dancing

I have spent my day dancing with puppies because one only weighs 8.5 oz and I want to insure that she doesn't get squished to death by her siblings who weigh a pound! I will eat, sleep and breath puppies for the next 10 days or so until they are big enough to fend for themselves. I don't think there will be much knitting but I can promise you lots of puppy pictures.

they have arrived...

10 puppies on the 25th, that makes Sarah and Britt the winners. I'll work out prizes and such at some point. I'm tired, so is Chudder so that is all you get for today.

They are still there

You may want to get in on the action if you haven't yet joined the puppy pool... she is still pregnant and I just came back from the vet. Only one of you is remotely close to the number of puppies that may be in there, I have a rough idea but those little guys are hard to count on an x-ray. I am hoping for everyones sake that she has them this weekend but she doesn't seem to interested in my wants or needs. It's been a LONG day and I am off to chill for a little while with The Amber Spyglass, I'm loving it!

contest continues

I didn't think anyone would actually figure it out, I mean really 8 pieces of wood on a bedroom floor could be just about anything unles of course you have built a similar thing before. And for some reason blogger won't let me post a finished picture so I can't even have you continue to guess what it may be... so instead, if I may, a new contest.

The Puppy Pool - yes we are expecting pupies. We have a very pregnant dog ( the big black one) and she is expected to have puppies sometime in the next 10 days or so, we really don't know when but she is very pregnant!

If you want to play along leave a comment with the date that you think the puppies will arrive and how many puppies you think there will be. There will be 2 prizes one for the date and one for the number of puppies. In the event of a tie I will randomly draw a name for each prize. You can enter until they arrive, the puppies that is. But I honestly can't give you a better timeline then sometime in the next 10 days... it may even be 12 days if my math is really off.

Prizes will be similar to those described in the last post and will be sent out after puppies have arrived and my life calms down a bit.

PS You will see the finished whelping box when blogger feels like playing nicely again.

creating a contest

It's not knitting but it has to be done. I haven't finished it yet, it needs to be assembled and a tarp needs to be added. If you can figure out what I am building (and I haven't phoned you looking for one) leave me a comment and the first person to guess correctly will get a skien of sock yarn... or some other fibery goodness in the mail. Unless of course you are not a knitter and then I will send you something else that you will love.

There are some clues here, in the description and the picture, well sort of, let's just say that this room is usually full of stuff.

one word, (well not really)

Dyed

Seaming

Transferring

Knitting

Things are happening, life is busy, my head is down and I am trying to get this blanket finished, I am still waiting for some squares to arrive in the mail and when I am done a proper thanks to all those who have helped out. While I knit the blankets border I am finally adding my CD's to my computer (909, 2.4 days of music) because P bought me a shuffle. He has a 8g Ipod and so I decided I didn't really need one as well, but I had been eyeing these cute shuffles and so he brought one home last week - what a sweet boy. Seams are calling, gotta go

.

blue

my hands that is, I have been dying wool this morning and I was to lazy to find some gloves. The wool is from the garter stitch jacket, I have wanted one for awhile but my LYS never had the colours I wanted and then I got a gift card for Christmas for the LYS. So I bought a white one kit and dyed it with wiltons food colouring. I am rather happy with the results but the camera is MIA, when I find you can see what I did. I have also been tidying and doing laundry. I think that perhaps laundry should happen without any human intervention, just put the stuff in the washer and it could come out washed dried and folded - maybe someone could get on that.

Have a Heart Blanket Update

I have lots squares, thanks everyone (if you still have one email me and we will arrange a pick up) and now comes the task of putting the thing together. I went out last Friday night (in a huge storm) and met up with a bunch of great women (she has pictures) to start seaming. It was a good time but we still are not finished and I really want to give it to her next week... so if you are free this Friday night (feb 8) I will be at the Bridgehead at Carolina and Wellington again at 7:00 pm. I still have 2 pattern books and some sock yarn to give away as thank you's - so come out and help and you may go home with a treat.

Hope to see some of you local folks there, I am off to fold laundry - good times

Cats! (and other random things)

The cats are up to their usual cat like antics! They both enjoy laying in the bathtub, under the tub, on the edge of the tub, you get the picture. Both yesterday and today they decided that they should leap into the tub as soon as they see a person get out, sadly, although the person may be out of the water is not - my kitties don't like water. Why they both did the same thing 2 mornings in a row is a bit of a mystery to me though. They have also discovered that it is a great deal of fun to unroll the toilet paper, even more fun when there is a brand new roll. THe Bathroom door is now closed.

The heart blanket is coming along, I have a large pile of squares on my dining room table along with needles and some treats (yarn and books) to share with people who come out to help seam on Friday night. Details - Friday Feb 1, First Friday Knit Nite at the Bridgehead (Carolina and Wellington), around 7. I am shamelessly taking over and enlisting people to help sew together squares - beside I am giving away free stuff, yo know you wanna come and help. If you still have a square drop me a line and we will work out a pick up/drop off. I got some squares in the mail today, very exciting.

I have spent my free time this week working on this - it was dead easy and I love the way that it looks. There was an old trunk in the summer kitchen, we hauled it out this summer and cleaned it off. Then it sat for 6 months while I got organised. P and I put together pictures from our families ( plus 2 that the person who grew up on this farm gave us), I colour copied them, glued them down, applied numerous coats of Shellac and ta da a coffee table that has heaps of storage! I really like it and given the age of our house it fits in well.

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!