I found out recently that one of my favorite LYS is closing it’s doors later this week. As a result of this devastating news Nod and I hopped on to public transit last week for some stash enhancements. I’ve already added it to my Ravelry stash page if you’re interested in seeing what I got.
As for my Oaklet Shawl I’m now at the lace border. Since I’m still a beginner lace knitter I need to pay fairly close attention to what my doing. As a result I can only work on the shawl after both kids are in bed. Nod is currently teething so I’m lucky if I can get a row done in the evenings. Thankfully I have a pair of socks on the needles as well so I have something to work on while we wait to pick up Boo from school or while Husband is driving us into town.
Wednesday last week proved to be an adventure for us. My husband had a Skype interview with an outfit in Saskatchewan that evening. So that he wouldn’t have to worry about the kids making noise in the background I walked them up to the McDonald’s not far from our place for dinner. Everything was going okay until roughly a half hour after we got home when Boo started to get really squirmy and complained about a sore stomach. Thinking she just needed the toilet we sent her off to the bathroom. That was when I heard her start to cry. It was the cry that I know means something is very, very wrong. Immediately I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, just in time to witness her bring up her whole dinner. I yelled for my husband to start a bath and to be on contain the baby duty while I held Boo’s hair back. Once I was certain that she had finished, I helped her change out of her soiled clothes, brought her upstairs, and got her into a bath.
After her bath was when we received our second surprise of the evening. Growing behind her bottom teeth was a new, adult tooth! She had two rows of teeth, something that Google tells us is just a natural variant of how teeth come in. We plan on getting her into a dentist as soon as my husband’s new medical plan kicks in.
Thursday I kept Boo home from school. By Friday she was feeling better so she got to go to school that day. After school she told me that her baby tooth became loose at recess. By the time we got home from school Boo was complaining that her baby tooth hurt. Around 4pm Friday, even after having some children’s Tylenol to help with the pain, Boo suddenly started to cry again. Her tooth was really hurting. This time I was able to very genitally pull it out. Thankfully once the tooth was out the pain went away. Now she not happily telling people that she it a big kid since she’s lost a tooth.
Last weekend we went on a road trip to stay at my in-law’s cabin on one of the Canadian Gulf Islands in the Salish Sea. I enjoy going to the cabin. As it is out of cell range and the cabin has no internet it’s a great place to go to and truly escape. Both of the children had a blast visiting their grandparents. Boo enjoyed playing all sorts of imagination games with Grandpa, while Nod worked on a learning new skill. What new skill? Climbing the stairs! It won’t be much longer before Nod is running and chasing after his sister.
Bohemian Hat
For the trip I brought 3 projects with me. A hat, a baby blanket I’m making for a friend who is expecting, and a shawl.
Completed Bohemian Hat
The pattern for the hat is Bohemian by Atelier Nordrise. It is a free pattern on Ravelry. Since it using huge needles and bulky yarn it knitted up super quick. By the time we crawled into bed Friday night I had already completed it and weaved in it’s ends. I don’t think I’ve ever completed a knitted project in one day and it was immensely satisfying. It was my first time knitting a hat and doing cable work. I’m real happy with how it turned out and looking forward to wearing it this winter.
10 Stitch Blanket
The 10 Stitch Blanket by Frankie Brown I brought along is another free Ravelry pattern. I didn’t work on it as much as I had hoped I would of. My shawl project distracted me from it. I’m hoping to get the blanket done by July long weekend when we head out of town on another road trip. My friend isn’t due until September but we’ll be seeing her mom in July and I’d like to be able to get it to them before the baby comes.
As for the distracting shawl, I haven’t photographed it yet.
I’m sitting here madly trying to weave in all of the ends on Nod’s Playdate Cardigan. It was supposed to be a Christmas Sweater for him. Missed that due date by a long shot. There is still hope that I can get it finished by his birthday. It’s just a matter of discipline and weaving in the ends.
Spring has sprung and is quickly making way for summer. As a result, my knitting and spinning is being pushed to the back burner in favour of spending more time outside. Something both kids are enjoying.
In April, Boo and I were able to get in at a local Community Garden. The kids and I have been spending quite a bit of time down there. So far we’re growing potatoes, cauliflower, strawberries, beans, peas, onions, tomatoes, oregano, and basil. Boo is loving having more space to grow in and that she can grow some flowers this year. Last year we had to limit the flowers at our place due to my husband’s allergies. This year she can go crazy at the community garden.
Peas, Peppers, and Tomatoes
We aren’t just growing at the community garden. I am slowly taking over the space out front with planters. Earlier this month my husband bought me an 85lb bag of organic soil. He was surprised to find out that less than a week later I had used it all up. I don’t think he fully grasped how much I had planned on growing this year. Boy is he going to be surprised come harvest time.
I have another post I’m working on to give you all an update on the projects the kids and I are working on this summer. You all need to wait a little longer for that post. In the mean time my Husband and I have some scrambling to do. You see, this morning we woke up to find a press release stating that his job has been outsourced. Since I cannot work for medical reasons this is a huge blow to us. We’re now trying to figure out what we’re going to do next.
Over three months actually! I’ve got no excuse for the lack of posts other than laziness followed by life picking up speed. Here’s a quick run down of what’s been going on.
In February I made the decision to start seriously considering my options and what direction to take my life. Eventually I reached the decision that it would likely be best for me to consider retraining and return to school. After researching programs and schools I’m fairly certain I’ve narrowed it down to two. Each school and program have their pros and cons. All that remains now is finding out if the volunteer hours I did in Primary at my church last year will qualify for the required hours. If they do qualify it will just be a matter of waiting until June with registration opens up, if not it means that I’ll have to volunteer somewhere and then apply for school next year. In either situation it feels wonderful to have an idea of what direction to head in.
Knitting wise, I haven’t done much these last three months. That’s not to say that I haven’t been knitting. Nod’s sweater now has it’s sleeves. All that remains is adding the button band. Since later this month his is birthday it looks like his Christmas sweater will be a birthday sweater instead. I just hope that after all this time it fits him.
One sock done
As for my sock, I finished one and it didn’t fit me! It does fit Boo though. Almost perfectly in fact! The smile that she got on her face after I offered it to her made up for whatever disappointment I was feeling. I still need to make her the mate for it.
We have an unwelcome guest staying with us. It has only been a few days really, but already the guest has started to disrupt our lives and is the reason why Boo is home from school today. I’m generally not one to beat around the bush. Both Boo and I have a cold. An unfortunate result of my lack of a driver’s license and it being winter on the west coast.
There is a reason why this area is called a Temperate Rainforest. While the interior gets snow and rational winter weather, we get rain. And lots of it. Hopefully this means that this year our mountains will have a decent snow pack on them. Last summer we had a dreadful drought, which made things interesting as it was Boo’s and my first attempting a garden of our own.
Good-bye sleeve
I had to tear back the sleeve on Nod’s sweater earlier this week. I had realized that I had made a major error. Instead of spacing the decreases out I did them all at once. Even tiny humans don’t have 90 degree bends in their upper arms.
To be honest, I’m starting to get discouraged when it comes to this sweater. I’ve been working on it since November. It was meant to be a Christmas gift and at this rate Nod will be lucky to get it by Easter. I’ll keep slogging away at it. I just want it done.
It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to blog. Once again life came along and I found myself losing track of time and wondering how 8am became 7pm and what was going to put on the table for dinner. That’s not to say that I didn’t craft or create, I’ve just been busy.
Jade
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to meet up with another mom at a local coffee shop. She wanted to learn how to knit on the round, a skill I’ve been working on. It was an added bonus that the two of us have babies around the same age. Nod loved seeing another baby. I loved having another mom to talk parenting and knitting with. Since I have yet to make it to a knit night out here I have not found anyone to talk about the love of my craft with.
The mom also gifted up with a lovely jade plant, much to my husband’s joy. He had been wanting some more plants for around the home. Since jade doesn’t flower it’s a good one for us. My husband has terrible pollen allergies. Flowers are not something we get often for obvious reasons. Yet, he still loves plants and having green around the home. So we’re on a quest to find lovely leafy, green plants for him.
Corriedale Fibre and Ashford Drop Spindle
Once the kids started to reach their limit the mom and I wandered over to a LYS. As you can tell I picked up some fibre to spin up. I totally blame Andi from Andre Sue Knits for it. She’s been talking a lot lately about spinning and it made me want to get back in to it. I’ve been watching some YouTube videos on using a drop spindle and while I think I’m doing it right it’s a lot harder than the people in the videos make it seem. Granted my opportunity to spin comes during those brief moments between the children going to bed, the evening chores done, and before it’s time for me to turn in. It also comes at the cost of my knitting time.
Speaking of knitting, I’m still working on Nod’s Playdate and my socks. I’m half way done on sleeve on the Playdate and completed the heel turn on the first sock during the morning nap. It’s usually around this point in my projects, that point where you can start to see the finish line, that I start to get distracted. I start wondering what should I knit next? I’ll go onto Ravlry and spend too much time looking at projects, checking to see if I have the yarn for a certain project in stash or wondering if I should pop out to a LYS to pick some more up. I’m trying to get better. I want to finish these projects first but the siren call of something new and shiny to work on it so tempting.
I know once I work past these temptations I’ll reach the actual home stretch. That moment when the finish line is right in front of me and the desire to reach that finish is so strong that nothing can distract me from it. For now, I’ll just try to put the blinders on and block out the siren call of a new project.
Besides the socks I have two other projects on the go. Both of them are left over Christmas projects that I simply could not get done in time. The first is the baby’s sweater.
Playdate Cardigan by Tin Can Knits in Lion Brand Sock-Ease
It’s a Playdate Cardigan from Tin Can Knits. Another purchase from Knit City last year. This is also the first sweater I’ve ever knit. The pattern is straight forward and easy to follow. For yarn I choose to go with Lion Brand’s Sock-Ease in Rock Candy. Originally I had thought that I had chosen to knit up the 6m-12m size but when it came time to knit the arm holes I realized that I had actually gone with the 1y-2y size! It’s likely a good thing too. The baby is growing so quickly now that he’s starting to be in 9m clothes.
Picking up the left arm
The sweater called for seaming the front to the back using kitchener stitch. Since this was my first time doing kitchener I had to pop over to YouTube and watch some tutorials on how to do it. Once I found my rhythm I actually found that I enjoyed doing it. Perhaps it was because I learned a new skill or may-be I’m just one of those knitters who enjoys seaming. Now I’m onto knitting up the arms. I can see the end of project coming and I’m already wonder if I should cast on another sweater once this one is off of my needles. My daughter has been asking for me to make her one so that might be coming next.
Susie Roger’s Reading Mitts
The last thing on my needles is a pair of Susie Roger’s Reading Mitts for my sister. I’d link you to the yarn but my husband threw out the skein band before I had a chance to add it to my Ravelry and my spare skein is in the stash upstairs in the room the baby is sleeping in. I’ll try to remember to grab is later to tell you. My sister has been asking for me to knit her a pair of fingerless mitts for about the past 3 or 4 years. Considering it took me 9 years to knit up the blanket I had been promising my husband I think my sister is getting a pretty good turn around time. I had originally intended to make these as a Christmas gift for her but since I had the baby’s sweater and my niece’s gift on the needles I had opted to buy her something else instead. Instead these will be an “I love you and know these will help you” sort of gift. I know that she’ll understand why it’s taken me so long to make them. That’s the beauty about sisters. They understand you.
Willow Brook Homestead 