Friday, November 27, 2009

I'm so excited !

It's been crazy busy since my last post as I've been trying to clear the decks for our vacation . We're flying out tomorrow , very early and we'll be in Miami tomorrow afternoon . We'll be hooking up for dinner with my SIL Saturday evening . Sunday morning we're leaving for a week of sun and sand . I'm over the moon excited , it's been a while since Mike and I had a real vacation together . Everything's packed , including some knitting , and ready to go .

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend , catch you in December ....

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

New socks and a resolution (maybe )


After battling a nasty bug last week , I finished the second of the Christmas knits this week . I was really down for the count , no energy and coughing so much my sides hurt, all attributed to a sinus and, can you believe it , an ear infection . My GP who was on duty at the clinic had a quiet chuckle , saying the insides of my ear resembled that of a child . Apparently it's rare for someone my age to get this, go figure . A round of antibiotics took care of the infection , but the cough still lingers . I can't figure out how I came to get this , but am extremely happy to be feeling much better . I have to be in shape for our trip on the 28 th . I was able to get the flu shot , so that's another good thing .





Back to the socks , these are for Dana , Emma's mom . I seem to have started a tradition of knitting Christmas socks for them . Dana loved last year's funky coloured socks , so I decided that this year I would mix it up and go more conservative . After some stash diving I discovered this yarn which was gifted to me by my father on one of his recent visits here from Austria . Perfect ! As usual the pattern (Waffle Rib ) comes from Sensational Knitted Socks . That pattern is a good match for self-striping sock yarn . I seem to have a lot of that kind yarn in my stash . It would appear that I went on a buying binge in my early my sock knitting days . The Internet has enabled me to expand my horizons and my stash with a greater variety of yarns .


As 2009 draws to a close I've made a resolution to knit up more of the stash before buying more yarn . Just because its been marinating in the closet for awhile and the temptations for newer , fresher yarns being ever present , doesn't make it less deserving of my attention . That being said and after looking on my ravelry projects page , I 'm finding that I have knitted mostly self-striping socks despite having so many other beautiful yarns of the non-striping variety . What gives ? Could it be that I'm in a rut ? Nah, not me ....

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Christmas knitting...


...is underway. Emma's socks are done , so that's one gift done . Do you think that they're bright enough ? The orange is even brighter in real life . I'm sure she won't have any trouble finding them in the morning .
Specs : Regia Crazy Color 6 ply sock yarn Knit on 2.5mm dpns . The pattern is the baby cable rib from my usual source "Sensational knitted Socks" .
We had a bit of a scare with Jessey this week .Casey and Chantal had to go to emergency at the hospital with him with the flu which quickly turned into pneumonia . He was tested for the swine flu and given antibiotics and Tamiflu which is an anti-viral . This came on so quickly it was scary . After lots of rest and fluids and with the help of the meds he's almost back to normal . I took care of him alot this week , so I'm a little worried that I might catch this too . I tend to catch a cold most winters which inevitaby ends up in my chest and a gives me no end of coughing fits . I get the flu shot every year so I haven't had the flu , just colds . I'll be able to get the H1N1 vaccine the week of the 16th of November . I've taken all the suggested precautions and am hoping to escape this nasty virus .
We've got real November type weather here these days , cool , grey and damp . So far no snow , unlike Halifax which got blasted yesterday . Waaaay too early for that ! To escape these miserable dark days Mike and I booked a one week cruise getaway . We're leaving on Nov. 28th and coming back on Dec. 6th . I can't wait to get some sun ! This is an kind of an early 35th wedding anniversary gift to ourselves . We're looking forward to a little alone time , if you catch my drift ;-)) .

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The last of the baby sweaters




At least for now ! I finished the sweater for Tara just in time for the baby shower on Sunday . The photo doesn't capture just how pretty the colour is ; it's a beautiful soft green called "Green Tea ". The yarn is Elann 's Superwash Bamboo , 65 % wool , 35 % bamboo . It was super to knit up and soft, soft , soft , perfect for a baby knit . I found some pretty buttons that remind me of those nougat candies , again you can't really see how pretty they are due to the washed out looking photos .


The Christmas knitting has begun . First up are some socks for Emma . I have lots of knits in mind but am taking it one project at a time . Whatever gets done , great , what doesn't there's always next year and birthdays coming up . I'm aiming for stress free holidays . I can hope can't I ?