I've been a-craftin'

Now that we're all moved into the new house and the musical has had its closing night, I've found myself with lots of time to craft up a storm.


My first toe-up sock is done and the second one is well on its way. I got the Socks That Rock yarn in my Knitters Tea Swap package from Becky and it is beautiful yarn. I love the crazy colours and it's a wool and silk blend that knits up really squishy and shiny. I also knit my first short-row heels and I am smitten -- no need to pick up stitches!


Binding off the top was a little difficult. I ended up doing it three times because my bind off was too tight the first two times. On the third time, I tried something called the Russian Bind Off, which worked like a charm. I do miss the kitchener stitch though. There's a special place in my heart for the kitchener stitch.

In the midst of my crafty streak, I sewed up this little curtain for the kitchen. It matches my place mats and will soon match my walls . . . I will get around to painting those walls.


And I picked up these Eleanor Grosch Keds the other day. I had been coveting them, but they were nearly $50. I saw these on sale at the mall last week -- $19.99. They were the last pair and they were in my size. Awesome.

FO: Preppy Polo Shirt

I braved the 27ºC weather with a wool sweater to show you all my newly finished polo shirt!



Pattern: Preppy Polo Shirt by Jenna Adorno
Source: Not Another Teen Knitting Book by Vickie Howell
Materials: 2.5 skeins Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Provincial Rose, bits of Cotton Fleece in Wild Sage and Victorians Pink and three pearly buttons from Gramie's stash
Needles: US 6/4 mm bamboo straights and US 4/3.5 mm circs.
Started: June 5, 2007
Finished: July 19, 2007


I'm very happy with this sweater! I love the colours and the fit is great. I knit my first hem and it turned out quite nice. I also knit my first placket and collar, which also turned out looking great. The collar curls a bit, which can probably be remedied with some steaming/ironing/vigorous blocking.

(The back of the sweater is meant to be longer than the front to mimic most of the polo shirts you can buy nearly everywhere.)


Photo creds go to Kenneth who was kind enough to take these shots in the blistering heat!

The perfect Sunday afternoon

Lazing on the patio, soaking up the sun, alternating between reading a good book and a magazine and drinking sun tea . . . it doesn't get better than this.

Are we there yet?

We're almost there, kids. Just be patient.


Just checking in to say the preppy polo shirt is almost done. I tried it on this morning and it fits beautifully with one sleeve. Here's hoping the collar doesn't screw up the fit. Expect a proper FO post very soon.

Settling in

Guess what arrived in my mailbox this morning?

A package from Purl!


Filled with some lovely textiles!


That became place mats for my new kitchen table!


We're settling into the new house. There are still a few boxes that need to be unpacked and as soon as that's done, I hope to start painting. All of the walls are white in this house, except for a few atrocious wallpaper borders. I'm planning to paint the kitchen mint green and purple (like the place mats) and the living room will be a boring beige colour since we have a red couch and a freakishly bright yellow chair (that you can see in the background in the above photo). I haven't decided on colours for the other rooms -- that will be done later. I just want to get the kitchen and living room done as soon as possible.

Oh! and the toe. The toe is better but it's still a huge annoyance. I think I'll be able to dance on Thursday, which is opening night for the musical. We had a dress rehearsal last night and I fell . . . I'm going to try to avoid any spills Thursday night!

Toe be or not toe be a klutz

This was supposed to be a post about the progress I'm making on my preppy polo top, but it's changed to bring you an important note about the dangers of being a big idiot.

We've moved into the new house (yay! I'll post photos once we're all settled in) and I went outside on our patio to take some photos of the polo top. I've finished knitting the back and I'm working on the front. I've got one skein of yarn left and the skein that Brown Sheep is sending me to make up for the gimpy one I got is in the mail.


After taking some photos, I walked into the kitchen through the patio doors, except, unlike normal people, I didn't lift my foot high enough to make it over the bottom track of the sliding doors and mashed my big toe. I squealed and squirmed in pain and I knew right away I had broken some of those cute little bones I broke in the same toe last April. My husband ran to me, only to tell me that I'm retarded. Thanks honey, I knew that.

When I finally mustered the courage to remove my sock and take a look at said toe, I was pretty grossed out. Of course, I must share the gruesome sight with you. Here's my icky toe.


Of course, breaking a toe is bad enough, but the musical I'm in debuts in one week and in addition to singing and acting, I'm supposed to dance. Not just any dance, I'm supposed to do the can-can. I foresee lots of painkillers before opening night . . .

All work and no play

Okay, so my job is fun and it can be playful, but I haven't posted in a while because I've been working and traveling so much, I feel as though I'm gearing up for an election. I attended our annual party convention last weekend, where I got about 10 minutes of knitting done, and I just came back from a two-day caucus event on the South Shore, where the knitting needles didn't even make it out of the bag.

And on top of chasing MLAs across the province (good imagery, eh?), I'm running around town trying to get everything that comes along with buying a house done. The packing process has commenced, but we've still got a long way to go . . . and we're moving this weekend!



I have no knitting progress to show you, just a photo of good ol' Jackie L. He spoke at our convention and, despite the low light, I managed to snap one decent photo.

Holy jeez! This is knot cool.

An Update! The kind folks at Brown Sheep Company are putting a skein of Cotton Fleece in the mail for me. In the meantime, I frogged the sweater back to where the yarn thinned out and I'm slowly progressing.

I've been working on this Preppy Polo Shirt from Not Another Teen Knitting Book and I noticed something funny today.


See that line where my knitting seems to go from thick to thin? Yeah, I see that too. It happens right where I encountered a knot in my skein of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the yarn went from having four distinct plies to having three.


Not cool.

I e-mailed Brown Sheep and I'm waiting to hear back. I'll have to rip my work back until I get to where the knot was. The thinness is too noticeable to leave the way it is. Argh!

FO: Trellis!

Trellis is finally done and, surprisingly, I finished seeming it on the same day Baby Philip was born.

Pattern: Trellis by Britta Stolfus Rueschhoff
Source: Knitty
Materials: one big honkin' 225 g skein of Eco-Fil yarn (75% cotton, 25% acrylic)
Needles: US 6/4 mm bamboo straights
Started: May 11, 2007
Finished knitting: June 2, 2007


Notes: This pattern was quick and easy. All the cables made it interesting and fun to knit. The yarn was a Christmas gift from my best friend and I think it comes from coughWalMartcough. The ball band says it's recycled yarn and it knit up surprisingly well. My only qualm is the way it came out after I washed and blocked it. It looks fine, but it bled like crazy when I washed it. It also took three days to dry and it's still kind of damp and (here's the kicker) it kind of smells funny. I washed it by hand, but I think I'll throw it in the washing machine to see whether the smell goes away. Does anyone have any advice on washing the funky smell away?


The chocolate brown buttons are vintage Modella from my Gramie's button stash. The button card even lists the price as 29¢!

Oh yeah, and I should add that the sweater is indeed red and not pink as it appears. I am a firm believer in boys wearing pink, but I don't think I need to inflict my beliefs on a newborn. He can decide for himself whether he wants to wear pink when he grows up.

I also got this cell phone cozy done for a friend. I'm sure you'll recognize the yarn as leftover from my sunny socks. The cozy fits his Motorolla Razr perfectly!

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!