The Real To Do List

I saw this posted in the hallway at my child's school, and thought it had to be shared:

1. Sing
2. Smile at strangers
3. Keep Learning
4. Notice Kindness
5. Eat Ice Cream
6. Hope
7. Count Your Blessings
8. Laugh
9. Love
10. Love Some More

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Easter Nesting

Emma really liked carrying around the big Easter basket.  She put her tiny little chocolate foil eggs in the bottom of the green paper shredded grass.  Then she decided that she had a better idea for the grass...

Emma decided to make a little nest in the corner of the front hallway for her eggs.  

The furnace vent is right there by the corner, so in theory it would be 

a great place to hatch eggs -- if they weren't made of chocolate.

I explained to her about the chocolate eggs melting,  and asked her to put them back into the basket.

She did, but Emma had other plans for the grass...

What would make more sense than for Emma to make mommy (me) an 

indoor garden with all the indoor grass she had from her basket?

She informed me that the parts of the floor where there is no grass, is the beach.

After we cleaned it all up, Emma gave me a hug and asked if we were ready

to go 'Trick or Tweeting" for Halloween.  I'm not sure how that idea got into her head,

but she has twice since then said, "Happy Halloween!"

What do you think of my garden? 

Nanna's 95th Birthday

This weekend we celebrated my Nanna's 95th birthday.  And her sense of humour is just as fresh as it was several years ago.  It was impressive just how many people showed up.  It was great to see relatives I haven't seen for ages.

My sisters and I arranged to have a special greetings certificate from the Prime Minister of Canada's office.  They'll do this at your request, when people reach the age of 90 or 95.  We have to wait for her to reach 100 before the Queen will send one. 

I had decided to mark this occasion by making something special for Nanna, as I've been improving in my knitting skills.  I decided to knit her a Miami Beach Shawl.  I had carefully planned out how many rows per day I needed, but didn't pay attention to the pattern when it read, "repeat row 50 until..."

Although I spent many nights staying up late to work on this shawl, it didn't help that I fell asleep knitting it, and made mistakes by knitting past the short row turning point (a few times).  It was at least 3 times I had to frog back and try again.

I was so disappointed to show up without a completed shawl, especially after I had told some of my relatives I was making her one.  They didn't look impressed when I showed them the shawl in my bag, still on the needles.  I promised to come and visit my Nanna soon, to deliver her shawl. 

Guess how close I actually came to finishing it?  I even worked on it during the car ride to the restaurant, as I knew it would be a close call.  I ended up being only 6 rows away from finishing!  I wish I could have stayed up longer the night before, but once you start to fall asleep at the needles, bad things happen. 

But on the bright side, I can finish it properly and block it.  So it will hopefully look stunning when I go to present the finished shawl.

Spring Scavenger Hunt Swap

Our ravelry group, Happy Blue Year, is in the midst of an awesome Spring Scavenger Hunt.
I'm just about to mail my partner's parcel off to her, as I've finished her hand-knit item.  Don't worry, it's not on my project page yet, so there's no peeking.

To my surprise, my parcel came in the mail this week!  Beverley mailed if early, as it was coming here from England.  What good timing, it arrived here just before Easter, and right when I needed some really good chocolate.  I'd been having a slightly stressful week, partly because I was anxious about my knitting deadline (to get that shawl done in time for Nanna's birthday, which sadly I did not complete in time for the party), and partly due to my daughter going through a Curious George phase.  She's three, and gets into more mischief than both my boys put together, or any of my daycare clients.  For example, she wants to be helpful by feeding the fish.  She'll construct things to climb on to get at the fish food, but takes the lid off and shakes it all over the room.  I can handle a bit of fish flakes, but too much really bothers my nose.  I have a suspicion that I might be allergic to this flake fish food stuff, so I wash my hands whenever I'm done feeding the fish.  I had to hold my breath as I vacuumed fish flakes off the bed covers and floor, then laundered the sheets.  She also draws on the walls, and puts pretty stickers on the floor.  Standard toddler things, but there are days when she pulls stunt after stunt.  Then she bats her eyes and gives that cute little smile that says, "I'm too cute to get in trouble".  It's soooo hard to keep my poker face on as I put her on time out.  But I have to say, her behaviour improved right after a time out.  If I let her go with too many almost time-outs (when you say 'next time' there'll be a time-out) she is sure to test me to that promise very soon.  This is a girl who likes to know where her boundaries are.

Here is Emma, delighted to help me see what is in our parcel from Snazzyb.  She's holding onto the little silver notions bag that says Jennifer on it. 

Wow!  I got spoiled!

Not shown above are the gummy bears (they were soooo good) and the chocolate orange.

Snazzyb wrote me a nice note about the local things in my parcel.

To the right of the card, is some of the wonderful Cappuccino chocolates that were included.

I hid them very carefully, in my knitting bag. 

See the beautifully hand-spun yarn?

Beverley also gave me this pattern for using small bits of yarn to make a cool scarf!

I was pleased to learn that she designed this pattern herself.  I've been thinking how neat it would be to be able to make something with all my little bits after a project is done.  This is such a great idea!

I was also given a great starter kit for learning to make my own stitch markers,

which I've been interested in doing for quite some time.

And she also made me some stitch markers to use right away :)

Here is the blue yarn - I haven't decided what it will soon be, but it's so soft and squishy that I'm sure it will be a delight to knit with.  

I'll start a project page for it on ravelry, so it will be ready to go when I cast-on.

And there's the rest of my chocolates, which I'm holding off on opening.  Saving for a chocolate emergency, when they will be fully appreciated.  The blue box is a neat little thing; a sliding pencil case with knitting tools inside such as a mini ruler, some stitch holders, and more chocolate!
Thanks again Beverley, you really spoiled me!  I love it all!

New Swaps, New Updates

Has it really been this long?  It feels like Spring is bursting with action this year!  Not in my garden, anyway, but on Ravelry.  As I took a bit of time off swapping during January and February, I was quite ready come March to get going again.

Magic Yarn Ball Update:
Here is a photo of the gorgeous fingerless mitts I made with this yarn.  The pattern is called Filigree, and it's an open lacework pattern.  I still haven't uncovered a mystery item yet, though some are poking through.  I'm going to make it my goal to knit the rest of it this month, to become either a scarf or another wonderful pair of fetchings.  Probably in a new pattern, or maybe in my favourite Palm Readers pattern.

What's on my needles right now:
Miami Beach Shawl, using Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton.  I've been knitting it for my Nanna's 95th birthday.  This yarn is like butter, so smooth, and slips nicely off my needles, which is why I don't put them down for a split second without their handy little rubber sock protectors.

This was my first time doing SL2-K1-PSSO's, as well as having to learn how to do short rows.
I have to say, short rows isn't nearly as difficult as I first thought.  I found some handy videos on You Tube, which were so helpful.  I did make a mistake that put me back in my time deadline, which was when I miscounted the stitches to the middle before doing my short rows.  I noticed after a few rows of garter short rows that the shawl was off-centre, then frogged back and double checked the correct spot to start the short rows.  The author of this pattern was also nice enough to post a discussion group on ravelry, as well as a knit-along.  There were several helpful hints on there, which I was happy to read.

Then I joined a beginner shawl group on ravelry, as well as a lace knitting group, that were both suggested to me by one of the members of the techniques discussion board when I was asking for help on reading the instructions for short rows in this pattern.  It makes perfect sense, now that I know what I'm doing.  :)

And here is a photo of my kids, when they realized we have gotten a parcel from Snazzyb in England.  It's been awhile since we've had parcels, so they were thrilled!

My boys LOVE Terry's Chocolate Oranges.  It was so funny, watching them act so silly as soon as they saw the orange box.  Burk took the box and was holding it up high, and Evan was trying so hard to jump high enough to get it.  After a few minutes of teasing and wrestling, and laughs (it was all in good fun), Burk shared the Terry's orange with everyone.  He saved the rest for later, as he knows how rare they are to be here.  Thank you so much, Beverley! 
More about my new goodies in the next post...

Would you believe ny boy is 15?

Catching some Zzzzz's

 

This is my 7 year old son.  He fell asleep on the couch during the afternoon - yet he thinks he's too old for naps, ha ha.  Yet, he fell asleep holding on to my kids book of knits, New Knits On the Block by Vickie Howell.  It made me laugh and think to myself that it almost looked like he planted the book there to hint for a particular gift, but that's not his style.  This was a gift from one of my clients, and has some awesome project to make for kids.  I love how it's all categorized in such a fun way - "weekend at Gramma's" for example, means you can knit that project up while your kid's away at Gramma's for the weekned.  I'll be casting on to make a rockin' guitar in black and red.  When I showed the pattern to another client of mine, she was so excited about it that she went out of her way to go get me the supplies I would need, including the stuffing!  That was so nice of her.  And this weekend, I'm doing something nice back for them...

This is the project I've just finished for her son.  It's a Crayon Caddy I've knitted as a big brother gift, because he became a big brother yesterday.  We were all so excited!  I'm going to deliver it tomorrow, but will make it a quick visit because they need their rest.  I am very happy with how this one turned out:  I used Bernat Handicrafter cotton, in green stripes.  He loves green, and it was so easy to make!  It's basically knit in stockinette for about 17 rows,  then garter stitch for the rest and fold over the stockinette for the front.  Then just sew together lines where you want the crayon sleeves to go.  I made an extra crocheted chain to loop around the button for an easy toddler closure.  Note:  I'm going to go back and shorten the chain a bit, so it's not a choking hazard.

Casting on today - Filigree

Today I'm casting on to knit with my magic yarn ball. A friend of mine came by to see if she can peek inside the yarn, curious as to what's inside. But no, this yarn is well wound. No peeking.

It was a close decision, between this and a really neat beret some of my ravelry buddies suggested (which I will knit later). I also was thinking of using this for a shawlette, as there is enough yardage. But instead I will knit Filigree mitts by Robin Melanson. It's from her book "Knitting New Mittens & Gloves". The pattern calls for cotton yarn, but doesn't actually mention the WPI/thickness of the yarn. I guess I could go over to ravelry (since I spend so much time there anyway) and look up their suggested yarn for gauge, but I feel daring today. So I will live a little risky and just start knitting it up with this fingering weight yarn and see how it comes out. After a few rounds, I will measure for gauge or just slip my wrist inside to see how it fits.

This colour is going to look amazing! And with the remaining yarn, I will make either a scarf for a cowl, whatever I have enough yardage for. I always say that, and then end up making another pair to give away. Oh, maybe if I only have a bit left, I'll make me a headband to cover my new botched haircut. :)

Time to Unwind Some Magic

Well, now it's my turn.  My magic yarn ball arrived in the mail this week, and it turns out my partner is Sassysmom.  This was a secret partner swap, and she was very good at keeping her identity a secret.  I had no idea it was her!  Here are some pictures of my little girl helping me unpack it from the box.

The color is a bit off in the photos, as we had just been taking sunset photos outside and I forgot to re-adjust my settings.

This yarn is a blue dream - lots of different shades of blues, as well as some purples mixed in.  Sassysmom actually got it bare from Knit Picks, then hand dyed it herself.  I just love hand dyed yarn, I find it such a joy to work with.

I spent a good deal of time staring at this yarn, trying to decide if I will unwind it all now to see what's inside, or get the 'real' experience of discovering each item as I knit... and call me silly, but I think that's the best part.  So, do I unwind it now, and see what's in there?  Or do I pick a pattern and see what comes out as I knit?  Decisions, decisions... what do you think?

Magic Yarn Balls

This summer, I participated in my first Magic Yarn Ball swap. 
I had a lot of fun getting my partner's yarn ball together for her, and she really liked her goodies.
I was pretty excited when I first heard about this:  you take a skein of yarn, buy some knitting notions, goodies, sweets, or just about anything you think you can manage to wrap inside the yarn ball, and wind the yarn around each item until it eventually resembles a ball.  Sure, it will be lumpy and bumpy, but for the most part it will look like yarn.  When your partner receives your magic yarn ball, the idea is that as they knit something with it, things are revealed as the ball unwinds... or so I thought.  In our swap group, everyone so far has been too excited to wait and actually knit with their yarn ball.  They are so thrilled to have it arrive that they immediately unwind it to find their little surprises, then wind it back into a ball.  I feel glad that my partner GuapaM got to unwind and find lots of great stuff, but I feel bad that she had to go through all that unwinding to find it. I'm talking all the way to the end of the yarn for that last item (custom large buttons from my local yarn store).  I ordered her a cone of fingering weight yarn, and according to the swap requirements we had to do a minimum of 100 grams.  I ordered 150 grams of yarn, but saved 15 grams for me to do a swatch with (for a future order).  Which left me with over 700 yards of yarn to wind, if I did my math correctly.  That took me quite a while to wind.  Here is what her yarn ball package looked like when it arrived there:

I sent her some of my favourite coffee from Tim Hortons, as well as a Noro Coffee Cup cozy that I knitted myself by hand.  I love knitting with Noro!  It's a pleasure knitting with this yarn, but it's even more fun to be able to give it away to someone who will enjoy using it.  This really does keep your coffee warm, and feels great to hold.  The Dare Bear Paws crackers are something I chose because my GuapaM likes crackers, especially cheddar;  and I was sure she hasn't tried these yet.  They are fairly new on the market.  Here is the other picture, which shows all the stuff she managed to unwind from her yarn ball:

I can't wait to see what she ends up knitting with the yarn I sent to her!  She is such a talented knitter.
Wait a second... that yarn looks like it's been wound up with a ball winding machine - now I don't feel so bad about making her unwind so much yarn, ha ha ha!  Not bad, eh?  Look how much stuff I had hiding inside that ball of yarn!  I think I've impressed myself, too.  Sadly, there was no way to wrap the cracker box in yarn.  If you can accomplish that, you have my greatest respect.

August finished knitting #2

Ha ha ha, it looks like I mismatched the photos when I sent them in via email. Oops!
So this is the picute of the fingerless mitts I was just blogging about. The other picture in the previous post was of the Noro Kureon coffee cozy. It has become my favourite coffee cozy to make so far, and certainly the easiest. I love how it shows off the colours!

I made both of these for a friends birthday that was yesterday. She loves to drink tea, and also carries her own water bottle around. This cozy does a great job of insulating both warm and cold drinks.

I think she'll like them. I just have to weave in the ends and I'm all done!

Newly Finished Objects

I've just finished up 2 new projects this past weekend. One is a pair of fingerless mitts - the pattern is designed to show off malibrigo yarn, so I will try it again sometime with my beautiful malibrigo skein. For this one though, I chose to use Universal Yarns with gradual changes in green hues, with a tint of blue thrown in here and there. A blend of wool and acrylic, this yarn was easy to work with and I would be happy to try it again in other patterns that show off it's colours. I think I have just enough of it left to make one more pair of fetchings, and since my little girl kept wanting to try them on, I think I might make her some arm warmers for fall.
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Thanks Angela!

This is the really cool parcel I just got in the mail today from my friend Angela on Ravelry.
Here's my first item out of the box:  an awesome market bag! 

This bag is so cool, it's made of rectangles, and actually looks like it's somehow knitted together without seams.  I'm going to have to ask Angela how she did it.  My friend was visiting when I opened it up, and I thought she was going to try and leave with it!  She kept holding it and turning it around and around, checking it out.   I barely got to hold it, until I got her to take a photo of me holding it!  :)
Inside the bag was amazing blue yarn, with changing shades!  How does everyone else score so well in finding these shades?  I'm so spoiled! Angela could have easily ended it there and I'd be a happy camper.  But wait, there's more...

 

These blue stitch markers she gave me are a perfect match to my new yarn,
it's like yarn jewelry!

She didn't just spoil me, she also spoiled my kids.
Here is one of the books she gave Emma. 

There was also a Princess ABC sticker book, which Emma loved pointing to the letters she can name.

Evan got a cool Hot Wheels emergency vehicle, which is interesting to him because we had to call 911 the other day to help a nearby car collision.  We were first on the scene, and it was our first time calling 911.  Ok, I'll fess up - I actually called them when I was 6 years old to see if it really worked.  It did, and boy, did I ever get in trouble from daddy!  The kids also got sticker books, tattoo stickers, and water balloons!

Next out of the box were more goodies for me:  A shiny pair of scissors for my projects, a package of summer themed buttons (Emma and I played a matching game with the shapes already), some dpn holders, and wooden dpns.  Looks like a lot of them, eh?  That's right, I got spoiled...

I got so many dpns that I could make a peacock with them!  Angela was paying attention when I mentioned how I have gone from a one-at-a-time project knitter to a several-WIP's knitter.  This means that I would run out of dpns often and have to either finish a WIP to use the needles again, or get some stitch holders for my WIP's.  Now I can do lots and lots of fingerless mittens on the go!  One WIP in each purse, yay!

Poor Evan, thought these were for him.  In my defense, he already has a cool pair of camoflage slippers I bought him at a bazar last winter.  Now I have my own, and they are quite comfy! They are a darker blue than the camera is showing.

Last but not least, Angela was so kind!  She heard I had started a free beginner's knitting club at my local community centre, and donated this set of needles for their use.  Now that's paying it forward!
Thanks for all the goodies!

Learning to Spin at Joseph Schneider Haus

The Joseph Schneider Haus is a museum in downtown Kitchener. The staff dress up in their historically accurate clothing in a Georgian frame farmhouse built by one of our area's first pioneers, Joseph Schneider, back around 1816.  This is one of my favourite childhood field trip destinations as a child, and is not to be missed if you live around here.  It's a good tourism catch too, and very affordable with admission costing only $5 for a whole family!  That's for a guided tour, and these historians really know their local history!  Every week is a different theme which teaches about various aspects of what life would have been like back then. 
Last week's theme was Wool Processing.  I was lucky enough to hear about it on Ravelry, and was so thrilled!  I went over with a friend on Saturday, and was determined to finally learn how to spin, as they were to be giving demonstrations.  It was fantastic!  For a special treat, they had live sheep there in the front yard who were visiting from a local farm.

The little blue guy in the front is the flat traveler our family is hosting for a few weeks.  His name is Kyler, and he has traveled here from British Colombia.  All the people in Kitchener who have met Kyler have been very friendly to him, and he seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit.  We exchange these little characters and show them around our city, then send them home with souvenirs.

Here is me and my awesome friend, who was nice enough to put up with my yarn obsession, and didn't once during this trip threaten to send me to Knitters Anonymous.  Of course, I don't think I was actually knitting during this trip (though I probably did have a little project in my bag). 

After learning about how the Schneider Family would have sheared their sheep and washed their fleece, we were shown how they carded the fiber (forgive me if I forget what exactly the fiber is called at this stage).  The staff were so nice!  I actually got permission to participate with them, so here is a photo of me carding for the first time!

This spinning wheel is a replica of what the family of this house would have used.  I was thrilled to be given a quick lesson, and even more thrilled that they allowed me to give it a try for myself! 
I thought the foot pedal would be as easy as a sewing machine's foot, but I was wrong.  It was not easy for me to get it in to a rhythm, and then when I would have to stop to get my yarn twisting right I'd have to start the pedal going again.  But it was so much fun!  She even had a drop spindle for me to try. 

Look at me!

Spinning, all by myself!

It was so nice of my friend to come along and take photos - I'm sure they'll be making their way into my scrapbook!

And check this out!  This is called a Walking Wheel, because they would stand and walk back and forth in front of the wheel while spinning.  This was a No Touch item, but we did get permission to stand in front of it.

Now that I've given it a try, I have a much greater appreciation for hand spun yarns.  I already adored them, but I'm glad to have a new understanding of just how much work goes into a lovely hand spun yarn. 

I was so tempted to get myself a drop spindle when we left.  What a great trip!

Summer Swaps

I meant to mention this in my last posting, but I had already yapped enough for one post.
I usually don't knit in the summer, switching to scrap booking.  My friend says I do it backwards - that I should be knitting for winter in the summer, but I like to knit winter stuff in the winter.  It makes me feel cozier, but then no one really gets much time left to wear the things I make for them since they finally get them at the end of winter.  So this year, my goal is to finish the winter knitted gifts by the end of fall.  I haven't done much of it yet, to be honest, because I'm having too much fun knitting things for my swap pals in the summer swaps I've been participating in.  I'm also making a really cool Bri Bag for myself.  If I do a good job of it, I'd like to make one for others as well.

I had been participating in a yarn De-stash swap in June, but was unable to send out my parcel by the cut off date due to the mail strike.  So instead of selecting yarn for my partner from my stash, I ended up buying some nice for her online and buying her a pattern from her Ravelry Wish List.  I selected for her the Montego Bay scarf, and it looked so nice I will be adding it to my own list of patterns I'd like to try out.  I even bought some yarn for it, but I might not get to it till the fall.

We had secret partners for this swap, so I didn't know who's turn it was to spoil me.  Turns out it was Rosa, who sent me a great package!  She got me lots of goodies, including things I've had my eye on but didn't mention.  She must have Swapper's Intuition!  Here are some pics of us discovering the contents of Rosa's swap package.

Here is Emma shaking the card up and down to make the googly eyes go all googly. 
Shown to the left is a special dessert treat Rosa sent for us to make together. 
This will be fun, as my kids love to make pudding!

And here is a photo of the actual card.
 See the cute little eyes?

For the pattern, this was a perfect fit for me!  I've been wanting to knit this one ever since I first saw it on Ravelry.  I don't know if I've actually added it to my queue list yet or not, but I can't wait to get it started.

And guess what?  The perfect yarn for this Girlfriend Market Bag arrived along with it!  I'm going to LOVE knitting this bag, and will post pictures when it's all done.  Such nice yarn, eh?  I haven't seen any of this yummy stuff around my neighbourhood yarn stores.  Maybe I'll have to put in a request...

Now for this swap, all that was required was yarn and a pattern.  Rosa went above and beyond, sending me lots of goodies to go with the yarn.  Here are some the extra goodies she spoiled me with:
inside a pretty little sachet were 2 lovely pearl stitch markers, 6 cool looking triangle stitch markers (they will fit nicely on my dpns), and 2 awesome boots that I call my knitting socks.  I tell the kids they help keep my needles warm when I'm not using them.  These socks come in so handy, you can never have enough!  I wish they would make mini ones for my dpns - I have those green and purple cone shaped ones, but they aren't as fun.

Another goodie I've been dreaming of, that I was spoiled with, is this absolutely amazing tool from Knit Picks.  It's an emergency fix keychain for when you accidentally drop a stitch.  When you are out and about, and haven't brought all your knitting tools with you, this comes in very handy!  I just saw this one on our Happy Blue Year group discussion thread, and thought to myself how neat it would be to actually have one of these.  And now I do!  Yay!

Now for the last picture, I present to you my son Evan, who is teaching me how to wear my yarn buns like Princess Leia.  Thanks again Rosa, for spoiling me completely!  Hope you had fun de-stashing!