distractions

I can hear you, but where are you?

123 on Eeyore, come out, come out where ever you are

Fine then, I don't want to play with you anymore!

Here I am, let's play again, again

( this was an even better picture before they decided to stop playing!)

This rather amusing event unfolded last night while I was on the telephone in the office, I missed all the best pictures though while I waited for my flash to recharge. But it was fun to watch.

Hearts

I have squares from a variety of great blogger friends, some from fabulous blogless friends and more promised or on their way - yes the last one is coming from Africa!

As I type they are blocking on the bed in the guest room, well the 26 or so that I have already are blocking... so they will all be close to the same size.

Larissa is doing really well, they took her off the ventilator late last week and most of her chest tubes have been removed, she is slowly getting better and used to the bionic heart that she has at the moment. I have managed to keep this littel project a secret so far and I'm looking very forward to surprising her and her mom with this blanket. Thanks again for all your help, knitters are amazing.

If you still want to knit a square there is still time whether you are here or elsewhere, the more the merrier as far as I am concerned. If you are local and free on Feb. 1 some of us are getting together to knit at the Bridgehead on Carolina and Wellington, I'll be there with squares, yarn and needles to start seaming, anyone who helps out gets a chance to win some free yarn ... who doesn't need free yarn! More details later and on the Yahoo group site as well.

Yesterday

Yesterday while I was taking down out Christmas stuff, my childhood arrived in my front yard. It looked like this and a nice man in a big truck managed to get it as close to my front door as possible with the snow and such.

My parents decided that since I am an "adult" (ha ha ha) and have a house that it was time for my stuff to no longer be in there shed... so it was packed and shipped across the country and arrived with only one or two dents, I thought that I might amuse you with a few pictures although some of the best stuff was found once the camera had been put away, well not awaybut out of my reach. There are some stunning barbie clothes that think were my sisters before they were mine and a variety of very essays full of teen angst - oh being 15 was so tragic! There is some of my grandmothers things that I had wanted and some that I did not know existed as well as a few treats.

As a child a enjoyed (was obsessed with) Annie, I had Annie everything and I must say that since it is the best movie of all time my obsession was completely normal. My mom found this plate somewhere... and decided I needed it. It goes very well with the life size Annie doll, her wardrobe ( all the outfits from the movie) and my Annie dress from when I was 6.
The was also a very well loved (read broken)Fisher Price Sesame street playhouse,
I remember being rather hard on it and I also remember taking it
apart, some of the pieces are missing and so are some of the screws but I love the old FP stuff and had I know when I was little what it was worth now I wouldn't of taken it apart.

It's funny how when we are little things seem s so BIG, this painting was done by my grandfather and it is only about 11x14 but I remember it being sooooo big as a kid, there was one of each of us and they hung in the stairwell, I was shocked at how small it is.


To go with the art, toys and furniture there was some clothes. I think I come by my knitting addiction honestly, the dress and cape in the back are crotched (by my mom?) but my mom knit the dress and my grandma the cardigan. There is also a pink poncho, I thought I was so cool when I wore it.

Tomorrow ( or soon) I will show off the squares I have for Larissa's Heart blanket, I received some at knitting last night and had promises of more. Thanks to everyone who is working on/has finished one or more, I really appreciate the help and I know the blanket will be appreciated as well.

Have a Heart?

I am still looking for some more heart squares ( see last post for details), I have about 15 promised and could use that many again.

If your local and at knit nite tomorrow I will hit you up in person... you've been warned. I stole the picture from Kimberli's blog, it seemed to fit.

Have a heart?

Two posts in one day, i think that is a first for me!

I know that we are constantly being asked to knit for a good cause and that plenty of bloggers put out requests for us to knit things for charity. I have in the past jumped on other bandwagons and got out my needles but this time I have my own wagon to stand on and I am hoping that some of you can help me.

Larissa is 19, I used to teach her Sunday school, she was mischievous ( to say the very least) but I loved her spunk and admired her spirit. She has moved in an out of my peripheral vision over the years as I have come and gone from the church that her Mom goes to. About 6 months she got sick, then she got sicker and to make a long story very short she is now waiting (desperately!) for a heart transplant. She went into the hospital just before Christmas in critical condition, so critical in fact that they had to take her off the transplant list because she could not survived a transplant.

She has undergone a number of surgeries and is now being kept alive with an LVAD, (read about it here - yes the same thing Denny had on Grey’s anatomy. They brought her out of sedation yesterday and she is doing well. As long as they can find her a heart quickly she will survive (I waited to post this until I was reasonably sure that she was going to make it through this tough patch).

So while she is waiting I thought that I (with some help) might entertain her with a heart blanket for Valentines Day… so wanna help, please

Knit a square that measures 5 inches by 5 inches with a heart in somewhere, however you want to put a heart (big or small) in the square is up to you. Be creative, use up your scraps or whatever you want. I would prefer (for ease of seaming) if they were DK or Aran weight but I am pretty flexible.

I need the squares by Feb 7 and if email me bagknitter(at) yahoo(dot)ca I will arrange to pick them up (locally) or tell you where to mail them.

Thanks so much in advance, I am a big believer in the power of positive thinking and hope that I (we) can help Larissa with the very long road that is ahead of her - her and her family.

catch up

Much has happened here in the last week both and out of the house. I finally have a little time to come up for air, well there has been air throughout but no moments to sit down at the computer for enough time to actually do anything other than a quick email check.

A few of my friends from away came for New Years, much fun was had and some alcohol was involved. We were quite sober though when we buried J in the snow and then M jumped on her, nothing like a good play in the snow! I took them back to Toronto last week and we went to see We Will Rock You - it was really good, awesome in fact. If you get the chance to go I would definitely recommend it.


The next day I made a "quick" (sort of) trip to Romni and stopped by Purple Purl but it was closed, sad but true. Then I got in the car and headed home, exactly 24 hours after I left.

I came home and started cooking and I cooked for 2.5 days so that we could have Christmas on Jan. 6 - Ukrainians are lucky that way. It was great night and I must say the food was fabulous and completely gluten free, a bit of a challenge when cooking Ukrainian food. Wait it there was one dish that I couldn't eat, P is throwing Kutia on the ceiling in this picture, since the main ingredient is wheat kernels I am not sure that I could find a reasonable substitute.

Monday was my last day off - well technically I am off today too but that always happen in supply teacher land - random days of not working especially just after a school holiday.

Stayed tune for pictures of my green, green front yard and the river that is running through the driveway of doom due to a very rapid Jan. thaw that means P has to get up in the middle of the night to turn the sump pump so the cellar doesn't flood!

conspiracy

blogger hates me ( yes I know that I say that a lot), I am not sure where the pictures have gone, they were there when I posted and now they are gone. I won't have time this weekend to do anything about it so y'all just have to wait. Till Monday or so to here about all the fun stuff that went on this week and see the rest of the pictures

more mexico

*edited to put the pictures back!

I can't seem to upload pictures from home any other way than 4 at a time from Picasa and I have not made it to the coffeeshop in town or in the city so this is all you get for today. I am off to make maple custard with blackberry sauce as we have 4 friends coming for dinner - 2 from far and wide who I don't get to see very often.

look closely and you and you'll see him

What's not to love about this picture - he didn't buy it though

It's very hard to take whale pictures from a sail boat when you are seasick, they were huge! but that is hard to show you in a photo.

Happy New Year from our house to yours

mexico

Okay, here's as many as the dial up connection will allow at the moment - more to follow with words too!

I'm back

Well I am back from Mexico, rested and relaxed. It was a good week except for when P fell out of the kayak and broke his foot and when I spent the whale watching trip seasick - aside from that it was a really good time. I have lots of great photos and such but that requires soemthing other than dial up - so you'll have to wait.
Merry Christmas from the snowy end of the world.

snow day v.3.0

This would be my 3rd snow day this winter and winter hasn't even actually started yet!But that's okay, I am sad that we had to cancel our dinner plans but aside from that we did not have anything major to do as we knew the storm was coming and I ran most of the trip errands earlier this week. P and I spent the day in the safety of the house, the driveway of doom is not to be messed with on a day like today, especially when you try to open the front door to this - at that is after I had already shovelled, twice! That being said we have enjoyed our snow day, we played cribbage and Keesdrow - a very fun game that I got as a gift yesterday(if you like scrabble you'll enjoy this)

So just to amuse you and show you how much snow we really have gotten I have a photo from a few weeks ago, nice snow, nice tire swing, our falling down fence...

This the same tree today, the angle is a little different because I didn't feel like walking across the yard but the tire swing is almost covered and it's usually about 12 inches off the ground!
I also thought that by venturing outside I could take a picture of my Jeanie progress but it was a bit of a challenge, the snow is falling to fast to take a reasonable picture

I came back in to take a better photo of the cables, I am not very far, row 25 or so but I am really liking it. Alright I am off to find food and shovel some more, I think I will be shovelling for a long time!

PS I am very happy that it is snowing today and not on Tuesday, I would be very sad if that was the case.

we pause

for a moment so I can frog row number one, when casting on Jeanie, it is always helpful to start with row number 1 rather than 2. First 1 then 2, I need to keep saying it so I don't do it again!

Christmas in the air

So I had this great post planned with all these random photos and blogger will only upload this one, so one it is. We put up our tree on Friday night, it's wider than it is tall, it brings Charlie Brown tree to a whole new level, but once we got the ornaments on it looked a little better, yes only a little.

We had out annual Christmas perogie/tree cutting party on Saturday, it was loud and messy, exactly what a big party should be, successful to say the very least. The kids really enjoyed the undisturbed snow, once they discovered the side of the yard that the dogs don't visit. They built a great fort and once the snow melts I will have some sticks to clean up.

This week brought shopping for the Christmas hampers, shopping for other people is always fun and some shopping for our trip. We are off to Mexico on Tuesday and I needed a new bathing suit, bathing suit shopping is not a task that I enjoy, I enjoy it even less in December when the stores are packed with shoppers who act as though they are the only people in the world that matter. After much humming and hawing I found a suit that I could actually wear in public that did not coast an arm and a leg and so I bought it. The only problem is the plastic beads that adorn the straps. Why on earth do they feel the need to add cheap plastic beads to an otherwise functional bathing suit - I think the beads and my hammer need to meet in close proximity to one another before the suit gets packed. I also got the lucky job of trying to find a pair of sport sandals for P, he has size 13 feet, we live in the land of ice and snow, it took 5 stores and then I hit the jackpot, there are stores that leave there sandals out past August it just takes some effort to locate them.

Oh look, I am allowed to upload another picture now but only one more, it's a conspiracy I tell you! Here is P's finished hat, in black and white to hide the fact that it is a very blurry photos. I can't link to the pattern because It's from Spin Off, Fall 2007, it was a super quick knit and it is nice and cozy - at least that is what he tells me.

Alright I am off to do the very last of my holiday shopping, I just need one more thing!

safe

The driveway has been plowed - twice and is now safe for cars to use, we have a lot of snow here, I hope that this doens't keep up all winter!

The driveway is so safe that yesterday when I dropped my wallet in front of our mailbox (at the end of our drive) it was till there 4 hours later when we came home... some panic was involved when I discovered it missing but all is well now.

The new Knitty is up and I am itching to cast on for Jeanie, I saw it at Rhinbeck and I really, really need it. Perhaps it will be my Mexico knitting - we are leaving in 12 sleeps! I also finished a hat for P (watchman's cap using the ringwood stitch pattern, inspired by a hat in Spin Off), it is the same wool as my Coronet but in black, he likes and when we are both home in daylight I will take a picture.

My perogies are made, there are a few hundred in the freezer - with and without gluten and I am off to make meringues - yummy

Driveway of Doom

I live in the country, at the end of a long and stunningly beautiful driveway, about 400 meters of tree lined goodness(no driveway picture but this one is good). The trees happily ( well I think it is happily) put on a most excellent show for us throughout the year, all sorts of colours and life exist in those trees. Sadly the trees are useless on a day like today!

It started to snow last night and it snowed and snowed and snowed - so much in fact that I could not open the door this morning to let the dogs out, I had to push the snow out of the way with the door. School buses are cancelled, the radio says to stay off the roads and so I am, it was not a hard decision for me as I really have no where to be today (temporary gainful employment ended on Friday) but P did have to go to work, P works in the, P had to go down the driveway - unplowed.

See, when you have a driveway as big as ours you either need to have a plow on a truck or have someone come and plow it. We have someone come and plow it, he is a character (to say the very least) and he comes when can but it is not usually until the end of the day. Thus ,until he shows we are at the mercy of the driveway, it or may not let us in or out.

Last week P came home late one night, I was asleep and he woke me to let me know that we were truly snowed in (it wasn't snowing) but his car got stuck in the driveway and until we got it unstuck neither of us was going anywhere. We did get in unstuck but it took awhile and a lot of brute force - P's brute force, I steered.

So, that all being said, this morning when P announced that he had to go to the office in the city I was rather concerned that he wouldn't make it. We cleaned off my car because it has new tires (see this post) and after a few attempts he managed to get moving and slowly winded his way down the driveway, he made it in my car but would not of in his. If the plowman doesn't come he may never be able to get home, well not in the car at least and I'm not going anywhere

So given that I am not going anywhere today I am going to spend the day catching up on some housework (better when you are wearing this), knitting, reading this or this - both of which are excellent reads and getting the filling ready to make perogies - these won't be gluten free ones as they are for our Christmas party but I will make gluten free ones for me to enjoy later this week.

So, that all being said let me leave you with pictures of the babes from this weekend, we went to cut out tree on Saturday, it was very cold (-26 with the wind) but a beautiful day, these 2 didn't want to come

This one couldn't wait to get out the door

Max will go wherever Chudder one goes and Tai stayed home as the snow is deeper than she is high.

A tree was cut by P, last year he was unexpectedly very sick at this time of year and I had to go cut one myself, well I had friends with me but not him, it was godd to let him do the cutting and the hauling this year while I just had to wrangle dogs and the camera.

I am off to peel potatoes and watch movies on the laptop.

snow days

Yesterday was a snow day - I stayed in my PJ's all day, it was a pleasant surprise, the surprise snow days are good, the radio man at CBC is always so sweet when he announces that the school buses are cancelled and when the buses aren't driving neither am I - we have over 30cm at out house, there is a lot less snow in the city.
Back to reality today, we did get some serious snow play time in this morning, small people are sleeping now, snow is tiring.

I finished my hat on Wed. and then I had to go to knit nite without a project - tragic I know. Sarah bailed me out and brought me some needles so i could cast the mittens on that were in my knitting bag

A close up, I am rather fond of it and it stays on my head, the last hat I knit was gifted as it tended to leave my head of its own accord. If you want your own, the Coronet pattern is from Knitty and the yarn is Stella (50% baby suri, 40% extra fine merino, 10% cashmere) from the Susan Andrew Collection, I bought mine here, not sure if you can get in anywhere else.

120, 20, 3, 3, 3, 1, 2, ?

130 - the number of minutes it took me to get to work this morning due to the snow

20 , roughly the number of rows I managed to knit while sitting in this mornings traffic

3 skeins of STR, 3 patterns and 3 cool treats from my fabulous sister , plus some books that are not in the picture




1 treat that requires a closer picture because it is so cool, I think I may have to frame it rather than use it as a card.




2 finished mittens, log walls make fabulous backgrounds when you leave and arrive home in the dark. They are the Pebble Mittens kit from Morehouse Merino, links are few posts back.

? the number of days that this migraine may last, it's at 3 and I have tried everything, the saddest part is that this time I didn't even do anything to cause it, well not on purpose anyway - like a good beer or a toasted onion bagel with cheddar...ummm gluten!

Psst, over here

- it's Cate's birthday tomorrow... run over and wish her the best - but I didn't tell you!

- I finished the pebble mitts, I like them, I like them so much that I had to buy a new coat to go with them.

- there are no pictures, I have a migraine, well the remnants of one, I took some great medicine that is way to expensive but works really well

-migraines like coffee and freshly made apple berry crisp, at least mine do and I am off to have some.

- it's supposed to snow tonight, that will make tomorrows commute really fun, maybe some crisp for breakfast will help.

all done!

All done!

STR Sock Candy in Lapis - just over 1 skien, I should of done them toe up.

Based on the No Wool Socks in No Sheep for you but I did a short row heel and toe.

I am happy with them but if I was to knit them again I would go down a needles size as the ankle is a little to loose for me.

I have already cast on another of the many things I want to knit, I started Coronet with this wool (the purple) I got in Montreal last June, I saw a cool blend of the coronet pattern with Shedir on Ravelry and I rather like it. I've also finished Pebble Mitten finished and am up to the thumb increaes on the 2nd one.

Winter coming is good motivation for getting warm things knit, sad that there isn't more time!

But I wanna

I know that I have lots of things on my needles but my desire to knit all sorts of fabulous things is weighing me down and I am very tempted to break all my rules about finishing things before starting new ones. I try to have 23 things on the go at once, currently i have 5 and am tempted to add a few more.

The biggest problem by far is my attraction to this, when it started to appear in blogland I was in love and knew that I needed the yarn and then a sweater. I was attracted to the cardigan but then I started to see other designs and decided that I needed a pullover, so I bought this and am contemplating some of the patterns in it but I am also drawn to this - although it would take a little modification since it is in a sock after all. Anyone know of any other Kauni patterns out there that I might need to drool over?

I must say that I have to blame some of my startitis on Ravelry... it is hard to see all the fabulous stuff that is being knit and not want to cast some of them on.

teffee

So yesterday morning I stumbled out of bed and went downstairs to get a latte and my lunch organised, I managed to actually get my lunch out of the fridge (rather than roasted red peppers) and made a latte (on this fancy new toy I bought recently) as my milk frothed I started to get P's lunch organised, I got out 2 travel mugs and threw a tea bag into one for P. My milk was ready so I poured into the travel mug, added the espresso, took a few sips and put on the lid so I could drink the rest on the drive into the city. When I finally got into the car and opened my cup to have some latte I noticed a funny flavour - I racked my brain trying to figure out what I had done differently, I was at loss, it tasted really odd and yet I did everything the same as every other morning and then it struck me, most mornings I don't pour my latte into the cup that has P's tea bag in it. It was not a nice combination, I wouldn't suggest you try it - I bought my latte this am... it seemed like a better choice!


This is the blanket that you saw a few posts ago, it changed and morphed as I knit but it is based on a pattern from the Vogue Baby Blankets 2 book. It is knit with Patons Shetland Chunky in colours that I don't really know the names of. It was a good knit considering it's a blanket and miles of garter stitch. I didn't make it as big as the pattern suggested, just big enough to be a good stroller/car seat blanket.

Here is some of the Rhinbeck haul, I already cast on these mittens from Morehouse, I'm really looking forward to them. I also have some STR Sock Candy socks on the needles - I cast them on at the hotel in NY because the Inside Out socks were not meant to be and have been frogged - the first sock was to small and the second too big - same knitter, same needles, same wool - it makes no sense to me. A new pattern has been sought out and I will knit it eventually. actually it is the pattern in the back of the next picture - it has a fingerless glove and sock pattern included, i like it much better. I must say (in defense of the pattern that I have heard mixed reviews about from other people) that the Inside Out pattern did teach me about garter stitch short row heels and I rather like the way that they look and feel.

And finally here is some of the Rhinbeck haul, I went planning on buying no yarn, just roving and some tools that I have been coveting for awhile, I did pretty well until I fell down in the Morehouse store, I got 3 mitten kits (2 are for my sister though) and some lace weight with multiple ends @ 2.00 a skein - I think I can live with all the ends. On the left there is some blue organic cotton ( I bought 2 smallish bags) and 2 lbs of brown jacob roving from Spirit Trail - too bad I sold that Ashford Kiwi out from under my own feet at Merlin Tree - it was a nice wheel! I think that my best score was a copy of Stahlman's Shawls and Scarves, ( but I paid less than that) I have been looking for it for awhile and as we walked past The Fold it leapt into my arms - no really it did. I also bought some blocking wires, a niddy noddy and a ball winder.

I had also been on the lookout for a swift, I saw lots there but didn't get one as I was hoping to get a good deal on one - when I was playing on ebay yesterday I found one here, they also sell bamboo 5" double points US sizes 1-11 in a package for 14.99 (or less) - I don't use them very often but every now then I need them for something and at that price I thought it was worth it.