Saturday, June 28, 2008

The Beach

I have no knitting content this post. There has been a lot going on the last few days with my best friend and her family home from Alberta for vacation. Tonight was the big birthday bash for her mother. They turned it into a fund raiser for the Oldest One's school that is trying to raise the money for a rock climbing wall. The wall itself is something like $5000, and the climbing gear is another $3000. So far I think the school raised $2600 or so over several months. They had silent auctions tonight on donated items, sold tickets of basket of donated things, no gifts wanted but money donations, etc. They had barbeque chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, tons of stuff. They had a personal goal of $2000. When we left at 10:30 they had a whopping $4600! And there were a lot of people who couldn't make it and have mailed cards with donations. Her dad told me that if they don't have enough for the wall when all is said and done he will go back to the businesses and try to get them to add a little more.

They are amazing people. They have adopted and fostered so many kids, all from rough backgrounds, a lot with special needs. They just recently took two more boys, half brothers, about 11-12 year old range. All of this money raised will be donated in memory of their son who died in a tragic accident last September. They have two grown biological sons. There are several kids who came and went over the years, but they have eight in addition to the biological sons who "stayed", plus the young one who passed away. Two were adopted officially (including my best friend), and two more legally changed their names to their last name. Now there are two more boys who could most likely be there for the long haul! (I can think off the top of my head five kids who were there when we were kids that moved on, plus they had a baby once that was adopted shortly after they got him.)



Anyways, I wanted to post some of the pictures I took at the beach the other day.



Look out! It's Cujo! That's my freak. :)




She loves to dig holes, and all that sand was open territory. She must have dug twenty holes.


All the rest are just scenic. Taken at Beach Meadows Beach, Nova Scotia.




Happy knitting!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

I Wish Every Day Was...

A day at the Beach. (Line from a kids song them play on the satellite radio.)

First up, I finished the baby jacket that was requested by a customer. Started June 10, finished June 26. The pattern is my own, the lace part is called little and large diamonds. The hat is just a 2x2 rib with some shaping at the top. I used Sirdar Denim Tweed DK in faded denim. The color isn't the greatest cuz I took the pictures inside with no flash so the pattern showed up better. I tweaked the color a bit with my camera software to make it a closer match.




The boys and I went to the beach today. It was the first time the dog has ever been at the beach. Pictures to follow in my next post. I took a ton of them today! Almost filled my card, but I did have two small video clips on it. It's only a 256. I really need 1GB now with the better camera. Anyhoo, I took my mother's socks to work on since I need a pair for this month's SAM5 KAL entry. I only got a few stitches knit since I had the dog tied to me. She was quite silly acting, so it wasn't condusive to knitting. But I got a couple of nice shots of the sock at the beach.

It was gorgeous there today. It was nearly as warm as town. (I hate it when I get there and it's foggy and cold and you need sweaters and pants and all that.) There was a nice breeze blowing. My best friend and her family should be on their way from the airport as I type. She wants to spend lots of time at various beaches during her two weeks here. Her son has never been to a real beach, and her middle girls was only a toddler and can't remember. I think the oldest one remembers a bit. She was here when she was one, then again when she was four-ish.

Gotta go water the garden before it gets totally dark outside.

Happy knitting!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Peas!

I have peas!!!

My first peas ever! I watered the garden tonight and just happened to notice that my row of provence peas are growing! The other two kinds (Little Marvel and Snow Peas) are all in flower.
My first peony ever. I planted this the summer we bought the house or the next summer, so it has been six or seven years. (Taken off my mother's that has been there forever.) This is the first flower EVER in all that time! There was another bud that I preached to the kids to NOT do anything to harm the buds. Someone knocked it off while lawn mowing. Ahem.

My best friend and her family will be here from Alberta Thursday night!

Happy knitting!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Busy, Busy

Warning: Picture heavy post!

I finished all four dishcloths needed for the Oldest One's teacher and classroom helper while camping on the weekend. Exhibit One in front of the fire.

Exhibit Two at the pool. The water is still too cold for my likings. I swear kids have no feeling. (Although there were some adults in there, too. But mostly kids. I did sit on the edge and stick my legs in up to my knees.)

Exhibit Three is appropriately the "swimming pool" colorway. The kids dragged me off to the pool twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday. This was the second trip there. The next day mostly involved knitting baby jacket sleeves two-at-a-time.

The finished products. Two basic dishcloths in Bernat Handicrafter Stripes. Two small arrow dishcloths in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton.

I couldn't NOT start a pair of socks on the first day of Summer of Socks. I cast on for Pillars of Atlantis* after 11pm Saturday night. I only knit three rounds so far. This yarn I bought off of eBay ages ago. It's hand-dyed. It looks and feels superwash, I can't remember. I will have to do a swatch and wash it on the delicate cycle before I just throw them in.

It was finally a beautiful weekend for camping. No rain at all, sunny and warm. I found one lone ladyslipper on our lot. I warned the kids not to pick it, walk on it, crush it, etc. And the dog can't reach it, either.

The kids had sparklers, a camping favorite.

I've got a thing for pictures of campfires. Maybe that's from being married to a volunteer firefighter.

This was hard to try and get pictures of the sparks. I had to hold the camera in one hand and try to take the picture while whacking the fire with a big stick with the other hand. I should have waited til it was darker out. Hubs worked all weekend or else he could have whacked the fire for me.

So as seen above, the pool is open at the campground. It's a pretty plain place, nothing special, but they do have a nice pool, and they keep it exceptionally clean. Neither of the boys have ever had swimming lessons. The Oldest One was always petrified of water for some reason (not that anything ever happened for him to be scared), but he'll go in the shallow end with his ring. I wanted to get them into swimming lessons, but he says he won't go if he can't have the ring. He's very skittish of a lot of things. (Good thing he has a spare ring just like this one -- the dog bit this one and put a hole in it. I patched it twice, but they both fell off.)

The Littlest One, on the other hand, he has no fear which can be a bad thing. He just uses water wings and has actually taught himself to swim somewhat. He can kick his legs and move his arms to propel himself through the water, but I don't know what would happen without the wings. He hasn't tried yet. The shallow end is three feet deep. Last year he had to hold his head up, and the water came to his chin. This year it's a bit below his armpits, so he's grown a fair bit, even if the pool has an inch or two less water than last year. He likes to stand on the side of the pool and jump in. He'll duck his head under water, but not the Oldest One! If that happens it's an accident. Heaven forbid he gets water in his eyes!


I started tomato seeds inside in pots. When I left Friday for the camper there was no sign of life. When I got home Sunday, they were all sprouted. Perhaps this will work after all...

So that's about it. The dog has been a bad girl lately. She took off at the campground a couple of times. She'd run out when the kids went out or if they didn't latch the door good she'd get it open. Once she was outside with one of their toys. I took it from her and gave it a fling where she couldn't reach it. She tore off after it, I heard *snap*, and off flew her collar. It has two plastic clips, and she broke one of them off. Of course she had a little jaunt around the grounds before she'd come back. Her obedience training on the command come has defintely flown out the window in the great wide open. Last night the Oldest One let her get out. She tore off in the neighbor's yard. First thing up she goes to the sidewalk and down the busy street, cars coming, her running in the road. I thought for sure she'd get run over. Finally a young guy came up the sidewalk, and she got spooked by him and sat by one of the houses where she knows there's a puppy and let me grab her collar. I'm not impressed with any of them right now -- the kids for letting her out all the time and her for not listening to me. She did have a brief visit and run with the hunk of dog known as Hank the other day. He must be twice her weight now, she looks so small compared to him! He puts it all over her, and I love it! (And I have no idea what my mats ever did to her -- she's taken to shaking the crap out of my mats, at the house and at the campground. It's quite the sight. Maybe she thinks she's helping houseclean or something.)

Happy knitting!

PS There was a yarn rep in the other day, but I wasn't there. Patons is coming out with a silk/bamboo yarn and seven new colors in Classic Wool, very nice. (I thought of the Knit Nite girls when I saw it, especially Heddy.) There are some other new colors in other yarns, too. Bernat has Baby Jaquards and a Jacquards with colors for older kids. She left two of the pattern books for the Jaquards. The baby one has some nice patterns in it. There's also a new yarn that is made with corn. Interesting. The new stuff is due out in August. Anyone interested in taking a look at the brochures just pop into the store sometime.

* If you don't do Ravelry you can get the pattern here on her sidebar.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Boobie Cupcake, Supersized

Sign ups are open for Sock-A-Month 6 KAL. Linked on the sidebar here.

Cupcakes for Marti's niece. They turned out really big. Wish I would have used 3.25mm instead of 3.75mm needles. I used this pattern, really fast, really easy, no sewing up at all! I also found some plastic cups in my cupboard and cut the bottom off two to put in the bases of the cupcakes so they would look and sit better. I used Phentex Dynasty for the base and discontinued Bernat LuLu leftovers from nephew's blanket for the "icing". The cherries are On Your Toes DK Sock Yarn.
I don't like the cherry on the yellow one. I should have used two strands of the yarn cuz it was lighter. I did that for the white one, and I like it better. The yellow one especially looks like a boob when viewed head-on, see?

They were really fun to knit. I wish I'd had more time to make stuff for her. I wanted to do a couple of donuts and had an idea for a jelly roll, too. They turned out a little on the big side compared with the rest of the stuff. (I just love those crocheted Oreos by our new Knit Nite friend! She'd only met me at work, and I mentioned Knit Nite and how Marti was collecting knit food items for her niece's present. She came to Knit Nite on Wednesday armed with oreos, petit fours, and pinwheel cookies! Knitters are such nice and generous folk, eh? I had three people offer me dishcloths so I wouldn't have to rush to get mine done.)


Here's some shots of my garden. The provence peas are all flowering, so it shouldn't be long now til they produce! Part One of the garden from left to right is leaf lettuce, provence peas, carrots, radishes and little marvel peas in one row, little marvel peas in two rows, and a row of snow peas.
My lettuce is finally starting to look like lettuce. It seemed like it sprouted and stayed the same for weeks.
Fast growers! I only planted these zucchini, cucumbers, and green and yellow beans last week. They stared sprouting after only a few days.
Yellow beans sprouting.

I'd like to make the garden about twice as big next year. I'd like to plant more, too. Maybe some turnip and beets and broccoli, if it isn't too hard to grow. I started some tomato seeds inside, but I don't think they're going to grow. I guess I'll have to make a trip to the garden centre and get some already started.

The kids and I should be off to the camper this afternoon. Hubs is supposed to be working. The last few weekends he's arrived home, though, because there were no loads in his home terminal which is less than two hours away. He gets paid waiting time at every other terminal, but not at his home terminal, so where it's nearby he comes home rather than sit there for a day or so. I will be taking my dishcloths to finish for the Oldest One's teacher and classroom helper. I want to send them with him on Monday. I'll also be taking my mother's socks since I don't have a pair finished yet for the SAM5 KAL. I also need to finish the baby set cuz the shower was changed to the 29th. All that's left is the arms, hat, and finishing. It sucks that the socks on the needles now won't count for SOS. I was thinking about what might be my first pair. I think I'll go with Monkeys in Cherry Tree Hill in silver streak. I got the yarn for Christmas 2006. I want to start using up some of the older stuff. I have a tendency to buy new sock yarn and use that instead of the poor stuff that's been around for awhile.

Six days til my best friend and her family get home from Alberta for a two week vacation!

Happy knitting!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Cutting it Close

I picked this up at the store yesterday. The only color we have left in the discontinued Bernat Hot Sox, sun hot. I have one pair of socks from this yarn in the Hippi Hot colorway. I like them a lot, and I'm sure the acrylic will outlive us all! I wish now I had more of this.

I finished the six dishcloths I needed for the Littlest One's preschool teacher and her two helpers. I made three plain dishcloths with Bernat Handicrafter Stripes. The other three are small arrow. The pink one is Coolspun Cotton, the yellow/orange/white is Bernat Handicrafter, and the greenish is Bernat Organic Cotton. The last one made was the green one, and I finished it last night, or I should say early this morning, at 12:30am! Then this morning before school (this is his last day of preschool, graduation next Wednesday night) I weaved in the ends, tied them up with raffia and put them in the gift bags, along with a Jersey Milk chocolate bar each. Oh, and photographed them, all twenty minutes before I had to be to work, and I still had to have breakfast and get dressed.


I'm hoping to get to Knit Nite tonight. I probably won't know til lunchtime. I have to see if my Dad gets home today. He's been away for quite a bit, so if he comes home I won't get Ma to watch the boys. If he's still away... well then, that's a different story!

Happy knitting!

Monday, June 16, 2008

WWKIP Day

So the WWKIP day at our store went pretty well. Pop on over here or here to see pictures. I forgot my camera, but the boss used the store's camera. However, I couldn't get it to upload the pictures so I could save them to my Flickr. Luckily a couple of the others remembered their cameras. I was very happy that Marti got a 35% slip, Heddy a 30% slip, and KnitWeir and Nova Knitter each got 25%. I was working, so I missed out on the road trip to Have a Yarn. I did send Heddy off with a slip with four Trekking XXL colors listed in order of my preference. They had sock yarn 25% off. I got my second color choice. This will eventually be Muscari socks from the new Knitty.

I picked this up at our store. I've been wanting to make Broadripples with it since seeing these ones. Must...have...turquoise print...Broadripples...


I also picked up two more Handicrafters cuz the Oldest One wants two dishcloths for his classroom helper. I have until Monday to make the four I need for his class. I have tonight and tomorrow to knock off three-and-a-half for the Littlest One's teacher and two helpers. His last day of preschool is Wednesday. His graduation is next Wednesday, then it's off to big school in September.

The Littlest One was sick Saturday night and slept in with us. I woke up around 2:30 and went to shove him back closer to the wall. I didn't know he had his hand kinda up in the air, and I ran into it with my eyeball. By seven I couldn't stand it any longer. I called outpatients, and they said to come up around 8. I called Dad to take me up cuz there was no way I could drive. The doctor on call was like, "Did you report this assault to the RCMP?" Anyways, he froze my eye, took a look, and sure enough, just what I figured, I have a bad scratch on it. So I have prescription ointment drops for seven days. Doesn't feel too bad now. It gets kinda gritty feeling at times, and the sunshine makes it water. I went to the post office a couple of times today, and I had that eye shut when I was outside. When I went back into work it was red and watery again. Of course I wear glasses but don't have any sunglass clips for either pair of glasses I own. The rest of the week is supposed to be cloudy and rainy, so it should be easier on the eye.

Please go here and see this, it's too cute!

Happy knitting!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

WWKIP Approaches

WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY(WWKIP)
Saturday, June 14
Memory Lane/Ball n Skein
1 Gorham Street, Liverpool
354-5486
Come celebrate the joy of knitting with us!
The Knitterpudlians will be there!
Start time 11am.
Store is open 9-4.
If it's fine we'll sit outside.
Please bring a camp chairor folding chair.
FISHBOWL SALE!
All day long! Draw a slip from the fishbowl to determine
your discount from the Ball n Skein department only,
then shop away! Discount will apply to all regular
priced yarns, pattern books, and accessories.
(Our WWKIP event info on the net.)
(Offical site of the Knitterpudlians.)


I actually have a FO to share. I started one of these on June 6 and actually made two of them by June 9. I used Rowan Calmer, one skein, in khaki. I acutally ran out of yarn for the second one and had to finish with a bit of leftover RC in coffee bean.

Unblocked -- I finished started and finished the first one while camping.


Yesterday I started the baby set (my own design) that was requested by a customer. She came into the store on Monday and said her daughter's shower is this Saturday! She's not due til September. However, she said if I can't get it finished not to worry. That's good cuz the boss's father is in his 80s and has pneumonia. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital early last Friday morning and spent a few days there. He lives with the bosses, and she doesn't like to leave him alone for very long. T is gone on a small vacation here and won't be back til tomorrow, so I have worked Monday, Tuesday, and today all day. That's almost as many hours as I usually work in two weeks! I'm glad for the extra money. It'll be a stretch to get the set finished, but I'll try. I also need to work in some housework time, too.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a picture of my first harvest from my garden. I had to thin out some of the radishes. They're really good! I planted the remainder of my seeds last night. (Yellow and green beans, cucumbers, and zucchini.) I think this weekend I'll get tomatoes to put in pots.

Happy knitting!