Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

What a great evening we had for trick or treating tonight. It was about +12C and no wind. (No gale force winds like we've had for the last three days. My usual spots that collect leaves are full yet again. Took 12 bags of leaves to the compost yard today. Four more wouldn't fit on the truck, and there's probably at least 10 more bags in the second driveway alone waiting to be cleaned up. All these leaves are coming from the graveyard across the road. All of my trees are bald and have been for weeks now. Grrr!)

Hubby is on his way home from Alberta and is spending the night in Winnipeg, I believe, at one of these places. Our nephew called and asked if I wanted him to come down and hand out stuff while we were gone. We don't go too far, just up around the corner, two houses past my parents' place, up a side street around the block back to our place. Takes about an hour. Didn't know at first if I should let him do that or not. That kid is an eating machine, and I didn't really have any extras. (He already found my Halloween candy on the weekend, hidden in the hall closet. One bag that was opened mysteriously dwindled to only five bars.) I get about 50 kids, so I made 60 treat bags. Guess I'd have to raid the cupboard if I run out. Don't think cans of soup would be appreciated. Actually, if I ran out I'd just give some of the boys' stuff out -- but not to worry -- I'd feel so guilty doing that I'm sure I'd end up buying them replacements! We had probably close to 50 kids tonight. I saw evidence when I put something in the garbage that yes, indeed, a few treat bags didn't make it out the door. I had probably seven left over of the 60.

The boys wanted to be bats. I tried making wings out of an umbrella, but I didn't like how it turned out. I tried to bribe them with store-bought costumes, but they wouldn't budge. I ended up getting black bristol board today and made wings out of that. I used black yarn leftovers to tie them to their arms. I used two of my headbands to hold the ears on. (Unfortunately the Littlest One didn't have a solid black shirt. There's writing on the front of this one, so I turned it around backwards. The Oldest One had something on the front of his so I covered it with a piece of felt. Hard to turn his around cuz it's hooded.) They returned with lots of goodies anyways. I actually get quite a few kids maybe around 12, 13 years old, that don't even bother with a costume of any kind.

I'm working on the first sleeve to the aran sweater. It's moving along really quickly, which is a good thing. I started it yesterday and will soon be to raglan shaping already. I figure the way this is going I should be able to start sewing it up on the weekend.

I brought some yarn home from the store, mostly new yarns that aren't moving. Thought if I make some scarves or hats as samples we may start selling some of it. So far the only thing I made is this drop-loop scarf. The yarn is Patons Bohemian in Pink Pow. (The color really sucks in the picture. The web site shows a truer color.) It was the last ball we had. This yarn was one of our best sellers last year, everyone was making these scarves. It's a free tear-off pattern that I modified a little narrower where I only had one ball. I cast on 12sts on 6mm needles, knit every row til the yarn was gone, but on the last row K2, cast off 8. Take the remaining 4sts off the needle and unravel each side. Voila! I tried making the same sort of scarf with this, but it didn't work. I ended up frogging it. Now I think I'll just make a basic child-sized hat with it.

I've been trying and trying to get my pictures to upload, but it's no go. Tried Blogger, tried Flickr, grrr! Just click here to see my Flickr album.

Happy knitting!

Hats and Mittens and Mittens and Hats

Finally finished the hat and mittens sets for the boys. The hat is based on this pattern, only changes really being that I used Shetland Chunky Tweeds on 6mm needles. Cast on 54 sts, knit til it measures 10" roughly, k2tog around once, knit one row, k2 tog around once again, knit one row again, k2tog around last time, draw yarn through remaining stitches and fasten off. I did the k2tog thing every second row because I found it looked better with the chunky yarn.

FYI, new Socks That Rock colors are up! Between that and The Sweet Sheep adding new yarns and colors my head is spinning. I love this and this and this and this! Plus many more. (Had to whittle my wishlist back on The Sweet Sheep. But there's free shipping on orders over $80!) Can't wait til after Christmas when I can get to some serious sock knitting. I've also got my eye on a few patterns as well. Not just sock patterns, either. Also, Knittin' Mom has her pattern for Lobster Pot Socks up for sale now, too. Go check it out. Cabley socks - what more could you ask for?! (Gonna get me that pattern - some of the Cherry Tree Hill I have wishlisted on The Sweet Sheep would go well with them, I think.)

Been working today mostly on some stuff for the store. We got in a couple of new yarns that haven't sold yet. I thought if I made at least a scarf of each it might move it some. That way people get an idea of what it looks like knit up. We have this book, and it does have some nice patterns in it. We have this one, too, but there isn't much yardage per ball, so even a small project takes a lot. We only sold this stuff once so far. It was for someone who made a hat and scarf set for the school raffle draw at a cost of over $40. And it's just acrylic (but soft acrylic). Pictures to follow in a couple of days!

Oh, yes. Anyone interested in the Newfoundland Mittens pattern for adult size, pop on over to Maggiknits and Spins. If you ask her she will e-mail it to you. I found the pattern on-line, but it was only for child size 2-5.

Happy knitting!

Stalling

I finished the front of the aran sweater last night. Now all that's left is the sleeves and finishing. I can't wait. I have a closet full of yarn for different projects I'd really like to get on with. Then there's those Christmas gifts to knit, too. Just think, two months from today it will all be over.

It was quite chilly today. The Oldest One asked for his mittens to be finished soon (guess I should actually start them) because he finds his hands get cold at recess. Tomorrow morning we are going skating, then he has glow bowling in the afternoon. I think I'll take mittens to work on while he bowls. I finished his hat and the Littlest One's hat. It's chunky yarn, so I should be able to finish their sets up this weekend.

I picked up most of my Halloween candy today. I also picked up a few odds and ends for the costumes I have to make. They both want to be bats this year. I have a broken umbrella that I am going to spraypaint black. I am basically using this pattern. (I even picked up two Christmas gifts today. Just two small things to go in with two pairs of felted mittens destined for two gift recipients.)

There must be something in the water or air lately. Have you noticed how many knitting bloggers are expecting? Off the top of my head there's one, two, three, four (#4 has just found out terrible news, so sad), and go here to see a list of a bunch more. Betcha hubby's praying that I don't get any ideas. (The new camper we upgraded to does sleep up to ten. The old one was up to six.)

I have no new pictures to share yet (thus the stalling), so here's a picture of Pumba that I took back in June that I really like. The yarn pictured in the photo below him is destined to become these, hopefully one of my next sock projects. (Cashmere sock yarn from HipKnits, won from the first Sock-A-Month Knitalong.)



Make sure you check out this post on how to weave in ends as you knit. Take a look at what she's making, and you'll see how this is a great idea!

Anyone in Canada need Lego for Christmas gifts? They have free shipping til November 30 on orders over $99 before tax.

Happy knitting!

Skating

I finished this hat awhile back. It's made with Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds. It fits the Littlest One, but I found a pattern I like better. I decided to add this one to my Dulaan pile, thus bringing my total number of finished Dulaan items for 2007 to three. I also have a mitten that is awaiting a mate for item four.

The boys went skating on Sunday. Here's a shot of the Oldest One. The next picture is the Littlest One (he's in the lead) skating around a bunch of little stuffed animals. He doesn't really need much help. He's only three, so he goes in the Kidskate group. I did take him last year a few times, but most of the ones in his group were never on skates before. It was too funny because I looked once, and I could see his mouth going, talking to another little guy. First thing, down he went on the ice. He was showing the other little guy how to get back up when you fall down! Too funny. The Oldest One, well, he's not so outgoing with this as the Littlest One. He's only in Stage 2 (still), so I figure the Littlest One will end up passing him! (Maybe not, but it wouldn't surprise me.)

This was before Kidskate, sitting on the bench with Daddy. He goes on 10 minutes after and finishes 10 minutes earlier than Canskate. Got smart this year and also got skateguards so we can put their skates on at home. This Friday is an inservice, so there's no school. There is a public skate for kids up to 12 in the morning. I think I will take them to that. The Oldest One also got me to register him for Glow Bowling in the afternoon. The Littlest One will have to go to Nanny's. Had to be five to sign up for that. I'll have to take something small to knit.

We brought our new camper home on Saturday. I'm slack, no pictures yet. But you can go here and scroll down to 2007 Keystone RV Springdale 299 BHDS. It was super windy. Hubby white-knuckled the whole way home. The wind blew us all around the road, and we borrowed a friend's new truck because this one is over the weight that our little V6 Dodge can haul. We also decided that next year the camper will stay at the campground. We will take it to the RV place to be winterized and MVIed, then it will go back to the campground, probably in the field on the lower level, with a tarp over it. It was way too hard to get into the yard, and they tore my lawn up quite a bit with the truck. Gonna be a bugger to get out of the yard, too. Probably gonna need a couple of people on either side to watch for the fence, trees, and the deaf child sign, plus the graveyard cement wall across the road. (Our old camper was 26' long, and that was bad enough getting in and out. This one is almost 34' long!) Of course, all the wind meant that there was a ton of leaves to rake up again. The Trees From Hell across the road shed and blew into my yard. The Nemesis still has most of its leaves, of course. I'll get all this cleaned up, then it will decide it's finally time to be bald for the winter. The boys liked jumping in the humungous pile of leaves this afternoon. (I ran out of leaf bags.)

We went to see this movie Saturday night. Hubby is a big fan of the show, me not so much. It's alright, definitely not a show for kids or anyone offended by a lot swearing or "other" things. I bought him all the season dvds for Christmas last year, plus the Christmas Special. My favorite is Bubbles, of course. How he can wear those glasses is beyond me. Ricky is pretty funny, too. By far the funniest TV episode is Conky, and the one with Steve French (he's a cougar) is good, too.

Hubby left for Fort McMurray, Alberta, yesterday. This will be the farthest north he's ever hauled. He's hoping he won't run into any winter weather, although parts of Ontario have gotten snow already. He's got a really light load - only 21,000lbs, so it should be easy on fuel, and it's paying really well. He's taking three "earth heaters" to one of the mines up there. Everyone asks me if he's coming back. If you own your own truck you get paid big bucks up there to haul equipment around. My boss said he should stay for a month and make a bunch of money! She said if her husband was 10 years younger that's where she'd send him! Even one of the bosses at hubby's work asked him jokingly if he was coming back. (He'd get too homesick.)

Anyhoo, dished waiting to be done, and the new Halloween Spongebob episode is coming on soon.

Happy knitting!

Aran Braid/Mystery Socks Complete Plus Little Ones

Finally my aran braid socks for the Mystery Sock KAL are finished. It rained yesterday, so I had to settle for natural light pictures in my front window. However, I didn't get this post made this morning like I planned, so I ended up getting outside to take some like I originally planned.

Aran Braid Socks for the Mystery Sock KAL

started approx Sept 22/06

finished Oct 17/06

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Gold Hill

2.75mm dpns

No real pattern changes done, either. It was my first time doing a heel with garter stitch on the edges, and also the heel is a "waffle" kind of heel. I like it but think it would show better with a solid or mostly-solid yarn. (Same with the cables. I had this yarn, and it wasn't earmarked for anything in particular like most of the other sock yarn in my stash.) It was also my first time using the LLSS, which is thin but knits up nicely and feels nice as well. I had enough left over to make some plain old 3x2 rib socks for the Little Feet in the household.

40 sts on 2.75mm dpns

3x2 rib for 40 rows

standard heel flap/turn done over 20 sts

pick up 13 sts each side for gusset

decrease gusset by 2 sts every second row to original 40sts

40 rows total stockinette sole/3x2 rib top from the gusset pick-up row

standard toe stockinette 4 st decrease every second round til 16sts

graft toe

Fits child size 3-4 years. (He wears size 11 sneakers.)

Lastly I'll leave you with a couple of close-up shots of some funky mushrooms growing around my yard.

Happy Knitting!

Another Hat

I made another hat for the store. I used Patons Classic Wool and Kertzer Fizz. I definitely like the longer eyelash yarn better. It turned out quite well. I want to make myself one of these hats this year (minus the Fizz) and mittens, but I'd like to wait til I get a new winter coat. I'll probably just end up making grey anyways. Black collects too much cat hair.

The boys found a bunch of trophies in the basement. The Oldest One spied this one with cards on the top. Little card shark that he is, he is using it for a First Place Poker trophy. (It's hubby's first place whist tournament trophy from 1995.) Cards on the top, close enough.

Not much new going on here. Still raking leaves, still plunking on the aran sweater, still working on the second Mystery Sock. Still working on other small projects but trying to concentrate on the aran sweater to get that done and over with. (Gotta start those Christmas gifts!) The boys started skating lessons yesterday.

We also traded in our old camper on one of these that was on sale. We will be getting it on Saturday if hubby is home. (Scroll down to 2007 Keystone RV Springdale 299 BHDS.) Our only problem with the one we had is there was no sofa, just the dinette, so you had to sit on the bed to watch TV or cram into one side of the dinette. (The other side is back-to, sorta, to the TV. If you sit there to watch TV you're gonna get a sore neck.) This one will definitely last us til the boys are in their teens. After that the next step is something like the 2006 Gulfstream RV B Touring Cruiser 5291 located near the bottom of this page. (If you go to my June 2005 archives and scroll to Sunday, June 12, you'll see pictures of the outside/inside of the camper we traded in on the new one.) I was hoping to wait til next year or so, but the camper we are getting was marked down by almost $10,000, and every year we wait our camper depreciates more.

Did everyone see that The Sweet Sheep now offers free shipping on orders over $80?

Happy Knitting!

Koigu Has Arrived

Got my Koigu from Alyson on Tuesday. I love it! The Oldest One opened it, however, and green is his favorite color. I'm sure you can picture the conversation from there. I originally thought I would make a low pair of socks for me and a pair for him. Now I'm thinking I may just make socks for both of the boys from it. I'll decide better when I actually sit down to wind it and use it.


Stopped into work on Tuesday as well. I happened to get there when there was a bunch of ladies from out of town in the yarn section. They stop by every couple of weeks usually. Anyhoo, there's a felted child's hat on display in the store that has a Fizz brim, and one of the ladies asked me to make one in adult size for her to give someone for a Christmas gift. I made this Tuesday night.

The only thing with this is she wanted blue, and we didn't have any blue Fizz left. (By the look of their site they only have black and white in solids now, plus the MultiFizz.) I had to use Eskimo instead, and that isn't as long. I didn't turn out bad, but I like the look of the longer eyelash yarn better. I started another one for the store in burgundy. I already had the wool, I just needed a ball of the Fizz for the brim. That's completed and awaiting felting.

Here's an upclose pic of the aran sweater I'm knitting.


Thought I'd show you some of the many trees in my yard and the yards around me. Today it's super windy and raining hard, so the next dry day I'll be back to work. We carted off about 10 bags of leaves yesterday. It filled the entire back of my truck. It's best to keep them cleaned up 3 or 4 bags at a time or else I get stuck bagging 20 bags or so at once. So far I haven't raked any leaves off the main part of the lawn really, just on my walkway, in the front by the road, and in driveway where the big truck is parked. In the second picture you can see a white blurb-thing. That's the bag holder with fresh bag awaiting filling. It really was a handy thing to get. Last year when I went for one the hardware store was sold out. (You can also see my helpers "taking a break", so I mainly get stuck with the leaf job by myself.) I had two more pictures, but Blogger has decided to quit letting my upload from Flickr.




This is the Nemesis. It's directly across the road in the grave yard. It insists on waiting til all the other trees on the street are bald, then he lets go of all his pretty much at once which proceed to cross the road into my yard. Every year. Never fails. And this sucker is huge!

Got a sink full of dishes to do.

Happy knitting!

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Canadians! We did our thing yesterday at Sister-in-Law's place with her, her son, Brother-in-Law, and his other half. It was a mix of hot turkey sandwiches and club sandwiches, brownies, coconut cream pie, jelly roll, and everything else that goes with it. All very good. All of the animals were either outside or penned in bedrooms, though I doubt the neighbors appreciated the two out back who insisted on yapping almost the entire time, especially if someone looked at them. (My brother-in-law has a thing for animals that I won't let be around the boys.* First came the Rotweiller when I was pregnant with #1. He doesn't like kids and actually made a thank-goodness-it-was-only-half-hearted-grab at the oldest when he was almost two on Christmas Day. I never liked the dog being in the room when he was there, and after that day he was always locked away. He's bitten a few times as well. I never minded him around me, but the kids are way different. Anyhoo, BIL also has a boxer, which is a total idiot and would bite anything that moves. The next one is a cute roly-poly bulldog, and she is a sweetheart. She plays very well with the boys, just slobbers a lot, she's only small. Then he invested in a new dog, another one that will never be around the kids - an 8 week old purebred papered pit bull. All he did yesterday was sleep, and mind you, he is pretty cute, but he'll never be around my boys. SIL has a collie who doesn't like kids either, and she won't let her around the boys.)

It was like a summer day today, sunny and really warm. We raked leaves for a bit. So far we have seven bags full, probably only another 30 to go. (No exaggeration, wait til you see pictures.)

And I do have some pictures to post, but the camera batteries are recharging. Maybe tomorrow I'll get them posted.

I finished one of my Mystery Socks tonight. I also started the front to the aran sweater I'm knitting. Only have a few rows done on that. I made the Littlest One a hat, too. He will also get matching mittens. The hat caused great grief, though. I was following a pattern, but it was too big. I modified it but ended up ripping it back several times. Finally I finished it today. I plan on posting the pattern once I make the Oldest One's so I can have instructions for two sizes.

Must go hop in the tub before Family Jewels.

Happy knitting!

* Before I offend anyone, I love animals and have nothing against these kinds of dogs. I just think it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to kids and these breeds known to be aggressive. And anyone who knows my boys knows they're on the active side. And anyone who knows these dogs in particular understands where I'm coming from. Ask the oil man. And hubby's cousin. Etc.

Distraction

I have no pictures of work in progress or FOs today, so instead I will distract everyone with some pictures of some yarn I have for Tweeding Along. In fact, most of this will kill two birds with one stone. The light blue, dark blue, and the green Shetland Chunky Tweeds will make hat and mitten sets for my boys, plus one set for a donation for the oldest's school raffle draw. Mittens for Knittin' Mittens KAL and tweeds for Tweeding Along. The red Shetland Chunky Tweeds is going to be an Irish Hiking Scarf for the Red Scarf Project. That actually kills three birds -- Tweeding Along, Irish Hiking Scarf KAL, and the Red Scarf Project! Dontcha just love it when you make something that gives you points for more than one KAL?! Well, the Red Scarf Project isn't really a KAL, but close enough!

I find I'm becoming a yarn snob. I find myself leaning toward wool or blends now. This stuff is 25% wool, 75% acrylic. It's really soft and machine washable. There's some sweaters I'd like to knit for the boys, and even for those I'm looking at this yarn or some superwash wool of some sort. I still greatly prefer machine wash! Although some of the socks I have are hand-wash, but they're only small and not so bad. I could never handle hand-washing an adult sweater!

I worked yesterday after being off for five days. One of the ladies had marked down four odd-lot balls of Patons Classic Wool to half price. Two balls were aran, two were winter white, all different lots and very different in color. It only takes one ball to make a pair of felted mittens, so I grabbed all four. I foresee felted mitten Christmas gifts. Still debating whether or not I will dye the yarn or leave it like it is. I have some bits of other colors of leftover Classic Wool, so I may just add some stripes to the cuffs or something.

Pop on over to Mossy Cottage. She's having a Dulaan 10,000 or Bust! contest kinda thingy. You have from now til June 15/07 to make five items for The Dulann Project. At the end anyone who completes 5+ items gets their name put into a draw for yarny goodness.

The Sweet Sheep is having a grand opening sale as well that runs until this Friday.

Nova Knitter is off to England today for ten days. When she gets back we're going to try to plan a trip to Have a Yarn. Look out wall of sock yarn, here I come!

Also be sure to go see The Harlot -- she tied the knot finally!

Yes, Aija, I finally made it to The Dark Side! I couldn't upload these pictures and finally used Flickr! Now I have to fiddle with it a bit more to really know what I'm doing. I managed to post these after a fashion, but I'm sure there's an easier way to do it than the way I did.

Happy knitting!

Season Over

Camping is done for another year. The campground where we have a seasonal lot closed today til Victoria Day weekend next May. (It's the third weekend in May, long weekend, holiday Monday.) At 4 this afternoon the power and water were shut off, but we were out of there around 2:30. I did four loads of laundry since I got home, and I'll have more once the camper is back in the yard. I left a lot of the bedding in it til we bring it home from the RV place where it's being MVIed and winterized. That will be in about two weeks.

Didn't get a lot of knitting done this weekend. There was a pot luck supper last night for the seasonals who were still at the campground, plus there were some others there who came to it, too. It was an End of the Season/Birthday party for three people. This morning we did pot luck breakfast. Then it was time for everyone to pack up and help each other get their campers out of the lots without hitting anything. (Wooded and lots of big rocks.) I did work on my Mystery Socks. I just started the heel on the first one. I crossed a cable the wrong way yesterday. I almost didn't notice it. I tried to recross it, but it still didn't look right. I was going to leave it. They're only socks for me, and unless I pointed it out I doubt anyone would notice it. But, of course, I ended up ripping back about six rows to correct it. It did feel better in the end! That little boo-boo would just aggravate me to no end.

Well, off to check the laundry situation yet again. I think there's a load in the dryer and another one waiting to go in.

Happy knitting!