I hope everyone who was lucky enough to have a long weekend enjoyed theirs. Oh, Jo, there is an explantion of V Day over at T&J's Blog.

Since I did my Friday night recap on Friday night, we'll skip straight to Saturday morning.

Got up horrendously early on a day off, did the breakfast and shopping thing. Spent an obscence amount of money. And tried on clothes with friends:



Did some more shopping once I got to Kingsway to meet Mom, nothing major there, got the shoes to go with the dress:



Saturday night at Mom's was spent watching Brother Bear (and you all know how much I love that show), and making soap:



We woke up Sunday morning to dye yarn.

Dudes, this was so much fun. I've been looking in my stash for something else that I can overdye. Sadly, there is nothing. Wanna see what we did?





Now these next two are Facebook links. No idea if they'll work.


Pictures Cheryl took

Pictures I took

I have a big KnitPicks order on the way. I ordered some of their dyes, bare yarns and the Options needles. Should be here by the 19. Excitement!

Sunday night, went out for supper with my brother and a friend of ours. I tried Escargot for the first time. I even had 2 of them. And while I think food shouldn't come equipped with pronouns, they were quite tasty.

I made the boys do a photo shoot after we got back. More Facebook linky goodness:

Pictures

Monday, I lived up to my promises and planted stuff.

Before:





After:





Want to know what happens after a day of gardening?



Just for the record, I bought the pj's because I thought they were amazingly hideous, I love them!



Yeah, this is what happens when you try to dig into dirt thats been well packed for about 5 years. And yes, it does feel as good as it looks!

As for knitting, the new date for the Blanket is June 20, it's coming along nicely. I even think I've figured out when it will "look" done.



And the Froot Loop socks:



ETA I totally frogged these shortly after I finished posting. Not entirely sure what came over me. I know I hated the heelp flap, next then I knew, I was ripping and it felt great!

And thats all I can do for now. The cat has claimed my lap as hers!

I figured I should probably do a post tonight because this weekend is insanely busy and I really don't want to overwhelm you at the end of the weekend.

I've spent the evening making THE BEST MIXED CD EVER. And knitting.

Nikki and Steph are picking me up at 7:30 (on Saturday!!!!) and we are going to breakfast. And then to WalMart. I'm really excited. I'm going to buy some fabric for sewing, which is something I haven't done in...months...or is it years now?

After an excellant morning of shopping I'm headed to a massage. After that is the yarn store, and then Kingsway, and then to Mom's house.

Sunday will be for making soap and dyeing yarn. Cheryl's coming over to sit and knit and chat.

Sunday night is dinner with friends.

And Monday is for me. I will read my gardening books and go dig in the dirt.

Remember those pink and green socks that were sucking the life out of me?




They are frogged, caked, and by the end of the weekend will be whisking they're way across the oceans to live with Jo.

Next time I say I hate a sock yarn will you guys please remind me how hard it is to Un-Kitchener a toe!!

I've been working on the Froot Loops pattern, I'm 6 repeats in, but forgot to take a picture. I'll get one after I have a few more repeats done.

I think that's all I've got for tonight. I'm aiming for lots of pictures and excellant funny stories on Monday night!

Oh, exciting news...talked to the Dude last night, still no definate return date, *but* he is working on making a trip down to see me in the very near future. Yay!

Happy Long Weekend!!!

Just a quick post today to share the Granola Bar recipe. Came home sick from work and therefore have nothing overly interesting to share.

So here we go:

2 cups Vector Cereal
2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (no salt)
1/2 cup ground almonds (I used my coffee bean grinder)
1 cup dried mixed fruit (I used cranberries, raisens and cherries)
2 tbsps flax seeds
handful of chocolate chips (optional, but yummy)
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup corn syrup (I used the "golden" kind, I don't know if it matters)


Mix together all of the dried ingredients.

Combine peanut butter and corn syrup in small sauce pan, heat over medium stirring with a wire whisk, until its all smooth.

Spray a cake pan, (I've used both the square one and the longer one, the recipe will fill both).

Now, very quickly pour the sticky stuff over the dry stuff. You can do the first couple turns with a wooden spoon, but it's easier to mix with your hands. If its too sticky you can add more rolled oats.

Press mixture into pan, toss in the fridge for awhile. Cut into whatever size pieces you like best.

Let me know if you like them, and what kind of variations you make!

Hey...I've used this title before. I must be having a series of good weekends!

As per the usual Sunday night recap, I'll start with Friday night, because really, it only makes sense to start at the beginning.

Friday

Finally, the weekend is here, this entire week was insane. I spent most of it walking home wishing for a drink and a smoke. And I've never smoked, and I'm still sober (3 months on Thursday). I took myself out on a date, there is this little Vietnamese place near my house that I went to once, years ago now. And I keep thinking, I should go there some day. So I did, I took my book and spent a quiet hour all to myself. I had iced Vietnamese coffee, steamed rice and the most amazing szechuan beef I've ever had.

The rest of the evening was spent watching Charmed and knitting. I've got 2 projects on the go right now. One of them is the Blanket for Hailey:



It's coming along nicely, this picture is completely current. I'm definately going to go around with all of the colours once more.

The other project is new the the blog, and existence really, I think I started it on Friday. I don't even have it up on the Rav yet Ok, now it's posted.



I really hope it's going to work out, I just noticed that it's not quite the width of my laptop and it needs to be felted at the end. Oh well, if it doesn't work I'll just have another stripy bag.

Saturday

I overslept on Saturday, first I woke up around 7 and said something along the lines of "no freakin' way" and then the same thing around 9. Eventually, 10:45 rolled around and "oh shit, I have a full day I need to get up".

I quickly got through my morning things, which today included packing 3 differant bags for all of my various activities.

Two very fun things happened on my way to Ewe, first, I saw someone on the bus knitting a sock. We got off at the same stop, and I'd hoped to "talk shop" with her, but she went another way. Shortly after, she turned up at the second bus stop. Her sock seemed to be leaning out of her pocket, so I said so, and asked her if she was doing Magic Loop. She admired my projects and we both got on the bus.

Shortly after finding my seat I hear someone call my name. Turns out Cheryl is on the same bus, so she comes with me to the yarn store and we visit for a bit.

The yarn store was excellant as always, I bought 4 skeins of Cascade (for the project above) and 2 skeins of undyed sock yarn. Next Saturday will be spent dyeing yarn and making soap.

My friend Chris picked me up at Ewe, she invited me to go to the pool with her and her daughter (Hailey, of the so-named "Blanket for Hailey"). I'd never met Hailey before, and it's been a long time since I've been around a 3 year old. But seriously, dudes, this was SO MUCH FUN. By the end of the day, I was Auntie Jill, we went down the Green Slide together, and if she wasn't hanging onto Mommy, she was attached to me. It was really great.

After swimming (I think I still have pool water up my nose) I went to Mom's. There was a potluck with some of her condo people. I was a little apprehensive about meeting new people. Most of them I've at least met in passing, but never socialized before.

I go in, find a chair and immediatley pull out the Blanket. Bonnie admires it, and tells me about the baby sets she's knitting. And suddenly, Bobbie, who I've never met before says "hey, is that from the Mason-Dixon book?". A kindred spirit. Someone who speaks my language. I had an amazing time, and can't wait to be invited again!

Actually, something else funny happened that night. Do you remember this purse?




The little tiny dog was having conniptions over it. It was nearly bouncing off the floor it was barking so hard at this purse. We actually had to hide it!

The rest of Saturday was spent knitting and catching up with Mom. We hadn't really talked for a few weeks. So we did that, and went to bed. Oh, BTW, don't buy those Sea Salt and Lime chips. They are not nearly as good here as they were in Mexico. Very disappointing.

Sunday

Knitting, Gilmore Girls and peanut butter cookies. Then a bus trip home. And then Kitchen Time. And I mean serious Kitchen Time.

I made 2 batches of Granola Bars:



Dog Treats:



Bread:



Cheryl came over for supper and knitting. She brought Brownies (they deserve to be capitalized, they were yummy):



Now, I'm sitting and blogging and trying to relax and catch my breath. I did a lot today. And I still have a huge amount of things to get done. But, it's just not going to happen tonight. I'm trying to be ok with that.

This coming week is going to be fantastic. I have 4 knitting groups to attend, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I got home today and had a message on my Rav page. The girl from the bus? The one with the sock? Totally messaged me and invited me to her SnB, sadly, it falls on Wednesday, so I invited her to mine. I hope she can come.

I think that's about it for now. I really am tired, I think I might go read in bed for awhile and try to come down the rest of the way from all the adreniline.

Happy Sunday, have a great week. And I'm going to really try and not be an absent blogger this week!

Greetings dear BlogFriends

How are you? What's new in your lives?

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted. I have been thinking about you though, everytime I think about something blog worthy I've decided to take a picture of it.

Would you like to see those pictures?

Last Thursday, the highlight of my week (up until that moment) was this:





Would you believe that those are steel toed? I was the hit of the warehouse come Friday morning, it was slightly ridiculous.

Now, like I said, at that point in time new shoes were the highlight of my week. When I got home on Friday afternoon, I had a package waiting for me. Guess what was in it!



Cheryl sent me a lotus blossom candle holder. It is so beautiful, I think it fits in quite nicely with my (also non-partylite) lotus hands. Hi Cheryl! I love it, it fits great with the rest of the room. There was also a card, reading it made me grin like a fool, there is also a recipe for Jasmine IceCream. I will definately be trying that one out soon.

What else have I been doing...

Work has been insane. Yesterday and today we were down a man in the warehouse, so I was effectively doing the work of 3 people. Hence the "Ow" title of the post. My feet usually only hurt like this on the rare occasion I do ballet.

I have been knitting. Hailey's blanket is coming along nicely, I was given a reprieve. Her surgery was temporarily cancelled and has not yet been rescheduled. It still needs to be my main project, but I'm glad I have more time.



That's pretty much it. I'm planning on spending my evening with the oh-so-sexy Jason Bourne, my knitting and my cat. And tea, but that's only if I can convince myself to get off my ass and get to the kitchen.

Happy Wednesday

First off, I want to thank every single person who left me a comment over the past few days. I want you to know that I've saved them all and have every intention of reading them whenever I need a boost.

I had a truly excellant day off. Actually, my whole weekend was really good, I should probably start at the beginning right?

Ok, Saturday:

Woke up at Mom's house, had 4 chocolate chip cookies for breakfast, and eventually made my way to the Yarn Store. Where I bought NO YARN. Seriously. And just for the record, ordering 20+ skeins of Cascade 220 for a comfortghan TOTALLY doesn't count.

Nikki picked me up at the LYS and we proceeded to drive. That's what we do, even if we make proper plans we usually just end up driving for hours. Which, with gas prices being what they are is probably a bad idea. But hey, if she wants to fill her tank and drive it works out to what is essentially guilt-free knitting time.

Saturday was spent knitting A Blanket for Haley:



There was some minor furniture moving and then some planning for making a house homey on a budget. I'm having flashbacks to my days of Trading Spaces watching.

Went to bed really early Saturday, resulting in a relatively early start for Sunday. As for what I did on Sunday:

Nothing

That's right, I drank coffee, ate, knitted, and sat like a lump on the couch. I even had a nap. I worked my way through the second half of season 6 and the front half of season 7 of Charmed. And I finished this:







Which brings us to this lovely Monday

I woke up at 6:30, said something that I'm sure included alot of bad words, but I don't remember and the cat's not telling. I managed to roll over and stay in bed until somewhere around 8. I got up, made my coffee and planted my butt in front of my computer.

I actually had a lot of energy today, probably something to do with all of the nothing I did yesterday.

I started with tidying my knitting room. I didn't really do much, packed away some of the storage stuff I had front and center. Finally admitted to myself that I was not going to finish the 5 year old projects. That decision resulted in massive needle rippage and this next picture:



If you look closely you can see 4 UFOs, which consist of

1 front/back and half of the other front/back of a tank top
1 sock
1 knee high toe sock
1 muppet fur scarf

Y'know, felt pretty good to empty out that bag!

The room still isn't quite perfect, but it's slowly getting there.

I then proceeded to do some yardwork, I never finished cleaning up the remnants of the long winter/big dog before the most recent dump of snow:





This is how it looks after about an hour of work. I still think we're one boat shy of looking like White Trash, but at least the "lawn" is raked!



I also did a load of laundry, wiped down the outside clothesline, soaked my handknits (in hopes that I can soon pack them away for reals)



I didn't bother searching for all of them as they tend to scatter (I usually wear a scarf inside) I just washed what I could find.

I had a massage (I can move my neck, it's pretty cool) and a haircut, which I don't think I like, I told him I wanted my front layers cut to my lips, instead they're more at eye level. Oh well, head bands, ball caps and about a week will take care of that.

I sent out 2 packages, one for Indulgence, who, if you're active in the Ravelry forums you'll know just lost her husband to a traffic accident. One of the forums I'm in joined forces to make afghan squares:



The other to my swap partner, I'd link, but my link to her blog doesn't work. I got my package today, filled with awesomeness:





As for the legwarmers I started when it looked like this out my front windows:



I finished the first one, the other day, except for the ends and have yet to start the second. I don't know about you guys, but I think it looks plenty long (it goes past my knee AND heel) and I quit knitting 3 inches shorter than the pattern. And I have long legs.



Let's see, what else did I take pictures of...oh right. Of all of the comfortable places in my house that I could sit and peruse the interwebs for a long period of time, I chose to set up here. Potentially undoing all of the lower back stuff my lovely masseuse did for me this morning.



Oh, while I was outside enjoying the sun this morning I also brushed and "damp mopped" my dog. And by damp mopped I mean rubbed her as hard as I could with a wet tea towel to at least get the top layer of dirt off. Of course, she spent the rest of the day sleeping in the dirt, but really, what else could I expect from an outside dog?



I haven't done any knitting yet today, I've done this thing that I hear used to be popular in the days before Ye Olde Interwebs.

I read a book.

Seriously, I can't remember the last time I read, I can't even remember what I would've read. That's sad. Today I read while I ate, I read while I sat, and I even went outside to sit in the sun with my book.

I will make up for my lack of knitty progress at SnB tonight. Speaking of which, I should probably eat something before I head out...



I got out my slow cooker again, if this chicken stew type concoction turns out to be edible, I'll do a recipe tomorrow!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

I like to think that I've grown more as an individual this past year, more so than any other year. About 7 months ago now, I had an epiphany. That was when my new attitude started to emerge.

I'm learning to live life for myself first. To realize that maybe its ok to be selfish sometimes. And is it really worth the epic amount of stress for such a minimal reward?

As a result of this new attitude I've started to cull things from my life. Some things were difficult, for example, realizing that friends shouldn't make you feel bad about yourself. So there are people that I don't see anymore now. And you know what? For the most part I really don't miss them. There are times where I miss the connection that it took years to build, but really, I'm happier on my own. With the people who make me feel welcome in their lives, people who I may not even know very well outside of the internet. But when I see them, they take the time to say "are you ok?" or "should I be worried about you?". It's those connections that matter.

Ok, tangent. Sorry. Back on track.

Alot of my changes so far have been small. But I think to really make something work, it takes time.

I'm sitting here, staring at that last sentance and now I'm having trouble with my next words, that was a really powerful sentance I just wrote, I feel somewhat lighter in my heart

Ok, wow, I'm really scattered tonight, I have so many thoughts winging around in my head right now, I'm having trouble getting them out in some way that may or may not make sense in the morning.

Back to my little changes. Things that seem really basic, foolish even. Things like getting rid of Facebook applications, going through group and friends lists. Even on Ravelry, do I really need to be in 15 groups that I never check? Not really. I feel lighter for having done that.

I'm trying to be a better person. I've taken to carrying a cloth grocery bag with me all the time. That way, when I stop for groceries on my way home I can ditch the plastic, and save the .99 cents because I remembered to bring my own bag.

I'm learning to be better for the environment. Things like this and this. I am totally an advocate of the second link BTW, seriously, WAY better than anything else!

I've been taking better care of myself lately too. For the first time in MONTHS I'm feeling really good. I've started taking vitamins and looking more closely at my diet. I'm taking some time off from the restaurant. After my last shift, I was so tired that I couldn't climb the two sets of stairs in my house. That was kind of scary. I realized that the few rewards were so not worth the physical toll. I'm even going to bed earlier, that means I'm waking up earlier, but I'm even ok with that.

I'm determined to continue with these changes over the coming months. I'm still sober, and I've really cut back on the amount of painkillers I've been taking (just Advil, but still).

I have a long weekend coming up, I told my boss that I was burning out and he was pretty understanding. Or at least as understanding as he could be. When I tried to explain SAD to him, he just didn't get it. But he tried.

Despite all of my physical changes I'm still struggling with my emotions. I recently started on the pill (TMI??) and I think, now that my hormones have leveled out, my moods are starting to level out.

There are things happening in my life now that I have no control over. Things like friends that are terminal, coming to the end, friends being diagnosed with cancer, and on and on. Where does it end?

Then there are things in my immediate life that I'm trying to figure out. My thoughts and feelings on one particular area change almost instantly. Its frustrating and confusing.

Right now, I'm happier than I've ever been. Which is pretty great. It's weird though, I've spent so much time being unhappy that I almost don't know how to deal with this feeling. There are times where I'm hit with this huge wave of sadness, and then it passes. Like it never happened.

I'm sitting here in the dark and quiet that is my empty house drinking tea. And I feel more peaceful than I have in a few days. I think I need to get back into the habit of posting regularly, I sure hope I haven't bored you all with my ramblings that quite possibly don't make any sense!

I think I will distract you now with pictures of knitting.

*shuffles off to find camera and take pictures that hopefully, do not suck*

*wanders around looking for card reader thingy*

Oh, I never told you, I got my KnitPicks order on Monday. Yay!



This is how it looks now:



I'vr forgotten that I kind of hate boucle yarn. But this stuff is so amazingly soft that it kind of overrules the boucle aspect of it.



This is the second BSJ, I look at the photo, getting a differant perspective on those stripes. I'm just changing whenever I feel like it. Trying to remember that I really HATE to sew in ends.

I was going to put up a few videos, I think for today though, I'll just put up one. This song is from the new Sarah Brightman CD (I'm off the Clash and Ramones and back into opera). Apparently, Paul Stanley is one of the guys from KISS, while I've never been a fan of KISS, I am in love with this song. The only thing is, is that it hurts my heart every time. To me, it feels like either a funeral song or a break up song. But isn't that the point of music? To make you feel something?

And yes, it is someone else's video. Bambi of all things. But whatever works for you I suppose.



I really think that's all I have left in me for tonight. I'm going to go back to my couch, knit for an hour and go to bed.

Good on you if you made it all the way to the end!

I was watching the Ravelry Radar (again, I know, I'm addicted) and I saw someone talking about the Sunday Blahs. I didn't actually go into the forum to read the rest of the thread, but I did stop to think about it.

No matter how great my Saturday is, I usually feel like I'm wasting my Sundays. I think a lot of that comes from staying up late on Saturday and then I usually end up sleeping in and wasting a good 2-3 hours.

Today was both differant and the same. I did sleep in a little bit, but I did get up and get a few things done.

Nothing overly thrilling of course, some knitting, groceries a little bit of food prep.

I do feel like I'm starting to get a better handle on this whole housekeeping thing. It's slow going, but I'm learning to put down my knitting every now and then and go do something.

Knitting progress includes about 4 inches of the second BSJ and about half of a legwarmer. Because living in Alberta kind of blows sometimes, and it seems to have snowed all night long. And my boots are at work. Good times.

Sorry about the semi point form tonight, not feeling very cohesive. Going to try and finish the decreases on the BSJ and finish cleaning the kitchen.

Happy Sunday Night, have a good week at work everyone!

*Edited to add pictures and adjust ToDo List*


Yay!

I've reclaimed my weekend for myself. I plan on being entirely selfish, and only doing what I want to do. My personal stress level is already dropping.

The original plans were to do breakfast and some shopping with a girlfriend, but her plans changed, and as much as I was looking forward to it, I'd just as soon spend the day alone.

So far today, I've had my coffee, lit all of my living/dining room candles and am sitting and knitting while I watch the Ravelry Radar and plan out my day. The Ravelry Radar by the way, is my main source of entertainment. If I'm just sitting and knitting I usuakky have it turned on, it's a little less lonely, and there are usually some pretty entertaining conversations going on.

I do have a to do list for today. And I know if I don't post it up, I won't do anything. And as I'm already in the shit books with my father, I'd best try and get something done!

Here's my List:

- (big dog + long winter = epic bad times)
- kitty litter
- laundry *in progress*
- sew in the seams/ends/buttons on 2 sweaters *in progress*
- make granola bars
- try and find big CD book
- clear out the clutter in the living room/dining room/kitchen
- run dishwasher
- hit the yarn store


That is my main list for today, I'm going to go put in a load of laundry now, while I'm up do a little tidying. Maybe.

I have 21 rows left on the second sleeve of a one sweater, so finishing that will be no problem.

I'll have a progress report and knitty pictures up by the end of the day!


Ok, so I actually took some pictures as promised!










I'm glad I've used up all of my pink Cascade, I've had enough of that colour!

I've got all the bits picked out for my second BSJ and will cast on as soon as I have the first one sewn up.



I like the little camoflauge buttons. I knew I was going to stash bust the green and brown yarn, so I kept those colours in mind while I was at the button store.

I picked up a few things while I was at the yarn store. These 2 colours of Cascade will also be for BSJs.






The blue is pretty accurate, the other one is more teal than it shows up, but you all know about my skills with the camera!

Here is my dilemma: should I do stripey or solid jackets? I think the colours would look good together and I have enough to do either 2 solids or 2 striped. Leave me a comment with your vote!

I also got my hands on some of the oh-so-amazing Noro Sock. I love the colours, it was hard to choose which one to bring home.






Got my hands on a copy of Knitting Without Tears, I love Ravelry. Thanks again Kathy! I can't wait to read it!

And lastly, I would like to praise the Almighty Ziploc Bag.



I've been using my skull tote for holding all of my WIPs, the ziplocs keep them nicely separated. I think, I may slowly becoming one of those mythical "organized knitters".

That's it for today, remember, I want your opinion on the blue and green BSJs!!

(you need to imagine Mrs Weasley's high pitched screech for that to work)

I've been around, not doing much. Knitting, sleeping, knitting instead of sleeping. Working.

I really haven't felt like posting much lately, Monday was a completely wretched day, the BSJ was totally kicking my ass, and I ended up taking out my frustrations on my dad. There was swearing and crying, but as it was over my knitting, he didn't take me very seriously. Neither did my brother. They just don't understand!

Yesterday and today were really good, I can't remember the last time I've felt this happy. I don't know why, it's strange. Normally, there are only two things that make me feel like this, and I've been sober for two months and one day, and the other, well, we don't need to talk about that aspect of my life on the interwebs!

First, let's put the knit back in the knitblogger and I'll show you what I've been up to lately:



This is the secret project made for my swap buddy, details and proper photos will be availible after my buddy gets her package.







This is the finished Toddler Tunic, designed by Staci over at VeryPink, I love this pattern, I finished the green one in about 4 days, and I think one of those days was just sewing in the ends. The yarn is Briggs and Little Heritage, in Paddy Green, used up from my stash, and while its somewhat rough and "crispy" and full of grass while your knitting, just give it a bath in Eucalan and it comes out quite nicely.

In fact, I love this pattern so much that I started another one, pretty much as soon as I finished the first:



The yarn is Cascade 220, which I am now very much in love with and will definately be using it in the future.

The sleeves aren't done yet, mostly because I've been busy knitting this:



The Baby Surprise Jacket

This started out as an epic battle between knitter and yarn. The first few rounds went to the yarn, there was ripping, and tinking and lots and lots of angst. For the past 3 days, I've been winning. Now that it's not pissing me off I'm enjoying it, and I really can't wait to put it together. What I'm really excited for is buying buttons, the Notion Place is on my bus route, I think I just might be popping in there more often.

What's with all the baby sweaters you ask? Well, when you need both hands to count all the babies on the way...

My KnitPicks order still hasn't arrived, but I did get an email today saying that it has found its way to Canada Post, the tracking number gives me a delivery date of next week. I really hope it gets here sooner than that. The project deadline is May 9. And it will be somewhat of an epic undertaking.

I've gotten so burnt out lately that I decided to take some time off from the restaurant, relax and recharge as much as possible. I've even booked off a Monday soon, that way I get a long weekend.

I kind of fell off my "buy nothing" wagon and got a couple movies the other day. But, in my defense, I've been planning on buying them for awhile, that doesn't count does it?

Movies Clips

From the movie Stardust, quite possibly Robert De Niro's best role



Sexiest Man Alive (and Alan Rickman, who is also pretty freakin' fantastic)



Brother Bear, the Meece* crack me up every single time (*plural for moose, at least in my house)



And lastly, not a movie clip, but the song of the day. The disabled embedding, but I really think you should click on the link. I'll wait.

Song of the Day

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. The winner of this year's Blogiversary Contest is...

Kim

Yay! Hi Kim, I'll see you at Guild tomorrow, and I can completely guarantee that I will *not* have a prize put together. But I'll have it ready for you next week!

That's it for tonight folks, back to the BSJ, enjoy the clips!

PS, I apoligize for any typos I didn't catch. I've been backspacing all night!

April 16 marks the 2 year aniversary of this blog. So I've decided to throw a little contest.

The rules are very simple:

1: Leave me a comment stating who you are (important, but you don't need to leave your *real name*), how long you've been reading, and how you found me

2: Ignore my bad blogging habits of late and rejoice in the fact that very soon I will get my act together and put up a real post

The contest will run from the time I hit "post" until 9:35, April 16, 2008, the winner will be chosen at random by a number generator and will be the lucky winner of a fabulous prize pack that I have yet to decide on.

Yay for contests, Happy Thursday

How is it that the weeks go by in a blur of boxes, tape guns and cap screws and the weekends go by in a blur of laundry and knitting? What am I doing with my life?

Wow. Ok, not sure where that came from, but it's there all the time, just sort of lurking around the edges. I think I'm frustrated with this feeling that I can't control anything that's going on around me.

It's hard to describe, so I don't think I'm going to try just yet. Instead, I'll (once again) distract you with pictures of yarny goodness and details about the Knitty portions of the weekend.

People from the Edmonton Ravelers group took a trip out to Pam's Wooley Shoppe in Stoney Plain, we had a blast and are already planning another couple trips over the coming months. Hopefully, more people will be able to go out next time.

I know, you're all on the edge of the seats to see what I bought aren't you? Ok, here we go.




4 skeins of Cascade 220, destined to be Baby Surprise Jackets (more on that topic later)




2 skeins of mmmMalabrigo Laceweight. This is one of the most amazing yarns I have ever fondled. I mean, we're talking yarngasms here people. I have never knit laceweight, and have no idea what it will be, but it was really not expensive and I just kind of had to have it.
















More sock yarn for the stash, no real need for individual description is there?

As for the Baby Surprise Jacket, well, Round 1 goes to the knitting, as does Round 2. Let's just say about 8 hours of knitting (2 tries) ended up in the frog pond. As a result, I cast on for Staci's Toddler Tunic:



I'm using up a few skeins of Briggs and Little that I had in the stash, maybe not the most child friendly yarn, but I want to use it up. I really like the pattern, its pretty straight forward. I don't know if I have the right size needles I need in a few inches, but I'm not going to worry about that just yet.

Back to the BSJ, has anyone else knit it? I was having some major issues, *but* someone on Ravelry who lives in the city is going to loan me her DVD with the BSJ instructions. I'm going to hold off on restarting it until I get some visual aids.

In other Yarny news, I made a KnitPicks order the other day, my friend's daughter has to have another surgery and as soon as she told me, my first thought was "knit a blanket". So the yarn is on order, and the pattern is sketched out. I'm going to do a Log Cabin, I spent one night last week designing out how I'm going to do it. I can't wait to get started.

I finished the Shape It Scarf:




As always, crappy picture, but that's ok. I've been wearing it all night long, I gave it a soak in Eucalan to open it up a little. It's a little smaller than I'd like, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Mom gets back tonight, I stayed at her place again last night. It wasn't nearly as good as it was last time. I think I've learned that I'm the sort of person that probably shouldn't live alone with my cat. I'd go a little crazy. Or a lot crazy. Either way, no single dwelling in my future anytime soon.

The Dude is still away, it still really sucks, but it's not forever. Right? I mean this whole only being able to talk once a week thing is pretty awful. But on the other hand, it helps keep me a more dependant on myself, which is a good thing. Because I'm finally happy with me and who I've become. I need to fight to hold on to that feeling.

I'm going to go back to my knitting now, I'd love to finish my increases tonight, but I really don't think that's going to happen!

Have a good night everyone, lets hope this week will be better than the last!

I had a really good post written out in my head yesterday, right down to the title. Instead of doing my blog and moving on with my evening I did a bunch of housework (well, I cleaned my room and rearranged my furniture, but it was still pretty epic). Serves me right, this is why I don't do housework!

It's been kind of a crap week so far. With the exception of Tuesday night, Cheryl came over to watch the hockey game and eat greasy pizza, it was so much fun. Hi Cheryl! Forgot to give you your candles again...

To distract you all from my lack of anything to say, I give you pictures:






Shape It Scarf, almost done, should be able to finish it today



The most recent addition to the hat project, now complete. As well as these ones:




No idea what the current total is, but all of those hats are knit with other people's yarn, do you see yours?



My tribute to Inexplicable Knitting Day, it's not public, and its not on the Harlot's list, but it made me giggle.

Now Cheryl, these next 2 are for you, to help you with your ladder issues. The first picture is of my first ever socks. Aren't they awful?



The next two are of my current sock. The ladders are stillthere, they are just hidden. I think it's a tension thing and will even itself out with time.






Any thoughts on this bizzarro colourway? I don't know if I like it, but I do know that I'm now running late. See you all later.

I had a really good weekend.

I talked to my mom about staying the weekend while she was gone, and if work wasn't so freakin' far away from her place, I probably would've stayed the week.

I packed enough knitting to last almost a week. It was a little ridiculous, I'll admit, but I still didn't feel like I had enough.

My plan was to knit hats all weekend, since I've sort of fallen off the hat wagon. I only got 3 and a bit done, but I feel pretty good about it. And it came complete with some stash busting. Of course, I was busting J's stash instead of mine, but she brought me some really fab yarns. I'll do pictures tomorrow, right now I'm too lazy to get up.

I'm working on the heel flap of those pink socks and I'm making amends with the Silk Garden. I broke up with Argosy last week, turns out that we just weren't meant to be, I'm hoping to try again at some point. But I am making progress on the Shape It scarf.

Spending the weekend at Mom's was great, I really enjoy getting time to myself every now and then. I'm going to go back on either Friday or Saturday, I'm waiting to hear back from yrnjunky (Ravelry) about our "roadtrip" to Stoney Plain. I'm really excited to go yarn shopping.

And yes, I know I'm supposed to be on a stash diet, and I am. Sorta. I'm just making an exception because I only go to Stoney a few times a year.

I had very specific things I wanted to write about, I kept having good ideas over the weekend but didn't want to write. So instead, you get all the random thoughts that are in my head in a jumbled up order.

It's back to work tomorrow, which I'm not really ok with, but it's just got to be done. I'll try to be more coherant tomorrow, for now, I need to try and earn back my cat's affection after "abandoning" her for the weekend.

Happy rest-of-the-weekend everyone

It was my usual mad scramble to get myself awake, showered and dressed this morning. One day I will be one of those organized people who pack their lunches the night before, the ones who have everything ready to go. I am not one of those people. I have my harried little routine and it works pretty well. Somewhere in the midst of my morning I decided to grab some cirular needles so I could work on my sock on the bus (I have a fear of dropping a DPN, its really embarassing).

So I'm on the bus, I knit from the DPNs to the circs and pack my knitting away until lunch time. There I am, happily knitting away, at one point I notice that my gauge seems a little loose on one side, but I don't pay it much mind. About an inch later I notice this:



Do you see what I see?

It seems that I grabbed needles of two differant sizes. But since it was still the start of my break I kept knitting. Whatever. Its just socks. No biggie. Curious about the size differance?

2mm (my usual needle size) and 2.75mm. I didn't even know that I had a short circ in that size!

I'm not too worried about it, I've got the proper size needle with me now so I can just switch over.

This is a proper look at the sock. I still don't know if I like it. The inch of swampy looking pink and green at the beginning had me wanting to rip it all out. But I kept going, I wanted to see how it looked with the pink. It's starting to grow on me.



In other Knitty news.

The love affair is over.

I got into an argument with Argosy last night. We are currently not speaking. I'm hoping for a reconciliation within the next few days. But it will require either tinking or ripping. I tinked a little last night, didn't go back far enough before I started knitting again. This is where Argosy landed last night before I went to bed with tears of frustration.



Apart from various knitting disasters of differing levels of severity there is not much going on. I bought the PPV game tonight, we are getting our asses handed to us. 3-0 with the third just starting. One of the last games I watched the commentater guy interviewed my favorite. So what did I do? Totally took pictures of the TV. I am lame.



Did any of you watch the Serj Tankian video yesterday? If you did, and you loved it you should definately go buy the CD. The whole thing is fantastic...well, I'm not so sure about the one called "Honking Antelope", but I just haven't decided yet.

That's it for now, off to adjust the sock needles. Send happy thoughts for Argosy, because I have none!

ETA

Break out your ABBA folks, Fernando just scored!

There are very few things that will keep me up until midnight on a work night.

And no, the Dude is not back yet, so stop thinking that.

I cast on for Argosy after my post the other night, I'm nearly halfway done (I think). I love the pattern, I love the yarn. I have absolutely no idea how the pattern works, but I'm not a very technical knitter. Everytime I tried to think about why I was doing what I was doing I screwed up and had to tink. So I just read the pattern and did what it said to do. This is what I've got so far:





Have you ever bought a CD for just one song? I try not to do it. Try being the operative word. I buy quite a few CDs for just one song.

My newest CD was bought for this song. My friends, you need to listen to this song. At least once. Have you ever heard a song on the radio and it makes you freeze in your tracks? It doesn't happen to me very often, and I can remember every single time it has, where I was, what I was doing. Sadly, I'm usually at work and the guys look at me like I've cracked. But it doesn't matter.

So I when I was at the mall today (hugging my mommy) I went to buy this CD, turns out they were sold out of the "regular" one, so I paid a little bit more for the last copy (!!) of the "extended" one. It's neat, instead of a CD case it came in a little book, with the two CDs in the front and back covers.





This little book is filled with lyrics, and poetry and pictures.





I haven't had a chance to listen to it all the way through yet, but it is like nothing I've ever heard before. Hey, maybe I should tell you it is...Serj Tankian. Apparently he is the front man for System of a Down, I've never listened to them before so I just don't know. His website is over here and I urge you to check it out.

That's all I've got for tonight, Argosy is calling my name...

Considering I spent a good portion of this weekend lying around, I got a lot accomplished.

Where should I start?

How about with the title of today's post?



I love how they turned out, I was even able to make them almost match which was what I wanted to do with this pair.

What else did I do this weekend?

I finished Cozy.

It was washed.



It was laid out.



And it was modeled.



I'm really happy with how well it turned out. Next time (and there will be a next time) I want to use a slightly finer yarn, and I will try to remember to slip the stitches purlwise instead of knitwise to see if it makes any noticable differance.

This was definately a weekend of finishing things. I hope you guys are ok with looking at more pictures.

December 15, 2007



March 1, 2008



And as of 6 pm, yesterday



This is it. It's completely complete. I am so happy with how it turned out, it is my most beautiful piece yet. I love the colours, the lines, the shading. Everything. It didn't hurt, actually, it tickled in a few places. Right now it feels like an awful sunburn, so I've been popping Advil at regular intervals. Good times.

I hope everyone had a good Easter, or if you're like me and somewhat of a heathen, I hope you consumed all of the chocolate bunnies you could handle. I found the dark chocolate Mini Eggs at IGA the other day. I bought all of the ones they had left, I hadn't seen them anywhere else yet this year.

I stayed at Mom's for the weekend, and I'm going to go see her on Tuesday. She's leaving for a week long cruise on Saturday. And I know that I week doesn't seem like a big deal, but I hate being cut off from her. We are freakishly close after all.

The Dude is still off working, with no word yet on when the work will be done, so that pretty much sucks. Still planning on keeping myself busy, I've got Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday already booked up. Chances are I'll end up with plans the rest of the week, now that it's staying light out for later I don't mind going out more often.

The other day (when I still had an epic amount of Cozy to knit) I decided to restart Charmed, Gonzo decided to help me set it up.



I think I've decided what to knit next. Well, my "big" project at least, I still need to decide on which sock yarn wants to be knit.

This yarn (the Silk Garden in the top corner) with this pattern.

I think I'm going to keep going with my spring coloured socks, and start something pink. But, if I'm going to get started on anything, I'd best sign off and get going.

Enjoy the rest of your chocolate and what's left of your weekend.

My grand plans for finishing up Cozy tonight were bashed when I realized that:

1. Cozy is not good hockey knitting
2. I am way to tired to be expected to count 6 stitch pattern repeats

I did about 3-4 repeats tonight, I think I made mistakes in a few, but not so much that I felt the need to tink back. I'm not worried about it.

We totally lost the game tonight, which pretty much sucks for the rest of the season, but it happens.

Instead of knitting I've spent the last hour browsing the "other" section of Ravelry. If you've already got your invite, pop on over to my queue and check out all the odd little things I added. Some of them are really quite amusing.

In case your curious about my decision making skills, none were made last night. Although tonight I've pretty much abandoned the idea of choosing. So far I've had tea, coffee, chocolate, tortilla chips, and a nice, fizzy, non alcoholic bevy.

People keep looking at me as though I've cracked whenever I say "no thanks, I'm not drinking right now". It's not a big deal! I drank a lot over the winter and every now and then, I just stop altogether.

I have tomorrow off, which is pretty fantastic. I have some pretty epic housework goals, which will only happen if I wake up in the mood to clean. I really want to finish Cozy, I have to go visit my Grammie, and I would really like to go in for a checkup, they were closing as soon as I got there today. Lameness.

I'm pretty much fully exhausted now, so I'm going to head off to bed and watch Harold and Kumar, which is hilarious at the best of times. But when I'm this tired, I get the giggles at next to nothing.

For example:




Seriously, this ad came on during the game and I was laughing so hard my Dad thought I'd cracked. Good times.

Good night, if I don't see you, have a happy chocolate bunny day

I'm feeling very indecisive tonight. I'm thinking a game of This or That is in order.

Something Chocolate or Something Salty?

Startitis or Finishupitis?

Daffodil Socks or Cozy?

Sit and knit or Sit and read?

Tea or Coffee?

I have absolutely no idea. So to distract everyone while I ponder I will show off what insomnia does for the Knitty Progress:






This is Calorimetry from Knitty. I really like it, there's only one problem. It's either way too big, or my head is very small. I really love this yarn/needle combination and I saw someone else had used something like 96 stitches instead of 120. I think I'll try that. I cast this on around 8pm last night, cast off on the bus this morning, stopped at the Notion Place (its on my bus route) and managed to sew on the button. All in less than 24 hours.

Ok, I don't want to work on Cozy, thats progress right? I'm so close to the finish line, I'm thinking about 8 more inches, or one more ball of yarn. I think my original estimate was 9 balls, and I've got 8 knit up already, normally I'm not any good at the guessing game, maybe the winds are changing?

I have no pictures, I've got the house to myself (yay!) and you just can't see the size if its spread out on the floor.

I don't think I want to work on the Daffodil socks either.

I think I want to do either another Shape It Scarf using either this or this, I think eventually both yarns will be Shape It Scarves, its just a matter of which goes first.

I'd also like to do another pair of knee highs, using this yarn.

What do you guys think? What's everyone got on their needles while they wait for spring?

I think I'm going to go upstairs to my knitting room, collect my books and think about my stash and see what sort of things I can come up with. I'll let you know tomorrow what I decide on. And just for the record - anybody says the words "squid hat" and I will pinch you!

Happy Wednesday

I like being domestic.

I mean, I'm not looking to turn in my steel toes for an apron any time soon, but I really enjoy the occasional bouts of domesticity.

I came home from work today and was horizontal for about an hour then I had my shower and got busy. Ish.

I've been wanting to get into the habit of using my slow cooker again, mostly it sits in the cupboard collecting dust until we decide to do a roast. On the menu for tomorrow is chicken and vegetables.



At the very bottom is about 5 chicken breasts of various sizes (they were all frozen together) diced into about 1 inch pieces. Seasoned liberally with coarse ground black pepper, and 2 differant freshly ground garlic/herb/pepper blends. There is a little bit of thyme, oregano and a couple bay leaves. I used the other 2 giant carrots and the rest of the celery. I also cut up some of those baby potatos and threw those in. I really like the taste of celery in stuff like this so I put the leafy bits in as well. I'll fish those out after its all cooked. Before I turn it on in the morning I'll add about a cup of water.

I hope it tastes as good as it looks, and I gotta say, it looks pretty damn good even though its not cooked.

I finished the first Daffodil Sock last night. I don't think I've ever taken this many pictures for one sock. I think I've got about 8 of them on my Rav page.







This is the hat I'm working on right now. Cheryl brought me the yarn, I think its some sort of acrylic, but I'm not sure. And yes, the picture sucks, but the flash kept doing bad things for the colour. I'm using the "fat hats" pattern from "hip to knit", it's going pretty quickly, which is good, because I'm rediscovering that I'm not a huge fan of big needles. I think I'll probably do this pattern again, but I'll adjust it to do in the round.



I'll take a better picture after I get a few more cable rounds done.

I get either Friday or Monday off for Chocolate Bunny day, I'm hoping for the urge to clean the house (the domestic urge doesn't usually run towards cleaning), but the house is getting to the point where I'm starting to get twitchy. I think I'll spend the day cleaning and working on the Squid Hat, which has been sitting all depressed and alone in its bag.

I think that's about all I've got for tonight, I still need to eat and I would like to get something else done before bed. I just don't know what yet.

Happy Monday everyone