Tuesday, January 30, 2007

You may have noticed...

Things look a little different around here. I made the switch to the new blogger and in the process, it rejected my template. I still have, saved to my desktop, but it won't accept it.

I am so. un. impressed.

So we may be finding some new digs. Haven't decided yet. It will be largely dependant on my ability to use parts of my old template. I liked my blog. I thought it was pretty. I spent days making it look the way I wanted it to. I'm not starting again without exhausting every possibility.

Please excuse the relative unattractiveness of the site for now. Things will improve, I promise!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

You're not the boss of me

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I can eat apple crisp for dinner if I want to.

Hubs said he's make stirfry, but he hasn't yet. I'm hungry. I'm sick. Cooking takes a long time, peeling some apples and tossing on some sugar and oatmeal does not.

Don't look at me that way. I'm a grown up person; I can do what I want.

You're not my mom.

In the top left corner of the artfully rendered 'dinner' pic, we have the dish in question. Clockwise from it we see: the Vogue Knitting mag wherein the pattern for my new sweater (and my next project, as well!) is found, my Christmas-new copy of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt (Oh my stars, this book is the easiest read of all time! It's like listening to an intensely interesting man tell the sordid tale of his life in the most amusing and pleasing way possible!), my retractible measuring tape, and my little knitting odds-and-ends bag. It holds my dpns, my cable needles, my scissors, my measuring tape (when it's not sitting on the coffee table) and my circs, as they tend to shimmy their way to the bottom of my knitting bucket, box, thing. Then I have to dig them out from under my stash of random ends. Quite the pain. So they live in the bag. Which originally came full of Crest Whitestrips! It's clear on the sides, and it zips. Fab.

Oh, Wembley, so sweet. She was all snuggled up with Papa Bear one night in bed. Papa Bear was a gift from my grandfather, Papa, when I was only a few days old. He was especially chosen after Papa had first met me. He bought one for each of the grandkids as we arrived. He had quite the time finding one for my sister, until he realised, she didn't need a bear! She needed a mouse!
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Miss you Papa. I love you lots.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

It's done!!!

Finally! The project that would not end, the project that repeatedly and inexplicably kept kicking my ass, the project that seemed like it should be such a breeze, is finished! It's gone home with it's new owner, and she's thrilled with it, which makes my joy at NEVER HAVING TO KNIT IT AGAIN that much greater.

Here it is, in all it's completed glory:

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I knit it in Bernat(??) Soft Boucle, and might I recommend this yarn to NO ONE. It's a pain. A big, nasty pain to knit with. BUT, and I hate to admit it, it does make a very soft fabric, so it isn't like it's a total waste space. It's nearly impossible to tell one stitch from another, and which stitches have been increased, decreased, knit or purled is also totally invisible. But it's soft and fuzzy, which a valuable qualities for a winter hat.

Yes, those are giant hot pink pom poms hanging from the chin ties. They are made out of Bernat Softee Chunky. Maybe not the best yarn for pompom making, but after judicious trimming, they are nice and dense, the way pompoms should be.

The hat is a great fit (hey, look at that, gauge helped!) and Heather seems quite happy with it. See how happy she is?

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Isn't it ridiculous how much trouble I had with that crazy hat? Seriously, I question my intelligence sometimes.

Hmmm, what else is new... Music is a pretty major theme, right now, and for the next four months or so. Opera rehearsals began this week. I met my Papageno - he's like 6'4 (I'm 5'2), which I think should make for an interesting duet, considering we have a little argument in the middle. I envision us going toe-to-toe; I think it will be funny, and since it's a funny opera, funny is good. My friend Mike has included Hubs and I and our collective friend Pete in a coffeehouse gig he has on February 9, so we're all gathering and practicing up for that. Good times should be had, I believe. And I'm starting to think more seriously about doing a concert of my own, and trying to market myself a little to the wedding planning crowd. Here's hoping!

To conclude a random pic of Wembley, doing what she does best: being adorable.

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This was her favourite spot for chilling out during the Holidays: under the Christmas tree like the little gift she is

Monday, January 15, 2007

How'd I forget to do that?

How did I spend DAYS knitting Knucks for my dad and Fetchings for his wife, stay up 'til 2 am the Saturday before we went to their place for dinner to get them done, and forget to take a single picture of either of them? I must be a total idiot. This is like the third gift I've knit and gifted and forgotten to blog. And I was so proud of them both!

Ok, I'm over it. Sort of. Whatever, I'll describe them and you can all use your wonderfully creative minds to imagine how they looked. Hey, you'll probably imagine them better than they turned out, so that might work out, right? Ok, the Knucks were knit in Smart Superwash, in a nice tweedy green. I think I used needles that were a little bigger than called for in the pattern (maybe a 4mm dpns) but they fit my dad, so I'm happy. I used some random black yarn - maybe worsted weight - to embroider Hilltop, the name of my father's cabinetry and woodwork design business, onto the knuckles. He seemed to really love them. For his wife, I made a version of Fetching wristwarmers. Instead of doing a right twist or left twist cable, I did a wavy cable (right, left, right, left, etc.) on the wrists, in grey Patons Classic (I'm stash/leftover busting!) with stripes of Patons Classic in Paprika (leftover from that sweater I knit a few months ago). She also seemed thrilled with them, so it's gravy all 'round.

I nearly have a FO, and I will have pics by tomorrow night, modelled by the recipient. And I'm working on a few things, which are waiting for a little natural light to have some semi-decent pictures taken of them. It is entirely possible that by the time the giant snowmen in the sky dropping blizzards on us roll on, these projects will be done, and you'll get modelled pics. Maybe outdoors. With some sort of crazy staging. Ok, that part probably won't happen. But maybe a puppy. Because I always have a puppy. And she's always cuter than me. Cause she's the bestest doggie!!

Happy snow to you all! I'm very happy about it!

Friday, January 05, 2007

What kind of winter is THIS?!!

We received a post-Christmas, pre-My-Best-Friend's-Wedding miracle of several inches of snow. This was paired with the miracle of my voice functioning sufficiently to allow me to sing (pretty darn well, too!) at the ceremony, despite my muteness the day before. But now the snow is all gone. Seriously. There is NO snow, anywhere, that I can see. It's been raining for two days. Everything looks craptastic. What is with this friggin' weather? I'd be digging myself out from under snow if I were in Vancouver. ???!! WTF??!! Vancouverites don't want my snow!! They live out there to avoid my snow, not to swipe it from me. I'm sure they would happily trade with me.

Boo. Fugly winter. And it's damp, all the time, which is just chilling. Cold and damp and snowless and muddy. Boo.

Oh, yeah, and I've been knitting. I have one quasi-Fetching finished for the Father's Wife, and half of one Knuck for the Father. I'll whip them up today, and blog 'em.

Toodles.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Bad blogger, bad, bad!

I know, and I'm sorry. It's been eons - ok, weeks - since my last post. No good, D, no good at all!

Christmas is always a crazy time of year for the churchy and the musical. Choir concerts and rehearsals, multiple services a week, plus the SIL's birthday, the annual Christmas Ceilidh out at the Aunt and Uncle's farm (soooo much fun, and the scene of the first time I was drunk in front of the 'rents, but that's a story for another time), and all that Christmas knitting!

Still, there are no excuses, only explanations, and I apologise for the long delay. But, good news! Santa was very good to me this year, and in ways that will provide fodder for this-here knitting blog!

From my mum, I received Beyond Wool, a book of patterns featuring various natural fibres, a needle roll, and some bamboo needles (in sizes I didn't have!). From my SIL, I received Yarnplay, a book of fabulous colour and yarn combinations. Sooooo lovely. I'm saving up for Noro! And from my FIL, Felted Knits, because I'm all, you know, addicted to felt Vogue Knitting, the hardcover, complete encyclopedia. I luuuuuurve this book!! I hadn't even put it on my Amazon list, he just thought, hey, maybe she'll use it. It's wonderful! And will prove very very useful for one of my very very ambitious projects upon which I will embark shortly.

The project is actually a Christmas gift. Yes, I realise that Christmas was last month, and no, it's not for the upcoming year. Future-BIL received from Jon and I a small book entitled Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings. Don't you love it?!! Written by a leeetle old Scottish lady. It's my mum's book, and will eventually go back to her, I imagine. But it was better than just giving him a card with "I will knit you kilt hose" written inside. When he and The Sister get married in July of this year, he plans to wear a kilt. Kilt hose off a rack: boring. Kilt hose out of my brain: fabulous!! Or at least, I think they will be. I've never actually, uh, knit hose, or even socks for that matter. But it'll be fine, I'm quite sure. And the Vogue Knit-o-pedia has some wonderful stitch patterns full of texture and shapes....I'm very excited!

I'm working on a few things right now, but I haven't any pics. I'll get those, and do up another post soon. I'm even an hour's worth of work away from finishing something I blogged several months ago. Something that has plagued me. But now I am it's master!!! Mwu-wah-ha-ha-haaah! But I'll have to model it, and I'm in my pjs right now, so it'll have to wait. YOU'll have to wait!! Tee hee!

Keep on keeping on,
D

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