domestic

today i:

baked banana bread

made pancakes for lunch

cooked a meal of citrus poached salmon on basmati rice with broccoli spears

threw together vegetarian chili in the crock pot for a meal and lunches this week

next up:

laundry

bathing the boy

dude.

swiftly now

my big purchases this weekend at the knitter's fair: a swift and ball winder. I am so happy! i also picked up some lovely baby alpaca and some wellington fibres merino in a gorgeous orange. total spent on yarn: $35!

cutest little hat

is actually done except for the i-cord ties. free pattern here.

completely off topic, now that we are finally done watching the sorpranos, we've been renting movies again. atonement which was fantastic and very true to the book, across the universe which was meh but has me humming beatles tunes, juno which was quirky and cute but a little too neat and tidy, goodfellas because the boy is on a gangster kick and half of the sorpranos are in it, and harold and kumar escape from guantanamo bay which was another stellar NPH role. speaking of, go watch dr. horrible's singalong blog if you haven't already. you can download it on itunes or watch crappy versions on youtube.

goodies

last week, karen at shall we knit celebrated her first birthday. she says birthdays are better than anniversaries because at birthdays you get presents and cake. i passed on the cake but i did get myself a couple presents. i picked up elizabeth zimmerman's knitting workshop, some teensy needles, and some pretty pretty koigu to make the cutest little hats.

meme

dunno why, but i'm feeling the need to do this one.

1. what was i doing 10 years ago?
the boy and i had just graduated from the university of waterloo with shiny new degrees in rhetoric and professional writing. the boy had started at quarry and i was helping a friend with a tech writing contract while shelving books at the kpl part time. we were living in our bright apartment on caroline street, right off waterloo park and close to uptown. i drive by that apartment daily. i think, hk, that you were still living with us then.

2. 5 things on my to-do this this weekend
play with the monkey
get groceries, hopefully visit hurrley's and the farmer's market
finish reading the 100 mile diet
take the monkey to the splash pad
nap

3. snacks i enjoy
chocolate frozen yogurt
chocolate
cookies

4. things that i would do if i were a billionaire
stop working immediately
travel
sleep

5. places i have lived
i was born in mississauga. we moved to teeswater when i was 16. we moved to mildmay when i was 18. i moved to waterloo when i was 19. i lived in stratford for 4 months when i was 20.

6. jobs that i have had
babysitter
counted inventory at a huge warehouse
data entry in an accounting department
odd jobs at the teeswater news
i sold wedding dresses and shoes (at the same store)
dishwasher in the kitchen at NDC
maid at a bed and breakfast in stratford
residence don at NDC
university tour guide
shelver at the kpl
program coordinator
technical writer & team lead
mom (though i get paid in hugs and kisses and dirty diapers, not cold hard cash)

FO: crash, oh dear

we read a book to the wee one that has two characters smack into each other; the narration says, crash, oh dear. we use that phrase a lot around here. this moebius has crashed and burned. it would fit an eight year old. i could maybe fix it with it a much looser cast off but i'm done. to the frog pond.

catch up

the yarn harlot came to town to adjudicate the kw knitter's guild adjudicated show. thanks to the lovely lady lynn, i got to tag along for some birthday drinks at the heuther. jenny, julia, stephanie, rachel, lynn, me.



my favorite pocket people pals bry and beckstar have moved back to ontario avec super sassy pooch sousa, settling in toronto. this makes me very happy though i no have a reason to go to seattle.


i'm knitting another attempt at a moebius. i'm using couple hanks of handmaiden something or other. it has cashmere in it. though the colours are "my" colors, it kinda looks like the dog's breakfast at the moment. it is a quick knit so i will finish it, try it on and you all can help me decide to keep it or frog it. i think the yarn would actually be quite cute as a roll brimmed hat and maybe some mittens.



the wee one turns 2 on thursday. 2! amazing. he's pretty amazing too. we went to my brother's yesterday and he and nephew #1 actually played together for the first time ever. they ran around shrieking and having a grand time. this makes us so very happy.

i got the.worst.haircut.ever last week. i hates it so much. why? in a word: bangs. on the upside i think it will grow out rather well, i just need to be patient.

FO: pinwheel blanket

i've barely had time to knit, never mind blog so here's a surprising FO -- for me and you! mon bien amie, zill, habite dans la paris, france. she's having her first child later this month and i knew from the beginning that i wanted to knit her a blanket, even though i swore off blankets after knitting one for nephew noel. since i can't be there to put my arms around this baby, i made something that will wrap the baby in love.

i loved the pattern for this blanket and i figured knitting in the round would keep some of the monotony at bay (not really, but it was worth a shot). i got the yarn at cloth and clay for 50% off during their closing sale. it is rowan's cashsoft aran -- extrafine merino, microfibre, and cashmere -- incredibly soft AND machine washable! i used up all 6 balls and probably could have used another three or four. i ran out of yarn with ten stitches left and had to use some of the longer tails from my woven-in ends. Being paranoid, I got out some thread and sewed those last ten stitches to make sure they do not come undone.

my only mod was to k2tog around one row and k1 YO around the next round to make an eyelet along the edge. it looks nice but probably would have been better about 10 rows earlier. ravelry details here.

gang signs

i was just outside chatting with my neighbour when a couple walked by. the guy was wearing the cobblestone sweater. i gawked. i was so tempted to say, that's the cobblestone sweater! but i bit my tongue lest they thing i'm some kind of nut.

i've decided knitters need gang sings to flash at each other.

ps. i am alive but barely. i'm at work right now which explains some of my absence from the blog. lots of work. too much work. far too many evenings spent tucking the wee one into bed and running back the office to get shit done. also, we're addicted to the sorprano's and are currently on season 5. and, sick. been sick for ages. i had a chest x-ray yesterday to rule out pneumonia; i'm still waiting for the results.

new baby makes us great

the boy's nephew and his wife are having a baby. we're thrilled for them! we've been expecting this announcement for a while since it was clear that they wanted to start a family. the only sad part is that this new little family member will be an ocean away.

my mom came over last night and congratulated me on becoming an aunt. i stared at her trying to figure out what she was talking about. i'm already an aunt. and then i realized that this baby will make me a great aunt. at the grand old age of 33!

(the boy is 10 years older than me and 17 or 18 years younger than his sister. his nephew is 2 years younger than me and i do believe his lovely wife (she's a judge!) is a year older than me.)

great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, brand new grandparents, second cousins, we're all so excited for the new addition to our family.

ohhhh!

Camilla Engman designed these for converse. i wants some!

FO: hourglass

i finished it a few weeks ago but haven't had time to take a picture. i like it. it has stretched a fair bit, and it is a bit flash dance-y at times, but the yarn is so soft and luxurious. all in all, a good knit despite my problems with the pattern. ravelry details here.

(not exactly) kid art

we bought these post cards about a decade ago. the back of the card says, mexican figuritas. they are either tarot cards or playing cards. not exactly kid-themed but i hung them in the wee one's room last week.

hourglass = donkey balls

when i say that a knitting pattern is poorly written, i am not saying it as just some bitter knitter who had to rip back about 40 rows of knitting. of course i am bitter about having just ripped out 40 rows of knitting, but! i am also a professional writer so i do know what i am talking about.

i do get paid to take scads of information and make it clear and concise. i have a degree in it. i've been doing it for nearly 10 years. i know of which i speak.

the hourglass sweater pattern sucks! donkey! balls!

the instructions are not clear. i did read them and re-read them more than a few times. apparently my reading comprehension is lacking when it comes to this pattern. i was nearly done my decreases when i tried the sweater on tuesday night at knitting. the front looked great. the back was all droopy and weird and yeah, donkey balls.

did i mention i had already grafted the arm pits? i ripped back to the graft and carefully picked up all 200-and-whatever number of stitches and started decreasing again. le sigh.

in other news, two weeks ago we had the mother of all snow storms. my mom needed to do some errands in the middle of the storm and i was still acting as her driver. as we walked out of chapters, i was looking down and spotted an ipod in the snow. it was barely visible and at first i thought it was some glossy apple insert for a magazine. i picked it up and lo! an 8 MB video ipod in bright pink, in perfect working order.

i walked back into the store and asked them to put a note with my number in the lost and found. the ipod has been sitting, waiting for it's owner call for two weeks. can i claim it as my own yet? maybe this is my karmic reward for returning two lost cell phones.

if you have an ipod, put your name and number in it. i would totally give this woman a call if i knew her number.

hourglass

sleeves on, decreases started.

demise

my LYS, the one at the end of my street, is closing its doors.

this sucks, to be sure.

i was there this morning and i felt like a carrion bird, picking the meat off the carcass. 50% off!

it is good news for karen at shall we knit. it was just nice having a yarn store so close.

yoke

the hourglass sleeves are now on the sweater and i am onto the yoke. (i know pictures are appreciated but i need good light and i'm not home during daylight...)

i had some time on sunday afternoon and so kitchener-ed the underarms. the pattern calls for 4 stitch holders and 40 stitches just hanging out on those underarms until the end. they were annoying me, getting in my way, so i knit 'em up. i'm really hoping the sweater fits because i don't want to undo those pits.

considering i started this sweater just over a month ago, i feel like i am making pretty decent progress with the little amount of knitting time i have. i'm at least 80 % done if not a little more.

i have a feeling that i am going to finish the sweater, seam up the sleeves, give it a nice bath, block it to perfection, and as soon as it is dry, spring will arrive and i wont get to wear it for at least 6 months. sigh.

i am seriously behind on some baby knitting though. and those babies don't exactly keep in the womb. one is already out! and one is over a week over-due. eep.

back on track

after re-reading the hourglass pattern for the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th time, i finally figured out that i did not have 10 stitches too many. i'm right on track. huzzah!

the first sleeve is now attached to the sweater (after reading and re-reading that section 16 times), and the second sleeve is cast on. i'm in the home stretch!

ack

i missed my blog-aversary (blog birthday?). anyway, it was a couple days ago. trixie, unraveled is one year old. i feel i've been a rather poor blogger. i'm still struggling with the publishing details about my life into the great beyond (i don't like it), while using this tool to stay in touch with a couple friends (hi hk! hi beckstar!). i can't seem to find a middle ground, nor do i have much time to knit so posts are sparse.

on to the updates!

the hourglass sweater: loving it. can't wait to finish it. counted the stitched on my sleeve last night, which is almost done, and i have 10 stitches too many. i really have no idea how i managed to do that. there's some decreasing and some increasing. perhaps i didn't decrease enough and have increased more than i meant to. i need to sit down in some good light with no distractions and figure out where i went off the rails. the good light and no distractions thing may take a good long time to come around so i'm miffed that my progress is no longer progressing.

question to the knitters: when a pattern specifies how many stitches you should have at the end of a round, do you ever count them? i rarely count. obviously or else i'd noticed i had more stitches than i needed quite some time ago. i figure that i know how to read a pattern so...i should just have the right number of stitches. damn it all.

a pattern note, i do hate the way this pattern is written. i feel like i need to read things 9 times before i understand it and am constantly assuring myself that no, it makes sense if i just think about it long enough. in my professional opinion (as a technical writer), this pattern is bunk. and i'm not just saying that because i have 10 extra stitches.

my mom: doing fantastic. her sister is visiting and the two of them are having a grand old time. we were just over there for some risotto and frittata. i'm still full and it had been a good 3 hours since we ate.

my wee man: just darling. i know parents dote on their kids and are biased but mine is rather cute and clever and charming. he doesn't sit still at all, ever. he stresses us out because he doesn't eat all that much. his words are coming fast and furious. he can mimic sounds really well and surprises us daily with new sounds and sentences. he's cuddly and friendly and has the most wonderful laugh.

frenzy

i'm in a knitting frenzy lately. i'm onto the increases on the hourglass sweater. and today i took a course on beaded knitting. so fun! i think i am going to beads on everything. the wee monkey is going to be staggering around under the weight of beaded sweaters and hats and scarves and mitts and oh my!

3 hours and lots of fun later, i have 1/2 of a knitted cuff. you can go to susanna's site to see more examples of the real deal (courses > descriptions > off the cuff).

i used 2.5 mm needles with koigu and i think i'll have to go down a size or two to get really dense fabric. and i'm heading back to the bead shop to find smaller beads. but all in all, not a bad first attempt.

mom update: she was discharged on saturday, a day early, which is a good sign. she's taking it easy at home today and tomorrow i'm heading over to knit, watch tv, cook her meals, do her laundry, whatever she needs.

prepping

my mom's surgery is tomorrow. i just checked in with her and she's doing fine. cleaning the house like a mad woman because her sister (lucy! in waterloo! i know!) is coming next week. she was lamenting not washing her floors. she's been off her artithis medication for a week because of the surgery and can barely walk and she's worried that she should have washed her floors. i think she is a wee bit nervous.

in preparation for a few long days hanging out at the hospital, i am packing:

1) the hourglass sweater yarn, pattern, and needles. time to cast on!

2) my ipod. i'm loading it up now and wondering if i should find a podcast to keep me busy or a e-book from the library. i'll do that next.

3) snacks and water. cereal bars, some baby carrots, a banana, gum, maybe i'll snag some arrowroots from the wee one.

4) a magazine. today's parent. i live on the wild side.

5) a book. balazac and the chinese seamstress (book club) or divisidaro, m. ondaatje.

lots to keep my hands busy and my mind occupied while they de-uteru-ize my mom.

when it rains

i go for weeks and weeks and feel like i don't have anything new to say. and wham-o, everything seems to be happening all at one.

so here's what's been going on in the 'loo.

i turned 33 last monday. john woke up before the boy and nipped downstairs to make lattes. i got to open presents in bed, sipping my morning cup of pick me up. nice.

he got me the daring book for girls and how to be the best at everything. which of course i strive to be so yea! perfect presents. and there was one more on the way.

the one more arrived today. knit picks options. i lurve them! i will keep the denise set i have but will probably only every use them in an emergency. plastic, blecky. the knit picks are metal and pointy and sharp! love 'em!

the (big) boy turned 43 on saturday. i celebrated by going to shall we knit? and buying some myself birthday yarn. i made him french toast and put the monkey down for his nap first. then went to buy yarn.

shall we knit? is the perfect store. karen is awesome. her stock is amazing. her husband is the sweetest. they have a large table with chairs for friday nights knit and chat. perfect. janelle was being so helpful and friendly i thought she worked there too but no, just hanging out and helping out. totally worth the drive to new hamburg.

then i came home and made a catalan flam for the boy's birthday dessert. mmm, flam.

i picked up odd balls of yarn. one ball of malabrigo and two balls of marisol because so many knit bloggers drool over it. two balls of sumblime cashmere merino in black. one cone of bamboo for baby hats. i got home, got on ravelry and checked out all the things i could make with my odd balls of yarn. i love ravelry. i can't wait to cast on!

the monkey turned 1.5 years old last week. his first sentence was "i got you." which mostly comes out "i gah chu" or "gah chu" but sometime is crystal clear before he runs away shrieking with laughter. he'll say "ee i ee i o" to get us to sing old mcdonald to him. he knows most of his alphabet and can count to ten though he tends to forget 9. he is starting to assert his will and has brief moments of resistance or frustration but it usually over in a flash. he's got bruises on his left shin from climbing up on chairs, the toilet, the trunk, whatever he can get his fat little leg on, and on his forehead from bumping into things or falling over, or just being a boy. he makes many animal noises and will fill in the sounds for us when we read "moo, baa, lalala" by sandra bouynton. he loves reading and has practically no interest in tv even though we wish he'd sometimes sit still and chill for a minute. he loves to cuddle and always wants hugs and kisses. he's lovely.

look ma! knitting

i'm actually kinda doing some knitting. i took lynn's advice on the basket weave and am knitting that alpaca into a manly scarf that has manly approval. only it is going so s-l-o-w. taking forever. sheesh.

on the upside my mom is having surgery* on the 31st and i've booked off a week to take care of her. i see lots of knitting happening in that week. i'm thinking about casting on the hourglass sweater.

*if there is an upside to surgery, concentrated knitting time would be it.