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 ...

One off , one on

Off the needles with toes grafted , ends sewn in , are Mike's Skyp socks . Finally ! The yarn is Austermann Step , lost the ball band so I couldn't tell you the colourway . Mike is a very happy camper to have another pair of hand knit socks . More coming , just not right away . I need a break from knitting socks for man size feet , albeit they're not overly large feet .

Last week was the week from hell as far as knitting goes . I cast on for these socks by Phyll Lagerman . These are intended to go into the Christmas knitting box . I was looking for a fun and funky sock design and these certainly fit the bill . I even had yarn in the stash . I'd chosen some Marks & Kattens Fame Trend that had been in the stash for at least a couple of years . What a disaster ! This yarn has beautiful colours but the yarn itself is so badly spun with so many thick(almost unspun ) and thin (barely there ) bits . The colour repeats were too long for the pattern . I 'd knit to the heel , hoping that perserverance would somehow win the day . Not to be ! Called it a day and ripped them out . Cast on with another yarn from the stash this was much better BUT got all the way past the gusset decreases on the foot and didn't like the fit . It was too loose , I should have gone down a needle size , so ripped that too . Gave up on that pattern for another day .

This is what I have on the needles now . A simple pattern , a nice yarn and mama's happy !

Snow boarder hat , toddler version

With the cooler and rainy weather last week I decided to cast on an ear flap hat for Jessey . I had enough yarn left from my Maine Blue scarf to knit the hat but not quite enough for a matching scarf . Off to the wool shop I went searching for some more Berroco Vintage . The blue that they had in stock was a different dye lot so I settled on a red , thinking I'd knit a striping scarf , then use the rest of it for another hat and possibly some mittens to match . This is the first half of the plan accomplished .

Here 's the little monkey modelling them for Omi . It actually fits ! This was my first attempt at an ear flap hat and I'm thrilled that it came out so perfectly . Gotta hand it to the crowd at Cabin Fever , their patterns are so well written . The book that I used is this one . Each design has two sets of instructions , one for a specific weight of yarn and another set you can use with the provided gauge and size charts that are adaptable to whatever weight of yarn you have on hand . Plus a chart for how much yarn you'll need . Makes it all easy peasy .

So now it's back to Mike's socks . After all it is Socktober ....

A rainy Friday

Makes a perfect day to hunker down , knit on a WIP and cook up something warm and delicious to eat . We're being deluged with rain today and I mean deluged . Mike had to go out and let some of the water out of the pool because it looked like it might overflow . Not good if it all runs toward the house and the foundation . The sump pumps were working full time overnight at Casey and Max's houses .They were worried that the power might go out so that the pumps wouldn't work . Luckily that didn't happen . We're not that deep so a pump isn't a necessity .

For some reason bad weather always puts me in the mood to cook or bake . I got up this morning , looked outside and decided to try a new recipe for breakfast . This is kind of a cross between a pancake and a souffle . I modified it slightly by adding some vanilla and sliced apples to the bottom of the pan . It was absolutely delicious ! Big hit with Mike and definitely one to make again .

Knitting wise I've been a busy bee . I finished another baby blanket , started an ear flap hat for Jessey and am busy with Mike's socks . Actually the hat is done except for the sewing in of the ends . The pattern is called the 8 Hour Baby Blanket from booklet put out by Plymouth Yarns . I found this booklet on our recent trip to Maine . I was so lucky as this was their last copy and the lady had to look awhile to find it . Guess it was meant to be ! It's a very quick knit , I used 8.00mm circulars . The yarn is Patons Decor which is an acrylic /wool blend , making it easy care . There are a bunch of other really nice blankets in this booklet so I'm set for when I need a quick knit for another baby gift .

That's the wrap up for this week . I'm off to start some soup .....

Have a good weekend !