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village du pere noel

Today I took the day off work and went with Jakob’s daycare to Santa’s Village.

Now, I’m a good little Jewish girl (well, as good as can be for one who cooks bacon at home and married a non-Jew), but I didn’t know Santa had a village!  I mean, ok, there’s the North Pole and all…but a Summer vacation home?  Here in Quebec?  Who’da thunk?

A small, twisted part of me pictured arriving at a log cabin in the woods; Santa would be wearing cut-off jean shorts and flip-flops, with a Hawaiian shirt stretched over his belly.  There’d be a beer in one hand, and a huge drumstick from a reindeer BBQ in the other…

But it was actually a lot of fun!  We were basically told “meet back here at 11:30 for lunch, then at 1:45 to leave”, and I didn’t have any other kids to watch out for, so Jakob and I got to spend the whole day there together, alone, exploring.  I took a ton of photos and I can’t believe how many I’m going to cram into this post.  If you’re really only here for the knitting, scroll down to the last photo for a glimpse, otherwise try again next post!

Getting there was a fun bus ride with the other kids from the daycare, parents and teachers.  Remarkably quiet for an actual “busload of kids”!  Oh, and my hair is still brown, and still roughly chin-length, with full bangs.  (I just got lazy and hairbanded it today).

I couldn’t believe the amount of stuff there was to do there!  Jakob  was enamored of these slides right away, but we were told many times that we should visit Santa first, then go play, because otherwise there would be lineups.  Jakob’s “thing” is slides, and you have no idea how hard it was to make him walk past these without stopping.  (They are weird, though- you don’t slide normally- you have to wear a potato sack to help you glide down.  Jakob wasn’t a fan, and only did one trip down.)

We saw an igloo…

…and reindeer…

…and then the mane (heh) man himself!  Jakob, as usual, wasn’t shy, and did not hesitate when giving in his Christmas order.

We played in a funhouse full of xylophones and wind chimes and giant xylophone-esqe contraptions built out of black PVC (I think).

We saw a nativity scene.  (Jakob thought Baby Jesus was “cute” and had “stinky feet”- his misnomer for “bare feet”).

We played in the water park.  The center of the “village” is made up of a kid-sized water park, half of which is a wading pool of various depths and the other half of which is a splash park.  There are drains in the ground that randomly spray jets of water in long arcs…

…and a large spray pipe (?) with a continuous stream of “rain”.  The large striped candy canes at the 4 corners of that part are also showers that turn on randomly as well- I learned quickly that it was safest to just stand anywhere that the ground was dry.  (Ask me how I learned!  LOL)

The wading pool goes from about an inch or two above my ankle at one side, to just above my knees on the other.  The water was freezing cold, though, so we didn’t stay in there long.

We went into bunch of other funhouses; one with a hall-of-mirrors-style setup, but in glass, one with funny sound amplifiers and video magnifiers, and finally one that was really just a huge ball pit below a cool climbing/slide jungle-gym contraption.

And this was all before lunch!

After lunch we decided to visit everything that we’d missed in the morning.  (Though a few activities, like the climbing castle near the tree house, and the zip lines, are more suited for older kids.  The giant bird looked cool, but Jakob had no interest).

Instead he made a beeline straight for the bouncy house!  There are actually 2- a castle-style open one on the left, and an enclosed big round one in the the back.  On the right are some open blow up games, like a slide and tunnels.

After the bouncy house we played a bit with the giant “Lego”s before totally making Jakob’s day…

…with a few laps around the race track!  This was his first time riding anything like a go-cart, and I wasn’t sure how he’d do ‘cus at home he sometimes veers his trike/etc off the sidewalk, but he did amazing!

We moved on to the duck pond…

…and the bird house, where some pigeons and chickens were cohabitating with an annoyed-sounding peacock.

The petting zoo was open, but empty when we went, and it was awesome!  It wasn’t like the usual pens that you see, it was a large, fenced-in lot where the animals could run free.  There was no guard or staff member, there were no other guests, it was just me and Jakob and the animals, and it rocked.  There were sheep and goats, and no matter how slowly we walked up to them, they’d get up and just as slowly walk away.  They never ran or hid, but we weren’t able to pet any.  We probably could have pet the ones that stayed sleeping, but I didn’t want to take a chance on startling a sleeping “wild” animal.

There were 2 big llamas, and while Jakob wasn’t crazy about the idea of approaching an animal that was already taller than him while sitting down, he was really brave and later ended up “making nice” to the orange one.

We saw more chickens, and some bunnies…

…and until I bought him a souvenir later he told me that his favorite part of the day was standing at this fence and watching the ducks in this enclosure.  This duck pond was about 3x as big as what this photo shows, and you could feed the ducks corn kernels, and we must have spent over 20 minutes just standing alone on this farm, watching and feeding the ducks.  We felt alone and together, and it was my favorite part of the day.

There were also 2 pigs (the 2nd one is behind the post in front of Jakob)…

…and a cute horse.  I honestly don’t know enough about horses to know if it was simply a calf, or a dwarf horse (I’m leaning towards dwarf) but it was really friendly and didn’t try to walk away or move at all when Jakob approached it.  I think it was  cooling off in the shade, ‘cus I never saw it walk away during the whole time we were in there.

This pic almost gives you a sense of what I was feeling…the duck pond is the whole left side, behind the fence.  Up ahead are some pens with a black and a brown horse, and to the right is the whole open farm/zoo with free range goats, sheep, dwarf horse and llamas.  There was literally NO ONE there besides us.  (It was like the time Yannick took me to the Britney Spears movie Crossroads, and when we got there the theater was empty and we joked  that he’d been so generous as to rent out the whole theater just so we could watch the movie alone…only this was actually cool).

Jakob learned how to pump his own water…

…which reminded him that there was one more water-related activity that he had yet to try.  (If you can’t see him, he’s on the center boat.)

By the way, forgive the grainy pics, I only had my iPhone with me.  Still, you can click on any to open it up bigger.

The thought of water was enough to make him thirsty, so we picked up a bottle of water and a juice box at the snack bar then headed over to the park to play a bit.

There was just enough time to squeeze in a giant Freezie before piling back onto the bus to go home.

My second favorite part of the day was when he fell asleep on the bus with his head in my lap.  There is construction on the highways, and apparently everyone was heading into town from Up North, so the drive took longer to get home than it had to get up there.  Still, I’d packed some Emergency Knitting in my bag and while Jakob slept, and the other kids either slept or told each other all about the day that they’d just shared together, I cast on for a 2nd sock.  (Regia Brasil (sic) Colors, toe-up with some magic something-or-other cast on, short row heel, on 2.5mm Lace Addi Turbo).

See- I told you there’d be knitting at the end!


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where i’ve been, where i am and where i’ll be, part 1

Where I’ve been:

There are so many reasons I’ve been blog-absent for so long.  I can’t believe I thought that being home for 8 weeks would make me more post-prolific, and I’m sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up.  I’ve almost got my photos together and into Ravelry and Flickr, so I can have everything accessible to be able to blog “live”, as it were.

Now, where’ve I been and what have I been doing?

-I’ve been back to my surgeon.  He’s verified that the recently-fixed hernia is still closed, and healing quite nicely.  (Really, my scar could win a beauty contest!)  He still can’t find the new hernia but that’s just ‘cus there’s too much swelling, etc.  If he still can’t find it in September then I’ll go for a CT scan to find the sucker.

-I did a lot of playing with this guy:

and this guy

It sucked to not be able to lift them, but I could still look, and tickle, and get cuddles, so that was alright.

-I took photos of this

and this

so I could be able to show you progress after having nothing to do for the 8 weeks “off” but to knit.  (Ha!)

-I knit 2.5 pairs of socks, a baby sweater, the HABS doll prototype, designed and knit a shawl (1.5 times), finished a 26″ square cabled pillow cover and worked about 12 rounds in the next blue section of the Spidey blanket.  I also crocheted a pop culture figure for the 2nd time (though you haven’t even seen the first yet).

Sadly, I didn’t touch the Shoalwater Shawl (my honeymoon shawl).

-I had my midterm exam 2 weeks after the surgery.  Yannick got 70%.  I got 86%, doped on painkillers and wearing a nursing pillow to protect my stomach from leaning against the table.  🙂

-I spent more time with these guys

and worked my way up to being able to walk to the park.

Man hands!

-I took Henri back to the neurologist a few times, weaned him off his meds (that weren’t doing anything) and underwent more blood tests and an xray as we still try to diagnose him.  No luck yet.

-I baked and decorated 3 different, funky cakes; two with the help of my sister.  I also made a cool “treat” that was a big hit.

-I submitted to 2 different online knitting magazines.  I’ve heard back from one so far, and have been accepted.  Woo hoo!  (Though the pattern is due 2 weeks after my final exam- YIKES!

-I slept, a lot.  I did not read any of your blogs.  I’m sorry, and I plan to catch up.

 


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new pattern up: my first hockey player: montreal canadiens

NOTE: for some reason comments are closed for this post…I’m not sure why, but you can still reach me by email if you want.

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It’s up!!  I’ve been working on it for a while, and I’ve finally finished my HABS player pattern!  And thanks to our boys making it to game 7 tomorrow, now YOU’VE got enough time to knit up a little good luck totem of your own!  (Or, depending on how things turn out, it makes a great voodoo doll…hehe)

The pattern is $2.99 CAD and is available in Ravelry here, or to purchase directly click here.  That link is for a Ravelry PDF download, but you don’t need to be a Ravelry member to purchase.

I hope you enjoy it!  I tried my best to make the pattern faithful to the red home uniform, and you can knit it with just stripes, or duplicate stitch/embroider the famous CH logo.  There’s even room on the back to duplicate stitch your favorite player’s initials (and even his name, if you’re good at embroidery!).


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happy easter

Sorry for the bit of a break.  It’s been a long last 2 weeks here.

The week before last was a dark week for me.  On the 13th (Wed) was my 10 day post-op follow up with my surgeon.  My mom took me to the appointment and he said everything looked good.  Other than being  crazy sore from  the pushing and feeling he does in the exam, I left there feeling pretty good.  I went home and slept off the pain, then settled in for the evening to rest, and that’s when it happened.  I was propped up against some pillows and there was a nursing pillow (Boppy) on the bed that I use to protect my tummy when I’m sitting up, like  at a table.  It was touching my foot and bugging me, so I leaned forwards gently to move it over.  Well moving forwards when I was already propped up put me into a “crunch”-type position, and my (a?) hernia popped out.

I made it 10 days.  10 hernia-free days.

So the rest of that week was a wash.  I was feeling very down, very depressed and very upset.  “Frustrated”  doesn’t even begin to cover how I was feeling.  I couldn’t even focus on how upset I was, though, because Sunday the 17th was our year 2 midterm, and I was a little behind in studying.  I couldn’t think of blogging, or even knitting, because every moment I wasn’t sleeping, I was studying.  Between not talking ‘cus I was just in a funk, to not doing anything but read and review, it was a long, difficult few days.

Not even the arrival of a surprise package from a sweet friend could raise my spirits- though it certainly was the brightest spot of the week!   (JayJay– you are so  sweet!  A proper email/thank you and post with photos is coming, I promise).

As soon as the midterm was over we had a chance to relax from school a little, but jumped right into family obligations because Monday and Tuesday nights of last week were the 2 Passover seders.  The kids were awesome and well behaved, and in general both nights went well, but I was sore and the dinners were long.  Even when the kids are good, they are still used to a schedule that starts the bedtime routine at 7pm.  Henri is usually asleep for the night by 7:30, Jakob later but still playing quietly in his bed…and the two dinners only started at 7pm.

Monday also started a commissioned crochet project that I finished on Saturday, but the pics are still in my camera so those will also come soon.

On Wed I had a repeat visit with the surgeon so he could find the hernia I’d felt.  I left there in tears, half from the pain of him poking around, and half from frustration because he couldn’t find it.  It was to be expected, though, ‘cus I’m still too swollen for him to really feel anything.  Either way nothing would be done to fix it for a few months, but it was still just a sucky experience to go through, especially since it had popped out 3 more times since the first time, one of those being earlier Wed afternoon!

All this to say why I haven’t been around the blog or Facebook much, even though I’ve been home.  I’ve barely even been online, other than checking emails.  If you have a blog, and I used to comment on it, don’t think I’m suddenly ignoring you, please.  I haven’t read anyone’s blog in months.  If I can’t sleep in the middle of the night I’ll open up some entertainment blog just for reading material, like Regretsy, Lamebook or Cake Wrecks.  I can just scroll down and keep reading until I doze off, and not worry that I’m forgetting to leave a comment.  If you’re a friend/blogger, I’ll get back to  you soon.  I’m still home for another 5 weeks…

Thursday turned into an unexpected long day.  I’d planned for more of the same- sleep in, lay around the house, watch a bit of tv, doze off, maybe knit a little, repeat.  (I’d make an “it’s a hard life!” joke but this all started with a now-failed surgery that I’ve done for the second time…so I’m not going to make any excuses for taking it easy!)  Instead on Wednesday  afternoon I got a call from the Children’s Hospital telling me that they finally had a date for Henri’s spine MRI- the next day!  Luckily Mom was free to take us.  Poor little guy- he had to fast, and then be sedated for the 45 minute test- but other than crying during the insertion of the IV shunt in his hand (completely understandable!) he was so awesome!  And when he woke up after sleeping off some of the sedative, he was acting like he was drunk- head lolling back, talking about random, nonsense things, etc.  Strange as it is to say, it was a real mix of being really sad (to see him in the hospital crib, drugged up with a bandaged hand) but also really sweet (not that I want him to be drunk!  But he was being really cute and silly, and just plain adorable).  He even charmed the nurses by waking up with a bright smile and being friendly and sociable from the minute he opened his eyes.

The results won’t be in for about a month, though this was really only done to rule stuff out, and the doctor fully expects that the results will all be normal.  I think his blood test results have come in, but the doctor’s been away so we have an appointment coming up soon to go over everything.

The boys’ daycare was closed on Friday and today, and it’s been fun to spend time with them since I haven’t really been able to lately.  Jakob has been a total clown.  On Saturday I was working on the crochet thing while we were hanging out at my parents’ place, and Jakob came running up with a Hot Wheels car held above his upper lip.  “Look Mom,” he said, “I have a mustache!”  I asked if he’d like me to make him a mustache that he could wear, instead, and his eyes were shining, he was so excited!  I had some black acrylic with me and quickly whipped up this little number that he wore for about the next hour:

My little Mario!

Have  you seen much of Yannick or Henri lately?  No?  Let’s fix that:

There.  That’s better.  🙂

The sitting and laying around time this week, without being coupled with studying, allowed me to get a bit of stuff done.  In addition to finishing the crochet project, I also finished the Spring, Take Two socks (the ones with Zaubby and the black Sisu).  I’ve also been working on a special design, timed just for this time of year.  The weekend after the hernia popped out, I finally managed to finish the prototype for a new pattern.  I’ve mentioned it here before…remember all the talk of finding the perfect red?  Well my prototype needed a bit of work, so I altered the pattern and Maaike knit up a sample for me.  I’ve got it back now and am just doing the finishing before I can get the pattern finalized.  It should be available this week, and just in time too!

Stay tuned!


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wha? where’s green?

My ball of Zauberball is insane.

Remember what it looked like in ball form?  Lots of pink, blending from nearly-white, to deep…and right in the middle was a bright Spring green.  It was the combination of the colors that I fell in love with, so bright and cheery.

When Maaike and I wound the yarn, we made sure to divide the whole ball evenly in half, and then rewind one of the halves from the outside-in, so the colors wouldn’t pool in the same direction.  I was immediately enchanted by the stripes, and was picturing sections where light pink met green, dark pink met light pink, light green met light pink, in my head it was a beautiful sort of controlled chaotic madness that I couldn’t wait to see on my feet.

I finished the first foot, and so as not to mess up the striping (that I was working from the inside of the ball) I did the heel from the outside of one half-ball.  Since my last stripe was light, I chose the ball that had a lot of dark pink on the outside, and did a short-row heel.  I put a stitch marker on that ball to remind me to use the other ball for the other sock’s heel, and started to knit a few more stripes when I realized something.

My foot was all pink.  My heel was all pink.  And if I looked at the yarn still to come from the center of the balls, there was still a LOT more pink to go.  (The lower one is misleading- it LOOKS like green is coming up, but it’s all lies.  There is a ton of pink squished in there).  I don’t like my socks to be too long, and at this rate I’d have one entire sock in shades of pink before hitting green in the second sock.

I had no choice but to cut the yarn.  I did a few stripes after the heel for stability, then transferred the stitches onto dpns and cast on for a new foot.  I decided to keep going from the inside of the balls, and at the very worst I’d have two feet that were entirely done in shades of pink, but at least I’d hit the green by the time I got to the legs, and I’d just make sure both legs had some green in there.  No sweat.

By random fluke I started the second sock with a light stripe, and it gave me the same color-bleed section as the first sock, but still ended up with the stripes reversing, so I had an almost exactly opposite sock from the first one.  (Good think I’m cool with fraternal twins).  When I got to the heel my last stripe was dark, so I grabbed the half-ball that would give me a light heel- which was conveniently the one I didn’t use for the first heel.

I finished the heel and set about to finish the leg, eager to race through it and show Maaike that I’d managed to finish almost a whole pair already(!) when I realized there was STILL a ton of pink to go.  My socks are usually only about 4″ or so up from the heel, including ribbing.  I find more is a waste, and I’d rather be on to knitting something else.  There was no way I’d even get a hint of green in this pair.  What would I do??

When I knit the second short-row heel, the yarn was so light that I didn’t realize it wasn’t at it’s lightest tint yet.  While I was knitting I was barely able to see the subtle graduation from pink to barely-pink-white, and the more I looked at the heel the more I really liked seeing the colors fade like that.  Not many sock yarns do a true fade or blend, very often it’s just a chunk of one color followed by a chunk of another.  I find it’s a show of dyer’s skill (well…when hand-dyed anyways, not sure what the Zaubby process is) to get a soft blend, plus I really like the look.

What if I were to knit yet ANOTHER sock foot?  The pink I had in the center of the first ball was at the lightest shade, but not too far off from getting darker.  And eventually it got light again before transitioning into green.  What if…Ok, this would work!  I’d knit another sock, only I’d do the toe in black so I wouldn’t waste the color change on the narrow toe part, plus it would keep me from using up too much yarn in the second pair, ‘cus I still need to finish the first.  I’d knit the foot with the center of just one ball, to get the full gradient effect.  When it was time for the heel, I’d work another short row heel, maybe in black again, so I would save the yarn, and also ‘cus it would set off the colors nicely.  I’d work the leg until I had enough green (ha!) and then do ribbing in black again, and put aside all the Zaubby left from that sock.  I’d use the remaining half-ball for another one with black toe/heel and in the end I’d have 2 left-over balls that I could use to finish the striped pair.

It’s a lot of work, but boy I’ll be getting my money’s worth from this ball of yarn!

sd

Here’s where that got me.  On the dpns are both striped feet, awaiting legs.  On my foot is the beginnings of the 2nd pair, working a lovely blend of colors.

Except…look at that giant chunk of pink!  I’d have to knit that entire section of shades of pink before getting to even a hint of green.  There’s no use.  I’m going to have to cut again.

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In other news, I’m doing ok.  My belly still hurts but hey- the surgery was only on Monday.  This is the longest I’ve tried to sit up in the whole week and I’m starting to feel a bit queasy so I’m going to go lie down again, but at least I can knit while reclining!  🙂

This coming week is going to suuuuuuuuuuck ‘cus I have to figure out a way to study from big, heavy textbooks in time for our in-person midterm next Sunday.  Once that’s done I’ll still have studying to do, but won’t be as stressed about it.

I still haven’t gotten to my emails, but don’t worry, if you sent me one, you’ll get a reply.  Just not today.


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taking it easy

I had my umbilical hernia surgery on Monday, with no last-minute pulls from the OR again.  I think it went rather uneventfully, the surgery was at 12:30 and I’m pretty sure I was home by 5-ish.  I’m going to be home for the next 8 weeks, under doctor’s orders not to lift anything heavier than a book, especially since after fixing my LAST hernias, a new one appeared 3 weeks later, during the time I was still taking it easy/no lifting/etc.  This time I need to be EXTRA careful.

I’ve spent 99% of my time since getting home in bed.  It’s a pretty sweet setup, with both my laptop and iphone here with me…though I’ve been sleeping so much that I haven’t been able to take advantage.  I just don’t have the strength or energy yet to get some work done, though that will have to change soon ‘cus our live midterm is next weekend.  😦  My online midterm showed me that I’ve got a LOT of studying to do if I want a good mark.

To keep my sanity level even, I have a small knitting bag in bed with me.  It’s a sock, worked on a magic-looped circ, so I’m not worried about putting it down (or falling asleep halfway through a row) and losing stitches.

After seeing the Zauberball yarn I picked up last week, Maaike decided to get some too.  We’re doing a mini KAL, both having divided our balls in half, then winding one of those halves from the outside-in, so that the colors run in the opposite direction.  We’re both doing toe-up socks with 3 rows from each ball per stripe, with the only difference being that she did her toe and heel in a solid black yarn, and a wrap/turn short row heel, whereas I did my toe striped right from the get-go, and I’ll be doing a YO short row heel.

Go figure that after all the work to rearrange the yarn, I still ended up with a section of overlapping colors.  I could have cut the yarn and forced the stripes to continue, but I decided to just let the yarn do what it wants.

I only managed to get about 10 minutes of knitting done yesterday morning, but it was worth it just for the peace it gave me.  Plus peeking into my knitting bag makes me feel like I’ve got a bouquet of Spring blossoms in here with me.

Somehow, even with the pain meds I’m on, I even managed to fix a stitch that looked wonky.

This is as much as I’ll be posting for now, ‘cus I can’t put the computer on my lap, and it’s obnoxious to try and type with one hand, over to the side.  If you’ve emailed me and I haven’t replied yet, it’s just ‘cus I’m waiting until I can sit at the table, ‘cus this is really awkward.  I just wanted to let you know that the surgery went well, and that for the first time in 2 years, I seem to be hernia-free!  🙂


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how it begins

A while ago I had an idea for a new pattern.  Actually, to be more specific, it’s a major modification using the basics of one of my existing patterns.

Before I could cast on, I needed yarn.  I need red, black, white, blue and cream yarn, in roughly a worsted weight.  I didn’t think I had anything, until I remembered some Berocco Comfort DK I’ve had for a while now.  Perfect! I printed out my chart, and last night while Yannick and I watched an episode of $h!t My Dad Says, I did a mini swatch.

Hmm.  The yarn calls for a 4mm, and I need a tighter gauge, so I swatched with 3.25s, but the fabric I got was still pretty open.  I couldn’t find a 3mm (actually, I could barely find any needles- where are they??) so I figured I’d just get thicker yarn.

I went to my LYS this morning a bit before they opened, so while I waited I went online on my phone and took another look through my Ravelry stash.  Ok- things were looking promising…I had the right shade of blue and white Cascade 220 in my stash, so I would only need a red, black and cream.  Great!  Except…

The LYS didn’t have the right shade of red.  😦  They had crimson, fuchsia, raspberry, red wine, almost every possible pinkish tone of red that exists.  But no RED, like a real, primary color red.

We started going through other possible options, and D, who works there, showed me the exact color red, in Berocco Comfort Worsted.  Yeah, but, I told her, I tried swatching with that last night, and didn’t get a tight enough fabric.  I stopped thinking about it, and kept looking around the store.  I’m ashamed to say it actually took about 5 more minutes of discussion before I realized that I’d swatched with the yarn I own, which is Comfort DK.  The yarn in the store was Comfort Worsted.  Thicker.  Duh.

Great!  Except…

The LYS didn’t have the right shade of blue.  😦  They had denim, cornflower, dusty blue, almost every possible greenish or grayish tone of blue that exists.  But no BLUE, like a real, primary color blue.

I was about to give up and head to Zellers for some Red Heart Super Saver, just to get a chance to knit up a sample, when I had the bright idea of knitting with the DK I own, but held doubled.  I had enough for my project, and it would obviously give me a thicker yarn…it just might work.

I felt really guilty, though, at having taken up their time and having D run around to the back to look for the right shades of yarn for me, so I might have bought a ball of sock yarn.

Look, Ma- it’s my very first Zauberball!

(And it’s Ravelry colors, just in time for Spring.  LOVE.)

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I had to make a run out to the Children’s Hospital this afternoon to bring Henri’s doctor some recent videos, and when I finished there it was late enough that it didn’t make sense to head back to work, but early enough that I had about an hour to kill before picking up the kids.  I came home and sat down to start working on the project with the Comfort DK doubled.

I HAD an hour, but ended up with only about 20 minutes of knitting time.  When I turned the TV on it was at the party scene in Batman & Robin (the Val Kilmer/Chris O’Donnell one) and man- that movie is like a car wreck or something- I didn’t want to watch but just couldn’t tear my eyes away.  From Nicole Kidman’s non-moving face to Jim Carey and Tommy Lee Jones’ over the top villians…wow.  Just wow.

I started with the white, and a 3.5mm needle.  So far so good.  I moved on to the black; still working great.  Then I threw in some red and came to a screeching halt.  My red wasn’t red.  I thought it was red, but it wasn’t red.  It was very-dark-almost-red-but-just-a-little-too-pink-to-be-actual-red red.

That sucked.  Not sure how well the color came out via cell phone camera, but it’s like faux red.  It’s like almost, but not quite, entirely unlike red.

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But there was a solution to be had, and I still had enough time to carry it out.  My LYS still had that ball of Comfort Worsted in The Right Red.

Or rather, they had had it.  I have it now.

Can you tell the difference?

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So here’s where it begins.  You take the pattern, you take the yarn, you take the needles, and there you have…the facts of li- whoops.  Hehe.  Sorry.  It’s been a long day.

I’m going to go take the edge of by knitting.  Do you ever need to squeeze in a few rows just to get through a rough patch?


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boys in masks

I finished a project tonight.  Don’t get excited- it’s nothing you’ve heard of.  🙂  I started something 2 days ago that was supposed to be quick.  It would have been- in fact it would have been finished that same night, except that I changed patterns after being nearly complete.  Last night I didn’t get much of anything done, so tonight, once the kids were in bed, I finished it.

I’d love to show it to you, tell you about which pattern it is, etc…except I can’t.  It’s for my cousin’s daughter, to go with her gift for her 1st birthday.  The only problem is that my project doesn’t go with the gift I bought her, it goes with the gift my mom got her.  And I’m pretty sure my mom wants it to be a surprise, and I also seem to recall my cousin’s wife (I guess…now my cousin too) telling me that she reads this blog.  So I won’t show it to you, or tell you much about it, until after the party.

Sorry.

What?  You insist?  Fine.  Who am I to refuse you?

What? You didn’t think I’d give it all away, didja?

–

Ok, that was pretty lame.  I know.  I’m going to try and get Yannick to take those Featherweight photos so you can see the horror I tried to describe.  In the meantime, since I’m stuck without much blog fodder (unless you want to hear more about school, work, or how this coming Monday is going to be “take 2” for my hernia surgery), I’ll leave you with my very own Feathered crimeFighters.

(Decorating masks was part of the activity at a birthday party we went to this past weekend).


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knitting intervention needed

UGH!

I think I need to rip out Featherweight cardi.  THE WHOLE THING.

I tried it on just now, now that I’ve finished the first half of the collar.  The collar?  Awesome.  Fits perfectly, shapes like a dream, exactly like I’d wanted.  But now that the collar fits, the rest of it looks SO SLOPPY!

I’m going to try to get Yannick to take photos to show you what I mean.  But really?  Ugh.  I would never, ever wear it.  It’s too baggy, the arms look like they’ll be huge and there is so much extra under the arms that I could lose over 2 inches and still have a good fit.  I don’t know if it can be saved.


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now on facebook!

I’ve always been late to the game when it came to Facebook.  I resisted its urge when everyone else I knew got sucked in, which  is surprising considering I’m a bit of a geek and was into computers and the internet long before it was mainstream.  (How many of you remember  mIRC?  I was an OP…if that tells you anything).

I caved and joined with a personal account when Jakob was born because I saw the advantage of being able to share photos and updates with friends and family.  I came for the convenience…but I stayed for the flip side advantage- being able to find out what’s going on with those same friends and family.  And, I’ll admit, it can get addictive when you first join.  There can be a LOT of checking up on old friends and ex-boyfriends, though Facebook does try to keep snooping down by making you need to actually be “Facebook friends” with someone in order to see their info (unless they chose to make it public).

As a barely-related aside, is it strange that I’m friends (Facebook and othewise) with pretty much ALL of my exes?

Anyhoo…I’ve finally decided to create an account for my knitting life.  I would LOVE if any of you who read this blog would add me as a friend!  In an effort to make things more convenient to those with smartphones, and those who check their email or Facebook updates more often than their chosen blog aggregator, I’ll be posting and updating there too.  I’ll put an announcement when each new blog post is up, and I’ll be putting pattern information and updates there as well.

I look forwards to having you join me over there!  Just search for “Jennifer Lori” to find me.  (I’m the one with the knitted Superheros)*

🙂

 

*Or you could just click on the box on the right.