Full Circle.....

Once, long ago.... in late October to be exact.... there was a humble, but lovely, ball of silk, lace-weight yarn. This yarn was destined to be something grand (it had been purchased on a trip to Vancouver Island), something wonderful, something knit while on a journey to the exotic country of Egypt. A pattern was chosen. It was perfect. A beautiful shawl called Nefertiti. Very apropos, given the location where the yarn would, inevitability transform.

It was not long into the journey, however, that the creator of this fabulous knitted masterpiece, determined that perhaps.... just perhaps, knitting a lace shawl with 18 different charts is, NOT a great travel project and the yarn was put aside for a less exciting, less complex, less.... Egyptian , but infinitely simpler knitted project.

The yarn was picked up occasionally, once the travel adventure was over, but the original lustre and excitement of the feeling of destiny that yarn and project had, was lost. Finally, in mid July, the knitter stalled on her endless queue of projects... nothing on her list really called to her... and so... the yarn,  once again, found itself the centre of the knitter's attention. The knitter quickly worked through charts 5, 6, 7 and 8.... the end of chart 8 was the half way mark of the shawl. It was lovely and flowing beautifully off the needles and the knitter started to feel very excited about the finished project.

She began chart 9 and in the third row of that chart... she discovered a problem... a really big problem... there seemed to be 10 stitches missing...... She somehow missed a whole chart.... way back at chart number 3.......  and now the yarn is......

back where it started.... a lovely ball of silk, lace-weight yarn... yearning to be something beautiful.....

New Pattern

I finally sat down and wrote out a pattern for the combined hat/mitten/scarf set that I made for Elizabeth for Christmas and then for Chey.

The prototype was for Elizabeth.... it looked like this. The hood buttoned under the chin, which works great for older kids, but little kids have a hard time with buttons......




I then made a few changes.... a larger hood and a cowl-type attachment to make the hood so it could be pulled over the head....... which resulted in this:



And the pattern is now available either:

Through Ravelry: Winter All-in-One


or Here :


No more lost mittens! Yay!

I've been on a Bender.....

and I can feel it.... my head is woozy, my hands hurt and I don't really remember what happened. Somehow, in the last two weeks, I've managed to complete seven projects (actually nine, I did make two each of the toys). They haven't been large projects, mind you.... but even for me, seven seems like a lot.....

I knit these mitts for Dale to line his work mittens. He loves them, they keep his hands nice and warm even on the coldest days.....

I knit myself another pair of gloves to replace the cashmere pair I knit last year. They wore out, poor things..... Pattern is Meisi, by Julia Mueller knit in Indigo Moon Superwash Merino.

I then decided that I wanted to spin some top that I purchased before Christmas. Another JulieSpins creation in a blend of Merino, cashmere and nylon... so soft and squishy..... I made a 3-ply chunky yarn and knit this awesome circular cowl that can be worn several ways.

Next, I knit this super cool sweater... It's called Endless and it totally makes me happy. You can wear it a bunch of different ways, it is comfy, cute and fashionable. 

I also knit this cute skirt for my friend's daughter's birthday on Sunday (she turned 2... Happy Birthday Aubrey!). I must make one for Chey... it is a sweet, swingy skirt with an adjustable waistband.... perfect!

and finally, I  crocheted these critters inspired by the hot iPhone game "Angry Birds" for the kids... They love the game and Eli even had the plush birds on his Christmas wish list... I'm envisioning the real life version that's going to take place in the basement.... I hope I don't regret making these... ;) Two of each (I do have two kids... which can suck in these circumstances... why is it not OK to pick a favourite and just make stuff that that one?? Just kidding, just kidding..... mostly)

Believe it or not.. I still had time to go skating several times, volunteer in each child's class twice... and my house hasn't fallen apart..... small projects rock? 

Back to the grind.

I'm completely unmotivated to write this post, but sort of feel like I need to keep up my momentum.

I finished, washed and blocked the sweater that I knit while in Egypt. It started out as a chunky tee for Chey, but finished off as a chunky tunic-tee for a Christmas present (it's too big for Chey, I did not measure on the trip, I just kept on knitting). It was almost entirely knit on the two big drives we did while in Egypt, to Alexandria and Whale Valley.

Here it is. I picture it with skinny jeans and a belt..... on a 10 year old girl... cute eh?

I've also finished my winter All-in-One prototype. I was going to do a pattern for the snake mitten scarf I made up for Chey last Christmas, but by the time I finished my test knit for the pattern, I lost interest. So I revamped the idea and came up with the All-in-One. It's a hat, scarf and mittens in one item..... hopefully with a lower chance of being left at school....... I need to tweak it a bit, but I hope to have a pattern finished before winter ends.....

Updates....

Wow! It's been 3 weeks since my last post.... I didn't realize so much time had passed. What have I been up to??? Being sick, mostly.... We had both a stomach flu (which I managed to avoid and Chey was only minimally affected) and a cold come through the house. I knew it was going to happen; both kids are in new schools this year, which means a whole new crop of germs to bring home to share with the rest of us.

We also been waiting for October 22, the date set for Eli's Tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy. I've been trying (in my own way) to have Eli's tonsils removed since he was 2. He had more than seven bouts of tonsillitis between 15 months and 2 years and we were referred to an ENT who said that although his tonsils were abnormally large, he would "probably" grow into them......

He hasn't.

Now he only has one bout of tonsillitis per year, but they have caused other problems. My latest mission to have them removed began when I read that enlarged tonsils (and the related obstructive sleep apnea) can cause many ADHD-like symptoms and that by removing tonsils in children that have been diagnosed with ADHD and obstructive sleep apnea, the symptoms of ADHD can disappear (due to improved sleep). Now, in Eli's case I don't think this will happen, I truly believe that his ADHD is the garden variety genetic version, but..... if his symptoms can improve once he starts sleeping properly........ need I say more?

To further this cause, Eli had an overnight sleep study done this summer at Alberta Children's Hospital and it was determined that he did indeed have moderate obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Brooks (his new ENT) then recommended that his tonsils and adenoids be removed. The most interesting part of this for me, was that Dr. Brooks felt that part of the reason that Eli is so small (he's eight and the size of a small 5-6yr old) was also probably due to the obstructive sleep apnea. Because Eli never really settles into a deep sleep, his growth hormone release is restricted. Not only that, but it takes an enormous amount of calories to snore and toss and turn and choke in a person's sleep, which means even the few calories he does eat, get expended during his sleep cycle........

The surgery was Thursday and I didn't know what to expect. I had my tonsils removed when I was around his age and it was no big deal, but I, apparently, am unusual because everyone else I talked to said that the healing was brutal...... Eli also tends to be...... excessive.... in his response to pain..... The crying and screaming children in Day Surgery certainly didn't help settle my concern.... But, Eli went into surgery like a champ and came out..... fine. He said he didn't have much pain and the worst part was that he couldn't blow his nose. That night was difficult, but not because he was in pain... because when Eli is very tired, he can no longer control his emotions and he HATES (and I cannot emphasize how much he dislikes) medicine.... he would rather be in pain or sick than take any form of medicine... which is not a choice after surgery... he HAD to take it and the nurses came in every 4 hours to enforce the rule..... This resulted in out of control hysterics on Eli's part and frustration on mine (and the nurses) part..... Each time, the nurses were unable to convince or force him to take his medicine and I had to step in. That and the constant beeping and children crying and uncomfortable chair to sleep in made for a very tired Mommy, but at least I could be with him...... that's all that was really important. Now that he's home, he's totally back to normal. He probably won't even have any pain meds today (he only had a dose of Tylenol yesterday morning and night and a small dose of codeine, which was my decision, not a result of him being in pain) unless he complains of a sore throat or ear.... It's only day 3..... I think it's even been easier for him that it was for me.....




On the knitting front, I am nearly finished my handspun scarf for Syd. IF I had brought more of the yarn to the hospital, I would be done, but I didn't realize that I knit that fast...... I had finished all of the yarn I brought by about 4pm on Thursday..... good thing I brought a super-secret project along with me...... I even nearly ran out of yarn for that!










My test knit is also progressing. I am struggling with the sleeves, something is not working out.... I might chart the whole sleeve to see what the issue is, but I'm not motivated today..... It will be very pretty when it's done though.....

That's how it was supposed to look...

I gave the sweater to Christina..... it's looks amazing on her, whereas it looked like a sack on me (regardless of my attempt in photos to make it look otherwise)

See....



That is how it is SUPPOSED to look.... when it fits properly... :)

And now I'm knitting a scarf, a very simple 1x1 rib scarf... I want to knit something that I know, without a doubt, will turn out.... It will be knit out of my handspun. (3ply yarn, approx 8-9 WPI, out of Superwash Merino roving/top from Zen Yarn Garden's "Spin Art Fibre Club"). It's very soft and sproingy.... It'll be a short scarf (I've only got about 200m), but it will be my first "real" knitting item of my own handspun.....





and it won't matter if it stretches in the wash......