Trixie, unraveled

a girl can never have enough boots

2010-08-21T15:20:00.001-04:00

love these steve maddens.

never ending search for the perfect bag

2010-08-21T15:14:00.003-04:00

could this be it? moop bags seem so perfect.

cork board

2010-04-21T16:20:00.000-04:00

all classed up:
http://brynalexandra.blogspot.com/2010/04/diy-nailhead-corkboard.html

fraggle rock knitting song

2010-03-27T18:20:00.002-04:00

stop motion knitting commerical

2010-03-26T16:31:00.003-04:00

happy new year!

2010-01-01T22:23:00.001-05:00

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

2009-12-24T15:16:00.001-05:00

my fiddlehead mitts. not bad for a first attempt at color work. i lurve them. they make me insanely happy every time i put them on. i haven’t blocked them yet because i can’t stop wearing them. they are lined them with a sassy purple. kits available from tanis fibre arts.

brilliant

2009-12-21T14:55:00.002-05:00

available here.

hee

2009-12-11T13:15:00.002-05:00

pressies

2009-12-09T13:40:00.002-05:00

i bought the wee one this book full of silly rhymes:

and this shirt for the boy:

oh dear

2009-12-07T17:24:00.001-05:00

they're cheaper than my other pair...

next up

2009-12-05T16:42:00.003-05:00

i finished reading her fearful symmetry this afternoon. i liked it but...maybe not loved it. i liked the general premise but knew what was going to happen. maybe it was intentional. her foreshadowing in the time traveler's wife was pretty heavy handed so maybe it is more of the same in this book. disaster ahead, avert your eyes if you can. i couldn't. i wanted to know if was right. there was a twist that i wasn't expecting. i think i like books with happy-ish endings.

i did like the descriptions of highgate cemetery enough to google it. if i ever get back to london, i'll visit.

next up is the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay. jeff, from work, is also reading it so we're having a mini book club.

fun pictures

2009-12-04T13:48:00.003-05:00

Blanca Gomez

this is cool

2009-12-03T19:21:00.000-05:00

books

2009-12-03T16:34:00.002-05:00

i'm reading this:

i am in love

2009-07-10T15:25:00.002-04:00

container gardening

2009-05-23T17:17:00.004-04:00

i'm not sure about my green thumb. i wanted to try growing some of our own food this year but my gardening record is not exactly stellar. plus we have two black walnuts on the edge of our property. wanna know what grows under a black walnut? not a whole lot.

the solution? containers. i hauled out all of planters and hit the garden centre this morning with betherooni and amy. i came home with cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, red peppers, snow peas, basil, parsley, rosemary, coriander, and a few flowers for the planters out front. i'm excited to see how we do.

i made this!

2009-05-11T18:47:00.005-04:00

i get most of my inspiration online and my latest adventure is no different. artisan bread in 5 minutes a day? sign me up! i ordered the book weeks ago and we finally found a weekend to give it a whirl.

5 minutes is a bit of a stretch but i do agree they've taken the fussing out of making bread. mix your ingredients (with a spoon, for only a couple minutes), let it rise. shape it on a peel, let it rest, heat up your stone and with a quick sharp snap of the wrist, you're 30 minutes away from mouth watering goodness.

my first loaf is rather small. it was tricky to grab a large glob of dough. next time i'll be more aggressive. but oh it was tasty. and there's loads of dough left in the fridge, just waiting for its turn on the stone.

we slathered our slices with butter and ginger jam. yum.

so sensitive

2009-05-04T08:14:00.003-04:00

i'm finding as i get older that i am more and more sensitive to various dermal irritants. when i was pregnant, i had the most horrible rash dotted over my body -- legs, arms, breasts, butt, stomach. my gp prescribed steroids and a skin-thinning cream(!). i was going crazy. i got no help determining the cause so i started a vague elimination plan and luckily hit on the cause almost immediately: dryer sheets.

lately it seems that i cannot wear eye makeup. i tend to buy eye makeup from the same manufacturer (l'oreal, because i'm worth it) and have been using it for years, but for some reason, i'm reacting. time to research hypo-allergenic products. i hope i can find some that are reasonably priced, wear well, and easy to find. i hope this doesn't mean i'm done wearing makeup for good.

maybe i just need to embrace the au natural.

btw, we are on day 3 of potty bootcamp and (fingers crossed) it seems to be working. i'll post more after the day is done.

such a charmer

2009-04-28T14:19:00.006-04:00

last week, the boy and i headed to toronto for our big date. we had tickets to see Kings of Leon at the ACC, a room booked at the Gladstone hotel, and a day off to play in the big city.

i was so excited to see the kings. our seats were meh; 100 level but so very far away from the stage. the show was awesome. the band sounded really good. even mix of old and new tunes. i'm new to the band like the majority of the screaming fans in the ACC but i've been digging through their back catalog thanks to youtube and downloading older tracks from iTunes. (question: why are "old" fans so proprietary? why are they so down on new fans to the band? does it really matter? yes, going from the warehouse with a capacity of 2000 to a hockey arena sucks but how can you resent the band's success? get over yourself.)

i was so excited to be staying at the gladstone again. it is such a funky little place and so much better than some generic hotel. the food is still really good. my little man will be 3 in july and this is the first time i've spent the night away from him. Nona stayed with him and he did great.

We spent our day wandering up Queen West. We hit up coffee shops, we ate, we looked at all the things we would spend our money on if we lived in the city. i picked up some superwash merino at romni, the boy got a t-shirt at american apparel (that store gives me the heebie-jeebies), we got a streamlined coat rack at umbra. it was fun. we checked out the gehry addition at the AGO but declined to spend $18 each to walk into the exhibits. we had less than 2 hours and decided we needed more time to soak it all in.

it was all kinds of amazing to walk around without dividing our attention between our surroundings and a 2 year old. it was nice to look around at a leisurely pace; there was no rushing. it's been about 3 years since we've done that.

for the firefly fans

2009-04-04T08:38:00.000-04:00

click this and prepare to be amazed.

this is amazing

2009-03-26T13:23:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

sheep art. i'm not kidding.

butterflies

2009-02-04T18:41:00.001-05:00

this song, my latest musical obsession, gives me butterflies. for reals.

dr. horrible & other stuff

2009-01-17T10:24:00.004-05:00

skipping over the fact i have not blogged in months, let's get right down to it. i was on amazon looking for a birthday present for the boy and noticed dr. horrbile's singalong blog was available on DVD for $10. of course i bought it. we watch it last night and giggled all the way through. then i checked the special features. there's a musical commentary. i'm not kidding. it's hilarious. the entire casts sings the commentary. there's a song about the writer's strike last year, why nate is better than neil, another about why asians are never cast in the lead, and a song by groupie #3. of course the lines are witty and laugh out loud funny. groupie #3 gets her solo because she gave joss $10. nathan fillion takes over her solo with a "suck it. i gave him $15." one of the last lines is something like "we've reached the end, you've listen to all our words, and that makes you a great big fucking nerd." yup, for joss, absolutely. loves it.

i've cast on another clapotis. i have small problem, i know. i tried to knit something else but it was just not working. instead, a fire engine red clapotis using collinette jitterbug (sock yarn). if i get organized, i might even take pictures and put it on ravelry. it makes me happy. and is there such a thing as too many clapotis?

i turned 34 this past week. the boy bought me a great present. a couple years ago, i picked up the "keep calm and carry on" poster. some genius spoofed it and there are limited edition prints available on threadless that read "now panic and freak out" hee hee. my mom gave me david rocco's cookbook. yum.

we're off to a delish dinner at bhima's tonight and are going snowboarding on monday to celebrate the boy's birthday.

my baby boy is 2.5 today. he started in the preschool room at day care. he's a non-stop dynamo. he knows his numbers from 1-9 and is working on letters. he's fully into the "i want to do it!" stage. he usually says please and thank you. he has discovered thomas the tank engine and dinky cars.

we are in the preliminary stages of a basement renovation. i cannot wait to have the extra room. it'll be a place to chuck all of the kidlet's toys and hopefully a place where we can entertain as well. we're putting a bathroom in down there with a shower. the eventual plan is to replace the bathroom upstairs (original 1947 features!) but first we need the basement bathroom.

and i made one resolution for 2009: i want to be a milf.

domestic

2008-10-19T18:42:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-15T14:42:00.004-04:00

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

2008-08-10T22:12:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-10T22:05:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-21T20:44:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-15T21:37:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-13T10:24:00.005-04:00

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

2008-07-06T07:49:00.006-04:00

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

2008-06-24T20:29:00.003-04:00

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

2008-05-25T09:51:00.004-04:00

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!

2008-05-04T18:46:00.003-04:00

Camilla Engman designed these for converse. i wants some!

FO: hourglass

2008-04-19T19:48:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-05T17:07:00.003-04:00

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

2008-03-20T20:32:00.004-04:00

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

2008-03-09T11:04:00.001-04:00

sleeves on, decreases started.

demise

2008-03-08T16:32:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-04T21:29:00.003-05:00

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

2008-02-18T08:12:00.001-05:00

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

2008-02-16T20:32:00.003-05:00

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

2008-02-03T19:18:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-21T19:36:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

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.

anniversary

2007-12-31T09:34:00.000-05:00

booties

2007-12-30T20:55:00.000-05:00

evening light

2007-12-30T20:34:00.001-05:00

summer salad

2007-12-30T20:31:00.001-05:00

monkeys

2007-12-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

weekend breakfast

2007-12-30T20:22:00.001-05:00

ramblings

2007-12-16T07:39:00.000-05:00

i'm sucking large at this blogging thing lately. apologies dear readers (all three of you :).

there's been some knitting but not much. most nights i collapse on the couch too tired to do more than stare dumbly at the tv. i've been battling a cold for over a month and i realized that after three days of walking around saying, my face hurts, that perhaps this cold was bigger than i. indeed. i have a sinus infection. i'm now on some heavy duty antibiotics and after 4 days i feel marginally better but still stuffed up and my face still hurts.

we got a (real!) christmas tree on december 1. i got as far as putting on the lights and about 20 ornaments and that's about it. maybe today i'll finish it. it's hard to get anything accomplished when the wee one is awake and when he's sleeping i want to sleep too.

we had a quick and lovely visit with hk & ken last week. the coffee is amazing. the chocolate bark is almost gone (yum!). and monkey loves his little crayola critters, pushing them around the coffee table in their little car. thank you for the presents and your presence.

on the knitting front, i made my standard baby hat for my friend mari. i made it in orange because mari is a redhead i knew she wanted a red-headed baby. i had the same wish for my son and since we can't control these things, she got an orange hat instead. good thing too because miss ella's hair is decidedly not red. i've also started a cream coloured version for my workmate who had her son on friday.

back in november i started a scarf for the boy using a gray-black variegated alpaca. i didn't like the stitch with the yarn so ripped it out. i tried plain garter but didn't like that so i ripped it out. i tried a sideways scarf but meh so i ripped it out. i'm now on version 4 with a 4 by 2 rib that is ok but not great. i obviously don't like it because i've only got about 6 inches done. i'll probably rip it out. i hate knitting projects that don't wow me.

we took the wee monkey for a hair cut yesterday. he looks like such a big boy. definitely not a baby any more. he's pulling my toes. i need to go.

wrapped in plastic

2007-11-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

the stars aligned recently and we are very happy. last january some family members gave us two $3o gift certificates for amazon.com. we pondered what we could buy with our mad money. it occurred to me that we should combine our cash to get something that we both want. something like twin peaks on dvd.

except that season 1 was no longer available on dvd. and there's the pesky problem of the pilot being sold separately and with a different ending that what originally aired on tv.

after watching blue velvet recently, i really really wanted to watch twin peaks again but really really did not want to rent it at $5.50 per DVD of 4 episodes. i'm not even sure that gen x has it on DVD; the first time i rented them it was all VHS. i looked around on line but balked at paying $80+ for used season 1 DVDs. We hoped that the studio would re-release a fancy schmancy box set for the 20th anniversary of the show.

i had shared my twin peaks love with a friend a work and two weeks ago she she my an OH MY GOD DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS? email with a link to lo! a fancy schmancy box set that includes the pilot, seasons 1 and 2 and bonus features all for $75.

thanks to our dollar kicking ass, two $30 gift certificates, for the low low price of $17.97 US (that's like $16.50 CN!), we've been watching an episode or two every night for the past week.

thanks, jube-jube. and happy birthday to us!

bicycle built for two

2007-11-21T19:48:00.000-05:00

but clearly not three.

i had a dream recently where i was trying to ride a bicycle with two babies on my lap. and i couldn't do it.

gee, i wonder it means.

kid's stuff

2007-11-11T11:05:00.000-05:00

but oh so fun.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nas-B4ZG-28

i keep looking for her

2007-10-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

we put Jazz down on october 25. it was time but we're still gutted about it. she was 14 which is beyond old for a dog and i knew she wouldn't make it through another winter...but still...i miss her.

feeling crafty

2007-10-20T15:08:00.000-04:00

you know those snot-nosed kids you see wandering around? the ones with the perpetually runny nose? i have one of those kids. no matter how much i wipe, there is always more. i don't go anywhere without tissues; i'm always at the ready. i even bought a 10 pack of those purse-sized pacakges of tissues.

and so this afternoon i made a couple of these, just to class things up a bit. the green swirl fabric lines the pink one and some multi coloured stripes lines the green one. fun.

thankful

2007-10-08T16:00:00.001-04:00

fabric stash enhancement and an update

2007-10-06T14:08:00.000-04:00

i taught a friend to knit recently. she took to it immediately. her first project was a chunky scarf, her second: a clapotis. she doesn't do things by half and always does things well of course. i offered to take her to len's mill to see if we could find some reasonably priced yarn for a clapotis. she's not yet at the stage where she'll spend $60 on yarn for a scarf.

while i waited for her at len's mill, i discovered some dick and jane fabric. they had about 10 bolts of different dick and jane patterns, including illustrations from the books. when baby j was brand new, my mom bought him a dick and jane board book and i found another not long after; they are currently his favorites (though really, come and see sounds a wee bit like a bad porno: come sally, come. oh, dick! see sally and tim! go, sally go! see dick fall down, see jane fall down.)

anyway, i went back last night and picked up some of the more bold (and much less cutesy) prints. i also found a fun citrus green swirly print that i had to get. i'm not sure what i'm going to do with the fabric yet...i think a library bag seems appropriate for the dick and jane fabric.

in knitting news, i'm not really doing much. i knit another baby hat and started on some booties. nephew numero dos is officially late so i really should get cracking and finish the booties.

in life news, we're recovering around here from baby j having a really bad ear infection. we thought it was just teething pain but his fever wouldn't go away, no matter how much tylenol we gave him. it was awful, he'd look at us with eyes clouded in pain. he only wanted to be in my arms and could not find a comfortable position, writhing around and whimpering in pain. we watched the clock to see when we could safely give him another dose of tylenol.

of course this was all happening over the weekend. i took him to the doctor on monday and was told it was an ear infection. she prescribed antibiotics and sent us on our way in less than 4 minutes. nice. the next day his ear was sticking out from his head almost an inch and oozing stuff. poor kid. it took another 3 days for baby j to start feeling better.

this was his first real illness and as a parent it was awful to witness. it is terrible to see your kid in pain and not be able to offer anything other than comfort and tylenol every four hours. i found that my arms were quaking, not from holding him constantly, but from adrenalin pumping through my body as i made calls to ontario telehealth, the doctor's office, and picked up his prescription. and for some reason, the antibiotics were causing baby j to wake frequently in the night and then up for the day at 5-ish. we were totally wiped out.

work seems to be ridiculously busy right now. working half days last week to be home with baby j while he was sick, combined with an all day leads meeting, and an afternoon of team building has put me so far behind that i can't even stay on top of all the emails i get. i have a bad habit of opening email on my blackberry, starting to read it, deciding that it needs time and attention so i should read it when i get back to my desk but then never do. bad.

one of my writers quit so i've been ramping up on her projects, my senior writer has strep throat and has been off for a week (though i might as well get used to her not being around because she's off on maternity leave for a year in just over a month), my co-op is the biggest flake imaginable (seriously, she says and does some jaw-dropping stuff), and my other full time writer just went on vacation for a week. weee!

ravelry me this!

2007-09-20T14:55:00.001-04:00

i got my ravelry invite yesterday! i'm so excited (or as bry would say, exshitted)!

i feel like a dog in a parking lot.

do i want to add my stash? or ooh! add my projects? or ooh! add stuff to my queue? or ooh! see what other people have done with certain projects or yarn? or ooh!...

i'm kinda doing a bit of all three. i'm dashing around digging up yarn labels and adding pictures to flickr (i created a new flickr account just for knit-related stuff: trixie_me_knits) while adding projects both active and in the queue.

this site is so freaking cool! and dangerous. and making me feel a teensy bit guilty for all of my stashed yarn. i'm reluctant to pull it all out and take pictures of it; i don't want the boy to realize the full extent of the goods. eep.

this is me: http://www.ravelry.com/people/TrixieMe

haul

2007-09-09T14:06:00.000-04:00

yesterday was the KW knitter's guild annual knitter's fair. i went. i spent. it looks worse than it is, i think.

there's some amy buttler fat quarters.

there's lovely Rovings wool in "brick" that will make the most fantastic fall clapotis. for me. those are my colors.

there's alpaca and silk for a pair of mittens -- $19 for the kit, including a pattern.

there's some cloudy blue mohair that i bought from a friend who belongs to a spinning collective. $10 to support them seems worthwhile to me. 250 yards...guess i'm making a scarf.

and lastly there's silk for a scarf with mitred squares for my mom. also a kit, also a good price though the pattern seems a bit sketchy.

it could have been worse. much worse.

espress-o-no!

2007-09-06T20:21:00.000-04:00

for some reason, the kid has taken to waking up at 5:30 am. what a god awful time. and over the weekend he figured out how to pull himself up to a standing position in his crib. but can't figure out how to sit back down. so squawking ensues. at 5:30 in the morning.

our morning double shot of espresso has never been more mandatory, our need for caffeine never so great.

sunday morning the boy was downstairs steaming the milk, grinding the beans, etc. the kid and i were playing with puzzles and dinosaurs awaiting our morning milky beverages when the boy walks into the room with his eyes almost falling out of his head.

"the machine is fried!" he cried out in anguish.

"what?"

"daa daa daaaaaaa bleag be ah da dada daaa" (that's baby j talking)

"the machine just died! i was steaming the milk! and the power kinda surged! and the display went wooom! and then i smelt something burning! so i unplugged the machine! and! the! machine! is! fried!" (which i know makes it look like he had just done 6 shots of espresso but those are exclamation marks of disbelief not hyperactivity, trust me.)

"what time does starbucks open?"

"not soon enough"

actually, we've been surviving with drip coffee. though the boy did admit he went to starbucks this morning -- and that the $4 bevy tasted like ass. them starbucks employees don't know how to make a drink if it doesn't have some kind of syrup in it and whipping cream on top. sheesh.

anyway, dead machine + 5:30 am wake ups = tired kitten.

in knitting news, i finished the green (plum) gable. wee! i need to wash and block it. and our tuesday night knit club is up and running again.

in book news, i'm re-reading the golden compass. my sister in law gave it to me in 1999 or 2000. i know i read it and the rest in the series but wow, i have no recollection of the story at all except for the daemons.

by the power of grayskull!

2007-09-03T07:18:00.000-04:00

we rented "hot fuzz" this weekend. weeee! so fun! simon pegg's special brand of genius is to take on a genre and tweak it just so to reveal the absurdities but in a gentle and loving way. for "shaun of the dead" it was zombies, in "hot fuzz" he goes after big action and traditional buddy cop movies -- referencing "point break" and "bad boys II" more than once. it is the attention to detail that is absolutely brilliant. the movies are spot on. so funny.

and hey! knitting news: thanks to hot fuzz and a down with love viewing i managed to finish the body and cast off the green (plum) gable. next up, three rows of ribbing on the sleeves and casting them off. a quick wash and some blocking and i might actually get to wear this sweater a few times before the weather cools off. yippee! pictures soon!

she wore blue velvet

2007-08-27T20:41:00.000-04:00

we watched blue velvet on saturday night. we had seen it before, years ago, but i had no recollection of the movie except for the ear and dennis hopper acting like a maniac. man, that's some f-ed up shit.

i think david's lynch's mind is very scary place to be.

it totally made me want to re-watch twin peaks. i actually want to buy twin peaks (new shoes!) but season 1 is no longer available. we're hoping for the 20th anniversary (20 years! christ!) they'll re-release it, now with more bonus features! but i don't think i can wait three years to watch it again. i think we're gonna have to rent it.

when bethy and i went to seattle in 2005, as we were driving away from sea-tac and making our way north east to issaquah, i looked out the windows at the dwindling light and thought, this reminds me of twin peaks. coincidentally, our coworkers suggested a drive out to snoqualmie and on the way we went through north bend, home of the twin peaks cherry pie. for reals.

entertain me

2007-08-27T20:34:00.000-04:00

i'm looking for books to read.

i want to read:
a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini
on chesil beach by ian mcewan

what have you got for me?

yeah, baby!

2007-08-19T10:25:00.000-04:00

Molly Chicken posted these links and I have to follow suit.

Please read the story.

and then watch the video.

can you say awwwww?

and from a language perspective, how can you not love british journalism?

"But Christian, more schooled in Sloane than feline etiquette, sashayed fearlessly towards Boy."

and completely unrelated, oh lemon meringue pie, why must you always taste like more?

felicitations abound

2007-08-10T13:35:00.000-04:00

in no particular order:

congratulations to bridget and jean-paul on the safe and happy arrival of baby quinton, born august 3rd. from the pictures they sent he is pretty damn cute and i think red is his colour*.

congratulations to ms. hedda and mcpie for being uber sneaky and eloping. i'm so so happy for you.

and a very happy birthday to my bestest friend, zillah. wish i were there to toast you with a nice red.

* standard baby hat i make for all the wee ones, debbie bliss simple baby hat. this time knit with patons grace, double stranded. the color is called cardinal which is a pretty apt description; it is much less orange-y in person.

birthday bits

2007-07-29T15:01:00.001-04:00

monkey cake: monkey sugar cookies:
big boy of one:
banana shirts for birthday boy and nephews:
my favorite, the banana toss:

and the felt bananas:

my new reality

2007-07-15T20:47:00.000-04:00

is okay. yes, i'd rather not have to work (show me someone who would! "life of leisure? nah, that's not for me." ha!) but there's not much i can do about it. we've got bills to pay.

so life is okay. the first week back to work went okay. baby j is doing okay. i'm doing okay. work is okay. everything is okay. i'm even managing without my daily nap(s) thanks to two shots of espresso in my morning latte (no longer served in bed, natch.).

i am glad that we spent a week "practising" taking baby j to daycare. as shitty as i felt last week, it did make it easier to walk down that hall leaving my wailing child behind. so not easy but easier. the staff tells me every day gets better.

work is almost like i never left. except for the now being responsible for people thing. but really, we all listened to each other bitch before, now i just do it in an official capacity and can chalk it up as "employee support" as opposed to "time wasting" on my time sheet. excellent.

and yeah, becky, i don't wanna get dooced. especially since i know my boss reads this. hi beth!

the first week is over and i never have to do it again. instead, we're all about the first birthday party planning. baby j is one on tuesday, his party is on saturday. of course we are having a monkey themed party. i'll post more details probably next week. this week is planned down to the minute trying to get everything done in time. today's big task: tearing down the nasty shed in our backyard. thanks to jeff and his reciprocating saw!

(more) stash enhancement and the sucky side of parenthood

2007-07-06T09:09:00.000-04:00

building up to my return to work on monday (eep), we've been doing some intensive day care training: every day this week for about 5 hours. and every day as soon as he realizes what is happening he starts bawling. it used to be after a minute in the infant room and now it happens in the hall. i'm sure today it will happen in the parking lot. his little face crumples, he turns red, his nose starts running, and oh the tears.

it is pretty much the worst feeling in the world.

yesterday they tried to distract him with a book as i made my escape. i looked back to see him pushing the book aside and reaching out for me, screaming.

i'm spending my last week of maternity leave feeling like complete and utter shit. nice.

after the book incident, i stopped in at the mall to pick up some lunch items and needed a moment to calm my nerves. i stopped in at the LYS and headed to the sale corner.

debbie bliss soho. it was 50% off. the blue is for a hat, a scarf, and mittens for baby j. the other two are just 'cause they are pretty and will make a nice scarf or wrist warmers or maybe something felted. i know i bought some of that soho for a scarf for my sister in law but i can't seem to find it to see if they are indeed the same colorway. i think it is time i sign up for ravelry.

beef with benji

2007-07-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

i was watching a so you think you can dance season 2 rerun a few nights ago and i've got a beef with benji.

benji is an incredible performer but i don't think he should have won and i think america was duped. because when benji dances he performs for the person in the very last row with the crappy seat practically behind a pillar. he's so very "on" and giving his all that you, the audience, cannot forget for a moment that he is on and giving it his all. every single kick ball change is telegraphed and tap danced across your brain. bam. bam. bam. jazz hands!

maybe my years of ballet have spoiled me a bit. ballet is all about hard work looking absolutely effortless. there is nothing effortless about benji. travis, the runner up dude, moves with a grace and fluidity that is effortless. watching him, you are entranced by his body, swept away by his movements. what travis does is infinitely harder than benji because he is making it look easy. like, hey i can do that! nothing benji does looks easy. and granted it is not, there's no way i could move like he does. but every move of his performance reminds me of that fact. whereas travis, now travis can dance.

this concludes my beef.

nice

2007-06-26T14:02:00.000-04:00

way back in may i borrowed the knit 2 together book from the guild library. a woman named sylvia was volunteering at the library desk and admitted she wanted that book herself. i knew i only wanted the tie pattern and offered to bring the book to her when i was done.

handily, sylvia owns knitwerks and has a stall at the farmer's market. this morning, the wee monkey and i headed off to the market to return the book. sylvia was thrilled with the book and happily gave me a tour of the booth. i snapped up some alpaca on sale for $6.95 a skein that will make a lovely and soft scarf for the boy.

next to the till, sylvia strategically placed some rubber stitch markers. i'm sure that they are plumbing supplies or something but she smartly recognized their usefulness and voila! stitch markers. i made a comment about them and she tossed them in with my purchase just because i brought the book for her. and! she also gave me two ecualan samples.

nice.

ups and downs

2007-06-21T13:31:00.000-04:00

july 9 has been imprinted on my brain for over a year now. i can't escape july 9 and my return to work. as i get closer and closer to july 9 and panic starts to set in, the less i can forget about july 9. it is there looming while it quietly eats away at me and at the time i have left at home with baby j.

this morning i clued in that july 9 is two and half weeks away. where the hell did june go? i'm not ready to go back to work!

i've been taking the wee monkey in to his daycare for little visits. we're working up to leaving him there on his own. the visits are going well. baby j is socialable and adapatable. this bodes well for him and the transition.

this morning i dropped him off for about an hour and a half while i zipped off to the mall.

i picked up a few things and thought that trying on jeans would be an excellent distraction. how can i worry about my child when i'm cramming my thighs into a pair of jeans? i grabbed about 6 pairs of jeans of various styles, lengths, and sizes and headed to the dressing room. clinton and stacy have taught me that i want a generous boot cut or straight leg jean and i know from experience that a little stretch is fine but a lot of stretch is bad.

one pair was not bad but not great. the other pairs were too big (!), too short in the waist, too stretchy. as i was walking out of the change room, the sales person (a full grown woman, not a cranky teen) asked if i had found what i was looking for. i asked for straight leg sans stretch. she happily pulled some different styles for me (fyi, the gap doesn't sell straight leg without stretch. why?), and even said, these ones stretch out a lot so you'll probably want to go down to a size 8.

hold that thought for a moment. a size 8.

i know it is just a number. and i know that really if they stretch out that much that they are not really an 8 but still. but still!

i had to dash to get baby j so i didn't stay to try on the size 8s but i'll probably go back. (he did fine, btw. didn't even notice i was gone.)

also, i'd like to ask what is up with all of the tops in the stores looking like maternity wear? the only people who could wear that look and not look pregnant are girls with no boobs and no body fat. everyone else is gonna look bigger than they are. and i did the maternity wear thing last year, i don't need to do it again. i was hoping to get some tops that are not t shirts but if these ruffly, blousey tops are the alternative, i'll stick with Ts.

ps. no knitting. i didn't get the tie done for father's day. i wrapped it up on the needles and gifted it anyway.

what the? or, steaming piles of crap

2007-06-20T19:28:00.000-04:00

this afternoon i took my poky puppy out for a pee. we made it to the corner where jazz dutifully sniffed the hydrant before i nudged her back towards our house. ten feet away from the corner she took a leak.

behind me, a car pulled up to the intersection and i hear "...after your dog!" it took a second to register but i eventually realized she was yelling at me to pick up after jazz. i turned to look and sure enough she was glaring at me with great ferocity before pulling away.

i dumbly stood on the sidewalk with a plastic bag in my left hand staring after her car and thought, what the ...?

i tried to reason it out in my head while vehemently wishing i had been close enough to the corner to school that woman on two things 1) the pee stance of female dogs and 2) manners. obviously she knows nothing about dogs, especially female ones; the curved back poop hunch is way different from the straight back pee stance. what part of her brain made her scream at me from her car window over something she knows nothing about? i had a bag in my hand. i was more than ready to pick up any solid waste material exiting from my dog's bottom. hell, i have even scraped not so solid waste from the grass. once, after an unexpected dog dump, i asked a stranger across the street if i could have a plastic bag rather than run home for one. i pick up my dog's poop!

maybe that's why this rankles so much. i do pick up! i am a picker upper of the poop!

and another thing, in this neighbourhood, people pick up after their pets. it is not like you see steaming piles of crap on every other lawn. i can't remember the last time i came across some poor, neglected turds. feh! stupid people suck!

(sorry for all the poop talk)

sunday night dinners

2007-06-12T19:30:00.000-04:00

sorry about the unexpected blog break. i'm not sure what happened. i can tell you didn't happen: knitting. i think it is a seasonal thing; i obviously need some summer knits. the tie is going along at a nice clip. i should spend some time on it this week if i want to finish it in time for sunday. i really really want to get back to the green (plum) gable and have that finished by the time i head back into work.

anyway, the boy and i have a tradition of eating nice sunday night dinners. it is our way of winding down the weekend and gearing up for the week ahead. we usually start planning our sunday night dinners some time on saturday. we spend time gathering ingredients and choosing the right wine. it is nice.

since the wee one was born, we tend to eat later after he is down for the night (we feel very french doing so. zill would be so proud.). in the summers we used to eat up on our rooftop patio/helicopter landing pad. alas, the patio privacy screen i put up fell down repeatedly last year. i need a more permanent solution. so, our temporary solution is setting up our bistro table on our teeny back porch, pouring some wine, lighting some candles, and chowing down on some good grub.

stash enhancement

2007-05-27T13:07:00.000-04:00

yesterday my mom and i trekked to new hamburg, a small town twenty minutes away, for the annual mennonite relief fund and quilt sale. mennonite quilts are not really my thing but my mom was in heaven (quilts were going for $1700!). we ate some apple fritters and gawked at quilts and then we headed uptown to shall we knit.

karen, the lovely lady from the LYS and fellow guild member, recently decided to strike out on her own and open her own yarn shop. in kind of a jump-first-and-ask-questions-later way, she and her husband purchased a gorgeous century home on the main drag in new hamburg, intending to have the yarn store on the main floor and live upstairs. their impulsive plan has hit more than a few snags and instead they have secured a storefront location further along the main drag.

they are still working on opening but in the meantime karen obtained permission to open from her home this past weekend. karen has always been so nice to me; i can't wait for her store to open and be a success. i love her philosophy behind a good yarn store and i look forward to her enabling my habit and my helping put food on her table.

with that in mind, i bought this:

i can't even being to describe the softness. it is called sublime and it really is. oh my, so lovely. the yarn is "cashmere merino silk aran" which makes me laugh since there is only 5% cashmere but it doesn't seem to be hurting the yarn in any way at all. i am in love.

stephanie has written here and there about the strong desire to roll around naked in yarn and i've always thought, hee hee funny but not likely. this yarn may change all that. i want this stuff next to my skin.

since i am heading back to the working world in july when the air conditioning is always jacked so high that my extremities literally thaw on my drive home, i thought i would knit this wee ball of happiness into a sort of neck cowl -- something to pull over my head and wrap my neck in warmth. i can't wait to cast on.

new project

2007-05-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

for years and years, my husband has wanted a knit tie. since his first official father's day is coming up, i'm knitting him a tie.

specs

pattern: from knit 2 together (co authored by tracy ullman!)

yarn: black koigu

needles: itsy bitsy 2 US i think.

how long do you think i can knit it in front of him before he asks what it is or figures it out on his own?

bitten

2007-05-16T13:47:00.000-04:00

my mom liked the bag but LOVED the michael buble cd. becky, i want to mock you but i wont since i know what else you listen too. plus i've got lots of formage in my cd collection too.

i don't know why i feel compelled to make stuff but i do. i surf crafty sites and get all excited. i want to make fun stuff too! i think i can blame my mom entirely since she was always taking tole painting courses or flower arranging classes or sewing god damn ruffles on my t shirts (from target! the adoration for all things tar-jay started at a very young age for me).

here's the thing, i've always been mildly interested in sewing but exposure to cool and exciting fabric is non-existent in this town. everything about this town is middle of the road. fantastic if you want middle of the road but i want something different. i could head to TO to find what i'm looking for but i don't know where to start. which is why the more interesting and imaginative people i'm finding on the net are inspiring me in leaps and bounds to create. i've been bitten hard.

anyway, i used a indigo gift certificate to buy a few things recently (some advice, if at all possible, avoid using a gift card to make online indigo purchases. in a word: painful!). the lily allen cd, the yarn harlot's latest book (von, you want knitting rock star, go visit the yarn harlot's site. that woman could incite riots if she so desired.), and lotta jansdotter's simple sewing.

i knew i wanted to use an amy butler fabric to make lotta's sun hat. i'm not down with buying fabric on line yet. i just made the leap to buying yarn on line; i'm working my way up to fabric. i did a little digging and found a little quilt place in guelph that carries amy butler fabric. i packed up the wee monkey and my mom and we headed to the pretty, pretty town of guelph. seriously, why is guelph so pretty and k-w so not? sure we have pockets of pretty but you have to know where they are. guelph is teeming with picturesque views and old stone houses.

this is what i brought home:
a wild print for the hat and monkeys for a monkey blanket!

p.s. no progress on the plum gable.

pressies!

2007-05-12T21:42:00.000-04:00

oh what a life i lead, blogging on a saturday night! i just finished my mom's mother's day present so i am sharing. my mom has to carry around a cell phone for her job. when she is out and about she tosses it into a shallow plastic bag because she'd never get to it in time if she shoved in her purse. the plastic bag thing bugs me. so i made her a bag.

and look what is peeking out:

a michael buble cd. she asked for it. i was kinda mortified standing at hmv buying that cd. to temper the purchase, i picked back to black by amy winehouse. i've been meaning to pick up this cd for ages. a couple weeks ago i dithered between it and lily allen and lily won out. i've been listening to both a bit obsessively for days now. lily is fun with a capital F, absolutely perfect for summer, bopping around, and being silly. amy makes you want to break out the whiskey, light some candles, toss a scarf over the lamp, and fill an ashtray. the album is filled with demented do-wop songs about tragic love affairs. i totally get her drug/alcohol addictions. i'd have a smack problem too if i sung my guts out night after night like she does. go listen to her. i think she's only 24.

finally!

2007-05-07T13:26:00.000-04:00

see? this is what comes from spending way too much time surfing the net. i saw this poster on someone else's blog and had to have it. coincidentally, michael's was having a 50% special off custom framing (yipee!). i picked it up on friday night and hung it in the front hall on saturday morning. it looks awesome! i am so glad we went with custom framing.

and since this is a knitting blog: i made the felted clutch from one skein. i started it friday night i think and finished it sunday morning. i was going to make a bowl to felt as well but figured if the clutch was gonna dry in time for the guild meeting on tuesday that i'd better get it into the washer asap (which explains why i forgot to take a before picture).

the bag ain't much to look at but i do plan to jazz it up a bit with buttons, as the pattern suggests. it is cute though. i can see myself maybe using it. don't know when because at the moment whenever i go out there's usually a water bottle, some cheerios, a package of mum mums, at least two baby toys, my blackberry, wallet, keys, lip balm, a hat, sometimes a sweater, a knitting project, etc. i think i should have made the felted tote instead of the clutch. ah well, if i ever go out sans monkey, i'll be sure to use the clutch.

wool: patons classic merino in gray, double stranded.

needles: big fat ones. denise size 8 mm.

notes: it felted exactly to size. i find the handle openings a titch too small. next time i'd cast off 14 or 15 stitches instead of 11 or 12 (whatever the pattern calls for). i'd also knit two extra rows before binding off; i find the handle themselves a titch narrow. i do wonder how well the handles will hold up after i load the clutch with my wallet (which is admittedly huge), blackberry, keys, and lip balm. maybe the point of a clutch is to carry only the essentials. but uh, those are my bare essentials. maybe i need a smaller wallet.

when i was almost finished knitting i remembered that i have some fingering weight blue wool that my mom rescued from a thift store. if i ever make this clutch again (which is likely, it'd make a nice gift), i'd triple strand -- two patons stands, one blue strand. i think it'd give the bag a bit of dimension and subtle shimmer. i'm actually pretty curious to see how it turns out.

also on the felting front, we bought a front load washer & dryer yesterday. on one hand i'm all thrilled with the thought of appliances that are not older than me (and hence way more efficient, faster, better for the environment, easier on our water bill, i could go on...). but part of me is all aghast that i wont be able to felt in the washing machine. two hours, a bucket, a potato masher, and blisters do not sound fun. i'll just have to convince my mom that a little dish soap is not going to hurt her washer...

WIP friday

2007-05-04T13:53:00.000-04:00

here's where i am on the green (plum) gable; trucking along just fine. the rows are going faster and faster thanks to the decreases. it fits fine but i think i could've probably gone smaller. the sleeves will be less bat-like once i add the ribbing. they wont be tight but they also wont flare out so much which is a good thing.

i need to take a small break from the sweater. the guild issued a felting challenge for the next meeting and that's tuesday. eep. i think i'm going to make the clutch from one skein (i love this book) using some stash (!) patons classic merino. of course i do have some lovely lopi in the stash (!!) that would work just as well...

p.s. please ignore the slightly stunned look on my face. the wee one just had a traumatic launch into his nap. nothing serious but oh the tears.

p.p.s. ms. hedda, did you know crazy aunt purl has a book?

this

2007-05-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

i am in love with this and this.

i am this close to ordering them.

herein lies the danger of spending my days surfing crafty sites on the internet. this could be my doom.

edited to add: ever step back and look at a word and wonder if it is correct. suddenly *this* looks like the weirdest word ever. this. thisthisthisthisthisthisthis. weird.

getting away

2007-04-29T13:53:00.000-04:00

where does the time go? i'm here, i'm healthier, i don't have much to blog about.

plum gable: i'm into the decreases on the body. i think i'm on the 4th decrease. i'm happy the decreases are according to length not stitches because my row gauge is way off. i'll just decrease until it is long enough (11.5 inches, i think) and then see if i need to add in some of the hip increases. maybe a try on picture later this week.

painting: i've pretty much painted every single wall and ceiling in this house except for the basement stairs. last year some time i tore off the horrid wallpaper and then stopped because i was pregnant and didn't want to TSP the walls, inhaling fumes. anyway, i TSPed last night. i spackled. today i sanded and spackled a bit more. i even filled the quarter-sized holes from where i ripped out the banister (it is 2 steps to the landing. no banister required.). i plugged the holes with drywall and spackled it in. a hack if there ever was one.

anyway, i'm going to pain the ceiling and walls. i think i'll even paint the door to the garage. i've got leftovers from the kitchen so the project isn't costing anything. i bought a little recycling bin to hang on the wall to catch flyers and such. i'm kinda excited about having basement steps that are not so assy. it is the door i rush to close when people are over. wee!

baby stirs...

snotty snot snot

2007-04-25T14:36:00.000-04:00

we're all sick. there's lots of snot. it aint pretty.

urgh

2007-04-19T16:32:00.000-04:00

lookie what i got today.

i've been battling wrist pain for months now. carrying around a 21 lbs baby will do that to you. the pain is now radiating up my arm, across my shoulder, up my neck, and into my scalp. ouch.

this stupid thing is supposed to make everything better. i must say, it is easier to type than i thought it would be. but can i knit with it on? i haven't tried that or lifting or carrying the monkey yet.

urgh.

hmmm

2007-04-18T13:10:00.000-04:00

here's the plum (green) gable on. i'm feeling hmmmm about it.

(it is hard to get a flattering picture of the chesticular region. i had to cropped the girls to keep them from dominating the picture and encourage you to instead look at the sweater.)

anyway, the sweater. the sleeves are a good length but roomier than i was hoping. i'm glad they are not tight sleeves but...i...hmm. they aren't bad-awful. i think they'll be ok. i think the sweater will be much improved when it is longer and covers the girls, helping tug the thing down and into place. and blocking the neckline will help with the curl.

so i maintain hmmm for now and will see what i think after a few more inches. i do like the top-down construction of the sweater. it's neat-o keen.

long distance s&b

2007-04-16T18:54:00.000-04:00

for beckystar, pf&b:

insert your needle to purl:

wrap the yarn (i know, it is not the greatest picture. trust me, that yarn is wrapped.):

pull the right needle with the new purl stitch away as per usual BUT DON'T SLIP THE (old) PURL STITCH FROM THE LEFT NEEDLE:

instead, move the right needle to the back and pick up the back leg of the old purl stitch for a new purl stitch (click on the picture to be astounded and amazed).:

wrap your yarn:

pull the right needle with the latest and greatest purl stitch away:

slip the old purl stitch from the left needle:

et voila!

sass

2007-04-14T12:59:00.000-04:00

a mite too soccer mom:
pony before:

pony after:
and pretty flowers for spring:

progress

2007-04-13T12:51:00.000-04:00

the plumb (green) gable update as requested by ms. hedda. where are your pics, missy?

i am about 5 rows past the lace. wee! (apolpgies for the flash; it is a dismal day out there.)

oh dear

2007-04-12T14:05:00.000-04:00

back in february, amy and i were pawing through baskets of yarn at the LYS during their sale. amy pounced on the new jo sharp yarn and picked up her latest book knit 1. i drooled over the cowl sweater and amy drooled over the cardigan. she bought the yarn for the cardigan but passed on the book, hoping the guild had it in the library.

at the next guild meeting amy bailed on me but i asked the library ladies to pick up the jo sharp book. they did and it was in at this month's meeting on tuesday night. i picked it up for amy and have barely put it down since. there are 5 (5!) sweaters and three pairs of socks in that book that i want to knit. one sweater is for the boy the rest are for me! me! me!

i think i need to buy the book. i think 5 patterns in one book justifies a purchase. i am afraid to go to the LYS and paw through the yarn. here's the specs:

ALPACA KID LUSTRE
30% Alpaca, 40% Kid Mohair & 30% Merino.
Tension: 22.5 sts & 30 rows measured over 10cm of Stocking stitch using4.00mm needles (USA 6) (UK 8).
Length: 111m (121yds), 50g ball (1 3/4 oz).

and

ALPACA SILK GEORGETTE
40% Alpaca, 40% Merino & 20% Silk.
Tension: 25 sts & 33 rows measured over 10cm of Stocking stitch using 3.25mm needles (USA 3) (UK 10).
Length: 130m (142yds), 50g ball (1 3/4 oz).

i told you i was fickle.

silk, linen, hemp, oh my!

2007-04-10T16:21:00.000-04:00

we have an independent bookstore 5 blocks away from our house. they valiantly struggle to stay afloat among the chapters/indigo/amazons and their cheap cheap books. i stopped in a few weeks ago to take a flip through amy singer's latest, no sheep for you.

they had it on order and offered to put one aside for me. they finally called last week and i happily went to pick up the book. i've been looking forward to this book. i like wool, i have no wool issues, but how can you not love luxury yarns? i figured the book would have small projects that you could knit with a ball or two of silk or bamboo. some large projects with cotton, hemp, or linen, but i had envisioned lots of little luxuries. maybe because to me, nice non-wool yarns are usually out of my budget and i can only afford one or two balls to make something pretty.

there are a handful of small projects (socks, a bag, mittens, knit collars, a scarf, a hat) but there are also lots of sweaters. unfortunately (fortunately?) for me, there isn't one sweater in there that i was immediately all ohhhhhhhhhh i want that! (which is odd because i'm a fickle bitch when it comes to knitting. oh well, i have a long enough list of must have knits) i'm sure the knitters out there with wool allergies were thrilled to see so many sweater patterns and not another book full of scarves or hats, rather a book just for them full of possibilities.

amy's contribution to the book, the tuscany shawl, is beautiful. wendy wrote recently, you are either a shawl person or you are not. at the time i thought "i am not." but who knows, maybe i need to try a bit of lace and i like the idea of using silk to knit lace.

what i really liked about the book was the first chapter. there is lots of information about the different non-wool fibres, including histories and useful things to keep in mind when using non-wool fibres to create a garment. she may actually have sold me on the idea of washing a swatch before starting any non-wool knitting. i have a new appreciation for silk and the price that comes along with it. and there's a hemp sweater that would look good on my man. i'll see if he's interested...

****

i wanted to save this post until after amy's visit to our guild. amy singer! at the guild! last night!

amy is a friendly person but she seemed to recognize me. we've had a few brief interactions over the last few years (including stalking her and stephanie at the knitter's fair in 2005) but enough to remember me? cool. maybe is was my 30 seconds of fame on the yarn harlot's site back in january.

her talk was great. considering she had to be at breakfast television this morning at some ungodly hour, she was remarkably relaxed. even when the microphone died and it took them 15 minutes to find another battery. instead amy happily signed books and let me take her picture.

it was great to hear her speak and expound on the book contents. the patterns in the book were all selected for specific reasons, designed to highlight certain aspects of the various fibres. amy brought all of the garments from the book; it was fabulous to actually fondle and squeeze the lovely lovely fibres. i have a new appreciation for the thrummed mittens (knit with cotton and silk roving) that i probably never would have given a second thought (how woolly of me!) and the bathrobe! oh la la! amy admitted it costs between $400 and $600 of yarn. go big or go home, right? and the tomato pattern is much nicer in person than in the book.

oh, and i have a new button to put on my knitting bag. thanks, amy!

by the skin of my teeth

2007-04-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

now that it is officially spring (not that you'd know it what with the snow and all), i've been feeling guilty about that not quite finished clapotis. it would looks smashing with my new spring coat (i took ms. hedda's advice i bought a smart new coat) and new fluevog boots.

to recap on the clapotis situation, i finished it but i wasn't happy with it. i was paranoid of running out of yarn so i cheated by doing a bunch of k2togs in the repeats to reduce the number of rows i had to knit. so about 12 rows from the end, my clapotis suddenly got skinnier. no one would ever see it but i would know it was there.

i pulled it out saturday, threaded yet another lifeline in (that's 4 for those who are counting), and ripped back confident that i had enough yarn to finish it properly.

let's just pause for a moment to laugh at my naivety.

so even thought it was becoming clear that i actually did not have enough yarn to finish, i kept knitting. the rows were getting shorter and shorter, with fewer and fewer stitches, surely i could eke it out (did i just split an infinitive there? is it "eke out"?).

alas, it was not so. stubborn, i dug around in my knitting notions bag (where the scissors, tapestry needle and stitch markers live) and pulled out the end i had snipped off when i joined my second ball. (this is exactly why i fear throwing out things that i might need later) really determined now, i admit to one k2tog and really tight stitches and this is what i have.

i'm leaving the ends like that until i can show it off to the guild tomorrow night (amy singer! is coming! to talk to us!) and the tuesday night knitters. then i'm going to sew them in with thread because there aint no way i'll be able to weave those suckers in.

the other mildly amusing aspect of the scarf, one which i hope goes away with enough wear and scrunching, is the obvious point where i started to worry that i would run out of yarn. three quarters of the claptois has nice drape, loose, even stitches. the last quarter is *tight*. meh.

rippit rippit

2007-04-08T12:06:00.000-04:00

curses!

2007-04-07T12:43:00.000-04:00

last night we popped in season 1 of angel and laughed at how bad the vampire makeup was while remarking how it was so much better than the first two seasons of buffy. the makeup came a long way in seven years.

i debated over knitting a few more rows of part C on the green (plum) gable. i counted up the number of stitches on the arms (49) and compared to the pattern (47, 53, 65, 75, 84). i decided to increase to 51 and started knitting away, only to change my mind midway through the first sleeve section. i tinked back, slipped the arm stitches onto spare yarn, knit, slipped the other arm, and then slipped half the sweater onto a second needle and tried that sucker on!

and it looks great! i love it! i was convinced it was going to be ginormous but it sits perfectly across the chest, the lace ends at a decent spot just above the cleavage, the neck is wide enough but not too wide that my bra straps will show. yippee! (no photo evidence because it was dark and taking a picture of myself in the mirror with a flash wasn't going to work.)

the arms are a bit too short and a bit tight under the arm. a few more increase rows should solve that problem clickety-click.

i was admiring the lace in the mirror when i noticed this:

see it? a couple days ago, i was waiting for a friend to pick me up and was standing and knitting in the front door, watching for her car. when i dropped the right needle and lost a bunch of stitches. i thought i picked them up correctly but was worried i missed a yo. i couldn't see it though. i knit another round and still couldn't see it. so i kept going. but last night in the mirror, that missed yo is way obvious. it is front and centre. curses!

i am considering my options and trying to remain positive.

1) keep going because no one is ever going to notice unless they are staring very closely at my chest. which if they are, they are not going to admit to it.

verdict: meh. i won't be happy. if people are staring at my chest i want to know they are looking at my breasts, not my knitting mistakes.

2) put in a lifeline and mark the offending spot. rip back.

verdict: i've never done a lifeline in a lace pattern (i don't think the clapotis counts), it seems way complicated and time consuming. i'll likely miss another freaking yo, the whole thing will look like ass and i'll end up frogging it.

3) frog it and start over.

verdict: currently in the lead. i started this sweater last week, i think. i've barely had any knitting time all week and yet i'm just about finished the complicated part of the sweater.

opinions and words of encouragement are welcome!

brittle disappointment

2007-04-06T16:38:00.000-04:00

can wool become brittle over time? would lack of proper care cause the fibre to weaken? old age? is wool just like people?

i tried to save the aran sweater, i really did. alas, even gentle tugs on the yarn caused it to snap like an 85 year old's hip on an icy day.

the only way to save this sweater now is to make it into a pillow cover. but it doesn't really fit into our design aesthetic. anyone want a slightly scratchy aran pillow sham?

bottles and cans, baby clap your hands (where it's at II)

2007-04-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

i brought green gables with me to tuesday night knitting and managed to knit a couple rows last night during america's next top model. ahem. i can't help it! antm is like a car accident.

anyway, i've knit maybe 6 rows of just plain st st (part C in the pattern) and i'm thinking that my sleeves are long enough. i might knit 2 more rows just to be certain but if i hold it up to where i think the neckline should be sitting, the sweater sleeve is the same length as my t shirt sleeve.

so i'm not even close to the 15 rows of part C with all the increases that go with it. (we've already established that i am not getting stitch gauge, i'm definitely not getting row gauge.) i need to take another look at the pattern and figure out if i can continue on with the fewer stitches. it'd be like making a medium upper part and an extra small lower part. that can't be good. or maybe it is pure genius!

when i'm done the next few rows and can try it on, i'll know if i need to frog. stay tuned!

have you read the yarn harlot's tale about being trapped at the chicago airport? it has everything! it'll make you laugh, make you cry, make your heart swell with pride. go read it!

i have my own tale of woe concerning chicago and the airport but it pales in comparison to stephanie's. at least she didn't puke in the middle of an El station at rush hour. or in the back of the cab on the way to the airport. i haven't had many truly bad days in my life but that day in chicago is right up there.

plunge

2007-04-03T16:39:00.000-04:00

when i was 11 my mother tried to teach me how to sew. these little sessions were not fun because i wanted to be outside playing or in my room reading or fighting with my brothers over the remote. anywhere but in the basement learning how to stitch a hem or wind a bobbin.

in highschool i made a couple pencil cases and my mom was quietly thrilled from the sidelines as i finagled a zipper in place. i also tapered a lot of jeans, breaking needles like crazy as i put my mom's kenmore through its paces.

for one of my brithdays in my early twenties i asked for a sewing machine. i pull it out from time to time when i need to sew things quickly but largely it has languished in the background.

since i've been on mat leave, i've trawled the 'net for crafty inspiration and have found the most amazing, talented bloggers. i'm always thinking, i could do that. i secretly dream of having a craft room with a big table and lots of organization.

today i took the plunge. the wee monkey and i headed off to the local len's mill store and i pawed through some fabric. (len's mill is really indescribable. it is the messiest, craziest, dirtiest store full of crap that is really all about flukes and bargains. cheap yarn, cheap fabric, cheap everything. you just need patience and the ability to maneuver around piles of crap. it makes thrift stores look like chic boutiques.)

i bought a cutting mat and rotary cutter, snap pliers and snaps, thread, a couple zippers, a fabric pencil, and some fabric. i am so excited! if everything goes well, i'll have pictures soon. if not, i'll have some gently used snap pliers, a cutting mat, and rotary cutter for sale...

where it's at

2007-04-02T13:00:00.000-04:00

(got two turn tables and a microphone...)

i'm on the last row of the lace repeats. the sweater is knitting up quickly but i'm still a mite concerned about the size. can't wait to get the sleeves done so i can try it on.

the colour is a bit more plum-y, less purple.