Just in the Knit of Time

More Birthday Socks

2012-01-26T11:06:00.001-04:00

We had a bit of snow, I can't even remember the exact date, sometime after my last post. The dogs loved it. However, the next day it was really mild, and it pretty much all went away. First Maggie checked it out...

...then Jewel checked it out.

She looks kind of bug eyed cuz she was just getting ready to shake the snow off.

Saturday the 14th was the Littlest One's 9th birthday. He went bowling, too.

These are two of our nephews. The little one on his hands and knees is four and has never bowled before. He was so good, I couldn't believe it, but he made me nervous cuz every time he'd throw the ball he'd pretty much fall, and I was scared he'd hit his face. There is a thing for kids to use to roll the ball down instead of throwing it (not sure when they got it, first time I've ever seen it there), but he only used it once or twice, and he did much better on his own. I think his final score was 69, he tied for first!

Then it was presents, pizza, and cake time. The only picture I got of him with the cake, he didn't even wait for the Happy Birthday song to finish, he blew the candles out, lol.

I finished his birthday socks up on the 15th. They are a plain 3x2 rib over 55sts (had 56sts on for the cuff, then decreased one stitch), heel over 28sts so I could get purl stitches on either side of the top of the foot. I cast on one stitch on the top of the foot before toe shaping so I'd have 14-28-14sts. Toe to 20sts. The yarn is ONline Supersocke 100 Walking Color, Ravelry details here.

So we had a little bit of snow again last Friday. It ended up snowing, then raining, then snowing again, then the sun came out. Then it got cold, and the little bit of snowy slush we had turned to ice. But that didn't last, today it's like +8C and raining, everything is gone.

I had a very pleasant surprise the other Sunday (Jan 15th). Suppertime my doorbell rings, and I go to answer it. When I open the inside door there standing is my very BFF of 33 years. The surprise part was that she lives in Alberta, I'm in Nova Scotia, and I didn't know she was coming! It was a last minute thing more or less, she found out that Friday that she was coming home for four or five days, and she wouldn't let her family tell me she was coming. She works in a bar/restaurant, and her boss sent her home to get lobsters. This weekend past they had a Maritimes Festival, so they wanted nice, fresh, Maritime lobsters. So she stayed til Wednesday, but that afternoon they headed back to the city. She went with two of her brothers and her father to a comedy show in the city, then her plane left 7am on Thursday. Hubs was like, "They could have arranged that over the phone", but I told him not to look a gift trip in the mouth, lol. Any time her boss wants to fly her home for a few days for lobsters we'll take it!! (And I had a pair of socks put away for her to give to her this summer. I gave them to her now, and she said they were the best fitting pair of socks I've knit for her so far!)

Happy knitting!

PS Hop on over to new Mom Heddy's blog and see her little Munchkin -- he's SO cute!!

Belated Birthday Socks

2012-01-10T17:34:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday was the Oldest One's 12th birthday. It was a busy day, he had a bowling party with some friends, then they came back to the house for a bit for video games, snacks, opening the gifts, and cake, of course. This Saturday we get to do it all over again when the Littlest One turns 9.

The Oldest One got $60 in his birthday cards. He's ever such a pack rat and bargain hunter, he's forever on Facebook on one of the local classified ads groups looking for bargains. He found someone selling a Rock Band set, microphone, guitar, and drum set along with three games. They wanted $75, then $65, then he got them down to $60. They love it, and it wasn't a bad deal, either. Lots of good, old songs on there that Dad and I will play, too.

So last night I finally got his birthday socks finished. He likes bright socks. This yarn was gotten at a Knit Nite exchange. It's Phildar Hobby, the socks are plain vanilla 60sts on 2.5mm needles, heel over 30sts, toe to 20sts. Ravelry details here.

So now I get to try and crank out a pair of socks for the Littlest One for his birthday, but I figure they'll be late, too. I took the girls for a walk this morning. Maggie can be really weird on a leash, she'd definitely be run over if she was loose anywhere, she chases cars. She's not too bad if we're walking with the traffic (usually). But when we are facing oncoming traffic she tends to try and run out into the road when the car gets beside her and try to chase it. (I love her dearly, she's my baby, but she ain't playing with a full deck.) So I wrap the leash around my hand and keep it really short when we're places with much traffic where she might try and chase cars. The leash attaches to a coupler that has two teethy grip things near the top that are supposed to keep the dogs on even leads, but they pull so much that they must be wearing the teeth down, and sometimes it moves, so Jewel ends up with a shorter lead cuz Maggie pulls the most. Anyhoo, I've got them held short, but Maggie decides to lunge off the sidewalk after a car, Jewel isn't pulling, so Maggie starts pulling the coupler longer on her end. I yelled at her, yanked back hard cuz by this time she was out in the road, and in the process hurt the three middle fingers on my right hand. The finger next to the pinky is hurting big time, I'm trying to type without using that finger, it's got a nice, black bruise on it now, too. Silly girl. Haven't tried to knit on it yet, could be interesting. (And of course, I'm right handed.)

Happy knitting!

Open Studio

2012-01-05T12:40:00.001-04:00

The first FO of 2012, it's Open Studio, started Jan 1, finished on the 3rd. Knit on 4.5mm needles with MacAusland's Woolen Mills 2 ply fine yarn that I picked up on our PEI trip in August of 2010. I followed the pattern to the letter, I did 12 rows of ribbing, then I did the size with five cable repeats before top shaping. Ravelry details here.

The Littlest One modelled it for me when I was getting ready to take them to school. It was just starting to flurry a bit, thus the little specks of white on the hat. He had ants in his pants, it was hard to get good pictures, I guess he was excited because of the snow.

We ended up getting our first "real" snowfall of the season today, even though it still didn't amount to much. I class it as the first "real" snowfall because I did actually have to take the shovel and scrape the steps and walkway off. It's just enough to cover the ground, maybe two inches at most. I took the girls for a walk in it, they must have thought they were part of a sled dog team, they pulled really bad today. They love the snow. On the way home when we were just up on the corner from our house Jewel thought it would be fun to try and rave with Maggie. I didn't think it was such a good idea, two dogs trying to wrestle on a leash with a divider on it.... Luckily Maggie didn't really play back, so Jewel settled down again!

Happy knitting!

FOs of 2011

2012-01-01T13:14:00.005-04:00

FO count for 2011 was WAY down compared to previous years. Here's the breakdown:

adult socks - 20
child socks - 2
felted slippers - 14
other slippers - 1
hats - 9
scarves - 2
shawl - 1
baby blanket - 1
dishcloths - 6

TOTAL -- 56 finished items

2010 was 124 FOs, 2009 was 98... most years I'm over 100 FOs or close to it. Hope to do more in 2012!

Happy knitting!

FOs of 2011:
Camo Harris Tweeds 16
Smores Socks 17
Reversible Cabled Scarf
Nola's Slippers
Chestnut Pumpkin Slippers
Valentine Socks 18
Rosewood Chestnut Slippers
Gedifra Socks 19
Wasabi Vanillas 20
Basketweave Baby Blanket
Rainbow Socks 21
Desert Storm Socks 22
Five Pairs Felted Slippers
Bamboo Cafe Mocha 23
Silk Socks 24
My Mexicalas 25
Sporty Footies 26
Nation Footies
Laura's Slippers
Teachers' Dishcloths
Winterscape Socks
Ribbed Socks 1
Brown Watchcap
Four Pairs Slippers
Socky Socks 2
Hermione Cable and Eyelet Hat
Merry Merry Socks 3
Cascade Socks 4
Jacques Cousteau Hats
Copper Socks 5
Pinkie Socks 6
22.5 Degrees
Longish Traffic Island Socks 7
Greg's Replacement Slippers
Step FIL Slippers
Jamie's Tube Scarf
Three Marsan Watchcaps
Thujas 9
Traffic Island Ankle Socks 8
Grey Watchcap

Final FOs of 2011

2011-12-31T20:00:00.001-04:00

My final two FOs of 2011, a pair of ankle socks for a friend. The pattern is Traffic Island Socks, the yarn is Austerman Step with some leftover Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock for the heels and toes. Knit on 2.5mm needles, started December 27 and finished on the 31st, Ravelry details here.

And for another friend (ankle socks' fiance), I made my last Marsan Watchcap for the year. This one is made with Patons Classic Wool in dark grey mix. Started it on December 25, finished on the 27th. Ravelry details here.

Just having a house party with a few friends tonight. I hope whatever you are doing tonight you all have fun and stay safe!

Happy knitting!

Omitted!

2011-12-31T19:30:00.002-04:00

In going over my list of FOs for 2011, I noticed that I missed posting a pair of vanilla ankle socks back in May. How'd I do that?! I've got it on Ravelry but not my blog. These were made for a friend, the yarn is Regia Nation Color, started May 23, finished May 27, 60sts on 2.5mm needles, Ravelry details here.

Happy knitting!

The Lo Down

2011-12-27T09:43:00.003-04:00

There were two Christmas Eve gifts to open, one for each boy...

...cookies and vanilla egg nog for Santa, reindeer had special food outside...

...the dogs with their customary Christmas stocking (obviously Jewel was excited about it!)...

...stuffed Santa lasted the typical five minute life span of every stuffed toy with squeaky inside...

...then it was gift opening time for the rest of us...

...and the big gift was an XBox 360 with Kinect...

And lastly a picture of the work socks for BIL that were complete Christmas Eve day around 12:45pm. Thujas made with Briggs & Little Tuffy in oatmeal and greystone, 4.5mm needles, started December 20, finished the 24th, details here.

Happy knitting and Merry Christmas!

Christmas Knitting

2011-12-24T15:00:00.000-04:00

Are you still doing it? Christmas knitting, that is. I finished up my last project at 12:45pm today. Didn't have time to block them (work socks), but that's life. Pictures to follow later, I haven't transferred them from the camera yet.

Here's what's been happening on the knitting front besides work socks:

Felted slippers for step-FIL. Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, Patons Classic Wool in forest and leaf green, Ravelry details here.

Three Marsan Watchcaps, all were knit with Kertzer Northern Worsted. Left to right is copper pot tweed, indigo, and cedar. I remember I gave the blue one to my brother, but I can't remember the other two, one was for Pa, the other for step-FIL. Ravelry details here.

Another pair of slippers to replace a worn out pair for the lady who gets me to knit oodles of these. They were supposed to be picked up last weekend, but I never heard from him, so they're in the closet til whenever he is in town again. Same details as the pair above but in dark grey mix and black. Ravelry details here.

A friend bought her daughter a striped hat in bright colors, red, blue, green, orange, yellow... She asked if I could knit her a scarf in colors to match. She picked the yarn up, I did the work. I told her it wouldn't stripe, but she didn't care as it was the closest colors to the hat. The yarn is Patons Canadiana in rainbow, I used three skeins including the fringe. The pattern is Warmest Winter Scarf, knit on 5.5mm circular needles and cast on 50sts, it measures approximately 7.5" wide and probably nearly 6' long excluding the fringe. A mindless knit, rather dull, but I really like the end result, the thickness of the scarf and the fact that there is no wrong side! Ravelry details here.

So that's catch up on FOs. Everyone have a Merry Christmas tomorrow! Hope Santa finds you all!!

Happy knitting!

Catch Up

2011-12-09T14:00:00.003-04:00

Time is definitely running out for Christmas knitting. I haven't done a whole lot of it at all this year. So many things to do, so little time.

I did finish up a pair of socks, but these are probably going to get put away til next summer. I made them with BFF in mind. I made the cuff short in an effort to have enough left of the yarn (Austerman Step) to make a pair of ankle socks for another friends. However, when I wound the remaining yarn, counting stripes to figure it out, I am going to be just a wee bit short. So I guess I have to dig in the stash and find something to coordinate for heels and toes. The pattern in Traffic Island, ladies size 8, knit on 2.5mm needles, started November 3, finished on the 28th. Ravelry details here.

Last Saturday was the fire department kids' Christmas party. There was cookie decorating, as usual. This is one that the Littlest One made for me. I guess it's a good thiing I like sprinkles, lol.

Him with Santa, getting his treat bag.

The Oldest One with Santa. Neither of them sat on his lap, which I'm sure he was grateful for, lol.

Then after the party we went to tag our tree at the same lot we use every year. It was too weird, we were wandering around, looking for a tree, and Hubs saw a piece of paper laying on the ground, face down. He picked it up, and lo and behold it was a tag off of one of our previous trees! I have to go through my pictures and see if I can figure out if it's from last year or the year before. We found it on the opposite side of the lot from where our tree was last year, we think, but it could have blown across to where we found it. Too weird.

Our tree. We'll pick it up a week from tomorrow.

Then when we came home I got Hubs to help put some pine on our front railings. I bought some more led lights to wrap around the railings, but since they're narrow wrought iron I wanted some pine on there, too, to make it look better. Last thing I need is some lights for the two big bushes on either end of the house. I used to have net lights for them, but they don't work any more. I bought some led net lights last year, but the bushes are way too big, there wasn't enough to make them look good. I must say I like led lights on the power bill, but I still prefer the look of the old fashioned, energy inefficient bulbs.

I also finally got off my butt and finished painting the kitchen. When we moved in over 10 years ago the kitchen was wall panelled. I put flowered wallpaper (what was I thinking?) over it, then awhile back I hauled it all off. The white lines are the wall panel grooves that I put filler in before I papered.

The end going into the living room isn't wall panel, it's some kind of weird gyprock, but not normal gyprock.

After. The color is called Rosie's Gardenia, it's a light, kind of ivory color. It does look different on the wall with the living room doorway, it has more of a grey tinge to it than the walls with the panel. I'm hoping Santa brings me some new decorations for the walls, and a new computer desk. And new blinds for the kitchen windows. I have since put up some Christmas decorations, but I'll need some new things for after the holidays.

I'm hoping it doesn't chip too badly. Panel can be funky to paint. It was a rough kind of panel, so maybe it won't be so bad. I painted the hallway when we first moved in, but it's a really slick wall panel, so it has been all chipped to hell over the years from the kids beating things off the walls.

So that's the catch up for now. I'm trying to crank out some felted slippers for step FIL for Christmas. I also got a call from the lady who orders oodles of pairs of slippers from me, she needs a pair for next weekend, one of the family members wore his through, so he wants a new pair. I also told a friend I'd knit her daughter a scarf for Christmas, I was hoping to knit the Littlest One's two teachers something, and I know Hubs, the Littlest One, and the Oldest One all are looking for new knit socks. Plus I'd like to crank out some hats and mittens as well.... I guess I'll be keeping myself busy after Christmas!

Happy knitting!

22.5 Degrees

2011-11-27T10:07:00.002-04:00

I was looking at my FOs so far for 2011 the other day, and they seem to be down quite a lot in numbers from previous years. I find since the store closed my knitting time is less. I think it's because where I work now I work from 1-5, five days a week. The mornings normally involve taking the dogs for a walk, housework, errands/grocery shopping, then it's time to go to work. Then by the time I get off work, get the boys, make supper, go over school work, etc, I don't get a lot of knitting time before I hit the hay. When the store was open I worked the same hours each week, but it was over two full days and a half day or three full days each week.

I did finally manage to pull off a FO. This is 22.5 Degrees, started October 5 and finished November 19. I used a 3.25mm circular needle, the yarn is Seacoast Handpainted Superwash Sock yarn in mountain rainbow, gifted from Smoking Hot Needles. I made this for the Boss Lady at work for Christmas. Ravelry details here.

Pumba is feeling sooooooooo much better since starting insulin! He's back to his old harassing self, meowing a lot and following me everywhere. He slept on my head/pillow most of the night last night, which he hasn't done in a long time. He's eating well (though he's not happy about only getting fed twice a day at needle time), and I'd say by the feel of him when I pick him up he's put on some of the weight he lost. I'm sure the vet would say don't let him put it all back on, but I'd like to see him gain back 4lbs or so, that'd be half of what he lost.

Didn't your mother ever tell you not to get so close to the tv? Or in this case the computer monitor!

Happy knitting!

Sickly One

2011-11-19T11:06:00.007-04:00

For the past couple of weeks I've been noticing that someone has been peeing an extreme amount. And I mean extreme -- I was having to change the litter every second day, and there was so much pee in it that I had to take a wad of toilet paper to loosen it up so I could get it out of the box. I wasn't sure if it was Pumba or Nala at first, of course I never saw anyone in it. But I had the feeling right off that it was Pumba because Nala always goes to the basement litter box.

So finally one morning I see that sure enough, it is Pumba. He started to get a little on the stinky side, too, from going to the bathroom so much. And then he lost weight, really quickly, and he started turning his head from his sof-foo-foo that he has every morning and night. (And goes on and on an on until he gets it!) He stopped harassing me -- following me everywhere I went to either sit on my lap or sit in front of the computer monitor to block the view, and he didn't meow much, and normally he's very, very vocal.

So right from the start I thought diabetic, and in doing some research and picking Wandering Cat Studio's brain (her Tux is diabetic, and so is new housemate, Mopar) I decided to YouTube how to test a cat's blood sugar. I went for Hubs's spare metre we keep at home (he carries one in his truck, too), and there was only one strip left in the drum, and he had all the other drums with him. So of course you know, too, that I didn't get enough blood and ruined the one and only strip I had, and it was five minutes before the drug store closed. So off I go first thing in the morning for more strips. I tested him two times that day and three times the next. His readings were 19.3, 16.6, 18.1, 21.9, and 19.1.

Before the testing began I did call the vet to make an appointment and was told that I had to wait a week, even though I said how feeble he was, how much weight he lost, how he wasn't eating hardly anything, and that I suspected he's diabetic. So as soon as I took the first reading I called back and told them, she said she'd talk to the vet and call me back. I gave her my work and cell number, didn't hear anything all day, so when I got home from work I did his test again, called the vet again, and was told there was a note saying to bring him down first thing Friday morning. (This was Wednesday when I called.)

So yesterday he went to the vet for the day. When they tested him his sugar was 21.8. They did a glucose curve on him and started him on 2 units of caninsulin. At 5pm his sugar was down to 7.0. He wouldn't pee for them, so they gave (or I should say sold) me some absorbent things to try and get a pee sample to drop off. (They said high sugar can cause urinary tract infection, so they want to check for that.) She showed me how to give him his needles, giving me some saline in a needle for practice. He is starting at 2 units in the morning and 1 unit at night, about 12 hours apart. They also put him on some diabetic food. I gave him his first needle this morning.

So here are some before and after pictures. This one shows how plump he was. He has always been overweight, before he weighed 20+ lbs, and he's kind of short compared to other cats.

After, sitting in the same chair. I took this last night after his bath. He was super stinky when we got home from the vet. He couldn't hold it any longer and ended up peeing a bit in the carrier, so he went right from the carrier to the tub, lol. He weighs a little over 12lbs now, so he's lost at least 8lbs!

He's so boney, I'm not used to it. For the first time ever since adulthood Nala weighs more than him! He definitely doesn't look like he swallowed a beach ball now.

So the poor guy is going to have to put up with pricked ears, needles twice a day, and laxative medicine twice a day (he's also got megacolon from chronic constipation -- he has no tail at all and long fur, so if he doesn't take his medicine he can't poop). He just turned 13, but we want to keep him around for as many more years as possible!! So now he and Daddy are insulin dependent diabetics.

Happy knitting!

Happy Birthday, Maggie!

2011-11-08T11:09:00.006-04:00

Okay, it's not her REAL birthday, that would have been near the end of August. But three years ago today we brought home the little Puff of Fluff that grew up to not exactly look the way we thought she would. We love her and her skizziness anyways!

Jewel was a bit thinner here...

Today also happens to be my brother's birthday, so a Happy Birthday shoutout to him, even though he has no computer and no way to see it, lol.

Happy knitting!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T22:55:00.005-03:00

Pumpkin carving...

Trick or treating...

And lots of loot!

Happy knitting and Happy Halloween!

Catch Up

2011-10-29T20:45:00.001-03:00

First off in this post I'll catch up on a couple of things I don't think I ever posted. First was from early in the month, the Oldest One (navy jacket, playing the trumpet) marched in his first parade with the band. This was the Fire Prevention Parade.

Next up the Littlest One joined the rest of us and got glasses.

I caved to peer pressure and bought some sock yarn cuz I saw Redknitz made a pair, and I wanted a pair, too. Plain old 60st vanilla socks, heel over 30sts, toe to 20sts. I used 2.5mm needles, the yarn is Patons Kroy in brown rose marl, started October 15, finished the 24th, eye of partridge heel with 3 garter stitches on either side. Ravelry details here.

And lastly, this is the view I usually get now when I'm on the computer in the kitchen. The desk has become Nala's favorite spot to lay, and of course Pumba has to mooch in cuz she might get attention that he needs. She usually lays down, though, so I can see, after she's gotten head and chin scratches. They're going to be upset after Christmas when I get my new desk. The one I spied that I like is an armoir desk, so the doors will be shut so no one sees all my bookwork disaster area.

Happy knitting!

Copper Socks

2011-10-19T20:24:00.000-03:00

I whipped up a pair of vanilla socks for the Oldest One. These are standard old 60 stitch vanillas on 2.75mm needles, heel over 30sts, toe to 20sts. I did an eye of partridge heel with three garter stitches on either side, I find it gives a neater gusset pick up. The yarn is Patons Kroy FX in copper colors. Ravelry details here.

I didn't notice at first, but I had a visitor land on the socks while I had them on the ground taking pictures. He is close to the same color as the socks, maybe that's what attracted him, lol. He stayed for probably more than half a minute, but it was windy, and a leaf hit him, and he flew away.

Happy knitting!

Redknitz Made Me Do It

2011-10-13T19:30:00.008-03:00

...buy sock yarn, that is. I have enough sock yarn to knit probably 40 pairs of socks or so, and I really don't need any more. However, when I saw these socks in one of the new Kroy colorways I knew I had to have it. I had seen this yarn in the store that now sells yarn in town, and I thought it was pretty, but it wasn't til I saw it knit up that I knew I needed a pair.

I also see that the Stretch Sock has new colors, but I'm not a big fan of it. There's some new colors in the Kroy FX as well, and I do like those.

Happy knitting!

The New Truck

2011-10-09T11:25:00.002-03:00

I tried a new hat pattern after seeing the one that Nova Knitter made. I usually make Marsan Watchcaps (and to be honest they are still my preference). This one isn't too bad, though, and will be a nice change when I've made too many of the other ones. These three were all made with Kertzer Northern Accent in smokey grey, infinity, and aran fleck. The first one is for the Oldest One's homeroom teacher for Christmas (first time one of the boys has had a man for homeroom teacher), the blue one is for step-FIL for Christmas, and the other one is for our hat drawer at home. Ravelry details here. (And I did them a little differently. Changes on my Ravelry project page.)

So last Monday we officially got the New Girl, and she went to work. Here's old Petie being dropped off at the garage, dirt lump that she was, on trade in.

And there's the new one. This is the 5th truck that we've actually owned ourselves, and the first one that is brand new. (Hubs drove for about four years for other people before we got our own rig.)

These pictures were actually taken on Friday night when we dropped Petie off and picked Hubs up to bring him home.

I took some pictures of the inside before she gets all dirty, lol. Storage compartments in the bunk area. These are on both sides.

The fridge. Straps on the top for the microwave, the brown part hauls out to make a little table. There's a cabinet that is about the same size for clothes, etc, across from this one on the other side. The tv is strapped down on top of that one.

Hubs checking out the cb that was included. That was a bonus, thought we'd have to buy one.

He's very pleased with the bed, it's bigger than the ones were in his other trucks. This one just has a single bunk, so no room for company.

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Going to do my turkey today. It's absolutely gorgeous out, we've had a burst of summer weather again after Thursday and Friday were quite chilly, especially Thursday - there were even flurries! Not liking that already. But today is shorts and t-shirt weather, so I'm sure everyone will get sick. Think I'll get one last lawn mowing in this afternoon.

Happy knitting!

Cascade Colors

2011-09-25T11:14:00.001-03:00

Thanks, everyone, for you kind words on my last post. We still don't know anything more yet. His mother will be home on Tuesday, and the service will be on Saturday. I just hope something shows in the toxicology so we'll know what happened, it's the not knowing that makes it even harder.

Anyhoo, I did get a pair of socks finished for Hubs. They are vanilla socks, 64sts on 2.75mm needles, eye of partridge heel, Kroy FX in cascade colors. They were started on September 8, finished on the 20th, Ravelry details here.

I started working on hats this week. I usually make Marsan Watchcaps, and I will make some of those, too, but I tried a different pattern, too. I liked NovaKnitter's Jacques Cousteau hat, so I started one of those for the Oldest One's teacher for Christmas. (First time either kid has had a man for homeroom teacher.) I am on the decreases now, and if I like how it turns out I'll probably make two or three more. I have six or so hats planned for Christmas gifts, plus I'd like to have a few on hand for emergency gift giving should the need arise.

Other things happening.... lets see, we got rid of the Caravan that Hubs had to run back and forth to the city in and got a 2005 Blazer. He wanted something with 4-wheel drive and something that was more reliable than the old van. We also are getting our 5th big rig this week. Petie Girl is going bye-bye, and for the first time ever Hubs will have a brand spanking new truck. Scary to think about the cost, but it sure will be nice to have something with warranty. I'll have to try and post some pictures next post, but if you click here you'll see what the new truck looks like. (She's white, of course, company policy.) We don't have her yet, but we should have her by the end of the week hopefully.

Happy knitting!

Brandon

2011-09-14T09:00:00.002-03:00

A week ago today our family had a tremendous shock when my 23 year old nephew, and my oldest nephew, Brandon, passed away unexpectedly. He was living in BC with his mother, she got up and went to work early in the morning, he was asleep on the sofa. His stepfather got up a couple of hours later and went out, Brandon was still asleep. (They knew he was asleep because he was snoring a bit.) When A came home a couple of hours later he found Brandon wasn't breathing, but the paramedics couldn't do anything, and the doctors in the hospital couldn't help him, either. He's my brother's only child, his parents separated when he was around seven years old, and she never had any other kids, either. He lived with my aunt (my mother's sister) from the time he was nine til he was nineteen.

An autopsy was performed, the doctor thought he may have had a heart attack, an asthma attack, or an aneurysm, but nothing showed at all. Now we have to wait up to three months for toxicology reports. He had been mixing cement at work, and his back was bothering him. (He had called my mother the day before he died and mentioned that to her.) He took two or three puffers for his asthma and was only supposed to take tylenol, nothing else for pain. Now they're thinking he took something for his back that caused an allergic reaction/overdose with his puffers. Any way around it we're all totally heartbroken, and hopefully these other tests will give some answers that the autopsy did not. He had asthma, and when he was three he had most of his right kidney removed, but he never had any kidney trouble since then.

These pictures were taken in July 2010 when he was home for a visit. He's been out west with his mother for the past couple of years.

His mother, his friend, and Brandon.

I don't like to have my picture taken, but his mother made me get into the photo, too, and I'm so glad now she did. I've got lots of pictures with him when he was a baby (I was only 16 and didn't mind having my picture taken back then!), but I didn't have any with him in later years. This is my Oldest One, my Dad, my Littlest One, me (orange t-shirt), Brandon, my mother, and Brandon's friend.

Rest in peace, dear nephew. June 23, 1988 - September 7, 2011.

Merry Corn Fields

2011-09-12T22:01:00.001-03:00

I keep finding posts that I start but forget to publish...

I made myself a pair of sparkley Christmas socks. I got this yarn last fall, it's called Wisdom Yarns Marathon Sock North Pole in the merry merry colorway. Just plain old 60st vanilla socks on 2.25mm needles with an eye of partridge heel, started August 24 and finished September 6. Ravelry details here.

The long weekend before school we went to the valley to a corn maze. I've wanted to go the last couple of years, but we never got there. It was fun. This was a maze you had to complete by only making left turns. A lot harder than it looks.

The rope maze's goal was to reach the little wooden platform in the middle. Also harder than it looked.

Then it was on to the corn maze. There's a little maze and a big maze, we went to the big maze.

The theme this year was Robin Hood, and there were various stations throughout the maze to complete on your map. Some were word clues, some were pictures that you rubbed with a pencil to get the imprint.

We didn't get all of the clues, it was hot that day, the boys were complaining, "I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. My feet are tired." etc. There was a field with other various play stations, so they checked those out before we left as well.

Happy knitting!

The Ovens

2011-09-07T12:10:00.001-03:00

Found a post I started and never finished, lol. When BFF was home we took one afternoon and went to the Ovens. I hadn't been there since I was 17. Here's most of the gang checking out the big grinding stones from the gold rush. (Lots and lots of gold was found at the Ovens in the 1800s.)

My two on the left, two of her three on the right. The oldest girl stayed in Alberta with her uncle this year.

Going down into one of the mining tunnels. You can't really go very far, just get to the bottom of the staircase basically and look around.

Looking out of Cannon Cave. It's named so because the water comes in and makes a huge boom like a cannon. When you're standing up above this cave it sounds like thunder.

Looking up into Cannon Cave.

The troops checking out Cannon Cave.

View from the outside.

Another cool cave.

Taking each other's picture.

There's a small rocky beach where you can go to pan for gold. There were quite a few people there panning. I think we mostly just found fool's gold, but it was fun.

Happy knitting!

BFF's Trip Home Part 1 of 2

2011-08-30T10:17:00.004-03:00

So my BFF of 32 years came home this month for her big 40th birthday with her man and two of her three kids. (The oldest girl was here last summer, and the other two weren't.) One of the first nights here involved a karaoke night at our house til 4:30 am! Sign courtesy of the Littlest One.

The weekend was spent at her parents' place on a lake a ways outside of town. We went out Saturday and came home early Sunday morning. We had our tent, but we hadn't used it in years, and we didn't know the air mattress had a slow leak. Needless to say we had a sleepless night, and my back sure didn't appreciate it. So all was fun til bedtime. This is my BFF's son diving in. Her kids have never had swimming lessons and don't get to swim all that often, they just must be natural born swimmers, they jump right in.

Now anyone that knew my BFF when she was a kid knows what she was like, and her middle child is her to a T!

Long, skinny legs going every which way - I repeated myself many times the past couple of weeks, "You are SO your mother's child!"

My two boys on the right, her daughter, and her foster brother.

And there were some games of washers. (This is Hubs and her Hubs.)

This is her dad, notice the golf ball on top of the pop can...

...now notice the can is gone, but the ball is still there, lol.

The kids all had a blast.

Then the 22nd was her birthday, and she was so hoping that she was going to get more socks. Great minds think alike, lol. We went to the bar in the local family-owned inn where we both used to work many moons ago. Two of the family members we used to work with were there, so we reminisced til 1:30am. (And had wickedly good nachos, too.)

Links to the socks are here and here.

Happy knitting!

Oaklawn Farm

2011-08-28T10:44:00.002-03:00

I finished up a pair of socks for Hubs. These ones were stared August 3 and finished on the 24th. I used 2.75mm needles, 64 sttich vanilla sock pattern with an eye of partridge heel, the yarn is Gedifra Fashion Trend Sportivo, Ravelry details here.

One of the girls at work had a birthday on the 19th, she turned a whopping 22. She's a Harry Potter fan, so I whipped her up a Hermione Cable and Eyelet Hat. The yarn is Kertzer Northern Worsted in pewter, started August 15, finished the 18th, Ravelry details here.

We took the boys to Oaklawn Farm Zoo on the 19th. The animals were a lot more active than they usually are. It had absolutely poured out for about 15 minutes before we got there. Then the sun came out again (it had been a sunny day, it was just a big, passing rain cloud), and it cooled off, the animals like it, I guess.

This place used to be the home of Rutledge, the world's heaviest lion at the time. He died in 2007. I put my hand up by the cast of his paw print to show how big his paws were. It was funny, although he was huge he wasn't the pride leader, Lambert was. He tried to overthrow Lambert on different occasions but never succeeded.

Big tortoise, coming through. Don't know where he was going, but he was in a hurry, lol.

They've got three kinds of lemurs, these two were quite entertaining.

This horse was comical - if the kids weren't feeding her grass she took her front foot and kicked the fence repeatedly til they fed her again. I thought she was going to knock the fence over, she did it so hard. I took a video of her, should have uploaded it here.

I love goats, especially little ones. I could have taken this little one home.

They have a couple of alpacas, too.

They were in with the goats, and this little guy was eating the straw and grass out of the alpaca's wool, lol. One way to keep clean, I guess.

Capybara!

Even the big cats were active. I'm glad there was a fence between these guys. There were a male and a female black panther next door to some tigers, one being a very large white tiger. They didn't look like they were exactly getting along. The white tiger was batting at the panther through the cage, there was a lot of growling going on. (Sure brought people running to see what was going on!) The panthers would have had to tag team the tiger, though, he was twice the size of one of the panthers. They're gorgeous, though - I love cats big and small!

I caught this jaguar in a yawn, lol. Big teeth!

The other jaguar was giving the evil eye to a serval in the pen outside of the owner's house clear across the yard. He was making all kinds of weird noises.

This is what he was staring at -- a very cranky serval. She hissed and hissed and hissed some more. Must have been having a bad day, lol.

There were lots of other animals there, too, but I'd have fifty pictures here if I posted them all. There will be lots more pictures to follow in the next post or two. My BFF was here for 11 days, so I'll have some pictures taken during her vacation.

Today Hurricane Irene is passing through. We have a wind warning and a tropical storm warning. So far today it has rained some, nothing torrential yet like the forecast says, and there's no wind yet. I guess it's mostly supposed to hit this afternoon, and the major wind gusts tonight. I'm worried about my trees -- I have one that always seems to lose a big branch or two during hurricane season. I've been debating where I should park as well -- either driveway has big trees all around. Oh, well, I have insurance!

Happy knitting!

Summer Slippers

2011-08-14T09:35:00.002-03:00

I got a call from the lady who gets all those slippers from me all the time, she was still at her house in Ontario. She wanted a pair for the man who looks after her house here, and her daughter would pick them up. So I made mens medium, Patons Classic Wool in dark grey mix and black, the usual pattern, Ravelry details here.

Then I went through what little Classic Wool I had left and whipped up three more pairs, the variagated ones are ladies small, the other two are mediums. Ravelry details here.

I found something out knitting the bottom pair of slippers that didn't make me very happy. I have knit numerous pairs of these slippers, far more than what is on my Ravelry project page. (Nothing knit before joining Ravelry is on there.) I always, always, ALWAYS get a solid color pair of ladies medium slippers out of two skeins of Classic Wool. There isn't much left over, but still. I'm knitting these pink ones, and I've got everything done except for the bottom soles. I get one of the bottom soles done, look at what's left, and come to the conclusion that there is NOT enough yarn for the other sole. I rip it out, dig out some dark grey from the stash, and knit the first two or three rows of the bottom soles with the grey and switch back to pink (so you can't see it unless you look at the bottom of the slipper). I would have done grey cuffs or something had I known. Anyhoo, I had suspicions cuz when I did the mens pair I didn't think the yarn was going as far as it usually did. So I check out the ball and, and it says there is 192m. I'm thinking there was always over 200m. I get another skein, and that one says 205m. Hmmmm...... One was made in Turkey, one in Canada. I only have two skeins left in the stash, one has 205m, one has 192m, both were made in Turkey. So a note to anyone buying Classic Wool - check your yardage!! Not happy with Patons.

Happy knitting!

Hat & Socks

2011-07-31T17:35:00.001-03:00

Back when we had the new windows put in the living room the guy who did it for us did it as a favor. So I decided to give him a couple of things that he'll be able to use this fall. He wears watchcaps all the time in the cold weather, so I knit him one of my favorite hat patterns, Marsan Watchcap. I always add 10 rows to the length after the cuff. The yarn is Patons Decor in chocolate taupe. Ravelry details here.

I also made him a pair of socks, just a plain old 2x2 ribbed sock, 68sts on 2.25mm needles. The yarn is Selection Sokken-Effekt Strickgarn. Ravelry details here.

Soon off to take the kids to the movies tonight. I haven't been to a movie in a long time, the last one may have been Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, can't remember for sure. That was at our local theatre. The last movie watched in a theatre at all might have been Transformers 2, but we saw that at an Empire Theatre. Tonight we're going to see Transformers 3.

Happy knitting!

Keji and the Beach Bash

2011-07-25T09:36:00.001-03:00

I'm running a weekend behind, lol. On the 16th we went to Kejimkujik National Park (Keji for short). It was Parks Canada Day, so the entry fee was waived. We haven't been there, I don't think, since the Littlest One was a baby. We were later getting there than we planned, it rained up til about noon. We got lots of walking in, but there was another trail or two that I would have liked to walk had time allowed. (And everyone but me started complaining about tired feet, sore backs, etc.)

We didn't see any wildlife in Keji that day at all besides birds. On the way home we took a back road past the last campground we were seasonal at in 2009. We were almost back to the main road when we came around a corner to see two baby deer in the road. They quickly jumped into the woods beside a camp where Mama was waiting. I got her and one of the babies, but the other baby was up on the hill, and I couldn't get a picture of her.

Then the next day it was the annual Summerville Beach Bash. On the way there we saw another baby deer. Poor thing was scared to death, she kept running up and down the side of the road along the tree line. Cars had stopped in case she bolted into the road. I made a noise, and she stopped right by the car, so I took her picture. She stood there cross-legged for about six or seven seconds, then she took off up the tree line again. A lady had gotten out of her car to try and shoo the fawn back into the woods, which she finally did do, and hopefully Mama was on the same side of the road. We didn't see The Mama.

The Littlest One in the ice cream eating contest. He didn't really eat fast, I think it was just his way of scamming a free ice cream, lol.

The tallest boy in the middle won.

Him in the sack race. Anything for food! lol - I think he got potato chips out of this one. Either that or candy. The Oldest One did a couple of contests, too, but nothing that I could get in to take a decent picture.

There's always a sandsculpture contest. This one was neat. It won for the single person category.

This one entitled The Royal Watchers won for the group/family category. It was done by the Littlest One's teacher from last year.

This was the Oldest One's castle with volcano.

And this was the Littlest One's, but he got too sidetracked with competitions and swimming with a friend he had met up with.

The other night at Knit Nite I commented that I found the screen in one of our new living room windows popped out in one corner. It wasn't tore, just popped out. I wasn't sure if it was the dogs or a friend of ours who was over the previous weekend. (He had gone outside for a smoke and was looking the front window, thought maybe he pressed up against it too hard and probably didn't realize it happened.) Anyhoo, I come home that night, and lo and behold I find claw marks in my new window screens. I was NOT a happy camper! So now I have to get a rescreening kit, cut a new screen, and fix my window. So for now I put a pedestal fan in front of this window, along with my vacuum (they hate the vacuum!). The other side has a chair in front of it, so when I'm gone I just move the chair back closer to the window. The dogs are so damned nosy, anyone going up or down the road they have to bark at, especially if they have a dog, or if they see one of the neighborhood cats. I'm sure it was Jewel, Maggie jumps right up into the middle of the window where the three solid glass panes are, and Jewel always jumps up with her front feet on the sill. I'm sure it was her big feet that got flopping around and tore my screen!

Otherwise, Happy Knitting!

Privateer Days

2011-07-13T11:59:00.005-03:00

So the long weekend was Privateer Days weekend in our town. The Oldest One got to play his first gig with the band. I asked him if he faked any of it, lol - he said just the first song cuz he really didn't know it. But he played all the rest of them. He played in a concert this Tuesday past as well and has another one coming up next Tuesday.

He also got his new bike for grading from Grampy W (he has bought the boys all of their bikes, and he did the same for my nephew). The Littlest One didn't need a new bike, so he got cash instead.

There were some rides in town for the festival.

I could never handle this one. I don't even know if I ever even went on this when I was a kid. I've never had much of a stomach for rides, I get motion sick easily, and I don't like heights.

This one started off okay for the Littlest One...

... but this time he was on with a friend instead of big brother. After it went around a couple of times his head flopped over, a sure sign he started to not feel so good.

After a break of about an hour he got his second wind, and none of the rides bothered him after that. (Luckily he didn't get sick, he just felt wishy washy.) The Oldest One loves this ride.

Last year the Littlest One tried it but didn't like it. This year was different, he liked it a lot and went on it several times.

Then there was a reptile show, I had free passes. (The perks of working for the co-chair of the festival committee!) The Littlest One is on the far end, the Oldest One at the near end, and my nephew in the middle with the orange t-shirt.

He got picked to go up and help with the snake. He thought she was going to bite him, but the guy doing the show promised she wouldn't, lol. There were lots of other critters there, but they only took a few of them out see.

Happy knitting!

Canada Day 2011

2011-07-08T11:00:00.007-03:00

My apologies for the big gaps in this post. I've edited it fifteen times, and it just won't stop doing this. Damned Blogger.

I'll start my post by showing a FO, I finished up some socks so I'd make the SAM12 KAL (which I've been in from the start and never missed a month! That's been a pair at least a month for going on 6 years!) These are Winterscape Socks knit with Yarn Pirate in the storm colorway. I won this years ago from The YoYo's blog. Ravelry details here.

We spent Canada Day in the city. There was a big free concert at Alderney Landing in Darmouth. We took the ferry from Halifax across the harbour (which just so happens to land right at Alderney Landing!) We passed this place along the Halifax Waterfront on the way, but we didn't stop in. I just had to take a picture, lol.

Theodore was coming in to dock when we got there. (Theodore - he's a tugboat and a friendly tugboat, too - a friendly tugboat, too -- Oh, Theodore, and Emily... Foduck, Hank, and George, and the Harbour Master, too...)

This band was playing when we arrived at suppertime. They were Andrew Hunter and the Gatherers. They just happened to be driving to town after this to perform on the Mainstage at Privateer Days from 12:30am-2am. They were pretty good.

Our main reason for going to this concert was cuz the headliners were The Trews, who we absolutely love. We've seen them twice before this in concert, they're excellent, and we wanted to take the boys. At one point I recognized this Ramones shirt in front of me cuz I saw him wear it before -- this is the drummer from The Trews, Sean Dalton, standing directly in front of me! I could've grabbed me some Trews butt, but I didn't want security to lug me off and miss their show, lol.

The band before The Trews was pretty good, too. They were called Hey Ocean! and hailed from Vancouver.

People starting flowing in big time before The Trews took the stage. Once they came on stage it was crowded. I think they figured there were over 10,000 people there.

The hostess of the show was Candy Palmater from The Candy Show on APTN.

And then it was who we were waiting for -- The Trews! They are from Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

The drummer changed his shirt, lol.

At some point we must have been on CTV, he was only 20-25' away from us and pointed right at us at one point.

Then right after The Trews finished up it was fireworks time. There was another band playing after the fireworks, but we left cuz we had to take the ferry back across the harbour and get to the car, then to the motel. There was a HUGE lineup for the ferry, and it was hotter than old hell in there.
So it was a long day, but it was fun. We headed home the next day and did some Privateer Days stuff, more about that in the next post.

Happy knitting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ

Once Again

2011-06-26T20:12:00.002-03:00

...I had to check to see if Pumba was still breathing, lol. What a weird way to sleep!

"What?!"

Happy knitting!

That Time of Year

2011-06-21T08:00:00.003-03:00

It's that time of year - the time when the kids are on the last week of school, and it's time to do gifts for teachers for year end. But first the Boss Lady wanted a pair of slippers for her exchange student. Old faithful in Patons Classic Wool in dragon dance with orchid cuffs, Ravelry details here.

The teachers are getting dishcloths, my usual year end gift. I also got some nice aromatherapy dish soap to go with them. The dishcloths are made with Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Twists in various breeds (new stuff - did you see this?). Ravelry details here with the color breakdowns. All six dishcloths are the Small Arrow Cloth pattern.

Last day of school is this Friday, then they go back next Thursday morning to pick up their report cards.

Happy knitting!

Weekend

2011-06-13T15:12:00.003-03:00

Saturday morning we got up at 6am and got the boys ready for the fishing derby. They had released 1000 trout before the tournament started at 7am. The boys had nibbles, but they didn't catch anything til after the derby ended. We stayed an extra hour.

Here's the Littlest One with the very first fish he ever caught. It was rather small, so back it went.

The Oldest One with his very first ever fish. It was small, too, so back it went.

After the derby we had a carpenter coming to put two window inserts in our front window. The living room has one and only one window, and this is it. None of the panes open, so summers it get just like an oven in here. We have a south-west facing window, it gets sun all day long (which is great in the winter), but summer there's just no air at all. This is before, they just started to pop some of the trim off.

The panes didn't come out easily. They were puttied in, we have two panes in the garage that had been replaced by the previous owner. How they got them out in one piece I'll never know. I think Hubs had fun bashing the window out. He did it a lot easier than the carpenter did with the first window. We had canvas down to help catch the glass cuz the dogs go out here, I didn't want them cutting their feet. Hubs didn't make a mess at all, but glass flew everywhere from the first window, a real mess.

Pumba yapped the entire time. I think he got annoyed as no one sat down long enough for him to invade their lap.

This is after with the windows wide open. What a difference! That evening the room was cool, a nice breeze coming in. We stood one of the pedestal fans in front of one of the windows, it was gorgeous. (Of course now and for the rest of the week til Friday it's going to rain and be below seasonal temperatures. I had to close the windows, and I am resisting the urge to turn on the furnace. It's June 13, dammit, and I don't live at the North Pole!) I think if hot weather does ever hit we'll have a lot cooler house than we usually did. The only worry now is the dogs, especially Maggie, she lays in this window all the time.

The inside view before the curtains went back up. You can see the sill where Maggie lays. Luckily it's really narrow on the ends, so she can't really get in front of much besides the three middle panes. I could see her going through the screen if she saw another dog outside. Jewel can't get up in the window, but she puts her front paws up on the sill and looks out. She'd better not dig my screens! When no one is home I will close the windows to a couple of inches, just to be safe.

Bit by bit we're slowing getting things done around the house. This was something that really HAD to be done, and I'm glad it's finished. I want to get prices on the middle panes, just double glass, as the one on the right, the seal is gone, and there's moisture between the panes. (That was what the end panes were like, too, so they were kind of foggy looking.) But that can wait for a bit, there's a couple of other things that need to be done first.

Knitting content next post! I'll finally have some FOs to show.

Happy knitting!

Interlude

2011-06-09T10:28:00.002-03:00

I've got no knitting to show. I'm in the process of knitting a pair of slippers for the Boss Lady at work, and I'm also tinkering away on dishcloths for the teachers for their year end gifts. I got them each a nice bottle of aromatherapy dish soap as well, and they'll each get three dishcloths. There's nothing exciting to show yet.

I took the boys fishing a couple of times in the past couple of weeks, but they didn't catch anything. This Saturday there is a derby at this lake in the pictures, hosted by Heddy, I guess you'd say, it's put on by the Region. (Heddy, you can correct me if I'm wrong.) We're supposed to be taking the boys to the derby, then in the afternoon we're having two new windows put in the living room. What we have now in there is one and only one large bow window with five panes. The two end panes are having inserts installed, something we can open. None of the panes open right now, and it gets so hot in there in the summer it's crazy. (The sun shines in the front all day long, which is great in the winter.) It might look a little funky cuz the inserts will make the windows looks smaller on the ends, but I don't care as long as it cools the room off. So I'll have to pass on WWKIP Day this year as my Saturday appears to be fully booked so far.

Yesterday I was out in the yard working on some gardening, and I saw this pretty little guy on my hedge. He didn't move til I accidentally hit the branch he was on with my camera bag, then he flew away.

I dressed Miss Maggie up a bit, but she didn't really like it. I made her sit for a treat, then I took the kerchief off. She was cute with it on, though.

And lastly, I got a scare yesterday. I was on the computer in the kitchen, and Pumba was laying on the desk in front of the monitor as usual (as he is doing as I type). First thing his head hits my hand, it falls over the edge of the desk onto the keyboard. I thought for sure he must have kicked the bucket, I looked to see if he was still breathing. He was, lol. I got one picture before he moved. I wanted to get down lower so you can really see his head laying on the keyboard, but he moved. I find with him that as he gets older he falls into really deep sleeps. His head will just flop to the side, like he's dead, and sometimes I can shake him quite a bit before he wakes up. Silly boy.

Happy knitting!

I Did It!

2011-05-24T15:07:00.001-03:00

Twenty-six pairs of socks for the 52 Pair Plunge mini plunge - starting date June 1, 2010, ending on May 31, 2011. And I've still got another pair on the needles that should be finished in time to make at least one bonus pair.

This pair is vanilla ankle socks, 60sts, heel over 30sts, toe to 20sts... knit on 2.5mm bamboo dpns, they have a 1x1 twisted rib cuff for 10 rows, then it's right into the foot. The cuff, heel, and toes are Kroy in whitecap, and the remainder is Kroy Stripes in sporty stripes. Not the prettiest colorway in the world, but I only had one skein. I'm sure the recipient will like them, if not she can give them to her daughter. Quick knit, started on May 19, finished the 22nd, and one whole day I didn't knit a stitch. I started and finished the entire second sock on Sunday! Big difference when you don't knit a long cuff, lol. Ravelry details here.

All of my socks completed for the mini plunge can be found here.

Happy Knitting!

Socks

2011-05-21T09:17:00.005-03:00

Long time, no post, but there has been some knitting going on. A week ago yesterday the Oldest One decided to get the flu, which he so nicely passed to Hubs (who got hit with it when he was on the road and got stuck at a gas station for over a day til he was able to drive again), then the Littlest One, then me. I must say that was by far the worst flu I've had since we all had the Norwalk virus in March 2007.

I finished up a pair of wildly colored Kroy socks in the mexicala colorway for myself. I used my usual 60st vanilla sock pattern, but I decided to go with garter stitch short row heels for a change. I'm not the greatest at SRHs, still think I like my heel flaps better. The stripes matched perfectly. Ravelry details here.

I also finished up another pair of vanilla socks, this time with heel flaps, awhile back. These ones were made with Lang Jawoll Silk and have reinforcement thread in the heels and toes. I got this yarn at one of our Knit Nite exchanges. These socks are going to be dontaed to a fundraiser for a friend of mine's family that is being held next Sunday. Our small town unfortunately had our first murder in 19 years last month. The lady who was killed was an acquaintance, I didn't know her super well, but I've known her for a long time. She was a neighbor twice, she lived two houses from me for a bit when I had my first house, and a few years ago she lived across the street from where I live now. Her daughter used to live up the road from me as well, her oldest boy used to come down and play with my boys, and they'd go to her house. The deceased was also one of our yarn customers, she knit and crocheted, and we'd chat about knitting stuff when she'd come in, and her grandkids. It's all very sad. She was reported missing the day before her 47th birthday, and a few weeks later her fiance was charged with killing her the same day they found her body in the woods in another part of our county. (Strange coincidence, too -- the last murder in our town was also domestic violence, but the wife killed the husband - in the same apartment building! An older couple that lives over that way said it was the same apartment, but I'm not sure if that's true. The first couple had been married on Valentine's Day, this recent couple had been engaged on Valentine's Day. Kinda trippy.) Ravelry details here.

So that's about it for now. Trying to get one more pair of socks finished by the end of the month and the end of the 52 Pair Plunge. I signed up for the mini plunge of 26 pairs of socks. The pair currently on the needles makes pair 26!

Happy knitting!

Bamboo Cafe Mocha

2011-05-05T23:18:00.004-03:00

I finished up a pair of socks a bit ago but never got around to posting them to the blog yet. They are Harris Tweed Socks knit with On Your Toes Bamboo in cafe mocha. Ravelry details here.

My retirement is officially over, it lasted pretty much a month. I ended up working the advanced polls for the election as well as election day at the same building as a CPS (central poll supervisor). Not sure if I'd do it again, it was quite a hassle. Long days, especially election day itself. I got to the hall at about 7:20am, after polls closed at 8:30pm, then the votes were counted. I couldn't leave til everyone else was gone, then I had to drive to the office 1/2 hour away to take the ballot boxes and other stuff back. So I didn't get home til after midnight, I stood in line probably 1/2 hour at least to hand in my stuff. Pa went with me, he drove. I was thankful for that cuz I have no stamina to drive, especially in the dark and after working and on my feet pretty much all day (it was busy). I worked four days, had one training session, made two more trips to the office, (well, election day was 16.5 hours, so pretty much two days in one), and I'll make almost as much as what I would have made for the entire month of working at the store.

So the day after the election I was supposed to start at my new job. I did go down for 10, but T wasn't there, she had her little girl at orientation for school in September, and her mother was busy. She knew I did the election the day before, so she said to come the next day. I was so relieved, I stopped at the grocery store, took Ma for her coffee, and then I went home and napped til about 15 minutes before the kids got home from school. I haven't been that tired in a long time. So Wednesday I started my new job. I think it's going to be fun. Today I was only there for not quite two hours, then I was off to a workshop in Simply Accounting. I use an old version of Quickbooks for our truck, but the place where I work now uses Simply. I have used it a wee bit. So every Thursday afternoon from 2-4:30 til mid June I'll be at the Simply workshop. Today was kind of dull, it was just going over the basics of accounting, all of which I've done for the past 20 years or more. That's okay, the instructor heard our backgrounds and told me I'd probably be bored today, lol. (I need to know the Simply cuz the place I work now is a print shop. The owners are selling the business to the daughter. The mother does the accounting, but she wants to retire, and the daughter wants no part of the accounting. So that'll be part of my duties. One bonus is each month they have someone else do their bank reconciliation. Talk about bonus! They can be a huge pain, I'm perfectly capable of doing it, but hell, why mess with tradition.)

Oh, and to top it all off Tuesday night I broke my left baby toe. It was about time, I haven't had a broken baby toe in about a year-and-a-half. I've broken each baby toe numerous times, probably half a dozen or more times each, so it doesn't take much to break them now. Plus I'm clumsy, and I did hit this one really hard in the end table. No going for walks for me for a bit. It hurts like hell, I think I broke it farther down that usual. I don't even bother with the doctor any more when I do it. All they do is tape it to the next toe, so I can do that myself without the doctor inflicting even more pain. I think I should design some steel toed slippers. I've broken them all in the house except for the one before this time, I believe, in the summer of 2009. I broke it in a swimming pool. I didn't realize the step down was as far as it was, and my foot hooked on the step, bent my toe back, and snap! Broken toe.

Happy knitting!

The Easter Princess

2011-04-24T13:54:00.002-03:00

Today is my little Princess Nala's 15th birthday. My cranky old lady, but I love her lots. I've had her since she was 6 weeks old. First thing this morning she was crying for her treats. Oh, wait - she does that every morning, lol.

There was also an Easter egg hunt. The boys got some new DSi games they wanted and new t-shirts from us, the candy in their baskets, and some Backugan toys.

The Easter Bunny filled up plastic eggs and hid them around the house. It was wet and rainy, I can't remember the last time he could do an outside hunt. This afternoon, however, it's sunny and warm.

Finally have some knitting to show. I finished up a pair of socks for Hubs out of Bernat Sox that I got at a Knit Nite exchange we had in February. It's just a simple 2x2 rib with a 1x1 twisted rib cuff, knit on 2.75mm needles, 64sts, colorway is desert storm. Ravelry details here.

I also finished up five pairs of felted slippers of various sizes, all knit with Patons Classic Wool and this pattern. Ravelry details here.

On the needles now is another pair of socks. I thought I'd have all kinds of knitting done once the store closed, but so far it hasn't worked out that way.

Happy knitting, and Happy Easter!

Recycled

2011-04-14T09:48:00.002-03:00

Recycled project, recycled photos -- I promised the school I'd do them a pair of socks for the Easter raffle. I had picked up a couple of skeins of Kroy lavender jacquard to make a pair of vanilla socks (these colors are very Eastery). You'd think that since the store closed I'd have a ton of knitting time, but it actually seems like I have less. I didn't even knit one stitch yesterday. Anyhoo, I've got the second sole and bumper to do on the last pair of slippers for my five pair order, and I've got a pair of socks for Hubs on the needles as well. The raffle draw is next week. So.... I had made myself a pair of exactly what I wanted to make for the school and haven't worn them yet (just to try on for the pictures), so -- voila! I gave these to the school this morning and will make myself a replacement pair.

I love these colors. I've probably got five or six pairs of socks I've never wore yet. A couple of pairs have fancy heels, so I'm waiting til I get a pair of open backed shoes before I wear those. I can never find exactly what I want. I found a pair last year, but they didn't have my size, of course. Since the weather is warming up I'm on the lookout again.

It's looking like retirement for me may only be a month. I was told awhile ago that I was going to have a job at a place on the outskirts of town where I'd be doing a lot of things similar to what I did at the store. (No yarn, unfortunately.) Photocopying, ink cartridge orders, passport photos (they bought our gear for doing those), and I'll also be bookkeeping eventually. They use a program I don't really know, I used it a wee bit years ago when I did the internet billing at the store. There is a six week program being offered in town on Thursday nights starting May 5, they are supposed to be signing me up for that any paying for it. If I make every session they get their money back. So I was told yesterday that she was looking at getting me to start on May 2. This will be Mon-Fri from 10-2 for now. No evenings, no weekends, no working on holidays, woo hoo! Also I'm going to be working the advanced poll for the election on Easter weekend (Fri, Sat, Mon), and I've got a three hour training session on Monday night. I wasn't going to pass that up -- I get paid for the training, and add the three days working the poll I'll make what it took me 40 hours to make at the store. It pays really well.

Off to see the Oldest One's class sing in the music festival in a bit.

Happy knitting!

Nephew #4

2011-04-11T13:59:00.003-03:00

Nephew #4 was born last Friday, April 8, weighing 6lbs 15.5oz. Happy and healthy and totally sweet! A rare picture of Auntie, I hate having my picture taken.

And the Oldest One with his new little cousin.

Knitting is still happening, I'm working on a slipper order. I have one pair of five left to make, and then it's felting time.

It's music festival week, and the Littlest One sang a solo for the first time ever. There were maybe 10-12 grade 2 boys singing, and he finished second! He scored 85, and first place scored 86. Not bad for the first time, and also he's got a bit of a cold and stuffed up nose. Very proud of him!

Happy knitting!

End of an Era

2011-03-31T21:51:00.003-03:00

So today was my last day as a LYS worker. What started in their home over 28 years ago has come to and end, Memory Lane officially closed its doors at 5pm today. It was a really busy day. There was food. The Boss Man made chili, a customer and owner of another business in town brought us cinnamon buns, carrot cake squares, and peanut butter cookies from the local bakery. Then one of our good yarn customers who T picks on relentlessly brought us a cake. This was delicious! I saw her going by after lunch when we cut it, and I ran outside to tell her how awesome it was. Home made is the best! As the day progressed we were also brought donuts and boxes of chocolates (as if we needed it!).

As you can see there wasn't much yarn left. All those empty holes on the right were once filled with sock yarn. We didn't have one skein of any kind of sock yarn left at all this morning, it all sold yesterday.

These used to be totally filled as well.

From left to right T, Boss Man, me, M (our casual printer/computer guy - he's a full time paramedic but started here a few months after I did 12 years ago), and Boss Lady. Photo taken by Heddy, who happened to be our last Ball & Skein customer, I believe.

So the bosses were going to give me a photo printer, but I already have one. So she asked me to pick out something else that I'd want. Boss Man made a swift awhile back, she said she didn't want it, so I said they could give me that. So now finally after all these years I have a swift to go with my ball winder! I am a happy camper. I also got a nice wicker basket that used to house sock yarn, now it's by my fireplace and is holding one of my WIPs. I was also the final framing customer for the store. Poor T, I had him out back working too long today. I had one piece that had several openings, and one of the pictures had fallen ages and ages ago, so I took that down to get fixed. Then I had a poster in a metal frame that needed to be fixed up, one corner started to let go. Hubs had two hockey posters that were down there for about two years, I was getting them laminated, but the big press broke, so they never got done. T had a big frame with glass that a customer left, so he cut a mat and framed those up for me. And yesterday he did this painting that the Littlest One did of the dogs and a little poem he wrote. It was just too cute, he spells things how they sound. I'm going to put it in his bedroom. You might not be able to see it, but it says:

Jewel and Maggy

Rambunkshish and funny

Loving dogs to me

Golden retriever dogs

Beautiful dogs

Playful and rambunkshish!

And I do have a FO to share, a pair of socks for Hubs in a plain 3x2 rib. The yarn is Selection Socken-Effekt Strickgarn, gifted from Smoking Hot Needles, Ravelry details here.

So that's the scoop for now. No other jobs for me as of this point in time. Lots of knitting time, I guess.

Happy knitting!

A Girl Named Sue

2011-03-23T22:01:00.004-03:00

I finished the baby blanket for my impending new nephew. I thought we were down to a couple of weeks, but I guess it's really still about four more weeks to go. This is Reversible Basketweave Blanket knit with three full skeins of Kertzer Northern Worsted in navy tweed on 5mm needles. Finished size is 34x30, I would have preferred one more skein, but we didn't have any left. In retrospect if I knit it again I'd take off 16sts and cast on 124sts instead of 140sts OR have a fourth skein of yarn. I'd lean towards the fourth skein if possible cuz I like the width, I just would have liked it to be a bit longer. Oh, well, it'll serve its purpose. The first picture is pretty darned close to the true color. Ravelry details here.

Last weekend it was the third year in a row that we went to the city for the Nova Scotia Little Rocks Curling Tournament. It was the first year that the Littlest One took part. He's the monkey in the middle with his eyes closed and hands up in the air, lol. The Oldest One is in the back.

Look at the excellent form the mate, K, has coming out of the hack, she always looks just like the pros on television. Her grandfather runs the curling club in town (he has for as long as I can remember). Her mother is one of the coaches. She's going to be an awesome curler when she gets older, I can tell you.

The boys on the team, however, all squat back on their knees and end up giving the rock a big old push to get it going instead of the nice, controlled release that K has, the way it should be. This is the Littlest One...

...and this is the Oldest One. They curled three games on Friday, and he ended up hurting his leg and couldn't curl on Saturday. The Littlest One and the two other boys were taking turns, four end games, one would do the first half and change during the two minute break between the second and third ends. So with the skip out of commission he had to curl two whole games on Saturday. (And let me tell you Saturday was a looonnnnggg day, especially the night. His leg was bothering him a lot, he has no threshold for pain, a splinter is the end of the world for him, lol. He had an extremely uncomfortable night which meant that I got very little sleep. He ended up not getting to school til Tuesday, but he's all better now.)

The Oldest One's leg didn't bother him til he got up Saturday morning. It wasn't too bad at first, he said he didn't think he could curl, he had a bit of a limp, so we went to the Museum of Natural History. The first curling game wasn't until 2:45. They have had Sue for several months now, so we went to see her. She's the largest and most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found, she's 90% complete. She died at age 28 and weighed 7 tons. She's been the star attraction there since January. It's really cool, I love stuff like that. Back in 2007 when we visited my BFF in Alberta we went to Drumheller and visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum. That was super cool, I can't wait to go back again the next time we're in that area.

This picture reminds me of Jurassic Park when the T-Rex gets out of its compound and is chasing Jeff Goldblum.

Lastly in my picture heavy post -- this is my co-worker, T (who I will probably miss more than anything else when the store closes, but I'm sure we'll hang out together til he moves to the city this summer). He turned 46 in January and has never ever had a license, not even a beginners permit. A few weeks ago a friend of his was going to write his beginners test, so they all talked T into writing his test, too. He didn't study, he guessed at a bunch of the questions, and he scored 100! (And the other guy failed, poor guy. He changed two answers, had he left them he would have passed cuz he had them right the first time! He has since rewritten the test and passed.) This was the first time he's driven since getting his beginners. (I just happened to have my camera with me, I had taken it to work to print a couple of pictures. And if I've got camera in hand I'm snapping pictures!)

And he's off and in the correct lane, lol. I think he said he ended up driving 31kms that night.

Happy knitting!

The Blues

2011-03-16T19:25:00.004-03:00

By the look of my two current knitting projects I've got the blues! First up is a baby blanket for my soon-to-be-born nephew. It's Reversible Basketweave Blanket by Chrissy O'Malley. I've got three skeins of Kertzer Northern Worsted in navy tweed, and I'm using 5mm needles. I've just started the second skein. I have to go to the city tomorrow, and we're going back in Friday, too, for the boys' curling tournament this weekend, so I'll have lots of knitting time. I'll be taking this, it's nice and easy to work on in the car.

I'm also working on some simple 3x2 ribbed socks in yarn gifted from Smoking Hot Needles. The yarn is Socken-Effekt Strickgarn. I'm using 2.25mm needles, it's really fine yarn, and it's my own pattern. I'll be taking these with me tomorrow as well. I'll take these in the hospital with me (the boys each have an appointment at the children's hospital in the morning). I'll save the blanket for car knitting.

We have to leave early both mornings, earlier than I like. I'll be packing the car up tomorrow night so there is no messing around Friday morning. Their first game is at 10am! And they want them there by nine. I'll be taking other things to work on as well, most likely just socks.

The store is getting pretty picked over, only 13 more shopping days left til we close. This little mousey guy has been on the cash register for as long as I can remember, and I've been there 12 years as of yesterday. He was at the old store, too (we used to be located in another spot in town til we moved to a bigger spot in December 2000) for probably a long time before I got there. The Boss Lady was cleaning stuff up the other day and was probably going to chuck him, but I rescued him. He's not the cutest, but he's sentimental, so now he has a home on the fireplace mantle where the dogs won't eat him.

I say he's holding cheese, but the Oldest One says it's a piece of corn.

Happy knitting!

Wasabi

2011-03-05T15:30:00.001-04:00

Wasabi Vanillas

Patons Kroy in Wasabi Jacquards

Started February 25, finished March 4

2.5mm needles

Ravelry details here.

Luckily the second skein of yarn didn't have knots like the first one did. Here's an inside out shot of the first sock so you can see the three knots. At least it didn't mess up my stripes!

Today I'm working my last Saturday ever at the store. Technically I was supposed to work one more on the 19th, but the boys have a curling tournament in the city, so I had to switch it. I have one final yarn order coming that should be here on Monday or Tuesday, all sock yarn except for two special orders for people. The entire store is looking very picked over and empty, especially the yarn room. I will have to try and remember to bring my camera on Monday and take a picture of it. On a positive note, though, a paint shop in town closed yesterday, but today there is a sign in the window saying Seams Sew Simple opening March 14. That was the former sewing shop in town, the owner has been running it out of her house for quite awhile now, but she was going to quit that, too. So it will be interesting to see what is going on, who is opening it up. I really think they should have yarn in there as well! The best of both worlds.

Pumba doesn't really care about any of it, not as long as he gets his treats.

As long as nothing interferes with the treats then all is well in the world.

Happy knitting!

Knots & Cake

2011-03-01T12:23:00.003-04:00

I started making the boys some Newfoundland mittens the other day. I also started some socks for the Oldest One, I needed some mindless knitting, and also I need a break from the Briggs & Little once in awhile. I don't have bamboo needles the size I need for the mittens, and I find knitting with B&L on steel needles hard on my hands.

The socks I'm making are Kroy Jacquards in the wasabi colorway, just plain old vanillas. I always pull the yarn from the middle of the skein, and this first skein had a funky patch right at the beginning, almost like it wasn't spun correctly. So I broke that part off, losing a yard or more right from the start. I wasn't very far into the sock, and lo and behold there's a knot. I'm thinking that's really odd for Kroy, I can't remember every having a knot in any of the Kroy I've used before. Maybe, but I really don't recall. Anyhoo, last night I get the gusset decreases done on the first sock, and there's another knot! Then I got almost to the toe, and there's another knot! Three knots and a funkily-spun spot, all in one skein, what a tick off. I'm hoping the next skein is trouble free. Luckily the knots haven't seemed to interfere with the stripe pattern, I hate it when it messes up the stripes. However, I'm kind of nervous that I'm going to run out of yarn on the toe. Kroy is skimpy on yardage in the first place, and losing yarn to knots and funkily-spun spots is not nice. And the kid has big feet, so I figured I'd use up pretty much every bit of yarn in the first place. I do have some leftover Kroy in the flax colorway that I can use for the toes if I have to.

From here on out I am going to count backwards. I have a feeling that next year will be themed, "It's My Party, And I'll Cry If I Want To". My last birthday cake from the store, the last birthday cake the store will buy any of us.

Happy knitting!

Socks

2011-02-25T11:48:00.000-04:00

Another pair of socks for the Littlest One, the yarn is Gedifra Sportivo, gifted from Smoking Hot Needles. I used 2.75mm needles, 52sts, heel over 26sts, toe to 16sts, 1x1 twisted rib cuff, 2x2 rib. I didn't even try to match these up. Ravelry details here.

Yesterday morning Pumba was laying on the sofa on a cushion. The dogs always lay on that side of the sofa. The Littlest One was on the end of the same side. Jewel jumped up in between him and the cat and pretty much sat on Pumba, lol. They both wanted the cushion (Jewel loves to lay on the sofa with her head on a cushion or on the arm of the sofa.) Pumba wouldn't move, either. Eventually Jewel moved before Pumba did, lol.

Happy knitting!

My New Ride

2011-02-22T18:24:00.004-04:00

So I have my new-to-me car thanks to Daddy. It's another Ford Focus wagon, but this one is a 2005 and was basically a top-of-the-line in its day. The lady who owned it bought it in 2005 when it only had 20,000kms on it (I have the receipt), and now it has just over 86,300kms. It has heated leather seats (which I decided I love and can no longer live without - every vehicle I own from now on MUST have heated leather seats), power windows, heated power mirrors, power sunroof that can either slide back into the roof or pop up the old fashioned way, cruise, radio controls on the steering wheel... very nice. And for the price I paid it was a great bargain! It has one little ding on the back passenger side that I'm sure can be easily fixed this spring, and there's a scrape on the passenger side front bumper (you can see it in the picture) from the old gal bumping into things. I'm so slack, I didn't clue into who's car it was, we're dealing with the daughter, the mother had a stroke and is in a home now, but I've known the mother for probably over 20 years. Very nice lady, and I know she looked after this car very well.

I have gotten some knitting done, but it has been slow going lately. These are my first Christmas gift for 2011! Am I on the ball or what?! MIL was down on Saturday and commented that her slippers have holes, and so does step-FIL's. I made these the other night with no real intended recipient, so I decided to keep them for her. Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, Patons Classic Wool in rosewood and chestnut brown, Ravelry details here.

Yarn has still been pretty much flying out the door at work. I placed what I believe to be my last yarn order today, all sock yarn except for one bag of baby yarn for one of the Knit Nite girls and a bag of yarn for another lady. I worked yesterday and today, and both days were really busy all day long.

I'm going to leave on a humorous note. For the past several months I've been getting obscene phone calls. It started probably a year ago, but since September it has escalated to more frequency and several calls in a row. (Like I hang up on him, and he calls me right back, sometimes three times in a row.) Anyhoo, one of the Knit Nite girls happens to be married to an RCMP officer who has been looking into this for me, as I started tracing the calls in September. Yesterday he informed me who my Pervie friend was (of course, the name meant nothing til he started telling more about him, then I knew who he was talking about). There are a few other women in town with the same first and last name as me. Apparently this guys thought he was calling one of the other women! So my Pervie friend has been calling the wrong number. I don't know if I'm more relieved or disappointed, lol!! T and work and his roommate are getting the biggest kick out of this, and the Boss Man thought it was quite hilarious as well.

Happy knitting!

Valentine Socks

2011-02-13T11:13:00.003-04:00

Cairi's Sweetheart by Kate Blackburn

White Willow Superwash Sock in snapdragon

started January 23, finished February 10

Ravelry details here.

for the boys' school Valentine Raffle draw

The first picture is pretty close to the true color except the pink isn't quite as pink.

So far the biggest seller in the closing out sale at work is the yarn. That is extremely picked over, especially the sock yarn. I do have some Kroy and Kroy FX coming, but not oodles, and there's a fair bit of Classic Wool coming in. I also ordered the Fortissima we always carried, we were totally out of that. The Boss Man told me to order it, we're going to be there til the end of March, order what sells, he said. The lady who wiped us out of Fortissima told me to let her know if we got more. We've had people come spend literally hundreds of dollars. (Hubs said it's no good to open a yarn shop in town for at least a year, lol. But I say knitters are hoarders, and there's always room for more.) We had four ladies come in yesterday from out of town who knew we sold yarn but didn't know we were closing. One lady spent almost $60 on sock yarn, one spent almost $70. I figure by the end of March there isn't going to be much left for me to store at my house!

I added quite a few skeins to the odd dye lot/single skein bin, they are 50% off, everything else is 25% off. I only have the Briggs & Little and Handicrafter left to count which I'll work on Monday and Tuesday. I think there will be quite a few B&L single skeins to add to the bin, so it's worth checking out if you're in the area. (I thought the Handi would be going out by the bagfuls, it's always sold really, really well, but so far we haven't really sold that much. We've got the stripes and twists, too.)

Happy knitting!

Sigh

2011-02-11T12:25:00.003-04:00

Still no computer back yet, so this is a pictureless post cuz I'm not working today to be able to transfer my pictures. I did get an e-mail saying my computer was shipped, so hopefully maybe it'll arrive today. With the luck I've got, though, I won't hold my breath. (This junky old computer won't transfer pictures any more from my camera.)

So yesterday the kids go to school, and I go to the grocery stores. I usually like to do one and then the other one the next day, but since the kids had no school on Wednesday and messed up my schedule I did both stores yesterday morning. I drive from one across the road to the other, and I notice a strange smell in my car, like a burning smell. So I look all around, don't see anything, go in and get my stuff and hope the car doesn't burst into flames while I'm inside. (Got fire insurance, I just didn't want to lose $100 worth of groceries!) So I decide to stop at the garage on my way home, it's right in town. I'm almost there, and the smell is getting strong again. It's only like a 30 second drive from the grocery store. I ask him to take a whiff, he says it smells like wires burning. He thought maybe it was the heater resistor since there was no sign of smoke or anything, and I guess that sometimes happens. So he says he can look at it tomorrow, but as I was waiting for traffic to pass so I could pull out I look down, and there's smoke coming out all around my feet. I turn the car off and go get him again. So the car got left there, and I had to call Pa to come get me and my groceries.

Pa calls this morning and says I should call insurance cuz the whole wiring harness is going to have to be replaced. Whatever it was started in the back and arced to the front of the car. Good thing: I only have a $100 deductible. Bad thing 1: My insurance policy doesn't allow for a rental car. Bad thing 2: Since the car is an older car (2000 Ford Focus wagon) there's the possibility that when the insurance guy looks at it, the repair may be close to or as much or more than what the car is worth, and it may be written off. I did want a newer vehicle, but not until this summer.

So the adjustor won't even probably look at it til next week, I tried to get the insurance guy I talked to this morning to put a rush on it since I have no other transportation. Pa only has one vehicle now, so I can't borrow one from him. I don't mind walking (unless it's raining and windy), and if I need groceries or water jugs filled or anything Pa will take me. It's just really inconvenient to not be able to jump into your car and go if you want. The boys have a curling game Sunday in a town 1/2 drive away. Luckily two of the other mothers that are going have room for us.

So I guess I really can't complain about my little car. I didn't pay a lot for her, and I've had her for almost a year-and-a-half now. I definitely got my money's worth out of her, that's for sure. It's an older car, it's got a lot of kilometres on it, stuff happens. It just sucks when it hits crappy times to do these things!

I did get the Valentine Socks finished for the boys' school raffle draw. I only finished them up last night, so it was good timing since the draw was today! I started a pair of socks for the Littlest One, and I think I'm going to work on some mittens, too. Pictures to follow next post.

Happy knitting!

PS Just got a call from work -- my computer is there! Yay! One of they guys is so graciously going to drop it off for me on his way home. :)

The Winter That Never Was Finally Is (Was)

2011-02-07T20:52:00.004-04:00

Well, all the bragging that we didn't have any more than 2" of snow at once this winter has caught up with us. Last week we got our first real storm of the season, and the kids got two days off of school. I ended up finally getting to use the snowblower (3 times, actually). The kids and dogs were loving it. Too much in my eyes to get at one time. It got heavy halfway through the storm because it was mixed with rain. Before that it was light and fluffy. Jewel outside in the snow, Maggie in one of her favorite spots, the front bay window.

This was the day before, I think, in the midst of the storm. They both love the snow. They usually spend at least half an hour just laying in the snow before they'll come in. If I try to get them to come inside they look at me like I'm crazy. The only thing that can lure them inside is a treat, lol. I keep a towel by the door to wipe them off. Jewel usually shakes off outside before she comes in, but you have to be fast with Maggie, she shakes as soon as she gets inside and makes a mess.

I had a video of Jewel in the snow, shoving her face in it, crazy thing. I forgot to upload it, and it's on the computer at work as I'm still awaiting the return of my touchscreen computer. And I call this The Winter That Never Was Finally Is (Was) because the snow has melted a lot, it's been beautiful out pretty much since the storm except for some fierce winds yesterday. Tomorrow could be messy, forecast is for up to 15cm of snow, but it could be rain in our area as well. I guess it's a wait-and-see kinda thing.

I do have one FO, a pair of felted slippers in mens large to fit 10/11. The lady's husband got her a pair for Christmas, and she likes them so much she got him a pair. Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, Patons Classic Wool in chestnut brown and pumpkin, Ravelry details here.

I'm going to close on a rather sad note. The store where I work has been around for a long time. The owners started it over 30 years ago, it was mostly computer and photography stuff based from their house back then. They moved it to town, the first location on Main St. T has his 21 year anniversary there next month and I my 12 year anniversary. Back in December 2000, I believe it was, we moved the store to the larger and current location. Over the years it has expanded from computers, photography, and custom framing to cell phones and yarn. Also along the way at one point there were candles and environmentally friendly stationery and some gift shop type stuff. The latter three haven't been there for several years. Anyhoo, originally the store was to be passed on to the owners' daughter, but she passed away at age 23, six months before I started working there. (Not to get too involved, but she has some health issues, but it was an out-of-the-blue kind of thing that was not expected at all.) They have a son, too, but he lives in a group home and requires 24-hour care. They've since adopted two kids, the now young man works at the store, but he's moving away in the summer, and the girl (who happens to be my BF's niece) has no interest in the store at all (she's still in high school). So the owners really want to retire, they put the store up for sale last summer. The lease on our spot is up in October of this year, and we knew that come October that's it unless someone should happen to buy it. T and I found out last Monday that they are closing the store on March 31. No more LYS. The town will also be losing a place for passport photos, black and color photocopies, digital retouching, custom framing, cell phones, fax service, etc. There is another computer shop in town, but I think our store is going to be missed by a wide variety of people.

So anyone in our area, there is 25% off of everything in the store except for computers. This does include in stock digital cameras, ink cartridges, and of course all of the yarn, patterns, needles, accessories, etc. The sock yarn is getting highly picked over. I do have one last order of Classic Wool and some Kroy coming in a week or so. Any yarn left when the final day comes is going home with me, and I will sell it for the owners. I have an unused rec room where I can keep it. The way the yarn has been flying out the door since last Tuesday, though, I don't think I'll have a whole lot to look after. Today was the highest selling yarn day we've ever had.

Happy knitting!

New Slippers

2011-02-01T18:00:00.001-04:00

Got a new pair of slippers, the other ones were worn out and had holes already. These ones are a new pattern to me, Nola's Slippers. I had two skeins of Briggs & Little Tuffy and didn't know what to do with them. I had gotten them to make Hubs heavy work socks, but he has three or four pairs and is liking the fingering weight socks better now. So I decided to use one strand of each (cocoa and ecru) to make these. The pattern just has one size, mens medium, so they are a little bit big for my ladies 8, but they aren't bad. I used a 5mm needle, I think it called for 5.5mm. I wouldn't have wanted to use any smaller needle. I find B&L can be hard on my hands, and my hands got tired fast knitting these. Started these on January 28, finished on the 30th, Ravelry details here.

The other night we were only supposed to have an inch or two dusting of snow, and we ended up with the most we've had at once this season, 4-5"! I had to actually shovel, but it was light and fluffy. The dogs were in heaven, Jewel laid out in it for quite awhile, but she got up when I got my camera, look at all the snow on her back. I don't understand Jewel and Maggie. They love the snow, they'll go out and lay in it for ages. I go to the door and call them in, they look at me like I'm crazy. I won't let them stay out when it's really cold, they go out to do their business, that's it. But they love it when it's just around freezing, they'll stay out and not move for a good half hour to an hour. And they lay right in the snow instead of up on the doorstep like they usually do.

I towelled her off when she got inside. Silly girl.

My touchscreen computer that I love so much has been shipped back to Gateway for repairs. (Mine looks like the one on the left.) It has a thing for turning itself off, you're right in the middle of something and boom - just like the plug gets hauled out of the wall. It's overheating, it's still under warranty, so back she goes. The tech at work looked at it and said the fan isn't staying on long enough to cool the cpu. So I don't know when I'll have pictures again cuz my old computer won't transfer pictures from my camera any more. It should be back in two weeks or so, but that's a long time without my baby!! The tech at work is building me a cheap tower to replace this old one, and he said that should be finished this week, so maybe that one will work for pictures.

Happy knitting!

Three

2011-01-29T23:34:00.003-04:00

Happy 3rd Unbirthday to Jewel!! Three years ago today we got our big baby girl (but she was about 6 months old). Here is the post where we got her.

She was a stray who had been abused and stuff, she came from the SPCA in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. I thought the other night that it's too bad that I didn't know where she came from. I'd like to thank her first owners for being total dinks who let her wander off, get befriended by a nice man in Sheshatshui who eventually got her tame enough to take her home and get her to the SPCA. When the lady who runs the SPCA over there told me to go on-line and look at her pictures it was instantly, "She's mine!!"

Happy knitting!

PS I know some people are probably cringing at the chain, but if we don't put Jewel and Maggie out on a chain they run away. Our yarn isn't totally fenced in, and we live right in town, it's better than being hit by a car! I'd love to have a spot totally fenced in so they could run and not be chained.

Blowout

2011-01-26T14:01:00.002-04:00

The Oldest One informed me when I went to pick him up at Nanny's yesterday suppertime that he had a blowout.

He loves his hand knit socks. I told him I'd fix it, I still had a little ball of leftovers. I figured the best repair was to reknit the toe, so that's what I did. I think the hole may have been my fault. I was the hand knits socks separately from the other laundry in cold water, delicate cycle. When they are dry I go over them with my defuzzer that I got for Christmas (if they need it). I'm thinking that maybe the defuzzer snagged the yarn, and I didn't notice, so a hole formed. I don't know what else would have happened to them, so I'll make sure I'm more careful in the future when defuzzing.

Happy knitting!

Reversible Cables

2011-01-24T08:16:00.005-04:00

I always love scarves when they're finished, but man, do they ever seem like they take a long time to knit! I haven't worked on anything else but this, started on January 12th, finished on the 2nd. This is a Reversible Cabled Scarf knit with Rowan Cashsoft DK, four skeins, gifted from Smoking Hot Needles. Finished length is 65", didn't measure the width (duh). These pictures are pretty accurate to the true color. Ravelry details here.

This will be gifted to a friend of mine who had a mastectomy on January 4th. Hopefully she'll like it, I showed it to another friend who loved it and thinks she will, too. I can see knitting more of these for Christmas knitted gifts box (which I'm going to be working on off and on all year so I'm not rushed come Christmastime).

Working on some Valentine Socks for the school Valentine raffle draw, and I'm going to have to make myself some new slippers. The Fuzzy Feet officially have blowout holes. They aren't too bad yet, but they won't last much longer. They lasted just over a month.

Happy knitting!

The Details

2011-01-19T10:12:00.002-04:00

So I didn't give any details on the socks from the last post. They are a kids size 5ish, knit with Knit Pick Memories in smores (gifted from Smoking Hot Needles, thanks!). I used one skein, 2.25mm needles, 52sts and a simple 3x1 rib after a 2x2 ribbed cuff. Ravelry details here.

Still plunking away at that scarf, just over the halfway mark now. Scarves seem to take forever to knit!

Happy knitting!

8

2011-01-14T15:37:00.002-04:00

Another birthday cake...

...more balloons...

...someone else with new hand knit socks...

...and a new Pokemon DS game...

Love you bunches, baby boy! I know you don't like being called a baby, but you'll always be my baby boy. Happy 8th birthday!

Happy knitting!

Camo Harris Tweeds

2011-01-12T12:15:00.000-04:00

My first FO of 2011, I finished up a pair of socks for Hubs. These are Harris Tweed Socks with Kroy flax heels, toes, and cuffs and Kroy FX camo for the rest of the sock. These were started December 31 and finished January 7. Ravelry details here.

This is the second time I have knit this pattern, and I know it won't be the last.

I also have a little pair of socks finished up for the Littlest One for his birthday on Friday, but I don't have them photographed yet. Up next is going to be a scarf for a friend who had a mastectomy last week. Going to use this pattern and this yarn that was gifted from Smoking Hot Needles.

It's just starting to snow a bit here, mixed with rain. It's mostly just flurries right now, but it's going to be a nasty day, I think, maybe our first snowfall of any amount, and it's really windy. On Sunday we got our first real snowfall of this winter, but it still only amounted to about two inches. I classed it as our first snowfall, though, cuz I did have to use the shovel a little bit. Looks like maybe I might get to use the snowblower tomorrow. Hard to say, we're right on the coast, so we kinda flutter right around the freezing mark, so it could be rain, could be snow, could be one then the other or a mixture of both. The kids will be happy, though, they are getting let out of school two hours early today. Bet they are hoping for mostly snow so they'll get their first snow day tomorrow!

Happy knitting!

11 in 2011

2011-01-07T15:46:00.002-04:00

Birthday cake...
...new hand knit socks...

...new DS game...

Happy Birthday to you!!! 11 years old today, 11 in 2011.

Love you bunches, son! Hope your wish comes true. XOXO

Happy knitting!

FOs of 2010

2011-01-01T22:14:00.005-04:00

adult socks - 27 pairs
child socks - 4 pairs
hats - 5
mittens - 4 pairs
felted slippers - 14 pairs
scarves - 2
baby cardis/sweaters - 2
shawls - 1
knitted toys - 1
felted cat beds - 1
cowls - 1
dishcloths - 12
finger puppet blanks - 50

Total - 124 finished knitted items for 2010!

This is a good way to reflect on the good and bad (if there's such a thing as bad) points in my knitting. I'm happy that I did lots of socks and slippers, those seem to be strong points in my knitting. However, I definitely would like to increase the number of items for the boys. In compiling my list I discovered that the Oldest One got 3 pairs of socks and a hat/mittens/cowl set, and the Littlest One only got one pair of socks last January. Hubs benefitted with lots of socks this past year. I really need to start making more stuff for the family, and stuff other than socks (but still making socks, too). This year goals are to finish that afghan from ages ago and my cardigan from last January. I'd also like to make a few sweaters this year (even though from looking at my larger item attempts I'm probably doomed for failure). Also on my list for this year is to learn to crochet so I can make some ripple afghans!

Happy knitting! New Years Eve details to follow next post when I've got more time.

Happy New Year!!

FOs of 2010:
Dad's Cadet FX Socks 17
Green Bamboo Socks 18
Bright Stripey Socks 19
1st Thujas for Hubs 20
Double Bump Scarf
Hat, Mittens, Cowl Set
2nd Thujas for Hubs 21
Scrap Happy Mittens
My Slippers with Soles
Ravelympics Shawl
Sock Yarn Baby Sweater and Hat
Light Grey Ribbed Socks 22
Bittersweet Socks 23
Harris Tweed FX Socks 24
Which Came First?
Slither Socks 25
Charity Socks 26, 27
Sunshine Socks 28
Desert Storm Socks 29
Faded Denim Socks 30
Camouflage Socks 31
Wooded Denim Socks 32
Weekend Socks 33
Bronzed Berry Socks 1
Father's Day Socks 2
Dishcloths for Teachers 2010
Ribby Socks 3
Weekend Socks Again 4
Blue Tweed Socks 5
Quill Lace Socks 6
Tangerine Vanillas 7
Bluebell Cardigan
Par 5 Socks 8
Tutti Frutti 9
Easter Egg Socks 10
That 70's Cat Bed
Lotus Slippers
Cascade Toddler Socks 11
Fire Opal Lace Scarf
Fall Flare Slippers
Harvest Mish Mash Slippers
Paprika Spice Slippers
Dragon Orchid Slippers 1
Dragon Orchid Slippers 2
Bird of Paradise Slippers
Silver Mercury Slippers
Silver Mercury Slippers Reversed
Forest Slippers
Chestnut Forest Slippers
Shreky-esque Socks 12
Candy Cane Socks 13
My Cruisers
Hermione Cable & Eyelet Hat
Felted Footies 14
Second Lotus Slippers
Gene's Cruisers
Two Marsan Watch Caps
Dad's Socks 15

Final FO of 2010

2010-12-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

This is probably my final FO of 2010, Dad's birthday socks. I didn't really knit steadily on these. I started them back on December 8 and finished them just in time for his birthday on the 30th. The yarn is Scheepjeswol Invicta, vanilla socks on 2.25mm needles and 68sts, heel over 34sts, toe to 24sts. I like the yarn, it's quite soft to begin with and gets really nice once it's washed, but it's so darned fine that it seems like it takes forever to knit. The close up of the toe is the best representation of the true color. Ravelry details here.

And ever since Christmas people on Facebook must think I'm a nut, cuz I kept going on about my new funky whistling teapot. We used to have a big water cooler that had a hot water tap, but the resevoir got a crack in it, so it started leaking all over the floor. We got rid of it, never replaced it yet, so I used to use the coffee maker to heat hot water if I needed some. Then I was doing dishes one day, went to put a bowl back in the cupboard, dropped it (carpal tunnel, I drop everything), and of course it smashed the coffee pot in the process. Didn't break the bowl, of course. I haven't replaced the coffee maker yet either (it's just as cheap, it seems, to get a whole new coffee maker). So I've been boiling water in a pot on the stove and using a ladle to scoop it out. This is much better, but the dogs sure don't like it. Poor Jewel looks like she's going to twist her head off once it starts whistling, it sure is loud. It's big, it holds a lot of water.

So tonight for the first time ever we are leaving town for New Year's Eve, sans children. We have only ever gone to the local fire hall dance, a house party, or stayed at home for New Year's Eve. This year we are going to the city with another couple to Casino Nova Scotia to see The Trews. We saw them when they opened for KISS, they're really good. I would love to take the boys to see them, they love them, but you have to be at least 19 to get in. We got a package deal that included a hotel room here, two concert tickets, free parking at the hotel and at the casino, $10 each meal voucher for either the buffet or the restaurant at the casino, $5 each for the slot machines, and $10 each for the table games. All of that for just under $200 including tax. That's not bad since the tickets alone are $48.50 each. This package you got 2-for-1 tickets. We are going to the early show at 7, and afterwards down around the corner from our hotel there is a big free outdoor concert and fireworks, so we'll hit that up, too, if it isn't too cold.

I'll leave you with a couple of shots of Pumba. Turn your back for 30 seconds and leave a load of clean laundry, and he thinks you got him a nice, warm bed, lol.

Even after I folded everything he still thought it was a good place to take a bath!

Have fun tonight, be safe, don't drink and drive, and all that crap.

Happy knitting and Happy New Year!

Finished!

2010-12-24T14:00:00.002-04:00

For the first time I'm not still knitting Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve! I finished all of my gift knitting on the 22nd. So tonight if there is any time for knitting it will be relaxation knitting. I also have all of my gifts wrapped, also unusual. There's usually a few things left to wrap on Christmas Eve, but I ended up being able to finish it all last night.

First up are the large size Cruiser mittens for step-FIL. The yarn is Kertzer Accent Worsted in smokey grey. Ravelry details here.

I also made him a Marsan Watch Cap in the same color yarn. I made him one of these a couple of years back for Christmas, and he commented one time he'd take more if I ever felt so inclined. So I inclined. Ravelry details here.

I also cranked out one for Dad in the same yarn but the mahogany colorway. Ravelry details here. I really like the way the top goes on these hats. I have yarn to make one more in the same kind of yarn in a shade of blue, and there are enough grey leftovers to probably make another grey one. Not sure if I'll give those to anyone when they're done or if I'll keep them for the hat and mitten drawer.

I also had to crank out another pair of felted slippers for someone for his wife. Originally I thought it was for Christmas, but it was for her birthday which was the 22nd. I stayed up til 1am finishing these up and felting them, took them to work to photograph and trim off the fuzz. I no sooner got them finished, and he arrived, so all's well that ends well. The yarn is Patons Classic Wool in lotus with yellow for the cuff. Pattern is the ever faithful Fiber Trends Felted Clogs. Ravelry details here.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Happy knitting!

Getting Down to the Wire

2010-12-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

It's getting down to the wire. I have taken a couple of knitted items off of my Christmas list just cuz I won't have time. It's no big deal, what I'm not going to make now, and I can always just do them up after Christmas and gift them as "just because" gifts if I want to. I did make the Littlest One's teacher a Hermione Cable and Eyelet hat. Very nice pattern to knit, I used Kertzer Northern Worsted in pewter, and it was quick, too, started the 14th, finished the 15th. I used 3.75mm needles, only cast on 100sts, did 1x1 twisted rib, then decreased down to 99sts. I did 16 rows of rib, but if I did it again I'd only do 12 rows. I modified the top decreases to one I saw somewhere on Ravelry, can't remember which one it was, but the details of how I did it are here.

I also made myself a pair of Fuzzy Feet out of Patons SWS in natural denim. It was in the big box of yarn from Smoking Hot Needles.

My old slippers finally bit the big one, but they lasted nearly a year. (Would have been a year in February.) Mostly they had holes in the very back between the cuff and the sole of the slipper, and they started to let go from the flip flop sole. I had holes in the toes, and the right slipper was only attached by a couple of pieces of yarn around the toes. The inner soles were wearing through as well, but the shoe goo that I used to attach the flip flop bottoms to the slippers soles didn't give one bit. So all in all they were the longest lasting felted slippers I've ever had. A lot better than my usual 2-4 months, lol.

Good luck to everyone who is still working on Christmas knitting!

Happy knitting!

Cruisers

2010-12-09T10:24:00.003-04:00

It's been a slow go for knitting this past week. The mojo wasn't happening, but it's slowly returning. I've got an infection which was causing mucho, mucho pain. Couldn't stand it any longer and went to outpatients on Saturday, but all the doctor on call could do was give me pissy cat litter pills (that's exactly what they smell like, they make me gag) and tell me to put heat on it. It was hard as a rock, she couldn't lance it, so on Tuesday morning my doctor finally had the time to lance it. (Boy, wasn't I close to smacking him upside the head. It didn't feel good at the time, but it was worth it in the end.) That relieved a lot of pressure, it's still really sore, but not nearly as painful as it was. So I haven't been to work yet this week, I am going in tomorrow til about 2:30. But next week will make up for it, the bosses are off to the city for three days, so I work Monday to Thursday all day, off Friday, work Saturday. I'm not used to that!

I did finish up a pair of mittens that were originally meant for someone else. I decided that they'd be a bit narrow for a man, so I kept them for myself. If I made a lady's pair again, though, I'd do eight cable repeats instead of nine. (I was still being delusional that they'd fit him.) They're a smidge long, but I can live with it. The pattern is Cruiser, the yarn is Kertzer Accent Worsted in smokey grey, size medium. It's got an afterthought thumb, I prefer gussets, I find they fit better, but still, they're a nice mitten. Got another pair on the go, same color, but the large size for a man. Ravelry details here.

So last Saturday before my little excursion to outpatients we went to the fire department's kids Christmas party. It's held every year for current and honorary members kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, etc. BIL and his little guy came with us. They had coloring sheets, ornaments to decorate, and cookies to decorate with frosting and sprinkles. K sure isn't like his cousins, he made his cookie, took one bite, and Daddy had to wipe the sprinkles off of his tongue, lol. The Littlest One likes a bit of cookie with his frosting and sprinkles, the Oldest One isn't so heavy handed any more, but he still had to use all four kinds of sprinkles on one cookie.

So there was lots of running around, hot dogs, French fries, chocolate and white milk, juicepacks, and of course, ice cream. Then there was a candy toss, and door prize tickets. They had one main prize for a boy and one main prize for a girl. They also had a bunch of blue t-shirts, so the Littlest and Oldest One each won one. However, they only had one size, so no way it would ever fit the Oldest One, so he gave it to K. It's a bit big, but he'll grow into it.

Towards the end Santa arrived to pass out treat bags. No one sat on his lap. (The size of my two he was probably relieved!)

In the evening it was the grown-ups Christmas party which was a wonderful pig roast. The people who do it are always really booked up, they're hard to get, but they are absolutely excellent. I didn't care about the pork, but they always have baked potatoes with all the toppings to chose - sour cream, real bacon bits, chives, etc - rolls, salads, salads, more salads, home-made baked beans, ribs (which I did have), and the roasted pork, of course. We didn't stay too long, eat and run kinda thing. Then some friends came back to our house for a bit. I was hurtin' pretty bad, so they all left around 11 to go back down to the hall for some karaoke, Hubs included, and I went to bed.

So that was the excitement of my week. Tuesday night was the Littlest One's Christmas concert, last night was the Oldest One's. Tomorrow night is a pot luck supper at church, and that should be it for us for social events until New Years Eve. No staff party for the store this year. We plan on going to the city on Saturday to do some shopping, but I've been quite happy ordering stuff on-line. It's so much easier!

Happy knitting!

It's Official!

2010-12-01T20:48:00.002-04:00

Well, the official verdict is in -- no little pink knits in my future -- SIL is having another boy! Oy! I guess the main thing is that he's healthy, but I sooooooooo wanted a niece! We've got two boys, this will make two boys for them, the other SIL has a boy, and my brother has a boy. Too much testosterone!!!!!

Happy knitting!

November Socks

2010-11-30T10:43:00.003-04:00

On a short felted slipper hiatus, I do still have three pairs to make in the rather near future. (Including my pair cuz if I soon don't get a new pair the entire sole of the right slipper is going to come unattached from the body of the slipper.) I did knock off two pairs of socks this month. The first ones were for the Oldest One, started way back on October 16 and not finished til November 24. I used a stitch called pie crust basketweave (details on how to do it on the Ravelry project page), and the yarn is Painted Skeins Superwash Sock Yarn in the zutano colorway. (Winnings from the previous Sock-A-Month KAL.) Details here.

Then there was a quickie pair, started November 24 and finished the 28th, these are plain old vanillas in North Pole sock yarn, the candy cane colorway. They are for the boys' school Christmas raffle draw. I just couldn't capture the color, red is very hard to reproduce correctly. They are a little less bright and pinky and more of a deeper red in person. The yarn has a gold metallic thread through it, giving it sparkle, and it shows up wonderfully in real life, the pictures don't do it justice. These were really fun to knit, I have a skein in a different colorway to make myself a pair. Details here.

You can kinda see the sparkle in it here, but it's so much better in person.

Happy knitting!

And The Beat Goes On

2010-11-23T12:00:00.003-04:00

...cuz the parade of slippers continues. The slippers on the right with the green cuffs are the Oldest One's new pair. The other pair are mens large made for a lady for her husband for Christmas. The same old details, Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, Patons Classic Wool, details here and here. I am on a very short slipper hiatus. I need a break, I started a pair of socks for the Oldest One back on October 16, I'm not starting anything else til I finish those. But the slippers aren't over yet - I have three more pairs that have to be made in the near future, including a new pair for myself.

So last weekend I was off on Saturday, and we didn't have anything to do, and the weather co-operated, so we went and tagged our tree at the same place we go every year.
This one is ours. And it's out near the road, so it should be easy to find when we go back in mid-December. I'd love to have a huge, bushy tree, but space doesn't permit one. Then when we went home after tagging the tree we put up the outside lights, but I'm not turning them on til December 1st.

And lastly -- the generosity of knitters!! Smoking Hot Needles recently went on a destash, I guess you'd say, and had sent me an e-mail, wanting to send me something. I went to the post office last week and was amazed at the HUGE box that awaited me! It was way more than I was expecting, I couldn't even wait til I got home. I had to do some errands in town with my mother, but I ripped the box open in the car to take a peek. Once I got home, though, I could give it a good look. Pumba gave it a good look, too, lol. Then he got quite comfortable.

All kinds of yarns, stuff to make the boys some socks, stuff to make a couple of baby sweaters, other sock yarn, found a couple of things to make maybe some fingerless mitts.... fun, fun, fun! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!

Happy knitting!

My Needle is Stuck in the Groove

2010-11-12T19:44:00.004-04:00

The six-pair felted slipper order is completed, and they were picked up today. I still have to make myself a new pair, and the Oldest One needs a pair, plus I got another order today for a men's large pair, and I was asked a couple of weeks ago to make someone else a pair for Christmas. So there are at least four more pairs in my future, if not more. I think my needle is stuck in the groove! Details of each pair on my Ravelry projects page. Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, Patons Classic Wool, yadda, yadda...

I want to get the next men's pair started this weekend. Tomorrow the boys have a curling tournament all day in Bridgewater. I'll probably work on socks there. I started a pair for the Oldest One ages ago and finally got the second sock started the day before yesterday. I'm really itching to get those off the needles and knit something besides slippers! I do have a couple of pairs of mittens and hats to make for Christmas. At least the slippers knit up fast.

Happy knitting!

A Very Merry Unbirthday...

2010-11-08T10:22:00.005-04:00

... to Maggie!! Today is her Unbirthday, it was two years ago today that we got the little puff-of-fluff that would soon outgrow her puff-of-fluffiness and turn into what would become my Evil Baby. (Although I have to admit that she is not as evil as she used to be.) Her real birthday is August 24, but we use the day we got her since we don`t know Jewel`s or Pumba`s real birthdays, so we just use the day we got them. I do know Nala`s birthday cuz I got her and Simba from a friend who told me the day his cat had her kittens.

Today also happens to be my brother`s birthday. I called him a few minutes ago, but one of our aunts was there, so I will call him later on today once the kids get home from school.

It has been raining here since Thursday night. I am very thankful that our basement doesn`t leak, some people are in quite a mess. I worked last Friday morning and am off til this Friday. I had hoped to get out and finish raking up the leaves, there are a ton of them to be done, all from the graveyard across the street, of course. Fall yard waste pick up is Thursday, and the forecast is rainy right up til Thursday. I have a friend who took the 16 bags or so I had done up already plus my Halloween bags to put on his garden, so maybe he`ll come back and get the rest of them. This is really the only time I miss not having a truck, I can`t haul away my yard waste to the compost yard. But I think in the spring I`ll get a little trailer to tow with the car.

There has been knitting going on. I have to do the second sole on one of the men slippers today and make one more ladies pair, then the six pair felted slipper order will be finished. Well, I will have three pairs to felt, then it will be finished. I desparately need to make myself a pair. Not only are the backs out of mine now, but they are giving away at the toes as well. Here are four pairs I did finish up so far. The fourth pair is not part of the order, and yes, there were two pairs alike but in different sizes. I am too lazy to link each pair, but you can check out the colorways, start and finish times, etc, on my Ravelry projects page. They were all knit with Patons Classic Wool, and the pattern is Fiber Trends Felted Clogs, of course.

Happy knitting!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T08:05:00.003-03:00

The other night we carved our pumpkin. I used to go all out and get the fancy pumpkin carving kits, but now I usually just do the plain old, plain old.

He wasn't very bright. I ran out of tea lights and used a battery operated candle.

The boys went as a phantom and a knight. They both went as knights a couple of years ago. I think the Littlest One just wanted to use the sword again, lol.

The aftermath. Plus they have all of my leftovers, not shown. It ended up raining for a bit, we left at almost 6pm, just as it was sprinkling. By the time we rounded the corner for Ma's street it was pouring. We got pretty wet even though I had an umbrella. Once we got to her house we waited for about five minutes, and it pretty much stopped. So we continued on. I had so many leftovers cuz Hubs was supposed to be home to hand out the candy. He didn't get home til mid-evening on Friday so he said he'd leave Monday. But naturally the phone rang early in the afternoon, he got called to work. So no one was home from 6-7:30, the high period, to hand out the goodies. Normally we get 45-55 kids, but last night I only handed stuff out to about 20. I gave two and three times as much out after we got home. I had chips, cheesies, chocolate dipped granola bars, and sour Zombies. Even though in our travels last night I never saw nearly as many kids as we usually see, and some people commented that they didn't have as many kids as usual.

Of course, KnitWeir is on our route. She makes awesome candy apples. So I got a candy apple, which I saved for tonight. (She also dumped the leftover coating into a pan, so she gave me a piece of that to eat on the walk. Her coating has a bit of zip to it, must have cinnamon or something, and it's really good.) Maggie checking it out.

Got my yarn order in last week with the Classic Wool I needed, so this week I'll be concentrating on finishing up the six-pair felted slipper order. I've also got a pair of socks on the needles that seem like they've been there forever cuz they always get the back burner because of the slippers. And I do have a few Christmas gifts start knitting.... nothing big, but still...

Happy knitting!

Fall Flare

2010-10-27T20:33:00.002-03:00

The Fall Flare slippers are finished and picked up. Someone picked out Classic Wool in pumpkin, deep olive, and yellow and wanted slippers made out of it, so it was up to me to decide how to do them. Started October 23, finished the 24th, the ever faithful Fiber Trends pattern. Ravelry details here.

Now I just have two more pairs to make, and the six-slipper order is finished. I have the yarn to do one of the pairs, but I have to wait for our yarn order to arrive before I can do the other pair. I also have another pair to make for someone for his wife for Christmas. Tis slipper season!

One of our yarn reps came to the store yesterday. Remember the yarn I got as part of an on-line order with Heddy? (The Cascade Heritage stuff.) We'll her company sells it, so we're going to be carrying it.

Happy knitting!

Sparklies

2010-10-24T19:24:00.003-03:00

So I have been knitting even though the posts have been sparse lately. It has been really windy, so it was hard to get outside to take pictures of the finally finished scarf knit with Soft Payette in the fire opal colorway. I like the pattern, but the yarn was a bit of a pain, the sequins could be a pain at times. I doubt I'll use the yarn again. Possibly, but not likely. This was started on September 7 and finished October 17. Ravelry details here.

So a couple of weeks ago Heddy was doing up a yarn order from an on-line store, so she put the call out if anyone else in our knitting group wanted anything. I ordered two items:

Cascade Yarns Heritage Solids in a nice warm yellow. This yarn is oh, so soft, and will definitely be socks for me. I'll peruse Nova Knitter's projects as she's a big solid/semi-solid sock yarn lover and does such wonderful patterns.

The second item was a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock. Pretty colors, Noro can be a pain to knit with, but hey - it's Noro. I did make a pair of socks out of the Kureyon Sock, but everything I've read most people say the Silk Garden Sock is a lot better to work with. This will become socks for me, too. I'll probably take a peek around Ravelry and see what other people made out of it.

So I'm still plunking away on the felted slippers order. She actually called and added a sixth pair. I will have them all done this week except for the pair she just added - it's a man's pair in the same colors as the other man's pair only reversed. We don't have the yarn in stock, but I ordered it, so it probably will be here til next week. I also got a request for another pair from someone else, so I finished those today and felted them. I'll take pictures in the morning for the next post. They're drying in the rec room in front of a fan right now.

Happy knitting!

PS That 70's Cat Bed is still a hit. Pumba uses it a lot more than Nala, but pretty much 90% of the time someone is in it!

Alas! I May Have to Make Another One...

2010-10-13T10:50:00.003-03:00

...cat bed, that is. I've caught the Cranky-Faced Princess in That 70's Cat Bed twice now.

She fits in to it a lot better than His Royal Portliness. (Even though I must say that in her old age she's put on a couple of pounds.) Pumba must have been jealous, last night he was laying on her rear end when she was in the bed! I'm surprised she didn't lay a smackdown on him, she's crabby that way. If he would have touched her back, that would have been a different story. He walked over her yesterday, touching her back in the process, and I thought she was going to rip his head off. (She has a back problem.)

I finished up the toddler socks that are part of the felted slipper order. Very fast knit, they are size 2-4, knit with Patons Kroy FX in cascade colors. Ravelry details here.

So now I'm working on the slippers, started the only mens pair last night. Hope to get that pair finished today and maybe start another pair. Got some leaves to rake today, though, so I can get the lawn mowed again. There are too many leaves out front and in the big driveway to mow through or I'd just mulch them up.

Happy knitting!

Lotus Slippers

2010-10-10T10:54:00.010-03:00

It's slipper time again, I guess. T called me from work the other day to bring down a pair of my old slippers to show a customer who was interested in them. (She had already purchased one of my felted bags and a pair of vanilla socks I'd knit, as well as a pair of vanilla socks that the Boss Lady knit.) So I grabbed the Littlest One's old pair since they didn't get a lot of wear. Yesterday she arrived at the store with a couple of her daughters and order five pairs as well as a pair of toddler socks. So I'll be busy for the next bit. I had quickly whipped these up so I'd have a finished pair ready to show them what a new pair looks like. These ones are the ever-so faithful pattern from Fiber Trends, knit with Patons Classic Wool in lotus with yellow for the cuff. These ones are a ladies medium, started October 6, finished the 8th. Ravelry details here.

The slipper on the left was not defuzzed, the slipper on the right is defuzzed. Sometimes Classic Wool doesn't fuzz up too much, other times it does. This time it fuzzed a lot, hard to tell in the picture just how much, though.

So I think tonight I'll start the toddler socks. I don't think I'll get very far, we went to the fire prevention week dance last night, then to the bar afterwards, then a stop to one of the pizza places for a donair, so bedtime didn't come til 3am, so I'm super tired. Plus it's Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada, and Hubs has to leave for work in a little bit, so I had to cook our turkey today. He wasn't supposed to leave til the morning, but they called today with a load delivering at 8am tomorrow morning, so he's going to leave tonight. So while I was cooking turkey dinner I also had to cook up all the other stuff I had for him to take instead of having this evening to work on it. Then tomorrow the kids and I will head to my parents' place for more turkey dinner, lol.

Happy knitting!

PS Pumba is still loving the cat bed, Nala hasn't touched it that I've seen, lol.

That 70's Cat Bed

2010-10-07T09:44:00.003-03:00

I finished up the cat bed that I thought maybe Nala would use. So far she hasn't touched it except for the three or four times I put her in it (and she wouldn't stay in it). Pumba seems to like it, though, even if he is a little portly for it. At least someone likes it.

He's been laying in it a lot, so needless to say it's a little bit on the squished side now. If her Royal Highness decides that she wants it then I'll make another one for Pumba, and I'll add a chevron repeat to make it more roomy for him. The pattern is Chaton Minet Felted Cat Basket, and I used Patons Classic Wool in lotus, aran, yellow, and burnt orange. Used up 100% of the skein of aran, and I had probably 1/4 of skeins of yellow and burnt orange left. The lotus was in a mystery yarn bag, but I'd say I used an entire skein at least of that, if not a tad more. The colors remind me of crocheted afghans from the 70's, thus the name That 70's Cat Bed. I'm thinking when I was little there was an afghan or pillows or something somewhere along the way in these colors, not sure if at our house or the grandparents or where. (Ravelry details on this project are here - I did modify the bottom, details on the project page.)

Anyhoo, I've been avoiding cleaning the Littlest One's room so far this morning, but I think I can't put it off any longer. I did the Oldest One's room last week. I can't do it when they're home, all I hear is, "You can't get rid of that. We need that. Why are you throwing that out?" What they don't see going they don't miss. I promised myself I'd do it this morning, it was supposed to be rainy, but the rain has stopped, and the sun is out. I usually reserve room cleaning to rainy days. But I'll go now and get it over with. The process is a pain, but the end result is worth it.

Happy knitting!

Easter Egg Socks

2010-09-28T20:41:00.002-03:00

I finished up another pair of socks for me. Wow! Two pairs in a row for me, albeit just plain vanillas, nothing fancy. These ones I call my Easter Egg Socks cuz the colors look like Easter eggs. They were started September 17, finished the 26th, made with Patons Kroy in lavender jacquard and knit with 2.75mm needles. My standard vanilla recipe of 60sts, although I did use a larger needle. It's usually 2.25mm or 2.5mm, but I find the Kroy so much thicker, so I go up a bit more. I tried to knit them a little tighter, and they seem to fit okay. Ravelry details here.

Not a fan of inside pictures, but its been rainy outside lately, and I finished these once it was dark, too. I guess the color isn't off too much. It was a gorgeous day today (eventually), but I had to work and couldn't reshoot. It was like summer, actually, hot and muggy. I think it's going to stay that way but be rainy til the weekend, and Sunday temperatures are to go down to a normal seasonal temperature. (Today must have been at least 25C plus humid, Sunday is only supposed to be 14C.)

Happy knitting!

Visitor

2010-09-24T21:37:00.002-03:00

We had a visitor yesterday. A very good friend of mine who I went to high school with and community college was home for a visit. She moved to Australia probably 10-11 years ago, it must be, now. She`s travelled all over the world, lucky gal. She hasn`t been here since 2007, I think. Plans are in 2012 when I hit a milestone birthday (one which I am NOT looking forward to, it`s going to be one of those it`s-my-party-and-I`ll-cry-if-I-want-to birthdays) to go to her place for a visit. Anyhoo, she has this little guy, Sid, who goes everywhere with them. He`s very well-travelled, been to South America, The Great Wall of China, New York City, Paris, Europe... He got to meet Nala and Pumba yesterday.

And of course Jewel tried to eat him. (Bet no one else tried to eat him in all of his travels.)

So I found him a girlfriend-from-afar. Awhile back when I went to one of the local grocery stores they were giving these out for free. I named her Bernadette, and she hopes to be worldly-travelled in the not-so-distant future, too.

And Jewel tried to eat her, too.

So the Oldest One is infatuated with planes, he`d like to be a pilot someday. My friend`s husband is an engineer for Qantas. They brought some stuff for the boys, they were tickled pink. The pajamas are miles too big for them, but they`ve been wearing them anyways. And I don`t have a picture, but T at work went to New York City last week, and he brought me a t-shirt.

Soon finishing up another pair of vanilla socks for me. Should have those ready for the next post.

Happy knitting!

Tutti Fruitti

2010-09-18T08:32:00.003-03:00

I made myself a pair of socks for the first time in awhile. They are just plain old 60 stitch vanillas in a discontinued Kroy colorway called Tutti Frutti. Started on September 5, finished on the 16th, Ravelry details here.

We had some construction work going on last week. We finally got the materials to shingle our roof. I got three quotes on the labour, and I went with a friend I've know since high school who has done this kind of thing forever, and he also happened to beat the other two quotes (also two guys that I just happened to go to high school with), one by $430, the other by $300.

Before. (Look at Maggie in the window! She loves to lay in the bay window. Probably 90% of the time when I come home she's laying in the window.) You can see the big square of tar that my Dad did to stop the leak we had til we could get the roof done.

Most of the materials, I put the small stuff in the garage so it would walk or blow away. We had gotten 39 bundles of shingles but needed two more. Dad overestimated on the other stuff, but that's okay. We have to do the garage roof in the spring, and now all we need are shingles.

They started in the back.

The final product. I went with a different color. The old shingles were black, the new ones are weatherwood.

Trying to get a closer look at the color, but it had just finished raining, so it was a little dark and gloomy outside. And the finishing time was perfect - he added the peak on Thursday, and Friday it absolutely poured.

This is the garage, and you can see that the roof is pretty nasty. I know when they strip it down there will be boards to be replaced. It does leak in places, and some of the boards are kinda black down where the roof meets the walls. But we don't live in the garage, so it has to wait.

Happy knitting!

Earl

2010-09-08T10:03:00.003-03:00

Last weekend was a long weekend, but a pretty quiet one for us. Except for early morning/into the afternoon on Saturday, when Hurricane Earl passed through. More on him in a minute, but first up I finally finished up the Par 5 socks. Started August 16, finished September 5, no changes to the pattern. I did three 24-row pattern repeats to the heel, then from the gusset pick up to the toe did 2.5 repeats. Usual toe to 20sts. I did the 2x2 rib down the heel, but if I do them again I may do a regular heel. I find this one kinda loose. The yarn is On Your Toes 4ply in cream. Ravelry details here.

So Earl ripped a big branch from one of my trees, much as I expected. We've had this house for nine years. The man we bought it from had cut all the branches basically off of all of the trees in the yard. (He didn't like raking leaves, but after he ruined all the trees he realized that 90% of the leaves in the yard come from the graveyard across the road.) Anyhoo, they've filled in nicely over the years, kinda silly looking in the winter when there are no leaves on them, but still. I love my trees. But these two by the side driveway always end up losing limbs in high winds.

This is one of the neighbor's trees across the street.

And this tree is two houses up from mine. It was a weird shaped tree to begin with, and the wind just hauled it right out of the ground. I took a drive around on Saturday night, and there seemed to be a lot of tree damage and not too much else. I know there were a couple of power poles snapped, too.

Today was the first day I've had off since the kids went back to school. I had to run to Bridgewater to do some errands. Not too much else was accomplished today other than a bit of housework before I left. Tomorrow I have to wait around for my roofing materials to be dropped off. Ga, the expense. We bought the materials, now we're getting quotes on the labour. The one I got today was really quite high. Well, probably not too bad, but it's a helluva lot more than we're willing to pay. Hubs was talking to his brother, so I'm thinking that maybe he and our nephew may end up doing it. They're cheap labour, BIL used to do that for a living and now just does it on occasion, and nephew has been working for a roofer for a couple of months now. We'll work out a small fee, and I'm sure some beer and supper will have to be thrown in.

I'll leave with a little clip of Earl that I took. Happy knitting!

Bluebell

2010-09-03T19:51:00.003-03:00

I finished up a little cardigan for the store. It's knit with Bernat Baby Jacquards in the bluebell colorway. The pattern is from the booket Patty Cake, all patterns for the Baby Jacquard yarns. Started this one August 19 and finished it on the 28th. The only thing I really did differently from the pattern was omit the picot edge on the buttonbands. I didn't have enough yarn, and I didn't want to get another skein just for the sake of a few yards. And I used 3.5mm and 3.75mm needles. Ravelry details here. Got the yarn to make the boys version, too.

So we've been having an incredibly hot heat wave here the past week. It's been unbearable with the humidity. Today was the first day of school, poor kids. No air conditioning in the schools and all those bodies. The Littlest One is now in the same school as the Oldest One for the next two school years. There is new playground equipment there this year, so they got to check that out for a bit today, but I don't think they were allowed outside as long as usual because of the heat. And the Littlest One said something about getting ice cream or freezies or something.

But this evening it's actually cooling off. Earl is on his way and is set to hit here through the night and into tomorrow. After he passes through the temperatures are supposed to drop by 12-15C to a nice, comfortable low 20sC. (Instead of 35C feeling like 42C with the humidity!) The boys and I spent the past couple of days at the beach all afternoon, but the only relief we got there was to jump in the water (which was abnormally warm for here). I took knitting with me both days, but it was just too hot to touch it. I haven't knit hardly a stitch this week, but I think I'll sit down this evening and try to get the heel finished on my sock.

And on a sad note, remember this post from early August. Our dear friend and one of our best customers at the store passed away yesterday. His granddaughter (who has a daughter my Oldest One's age) called and said he wasn't feeling well, so they took him to the hospital where he peacefully passed away. All I can say is if I can make it to 94 and go quickly and quietly like that I'd be a happy camper. We sure will miss him. He hasn't been able to drive for the past couple of years, but when he still did drive he was at the store pretty well every day, sometimes for hours. I'd say, "See you tomorrow, Ralph", and he'd always say, "Well, at my age I'm not making any promises!". He liked to argue at times, too. You could tell if he was in the mood, lol. But I was thinking yesterday, he argued with all of them at the store except for me. We never had an argument, not once. (And don't get me wrong - he wasn't arguing to be nasty, that's just what he liked to do sometimes, and we all knew it.) Once in awhile he'd arrive with cards for us all with lotto tickets in them (he loved the lotto). He couldn't remember when it was all of our birthdays, so he'd do that once in awhile for us. He had a ticket one time, he gave me the ticket to look at and one of the other girls the list of winning numbers. He had her call off one number at a time while I checked his ticket. Sneaky devil knew he had every number except for the last one. He would have won $1 million, but with only 5 numbers he got $649. (It was the Atlantic 649.) He talked about that for ages and even years later he'd mention that time he was one number away from $1 million!!

Happy knitting!

PEI Trip Part 4 of 4

2010-08-29T11:01:00.005-03:00

So Sunday morning we hit for home. I wanted to make sure we were gone by noonish so we'd be home around suppertime or shortly after. On the way Hubs took us past the McCain plant where he goes to on a fairly regular basis. More French fries! (Among other things.)

Then we stopped at the information centre again where we picked up some t-shirts and made a stop at The Sweet Factory for some candy.

Then we paid the fee to leave the Island, and we were headed for home.

Bridge Patrol, lol!

Back to New Brunswick...

Then little ol' Nova Scotia!

Of course, playing mini golf three times in PEI wasn't enough. The boys had to stop back at Mastadon Ridge for a fourth round of mini golf.

We got the girls around 6pm or shortly after. They were soooooooo excited to be going home! Talk about hyper when we picked them up. It was a very hard job getting their collars and leashes on. They didn't want to stay in the back seat, either. (I really need one of those cage things to keep them in the very back of the wagon.) Maggie ended up weaseling herself up on my lap.

And then it was all back to the same old, same old. Can't complain about our weather this summer. It rarely rains, it's been hot and sunny. I think this afternoon will be beach time. The kids go back to school on Friday. (Which I think it's so silly starting on Friday, then they're off for a long weekend because of Labour Day. Why not just go back on Tuesday after Labour Day?) The summer has flown by, as usual. I was looking around my yard yesterday thinking that it will soon be time to rake all those darned leaves again. Then we'll have cold weather, of which I'm not a fan. I guess within the next month or two it will be time to knit the boys some new mittens.

I do have a little baby sweater finished. It's blocking a bit, so I'll have pictures next post. And I'm trying to finish up a pair of socks as well.

Happy knitting!

PEI Trip Part 3 of 4

2010-08-25T09:31:00.007-03:00

Day Three in PEI was Amusement Park Day. First off we went to Shining Waters. This was a pretty fun spot, though Hubs and I didn't really get our money's worth. Neither of us did the water slides. He would have, but he had tore the skin off of his left calf playing ball, so he didn't want to get it all wet. He's diabetic, and it isn't healing as fast as it should, so we thought it best if he avoided anything else that might irritate it even more.

The kids did this mini-coaster, gearing up for the big roller coaster at the next place.

We did a trip through the Topsy Turvy Cabin. It was a fast trip for me. I should have known better when there was a sign at the entry saying it can make you dizzy, disoriented, naseated, etc, that it wasn't the place for me. I get motion sick very easily, always have. (Even though when I was a kid I had much more tolerance for rides and such. But I was always car sick, always.)

Even though the boys look like they are standing crooked they are not, they are in fact standing straight. This was a kitchen area, and it looked like water was running uphill. I snapped two quick pictures of the boys and had to get out, I felt like I was gonna hurl. It didn't bother them, but I couldn't stand it. It doesn't move, it's just the way it's built.

There was a barn with various farm animals, I thought these guys were cute. They didn't say much, though.

The boys got to milk a cow, lol.

Of course I had to take a picture of the sheep!

There were two spots of peddle boats, plain old peddle boats, and pirate ship peddle boats. The boys did the pirate ship boats.

Then it was water slide time. There are four slides, two are lower and don't require tubes to use. They did those first, but apparently they weren't exciting enough. There were single tubes and double tubes for two riders together, but they stuck to the single tubes. The line up was long, but it went really fast. As soon as one rider hit the bottom there was an attendant to take the tube and pass it to the next person. So they got to go down several times. Most of the people wanted double tubes, so that line up did move a bit slower.

Next stop was Sandspit. Ferris wheel, Paratrooper, bumper cars and boats, mini golf, go-karts, train ride, etc, etc, and of course, the Cyclone Roller Coaster. The Oldest One thought he was going to get me on this paratrooper thing, but I had new for him - NO!

Way up top there, you can see Hubs with a white t-shirt on, the Littlest One is with him

Here they are again three seats down from the top. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to go on this, and I did, twice. Even though I'm scared heights. It was a gorgeous view from the top, you could see the ocean, but there was no way I was moving to get any camera out of the bag. I had a death grip on the bar, and that was that.

Then the kids made their way to the roller coaster. The line ups for stuff were really quite short til evening hit, then lines got longer, but they moved along quite quickly.

The only other roller coaster any of us have been on is the wooden one at this place. This one is a lot bigger. For some reason I thought I'd take a trip on this ride, too. Once, and only once. (And Hubs didn't go!) The first drop is the biggest, and I will admit that I did have my eyes closed at some points, but I did it, I survived, that's that!

It was open til 11pm that day, but we scooted at 10. It was a long day, but the boys had a ton of fun.

Happy knitting!

PEI Trip Part 2 of 4

2010-08-20T11:58:00.006-03:00

This was our first full day in PEI, so we were off to Cavendish. On the way we passed the French fry place.

Then we were off to Ripley's. This was a really cool place. I only picked a couple of pictures cuz this post would go on forever otherwise.

One of my favorite movies is The Crow, and this jacket was actually worn by Brandon Lee in the film, shortly before he was killed while filming the movie.

This guy was Robert Wadlow, the tallest man who ever lived. He was 8'11" tall and only lived to be 22. I definitely would not have wanted to knit him socks! (Size 25!!)

After a trip through there we went to the wax museum, which is right next door. That was cool, but Ripley's was better.

You get a deal if you buy a pass to the mini golf when you get your Ripley's ticket, so we ended up mini-golfing when we were finished in the museums.

Then we were off to North Rustico. My friend, knitlibby, had left here the day we arrived. We had lunch, then I visited this store. Nice, nice, nice stuff. They only sell a bit of Briggs & Little and MacAuslands, everything is finished items and some other stuff.

I did buy my only yarn purchase on the trip, a skein of MacAuslands, and a little alpaca necklace.

The Littlest One spied this place on the way to lunch. Let me warn anyone here and now that goes over there -- AVOID this place! Talk about rip off. It's like Al Bundy or Homer Simpson made an amusement park. If you've got wee little kids, like toddlers, and don't mind wasting money, then this is the place to go. It was no wonder that they had a sign that said no refunds.

After kicking ourselves about the Santa place we decided to hit for a beach, so off we went to Cabot Provincial Park. We were limited for time, so I wasn't about to pay to get into Cavendish Beach National Park. When we got there the sign said the air temperature was 23C, and the water was 19C. I wish the water was warm like that here at home.

We stayed there for a bit, but the men were hot for unlimited go-karting from 6-10pm at Burlington Amusement Park. One of Hubs's cousins was in PEI with his girlfriend and her family. They arrived around 8, so he raced with the boys.

And that was about it for the second day. We stayed til about 10:20, that was the final go-kart race. Then it was back to the motel with a pizza to rest up for the next day!

Happy knitting!