Baby Bean is Five Months Old!!!

Douglas 5 months
Originally uploaded by Highlanddancemom

The last five months of my life have flown by so quickly. In what feels like the blink of an eye, my little baby is not so little anymore. It's so hard to believe he's already five months old.

I get so busy that I didn't even realize it was October the last time I posted an entry! I've been doing all sorts of knitting these days, but most of it I can't talk about right now. It's of the super secret holiday kind, and I just don't want to take any chances of surprises being spoiled.

I'm lucky to have such a content little man. He likes to play while I get to knit. I've developed a system of 1 1/2 eyes on baby and 1/2 an eye on my knitting. Needless to say there's no intricate lace knitting going on in my house these days! Well, not that there really ever was really. Some day I'd love to start, but I know my limitations and dropping what ever I'm doing in a heart beat to rescue the baby from under the kitchen table, or the dog's ear from baby's teeth or what have you and then picking up and continuing fall way over my limitations. For now it's plain, easy to follow instructions or mindless knitting for me. I don't mind though. Knitting is knitting!

Baby Bean as Auntie Geri loves to still call him loves to be on the move. These days if I put him on the floor on a blanket he stays on it for all of three seconds (tops) and then is off. Today he made his way around the entire living room using his combination scoot and roll method. Later on in the day he did the same in the dining room, well that is until he managed to get stuck under the legs of one of the chairs. I rescued him and he was off again.

Thinking of my little man, makes me realize how lucky we are to have him! I'm on Ravelry a lot these days with my Summer Mommies group and would like to just throw a suggestion out there to anyone who has some extra knitting time on their hands and would like a simple but meaningful project to work on.

One of the moms in the expectant moms group I was in tragically lost her wee daughter less than an hour after she was born. As a gesture of comfort some of the other mothers got together and knit the mom a blanket. The mom then spearheaded a project that seems to have taken off - sad to say there is such need for it, but that is unfortunately reality. Anyways, the concept is to make blankets to comfort those who have lost a child. If you're interested you can visit the Schuyler Blanket Project on Ravelry, or the Facebook group. I've just come on board with pledging squares for blankets, but when I look at my baby, and my three other babies that are now all teens, I realize how blessed I am in my life and I feel compelled to try and help out.

Who knows when I'll find the time to post next, I'm so hit and miss with it these days, so I will take the time now to wish everyone a very happy holiday season!

Taste testing a new toy

Taste testing a new toy
Originally uploaded by Highlanddancemom

My sewing machine got a very brief workout this morning. (by brief I mean 10 minutes or less - but that's more than it's seen in the last three and a half months!)

I was in a toy store the other day perusing the aisles when I spied something in a lady's cart that intrigued me. It was a fleece ball with little "tags" of different ribbons sticking out from the seams. I'd remembered reading somewhere about these "ingenious" toys that are supposed to be the bees knees for baby to play with. I searched the store until I found the display that contained these veritable treasures and almost fell over in shock at the price of them. For example, they had a teeny weeny triangle of fleece with about four "tags" on it on sale (ON SALE no less!!!) for $12.99. I was somewhat incredulous that people would pay that much - let alone the regular price - for something like that . Being ever so thrifty, I tucked the idea into the little filing cabinet in my brain along with the other, "I can make that myself, better and for a lot less" ideas and went about my day.

Yesterday I happened to drop into my local fabric store and thought what the heck. A wee piece of orange fleece, a wee piece of black fleece and some ribbons (Ok - I splurged and spent a whopping $2.50 on a spool of Hallowe'en themed ribbon - but hey - I can use that for a myriad of other projects down the road I'm sure). A few minutes at the machine, a run through the laundry and Douglas seems pretty darned pleased with my efforts of this morning!

On the knitting front, I seem to be a touch obsessed with hats. I started and finished my Tretta hat in less than 24 hours and have just last night cast on for the Marsan Watchcap. I am the "Queen of Hats" these days, which is odd given I rarely ever wear a hat myself. But they are quick, easy to pick up for a minute and then put down again at the... well... drop of a hat or the cry of a hungry baby and they are nothing if not next-to-instant gratification! Not to mention sometimes a pretty big necessity for living on the prairies in the winter!

A pumpkin hat for my l'il punkin

A pumpkin hat for my l'il punkin
Originally uploaded by Highlanddancemom

So since I'm back in the land of the online, I thought I'd give you a few pictures of my recent FOs. My very favourite to date being baby's pumpkin hat. I love this pattern! Seven had brought it to our attention on Knitty the other day and I'll confess to developing an immediate obsession to make this hat for my "l'il punkin". It's a great pattern - can't say enough good things about it. It whipped up in a couple of hours using Cascade 220 for the hat and Ella Rae Classic for the stem. LOVE IT!!!!!

I've also managed a few other projects lately. My Pomotamus have been done for a little while actually. I knit them mostly in the car en route to and from the city. Occassionally I was able to get a row or two done in the evening when Douglas was being given a bottle by Daddy (I try to make sure there's one bottle every couple of days or so in the fridge so Daddy can have some of the feeding time snuggles too and as an added bonus it gives me a few minutes to myself!)

Car knitting (since G got her license) has been my main time to get the needles out, and in between sock one and two of Pomotamus I took a short break to make myself a pair of felted slippers - I'm always greatly amused by the excessive size of pre-felted items! They are kind of funny looking but cozy, so that's what counts in my books.

Last but not least on the FO list is another favourite project. A Christmas stocking for baby! This one is from "Cute Knits for Baby Feet" which is a fun little book I picked up when I was still pregnant. If you're in dire need of a stocking in a hurry, make this one your go to pattern. Seriously. Two days and it was done, and it's the perfect size for baby.

On the needles I've got some random projects that have been on the go for awhile; Clementine Shawlette (longest ever WIP for me I think), Plath, and my chevron scarf, and a new addition to the WIP collection -Froot Loop socks.

Well, I'm being paged by a hungry little man, so I'm off for now. Happy knitting!

I'm back...

After several months of dismal and then no internet access, I'm finally back. I thought I would just do a quick post to say hi and let you know I'm still around! Here's a couple of recent pictures of my little man, Douglas who was born on July 5th, 2009. He amazes us every day with how incredible he is!

Douglas at about 2 1/2 months old :

Douglas at 12 weeks old:


I'll be back in a few days with a longer update on this prairie girl's life!

Car wash weirdness continues... it must be me.

Different car wash - ok same company, but different bay, different town even, same problem. TWICE!!!!! What am I doing wrong???? A big pick up truck went through ahead of me. No problem for him. I drive my little two-door Hyundai Accent in and it jams up the bloody thing. Least this time I had N keeping me company.

That's it. I'm not doing this anymore. My car can either stay dirty, or I will take it to the Chamois where they'll wash it for me. I refuse to get stuck a fifth time in the stinking car wash. It's beginning to give me a complex not to mention it's getting bloody embarassing that I am the only person on the face of the earth that cannot "operate" an automatic "touchless" car wash properly. Yeesh!


Anyways. Onto other much more pleasant topics.

My lovely SnB group, the Woolie Bullies, gave me a little surprise party on Wednesday night. I am so beyond touched by this that I get teary eyed every time I think about it. Not only did they bring cupcakes - love cupcakes by the way - but Nicole had made a really sweet card and all the girls had made a baby blanket for Bean. The fact that they all got together an knit the blanket is what gets me the most. What a sweet, wonderful, incredible gift. I know that this blanket will be loved and cherished.

Bean's Blankie from the girls

Speaking of blankies... I've been bitten by the quilting bug! I decided that Bean should have a crib quilt and so have set to work on my first ever quilt project! I'm really excited about it and laid all the center pieces out on the table to see what it might look like when finished. I have to say I'm happy with the look so far. I just hope I can sew an even straight seam on all the bits so that they line up well when it all goes together!

I've not done a whole lot of knitting myself as I've been busy with other ventures and activities. N had his final cadet banquet of the year, which was a big night for him! Not only was he the top Silver Star level cadet this year for his corps, he also got the top NCO award, plus top physical fitness award. The big one though, is that he got promoted to Warrant Officer and in the fall will be the corp's Regimental Sgt. Major, which is a pretty huge deal for a 14 1/2 year old who's crazy about cadets and plans a military career for his future!

N, the Commanding Officer and the outgoing RSM passing on the torch (well pace stick)

Other than that, G's been dancing like a maniac lately. Lessons (she's at four so far this week alone!), and competitions have been in full swing. She competed at the Mid-Canada Championships and Open Competition this past weekend here in the city and was quite successful! She was 2nd runner up for her age group at the Championships and got placings in the Village Maid (5th) and Hornpipe (2nd!) on Sunday. It was a good weekend despite the fact it was freezing cold - think mitts, sweaters, blankets! I was pretty much numb by the time we went home at the end of it! I felt sorry for any of the dancer's who wear vests instead of jackets. Brrrr.

Photographic evidence of turn out and pointy toes!!!!


I love how I caught her in the air on this one!

Weird things have been happening to me.

First up in the weirdness would be the day I lost my shoes in the mud. My favourite gardening clogs and they're gone. Vanished completely.

It all started when Bella, decided in all her puppy wisdom, to go traipsing off to the barn one wet and soggy morning.

I'm trying desperately to train her to stay in the "yard" as I call it right now, rather than have her roaming all over the property when I can't easily chase her. (Training has been slow with progress even slower - possibly to the point of non-existent), so off I went traipsing after her.

She was in the mucky patch between the barn and the hay storage shed happily lapping up what ever muddy water she could get her little tongue on. So I called her to come. She ignored me and continued in her own merry way. So I called her again. This time much more sternly. This got me a look out of the corner of her eye and back to the muck she went. So I decided enough was enough and she needed to learn who was boss in our relationship. I took one step towards her, she darted off to the field, and I, much to my horror realized I was sinking and sinking fast. I yanked my foot up, but my shoe did not come with my foot, trying to save myself from toppling over, I moved slightly and next thing I knew, my other foot was stuck fast and sinking. Pulling it free, I lost the other shoe and ended up toppling over. (Balance being what it is at this stage of pregnancy, I'm not surprised about the toppling over and was just thankful to be landing in the soft muck rather than something harder) I must have let out a yelp, because Bella came whipping around the corner of the barn and plastered herself to my side as I righted myself, and hopped barefoot across the yard to the house. I went out to inspect my shoes later and found that there was only the tiniest bit of blue showing through the mud. Thinking to myself that it was far to wet (not to mention dangerous to my health and well being to retrieve them) I thought I'd come back for them when the ground had a chance to dry out a bit. Fast forward to the other day. I went back, thinking I could dig out my shoes, but they are gone. No sign of them. Not so much of a trace of where they could be. The ground has apparently swallowed them whole.

Who loses their shoes like that?????

Next weird thing on the list. The car wash. Let me preface this by saying I have been driving for about 20 years. And during those 20 years, I've been using the car wash for well, all of it. You know the kind - you pull up, drive in, the doors close, the car wash does it's magic, the doors open and you drive out with a nice clean car. No fuss, no muss. Well unless you are me and harbour a slight paranoia of getting trapped in one of them and then one day you actually do. Not once. BUT TWICE!!!!!

I drove in, the doors closed, the car wash started to work it's magic for about half a minute, then with a thump and a bit of a bump it all stopped. The little light that tells you where to stop was flashing madly, but that was all that was happening. It was getting hotter and hotter in the blasted thing, and I do believe I was on the verge of hyperventilating (or at least bursting into tears). Just when full on panic of the fact I was trapped in the car wash was really settling in the door started to open. I drove out and though out of kindness to others who might suffer similar fate, I should let the fellows in the gas station know that there was a problem. I explained what had happened and the one in charge said, "Oh. I'd better close that lane. You're the third person today whose had a problem with it." HELLO???? Two others suffered the same fate and you didn't close it at that point?

He then gave me a voucher for a new car wash and told me to try the other lane. So with much trepidation I did. The whole time telling myself that it had to be a one off occurence. After all, people use these things every day and never get stuck in them. What are the chances, etc...

So in I go. The doors close, the car wash gets even less done than the first time when, with a thump and a bump it stops. I couldn't believe my misfortune. Instead of panicking that time, I sat there completely incredulous. When the door opened, I drove out, soap all over half my car and drove home.

That was a week and a half ago. I still haven't returned. I really do need to wash my car, but do NOT want to get stuck again. I have to say, I'm thinking of paying the extra and taking it to a car wash where you get out and the nice people do the job for you. It's a bit more expensive, but then what is my mental health worth???

It's a zoo in here...

This past weekend was our Victoria Day long weekend. The weather was not fit for man or beast - well, maybe not that bad, but certainly any dreams of getting some gardening done were dashed by the frigid temperatures we had.

I was also pretty tired all weekend from this ridiculous cold/flu I've had so I took the chance to take it easy and do some knitting.

So knit I did. I will admit to being on a bit of an animal kick here. First up we have "Big Ears". This pattern is the very reason I ordered "Cute Knits for Baby Feet" from Knitpicks in the first place. I absolutely had to have them.

Knit from Sirdar's Snuggly they whipped up in a flash. I started them Saturday afternoon and finished them Sunday afternoon. The part that took me the longest was embroidering the tusks on!

Monday, the weather looked much more promising at first - it was gorgeous out at 5:30 am when I took the dogs out, but by the time I'd gone inside, had breakfast, put my capris and t-shirt on and gone back outside to enjoy the weather, the wind had picked up from the north and the temps had dropped by 10 degrees at least. Needless to say, back indoors I went. Picked up my needles, the left over snuggly from my niece's baby sweater, and my new favourite book. So? What do you think of "Quack"?

I think they'll be darn cute booties for the cool mornings and evenings I think that we're in for this summer. And talk about a quick knit! They took all of about two hours in total including a few breaks.

Feeling bold I decided to cast on for my "Plath Cardigan." I'm in love with this sweater. I had some trouble out of the starting block with it, but that was simply pregnancy brain and nothing to do with the pattern. Let me tell you ladder rib stitch is a dream to do! I think I'm in love.