Yarn Along - Back to the Basics

I love to knit. My daughter Grace loves to read. I love Yarn Along,, but you will never find my nose in a book. So I bring you - YarnAlong, the kids edition. I'll show you my current knitting project, and the current book my daughter is loving. She's four, and spends as much of her day as possible reading!

Last night as I was starting to think about this post, I caught Grace reading a book she goes back to time and time again.  Grace has a tendency at playdates to check out her friends books and scurry away to a couch to read.  When she was around 3, she found the Dalmations book and asked to borrow it when we left.  As a result, she was gifted a set of five Disney books - Lady & The Tramp, Dumbo, Lion King, The Aristocats, & her favorite - The Dalmations.  They are a quick abridged version of the movie.  For the most part, I'm ok with Disney in the house, and have only found two that are not allowed - Bambi & Pinocchio.  But that could be a post for another time.  Onto knitting :)

 

We found out a couple of weeks ago, that Grace will be undergoing surgery this coming fall.  As we were leaving the hospital, I knew instantly what I wanted to do for her - knit a blanket.  I came up with a list of patterns, and Grace picked this Corntastic one as her favorite.  All this happened while Canada Post was on strike, and ordering Kollage Yarn from the US was not a possibility.  I knew that 60" of stockinette stitch could take a small century, and wanted to get this cast on as soon as possible.  Annie at my LYS (Local Yarn Store) helped me by ordering in 13 colors of Drops Baby Merino, and I cast on last week.  I'm about 2" in but am enjoying the easy knit.

 

 The Yarn Along from last week has been cast off - but I may cast it back on as I'd like to tweak the cast off a bit.  Will post back soon with complete photos!

Nate

We were both just kids when we met.  He 16, myself 18.  I was his youth group leader.  When I moved to Africa the year I turned 19, we were friends, but didn't stay in touch the year I was away.  Nate would tell you that while I was gone, he had a dream that he and I were married (he told me that on our second date!).  A memory I will never forget, is the first Sunday at church home from being overseas.  He came up behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and swung me around in a circle.  That was the beginning of something truly wonderful.

I was nervous about being in a relationship.  I was now 20 and had been single for almost two years, after a relationship that damaged my heart.  Nate has been repairing that hurt in a truly patient way.  Patient because it took almost 8 years.  He was a boy who knew what he wanted.  He even attended a country concert with me (as a West Coast boy, country was not in his repertoire).  He asked me if we'd like to marry after my first, or second degree.  I never answered, and when I began my last year of University in Victoria, Nate proposed that fall with a bottle of champagne on the top of a mountain.

I graduated in 2002, moved to Calgary in April (where my plan was to attend University for my 2nd degree), and Nate made the move to the prairies in July.  We wed in August.  I was a month shy of 23, and Nate was 21.  We married with no jobs & no home.  We just knew one thing.  We loved eachother.

We are coming up on 9 years of marriage this August.  And I was reminded today of how crazy in love with this man I am.  We have come so far, and I smiled today as he left for work, looking at the man he has become from the boy that I married.  Nate and I have two fiery personalities.  Our strength in marriage is two fold - we are really great communicators.  We hold nothing back and say it exactly how it is.  I never have to wonder what Nate is thinking or feeling.  This does occasionally cause frustration, and sometimes hurt.  But the second part of this is we are really great at coming back together.  At thinking things through, at healing the hurt, at meeting the other where they are at. 

I truly have married a forever friend, the love of my life, and am so blessed. 

Sweet Summertime

Our first ripe strawberry.

Split three ways.  And served over vanilla icecream.

The perfect way to enjoy our first fruit of the summer!

An Admission

I've been keeping this fairly quiet, because I knew when I did it, that I shouldn't have.  And I knew ultimately, that it was what caused this to happen.

I used our new front loader to wash the sweater.  But I hadn't yet figured out how to spin it, so I squeezed out as much water as possible from it, and laid it flat to dry.  But because it was still so waterlogged, three days later, it was still damp.  I don't have much patience.  I threw it into the dryer on an air cycle.  For 45 minutes.  It was time to get Grace to pre-school and it was still damp.  So I put it on.  There, I said it.  I put on a damp, handknit sweater.  By the end of the day, it had stretched to a square.

 I re-soaked it, figured out how to trick my front loader into doing a spin only cycle, and laid it flat to dry again.  And I let it dry.  Until it was bone dry.  It's all good.  The sweater fits, and no funny warping by the end of the day.  Which is a good thing, because I really love this sweater.

I only made a few mods to the pattern.  I started waist shaping at 6" rather than at 5", and I self-striped the arms by splicing the yarn when necessary so that it closer matched the pattern on the body.  I also knit the arms 1/2" shorter than called for - noyone needs saggy elbows.

Given this sweater is mostly cotton & silk I think it will be great for cooler Spring & Fall days.  I might layer a long sleeve tee under it too in the winter.  I think it's going to get lots of wear!

Yarn Along

I love to knit.  My daughter Grace loves to read.  I've always wished to join Yarn Along before, but you will never find my nose in a book.  So I bring you - YarnAlong, the kids edition.  I'll show you my current knitting project, and the current book my daughter is loving.  She's four, and spends as much of her day as possible reading!



The yarn is Sweet Georgia Silk Crush sock in colorway Blackberry.  It is SO soft to knit with.  This is becoming a Lace Capelet.  I've made a few changes - increased the cast on stitches, added a garter stitch border so it wouldn't roll, and increased the frequency of the lace section.  I've only been working on it for a couple of days so it's proving to be a quick knit!

The book is Richard Scarry's 'Biggest Busiest Storybook Ever'.  Grace calls it her 'City Book'.  It has great demontrations of animals doing everyday things - delivering mail, picking up garbage, flying a plane, and driving pickle trucks - lol.  She has alot of fun looking for the creature Goldbug in it.  If you have a pre-schooler this book is a hit!

First Day of Summer

It's here.  Officially Summer.  And the best part - it's actually hot & sunny today.   To celebrate, we are drinking lemonade, eating bananas dipped in sprinkles, and doing all of our favorite things.

 Grace reading in the hammock.

 Aidan splashing in his pool.  This boy has a thing for water!

 Knitting.  Not much better than knitting on a hot day, in a new sundress.  Photo courtesy of Grace, from the hammock.

And to make today even sweeter - our first strawberry is turning red. 

Welcome Summer.  We're so glad you're here :)

Pre-school Thank You

During the winter holidays I had decided I wanted to do a handmade gift to thank Grace's pre-school teachers at the end of the school year.  I'm a procrastinator at heart, and I realized two weeks ago, that I no longer had time to do the handknit items I had wished to.  So I turned to Google, and found an awesome project where the students had put their handprints all over a ceramic pot, and gifted it to their teacher with a plant.

Grace's pre-school doesn't offer parent volunteer opportunities, so I co-ordinated with her teacher to arrive one day during craft time.  Last Monday, Aidan and I stuck around outside after dropping Grace off, and the teachers assitant brought the students out in groups of threes.

I had already painted the pot blue for the sky and did the rim white for clouds.  I'd also done Grace's full handprint to represent a flower.  I really enjoyed talking with each student and having them pick their colour for their print.  Funny, most of the boys asked for 'blue' which was actually 'purple'. 

Once I got all the prints on, I took it home and turned the boys prints into bugs, and the girls into butterflies.  I then painted their name beside their fingerprint.  On the inside of the pot I wrote "Teachers help chidren bloom".

We gifted it to Grace's teacher this morning with a Chocolate Mint herb plant inside.

She absolutely loved it and said it meant alot to her.

 She is moving on to teaching kindergarten next year and will truly be missed.

Wasabi Pea

Rather wide no?  This is my newest sweater that I'd named 'Wasabi Pea' (solely due to the colour) after one day of wear.  Trust me, in the morning it fit.  By the end of the day, it had stretched out width wise by about 2" and was SO boxy.

The yarn is Noro Shirakaba (42% silk, 40% cotton & 18% wool).  The pattern is the Equinox Raglan.

So, here is my plan.  I washed it again this morning, and am blocking it (again).  I'll wear it again for one day and see if the same thing happens.  If it does, I'm frogging it back to the armpits and will knit it one size smaller. 

I'm already 80% sure that this is what is going to happen.  But, it's lovely yarn, and should be a lovely sweater, so I might as well make it something I will want to wear.

*And yes, I did swatch.  But, a swatch isn't subjected to a toddler on your hip, nor is a swatch worn for 8 hours.  I'm guessing the stretching is due to the cotton.

Over the top, Ballet for 4 Year Olds

When I was still pregnant with Aidan, I signed Grace up for dance at a nearby studio.  It was a Mom & tots class, and I'll just say we didn't last long. G is a bit of a free spirit, and she spent more time running out of the studio, than staying in it.  So when she asked to go into dance this past year, I was a bit reluctant.  But she was persistent.  I found a studio just down the street.  Bought her the tights, the tap shoes, ballet shoes, and the tutu. 

In October we were asked if we'd like the girls to participate in the year end recital.  Why not?  All the Moms in her class signed their girls up and bought the costume.

Then a month ago we were informed that if parents didn't volunteer, the girls wouldn't be allowed to dance.  Volunteering means seeing the show from backstage.  Friends or family in the audience can't record the show for you, as devices aren't allowed, and DVD's have to be purchased for $25.  There is a long story behind this, but the short end of it, after being threatened via e-mail by the studio, a MIL of one of the other Moms has stepped up to help our class out.

But, the make-up.  Oh I'm struggling with the makeup.  The girls are to wear - 2 coats of mascara, 2 shades of eyeshadow, black eyeliner, blush, lip liner & bright red lipstick.  This does not go with my granola nature.  I don't even wear mascara on a normal basis.  Now, I understand that this is so their face can be seen from the audience.  But people, the girls are dancing for 2 minutes at a church!  Not a big hall - a church.

The dress rehearsal is in two hours and I still don't know what to do. 

It just seems so incredibly wrong.

Were you in dance as a pre-schooler?  Is this the norm?  As a Mom, what would you do?

And for the record, no, we are NOT signing up with this studio again.  Nor are any of the other families in Grace's class.

Dedicated Knitter

You know what I'm doing right now? Typing yes, but I'm typing sitting in front of my new front load washing machine. And I probably will be for the next 20 minutes of the cycle.

My handknits are in it, and I must admit I'm a little freaked. Wool can felt. I really hope that this will NOT happen.  There is a cycle called 'Soak'.  I'm giving it a shot, but it freakishly tumbles the clothes every now and then.  Agitation of wool will cause felting.  So I enlisted Grace to bring me her reading light.  And I'm occasionally using it to open the door and check the knits.

This my friends, signals I am either crazy, or a really dedicated knitter. 

My new sweater I bound off today is in there.

18 minutes to go.

ETA:  I decided since I had my laptop with me, I'd listen to the song on my previous post, which caused me to actually laugh at myself.  And you know the best (scariest part) is that me sitting here does not shock my daughter, nor my husband.  Maybe they know not to mess with somebody who is usually armed with pointy sticks ;)

Loving this Song

I LOVE this song.  Everytime it comes onto the radio, I turn it up loud & he kids and I dance.  There is something so catchy about it.  It's upbeat, and there have been many times in this past month where it has picked up my spirits by listening to it.  I hope you enjoy it too!

A Day full of Awesome

Don't you love a really really great day?  Today was one of those for me.  Here's the highlights:

It was 10% off Tuesday at our local grocery store.  I strangely enjoy getting to the grocery store first thing in the morning to snag the awesome deals.  Today we saved a total of $65, by buying sale items, coupons & the 10%.  Sweet!

I headed out to my parents to return the truck, and the kids and I went to a drive thru coffee joint.  I know, I know.  But it was so tasty.  I am falling off the wagon I realize, but that will soon be remedied!  (You'll see why a few points furthur down) :)

This awesome yarn arrived in the mail.  I signed up for a year long subscription to Cookie A's sock club.  The patterns, and yarn, do not disappoint.  Loving this orange.

I had to drop some stuff off to a friend this afternoon, and got to have a few moments of baby snuggles. 

A great friend came over tonight, had dinner with us, then watched the kiddos so I could go get a haircut.  Love great friends (and she had to change a soiled diaper.  Now that is a great friend).

Awesome haircuts.  I keep going shorter and shorter.  I've never had the back quite this short.  What do you think?

Then I came home to this!

Nate gave me his airmile points, and I got myself a new espresso machine.  I'd had my last Starbucks one since I was on mat leave with Grace.  It still works but has a couple of quirks (if you're interested, I'm selling it for $25!), and I was wishing for something new.  Can't wait to try this new one out tomorrow morning!

My friend just left, the kiddos are both asleep, and I'm about to bind off the body of a sweater. 

Ahhh.... blissful, awesome day.

I am Woman, Hear me Roar

Inevitably what happens when your hubby doesn't operate on normal world time, is that you end up doing alot of 'man' work.  Our home still has lots of stuff that needs to get done, and for the most part, I've picked up alot of it and added it to my list of things to handle.  And for the most part, I don't mind.

I'm getting good at transferring car seats, and loading the kids into the back of my Dad's truck to go and get mulch from the sawmill, one town away.  And they are getting good at helping their Mama do yardwork.  Even Aidan was grabbing one handful of mulch at a time yesterday and throwing it into the wheelbarrow.

We've been in our home now for 8 years, and for 8 years we've had one flower bed that has been an incredible eyesore.  It had 4 flowering bushes in it, each half dead.  Beside this bed, is our neighbours bed, which has never been maintained, and each year gets more and more riddened with weeds.  Last year we had had enough, but this year we did something about it.

A couple weeks ago my hubby cut down the four bushes (7 in total as we also got rid of another 3 in other areas of our yard), then this weekend dug out the stumps.  (There are some things this Mama is just not strong enough to do).  Today, after taking G to pre-school, Aidan and I went, got the truck, got mulch, and after getting G from school, and putting Aidan down for a nap, Grace and I put down the landscape fabric and threw on the mulch. 

I wish I had a before picture to show you, but I think our neighbours (left side) of the photo gives you enough idea of what we were tackling. 

Ours is now a clean slate.  I think we are going to leave it for this year, then next year put down some big rocks & evergreens.  And you know what?  For the first time in 8 years, our neighbours came out and spoke with us, saying "we were just about to do our side too".  You were, were you. 

We also removed the bushes in the front of our house.  I still think this would be a great spot to put a little deck.  We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I feel quite proud of my ability to do some tough work, and think it's pretty neat that Grace especially sees that a woman is capable of doing tough dirty work too.

Scratch that Itch

I've been really good with spending the past few months.  Since becoming aware of our budget in April, and actually sticking to it, and trying to skim it down, I've also been buying less "stuff" for myself (yes, this includes yarn).  I knew I was in trouble when yesterday I got the deep desire to spend money.

I found myself Googling shoes, etsy handbags, dresses (oh how I want to find summer dresses to wear).  And then today, I went out solo to a yarn store, to buy some wool for a swap.  I thought the store opened at noon, and arrived at 12:30.  The store opened at 1 pm.  Here the downward spiral begins. 

I had some time to kill, and there was a Starbucks a block away.  I could only fight the desire so long, and went and bought a coffee (heh!  I haven't bought one in a week!).  More time to kill so I wandered through a clothes shop and tried on a couple dresses.  Is it me or are dresses really hard to find one you absolutely love and fits properly?  I escpaed without a dress, and went to the yarn store.

I picked up the yarn I was looking for, then casually browsed the store.  I think that was mistake #2 (if we count SB's at mistake #1).  I had ventured through the entire store, was about to check out, and saw this:

It's Malabrigo Rasta in the colorway Indiecita.  I've bought this yarn before in fingering weight for a swap, and LOVE the colour.  I couldn't resist.  I picked up 2 skeins, with the plan to knit myself a cowl for the winter.  I had all sorts of justifications - we have long winters here, there are so many colours in this I could wear it with anything, it's been a long time since I bought yarn...

Leaving the store, I called my hubs and Aidan was still sleeping.  So I detoured to the mall and tried on a couple of dresses.  I think it was lucky that I didn't like either I tried on.  Because it put an end to the spending streak.  Good for me, and good for the wallet.

Do you ever get the itch to shop?  Do you succumb?