It's a vest!

Trellis is now an attractive little vest without buttons. I wish I could get a better photo of it, but I'm learning red garments aren't the easiest things to photograph. The sleeves are done, but they (obviously) haven't been sewn on yet. We're on the home stretch, folks. This cardigan will be complete very soon.

As I planned, I managed to squeeze in a trip in to Gaspereau Valley Fibres near Wolfville while I was on my business trip. It's pretty much the happiest place on Earth. The yarn shop is located in a modest barn, but when you step inside, it's a friggin' theme park. This place is full of amazing yarn. I can't even begin to describe it.


I did manage to leave with a few skeins. Some Fleece Artist sock yarn made it into my knitting bag along with some yarn I found in a bin of Fleece Artist "factory seconds" (I use the term "factory" loosely as I know full well a Fleece Artist factory does not exist) on sale for $8 per 100 g. What a deal!


It doesn't come with a ball band, so I have no idea what this is. It looks like it's fingering weight so it's probably sock yarn, but I think I'll knit a lovely ripple scarf with it.

Bits and pieces of Trellis

Trellis is more than half-way done. I've finished knitting the back, both front panels and one sleeve. All that's left is a second sleeve, the collar, joining all the bits together and raiding Gramie's button stash. I'd like to get it done before Baby G gets here, but s/he won't be needing a cardigan until fall, so it's not terribly urgent.



I'm surprised at how quickly this sweater is knitting up. It's much quicker than knitting an adult sweater. Each piece is so tiny and so cute!

I'm going to Wolfville and Halifax this week for a business trip and I plan on visiting a couple of yarn shops during my stay. I haven't been to Gaspereau Valley Fibres yet, but I'd like to stop in and buy some yarn for myself and my Knitters Tea Swap 3 pal Becky, and, of course, I have to go to Tangled Skeins anytime I'm in Dartmouth. Perhaps I'll stop in on Saturday and see Steph.

I'll leave you with a shot of me playing at the SARMU 30th reunion concert this weekend. This is me, holding a super long note.

FO: Sunny Socks

Pattern: Hedera by Cookie A.
Source: Knitty
Materials: two skeins of Sweet Georgia superwash sock yarn in saffron
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm bamboo dpns
Started: March 19, 2007
Finished knitting: May 10, 2007


These are the happiest socks ever. They even make this foggy day seem brighter.


You'll notice the kitty in the above shot is not my beloved Moustache, rather, it's another tuxedo cat pretending to be him. Meet Outdoor Kitty, a sweet kitty that's been hanging around our neighbourhood over the past few days. He doesn't have a collar and seems to live under my sister-in-law's house (across the road from our apartment). He's adorable, but I don't think we can keep him . . . he'll have to keep living out his days as Outdoor Kitty.


And I've started a new project. This is Trellis and will be gifted to the offspring of some fellow bloggers.

Drive carefully

Just wanted to tell everyone to hug someone or tell someone you love them today. I had a very frightening experience yesterday and I'm so thankful to be alive.

I was driving on the highway yesterday, listening to Hey Hey Hey (My Little Beauties) by Hawksley Workman when an oncoming car pulled into my lane as if it was going to pass the car in front of it. But it was much too close to me to have time to pass another car. The oncoming car then hit the shoulder, spun around a couple of times and landed in the ditch. While the car was spinning around, I slammed on my brakes, started swerving and thought I was going to end up in the ditch as well. If I had braked a second later, I would have collided with the oncoming car. It was SO close.

I have no idea how I ended up parked on the shoulder after the accident. I remember swerving and I was headed straight for the ditch, but somehow I regained enough control of the car to pull over on the side of the road. There must have been some divine intervention, because I can't figure out how I avoided a huge accident.

I ran to the oncoming car that's now sitting in the ditch. An elderly man (I later found out he's 87 years old) walked out of the car without a scratch or a bruise. Thankfully, an ambulance was right behind me and stopped to help the old man. This is when I realized I almost died in a car crash. I was shaking and crying, so the paramedics put me in the ambulance for a while.

The old man told the paramedics that he swerved to avoid a deer, which is, of course, untrue. They told me he might have dementia and hallucinated or he might have just fallen asleep at the wheel. They took him away in the ambulance while some other paramedics calmed me down enough to give the police a statement.

I'm still quite shaken up by the experience, but my health is fine and I'm happy to be alive. My neck hurts a bit, which might be due to the swerving, but otherwise I'm okay. I just can't believe how close I came to hitting another car going 100 km/h on the highway. The paramedics in the ambulance that was right behind me on the highway saw the whole thing happen. They said they have no idea how I gained control of my car. One said, "We thought for sure we were gonna lose you too."

Be careful driving today and I'll post some photos of my finished sunny socks later on today to cheer us all up.

A home of our own

Let's put knitting aside for a moment while I share some big news. Hubby and I bought a house!


We are SO excited about this! I went to the house this morning with the insurance guy and the home inspector and took some photos while I was there to share with you.


Living room shots. Note the B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L hardwood floors.


I am in LOVE with this kitchen. As an avid baker, I can't wait to have such a large space to use to make some delectable confections. An aside, the appliances aren't staying, which is a pity, so we'll have to go appliance shopping, which kind of sounds like fun!



There are two bedrooms on the main floor and in the finished basement, there's a third bedroom. The house is officially ours June 22! I can't wait to move in and say, "Good riddance!" to our crummy apartment, the slanty shanty.

Sunny Socks, reprise

The sunny socks are back on the needles after a short hiatus to make way for the Lacy Hug-Me-Tight. Now I'm back on track and trying to stick to my one-project-at-a-time rule.

Things have been pretty crazy at "words starting with p" headquarters. I'm gearing up for an upcoming concert, I got a part in a musical at our local theatre so I'm busy learning my lines and songs and, here's the big news, my three-month contract has transformed into a full-time, permanent position. That ever-elusive permanent job I've been searching for is finally mine and I have the contract to prove it.


So, what comes after one snags a permanent position? House shopping. We've already started looking at houses and I'm going to find out what kind of mortgage I can afford tomorrow. I can't wait to leave my crummy apartment and buy a house with my own driveway, my own yard, my own washer and dryer, my own patio, my own garden, my own EVERYTHING!

FO: Lacy Hug-Me-Tight

Here it is, finally finished.


Pattern: Lacy Hug-Me-Tight by Mel Clark
Source: Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark
Materials: five skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk in Colour I33 (Blush)
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 8 (5 mm) bamboo circs.
Started: March 27, 2007
Finished knitting: April 29, 2007


Notes: I'm very happy with this garment. It could use some light blocking, but I was so excited about finishing it that I haven't bathed it yet (plus, the drying rack is currently occupied). It looks lovely with this maroon dress and it'll also look nice with a couple other dresses I own.

Watch out! This is my over-the-shoulder-red-carpet pose.


The only qualm I had with this pattern is the funky diagram. I'm thankful the written directions were much better than this retarded diagram. Steph suggested a non-knitter might have drawn it -- I tend to agree.


How is that eye shaped thing supposed to translate into this?

Look what the mailman dragged in

I received a fantabulous gift in the mail today. It's a prize I won for my exceptional guessing skills.


Inside the package was some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in pale pink! Oooh, how I love pale pink!


Some lovely ribbon featuring fruit that would kill me (citrus allergy -- I know, it's weird) if it was real.


Bias tape, again in pink. Do I sense an attempt at sewing something more challenging than curtains?


And some pretty paper!


Thank you so much Cristina. You're a peach!

Hey kids! You stink.

I almost spit out my tea when I saw this headline in our provincial paper.


Anyone obsessed with the English language will know why this headline is side-splitting funny. Any ideas? Okay, let me explain . . .

When I was working for a little radio station called CBC, I was called out to cover a fire in a seniors complex. There were fire engines, ambulances, police cars and media everywhere, watching while some 200 seniors were forced out of their apartment building. The fire ended up being pretty minor, I think it was just an electrical fire in the basement, but it cut out electricity to the building and the residents weren't allowed to return to the building until the next morning.

After interviewing some of the displaced seniors and the fire chief, I went back to the office and cut some tape for news. It was getting late, so I just left the scripts on the news desk for the morning news guy to vet in the morning.

The next day, when I arrived at the station, the morning show director smiled at me and asked me about "evacuating 200 seniors." She said the morning crew got quite a kick out of my scripts, and everyone laughed. I consider myself a nerd, a geek, a keener and a grammar queen, but I still wasn't quite sure what was wrong with my scripts. I was told that buildings are evacuated, not people. If emergency crews were "evacuating 200 seniors," that would mean they were giving emergency enemas to all those seniors. Ha, ha. I get it.

I never forgot that lesson and I read or hear that same mistake at least once a week in the news. Sometimes, if I know the reporter, I'll call and tell them my story, but usually I just have a chuckle while imagining paramedics and firefighters saying, "Okay, this building is on fire, but before we evacuate the building, let's give all the residents enemas. Ready, set, GO!"

That's why I nearly spit out my tea this morning. "Students evacuated due to sickening odour." Pure journalistic GOLD.

Ready, Set, Lace!

I'm nearing the end of the 60 inch "lace track" and I can see the finish line. Just a few more laps (or pattern repeats) to go.

Let's play a game!

What is it?


Is it a kitty blanket?


No, but that's Moustache's secret wish. He loves alpaca yarn and the silk just makes it more luxurious against his furry bits. I was surprised he didn't attack the "kitty blanket" when I placed it on him, he just posed like a good little kitty.

Well, if you've been reading my blog at all, you'll know this is the Lacy Hug-Me-Tight in progress. I've finished the inner rectangle and have started working on the lacy border . . . only I had to rip it back after seven or eight pattern repeats because I ended up with a couple of holes where they weren't supposed to be. Here it is after two pattern repeats.


I was able to knit quite a bit over the last few days because my Dad is in the hospital recovering from open heart surgery. He's fine, he had to have a valve replaced, but it's still quite a big ordeal. I'm glad I'm a knitter because I don't know if I could handle all the waiting around in the hospital if I didn't have something to busy my hands!

Happy Easter!

Hey Mother Nature! Make up your damn mind.

See that white stuff on the ground, behind the daffodils? That's snow. Mother Nature teased us with several days of gorgeous spring weather, but today, walloped us with a snowstorm. Thanks a lot ma'am. I'm just glad I haven't taken the snow tires off my car yet.

Mr. MacBook is back from his sojourn in Apple Land. The lower left corner of the screen is still a little wonky, but I'd rather live with the wonkiness than shell out $700 to have it fixed. Yup, $700. I understand that the screen is physically half of the computer, but there's no need to charge more than half of what I paid for it to repair it. I'm still going to call Apple to see if I can make a deal, but in the meantime, I'm living with a speckled screen.


In knitting news, I'm plugging away at the Lacy Hug-Me-Tight. I was sick with a cold last week, so I didn't knit all that much between naps, cough syrup, sneezing, decongestant tablets and vegging out on the couch. But the cushy softness of silk and alpaca makes me feel splendid and I'm excited about diving back into knitting endless rows of 2 x 2 rib, only because it means I'm getting that much closer to knitting the lacy bits.


P.S. This colour is amazing. So pretty

C'mon deliver the letter, the sooner the better

Guess what showed up in my mail box today?


It's Blue Sky Alpacas alpaca and silk in blush -- the palest pink you could ever imagine -- ordered from The Needle Emporium in Ontario. I thought the package had been sent to Mail Hell because I ordered it almost two weeks ago (the oh-so-kind owner of the store, Julie, even called Canada Post to check if the package was lost somewhere), so I was pleasantly surprised to see it in my mailbox today.


This load of yarn is destined to become the Lacy Hug-Me-Tight from Knit 2 Together.


Now I want to start knitting this instead of finishing my sunny socks. I think I'm preparing to enter the world of multi-task knitting . . .

Sunny socks

I know, I know. The saffron yarn was supposed to become Pomatomus socks, but I had a change of heart after encountering some weird pooling. So I ripped back the very beginnings of yellow and orange fish scales and cast on for the Hedera socks from knitty.

After one week, I've finished one sock and I think the pretty lace pattern suits the saffron yarn much better than Pomatomus ever would have. This is the happiest, sunniest sock ever and it makes me long for warm weather even more. And mid-way through knitting this sock, I stumbled across someone else in Internetland who thought the combination of a happy colour and lace pattern is a match made in knitheaven. Isn't that wild? Out of all the patterns, sock yarns and colours, there's someone else who has knit the same sock.

In other news, I am indefinitely computerless. A freak accident involving a mischievous kitty and a bottle of Propeller cream soda means Mr. MacBook's screen is effed up. I sent Mr. MacBook back to Apple to meet his maker and he'll be sent back to me "sometime" in the future. In the meantime, I'm borrowing hubby's computer.

New acquisitions

Hubby and I went to Halifax this weekend, so I dragged him to Tangled Skeins in Dartmouth to pick up some new lovelies for my stash.

Two of the last six skeins of sweet georgia superwash sock yarn came home with me (saffron colourway). This yarn is destined to become the oh-so-famous Pomatomus socks from Knitty.


And I picked up three skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in provincial rose to make this preppy shirt from a new-to-me book I found at a second-hand bookshop. The green yarn is what I have leftover from knitting the Rusted Root sweater.


While visiting Tangled Skeins, I learned that Steph (who works there on weekends) knows my Dad! This was really bizarre because my Dad has no connection to knitting whatsoever. Turns out her weekday job is working for the head office of the same pharmacy chain that my Dad works for. Small world.

I also have to report that I've retired an object that has been a staple for both my Mum and I for years. My Mum bought these chocolate brown shoes about 35 years ago when she was a single gal living in Montreal. She wore them nearly every day for years, walking to and from work. The shoes went out of commission for a little while and then I dug them out from the depths of her closet when I was in university and I've been wearing them constantly since about 2002. They are the most comfortable high heeled shoes I've ever slipped on my feet and that's why they've stuck around so long . . . until now.


This weekend, I bought a new pair of chocolate brown shoes. I've been looking for some like the old ones, but could never quite find what I was looking for. Since I have a small heel, I need a strap to keep my heel from slipping and I wanted shoes with a timeless design (so, in theory, they would still look fashionable 35 years from now). I found exactly what I was looking for and snapped 'em up right away.


Of course, they're not exactly like our 35-year-old friend, but they do have a strap and a timeless look. They're also cute as heck with that light pink stitching on the straps. I'll be sad to see the old shoes go, but it's time for a new pair to replace the old pair's coveted spot on my shoe rack. Then again, the old shoes might not be going anywhere . . . my Mum talked about having them bronzed this morning!

Mossy Mobile Magnum

Pattern: Mossy Mobile Magnum
Source: my own design!
Materials: some leftover sweet georgia sock yarn in Life Aquatic
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm bamboo dpns
Started: March 13, 2007
Finished knitting: March 14, 2007

This pattern is nothing special. I cast on 15 stitches, knit a moss stitch flap, cast on 30 more stitches and joined them in the round, worked about a centimetre in moss stitch, switched to stockinette stitch, decreased a few times along the way, and when the cozy was long enough to house my phone, I ended with the kitchener stitch. That's it!


I'm quite happy with this little case for my mobile phone (Hubby makes fun of me when I call it a "mobile." I had to change my answering machine because Hubby was in hysterics after hearing me say, "or you can reach me on my mobile phone at . . . " I just hate calling it a cell phone!) and I'm overjoyed about designing my first pattern. Okay, so it's not a lace stole or anything, but it's still a pattern and it actually fits the phone perfectly . . . and that's all that counts.

Coming soon . . . a post about my next project! I've ordered the yarn and can't wait 'til it shows up in my mailbox. I'll let you all in on the secret project when that buttery soft yarn arrives!

Invaluable investment

After scouring the shops of Yarmouth, I found that mesh drying rack I desperately needed.



There will be no more waiting three days for a sweater to dry for this gal. Nope. I have a rack where I can lay down dry garments and the air will circulate around them, thus drying them in hours instead of days.

And since I've finished a knitting project, it's time to start another one. I've decided to cast on for a cell phone cozy of my own design.



Isn't that moss stitch yummy? MMMMMossy goodness. This will be the first time I've designed my own pattern, so I hope it turns out as fantastic as I'm anticipating.

Ever since I heard an interview with the owner of Crumbs, a cupcake bakery in New York City, on Martha Stewart Living Radio, I've been craving cupcakes. So last night, I pulled Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess off the bookshelf and looked up her recipe for fairy cakes.



How divinely domestic.