if I was making an adult pair. I am sure I will have enough to make some for Maddie. I am not sure, but I think plain toe up socks use less yarn the plain top downs. Hmmm..I wonder if I am right? Anyone know?

Tilted Duster

2007-09-26T10:37:00.000-04:00

Now that the mammoth log cabin blanket is finished, I can really concentrate on finishing the Tilted Duster sweater. I am now finished the back and starting the fronts of this sweater. I am using Brooks Farm Solana yarn which is so soft and squishy. I really love the varigation of it and quite glad it is not pooling. I wonder how well it holds up to alot of use? Since this is a fairly new yarn from Brooks Farm, I am not sure what others have experienced with it.

I have been playing around in Raverly to update my projects with some pictures. I never knew how easy it was to use Flickr, but man it was a peice of cake. Easy as pie. Now all I need to do is take pics of my stash, and then my account will done.

Log Cabin Blanket - FINITO!

2007-09-25T10:03:00.001-04:00

Well here it is in all her glory, the Finished Log Cabin Blanket:

The blanket is 4'.75" X 5'1". This thing is HUGE.

This sucker was started in March 2006 and I finished the knitting last night. Boy, did it feel good to draw the yarn through the last loop. But that euphoric feeling didn't last very long, when it hit me, I have to darn in all those nasty ends! It is a shame Denny doesn't come to the Beaches SnB anymore - she loves to darn in ends. Probably as much as I love to pick up stitches!

I used 15 balls of Patons Decor - FROM MY STASH! My stash people, how exciting is that? Woo freaking hoo.

2007-09-24T09:52:00.000-04:00

OMG, the knitting of the log cabin blanket is about 5 minutes from being done!

2007-09-19T11:14:00.000-04:00

I signed up for Raverly early in July and NOW I.AM.IN! Find me there under lisafarm. Original, non?

2007-09-06T11:10:00.000-04:00

In hopes of getting my ass moving on the knitting front, I've joined a whole whack load of KALs. They are:

Interweave KAL - for this one I started the Tilted Duster and plan to make the Cobblestone sweater for Chris
Tilted Duster KAL - I think this one pretty much explains itself.
Central Park Hoodie KAL - I planned to use Brooks Farm Solana, but swiftly changed my mind when I saw the Tilted Duster. My particpation in this KAL will be delayed until I buy some yarn for this sweater.
Log Cabin Blanket KAL - I only have 6 more balls to knit up, then the border, weaving in ends and I'll have one big ass blanket to cuddle up under.
Manly Gift KAL - This KAL is doing double duty - I'll be knitting the Cobblestone sweater from the IK Fall 2007 issue for Chris. Well, of course there is yarn to be bought, but that will be easy to do. Romni is only about a 20 minute walk from work.

My life is a bit nutso crazy at home right now because we have a family of four staying with us until about the 3rd week of September. It is a nice nutso crazy, but busy none the less. My friends and their two kids recently moved back to Canada from Australia and are currently waiting for the keys to their house. They feel like nomads and I am glad I have enough room in my house to put them up. Plus, the husband does dishes, unpacks the dishwasher and takes the garbage out - without being asked!

I would love to post pictures of my finished socks, hedgehogs and WIPs, but my husband Chris is in Macedonia until September 19th. Yep, I am pretty much a single mom until then, so my life will be a bit crazy and tiring. Therefore, I might not get the energy to knit at night.

On the bright side of things, hockey season for BOTH my girls will start this weekend, so during practices, I will be able to knit, knit, knit. Normally Maddie is running around the rink while the older one is on the ice, but now both of them will be on the same team, so I will be nice and free! In addition, my older daughter will play on a 2nd team and during those practices, Maddie will get the chance to go on the ice too. Sweet.

Have a good one, and I hope to post more often....

2007-08-29T09:21:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the welcome back folks and one day soon I hope to find the energy to upload photos and try to link words together for proper sentences. But for now, just know, I need a bit of a break. I am extremely tired all the time, and don't have the energy for much. I look forward to getting into a regular routine starting next week and get my knitting back on track!

Knitting rarely occurs and since this is a knitting blog, if there is no knitting, there is no posting.

Even though I write this, I know I've completed a pair of socks for me, the 2nd hedgehog (both now need felting) and I only have 8 more balls to knit to complete the log cabin. Not bad, but still. I can't keep showing the same thing over and over - it would get quite boring, right?

I have a whole bunch of sweaters in the queue, and thankfully I swatched and know which yarn and needles to use once I get the motivation to start.

Anyhoo, I'm off now. Have a good one, and Knit On!

2007-08-20T17:22:00.000-04:00

Hello! I am back from my 16 day camping trip with my family and we had a blast. Way too tired to post anything that makes sense, so in a few days I'll post some pictures and give some knitting updates.

Knit on!

2007-08-01T14:16:00.000-04:00

I am very quiet lately because I don'thave a lot to share on the home or knitting front. I am going camping on August 3rd for two weeks, so I'll catch you then.

Have a great few weeks folks.

Knit on!

2007-07-24T18:00:00.000-04:00

Ever have one of those weekends that are really good and really bad all at the same time? If you have no idea what I am talking about, let me tell you a little story. On Friday, I went to pick up Chris from work to head up to a friend's cottage. While waiting for him, the girls and I went to see my mom (who works down the street from him) to show the kids where Granny works. During my visit, some idiot or idiots broke into my car. Actually they didn't break in, they just opened the door and took what they wanted. I am the idiot - I didn't lock the van. Stupid eh? They took Chris' wallet from the glove compartment (it only had his driver's license, boat license and health card), about $2.00 bucks in dimes and nickels and Julianna's game boy case. Sucks eh? You betcha!

On the brighter side, at least they didn't steal the wakeboard, two kneeboards, two sets of water skiis, a three man tube or the camera. All this stuff was in the back of the van and a bit harder to take quickly, but never the less, they could have taken it.

BTW - the silver game boy case was found, empty of course, but at least we got something back.

The weekend, however did get better once we were over the shock of it all. I have been water skiing, kneeboarding and tubing for over 20 years now and couldn't wait until my kids were old enough to give it a go. We have tried unsuccessfully to get Julianna to try water skiing, until this weekend. J and her friend went to a water skiing lesson on Saturday morning and apparantly she got up quite a few times, but didn't stay up all that long. That is okay, it is a start. It isn't always easy for everyone, believe me, I've taught my fair share of adults and kids.

So on Sunday, she wanted to try and again, and instead of words, I will let these pictures give you the story:

Getting some last minute instructions from Joe:

Getting ready to say 'hit it!"

And we are up:

I thought I took a pretty damn good picture of her once she was fully up, but this is what I took. Nice, eh?

Because this picture is so great, here is the teenage boy that drove the boat at the lesson, Julianna is the one sitting in front:

Knitting? Yep, got that too. Here is my finished Ribby Shell:

I used 3 balls and a bit of Cotton Fleece, size 4mm needles and I made the 40" size. I should have made the 39" size, but it fits and feels good, so I won't complain.

I started Maddie's hedgehog toy and I am about half way done the body. I also finished another ball of yarn for the log cabin blanket. Yeah! Only 8.5 balls left to go.

2007-07-19T09:50:00.000-04:00

I have so many projects on the what to knit next list, that I am finding it hard to decide which one to start. I'm almost finished the ribby shell (I am saving the knitting of the front for the 2 and 1/2 hour drive to a friend's cottage this weekend) but I don't feel the urge to knit anything in particular. I wish I could bring the log cabin blanket, but it is SO freaking huge, that I find it difficult to knit even at home. I have about 9 more balls of that thing to knit, which sounds like a lot, but it isn't. The strips are so long now, that each one takes over a half a ball. So that means that it will not be as big as I wanted it to be. Oh well.

Back to my dilema - even during my blog reading, I can't find anything that screams "knit me next! I don't care if you have to buy more yarn, just knit me!"

If we all had these problems eh? This is my last post until next week, unless of course I have something exciting to share with you, but I won't, so have a good one!

2007-07-17T07:24:00.000-04:00

I was tryting to finish up J's hedgehog last night and ran out of yarn. As I was debating with myself what to use to finish the bottom of the toy, I thought to my self, I think it would fit over my head. So, of course I tested out my theory, and lo and behold, I was right. Chris started to laugh and said, lets take a picture:

Another one:
Makes for a good post, plus you get to see a really good pre-felted shot of the toy!

2007-07-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

Having a bit of trouble understanding the construction of the hedgehog's furry back. When I am doing the short row sections, am I working only one side of the back and then have to seam it together when done? Or is the first section worked on one side, then the 2nd short row section on the other? Then the third short row section decreases.

Am I right?

2007-07-12T09:27:00.000-04:00

Here is the hedgehog from the front - notice anything weird? Looks like my pre-felted animal has boobs! Hee hee...

I would have gotten a huge chunk of the back knit last night, IF I didn't fall asleep at 9:30pm. Man, that is pretty pathetic eh? Yep, I know. I did however knit while the girls were skating and split the front and back of the ribby shell. Looks like someone is on her way to a FO soon. I can say this confidently because J is playing baseball tonight and I have a long drive to Afrian Lion Safari on Saturday, SOOOOOOOOOOOO, lots of knitting time baby.

Here is a picture of my 2 and 1/2 old nephew jumping off my rocks into the pool. What a cutie:

That is my head at the bottom of the picture waiting to catch him in case he was scared. BTW - he must have jumped about 20 times - my nephew isn't scared! Look how happy he looks. I love it.

2007-07-10T09:21:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of a frame my lovely sister in law gave me a few weeks ago:

(BIGGER)

My SIL has a great little canon camera that we borrow every once in awhile to substitute using our larger one. On the way to return it to her, I turned to the kids and asked them to give me a funny face. Then, I took a picture of my funny face. I asked Chris to do it too, but as you can tell by the look on his face we were not amusing him, only ourselves.

I thought it would be funny when she looked at the pictures. Well, to upstage me, she printed them, put them in a photo and added a cute little bubbly stating "And they call me crazy?". This was Chris' father's day gift from his sister.

Classic.

2007-07-09T10:14:00.000-04:00

My weekend was so freaking relaxing and enjoyable I could just stand up and scream woo freaking hoo! Saturday was spent under the gazebo with my husband and friend while the girls and their friends swam all day. I really do mean all day because they started at 9:45am and didn't finish until about 6pm in the evening. My youngest slept for 12 hours - that is how tired she was.

Once everyone was gone, Chris and I went to see Oceans 13 - not bad, but certainly would have enjoyed it at home for about 1/2 the cost. Oh well. I do love Brad Pitt, so it was some what worth it.

Sunday was spent at a local food/music/games/rides festival with Chris and the kids. Some swimming and then I took the kids to Ratatouille in the evening. What a great movie. I truly loved it.

Nice and relaxing weekend eh? I will pay for it today because I have about two weeks of laundry to put away. Most of it is folded, but even so, it is quite a pain in the ass to find stuff to wear. As I was going through my camera's memory card on the weekend to see which pictures I might be able to post, I came across these two:

See - this is what happens when you give two young girls the camera! NICE.

Knitting news - the 2nd ball of cotton fleece has been joined, because during my Saturday afternoon sitting on my ass doing nothing, I knit a lot. I've also picked up the stitches for the hedge hog furry back and knit more on the log cabin blanket. NICE!

Have a good one.

2007-07-06T09:55:00.001-04:00

Yesterday at Romni's I found what I was looking for - yarn for a 2nd hedge hog and fun fur yarn for both toys. All at 20% off, YEAH!

What I found interesting, yet disturbing was how many bins of novelty yarn Romni carries. There must have been over 20 bins of this stuff, at really expensive prices for little yardage per ball. I really, really thought this novelty yarn craze was over, but apprently it isn't. I don't see it being used through blogland so I wonder who is using it and what the hell are they making?

Thankfully I found some in the basement sale room for 5 bucks a ball, and each one has 142 yards - more than I need to complete each toy. I was getting a bit worried I would have to spend 16 bucks or more to complete one toy, but whew - I didn't! Lucky me!

At my daughter's baseball game last night, I cast on for the Ribby Shell in Cotton Fleece, colour black. I have about 6 rounds done so no pictures to show of it - yet! I want to wear this shell with a few summer skirts I have, so I better get knitting.

Have a good weekend everyone.

2007-07-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

Today I am heading off to Romni to take advantage of their 20% of sale with Brenda. I really have no business buying more yarn, but I do need some fun fur to finish J's felted hedgehog. Now that it is 20% off, I feel better about buying this icky stuff. I have knitted the front and paws, and only need to knit the 'fur' of this little toy. I can not believe how cute it is. I can't wait to see the finished product.

At Romni, I hope to find a few Elizabeth Zimmerman's books to add to my collection - The Opinionated Knitter and Knitters Workshop. I recently bought Knitting without Tears and Knitter's Almanac. I've heard so many people praise the words of EZ and wanted to check it out myself. I like what I've read so far, so I would like to have the rest of her books.

During my daily blog reading, I clicked on my of my feeds - mochimochiland and was shocked when I saw a picture of her MIL's stash room. I felt jealous, curious and sick all at the same time. I think if I had that much yarn, I would pass out from the stress of trying to knit it all up. It would be awesome to walk through it but hmmm....I don't know.

In other news, my friend Katherine started a blog - the knitted tool box. Katherine is one of those knitters that knows everything about knitting and is the go to person if you have questions, issues or whatever. Her knitting is amazing. She can do anything. She should post some pics of her FOs, because they are truly spectacular. I think her skill could rival the best that is out there - shame she doesn't write a book on techniques. Hey Katherine - there is an idea for you...Like it?

Anyway, off to spend some dough. Have a good one.

2007-07-03T20:24:00.000-04:00

Finally, after some rough starts, Ariann is done like dinner! Because I was a bit of a donut knitting this . I re-knit from the armholes up three times, and the collar was knit twice. They were all my mistakes, because frankly, Bonne Marie's patterns are so well written, I have only myself to blame.

When the collar was done, I did the happy dance, then I tried it on and noticed the edging of the collar looked really wonky. As I stood there looking at it in the mirror, with a WTF look on my face, the lightbulb went on over my head and I realized I didn't slip the first stitch purlwise. Duh'isa! So, 4" of garter stitch went flying off the needles and I re-knit it, slipping the first stitch. Wow, what a difference it makes when you slip it!

I took pictures of me finishing this lovely sweater. The last end to weave in:

The final cut: Me trying to put my sweater on quickly, as Chris keeps snapping the pictures:

Finally, a decent shot:

Some buttons, a bit of blocking and I will have a nice fitting sweater come winter! yeah Lisa!

Thanks Bonne Marie - you are so fab and creative - keep the excellent patterns coming!

2007-07-03T13:51:00.001-04:00

PSST...Ariann is done, she needs a good blocking and some buttons. I love her.

Pictures soon...I promise.

2007-06-29T07:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Canada Day!

Going Camping!

2007-06-28T13:30:00.000-04:00

I am going to take Click Clack's post and embed here because I think she stated it quite well:

I got an email today bringing my attention to the fact that The Knit Café is serving as a drop-off point for items being collected for Afghans for Afghans. They're looking for garments and blankets, knit or crochet, in natural animal fibres to clothe Afghan people.

No synthetic fibres
No representational imagery (faces or animals), no religious imagery
Avoid white and light colours that are hard to keep clean
No used items or scarves
Please knit items to standard sizes, keeping warmth in mind

More information, guidelines and patterns can be found here. Thanks to Anita for helping to organize this. The Knit Café is located at 1050 Queen Street West. Deadline for items is September 25, 2007.

2007-06-26T10:05:00.000-04:00

Well lookie here my friends, an almost finished Ariann:

I guess 3 times is a charm and I am very relieved that it fits - even in her pre-blocked stage. Only the collar, a few ends to sew in and seam the underarms and I'll have a new sweater to wear when the colder weather arrives. It feels so good to know I've done the main knitting on it and I can now move on to the Ribby Shell!

This sweater was easy to knit and the mistakes I made were very dumb ass, but had I paid a bit more attention, it would have been finished a while ago. Such as life.

I've had a few comments and emails regarding my 7 random things about me, specifically number 4 stating they could do it too. I don't know if I described this well enough, but if not, here is a picture of my tongue folded in half:

BTW - I can hold it like this for quite some time.

Have a good one.

2007-06-21T09:18:00.001-04:00

These are my two animals taking a bath together:

I know after reading that first sentence and seeing them in the bath together you might come to the conclusion that I just might be nuts. I am not, let me reassure you. I have very good reasons why this little situation occurred. Let me start with the cat. Meeko is an over weight kitty that for the last year and few months I have been helping her loose weight. She started out of 25.3 pounds and now is at 19.5. Even though she has lost 6 pounds, she is unable to clean herself well and you guessed it, I get the honours of bathing her. It isn't a problem because she doesn't mind the water and always feels great after.

So, on Monday, it was Meeko's time to bathe and the dog was a bit dirty, and to save time, I threw them in at the same time. Good plan eh? I think so, but of course it does appear I might be losing my mind. I normally don't bathe the dog, that is the groomer's job. But hey, they were both in the bathroom, water was running and with shampoo in hand, the big lightbulb went on over my head and I went to it.

BTW - this is a sneaky ploy to cover up the fact, I don't have any knitting news for you. Have a good one.

2007-06-20T09:38:00.000-04:00

For the last two years we have tried everything to get Maddie to jump off the boat into the lake without much luck. She was three when we first put it in the water and is really scared to jump. Unlike Julianna who immediately jumped in at 5 years of age without even thinking about it.

After quite a bit of encouragement, Maddie jumped in and stayed in long enough to snap this picture:

She also decided to jump one more time, I am so proud of her.

During this camping trip I realized I decreased too many times on Ariann and had to rip back to the arm holes, AGAIN! The first time I didn't decrease enough, the 2nd time, I decreased too much and the 3rd time? Well, I better pay closer attention this time around, or that sweater will be put on a time out.

I've been slowly working on the log cabin blanket, but it is so big that each freaking strip takes so long to complete. I am about to start another strip so, slowly it is coming to an end. Only 9 more balls of yarn to knit. Yeah, who am I kidding, almost coming to an end - I am a comedian today.

Have a good one.

2007-06-19T10:08:00.000-04:00

Finally a picture of Clapotis. I used 2 and 1/2 skeins of Tess Design Ribbon Yarn that I bought at my first MW&SF three years ago:

I wanted a smallish shawl to drape over my shoulders, and this fits the bill perfectly. I love the colour, the texture and fit.

BTW - camping was awesome. We had such a great time that I was very sad to see it end. We have been camping every other weekend from May long weeknd for the last 5 years. I have to say this year has been the best yet because my girls can now go off on their own, find friends and come back when they are either hurt (happens quite a bit) or hungry. We started to camp alot when Maddie was 9 months old and butt crawling in the mud. Plus only one of us could get things done because the other was entertaining the kids.

Not this year baby - we actually got to sit down and enjoy our coffee in the morning sun. Woo hoo. As much as I miss when they were really little, I am really enjoying this new freedom that we both have - the girls and us.

Have a good week.

2007-06-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

Just wondering if anyone has the IK Nightgown pattern they had on their website a few weeks ago? I really like it, but can't find it on their site. Poo!

Ariann is progressing nicely, I think I am in the home stretch of getting this sucker done. I planned on finishing her up at camping this weekend. If I manage to finish, I will have to bring my Ribby Shell with me. It is a really easy pattern and looks great when done, so I am hoping I can bring that instead of Ariann. Knitting with cotton versus wool in hotter temps is much more appealing. Plus I will have a FO!

Funny how my next knit is a Chicknits project? Oh yeah, and the next one after that will be Nicole, another one by Bonne Marie. No worries, I don't think I'm obsessed with Chicknits just yet, do you?

I am not sure if I will be able to post until early next week because I am on a work related course from Wednesday through Friday, then off for camping on the weekend.

Have a great week guys.

2007-06-11T09:44:00.000-04:00

I finished Clapotis, well a while ago and finally went to Fabricland to buy some fray-check for the ends of the Tess Design Ribbon yarn I used. Have I done it yet? Nope! Have to find the time, which is hard to do on the weekend. There really isn't a spare moment to be had, but my family and I had fun nevertheless.

Even though I haven't had a FO posted here for awhile, I have been knitting. I know this because my handy dandy trusty stash spreadsheet told me so. In May and June a total of 7330 yards of yarn was knit! Holy moly, that is quite a lot. The two serious projects on the go are Ariann and Log Cabin Blanket, which has taken up most of the time.

Ariann would have been finished, however I made a really stupid error and only realized my dumb ways at the start at the neck decreases. What was it you ask? When the raglan decreases were done, I kept the lace pattern as is, and didn't stop with the YOs. As row after row came to an end, I was wondering why each row didn't feel like it was getting shorter. Yeah, now I know! Stop with the YOs...

This is what my log cabin blanket looks, a bit bigger than the last time:

Have a good one folks.

2007-06-05T12:51:00.001-04:00

I popped into the local thrift shop yesterday expecting not to find anything good, but lo and behold, lookie what I found. Six balls of Rowan Magpie = 900 yards for 9 buckeroos:

What a lucky girl I am.

See you - I am now off to finish the most boring work related course. Have a good one.

2007-06-01T15:14:00.000-04:00

It took me a while to compile this list, but here are 7 Random Things about me:

1. I've had 4 sets of stitches on my body before the age of 11. Three are on my face, and one on my thumb.

2. As a child I hated/loathed/couldn't stand pizza, but as an adult it is one my favourite foods.

3. I moved every two years from nine years old until grade 13. My dad liked to switch jobs - often. My kids will stay in the same area until they finish high school.

4. I can fold my tongue in half. I've never met anyone else that can do this. Maybe I'll take a picture of it?

5. Although many would describe me as an extravert, I am very shy and find small talk difficult to particpate in. If I must, I will always try to ask questions, versus broach new topics. I try like hell not to answer for my kids as I want them to develop this skill I do not have and think it will be very useful as the get older. Plus, why shouldn't they talk for themselves?

6. I am the biggest scaredy cat in the world. On the rare occasions I muster up the courage to try something new, I always end up embarrassing me and my husband. Ask him, he has many, many stories to share.

7. When I am alone, I find nothing better to do than stare at a white wall. My life is so busy (like everyones) that starting at this wall is way more appealing than doing anything else. Sometimes even more than knitting.

If you feel like doing this, do, if not - enjoy reading others 7 random things. I know I've enjoyed it.

2007-05-31T09:14:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you, but when I read negative or ruder comments I have to stop and wonder - good for you for sharing your opinion. Thanks Jan! I don't know if you come to my blog often, but this is the first comment you have left and frankly you have no right to leave negative comments on my blog when you don't even know me. We haven't even had the chance to get to know one another for you to feel comfortable enough to provide such negativity. If I knew you, then I would accept your opinion in a more rational way. However, this is not the case, so here are a few questions I have for you:

Jan, I am curious if you know anything about hockey and the cost? Do you have any idea that this is how most hockey teams, mostly the younger ones (both boys and girls btw) fund raise to help with the cost of ice time, jerseys, and tournaments? Do you even realize that in Ontario, where I live, Hockey is HUGE? People are more than happy to support the game of hockey, especially where the younger ones are concerned. Why? Because we want them to come back next year, and if the cost is TOO fucking high for parents, they won't, no matter how much the kids love the game. It won't matter how good the kid is, if the parents can't afford to pay for them to be on the ice. Hockey is one of these sports, that to get better you have to be on the ice, and ice time is expensive. How much you ask? If I knew you better I would give you the information you need to make a better argument.

Oh and btw Jan, the reason I dedicate MY opinion to you today is because I want to clarify one thing, my post below was only to show the funnier side of my day on Saturday. It didn't bother me when people didn't support them, but amused me and thought I would share my stories. Oh yeah, they weren't begging - don't put words in my mouth, they were respectful, offered candy to those who did support them and to those who didn't. They looked at each person in the eye with a big smile and thanked those who supported the team sincerely. They didn't goof off and make people feel stupid, they were professional little athletes asking for support so they could play more hockey this season. I couldn't have been prouder of them.

You have no idea what went on Saturday, so only give me your opinion on facts, not fiction lady. And another thing, I am aggressive - I think that is the only thing you got right in your little note.

Interested in Jan's opinion? Here it is:

"Sure, little girls in hockey jerseys are cute, but honestly - why should people have to fund your girls' hockey team? I am a mom too but never in a million years would I have my kids stand in front of a store, begging strangers for money and then as a mom and role model get all aggressive because some folk don't give them any. What makes you think they owe you an explanation for not giving your kids cash??? You should be grateful to those who DID give money, not attack the ones who didn't."

Your comment will be gone once I have a chance to email you to read this post. This is if you left a valid one. Jan, I love having the last word, ask my husband.

Oh yeah, this is a knitting blog, not a bitchy cat fight! I finished Clapotis last night and love, love, love it! I have to weave in the few ends, however the ball band says I need to buy fabric glue, or fabric spray. Anyone know where I can find such a thing?

2007-05-30T10:43:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday my daughters particpated in a fundraiser for their rep hockey team. Their role was to stand in front of the LCBO for 3 hours and ask customers to support their team. Sounds easy right? Well, at first Chris and I were a bit skeptical they would do it, but as soon as we got to the store, they jumped in with both feet and at the end of their shift, raised 503.00 bucks. Wowza. The total for the day from the rest of the girls was 1700 buckaroos, therefore, my girls raised the most!

I am pretty proud of the fact that both my girls are very self confident and very sure of themselves. It will serve them plenty later on in life.

During the course of the 3 hour tour, I would like to share some of the comments people made after they asked for support. Keep in mind, I am not the best story teller in the world, but will do my best to describe the situations.

Girls ask gentlemen for his support, he ignores them and I say nicely"have a good day". I guess he makes his purchases, comes out of the store and says to me: "Dont talk to me lady and embarrass me because I didn't give them money". Crazy man!
Guy pulls up in his car, parks illegally, gets out of the car and says to me "You shouldn't have little girls stand in front of the liquour store you know" with an evil eye directed to me. I say "We are starting them off young". He buys some booze, comes out and continues to give me the evil eye. I salute him because he pissed me off.
A dirty looking man power walks into the store, totally ignored the girls. They look at me, shrug the shoulders and wonder what his problem is. Two minutes later, he shoots out of the store like a bullet. I wonder what was up and another customer tells me "He just stole a bottly of booze". Nice.
Girls ask for support from little old lady and she says "My husband loves hockey, I hate it so I'm not giving you any money" Appears she has a loving thing going on with her husband, eh? Whatever.
They ask this 20 something guy for support and his response "I barely have enough money for booze". At least he was honest.

This is a first for our family to try and raise money for the team, and even though it is pretty shitty, the support the community gave was outstanding. But how can you resist throwing in your loose change to little girls in hockey jerseys? I know I wouldn't/couldn't say no.

Knitting - none here folks. Come back another time and hopefully I'll have a finished Clapotis for you.

Have a good one.

2007-05-28T15:42:00.000-04:00

I have just finished the increase section of my Clapotis and started the neck decreases on Ariann. So soon my friends, soon I just might have two FOs to share. Fingers and toes are crossed to help with the speedy finish of both projects. J's first baseball game is tonight, so I'll bring along the Clap and get a lot done. I hope.

I would love to finish Ariann, but have a mental block as to which decrease to use at each neck edge. The loser in me made me email Bonne Marie to ask.

Then what? I can't really lug the Log Cabin blanket around with me because it is so freaking huge and heavy. I do have the Moose Cardigan started, but I need a bit of concentration for the Intarsia section. Man that word sounds horrible, but I keep in mind the sweater will look ever so cute on my little nephew. Plus he gets bigger by the week, so I better get my ass in gear so that he can wear it at least once before he is gets too big.

I also want to start Nicole and Orangina, but these two projects require more attention then I might be ready to give. Ah, the problems we knitters face, eh? Hmmm.

Anyhoo, I'm off to plant my ass in a chair to watch baseball and hopefully not get hit my one of the balls.

Have a good one.

2007-05-23T09:21:00.000-04:00

Last night Julianna had her first baseball practice, and thankfully loved it. So much so, that she was dreaming about it and calling out in her sleep "I want to go batting". Hee hee! Good to know because I would not want to spend the summer, two hours each night - two times a week hearing complaints.

I am still in a bit of shock that each game (2 of them each week!) is about two hours long. Holy shit. The bad news is kids' baseball is kind of like watching paint dry. Slow and boring. On the brighter side, I have a good chunk of time to knit! Now that is what I am talking about.

My lovely Ariann is killing me - I don't feel like I am getting very far on her, but keep plugging away because I know she must be finished soon? Please, knitting gods, let the torture end.

On Saturday both my girls are fundraising for their hockey team and parents have to be present as they accost folks going into the liquor store to buy booze. All I have to do is sit there and knit. How easy is that? Apparently these are good fundraisers, which I can see, because who wouldn't want to give a dollar or two to little girls who play hockey? I know I would throw in a bunch of change. Would you?

One of these days I will have a FO to show, I hope.

Have a good one.

2007-05-22T13:25:00.000-04:00

Back safe and sound from camping! I do love camping, but the first weekend is quite a bit of work, as we need to lug all the stuff that stays in the trailer all summer up and organize it all. Plus, food shopping, playing and relaxing. Kind of hard to fit it all into one long weekend.

We use a 30+ year old camper that has a fridge, stove and a bathroom, which are all great things, however the beds leave something to be desired. My youngest and husband each have their own bed, but I share a bed with an 8 year old, on a what feels like sleeping on a cardboard box. Yucky. My back is still screaming at me along with my right shoulder. To lleviate this pain next time around, we will need to find one of those memory form mattress toppers, or buy an used trailer with a good bedding solution. Still trying to decide which will be the better option!

I managed to knit a bit on Ariann, but not much. We were pretty busy and I can't knit in front of the fire at night and frankly am too worn out from the day's activities to think about knitting. for the moment I am staying monogamous to this project because I would love to know I have a wool sweater waiting to be worn come winter. Plus if I don't get it done before the really hot weather comes, I might not finish it.

I do stray a bit with the log cabin, but try to stay true to Ariann. I haven't finished one project since April 2, 2007. Yesh, that is bad. I think it is because I pretty much slept the month of April away and was so freaking busy the month of May, that I hope to get back on track with some FOs soon!

Have a good one folks.

2007-05-18T14:37:00.000-04:00

Thanks all for the well wishes on my Weddind Anniversary.

Here is a progress shot from last progress shot on April 9th 2007:

Just started the 15th stripe! It was on hold for awhile until I received my 60" cable needle from knitpicks.com, and now that I have it I've started it again, as you can see! right now it would be the perfect size for a baby blanket, but I don't have any babies to knit for. Boo hoo!

I am also pleased that I've joined the sleeves to the body of Ariann and will start the decreases soon. Yeah.....It is made with 100% wool, so I won't be wearing it for awhile, but it will be nice to know I have a nice new hand knit sweater to wear come the cold weather.

I am going camping now, so have a great long weekend folks.

Knit on!

2007-05-17T09:56:00.000-04:00

I bought this book and received it yesterday. Not bad.