Monthly Archives: March 2010


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happy passover!

Hi!

Ok, this is good.  Typing is fun when you can’t talk- makes you feel like you can get stuff out.  🙂  Now if only the text would stop swirling around the page…

I missed last night’s seder, and will miss tonight’s too, ‘cus I’ve got strep once again.  I know- third time since September.  At least this time it seems like Henri has been spared the Superinfection he usually gets when I get it.  And now that it’s been documented as being this frequent, my family doctor is sending me to an ENT for further evaluation.

Let’s see…I’m seeing an ENT for strep, a surgeon for hernia(s), aren’t I supposed to be older before I start having a different doctor for every part of my body?  🙂

I haven’t posted in a bit ‘cus we’ve been so busy studying for school.  And, I confess to taking 2 weeks off studying after our last exam to get out some other knits.  Which made this last exam (done yesterday) real pain to study for.  ALL formulas, calculating focus lengths, angles of deviation, indices of refraction, etc… Thankfully our midterm will come with a formulas sheet.

I took my first-ever trip to New York two weeks ago to go to an optical exposition for work.  It was a lot of fun; I went with my mom and dad and Yannick, and we managed to fit a LOT into barely 2 days.  We left Saturday after work and drove straight down.  Our hotel was right in the heart of Time’s Square, so we walked around a bit that night before bed.  Sunday was the expo, and a real blast.  We couldn’t make it to the shuttle ‘cus the streets to cross were closed for the New York Marathon, so we had to take the subway instead.  Really makes you appreciate the STCUM metro system!  LOL  We made it to the exp on time, in the end.  It was so cool to see all the latest lines coming out, and newest gadgets, and we got a goodie bag when we walked in that made me feel like the celebs who get givaways when they go to awards shows.  After the fair we went back to Time’s Square and got last minute tickets to see Avenue Q that night.  Then we walked to Central Park ‘cus Yannick insisted I see it, walked around there for a bit and had a quick bite from a hot dog vendor.  (Hot dogs- thumbs up.  Pretzels- thumbs down.  Fresh nuts- didn’t get a chance to try.)  Then we walked back to the theatre and saw the show, which was absolutely insane, inane, and hysterical.  From there we walked back to Time’s Square, had supper at Olive Garden (my first time) and walked around some more.  Yannick was thrilled ‘cus the night before he’d found what seemed to be the only Tim Hortons around, and my dad was thrilled ‘cus the Hershey’s store was still open.  On Monday we left before eating so we could get on the road, and stopped in Albany to go to Joann’s (my first time).  I was good and only bought a few items, stuff I can’t get here, and NO yarn.  Then we went to Lake George and bought some work clothes at the outlets, then drove to Plattsburgh to have dinner at Applebee’s (my first time) and go to the huge Big Walmart before finally getting home around 1am.  It was a crazy weekend, but it was a lot of fun, and amazingly we all got along the whole time.  Plus, since I didn’t drive, I got to knit!  I managed to finish Anouk for a friend’s upcoming daughter, and even bought the perfect buttons at Joann’s.  Then while walking around the expo I finished my Toasted Almond socks and cast on for a new pair!

Photos to come as I feel a little better.


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guild sock contest winners!

How exciting!  We had a guild contest tonight- members were invited to submit socks into different categories, and then a special guest would be voting for the winners.  I decided to submit my Phlox Socks (Ravelry) and my Screwball Socks (Ravelry) but I didn’t get my hopes up because I don’t have sock blockers, and to be honest, both pairs look pretty crappy just laying flat on the table.  The lace from Phlox and the tread from Screwball both need a foot inside to show off properly, but I put them with my entry forms anyways, just for fun.

Our special guest judge was none other than Kate Gilbert.  Yes, the Kate Gilbert of Clapotis (Ravelry) and Twist Collective fame.  She comes to the meetings from time to time, and it was great to see her there tonight.

When they announced the winners they started with the Members’ Choice.  Anyone who wanted to was able to vote for socks into one of two categories- Members’ Choice – Classic, and Members’ Choice – Fun & Funky.  I actually voted for my cousin Robyn’s Mathematical Equation socks (Ravelry) for the Fun & Funky category.  I was SHOCKED when my Phlox Socks won for Members’ Choice – Fun & Funky!  (Especially because I wouldn’t have thought of the lace as “fun & funky”).  I got to pick from a small selection of wrapped prizes, and won 2 balls of sock yarn in soft blues and yellows.  It’s a new yarn for my stash, with 50% wool, 25% bamboo and 25% nylon, and really soft.

I almost wasn’t paying attention at the end, and was just so happy to have won something, when my other pair of socks was held up.  Kate had chosen my Screwball Socks as the winner of the Best Original Design Socks!  I got to pick another prize, and this time my gift bag had a set of point protectors, a really cute notion that I actually don’t own.

I’m really floored to have won a prize for both of my entries, and I honestly don’t know which one I value more- the Members’ Choice one because that means that my fellow knitters and guild members actually liked my socks (all the socks were labelled anonymously, by the way) or the Best Original Design one because Kate, a respected knitware designer, chose it (I hope) because it is actually an interesting and well thought out design. 

I’m really happy about both.  I don’t like to be singled out at guild because I think it is a place for everyone who knits, regardless of skill level or how many techniques you can do or whether you have published designs or not, and I think that everyone there should have fun, be included and be acknowledged.  So I did feel guilty getting up not once, but twice to go and pick prizes.  That being said, however, I do respect the other knitters there, and I’m honored that they liked my designs enough to vote for them.


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august to september 2009

Mommy with Henri at 31 weeks old.

I can’t get over this photo of Jakob.  Just Mr. Joe Cool, hanging out with his Mr. Potato Head cowboy hat.  I think this is a preview of what he’ll look like at 17.

Here’s Henri modeling the new chair I got for my office.

Mommy with Henri at 32 weeks…

…and 33 weeks old.  Ignore my sweaty skin and red cheeks, I think I’d just gotten back from the gym.

At the end of August I decided to give Jakob a rare treat and keep him up past his bedtime in order to bring him to the Shriner’s Circus.  He was as good as gold, stayed awake the whole time (even though I’d brought him in his pjs in case he fell asleep) and got to try his first popcorn and cotton candy (my first night as a pushover).  I think the highlight of his night was waiting for the show to start, because I took him on an elephant ride.  I didn’t think he’d cared much for it since he was really quiet and taking it all in, but when the elephants came back out to allow for more rides during intermission OH MY GOD- he THREW his sippy cup to the ground, JUMPED up and yelled “I RIDE THE ELEPHANT MOMMY!  MORE RIDE ELEPHANT!” 

Mommy with Henri at 34 weeks old.

I couldn’t resist snapping this photo.  Nothing was staged, I just happened to come across Sam sitting there, and the composition was just too perfect to pass up.

This was a peaceful Jakob one morning with his Cheerios and his Barney.  But later that night I went to check on him before I went to bed and found this:

The next morning I asked him why Barney had socks in his mouth.  The answer (translated from 2.5-year-old speech): so he’d be quiet so I could go to sleep.

Mommy with Henri at 35 weeks old (and Jakob too).

I was wrong.  THIS is what Jakob will look like at 17!  (Uh…minus the dolphin…I’d assume).

Mommy with Henri at 36 weeks old.  In this photo you can see some of the Strep A bacterial superinfection that had spread across his feet, hands and face.  This was taken about 3 days before we figured out what was wrong with him, so this doesn’t show it as bad as it actually got.

and finally, Mommy with Henri at 37 weeks old.

This covers the backdated stuff (except the monthly chair photos) until the end of September 2009.  I’m slowly working my way through the photos, both for knitting stuff and family photos, so I will keep at it until everything is caught up to date.


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2010 Knitting Olympics

I just went back through my archives to copy my “finished object” summary text and it took forever- my last finished knitting object was posted in April 2009!  I never even posted the final wrap-up of the Log Cabin Blanket the Robyn, Amy and I knit for our cousin Caryn’s bridal shower.

Hopefully I can remedy this.  I’m trying to finalize my “finished objects 2009” page so as I get that set up in Flickr and Ravelry, I’ll try to get those posts in here too.

To begin:

Pattern:  Prairie Spring Tunic by Franklin Habit (Ravelry link)

Size:  2 years

Yarn:  St-Denis Nordique, 3 balls Oatmeal, 1 each of Soft Yellow, Bottle Green & Bison (I used the Oatmeal in place of the Chalk Blue in the original pattern)

Needles: 3.75 mm and 4 mm

Notions: n/a

Dates:  February 12 – 26 2010

Modifications:  The biggest would be that I redid the charts to have chinchillas in them.  This gave me a 12 st repeat instead of 6 like the pattern, so I had to increase the st count of the body by 6 sts right before the Fair Isle section to accomodate my repeat.  The numbers worked fine for the sleeves.  I also used Oatmeal in place of the Chalk Blue ‘cus I’d used the blue for a swatch for another project.

This pattern was entered in Event Junior, Event Nordic Colorwork and Event Sweaterboard.

As usual you can find my finished (and unfinished!) projects in my “projects” page by clicking the tab up at the top of every page on my blog, and I also have this project in my Ravelry notebook here.

The second half of my 2010 Knitting Olympics project was the stuffed chinchilla:

Pattern:  Knitted Chinchilla by Helen Gibbons (Ravelry link)

Size:  one size

Yarn:  less than 1 ball each of Bernat Boa Fur in Silver Fox, Patons Decor in Woodbine Ombre , and Patons Decor in Pale Country Pink

Needles: 5 mm

Notions: 2 safety eyes, stuffing

Dates:  February 27 2010

Modifications:   I’d thought I’d add paws but it was cute as it is.  The only mod I did was to omit the pipe cleaner from the tail because I didn’t want to take a chance on it poking out and hurting the baby.

This pattern was entered in Event Skelegurumi, and Event Stash Dance.  The Woodbine Ombre was bought years ago at Michael’s in Ottawa, the Silver Fox Boa was from LAST December, leftovers from a chemo cap, and the pink Decor was leftovers from the 6 or so balls I’d bought YEARS ago when we did a Suzanne Atkinson workshop at guild and I’d planned on knitting the whole scarf she gave us the pattern for.

As usual you can find my finished (and unfinished!) projects in my “projects” page by clicking the tab up at the top of every page on my blog, and I also have this project in my Ravelry notebook here.

All in all the 2010 Knitting Olympics were a (mildly stressful) success.  I finished my baby shower gift well ahead of the party date, got more Fair Isle under my belt, and managed to use up some stash that was lying around.