Retreat

The Dude is also a pharmacist. A very busy pharmacist who found himself lacking in the education credits needed to maintain a pharmacy license. Fortunately, there was a big conference being held this weekend in Banff and we decided to go. WITHOUT the kid.

Friday morning, after much packing and gnashing of teeth, we dropped the daughter off at the Dude's parent's house and hit the open road. Banff is about 4 hours away. That means 4 hours of uninterupted knitting time. Bliss.

Once we arrived and checked in, the Dude headed off to learn about such important topics as cardiovascular risk reduction and diarrhea. I headed off to the spa. A one hour massage in the hands of a very capable therapist followed by general pampering. Hot tubs, mineral baths with music piped under the water, snacks and drinks. I loved it.

Here was the view from our balconey. (There are mountains back there. Trust me.)

I spent the rest of the weekend taking things slow and enjoying my time alone. The 4 hour drive home dragged on as I looked forward to getting home to the piglet. Time away is great but I missed my big girl and I'm glad to be home.

I finished the first sock of the March STR package. I'll show you pictures in a few days when most of the packages have been received. I tried very hard to avoid all spoilers (I would just like to point out that the title of the pattern should be kept secret as well as the color of the yarn. You can learn a lot from a pattern title.) and I would hate to ruin the fun for anyone.

Only 2 weeks left til the big birthday. I have to get crackin' on some teacups.

A Barrage of Bullets

This is total blogging laziness...I'm aware. No full sentences today, just a barrage of bullets or as I read another blogger refer to it one time as "blogging prison-style (bring on the bullets)":

• Finished these lovelies in about 3 days. As requested by the birthday girl. And deemed as being "cool".

• Have been working on a top secret project - it is also completed.....and just needs some minor sewing (I think I actually have to pull out my sewing machine...yikes). It's pink and girly and definitely not for anyone in my house.
  

• A lot of people have been asking me about my Sunrise Circle. It's currently in the pond de grenouille. Probably will be restarted in the fall when the thought of working with heathered wool doesn't give me hives.
  

• Got my most recent STR shipment and it does rock. It's my favorite color (ok, more like my 2nd favorite).
  

• I started to make myself a summer top with a linen-cotton blend I got for Christmas. So far so good. I've never made any of Grumperina's designs (not even Jaywalkers) and I'm excited about this one.
  

• Next on my list is this. One for Punky and one for Stinky. Fitting of course.

• Following those projects, I need to figure out what to knit for a new baby that will be coming along in the fall. I am drawing some inspiration from this.

• In the meantime, it's the weekend and I've got things to do, places to go and boys to entertain. No problem, right?

• Yeah they look harmless don't they.....

Kindest Blog-love ever!!

J. and I have been lucky with this whole blog thing. We've met good people (primarily knitters of course, and they are inherently good). People (ok, one person) has showered us with praise. Lucky we are.


But today I had the best moment so far while blogging. Our Swedish friend, Metta (her name is actually Margareta), who joined our Hanami knit-a-long, knit my socks!! My Swedish isn't so good, but she left some kind words in her last comment.


I feel all warm and fuzzy inside....

Moving On

I did it. I finished the Cozy. I wove in the ends, blocked it and wore it today. Now, I think it will be resigned to my closet shelf until the leaves fall and there's an ominous chill in the air. Not the ominous chill we're having now, one that's more autumnal.

I've also been knitting some socks. I'm making it up and using yarn that I dyed myself. The colors are, let's face it, garish but they hint at spring so I'm going with it.

What do you think? Blinding, to say the least.

I hope the Easter Bunny treated you well. I know we had a great day with family and food. (And no naps, but I'm trying to be positive here.)

Reprieve

My dear husband and I had a little bit of a reprieve last night. The boys went to their Popa and Grandma's for a sleep over. We went out for dinner with some people Jeff knows from work; they had invited us over to their place.

I have to be honest, I was NOT looking forward to it. I'm not so good at small talk. I don't like meeting new people (J. says that I have a loathing for the general public - it must stem from that). These are people Jeff knows and I've met once, 2 years ago. I could have thought of a lot better things to do with our night off. But, being the dutiful wife that I am (no laughing), I went, with a smile on.

It started off well. Wine, lots of good wine, followed by an amazing dinner. Then I mentioned something about being at a knitting store recently, and you won't believe what happened next. I found out that the lovely lady is a knitter. Seriously? We had knitting show and tell, we discussed Elizabeth Zimmermann, I introduced her to Ravelry. It made conversation easy and the boys could talk "shop" without feeling too guilty. All in all, a suprisingly fun night.

You gotta love knitters.

Cuppa Tea?

Would you like a cup of tea? I can offer you a choice of pink or yellow cup with matching saucer.

You can even help yourself to sugar but if you're the kinda tea drinker that likes her cream, I'm afraid you'll have to do without. At least until I have a chance to knit up a creamer. And I hope you don't mind steeping the tea in your cup because the teapot isn't done either.

Just move that knitting over and have a seat on the sofa.

Why, yes, that is my Cozy all finished with the ends woven in! Thanks for noticing! It really does need a soak and some blocking but feel free to wrap it around your shoulders if you're feeling chilly.



Can I offer you a cookie?

Stripes!!

I decided to finally use my hand-dyed. J. and I had dyed some yarn a while ago and I was waiting for a lull in the knitting queue to use it. As I'm anxiously awaiting the 2nd STR shipment, I thought I'd do some quick socks for Punky. He saw the yarn and requested it. I wouldn't say that orange is his favorite color (it varies, somedays green and somedays blue. NEVER pink or purple though, those are, according to him "gurlz colorz"). But he saw this yarn and asked for some socks.

So I cast on some late last week and finished the first sock on Saturday.

Look at the stripe action I got going. The yarn is primarily neonic orange, with little runs of light brown and spots of white (basically to break up the neon and not give yourself a headache).

Here's a closer look at the leg. The tone is a little off in this picture, but you can actually see how nicely distributed the colors are, with the small runs of brown.

And finally the heel. Again, good color distribution to break up the orange.

Punky was so excited about the socks, he insisted on wearing the one finished sock to the birthday party he was going to. However, after taking a sharp corner at home whilst running on the laminate, he thought better of it. Good thing. His dad was having a heart attack about him going out into the world with different colored socks on. Seriously, if that's the worst thing he leaves the house in, I'm not too concerned.

Limbo

I seem to be in between a lot of things at the moment.

I am in between my old pants and maternity pants. My regular ones are, shall we say, snug. The stretchy ones are comfy but have a tendency to fall off my butt.

I am still chipping away at the Cozy and am optimistic that it will be done by Easter. The teaset is also progressing but every thing is going slowly. I'd really love to cast on some new socks like these maybe using this yarn, but the Socks that Rock March Edition should be arriving soon and I know I'll want to start them as soon as possible.

I was really hoping that we were heading for a big thaw but we got a bunch of snow the other night. Everything is once again covered in a white blanket and I want to wear spring things.

Something needs to change.

8 going on 16, or 64.

My oldest niece turns 8 this week (seriously, 8? when did that happen?). Beth is a gregarious, outgoing, lanky little reminder of someone from my past. She is an excellent big cousin to the boys and is constantly worried about them. Punky has some food-related allergies and Bethie is always concerned about this. "Auntie T, does this cake have eggs? Mom are you sure you made these cookies without eggs? Auntie T, did you check with the waiter to make sure the food doesn't have egg." We repeatedly assure her that we are on top of this issues.

I have learned about High School Musical from her, and am starting to learn about Hannah Montana. These are things that I'm pretty much clear of over her in testosterone-ville. It's nice to have the little window into the preteen world of pop-culture and to have things to discuss with her. We had a long discussion this week regarding her thoughts that Hannah Montana has a peanut allergy, because it looks like she has a medic-alert bracelet on (according to Beth's new Hannah Montana Pillow). I suggested maybe she had something else like, I don't know, diabetes. And Beth laughed. "Auntie, all the kids in my class who have diabetes don't wear medic-alerts. Only the kids with peanut allergies".
Please note: 1. my niece's mother (my sis) is a doctor - so discussion of health-related issues, is normal to her, and requires little explanation. 2. she's smart, just like her auntie.

The other lovable thing about this little girl is her fascination with my knitting. She always asks if I knit what I'm wearing. She always notices.

So, when the time comes, I'll buy her some sticks and yarn and teach her the skill.

Until then, I'll make her little knits to show her how much I love her.

Escalier

I present to you Baad Medicine's First Pattern, Escalier. Check out our side bar for the link to the pdf file.



This pattern was inspired from the Harmony Guides Eyelets and Lace, as well as a concern for my friend's feet. I am very happy with the result and the recipient is in love with the socks.




Let me know if you're knitting it or come across any problems with the pattern.

I hope you enjoy it!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The legend for the chart is currently not in the pattern.

It is:
p = purl,
\ = skpo,
/= k2tog,
o=yarn over

Baby Surprise Jacket

Ok. I couldn't take all that wool knitting for the Cozy so I broke down and made something else. It's a BSJ! And now I understand the fascination! You cast on a bunch of stitches and then, through a series of clever increases and decreases, you get a sweater. It's the weirdest thing!
Every once in a while I'd have to stop knitting and do some fancy oragami folds to see if it was going well. You can actually see the sleeves develop as you knit. It's a brilliant piece of knitwear design. EZ was a Master.

I even managed to find buttons to match. I only made three buttonholes because babies squirm and it's nice if their legs can be free.

And who is the lucky Mother to be?

I am! Baby Surprise!

So Raise Your Pinkie! Pip pip, Cheerio!

I have been working on the Cozy. It's means to an end. Looks pretty good, too!

My question is...how long do I make this thing? This is one ball of yarn's worth of Cozy. I have one more ball. Do you think I should use it all up? Giving my motivational issues, I'm tempted to make it long enough to reach from fingertip to fingertip and then call it a day. What do you think?

Ah. Now this is what I really want to be knitting. A cute little teaset in springy colors and COTTON! I can just about finish a piece in a sitting so it's very satisfying after slogging away on the Cozy.

Now, do you take one lump or two?

Deep Thoughts (well, more like random, semi-shallow thoughts)

Why when you want to start a new project and are looking for inspiration, nothing speaks to you; but when you're not looking for a new project, everything speaks to you?

Why is there not enough hours in the day to work, parent, eat, be a spouse and knit, and be able to do all these things with gusto and heart?

Why does your brain literally hurt when you are learning new concepts?

Why can't I figure out how to easily construct a pattern chart so I can publish the new sock pattern here and give some actual knitting-related content rather than random, fleeting thoughts?

Why is life so hard?

Why do we as women question our beauty, talent and intelligence, when we are smart, talented and beautiful women?

Why did I watch that stupid show last night and waste one hour of my life, when I could have used that hour to (a) clean a bathroom, (b) fold laundry, (c) have a conversation with my husband, or (d) gone to bed?

Why have I started 3 different projects this week and frogged each and every single one of them?

Why do I keep rambling on?

Why am I the only person in the world who doesn't know what the h-e-double hockey sticks is going on in Lost?

Why do all the adults in my house have to have such large feet, that it takes forever to make socks?

Why is it already March?

Ok, I'm feeling better now.

Thanks for listening.

Flashback

There was a ten year reunion of my pharmacy class on Saturday and I didn't want to go. I didn't want to feel inadequate or frumpy or "uncool". I didn't want to feel like I did when I was going to school, always trying a little too hard and not being myself.

My Dude made me go. We were in the same pharmacy class and starting dating just as our last year was wrapping up. We still run into people we went to school with who don't know we hooked up.

So I bought myself a new dress, dolled myself up and went to the party. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be because I have gained PERSPECTIVE. It's my new favorite thing. It makes everything make more sense and allows me to see my place in the world. Like the girl who always made me feel a little too big, not quite pretty enough, not quite bubbly enough? Now I am happy to watch her shake her stuff on the dance floor and know that I could take her in a shimmy off. (I know how to shake it, I just choose my moments.) And I'll never be as tiny as she, but I have run 4 half marathons and birthed a baby. Not too shabby.

That's the thing about perspective. You get to see the whole picture without judgement. You can be honest with yourself and know that you have done pretty well. You don't have to compare yourself to anyone else.

By the way, the Dude says I looked hot. And he's not wrong.

Ya-da Ya-da Blah Blah Blah

I was going to blog today about the issues I'm having with my newest project (all sizing and gauge related) and then describe in grand detail my newest sock creation (a Baad Medicine Original - details coming soon)....

....but I just wasn't feeling it. Sorry - I don't have it in me today. I think it's related to 2 very early mornings, too many fevers in my house and too little coffee.

So, instead I leave you with this - my homage to 1970s fast food decor.

My goal for tonight - roll it into a ball.