Category Archives: WIP


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wednesday, thursday & friday

On Wednesday Jakob and I went to see The Nanny Diaries. We had a good time, and ran into some of our playgroup buddies there. The movie was cute, but I preferred the book.
On Thursday we did some shopping then I took Jakob for passport photos because we might be going away at Christmas time.
My little MVP looks like his passport photos are mug shots and I won’t know until I go in person if they will accept them or not. It’s hard because I can’t be in the photo, not even my hands, so I was literally sitting on the floor behind a stool, holding him up with my hands under his shirt so you couldn’t see me. We took two photos and we’ll see…if they aren’t accepted the woman at the store promised to redo them.

Mommy with Jakob at 15 weeks.

After the photos we went to our playgroup, then to visit my parents. We picked up Jakob’s Auntie Laura from Fairview and brought her back home to our house where we had dinner together with Laura, Yannick and Yannick’s friend Kevin.

My goal for Thursday night was to watch Big Brother and knit, but at 8:05 Yannick started drilling in the garage to remove the garage door opener and change it, and the screeching noise scared the hell out of Jakob. He had just fallen asleep and started SCREAMING. He cried in his crib until 8:45, when I couldn’t take it any more. Laura had left, Yannick and Kevin had left, and it was just me and him, crying. From 8:45 to 9:30 he cried in my arms until he fell asleep- but he was due to eat at 9:30 then go to bed. He didn’t eat until later, I got no knitting (or anything) done, and all in all the night kinda sucked. The only positive thing was that I was so tired from listening to him cry non-stop that I went to bed as soon as he did, instead of staying up until 1:00-ish like usual.

On Friday I took Jakob, his little blankie-bunny Foo-Foo and my sister Laura into town. First we went to Home Depot so Laura could watch Jakob in the car while I ran in to buy Yannick’s anniversary present. (Our first wedding anniversary is on Monday, which is also Yannick’s birthday, and Yannick loves tools. Since the traditional first anniversary is paper…he’s getting gift certificates! I know this sounds like a cop-out and not romantic, but TRUST ME, he always prefers the practical. I’m the sappy mush who wants the long-thought-out romantic gesture. He’d be happy with a vacuum if he really needed one). After Home Depot we picked up my grandmother and went for lunch at Marathon on Decarie Blvd. It was really yummy and Jakob was flirting with everyone there. Plus the hostess Erin already had met Robyn and Sean, so Bubbie was happy to show off her other great-grandson too.

After lunch we stopped by the JCA Crafts office so I could drop of my finished socks, then we drove Bubbie home and headed home. On our way I brought Jakob’s passport application and photos to our cousin Marlene who is a vet and could sign as a guarantor. I think we finally got home around 4:30pm! I was so tired I stopped at Starbucks first for an (expensive) vanilla latte. I needed it! I also picked one up for Maaike, who came over to take a few test photos for me.

Yannick and I decided to order in some junk food and get pizza, but after an hour and a half the delivery guy called, lost, unable to find my (really easy to find) street, and after I spent 20 minutes on the phone with him telling him exactly where to turn but he didn’t understand me, I cancelled the order. I called the restaurant to complain but they said in order to give me a credit I’d have to have the food delivered. Basically I had to pay for cold food this time to get a credit for next time. No thanks! Plus we’d ordered early enough for Yannick to eat and get to the stores before they closed at 9:00, and it was already 8:30. He didn’t even have time to eat any longer. So he left and I reheated some pasta from Thursday night’s supper. It wasn’t the night I’d planned, but I did get some ample knitting time in. Wanna see?

Oh, wait, that doesn’t show the knitting very well, does it?

Better? 🙂


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can you guess?

I started a new project today. There is something we bought for our house that doesn’t work as well as it should, but since we had altered it, returning it is out of the question. We came up with a temporary solution but I’m not crazy about it, so I decided to rig something myself. I came up with a pretty good idea (with my mom’s help- in case she’s reading this) and above are the assembled materials for the project, as posed with Jakob.

From the top, going clockwise: Jakob, 12 lbs (approx) of yellow and green peas, a ball of yarn, 2 empty 2-litre soda bottles, a pair of Queen-sized black nylons, and some sheet batting.

This project shouldn’t take long and I’m hoping to have a FO in the next day or two. Any guesses?

*To be fair, I don’t think there are THAT many things you can make with these materials, so guessing shouldn’t be too difficult. 🙂


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close knits

I’m so excited to be nearly finished the chart for the Debbie Bliss Alphabet Blankie (although why I can’t just call it the Alphabet Blankie is beyond me). The light wasn’t great today, but what you can barely see in this photo is me about to start the last block of letters, and the DEFGH, IJKLM, NOPQR, STUVW and XYZ rows already completed. All that comes next is the (probably really long) border and then I’ll be finished!

The next close knit is so close its embarassing. It is a cabled hoodie from this book:

and in the book it looks like this (sorry I couldn’t get it to turn in the image editor I was using):

For my version I decided to use some Patons Decor I had lying around as leftovers from other projects. I didn’t have quite enough of the cream color to do the whole sweater so I used a dark brown with it. All that is left is to seam the sides, sleeves and the hood, weave in all ends and sew in the zipper. I had put it aside when it was blocking and regretfully never picked it up again. It bugs me because it was a fast knit but I don’t record the item completion date for my projects until it is really COMPLETE so what should show a 2 week or so start-to-finish time lags for months and months just waiting for little stuff like seaming. ARG.

Last I have a horrible photo of the Mitered Square Blankie. It is close only in the sense that I finished its width and will now be working my way upwards to get it to the proper length. I told myself that once it was wide enough I would start weaving in all the ends, so as soon as I finish the block that is still on the needles I will be weaving, so the next time you see it it should look a lot better than this! (And I’ll find better lighting).


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hey wouldja lookit that- i’ve been knitting

First off, I must post a photo of Sam. He’s been complaining that the blog has been Sam-less for too long, so here’s a shot of him that Yannick took the other day.

Now then, on to the knitting.

Don’t ask me where I’ve found time to knit, but almost all of the progress you will see below was knit THIS WEEK. (Technically you would know that as these are updates on projects I showed you last weekend, but I felt like spelling it out ‘cus I’m amazed that I got so much done.) If I didn’t have the previous posts’ photos to compare to I never would have believed it.

This is the progress on the Clown Cardigan. (I call it that because it was original designed for Clown sock yarn, and I’m too lazy to come up with a better name). At the last photo I believe I had only been up to the neckline decreases on the first cardi front, so as you can see I have finished that side and the other cardi front. This was worked on both Tuesday night at the MKG meeting and in the car on Wed when my dad drove me to work ‘cus of the bad snow storm we had (why take a chance and drive when I can get driven and knit??).

 

This is the progress on the entrelac blankie. I LOVE this project! I love everything about it. I doubt you can tell but there are two complete rows (one blue and one white) done since the last photo. I also remembered to take the photo BEFORE starting the next row so I could lie it out flat and take a proper photograph. I worked on this in the car on the way up north on Sunday as my family went up to spend the day with Yannick’s family and his sister’s family, and then again by the fire during the day as a bunch of them went out to ski and snowboard (they live on Mont Blanc ski hill). I don’t ski. I don’t snowboard. I wouldn’t even if I wasn’t pregnant. “Hi, I’m Jennifer and I’m a klutz.” Enough said. So yeah- 2 rows done on Sunday. Woo hoo.

 

This I’m really impressed with. At the last photo I was about 10 rows from the top of the STUVW row (oh, and there are 6 rows of blocks, not 4 as I’d said previously). Now I’ve completed not only that row but the NOPQR row above it! I worked on this on and off in the mornings before leaving for work.

 

Last but not least are some squares for a mitered square baby blanket I’m working on. I completely stole the inspiration, idea and some of the directions from Shelly Kang’s wonderful blankie and Britknitter’s (Dianne) gorgeous blankie. Some of the yarn are my own leftovers and some were graciously given to me for trade or sold to me, or just given. A huge thank you to everyone who gave me their bits and odds and ends of sock yarn or similar weight. (If you’ve got more I’d love to take it off of your hands!) The biggest variation I’ve come up with on Dianne and Shelly’s patterns is that I am going to fill in the edges with triangles to make a complete square once done. I still have tons of that black Sisu sock yarn so I will use that to provide a unified border (I don’t have the patience for an i-cord border like Shelly, gorgeous as it is!). That bunch in the middle are already attached, and the others will be somewhere along the bottom row. I’m just working on placement for a bit because I didn’t realize that they all had that blue and white bit and I don’t want it to look like they were all from the same ball in squares side-by-side, so I’ll have to make up a few others to go in between. In any case, more photos on this as it progresses.

Ok, now I have to leave for work. Have a great day!


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hey wouldja lookit that- i’ve been knitting

First off, I must post a photo of Sam. He’s been complaining that the blog has been Sam-less for too long, so here’s a shot of him that Yannick took the other day.

Now then, on to the knitting.

Don’t ask me where I’ve found time to knit, but almost all of the progress you will see below was knit THIS WEEK. (Technically you would know that as these are updates on projects I showed you last weekend, but I felt like spelling it out ‘cus I’m amazed that I got so much done.) If I didn’t have the previous posts’ photos to compare to I never would have believed it.

This is the progress on the Clown Cardigan. (I call it that because it was original designed for Clown sock yarn, and I’m too lazy to come up with a better name). At the last photo I believe I had only been up to the neckline decreases on the first cardi front, so as you can see I have finished that side and the other cardi front. This was worked on both Tuesday night at the MKG meeting and in the car on Wed when my dad drove me to work ‘cus of the bad snow storm we had (why take a chance and drive when I can get driven and knit??).

 

This is the progress on the entrelac blankie. I LOVE this project! I love everything about it. I doubt you can tell but there are two complete rows (one blue and one white) done since the last photo. I also remembered to take the photo BEFORE starting the next row so I could lie it out flat and take a proper photograph. I worked on this in the car on the way up north on Sunday as my family went up to spend the day with Yannick’s family and his sister’s family, and then again by the fire during the day as a bunch of them went out to ski and snowboard (they live on Mont Blanc ski hill). I don’t ski. I don’t snowboard. I wouldn’t even if I wasn’t pregnant. “Hi, I’m Jennifer and I’m a klutz.” Enough said. So yeah- 2 rows done on Sunday. Woo hoo.

 

This I’m really impressed with. At the last photo I was about 10 rows from the top of the STUVW row (oh, and there are 6 rows of blocks, not 4 as I’d said previously). Now I’ve completed not only that row but the NOPQR row above it! I worked on this on and off in the mornings before leaving for work.

 

Last but not least are some squares for a mitered square baby blanket I’m working on. I completely stole the inspiration, idea and some of the directions from Shelly Kang’s wonderful blankie and Britknitter’s (Dianne) gorgeous blankie. Some of the yarn are my own leftovers and some were graciously given to me for trade or sold to me, or just given. A huge thank you to everyone who gave me their bits and odds and ends of sock yarn or similar weight. (If you’ve got more I’d love to take it off of your hands!) The biggest variation I’ve come up with on Dianne and Shelly’s patterns is that I am going to fill in the edges with triangles to make a complete square once done. I still have tons of that black Sisu sock yarn so I will use that to provide a unified border (I don’t have the patience for an i-cord border like Shelly, gorgeous as it is!). That bunch in the middle are already attached, and the others will be somewhere along the bottom row. I’m just working on placement for a bit because I didn’t realize that they all had that blue and white bit and I don’t want it to look like they were all from the same ball in squares side-by-side, so I’ll have to make up a few others to go in between. In any case, more photos on this as it progresses.

Ok, now I have to leave for work. Have a great day!


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hey wouldja lookit that- i’ve been knitting

First off, I must post a photo of Sam. He’s been complaining that the blog has been Sam-less for too long, so here’s a shot of him that Yannick took the other day.

Now then, on to the knitting.

Don’t ask me where I’ve found time to knit, but almost all of the progress you will see below was knit THIS WEEK. (Technically you would know that as these are updates on projects I showed you last weekend, but I felt like spelling it out ‘cus I’m amazed that I got so much done.) If I didn’t have the previous posts’ photos to compare to I never would have believed it.

This is the progress on the Clown Cardigan. (I call it that because it was original designed for Clown sock yarn, and I’m too lazy to come up with a better name). At the last photo I believe I had only been up to the neckline decreases on the first cardi front, so as you can see I have finished that side and the other cardi front. This was worked on both Tuesday night at the MKG meeting and in the car on Wed when my dad drove me to work ‘cus of the bad snow storm we had (why take a chance and drive when I can get driven and knit??).

 

This is the progress on the entrelac blankie. I LOVE this project! I love everything about it. I doubt you can tell but there are two complete rows (one blue and one white) done since the last photo. I also remembered to take the photo BEFORE starting the next row so I could lie it out flat and take a proper photograph. I worked on this in the car on the way up north on Sunday as my family went up to spend the day with Yannick’s family and his sister’s family, and then again by the fire during the day as a bunch of them went out to ski and snowboard (they live on Mont Blanc ski hill). I don’t ski. I don’t snowboard. I wouldn’t even if I wasn’t pregnant. “Hi, I’m Jennifer and I’m a klutz.” Enough said. So yeah- 2 rows done on Sunday. Woo hoo.

 

This I’m really impressed with. At the last photo I was about 10 rows from the top of the STUVW row (oh, and there are 6 rows of blocks, not 4 as I’d said previously). Now I’ve completed not only that row but the NOPQR row above it! I worked on this on and off in the mornings before leaving for work.

 

Last but not least are some squares for a mitered square baby blanket I’m working on. I completely stole the inspiration, idea and some of the directions from Shelly Kang’s wonderful blankie and Britknitter’s (Dianne) gorgeous blankie. Some of the yarn are my own leftovers and some were graciously given to me for trade or sold to me, or just given. A huge thank you to everyone who gave me their bits and odds and ends of sock yarn or similar weight. (If you’ve got more I’d love to take it off of your hands!) The biggest variation I’ve come up with on Dianne and Shelly’s patterns is that I am going to fill in the edges with triangles to make a complete square once done. I still have tons of that black Sisu sock yarn so I will use that to provide a unified border (I don’t have the patience for an i-cord border like Shelly, gorgeous as it is!). That bunch in the middle are already attached, and the others will be somewhere along the bottom row. I’m just working on placement for a bit because I didn’t realize that they all had that blue and white bit and I don’t want it to look like they were all from the same ball in squares side-by-side, so I’ll have to make up a few others to go in between. In any case, more photos on this as it progresses.

Ok, now I have to leave for work. Have a great day!