Cupcakes !

Omi's first cupcakes ! Not too bad for an amateur , if I do say so myself ...


Stella's birthday cupcakes

Tomorrow is Stella's second birthday and the family is coming over for brunch , Easter and birthday celebration all rolled into one . I'd thought of making her a traditional birthday cake but came across a very nice recipe for vanilla cupcakes . The cupcakes in the recipe were decorated with Easter colours and it got me to thinking that maybe I should try to make these instead . I have the cutest little butterfly picks that will go on top . Stella has butterflies stenciled on one wall in her room so this is just perfect for her .  I'm pretty happy at how they came out ....

Happy Easter !

Coming up for air

OMG it's already been a month since I last posted ! There's been so much going on . First , we're going to be grandparents again . Max and Stef are expecting their second child in September , making it grandchild number 4 for us .  Needless to say I've already started knitting for this little one . I cast on this blanket almost immediately after they announced it . The colour is very spring like and the pattern is just a dream to knit . I have some coordinating yarn in the stash so I'll be able to knit a hat and some bootees to match . Stef will find out the gender at the end of April ! I've been searching ravelry for baby knits and have added to the queue , the ever expanding queue . Would that I could knit as fast as I add to the queue !



Surprise !

The second bit of news is that Mike and I are going to Florida for a month , Cocoa Beach to be exact . We haven't had a proper vacation for years . We could both really use a break and are anxious to have some nice weather . Winter was back here with a vengeance this week and dumped another 35 cm of snow (just over 12 ") .  If it had been December I'd have welcomed it but at the end of March , enough already ! We're leaving the week after Easter and will be back  the second week in May . We're driving down , something that I'm dreading , but the reward will be sun and sand at our destination . We 've rented a third floor condo with a gorgeous big balcony that faces the beach . I can hardly wait to dip my feet in the ocean !

 

It's been non-stop this past month with all the preparations , taxes , insurances and a myriad of details that needed attending to , that knitting time has been at a premium . That didn't stop me from joining Kellys' (Celtic Cast On ) Business Casual  sock KAL . I don't know what I was thinking ! I also decided that Stella needed a vest for her birthday which is March 30th . The logic being that a vest doesn't have sleeves so it will be a quicker knit than a cardigan . I have another week to finish that and the sock KAL ends on March 25th which is next Monday . I have one sock completed and am working on the cuff of the second . The vest is further along than indicated in the photo . The back is almost done , but  there's still the sides , collar and buttons , which I haven't bought yet .Yikes , I'd better get cracking !

Have a wonderful weekend , I hope it's Spring where you are !

Done and dusted ...

... with novelty yarns ! I finished the fingerless mitts for Dana . I 'm really really happy to have knit them for her . She's had a rough time of it lately and deserves a little something . I just can't bring myself to say very much positive about the yarn except that it sparkles very nicely . I know that I was knitting these on smaller needles but jeez louise this yarn is a PIA to work with . I knit Stellas' scarf with 7.5 mm and still didn't like it .

Also off the needles is yet another frilly scarf for another friend . That makes eight knit up since last fall . I forgot to take a photo but it's pretty much like the others except it's red and purple . I'm getting faster at knitting these ; It only took  about 2 1/2 hours for this one . Still it will be the last one for awhile .

On to the socks , only 2months in the works . Will February finally see a pair of finished socks !?

Pink snow princess

My knitting mojo has been missing of late . I think in part due to this hat , I really don't like this yarn , except for the sparkles . Chantal had requested a hat and scarf set for Stella . I fell in love with this pattern and found the yarn used for it at Micheal's . Trouble was that Chantal wanted an ear flap hat because Stella will not keep a hat on her head unless it's tied on . I modified it to knit top down but used the sizes used in the pattern as a guideline . I couldn't quite get gauge no matter how many needles sizes I went down , so I find it a little on the large side . However the hat that Stella is currently using is just about the same size so I think it will do . Stella is already wearing the matching scarf . I couldn't get it away from her when she saw it , like her Omi she was quite taken with the sparkles . Little miss also is a difficult model who will not sit still no matter what , so no photos yet .

There's not much else to show knitting wise .So much has been going on around here , but I 'm hoping that it will all settles down soon . Nothing bad , just super busy with the grandkids and life in general . I never thought retirement would be this hectic . I have to finish the second of a pair of fingerless mitts that I'm knitting for a friend . Using this very same Dewdrops yarn as the pink hat . They should have been done weeks ago , I just couldn't bring myself to work on them . The Smittens are coming along , I have an even dozen finished . There's also a sock on the needles , begun in December , but still not done . So of course I cast on for something new  . It's a secret so more about that later . I DO like this latest knit and would knit it on all the time if the UFOs in the basket weren't making me feel so guilty about not turning them onto FOs .

First Finishes for 2013

 

The first 10 days of 2013 have been very productive . I've got three finished knits to show for my efforts . These are the first two of three planned scarves . These  scarves are all the rage here at the moment . The white one is a thank you gift to a new neighbour for hosting us to a very entertaining evening over the holidays . The second and third are birthday gifts also for a neighbour and her mum . The third is still a work in progress . There's only so many ruffly scarves that you can knit without losing your mind or the will to knit anything ever again . After number 3 it will be a frosty Friday or pigs fly  before I buy more of that stuff . Mind you I had been contemplating selling them at my Wednesday afternoon bowling league to make some cash for the local food bank next Christmas. They are a quick and easy knit , but after these three I think I'm done for awhile !

 

The third finish and the one that I'm most happy with is my Peacock Hat . Unlike Goldilocks it didn't take me three tries before it was just right . Take II is perfect and has been out and about a couple of times this week . I just love it and I love wearing it . I'm so not a hat person, I only wear one when I absolutely have to , so for me to say that is really something .

 

 

What's next you might ask ? Well I've been bitten by the Smitten . The plan over the next 11 months is to knit 48 of these mitts in time to make Advent garlands for Casey and Max .I certainly have enough stash yarn to make that many . I also think that it will be fun for the little ones to get their treats from an Omi made mitten every day till Christmas . So one or two every week till I'm done . I've got a head start on next week ...

Have a wonderful weekend !

New year , fresh start

 We're only a week in to 2013 so I'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year ! I can't say that I'm too unhappy to see the end of 2012 even if it means I am year older . Last year kicked my butt in more than a few ways , but I'm looking for 2013 to be better . At least I started the new year relatively healthy , without my annual Christmas cold . I'll take that as a good start and hope that the rest will fall into place .

We had  really beautiful holidays , spent with our family and friends . It seems like you 're so busy preparing , cooking cleaning ,wrapping ,celebrating , entertaining etc  and then it all goes by in a flash . I took last week as a post holiday stay cation but this week it's back to normal . Everyone is back to work , the grand kids are back to daycare and it's business as usual for Omi . Today is my day for catching up , updating the blog and downloading  all of the  photos from the camera to the computer . I'm ashamed to say that there are pics from last summer that are included in that . Where did the time go ?

We had a big dump of snow on Dec . 27th and quite  a few more centimetres at time since then . No reason for not putting on the xcountry skis this year ! Mike is getting tired of shovelling it though . Alaska , our snow dog is in his element he could spend hours outdoors if we'd let him .

I've started some new  knits , just a couple of scarves and a hat for Mason to wear with his new snowsuit . There 's also the first of a pair of socks in progress and a ski hat for me . When I last updated my ravelry page it was evident that I really hadn't completed as many projects as the year before .That  could be a result of the fact that I'm reading a lot more , as evidenced my my Goodreads page . I'd read a whopping (for me ) 31 books . My knitting focus / goals this year will be to do more charity knitting as well as more knits for the grand kids  . There are always socks on the needles but I hope to branch out to knitting more mittens . I 'd like to expand my cabling skills and small projects are like hats and mittens are ideal . I kind of fell off the yarn diet toward the end of 2012 , but I really have to work down the stash this year .


Ummm , good !

Two of my boys



Omi's sweetie

 

I haven't been able to get a photo of Jessey wearing his skull hat but it was a definite hit , especially because it came with a pirate backpack and a sword and an eyeglass . He's now a fully equipped pirate . This is one of my favourite photos of him , taken at our local Christmas festival put on by the town. It was a cold and snowy day but he really enjoyed that hot chocolate .

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day !

Rolling along

That's December for you , rolling , rolling rolling along sort of like a wave in the ocean and I'm kind of tumbling along with it .  It hit me today that there's just 14 days left till Christmas . I was feeling kind of happy with how my holiday preparations were going , after all the shopping is done , most of the knitted gifts are coming off the needles , the lights are up outside , some of the decorations are up inside. BUT and that's a really big but  , I haven't even started the holiday baking and planned the meal for Christmas Eve which is when my family celebrates Christmas . Then there's still the cleaning and wrapping of the presents , cards to be mailed out and probably a bunch of other stuff I 've forgotten about . I WILL not panic YET !

Yesterday I decided to start on the baking and attempted to make some spritz cookies . I've always thought that spritz cookies look so pretty and festive and I wanted to add something new to my repertoire . I'd never realized that using a cookie press is more tricky than it seems . Let's just say ,after a couple or twelve attempts that it didn't work out as planned and that darn cookie press will be finding a new home .Then I thought I'll just start on my absolutely- must-have- it- wouldn't- be- Christmas- without -them vanilla kiferl . Apparently grinding hazelnuts for the dough was a challenge also . I always buy them already ground but this year I couldn't find them anywhere . After trying to grind them in a variety of my small appliances , they weren't really fit to use in the recipe .I could possibly salvage them by using ground almonds instead and then adding a bit of the hazelnuts but that's for another day . I need to recover my disastrous day of baking first .

The BIG news , at least knitting wise  , is that I did finish Masons' sweater in time for his birthday . Here he is sporting it after opening his gifts last Saturday . I wish that I had knit a bigger size  (4 to 5 ) but at least he'll wear it this winter and spring . He's growing so fast ! I'm fairly happy with it , my finishing skills are improving but seaming is still my least favourite part of a project .

 

 

Some  nice things to write about are two bits of mail that I received recently . The first was from Dee which included a pattern for some socks that I had admired on her blog and she included the little sleigh cross stitch ornament that she'd recently finished . This was really wonderful unexpected act of kindness and I was so touched that she would send them . the ornament will have pride of place on our tree . Thank you so much Dee !



Wandering Cat Yarns - Day Dream & Night Wish

This was my second bit of nice mail . Aren't they gorgeous , the photo doesn't do them justice ! I was so happy with my last purchase at Valeries etsy shop that I snapped these two up as soon as I saw them . I told Mike that he was buying them for me as an early birthday gift  ;-)) .  No plans for them yet , I 'm just enjoying them as is for now .

So that just about wraps up December for now . I have a couple of finished knits to show but will save them for another post . In the meantime have a wonderful day and week  ! Wish me luck with my baking ....