These are a few...

of my favourite things...

I had a couple of great posts started in my head, but of course once I sit down to blog, there is a great whooshing sound as all my brilliant wordsmithery escapes the room. It's the nature of the beast that is parenting. The complete inability to concentrate one's full attention on any one thing for an extended period of time. I'm noticing it happening in conversations with others now. I'll ask a question and I won't even hear the answer as I'm distracted with putting food in a tiny mouth, wiping a tiny hand or just trying to contain a squirmy body. The upside is that I can't remember anything either, so I've already forgotten the question, or the fact that I asked it for that matter so I come away blissfully unaware of anything at all.

Anyhow, first up, a few FO's.
Classic Cable from Top Down for Toddlers, Lynda and Deb Gemmel

I finished little A's Christmas sweater a while back. One of my favourite kids sweater patterns. I can't wait to try it on her, but I'm behaving myself and waiting until Christmas.

Thermis by Kris Knits

This neck warmer is perhaps my most favourite thing at the moment. It all started when the pattern was gifted to me by a very generous fellow knitter and ended with silver buttons that just tickle me to no end. I love everything about this project. It was fast, simple, destined for the yarn I used and totally functional. Love. It.



This past week we had our little holiday Knit Nite celebration where we exchanged treats and yarn. One of our members decided to be a real keener about the swap and instead of just bringing a singular ball, banged out 15 knitted ornaments, little glass balls sheathed in sock yarn remnants. I threw some elbows and lo and behold, they came home with me. ADORABLE.



Yesterday I finally got around to putting them up on the upstairs tree. Yes, I have two trees. One real, for the living room (the anal retentive, completely colour co-ordinated tree that I used to balk at when my mother did it in my childhood) and the fake one which I've put in the upstairs landing. I plan on making this the homemade, anything goes, throw as much tinsel on it as you like kids, it's all yours tree. It's a six footer that I only use half of usually, thus making it a perfect table top tree. The constable referred to it as the 'ghetto tree' since I put the old school lights on it, for tradition's sake. It has rather nice ornaments, but I think it will forever be known as the ghetto tree now. Somewhere along the way, the knitty ornaments I made a handful of years ago, (little sweaters, stockings, knitting needles) disappeared, so I guess I'll just have to make new ones. Darn.

Speaking of making Christmas stuff, I've decided this year that starting hopefully very early in January, I'm going to make all the Christmas crap that I see out there in the ether starting in mid-November so that I'll have it ready for next Christmas. This goes for gifts as well. There are wreaths and ornaments and baubles out there that are too cute to resist and I'm not going to put it off and say 'Oh well, I'll do those next year'. Perhaps I'll do a post about that and list a bunch of stuff, see if I can hold myself to it throughout the year. We'll see.



And now we come to the baby knitwear portion of the post, installment numero 3 I believe. Here little A is modelling a lovely little dress hand knit by Heddy over at
Ewe Gotta Knit using Bernat Baby Jacquards. Made only more adorable by the tights with built in shoes, also gifted to her by a friend. I find any excuse to put those on her.



Just this week, little A got a package in the mail from Auntie Carrie over at Carrie's Work Basket which included this kick-ass sailboat sweater. Not hand knit, but she knows my penchant for all things nautical so it literally leapt from the box onto her back within a matter of minutes. I think she approves.

I was going to go on and list some of my favourite Christmas stuff, but I think I'll break it up and save that for another post. I'm feeling inspired to bake, must take advantage of nap time while it lasts.

Until later...

Overwhelmed...

We now have a new laundry category at our house. There's whites, darks, colours and now, pink. Man I hope the UC Baby ultrasound tech didn't screw this one up and the baby ends up coming out a boy, cuz, well, it'll be one pinkly-dressed little man.

Seriously, the generosity of people just overwhelms me sometimes. I took this last night to send to my mom, the sum total of both of my baby showers and I thought I would share it with you guys. What a lucky little baby.

Wednesday night my Knit Nite ladies threw me the loveliest little potluck supper and shower. The pink tulips you see in the photo were courtesy of my host, Nova Knitter. I can't stop admiring them, as they bring a much needed burst of spring into this never ending winter (tenth snow storm of the season hit yesterday and stupid me didn't go out the day before for groceries. Made the constable come with me in the driving snow and rain yesterday. I think he might hate me just the tiniest bit).



Since this is primarily a knitting blog, here is just the knitted items I received. And since I also take fairly lousy pics, check out their blogs individually for better photos and descriptions; Heddy, Nova Knitter and Lexa (can't seem to isolate specific posts, but the most current one has the little purple tunic/dress...she also knit me a lovely baby blanket which I'm she'll get around to posting about as well :) )



And from the blog-free among our little group. I won't mention their names since I'm not sure if they want to be talked about online, but the felted booties came from one, the bolero and washcloths another and the little lovey toy and pink hat a third fellow Knitterpudlian.

Really, I'm rendered quite speechless. I'm in love with every single thing and seriously can't wait to use or play with or dress my little Pinta in her stuff :) I seemed to be on a bit of a high yesterday after the orgy of gift receiving and when at the Superstore, had a bit of a falling down at the bargain bin of shoes. I'd show a pic of that but the camera done died last night after the photo shoot and the battery needs charging. But lets see, I did acquire, um, five new pairs of shoes and one pair of slippers (not to mention four pair of mitts/gloves that won't fit her for YEARS). Everything was a dollar to two dollars. See, I'm really saving money in the long run. Thinking ahead. Okay, way ahead.

Anyhow, I'm very blessed to have such thoughtful people in my life. Today I'm hoping to get everything organized and put away in little miss' room, which will also be lots of fun for me. I love just being in there puttering around.

By the way, if anyone is in need of a gift bag or tissue paper for a baby girl's baby shower, look no further. I can totally hook you up.

Until later...

A Post of Substance...

I've been watching tv. A lot of tv. I fell for the marketing, I got sucked in and now I find that I can't get out.

It all started when we got the digital cable hooked up in the house when we moved over. Not that I didn't watch a lot before that. I'm home alone a lot and Hank's conversational skills are pretty limited. He pretty much only knows how to ask for things. He can ask to go outside (and there is a difference in how he asks, depending on the particular need), ask for water (this is relatively new and we only caught onto it when we'd already taken him outside and he was still asking for something...and his bowl was empty), ask for you to retrieve something from under the couch and of course, he asks for belly rubs.



This is the opening posture. This is just to catch your eye as you might be passing by. From here it evolves into batting my leg with his front paw and lifting the back leg entirely, to make the eventual shift onto his back a little easier. There is also the 'thump-thump' of the tail as the anticipation of the belly rub increases. This starts first thing in the morning, before I even leave the bedroom. Hank sleeps on his bed at the foot of ours, and when I get up and get going, Hank goes into belly rub mode. He is also waiting for me outside the bathroom door in this pose and while I am getting my coffee and breakfast together, he lays in the middle of the kitchen floor, right in my path, hoping to garner as many belly rubs as possible in a fifteen minute period. He usually get about two. So all totalled, that's...possibly five belly rubs before the day even starts for him. Spoiled? Never.

Anyhow, back to the cable. We got the whole shmeel, the digi-cable, the HDTV, the DVR. I justified the expense by reasoning that we don't go anywhere or do anything, because around here, there is nowhere to go and nothing to do. Trips out of the county are few and far between and largest part of our entertainment is visiting with friends. Which is lovely. But what to do the rest of the time? Sit stunned in front of a large glowing box.

So for the first two months, the evil cable conglomerate in their twisted, maniacal wisdom decide to let you preview all the channels for free. I thought I would just enjoy my time with it and then move on. Nay nay. I got hooked. Hooked on National Geographic Channel, Documentary channel, IFC (Independent Film Channel) and Discovery Health.

Discovery Health has opened up for me the strange world of British 'lifestyle television'. They produce some interesting stuff. For example, two shows that have utterly fascinated me are, and I kid you not, the Spa of Embarrassing Illnesses. I'm not going to link to any of this stuff, but if you're interested, go and Google it for yourself. Anyhow, the concept is that a group of people with non-life threatening, but ultimately embarrassing or intimate illnesses, ranging from severe acne to more blush-inducing conditions, go to a spa for two weeks where they undergo a series of detoxifying and cleansing therapies. It's very holistic and homeopathic in nature. I just think two weeks at a spa in either Spain or Turkey would do me some good. Anyhow, it's food (or rather juice I suppose...they fast for a week as well) for thought.

The other is Eataholics. It's not at first glance what you might think. This documentary series explores people who have some serious psychological problems with food, and usually only have a handful of items or less that comprise their entire diet. I've only seen two episodes so far and can't seem to find the program again when doing a title search, which is shame because this program has me entirely gobsmacked. In one episode, they worked with a woman who only ate, no word of a lie, cheese and crackers. The other episode was even more puzzling; a chef at a rather upscale restaurant who only ate sweets like chocolate bars and cookies, and he'd eaten like this since childhood. He loved cooking with the food, but he couldn't eat it. He'd never tasted one of the dishes he had prepared. This to me is as puzzling as trying to navigate the world without being able to read.

See, I like food. I like food a lot. Okay, I love it. All kinds, but the fresher and more flavourful the better. I'll try anything and I don't care where it comes from. I welcome the opportunity to try foods from different cultures. I love everything about dining. The drink (don't get me started on wine), the ritual, the company, the conversation; I'd rather spend money on a great meal out with friends at a great restaurant (top of the list would be authentic Italian) than I would buying clothes. I love to cook, though sometimes I do get quite lazy about it. So watching people who balk at a banana or wretch at the thought of spaghetti is just...so foreign to me.

Last but certainly not least has been The Seven Ages of Rock on the Documentary channel. This I will link to. The series just wrapped up on Friday night with the whole British Indie-Pop movement, which was very close to my heart at least as it was all in the early nineties, the formative years for my musical tastes. When a show opens talking about The Smiths and Suede, I'm so in. The whole series was good. Punk, heavy metal, stadium rock, Alternative...it was awesome to sort of remember all the stuff I've kind of forgotten about. I felt the whole thing could have been a lot broader in scope and could've incorporated more bands etc., but then where do you stop really? Anyhow, the final episode focused a lot on Oasis and the whole Manchester scene. I've seen the show, I've lived through the era but I still don't get Oasis. I never have. Could someone out there maybe put it in a nutshell for me? What is up with this band and why are/were they so popular? Liam Gallagher's voice is like fingernails on chalk, both he and his brother Noel are complete, um, in the interest of the relative PG nature of the blogsphere, wankers, and their lyrics are utterly ridiculous. Have you ever really listened to Wonderwall? Maybe I just heard it so much back in good 'ole '95 that I can't stomach it anymore. But, that's just my humble opinion. I've been accused by the constable for having appalling musical taste (which I believe was also brought up at a recent KN meeting), re: The Smiths, to which I reminded him that he has in his cd collection a Nelson album. No no, not Ricky Nelson...Matthew and Gunnar. Nelson. This one to be exact.

While glued to my idiotbox, I have been knitting.



Back and fronts of the Central Park Hoodie complete. Sleeves on the needles. Knitting them two at a time, which ya know what, I hate. Sometimes I treat knitting like eating a more balanced diet, and I don't really know why; I do some things because I think it will be good for me, not because I necessarily enjoy it. I knit pretty fast one thing at a time, and doing them both just...sucks. So I'm going to stop that now. I still think I can complete this sweater by Sept. 30/08 THOUGH I AM NOT STATING THAT AS AN INTENDED GOAL. It would just be cool to finish a sweater in a month. According to my Ravelry stats, I started it, officially, on Aug. 30. Anyway...



Also finished another small sock. This is Knit Nite knitting. If the polls are correct (with boy being the leading choice by a landslide) then these may never see the feet of day. Pops has a big problem with pink, even a mere suggestion of it, to which I say, 'You like Nelson'.



And here we have another Brussels sprout-like knitting project(I actually really like Brussels sprouts, but you catch my drift). I've been feeling the pull of the sock knitting as I totally punked out on Summer of Socks, (re: first trimester loss of knitting mojo) and it's getting cooler and we've decided to play the whole Home Heating Holdoff thing this fall and I've got lots of beautiful sock yarn and yet I pulled this out of the stash to knit with and write a run-on sentence about. I started a pair back in July with the intention of giving them to my mom and frogged it, then I thought since it was all uglified and balled up and pathetic looking, I'd punish myself by knitting this first before I rewarded myself by knitting a pair out of a much nicer, prettier yarn. So you can imagine how much enthusiasm I have for these socks. I have no idea why I am so messed up like this. It's Bernat Sox and the colourway is so bad 80's that I just want to set it free. I've never liked pink and grey together...what was I thinking? Anyway, I'll finish it. The thought of frogging twice is just...unpleasant. If that does end up being the case, then I'm going to give the yarn a new home. Anyone interested? It's acrylic and nylon, which I think I'm over. No hard feelings yarn...it's not you, it's me.

So there you go. A deluge of ramblings from moi. Gotta go...I'm probably missing something good on tv.

If You Ask for It, They Will Knit...

People...I suggest you brace yourself. If you thought that the chicken/egg thing was cute, this is going to give you a...a uh...whatever the term is for an overload of cute.

But first, may I just go on for a minute about how much I love my knitting group? They're the best. And this is why...



I had this idea in mind for a theme gift that I wanted to put together for my neice for her upcoming 2nd birthday (the whole of which will be revealed in time). With one thing and another, mostly just life, I was running out of time to make up all of the pieces that I thought would've made the gift really special. So I threw it out to the group to see if they'd be interested in helping a sistah out. We've developed quite a system within our tiny borders which can be best summed up by Heddy's phrase, "Take a project, pass it to the right." We've all had a hand in one anothers projects, those that are flagging, taking forever, too complicated, just not our thang. It's worked out quite wonderfully, for me now twice.

So I put out the call and pointed them in the direction of some free patterns that I had in mind (most of which Heddy took the time to hunt down for me as well) and lo and behold, didn't they come through with brilliant, generous, shining colours. Look at that platter! Just look at it! It's a riotous barrage of hilariously cute knitted desserts! And I think that everyone who contributed got a huge kick out of knitting these toys.

In no particular order, here's how it played out; Cherry frosted felted donut,Nova Knitter. Pink frosted cupcake with cherry on top, Heddy. Yellow and white frosted cupcakes, Lexa. And this is the real kicker. Kathy (blog-free) came to our little meeting last night for the first time and prior to that, had talked with Lexa at the LYS. I guess Lexa let her in on the little project that was going on and she up and made the Oreo's, Swiss rolls and petit fours!! She'd never even met me until last night! Like, holy mackrel. Knitters are quite possibly the best people in the world.

My paltry little contribution is the mini chocolate donut and the wee cupcake that looks like a boob. It has a candle on top rather than a cherry, but from that angle there, it no look so good. I'm thinking of 86ing it in favour of the much nicer, more real looking fare. But anyway...

I just couldn't be more thrilled with how this turned out and I CANNOT WAIT to see how it is received on the other end. Yes, I know...we need photos. Thanks so much again you guys.

Until later...

PS: I'll be posting this on Ravelry as well, if you're looking for the patterns. They'll be linked there. Why? Cuz I'm lazy and this is interferring with my designated beer drinking time. Now off you go...

Behind the Wheel...

Hello Knit Niters! It's that time again, though I seem to have been caught in some sort of temporal void and find myself socked to see that it's Wednesday already! Anyhoo...I'm offering my chaffeuring services this evening, so drop me a comment if you'd like a pick-up. You know the drill...no comment, no ride. Hope to see y'all later...I'm in desperate need of some serious knitting time as I haven't picked up the needles at all this week. BTW, new sock yarn is at the store...anyone want to place bets on if I'll be able to resist or not??

Until later...