SNOW DAY!!!

I fully intended to go to work today - got up, made breakfast for Peter and me, got dressed, cleaned off the car, got in the car, drove to the corner, realized I'd forgotten my: a) Blackberry, b) security pass, c) parking pass. Went back to house, got a.b.c., drove back to the corner and headed down Bank Street. Tiny white powdery snow + high winds = very poor visibility. I did, however, see the DUMP TRUCK slide through the intersection right in front of me, about 10 minutes away from the house. Turned in at the nearest safe place, called home, told Peter to stay put, and crept carefully back home again. Snow day!

This morning, Hilarious House of Frightenstein and knitting on the baby blanket. Then we took down the tree (finally, but I still have to take down the village), and caught three back-to-back sequential CSI: Miami episodes (apparently, there's a fourth 'to be continued', dammit). Exciting stuff, finished another ball of yellow on the baby blanket and turned to Peter's sweater, got a dozen more rows done on the back. Phone call. S&D - "let's go for a walk in the woods in the snow!". Peter says "SURE!" Note to self: answer the phone to NOT get dragged out in the snow. We went. We walked. About a foot and a half of snow on the trails (thank heavens at least there ARE trails!), and we were out for an hour or more. Came home to slow-cooker chicken stew and bread machine bread. MMMMM! (though I have to say I prefer my handmade Amish bread to the machine-made French bread. This is quicker though!).

Then, out again, to be a good girl and go to class. Slight miscommunication from the Prof last week - we had to read 4 Greek tragedies to cover the next 4 weeks of class, not just for this week. So I'm WAY ahead on readings, which is good, because I'm behind on housework. :) Next week we get our term paper topics so I'm planning to get a headstart on that also. Got a few rows on my sock done during the break at class - I'm at the heel flap now and the colours are SO cheerful - however, the horizontal stripes make my 'cankles' look very ... cankle-y. A cankle, in case you don't know the term, is where your calf muscle and ankle pretty much make a straight line without any nice tapering. You know, like a cylinder. This is what I have, and the socks will, sadly, emphasize that. However, I love the colours so phooey on the cankles. :)

And now, after a nice hot bath and a browse through the Vesey's Seed catalogue, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is supposed to be BLOODY cold, and I've got a day's worth of autoCAD to catch up on. But it was totally worth it. Snow day!

Monday monday

Na na, na na na na...

Sorry, had a Mamas & Papas moment there. After a busy weekend it was a busy Monday, but I did get some knitting done on the weekend and even a little bit today. Update:

1) the baby blanket. This is growing steadily, about 1 1/2 balls of the main colour done now with four more to go... yikes. This thing is going to be long and narrow, I think! We'll have to see how it goes. That's TV knitting now, so will be working on it this week a couple hours, at least.

2) Yumi's "fire" shawl. At that middle stage where each row gets longer and longer but the shawl doesn't actually seem to grow. However, the ball of yarn is shrinking bit by bit so I expect to have a "ta-da" moment sometime in the next couple of weeks. Computer knitting, a couple of rows a night (more on weekend!)

3) Peter's sweater. Well, the back came back from the New Year's party - yesterday. Will have to put it in rotation with the baby blanket, I think. I'd like to finish it for his birthday in March.

4) Socks for me! Yes, I realized I had nothing on the go for me, so cast on Saturday night for some funky socks. The colourway is "Tequila Sunrise" (dang, can't remember the dye-er right now - I'll post it later). Bright yellow, purple, pink. Perfect antidote for this grey blah weather. About 1 1/2" past the ribbing, going on 2 circs for portability and (minor) increase in speed. This is "waiting around" knitting, in my tote bag for before class, doctor's appointments, etc.

I think four WIPS is enough for the moment, I don't want to get overwhelmed again. Started back to class tonight and we have to read four Greek tragedies for next week. Guess I'll be using the recumbent bike at the gym this week! Had a great workout today, mixed it up with the rowing machine and some of the leg machines, and a good stretch session. Every little bit helps!

Sleep and soup and knitting

Except, I don't have any soup. I do have a variant of that flu that's been kicking everyone's butt over the holidays and into the new year - felt cough-y and achy and blargh yesterday, this morning it hurt to get out of the bed to call in sick. Spent ALL DAY in bed with daytime TV, an audiobook of my course text, and my knitting. Knit while watching TV and then when I couldn't move my arms anymore (no, really), I popped on the iPod and listened to the british guy read the "Metamorphoses" at me while I napped. I hope sleep learning works!

A bit more progress on the fire shawl for Yumi, and knitted up almost a whole ball of yellow Patons "Be Mine" in the body of this baby blanket.(scroll down the link - it's the gingham border blankie). It's soft and fuzzy and gosh-darn cute. BUT - the three-colour checkerboard border just about made me mental, and I have to do it on three more sides. Louise says I need to learn to knit continental so I can do two-colour knitting more easily (read: less tangling up). Ziploc bags are a big help though.

No more progress on Peter's sweater as it's been staying at Sandy & Dan's since New Year's Eve party. Gotta go retrieve it on the weekend, but I'm about 1/3 of the way up the back now.

And now, dinnertime. No chicken soup in the house so I'm going to do Shake'n'Bake chicken with rice and wash it down with about a gallon of water - my lemon tea and honey has worn off and my throat feels awful - again. I hope this is only a 24 hour bug because I have to work at the office and the store tomorrow. I think if I'm back in bed by about 8:00 tonight I should be okay. Wish me luck!

On the verge of another year...

Well, 2006 was a year of many changes - what's that saying, "May you live in interesting times?" That was this year. Next year will bring more changes but hopefully they will be mostly of the happy kind (for instance, our wedding in May!). At any rate, it's time to count my blessings:

1. Peter. My fiance, my love, my rock. Every day is better for having him in it.
2. My friends. Old friends (B&K, N&D), new friends (S&D, L&A, S&L). All good and loving people who have helped get us through rough times and celebrate good times. Worth their weight in diamonds.
   
3. A nice house with room for all our combined stuff, comfy furniture, lots of food, and two cats.
4. Two good jobs - one full-time which is always evolving and improving, one part-time which is a great way to blow off stress and make a few extra dollars while (really) having fun. I mean, they let me play with yarn a lot of the time! :)
5. A working body and brain. This can't be underestimated - I am at a good weight, in reasonable shape, get (almost) enough sleep, and have time to read, write, think, knit, etc. Yes, I get ill at times, but I can deal with it. 99 days out of 100, though, I'm pretty good.
6. The Internet. This is a blessing! Look at all my net-friends, free knitting patterns (woot!), and other resources at my fingertips. And high-speed, no less. (see #4 - being able to afford high-speed Internet is also a blessing!)
7. Life. Maybe this should be #1, but just the joy of being alive, in my life, as it is, is a very great blessing indeed.

Ok, enough weepy stuff. :) Today we're packing out the rest of the stuff from the other house into this house (which means tomorrow, finding room for things and unpacking it). I also work from 2-6:30 and then it's fondue party time at S&D's place. I don't know if I'll make it to midnight but I'll try. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy Boxing Day!

So we survived Christmas - huzzah! Got up (reasonably) early, lazed around a bit, went to the folks' place for about 11:00, did presents, watched Da Vinci Code, had dinner, got ill, came home. Yeah, got ill. Too many sweets before dinner and my IBS kicked up - oops! So a quiet night at home last night and taking it easy today, although we are expected back at Mom & Dad's for the traditional Boxing Day club sandwiches at lunchtime.

It snowed overnight! Everything is white and pretty, I just hope the main roads have been cleared. Oh - almost forgot - presents! (Yeah, the mind is on vacation - 2 consecutive days off from working, oh my!). I received from my Mom & Dad 12 balls of Patons Rumor in Hibiscus Heather, which will become a Wednesday's Cardigan for me to wear at the office this summer (too much A/C). From my sister and her family, the new Trivial Pursuit 80's Canadian Edition. From my other sister, a very cool rechargeable floodlight-style flashlight. From my grandparents, money (woohoo!) - Peter and I are going to treat ourselves to a couple of nice dinners out. A few other gifts too, but those are the "big" ones. Peter and I agreed to not exchange gifts this year, what with money and time both being a little tight. I did "Alvin" myself though (an Alvin being a present "from me to me!"), with a set of 10 largish glass jars that have locking lids, so I can start organizing my spice cabinet.

Got in a bit of knitting on a new Fleece Artist shawl for Yumi - gorgeous fire colours, I hope to finish it quickly because it's the perfect thing for the 'bleak midwinter' that will soon be upon us. That's travel/visiting knitting. And I'm getting back at Peter's sweater today also - it's been neglected too long now. I want to finish the front so I can get started on the back and do another of those fun bands of cabling!

But first, breakfast and clothes and back in the car to Kanata again. You know, for New Year's I'm not going ANYWHERE that involves getting in the car. I love my car but I swear I spend half my life driving places. It's good to have a break occasionally! Have a great Boxing Day all!

FO - socks (just in time)

This afternoon, before running off to an 8-hour shift at the store, I finished up my second pink/grey Shetland Chunky sock. Tonight, after the 8-hour shift, I came out of the store to find my car encased in a good (well, bad actually) 1/2" of ice from the freezing rain that had started about 2 minutes after I got to work. Chiseling it out was a big bag of no fun, but when I got home, skated/slid into the house, and changed from my cold wet sneakers/thin socks into these toasty thick puppies, it was so nice!

Those are my nice dry warm feet. The socks are from Patons' book "Cool Weather Accessories", modified a teeny bit. Their sock calls for a 1x1 rib at the top in a contrast colour then 2x2 rib down the leg, contrast heel and toe. For these I just started the 2x2 at the top and carried all the way down, since it was a marl yarn anyway. They fit a little more snugly at the top this way than the first pair I made with the 1x1 rib at the top. I also made the foot length just enough and fiddled the toe decrease a bit so the toes are snug also. The leg length, in case you're wondering, is 9 1/2". These cover that part of the calf/ankle where you get a gap between your PJ's and your slippers. :)

These are fun to knit once you get the first pair out of the way (my first pair of socks EVER was this pattern, knit up for Peter early this year). I have a few small oddballs of Shetland Chunky floating around in stash, so I may make a couple pair with solid leg/foot and variegated heel/toe/cuff, just for kicks (so to speak).

Tomorrow is Christmas-Eve-Eve, and I have to do baking and then work. Which means probably not working on another WIP until Christmas Day, because Christmas Eve I have to do baking and then work. But I might grab something small just for breaktime at the store. I needs my knittin'!

Christmas countdown: T-5

Five golden Toques!

Sorry, a Bob & Doug moment there. It's all good. Today I'm not working at the store (thank heavens, these closing shifts are hell on wheels), so it's housework, groceries, cooking, etc. First on the chore list is laundry, which precludes dish-doing (or showering), so while the laundry launders, I'm surfing and knitting.

After I finished the striped scarf, I dug these socks out of the WIP pile - the first one only needed six rows to finish the toe off, and I cast on the second right away, but it's only a couple inches in. These are in Patons Shetland Chunky, a discontinued dark pink/charcoal marl, using their Happy Hands 'n' Feet pattern. The first pair of socks I ever made (for Peter) was using this pattern and these are warm socks - great for inside big rubber boots, or just for wearing around the house. Sadly they need hand-laundering, but so be it.

Once this pair is done (hopefully this week), I'm getting back to work on Peter's sweater - he's been making noises about it. And I have a request from a guy at work to knit him a sweater: "a big chunky shawl-collar type." Egad. So I have to research patterns for that over the holidays; I told him that I'd do it for double the cost of the yarn, whatever that is. I could make $100 or more on this, if I'm lucky (I know, don't do the hourly wage calculation, but money is money). But for today, socks and housework. You know, I'm going to have a heck of a time getting back to my fulltime job next week!

Christmas time is here...

At last. This evening we had the Yogi Bear Christmas, Rudolph, Charlie Brown Christmas, Garfield Christmas, and now Flintstones Christmas. And we set up our village:
Complete with Paul Bunyan Santa and a very large guardian angel. Behind it (sorry about the flash glare) is a picture that Peter's brother Gary painted of a train at the station - that will hang on our dining room wall, as soon as we get the picture wire attached to the frame. Figure by Spring. :)



And then we set up our tree, and Sandy & Dan came over to help decorate it. Isn't it pretty?
We were able to use all the "special" ornaments from Peter's mom and my collection, and filled in with some plain coloured glass balls and a whack of glittery icicles from my mom. It looks great, I think, and really made a special evening. I feel Christmassy now. Which is good, because tomorrow I have to inventory the pantry and make up my grocery list for baking. Here's the list of "to-bake":

1. Gingersnaps
2. Egg Tarts
3. Butter Tarts
4. Mincemeat Tarts
5. Suet pudding

The only really time-consuming ones are the gingersnaps and the suet pudding - tarts are easy. But I don't know what I need, so tomorrow I'm making my list and checking it twice. And then doing at least another 2 inches on my scarf. It's still mild but supposed to slip to minus two by Christmas Eve!

Two FO's today

This morning I was sick, sick, sick. All the everything finally caught up to me, I guess, and I just took the day to sit quietly, catch up on computer stuff, watch a movie, do some knitting. Finished off my re-knit Tosca Toque - 64 stitches on 6mm needles, k2p2 rib. The original one was about double the diameter (I had BIG hair last winter), and there was a green stripe at the top - this one didn't get that far. It fits very snugly over my ears and is (I think) going to be windproof - not a lot of stretch to it, so not a lot of places for the cold to get in! Here it is, oddly lit (my camera flash makes everything wash out, so I have to improvise with lamps and things. sometimes good, sometimes not so much).

I also finished the Christmas dishcloth that Peter's mom had started. Look, you really can't tell where she left off and I started. This was in your standard Bernat Handicrafter cotton, no idea how many stitches, but it's got a six-row garter stitch top and bottom and a three-stitch garter stitch border around the stockinette middle. Pretty. I like how it has kind of a semi-plaid/argyle look to it. I'll be using it to display some of the Christmas knickknacks, once we find them - probably next weekend we'll set up for Christmas. Two weeks from today!

And tonight, there's a CSI: Miami marathon on A&E. I have a pile of WIPs in the living room (I shoved them all in a box to move and of course my notions bag was at the BOTTOM of the box, so everything had to come out so I could sew in ends. D'oh!), so I think I'll assess them in order of "how long will it take to finish this?" and start working through them. I'd like to finish all the small stuff so I can get back at Peter's sweater (no progress since the last picture), but maybe I should keep a couple of them for "travel knitting" when I get back to work. I don't know. I DO know that I found a lovely lace scarf pattern online today that might just work up nicely in the Great Big Sea Silk. But it has a chart, and I've never worked a knitting chart before. Certainly will need more brainpower than I have tonight. Right now I need to find something 'safe' (IBS sucks, have I mentioned that?) for dinner. BRAT - bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. I hate BRAT. But I love having FO's. So I guess today's coming out even?

Moving (more) day and my? cats

So it's Saturday, and in a little less than an hour (thank you, Inigo Montoya) we will have several strong backs and pairs of willing hands to help move the rest of our big stuff (and whatever little stuff we can) from house a (old house) to house b (Peter's old-moving-back-in and my new, house). I really detest moving, having done way too much of it in the past. And with everything that's been happening lately, this morning I just want to hang out in my penguin pajamas (yay for Mark's Work Wearhouse!) and vegitate. Not an option. But before we pitch into moving (more) stuff, I want to tell you about my cats.

Actually, "the girls" were Peter's mom's cats; Mush (pronounced 'moosh'), who is older than god but still kicking strong, and Squeeky, who was a rescued kitten about three years ago, if I remember right. But now, well, they kind of come with the house. Now I am not a cat person, never really. Love kittens but when they get big they get that "cattitude" that annoys me. Plus, as a knitter, I worry about what they might do to my yarn. Reasonable, yes?

Well, since we've moved in (a few days, feels like a year, gods I'm tired), Squeeky has decided that I need to rest more. Whenever I sit down, she's on my lap, and insisting on being petted for at least 10 minutes. So I have to take a break, because it would be mean to displace kitty, yes? Yes. And yesterday when I started trying to pick out my carefully sewn-up crown of my Tosca hat (which needs to be frogged and reknit - I have smaller hair than I did last winter), she nuzzled up to me and put a paw on my wrist. NOT THE YARN! She is a good kitty. Mush just shows up for food and then hides out in the bathroom vanity cabinet (she likes the heat from the hot-water supply line, I guess). But Squeeky is making me feel a whole lot more "at home". And it means a lot. So now I am a knitter with cats. But Peter's still responsible for the litter box!

Current OTN: started a Feather & Fan scarf with the Great Big Sea silk, but the colours that looked like autumn leaves in the skein look more like sourball candy in the ball and when knit up. Not sure about that, it may need to go in the bins to 'season' awhile. So the christmas dishcloth, and the to-be-frogged-and-reknit Tosca hat. Peter's sweater is waiting in the wings for some semblance of order to be restored (no way am I screwing that up in this chaos!).

But now, time to put on pants and get on with the day.

Memory knitting, and a special surprise

So, we've been packing and unpacking and moving and re-moving things to try and consolidate two houses into one, and of course "for now" my yarn bins are in a closet and my needles are in the other house and my current scarf is not giving me any joy. Total knit aggravation. Tried to take the edge off by playing computer games instead as we got the computer room somewhat functional, but not working. Damn.

Then Peter says, "There's a set of double-points in the living room". And I think, and before saying something snarky about how that does me nae good without yarn (DUH!), I remember there's also a half-knit Christmas dishcloth on the needles in the living room. Peter's mom had started and restarted it a number of times before she settled on a pattern she liked (stockinette with a garter stitch border), and it's a little less than half done. So I grabbed it, and started knitting. And I felt really connected with her, and the crazy thing is, our gauge is almost identical - you can't really tell where she left off and I began.

So I'm going to finish it, a couple of rows here and there between moving stuff, and that's going to be one unbreakable connection to her. I won't wash any dishes with it, but it might go under one of her Christmas knickknacks on a table. It's certainly pretty enough.

Now, before this happened, yesterday we went to the funeral home to make arrangements for Peter's mom. And I was pretty upset afterwards, and we came home and I said, we should pick up the mail. And there was my gift-swap gift, an utterly stunning shawl from Alison Hyde! I was, as the ladies say, "gobsmacked." My thanks to her, and her further stunning story of how I came to receive that shawl, are all in a post in KnitTalk, which you can find here.

Quite a day. And now, unfortunately, break time is over and I have to go move more stuff. But Peter's on his way home with a Starbucks mocha for me (Double-tall hazelnut soy no whip mocha - I had to write him a note!), and then we'll have some lunch before moving on to the next thing. We're getting there. Tonight we have good friends coming over (and bringing our favourite pizza, god bless them!), for a quiet relaxed evening before the big move tomorrow - and thanks again, we have a number of willing strong bodies to help us with that, so it should go pretty smoothly.

Oh, one more thing - thanks to everyone who's sent supportive emails and "comment hugs" - they really do mean the world to me and Peter. This whole experience has been so overwhelming, but equally overwhelming is the love that's come out of it. We are blessed.

The Energizer bunny comes through - pictures!

Ok, I finally bought batteries for the camera - in fact, a 24-pack, so I should be good for the next year. :)

And look - it's a sweater! Well, it's most of the front of a sweater; I still need to do the left-front bit for the zipper area. The pattern is from Patons "Weekend Retreat" book, the sweater called (oh-so-imaginatively) "Zip-neck Pullover". Here's their picture of what it should look like:











I think I'm doing pretty well, don't you? The pattern calls for Patons Rustic Wool (which I'm pretty sure no longer exists), but I swapped it out for Patons Decor, and I'm really liking how it's working up. But you know what the really cool bit is? It has cables! A whole band of cables, all across his big manly chest (and around the back too). NOTE: Peter's chest is WAY more manly than the model's. He's going to look GORGEOUS in this sweater! But yes, zoom in my friends, here are my first-ever cables!













Now, the really REALLY cool bit - I did the entire band of cabling whilst sitting in the walk-in clinic, waiting to be seen by a doctor. THREE HOURS waiting to be seen by a doctor. Thank heavens I brought my knitting! And you know, people don't even sit close to you when you're whipping a fishhook-shaped cable needle in and out of your mouth every couple of stitches, muttering and counting. :) Cables in public are FUN. You know, I just noticed that the blue looks very royal in this picture - it's actually navy. And the stripe is burgundy, not that weird fuschia-red that it looks like. The first picture has truer colours.

Let's see, what else? Oh, I finished Alison's Moda Dea Aerie scarf, the ginormous pink and orange fuzzy thing. I'll try to snap a picture of her in it next time we work together. She loved it - happy day! And I have a plan for a pair of slippers for Mary, but other than that, no gift-knitting this year. Instead I'm going to try and finish up all the WIPs lying around. I've got the Harlot One-Row scarf in Kool-Aid pink hand-dyed almost half done, my striped scarf almost half done, and various other bits and pieces (ok, they're socks, I admit it) that need reviving. With all that's been going on lately, I need to get things finished, know what I mean?