Wendi to the rescue !!!

I've two cousins that are currently fighting cancer. the one, seems to be holding her own. the other, unfortunately, doesnt seem to be doing as well. I tried to go visit her in the hospital last weekend, but she was not having a good day, and requested no visitors. my plan is to visit her this weekend, and bring Emmett our current DogGuide-in-Training foster puppy. I'm hoping that a short visit, and the distraction may help brighten my cousin's day.

on Wednesday, it occurred to me, that I had nothing to bring my cousin. flowers die, and I dont know what, if anything, she is eating. I've always had a few finished projects put away for just this occasion, but right now the cupboard is bare ....... so, what do you bring to a person, struggling with an illness, who will be spending her remaining days in a hospital environment ..... hand knitted socks !!!! the only catch is, I didnt have any heavier weight, natural fiber yarn at home, and would have to start them that night, if there is any chance of getting them done by Saturday

Wendi to the rescue ..... I was on-line with Wendi, and she offered some of the yarn from her stash. the same type that she used to make socks for her FIL. so, off I went to Chez Wendi, to grab some wool so that I could get the socks started.

there are TONS of sock patterns available on Ravelry, many of which are very nice, but I wanted a simple pattern, that would knit up quickly ... and I found one, the Gentlemans Sock (dont worry the wool is pink/purple, so it will not be too manly). I'm following the pattern exactly ..... except I'm using DK instead of sock/fingering, therefore had to adjust from recommended 2.5mm to 4mm, therefore had to adjust the number of stitches around for the foot ..... oh yea, and the pattern is top down, but I'm doing them toe-up ..... but other than all that, I'm following the pattern exactly !!

so, to make a long story short (not !!) I've finished about 5" of foot, and I'm really pleased how they are turning out. I think I'm going to make this pattern again, using the suggested yarn-weight, and see how they look when done "properly".

I'm sure everyone has someone in their family that needs an extra prayer ..... please remember my family in your prayers. I'll be doing the same for you !

The Urge to "drop-kick"

I did get some knitting done last night while watching TV. the new "Knight Rider" was on, not bad for a re-make. it made for an interesting backdrop while working on the Anisette Wrap. I was able to finish 2 pattern repeats before getting to bed at a decent time (for a change)




this is DD's new cat, and my knitting "assistant" BK .... she never seems to be too far away when I have my knitting out. you can see her here, "supervising" while I pin the wrap down to take it's picture. I have to say, the wrap is lovely, but I'm quite disappointed in how the pictures are turning out. they don't do it justice because of how fuzzy the mohair is. maybe next time, I'll try to stretch it more when I pin it out


today is absolutely beautiful out. cold, but the sun is shining and the sky is blue. have some soup simmering in the crockpot, and spent time out with the dogs. we were all in the backyard for a while, so I could gather up some "poop-cicles". then they put their collars & leashes on, and we headed to the park for a good run around. sounds like the perfect day, right ??!!

NOT !!!

well, it was until I decided to fulfill my promise to Jen and see if I could get the knitting machine that I purchased last August up and running. I've tried to cast on, which seems to work, but after the first couple of rows everything seems to jump off. I got out the manual again, dusted it off, and tried to follow the cast-on instructions (and they sound SO easy). same thing happens during both attempts. I found a lady who has some videos on YOUTUBE, and she shows a cast on. so, I head downstairs to give her method a try ... after de-fuzzing the machine, I tried again .... only to this time bend one of the needles. ok, so not I'm really not impressed (hence the urge to drop-kick the machine out the back door !) I suspect that it needs a good cleaning, as I remember when I picked it up the woman saying that it has been sitting for about 5 years or so because her arthritis got too bad to be able to use it ... to make things worse, it's been sitting in my family room since I brought it home and set it up. unfortunately, the operation manual that I got with it says nothing about maintenance except brush out the fuzzies, with a VERY week brush (included). so, off to the internet I go for research. I remove the "sponge bar" and discover that the sponge part is rather compressed in the middle .... my next quest will be to find where I can get a new one, have someone explain an easier way to get the latch hooks out (there has to be a better way than the method I used to take out the bent one), and get the machine cleaned up & oiled and ready to go.

I bought the knitting machine with the thought that it was a good idea, and would expand my knitting ability ..... but right now I'm just trying to figure out "what the heck was I thinking" ??!!

An Evening of Knitting & Total Eclipse of the Moon

tonight was great ..... Wendi and I had our regular every-other-week meeting with the Burl-Oak Knitting Group from Ravelry at Artisano Bakery Cafe. as always, the company was great, topics were varied and food was excellent. this week was a treat, as it was our first Wednesday meeting. up to now, the group has been meeting on Thursdays, which works for the most part. Wendi's DD has been enjoying her knitting and wanted to join us once in a while, but unfortunately is unable to come on Thursdays due to dance class. we all know that you cant make everyone happy, so we're going to try meeting Wednesday this week, Thursday in 2 weeks, then Wednesday the 2 weeks after that (etc.)

oh my gosh .... it was brutally cold, but the sky was absolutely clear. perfect conditons to watch the total eclipse of the moon ... and it was stunning !!! (this is an actual picture of the eclipse from last nite ... but I didnt photograph it myself, I "borrowed" it from the interent).





after getting home from an enjoyable evening with the ladies, I spent the next couple of hours cataloging my huge stash of craft books, magazines & patterns. I was able to enter all of the ones I worked on into LibraryThing, unfortunately most of them were added manually so there is minimal information and no cover images (yet). I also updated my stash-to-go blog, noting that I have updated my library, for what's available if anyone is interested in buying or trading for what I have.

knitting update:
Civil War Shawl ~ finished week 5 !!!
Anisette Wrap ~ working on pattern repeat 2/18

Family Day .... and Anisette Wrap ~ take 2 ??

what a lovely long weekend !!! yesterday was Ontario's first "Family Day" ... now, I'm not going to argue about a day home with DD, but there was a bunch of contraversey about how this new holiday was going to work for many union employees. for the most part, I think everything was closed up. DD was a social butterfly, Wendi & her clan came for a visit which gave me a break from my house cleaning. we had a nice visit, and the dogs all had agreat romp together.

I came home Friday evening to DD and her g-friend over for the evening, so I picked up a pizza on the way home. it was a quiet evening of TV and knitting my CWS where I finished week-4, but continued on so that I could catch up to Wendi.

Saturday was dedicated mostly to running errands, but one of the fun bits was a trip to a new LYS ~ The Needle Emporium. (well maybe not new, but it was new to me) OH MY GOSH .... what a packed stash from heaven. I went to find some Handmaiden's Casbah Sock yard for a new friend in the UK, who cant get it over there. (DD was being very strick, reminding me of my HUGE stash at home, and that I really didnt NEED any more ... so I behaved myself) Charlie had posted in Ravelry asking if someone could pick her up some, and I was happy to do it for her. I bought Charlie 2 skeins, one that she wanted and one that's a surprise (I hope she likes it). after spending some time in "heaven", we headed over to see Wendi @ her PakMail store, to package-up Charlie's yarn and get it ready for posting pick-up today.

Sunday was a slower day. puttered around the house, then headed to the mall for a while, for some window shopping and to give our latest Dogguide Foster Puppy, Emmett, some work on open stairs & escallators. planned on a quiet evening infront of the TV, when we got an invite to watch Wendi's DS play hockey .... an offer we couldnt refused, so after dinner up we went to Milton. it was an excellent game, but came to a sad conclusion about my current project the "Anisette Wrap". it was a hard lesson to learn ... dont just look at yarn weight, consider yardage. the Annisette pattern requires 1 or 2 25g balls (depending on if you're makinng the scarf or wrap). no problem, I have 2 50g of the Opal Mist mohair, so there should be plenty ..... NOT !!! unfortunately, what I missed was the pattern used a lace-weight, while I was using a fingering weight, so although my skeins were twice as heavy, they only contained half as much yardage ...... so, that means I do have enough for the scarf, but I'd knitted the wrap width.

now we're back to where this blog started, Family Day Monday. like I've already said, Wendi and her clan came by for a visit. her DD brought her knitting along too (like Mum like Daughter). she was just finishing up a very cute pair of legwarmers for her to wear to dance class. I took her down stairs for a shopping trip to "Della's Wool Emplorium", where we went thru my stash and found some more yarn that she liked for some new/future projects. while we were "shopping", Wendi and her DS were VERY PATIENTLY frogging out my Anisette Wrap (mohair is almost as horrible to frog as it is to knit with). we looked thru my mohair stash together, and found a nice replacement for the original colour, one that I have more than enough of (hopefully). so I spent the evening starting all over again, but I think the wrap is going to be lovely! will keep the original mohair handy, for the scarf version.

3rd snow storm in 3 weeks, but it's not all bad

well, we're digging out of our 3rd snow storm in as many weeks. I was really good at timing for the last 2 and was able to work from home and avoided most of the ugly associated traffic, unfortunately this one I wasnt quite as lucky. it took me over 90 minutes to drive my usual 20-30 minute drive, and another hour to dig ourselves out this morning. the drive in wasn't great, but could have been worse, and the school busses weren't cancelled this time so DD went off to school

well, because of the storm last night, it was decided not to tackle the highway again to take DD to dance. this made for a nice relaxing evening of a homecooked chicken pot pie dinner, and a night of knitting. I finished the 1st section (rows 1-27) of my mohair Anisette Wrap project. it's really turning out lovely, I cant wait to see how the next section is going to look. Tuesday is also the night when Wendi & I start our next week/section of the Civil War Shawl together. we weren't together in body, but were together in spirit. I stopped at row 74 before calling it a night.

ok .... thru sleet and snow and rain and hale and dark of night etc. ok you know the postman thing .... well he came thru just fine for me. I received a package from my Ravelry World Yarn Swap buddy, Kat in Mississippi. she sent me some beautiful hand dyed yarn from a local shop, and a scarf pattern to go with it. I'm really looking forward to knitting it up. I've never worked with this type of yarn before. It's so soft, and the colours are perfect for me !!! Kat was also thoughtful and sent some "plastic yarn" for DD and included a pattern for a belt or bracelettes. I dont know how Kat knew that red was her favourite colour, but DD was thrilled !!! filling all the spaces was all these wee happy-face candies, that hopefully I can get into before DD gets at them all. Thanks so much Kat .... you made my first swap very special !!

Busy Weekend, with not so much knitting

well, I finished week-3 of the Civil War Shawl. there was some time of panic when I thought that I was short 2 stitches per repeat ... but fortunately cooler heads prevailed, and thanks to Wendi, I think I'm ok to begin week-4 with her on Tuesday.

I didnt get a chance to wind the skein I wanted, so my entrelac socks are on hold for a bit. I went thru my wound sock yarns and patterns, and decided that I'd do monkey socks next ..... but my heart wasn't in them.

so .... I decided to go thru my stash (of which there is quite a bit) and see if anything struck my fancy. I have a bag of mohair upstairs, that I'd like to trade/sell, so it was the easiest stash to rummage thru. turns out I found a nice shawl pattern that's easy, and doesnt use too much ... so, tonight's cast on is the Anisette Wrap using Opal Mist Mohair by Bouquet. Wish me luck !

socks are done, and a wonderful surprise !!

well good news, and awesome news .....

Good News ~ Jacobean socks are done, and on my feet. they are too big for DD (gee, that's a shame !!), and a wee bit long in the foot for me because I wanted to co-ordinate the middle of the diamond patter with the heel turn ... but I dont mind, I'm sure they will shrink a wee bit in the wash

Awesome News ~ ok, DD and I have been assigned our 2nd "Chosen Soldier", Cpl Miller. well we sent him off 2 stuffed boxes for Christmas. one to be opened when he got them, full of pre-Christmas tacky, and lots of treat. the 2nd box was marked "no not open until Dec 25" and was more treats and some Christmas pressents. we hadn't heard anything back saything that he's received the parcels, so I was getting worried ... but then DD phones me at work. "were you expecting something from Canada Post?" it's covered with stamps and turns out to be from Kandahar ... OH MY GOSH .... what a wonderful surprise, WE got a pressent. he send us the most beautiful table runner & table cloth, and he couldn't have picked a more perfect colour for our living/dining room area !!! they are almost too beautiful to use, and I'd kill anyone that spilled on them ... so I'll use the table runner for sure (you can see a pic of it on my coffee table), but Wendi suggested that we hang the tablecloth on the wall (it's huge, see half of laying on my chesterfield), as it will look lovely over our chesterfield.

Exhausting week ...

ok, so far the civil war shawl pattern is addicting. Tuesday evening, while my daughter was at her dance class, Wendi and I started week-2 of the pattern ... I picked it back up when I got home that night, and ended up staying up until past 1:00am to finish my week (and this is not good when my alarm goes off @ 6:00am). the good news is the shawl looks good so far ..... the bad news is I was exhaused all the next day.

Wednesday ~ did a couple of rows of the Jacobean socks during my lunch break at work, and again at night when I got home and tried to relax. my goal was to get to bed at a decent time on Wednesday nite ..... unfortunately my obsessive nature took over, and my desire to turn both heels beat my need to go to bed. so, another late nite, but both heels are done !!

Thursday ~ no knitting, had a hot date instead (ok, not really a HOT date) .... went to a movie and dinner with a g-friend who also fosters guidedog puppies. her hubby is out of town, so we took advantage and had a nice "girl's night". went to see "27 Dresses" and dinner at Montfort. ANOTHER late nite, but lots of fun.

Friday ~ snow storm came today as expected. I called in, and worked from home. I got alot of work done, Kelsey and I watched a "Back To The Future" movie marathon, and I'm hoping to get my Jacobean socks done tonight.