Saturday, May 28, 2005

Day 8 and Counting

This is day 8, and it's still raining. The forecast is calling for sun and cloud on Tuesday. I forget what the sun looks like. I'll be sure to take a picture of the sun when we actually see it again! My grass will be so long by the time the rain stops that I will have to get someone with a bushsaw to cut it!

I only have the cuff left to do on the size 6 kids sweater I am making. I have to have it finished for 3pm tomorrow (birthday party time). The sleeves were picked up along the edge and knit down, so all I have to do is sew the side and sleeve seams. It turned out quite well. I have enough yarn left over that I may just pick up some yarn to do a burgundy one with navy stripes to bring in to the store to sell. I also picked up some more yarn today to make Logan a sweater. I think I will make this one http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=200 with Canadiana yarn. I have forest green for the body and rainbow variagated for the sleeves and hood. I love the bright colors of the RV, but we only had 2 balls of it. There used to be a sweater on the Bernat site that was green with camouflage sleeves, but it's gone now. I think I have it home in a pile of patterns somewhere, but I'm quite sure it's this same pattern. Close enough for me.

Before I start anything new I have to finish my Dulaan stuff so I can get that in the mail. I don't want to miss the deadline. We had one odd ball of Softee Chunky in rose, so I got that to make a scarf. I may try to make 2 or 3 pairs of mittens as well. Then that should make me reach my 20 items goal.

Must finish that cuff and watch the rain continue to fall.

Happy knitting!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Rain, Rain, Go Away - Please!

It's been raining since Saturday. It did stop for awhile yesterday, but there was no sun. The forecast is rain at times heavy this afternoon, rain this evening, rain at times heavy tomorrow, periods of rain Friday, and cloudy with showers on Saturday and Sunday. I forget what sunshine looks like.

We got a shipment of new yarn in yesterday. The Patons Brilliant is very pretty, but I think you'd have to be very careful when using it. It looks very easy to split. I see extra unwanted stitches happening. In the fall we plan on ordering in the dark colors (if it sells). There is a very pretty burgundy. If we get that I may make myself a dressy scarf or something for Christmas and New Year's. We also got Patons Grace in, but they only sent three of the colors we ordered. The shipment also contained Kroy sock yarn, Bernat Sox, and Bernat Handicrafter cotton. I bought 4 balls to make myself some new dishcloths. Mine are all old and faded. I will use them for rags or take them when we go camping. I made myself a bright orange dishcloth last night. I also bought bright yellow, bright blue, and pink. www.patonsyarns.com

The boys are invited to a birthday party on Sunday. I started this sweater for the little guy. www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=1050 It is knitting up very fast. I should get the front finished today and at least most of the back if not all of it.

Happy knitting!

Monday, May 23, 2005

Flooding

It has been rainig since Saturday night around 6pm. It is supposed to rain all night and stop sometime tomorrow. The sun is supposed to shine on Tuesday, then periods of rain for the rest of the week. Over the weekend so far we have had over 206ml of rain! And it's still falling, only now being driven by 80-100km/hour winds. Travis was out til almost 2am with the fire department pumping out basements.

We have lived in our house for 4 years now. We have never gotten any water in our basement, and according to the man we bought it from (who built it in 1968) he never ever had any water, either. Last night the brook that runs sort of behind our house decided to overflow into the neighbor's yard. Below are some pictures of it. The fire department came and sandbagged the retaining wall. That brook normally doesn't have much water in it, almost drying up at some points in the summer. But it is about 6' deep, and last night with high tide and the full moon it overflowed for the first time since we lived here. I kept an eye on our basement just in case any water came up through the drains.

Good weather for knitting. I finished my buttonhole bag and am in the process of felting it now. I also am trying to finish a Dulaan scarf today so I can get that package ready to mail next Monday or so. Don't quite know if I will reach my 20 items or not. I think I am at about 15 now. But the boys are invitited to a birthday party on Sunday, and I may try to knit the little guy a sweater. Not decided for sure yet. If I do I probably won't get any more Dulaan stuff made for this year's shipment but will work on some stuff for next year. I want to try thrumming. I printed off a nice thrummed sock pattern the other day I'd like to try.

Must go make some stew. Must remember, too, that tomorrow is Tuesday. Today is Victoria Day in Canada. About half the stores are open, half closed. It's gotten to be a weird holiday. All government stuff and schools are closed, banks, our store, but the grocery stores and dollar stores are open. Still makes today seem like Sunday.

Happy knitting!


Almost looks like white water rapids! Posted by Hello


The neighbor's back yard pre-sandbagging. This brook normally has only maybe a foot or so of water in it. (More, of course, when it rains.) It's probably at least 6' deep, so this gives you a good idea of how much water was flowing through it. Posted by Hello


The fire department arrives to sandbag the brook retaining wall out back. Posted by Hello


Firemen sandbagging the brook retaining wall.  Posted by Hello


Firemen sandbagging the brook retaining wall. Hubby is the one on the far right. Posted by Hello


I don't remember if I ever posted this up-close picture of the Great Pumba or not. Oh, well. Here it is again if so! Posted by Hello

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Monsoon Season

I think the monsoon season has struck. I rained so hard on the drive home from New Brunswick at times it was hard to see the road. We were home for about 15 minutes, and hubby had to go help pump flooded basements.

It was a pretty good weekend. Spent Friday night in Truro. The place we stayed in was a little "yuck" when we pulled up to it. Definitely needs work on the outside. But inside wasn't too bad. I basically am pretty cheap, so as long as there are no rats or roaches running around I'm okay. Can't bring myself to pay too much if we're just basically going to be in the room to sleep. We ended up going to the car show yesterday, which was a good idea considering the weather today. Bought the boys some dinky cars at the flea market, some fudge, cotton candy, and three hand-poured soy tarts for me (cinnamon, blueberry, and strawberry). We went to WalMart and got the boys a Spongebob play mat. Kind of neat. It has SB's house, Squidward's house, Patrik's and Sandy's. Plus there are other houses and streets they can drive their cars on. We also got SB's Battle for Bikini Bottom for PS2. We rent it a lot at the Movie Gallery at almost $9 for 7 days. This was a little over $30 with the tax.

We arrived in Moncton about 4pm. Found our motel easily - pawn shop across the road, two bars on the right and a liquor store. The notice to guests on the back of the door made the place seem like a "party" spot. (If you have any trouble with other guests being noisy while the office is closed from 2:30am til 6:30am, please call the local RCMP...) I heard someone run by the room at some point in the wee hours. Other than that it was quiet. I don't think they were very full anyways. The monster truck show was good, albeit noisy where we were inside. They had five trucks, but the place was too small for them to do anything too amazing. We had good seats, and I took lots of pictures. They also had quad racing, but the floor was too slippery for them too race too fast. The go-karts had the worst time. They also had guys doing bike and rollerblading tricks. They were good. There was a guy there who jumped a monster truck on a motorbike. He came back later in the show and did it again, only this time over three monster trucks. There was also Psycho the Jet ATV. He was super loud in that small spot. We all had earplugs in except Logan, so I got him to put his fingers in his ears, then Daddy put his hands over them. The ATV couldn't really do anything inside. 5000 horsepower in a hockey rink? Just noise, and his second time out he lit up the afterburner. Talk about heat and exhaust. I took a couple of pictures of it, but I don't know how they turned out. It was all definitely worth $20 adults, $14 kids.

I got almost the whole front of my sweater completed. We were just getting to Moncton, and I was getting ready to shape the neck, when I noticed that I dropped a stitch somewhere. I found it 20 rows back. Had to rip that out when we got to the motel. Then it was time to leave for the Coliseum. I now have one side done and will finish the other tonight. If I hadn't messed that up I would have been able to start the back.

Off to make some supper and finish laundry. Tonight I will finish the front of the sweater and hopefully my large buttonhole bag.

Happy Knitting!


Baby yarn in my final package from my Secret Pal. Posted by Hello


Two buttonhole bags pre-felting. Of course I took them to the store without taking a picture of the finished products first!  Posted by Hello


Can't take a picture of one without taking a picture of the other! Posted by Hello


Darren lost his first tooth on May 9. Posted by Hello


Princess Nala sitting in a puzzle box. Posted by Hello


Hot water bottle cover for Ma for Mother's Day. Posted by Hello


Mother's Day cake a la Superstore. Posted by Hello

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Final Secret Pal Goodies!

I received my final package from my Secret Pal today. She sent me three balls of a beautiful baby yarn (which I will post a picture of!), and another cat card (which I intend to get framed along with the other 2 she sent). I think I will keep this yarn in my stash for now *just in case* we ever decide to try for that girl! (If that doesn't happen in the next 2 years then I will use it to make a gift for someone else should the opportunity arise!) So, my wonderful Secret Pal all the way from France, I hope you read this and see that your package arrived -- I can't find your e-mail address! (Shame on me!)

I have two buttonhole bags completed, small and large, felted and drying. I have pictures to post of them as well. I washed them three times, and I find they didn't really felt any more the third time through then they did the second time, so that'll have to be good enough. I find where it's chunky yarn on big needles it doesn't go super-felty as it would with, say, a worsted weight yarn.

This weekend we are going away. Tomorrow night we remain within Nova Scotia, but Saturday we are in New Brunswick for the night. We are taking the boys to a monster truck show at the Moncton Coliseum. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow night. We are in Truro, and it's the tulip festival, and they are supposed to have fireworks. It's a long drive, so I should get a total of 10 hours knitting there and back. Think I will take the adult basic cabled sweater I am working on for the store. I need something easy to follow when I'm in the truck.

Will try to post my pictures before I go away tomorrow, if not will definitely try on Sunday or Monday.

Happy Knitting!

Monday, May 16, 2005

Off to a Bad Start

I obviously have to start paying more attention. First off I made two right-hand mittens for the Dulaan Project. Luckily I had enough yarn to make two left-hand mittens. Once I had them sewn together (they were two-needle mittens) I noticed that one had the thumb shaping done wrong. Too late now. It's not that big of a problem, I'm not ripping it out. Then last night I started another buttonhole bag. I got the top shaping done and only had the handle left to make. When I went to bed I realized that the colors I was using were meant for a larger bag. So this morning I had to rip the shaping out that I had done, which wasn't too bad, and will most likely finish it off tonight. I had bought enough wool about a month ago to make one small bag and two larger bags. Of course I didn't write down what color combo I had in mind for each bag at the time. The small bag was supposed to be navy and light blue, one larger bag light green and light blue (like my small bag), and the other larger bag navy, pink, and light blue. Then when I got to work this morning I went to put something in my pocket and realized I had my pants on backwards! (pull-ons)

Will have to be more careful with the knitting stuff in the future. I have a lot of things that need to be finished and lots more on the list to do. Don't have time for stupid, careless mistakes.

Happy Knitting!

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Dulaan Homestretch

I have about two weeks left to finish my items for the Dulaan Project. I just sewed up a mitten and realized that I made two right-hand mittens. Hope I have enough yarn left to make two left-handed ones. Also have another pair to finish. Hopefulle I won't make the same mistake because I know I don't have enough of that yarn to make a who other set. This has been fun and has been a good way to use up odds and ends in my stash.

I have been making new dividers for the yarn binders at the store. We have an order coming with some new yarns in it. We are getting some Patons Grace, Brilliant, and the new Be Mine yarn. (check out www.patonsyarns.com) We've also had a lot of people in looking for Bernat Handicrafter cotton to make dishcloths, so I think we have 11 or 12 colors of that coming as well. The lady who sold us the yarn shop didn't bother sending the dishcloth cotton because it wasn't selling, but we've had at least a dozen people in looking for it. (They are the only type of dishcloth I use.) Every day we have someone in for the Ball n Skein section. We did take it on at the slowest time of the year. The former owner says it picks up in August and stays busy all winter.

Must get going. Happy knitting!

Monday, May 09, 2005

Banquet

Saturday night was the annual firemen's banquet. Supper was good - roast turkey dinner with dressing, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, cranberries, rolls, and lemon or coconut cream pie. And then after the meal comes the dance - and free booze. I survived the evening well. Don't know if it was the meal beforehand or what, but the drinks felt very "bloating" to me, so I didn't drink too much. Hubby, on the other hand, was a total mess and paid for it all day long yesterday. The guys who were on fire call ended up having to leave the banquet and pump basements pretty much all night and all day yesterday. It rained liked a monsoon here all weekend. Today we are supposed to get showers and I guess sunshine for tomorrow. That will be nice.

We got pizza and garlic fingers yesterday and took them up to Nanny and Grampy's house for Mother's Day. I also had gotten a MD cake and took that as well.

Not too much knitting done this weekend. I made a hot water bottle cover and started a dishcloth to take to the store. Got to finish up my Dulaan stuff in the next two weeks as well. I do have some pictures to post this week, too.

Happy Knitting!

Thursday, May 05, 2005

So Tired

I am so tired right now I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. My two-year-old is sick and had me up all night. Never got to sleep til about 2am. The longest he slept was from 4 to 6. Then I ended up getting up at a little after 7, but he slept til after 8. I took him to the doctor because I thought he had an ear infection. He said it's the virus causing his ears to hurt but no infection. Had to get eardrops and more Tylenol. He was definitely not himself, that's for sure.

I have my hot water bottle cover almost done. I want to give this one to Ma for Mother's Day. I took it up to her house today to "try it on" her hot water bottle. Fits perfectly. Next thing is to finish a preemie baby set I started and have all of it done except the body of the jacket. Think I will list that on eBay. Also would like to get a small and a large buttonhole bag finished to take in to the store.

Happy knitting!