Long time no see:: Birthday Cowl as FO

Birthday Cowl in Red

As you can see, I haven't exactly been a faithful blogger over the last two years.  Sometimes you just have to take a long time off.  Studying to make a job change, a job change, a home change and job stress don't always make time for knitting.  However, as is the cycle of life, things have calmed down for now and I have found myself with a renewed inspiration towards knitting.  Projects that have languished in dresser drawers for two years are being welcomed into my world again and are slowly being worked toward completion. I look forward to sharing them.

In the meantime, I will feature projects that have been finished in the last two years but haven't been written about.  Given that I have recently celebrated turning 38 (38!! - crappers! can't believe it!!), I will start with the Birthday Cowl....




FO:: Birthday Cowl
For: me
Completed: Winter 2010
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK in red
Needles: 4 mm
Link to pattern: here

Comments:  I made no modifications to this cowl.  It was an easy knit and I wear it frequently in the winter because the yarn is soft and it's super comfy to wear.  I can't stand anything itchy on my neck, so this is a frequent go-to accessory. The color also pops nicely against the brown and black coats I wear in the winter.

fo: presto chang-o

Blogging has been a long time coming at my house these days. Since Christmas, DH and I have each been sick twice and I am currently on my third round of sickness. In addtion, DH has been plagued with foot and back difficulties. The winter has not been kind to us - we are eager to see a change in the energy of our house!

This little project was a baby gift for DH's cousin and his wife. They are expecting their first child in April - we already know it's going to be a little girl and so this cute little sweater is the perfect gift for who I know will be the quintessential girly-girl!

The Specs:
Pattern: Presto-Chango by Jimmy Beans Wool
Size: 6 months
Yarn: Bernat Soy Naturals
Needles: 5 mm addi turbos
Modifications: none

This pattern is perfect for beginner knitters. The body is knit entirely in one piece and the front panel is an easy lace pattern that knits up quickly. I found the biggest challenge to be the time it took to sew on 8 buttons!

In the end, I'm super happy with the way it turned out and I would knit this sweater again in a second!

::25 Things About Me::

1. I love writing up random lists like this. It's amazing what comes into your mind when you have to think of 25 random things about yourself.

2. Even though I am very extroverted, I actually require a significant amount of alone time/ down time - which I think makes me an extroverted introvert (or an introverted extrovert!) ha haa!

3. I am very proud of being a teacher. It humbles me, inspires me and keeps me young.

4. I have a very difficult time with concealing my facial expressions. If I'm mad, you will know it by the look on my face. I would not make a very good poker player.

5. I worry excessively that I don't participate in my friendships enough, particularly with people who I've known for a long time but don't see very often.

6.I could probably talk about my dog all day long. He's just so damn cute.

7. I am a list person. I love making lists, I always have a list on the go, and when I'm stressed I make a list(s). When I make a list, I try to categorize the items into levels of importance and then I highlight items when they are finished.

8. I own a label-maker. Having read point #7 about me, you should not be surprised by this.

9. I have two blogs - one about knitting (in my defense, there are a lot of blogs about knitting) and one about teaching. I will not provide the links because I don't want Facebook to spam me and also because I enjoy the relative anonymity of the internet.

10. I love my husband more than anybody in this world. One of the things I love most about him is that he reads books. As an English teacher, I obviously enjoy this a lot. But what I love the most is that when I hold his hand, I feel completely safe.

11. I kind of get irritated when people who know that I'm an English teacher tell me I should "read this book - it's really great." I read for a living, people, and most of it is not what ANYONE would choose to read for pleasure.

12. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself here, but I've never broken a bone and I've never had a cavity. And the grey streak in my hair is completely natural. That being said, my eyesight is so bad that I'm almost legally blind.

13. I suffered from panic attacks and anxiety for a long time. This is not a factor in my life anymore but I make sure I take good care of myself so I don't get there again!

14. I hate putting things away - I will leave something on a table and walk past it for months before I finally lose patience with myself and put it away.

15. My birth date is actually four consecutive 10's in a row - 10/10/1973 (10th month, 10th day, and if you break down 1973 ... 1+9=10 and 7+3= 10)

16. I currently have 15 purses in my closet. I also own about 40 pairs of shoes and at least 40 scarves. I know, I'm not exactly "accessories challenged."

17. I love hockey fights. I think they're awesome.

18. Since we're talking about hockey, I will say that I have become quite a hockey fan in the last few years. I like watching games and I even watch Sportscentre and listen to the Team 1200 on my own so I can learn more about the game. I am currently a little obsessed with the abysmal nature of the Ottawa Senators and I wish they would stop hanging their coaches out to dry.

19. I love fart jokes, ass jokes and inappropriate comments (okay, not when I'm teaching). I love it when people say things like "It smells like ass" and "Shut your cakehole" - I find it very entertaining and I always wish I had thought to say something witty like that.

20. I have a very messy car and a very messy office. However, check out any of my teaching binders and everything is in sheet protectors and divided perfectly into categories. I am a contradiction in progress!

21. I would like to be a high school principal one day.

22. I'm all about cheesy music: "The Sound of Music" is my favorite movie of all time, I can sing most of ABBA's songs from memory and I own all of Celine Dion's albums. I can't believe I just admitted all of that.

23. I often have road rage. Most people really do lose IQ points when they get behind the wheel of their car and I am usually the one driving behind them.

24. I am running out of things to write in this list - what the hell? - I'm never at a loss for words.

25. I like my life. As life goes, I think I've got it pretty good.

FO: Drop Stitch Scarf

this is the scarf that I thought was lost forever, until I prayed for it to come to me.... and it did. this, of course, has changed my entire perspective on the concept of praying.... but I'll save that for another time!

in order to close out the year the right way, I will leave 2008 by writing up a post that focuses on my new favorite thing - a finished object!

Project: Drop Stitch Scarf from Ravelry
Yarn: Ella Rae Palermo, Color #7
Needles: addi turbos, 4.5 mm
Start to Finish: August 2008 to December 2008
Recipient: Kathy, my sister-in-law

Special thanks to my Mom and my dog, Titus, for being such willing models on Christmas Day.

All the best to you and yours in 2009!

Krista :-)

FO: Dishcloths for Kim

These dish cloths are for Kim, a co-worker of mine who turned the concept of tradition on its ear and bought a house by herself. Let’s face it, it’s fairly common to wait until one is part of a couple to make such a monumental purchase and I’m proud of Kim for choosing not to wait and to go it alone. Such an accomplishment deserves something small and noteworthy – like some cotton dishcloths and kitchen soap from Tval.

Congratulations, Kim! I, too, was one of those females who stared tradition in the face and purchased a home on my own. It’s an accomplishment to be proud of because it means that there has been years of individual scrimping and saving to make a dream come true.

Aren't we women awesome?

Pattern specs: Traditional dishcloth pattern (the one where you cast on 3 stitches and then start each row with k2, yo, k to the end to increase and then decrease with k2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k to end)

Yarn: Bernat dishcloth cotton

Needles: Addi turbos, 4.5 mm circular

restoring order

have you ever noticed that sometimes you declare something to be true and then, once it is declared, it changes to something else within days?

such is what happened with the last post, where i declared that I seemed to be starting more and finishing less. ever since I wrote that post, I have been obsessively finishing things and restoring order to my home. the finished items will come later... right now it's about restoring order.


restoring order (decluttering, reorganizing, tossing out, recycling, buying new) seems to be what I do on my vacation. as a teacher, i have ooooooooodles of vacation time (no need to make me feel guilty, my DH does that) and i find myself using "restoring order" as a way to relax. i find that the chaos of a school year does not allow me to keep up with housework or simple organization, so i tend to do it during holidays. it grounds me.



on my current "restoring order" list:

- cleaning up my office to make room for a new dresser to hold my yarn and a new bookcase to hold my books

- finding art posters that we purchased in Nice, France on my husband's desk - they get new frames tomorrow!

- finding wedding gifts in the spare bedroom closet and either: putting them to use where they need to go (e.g. the new ironing board cover) or finding places to display them

- cleaning up the laundry room with a new rug, new shelves, and a new curtain - because laundry should be more fun than it really is

- gathering up gently used clothing and housewares that I no longer need to donate to the local women's shelter

- writing thank you notes for our wedding gifts


.... and much much more, of course. Some might wonder why I would choose to do so much during my holidays. And I say: because it makes me feel balanced, grounded and centred like these rocks:



















how do you restore order to your life? do you find it as relaxing as I do?

Lazy Canada Day........

Happy Canada Day!

Living in the nation's capital usually means that Canada Day is a full on marathon of celebrations. This year, however, DH and I didn't have the heart or the desire to get in on the celebrations... leaving it to the hundreds of thousands of other people who would be willing to celebrate on our behalf.

Today was the perfect day for Canada Day - sunny and hot, but not too hot (no humidity), and NO rain. A breeze to keep you cool so that you didn't need the A/C, and, of course, plenty of lazing around. So we lazed around all day, and then we lazed around a little more and then we capped it off with this most yummy dinner - barbecued ribs, jasmine rice, bacon wrapped asparagus and steamed corn. And not one iota of it cooked by me!!! If you had a husband who could cook like this, you wouldn't cook either.... And so I don't. I consider it my contribution to humanity by not cooking and contribute other ways - like by doing the dishes!

Despite the excessive lazing around, however, I managed to have a ridiculously productive day. I had 4 important telephone conversations before 11:30 a.m, I did four loads of laundry, I knit a baby bib, I read, I went to my vacationing parents' house and cleaned out their fridge, I walked the dog twice, I had a nap, I did a little shopping to prepare for my trip to New York City on Thursday, I updated my projects on Ravelry and now I'm updating my blog. And yet I still feel relaxed! Go figure!

So, I'm taking inspiration from the A.D.D. knitter and am making plans to finish up some projects that should have been finished ages ago but have not had the privelege of finished glory. This will be especially difficult for me because I am in a constant state of start-itis; and start-itis is completely responsible for my never-ending "procrastin-ism" (my definition of procrastination).

So, in pictures only, here's what needs to be done. See if you can figure out which ones are: the argosy scarf, the horseshoe pattern scarf, the mitred square baby blanket and the triangle goldielocks shawl.

Am going to NYC on Thursday for 4 days and my plan is to finish ONE of these projects by the end of my trip. I look forward to posting a finished pic next week. Cheers and Happy Canada Day!

Welcome to Parker Thomas!

Parker Thomas is the latest addition to our family's growing list of great-grandchildren - I think he's the SIXTH great-granchild in 3 years. It just won't stop - every time we turn around there's another announcement of another pregnancy. Don't get me wrong - I am not complaining. I just think it's hilarious that my cousins are obviously having tons of sex!

But hey, more sex means more babies, and more babies means cute little outfits like this. This is my standard vintage baby sweater, knit in King Cole Smooth DK on 4 mm Addi turbos. I actually don't know the name of the colour but I thought it was so cute - it's kind of like a grass green. And the hat was actually supposed to be a bonnet, but I thought a bonnet was a little TOO vintage and I decided at the last second to go with a touque style instead. This resulted in some fandangling creativity - thus the two wooden button detail on the back. But......isn't it just so cute?

For some reason, the whole thing reminds me of Cabbage Patch Dolls. No idea why.

So Parker apparently made his first trip to church last week and he was wearing his snazzy new sweater. I'm sure he picked up a girlfriend or two in between the recitation of the Psalms!! I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him yet, but I look forward to doing so in just a few weeks.

Welcome to the world, Parker! We are so excited to meet you.

ps. It's my busy time of year - marking and more marking to get through. I shan't attempt to write much before July. Stay cool, dudes! xo

FO: Toni's cushion

This one is about the patience of friends.

This cushion was started over TWO years ago for my friend Toni. I started it when I had just started knitting and was naive to the ways of yarn - super chunky mohair-y yarn that's a pain to knit and is impossible to frog. But I kept with it and actually finished it a year ago.... and it still took another year to finish.

I say it again, this is definitely about the patience of friends.

And in this two year period, Toni may have mentioned this cushion to me just once; where she may have asked how it was progressing and I may have brushed it off and said, "Oh, it's fine." And then, being the super patient person that she is (in addtion to the very spiritual person that she is), she simply let go of the attachment to when she was actually going to receive it and let me finish it in my own good time..... which happened to be over two years.... but I digress.

What I didn't realize is that it's not as hard to knit something as it is to figure out: how are you going to put it together? what buttons will you use? should you use ribbon? how does seaming actually work?... and what is always, always underestimated, how much time is this actually going to take?????????????????

So, as I said before, for some things it takes about two years, but what I also realized through this is that if you're lucky to have a friend like Toni, two years is the perfect amount of time because it's appreciated no matter what.














Thank you, Toni. Your friendship warms my heart and keeps me strong in the calmest and most stressful of times. Namaste!

FO: Florida Mittens

After losing two days of school last week due to freezing rain and excessive snow fall, you can imagine how not really excited we were to cancel our March Break trip to Florida because of the 40 centimetres expected over the weekend. The snow days had given me some time to knit, but working on a baby blanket in pastel blues and greens was not going to get me through a consistent 16 hour snowfall - I needed colour! So as soon as I could, I headed over to the LYS and picked up two balls of Lang's Mille Colori (colorway 057) and set out to spend the snowstorm knitting myself some Florida mittens.

I loved knitting these mittens so much that I think I really did knit for almost 16 hours on Saturday - I didn't pay attention to the passage of time because I was in a serious zone! This pattern did not require knitting in the round and it allowed me to practise my seaming and weaving in ends - which really proved that I was pathetic at both because if you look closely you will see that the stripes don't match up. But what do I care? I've got a new pair of mittens and they match with both of my winter coats and many of my scarves. I am styling it up these days.

So, these are my Florida mittens because they are colourful like Florida and they just might melt some of the 40 cms of snow we did actually receive. Note where they are located in the picture..... but obviously there is really no melting going on. Just lots of shovelling, as you can see in the pictures below:

The picture on the left is the pathway in to our house. The snowbank to the right is actually about 12 feet high and if we get more snow this week, there will be no other place to put it. Even my secret space - up around the lantern stand you see in the back corner - is full of snow and, if you look at the picture on the right, is now a snow bank on its own.

So, Dad, when you said, "Don't put that lantern stand there, the wood will swell up with all of the snow," and I said, "We never get snow there, Dad, don't worry about it," this is where we can comfortably say that you were right and the lantern stand is probably going to be warped beyond belief by Spring. Oooooooooops.

Anyway, the snow also made it completely impossible for Titus to find a place to pee in the backyard. The poor little guy had to find a space UNDER the side burner of the BBQ, which prompted the creation of an actual play space for him. I guess you can say we really had no choice, especially if you look at how happy he is.... Yay for Titus!

At least someone is appreciating the snow!

FO: The Wedgie Scarf

Is it okay if I have only one finished project this year? I mean, if I look back over the year and all of the things that happened and were accomplished, I think the universe might cut me some slack on having only finished one knitting project!

This here is a Wedgie Scarf courtesy of Vyvyan. I knit it with two balls of Paton's SWS in Natural Pink. I really enjoyed knitting this scarf - once you get started, it was easy to memorize the pattern and quick to move through. I didn't really change anything except for adding the fringe on the end and I only did one end wedge repeat because I didn't want to go into a third ball of SWS for something like 3 rows of knitting.

This was a Christmas gift for my best friend, Toni. Today Toni completed what I call the ultimate friend test - she sat in a bathing suit store with her 6 month old baby girl on her knee while I tried on approximately 300 bathing suits in just over 2.5 hours.I told her at one point that I would have to knit her a lot more scarves to make up for this huge act of kindness that she afforded me today. She only giggled, but she was probably thinking to herself "...only scarves?"

In any case, it was a good day. I finished a scarf, I found not one, but TWO, bathing suits and most importantly, I'm on my way to start my honeymoon tomorrow for a week.

After I pack some knitting, that is!

there aren't enough words...

.... to say to Byron and Maureen for their amazing photography on our special day. Not only were we lucky to have their fabulous vision and creativity all to ourselves for our wedding, but we are all the more fortunate because Byron is my husband's first cousin.

My best option is to post a link - check out some AMAZING photography here:
www.byronbrydges.com
and
www.byronbrydgesphotography.blogspot.com

You will not be disappointed. In fact, you will be refreshed and inspired.

Thank you, Byron and Maureen!

lack of blogging = lack of time

I thought that after the wedding, I would be able to do all kinds of blogging. And I really did plan to do a lot of blogging, but these two things called "time" and "life" kept getting in the way. On top of that, I love the photo in the previous post so much, that I couldn't really bring myself to replace it by adding something new. I feel like that picture captures everything I felt for every single second of that day, and I don't feel quite ready to let go of it just yet.

So, on that note, I will not write much more - I've knit ONE row on the baby blanket in the last three weeks and I don't see any more time in the foreseeable future to do any more. And all of this "no-knitting, no-blogging" time is really resulting in a fairly unbalanced version of myself. Even my husband commented that my cranky, unbalanced self needed some knitting time - and he usually hates it when I knit!

I'll be back soon.... with knitting in hand, I promise!

i'm supposed to be packing

this weekend (ie. at 5 a.m. tomorrow) we are heading to my friend Vanessa's wedding for the weekend. at this wedding, we will indulge in golfing, eating, drinking, sleeping and celebrating Vanessa's jump into matrimony, knowing full well that we will be in her exact footsteps in none other than 65 days (yes, i'm counting). And at this moment (11:45 pm), i am either supposed to be (a) packing or (b) asleep in bed. however, you can clearly see that I'm doing neither, because nothing soothes the urge to procrastinate than to do a little internet surfing, a little blogging, and a little picture taking. i could justify this post by saying that I have been negligent in my blogging duties (and I have) and therefore I need to post, but why bother? i'm procrastinating, plain and simple.

first up: the picture that starts this post is lovingly entitled "yarn cuddles." this is evidence of just two of my recent splurges on yarn and what better place to photograph it than on your bed? the yarn on the left is a mohair/alpaca mix I found in a wee little yarn store not 10 minutes from my school. it's a gorgeous mix of lavenders and pinks - all grown, spun, dyed, etc. etc on site. my lunch breaks will take on a new meaning next year - I can be there, buy yarn and back to school all within 40 minutes. the potential for crisis is huge here! the yarn on the right is Fleece Artist's "Goldielocks" - it's all pinks and dusty roses... gorgeous. and they look gorgeous together, but i will not be knitting them together. i have an idea for the alpaca/mohair mix but i'm clueless on the Goldielocks (I guess I should not admit at this point that I also have two other skeins of Goldielocks in other colorways - don't even ask me about it, I can only claim complete madness.)


in addition to buying yarn, i have actually been knitting. i'm working away on a little Argosy scarf - this is in Paton's Grace in "Tangelo." It's mercerized cotton, so it's a nice knitting project for the summer. i've said this before, but the Argosy pattern is super easy to memorize and that's what makes it so fun to knit. and while I enjoy being "in progress" with my knitting (seriously, when was the last time I posted a finished product?), I would like to finish this soon. That being said, I have no intention of wearing it when it's finished because orange looks hideous on me - i just look like a big pumpkin when I wear it, which is not exactly anyone's idea of glamour. so it will be gifted to someone who looks fabulous in orange. any takers?

this next picture is what my computer desk looks like at this exact moment. i'm sure many of you are thinking "Blessed God in heaven, the woman's a slob" and, I assure you, that while I have messy tendencies, I usually make a great effort to be clean and organized. I just have a lot going on right now and the desk demonstrates it perfectly. The box holds the ring box for my engagement ring, there's a returned thank you note that needs to be re-sent, a bank statement for an old savings account, even gum wrappers. Wait a second.... Blessed God in heaven, I AM a slob... but i like the angle and the lighting of the picture.


and, finally, what pet owner doesn't take/post/ send out/ email funny pictures of their pet? this is Titus in his latest clothing of choice - my thong underwear. I can just hear what you're thinking now, "Jay-sus, she photographs yarn in her bed, she's a slob and now she's dressing her dog up in her thong, and having the nerve to blame it on the poor animal!! She's cracked!" While I may protest the "cracked" label a little, I couldn't resist taking this picture. Titus found this underwear and started playing with it by flipping it up over his head. The next thing I knew, he had it wrapped around himself, and, I assure you, in less than 10 minutes, he had it on a million different ways, but never in the right way. Every time it changed, I forced him to look up at me so I could take a picture.... this picture is so priceless to me because he looks so irritated with me; i feel like he's saying to me -

"What do you mean by "I'm wearing it wrong?""

Oh, Titus, you're such a joy. I love you! Back to packing... or sleeping...