by 2 Comments

2010-12-23

I think this is the fastest I’ve ever had a project up and on the blog, post-completion.  (It doesn’t hurt that I’ve got the day off and I charged my camera battery).

Pattern:  Mug and French Press Jacket by MK Carroll (Ravelry link)

Size:  completely modified (see below)

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver, Cherry Red, about 25 g for each cozy

Needles:  4mm

Dates:  December 19 – 22 2010

Modifications:  Technically I changed so much that the only thing left of the original pattern is the inspiration.  Still, that’s where I got the smocking “cable”, so I’m leaving the link.

I didn’t put a bottom or a button on it.  Instead I rejoined the top and let it be an easy tube to slip on/off.  I changed the number of sts to cast on, the number of sts to bind off, and the number of pattern repeats.  Then I cast on the 2 sts I’d bound off, and did a few more rib rows to rejoin, before binding off the top.

That was about where I crashed last night.  This morning I filled each mug with gourmet truffles, tucked in a Tim Horton’s gift card, slipped a little gift card with care instructions underneath (the green bit you can see peeking out from under) and wrapped it in clear cello-wrap.

I brought the gifts in when I dropped off the kids this morning for their last day of daycare until the new year.  The teachers seemed quite happy about their gifts.  One of the baby class teachers, who had Jakob for 2 years before now having Henri, was a little disappointed at first at not getting something handmade, when she felt the mug and saw the chocolates.  I pointed out the cozy, and she was really happy.  (She’s the one who still tells me about using the wash cloths I’d made last year).  I felt bad downsizing the gifts (the handmade portion) but now that Henri’s in the daycare too, there are 5 people to make for, not just 3.  Each class has 2 teachers, plus there is the daycare owner. 

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I feel like the blog has been missing some cute faces lately, so here are some recent photos of my favorite little people.

This was Henri about a week ago, on the night we moved them into the same room.  He was being silly and we had a rousing game of “Where’s Henri?” under the blinds.

That has since failed, by the way.  I had moved Henri back into his crib while he’d had a gastro/ear infection, and then on Monday we tried to put them back together, but after an hour of crying to have me with him I put Henri back in his crib and he lay down and fell asleep right away.  Tuesday night I tried again and when he wouldn’t calm down without me there I flat-out asked him where he wanted to sleep, and he said his crib.  We’ll still let them play in their room, and do story time before bed, and keep offering Henri the bed…but until he’s ready (or climbs out) we’ll let him stay in his crib.  I have to remember that he’s not even 2 yet, and unlike Jakob, who kept asking for a bed…which was a relief ‘cus we needed the crib for Henri…my little guy still prefers a crib.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  (Actually, selfishly, it’s much, much easier on me.)

Here’s Jakob this morning.  He looked so cute with his bangs fallen down (he usually pushes them back) and his rosy cheeks and little grin that I made him pose for me.  Ok so maybe I’m biased but I can’t believe what a handsome little boy he is!


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2010-12-21


The title of today’s post should be “abject failure”. Or, for those of you with kids, you can look at it this way- “2, 2 mug cozies, ha ha ha”.

Luckily the Christmas party, though today, isn’t actually on Christmas. And the daycare is still open ’til Thursday.


The teachers won’t get their gifts, but at least the kids will get their pizza and Jell-O oranges!


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2010-12-20

I’m about to enter into sweatshop knitting mode. There are approximately 19.5 hours to go from now to my kids’ daycare Christmas party, and I haven’t finished making the gifts for the teachers.

I scrapped the Fingerless mitts idea and am making a mug cozy for each of the 4 teachers and the daycare owner. I’ll then fill the mug with chocolates and a Tim Horton’s gift card.

The party is tomorrow and I’ve got 1 of 5 knit. Back to work….


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2010-12-16

Does anyone else set a pace car for themselves when driving?  Like if you need to choose a lane at customs, or pick left, middle or right lane on the highway, so you find a car up ahead in another lane and then see if you ever pass that car, so you know you chose right?  Maybe I’m the only crazy one LOL. 

It’s stuff like that that I do when stuck in traffic, like this morning when on my way to the hospital AGAIN for more tests for Henri.  I swear, soon it will be easier to just deposit my paychecks right into a fund for the Children’s parking lot, ‘cus I’m at the point now where I can drive there in my sleep. 

No news yet with what’s going on with him.  All I know right now is that the first round of blood tests had the amino acids a bit high, but on the repeat they were ok.  What’s annoying is that on the repeat test his lactate was high, so that’s what we had to go and redo today.  It’s one of those tests that can be altered by stress and pressure, just like blood meter glucose readings for diabetics.  Pressure, as in force- meaning if you have to squeeze to get the blood out, the result will read higher than it actually is.  It’s a blood test done from a finger, not a vein, and the blood is kinda sucked into these skinny little tubes, and the first time we did it Henri was struggling in my arms and twisting around.  Today he cried but was pretty still, so we should get an accurate reading this time, and I’m sure it will be back down to normal.  Still won’t give us any answers, but at least nice to rule things out.

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I’ve had to keep him home for the last two days with a bit of an upset stomach, and today besides the blood test he has a WICKED cold complete with the rough, red cheeks, constant cough and sneezing, and a bit of mucous from his eyes (something my kids get when they’re sick).  I swear this poor kid can’t catch a break!  And it sucks ‘cus we have one of my best friends’ daughter’s birthday party this weekend and I really, really want to go as a family.  I hope he’ll be better by then!

I’ve kept him home from school and he naps for 3.5 hrs in the afternoon, so I was able to get a good chunk of knitting done.  Dog sweater the second is almost finished:

I’ve only got the tail-end (no pun intended) to go, then the body and cuff ribbings.  Yannick’s got bowling and the kids are in bed so while I don’t know if I can finish it tonight, I do see an end in sight.


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2010-12-14

What a whirlwind of a weekend!  I don’t even know where the time went, all I know is that all the stuff I’d planned on getting done (knitting, of course) just didn’t happen.

Saturday morning our plans got cancelled, and Jakob was at my mom’s house, so I brought Henri to work to surprise my dad and Yannick, and to visit the other store-owners in the area who remember and miss Henri from when he was at work with me every day.  I had planned on getting a good chunk of knitting done while he napped from 1-4:30 in the afternoon but by the time I ate lunch and baked 2 batches of cookies for a family Hanukah party I had such a headache that I really only had a chance to rest a little before getting him up from his nap.  I got some knitting knitting done that night after icing the cookies, and by the time I went to bed the first sweater was finished except for weaving in the ends and sewing down the folded cuff.

Sunday we woke up to a blizzard outside and couldn’t even look forwards to hibernating as we had plans all day long.  First we went over to my parents’ house for our Hanukah party/gift exchange with my mom’s side of the family.  We got to see my cousins who were in from Ottawa with their 8month old daughter- the first baby girl in the close family in 13 years.  (Everyone else, especially my dad’s side, has been having all boys!).  We put the kids down for their naps there so we could stay and hang out without having to rush home, but I had to leave them there and get a lift back home to get my car, ‘cus my brother Mike and I were off to the Bell Center to see Jeff Dunham (the ventriloquist).  It was an EXCELLENT show, and we had great seats up in a loge.  (I like saying that…the loge).  Sunday was also Maaike’s birthday- happy birthday Maaike!  😀

Finally on Monday I was able to get some more work done.  I finished the last bit of stuff on the first dog sweater and Chopsy’s sweater was done!

Pattern:  Icelandic Beauty by Judith L. Swartz (from the book Dogs in Knits) (Ravelry link)

Size:  M with mods

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver, Cherry Red, about 3/4 of one ball

Needles: 4.5 mm (neck ribbing), 4mm leg ribbing (as the neck should have been) and 5mm body

Dates:  December 9 – 13 2010

Modifications: I custom-knit this to the size of the dog, following only the shaping and such from the M size of the pattern.  Instead of 66 sts for the neck I did 60, I shortened the neck-to-armhole openings to 3”, narrowed the distance between openings to 3” and shortened the overall length to 12” (plus ribbing).

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I went over to Robyn’s yesterday to meet my new cousin Quentin.  He’s SO CUTE!!  A little tiny thing, just over 5lbs but oy is he adorable!

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I baked a cake for our guild potluck tonight (baked it Mon for Tues) and while it was in the oven I did a major change with the boys- we put Henri into Jakob’s room!  Not only are the boys now sharing a room, but it was also Henri’s first time in a big boy bed, no more crib!

Truth be told, Henri is much more adventurous than Jakob, and I don’t 100% feel it is safe for him to be out of a crib at night, but the other night he swung his leg over the side of the crib and balanced with one foot on the mattress, and the other hanging over the side.  Luckily he didn’t realize it, but all he had to do was shift his weight to the front and he’d have been over the edge and out of the crib.  I would MUCH rather him fall out of bed than fall out of the crib, and the single bed was already set up in Jakob’s room, along with his queen bed (it’s a bunk bed set, but not stacked yet).  We could have taken apart the crib and the single bed and moved the single bed over into Henri’s baby room, but we knew we would be putting them together eventually so we’re trying it now.

The boys were quite excited and wanted to sleep in the same bed.  It went well at first- Henri cried when I left him but within a minute Jakob took over and got his brother laughing.  It was a riot to hear them through the monitor:

Jakob: Want a sandwich Henri?

Henri: Yeah.

Jakob: Want a peanut butter sandwich?

Henri: Yeah.

Jakob: I like toast.

There was no food in the room, just the products of an over-imaginative three-and-a-half-year-old mind.  There was also a tickle fight for about 8 minutes, followed by a rousing chorus of Jakob singing “I love you a bushel and a peck”, which cracked me up because instead of “a barrel and a heap” Jakob sang “a barrel and a sheep”.  🙂

Everything was going great but Yannick and I had put them to bed around 7:15 and it was now 9-ish and they were still laughing.  I went in to break up the party and Henri started crying and wouldn’t stop without me in the room.  Finally at 9:30 I caved and lay on the bed with them, rubbing Henri’s tummy until he calmed down and they both fell asleep.

I took this photo with my iphone right before sneaking out.  Jakob was asleep up in the corner and Henri towards me, with the blanket.

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When I got out of their room my headache from the other day had come back, but I knew I had to finish getting my lemom/poppy seed bundt cake ready for the guild potluck.  (Yannick watched the timer and took it out of the oven for me).

Well.  I don’t know what happened, since I PAMed and floured the pan just like the last 2 times I used it, but for the first time ever the cake got stuck in the pan.  RRR!  Go figure, when it takes 2 hours to soak the poppy seeds and hour to bake and I don’t have duplicate ingredients, at 10:30pm the cake goes and breaks on me!

I tried to hide it as best as I could with some leftover cookies from the Hanukah party.  Think anyone will notice?

 


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2010-12-11

This sweater made a quick appearance on the blog as I was getting ready for Rhinebeck, but not much else has been said about it once it was completed.  Here’s the remedy:

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Pattern:  Audrey by Melissa Leapman (from the book Hot Knits) (Ravelry link)

Size:  42″ bust (large)

Yarn:  Madil Iceland 100% wool, color 583 (charcoal), 7 balls

Needles: 5.5 mm & either 6mm or 6.5mm (I forget)

Notions: 7 buttons

Dates:  December 24 2009 – April 12 2010

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Modifications:  I changed the button band to have 7 buttons instead of 5, ‘cus with my bust 5 just wouldn’t cut it when closed.  After blocking the sleeves grew, so I cut off about 5″ and reknit the cuffs.  Finally, I found the buttonholes gaped too much and didn’t hold so I wove some clear elastic thread around the holes and knotted it tight, now they hold great and are nearly impossible to find, even when open.

I wore this sweater the whole time at Rhinebeck, and even with my purse on my shoulder it never pilled.  I caught it on some velcro once but even that didn’t leave a bad effect.  I would probably knit this one again, next time adding an inch or two in length and maybe a little more waist shaping.

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I need to get someone to photograph ME instead of these lousy self-portraits! These photos were taken back in April, before the 2 surgeries (and resulting 30 lb weight loss). I’ll see if I can get Yannick to snap a few for me.

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Am still working on the first dog sweater, and have about 8 rows and then some ribbing to be finished the first one.


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2010-12-10

Here’s another project finished long ago that completely missed the blog.

After a trip to Michael’s (I think) my mom brought me some sock yarn.  I didn’t know that Red Heart had a 70% wool/30% nylon sock yarn, with aloe even, and was eager to try it out.

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Pattern: Toasted Almond Toe-Up Socks (Ravelry link)

Size:  68 sts around

Yarn: Red Heart Heart & Sole in Toasted Almond, 0.75 each of 2 balls (one ball per sock)

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Needles: 2.5 mm

Notions: none

Dates:  March 11 2009 – March 21 2010

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I can’t believe it took me just over a year to knit a pair of socks!  I remember casting on for them right after my mom gave me the yarn, and I remember my struggle to find a matching repeat, only to find out that I’d found the repeat- but upside down.  Oh well- they were meant to be fraternal.

BTW the yarn was lovely to work with.  It felt softer than Regia, and I love my Regia workhorse sock yarn.  It wears beautifully, and all handknit socks in this house are thrown right in the wash along with all the clothes, jeans, etc, into the washer and dryer.  I have put this pair through at least a dozen times so far with no signs of pilling, sagging or stretching.

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I have been asked to knit 2 dog sweaters.  What started as a “you can knit those?” somehow turned into emailed measurements and chosen patterns, and now, as if I didn’t have enough on my plate, I have 2 dog sweaters to knit.  The pattern I’m using is Icelandic Beauty (Rav link) from the Dogs in Knits (Rav link) book which I had purchased back in ’05 when I was selling dog sweaters to a local boutique.

I’m not sure why the photo has rotated, since my original and the upload were both straight.  Oh well.

I’m doing the sweaters in solid red, as per the request, using Red Heart Super Saver acrylic yarn.  I had thought of getting a nicer yarn but then realized that I’m knitting dog sweaters.  And these dogs have legs *maybe* 6″ long.  These dogs are tiny, and very close to the ground, which means that these sweaters will be getting snow, slush, road salt, and probably a healthy dose of pee and poop on them.  100% machine wash-and-dryable acrylic is just perfect, I think.

This sweater is for Chopsy and while the chest size is perfect I already changed the neck opening and will be customizing the length, length to leg openings and width between leg openings.  Yay for knitting to gauge!