Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! Enjoy yourselves tonight in whatever you chose to do.

We are at home with the kids tonight. We'll have some drinks (the kids have Root Beer), the pizza is already ordered so I can pick it up when I get off at 4 (they are super crazy busy today, it pays to order early), got to run to the grocery store for a few things, then it's home. We'll play Wii and other games all evening long, and I may sneak in a bit of knitting as well. Dad's birthday was yesterday, so I told him he was getting socks, but they aren't done yet.

I guess there is a storm coming tomorrow. It's supposed to start snowing in the afternoon and be rain and/or snow right up til and including Monday. My Dad came down today and tarred the roof again. Hopefully that will keep it from leaking until I can get it reshingled in the spring. He and Hubs also cemented those offending basement drains shut. Good riddance, I say. Apparently Dad says in the spring he's tearing the yard all up again and changing some more of the pipes around cuz they aren't the way they should be. This will also include jack-hammering a small part of the basement floor, I guess, in the rec room to change some stuff in there. Sounds like buckets of fun.

Had a bit of an embarassing moment at the grocery store this morning. Before I came to work I had some errands to do. It involved spending a large amount of money on prescriptions at the drug store. (Our medical is set up so that we have to pay for prescriptions up front, but we get all of it back once I mail the receipts away.) Anyhoo, it kinda crossed my mind that new bank, only been with them for two months, I wonder what my debiting limit per day is..... I found out! I had $100 of groceries that I couldn't pay for. I told the woman what my problem must be -- so I had to run over to work, grab $100 from the till, and go back and pay for my stuff. When I got home I called, and sure enough, I was set up for only $1000 per day. Had that changed really fast. It's normally not so bad, but Hubs ran out of almost all of his prescriptions at once. And next week I need the Oldest One's ADHD meds, that's almost $500. Thank goodness I get it back!

Happy Knitting and Happy New Year everyone! Stay safe tonight.

Christmas/Boxing Day

Christmas morning the girls got their stockings. They each had one of these, and Jewel thought she'd carry hers around the house for awhile. Maggie was quite persistent that she wanted the one Jewel took. Jewel sat down eventually and tried to rip the stocking apart herself. I managed to forcibly take it from her to open it up. Each stocking had a stuffed animal in it (hah!), a rope toy, a couple of rubber squeaky toys, a little stuffed football, and a tennis ball.

This was literally about five minutes later. Froggy lost his eyes.

And Teddy lost his face! Jewel will NOT stop until the squeaky is out and destroyed. You can see the remnants of the squeaky to the left in the picture. (The little footballs didn't last the day, but miraculously the tennis balls are still each in one piece.)

Then it was on to gift opening once Nanny and Grampy arrived. The Oldest One didn't wake up til 8:30, and we had to wake the Littlest One up. They were up way too late Christmas Eve, too excited to sleep. I got up at 8 so I could get the turkey on the go.

The big present this year was a Wii. They got lots of games for it and two sports sets. I will admit right now that I can see this cutting into my knitting time! It's way too fun, I should have gotten one ages ago. We've only got two controllers and two nunchucks for now, but I will get two more sets so the four of us can play without having to pass controllers back and forth. There are also games where all four can play at once, so it will be good to have some more. I'd also like to get the wifi connector, too.

The Littlest One and his cousin had a boxing match. I've got to watch the kids, especially the Littlest One, as he gets rather close to the tv.

The bowling is really fun. I was the only one that had the wrist strap actually around my wrist. (Didn't realize you could tighten it.) The Oldest One got in front of me, I hit him in the rear end with the remote, the remote when flying across the room... Luckily I had the jacket on it, and it landed on a pile of books in front of the entertainment centre, so no damage was done, and I got a strike! The Littlest One is the King Pin. His first game of Wii bowling ever he got 189. This screenshot is game 3 or 4 maybe, he gets 236! He had all strikes and spares except for the last box, he only got a 9. He hasn't lost a game yet, the little bugger.

We each made a Mii. Every day you can go on and do your Wii Fit Age. Well, I didn't know what I was doing the first time and ended up with 80! Yesterday I did it, and I got it down to 53. I am good at the bowling part, but I only hit 1/10 home runs and pretty much suck at the tennis. I usually hit the ball outside of the court (or miss!).

Boxing Day we went to the in-laws. MIL got a new puppy. He's so small I thought he was a Siamese cat at first glance. He was totally taken with beer.

Sleeping it off with the Littlest One, lol!

These were the socks I made for MIL for Christmas. Started December 14, finished the 26th, these are night and day vanillas made with Patons Kroy FX cameo colors. They are the same dye lot, but the second sock showed hardly any blue. I don't even try to match FX up cuz there are barely any leftovers, and I'm not getting a third skein just to match. If it was really stripey like Fortissima or something then yes, it would have to match, but I can live with it like this. Ravelry details here.

Step FIL's socks were Thujas made with Briggs & Little Tuffy in granite with red mix for the cuff, heels, and toes. Started these December 22, finished the 26th. One heel looks longer than the other, but it isn't. It's just the way the sock is laying. Had to snap the photo quickly cuz Tinker (the puppy) kept trying to steal them. Ravelry details here.

I did learn some useful information for next year, too. MIL likes heavier socks like the FX, so she'll get FX and/or sport weight socks in the future. I also got the jist that step FIL's future socks should be lighter weight than the work socks I made for him this year. I did make him work socks with Tuffy one other time and some work socks with Shetland Chunky, but perhaps his future socks should be FX-like or sport weight as well. He also got out his hat I made him a year or two ago and commented that he'd like to have another one or three.

I vow this time around to start my Christmas knitting earlier. (Don't I always do that every year? lol!) I have made a small list so far of ideas for next Christmas. Lets see if it gets me anyhwere!

So for now the knitting pressure is mostly off. My Dad's birthday is Wednesday, and I started him a pair of socks. The Littlest One has a birthday on January 7, and the Littlest One's is January 14. I'd like to make them each a pair as well.

Happy knitting!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Happy knitting!

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

.... so the Littlest One can sing! I was working yesterday, he was at his grandmother's. They phone rang around 4pm. It was him, he and Nanny pulled them out. They were really loose. The teeth on either side of the gap are also loose, as are the teeth on either side of the front bottom teeth. The Tooth Fairy better keep some toonies around! Then after midnight our bedroom door opened, and the Oldest One came in. He lost a tooth, too, so it was a good thing the Tooth Fairy had some extra change.

One more FO that got sent in the mail today. It's only going about 45 minutes away, so he should get it tomorrow. Thrummed mittens a la the Yarn Harlot for my brother. Started December 19, finished the 22nd. Briggs & Little Heritage in evergreen and their roving in sheeps grey. Ravelry detaild here.

Running out of time, must get back to knitting.

Happy knitting!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

First off I want to thank everyone for their kinds words about our latest tragedy. Our truck wasn't removed from the scene until Friday, and we may not hear the verdict on damages until after the holidays. One of the dispatchers called and said that some people said she didn't look too bad, others said she looked really twisted up. One of Hubs' trucking buddies called yesterday and said the full load of meats he was carrying was given to the food bank. 48,000lbs of meats can feed a lot of people, so that's a good thing. We've heard lots of rumors about the accident, nothing of an "official" capacity, but everyone is pretty much saying the same thing. It will be interesting to find out what's true.

Anyways, we got our first real storm of the season yesterday. Hubs is outside playing with his plow and 4-wheeler with the Littlest One riding shotgun.

I had to scroll back through my last posts to see what FO I showed last. Haven't had much knitting content in the last few posts.

Everything shown here are Christmas gifts. I made two Irish Hiking scarves with Patons Shetland Chunky, two skeins each, of oxford grey and sage green. I modified it two two cables because of the heavier yarn. I started the grey one December 1 and finished the 4th, and the green one was started on the 5th and finished the 9th. Ravelry details here and here. They are probably 6' long, so they can be worn in various styles.

I used Patons SWS to make some felted coasters for Nanny R and each boy's teacher. They turned out really cute. I had two skeins of blue and got 7.5 coasters out of it, so when I used the purpley I cast on 78sts instead of 90sts and got four coasters. (One of the coasters is a half-and-half so I had three sets of four.) I like the size of the purpley coasters better, so if I make these again I will cast on 78sts. Started these on December 11, finished the 14th. Ravelry details here.

So I am still knitting even though I'm almost out of time. I finished one thrummed mitten for my brother last night, hopefully I'll get the second one done tonight. I have to go to work in a little bit. I'll take a vanilla sock with me, but I doubt I'll have time to touch it. I have a couple of pairs of worsted weight socks to make, too. We'll see how far I get. My MIL was by the other day with our stuff, and I don't have theirs finished, and the other stuff I have wasn't wrapped. We will probably not see her again til Boxing Day, so I'll probably just take it up then. (That buys me a couple of days more to knit, and they don't mind getting their gifts late. Wouldn't be the first time they got their Christmas gifts a few days late!)

I got a little cheer-me-up gift from a friend the other day. Three hand-knit dishcloths and a package of mulling spices. Her husband was like, "She can make her dishcloths, you know." I love it, I needed new dishcloths, and even though they are fast it's hard to find the time to make my own. Her thoughtfulness is much appreciated.

Last week was our Knit Nite Christmas party. We did a yarn exchange. I nabbed this one from NovaKnitter. It's Fame Trend by Marks & Kattens. Really pretty, this is MINE, and I will have to ponder on a pattern for it.

Off to finish getting ready for work.

Happy knitting!

Unthinkable

It's hard to believe, but it has happened again. Not sure how long this link to the news story will last. Last night I got a call from Hubs at 11pm that he had been in an accident, and the other driver was killed. This is our truck, he tried to ditch it to avoid the other vehicle, but it was too late. This happened on a divided highway, somehow the other person was on the wrong side of the road. It was almost 11pm, light rain/drizzle, and fog. Hubs is badly shaken but not physically hurt.


This person was an off-duty HR police officer, 41 years old with 4 kids. They have no idea why he was on the wrong side of the divided highway. I took a major panic/anxiety/stress attack and ended up having to get someone to take me to the hospital where they gave me a needle and two bags of IVs. Hubs ended up getting a ride to the city where he stayed til this afternoon when a good friend of ours brought him home on one of his container runs to the paper mill. I just had to run down to the mill to pick him up.

In June of 2005 he had a very similar accident, and a lady was killed when she crossed the yellow line and into our first truck that we owned. It's hard to believe that something like that could happen to someone in 4.5 years when others drive 50 years or more and never have a major incident. In February of 2007 he had an accident up north and laid this truck in the picture on its side. Luckily he didn't get physically hurt in any of these accidents, and I am so thankful that both fatalities were NOT his fault. Both were caused by people not staying in their own lanes.

So now we're in a pickle. It could be after New Years before we find out much info about insurance and stuff. We'll have to go to wherever they tow the truck between Christmas and New Years to get his stuff. All he grabbed was his duffle bag, wallet, phone, and medicine bag. Right before Christmas, four poor kids with no father, us not knowing when he'll have a pay again after the end of this month.... Not good, but I guess we got through it the last time, we'll get through it again somehow.

Christmas Interlude

I still have a big whole in my yard. It is supposed to be getting filled in on Monday. Dad figured he'd better leave it open for the weekend to make sure everything was running okay. I've done a lot of laundry, and there have been several baths and stuff, so far so good. He has to go away to work tomorrow or Monday, so when he gets back we are going to cement in the drain in the rec room. (That's a big, square drain. Man, when we hauled the top off that it was just like something from a horror movie -- I'd never subject my readers to looking at pictures of it. I would have liked to have gotten my camera, though, and video Hubs gagging as he tried to clean it out. He has a weak stomach, it was quite amusing. That is, til it was my turn.) Dad says to do the other drain as well, we'll see. If we do that, and I have another problem with the sewer then I may not know til the toilet overflows. (Personally I'd rather have some backup in the back room of the basement rather than all over my bathroom floor.)

Off of the gross subject of the past couple of days...

I forgot, but last Saturday it was the local fire department kids Christmas party. (For kids in current members and honorary members families.) The Littlest One was running around too much to get many pictures. They have tables set up for cookie decorating, ornament making, and coloring. They also have hot dogs, ice cream, chocolate and white milk, and pop. Here's the Oldest One making a cookie.

They like sprinkles. :)

The Littlest One did stop long enough to make a couple of icings and sprinkles with a touch of cookie.

The Oldest One making an ornament.

Look how red and sweaty the Littlest One got from all that running around!

The Oldest One asked for an XBox. I said I thought he wanted a Wii. He was like, "oops". He's not getting an XBox!

I let the boys have the cookie decorating kit that came with my Christmas hampers. Yummy gingerbread. Jewel, the big gut, was looking for hers, of course. I'm sure Maggie wasn't too far away.

These were done by the Littlest One.

These were the Oldest One's. I thought mine was the middle one with all the icing. I was mistaken. I got the snowman.

I do have a couple of FOs, but they are still a little wet from blocking. Pictures to follow next post.

Happy knitting!

Sigh

Warning! Picture heavy post.

I guess the pictures mostly speak for themselves. I think I've mentioned it on the blog before, not sure, but I've had trouble with our sewer in the past. We have a really strange hookup for being located right in town. (Our house and the one next door were never hooked up to town sewer way back when. All the other houses around them were, so about 5-6 years ago the Region hooked us both up with holding tanks that pump the sewage up to the main line when the level gets deep enough to make the pump kick in. Before that our sewers drained into the brook out back and out into the river that flows into the harbour. Nice, eh? We had no knowledge of this when we bought the house, found out a couple of years later.) I know the Knit Nite girls have heard about my problems. Well, all was well this morning til I opened the basement door after the kids went to school to wash and block a couple of finished Irish Hiking scarves, and the stench hit me in the face.

This is the back room where normally it's the only place the septic backs up -- the round, dark spot on the left is the drain. It has only back up close to this much once before. This was the worst time ever.

It has never come out under the wall around my furnace and hot water tank before.

The rec room. The old carpet has got to go.

The only thing that survived in my garden are some lilies in the corner closest to my steps.

This was NOT the pipe Dad was looking for. This is some kinda drainage pipe that goes around the house (I am not a construction person, so it's beyond me.) It was totally full of sewer water (you shoulda seen the junk that came out of that). The sewer pipe coming from the house wasn't in the logical place that it should have been. More stuff got dug up than what had to.

This is my queer little holding tank. The bottom green pipe is the line from the house, the top green pipe is the overflow, and the pump is attached to the white and black pipe. At some point the sewer line got broken by the backhoe, but it was just as well cuz it helped drain the muddy water into the holding tank where the pump kicked in and pumped it up to the main line. There was too much water where they were digging, they couldn't see.

This is where it stands now. That white line going from the house to the hedge is the power line they ran from my panel to the pump. Why they ever put it over top of the sewer line is beyond me. Obviously it would be in the way someday if the line had to be dug up. Duh. See that small kink in it? The bucket got caught on it and bent it, but luckily it didn't seem to do any damage. Dad yelled as soon as he saw it hook, so the guy in the backhoe stopped. The pipe by Dad's feet is one of the pipes, there is another beside it. One is the sewer line, one has something to do with the overflow.

So basically now I have no facilities. The kids and I are bunking at Ma and Pa's for the night. He's coming to finish the job tomorrow. The Region people came today, and they were like, "Oh, we put this system in when D owned the house." I was like, "No, you didn't. I've been here for 8.5 years, you did this 5-6 years ago." Two or three of the fellas that worked on it also said that the new pipe was only about 1-1.5' from the holding tank, and they attached it to an old tar paper pipe. Well, no, they didn't. That's all new pipe they laid from the house out to the holding tank. What the problems seems to be is that they put a 90 degree angle join on the pipes, which according to Dad, is way too sharp. It should have been no more than 45 degrees. So that's where everything keeps clogging up on me, thus causing the stinking, filthy, disgusting mess in my basement.

So now my garden and lawn is a shambles. My peonies that took five years to bloom are gone. I'll have replanting and grass seed sowing to do in the spring. Sigh. Dad is good friends with the backhoe owner, so I won't get a bill til after New Years, and I hope he gives a cut on it. I think the way Dad talked he will pay it, then I'll pay him back. Add it to the tab I already owe him.

Oh, yeah -- my roof had leaked in the kitchen down through one of my light fixtures when it rained really hard. Dad went up to see if he could find the leak but couldn't, so he just put some tar in the general area. That was fine for a couple of months, til the other day when we had heavy rains, then it leaked again. So the roof needs to be done, too, very soon. (The shingles are probably 20 years old or so.) The garage also has to be done, that leaks like a seive. And the big truck needs steer tires, and the clutch brake isn't working right, and it needs windshields, and a whole bunch of other things...

OKAY -- I'll stop bitching.

One good thing that happened today was I got two of my Chrisco (the Littlest One calls the Disco) hampers today. There are four altogether that weren't supposed to arrive til tomorrow. But the two dry hampers came today, the frozen stuff comes tomorrow. Jewel had to check it out.

You can see Maggie's nose snooping here, too.

I hid this for now. This kids will like it -- they always throw a couple of surprises in the box. Last year there was a knife set and a nice cake plate and server. I think the only thing in these two boxes, though, was this cookie decorating set.

Nala had to check out what was in the box.

And so did Pumba.

I started this post earlier today, so I gotta go cuz it's really like something to eleven now, and I have to go back up to Ma's. Popped home to let the dogs out. Poor Maggie will have to be kenneled for the night. I'll run home first thing in the morning to let them out again. Hubs will be home tomorrow, and we've got some big time cleaning to do in the basement. All this aggravation is cutting into my knitting time as well. Not good since I am running out of time and still have too much to make! I owe Dad a ton of wool socks and probably a sweater after having to deal with all that crap - literally - today!

Happy knitting!

It's Snowing

We are getting the first storm of the year, but it's supposed to change to rain (so a slushy, icy mess). The Oldest One was supposed to have his school Christmas concert tonight, but it was cancelled. I thought they'd do it tomorrow night, but unfortunately they changed it to next Wednesday, right at the same time that we were to have our Knit Nite Christmas party. Grrr!! So it looks like if I get out at all it will be at the end of the party long enough to do our little cookie/treats exchange we planned. (There are two of us who have kids in this concert.)

Maggie loved the snow. I don't know how much she remembers from last winter cuz she was just little.


Jewel wouldn't co-operate for a picture, and it got windier so the camera focused on the snow, not her.


She's got some snow on her back. I keep an old towel by the door to wipe them down and clean their feet. The snow seems to stick to Maggie's fur a lot more than Jewel's.

Tonight we weren't having Knit Nite anyways, we were on hiatus. So now I'm going to go do my dishes and then sit and knit, knit, knit! Running out of time here...

Happy knitting!

PS I was told that some more colors of the James C Brett Marble Chunky have arrived at the store. I was off today and didn't get a chance to see just what arrived.

Hat & Mitts

Finished this awhile back, it's a hat and mittens set for my nephew's second birthday. Started November 25, finished the 29th, I used an old Patons mitten pattern that is no longer in print and the hat from this pattern but smaller needles. (3.5mm and 4mm) The yarn is Kertzer Accent Worsted in brown fleck. Ravelry details here.


I am plunking along on Christmas gifts. Got a scarf about 3/4 done, need to do another scarf just like it in another color, and I've got two ladies pairs of socks and three or four pairs of mens socks. Bonus for the mens socks is I want to make Thujas, and they're worsted weight, so they'll go faster. Plus there are a couple of little things to make as well.

There's been a contest in certain boxes of popcorn. The boys were lucky and each won a 2L Fanta pop. They also got this dvd pack. It's the old Scooby Doo, the one hour specials that had people like the Harlem Globetrotters, Dick Van Dyke, etc, in it.


The Littlest One had his school Christmas concert this week. I've been trying to upload one of the songs they sang, but it isn't co-operating with me right now. I'll keep trying. He decided that he needed a white shirt and a tie. I got these dirt cheap at a second hand store. The tie is clip on, as I was digging through the bin I just happened to come upon it, lucky find. (He wouldn't tuck the shirt in.)

Happy knitting!