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FO – Thrummed Slippers
I just finished this super delicious pair of slippers which will be a Christmas gift. That is if I don’t decide to keep them for myself. They are incredibly warm, soft and fussy. Anyone that knows me will tell you have am chronically cold, as in always, even in the midst of summer. However, the husband has approved the purchase of more yarn (clearly he doesn’t know of all of my hiding spots or he would never utter such words … this house is very well “insulated”) to make a pair for myself.
I hope the intended recipient will love them but this is one of those scenarios that if she doesn’t I will be more than happy to provide them with a home.
I improvised the pattern for these, made a couple of modifications and am really happy with them. Hopefully one of these days I will be able to write up a pattern for them.
Getting ready for the holidays … or maybe not so much
I really, I mean really should be getting ready for the holidays. My husband and I always host a traditional Danish Christmas Eve dinner at our house. So I should be calling the butcher to make sure we can get the roast and probably the duck also. I should be wrapping presents … actually I should finish knitting the presents. But as you may have guessed I have been side tracked, this time by cookies.
You see next week is the annual potluck lunch at my dear husbands work. The husband doesn’t cook and I would like to spare them having his contribution be a bowl of KD. Not that there is anything wrong with KD, it is a staple in our household but it doesn’t exactly spell out “Merry Christmas”. So because I love my husband dearly I have agreed to his request of royal icing decorated cookies. So the little men and I made a trip to the store today to get supplies. Tomorrow we will bake and Friday/Saturday we will decorate. Wish me luck, with 5 cookies thieves in the house I am going to need it if any of them are going to make it till Monday.
cast-on-itis
I believe I have what can only be called cast-on-itis. It is that thing knitters get when they finish a project and all of a sudden there are all these options for the next project. You see I have been working on this beautiful shell-cardigan set, for almost 2 months:
The pictures truly does do it justice it is beautiful. I finally wrapped it up and sent it off to its new home today … which means my needles are currently empty. OK, so maybe all my needles aren’t empty, I am sure if I looked deep into all of my hiding places I would find a few (possibly double-digits, but don’t tell the husband) WIPs. However, isn’t part of the reward of finishing a project that you get to cast-on a new one? Now if only I could narrow down the options. Sure there is that shawl I started on Saturday trying to quickly whip up a shawlette for the husbands grandmother before she went out of town. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards as she moved up her departure and there was just no way I would be able to finish it in 2 days … what with 4 kids and a baptism, yeah not that much knitting time I am afraid. Though it is about 50% done and I probably should just finish it. Then there is that pair of socks I wanted to knit for my mother-in-law for Christmas … however that involves knitting my first ever pair of socks. I know it is “just socks” but “turning the heel” just sounds intimidating. Oh but I also thought it might be fun to make my brother-in-law a pair of thrummed mittens. You see he plays pond hockey and one of the other guys on the team convinced his mother to knit them toques last year and scarves this year … so he needs the mittens to go with it and what is warmer than thrummed mittens? On the flip side I could be completely selfish and start on my linen stitch scarf.
So many options! I never was good with choices
Creative weekend
It has been one crazy busy weekend already. My mother-in-law called Thursday night to see if I had plans for Friday as she was planning on going to the 2012 Creativ Festival in Toronto. I already had plans to go to the Crayola warehouse sale but figured my father-in-law properly wasn’t too keen on going to the festival so I offered to go to Toronto in exchange for him watching my pre-schooler … I mean it was “I love yarn day” after all. As suspected he quickly accepted the offer. So shortly after the rush hour craze we were on the train and headed to the Festival, it was lots of fun and naturally I returned home with a few skeins, perfect for a Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf.
I wish I had more pictures to share but there was big sign forbidding cameras so I made sure to tuck mine deep in the diaper bag (because really who wants to go digging in there). Mini-man did great on his first big adventure with mommy and nanny, I see many train rides in his future.
As soon as we got back home we were on the road again. Literally picked up my girlfriend on the side of the road and we were off to the warehouse. It was after 10pm by the time we finally returned home and tucked the Fab Four into bed. I distinctly remember my father-in-law saying “they should sleep till noon” … haha 7:30am and we were alive and kicking again. I tried my best to entertain the boys with a movie while I slowly sipped my coffee and regained some of my energy. I had promised the Fab Four we would go to the warehouse and they would each get to buy a few things for school. So back on the road we were. Needless to say after carrying mini-man on the train and at the festival in the babywrap, then at the warehouse in his carseat and again this morning, while chasing his 3 active brothers I am ready to put my feet up and enjoy a hot cup of apple cider from the local mill. I’m contemplating some knitting … hoping I won’t have to tink tomorrow
My sample knit is coming along great. I finished the first of the two-piece set, can’t wait to show off the finished project.
working away
The husband is treating me to a night out at the ballgame so I am taking full advantage of the drive to get some knitting done. My sample is coming right along. I’ve realized it is amazing how much time I am not using to it’s full potential, there are so many things I could do while knitting. Now if only I could convince the boys to not get themselves into things and actually sit down on the couch, knit and relax with a cup of hot coffee … hot being the keyword. One of these days I really should count just how many times a cup of coffee gets re-heated in the microwave before it is all gone.
Excitement
Imagine my excitement when I went to pick up the little ones from school and as I open the door I am greeted by a box full of beautiful yarn!! I immediately busted into a happy dance (probably not a very graceful performance), I’m sure the neighbours thought I am slightly deranged but of course they didn’t see the colourful delights the box contained. I am especially excited as this yarn is for a store sample I am making for the yarn company. I have been test knitting for a few designers for a couple of years now and have very much enjoyed the process, it has pushed me to learn new techniques and really put my skills to the test. It is amazing how much you learn when you are working so closely with the designer ensuring the pattern makes perfect sense to everyone. Sample knitting is different in that you have to strive for perfection, thankfully this is a beautifully written pattern so I am really looking forward to seeing how the garment comes together.
Considering I have 4 adorable little boys who are most certainly made of “snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails” it is nice to finally have some pink in this house.
Now off to start on the chicken stock for tonight’s homemade chicken noodle soup, do some knitting and measure the front hall to install a mudroom section … hopefully before the oldest angry-bird themed birthday party this coming weekend, nothing like a deadline to keep things interesting.
Colour Affection
This pattern is all the rage this year and of course I had to make one. I picked up my yarn at the Tanis Fiber Arts stand at the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters Fair. After one false start (tried knitting it exactly as per the pattern but realized my edge was much too tight) I frogged the shawl and started over with the modifications suggested by Yarn Harlot … much better and as you can see it is coming along quite well for a weeks worth of knitting … you don’t get too much knitting time with 4 little monkeys under 6 running around.
I cannot wait to finish this, I love the colours, Tanis Fiber Arts yarns are one of my most favorite to work with because of their colour selection. Of course I do also have a super fun project waiting to be started in beautiful ombre yarn.
What an experience
Those of you who know me know that I am an avid knitter. There are few places I would go where you wouldn’t catch me knitting from time to time e.g. baseball games, doctors appointments kids swimming lessons etc. So imagine my excitement when I found out Yarn Harlot was speaking at this years Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters Fair. For those of you not familiar (in which case you should become familiar with her) Yarn Harlot has an incredibly funny and informative blog and written many books on the subject of knitting and was speaking on the topic of “Knitting and our Brains” … so funny!!! I will admit it I too get confused when people state they wonder where I find the time, for me it is very much an issue of optimizing the time I do have and if the activity I am doing doesn’t require my hands to be busy as well as my full attention I don’t see much reason why I couldn’t be knitting while doing it.
My husband recently informed me I have enough shawls. I don’t think boys quite understand this so I decided to translate it into a language he would better understand … baseball. I explained that while technically baseball only requires one ball (skein) or in some cases a few balls to play a game (project), I know for a fact we have several dozen (stash) stored through out our house because you could always need more. So the way I saw it I was probably short a few shawls as I would need one for every outfit, to which his uncle kindly pointed out one could always buy another outfit (play another game). So naturally while at the Fair I picked up 3 lovely skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label which I hope will make a beautiful Colour Affection shawl.
Four is FUN!
I’m currently raising four boys, yes FOUR, ranging in ages from newborn to 5. It is a crazy life, opportunities to relax are few and far between but I try to make the most of every day. The way I see it I am young, healthy and (supposedly) full of life so I should take advantage of these days as we all know life can change in a heartbeat. So we live by the motto today is for making memories … I figure I will have plenty of time to keep on top of housework and laundry, you know, when I get old.
a BABY's smile 