Whew!

The littlest had a dentist appointment this afternoon that has been wreaking havoc on my nerves. Needless to say, it went horribly. This time she was sedated with an purple oral concoction that was hard to swallow and then gassed. I should be proud of the spunk that this kid has, but it is also heart-wrenching since another appointment had to be scheduled since she fought tooth and nail to get out of the chair the entire time while screaming murderously. This little ninja was heavily drugged, and yet it took two grown men to pin her in the chair. I am impressed. I elected to remain in the reception area and listen to the blood-curdling screams with the terrified little gaffers that were next in line. Her father is much better in these scenarios than I am. When we got home she gobbled up three chicken strips and a mountain of buttered noodles, and she was fine again. I, on the other hand, am dreading the next visit three months from now like the plague.

To calm myself, I decided, completely on a whim, to drop in at my local library for its twice-monthly knitting group. There were only three of us, and I was able to knit a few inches on Pepto Sock #2 while I sipped on some lemon decaf tea. It was lovely.

I do have some legwarmers to show off. I whipped these up for El as she is too cool for snowpants at the dear sweet age of 11. She didn't mind these at all. In fact, I think she was a little excited to wear them. I used some leftover Bernat Softee Chunky acrylic from the Buttony. (They even fit my legs quite nicely - this is very important as the lifespan of all clothing items are very short for a cool pre-adolescent female.)

I'm off to bed. I am exhausted. G'night!

N

PS. I tried out that desk calendar from the link in the last post, and woo-hoo! Ingenius!

Snowbirds

Dear N,

Tomorrow T and I leave for Miami for a six day get away. So long to the Minnesota snow and hello to the sandy beaches of Florida! We are very excited and will not be bringing the laptop with us on this trip, which is a first. So, my dear N, I will leave you and our readers with some fun links until I return.

This is a cute little tea cozy pattern to try since one of your New Years resolutions is to try intarsia (via Craft Leftovers).

My sister makes this easy and delicious cracker candy for Christmas but who says you can't whip them up for a little treat for the office ladies?

Again, a little late for Christmas but these adorable mushroom ornaments would look equally cute on a potted plant or in little groupings around the house for added everyday sparkle.

Free printable 2008 desk calendar from Blueprint. I hope you find your agenda soon, if not you could carry one of these around in your bag, wouldn't that be funny?

I need to make one of these terrariums when I get back from vacation. Amy over at Angry Chicken got such a lovely one for Christmas.

Off to do some laundry and pack my bags. Thanks for blogging in my absence N!

T

Ribbed Queasiness

It fits perfectly! One down, one more to go. Do you like the outfit she picked out to wear today? I am loving those stripey tights. My knitting will be slowing down starting tomorrow - it's back to work. Ugh. We're on our way to the grocery store - we need to stock up on lunch supplies like juicy drinking boxes and bread and stuff. Woo-hoo! It's also time for the girls to go back to school.
N

A Teddy Bear's Birthday

Today was Cherry's birthday. According to B, she turned 4 years old. So we naturally did what any family would do, and we baked a cake and lots of cupcakes, wrapped up presents and hid them (because it was a surprise for Cherry), coloured a pretty card, and played party games like Candyland (I won!!!). B drew up quite an elaborate plan for the party which impressed me to no end. Admittedly, I had to kabosh the jewellery heist portion (this involved sneaking into El's room to steal bead bracelets). It wasn't worth the wrath of El. Of course, good times were had, but the batteries in the camera were recharging, and I was unable to capture all the fun. The picture above was taken a week ago when B and Erica Bear made and dressed Cherry. It was super exciting let me tell you!

Below is the pepto pink ribbed sock I started for B. I finished it up an hour ago - the batteries are STILL recharging. B quite likes it and promptly inquired about sock #2. Cripey, it's coming already! Give your poor mum a break!
Have you ever eaten unsalted pretzels? I thought they would still be tasty without the salt, but it turns out they're all about the salt. That's weird.

N

Pepto Sock Round 2

Dear N,

It was as I had feared, socks are hard. Real hard. Especially when your first attempt at knitting a sock is using a pattern written for dpns and you are a magic looper. Pepto sock attempt #1 was frogged and Pepto sock attempt #2 had begun.This time I am using this pattern from Lion Brand. I read it over and it looks like I can knit it using magic loop without having to do too much gymnastics. This may not be the year of the sock for me. One can only wait and see.

I finally got my copy of Fitted Knits from the library and I am loving it. I am all over these patterns. If the LPL has this book, you must immediately go online and put a copy on hold. These patterns are so beautiful and even the most challenging patterns can be knit if you have some intermediate knitting skills and have done raglan increases. There are at least four or five patterns in this book that I am dying to knit. I think I am going to have to see if I can get it for a bargain on Amazon. Loving this little puffed sleeve cardigan from Fittled Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter.

The Raptors game is coming on tv since they are playing the Timberwolves tonight. Go Rapts! Bye for now!

T

A Good Start

Happy New Year's, everyone! I'm a little late! Our Eve was spent soaking up good sisterly comraderie and exquisite food in Brantford. I stayed up all night only because B ended up with ANOTHER ear infection, and the two of us chilled out in the emergency room AGAIN for four hours on New Year's Day. It was brilliant! I believe people cheered when they called B's name after I settled in my chair for the night.
Today the girls and I took a little drive out to St. Thomas and popped into Parkspin, and I bought two hanks of Briggs & Little Durasport sock yarn - one is Bluejean and the other, Oatmeal. There's a heck of a lot of yardage on these babies for the money. Sweet Bejeezus. Mm-m mmmm. I am loving "The Year of the Sock" already.

And maybe because I was feeling the thrill of the treasure hunt, we also dropped into a thrift shop, and I picked up this lovely knitting basket for $2! Doesn't it just scream 'me'?

And in between knitting boring stockinette legwarmers for El, I have been chugging along on a golden sleeve for B's placket neck sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The yarn is Bernat Berella which I believe is The Afghan Yarn and 100% of the finest acrylic on the market, but as it is for little messy B, it's probably for the best. Plus how could I resist this 70's retro yellow? I believe our oven and fridge were this colour growing up. It's taking me back. Sweet!
And just because I can't allow you to go at the Pepto sock alone, I foolishly cast on a Pepto pink ribbed sock late last night for the Bumble B too! Are you up for a little competition?

N

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year to you N! Much health and happiness to everyone out there.

T and I spent New Years Eve curled up on the sofa and toasted in the year with two mugs of Neo Citran. We were both nursing colds and had to decline party invitations. At least we stayed up until 12:00 but were pretty much passed out soon after. Hope you guys had a more eventful and healthier time than we did.

To begin the new year I have casted on for the Lacy Skirt with Bows from Knit Cafe. I have been waiting to knit this since I bought the yarn at Knit Cafe in August. I think I'm a little rusty with my pattern reading because I had to start and then frog it four times before finally realizing that no, it's not the pattern that's wrong, it's me. Beware of those comas that separate a "yo" from a "ssk twice". Ugh.Here I am on the third lace panel. The yarn is Twisted Sister Daktari in Capuccino, which is what the pattern calls for. Did I mention that nubbly yarn is lovely to look at but a pain to knit with?

The sock is coming along, well, actually, let me save that for another post.

Time to take the Christmas tree down. That always makes me sad. Well, here's to another successful year of crafting and knitting and blogging with you, N!

T