Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Emma's socks


Finally, Emma's socks are done ! They have been hibernating since May ; they were put aside for the baby blankets, which BTW are still no closer to being finished . The deadline for the fluffy red one is this weekend . These are done just in time for the socks a month KAL and could also be counted in the Summer of Socks KAL .
The yarn for these socks is Regia Flusi 4 ply . All the colours in this line of yarn are so bright and cheerful . I ended up using only one of the two balls that I had with only a few yards left . I might try and get another one of the same dye lot to knit a pair of adult socks later on .
The pattern is the waffle rib from Sensational Knitted socks . I really like this pattern for child size socks and striping yarn . It's interesting enough , but not too busy . I've already cast on for the July socks . Off to work on the blanket !

Monday, June 21, 2010

40 inches or so

It's all baby blankets all the time . The two blankets measure up to about 40 inches or so . I say or so because every time I measure the darn things the measurements change . What's with that ? The red one is 21 " long , by my calculations another 9 " and I'm done . A couple of people asked about the yarn that I'm using . It's Bernats' Soft Boucle , beautifully soft , light as a feather , easy care , wears like iron , but a b***h to knit with . . The blanket for Max and Stef's baby is coming along nicely too . With that one there's plenty of time before it's needed so I can take a break with other knitting .


Last week I splurged on some new yarn . Valerie & her mom ( Wandering Cat Yarns ) had been busy dyeing up some new yarn for their etsy store . I had a peek and saw this beauty . It's the prettiest lilac / mauve colour . It was a must have . It arrived today and completely lives up to my expectations . I have 2 shawls in mind for this , it's a toss up depending on yardage . So far the frontrunner is Arabella . I just have to get done with the other WIPs . I MUST NOT cast on for anything else !

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day


.... to all of my boys ! Life wouldn't be the same without you ...
Wishing all the Dads a very happy day !

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Catching up

Last week ended on some high notes after the sad beginning . On Friday evening , Jessey's cousin Liam made his entrance into the world . It was a surprise , he's a month early , but hey when you're ready , you're ready ! All went well for mom and baby . He is on the tiny side, weighing in at 4.7 lbs , but he's healthy and at home with his parents . It'll take a few months till he fits the sweater that I knit for him .




Saturday we attended a wedding of one of Max's friends . It was a beautiful wedding .We had a blast at the reception afterwards ! It's been a long time since I danced so much .



Max and Abe have been buddies since elementary school . They were always hanging around together here and at Abe's moms' place through high school .They always kept in touch later even though their lives diverged . Max had moved to Alberta for a couple of years and they still kept that bond. Max always called him my "other brother " . His bride Annie is a real sweetheart , funny , down to earth , kind and pretty . Can you believe that her grandmother made her wedding dress ? I wish them many years of happiness !



Knitting wise there are now 2 baby blankets in progress . One is for my grand baby -to -be , and this second one is for Shirley's grandson Sidney in Alberta . She'll be heading out west in a couple of weeks to celebrate his first birthday . She'd started this blanket , but is totally overwhelmed with the end of the school year reports , meetings , planning for next year and is running out of time to get it done . I offered to get it done before she leaves . I'm rotating working on them . If you add them together I have about 30 inches of baby blanket knit . That would be almost enough for one complete blanket . I'm anxious to get them done so that I can get back to regularly scheduled shawl and sock knitting . There's also a cute little baby sweater waiting in the wings . Knit , knit , knit .....

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Passing the torch


Yesterday minding my own stitches nominated me for a beautiful blogger award . It was a complete surprise and I must say a very pleasant one . Thank you ! I started reading knitting blogs in 2006/2007 which was probably the heyday of blogging according to some pundits . I read them mainly as a means of inspiration and also improving my knitting skills . I discovered the myriad of yarns , patterns and techniques thanks to other bloggers .
When I was younger I had a romantic notion that pen pals from around the world would be so cool . It would be a way of connecting with other people from faraway places . The Internet has made the world so much smaller and it is so much easier now to find a connection with people /community . Initially , and it probably still is to a large extent , this blog was an experiment and a journal of my knitting . A bit of my life and family crept into it bit by bit . The most wonderful thing though has been the connection with the friends who leave their comments and visit . Because that what it feels like , a virtual visit from a friend , who shares my love of knitting . I love to hear what they do in their lives , their stories , their knitting and how the world is in their corner of it .
Ten things about me you might not know about me ....
I can't swim .
I love the ocean , go figure.
I don't like seafood.

I also don't like salads , have to force myself to eat one .
I' m a current events junkie , who loves to follow politics and could probably qualify as a bleeding heart liberal .
I love movies !
I love flowers in a garden , but can't keep a houseplant alive to save my life . With the exception of the Christmas cactus that my mother gave me almost 30 years ago . I think cactus is the operative word here .
I don't like housework ,but do it because I really don't like the alternative of a dirty house either . I do enough to keep the place decent , but don't look in the closets .
I love to play poker . I play online , but not for real money , too cheap for that . We used to have a weekend game with the kids and their friends , till they had better things to do than play poker with the old folks . I miss it .
I'm a klutz , period , point finale .
Passing the torch to some of my favourite bloggers , in no particular order .
PS , Blogger is being a PIA today and keeps messing up my spacing no matter how I edit this post . Sorry for the run on spacing . Just make me look stupid , it'll work this time or not ....

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Random Wednesday

Whoosh , and it's already Wednesday ! First , thank you all for the congratulations on Max and Stefanie's big news . It's wonderful news to be able to share and it's really nice that you took the time to extend your good wishes .



On Saturday , I couldn't resist a trip to my LYS for some baby yarn . I had an idea of starting a baby blanket , but there was nothing suitable in the stash . The "candy stripes blankie " from this book was my first choice . After a lot of browsing , I ended up buying some Berroco Comfort yarn and two gorgeous Sirdar pattern books , and also enough yarn to make a girly little baby sweater . Yes , I opted for the "girly" as a change of pace . I cast on for the blanket , didn't like it as much as I'd expected and came up with this instead . The inspiration was Lynn's blankets for the Warm Hands Network , which are absolutely gorgeous .




The start of the week has been a little rough as I'd learned of the death of a friend's son . Gwen is the mother of one of my dearest friends who passed away suddenly in 2000 .In 1995 , her youngest daughter died from cancer , in 1998 it was her husband , also from cancer . Then on Monday morning her son and last surviving child also died suddenly , presumably from a heart attack . It doesn't seem fair that one person has to suffer so many loses . She's a strong and capable person with good network of friends ; she'll certainly need them .




On a less sad note , the annual "Relay for Life " for the Canadian Cancer Society , was held last Friday night . Other than raising a little bit of money for the cause , I didn't stay and walk the relay through the night , just a couple of hours. Casey , Chantal and Jessey represented our side of the family . The good news is that our community was able to raise over $230,000 , with our group contributing just over $4000 of that . Not bad at all . Apparently the total was a record for the local event .

Friday, June 4, 2010

Doing the happy dance

I'm going to be an Omi again ! Max and Stef are expecting their first baby . We (the parents) have known about it for a few weeks , but as it was early days , didn't want to announce it to the world . The waiting was so hard , I wanted to shout it from the rooftops . Jessey will have a cousin ! Yesterday Stef had her first appointment with the doctor and he gave her the good news that all is well and she should be okay to tell friends and family . On Stef's side this will be the first grandchild . Her mom phoned me after Max and Stef announced it to them , she is thrilled to pieces ! We were all hoping that 2010 would bring us a new addition . Looks like it will 2011 as her due date is Jan 4 . Could still be this year as babies arrive when they're good and ready .

Off to search ravelry for baby knits . I have some in mind , no not the basic baby v cardigan (again) . Keeping fingers crossed that this will be a girl . I would just love to knit something feminine and sweet for a baby girl ; there are so many cute designs for girls . It really doesn't matter though as long as everything goes well for Stef and this baby is born healthy ....

Have a great weekend !