It's Catching...

No one is immune to Olympic fever.

An Onslaught of Untoys...

I love automated appliances. The simple miracle of waking up to brewed coffee and clean dishes never ceases to impress me. The fact that it's more often than not at 5:30 am these days is a little less impressive, but you can't have everything, right? If I could just automate the baby to go off at about 7 am, things would really be humming around here. So far though, I haven't found her Program or Delay Hours button.

So, an Olympic Knitting update. I joined the Yarn Harlot's Olympic challenge after being on the fence about it for a long while. I liked her 'do or don't do' spin on things. I toyed with the idea of joining the Ravelympics on Ravelry, but as I was browsing through the group pages, I came across a spread sheet and was scared off. Anyhow, for anyone who might be scratching their heads and saying, 'Uh, what?' the premise is this; you pick a knitting project you think will be a reasonable challenge to finish during the 17 days of the Olympics, cast on during the opening ceremonies or when the flame is lit and cast off during the closing ceremonies. If you finish, you get a gold medal. An imaginary one. And a finished project. (As an aside, I quite enjoyed the opening ceremonies. The start was a little slow, then I think I might've dozed off a bit, but then there were virtual whales and some awesome poetry and even though I still haven't seen some of the musical performances, overall I was pretty impressed. Ever notice though how Donald Sutherland is like Canada's Morgan Freeman? The guy narrates everything).

A while back, like last spring I think, I bought enough yarn do knit a belted cardigan, Starsky, by Jordana Paige. I had a couple of false starts with it, which I chalked up to being user error, since I did have a brand new family member in the house and all thinking was challenging, let alone knitting kind of thinking, even though the pattern didn't appear to be all that difficult. Simple cables. Can do. Well, apparently not. I decided to pick it back up and give it a go as my Olympic project, and honestly, I don't know if it's just me or the pattern or the yarn was destined to be something else, but I got so pissed off with this cable chart, I almost gave it a heave ho. I didn't get very far on the cable chart, but it just never looked right to me. And if a project doesn't gel with me pretty quickly out of the gate, it loses it's luster pretty darn quick. So I'm doing an Urban Aran, but making it a cardigan, a la Jared Flood. A whole sweater in 17 days, even if it is a large needle, chunky yarn knit is a bit of a stretch, but if by some miracle I do pull it off and not completely neglect my offspring, well, I'll be pretty obnoxious to live with.

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the Babette. She sat in the living room for about a week, just so I could stare at it. While on Ravelry the other day, I noticed that it's getting a few people favouring it, including the designer, Kathy Merrick, which I thought was pretty cool. How very knitter geek of me.



So with a first birthday looming in the not so distant future (I'm finding it hard to comprehend this), I've been thinking about what to get for gifts. The toy box could use some refreshment, but I just couldn't decide what it is I wanted to look for. It's hard to try and guess at someone elses tastes, when that someone else is only just starting to develop them (not to mention the fact that a lot of toys out there just plain suck, at least from a parents perspective). Like every child, she's more inclined to pull all the video games off the shelf and rifle through her diaper bag than she is to play with any of the brightly coloured and noisy things that are taking up residence in our livingroom. My mind got to thinking and I had an idea to pack some of my old purses and handbags (of which there are many...I have a handbag thing) with assorted items and rotate those into playtime. I went cruising the internet to see what others of like mind were using as 'untoys' (credit goes to Carrie for introducing me to the term and also contributing ideas) and then implemented some of them.

The result is as follows;

Old pill bottles with film canister lids as rattles/noise makers = loves them.
Empty tissue box full of fabric scraps = intriguing.
Dollar store gift box with fuzzy pom-poms on a string inside = warming up to the idea.
Cardboard coasters likely swiped years ago from some bar or restaraunt = couldn't be happier.

Now I'm on a quest to see what else I can turn previous trash and recyclables into. It's just too much fun. Not to mention cost effective. I think I might hit up the dollar store today to see what I might be able to stock up on. That being said, I did happen upon a pretty awesome sale at the Superstore the other day. They were clearing out some old Christmas stock and selling off little electronic kitchen appliances for half price. I got a toaster, coffee maker, blender and mixer for $20.00. They light up and make sounds...too cute. And they're all that retro avacado and tangerine colour too. Now I have an excuse to start crocheting/knitting/sewing play food. Reliving childhood from the other side is proving to be a lot of fun.

Until later...

Can't Wait...

I wanted to do some elaborate photo shoots with my new prize, some with A sitting with it and looking as though she adores it, some with the blanket in her crib to illustrate just how awesomely it co-ordinates with the rest of the bedding that I made, but I just couldn't wait and besides, I'm trying to distract myself from the fact that she is upstairs, NOT SLEEPING and I don't know how an almost eleven month old human being can manage on only 40 minutes of napping time in an entire freaking day. Her sleep schedule is all over the map lately, which leads me to believe she is in some sort of transition from two naps to one, and it's driving...me...crazy. She has managed just fine but I am missing the quiet me time. And the occassional nap I'd sneak myself. Boo.

Anyway, the Babette, she is done and I am thrilled to death with it. It's the perfect weight, has a lovely drape, and the only modification I made to the pattern was to add a scalloped edge on the final border. I think the whole damn thing is beautiful. I think the finished size is roughly 38x38 or 40x40, somewhere in there. I'm happy with it. If she likes it at all, I think it'll be plenty big enough for couch cuddles for a while to come.

Just had to share. Until later...

The Benefits of Procrastination...

I know it's terribly un-PC of me to say this out loud, but there are times when I miss being able to throw things in the garbage and just completely forget about them. I spend more time sorting, cleaning, categorizing, bagging, and sifting through recyclables and compost than I ever would have imagined a decade ago. I will admit to you that some days, it really really drives me batty. I miss the ignorance and arrogance of an age long past, when everything from batteries and paint cans to chicken bones and paper towel all went in the same bag and out to the curb and we were all happy little clams that knew none the wiser. This was also an era when dogs were just dogs and no one seemed to care about their 'emotional needs' or 'self esteem'. But that's a rant for another day.

A nice thing happened to me the other day. The fact that I have craft projects from six or more years ago still hanging around unfinished actually came in handy.

My little A is really into flipping through books right now...

Exhibit Little A

...even to the exclusion of playing with other toys, which I have to say, just thrills me to no end. I've been reading to her since day one, so to watch her really enjoy flipping pages and investigating what's inside is just a joy. She enjoys it so much in fact that she likes to have a book in bed with her, which I have no problem with, other than the fact that she might roll over on it etc. while she's sleeping. I couldn't see a small board book doing much harm, though it might prove to be a bit uncomfortable. Then I remembered that at one point in time, I had started a soft fabric book as a project and still had it buried somewhere in my fabric stash.



So I dug it out and as of last night, I have all the pages assembled. I just need to figure out how to do a binding on it. I'm thinking eyelets/grommets. It is unlikely that I'd be able to sew through all the layers on my sewing machine.

My house looks so ghetto without trim on the windows...that's the next project for Mr. Fixit.

I've been able to get back and play in my craft room a little more these days since I packed up the baby swing that was previously occupying the spot that the play pen now is. It's like a revelation. She's quite content to sit and play while we yammer away to one another and I get to exercise some creative muscles.



So I was able to finish a new sleep sack for my sleeping beauty as well. This had been hanging around for months and months, not because it was time consuming or difficult to finish, but more so because I was in sleep sack denial. I don't think I wanted to admit to myself that she had grown out of the other ones I'd made. But the fact that there are bright and cheerful owls on it (and glow in the dark no less) have almost made up for the fact that I've now packed away all the receiving blankets, bibs, burp cloths and baby bath towels.



I'm obviously on a finishing jag at the moment, and because this next project is turning out to be awesome beyond awesome, I'm only giving you a small teaser for the time being. This is my epic Babette Blanket in the process of being assembled, which it now is and I'm just putting the finishing touches on the border. I really couldn't be more in love with it if it were actually Colin Firth (mmm...yummy). I'm quite proud of the fact that I'll have it finished well before little A's first birthday, a baby blanket for my not-so-much a baby anymore. But that's also a lament for another time.

Until later...