Our Christmas Adventure.....

My Dad and his wife invited us to their new house on Vancouver Island for Christmas this year and so I planned for a Vancouver Island "Green Christmas". I had grandiose plans of visiting every yarn shop in the Duncan, Sidney and Victoria area, beach combing with the kids, walks along country roads in pleasant and mild +5C or higher temperatures, with, perhaps at worst, some rain to contend with. I did NOT, in any way, plan for this



or this



or this



Notice the steel grey colour of the water??? It's not frozen.... it's floating snow... there was so much snow that it couldn't melt in the water and just sat there.... oh and did I mention this was only the FIRST big snowfall after I arrived??? There was another on Christmas Eve that was at least as much..... I think the Grand tally of snow for the week that I was there was around 60cms.... that's around 2ft, but there was some on the ground before. When I played in the snow with Chey on Christmas Eve and stepped into the untouched snow (which had melted and compacted in between snowfalls) it was almost mid-thigh, which on me, is slightly over 2ft. The best part of the snow was that it was great for building stuff (and I'm sure the kids would have enjoyed it more had I brought their snowpants, but snowpants were not in my plan damn it!... good thing Dale brought them when he flew out on Christmas Eve morning).....The kids did play in the snow in their pants one day and made snow angels and when the snowpants arrived Chey and I built a polar bear.....




In the newspaper on Christmas Eve, it stated that there was more snow in Victoria than at the North Pole and being as we were slightly North of Victoria, I believe we had even more.

In between bouts of snow, we did manage to take a day trip into Victoria, where we HAD to stop to see the BC Legislature buildings (Eli made a specific request, on the plane.... He wanted to see the government). We also made a trip to the Royal BC Museum, which was enjoyed by all...... The kids are standing in front of the Legislature buildings and in front of a partially frozen fountain in front of the Legislature.. the last picture is in the Museum.




We were very lucky on Christmas Eve that Dale managed to arrive on one of only TWO planes that were allowed to land in Victoria all day.... every other arrival/departure was cancelled for the full day...... And Christmas Eve was a yummy fondue, followed by the feeding of the reindeer and the sleepless (at least it was for me... I get very excited about Christmas) night before Santa came....

Christmas morning was a blast. The kids got spoiled and I got yarn and roving...... Dale got a few bits, but his main present was a new guitar that was left back at home.

The weather finally co-operated a bit on the 27th and we managed to go for a tour on my Dad's boat. It was a beautiful day and made even more complete by a viewing of a sea otter and a couple of seals......

Here is a picture of Chey with her two most favorite presents... a crocodile and dinosaur puppet.. she spent the next couple of days terrorizing the household with her "puffets"



and a great picture of Eli and my Dad on his boat



and do you recognize this sailboat??? It's the sailboat in the ocean picture above..... amazing eh??



I even made it to a yarn store.... It's called The Loom and let me tell you.... it is packed... JAM packed full of yarn, yarn stacked in boxes, with baskets of yarn on top and more baskets or bags or boxes of yarn stacked on those in all of the isles and on top of the yarn stuffed into shelving. This apparent lack of organization would normally send me running the other direction (I'm not a super neat freak, but I'm pretty neat most of the time), in this case though, I found it enormously entertaining and kind of like hunting treasure (she had lots and lots of treasures to be found) and asked if I could take pictures to show you.......




All in all, it was a fantastic eight days..... even if getting home wasn't *quite* as easy as getting there..... it involved cancelled flights (for Dale), sitting on the tarmac for three hours (again, poor Dale) and waiting for luggage for three hours after a direct flight which I still can't figure out how that happened (that was me and the kids) and then having one suitcase lost (again... can't quite get my head wrapped around a lost bag on a direct flight).... the one with frozen fish that my Dad had given us...... fortunately it was still frozen when the airline found and returned the bag the next day......

Merry Christmas to ME!!

I was pretty sure I knew what Dale (and his mom) were getting me for Christmas..... Dale gave it away on the day he bought it (never give away the size of a gift when nothing even remotely to related to that size was asked for or needed... just for future reference), but I wasn't 100% sure until this past week when Dale was home from his away-work rotation. He kept mentioning that he wanted to show me this place he had found, but if he did, I would be 100% certain of the gift he got me for Christmas. I knew immediately that he wanted to show me a yarn/spinning store that is close to our house. He was just so proud of himself for finding this place on his own that I didn't want to ruin it for him right away...... so after the, perhaps, 20th mention, I finally put him out of his misery and said "Honey.... I've already been to Shuttleworks, remember??? I told you about the horrific wind storm I got caught in on the drive home from there????" He couldn't keep it a secret any longer and swore at me (in a loving way, I'm sure) for guessing the gift...... Can you guess??? He couldn't even keep it hidden after that and put it together yesterday......


Here it is...... my new Ashford Traveller Double Drive spinning wheel (don't ask me what that means, 'cause I haven't the foggiest idea..... even after reading all about it)




I'm am so excited to learn to spin... and even though I KNOW I'm not going to have time to learn until AFTER Christmas, I couldn't control myself and immediately purchased more roving than I can expect to spin any time in the near future......




I did make an attempt (attempt is perhaps an understatement, considering I was at it for at least 4 hours, probably more) to spin.... but I didn't figure out until I was extremely frustrated and annoyed and wondering if spinning and I were ever going to be friends, that I could use it either as a double drive OR with a scotch brake, but not both... I think... at least that's what I'm hoping I learned...... I did finally admit defeat after going through quite a bit of my new roving... I should have taken a picture of that mess..... but I wasn't thinking clearly and the evidence is now gone.......

And now, even though I REALLY want to call Make One to ask for help over the phone, I'm going to TRY to resist and go back to plan A.... learn to spin in the New Year... with Lessons...... Think I can do it????

Did I mention that Winter has struck Calgary with a vengance??? Last weekend we got, something like, 16 cms of snow.... Here are a few pictures of the kids playing in it... and one of the post-snow TV watching.....

I know I have a problem now...

Today was a great day. Chey went to my neighbour's dayhome for a playday and Dale and I went shopping together, just for us. No Christmas presents, no kid shopping, just shopping for us. It was lovely..... During this excursion, I decided to look at wedding bands. I'd really love a new wedding ring. My original was purchased on a shoestring budget and is very, very thin and my engagement ring tangles up and catches in yarn when I knit, so I never wear them. I occasionally think it might be nice to advertise that I am, indeed, married. Anyway, I found one I really liked. It was a beautiful ring, but to be sure...... I pulled out my knitting (a pair of slippers at an unrecognizable stage of knitting) and knit a couple of stitches... right there in front of the jewelry salesman..... To his credit, he barely batted an eye.......

Downside was that the ring I loved won't work with my knitting...... sigh....

Growing a knitter.....

I taught Eli to knit last spring. He learned quickly, but only averaged about a row or two per week throughout the spring and summer and fall. He finished his masterpiece this past week. A hat, knit with Malabrigo. Using the inspiration I received from the Yarn Harlot's book "Knitting Rules," I cast on 20 stitches (turned out to be about 10 too few) and had him knit in garter stitch until the hat fit around his head, slightly stretched. Once is was completed, I then picked up and knitted a 2x2 rib brim with a bit of a rolled stockinette edge. Anyway... it's complete and it looks great! He immediately had me cast on for his next project... a matching scarf (although, I don't think there is enough yarn left, he might end up with a cowl).

Dontcha love the "teenager-ish" look on his face..... LOL





My latest project is coming along very nicely. After a few false starts (I thought I was going crazy... every time I started the sweater all of the cables were backwards... until I realized that I was starting on a wrong side row, which STILL needs to be read from left to right on the chart, not right to left.. duh....), I'm nearly finished the first front piece of my Fireside sweater (again, it's a Ravelry link for those who aren't members). I've added three inches to the length, but probably should have only added one or two.... Oh well, it's gonna be a wonderfully warm and luscious sweater to wear. The only thing I'm not super thrilled with is the buttons, so I'm going to knit that piece last and hope for some inspiration.

Oh... and don't look too closely... I've mis-crossed several cables, but decided that it can only be seen on close inspection




And finally, the last of my Christmas knitting... a pair of socks for my Grandmother.... Hopefully, they'll be done for Christmas, but I'm not loving the yarn or the colour (although, she really likes both), so it's taking me longer....

What's wrong with Barbie???

I've always wanted a daughter..... a girl, to do, well, girly things with..... a girl to play with Barbies, Dolls, Doll houses, makeup, clothes and of course to go shopping...... This, however, is NOT what I'm getting..... which I kind of figured because when you want a girly girl.. you get... a tomboy.....

Yesterday, we went to the movie "Bolt" (awesome 3D movie, BTW) and after went to Chapters (a Canadian Bookstore chain) to pick up a couple of new Christmas books. While we were there, Eli went straight for the Webkinz.... like a bee to honey. And Chey??? Chey went straight for the rack of animals.... not just ANY animal though.... the SHARKS!!! Yes, I said Sharks! My darling, sweet, girly girl wanted a Shark...... and a crocodile. I half-heartedly tried to convince her to get a Webkinz.... "How about a Dinosaur Webkinz??? No??? Sigh...." I knew it would be a failure, but I still wanted to try...... Here she is with her new toys.... which she slept with last night and packed around all day, until she set the shark down for an instant and one of the dogs stole it and ate it...... I suppose Santa will have to replace it for her, but he's gonna throw something girly in her stocking too... because I am not giving up without a fight!!!

Back to back..

It's been a busy couple of weeks, visitor-wise. First my Grandmother (my children's' GREAT-grandmother) came out for a visit and to watch the kids while Dale was working so that I could go to the retreat. Then, almost immediately following came my Mother-in-Law..... it's all or none in the visitor department at our house, baby!! LOL

Unfortunately, this means that I haven't done much in the way of any knitting. I started (and ripped out several times, until I liked the way the colours were working out) a scarf for myself out of Handmaiden Fine Yarns Swiss Mountain Cashmere and Silk in a colourway called "Nova Scotia" which is a lovely blend of teals, blues and greens. I'm knitting the scarf from a stitch pattern out of one of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries, I think it's called Vine Lace..... I now know why it is that I've never knit myself a scarf before..... it's a lot of turning and short knitting rows.... although, I did take the opportunity to teach myself (I figured out how to do it without looking up any techniques) how to knit backwards and can now knit backwards as fast as I can purl and will soon be able do it faster, I'm sure.



What I have done, with all this company, is finish (or very nearly) my Christmas shopping! Yes, that's right.... I'm done!! I have four children left to buy for and I'll do that in the next week or so (I know what they're all getting so that makes it like they're done to, IMO)...... even my Christmas knitting is almost done..... I have two small-ish projects left.... mwhahahaha! I love being done early!

I also decided which yarn I want to use to knit my Fireside sweater (sorry, it's a Ravelry link for those of you not on Rav.). I'm going to use Malabrigo Silky wool, two strands held together in the colourway of London Sky. I had enough for one strand in my stash and ordered another "set". I'm not worried about the dye lot because I'll just hold one strand from my stash and one of the new and it'll blend out nicely.... I'm excited! I've loved this pattern since I first saw it......

Ohhhh.... and I'm pretty sure I know what my darling hubbard got me for Christmas.... but I'm not telling, just in case I'm wrong.... It's gonna be awesome though......

Make One Yarns Fall Knitting Retreat (or Myrna's attempt at recapturing her college drinking days)

I'm just warning you right at the start.. this is gonna be a LOOOONNGGGGG post, so if you're looking for a chance to escape the details of my most AWESOMEist (it's a word, damnit!) weekend, close the window and go about your day.... On the other hand, if you want to see what happens when Myrna drinks alcohol for the first time in, probably, ten years.... stay tuned.....

This was the weekend that I've been looking forward to all year, the Make One fall knitting retreat of 2008. It was super, fantastic, amazing, awesome, incredible, fabulous, and.... exhausting. There were stars! REAL LIVE knitting Super Stars!!! Including Nancy Bush of Lace Knitting fame, Amy Singer of Knitty, Cookie A sock goddess extraordinaire, Stephanie Japel the author of Fitted Knits and Glam Knits and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot.

The first night was a chance to meet new people and get the excited butterflies out of my system... The best way to do that??? BOOZE..... I finally found a drink that I like to drink and it was dubbed (by one of my new friends) SSK, which in knitting is way to decrease stitches by "Slip, Slip, Knit", but in this case meant "Sip, Sip, Keel". If you want one.... don't ask for a SSK (unless you want the bartender/server to look at you like you've grown an extra head), ask for Peach Schnapps, Banana Liqueur, Pineapple juice, Ginger Ale and a shot of Grenadine... trust me, it's awesome, but deadly..... Christina and I went to the lounge with a couple of our new friends and I made my first attempt at embarrassing myself. It was somewhat successful (let's face it, showing off the tattoo just above your ass in a lounge is always good for some embarrasement), but the last night was much more so (and also involved showing off my tattoo, but at least I wasn't the only one)....... Here's a picture of a Blue Hawaii... I wanted to like it because it was pretty and smelled like chocolate, but I just could.not.do.it. OK, I couldn't do ALL of it... I did manage about half....



Here is a view from our room




Friday was a full day class with Stephanie Japel on knitting raglan sweaters from the top down. It was really, really great. Exactly what I was hoping for, the details of "how" to create your own perfectly fitted sweater, not the blind following of a pattern (this has always been my preferred method, I love to follow rules and patterns have rules) which, more often than I care to admit, can lead to a fit disaster. I was very busy with math this day and totally didn't get an opportunity to take pictures, although she graciously autographed her books at the end of class. I asked her to sign the page in her book that has a rather large mistake (wrong pattern for the picture).... who knows, it might be worth something someday...... She signed: "Well - I hope you're right & this 1st edition with misprint will increase greatly in value for you!!! Thanks for coming to workshop & asking such great questions" I really liked Stephanie. She is a great teacher!




Friday night was actually pretty mellow, I think everyone was pretty tired and trying to save their strength for the following evening's pajama party (I can't WAIT to tell you about that!).

Saturday Morning I took one of Cookie A's sock classes "how to knit a toe up sock with a gusset". It was also fantastic! Short row heels just don't work for me (fit-wise), but I really like the idea of working socks from the toe up. There are some real advantages to this method, not the least of which is being able to split your yarn into two equal balls and just knitting until the yarn is gone. I made a little miniature sock which I cleverly (although, probably not uniquely) photographed in class with Cookie in the background.



Saturday afternoon was "Stump Steph" with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I was able to ask all of my questions which by that time had exceeded nine (everyone else had far fewer). Not bad, considering that before the class started, I had planned to listen to other questions and not ask any of my own..... But Stephanie answered them all.... and yes, she is JUST as funny in person as you think she is and yes, she really, really, really knows a lot about knitting and the history of knitting. I could talk to her all day and not be bored even once....

I asked her to hold the sock I knit in Cookie A's class.... this pleased me rather a lot, I must say..... In a "two birds with one stone" way....



After Stephanie's class, it was time for dinner (we did have a 2 hour break in which I went for a walk with some great new friends and did a 20 minute stew in the hot tub) and the pajama party. I had seen Amy and Sandra (the owners of Make One) in their pjs already and decided (and convinced Christina, I don't think she thanked me for that for some reason..... ) to wear mine to dinner as well.... It would have been great, but for two things. The first was that we had to walk through the fancy restaurant of the hotel to our private room at the back.... in our pajamas... at dinnertime... with a full restaurant..... This was horribly embarrasing and yet VERY humorous. The second was that of the nearly 100 knitters, only about 7-10 had on their pajamas..... sigh... See... lots of knitters and NO pjs....



The Table of GREATNESS: Seated are, from left to right, Cookie A, Stephanie Japel, Amy Singer, Amy Swenson, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the people not seated are other knitters)




A picture of myself and Sandra (one of the owners of Make One)



Me in my "Racing Stripes" (an inside joke, started by Christina, which only those in the "know" will understand) at dinner, which I thought was funny (everything was funny this weekend) because the table was set formally.



My total lack of caring about nutrition... notice the lack of veggies on my plate...



And after dinner the REAL fun began... for me anyway because I started drinking my SSKs..... I also learned why it is VERY important to NOT knit while heavily intoxicated..... Notice the rather deformed toe on my sock..... it was much more dramatic in person, trust me.




I know what you're thinking... it's ONLY three drinks for cryin' out loud!, but remember... I'm little, I don't drink AND each of those babies had more than two full ounces of liquor (the bartender liked me... or so I like to believe)..... I was VERY, VERY happy..... I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. I had the vague thought, through my alcohol induced haze, that I might actually do some internal damage from the intensity of my laughter...... but I seem fine today (internally at least). I was even able to repair the sock and show you what you CAN drink while knitting......




Here is Amy (the other owner of Make One) and a knitting star in her own right.



And Stephanie Japel....



And The Yarn Harlot.



I had a TON of fun and met some really funny, smart, interesting new friends (you know who you are....) and I'm already starting the countdown for next year......

and if the photos are weird, I apologize.... the uploader wasn't working properly tonight....

I should be knitting...

I am SO close to finishing a Christmas present that I can taste it and yet, far enough away that I know I can't finish tonight without knitting into the wee hours which wouldn't be a super smart choice, what with me having small children who get up at the crack of dawn and need to go to school and stuff. And so, with regret, I've decided to put it aside for now. The good news is that it's lookin' good.. it's looking REALLY good. Good enough that I'm wondering how bad it would be for me to wear it at my knitting retreat next week..... hmmmmm.... I guess that would be sort of like buying someone a doughnut and taking a wee bite out of it before you passed it over.. It probably is bad manners and poor taste... sigh....

On the knitting retreat note. I am SOOOO Excited!!! My local yarn store, Make One is hosting an annual knitting retreat at the Delta Lodge in Kananaskis . Three days of knitting, eating, knitting and hanging out with other people who are knitting, some of which are rather famous in the knitting world. Did I mention that this retreat is going to be sans children??? Three whole days without children??? I'm going to miss them (at least a little), but it is going to be bliss..... I can't WAIT!!

I was thinking today....

About what I great kid I have. He's been on his medication for ADHD for nearly two months now and it has really been life changing for us. Sure, we still have our challenges. He is, after all, a seven year old boy with a penchant for chatter, an intense curiosity about everything and the intelligence to make my life difficult when I try to answer his overabundant questions, but over all, our family life is SO much more pleasant and relaxed that I am grateful for the challenges of the last year in school which precipitated his diagnosis. I feel like my years of strict rules with consistent consequences and rewards are finally paying off in the parenting department. Its like a layer has been removed and a bright, shiny, happy, well behaved child was underneath. I knew it was there because I saw it quite often, but it was constantly being lost under the intensity of his shifting moods and behavioral struggles. Now he's quite the reverse, I see glimpses (and sometimes full blown storms) of the moods and behavioral struggles, but they get lost in the brightness of the rest of his personality........

I feel guilty having a whole post about just one of my children, so I'll have to add a bit about my daughter. She is just so easy and sweet and silly and smiley and loving (with a dash of the overdramatic and whiny which all three year old girls seem to possess) that I don't have that much to say...... :)

It has FINALLY happened!!!

This is the day I've been waiting for. A day which I was sure would never, ever happen. My husband, has finally, requested that I knit him a sweater! You could have knocked me over with a ball of mohair! Granted, the aforementioned sweater is to be a plain, boring everyday kind of sweater that he can use at work as a layer (he's a welder, so it will soon have more holes in it than a yarn stash full of moths, but I don't even care). I've been trying to convince him to let me knit him a sweater for years. What sane human being wouldn't like a handknit sweater-o-love from someone they care about? My husband, apparently. He's managed come up with numerous excuses over the years, "they itch, they're too hot, they're too fussy," to name a few and I'd basically given up hope (and had moved on to more worthy victims, er, uhhh... recipients... of my craft), when he decided today, that a hand knit sweater would be just the ticket to keep him warm in our frigid -30C plus Calgary winters. Of course, I immediately knew what I was going to knit him, I've seen it many times on Ravelry, Elizabeth Zimmerman's Seamless Hybrid (I apologize for the link, you can only see the sweater if you have a ravelry account, I'm afraid). It seems like the perfect man's sweater. The only real problem was that I don't actually own the book with the pattern in it (darn it, that's terrible *note: intense sarcasm*). And so, there was only one thing I could do...... I immediately went to Schoolhouse Press to buy EZ's "Knitting without tears" and since I was there already and had ordered one book, I decided that this was the opportune time to purchase Barbara Walkers "Treasury Set," a set of four books of knitting stitches which had also been on my wish list.

Of course, with my current knitting queue, I'm not sure exactly WHEN, I'm going to knit him this sweater..... but that's not the point, really.....

A bit too long...

Goodness! It's been a while since I last posted. Mostly due to the fact that I went to my sister's for the Thanksgiving Weekend, which is an 8.5 hr drive each way. We did have a good weekend though, it was nice to visit with my sister and her boys. I don't see them nearly enough. The kids really enjoyed the visit, mainly due to my sister's many animals. Chey had her first horse ride and Eli rode as well. Chey loved the ride so much that she had a mini-meltdown when it was time to stop (Yay! I see horsies in my future again!!!). We also explored an area that had a really cool old aqueduct (or something) that you can walk through (in the dark).



Here is the entrance of the tunnel... notice the look of concern on Eli's face.. LOL



And the exit..... with Eli looking rather exultant...



Although the visit was nice, it's always nice to be home.......

Due to the busyness of the last week, I haven't done much knitting. One of the Christmas presents I'm knitting hates me though.... I have to rip it out, again! I'm beginning to wonder if the universe is telling me something with this project........

After my frustrated discovery of the aforementioned Christmas-project-gone-wrong, I decided to make Kikx a sweater. I keep my poodles cut short through the winter (or I plan to anyway) and I think Kikx will need this sweater for our walks.... It was super quick to knit (about 5 hrs) and I'm proud of it. It is my first dog sweater and made without a pattern. Here's a picture... I was so excited to try it on him, that I hadn't sewn in the ends yet, but they're done now.... he doesn't look all that impressed, but he didn't seem to mind it when I put it on him again this morning.....

Not much to say (but there are some YOL spoilers)

I'm in the thick of Christmas knitting and in order to keep such things a in a semi-surprise state, I won't be posting any details or pictures other than very vague percentage done-type updates. One project has already been frogged 4 times for really silly mistakes and is only about 10% done, but the other project is going really well. I would say about 25% finished in just a couple of days. I'm going to slow it down a bit by working on my latest Year of Lace project in between bits. I've completed the set up chart and one repeat of the main body chart (a total of about 40 rows). I might be able to knit a bit faster, but I keep stopping to stroke, pet and otherwise fondle the knitted lace material; it's 100% cashmere and so buttery soft, I can't help myself!

I've made two decisions about knitting this shawl. The first is that I will be true to the pattern and do the p2togtbl (that's purl 2 together through the back loops, for those non-knitterly types) instead of the substitute p2tog (purl 2 together) as recommended and because this is patterned lace on every row, alternate rows (the rows of the p2togtbls) cause me to curse and make me wonder why I decided to do that to myself..... The second decision is that I'm definitely going to use lifelines (scroll down to "fixing mistakes" and click the video for "lifelines" to find out what they are and how to use them) for this project. I've never used them before and only rarely have regretted it (listen to me, eh... I sound like I'm an expert in lace and lifelines, but I've only been knitting lace since earlier this year and learned about lifelines around that time), but this time I think it's a necessity. There are very few straight purl rows that would be easy-ish to frog back to and I really don't want to have to start over when (notice I said "when" and not "if") I get distracted and mess it up.

Anyway... here is a picture of my shawl so far:



Purdy, ain't it....

The weather was perfect!

My father and his wife, Caren, came for a visit from BC this weekend and it was great! Saturday was Eli's big Birthday Bash at the local Rollerskating arena and of course, Opa and Carey were invited to attend. Unfortunately for me (I was hoping for an addition source of entertainment, I suppose), neither fell on their behinds, but I do believe that both had a great time. Eli, of course, had a fantastic time, with lots of Cake, presents and friends from school.



Eli with his best friend.



The cake.... it looked amazing and NO, I did not make it.



Eli taking a turn around the rink. He loves rollerskating!


On Sunday, we drove to Banff. I love Banff! I'm not sure why we don't go there more often. It's so beautiful there! I don't even mind (and kinda like) all the tourists and the bustle of the main street. And the WEATHER... it was just perfect. We had lunch in town and then rode the gondola up to the top of Sulphur Mountain.



The kids posing at the bottom of the gondola in front of the gift shop (some of my favorite places are gift shops, for some reason)



Chey doing what she does best.... acting cute.



A great picture of me and the kids, windblown hair and all.......



Group shot at lunch.




And Eli, doing what he does best... pose... LOL.

I did very little knitting this weekend, although I did receive my third Year of Lace subscription designed by the owner of my favorite LYS (and the source of the subscription club). I love it! I'd show some pictures, but I want to wait until everyone receives their kits before I post pictures on my blog. I will post some pictures on my Ravelry page with a spoiler photo for anyone who wants to peek ahead of time. I cast on immediately and knit about 10 or so rows, just enough to see the pattern start to emerge... and it's going to be fantastic!

I also had to frog one of the Christmas presents I'm making, but I can't get into too much detail about that here either.....

The last knitting related activity of the weekend was a sweater that I'm designing for Chey. It's going to be *slightly* similar to Wisteria, although I had this idea in my head before I saw wisteria in the premier issue of Twist Collective. It will be a top down, round yoke sweater with what I hope will be heart inspired cables. I've done gauge swatches and preliminary drawings and measurements, but need to chart out a few things before I can actually cast on. I think it'll be a slow work-in-progress, mostly due to other projects that are currently underway and soon to be underway (more of those pesky Christmas-can't-share-too-much-info type projects). It will be my first true, non-inspired (post inspired doesn't count IMO) sweater design..... if it works... I hope it will work.