Could it be?

That spring might actually be here?? Finally?? This winter has been the longest and coldest I can remember in a long time. We actually had freezing temperatures for a few days last week!! In May! At least now, when I look out my window, I see leaves on the trees. They're not quite all the way out, but hopefully, there is no turning back. I just hope that we have a decent summer. Last summer was bad, we only visited our little lake a few times in August and I want to spend a LOT more time there this summer!

Today I plan to get the rest of my flower beds done, along with my planters and hanging baskets. I normally do 4 large planters, 3 smaller planters and 2-3 hanging baskets. 2 of the large ones are done (I risked their death in the freezing weather, but they seem to have survived), so I'll be mostly buying for the other planters.

I am also starting to plan summer activities. Summer camps, camping and a visit to Vancouver Island are all in the works and this summer will be a first for me and for Eli. He is going to spend around 2 weeks with his Opa and Carey on their boat. I'm really excited for him! I think he's going to have a total blast! This will also be the first time Chey can go into Day Camps (well, 1/2 days at her age), so I'm looking forward to that as well.

I've been in a bit of a knitting "blech" lately. I finished a couple of projects and then couldn't really think of anything I wanted to knit. I actually went nearly a whole week without knitting (much, I did work on my sock club socks a bit)! I seem to have gotten over it though and am working on the Whisper Cardigan from Interweave Knits spring issue. I'm using a lovely wool/silk blend lace yarn from Zen Yarn Gardens in a colourway called "Shimmer". It's a silvery colour, perfect for summer. I also joined the Fiber Club through this website and received my first club fiber this week. It's a really pretty blend of browns and red, 100% Superwash Merino. I plan to start spinning it soon.

I finished my latest spinning project. I had originally thought I would get a sport weight or DK out of a 3ply, but I, apparently, spin pretty thin... A 3 ply worked out to about 18WPI (lace weight), so I cabled the 2 of the 3ply together and got a Sport weight/DK weight out of that. It turned out VERY soft, but is definitely under-plied or something because it's pretty wavy. I got about 400m of it though and gave it to my sister who came to visit last week. I plan to use the little bit of Roving left from this (I thought I spun it all, but found about 50g in a different location) to practice spinning thicker singles. I'd really like to be able to do a 3 ply Sport/DK for the Fiber Club Fiber



That's about it for me right now.... I'll try to post more, but the weather really gets me feeling grumpy and I don't feel like doing much of anything.... here's hoping for better weather!

Crochet Cardigan saga...

I finished my crochet cardigan last night and used almost EVERY bit of every skein of Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple in Jade that I had... After sewing in the ends, I *may* have had 2 meters left over. I had originally planned to write up the pattern for this cardigan, but honestly.... I ripped the damn thing out so many times and *intuitively* (or so I'd like to think) continued on, that I'm not sure I *could* write up a pattern. I did reverse engineer parts of it and wrote notes and I suppose if there is enough interest on Ravelry, I'll give it a shot, but only if....... The front is a lot more flattering than the photo shows... I promise.



Here ye be...

I'm still working on my Entangled stitches (now fingerless) gloves. The cables on them hurt my hands like hell and I needed a bit of a break, but I'm determined to get them done. I'm absolutely convinced that finished gloves will encourage the weather to change..... This is what my backyard looks like this morning....




it's April the 27th for Cryin' out loud! And it's supposed to stay that way (or get worse) for the next couple of days. I'll bet that the day after my gloves are finished, it'll be +20C...... and I'll embrace it! This is one glove that I finished a week or so ago...... I LOVE it!!!!! The cables are so pretty.... It's a great pattern, although sized for bigger hands than mine. I did go down a needle size, but it's a bit stiff, which I'm hoping will change when washed.




I'm also determined to get back to spinning. I haven't spun much in the past month or so (I'm overwhelmed by my knitting queue), but plan to finish a 3 ply (according to my handy dandy spinners control card this will make it between a sport and DK) this week sometime... One bobbin to go.

One for you... one for me.

Happy Easter! I hope that your Easter was fantastic! Mine was good, but once again, I bit off WAY more than I could chew. I didn't start Easter with Eli until he was 3 1/2 years old and at that time we lived in Calgary. Calgary is not a city where an outside Easter egg hunt is a guarantee and so I had to think of a fun way (that didn't leave forgotten chocolate laying around for the dogs to eat) for the Easter Bunny to hide eggs in the house and the annual photo Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt was born..... I went through the house taking pictures of locations and then did a scavenger hunt with each photo attached to a plastic egg (I buy the pre-stuffed with candy ones) and at the end of the trail... the holy grail.. also known as the Easter BASKET.....

This year I decided to make Eli's a little more difficult. I sat down and wrote 14 mini-poems with clues to the locations of his eggs. I then coordinated Chey's photo scavenger hunt so that they were looking for their clues in approximately the same locations. Sounds fun, right? Not.so.much. (at least not for me).

In my brilliance, I hid all the "stuff" in my closet upstairs (you see the problem, right? Excited kids, upstairs bedrooms, late sleeping, really late night for the Easter Bunny). Secondly, my poems, for some reason, were also centered around the upstairs. Thirdly, I thought it would be fun if the baskets ended up hidden in the kids' rooms...... the CELLOPHANE wrapped baskets...... I was able to smuggle the eggs that I needed for downstairs in a shoebox and get those done before the kids fell asleep, but I was stressed out wondering if I would get caught. I also decided to scatter foil wrapped chocolate eggs around for the kids this year.

Once the kids were FINALLY asleep (10pm, which isn't that late for normal people, but it is VERY late for my people) I hid the upstairs clues and then "operation cellophane" could begin. Chey's basket wasn't a problem. Her room was tidy and I had pre-prepped her closet for the basket. I snuck into her room and hid the basket and felt pretty good about the whole thing. Eli's was another story. I had planned to hide his behind his open door, his closet was a disaster as was the floor space in front of his closet, but the basket turned out to be too large for behind the door. Plan B. I had to clean up his closet and the floor in front so that I could get it in the closet. Eli's a light sleeper and every noise I made made him start and half wake up. After what seemed like an hour, the closet was ready.... I crept into his room with the cellophane bundle and stuffed it in his closet... it wouldn't fit without crushing the top of the cellophane and possibly making to much noise... I crept out and reorganized the closet... I tried again, same result..... finally the third time, I tried to stuff it in.. the crinkle woke Eli and he sat straight up.... I grabbed the basket and turned and ran... half giggling hysterically and half upset that I had just ruined Easter for Eli. I waited... nothing... I checked again... Eli had just flopped into a different position... I gathered up the basket and gave up quiet caution... I walked boldly into his room, stuffed the damn thing in his closet, slid the door closed and walked out..... He didn't even flinch..... but by this time I was all worked up and stressed out and didn't sleep much (I know, it's silly, but that's me). The morning finally arrived (6am, I nearly killed Eli) and the hunt started.... except I had scattered all of those damn chocolate eggs, some of which were hidden near the scavenger hunt clues... so I spent most of the scavenger hunt saying things like "Eli! get over here and find your next clue! Eli! Leave those eggs for your sister! Chey! Chey! Over here! Your clue is over here!!!! How fun for the kids eh? (note the sarcasm)..... I filmed it, but I will be erasing that, let me tell ya...... The kids did enjoy it and my Drill Sergeant version of a Easter Egg Hunt didn't seem to phase them, but next year will be different.. half the clues and really, really hidden so that I can just let them run wild through the house........


On the knitting front, I finished a cardigan for Chey. I really liked knitting Helena for baby Aubry and decided to knit it for Chey out of some pretty purple Malabrigo Silky Wool that I had purchased for some kind of cardigan for Chey. I should say that I decided to knit it with modifications.... It resembles the original only in the style. It's still a top-down raglan cardigan with eyelet increases, but instead of a garter band and a wave lace, I decided to do a piped band and a lace pattern from one of Barbara Walker's books called Ostrich (I think) Lace. I also did a band of lace on the 3/4 length sleeves. It's beautiful, see....





I'll post pictures of it on her tomorrow...


And now.. another sweater for me.... I'm very much into knitting Cardigans right now. I think cardigans are the perfect knitted garment. They can be worn year round and the look is easily changed by the outfit worn. I plan to knit mainly cardigans (this week) from now on. This will be a short sleeve (only because I don't think I have enough yarn for longer sleeves) crochet cardigan..... It's based on another crochet cardigan (Ravelry link) I did a couple of years ago (and modified last year from a crop cardigan to a full cardigan), but with a different stitch pattern, a heavier, silk yarn (I found the alpaca lace yarn to be to itchy) and a different edging... mainly the construction will be similar (although not the same), it's mainly the look of the back that I'm going for.... I've already pulled it out three times (due to the lack of yarn thing)... hopefully I can make it work with the yarn I have (Tilli Thomas Pure & Simple 100% silk in the colour Jade).



I'm also working on a pair of very lovely gloves (this pattern) in Handmaiden yarn "Casbah". Although, I've gone down a needle size to make smaller gloves and they still might not be small enough... so I might have to try an even lighter weight yarn and small needles and see how it goes....

Diminishing Ribs....

I finished another sweater. The Diminishing Rib cardigan from the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits (it's the cover sweater). I'm undecided as to whether I like the sweater or not. I'm just not thrilled with the collar and lack of closures on the front. I think the neckline would look better and fall in a more flattering way if the collar was a v-neck or a crew, but the tubular cast on straight collar (I don't know what it's called) is floppy and not very attractive (on me). I did not go with the pattern recommendation of knitting the pattern with positive ease. I knit the smallest size which would be zero ease or slightly negative ease and when I move and the cardigan shifts and falls to the sides. When this happens (which is every three seconds), the cardigan looks huge on me. Others who have knit this sweater before me have solved the problem with various closures, but I'm not sure I want to go that route. Overall, I love the idea of the sweater, the diminishing rib pattern is flattering and easy to knit, but if I were to knit this sweater again, I would knit it with a different collar and some kind of closure in mind. I was also concerned about the attached i-cord edge rolling, but a good steam block seems to have solved that problem.

My only modification to the pattern was to lengthen the whole cardigan by 3 inches. About 1/2 inch per 1x1 rib section and another 2 inches in the modified 3x1 rib section.





On a more positive knitting post, Chey finally fits a sweater I knit in 2006 before she came along. I just really loved the pattern and hoped I would have a daughter for it....... and I did..... so here are some pictures.

Proud

We received Eli's report card yesterday. I am so proud of him! He's doing really well in school. All 4s and 5s for effort (which is the mark I care about most), except one 3 in Communicating in French (he's graded on a scale from 1-5 with 3 being "grade level"). I was even happier to read his IPP (Individual Program plan) which stated that he met and exceeded his goal for attention and calling out in class and did not require further strategies at this time. This means that, although he has ADHD, his attention and focus is that of a typical 7yr old within the classroom. Yay!! He continues to require enrichment for the gifted portion of his IPP and has been asked to prepare a verbal presentation in French that incorporates the areas which need enrichment (reading, math, science, language). I can't wait to see what he comes up with!

Update on yesterday's post... You'll be happy to know that I've actually accomplished something today. I am nearly finished my paperwork (I WILL finish this week!) and cleaned out the spare room closet, both kids' closets and... *drum roll*... MY closet..... I managed a full orange bag of garbage and two blue bags of clothing... Woot!

I NEED to get stuff done!

I came back from a trip to Denver yesterday (more on that to follow) and realized that I need to put my damn knitting down (it's only being sworn at because I love it so very much) and get some stuff done around my house. My house is clean, mostly, but there are several jobs that I've been putting off in favor of knitting and/or spinning (which I now do when I'm a bit tired of knitting, thereby compounding the problem). I thought that if I mentioned some of my jobs here, they might get done.... the pressure of public knowledge or something..... so here they go.

1) I NEED to get my paperwork done. It should have been finished by the last week of December and it NEEDS to be done NOW...... Most of the easy parts are done, but I've got a lot of the nitty gritty left to do.

2) My closet.... my closet is a nightmare. It needs to be purged and organized. The purging needs to continue onto my dresser and my makeup/lotion area of the bathroom.

3)The Kids' clothing needs to be sorted and bagged and dropped off at my friend's house, who conveniently, now has a daughter and two sons, so I don't have to split the stuff up.....

4) My "office".... office is in quotation marks because I don't do my own bookkeeping any more... I hate it and the office just sits there unused and messy. I need to get rid of the computer down there, take down the desk and make it a more usable room.... usable for what?? I don't know... It currently holds all of my craft stuff, but I wouldn't use it as a craft room, just storage....

5) General deeper cleaning needs to be undertaken on all levels.... this is a big job that needs to be taken on by room and I should really pick the rooms that are used less to do first......

Phew..... The list could actually go on and on, but I'm already feeling a bit overwhelmed and wanting to knit.... must.not.knit!


OK... now that that is out of the way, my trip to Denver was AWESOME. My friends were excellent hosts and the kids had a lot of fun (Chey stayed with Daddy and Aunty, she was too young and we would have needed to rent a vehicle if I had brought her). We visited the Butterfly Pavilion, The Aquarium, The Zoo and Estes Park which is the location of the Stanley Hotel. This hotel was made famous by Stephen King as it was the inspiration (and later the location of the movie) for the book "The Shining". It is also one of the most haunted places in North America (or so the literature states). We didn't see any ghosts, however, and Eli was rather miffed about that...... Here are a few cuter pictures....

At the Denver Zoo... showcasing Eli's tremendous acting abilities....



The Stanley Hotel, a ghost-less shot, unfortunately....



The Aquarium.



Meeting "Rosie" The tarantula



The Butterflies loved Eli's orange sweater....

Pattern is done!

I finally finished writing my very first knitting pattern! I'm still waiting to get set up on Ravelry to offer it as a download and I can't seem to figure out how to upload it as a downloadable link here... but it is done... Here are some pictures as a teaser.... modeled by the inspiration (baby Aubrey) and in a larger size, Chey (I decided to show the bottom ruffle as optional, so the baby size has the ruffle, the toddler size does not). If you don't have a Ravelry account (or you don't want to wait a few more days) and would like the pattern (it's free), just send me a message and I'll email you the PDF.