Catching up yet again !

I swear I don't know where the time goes ! There's always something going on that makes the weeks just fly by . The last few years we've been doing quite a bit of renovating inside the house . This year the plan had been to replace the fence surrounding the property . It's old and really just painting and replacing posts and boards just isn't cutting it anymore. Well , Mike decided that a new garden shed/storage area should come first . So the last couple of weeks have been occupied with demolishing the old one and building the new one . I have to say that it's really handy to have a carpenter in the family . Max has been the driving force behind the construction with Mike and Casey being the extra muscle . Well , it's almost done , just the siding and roof shingles left to install . We just need the weather to cooperate . Max has another job over the next 2 weekends , so his time will be limited to a couple of hours after work . My part in all this has been to provide the meals , so the family have been here for dinners more often than usual lately . So it's back to me being mom's restaurant for the time being ! As for the fence, well the budget has been blown , so it's back to fixing it up to last just one more year ....

Wednesday I had an appointment with my family doctor . He's seeing me at 3 month intervals for this year to keep track of my progress with the weight loss and my goal of getting off the medications for diabetes and high blood pressure . He'd received all the results of the latest blood work and I'm happy to say that at least the of the pills for high blood pressure has been reduced with the probability that I'll be able to gradually stop taking it altogether. I'm down 10 pounds , but I need to lose at least 10 to 15 more pounds in order to stop taking all the rest . I'm exercising by walking at a good clip for about 2 to 3 miles every day or every other day . I usually average about 8 miles a week . I'm feeling a lot better and am more hopeful than I've ever been about losing weight and keeping it off . It's slow progress but it IS progress .

I have done some knitting during the hockey playoffs . Too bad that Habs didn't advance to the next round , but there's always next year . Now we can cheer on Vancouver ! Anyway I did finish these socks for the Warm Hands Network and one more pair is almost completed .I'm halfway to the toe decreases . I need to get them finished by tomorrow so that I can post them to the sock KAL for April .

Have a good weekend !

Random Tuesday

I've been away from the blog for so long that it's hard to get back into the groove . I'm still in kind of a funk , probably due more to our crappy weather than anything else . I'm waiting for Spring , not so patiently . Don't know how many more grey , rainy , cold days I can handle . Tomorrows forecast , snow , freezing rain and very windy. Calgon take me away !











Just a small rant about the price of gas . I went out earlier to buy some Easter goodies for the grand kids and couldn't believe today's price at the pump , a whopping $1.43 per litre which translates to roughly $5.74 per gallon for those not on the metric system. Yesterday afternoon it was $1.28/litre . A 15 cent per litre increase for no discernible reason . What's up with that ! Just plain greed if you ask me . Here in Quebec we've seen about a 15 to 20 % increase in price since last year . That's mostly thanks to our lovely provincial government who applies a pretty hefty gas tax . Don't get me started on those bleepity bleep idiots . If I could vote them out I certainly would . The only problem here is that the alternative (sovereignists/separatists ) might actually be worse . Okay , rant over ...

















One sign of Spring is the hockey playoffs . Our Canadiens have made it into the first round of post season play again . Keeping fingers crossed that they survive the series against Boston . If not I'll cheer for whoever is left standing . I would love to see the Stanley Cup come back home to Canada though ! If not the Habs , maybe Vancouver !?

















I couple of weeks ago I played tourist in my town . I went to visit the Montreal Bio dome with Casey , Chantal and the kids . Yep even 10 day old Stella had a field trip . That's the kind of thing you absolutely have to do with an impressionable 2 1/2 year old . He just couldn't get enough of the animals ! I think he would have done the tour a dozen times if we'd let him . Stella slept through the whole thing .





As for the knitting , there's some finished knits , some almost done and not unexpectedly something new on the needles . I've been spending more time reading these days than knitting . I guess I'm an all or nothing kind of gal . The hockey playoff should up my knitting productivity . Yet another reason for wanting the Habs to do well ;-)) !



So that's it for today . I'll try and get my mojo to stick around for a bit . I'll have some knitting to show next time ....

A granddaughter !

Stella Mackenzie Grace finally arrived last Wednesday afternoon March 30 , 2011 at 1:44 pm . She kept us waiting for a couple of extra days but we're so happy that she's here and healthy . The delivery went well and she weighed in at 9 pounds even . Mom , Dad and big brother Jessey are really happy to have this sweet little addition to complete their family . You can bet that her grandparents are also tickled pink to have a little granddaughter to spoil !

All of the knits that I had on the needles for her were finished in time for her arrival . I finished the hat at about 2:00 am the day she was born . Talk about cutting it close !

March ...

...the month I lost my get up and go . Don't know where it went , but I want it back ! The month started out very promising with a girls escape to Vermont for a couple of days with BF Shirley . I have a soft spot for Vermont as that was our honeymoon destination almost 36 years ago . We had a really nice time , did a little shopping , enjoyed some excellent meals and just relaxed .

From there on in it was kind of downhill . Between all the everyday must do , should dos , don't want to do , but did it anyway , grey snowy winter skies , taxes , bad news everywhere you look , I got into a real funk . Not even expected babies , babies already here and a cute 2 year old could lift the fog . Not knitting , not reading blogs , not commenting , nothing . Then about 10 days ago I developed a severe allergic reaction to god only knows what on my hands , in particular my left hand . I mean severe . Blisters on my palms , fingers so swollen and blistered that I couldn't even close them . Burning and itching so much that I could have pulled off my skin . After 3 visits to the ER , a few sleepless nights , the final diagnosis was a severe allergic reaction . Meds were prescribed , creams applied , antihistamines taken and finally the swelling is down , but my hands are super sensitive to the slightest touch . It's painful , but getting better . I'm wearing cotton gloves to keep from doing more damage . I don't know what caused it all , but bets are on a new leather sofa that was delivered just before this all started . That was the only new thing in the house . It was suggested that I do a little test on another area of my skin , but I don't think so ....

Knitting wise , before the wheels fell off , I did finish the baby blanket and mittens from my last post . The sweater is still waiting to be seamed , but I did start another blanket for Stella . She's due any day now , but I'm hoping that she holds on just a tiny bit longer . This blanket is knit on 7mm needles with the softest yarn . I'm about 3/4 done . Slowly the fog is lifting ....

Works in slow progress

After January's really good knitting output , February has brought a decidedly lacklustre showing . Lots of things started , nothing finished .There were only 2 small projects completed , those little brown mittens and a pair of socks for the WHN from a previous post .

The blanket needs tinking back about 6 rows to correct a mistake that I just didn't see until it was 6 rows behind me . Probably no one else would notice the error , But I see it , so tink it is .

The red mittens are a thumb and the top of the hand away from completion . These are made from a skein of my Briggs & Little stash . I'm not loving it , it's rough and feels horrible when I knit with it . I bought a bunch of this stuff on a trip to New Brunswick a couple of years ago . A lot of people swear by it for mittens, hats and socks , but I hold off judgement till the mittens have had a wash .

The baby sweater needs the second sleeve set in , the side seams , snaps for the closures and a button sewn on . I just don't enjoy seaming and am my own worst critic . To seam that one little sleeve probably took me the better part of two hours .

With all these works in progress , what did I do last night while watching the Oscars !? Yup , that 's right , I cast on another pair of socks . I really like knitting socks and the best part , no seaming . Maybe knitting these will bring back the motivation to get the other WIPs done , or not ....

Some assembly required

I got sidetracked again ! After a look at the calendar last week it dawned on me that our expected granddaughter is due to arrive in a little over 4 weeks . It also occurred to me that she doesn't have a hand knit sweater yet . Never mind that a blanket for her crib is almost done and that I shouldn't really start another project till that's done , I could only focus on her lack of a sweater . What's an Omi to do except head out to her local yarn shop , pick out some really cute yarn and cast on . The knitting was a piece of cake , it is a small sweater after all , but the seaming and finishing was kicking my butt . After some refresher courses via you tube , the finishing is getting there . The shoulders are seamed , the borders are knitted on and the pieces are blocking for the final assembly . I won't have time to do it tomorrow , but maybe Thursday will see a completed sweater . Then the blanket will get back to the front of the line ...

Sum Total

This is it , the sum total of my knitting over the last week or so . Like everyone else on the eastern side of the continent we had a fairly big dump of snow last Wednesday. Since then we've had an equal amount dispersed in smaller quantities just about every day . All of which has added up to an awful lot of shoveling . The up side is that the skiing has been phenomenal . When we're not shoveling or skiing , there's been baby sitting , Mike's birthday which was celebrated on three different days last week with all the attendant hoopla , and a Super Bowl party . Let's just say I'm too tired to pick up the needles lately. I didn't even turn on the computer for four days , which is very unusual for me . Today I've stayed in my pj's and had a down day . I picked up my blanket for Stella and did a pattern repeat or two . I should be able to get it done by sometime next week if , big if , I don't start something new .















In case you're wondering the socks are pair #4 for the Warm Hands Network . They're knit with Regia Mosaik 6 ply . On the right is a Calorimetry which I knit for me. The hat I usually wear for skiing was too warm sometimes and I thought this might be a good solution . I wore it on the weekend when it was a little milder , it was perfect .

Here's a couple of pics of Omi's little helper . The snow plow very obliging made a hill of snow at the end of the street and Jessey had a blast sliding down it , then having a snowball fight with Grandpa Mike .