Peasblossom is at the party!

And she's dressed! Which can only mean one thing and that is I managed to finish G's costume just in time! Of course my physio appointment went later than usual today, then I picked the kids up from their dad's, got stuck in the slowest line possible at Safeway, dashed home by 6pm, got 12 eyelets put into the bodice, measured the elastic for the skirt, gulped down some supper and had G downtown at the party by 6:45. What a whirlwind! But I did manage to snap a few quick pics before we ran out the door:

So here is G and my rendition of Peasblossom!





Now... back to getting the living room ready for painting, doing the laundry, washing the dishes and figuring out how to create a great zombie costume for N as well as convince J that a girlfriend who continually stands him up after he takes the transit bus all the way to the other side of town is not worthy of remaining his girlfriend, oh and pick Peasblossom up from her party at 1am. I think I have a bit of a busy night ahead of me and it's already 10:00pm! Oh well... all the house work should keep me from accidently falling asleep and not getting G on time, so maybe it's a good thing!

My "Hats for Alex" are done!

So, as I mentioned in a previous post I was going to make some baby hats for the Hats for Alex project. I've been keeping up to date with the progress of the "hat drive" and noticed today that 294 hats have been collected so far which is fabulous considering Trillian42's goal was 250! Well, we can add six more to that total as I'll be putting mine in the mail tomorrow.

So... here they are in all their glory! They're so tiny and quick to knit! Really, truly instant gratification with a purpose! Gotta love that!

I used various patterns from the internet and my own creation and used various washable yarns from my stash. I should mention that this is also a great stash busting project too! My very favourite is the red apple hat. I used the Apple a Day pattern by Sara Galley and I had it finished in less than an hour. I just think it is such a cute pattern.

In other knitting news... (BF)G's sweater progresses slowly. I've got about 11 inches done on it, but it's slow going in what amounts to basically stocking stitch (read: major boredom inducing row after row of plain old knitting...)I refuse to count the purl stitch that happens every seventh stitch on alternate rows as an interesting pattern detail. God, I hope it fits and he appreciates it more than the monstrosity of a knitting disaster (reason I'm now doing guage swatches more faithfully) that I created for him last fall, in which he could fit if he gained about at least 25 lbs, and as long as he shrunk in height in the body and grew gorilla arms! In fairness he appreciated the effort - just not the result as much! I have faith in this one though. After all. I did a guage swatch and it turned out perfectly. I'm always suspicious when a guage swatch turns out right the first time - I can't help but wonder if I've done something wrong... But alas. I am bored with it. I long for lace, I long for cables, I long for a different colour than grey.

I am positively itching to get started on my Lace Leaf Pullover from Loop-de-Loop too! The wool (Brown Sheep bulky in Oregano) sits on the counter calling to me gently at first and getting louder and louder with each stitch I do on (BF)G's sweater. It tries to sway me with promises of more interesting knitting, but so far I resist the persistance of it. Well - truth be told, I did cast on and do the guage swatch this morning before I left for work, but that's all. Or so I'm telling myself!

I have other knitting to do as well and should really concentrate on those projects first. I really have to make a decision (and start) about what project to knit for my Around the World Christmas Swap. I'm thinking of a "Let it snow" theme so have a few ideas bouncing around in my head.

We'll see what transpires over the next week. I fear that I won't have much knitting time given the fact that we're to paint the living room and kitchen this weekend and I'm in the thick of dance competition registration until October 29th. I also should curtail the knitting and actually finish sewing G's "Peasblossom" costume that she needs for her party tomorrow night (which is a miracle I'm as far on it as I am considering I started sewing it last night). Oh - so many things to do. So little time... This seems to be a regular mantra of mine.

Ramblings from the wide awake one...

Well, here it is Sunday morning - better known as "I could go back to bed for some more sleep" morning, and yet here I am at 7:40am, the puppies have been fed and had a couple hours play time, my dishes are all done, the laundry is in and I'm WIDE awake. Why is it that the one day of the week that I could sleep in I can't??

I read once that it's really not good for you to drastically change your sleep patterns through out the week. The article suggested that if you get up at a certain time everyday and limit your sleeping in on weekends you'll feel more rested and alert. Can't remember where I read that article, but clearly the author of it didn't get up at 4:30 every morning during the week! Oh well, c'est la vie!

I went to Ram Wools on Friday as a consolitory (is that even a word??) reward for not crying like a baby during my very brutal physio session. So much for consoling myself! All I bought was a button. Yes, a button. Not so much as one lonely little skein of yarn. And their prices are so awesome right now (well for us Canadians anyways!) Because of the exchange with the US dollar , they've dropped all their prices to reflect it. Some yarns are up to $2.00 off. Now $2.00 doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but it sure adds up and it's not like it's a sale - it's a permanant thing (well until the time our dollar goes back below the US dollar anyways) So here I was thinking that I could get a little treat to make myself feel better. And horror of horrors. I couldn't find anything I wanted. That's about the third time in a row that I've left Ram Wools with no yarn. What's wrong with me? Sure, my bank account is healthier and happier for it, but it's weird. It's not often that an addiction just turns off one day.

Maybe though it's the ever increasing amount of UFOs piling up that discouraged my need for yarn (highly unlikely, but you never know...)

But speaking of those UFOs I thought that perhaps if I posted about them I might be encouraged to work all that much faster to finish them. After all they would no longer be hiding in quiet in my knitting basket, they would be out in public for all to see their undone-ness, which would then give me that much more reason to get them done so that I will be able to proudly post FO pictures! (It's just a theory, but hopefully it will work!) So here they are:

I have about 50 rows done on the Clementine Shawlette, 4 inches or so done on (BF) G's sweater, which is a variation of Stitch N Bitch Nation's Jesse's Flames, one sock done from Knitting Vintage Socks' Fancy Silk Socks, and the cabled newsboy cap again from Stitch N Bitch Nation - all it needs is to have the insert cut out for the brim and then the brim sewn up.

So you see - lots of things already on the go and even more patterns I want to start; Loop-D-Loops' Lace Leaf Pullover, the Joey Ramone doll from SnB Nation, Back to School vest from Fitted Knits. some Christmas-y items for my Chrismas swap, and at least a couple of more hats for Hats for Alex.

I do have two hats done, but want to do at least a couple more before I send them. Here's what I've got so far!


So, it's dead quiet in the house right now - the kids are still sleeping, the pups have curled up and gone back to sleep as well. I think I'll go make a big cup of Maple tea, turn the TV on for Coronation Street and pull out the needles. I think I'll cast on for another hat. Yes - I realize this flies in the face of my theory about getting my UFOs done, but in all reality I think the hats really are more important than the other projects. Trillian would like them in by the end of the month so that they are ready to give to the hospital on the anniversary of wee Alex's death. I really want to see her make and hopefully exceed this year's goal - she's already got 209 to date out of the 250 she's hoping for!

Aggghhh... I hear kids up and video games going on the TV!!!! Those boys (N and friend who slept over) were still up at 2am - uggghhh. N will be a joy and a pleasure today - he gets so miserable if he hasn't had enough sleep. And let me say there is nothing like the sound of digitized machine gun fire early in the morning. Grrr.

I'm so lucky!!!

I have had yet another fantastic parcel from my SP9 round partner. I know who she is now, so can thank her properly! SarahJanet has been incredible at picking out lovely goodies for me! Look at what the latest parcel contained!



Lorna's Laces sock yarn (I adore Lorna's Laces!!!!), Misti Alpaca laceweight (I have just the pattern for it!), orange hot chocolate, hallowe'en themed tissues (gotta love that!!!!) and yummy cinnamon scented candle!

I feel so lucky!!! Thank you again, Sarah Janet!

Socks and puppies and bagpipes... oh my!

First things first. I finished Breeze from the Summer 2007 issue of Knitty. I love these socks! They make me so happy! Especially after my recent run of bad luck in the knitting department. With the scarf done and now Breeze I'm feeling like I am definately getting back in the game.

So here's the first picture:

I had to make a few modifications to the pattern as I used Regia Cotton. Not a bad yarn only about $5.00 so actually really economical and it only took 1 ball only complaint is that it's a bit splitty. The only mods were just a matter of decreasing the amount of rows I did for the back of the heel and then decreasing the rows for the foot length too. With the minor adjustments they fit me perfectly! I did however decide that the cream colour was a little dull for such pretty socks, so I threw caution to the wind and mixed up some Black Cherry Kool-Aid and threw my finished socks in the microwave. I'd heard you shouldn't dye cotton with Kool-Aid, but I like the result!

The dye took nicely for the most part but there are little white-ish strands throughout (I guess this would be the cotton in the yarn) giving it a lovely marled effect. As I said... I love these socks!!!!

Now. Onto other matters. I haven't posted pictures of the pups in an awfully long time, so I thought the blog was due for some puppy cuteness! So I present to you the boys who turned five months old yesterday!
Guinness


Lucky


And for the final matter at hand. Bagpipes. N turned 13 yesterday and how fitting that on Saturday he was issued his pipes at cadets. He's extremely excited. The neighbours are not - but too bad, we put up with their all night drunken partying and other unsavoury behaviour. N started chanter lessons in May and then as some of you may recall, spent three weeks in Vernon, BC at the cadet camp furthering his training. He was tested on Saturday by the pipe major of the tri-service cadet band and deemed ready for his pipes. N is a natural though. He blew the pipes up and within a few tries was playing his scale. I tried, and couldn't get a sound! I am green with envy!! I've been on my chanter for two whole years and have not got even close to getting pipes yet.