Heh, Heh.

"Dem ends, dem ends, dem dere ends...
Dem ends, dem ends, dem dere ends,
Dem ends, dey is sewed in!"
I can't remember the name of the song that keeps coming to mind whenever I see these, but it is stuck in my head!

That is crochet! For real, done by me. I bought a book on crochet to send to my Secret Pal (they should be starting sign ups for Secret Pal 9 soon, or at least announcing it soon), and as I was glancing through it, I saw pictures on how to do it. For some reason, this time they stuck and made sense. So I gave it a try. It's a very simple edge, but still, it's crochet and it worked!


Picking up stitches for the bottom is not fun. I'm really wishing I had a 5mm circular. I make that size in wood, but I'm thinking that I would still be cursing while trying to use them. Metal being slippery-er and all.


Today is the last day of the
Dishcloth/Dishtowel contest. I will be mailing the parcel to my friends on the 15th and any dishcloths received before then will be entered into the contest provided they are postmarked with today's date or earlier. Anything received after, will be put together as Christmas gifts for the women at the local Women's Shelter.
Winners will be announced on the 15th.

Edited to add: Secret Pal 9 is open for sign up now. You have until the 30th of September. Secret Pal 9 blog.

Slogging along.

The bag is getting there. The scarf is progressing. I have finished the lace bottom and inserted the lifeline. Now, I'm on the first part of the pattern. It's been ripped and tinked a few times. I'm hoping to be done with it some time next year.

I went and raided my Mother's garden. She's the not lazy type and it shows. Her garden always produces a whack of stuff especially green beans and tomatoes. I'm hoping her pumpkins will keep growing and get big enough to carve for Halloween. This time was a cherry tomato, tomato, beet and zuchinni raid.

A very tasty beet top, spinach (from the grocery), and cherry tomato Ceasar salad. The girly and the Mr. were very happy.

Psst...

Look over there --->, in the sidebar. A pretty for you to take.

Just please, host it in your photo album.

I'm tired this morning.

Here's why. I got all caught up in the whole stitch marker making thing and didn't go to bed until nearly 1:00am. That's late when you have a child showing up at your house at 7:20 am.
They are all plastic beads from the Buck or Two store here in town.

These are a pale blue with pale yellow under the sea type beads.

These are my favourites. Dark charcoal grey beads and coloured beads with white flower and decorative etchings on them. I think I'll be keeping these ones.

Various other ones that need to have the ring attached and wire wrapped.

Now, I just need to join a stitch marker swap and I'm all set. Although, I do have a vague idea for one of my own. Maybe.

I haven't been outside to take pictures of my girls, and the way the children are scrapping it out this morning, I may not get outside until much later. So if you go here, you get to see some great pictures of other people's and a couple of farms. The last time I drove out to B.C. (British Coloumbia. It's about a 30 hour drive to the Alberta/B.C. boundary from where I live.) there were all kinds of sunflower fields visible from the Perimeter Hwy in Winnipeg and some from the Trans-Canada in Saskatchewan. I think that was the highlight of the drive out and back (I'd already seen the mountains on an earlier road trip they were the highlight then.).

I'm all over the place today.

Wendy's picture of her Fir Cone Wrap reminded me a bit of this tree in my back yard. It's a Tamarack, it's cones are smaller and more rounded, but pretty close in colour and they hold their shape in much the same way. So being the weirdo that I am, I had to go take a picture of the tree and it's cones.



The squares for Verita's Spare a Square art project. They are now in an envelope and waiting to get to the Post.


I'm trying out a new scarf pattern idea. So far, so bad. It's been ripped many times. I'm hoping it will work out though, then I can send it to my International Scarf Exchange partner. That is if he/she likes 100% Mercerized Cotton in neutral colours. This is Butterfly Mercerized Cotton from Super 10. I love it. It's so shiny, soft, silky and not as splity as some cottons are. Once I get all the bugs (me) worked out of this pattern, this scarf will feel fabulous and drape beautifully. I have decided not to use that flower border though. I'm going with something else.


She learned something new yesterday. She thought that this was the greatest thing so far.


"Dancing Girly!"


Here is the pattern for the Dragonfly washcloth that Jen sent me for my friends, and Kristy ask for. Kristy just had ankle surgery and probably wouldn't get all pissy if you dropped in and left a kind word or two.

Edited to add: I hate using align left, I never get it right the first time. It was the only way I could get Blogger to upload pictures today though. Stupid Blogger.

Q and A time.

Jen said...
So glad the dishclothes arrived safely :) They really were fun to make - and I've decided to use the dragonfly pattern to make up a baby afghan. I'm madly in love with those dragonflies. How are your friends doing after all of their moving troubles?
They are doing alright. They have a place and have some furniture now. They were fortunate in that they are both excellent at saving money. However, now their savings are pretty much depleted until insurance comes through with a cheque. Of course they are making my friends jump through hoops to try and collect. It's a classic insurance trick. Make collecting as big of a pain in the hinney as possible with the hope that people will give up and they won't have to pay out the full amount. Amazing how many people quit early on in the game and save the insurance company tons of money. Now that you would know that since they jack up your premiums up the second you make a claim. Legal scams, how fun.

Kristy said...
Did Jen tell you were she found the pattern for the dragonfly relief on those beautiful dishclothes? Maybe she would share it with the rest of us....
... and ...
I am coveting the Cotton Top. Do you know of anyplace that sells any of this discontinued yarn?
... and ...
Forgive my ignorance of Canadian geography, but how far is it from Ontario to Toronto?
How about it Jen? Post it in the comments and I'll put the link up.

I don't know of anyone who is selling the Paton's Cotton Top other than the few balls at my yarn store or maybe e-bay.

Darling, please know that although we laughed. A lot. We weren't trying to be mean.
Toronto is in Ontario. Here is a map of Ontario with the political basics. I am located near the Manitoba/Ontario boundary in the town that is labelled Siouw Lookout. It is supposed to be spelled SiouX Lookout, apparently the person who did this map up only did most of the research and not all of it.

Sandra said...
Do me a favour, and ask Hope, Joy, Chary and Bustle why on earth my sunflowers didn't grow this summer (and I seeded a lot of them). Where did I go wrong? Should I sing while seeding? Why oh why I am sunflowerless???????
... and ...
Am I in parallel universe or you have two blogs?????
I don't know. I'm a very crappy, lazy gardener so I think they are growing by sheer will and a bit of luck with a sunny summer and not too much rain.

I do have two blogs. Blogger often gets cranky and won't let people upload pictures so I started a Wordpress blog. I'm not really liking the Wordpress though. I'm crazy on the picture stuff and they make you upload one picture at a time. They do it faster, but it's a bit more work and I'm rather lazy.

IHateToast said...
i heart hope! is she blushing?
She was, she's a bit of a shy gal.

Charity said...
Hope is so lovely, I can see her glowing! I'm so glad you received the package - I wasn't sure how long it would take from here to there. Doesn't it drive you mad that I receive a package sooner sent from England than from Ontario?
It's crazy that's what it is. You would think that Canada is a nation of backwoods hicks with no concept of new-fangled things like airplanes or semis that can travel a minumum of 20kms over the speed limit on a regular basis regardless of who is in front of them or the weather conditions. No bitterness there.

Saturday Sky with a little pretty added.

A grey cloudy Saturday Sky. It's supposed to rain on and off all day, just like yesterday.
You know those prenant women that are all belly? Hope is literally all belly. I like how her babies are like Spiral Drawer that we used to play with as children and how her leaves look like petals. She is beginning to darken a little, I think I may actually be able to plant Hope's babies next year! Cross my fingers and hope to God.

Bustle is very aptly named. She is racing to fill in and so far, has outpaced Chary.

Joy is prenant too! She has got quite a belly on her. I'm almost thinking twins for her. Chary is taking her time to get filled in. She wants kids, but I think she likes the idea of them more than the actual having of them. I am getting very weird.

Goodbye, Great-Grandma.

Goodbye, Great Aunt.

They left yesterday morning. We are, of course, invited to go there. Grandma has offered us her spare room and even offered to accompany me on a Toronto yarn crawl. She likes my Mr. says he's a nice man. She loved him when she heard he'll do dishes and make supper when I'm tired or too busy with the kids.
So, we are thinking maybe Toronto in either Spring 2008 or if we are lucky, Fall 2007. Maybe. I'm already planning on how much I can put away and maybe starting to Google a list of stores and even Google Map from Grandma's. But, I'm not counting on being able to go. ;D

A new thing for both of us.

My new thing. I made these last night. They aren't as hard as I thought they would be. I made them with an opening clasp so they can be moved for lace or colour work that changes starting points. They fit up to 7mm needles (no US equivalent) so they should work for most things. I'm keeping three, giving two (with a different clasp, not pictured here) to my Great Aunt and sending the rest to Pals.

Some for my Secret Pal in her reveal package and some for my Lace Swap Pal since I sent out her parcel, and was told by the Post Office that it would take 12 weeks to get there. God love Canada Post. They must only work when there is no sleet, snow, hail or rain. Apparently, if I had sent it with a more experienced person, it would have gotten there faster. I guess the guy behind the counter is pretty new and didn't check all methods of travel. He gave me four prices and times, $11.50 -ground - 12 weeks, $22.45 - air - 12 weeks, $81.25 - express ground - 3-4 weeks and $133.79 - express air - 3 weeks. Apparently, there is a middle ground. I should have checked their website before I went, I could have sent it other ways for a middle of the road price and gotten it there much faster than the one I chose. I just hope that the employee grossly overestimated the amount of time it take to get there. In the meantime, four of these are getting stuffed into an envelope and sent off hopefully faster, so she'll at least get something by the time the swap finishes.

The Girly's new thing. "Look Mom, I'm balancing!" She did too.


That is yellow. Those. Are. Yellow. Leaves. I'm not ready!!

Another four generation picture.

Here's are four generations of fibre artists. My Grandma knit up a little square for Veritas in no time. She's fast. She says she's never seen anyone knit the way I do, and she's pretty sure she wouldn't be able to do it. I think she would, but it would be like learning to ride a bicycle backward. My Mom is crocheting. She thought she shouldn't be in the picture because this is my Dad's Mom, we made her, though. She agreed after I told her that she had to participate in the making of me and there would be no Girly without me.

The Girly helped everyone get enough yarn to work with. As you can see from my Mom's lap.

Today we hit the yarn store for my Grandma's one stop yarn crawl.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day.

Tonight I leave you with this bit of tasty and pretty. I love how these colours seem to play off of each other and really brighten/darken each other.

Four generations together.

Relaxing day today.

Today for the first time in nearly two years, I slept past 9:30am. The Mr. got up with the Girly (he does that at least once or twice on his days off so that isn't new) and I actually slept in really late. I feel so decadent.

I finished off the first ball of brown right at the end of a row. I think if I knit the majority of this ball, I'll be able to felt it and still have a decent sized bag. I did a smaller brown repeat at the beginning so I can end with a few rows of brown and sew those ends together, then I'll have vertical stripes for the body. I still have about 3/4 of the blue ball, but I think I'll have to phone Caryll's and see if she'll drop another ball in the post for me. I hope she will, because I would like handles and a edging for the top in blue, with a blue and brown base. I don't think I'll put stripes on the base though. I'm looking through some of the books and magazines I bought at the library sale for inspiration. I love how this bag is looking and I can't seem to get interested in knitting anything else.

There were butterflies at Grandma and Grampa's house.

Mail, flowers, it's all pretty around here today.

My Grandma gave me these for my friends. How awesome is she?! I love my Grandma.

These came from Jen today. They are pretty and she says they are the first ones she's done. Good job, Jen! Thank you they are prefect.

Here they are with the one Charity sent the other day. They're chatting up quite a storm and I think I heard a bit of clinking going on.

Blogless Margaret saw my disappointment about Paton's Cotton Top being a discontinued yarn so she and I worked out a trade and lo and behold, more appeared in my mailbox this morning! Yay! Thank you, Margaret!


My poor, sweet, gentle Hope. She took another beating last night when a tornado touched down near Winnipeg last night and we got some pretty high side winds. I need a taller stake, she's outgrown that one and I need to help her hold her head up high. Poor little momma.


Joy is filling in well and looking a little tired herself. I think she may have a little announcement soon, herself.

Chary has finally shown her face and she is starting to fill her centre too.

Here is Bustle she saw all the fun the others were having and how pretty they looked and burst into flower in two days.


The flooring guys came back last night and fixed what they did. We are much happier now, but still wondering why people don't go in every job and do their best to do the job right instead of trying to take shortcuts. Maybe someday people will place a value on their handiwork again.

Thunder Bay was a good time, coming back, not so much.

Dinner after we got home last night. From the left counter-clock-wise My Grandma, my Aunt, my brother's missus and my brother, my Mr., my Dad, my Mom, my sister, my niece and my girly. I was very happy not to have to make supper once we got home and everything started to go downhill. The good stuff first, then the bad.

Look what Grandma made the girly. There was one in different colours for my niece too. Isn't it beautiful! DK weight too. These took some time.

Look at the stitches. Mitered corners, Stockinette st and Garter stitch contrasting bands. This is really good work!

This is what I managed to knit on the way down. I did the red strap first, but it got dark before I got to the colour change and couldn't count where I was so that one got shoved to one end of the needle and I cast on for more Spare a Square squares. I discovered that a small penlight would be far better for measuring where you are than the dashboard lights are. I bought one as soon as I got to Thunder Bay and it now resides in my travel knitting bag. These ones are made with kitchen twine. Next up, the Chalk Line. She did say any material, I hope she means it.

My yarn crawl scores. The pale blue is Misti Alpaca in laceweight for my Lace Swap pal. There are two more skeins, a pattern, a circular needle and a few Canadian treats. As soon as I get some ketchup chips, it will all be on it's way overseas. Because what would a package from Canada be without ketchup chips, eh b'y.

The orange is a ball of a velevety sort of yarn I'm going to use to make a hat and scarf set for the girly. It's not very stretchy so I'll add a bit of lace and that should let it have some give to it. The blue and brown Alafoss Lopi is turning into a bag. I plan to knit until I'm out of yarn, then see if it's big enough to felt or if I'll have to line it. Then the two balls of Amazon DK 100% cotton will turn into dishcloths once I find a stitch pattern that will suit them. I would have bought way more yarn, but I ran out of spending money. Ah well. "Sandra" magazine from Chapters and a fabulous book for my Secret Pal so I can't show it to you since I'm sending my reveal package pretty soon. I think she will love it. The mittens are for the Girly and they were made by my Grandma and the pot holder is double thick and was crocheted by my Mother.

Caryll's Yarn Store. Great store, there's some high end stuff, some of the more generic stuff and even some of the middle of the line yarns in the store. Something for every budget and taste. Nice woman too, she spoke to the Girly who then proceeded to follow her around the store and chatter incessantly at her. She took it all in stride and even tried to participate in the "conversation". She has a spinning wheel all set up by her office. Must be good people.

Threads in Time. Excellent store, lots of good quality yarns some of the middle of the line stuff, some roving and loads of weaving equipment and supplies. She was super friendly and while I was wandering and feeling everything up, she was patiently helping a weaver set up on this huge swift looking thing. There was a name for it, but I can't remember it. She was great with the Girly too so no complaints from me about either store. The best thing is that they are about a block and a half apart so you don't have to drive all over the place to get to them.

Now, the bad.

We had people in to do the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom floors while we were gone. It was an insurance claim so we are only paying for part of it, but still. It's all vinyl flooring so it should have been reasonably easy, you would think. They charged for a 1/4 proboard underlay. It's not there. They didn't sand or paint the wall they were supposed to repair. Now we have a large patch of wall behind the washer/dryer that is covered with lumpy drywall plaster, nice. When they put the vinyl down, they didn't bother to check and make sure there weren't any lumps of dirt or unsanded spots underneath. Now we have lumpy spots in our floor. They also left a very visible seam in the hallway. The kind of visible that you can see standing 8 feet away. When they put the trim on the area where the vinyl meets the carpet, they used the wrong trim and they didn't hammer the nails down flat. Now I have sharp spots right where the children love to run and play. They will be coming back and redoing the entire thing. Once you glue down vinyl, you can't just take up a section without wrecking the rest of it. We are pissed off.
Edited to add: The contracter just called. He is now pissed off too. Apparently he sent out a subcontracter who was supposed to be an expert in the flooring business. He was wrong. They'll both be here tomorrow morning to look at it and the main contracter is already ordering new flooring for us. The whole thing will be redone. We are a little less pissed off.

Then, my Mom forgot to pick up the pets from the kennel. By the time we got home, dropped Grandma and Aunt off at Mom and Dad's and got home, it was 4:15. We brought in our stuff, switched vehicles (we borrowed Dad's since it's bigger than ours) and by the time I made it back to town, the pet store/kennel was closed. So I phoned the number for the kennel and got the owner at home. It's 5:00pm now. She says, get this, "I'm having supper now (okay, cool, I can wait for that) and I probably won't be going back there until sometime between 8:00pm and 10:00pm. I'll be going again at 8:00am." WTF???!!! She lives two minutes from my house which is 7 minutes from the store!

Me: Well, I would like to get them tonight, my Mother totally forgot she was supposed to pick them up this afternoon and the sooner I can get them home the better.

Her: Well, I'll give you a call when I go down, I hope to go sometime before 10:00pm.

Me: ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her: Goodbye. *click*

Me: *$^&#$%^#%^#%%&$%&$%*#%&^#%@#$%$^U%^*%((*&#$^@$%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She never called. I even gave her the number at my parents. I called her this morning at 9:00 am.

Her: Well, I was there at 8:00 am.

Me: What about last night, you never called at all. You never called this morning to let me know you were going down for sure.

Her: I didn't get there until 11:00pm. I don't like calling people after that time. But don't worry, I wasn't going to charge you for another night.

Me: I was awake. I would have come and gotten them. I want my pets back. I wasn't going to pay you for another night. I tried to get them back prior to that. You wouldn't take the time to give them back. When am I going to get my pets back?!

Her: I'll be going again at 1:00pm. Goodbye. *click*

Me: #%^&$^&^&*&%%$^**)(_)&$%$#%&%&^*&()*)(+_)(&%^$%##$^*&(*&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course being the nice passive-aggresive that I am, I never call her back to harrass her either time.

The pets are home now. Apollo has completely lost his bark. He hates small crates. I was thinking they had small runs for them. Apparently not. She said he got a walk every day though. Big deal. There are still another 23 1/2 hours left. Sam and Jezzy are full of dander and loose fur (normal for stressed out cats). They will not be returning to that kennel. There are other better kennels in the town that is an hour away. So much for the support your own community endeavour.

Home again.

My Saturday Sky taken from my own yard. Because when you go on a trip and take two still cameras, extra batteries and a DVD Recorder with extra battery and DVD's, you always come home with no pictures anmd no videos.

Hope is pregnant. See the seed pods?

Some car knitting.

Charity sent me a beautiful dishcloth. Love the stitch pattern on it. It's perfect, thank you Charity.

So far, in the running for the prizes, there are 3 people and 6 prizes.

Thank you to everyone who wished us a Happy Anniversary and sent best wishes. You rock!

Four years ago today.

I, take you to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

The best part of my jackpot.

This book is the true treasure I found over the weekend. It says it's for men, but I see most of them for women. Of course there are a few that are guaranteed to get rid of any man you want to see gone, but for the most part, they are very workable and there is something for nearly every man. If this was the only thing I found at the library, it would be worth the donation.

Of course, the look on his face when I told him I thought that this vest would look fabulous on him was worth the entire donation to the library. It makes it even funnier that he took another look at it and told me that I don't know how to crochet so he isn't all that worried. I love the cardigan though.

I love, love, love this sweater. This one will wind up in my closet someday. Probably in the same colour and maybe a few other colours too. Of course I'll want to shape it just a bit, and change it from crochet to knit, but other than that, it's perfect. You quit laughing, I am just stubborn and delusional enough to try it, I tell you!

Love the cardigan, and the Fair Isle, a fabulous fall jacket (for me again, different colours though). Another definite someday knit.

Love the bathrobe. Probably want to strangle myself with the sheer volume of knitting, but love it anyway. It has just enough detail that it would probably not be hideously tedious. Boring after a while, but not tedious.

These are a definite knit for all of us. For real. There is a crew neck style and a turtleneck style so everyone will be happy.

The light, where did it go? Did I get it?

Meet Chary. She's a little reluctant to show her face.

Another one showing her yellow. Another name to figure out. Joy is still perky and starting to fill out her centre. She had a bee on her so no close ups for her.