Tuesday, November 30, 2010

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, November 19, 2010

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 !

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

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 ?!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

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 ....

Thursday, November 4, 2010

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 !

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

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 ...