A wonderful christmas

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I am sick, have been for a while but I guess it wasn't allowed to catch up w3ith me until boxing day. Now I feel like I have done ten rounds with Tyson.

I started a FLAK for Ron, to be honest I'm not loving it, so thought I would look for a Gansey to knit for him. Now, for quite a while I have been avoiding my yahoo groups, mainly because that is how I get sucked into KAL'S. While bored a few days ago I ventured into the EZasPi group, to discover they are starting a Gansey workshop in January. PERFECTO!!!
















The group is EZasPi

Making a list

Checking it twice.

Get kids to school..... check
Return library books...... check
Go to Gemini fibres...... check
Spend too much money..... check, check
get nails done..... check
Do christmas grocery shopping..... check
sleep.... check
Weave, knit anything to advance the gift lists....... check, check, triple freaking check
Take pain killers
Take pain killers
Take pain killers
Listen to the pain in hand

OY!!!!!!!!!!!
TAKE YOUR FREAKIN PAINKILLERS YOU DUMBASS!!!!!!!!! ....... ok check.

Pain in hands has indeed returned, I now have to accept the fact that I have to take a good long break from the obsessive nature I take on with my hobbies.

Gee I am so glad I didn't spend too much money at Gemini Fibres today!

Urghhhhh......


But seriously who can pass up on fleece artist fibres.

Busy spinning

I have spent the past three days spinning up 8oz of Merino/silk, to about 528 yards of yummy yarn. This yarn is destined to become two scarves, I wanted to make three, so will still have to get more fibre.
Right now I only have this one picture of two bobbins of singles, but rest assured it is all spun and plied now. I am going to the guild hall tonight to make the warp for weaving.
















Here is the socks that I made to send to Britain for my sister and her family.
I admit to cheating and actually buying one pair from the guild shop. My hands just couldn't take knitting another pair of socks.
the blue bag has the purchased socks in it, so therefore are not actually seen here.
From left to right, Fair isle socks for Charlotte, Ribbon bow socks for Molly and golfing socks for Chez! I hope they all fit just fine, I have had enough of knitting socks for a while.


















Since I am back into spinning for now I would love to get spinning some cotton, since I have never spun cotton i don't know where to begin, I have to get checking some books out at the guild while there tonight.
I have a few bags of cotton, one really nice bag, and some little bags of bits and bobs.

Working sucks. My new work never seems to be able to sort out my hours, they are beginning to wear on my nerves.

Where are all the Wii systems!!!!!!!!!

Christmas is beginning to wear on my nerves.

Baby alive, don't even get me started on that! One store wants $100 for one where as everybody else wants $50-$60. Thieving pigs. My nerves are at snapping point.

Katherine is likely to get surgery on her eye in the summer next year, it may well just put a spanner in the works for my holiday to Britain, This wouldn't bother me so much if I hadn't missed out on my vacation this year..... I need to travel.

I discovered a long time ago that I like to travel, I haven't traveled any further than Niagara falls in more than three years, I am going crazy. My nerves are about 1/16th of an inch away from popping and snarling crazily around the entire family, which break for vacation in 4 days. All of them! Every single body around this house for two weeks.



Work may well turn into a blessing during my time of need.

With two weeks to go

I am sadly behind in all the knitting I had planned for gifts.

I have decided to gift myself this year, the gift of taking it easy, my hand now no longer hurts, and it feels good to say that, so instead of rushing right back in and ending right where I was two months ago, I have decided not to worry about gifts, those that need to be posted will just have to be late, those that are for people here will just have to wait. If anyone ever wants handmade crap from me again, they will have to wait.

I don't want surgery!!!!

I am however busy making a pioneer costume for Eliz, she visits a pioneer school on wednesday (is there something wrong with how that is spelled? Spell check is highlighting it) she is really into all this stuff, I think in most part because of my involvement with the Burr House, spinning and weaving and of course the knitting.
They get to eat a proper lunch, mason jars and home made bread, LOL, I am making her some bread in a neat little kit I found at a store.
Photo's will follow, I just don't have any right now.

It has been so long since I have posted pictures that I will have to do a big photo post, I have lots of FO's to show, so soon hopefully.

Passing the torch along

Ok so I apologize to the like, one reader of my blog, that I haven't posted in over a month.
We had internet issues for 2 days, 2DAYS man, I got over it pretty quickly, still seething at bell a bit, but we soon figured out what to do with no computer, problem is I got to into not doing computer, and I am now just getting back to reading blogs, etc, but still not totally into it.

Tomorrow is my tenth wedding anniversary. My gift is a new digital camera, I so loved my old Olympus digital that I went with another, this one is a 6.0 MP, I am stoked, tomorrow the old will pass along it's approval to the new. I am not opening it until then, but hopefully will get piccies up soon after that.

I have of course been busy knitting, what on earth else would I do with no computer. I finished my moms shawl the green moss from HK's simply stunning line.
I have made socks, a shrug is almost finished, I have spun, I have done lots of weaving, I have plans to make a FLAK for Ron, I made a lace baby booty.
I have been busy, but perhaps the biggest thing in my news recently is that I start work again this week. Part time, in a shop, it is exactly what I wanted, Katherine is still only part time school, so I want a care free job until she is in school full time. In those two years I want to finish my architecture diploma and hopefully do a course with Humber college for Building inspection, I really should have a few other ideas if that doesn't work out.
History seems to be my second biggest interest next to knitting, that and architecture go hand in hand so I think I should also look down that avenue.

My hand is still hurting, I finished a month of anti-inflammatories, they helped but not completely, so I have another two month supply, at least the burning sensation has all but stopped.
I am finding it hard to completely stop knitting to let them heal. My other hobbies hurt just as much. The last resort is a major jigsaw puzzle. I don't particularly want to end up having surgery for it, so I should stop knitting, but I have things I need to finish, others can wait, it's these few things I need to finish that are bothering me.

Anyway, more tomorrow hopefully, don't hold me to it though, as I know that I uually don't post for a month when I say something like that.

Weaving, like I needed more things to do.

I have been so busy over the past 5 weeks. I took my very first weaving class, it ended this tuesday, having woven 4 placemats you would think I would have pretty much had my fill of weaving for a while, that is if you know me, that I really didn't have much interest in weaving going into this, it was supposed to just leapfrog me into being able to hold my own at an upcoming linen weaving class at Burr house, date yet to be set.
Well, that plan of not weaving much more completely went to pot, I wove a small stole for Katherine, and have enough warp left to do one for Elizabeth. I am currently warping my loom for some stripe work, I only have a table loom, so can't fit a full size tea towel on it, I figured at 2/3rd size I was also pushing it, so plopped onto the idea of doing little towels for the kitchen, the girls are always driving me crazy looking for towels in the kitchen, so thought 6 little things would be nice, my towel draw is full to bursting, but all it takes is one time for Katherine to get her paws on the drawer to empty it completely. Too many towels is never enough.

This is the stole on the loom.
















This is the placemats.















Since I last posted, I have passed along the baby blanket to the lady that ordered it, she was very pleased with the blanket, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.















In future when I am blocking I shall take a picture, and I shall look at picture to see if the thing looks remotely like the shape it is supposed to be.

A visit, an FO and a pain.

Wannietta came to our spinners guild last week. I t was so great to finally meet her. She is as bubbly as she appears on her blog, she is as into knitting as you would expect, she is also a very nice person, and can knit like a devil........

I felt insanely slow knitting next to her, I can't imagine how one could get any faster than that.

Her talk about the speed competition was great, I would like to go to the Creative Festival now this year just to see the speed knitting.
I may well have to teach a bit of spinning to Wannietta too, this is cool, I love to share spinning with people, while I am no expert (nowhere close) just a spin to knit kinda person actually, I really enjoy the feeling of creating my own yarn. It gives me an opportunity to meet Wannietta again too, which I suspect could be a lot more fun than the meeting at the guild where we didn't get much opportunity to talk.

I did see a bit of a secret project, and what I saw I liked, but it wasn't enough to give away anything, so I too have to wait!


I finally finished my Fair isle cardi, it dressed out nicely, but needs a bit of a firmer dressing in the sleeves, which I suspect I may have to alter before I am totally happy.














I wound some balls of the cobweb silk I have ready to knit the wedding ring shawl from Heirloom knitting, it took almost 45 minutes to wind these two little balls, thats a lot of yarn in those two little bundles. I am busting a gut to start the shawl but desperately want to finish the Princess before I start another huge project, so Princess has been dragged out, kicking and screaming, to the top of the lace basket, which is currently quite full.
I just couldn't let go of wanting to start a new lace project, so I started another simply stunning project, the Jade shawl in yellow, it is looking good so far, so this is project three on the needles of Heirloom knittings. Yet I still kept going back to the wedding ring shawl, wanting to start, I got as far as checking needle sizes, I found my 2.25 mm needles after a bit of hunting, they are in my Unst stole! That's project 4 of HK's designs..... I should finish at least one before I put the big project onto the needles, it will be hard. I have a birthday coming up, and was sure I was going to order the Cora shawl kit as a pressie to myself, but here's the bitch, it's another HK design, and while I obviously adore her designs, I also just as obviously have issues with finishing them. While I have finished lots of them having 4 on the needle right now isn't sitting too well with me.


Here is some Princess progress, and a kind of marker for me to see how much I do in months to come.

Another busy week.

Two weeks ago I got a call asking if I had any baby blankets I could sell, I didn't so so the next question was if I would make one. After heitating for a while I agreed to it.
I couldn't pick a pattern, so decided to make one from my own rather busy little mind.

I finished last night.

I have to block it as it is to go to it's new home tomorrow I hope.














In the time I made the blanket, I also made a number of mindless pieces, scarfs and dishcloths really, I have been eyeing this sari silk stuff for a while and finally caved and bought a skein. I wasn't impressed..... Tree trunk needles equal burning hands for me, as it turns out most things on the needles for me right now are on big needles. Not fun. I need some tiny lace to correct my poor fingies.












I will be starting back on the indigo top this week, also my fairisle cardi that is languishing again. Two or three other lace projects fill in the gaps, and scarfs are the sealers.















Last week Babydoll had a birthday. She was 4! Big girl now, she can beat me on the gamecube, draw really cool pictures, dry dishes, help to cook dinner, she is growing in leaps and bounds.















This week is proving to be busy too. I have weaving again today, lesson 3/5. The weaving bit! Wahooooo.

Tomorrow is guild meeting night, Wannietta is coming to visit with us and talk about her knitting title. This is turning out to be good timing, I had forgotten that the Needlework festival is later this month, this is where Wannietta got her title at.

I hope the title stays just where it is.

I was supposed to go to a yarn sale on saturday, but just couldn't make it, considering the stash busting I am supposed to be doing, it's probably a good thing.

I am back to not having anything on the box to watch, I have a few dvd's I never have watched, Elizabeth, Katherine, and their aunt and Uncle watched one of them on Saturday, they enjoyed it, so I guess I should now too. It was the new Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin. I have held back on watching this as I really love the old movies of the Pink Panther, and nobody but Sellers in my mind could be the Pink Panther. We shall see....
I keep seeing Pink Panther DVD's everywhere, I may well cave and get the box set!


Anyway, back to fibre things, I may well remember to take my camera with me to the lesson today, so will post back with news on how it went tomorrow. Hopefully I remember to take a picture of the baby blanket after blocking.

Something more

Than my usual rambling, today we have pictures! woohoo!!!!

I will get to more photo's again later, but for now there are my Babydoll's first day at school pictures. I was so proud of her.

Here she is just about to go into class, still looking rather worried. Note the purple buttons on the blue cardigan, yes the birthday cardi turned into the first day of school cardi, the button band needs to be recast off, it's a bit snug. Katherine was given final decision on pattern, yarn and buttons, I tried hard to convince her, but she was adamant that the purple were the buttons she needed. They aren't too bad.


















Here she is at the end of the day with her new friend, a girl we didn't even know that lives about 3 houses away from us, and is even in Katherine's class. Behind the two new buds is Elizabeth, the bus buddy!!! How grown up she is now. Somewhere behind her is her friend Andrew, I think he is cute on her.





















I was so confused yesterday morning, it was the first time in more than 8 years I haven't had a child running around during the day time, sure there has been occasional days when Ron has had the two out for the day, but yesterday was different. the first few hours of the morning I was sneaking around trying not to disturb Katherine sleeping, only to remember she wasn't in bed. My Babydoll can sleep, I was concerned about her staying awake at school. Sleep is a bad thing to her, she doesn't like to go to bed, but once she is asleep she can go down for a very long time. If she doesn't get enough sleep at night she is sleepy and drowsy in the morning if woken up, but if she is left to sleep it out then she is fine.

Eventually I got used to the idea of having no child to hold me back, and went to the guild to card some wool (yeah, exciting) only to discover that the drum carder was broken, so I took it home for Ron to fix, which he did, then I spent a few hours carding last night, and finally did a bit of spinning.

So who is gonna win Rockstar??????????????

I have been following supernova since week 3, and said Magni straight off the bat, but after the rather uninspiring performance last night I have to think the fans may go off a bit, the other choice for me is Toby, Ron doesn't like him though, we both love Lukas though, he is brilliant, and as a performer I would love to see more of him, just not with Supernova I don't think, he is the local boy and I should show support for him I guess, but I just think Magni has got it. Ron who hasn't watched much of the show agree's with me. He seems to suit the band to a tee!
I don't usually watch reality shows, but I started watching this when Cheryl my sis was here from the UK, her fave was Lukas.
Unfortunately for me it is guild night tonight, and I am meeting a woman there that I know from a knitting list I am on. I will miss the show~~~~~
Thank goodness for Rogers digital terminals, I get the show in different time zones, yeah, so I think I will get to see it at west coast time.


Katherine has been growing tomato's, we have had no rain all summer, the tomato's really suffered for it, but on Sunday Katherine finally got here tomato! This has been tomato watch 2006, it seemed like forever, and poor Babe was losing interest until they finally changed colour.


















Finally on a little knitting news, I caved, big time, and started another knit your own mystery Pi shawl. I am almost done clue two, 3 will be out on friday, the first few clue's get knit up quickly, the start of a Pi shawl is always pretty fast, here is clue one, looks like nothing right now, but it is already on a circular, when clue 2 is done I will post another piccie.



















I have so many things I have on needles, or expectantly waiting to be started that I think I am suffering for it, I can't make my mind up what I will work on. I have done little quick things for the past few days, then a bt here, a bit there on lot's of different things, to then turn to start another thing only to stop myself again.
I did take to heart something that another blogger had said.
Wannietta, it's all your fault, LOL, you have to love an enabler, and that is indeed what the wicked woman has done to me.
I loved her post about indigo yarn, so much that when I fell across a pattern in a box at the guild, for a indigo yarn item, it felt pre determined that I would make this. So off I went and got yarn enough for the item, turns out the LYS was having a yarn sale that week ( I had no idea) I got the yarn half off, returned home to start the item, it was a vest, I don't wear vests, don't even ask why I wanted to make it. I couldn't find the pattern, and I knew I didn't have enough yarn for a sweater, so I started one, LOL!
It's gorgeous, but on return to the store to get more yarn I found that it had all gone. order, wait, no phone call, worry, finally I got fed up and called them. It will be in later this week with a bit of luck, crisis averted.

The sweater is gorgeous, it isn't the same Rowan denim that Wannietta used, but it is still gorgeous, and certainly leaves a lot of blue on the old mitts. I can't wait to finish and wash it for the first time. I haven't been so excited about a knitting item since, well, the last one I cast on.


Finally, I just had to post this link, I left it to Wannietta in the comments, but I don't think it was possible to get the whole link from there.

F1 article

Nuff said!

Urmmm....Update!

Well, I am a week past all my company leaving, and as great as it was to have them all here, they left my all tuckered out, which is why I am only just getting around to the blog now. Last week was a blur, bank holiday monday, followed by back to school on tuesday for Elizabeth, and an orientation session for Babydoll, who starts Junior Kinder this coming tuesday, wednesday was the start of the guild year, and since I am now on the executive committee I figured I should be there. That meeting added a whole slew of new activities for the upcoming months, including meeting with Wannietta at the October meeting, the OHS seminar, the sheep to shawl, a Try something new event in town and so many other things that my mind is a blank.
Today I found out that one of the women on the knitting in canada group I am on (where I first met Wannietta) is in the same town as me, so now I think a meeting is inevitable here. AWESOME!! Finally a network of knitters may emerge in this ever expanding town just north of the big T.O!

Photo's? I have lots, but not of enough things, and to be honest I couldn't care less about posting them right now, they are in a mess, just as my mind feels it too is a mess. I didn't take some piccies of the few FO's that went back to Britain, including one of those lovely Heirloom knitting SImply stunning shawls! I can get pictures later though, no worries. I will do a post on photo's maybe tueday, I have a whole day to myself!!!!!!!!! (yippee)

Thought of the day, (other than shabby mind!) Utter glee, Michael Schumacher retiring not only from Ferrari, but also from the F1 circuit.
I was never a fan, a fan can't get me to say he wasn't a damn good driver, as he obviously was, but I never liked him. He's had his day, move over and let the young ones gain some glory.

Busy times

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time, my sister and family are visiting from Britain, we did all the typical tourist trap stuff last week, and are taking it easy this week.
I have been busy knitting, until they got here, and have barely lifted the needles since. I am working on the green moss shawl from simply stunning line of Heirloom knitting, in the rowan colour heavenly. My sister brought the wool over for me. It cost me 38 GBP's for 4 balls of Rowan KSH and 2 balls of heirloom knittings merino. Quite the deal. I did get a bit of Princess done before the masses arrived, but haven't touched it since. I have two green moss shawls to make first, then will gt back to that and the million other things lying on the top of my knitting basket.

Gotta go, I'm missing out on all the fun.

My life

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales(I was actually so close to doing this, was supposed to be there right now, so this is on my list for next year.
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life



This is pretty cool, I was amazed at how many I had done. I go this from momcast

There are so many things on the list I would love to do, I hope at some later date in my life I can check off more than I did this time.

In a very bored state.

Just got news that I can't go to my usual club tonight, we were on our way out the door as we got the call.
This has left me in a very bored state! I don't want to work on any of my knitting for some reason, usually this is a chance to get ahead. I have on lily of the valley repeat to do on the wrap, then the edging, I could have that done real quick, if only I could be bothered.
I have done quite a lot on my fair isle cardi the past few days, but can't be bothered working on that right now either, maybe this is sock time.

Just the blah's, that will soon pass I guess.

My mind has been reeling with the thought of being free from all KAL's and the FIFA world cup finishing tomorrow.

What will I do? what to do, what to do, I have a list as long as my arm, starting on a mohair shawl I think is the first thing, some spinning, lots of new things, I mean LOTS!

I have yarn to start the wedding ring shawl, but would rather finish Princess first before I start that, I also have Unst's edging to finish. Most of the items I will be making in the next few months are Heirloom knitting pieces. All that mohair in the height of summer, wonderful. I swore last year I wouldn't attempt it again.

I have some beautiful pink hand dyed tencel that I would love to work with, but don't know what to make with it. It was from Ann's sale, she handdyed it, so I really want to make something great from it, special you know.

Hmm, like I said, my mind is reeling.

Kodak moments

Ok, so I have finished the peacock, some photo's to follow, the wrap is almost done, I started the second border last night, it won't take long to do. I have made a top, part of a crocheted blanket, part of a sock, and knitted about a sleeve on a fair isle cardi, some of the shrug and some of the Pi shawl, all in a month. It's hard to believe that month ends on Sunday, Englands out, France and Italy in the final, I hope France wins, but I think that Italy might actually pull it off.
Oh well, that's my football interests for 4 years over with, maybe Scotland will qualify for 2010.


To the peacock anyway.













Look at that lovely green water, it got a lot darker, and just went from bad to worse.



This is the result of that washing, note the lack of any green hue on the shawl.














Add more blue....















To get this.



















Not quite dark enough, but getting there. I will dye it a deeper blue, and hopefully that will be it, of course my biggest problem is remembering to buy dye.



The Estonian wrap is just gorgeous, what a pleasure that has been to make.
I have pictures of this too, this is it off the needle, before I started the second border.































You just can't leave knitted items lying around in this house, not even to grab the camera from the desk.














Knitting in public. Note the Timmies














Spinning in public.




















I took the girls to the park yesterday, what a lovely day, we popped into the guild first to card a bag of guild fleece that a lady had passed onto me. Lovely wool, so I though spinning would be nice, had to pop home to get a drop spindle, but had fun doing it. I forgot how nice it was to use a drop spindle. I haven't used one in a long time. I also haven't done any spinning in months, so got the wheel out last night and spun a bobbin, then navajo plied it. It turned out really nice.

Anyway, week one of the school hols hasn't been to bad as of yet, we had a kodak moment last night, if the moment could even have been captured, I think the photo would have been the look of shock on my face when the girls BOTH asked for seconds with dinner! It's usually a fight just to keep them at the table.

Peacock done.

Off the needles, washed, dye running, pale blue/purple/dark blue. *SOB*

Drying, preparing to re-dye....

Did I say *SOB*

In the last week

Of the football, with England in their 1/4 game going on right now, not winning, but not losing either, I am nearing the end of peacock. I have 23 rows to go, about 17%. I will be done soon. Then I can continue on the Estonian stole. I ordered more yarn to finish my Kyoapi knit-your-own-adventure-pi, after the stole is finished I have two other things to finish, then I will let myself cast on something new. Maybe some socks, probably another lace piece, and will get back to working on Unst and Princess, for a few weeks at least.

Piccies later.

I'm 10% redneck, strawberry ice cream

Your Summer Ride is a Mini Cooper

You are all about unique, one of a kind adventures. The only thing predictable about your summer is that it's unpredictable!

What's Your Summer Ride?

I also have a choleric temperament, just like Wannietta

Everytime she posts one of these quizzes I end up spending an hour over there playing the silly quizzes.

Was impressed with the Mini result though, I am a huge fan of mini's, I had a '74 Mini when I lived in England, my cat is called Mini, and I have promised myself that any future animals will be Austin, Rover or Cooper.

Progress

Well over due for a photographic update. So here it is.

First up is the tee I made for Baby doll.













I have had lots of trouble with the neck, I just can't seem to get the front neck nice, it puckered on my first attempt at crocheting, the neck was way too loose so needed some adjusting. I undid the first attempt and tried again, it looked much better, but was still too loose, so I have added another two rows of single crochet around it with some decreasing. Baby doll has yet to try on this attempt. More on this later....


Next, the estonian garden stole, what a beautiful stole this is going to be. this photo is of the centre completed, which was about 65% done, I am now at 75% done, which means I have finally worked some nupps! Oh what fun! NOT! Urghh, they may as well be freakin bobbles. I hate bobbles, and despite my better judgement I decided to try the nupps, knowing full well I would hate making them as much as bobbles. Ok, so the result is a lot nicer than a bobble, and I can see the appeal in them, and I am so glad I chose this instead of this as my first attempt at nupps.
One thing, if you ever decide to make anything with nupps on it, a) make the nupp loose, and 2) make sure them needles are pointy.















OK, just going to get a photo of the nupps.......

















Ok, finally, the peacock. Here is a picture from the early days, just in the very early stages still, back when it was easy to work a row, when there was just a few stitches per row.














That all seems so long ago.














Peacock is now at about 62% done, I know I fell behind a little with it, but will soon catch up. I was worrying about the colour, but the picture looks pretty good so far, it's hard to tell exactly how it will turn out, blocking may take away the look, or it could make it look even nicer, hard to say, either way I still love it, and if the colour is horrid, then I can just over dye it.


Ron and the girls spent a day out at our property in Mosport on Sunday which left me with a lot of time to watch football and F1, England of course won, yay England. Another few days to there next match, can't wait. The F1 was in Montreal last weekend, Jacques Villeneuve as usual didn't do very well, going out in the final few laps. Oh well, DC didn't do well either. Alonso won though, and that's really what matters as I want him to win again this year.

Ron bought an old truck for bombing around the property, he loved being able to get around in there, it's 5 parcels of 10 acres, 2 of the lots are ours, the other three are his brothers and sisters.

My mom and sister are going to be blessing me with their company this year, so I will be ordering some yarn from the UK for them to bring over to me. First on my list is rowan kildsilk haze, one of the night shades, Medici, I will be making the green moss shawl from Simply stunning for my sister, my mom, given free choice on the heirloom knitting site, picked the same thing as my sister, so I have two green moss shawls to make. The only time I have made the same thing twice was the Creatures of the reef shawl from fiddlesticks, I made one for myself, and my mom loved it so much she wanted one too, same colour. This time however she doesn't want the same colour, thank god. In fact she doesn't even want it in mohair, she would like a silvery grey, anything but fluffy shawl, so now the hunt begins for the perfect yarn for this. Any ideas anyone???
I had thought maybe if Misti Alpaca has a silvery grey colour that would be ok, but that is slightly fluffy too. Maybe I need a trip out to a yarn store.... Mary's in unionville, I love that store. Mary is so nice and friendly, I have only been there once, but Mary seemed like an old friend. Must go there more often.

I could spin something for the shawl, but again, a matter of finding the right fleece.

One more thing for now anyway, this is turning into a marathon post.

Our resident fat cat sleeps in the oddest positions,

















In this piccie she is doubled over, legs akimbo, what a strange cat, she regularly sleeps in the same postition. This one from last night had me running for the camera, which is now going to be perched on the table to get the latest wacky way to sleep courtesy of Maggie Moo.

















Mini, my first baby kitty has never been featured here , so I thought I should get a shot of her up, well getting a shot of her to begin with is nigh on impossible, she is one of the aloof kitties, you know the type, real regal snootiness, until she spots a paper ball, then it's baby kitty time.















She did add a helping hand on the first peacock photo though, very kind of her to hold down the paper, think she thought it was going to roll up and be thrown across the room for her.

Where I'm at.

Okay so almost two weeks have gone by on the FIFA knitting, no photo's today, but I will try for my next post, the Peacock shawl is difficult to photo, working on straights on a triangular shawl, it is difficult to get an anywhere near decent photo.
I am almost 50% on that now, about two rows shy of the half way mark. I am at about the same place with the wrap, but I did get distracted earlier in the week and finally made Baby doll's top, she loves it, it is finished, bar a few ends needing tied in. I also got back to working on my fair isle top, the Pi shawl for Eliz and the shrug for her too.

I went to the sale of Ann's yarn, fleece and equipment last week, I spent a lot, and got tons of stuff. I got a table loom and a really great score of six balls of filatura kid mohair in the most divine yellow colour. That has simply stunning written all over it. I have already made blue diamonds, pink puzzle and the dove shawl from this collection, 6 balls is enough for two of the smaller shawls, so I think Jade and lavender as I want to make the edwardian in the same colour as it is shown, and my sis wants the Green moss shawl made in blue for her. I may have to hold of on my decision as my mom might also want one, she is yet to decide.

I also got the Elsebath Lavold bookViking patterns for knitting I am going to be busy this fall making a number of the sweaters in that book.

I am going to buckle down in the two shawls, try to finish the Estonian one this week, I need to get back to more spinning, I acquired a lot of fleece recently and none of it is getting worked, my storage space shrinks quickly with the addition of fleece. I did try more natural dying this week and was succesful in getting something other than a variant of tan, I got a green!!! Woohoo, quite a nice colour too, a nice olive colour. That was with rhubarb and iron, I want to try rhubarb by itself as it contains oxalic acid which is a mordant, if that comes out like the olive green then no loss, and I haven't been spinning up the fleece for the dying now so even less time into it if I am not satisfied with the colour. It's getting to the point that I should be out in the garden harvesting the plants for dying, but got so carried away with my knitting I totally forgot, plus I haven't got any more mordants yet, I may well just cave and order online.

England has advanced, I am happy, even happier they won't meet Germany in the next round!

GO ENGLAND!~~

Dear Kenny.

Where have you been hiding yourself?

This is pomatomus

This is the yarn I used,












Lovely socks by Cookie A. She also has a pair in the new issue of knitty. Really cute too.

Just to let you know Kenny, I had to go digging around wool shops looking for the vogue issue with the twisted float shrug in it. I got totally absorbed in your talk of the shrug, and now just simply have to make one.

On knitting news, I felt the need for instant gratification~~~~~

I was so fed up with things not going my way, taking too long, whatever, it was time for something to work up quickly, so I made a pair of socks, for DD#2 Katherine. She has little size ten feet, so they work up very quickly, I started first one last night, and this is where I am with them now.













I haven't started on my world cup knitting yet, I want to actually finish the socks first. But this is what I am doing,



















The estonian garden wrap.


And the peacock shawl from Fiddlesticks, my adventure in dying took a very weird turn, I have no idea if this yarn will look nice or not, but I thought it was worth trying.

I started with this












And ended with this.













Here is the pattern, for those not familiar with it.











Of course once I had finished dying it I found another ball of the skacel merino that I should have dyed, so hopefully I have enough in what is there otherwise I will be trying to dye a single ball the same as the skein!!!!

Anyway, in the time it took me to write this I could have been finished the flippin sock.

Can't wait to see the footie tomorrow, England's first match, and then the following day the British Formula one from Silverstone England. A good weekend. Hopefully I will get to go shooting too, haven't been in a few weeks, got itchy fingers to blow away a target, my Ruger 10/22 is good for that as it is a semi automatic with a scope. I have a magazine that holds 25 though so I can blow away the target.
I usually use the Bruno though for target shooting, I feel much better with that gun for accuracy. Ronnie loves the Ruger for accuracy. I haven't fired a gun in three weeks, and was told I could use the club directors hand guns if I was there the next week, last time I was there, so I hope he brings them tomorrow. I really loved his 22 revolver, but he sold that. I am very tempted to get my restricted license just so that I can get a 22 revolver, it was a very clean smooth gun, have to find out what it is for when I get one. Knowing the director it is a colt.

Hmm, I am also going to be participating in a small way in the executive committee for my spinning guild, the Burr house spinners and weavers. I think I am like first or second assistant to the VP. Nothing terribly exciting, which is exactly what I wanted. I am looking forward to a very exciting year with the guild, we hope to turn things around this year, and make things work better again. It was a rough year last year. We will be getting a website soon, a member is setting it up for us, and we should be online in a few months.

Karen, a relatively new member ( 2years,I have been there 3 years) of the guild is going to be the president, thankfully lots of members have stepped forward to offer assistance in many varying forms. All the executive positions are filled now, and some have assistants. We really need this level of help to get things moving again I think. Our President this year had two other members helping out, a shame really, I don't know why others wouldn't take the postitions a help out a little.

Anyway, happy weekend everybody.

Rip....

Pomatomus is off the needles:(
Too small, mistake after mistake.

This was not the way I intended to get a project off the needles by friday.
Things aren't going my way, one other project close to completetion that I ran out of wool, now this, I seem to be going backwards.

FIFA

Well, the world cup is coming up rapidly, this week see's the beginning of the show. I am not a huge football fan, but always watch the FIFA world cup.
I have no intentions of joining any knit along for it, I just plain and simple don't want to this time. A month is a long time, I may have many changes of minds in that time, a bit like wurzel gummidge changes his head.

Given my British heritage, the fact that I was born in Britain and lived there for 21 years, football is pretty much in my blood, as is cheering for England if Scotland doesn't qualify, or as usual doesn't get very far.

So instead of joining a KAL I will just decide on two shawls to knit, already decided actually. The peacock shawl and a fibre trends shawl, I think it is garden of eden, have to check though. I have dyed some skacel merino peacock feather colours, and have some Misti alpaca for the fibre trends.

I decided I will bust a gut trying to finish up some things leading up to this, I want to cast off two before I cast on these two. I thought the mystery Pi would be one, but I ran out of yarn close to finishing, I am currently negotiating getting more of the knitpicks merino needed.
The fair isle cardigan could be cast off if I get back to working on that today, I also started a pair of pomatomus on friday, about half way through one already. They stand a chance of being finished. I will get around to posting piccies later, haven't got time right now, so will be back soon, or later at least anyway.

Yarn store review too!!!!!

Ann

A good friend died on Wednesday.
Ann had courageously fought ovarian cancer for a long time.

Ann was the kind of woman you wanted on your side, she may have seemed harsh sometimes, but she was a no nonsense woman that told you like it was.
Ann was a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, knitter, weaver, spinner, great cook. With her passing I am learning more about her.

I last saw Ann in January at a guild work night, busy knitting away, having a laugh with everyone.

As a guild member she was an inspiration to everyone, as a person she was also inspirational. Her zest for life, the encouragement she offered everyone, her Rowan jelly..... Yummmmmm

Her Son kept a carepage for Ann while she was in hospital, it was a way for everyone to get updates and to send well wishes to her without having to inundate the family with visitors and phonecalls. I truely appreciate the effort that he made doing this, as I never felt that I was one of the immediate friends that should be visiting her.
I would have loved to, but she had so many other people that were closer.

I met Ann less than three years ago, when I joined Burr house spinners and weavers.
As part of the guild membership, we work a few shifts in the store that is run by the guilds, Ann's work was always the stuff I picked up at the store, her work was simply amazing.

I will miss her very much.

Long time... Again!!

I may well have been busy, but does that really mean I couldn't have blogged quickly in a month, shame on me.

I have been busy though, and I don't have many pictures to prove it.

DH has been getting allergies up the wazoo, one of his reactions we were very concerned about and he ended up at the hospital, got prednizone, and epipens amongst other things. The search for the culprit continues, although he does think it might be the Kevlar gloves he wears at work.

I have of course been busy knitting. I finished Daffodil a long time ago, but here, finally is a piccie of it blocked!!!!
















I have been plugging away furiously on both of my Pi shawls, which are notoriously bad for photographing in the state they are at right now, which is exactly when I would want to photograph them. So here is one attempt.













I haven't actually worked much on the Pi's since the 14th, that is when all my wool arrived from knitpicks. The wool is for this

I also found a nice little basket in Loblaws the other day, I had actually seen them before, and quite liked the look of them, all the time thinking what a nice knitting basket.
I had decided to get one on saturday only to discover that they were all gone. Bummer. So off I went on my merry way, randomly filling up my shopping cart, when what do I see in the clearance bins, my basket!!! Sure, it's got a handle missing, I was planning on cutting the handles off anyway, but it was reduced, which was a big bonus, it was $3.99 from $6.99 only I am sure it was actually $14.99 last week.

Anyway, it fits all the pallette yarn colours in quite nicely.













Here is where I got to with the cardi anyway.

It is sewn up ready to be cut at both sleeves and the front. Don't ask about the photo, for some reason photobucket is playing silly buggers.












One sleeve is now cut and the sleeve is in progress.














I also had a craving to make some little socks the other day, so I went yarn shopping and came back with this.












Some yarn to make a top and some socks for the wee one! Of course the moment passed once the yarn was home, I am sure it will appear again soon.


I forgot one more picture. This is from the fireworks that we had last night on may 2-4. Victoria day for those unaware of the significance of the holiday here in Canada.

We had visitors up from the US. Frank and Jeff are visiting canada every few weeks for work related training, they are in Milton, so not far from us, DH met both in Maryland when we lived there, they worked for the same company, He has maintained a friendship with Frank ever since, and they go to the Mopar Nats yearly together. We don't get many visitors, so the kids get all wound up when we do, they were just here for the night, having to return to Milton for schooling!
They went and bought a box of fireworks as we had missed the big fireworks display the day before.
The box of about 15 fireworks of course cost a small fortune, but was worth it. Katherine got scared so we got earmuffs for her, actually it was my range ear protectors. I carried her down the stairs of the deck, missed the last step, and of course in the nature of trying to protect my young, fell, onto my knees, and the little one got away scratch free. My knees are sore. Skin is completely off one of them. I swear men don't take these kinds of bumps for their kids.

Anyway, the photo, I tried but the delay on the digital is way too slow, so I missed most of them, got a few trails of one, and this one, I think it looks like a light bulb exploding.

I was amazed to read this story, The dying sea it disturbs me, I am not a religious person, but for some reason recently I have been drawn to books about the early years of Jesus, and first century AD Israel. I don't think I am getting all religious or anything, I went through an Egyptian phase prior to that, and a Japanese phase before that. I love historical fiction. One book I just finished was Kathy Reichs cross bones, awesome book, I really want to read more of hers now. I am currently reading Lamb

Don't ask me why I ended up here, it seems strange, not really in my line of reading, but I love Christopher Moore books. I have read Fluke, The island of the Squined love Nun and The lust lizard of Melancholy cove. I didn't totally love the love nun, but the lust lizard was hilarious, fluke took me a while to get into purely I think because it was the first time I had read a Moore book. Lamb, well, it's simply brilliant. I have laughed so hard through a lot of it, and I am not yet half way through.

I also ended up reading the Jesus Christ book by Anne Rice. I am a huge fan of Rice, I have read all of the Vampire/witches books. I didn't see how Rice could go from the ghoulish to the religious without losing her charm, but she did, I loved the Christ the Lord I simply wanted more, I would love for there to be another part, her style of writing in the book is beautiful, actually it always is, I still can't quite grasp how I fell for the charms of Lestat in the Vampire books, but I did, and I think the less said about that the better!

I have become good friends with a Lady in my local bookstore, we did a book trade recently, she read all my Sano Ichiro books by Laura Joh Rowland She also got a few other books and read them. I think it's funny how we both like the same kind of books. Our friendship started out when I just couldn't decide what to buy at the store, I was sick of the completely mainstream stuff I had been reading, I wanted something different. Rebecca found lots of books for me to read, I loved all of them.


Anyway, enough about books for now.

The new mystery clues are up, and I can't decide what to use for the green shawl. I might use a pattern from one or two, because nothing pops out at me from the new clues, but I have decided what to use for my purple shawl, so I should go and do some, it won't knit itself!!!

More blabbering

Not really anything exciting to post again, I just feel like blabbering some, had an odd week, not much of anything though, so whatever...

First I wanted to show the pretty yarns I got a few weeks ago.


Knitpicks merino sweetpeas, paint your own, three yellows from the pallette line and a box of DMC #80 cotton for Princess.














I started two Pi shawls in the mystery Pi KAL, one is using the sweetpeas yarn the other I dyed the paint your own.

This is the sweet peas at clue two.














This is the paint your own at clue two.















The green is being knit on 3mm needles, the purple on 3.75. Here is a comparison piccie of the two together, there is going to be a good difference in size when finished.













Finally a picture of the Princess shawl, here is a close up of a pattern repeat, there is eleven repeats, it's going to be big!











I still haven't got around to blocking Daffodil, but it has to get done by next wednesday.

Pictures coming soon.

I am almost, like 15 rows, done my socks, I can't wait to finish them.


Last week I popped up to gemini fibres in Mount Albert Ontario. What a lovely shop, I so enjoyed my trip up there. Bought some bits and pieces, but most importantly I got The opinionated knitter by EZ.

I finally got around to sitting down and looking through the book yesterday. I started my first surprise baby jacket yesterday, and today it will be finished. I have no doubt I will start another one very soon. I love so much in the book, I am sure I will make many things over and over again from the book. Well worth the money.


Well, it's getting close to dinner time, so I guess I should make some.
More later, the next clue on the mystery KAL is out late tonight/early tomorrow, so I will be busy knitting for the next few days, don't expect to hear anything from me!