Itty Bitties

Made some itty bitty baby socks. These ones are leftover Regias of some sort that I had in the stash. The other ones are Socks That Rock mediumweight, leftovers from my rpm socks. These will fit newborn baby feet. I used 2.75mm needles and 24 sts. Heel flap over 12sts, toe to 8sts. The STR have short-row-heels, the others have regular heel flaps. Started these November 24, finished the 27th.


The Oldest One had his eyes tested Thursday. Been complaining of headaches. They'd told me a few years back that once he got into the bigger grades and did more reading and such that he'd probably need them. He did, so after school he went and picked them up. We lucked out that they had his prescription in stock and made them on site. I got 2-for-1, and the second pair was ready the next day. Got the same frame ordered in a different color. Always good to have a backup pair, especially for kids, rough kids like mine. (His trip to the dentist on Wednesday for more fillings also involved the removal of another nerve. He also had x-rays and is being referred to an orthodontist cuz he has a crossbite. You can kinda see it in this picture.)

He got a cute little holder for them. (These are my glasses on it.) I want one. Wahh!

I should get my Sugar Free socks finished today. Now I need to concentrate on Christmas knitting, plus I have two orders to fill. I need to make a pair of footies for a friend for her daughter-in-law. I also have to make two Christmas stockings. The family has had their stockings for many years, and now there is a grand-daughter and a daughter's boyfriend, so they each need one. Got the yarn yesterday to make them, so I think I'll try and start those tomorrow to get it out of the way.

The weather has warmed back up, and the snow is all gone except for some piles from snow plows. Yay!

Happy knitting!

PS We have new shades of Fortissima in stock (all five, three shades we had before, two are new) and a new shade of Austerman (07). There's a new yarn from Kertzer, too, that I want to order in. It's tweedy and solids, and I'd love a sweater made with the aran fleck! It's acrylic/wool, 100g skeins for $4.99.

Is It Friday the 13th?

Today is actually November 26, I started this post last night and didn't finish it. Today is my parent's anniversary, 42 years. Neither one remembered. Ma thought it was tomorrow, Pa had no clue.

So my house has a weird sewer hookup, as does the house besides me. The other day a Region guy stopped to check the holding tank, and pump wasn't working. There's a big red flashing light and excruciatingly loud siren in the basement that goes off when there is a problem, but for some reason it didn't. They came, pumped it out, cleaned out the pump, back in business. So Monday they neighbor calls, her alarm went off, and she says my holding tank has sounded like running water all day. I went out, and it did sound different, so when they came to check hers they looked at mine, too, and lo and behold something blew apart in it. It was recirculating on itself, so I had to turn it off for the night. They fixed it yesterday. So today, the Oldest One misses the bus, so I have to work and said I'd drive him. I go by the basement door which is open a crack and get an awful whiff that I knew was no litter box. For the first time ever some sewer water came up through the drain in the back room! Yeee-uck!

So I call the Region guys, they check my holding tank, no problem there. I need a plumber cuz it must be something between the house and holding tank. I called a plumber who still hasn't returned my call, so in the meantime I call Pa, and he gets his friend with a vaccuum truck to come suck the drain out. Now I have to go home after the Oldest One's dentist appointment and clean up the gunk and still keep an eye on the drains to make sure it doesn't happen again. If so, I need a plumber to come take apart the clean out thing and snake it out. So in my great rush to get the Oldest One to school cuz he was ten minutes late after all this hassle, I step on the side rail on the truck, snow on my shoe, me in a hurry, flat on my back in the middle of the driveway. Embarassed more than anything cuz two of the Region guys are still there. I think I pulled my bicep in my left arm cuz it's really getting sore. I'm worried about my knitting, and I have so much to do! I think my right leg is going to pay tomorrow, too. (My driveway isn't paved, so I had to change as I was full of mud and muck.)

And my day isn't over. The Oldest One is supposed to be getting more fillings today. We'll see how that goes. Two weeks ago he had his first ones, and the dentist had to take out a nerve. Ouch.

So, onto some knitting. Here's the finished shower gift for Hub's cousin. The shower was Sunday at 2. I finished this hat Sunday at 1 at nephew's first birthday party! Nothing like cutting it close. (Details here. I'm too lazy and my arm is starting to hurt.)


This is the little sweater for newphew. Got another one just like it in a larger size that needs sleeves. Details here.

Here he is with his mommy's mommy opening our gift. He got a little truck, too.

Yummy birthday cupcake! I think my camera must have been on manual cuz pretty well all the pictures I took there were fuzzy.

Got a new computer desk, and now Pumba can't lay on the monitor. He decided to claim one of the shelves. I moved my stuff so he'd have more room and wouldn't mess up all the receipts I have to post.

And the two canine females are getting very close. Maggie loves to cuddle with her, but Jewel can be queer. She likes to be close but not too close. Sometimes she moves somewhere else, poor Mags looks dejected, but she follows her and cuddles up again!

Daddy had food.

Happy knitting! Christmas is getting close, get those needles clicking!

First Snow

We got our first snow of the season last night. We got a lot more than what was expected. Curling was cancelled this morning. Maggie got to see her first bit of snow. It started last night around 10:30, so they got play in a light dusting last night before bedtime. This was what Maggie had to deal with this morning. (Daddy cleared a spot for her where she usually uses the bathroom.) She immediately jumped into the snow.


Here's a short video of the dogs in the snow.



Happy knitting and shoveling!

Blah

Blah. That's how it has been lately. The weather has been blah. Crappy rain and showers for days now, and it has gotten colder. I had a cold last week, but that seems to be finally going away. I've got pressure knitting to do this week. I have this little cardigan that has to be finished for the shower on Saturday. Newphew was one yesterday, and he is having a little family party on Sunday. I dug out the sweater I started for him way back when.* It was supposed to be finished for Easter, and for some reason I set it aside with only a sleeve and a quarter left to knit. The first one I started was way big, so I set that aside with only the sleeves left to knit. Now the second one may be too small! I plan on finishing both and picking what one will get the most use. A little big will last longer than just right or maybe even too snug. I know, I'm slack.


Hubs retired from the fire department after being in for 17 years. His party was last Saturday night. He got a cheque for years of service and honorarium, a framed certificate, watch, and a special certificate from the Region. I got a dozen red roses. (Shoulda cropped myself out. I hate having my picture taken.) That's the chief presenting his stuff. We had a half-chicken dinner for the meal, then there was a dance afterwards. There was a lot of people at the meal, but as usual it was just a small bunch of the regulars who hang around who stayed for the dance. It was fun.

My fridge of only 6.5 years bit the big one the other week. I was not happy since we bought it brand new, and that isn't very old for a fridge. The condensor went, and all the freon leaked, out, so Dad said may as well get a new one cuz it would be expensive to fix. We had a bar-sized fridge in the basement as well as a small deep freeze. He took the old fridge out, brought the little fridge up, and we decided to wait til after Christmas to get a new fridge. We couldn't really afford one right now, poor timing, too, with having to Christmas shop, oil season, etc. After Christmas there are always good sales. Anyhoo.... without going into details the little fridge met an untimely demise last Friday night by no fault of my own nor either child or any pets in the house, so you can guess from there. Thus, last Saturday Hubs and his brother headed off to fetch a new fridge. The way our kitchen is and how the cupboards were built we can only get a small fridge to fit the hole. This one came from the same place as the last one, but it's a different brand and better last longer.

These two are getting very close! Maggie has grown a lot since we got her on the 8th. I notice quite a difference when I pick her up. She's learning to go to the door when she wants out, but there have been some accidents. She absolutely does not like me to raise my voice to her, and she slinks off and hides under the table when she gets into trouble. She wanted to sit on my lap last night, but it was all a ploy to get at my knitting. First thing little teeth had it...

Happy knitting!

*Look at all that snow! Yee-uck! I know it's coming, but why can't we have warm weather year round! No lower than zero and snow only for Christmas is my kinda winter. We haven't had any snow yet, but there are flurries in the forecast.

Warm Hands

Finally finished my charity knitting for Warm Hands Innu Knits. The package included three pairs of Newfoundland mittens. (See these in my Ravelry projects for how I did them. I made two different kids sizes. The blue and yellow are the larger pair, more suited to probably young teen. The other two are probably more like 6-10 years old maybe.) Started November 4, finished the 13th. Briggs & Little Heritage in navy, orange, and yellow.




I'd also made six hats out of Briggs & Little Atlantic, and there was a child size four sweater at the store that I knit eons ago, so I grabbed that and threw it in. It's pretty colorful -- won't lose the kids in the snow wearing these. At least they'll be warm.


I think this was old-old-old stock Canadiana that I got for next to nothing.


I'm feeling for Nova Knitter, too. Seems her fairly recently added dog, Gunni, loves her knitting and must have it at all costs. It has to be kept quite safe. I think our new little Maggie thinks she's a cat, cuz every time she can steal my yarn she does. She's terrible. She also steals shoes, slippers, socks, etc. She got the insole out of my sneaker yesterday and chewed it. Not too badly, and I do need a new pair. The kids went to school the other day, and when I came back from the bus stop she had both of my slippers and a sock in her kennel. Shortly before that I had already taken one slipper and the Oldest One's socks from her.


She likes to make a mess with her food, too. The little bugger sticks her paw in it and upsets it, and if she can't tip it over she uses her paw to knock it out.


There are still quite the commotions over the rawhides. Jewel will steal one from Maggie, then when Jewel isn't looking Maggie steals it back. This morning after the kids went to school Jewel stole Maggie's rawhide, ran around the house with Maggie hot on her tail, and then the big game was on of keep-away.


Mine!

Happy knitting!

Maggie

Jewel has a new little sister. Her name is Maggie, and she's a golden retreiver mix of some sort, too. I got an e-mail about her the other day, the place that had hooked us up with Jewel knew I wanted another dog. Jewel is so hyper we thought another dog would help expend her energy. I didn't want a puppy, I'd hoped for one already housebroken. Of course, as soon as I saw this little face my plans went out the window. Her name is Maggie, and she's about three months old. We didn't know til we picked her up on Saturday that she came from the same place as Jewel -- Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. She's got a white spot on her left eye, but apparently they said it's getting smaller. I hope it doesn't totally go away, it's cute.

She's got a lot of spunk --- she takes no crap off of Jewel. She plays quite rough with her, and Maggie lets her know when it's too much. I can easily see her being the alpha female when she's bigger. They played really well together last night, chasing each other and me around the house.

She's another one that wants whatever you're eating. She also seems to really like Briggs & Little wool.

Jewel is quite jealous of the rawhides. There were probably five of them, different kinds, but she had to have whatever one Maggie had. She's getting a bit better though. Maggie growls and snaps at her if she tries to steal it.

Being a baby still she sleeps a lot and likes it under chairs and end tables. I kennel her at night since she's not housetrained yet. I put her in the kennel when I go to work, too, cuz Jewel is too rough with her (and the not housetrained thing). I'm keeping her out of the back of the house where the carpets are for now.

My little Jubs Diddily is still getting loads of attention. The cats have totally ignored Maggie so far, and she ignores them.

I did get a little ruffle hat and socks made. The hat is size 12 months and is this free pattern. The socks are 6-12 months and are from the Bernat book Patty Cake, which I can never get to link. I started these on November 5, finished the 8th.

Got a new mannequin. T at work gave me a baby-sized one. Too bad it's headless! I'll get lots of use of this one. I do lots of baby stuff. My doll is good for 0-3 months stuff, then the rest is too big.

Happy knitting!

FOs

Got a few FOs to show today. First up is a baby kimono in Bernat Baby Jacquards spearmint candy. Started October 22, finished the 30th. I made the smallest size which was supposed to take one skein, but I ended up needing a second skein. It was six months, but when I measured it, it was more like 12 months, and I followed the pattern exactly, so I don't know what's up with that. Anyways, it was for a shop sample, so it didn't really matter size-wise. It's a quick knit and is super cute. The yarn is nice to work with.

Second up is a finished Christmas gift! These are for step FIL, started November 2, finished the 4th. It's the old faithful felted clog pattern, and I used Patons Classic Wool in leaf green and forest. They are men's medium.

Third comes another Christmas gift for MIL. Ladies medium felted clogs in Patons Classic Wool leaf green. I gave them both felted slippers for Christmas 2006, and they've worn them out long ago. New ones were requested which worked out well since I planned on making them these anyways.

I finished one of my Sugar Free Socks. I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran I got on eBay ages ago for a pair. Super soft and cushy, fast knitting since it's on 3.25mm needles. I can't get a good color shot inside, so when they are done I'll wait for a nice day for outside pictures and see if they turn out better. The yarn is darker and not so shiny.

So that's it for now, so much knitting to do, so little time. I was up late last night and got the mittens started that I'm making for charity. (And wanted them mailed by now, but now I'm shooting for Monday.) I had to watch Obama's speech! History in the making, folks, history in the making. I'm not even an American or live in the US, but I can say I was as proud last night as if he was just elected my president! I think it's wonderful!!!

Happy knitting!

Halloween 2008

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. There were treats to be handed out at our house. I guess Pumba was trying to tell me something maybe? I don't think any kids would want to cart a 20lb cat around when there's candy and chips to be had. (His fatness was spread out enough he didn't seem to squish the chips.)

There were a couple of knights...


...an ADHD sunflower...

...and by the end of the evening there were loads of goodies brought home and a fair bit of leftovers. (My hander-outer didn't follow instructions. I think he had ulterior motives.)

Don't forget the time change tonight, back an hour. Spring forward, fall back.

Happy knitting!

PS I did not buy Jewel an outfit. That was from the Oldest One's first Halloween. Everyone thought he was a girl. Needless to say Jewel only kept it on when she was waiting for treats to be handed over. When the treats disappeared it was time to try and eat the flower.