What a weekend for a BBQ

This weekend was for the most part very relaxing although not a lot of knitting was done. Saturday I went for my orientation at the gym I just joined. After the orientation I stayed for an hour long body flow class (yoga, tai chi and pilates). That was fun and hard work. I came home, I showered and got ready for the BBQ at my bf's friend's house. It was raining, it was grey out, then the sun came out then it would rain... it was a cycle. We started cooking, and we looked up and thought, "it's going to rain again" we started to put a tent up over where we were sitting and it started to spit rain.

Suddenly out of nowhere the rain came down in a wave and it came down sideways. There are not walls on the tent and I happened to be on the side where the rain came in. Everyone swarmed to the middle of the tent but of course I am still on the outide where the rain is coming in. The last straw was when the group moved I got bumped and dropped my drink all down my already soaked self. I ran for the door. Luckily I was going to the bf's house after and had a change of clothes in the car or I would have been very cold and miserable/bitchy.

Funny that all day my knitting stayed in the car. I was a little shy because I didn't know most of the people at the party. But after I got soaked and then changed all I wanted was a sock. Just a plain one .... but I held off and didn't knit until we were back home.

I have been trying to get a few things done/started. I have two baby things to knit in a month and another special project that needs to be done a.s.a.p. For some strange reason I have been having a lot of trouble getting gauge on the special project. I start, I rip, I go down a size, I start I rip. Finally I think I am as close as I'm going to get.

The other project is the Outdoor snuggly from Zoe Mellor' s Nursery Knits. I think the picture looks so cute but I have heard negative reviews of the pattern. I will let you know how it goes. This is what I have so far.

I'm a bad blogger

I said there would be knitting, I said there would pictures and....I have to admit that I do not have much of either.

I don't see much point in taking pictures of the same thing only a few rows further along than the last time I took a picture. And a row or two a night is about all that I have the engery for. I start to knit and start to fall asleep.

I have been on the day shift this week. Normally that is 6:30 am to 3pm. I have been helping out my old supervisor this week so I have been starting work everyday at 5:30. Monday and Tuesday there was overtime and I stayed until 5pm. This is of course my choice. No one forced me to stay at work for that long but.....I will not be at my summer job all that long and in order to really make it worth it (and because my contract next year is only half time) I am working all the overtime I can.

That is my excuse. I know it is meager but that is all I have. I hope to have more to share soon.

I'm still here

I haven't posted for a few days and I don't have much new to say. I thought I would post a quick Grandma update.

My Grandma is home from the hospital now. They think that this swelling in her leg is something that happens normally after procedures like her's and that because of her age it is taking a little longer than it usually does. Her arm is not broken she must have just strained it severly.

I have been knitting bits and pieces here and there but my hands are still hurting from work plus I have been going in early and staying late so just keeping my eyes open is a task on it's own.

Hope to have some knitting to show you soon. This weekend there are two car shows so I will be busy I'm sure.

Finally a FO

As promised here is a pic of my dad's socks.















Pattern: None really, just basic sock pattern the way all of my dad's store bought socks look.
Yarn:Filatura Di Crosa Zara, 100% Merino wool
Needles: Clover 3.5mm

It feels good to have something finished. Watching my WIP list grow again was not my intention. But the girls and I have been buying lots of beautiful yarn and it is hard to resist that temptation.

I have to draw the line. Other than the baby gifts that I need to start I will be trying to regain my focus.

Grandma update:
Not much to say about this yet. My grandmother is still in the hospital and will be until at least Wednesday from the sounds of things. The specialist they want her to see was not in over the weekend so we don't know anything more about the swelling in her leg. And to add to her discomfort, she may have broken her arm while trying to push herself up in bed. She says she heard a snap and now we have to wait until tomorrow to find out the results of the x-rays.

I am off to get ready for bed because 5 am comes early. I have not been up that early in a long time. Unless it is to get up to go to the little girls room and then get back into bed.

Another late night

I don't totally understand how at 8pm I am trying to stay awake and then at almost 1am I am wide awake.

I finally have finished the socks for my dad. Yes they were intended as a father's day gift but...well he has been asking for them. I have never knit socks for a man before. When I make socks for myself or for a friend I like to knit with interesting colours and try out different patterns. A man's sock, especially a man like my dad, is very plain and BORING.

I will post a picture when I get home but as usual for my Saturday night I am at the bf's house. He is of course sleeping and has been for a while now, while I am wishing that I was asleep.

Not much news about my grandma yet. My mother went back to visit her this morning so I'm sure I will know more tomorrow.

What a week

Ah the evening shift. I thought I would get a ton of knitting done. NOPE. My hands are still soar and the skin on my fingertips feels like it has had all of the layers rubbed off. So not much knitting. I have done a little bit of spinning but I can't keep that up long either. Here is some fleece artist roving all spun up. I like the way the colours blend.


I also got some mail yesterday. I love getting mail. And this is what it was.


Beautiful Sweet Sock sock yarn from Michelle at The Sweet Sheep.

I am going over to my new school this morning. I am meeting with the other kindergarten teacher to organize the room and do some planning. I'm hoping this isn't an all day adventure but I want to do what I can to help out.

Then it is back to work for 3:30pm until 12am. They start us a half hour early on fridays so we can leave a half hour early.

I was supposed to be going to my Grandmother's this weekend but now we are not going. She had some surgery a week ago. She had a bypass in her legs because there was not enough blood flow and they told her if she didn't have surgery that she would lose her legs. Well as of yesterday her one leg is very badly swollen around when they cut her. She is back in the hospital and we aren't totally sure what the problem is yet. It could be infection or still circulation problems but we aren't having our family get together anymore.

My mother is still going back either tonight or tomorrow. She has been home about 4 days in the last two weeks. I know she is very stressed by the whole thing and I am trying to be patient with her and supportive. She tries to carry the weight for everyone sometimes and forgets about her own needs.

I hope everything turns out for the best. I had visions of teaching my cousin to knit socks this weekend but that looks like a no go now.

How work interfers with knitting

Last night was my first night back at work. Things haven't changed much but I have. I am not as strong as I was when I left and my boss thinks I can just jump in where I left off. Today I am hurting. I have bruises, (some you can see some you can't but I can feel them) and scratches and I can feel some blisters starting. My main complaint about that is that it slows down my knitting, or I don't knit much because my hands are tired. So before work was taking away from my knitting because I was at work and couldn't knit. Now it may start to take away from my knitting time at home.

But a quick show and share about what I have been knitting. Dad's second sock is almost done. Here is the Lemongrass sock so far.


And here is my Charlotte's Web Shawl. I am using the two last colours together now. Very exciting.



I think I might knit (slowly) and watch a movie today. hmmm yes maybe. I want to head to work early because I would like to see my bf today and he will be leaving work when I am starting. Back to how it was when I was in school. I come home for the summer and we work opposite shifts. We worked on the same shift at one point because that is how we met.

What? Me? Work?

I start my summer factory job today. I'm not overly excited about it. Ok I'm not excited at all. I know that I need to keep making money. I don't want to be spending and not seeing anything come back. It will give me something to do other than sitting around my house knitting too. Damnit I could have been stitting around my house knitting all day!!!

This summer is going to fly buy. I have a kindergarten class to prepare for and now I'm working and all the stuff I want to do in between. Before you know it, it will be September and I'm back to teaching.

I have to get going on my knitting. I was starting to get my WIPs under control for a while there and now I have been unable to resist. I also have a gift that needs to be done in about a month that I haven't started yet. So I'm sure I will be posting with pictures soon because I'm going to be working like crazy to finish some things off.

Wish me luck tonight. I will be working until about 12:30 am if there is no overtime tonight. That is staying up late for me now.

The Car (or a slight rant)

I think when you are in a relationship with someone it is good to support that person's hobbies. After all your whole lives can't be each other. My bf is very understanding of my hobbies. He doesn't ask me what I spent this time at the store and expresses interest in what I'm working on. This brings me to......THE CAR.

I have had friends tell me that I'm very understanding of my bf's hobby which is his car. I go to the shows ( and surprisingly even to myself) I have come to enjoy them. The problem arises when the car gets in my way. When I want him to spend time with me and he has to work on the car. Mind you I can knit while we spend time together. The car takes his full attention. The problem gets worse when the car keeps me up at night.

It is 12:30 am and we have to be up to head to the show in Niagara Falls at 7:30. Am I ready to be tucked into bed? NO. I am still at the shop where my bf works on the car. I have even helped so that we can be finished faster. The car is not ready for the show tomorrow and it seems we are not leaving until it is. I'm tired and I'm cranky and am not feeling very supportive of his hobbies at the moment.

There it is....my cranky rant. I'm sorry I had to expose that to the world but what do I have to do at 12:30 in the morning at a automotive shop when I am to tired to even knit?

Some dye job

What a busy week. I have been here there and everywhere. I started out going to visit a friend of mine for two days got back Wednesday night just in time to go with Emma and Connie to Lettuce Knit for their re-opening party. WOW. What a lot of beautiful stuff and a lot of knitters. We are almost famous. We are the LK shoppers caught on camera when we were leaving (as pictured on the knitty blog).

I have done very little knitting this week because I have spent quite a bit of time in the car. I was driving myself so it makes for bad knitting time. But at Lettuce knit I bought some merino fibre to experiment with and spend a good chunk of yesterday dying some of it. This was another first for me and it was a lot of fun.


The first picture is my first attempt. I wasn't completely happy with it so I died it again (2nd picture). Can't wait to spin it up to see how it turns out. Spinning might have to wait for next week though. Tomorrow I'm off to a car show in Niagara Falls (yes my knitting is coming) and then Sunday my mom and I get to brave the city (so much going on in Toronto this weekend) because we are going to see the Lord of the Rings.

And so ends my week off. I start my summer job on Monday.

Spin Spin Sugah

Let me tell you about my first time. I spent today with my drop spindle. We took a good portion of the last week to get to know each other and today was the day we went for it.

I went to Gemini Fibres and asked for something that would be easy for a first timer and rented a video to help set the mood. We spent all day together and at the end of the day I have to balls of singles that look like this.

and a close up

It is a little fluffy and lumpy and bumpy. I'm not sure why I thought I should be able to spin perfectly on my first attempt but overall I feel proud. And well...I should. It took me all day. My arms and shoulders are aching but I have singles.

Tonight before I sleep I might try to ply them because I'm way too excited to go to bed yet. and then I need to decided what colour I want to dye this yarn...hmmmmm

I know what the girls will think I will do .... but my bf has been teasing me about my love of "puke green". "EWww what's with you and puke green" So I might have to try something a little out of my ordinary.

Bad news about the sheep. It looks like the baby is still born. Today when my dad was at work the mom had still not given birth and seemed distressed. He said he could see the baby and tried to help her but the way this farm runs is that they pretty much leave things to nature. The animals are only used to people being close to them to feed them. Not to help them give birth. Anyway it is a sad story. I hope mommy will be ok.

I am going to be very busy for the next few days so I won't be posting. I'm off to visit a friend of mine tomorrow and am not sure if I will have time to post Wednesday before we leave for knitting night. Anyone know any yarn stores near Georgetown and Acton that would be worth a visit while I'm there?

I can't live on a farm

Today has been a lot of fun. I was at my bf's for the weekend and then today when I got home I went out to the farm where my dad works to help him feed the animals. Well to be honest I just look at the animals and play with the barn cats while he feeds the animals but I still like to go. I have returned with a lovely case of the sniffles, I took some alergy medication and hope it will subside very soon.

The farm has one interesting attraction and that is the sheep. They have all be shorn now and are just as noisy as ever but I still like to go and visit them. There was one sheep today that did not come up to push it's way in for food today. It stood back and cried and cried. I pointed it out to my dad and asked what was up. He went looking for a baby because she seems very.... um.... full and he knew a few would be on the way soon. He didn't find one but he says that the way she was acting and the look of her suggests they will have to check again in the morning. SOOOO cool! I wish I could have seen the baby. Maybe dad will take me out when it is born and I can see it then.

As for my knitting this weekend...I did some of the Charlotte's Web shawl. I love it so much. I think I am in love with koigu. I want more and more and more of it. Tee Hee Hee. Seriously though. All of us are using koigu for the shawl and all of the colours are beautiful. We may all be doing the same pattern but they each has something unique in the colour combinations. I'm so excited to see how everyone's is coming out.