Random

Gosh , can it be the end of November already and Christmas less than a month away ! I've got nothing new to show knitting wise . I'm still plugging away on the baby knits . There's two blankets in progress. The lilac/purple one from the previous post has progressed and there's another on the needles intended for Jessey . Pictures next time ....

Mike and I went down to Vermont for a few days over the American Thanksgiving weekend . I experienced Black Friday for the first time . All I can say is WOW , not even our Boxing Day craziness can match that . It was fun , we had a nice weekend away and got a lot of our Christmas shopping done . I found a Carter's outlet for children's clothes and bought a whole bunch of baby clothes for the babies on the way .

Speaking of babies on the way , while we were in Vermont Max called to say that Stef was in the hospital experiencing contractions and that there was a possibility that the little guy might make an early appearance . We'd gone down with Stef's mom and step dad . You can imagine the phone calls back and forth , hoping that everything would be alright . It was . They were able to stop the labour with medication . The doctors at the hospital did recommend that she stop working right away and take it easy . She's got a prenatal visit with her doctor on Wednesday . I'm pretty sure that he'll recommend the same thing , especially if she tells him that she drove herself home while experiencing the contractions , got stuck in a traffic jam and that she , the usually unflappable Stef , had a meltdown . Anyway all's well that ends well .


I think one of the reasons I was so worried for Stef was that just few days before the young couple next door lost their baby . The baby died from complications during childbirth , a perfectly healthy , beautiful , at term , baby girl . Needless to say they and all of their family were devastated . Things like that don't happen often , but they do happen . You can't take things for granted even with all the medical means we have at our disposal today .

Well that's all that's new in my world . Must get back to the knitting ....

Friday's FO and a sneak peek

Liam's hat and scarf were finished yesterday . One more gift done ! Keeping fingers crossed that the hat fits . It's smaller than Jessey's but bigger than the ones for Max's baby (newborn ) . Sounds like a page out of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

The yarn for the hat was Sirdar's Country Style DK and the scarf was a mix of that with Berroco Comfort DK . I couldn't get 2 shades of grey in the Sirdar so I compromised with the Berroco. I think it worked out okay . Both the hat and scarf are as soft as can be and should be fine for a baby .

As an aside here, I've had a few people voice an opinion about babies and toddlers wearing scarves with the scarves being a possible choking hazard . That really took me by surprise as both of my boys wore scarves all the time when they were babies , toddlers and older children .They wore them inside their snowsuits or wrapped around their mouths when it was bitterly cold and they were outside for a longer time . I generally don't make them very long for that reason , just long enough to be tucked inside a coat . Chantal mentioned to me that Jessey's daycare no longer allows kid to wear scarves , even tucked inside a snowsuit . I can understand the precautions to a point , but to ban them even inside a coat ! Come on ! They allow neck warmers , so why not a scarf ? What do you think ? Scarves or no scarves .....

Here's a sneak peek at the new project on the needles.....

Have a good weekend !

Baby knits r us

It seems like all baby knits, all the time ,these days . The two blue ones were finished just in time for Stef's baby shower last Saturday . The grey one will be a baptism gift for Jessey's cousin Liam . Chantal's mom was quite taken with the hat and scarf that I'd knit for Jessey and asked if I could knit another for Liam . The scarf is in progress . I had a few requests for hats from some of Stef's friends at the shower . Flattering , but truth be told I'm ready to move on . I have two more in the queue, one for Sydney and another for Jessey and that's it , I'm done . For now anyways .

This is the little cardi that goes with the hat . I'd like to knit some bootees or socks if I get a chance . There's still 2 baby blankets and one other baby sweater , plus one more person to knit a pair of socks for as a Christmas gift . I can do it ....right ?!

Calming the Baby Beast

I dare you not to smile ....

Another Christmas gift done

I'm calling these Denis' Speckled Trout socks because the colourway reminds me of that species of fish . The recipient , our friend Denis is an avid fisherman so it seemed appropriate . I've promised to knit him socks ages ago and till now he's never received any . Better late than never !

The yarn is Regia Mosaik Color 6 ply . The pattern is a very easy one from More Sensational Knitted Socks called "Ridged Squares " . The colourway hides the ridges somewhat , though . I would have finished these much sooner but I got sidetracked by baby knits , not surprisingly .

Mike and I had an unexpected trip to Maine over the weekend . Mike's Uncle Paul passed away last week after a long battle with Alzheimer's . He suffered greatly , these last 2 years especially , so in the end it was a blessing . While this was a sad occasion it was so nice to see all the family . We hadn't seen Mike's cousins children for years . It was wonderful to meet them again and see them all grown up . They are a fantastic bunch and we should make the effort to get together more often .

Thank you all for the congratulations on our expected granddaughter . Casey and Chantal have already picked out a name - Stella . That's a name that's becoming popular again in Quebec these days , or so I'm told . All I could think of when they told me was of that famous scene from the movie ' A Streetcar Named Desire ' , Marlon Brando's ".....STELLAaaaaa.... ". Bad Omi ! I do like it but it's not a choice I would have expected from them .

Anyway back to the baby knits , oh , and maybe get some supper on ....

Thought I'd share

some good news . Yesterday we found out that our third expected grandchild will be a girl . Yippeeeee! I can finally knit some cute girly things in pink !

In the more good news department , I came across this item about a Nova Scotia couple who won 11 million dollars last July and gave it all away except for about 2% of their winnings . That brought tears to my eyes , thinking about how many people they helped with their generosity . Nice to see something like this in these days of bad economic times . Bless their ever lovin' hearts !

Two weeks

Apple picking with the little guy , resulting in an overabundance of apples which needed either eating up or baking . Here's one of the eight apple strudels in progress . Add to that a couple of apple cakes . Guess what , I still have more apples . That's the usual ,' eyes are bigger than the stomach ' thing . What was I thinking? That there would be an apple shortage due to unforeseen circumstances . And lest you think that there are some baked goods still lurking somewhere in this house , forget about it . My boys loaded up while the getting was good . Just as well otherwise I'd eat them ...

Then there was this visit from the Cookie Monster . He was a little disappointed that no one was giving out cookies , but all the chocolate and candy made up for it . I'm not so sure that mom and dad were quite ready to deal with the two year old hyped up on candy . Ah , brings back memories .

Yesterday I accompanied Stef to her appointment at the hospital for an ultrasound . Max couldn't get time off from work so I offered to go if she wanted company . Lucky me , she said yes and I was able to get a glimpse of the expected grandson . All is well and it looks if he'll be a big guy when he decides he's ready for the world .

Last but not least , there is some knitting going on . It was inevitable .... baby v cardi number 8 . I suddenly realized that the baby shower for Stef is only two weeks away . What better to knit than something I've already knit seven times before and that I could probably knit with my eyes closed . So there you go another one on the needles . The socks from the last post are almost done . I'm just getting to the toe decreases on the second sock .

That's it for now . Back to the sweater ...