I keep on falling ...

... flat on my behind. Winter has come again.

This poor tree is getting buried.

There's another 5cm/2" on the way although if it keeps snowing like it is, I can see getting more than that.

This is what happens when you try to rush through a chart backward and upside down. I still like it so it stays just like this. One thing I did learn other than give yourself more time to knit stuff (like that one really sunk in) is that you can just rip down to where you forgot to add in a colour and add it in. It leave a bunch of nasty loops on the back of your work, but if it's being lined anyway, big deal. I'll just tack them in tight and cover them up.

A sale at Petland?! Just let me grab my bag and I'm there!

Because I'm logical like that.

It's trucking along. I'm thinking if it keeps going this well, knock on wood, that I'll do the picture again and have a mirror image on the other side. I'm not planning on making the handles very long so they shouldn't take much time. Cross your fingers and say a prayer that the kids have wicked long naps tomorrow.

Of course, since it is crunch time, I did what any logical person with excellent time management skills would do. I started stringing beads on the laceweight Malabrigo Suzanne sent. I have a dream. I'm not really sure what stitch pattern it is, but it is a lacey beaded scarf.


I lost some knitting time to a scheduled 5 hour emergency power outage this afternoon. We went to Dryden (an hour's drive) for a day out and a warm place to hang. The Mr. has to work tonight, so he stayed home and slept while Girly and I went. On the way there (about 8 to 10 km out of town), we saw a hydro pole hanging off the power line running into town. The line hadn't broken, but it was pretty stretched so I figured that was the emergency fix. Nope, on the way home, it was still hanging. Great, that means either it breaks the line completely and we have a long unscheduled power out, or they'll leave it until next weekend and we'll have to have another scheduled power out. I think I'll have to phone tomorrow and find out.

Edited to Add: Apparently it is a telephone pole not a hydro pole. I tried to phone Bell to see what they are going to do about it, but their automated system says that they are getting "a record number of calls and your wait to speak to an operator may be very long. It may be better to call back next week." Seriously. That is as word for word as I can remember.

Since I have so much knitting to get done and lining to sew up, I think I will be trying to catch up with all of you later on in the week. Tuesday is Halloween and there isn't much time. Although I may write a quick post Tuesday, if I need a break or the hands start seizing up. Happy Halloween if I don't write you before!

So...?

What do you think? I love it. Girly is going to dress up as Cinderella this year and now she has her coach.


You've got questions, we've got answers.

Jessie asks:

I don't get the daylight savings thing either, but aren't we going OFF it now, so it's back to "normal"?

Yes, we are going off of Daylight Savings Time now. I simply prefer Daylight Savings for the longer evenings. I think my biggest beef is that the changes really don't do a whole lot to benefit the majority of people. Accidents are worst in the spring when the clocks go ahead and the day after the clocks go back since people got to sleep in the first day, they tend to stay awake a bit later that night and get caught tired on Monday. Farmers get up with the sun regardless of what time it comes up since they need daylight for the outdoor chores so saying that it is for them makes no sense either. The cows don't care what time it is, they just know that they need someone to milk them because their udders and full and achy or the animals have empty tummies and won't shut up until they get food. Stuff like that doesn't change from season to season. Anyway...

Secret Pal asks:

So, is that 2-week estimate true for regular mail pieces too, or just for parcels?

Regular mail can take about a week depending on where it's coming from. The big hold up is customs. They need to make sure that what is going through isn't illegal or dangerous and that it has been taxed to the hilt. To speed things up, try to write a list of everything in the box on the box and write gift on it so they know that it is non-taxable.

Dipsy D asks:

My gosh, if you have such a lot of snow now, how do your winters look like?!

We generally get around 1.5m/4.9' of snow over the winter. Usually in 1 to 5cm/.4 to 2" increments. I like how winter looks, but I really hate how cold it gets here. We generally hover around -20*C/-4*F for the majority of December, February and the first part of March. January is the coldest with temperatures hovering in the -30*C/-22*F to -40*C/-40*F range, although it isn't unheard of to get those kind of lows as early as Christmas.

Jen asks:

Hey - meant to ask (speaking of Christmas) - how is your choir group going? Are you still enjoying it? THAT must really get you in a holiday spirit :)

I do feel more holidayish since I joined the choir. It is going very well. I am learning so many new songs. Many of which I had never heard before.

Dorothy asks:

Do you know you can drag photos around in blogger? it can be irksome, but it will let you upload photos in any order, then place them in the correct text spot.

I did not know this. Tell me more, please?

Finally, a request from me.

Please head over to Curly Purly's blog. She is currently asking for people's help for a family friend of hers. Their little boy (The Professor) has a brain tumor. You can read about it in the two posts on the first page of her blog. She has a chemo hat pattern up for sale and a donation button to help the family with all the expenses that go along with an illness like cancer. There is also a contact page so you can help out in other ways if you prefer. I may be contributing a pattern myself. I just need to figure out if it will work and do up the pattern. If you can't help out with money, please consider passing the information on and saying a prayer for him and his family. As a mother whose worst nightmare is Girly being diagnosed with anything serious like this little boy has been, I thank you for anything you can do.

Saturday Sky and a little sumpin' sumpin.

Today is dawning bright and clear, but oh so frosty. If I didn't have stuff to brag talk about, I would have taken some more purty frost pictures.

The Misti Cotton square is nearly done. Just a few more rows and I would be finished. It may be another day or two in the works though. Why, you ask?

This is why. Girly's halloween bag. Can you guess what it is and what she is going to dress up as? Can you guess how darn pleased I am with myself how well it is turning out? I hope to have the bag finished in time. If I can keep going like this, I will.

Friday mornings beautiful red sky. "Red sky in the morning, Sailors take warning." There was rain and some wind, but no big deal.

Another view. My camera added a bit of red to the pictures, but I think it was picking up the red reflecting off the air. Everything looked so red even to my eyes.


Best for last!

Guess what came in the mail yesterday! Here I am showing it off all funk-a-sexy like. Well, I would be if I wasn't doing an Elvis snarl while squinting through the view-finder on the ancient camera and wearing men's workout pants. I probably should have made the bed too. Yeesh. I couldn't get a clear picture in there so ...

... good thing my pumpkin was a little cold. Beautiful isn't it?

It is Malabrigo and so, so soft. Have you seen this somewhere before? It looks familiar you say? Why you must read Lolly's blog! She was my pal for this exchange and I must say that I could not be happier with her gifts. The scarf is fabulous, she sent me the rest of the Malabrigo to play with, made me a little origami crane and sent a very cute sheepy card that Girly loved and had to put straight to beddy-bye. The Mommy sheep and the baby sheep were tired you see.
I had guessed that it was possible for her to maybe, might be, it could happen, be my pal a bit ago but I was pretty sure that she might be was my pal when she posted some hints about who her pal was and that there was snow there already. Since only parts of Ontario got nailed, I thought there was a good chance it really was her, but if I had said anything publicly, it would have turned out to be someone else and I would look like an ass, because that is what my luck is like. I am very, very good at making myself look like an ass.

Friday makes me happy.

Today is the end of my work week and that means that tomorrow I get to sleep in until 8:00am. I'll feel so decadent and spoiled. The good thing about have full darkness at 7:00am means that children rarely wake up that early. The bad thing about it being full dark at 7:00am means that pictures don't turn out nice, bright and true to colour. For instance, this photo of the miles of knitting I got done yesterday. Not too far off, but not quite right either.

Have I mentioned that I like Misti Cotton? Yes? Well, too bad I'm going to mention it again. I like Misti Cotton. It is thick, light and soft, but very strong. I think if I make small 5"x5" cloths, they will be perfect for baby washcloths.

Sunday is Daylight Savings time. I really hate changing the clocks back and forth. What is the point? In the winter, I would rather have more daylight time in the evening after school for the kids to play in, than more daylight first thing in the morning. In the spring when the clocks go ahead, there are almost as many accidents as there are in the first snowstorm of the year. Pointless and dangerous. Must have been thought up by a politican.

My thoughts are leave the clocks ahead. We all enjoy nice long summer evenings and in the winter the kids get a bit more outdoor playtime. Win-win. There are towns in the area that don't change their clocks so far nothing bad has happened to them.

Wow, the air is really red this morning! I'm going to go take a picture if I can. The sunrise must be really something.

[--insert clever, witty title here--]

Yesterday was Walk with me Wednedsday Since I didn't get to leave the house for a walk until after dark, here's a picture of yesterday morning's frost.

Tuesday night's sunset.

I couldn't leave the Misti Cotton alone. I started another square for Grandmother Purl. The other one got another row or two before I put it down and rationalized this one into starting.

The Halloween bag for Girly. I have to chart out the picture I want to put on it so this one has slowed down until I get that right.

The sock got enough rows for me to have started on the patterned part of it.

How to entertain a dog, two cats (Jezzy is hiding, but so ready to pounce), a Girly and a Mommy. Buy a little kid fishing rod that has a fake fish dangling off of it.


Secret Pal - Thank you for the very pretty card. Girly is not quite three, so she is more into Cinderella and the Wiggles than Narnia. Although she loved the stickers. She's really into stickers.
The best part of any gift is that someone went out of their way to find something they hoped you would like and enjoy. Although I love everything Suzanne sent and I am most happy with all the gifts, the best part of the parcel was the time she spent thinking about and finding gifts she hoped I would really like. So anything you send will be perfect because I will know that you put thought, time and effort into choosing things you hoped I will like.

ISE Secret Pal - Things often slow down when they hit the border. Sometimes it amazes me how fast things come through when so much seems to sit there and languish like prisoners in The Tower. A general rule of thumb when sending things to any part of Canada that not a major center and is north of the Greater Toronto Area, is to expect a wait of at least two weeks. Then you can be pleasantly surprised and happy if it gets through sooner.

In all of yesterday's crowing and showing off, I totally forgot to say thank you. Not very good manners.

Thank you, Suzanne for the time you spent finding all those lovely gifts and for caring enough to want to send them. It means a lot to me.

I've got something!

Yesterday I thought I would have nothing to talk about all day, Just another ordinary day with very little knitting content. Laundry ate up most of Monday afternoon and choir most of Monday night. Choir is going very well by the way. I don't know if I told you, but apparently I am a First Soprano. That means I can hit the some of the higher notes. There are also Mezzo Sopranos that sing a bit lower on the scale, but still higher than the Altos and the highest of the high are the Rare Sopranos who can hit that glass shattering high C. Some Opera singers and Mariah Carey are among them. There are other pop singers on the list and I just can't think of who they are right now.

Then the Mr. checked the mail and found a parcel tag in our box. Here is the box. I had won a prize on Suzanne's blog. I didn't win this much stuff though, wow!

No filler required. This thing is full!

The Malabrigo laceweight (nice stuff I tell you) stacked on either side of the balls in the center and the pink Kertzer is what I won. Suzanne also threw in five balls of Misti Cotton. I hugged it for a while. It is beautiful yarn and she says it is great for washcloths. So that is what it will become. I am putting some pennies away to buy more though. I think it would make a fabulous scarf and would feel really nice on the skin. She also sent me some Misti Alpaca lace weight to make something just for me. Although I think if I make pretty, but narrow lace scarves for my Mother, MIL, SIL, and Nan-in-Law out of the Malabrigo, there might be enough leftover so I can have a short scarf for me. I already have three stitch patterns in mind.

She seems to have read my mind. I have been wanting Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears and was planning on getting it for myself after Christmas. Now here it is and it is as funny (purling doesn't bother me in the least although I did teach myself how to knit backward just to see if I could) and as handy as I have heard. Two patterns from Fiber Trends found their way to me too. A beautiful lace shawl pattern that I was eyeing on Elann the other day. The Estonian Garden Wrap and Scarf and a Lace Poncho in women's and children's sizes.

There was food from Trader Joe's too. Cashews (our favourite nuts), Slivered Almonds and dried Montmorency Cherries (I have plans for these two together with maple syrup and apples...), Pinenuts (I saw a pesto pizza recipe somewhere..) and two very dark, bitter chocolate bars that are just perfect for melting into coffee or eating in small bites. See that cute little kitty dish? Perfect for holding notions like stitch markers and my tapestry needle which I always seem to lose the second it leaves my hand. The book is The Secret Life of Beesand I already bawled my way through Chapter 1. I am such a big ol' prickly marshmallow. I didn't want to put it down even though I was too tired to keep reading and 6:50 in the am is really freakin' early.

Finally, these two wool sweaters that are too good to sit in a drawer, but too big for her husband. Guess which one Mr. Conservative liked the best and wore to work last night.

This is above my computer right now. A bit of warm, summery, fuzzy for these frosty mornings.

Sam says thanks for the new toy. It's the perfect size and it's just what he's been wanting.

I've got nothing.

I can't show you my finished secret project. Even though I love how it turned out.
I can't show you pretty snow pictures since it all melted so, here's a couple of frost pictures ...


... and a picture of some soon to be wound yarn.


Exciting, No?

Bienvenue a le Maison Winter

7:20am. Still too dark to take pictures.

7:25am. A picture of the ground.

7:40am. Light enough to take a picture ...

... or two. It's 8:06am now, and it's starting to snow again.

I did get some knitting done. A hat for the Girly.

A secret project. I really love these yarns together. Very soft wool.

Of course I had to work on those new projects because, say it with me now, "I have nothing to knit."

Left to right, back to front. The sock, I managed about three rows, but I don't really have to tell you that since the progress is so obvious on it. The scarf of repo'd yarn. No progress there. The Thrum Mitt. No progress there. The square for Grandmother Purl, again with the no progress to report. The three random balls of yarn are all supposed to be hats by Christmas. The skeins are supposed to be a Halloween bag for Girly, by Halloween. I may be heading up the creek. I think I still have a paddle though.

Another visit?

Has it come to stay? Will it melt again? The sun is starting to come out and the forecast for the next five days says melt. Although they have been wrong before.

This side of the yard has longer, thicker grass so the snow shows up better.

Some more Christmas motivation for anyone who needs it.

Ahhh, Saturday. So peaceful

It's a snow flurry day. Cool, but not too cold yet.

Tell me it isn't completely 80's. Even if you have to lie.


It's another quick one today since we have Kindergym in half an hour.

Oh yes, there has been knitting.

All done! I really like how this turned out. It was a fiddly pain in the hinney, but very worth the end result.

You'll have to click on the link to see the back of it since I added it after the fact and had to use Photobucket to do it because Blogger doesn't play well after you start writing a post.
It's backside

Materials:

1 ball solid colour 100% cotton DK weight
1 ball varigated 100% mercerized cotton DK weight
4mm (US 6) knitting needles
tapestry needle

Pattern:

Note: Wind 3 bobbins of the solid colour since you can't carry it across the back. You can carry the varigated all the way across or wind off 3 bobbins of that. I wound bobbins so that the colours wouldn't completely match up in the squares. Just my little oddities coming out again.

Cast on 42 sts - solid
Rows 1-4: Knit - solid
*Row 5: K4 solid, K10 varigated, K2 solid, K10 varigated, K2 solid, K10 varigated, K4 solid.
Row 6: K4 solid, P10 varigated, K2 solid, P10 varigated, K2 solid, P10 varigated, K4 solid.*
Repeat * to * for another 10 rows (each "pane" should have 12 rows of colour).
Rows 17-18: Knit solid
Rows 19-30: Repeat * to * for twelve rows.
Rows 31-32: Knit solid
Rows 33-44: Repeat * to * for twelve rows.
Rows 45-48: Knit solid
Cast off
Weave in ends.

Admire your pretty.

The Chenille got to come out of the Naughty Corner. I dropped another needle size and now it seems to be doing well for the striping thing. I really love this yarn. Too bad it had to stay in the corner for so long.


The sock is slowly growing. It's a fast knit, it just isn't being made by a fast knitter.

Worn out, I tell you.

Amazing how green eyed jealous two little kids get when a baby shows up in the house. Wow. There was much boundary pushing and repetitive questionning. "Can we watch Dora? Can we watch Dora? Can we watch Dora? ..." that was just one of many. Good thing I love them or there would have been much yelling and pulling out of hair (mine of course).

The new boy, so cute. What a little cuddler. Everytime I picked him up, he hugged me until I put him down. He even patted my back a few times. The way to put him to sleep is a bit odd though. You lay him across your lap and let him bury his face in your arm, out he goes. Awww. I am a big ol' puddin' heart.

Winter has left again.

There have been flurries here and there, but the ground is staying green so far. Perhaps Winter has decided not to come so early or perhaps we will go to sleep one night and Winter will yell, "PSHYC!" and bury us in one good dump.

The Stained Glass is trucking along. One more repeat and it's done.

My completed ISE 3 scarf. Her favourite colours. It's pretty if I do say so myself. Is it a simple textured pattern? Lace? Ribbing? My lips are sealed. It's going in the post tomorrow so she should get it on time and then I will post pictures and the pattern.