Quickie

I'm leaving in hours...but had to share this before I left.



Super awesome pics thanks to my 3 year old Stink.

Shut down for maintenance

Baad Medicine industries has to take a little leave.

J. is off in the land of pineapple and luaus.

T. is off to the land of koalas and kangaroos.

We will be back in a couple weeks, with stories, knitting and more.

Vancouver Twenty-Ten

The Olympics are coming to Canada! And with them, a huge amount of excitement for all Canadians.

There are torch relays to attend, and Olympic paraphenalia to buy, and pressure to apply to all the Canadian athletes (especially the hockey players - anything less than gold would be a huge disappointment.

Some of us are actually going to attend some Olympic events (J., not me) in Vancouver, while others (me) will watch from home with 2 little men who've been told that if they don't cheer from Canada they might get arrested. When you're 6, you generally just like to cheer for whoever is winning - he needs to learn that when it comes to the Olympics, it's entirely based on your country.

What I am doing to be prepared? Picking out my Ravelympics project. The Vine Yoke Cardigan By Ysolda (who is a genius!!). J. will also be partaking in this project.

I am getting excited to cast-on and knit for glory. And keeping my fingers crossed that we get at least ONE gold medal on Canadian soil.

I've come to a Difficult Decision

I am going away for a family vacation. There will be sun and a beach. There will ice cream and pineapples. And hopefully, there will be a little knitting.

I had decided that knitting a Damson in Wollmeise would be delightful holiday knitting. It's light and compact with a lot of easy garter stitch. In preparation for this project, I set out to wind my yarn. And that's when everything went horribly wrong.

I have most of the yarn wound in a lovely cake on my ball winder. The last 100 yds or so are a horrible knot. And not just any knot. It's the knot to end all knots. I struggled with it. I tugged and wiggled and eased and worked and after 2 hours, there is still a knot. It is a much smaller knot, but still a knot.

I couldn't sleep last night. The anxiety of preparing for a trip with 2 small people, packing, worrying and THE KNOT combined to keep me up all night. And I have to decided that it is not worth it. I am going to CUT the yarn. I am going to cut my expensive, covetted, rare and wonderful German yarn to save my sanity. I should still have lots of yarn for the Damson and I will keep the naughty knotty end as a precaution.

This is the most unkindest cut of all...

A Bird in the Hand....

....is priceless. At least, these ones are.

I like to do a little selfish knitting for my birthday. It's just after the holidays and I have spent the last few months of the year knitting gifts for loved ones. Once I'm finished, I cast on for myself.

These are the Bird in Hand mittens. I love them. Cascade 220 in red and a lovely, lofty, creamy alpaca that lives not 45 minutes from where I am typing.

They are warm and soft and make me smile.

A Virtual Party

It is Ms J's 29th birthday today, and in honour of that, I thought we could throw a little virtual party for her. Everyone is invited - you just have to leave a comment of a virtual present you want to send J. I'll start.

I give you a complete set of Signature DPNs. All sizes.

I give you a spot in the Notorious Sock Knitter's World Domination Tour 2010 (did you hear there will be a pattern from Meg Swansen??).

You also get registration to all Cat Bordhi's workshops at Olds Fibre Week.

Happy Birthday my dear friend - you truly deserve all of this and more.

Dude

Today is the Dude's Birthday. Another year older, another year together. I'm so lucky to have married my best friend, a man who makes me laugh, who straightens me out when I go astray, who lifts me up when I fall. A man who has given me two beautiful daughters and a lovely life.

A man who makes me feel beautiful and mostly tolerates the knitting. I couldn't ask for more.

I love you. Many happy returns of the day.

The moment of truth

So The Beast.

It stresses me a little bit (kind of like how hauling my 3 year old out of public places stresses me out "a bit").

A lot of work is going to go into this little project and I just really want it to work out. So, on the suggestion of the knitting guru AKA J., I decided to block the pieces I've done and see how they fit. Make sure my original swatch didn't lie.

Last night was the moment of truth.

And guess what.....



...it's good. Really good.

We measured it against one of my Love's favorite sweaters and it's almost a perfect match. I'm debating adding 0.5 more inches to the body, but other than that, I'm totally on the right track.

Did you hear the HUGE sigh of relief from my little neighbourhood last night?

In conclusion...

Last year, I had excellent intentions of burning up my stash. I was going to knit only from yarn that I had and was going to save money. And I meant it, at the time. Unfortunately, a couple of sock clubs, some tempting sales and some fabulous yarn have been my undoing. I stopped keeping track of the yarn diet sometime in November. I guess I didn't want to see how much yarn I managed to accumulate.

On the other hand, I managed to knit 32 pairs of socks and or mittens. That is nothing to sneeze at. If I can manage the same this year, I might just use up some of the yarn I have lying around. I have decided not to worry about keeping track. It's my yarn and I like it. I plan on making a few sweaters this year with some of it, a shawl or two, socks and mittens. The thing I love about my stash is the potential. I pick up a ball of soft worsted and see a cowl, a scarf, a hat, colourwork on the yoke of a sweater. It could be anything I could think of. Why would I want to lose all of that food for my imagination?

I managed to whip up a few quick projects at the end of the year.

A hat.

A bat.

Some socks. (I'm pretty sure these took a couple of years off my life. Don't attempt men's sized socks with Socks that Rock Lightweight. I just barely had enough.)

I'm starting 2010 with some great socks on the needles and a lot of yarn waiting for me. My potential is limitless.

Highlights of 2009

I don't want to go on about the pros and cons of the year past. I'm not sentimental about New Years. I like the thought of a brand new slate, and try not to be burdened by the nagging leftovers of the previous year (the most important word in that line is try).

Having said that, 2009 did bring some great knitting-related highlights.

I made myself TWO of my best worn items of all times. Well worn and well loved.

I did some mean colour-work.


I got to go on an awesome weekend of knitting related antics with amazing girls (ladies? women? - it doesn't matter - they rock).

I also got the best knitting accessory of all time. A Snuggie. It's not a real snuggie - it's a fancy, wrap up blanket with little sleeves. It's adorable and warm and highly conducive to knitting. Love it.

It has been a good year. Full of great times, growing boys and lots of knitting.

Wishing you all a peaceful and knitterly 2010.