Not Quite Tomorrow

Yes it is not quite tomorrow but here is my finished object.

Project Specs-
Date Finished: Se[tember 11, 2006.
Pattern : Outdoor Snuggle - Zoe Mellor (Nursery Knits)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss - Baby Cashmerino
Needles: 3.75 mm Britteny

I had read a few review of this pattern which were....lets face it... less than complimentary. But this little sac of a hoodie was tooooo cute to resist. I didn't have the problems with the pattern that I had read about so that is a good thing. The little one's Mommy and Daddy think it is adorable and that makes me very happy. I always worry that people my age that do not knit may not appreciate everything that has gone into making their gift. It is nice to be appreciated.

Anyway, back to work today. I always feel like another day on the weekend would make everyone a little happier. I heard someone mention on the news that there are more accidents on Mondays than any other day. I wonder if that is true.

Show and Tell

I started writing this post yesterday and I had spent a good chunk of time on it....Then...the computer froze and I lost it all. What was it my high school computer teacher used to say? "Save save save" So after that I said a few choice words and went off to Unwind to knit.

So are we wet yet???? I must consider myself lucky for a few reasons tonight. One my messy office is NOT wet. The water that came in my basement again did not make it over to my piles of things on the floor or my computer or my yarn! PHEW!!!! and the Second reason is that other people in Newmarket were evacuated from their homes because the water was pouring in. Crazy!!! We are sooo lucky!!

And now ... on with the show (and tell). Lots of links and a few picks! The kids I teach love show and share so today as promised, is my turn to show things from the past weekend.

Here is my Namaste Bag! I bought it from the wonderful people at Needles and Pins. They are proof that it pays to be nice because the ladies at the Pick up Sticks booth (yes that was us) bought three of them.

That is my mom in the background who can't believe that I am taking pictures of my bag.

This is my Dragon Sock so far. What a great pattern. It is keeping my interest and not too hard for my tired self.


I am using Mama-E's C*EYE*BER, in the Sarah colourway and I am really enjoying. It is available through Mama's blog and also through Pick up Sticks (the only place you can get the Sarah colour though!)

I also bought some Claudia Hand painted from Connie and some JaggerSpun MerinoLace from Red Bird but the pictures didn't show up so well so you will have to trust me that it is wonderful.

And last but not least of my purchases (in more ways that one). As promised here is my new baby.


This is my next step from handspinning (not that I was a great handspinner). It is my Majacraft Lil' Gem. I adopted my little gem from the nice ladies at The Black Lamb. They gave me a little lesson and let me play throughout the day. It still needs a more personal name but we haven't had a lot of time to get to know each other better. Any suggestions leave me a comment!

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday and I am hoping to take her out to dinner. But I do intent to post picks of a finished object tomorrow too. I know it is a shock!

Wow What a Weekend

This weekend was the knitting fair in Kitchener! and all I can say is WOW! I was thrilled and overwhelmed by the amount of people and all ages of people. Don't believe it yourself? Didn't see it with your own eyes? Well see it through mine!

The weekend flew by like a whorl wind. It was so much fun and so exhausting. This is all the great stuff that Connie has over at Pick up Sticks so for a better look go there and check her out!

I bought a few nice things (one of which was a rather significant purchase that Connie mentioned on her blog) but I will have to blog about them later because I am very tired. I need to get to next weekend so I can recover from the first week and a bit of school plus the knitter's fair in between.

No rest for the fiber addicted eh.

Where's my easy button

I remember the end of last school year thinking how busy and chaotic it was. The beginning of the year is surprisingly similar. I have been working like crazy in my classroom and with some much needed help from my family and co-workers.

I have been doing a little knitting. I have the baby snuggly finished other than a few ends to weave in and then the zipper to put in.

The excitment is building for the knitter's fair and it is still a whole week away. I have a few more things to get ready for the start of the school year next week but I am ready for the kids. I think the teachers are just as excited as the kids are.

Anyway I'm at my bfs house this weekend without my camera so no pictures. In the next few days I will post a finished pic of the snuggly. Have a great long weekend everyone.

Return on the Nonsense

Wow! It has been so long. Funny how life gets in the way of things. For now this will be a quick update on me. There will be no pictures as my camera was lost in the mess of my life until today.

Start off with some good news. (Well I guess there is a lot of good news) My dad is home from the hospital. He has been for about a week now. He is healing so well. You wouldn't even know it to see his face that it had been burnt. The nurse still comes to see him every day to change the bandages and he goes back to the hospital once a week to have a once over. But he is in good spirits and quickly on the mend.

Secondly. I have a different job. I am teaching grade one now instead of kindergarten. The switch was made to a new school and new grade so I have been there the last few days trying to get things organized. So it will be a busy week getting all of that stuff sorted and then prep for school starting next week.

The basement in my house is a disaster because I have been trying to organized all the school stuff in my home. (hence the lost camera) That is slowly making it's way back to rights as well.

I have been knitting. The sample scarf for the Knitter's Fair where I will be showing my support for Connie at Pick up Sticks. Also I have been knitting the baby sleeper for my bf's friend. The baby was a week late and I do not have all the details yet but I was starting to convince myself the baby was waiting for me to finish it's present. Hopefully the next few days will do the trick.

Now off to bed to knit a bit and then do it all again tomorrow.

When it rains it pours

I am going to stop appologizing (and to myself aswell) for not posting. Life happens and we all go through little ups and downs. Sometimes the downs like to stick close together so you think the ups are over. Not so!!

There have been a swarm of downs in my family and in families close to me lately and this week was no exception.

My father was in an accident at work and was badly burnt. They were lighting some of the brush they had cleared doing landscaping. They have a fire pit and have done this many times in the past. This time was the time I guess and the fire came back at my dad. He is badly burnt on the right side of his body. The fire didn't burn his close but did seem to like the exposed skin on his right side. His face is blistered and the skin is gone from his right arm and a portion of his right leg. He is fine!!! Things could have been so much worse but it was still very scary.

He is still at the Sunnybrook Hospital in their burn wing. I would just like to say thank you to all of the staff there. I am glad he is there because I know he is getting the best care he could. My dad says "They sure know what their doing here".

I am very busy right now getting ready for school and still working and visiting my dad. I'm starting to stress about getting back to school because there is still so much to be done and there will always be something to do. Busy busy.

P.S. the 40 min drive to the hospital is good knitting time. I haven't knit in my dad's room because I'm not sure it's ok. You have to wear a gown over your close and gloves on your hands while you visit him and if you leave the room you have to change and put on fresh ones. But we have taken dad food and stuff so I'm not sure what the rules are.

School is in the air

I can't believe how fast the summer is going. So much to do and not so much time to do it before september. I have two friends having babies, in September or sooner, that need gifts and my special project for Connie is coming along. That is as far as my knitting goes. I'm a bad Trek-along-er with only one sock finished and no trekking done with it. I have not finished Charlotte's web even though I am so close (and so close to running out of my final colour).

Then this weekend we ripped apart my corner of the basement. My stuff is everywhere. My furnature is moved and now everything that was stored in this corner needs to be organized and put back into the same corner. I want that done this week so next week I can start getting ready for the beginning of school. But man do I have a lot of sh...stuff.

This week I'm at a workshop all week so I will be car pooling to work with my mom. Should be fun and interesting.

I hope everyone had a great long weekend.

Busy Busy

I can not believe how busy this week has been. I tried to fit in doctors appointments and check-ups and things before school starts again. Plus I have been trying to fit going to the gym into my schedule everyday. Suddenly before I know it the day is over and I have to get to work.

Today I meet with my personal trainer again. The first meeting was setting some goals and getting my stats together. Some of those numbers are a little scary let me tell you. So I am curious as to what is in store for me today.

Also today in the mail I got this. (Sorry about the picture quality my camera doesn't seem to like me today.)


That is exciting. I was just thinking there should be a new issue soon and then the mail man came (and I can say that because he is a man)



On the front of this issue one of the headlines is "The Joy of Socks" I knew right away I would like this issue. There are some article aobut socks and knitting socks throughout history. I haven't read the articles yet but I am looking forward to it and there are quite a few cute sock patterns to try. (This pick you reallly can't see very well so you will have to look at the magazine yourself I'm sorry)



Also this weekend my office is being attacked. There is no storage left so things keep accumulating onto the floor. My family has bought me more shelves. Yippeee. But now we need to clear space for them. I have a secret hope that I can make this space more livable and not so much a corner of the unfinished basement to store my stuff in.

Hopefully the long weekend will give me some more time to knit. More as in more than a few rows before I go to sleep and a few before I start to run out the door to wherever I have to be.

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.

Phew!

Wow! What a week. This has been my first experience with the end of the school year from a teacher's perspective. WOW. You think things are winding down and then the last few days things wind right back up again.

As far as knitting goes, Wednesday was the Charlotte's web shawl cast on party. It went really well. All of us have chosen different colours and it was fun to be sitting with a group that are all knitting the same thing as you. I loved the pattern and the colours and flew past the first colour change without a care in the world.

Then I went home. I was tired, I got a little angry with my dad, I went to bed a little wound up and decided to keep knitting. It was not long before I had a problem and could not find the solution. I was about 50 rows in and then,......RIP. So I started again. Things were progressing well but perhaps lace shawls are not to be knit in bed tired and cranky, because I messed it up again.

Anyway today I ripped for the 3rd time and so far things are back on track and I'm about 30 rows in so "knock on wood" I think I need to pay a little more attention. But I love it and I will post a pic soon. My office and my computer is currently covered with teaching materials.

Phew....I'm exhausted. Things are finally winding down. I think I will go watch what not to wear and go to bed. No lace knitting in bed though....well maybe just until I get too tired?

I love getting mail!

Is it bad that sometimes I order things and forget what I ordered?? I got a package notice today and wondered what I was going to pick up. It's like Christmas in June (but I paid for my own presents). This is what it was:
This is what it looks like when you open the package.
And here is the Vesper yarn.



There is a little here for me and for Connie and for Meghan. The two pictured alone are mine, Jungle boogie is the green and neopolitan is the pink one.

The sock that I started on my pony pearls might have to be torn out so I can start one of these. It won't feel bad I only just finished the toe.

Casting on for Charlotte's web tomorrow night!!!!

Blah!!

Today is one of those days. I'm not in a good mood or a bad mood I'm somewhere in the middle of nowhere...I'm BLah. I can't decide what to do with myself this evening so I decided this would be it for a little while. Even this pic is a little blah looking....but the stuff in the pic is WOW!!!

Last night was my birthday dinner and it was fabulous. The girls and I had a great time. They completely spoiled me!!! I am sorry for the bad photo..my batteries were dying so there is almost no colour in this pic. But these are my wonderful gifts. The ladies gave me two sets of pony pearls which of course I had to try right away and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. They are so smooth and light and a little bit flexible. How did I not have these before? They also gave me my first drop spindle, a book about spinning and some fleece artist fibre in...you guessed it... green. WOW! I told ya ... .spoiled!

Don't expect to see any yarn from this fibre yet. I definately do not know what I'm doing. It may have to sit and wait for a while but I am very excited. Thanks again girls for a wonderful night out and my new goodies.

Finally there was a little bit of good news today. I got a job for the fall. I am excited but not because it is not a contract job it is another temporary position and it is half time and not full time but I'm thrilled that I know I have something and some options instead of stressing about what I'm going to do with my self in September.

Beautiful day for a sun burn

Yesterday was my cousin's baby shower. The blanket was done just in time. She seemed very happy with it and I hope it is comfort to the new baby when it arrives and for years to come.
Here are the finished pictures.



It was a fun afternoon. I worked on my trekk along sock and watched the kids (that I remember as infants) play with the water hoses until an over the fence ice cube war started with the kids next door. My uncle put a quick stop to it when the punks next door (who all had mouths on them that would shame a sailor) started throwing golf balls and bottles with water over the fence.

Today the trekking sock came with me to the car show where even in the shade of our tent I managed to get a little red round the shoulders. All of that aside today was a beautiful day. On the drive back to town I finished the sock.

I came back today and my dear dad has put the shelves up for my entertainment centre in my room. This is exciting because it doesn't have to sit on my chest anymore and I can get at the stuff that is in there. So I'm going to get ready for my birthday dinner with the knitting girls and maybe start to put stuff on the shelves. Thanks dad!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well another birthday. I turn twenty-five today. I was thinking about birthdays today because I do teach 6, 7, and 8 year olds. The child's view of a birtday is so different from the adult's view. My kids will come and tell me that their birthday is soon. "Oh really?" I reply, "when is your birthday" (thinking i knew all the birthdays that happen in the month). "It's in August" They get so excited they are waiting for it months in advance. Sometimes even 1/2 a year in advance. As an adult the world still turns on your birthday. You still have to go to work and try to get a new job and it feels like any other day but you might eat cake.

Tonight I had a call from my friend. She and I have been friends since we were looking forward to our birthdays months in advance. Now she just likes to remind me that I am 4 months older than she is.

My plans for tonight included....imagine this...knitting and watching TV. It was a wonderful plan. I feel tired, I have work tomorrow. So my friend called to wish me happy birthday and ask what I'm going to be doing tonight. When I told her not much (oh it is so nice to do nothing) she would not have it. So in a little while I am going out for a drink with her. I know I will have fun and I am glad to be able to see her, but I do have a baby blanket to finish by Saturday.

I have recieved some wonderful gifts for my birthday. My mom and my grandma bought me my knit to go pouch and tickets to see the Lord of the Rings play in the city. Meghan made me some beautiful stitch markers and a cute card with knitting on it( you are a tallented one!! they are beautiful). Today one of my grade two girls brought me carnations and timbits to share with the class. WOW!!!


And what about the bf you ask? Ok well you may not ask but I'm going to tell you anyway. I spoke to him today on my prep. I was feeling stressed about looking for a job and some other stuff. At the end of the call he did not say Happy Birthday. He did redeam himself by bringing me flowers on his break. He had to run in give me a kiss and run out but it made me very happy. They are beautiful flowers too. Very happy and summery colours and a little tiger plush toy to keep them company on my beside table.

Early morning post

I really shouldn't be posting right now...I should be leaving for work. But I am feeling very lazy and all I want to do is knit. I know once I get to work that I will get into my role. It always happens that way. I am not a morning person. I do not want to get out of bed and why should I. I'm comfy, I'm sleeping, and life is always good while you are asleep. Then I go to work and as much as the kids get a little crazy with only a week left of school I have a great group. My first class and I will always remember it.

Anyway a little bit of knitting and then I have to run out the door. Saturday is my cousin's baby shower. I have the blanket almost done. I'm still plugging away at the border. That never ending border. I rounded the second corner last night so I guess it will end sometime. It better be soon.

And here is the lemon grass sock that I have ripped and changed the pattern for 3 times. If I didn't like this one I was going to knit a plain sock. This one is a crooked cable pattern from sock bug I think. I found it on the internet and it was hard to see in the picture what to expect. Anyway it is cute I like it (so far) it is again hard to see in the picture but an interesting pattern keeping me thinking. The darker picture doesn't show the colours but shows the cable a little more and the lighter one shows just how bright the Lemongrass Socks that Rock is.

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Organizing

I gave in today and attacked that area that I call my office. Otherwise known as a corner of our unfinished basement. I have started to bring my things home from work so that I don't have to pack my car on the last day. Of course all of that stuff ended up on the floor, on my desk or on the futon in my "office.

Just so you understand. My "office" is where I have my desk, computer, shelves, all my teaching things, resources, art supplies etc. and of course all of my knitting stuff, yarn and all that.

I feel much better that I can see my Ikea rug again. (does it ever need a good vacuuming) I don't know where I'm going to have room for the rest.

So not too much knitting so far today...well.... none acctually. After dinner I plan to settle in and work my way through the hockey game. I want to watch the game but I don't follow hockey that much. I just hope that a Canadian team wins! GO EDMONTON!

Progress

What a relaxing weekend. I enjoyed being lazy.

I have finished one of my dad's father's day socks, and yes father's day is almost over.
Here is my photo update of some of my new stash.
Koigu for Charlotte's web.
I think this one with the brighter colours will be the first.

And the socks that rock that came in. I have already cast on with the Lemongrass. Yes I am weak.


And finally a finished project. The koigu socks. They are so comfy, the first thing I have ever knit in koigu and now I'm hooked.

drowning my sorrows in yarn

Well I don't feel all that sorrowful but I am a little disapointed. Anne told me she figured I didn't get the job when I wasn't posting and she was right. I didn't get the job but I still feel positive.

That honestly wasn't the reason I haven't been on. My computer at home has been acting a little funny. I hope that there isn't a real problem. Then my bf goes and buys this laptop that I have been playing with all night and I want to keep it for my very own. Anyway my computer has been freezing and being funny since I was working in my report cards so I have had no patience. Do computers feel stress about report cards?

I do have some pictures to post but they are on my camera at home and I am at the bf's place for the weekend as usual. The Socks that Rock that the girls from the store and I ordered came in, and the koigu. Now we are just waiting for Emma to get her order and the Charlotte's web knit-along will begin.

I will post my pictures tomorrow. Well I guess because I can't sleep and am posting this at almost 2am it will be later today.

The waiting game

I have no pictures today because I have been doing a little tiny bit of sock knitting and mostly working on the incredibly tedious baby blanket border. What was I thinking that I could do that in a night or two.

Plus I am completely preoccupied with the interview. I am just waiting for the call. Do I have a job or not have a job that is the question. My references have already been called so I hope that is a good sign. If he was completely uninterested he would not have bothered to call them. It is nice that I am currently working with two of my references and that they will tell me these things.

So I am thinking about the job and thinking about report cards and that I only have two weeks left with my first ever class of my own (sorta). Time flies when you are too busy to know what to do with yourself.

What a weekend

I had such a great weekend. My mom and I were at Unwind for World Wide Knit in Public Day. It was great. All of the regulars were there and a few newcomers a few people interested in learning to knit. Overall a generally good time. It was rather cold so we had to bundle up and after a while we gave up and hid inside were we could stay warm.


This is some of us outside of the store. We were the early starters ready to go in the am.







This is my Mum getting her socks on two circulars lesson from Connie. I'm so proud of my mom. She gets easily discouraged and doesn't think she will ever feel confident about her knitting but she is doing great.











Here is Emma and her Trekk along with me sock. She is further along than all of the rest of us because Connie, Meghan and I got a little preoccupied with knitting lace shawls so...We better get back on track and take a hike together.

That was our knit in public day. It was great!! I wore the snowdrop shawl but it was so cold I had to trade it in for a sweat shirt. But just so you can see how it turned out.......



The rest of my weekend involved watching my bf's nephew. It was only going to be a movie at first (we went to see Cars) and then Aaron was calling his sister to ask if Noah could stay over. So today we took him to the flea market to buy him candy and hot wheels cars and then we took him to the park until we were too cold ("but I'm not cold auntie Sarah") and then I came home to go for dinner at my grandma's place.

And yes the four year old has his own mini four wheeler that he and his uncle play with together. Now tell me who was this thing really a gift for?

Overall a great weekend. I am very tired. I am hoping that before I got to bed that I will have the body of the baby blanket for my cousin finished and the border started. But since my hand made socks have all gone missing I'm determined to whip though my koigu socks so I know I have a pair. Plus it looks like I have an interview tomorrow that I need to prepare for. Yikes and Yippee. I don't want to make a big deal out of it yet because it doesn't mean I get the job but...I'm excited because this is a start. I wasn't going to tell anyone but I know a few people who read this will be rooting for me. Wish me luck.

No rest for the determined.

I am so close I can taste it. I have been holding off blogging tonight because I was hoping that the snowdrop shawl would be complete and pinned out. It is not. I have been casting off for 45 mins trying out a picot edge on the top of the shawl. Never done that before so it is slow and SLOW. I just want it done *blink* NOW!

I am also panicing about getting the baby blanket and sweater done for my cousin's shower in two weeks. Now a new shower has been added for my bf's sister at the end of June. Baby isn't coming until September so I have some give on that one but in September another friend's baby is being born. This is getting crazy!

That is about it for me. I needed a break because my eyes were watering concentrating too hard. But I will finish this shawl and maybe pin it out before I sleep tonight.

Money money money mon-EY

Perhaps it was the package that I raced to pick up today, or maybe the admission that more packages will be on the way, that spurred the dredded conversation with my mom. Some friends are having family trouble that has turned into financial trouble and now my mother fears for my future. Mom I love you but don't read this post.

She thinks I should be saving 1000$ every month. WHAT?? I know I am living at home still and don't have a huge amount of expenses but, starting out in my carreer isn't cheap either. I need clothes suitable for work, yarn, and supplies for work because I know where I am now is not where I will be (so I want it to belong to me and not to work and I pay for it myself) and of course there is yarn and yarn accessories.

The money conversation with my mother happens every few months or so and it is just as frustrating every time. It is all the same, it is unavoidable and it is impossible to escape from. My mother means well but I refuse to share about how much money i have, don't have, am getting etc. so at times she is talking about paying off my debt which I don't have. Anyway enough is enough because.....

The Koigu came today!!!!!!!

It is a little more brown than I thought. I was telling the girls at Unwind that I can't order any more green because those colours seem to always appeal to me, and that the koigu I ordered was all green. So when I ordered more koigu on the weekend I stuck to the browner kits. I love the colours and there is green in there but it is pretty brown. Does it sound like I am complaining?? cuz i'm not. I love brown just like i love green and blue and.... anyway you get it.

So Connie.... Meghan..... the knit-along is on...we just have to decide when to start.

Waiting by the mail

My Charlotte's Web Shawl is coming soon. I can't wait. The package tracking people told me that the package has passed customs. Yippee. So I am waiting impatiently by the mail.

Today is monday. Back to work. All this work means not as much knitting. I am still working concentratedly (is that a word) on the Snowdrop Shawl. I weighed my yarn today and have used about half. Does this mean that I can stop worrying about running out. I like to think so. Lets hope I am not proven wrong.

Today I wanted my knitting soooo bad at work. We had a rather long staff meeting today. Interesting things to listen to but a lot of just sitting and listening. I just don't think my bosses would understand that I can knit and pay attention to the meeting at the same time.

So tonight I have done about 3 rows of the shawl and am preparing to hide away in my room and keep going until I go to bed. But I am looking at spinning wheels, and spindles. I am itching to learn how to spin. I know I should try a drop spindle first to see how I like it but I have always been a drop in with both feet kinda girl when I get my heart set on something. It is a good thing wheels are so expensive (on my budget right now). I have looked at a few on ebay as well. Anyone with any suggestions about learning to sping please leave me a comment I would love to hear how you got started. Is there a certain make of drop spindle you would look for as a general starter but that can still be used beyond that?

Another car show

I have not been as posting as much because I have become obsessed....with this.....

Every free moment I have I have been working on the snowdrop shawl. I love love love this pattern. I am knitting it with Handmaiden Sea Silk which is lovely. I have 2 skeins (800 m) and the shawl calls for 1200 m. So I am going to try to get as far as I can and probably leave off the border. I might have to do a few less repeats as well. I am playing it by ear and a little nervous about not having a plan.

The Trek along has started and all of the unwinder team are putting on a great show with some beautiful socks. Here is the start of mine.

I am waiting impatiently for my koigu to come. I have ordered some a while ago which should be here this week I hope and then last night I order even more. I must be stopped. I can't seem to help myself. Some is going to be a Charlotte's web shawl that will be knit-along with Connie and Meghan.

I might be up to my ears in shawls. My bf's mom has asked me to make her one for her mom and one for her sister.

Back to the Snowdrop Shawl now. I can't leave it for too long or it gets lonely.