Birthday Goodies

Last week ended up not like I expected, but with a good end.

It started with that mitten mix up that wouldn't give up - I am glad to say that it didn't get the best of me.  After frogging, dropping stitches, losing my on the thumb and frogging again, getting my guage wrong somehow and redoing it yet again, it finally got done.  I could have gotten a whole new pair done in the time it took me to fix that one mitten.  What a sigh of relief.  And sadly, what was my favourite pattern may now not get looked at for awhile.  What a shame, because the hand dyed Merino wool from Bristol County Dyeworks finally arrived in the mail... right on my birthday!  That was exciting, and in the New Moon inspired colours.  I was waiting for this to arrive so I could make myself a pair of Alice Cullen inspired Pulse Warmers for myself with this very skein of yarn.  But I need to take a break from this pattern.  It will happen, but not now.  Besides, I have my twin sister's birthday waffle mitts to make.  Yes, they should have been done by now, and would have, had it not been for those horrible mitten mixups last week.  I will be visiting my twin next weekend, so that gives me just enough time to get her mitts done, and hopefully no mess ups.  A fresh new pattern will do me good.  And the yarn I am using for her is brand new so that will be a treat to work with.

Part of that mitt was finished while spending a long night in the local ER waiting room.  I'm not sure how long your average wait is where you live, but over here people wait on average about 8 hours.  For most parents with a cranky child (and most children are at least agitated there) this can be a very long night, and physically draining.  My little Emma had lost her footing for a moment and fell backwards.  She would have been fine, only when she landed her head made contact with the foot break pedal of the play pen which was nearby.  I never noticed just how much that pedal sticks out.  It never got in the way before now.  I cleaned it up, iced her head, and told my husband she'd going to need stitches - let's go.  I knew it would be a long night, so I packed well.  Stroller with the big cargo basket underneath, a pillow, blanket (it does get cold there with the doors so close to the wait area), her favourite machine-washable toys, water and snacks for all of us.  Oh, and my knitting for whenever she falls asleep.  I was certain I'd have enough time to finish a project there.  I have to say, Emma surprised me by just how well she handled the wait.  She was in surprisingly good spirits, as long as I was right there with her at all times.  She was so happy that big brother (age 7) had let her borrow his new moo cow pillow that moos when you squeeze it.  That was a big deal to her, and she kept showing us how to make it moo.  It really does sound funny - this cow doesn't just moo, it moo snores!  When she finally fell asleep around 1:00 am, I took out my knitting.  I must have been really dragging, as I didn't get more than a few rows done in a couple of hours.  This was when I did all the unraveling, reknitting, losing track of my rows and trying again.  When I realized I was too tired to knit efficiently, I put it away with only a few rows gained.

I won't go into details of how utterly unimpressed Emma was with the poor bedside manner of the doctor.  He was wanting to get the wait times brought up to speed, so his visit with us was prompt.  I didn't expect him to be quite so rough handling a toddler though.  It was hard for a mom to watch, but that's why I'm the mom and he's the doctor.  All I can say, is that when I told her "It's over.  It's all done." I took her in my arms and she held on so tightly.  She didn't relax until we had her back in her car seat buckled in, and then she let herself drift off to sleep again.  We were both exhausted.  I got home just in time to start work.  My good friend and client was so nice to me, she mercifully brought me a Tim Hortons coffee.  I got through the day, but had a difficult time getting Emma to bed on time.  So another late night for me.  The next morning, so surprise, Emma and I were both sick.

Sick, just in time for my planned girl's weekend.  We were going to have my family over, and some friends, go bowling, have a wii zumba party, watch a movie... whatever, something like that.  But now feeling so ill, I had to cancel plans.  And rest.

When we were both feeling better, my friends brought me out for an evening coffee.  I had a Caramel Macciato (spelling?) with extra whipped cream for my birthday.

 
I was spoiled with this nice goodie package from my friends.  Knitting magazines, flavoured coffee, chocolates, a book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee that I was eyeing, a page-a-day dog lover's calendar, a night light for my Kobo ereader, candies and hand-dyed yarn.

There was more chocolate than is in the photo,
but I am kind hearted and shared it with my friends so it's no longer there.

Here is Emma showing the cute little knitted bag she was given.  Her birthday is next week.  She loves to run around with this little purse, it's so adorable!

I was even given a link for a free birthday pattern to knit from MinKnit on ravelry.

Last but not least, my husband and children took me out for brunch, then to the yarn store for dessert.  I picked out some needles and yarn for my birthday pattern.  That was very nice of them.  They score bonus points for this one.  I was really only hoping they would clean the house for me, but this was both unexpected and well enjoyed!