purple is a fruit

so here I am.

2010-11-03T21:08:00.003-06:00

and it's been so long that I haven't had weirdos comments awaiting moderation.. lol...

well until now! ;)

in my last post I mentioned a doily that I just had to make,

and I did, it really didn't take long at all!

super cute but if I ever knit it again I'll add beads where the bobbles go!!

when this bag popped up on Ravelry a couple weeks ago I had to make it, I've been using it ever since and it's great!! I'd love to make another one in different colors, maybe in handdyed??

Sally posted a pattern for Owliver, a cozy for her MP3 player, my Owliver holds a rice krispy treat perfectly!!

a pair of mitts I made for the etsy shop, if they don't sell soon I'll be forced to use them this winter!! lol I think they turned out pretty darn cute! (my own pattern)

Kate (who hasn't updated her blog either)has a pattern for Brimmer hats, my sil asked me to make some hats for the boys,

this is the perfect pattern for little boys, I had to modify the pattern for the yarn and head sizes but they turned out great!

till next time...

well I just need to knit this!!

2010-07-24T21:59:00.000-06:00

Vicki

I may cast on right away!

Hmmmm, part alpaca maybe??

2010-07-20T22:18:00.005-06:00

lol

its like they were related in another life.

and in knitting news, I finished a shawl:

Woodland Walk Shoulder Shawl

and started another:

Traveling Woman Shawl

I really never wear shawls.. but they are so pretty and fun to knit!!

wanna see a few others on the list??

(sorry these are all on ravelry... if you haven't joined yet you should!)

Desert Rain

Haruni

Mini Shawl

whether I get to them all or not is another question.. as soon as I finish one, another new one pops up on Rav!!

lol

till next time

Baylee

2010-07-05T17:29:00.002-06:00

So we went and got another dog, Baylee is a mini dach X mini pom, so shes going to be a tiny little thing, her mom was 12 lbs and her dad just 4 lbs!!

here's their first meeting.

Mona really suprised me, when we first brought her home (July 1 2010) I let her sniff her pee pad and all she did was walk away, not interested in it at all.

so I grabbed Baylee and let Mona sniff her butt... no growl, tail wagging, she looked happy to have a little friend again.

Over the next couple days, we kept a eye on them... I gave Mona a couple peices of toast crust, Baylee went to get a little nibble, and I watched, Mona showed her a little teeth, she didn't back away... then a little growl, Baylee backed up immediatly and watched Mona eat the crust... that was probally the first time ever that Mona stood up for herself... Zoey was the alpha dog.

It's been so nice having a puppy again.

besides the getting up at night and the peeing in the house, altho both of those are getting better as the days go by.

the first night she was up 3 times and cried most of the night too.

I've been taking her water away about 8 or 9 at night and that really seemed to help... she's only been getting up to go outside once a night, and this morning she let me sleep in until 7am. Man was that ever nice!!

she loves to sleep all crazy.

Also LOVES to snuggle with you just before she falls asleep too.

till next time.....

June Knittin'

2010-06-22T09:28:00.003-06:00

Shawl knittin', gotta love it... the pattern is Annis from knitty

knit with knitpicks shimmer in baylou... LOVE this color, browns blues and greens!

The pattern says to use 5 and6 mm needles, I used 4.5 and 5.5mm, next time I'll still use the 6 for the cast on, it's a little tight even tho I cast on as loose as I could, it's a really great pattern even tho you start off casting on some 340ish sts!! OMG...I counted the sts 3 or 4 times just to make sure I had the right amount...lol

it needed a little bling

so I looked around etsy for a little inspiration

and came up with this:

and a close up:

kinda cute and super easy to make too!
and a pic of the nupps/detail.

I'm trying to knit this too

Lace Rib Shrug

not that it's hard but it's boring as hell... I'm 2 inches into the second needle change and I'm bored... I will finish it tho.. hopefully this month and it'll be my june sweater!

for July I'm planning on making Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie... not that I do yoga... it's a nice cardi. I have some brown sheep cotton fleece yarn in pinecone.

till next time..

Contest

2010-06-16T18:56:00.002-06:00

nope not here silly...

Wandering Cat Studio

is celebrating their 1 yr anniversary

and

they want to give stuff away!!

Quick go check it out!!

Goodbye Little Girl

2010-06-09T11:20:00.002-06:00

Zoey was born May 16 02.

She left us was to soon, June 9 10

RIP Zoey.

June 1 2010

2010-06-01T09:15:00.002-06:00

WOW can you believe it's June already!

it's been so wet and yucky out... there has been alot of knitting going on.

I whipped up this little doll for a co-workers sisters baby...

she only took about 3 hours!!

Gotta love a pattern like that!!

and my May sweater... Buttercup knit with kauni yarn (ES colorway)

Tappen Zed, Eh?

2010-05-09T19:36:00.002-06:00

WOW can you believe 2 posts in a week!!

This is my April/May sweater... I knit most of it in april and just finished it up yesterday!

it's the Tappen Zee pattern from the Spring Knitty
obviously I changed the pattern... and used thicker yarn

I knit it in the round, added waist shaping, made the sleeves full length,

and did a few short row on the back of the collar...

it fits great and is super warm!!

Up next for may is Buttercup (rav link) in some blue kauni yarn that I've tried to knit into so many other sweaters along with another yarn... but it was meant to be knit on it's own.

see you when it's done!!

this ones for you Stacy!!

2010-05-04T17:01:00.005-06:00

So I was on my way to work this morning on a wonderfuly crappy day... it's May 4th and it's snowing and is super slushy!! Our road has been horrible for weeks... so before we go any further... please get a Corb Lund song into your head.... The Truck got Stuck, comes to my mind.

ok, so I'm driving, bouncing in the holes that is our road, slopping in the slush.

I hit the slush and slowly it sucked me into the ditch.

(sorry about the super small pics I used my phone)

I called our great and awsome neighbours S and T and they came to my rescue and brought me home again.

Later when Albert got home ...he tried to drive it out.

nope.

Albert came into the field and then got stuck himself.

Our neighbour J drives by and tries to get Albert unstuck....

AND get stuck himself.

oh bugger!!

they play tug or war and eventually J is free and he gets alb free too.

Meanwhile B drives down the road and lends us his chain ( we had a rope but it wasn't long enough)

both trucks got out but we had to leave the van in the field until B came back from town.

he came by picked up Alb and pulled the van out.

Thank goodness for great neighbours!!

it reminded me of old times when we used to go and try and get stuck on purpose!!

good times!!

and because it's a knitting blog... here's my latest cardi

featherweight cardi by Hannah Fettig

I used just under 2 skeins of Knitpicks shimmer *baylou*

and a 3.5 mm circ

it's so light and pretty

I used feather and fan for the collar and sleeve cuffs.

it kinda reminds me of a camo looking material... but prettier..lol

till next time...

whatchya lookin' at??

2010-04-01T09:50:00.002-06:00

lol.. when I went out this morning, I noticed Lucys teeth... how could you not??

my baby is growing up... she's loosing her baby teeth!!

March

2010-03-24T21:21:00.002-06:00

Not to much knitting going on around here... we finished the bathroom:

SO much better than before:

Hello 1970!!!

I'm pretty sure that everything in there was about 20 yrs old... maybe longer.

I did get to do a bit of knitting... I finished Shalom

and have done about 20 rows on Sylvi for DJ.

We have since painted DJ's room... Naiomi switched rooms which also got painted and then laminate was on sale... so we're doing the whole upstairs... it'll be so nice to get rid of the old carpet too... it's kinda nasty.

Maybe I'll get back here in April with Sylvi??

Hope so!!

till then...

Gold!!

2010-02-28T15:03:00.004-06:00

back on track

2010-02-24T23:23:00.003-06:00

well that wasn't so bad... I have both sleeves knit up like they're supposed to be and I even tacked on the braid I knit at work today

tomorrow the other front and one more braid...

maybe even a braid for a sleeve??

you know I just may finish before the 28th!!

it won't have a zipper or be lined (those are my plans for it anyways)

but it'll be complete and ends tucked in!!

knit on baby!!

setback

2010-02-24T19:08:00.002-06:00

I finished my sleeves to the sleeve cap... now thinking to look at them and check them out until they were both done ~ they are triangle shaped!! OMG

FROG!!

4 days left....

sigh

day 11

2010-02-22T23:22:00.002-06:00

the sweater is coming along pretty well, I have the body

split for front and back and have worked those about 2 inches.. I also have started the sleeve caps and arm hole decreases at the same time.

Everything is on one long circ for knitting now, I may have to pull some late nights this week since I work all week and don't have this weekend coming up off... sunday will probally be a alldayer too, once done the main knitting I want to added the braided cable at collar, cuffs and at the bottom of the body, and a i-cord where the zipper will be... I won't be adding the zipper for awhile tho... I'd also LOVE to line it too someday.

the bathroom is coming along just as well: it's painted and the countertop is waiting to be glued into place... we also painted the hallway too, nice and bright now... it was woodpanel.

till next time..

day 4 progress

2010-02-15T22:46:00.003-06:00

I've been making pretty good progress on my sweater... I'm 3.75 rpts into the body and will seperate for the front and back at about 4.5 rpts.. give or take... I'm thinking again that sleeve caps may be possible?

and the bathroom renos are going very well!!

the drywall is up and mudding has been done a few times, and sanded a few times too!

our supervisor, Jake and Kallie in the background... I don't think she's impressed about our work... you see we used to feed her in the bathroom (long story)and we have since moved her down to the laundry room, poor kitty!

Pearl and Bea hard at work...

thats what I call them when they're playing cards... they bicker like old ladies...lol

they're taking the tiles off the countertop.

and where the ladder is, there was countertop there.. but I thought we could put a cupboard there for all the towels and such... there were just on plain old shelves about the toilet before.

till next time...

hopefully there will be paint and a body of my sweater!

Oly Reno Day 1

2010-02-14T20:24:00.003-06:00

Albert and Mitch (bro in law) got alot done ....wanna see??

Bathroom Reno Olympics

2010-02-14T20:05:00.002-06:00

Albert decided a couple weeks ago to redo the bathroom... well ok we've been talking about it for yrs... but this past friday it happened! and since he started on the first olympic day, it'll be the olympic reno... I have to help out too... I hope I can finish my sweater in time too!

all these pics are before he started ripping it apart:

CAR!!

2010-02-13T12:25:00.002-06:00

So last night I was buzzing along on the sweater got it cast on and knit 4 rows when I discovered that my cable kept coming loose from the needle.. I got another 32" cable and began to transfer the sts.. about 1/2 way thru I thought I'd just put the sweater around my waist to see how big it was... well I could put it around 1.5 times!!! OMG! FROG!!

at least I wasn't 1/2 way done the sweater!

I cast on again with 44 less sts and it seems to be much better. (I took out the side sts)

game on again!!

Game On!!

2010-02-12T21:42:00.001-06:00

a lunchkit

2010-02-10T21:41:00.007-06:00

Naiomi used this red lunchkit in kindergarden... after that it was mine.

I've used it everyday for 6 yrs and just last week the zipper gave out.

I could of just bought one but what fun would that be??

so I knit and felted one for myself... all I have to do now is add the zipper.

I used Brown Bag, for the main bag part but making it bigger.

and I used the side cable from Rogue for the handle.

I took some yarn I had dyed before and outlined the cable.

it's pretty neat looking and I can't wait to use it!

St. Brigid

2010-02-10T19:48:00.004-06:00

I'm taking on St. Brigid (rav) by Alice Starmore for the 2010 Olympics,

good lord wish me luck!!

What are you making?

the knitting olympics are on

2010-02-05T18:44:00.003-06:00

Steph announced today that the knitting olympics are on!!

woot woot.....

now the question... what can I knit in 17 days??

do I have enough yarn to make a sweater... I do have a bunch of natural yarn from briggs and little... Hmmm, ravelry here I come!!

January Sweater, Hat and a Storm

2010-01-26T21:51:00.004-06:00

I found a group on Ravelry that has a challenge of knitting a sweater a month in 2010.. since my stash is so large ---- I joined... and really living in Canada you can really use all the warm wooly sweaters you can!! here's my first one...Ditto, the yarn (briggs and little) was free so I splurged a bit on buttons... $10.50 on etsy.. and of course I can't totally follow a pattern all the way thru with out changing it... so I changed the yoke a bit... just adding 2 knit sts where there are purls and making the sleeves full length and added more buttons... I knit it at a slightly tighter gauge to get my size... I was a in~between size... .

I've bought so much yarn specifically for sweaters I'm planning on using that up before I buy and more! the next sweater is Drops 103-1, again with stash yarn.. this time a rose colored lopi and I even have buttons so this cardi will be absolutly free!! how awsome is that!!

Dj's been knitting too... see:
She has a bunch of Jamie Oliver books and watches his show all the time... and he wears this pink red and white hat... she searched Ravelry and actually found the pattern!! so she runs upstairs finds the yarn and whips out the needle size that the pattern says... a 8 mm... and casts on... she did most of the ribbing and I noticed that it was a bit HUGE, but it's ribbing right it'll pull in?? so I go to bed and she's up early the next morning knitting away, I check online about the needle size and it's wrong... she should be using a sz 6mm, she doesn't want to rip back since she was past the stranded work... it's wool so it'll felt.

see it's HUGE:

the only problem with felting it, is that the pink is lopi ( 1 ply) and the other is ??? and a 4 ply wool... it all felts at a different rate... it did shrink some what... the pink more than anything... it doesn't fit her anymore... it fits me tho and it'll be a great chore hat!!
here it is on my noggin':

covers my ears and is nice and cozy around my head!! Perfect for feeding the pacas and goats!!

We had quite a doozie of a snow storm here this past weekend... over 12 inches a couple days...

before the storm you could see the top of the BBQ....

we shoveled all weekend just to stay on top of it and today moms bf came and moved all the snow back and made a hill for Naiomi, she's pretty pumped about that!!

well I guess thats all for now... I'll see you in Feb when I'd done my next sweater!

ttfn

so december has come and just about gone...

2009-12-28T10:13:00.002-06:00

Hey all... thought I should blog a little while Naiomi is bugging me to go out sledding...lol... thats what we're going to do this afternoon. ;)

I've been knitting (and crocheting) like a mad woman this december...

most ppl got something hand crafted... DJ and Allie got these to go to the IIHF world jr hockey game dec 28 ( today, if your reading this right now) Canada vs Switzerland

it's my own pattern with cables running up the sides and I tacked the maple leaf on, I did have a thought of stranded work for the maple leaf.. but with having to get these done in 3 days I needed something fairly simple... I just started them dec 24th and finished them last night.

thats a lot of knitting in 3 days..lol

Naiomi's been asking for hedgehogs for a while now... so I thought I'd crochet some for her...I made 2 in 3 hours.. and killed my wrists in the process... crocheting is fast but knitting is way easier on my hands! well I must say she was NOT impressed but Steven enjoyed them!

DJ has a new little brother.. not made by me..lol... her bio-dad and his wife had a little boy the beginning of dec and I made them this little set. I think it's adorable... DJ made him a bluejean blanket and some cutsie sewn booties.

and with the spirit of christmas... one of our customers at work came by and handed us this:

how sweet of her... we we're having a shit day... but that turned the whole day better...

Steven recieved this for christmas:

I call him Lenard.. Steven calls him Yo Gabba Gabba, I guess it kinda looks like that??

Well I'm off to go sledding... Hope you all had a fun and safe holiday!!

is it really....

2009-11-28T19:35:00.002-06:00

2 days until december!?!??

wow time is just flying by!!

I'm done my christmas shopping, I just have one pair of moccasins to make, and wrapping everything.. and done!!

way ahead of schedule this yr and boy is it nice!!

I've been knitting like mad.. mostly for Polly and all the pics are on my camera so I can't even show you that.

at the moment I'm making a 1x1 ribbed scarf for her that looks like mens work socks, you know the grey/white/red ones... so soft and squishy but man what a killer to knit... it's taking FOREVER!! I also have to make a matching hat and mitts too.

if I don't make it back here before Christmas ( and by the way things are going, it looks like it'll go that way) have a good one and catchya soon!!

cold toes

2009-10-20T20:16:00.002-06:00

and fingers too... I made these for Polly... plus 3 other pairs of mitts and a hat.

these are for my Aunt Elaine:
and these ones too:
I was complaining on facebook that my toes were cold... she said her's were too... these outta fix that!!

from the ones with the beads above I designed these moccasins:

I started them last night and just finished the first one tonight... with lopi yarn and sz 5 circs they go VERY fast!

I hope to have a pattern soonish...

I'll add it to ravelry when I have a few sizes for the pattern.

till next time...

busy times

2009-10-02T22:20:00.002-06:00

boy oh boy is time ever going fast this yr since the girls are getting older...

can you believe it's Oct already??

I feel like I have no time to blog anymore... I take pics but just to get them on the computer and blog about them... is starting to seem like a chore.. weird, I used to love blogging.

DJ's having her 15th B-day party tonight so I can't sleep anyways so I thought I'd give a little shout out.

I'm still knitting as much as ever

Featherweight Cardi

made with fiddlesticks yarn

Olive

made with Kauni yarn
and we were lucky enough to get tickets to see Keith Urban Sept 23.

such a great concert!!!

we wern't really that close to him.. thank goodness for zoom on the camera!!

I'm knitting for Polly still too.. I've made a couple pairs of mitts and have started the third and she has a order for a chullo hat for a little girl for me to do also... I'll be sure to take a pic of that.. and maybe one day I'll even blog about it..lol

I suppose thats all for now

catchya later

Score!!

2009-08-28T21:16:00.003-06:00

and the best part....

it was all FREE!!!

about 120 balls and some left over bits and 1/2 balls.

now what to make??

is.....

2009-08-20T21:46:00.000-06:00

on vacation!!!!

internet meet Jake

2009-08-09T17:30:00.002-06:00

After the last cat I was supposed to get (a ragamuffin) ran away 2 days before I was supposed to pick him up, I checked kijiji and found this pretty looking boy... not only is he a good looking cat but he also catches mice birds and bats!!

he's a 4 yr old ragdoll named Jake.

the story:

we (myself and the lady with the cat) decided to meet in the city at a mall with a walmart,

both of us got the the city at the same time and waited... each of us waiting at different malls at opposite ends of the city!! the mall I was at had no walmart so I drove the the nearest walmart... waited again... her hubby called and was talking to Naiomi, she told him we'll be right there... so we thought... we waited at that walmart for about 15 mins then decided to go back to where we were in the first place ( still the wrong place), then after another 20 mins we decided to drive to the other end of the city... meanwhile the hubby called me again to see where the heck we are... found out I had the wrong mall all along.. drove at the sound then of the city and suprise she's there with the cat just where we said we'd meet...

I hate driving in the city!!

I'm so a country girl!!

Kallie and Jake met already with a hiss and a run away from eachother... I have the rest of today and all day tomorrow to introduce them.. and then theres the dogs... that will probally be easier... they both were ok with Kallie, so I'm thinking things will be fine.

till next time...

holy smokes... lookie at blogger now!!!

2009-08-04T19:19:00.002-06:00

It's actually letting me post!!!

I've been busy all summer, with work and also running DJ into town for work too.

But I did find time to knit... and take in a fiberart showcase day Bigger, where I met Val in person... to bad we didn't actually get to talk more.

some of the knitting:

Percy Shawl

the yarn is what mom got for me from Hawaii, plus some extra since I didn't have enough... but it worked out ok anyways.

and Percy #2

for my Aunt Blanche.

I ran out of yarn the last 30 sts during the cast off... good thing for the reinforcement thread that came with!!

Gail aka Nightsongs , this one didn't take long to knit... I did run out of yarn for this one too, and bought a bit more from the dyer off of etsy.

and a baktus... I started this when it was about +12 the second week in July... the next day it turned out to be nice again!! lol...

I added a lacy diamond to the middle point.

there's more on all of these on my rav project page

and a goat picture...

Molly likes standing in the tub we have in the back...

her and Myrtle are both so fun to watch... esp during feeding... they butt head and even try to butt the alpacas... but you know they only can reach their knees and the pacas jump out of the way before anything even happens.

Lloyd loves the goats... and is always hanging out with them... maybe she was a goat in a former life?? lol

;^)

Well I better go before I jinx this and blogger eats my post again.

catchya later

blogger?!?!?!

2009-08-03T09:48:00.003-06:00

I've tried 4 times in the past couple days to post on my summer so far....
blogger doesn't upload the pics... ( they're a small sized pic) or gives me the boot just before I'm about to post....

ggrrr....

I wonder if this will even show up??

a busy June...

2009-06-21T11:07:00.002-06:00

for yrs now I've wanted goats...

a couple weeks ago on kijiji I found these 2 little pygmy girls

We picked them up last sunday.

Molly (cream ) & Myrtle (grey) have adjusted well and were coming up to us after a couple days.

The farm we got them from had them out and about with the other animals so when they got here they wanted to go out with the alpacas right away. too funny.

And the alpacas didn't know what to do with these little critters... they kept coming up to them in the pen, sniffing them and running away, then come back for another smell....

I think they are ok with them here now and maybe after another week we'll let them out and about.

Molly thinks the grass is greener on the other side.. so she sticks her head thru the fence and then her horns get stuck.

So we're thinking poor little Molly and go to help her... I think I can here her laughing as she gets out as soon as we get close to her.

"what you lookin' at??"

I wanted to knit a shawl.... so I found this easy pattern and some gifted yarn and knit this up in a few days:
I could of used a bit more yarn to make the ruffle wider but I think it worked out ok and I had only 2 yards left!!

wanting to try something a little harder just to see if I could, I've always had doubts about my shawl knitting ability,

I scowered Ravelry and found this shawl it uses one skein of sock yarn... perfect for a first "real" shawl I think.

it's a really crappy pic... it's actually light blues to just about black.

I had won it in a contest from

Shut up I'm counting.. super nice yarn but I didn't want to use it for socks.

I'm on the 4th repeat out of 7 and then the edging.... I like it!

till next time...

a few things....

2009-06-09T09:18:00.003-06:00

Firstly thanks to everyone for the sympathies for Suzie, we're all doing better and have since got another cat! more on that later.

Shearing:

We did shearing last friday... Buckie was the most calm, but he's used to it and loves it, after he went to roll in the dirt.

Lloyd did ok too.... didn't really like it but stood so we could cut her and only tried to get away a couple times.

Lucy... well what can I say but "rodeo" for being so sick when she was born she sure has some spunk now!! We caught her just fine but when we went to put the halter on her, she freaked, ran and not wanting to let her go, I hung on, she turned the corner too fast and we both went down... I didn't want to break anything on her ( I wasn't conserned about myself) like her legs , so I skidded on my knee and got a grass stain from my knee to my ankle! no cuts tho so we both came out all right.
We also cut pebbles too and that didn't go over too well , Albert caught her and had so much trouble getting her halter on, but we finally did and she got a 1/2 of a hair cut.

It was Color Night last night at the high school

DJ did well... with a award for being on the honor roll

(here she is with her bff Allie)

and she also won the Bergsveinn & Kristjan Johnson Award for gr 9.

and Miss. Kallie

well what a sweet cat... the lady we got her from warned us right away about her being very talkative and will probally cry the whole way home cuz she HATES car rides.... well Kallie proved her wrong... she cried a bit for about 1/2 an hour and when the girls put they're fingers in the kennel she stopped and soon after that she slept the rest of the way home (1.5 hours)

she hasn't been really all that talkative here either... maybe she wasn't getting the attention she wanted/needed there??

She did say that they adopted her from the SPCA and that they found her as a stray but was in too good of shape and was probally droped off.

The reason that they were getting rid of her is because they're new show dog kept trying to get at her and hurt her and one of her friends was allergic, so if she didn't find someone for her that day she was going back to the SPCA...

Well we couldn't have that could we??

I found the add on Kijiji 8 mins after it was posted and called her right away... and went and picked her up 2 days later.

She must be the one for us... even the dogs are ok with her!

DJ was holding Kallie on the couch last night and up jumped Zoey... I thought oh no, we're going to have a fight or at the least some barking and hissing.... NOTHING.

Kallie did back up when Zoey went to sniff her but I pulled her back and settled down beside me.

The one thing I found kinda funny that she told me over e-mail is that Kallie is allergic to fish!

I've never heard of that... but she said all we have to do is make sure that there are no fish in the first 3 ingredients of her food and she'll be fine... well thats easy enough!

I haven't done much knitting lately, but I did crochet a toy for Kallie....

a fish...lol

sorry no pic she lost it already

;)

till next time...

The best cat ever... RIP Suzie.

2009-06-01T12:44:00.002-06:00

I got Suzie from the SPCA 13 yrs ago... she was a 4 month old kitten at the time... the lady said she wouldn't be good with kids and tried to get me to take another one but I wanted her.

She came home with me that day, thats when DJ was 2 and Naiomi wasn't even though of yet.

She moved out to the farm with us and has been on mouse patrol ever since.

she's even brought home rats and weasles.

this past winter she got so skinny... down to 4 lbs,

I know it probally wasn't good but didn't want to think of the worst just yet.

This weekend she stopped eatting. She went out for one last mouse hunt last night and I wasn't sure if she was coming back... but there she was sleeping at the top of the stairs in the morning.

barely moving, that was at 4 am, I tried to go back to sleep after that but couldn't... a while later, I went to pet her some more and told her that if she has to go it's ok.

I went and woke the kids up at 7:30 and she's still there... I decided to take her to Kelvington.

She didn't come home with me.

That was the longest, hardest drive I've ever done.

She was like one of the kids, I miss her so much already.

I love you Suzie.

contest alert

2009-05-11T19:48:00.002-06:00

Darcy (and Pat) are having a contest...

go check it out!!

I may have a little one too... my next post is #700!!

can you imagine having 700 things to blog about over the yrs..

Kate, just for you!

2009-05-10T14:19:00.006-06:00

On Facebook, Kate asked for a update about the alpacas, here you go chicky:

I just took these pics today... it should be green outside .... but it's been so cold here the grass is just starting to sprout!

Buck and Pebbles:

Pebbles and her baby Lloyd:

and Sierra and Lucy:

as you can tell the crias are doing very well... even Lucy who gave us such a scare last yr.

I finally finished the tangled yoke this morning too! after fighting with the sleeves, DJ thought that maybe 3/4 sleeves would look good... but I don't care for them as I'm always cold and how on earth would 3/4 sleeves keep the bottom 1/4 of my arms warm?? lol...

but darn it looks good!

Lucy and LLoyd didn't want to get too close, I think it was the smell of unwashed Kauni yarn that really still smells quite alot like sheep. After DJ took the pic they both ran to their mommas!

Carrots our last angora.

and ebbie who we got from a friend at easter time... she's adorable and so friendly... but a older girl. Carrots likes her a whole buch too ;) hubba hubba

With today being mothers day DJ made brunch... what a spread ( I wish I took pics)

pancakes, scrambles eggs, 4 different cut up fruits, toast, bacon and she just about made hashbrowns too!! good thing Mom and Andy came over to help us eat it all. Because it was Moms B-day yesterday DJ also made a angel food cake with strawberries.

**STUFFED**

it was so good and I don't think I have to eat the rest of the day

till next time.

sadness

2009-04-26T21:50:00.001-06:00

Chad and Christy lost the baby today.

I really wish that we could of met the little dude.

they are gonna try again tho.

Running Stitches Hiatus

2009-04-21T09:35:00.002-06:00

I started running again after a 3 week break,

I was so sick... not a head cold of anything, but I had such a bad cough.

I'd get up in the morning and cough like I'd been smoking 2 packs a day since I was 2!!

Then cough all day long and it was esp. bad at work where it was so dry.

But I'm better now!

Last week I did attempt to ride my bike to the highway and back, aprox 2.25 miles each way.

going there was great, it's downhill all the way... but coming back, was another story.

I started out good, but about 1/2 way I started coughing... and then couldn't stop until I was home and had some hot tea.

I went again yesterday, the wind against me downhill, so I actually had to pedal going and coming home was easy(er). It taked me 28 mins on the bike. My goal was to ride my bike to town this summer, which I think it be no problem. I may even be able to ride it home again too...lol

;)

Today I did 7.5 kms on the eliptic trainer... no cough, no pain!!

so Yeah me!

catchya later

a couple of things

2009-04-20T10:48:00.003-06:00

Lets go back a few days shall we... Thrusday was horrible.... I was supposed to go to Melfort with the girls... but that night and all day it snowed... the thick fluffy wet snow... doesn't make for good driving... so we stayed home... DJ had to babysit in the afternoon but the roads wern't to bad by then so I did drive her into town for that... Friday morning I had to work so I was in the bathroom getting ready and the girls are yelling at me... "mom, come look at all the robins!!"

DJ the smart thinker she is grabbed my camera and snapped a few before they both came running up to get me... and it's a good thing she did, because no sooner did I get downstairs, all the robins were gone thanks to Charlie ( the cat)... there must of been about 50 of them... the girls said that they were all over the deck and on the ground too!!

I wish I could of seen them all!

I finished my spinning for the BSS

I have 694 yrds of 3 ply yarn aprox 15 WPI

to date theis is the best balanced evenly spun yarn that I've made on my joy wheel... the last bunch I spun looked like medusa when I took it off the niddy noddy!!

it's not really peachy like the pic looks... it's more orange/rose, with blues/purple and greens.

it's pretty, if I do say so.

and I gave my Holiday Cardi one more chance in the dye pot...

I used 1.25 bottles of Wilton Royal blue, 1/2 cup of cornflower blue that was mixed already and the left over blue and green food coloring from my last dyeing job. I also put in about 2 cups of vinegar.

mixed it VERY well with a hand mixer and then soaked my cardi while the water heated up... placed it in and gently stirred it until I reached 170C and then continued for about 15 or 20 mins...placed it outside to cool while we went to town for the girls gymnastics show, by the time we got home it had cooled enough so handle to I placed it in a huge rubbermaid container and poured the rest of the dye water inside, and left it for 3 or 4 more hours... it pretty much soaked up all the dye and is MUCH more even this time... it may be wearable other places than just the farm!!

Woot! woot!

it's still drying so I'll get yet another FO pic when the girls get home from school..

till then....

have a great day!!

What a Craptastic day!!

2009-04-16T17:13:00.002-06:00

We ( the girls and myself ) were planning on going to Melfort today.

This is what the day looks like:

we stayed home...

on the plus side I got to spin most of the day!

spinning

2009-04-16T11:11:00.002-06:00

So with the baby coming in November I thought I better get crackin' lol

I found some superwash roving and had left over dys from easter egg dyeing.

I wanted bright color... good for either a girl or boy... really when they're that little it doesn't matter I think.

so I dyed, nuked and let it cool.

maybe I didn't add enough vinegar??

or maybe I didn't nuke it enough??

but I have pastel colors.... perfect for a girl!

predrafted:

and spun....

looks mostly pinky, pastelly, girly.

I hope baby is going to be a girl!

oh well!??

I'm gonna be a Auntie again!!

2009-04-12T17:57:00.006-06:00

So Chad (my bro) Christy (sil) and Steven came down for easter this yr.

Steven greeted us at the door in a "Guess What?" T-shirt

we never thought anothing of it... but Christy kept on asking us what we think of his shirt.. well Steven was on fast forward the hole time we were there and never did get a chace to really read it... esp the back. after 3 or 4 hours, this is really getting to Christy and asked us again what we thought of Stevens shirt, she held him while we read it.

in amoungest the jumbo of balls and letters, you can make out

"I'm going to be a BIG BROTHER!"

holy smokes!!

good easter present huh??

I've been searching Ravelry for patterns... the baby is due in November so how about a baby suprise snowsuit?? and maybe some wool soaker pants?? and then of course a cardi to match them??

After all the news and supper the kids and Christy did eggs...

DJ did a Ukrainian Egg

and Steven had a bast making sure that there was 3 or 4 eggs in each dye cup!!

then putting a sticker on each one... and even putting his thumbs through a couple eggs.

Naiomi had a blast helping!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Easter!

holiday cardi revisited

2009-03-29T19:01:00.004-06:00

Last night I ripped out the bottom seam, picked up the sts and knit another 2 inches... the length is perfect now!

theres a pink marker where I started knitting again:

then it went for a soak:

I added some color... Wilton royal blue, vinegar and some heat.

I love the color.... BUT, there are some splotches... purple and a brighter blue.

Now what??

I think what the problem is that I didn't mix the dye enough and some if it settled in certain spots and left brighter colors.

Back to the dye pot...

Oh and I spun today too.... boy it's been a long time!

wanna see??

I only had a bit of each of the main colors, so I searched my stash and found some acrylic yarn to ply it with

I plied the black and pick with some white with a silver running through it and plied the orange/green/purple with a soft fuzzy grey.. it really mutted the colors and looks so much better! Not alot of each, about 120 yrds of the black pink and about 100 yrds of the other... so I added it to my stash relocation box... it's now living downstairs with my handspun yarns...lol

Boy it was nice outside today too.... I had to take the dog for a walk. We went about 5 kms.

I can't wait for spring to fully arrive!!

Till next time...

Owl Vest Complete...

2009-03-27T21:44:00.002-06:00

can I get a hoot... hoot.....lol

I think it's adorable if I do say so myself.

I also ripped out the bottom of my holiday cardi... it just wasn't long enough... I knew it, but I didn't really want to rip and pick up sts.

but I did and I even knit one row on it... the sts are a bit outta wack going down, but I think it will work out ok... I'm going to dye it too... maybe a blue... geez... maybe I should of bought that blue yarn like I had planned.

always go with your first choice!!

catchya later.

a couple of FO's from the past few days

2009-03-24T08:43:00.002-06:00

Naiomi had asked me months ago for a shrug... I forgot so inbetween my bigger projects she pipes up and asks" so when are you making my shrug??"

Ummmm.

well right now, lets go pick out some yarn!

I used stash yarn in a nice teal blue.

it's just a top down raglan v-neck.

she had wanted a hood and longer sleeves but I didn't have enough for all of that.

But she's happy with it!

Since I finished the shrug yesterday morning and I had the day off... I had to find something else to do... and I did most of it yesterday too...

I found the Owl Baby Vest on Ravelry

using more stash yarn.

I'm going to embroider around one owl like this how adorable is that??

I'm waiting to finish it until I hear back from the parents on some measurements...

till next time...

Where is your Cell Phone??

2009-03-20T20:49:00.002-06:00

I seen this on Janes blog and thought it looked like fun.

Where is your cell phone? jacket
spouse? Albert
Your hair? blonde
Your mother? town
Your favorite thing? knitting
Your favorite drink? coffee
Your dream/goal? Australia
What room are you in? TV
Where do you want to be in 6 years? farm
Something that you aren't? male
Muffins? cranberry
Wish list item? goat
Where you grew up? Elfros
Last thing you did? type
What are you wearing? socks
TV? CSI
Your pets? thirteen
Friends? awsome
life? fun
Your mood? happy
Your car? montana
Something you're not wearing? gloshes
Your favorite store? Wal-mart
When is the last time you laughed? today
Last time you cried? Hmmm
Where do you go to over and over? home
Favorite place to eat? Asian
Favorite place you'd like to be at right now? couch

dirty, dirty cardi

2009-03-19T22:22:00.002-06:00

I gave the holiday cardi a little bath tonight...

can I get a eewwwwww.

thats some dirty water.

I think in blocking it, I gained a couple inches... that may be just enough so I don't have to rip out the bottom and knit it longer.. but we'll see after I wear it some more.

I do think I'm going to dye it too... a darker brown maybe??

I don't like this color on me... any opinions??

8:47pm

2009-03-18T21:06:00.002-06:00

It's Done!!!

there's more info on Ravelry

I had to blur out my face, I had Naiomi taking pic... and she snapped them before I was ready...lol

I do think I should of knit the body a bit longer... maybe I can pick up sts or something.... I think I need a inch or 2.

I'll block it first before I rip it apart for that tho.

Next up is the sleeves for the Tangled Yoke!! the yarn cane the other day!!

till next time...

sleeve

2009-03-16T21:10:00.001-06:00

first sleeve is done.

Holiday Vest

2009-03-14T19:18:00.002-06:00

I have a vest so far...

I think if I knit this again... I don't think I'll twist the back cables together?!? I'm not to sure if I really like that or the original??
it does need a good blocking and that should give me more length that I need I really should of added a couple more inches to the body, but I didn't want a full length jacket either.

till next time... keep on knitting.
(I will be ~ lol)
;o)

the perfect belly warmer

2009-03-09T21:49:00.003-06:00

gotta love big yarn and bigger needles... this cardi is going MUCH faster than the Tangled Yoke!! I'm just about up to the arm holes... about 2 more inches to go.

If I had this week off.. I could finish the whole thing... maybe I could call in sick??

lol

waiting...

2009-03-08T21:50:00.005-06:00

for my kauni to arrive...

I started the fireside cardi... super easy sweater, just a bit time consuming with all the cables.

this pic is closest to the true color

since I took this picture I've added another button and will soon start increasing on the back.

We also made a new bigger house for the guinea pigs... it's about 5 times the size of what they were living in... they're so much happier now... the only thing we need is a lid so the cat doesn't decide she wants to have a little snack... so nights we put them back in the little house.

We used this site ( only made our cage (36X 64 inches) miniature from how big theirs is (ginormous))

pre-blocking / pre-sleeves

2009-03-05T21:51:00.003-06:00

I just about ran out of yarn and had to order some more for the sleeves... aarrrgggg... I hope it won't take too long... I guess I can start on the Holiday Fireside Cardi now.

Hey Blog..

2009-02-22T15:40:00.003-06:00

How are ya??

been awhile huh??

Yeah I've been busy... knitting and then frogging what I just knit!??!

Remember last yr when I bought this yarn for Anne Evilla??

well I started.... and wasn't feeling the stripes.

bummer

BUT it may become that once again... only with the blue though.

so there it sat in the craft room in a bag... still knit up..

then I seen this pattern just last month

"Spring"

Yep that was it... thats what the yarn wanted to be...

if only I thought the same way as the yarn... nice pattern, but big flowers... not a good look for me .....

so off to the frog pond again....

then I found this pattern... on the Drops site

and I'm thinking 3rd times a charm right??

WRONG!!

nice pattern but not for this yarn ... again!!

Then I raveled Kauni yarn in the search box

and also decided that the yarns arn't meant to be together...

and some ppl have/are knitting Tangled Yoke Cardi

with it.... BINGO!!

the pattern calls for DK weight yarn and Kauni is only a fingering... so I cast on for the second biggest size to get the size I needed

So far I'm LOVING it!!

slow knitting tho... I've knit for 2 days and only have 5 iches..

just about 300 sts per row tho and 3mm needles... I didn't think it would go very fast.

Last weekend I watched The Holiday” this weekend on the “W” network… LOVED every minute of the movie… but when I seen the scene with the white cabled sweater.. I knew I had a mission to find this pattern and make it… I searched the net and FINALLY found the pattern on Ravelry ( shocking huh… I knew I should of looked here first…lol) I looked around at yarn choices and decided on Cascade Yarns Eco wool in light tan oatmeal… very neutral and then I can wear the sweater with EVERYTHING!! I’m planning on making it longer in the body as well.

Like this one... much better with a little more length.

Valentines Day was pretty quite here.. I had to work, Naiomi went to Grammas and DJ and Albert were in Indian Head for Basketball, but I did get to go shopping, on Albert dollar..

he said they wanted to get me a family ring... but I wanted to pick it out.

I went to Etsy.

Pretty huh??

The seller is muyinmolly

we also got a daughters pride ring for DJ... totally shocked her when we gave it to her!!

good times!!

Till next time... stay warm...
(it's been freezing here again..)

one heck of a deal

2009-02-09T10:26:00.002-06:00

I was browsing around kijiji a couple weeks ago and found this:

for the great deal of $25!!

it's from MacAuslands Woolen Mill in PEI.

I have no plans for it at the moment, but it was too good of a deal just to let go buy.

Maybe some mitts and felted slippers for Etsy or gifts??

The knitwear was pretty well received at X-mas, so if I start now I should be done a day or 2 before the big day...lol

till next time...

Spring

2009-02-07T19:12:00.005-06:00

so whatta you know... spring might actually be on it's way!!

it's been slushy and muchy around here this past week... nice to see.

Altho I'm pretty sure were gonna get a bunch of cold weather and storms before Spring actually arrives... it's coming!!

and to celebrate.... I'm knitting this:

Spring by Ruth Sorensen

I frogged Anne Evilla I was knitting, I will knit it again I think it's pretty but I'm thinking maybe in a solid color?? and maybe in some handspun?

I've been pretty faithfull in running everyday now... I'm up to 88 kms.. not to bad I think.

I started a pair of socks too... Pukeawe

Mom picked up the yarn from Hawaii when she went there last month.

It's called Mango Wood... and isn't as bright as in the pic.

I finished this too:

It's super warm, even tho it's so small.

It SO doesn't suit me but I wanted a finished pic.

so I'm off to knit again...

supper

2009-01-26T20:29:00.003-06:00

tonight for supper I was planning to make chicken wings... but what to make with it... plain ole spuds?? boring rice... AGAIN??

nope not tonight

this is what I made:

and it's so good I'm passing on the recipe to you!

Rice, Vege's and Beans

1/2 onion - chopped fine

1 celery stick - chopped fine

1 garlic clove - chopped fine

1 1/2 carrots - about 1 cup?? chopped - I used the largest grater

add 1 spoon butter and 1/2 tbsp ( or more to your liking) black pepper pepper blend

into pan and cook until tender

drain one can diced tomatoes or about 1 1/2 cups and

drain 1 can kidney beans

add these into the pan and continue to cook until heated

add 2 cups water and bring to a boil

add 2 cups instant rice, stir, place lid on and take off of heat.

leave for 10 mins or so until rice is done.

serve...

everyone liked it here, except for Naiomi who didn't even try it cuz it looked "gross" or something like that.

and I finished a hat today... just a plain jane hat for Polly

want the pattern??

I'll add it to the patterns blog and to ravelry too.

I did finish another pair of slippers too

and did you see... on my running stitches??

I'm up to 40 kms... I think I just might reward myself with a little yarn or something when I get to 60 kms ;)

what do you think??

sounds good to me!

and everyone wave or say HI to Albert.

he's into reading my blog lately.

lol

;)

catchya later

yogurt

2009-01-24T08:19:00.001-06:00

I recently received a link by e-mail from a friend... a year of crockpotting

this lady made 1 thing in her crock pot everyday last yr... even yogurt!

and since we go thru alot of yogurt here... with mostly myself eatting it.

Why not try and make my own?

Here's the link to the recipe and even tho there is LOADS of comments

read thru them... lots of hints and tricks and other recipies in there!

My Ingredients with the prices.

- 2 liters of homo milk $3.59

750 ml of astro plain yogurt ( altho you only need 1 cup, thats all they had)$3.99

a box of Knox gelatin, 12 pkts per box, $3.79

1 tbsp vanilla $.20??

4 tbsp honey $ .50 ( we buy a 1 liter container in town for $6)

Lets Start:( this is what I did from all the tips in the comments on the recipe page)

Turn the crock pot on low with the lid on.

first measure out the 8 cups of milk into a lg pot and heat it up to 190C

place it into a cold water bath and and bring it down to 110C

I then took a bit of the milk that was left in the jug ( there was very little) and added the gelatin into it... them I added the 1 cup yogurt and mixed it well... I then added about another cup of the warmer milk, vanilla and honey and mixed these all together.

I added this into the pot of warm milk and stirred.

unplug the crockpot and add the yogurt mixture.

replace the lid and bundle it up like your taking it outside for a skidoo trip.

(it's -40c here so bundle it up alot!)

I checked it after about 1 hour and since our house is a bit on the cold side it was cooling off pretty fast so I threw the whole thing ( towels and all) into the over with the light on and left it there for the night.

In the morning this is what I had...

yogurt!!!

OMG

I can't believe it actually worked on the first try!

I had a little taste, but it's still a little warm, and I really don't care for warm yogurt.

but it tastes like plain yogurt...

the vanilla and honey didn't seem to change the taste much, maybe once it's cooled off more??

so maybe next time I'll just make the plain and add fruit and honey to it as we eat it.

if I keep this up I may have to make a felted crockpot cozie....lol

While I was waiting for the yogurt I finished some socks.

suprised arn't you?? lol

they are super close to being the same but there was a knot in the yarn on one and altho they matched the color up they're off by about 2 rows... you can't really notice unless you really look.

and really who cares right??

they're in your shoes all day anyways!

till next time....

a couple more outta 52 and a few more on the way..

2009-01-20T21:38:00.001-06:00

Firstly here's a crapy pic of that swedish shawl/scarf(clicky for translation) I translated... it's not done yet and won't be until Polly can find me some more yarn, it's a 3 ply and all I have left is 2 ply in the same color... so close but yet so far.

a pair of socks I started the other day... I finished one sock, but of course the second is going pretty slow... my usual ankle socks with the mish mash pattern.

I really should write up what I do so I don't have to jump to different sites when I forget something.
Steven got the One Row Scarf I made him... see he LOVES it!!
or maybe it's the awsome I-phone I bought him from the $$ store that makes all the cool noises??

He's so adorable... and is growing like a weed.

Some flowery slippers I whipped up in the past 2 nights... so fast that Albert didn't even see me knitting them... I was sewing them up and adding the flowers, and he says where did those come from... so I looked at the bag of yarn and waved my arms over it and said

a~bra~ca~da~bra

and POOF!

there were slippers...

lol

ok it was just about that fast

;)

and finally the Corn Fiber socks....

which btw ARN'T good winter socks!!

my toes froze at work!!

they will be great summer socks tho!

have a good rest of the week!!

Contest alert

2009-01-13T08:35:00.001-06:00

Balkan Style is having a contest

all you have to do is comment...

just check out those great handmade bags.

go there quick, it's just till friday.

running stitches

2009-01-12T15:20:00.004-06:00

For a couple yrs now we've had a running machine/treadmill/coat hanger( or whatever you want to call it) in the house... I used it a bit, a very little bit when we first got it. We traded our stationary bike for it from dad. It's down in the basement, which isn't really all too bad, since it's cool down there... a good spot to do a bit of walking.

Last week I decided that it needed to be used when I weighed myself and realized some of the turkey from Christmas and New Years was stuck to my ass. OK well it could be more than just the turkey... probally some of the suprize spread, the squares and cakes... oh and the stuffing and gravy too. Couldn't shake it off anywhere!!

I went on it 4 times last week.

AND

walked too...lol

Day 1 - I went 4kms

day 2 - 2.5kms ( I was really hurting after day 1)

day 3 - 3kms

day 4 - 3 kms

and yesterday I went another 4kms

it's still hard but I think I'll keep it up... I don't push myself to the death, the 4 kms took me about 20 mins... hopefully over time I'll get a little faster and if not well thats ok too.

I'm setting up a "score card" for myself on the sidebar, just so I can tell how far I've gone and maybe it'll keep me motivated??

I finished one sock I was working on too and started the second one, wanna see??

the yarn is Maizy from Crystal Palace Yarns

82% corn fiber 18% elastic nylon

I won it from Crystal probally last yr.

the yarn itself is very splitty but the fabric is so nice and squishy I really love it...

now I don't know how warm corn fiber is so I bet these will be summer socks.

;)

catchya later

52 in 52

2009-01-08T21:18:00.004-06:00

Firstly Happy New Year Everyone.

We had a quite one here we always opt to stay home where it's warm and safe.

This yr we played pictionary with the kids

Albert and DJ on one team and Naiomi and myself on the other.

We kicked butt!! lol

It's been freezing here too... like in the -40c with the windchill and one day it even hit -51c

CRAZY WEATHER!!

the animals are doing well even with the cold weather..

I went to feed them during the holidays and noticed where Buckie was laying out by the feeder the hay under him was wet... he's so warm that it melted!! holy moly.

I've been doing some - ok well alot - of knitting so I'm going along with Jane in the 52 in 52

52 knitted items in 52 weeks.. so far I have this:

Tiger Socks (opal)for Carol

with my mish mash pattern for socks ;)

Stevens One Row Scarf

Koru Baby Hat for Naiomi's Hip Hop teachers baby who just had a baby girl.

and a cell case, just playing around one day.

I may get way more than the 52 if I keep going at this rate.

catchya later

Contest

2009-01-03T07:57:00.002-06:00

Jane is having a contest...

you better go have a looksie.

Wicker Cafe Cowl

2008-12-21T16:41:00.003-06:00

It's Cold... VERY cold out...

we had plans to go to the city so Albert could shop... didn't happen... so I stayed home on the couch and knit.

SEE:

The pattern is here

I might make another one... I do like it!

and Charlie Brown would be so proud... we made our tree look not to bad this yr.

(blurry pic by Naiomi)

AND lookie DJ is a knitting fool!!

(blurry pic by me)

first she made a pair of mitts for her friend Allie for her B-day which she gave to her on friday and she LOVED, then she's sitting around today... "I'm bored, I need to knit something"

doesn't that just make a mother proud!!

she's knitting socks... WITH CABLES!!

she's using Hepsi's toe pattern, which I love and use all the time... and When DJ was in Alberta during the summer she found a cable pattern that she remembered so is adding that on the foot.

She's knitting them with Bernat acrylic yarn and 3mm circ, magic looping them baby!!

thats my girl!!

Till next time Happy Holidays!!

I cast on for a hat....

2008-12-10T21:38:00.002-06:00

.... tonight and I'm knitting away on the ribbing...

easy peasey

knit 2... purl 2...

BAM!!

the power goes out.....

everyone is quite

all you can hear is click, click, click, click

DJ pipes up

"mom, are you still knitting??"

yup

lol

"how can you knit in the dark?"

easy knit 2 purl 2

so she goes running around getting candles and a lighter

lights them and then the power comes back on...

and yep, I'm still knitting...lol

felting complete

2008-12-07T21:15:00.002-06:00

all the clogs turned out to be aprox a sz 7 ladies... good for me since thats my foot size... the yellow ones for Aunite Blanche will be big for her, she has teeney tiny sz 5 feet, so once in the washer once they're there and they should be perfect. I'm letting her do it tho, just incase I'm wrong about the size.

DJ says the bus driver has small feet too.. lets hope so.

the stripey ones are for me and are perfect... the colors are awsome... and will surely chase away those winter blues

Dad called....

2008-12-07T13:07:00.004-06:00

early friday morning... he had bad news... my uncle Alan just died that morning... I knew he wasn't well and was losing weight but didn't know it was that bad... they were in the process of doing tests to figure out what was wrong and were leaning towards Lupus, needless to say I didn't go to work that day. The funeral is wednesday, in Calgary, we'd leave tuesday and come back thrusday... so that would be 4 days of lost work.... something I just can't afford to do at this time. I feel bad about not going, but I'm pretty sure Auntie Blanche and the boys will understand... plus I think it's to cold to travel that far and if the roads are bad... it's best to stay home.

Uncle Al will be missed, he was truely one of a kind.

I've been keeping myself busy with mostly knitting....

the purple clogs with funfur are for the girls bus driver and the yellow ones are for auntie Blanche.

the balls of yarn in the middle are going to be for clogs for myself.

I'll make the foot colorful then use black for the cuff and maybe some embroidering.

these are so easy to make.

THESE WILL FIT A SZ 7 LADIES FOOT

if you have a bigger foot knit the toe until you have 36 or 40 sts and knit the foot longer as well.

with Lopi yarn and 8mm circ

cast on 16 sts using the magic cast on method

knit the next row.

on the next row increase 4 times just after the first st and just before the last st.

knit the next row.

continue these 2 rows until you have 32 sts of if you have a wider foot until you have 36 sts.

knit plain until the foot reaches 9 inches.

on the back half of the sts purl one row and knit one row.

do a wrap and turn heel wrapping 5 sts on each side.

when the heel is done, pick up 2 sts from the 2 rows just befoer the heel and knit around 2 times.

change to your contrast color and knit one row, then purl 3 rows,

cast off very loosley knitwise.

felt and wear with pride.

if you have trouble with my fast little pattern... basicly it's a huge sock ( ankle sock)

but if you have questions just ask and I'll try and explain.

till next time...

Albert went a huntin'

2008-11-26T20:57:00.004-06:00

and got himself a deer

and I did a bit of knitting too... I knit some slippers to felt ( no decent pic and not felted yet) and a lace facecloth (rav) (it's pretty big so next time I won't do as many rows) to go with some of the soap for x-mas gifts, some ginormous man mitts for my moms BF

DJ also found out that Mona LOVES Oodles... she loves to be nose to nose with her and it was all well until Oodles got scared and bit Mona on her nose... not very hard tho just enough to scare her a bit... it was pretty funny!

after the ice storm we had the other week Naiomi found this leaf stuck to a piece of ice... she carefully pulled the leaf off and saved this impression... looks so neat!

Oh and the new Ulla came out!!!

check out this sweater Taran labyrintti

I heart it... the colors and all the wooly goodness, I want one!

if only I had the yarn and new how to read finnish...lol

maybe one day... I'm pretty busy with other things right now anyways.

when we went up to Alb's brothers to pick up the moose meat I showed my SIL my blog... well now she's hooked (waves) Hi Charlene.

she started her own blog... you should go have a look and say hello

;)

and Charlene DJ says "good job and woo hoo" on the new blog

till next time...

so it didn't snow

2008-11-10T08:35:00.002-06:00

but we have freezing rain....

:(and alot of it:

I had to use a bunch of hip action to even budge the door.

we also have frozen alpacas.

they never decide to go into the barn unless it's a total snowstorm...

weirdos!

the kids bus driver called this morning too... the busses ( is it one s or 2?Hmmm) and none of the busses are running... even the gravel roads are pure ice....

I was supposed to work at 9 but will go in later after the salt trucks have been out....

that reminds me I should charge my cell phone.

have a good day...

kitchen before and after

2008-11-09T19:49:00.006-06:00

Hey there peeps... I was just taking pics of the kitchen to send to family and I don't think I showed it off to all of you... here's before:

and after:

it's not TOTALLY done but about 99%, just have to add some trim and paint and hang the door for the lazy susan, then it's finished... I love it! it's so bright and cheery it's great for a canadian winter... can't get the winter blues in there!

I've been knitting too... I knit 2 pairs of mitered mittens from EZ's Knitters Almanac

one pair with Noro #148 for me and another pair with sock yarn and lace mohair held together... I also knit a zig zag cowl for mom to match the mittens.

the cowl is a super fast

knit I finished it in 2 days... so if your looking for a fast gift, this is it!

not a good pic of the 2but the color is good... here's DJ with her bank robber cowl look:

since that was so fast, I started on a pair of mitts for mom's BF for X-mas too... I'm using my ginormous man mitten pattern and will post a pic when their done, since I never did get a pic of Alberts when I made them 2 yrs ago.

We still have no snow here ( knock on wood) and now that I said that there will be a foot of the white stuff fall over night... Hmmmm would that be so bad... I could call in a snow day... I never did get one last yr... I'm hoping that this yr I get at least one..lol

catchya later..

Hey Kate

2008-11-07T09:42:00.001-06:00

nov 7 08 006, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

lookie what I can buy IN town now!!

I couldn't believe it when I seen them on the shelf!

Tim Tams are the best!

making soap

2008-10-26T18:54:00.005-06:00

My friend Stacey made some soap last month and I've always wanted to try it... so here goes....

it turns out the first time around I did things wrong... then I went online and found more clear instructions. the recipe is good, it just didn't give me, what to do when and what temp's I needed and so forth. this is the first time... when things went oh so wrong.

first, I melted the crisco:

(wrong... the lye water taked way longer to cool than the crisco takes to melt... did this right the next time.)

went outside and measured the lye ( right, this stuff is kinda dangerous and you want lots of ventilation)

the lye looks like the mini tapioca

so like the recipe said I used a glass bowl and things were going great UNTIL the lye/water got so hot ( over 250C, I found out the second time) that it busted my glass bowl!!

darn it anyways!!!

OK so here we go on round two did the mixing correct ( used a plastic bowl ;)

and this is the beginning when you mix the lye/water with the melted crisco.

here it is in the molds... I added some ground up chocolate tea and sprinkled a bit on the top.

here it is cut into bars and waiting the 3 weeks till it's cured.

since I've last written the last of our mice died... had a huge tumor under it's leg... Albert helped her go it's she was just suffering anyways... She was Naiomis mouse so we OKed it with her first.

we went to the city yesterday to get a new dishwasher and came home with 2 little guinea pigs!

( oh yeah and the dishwasher too..lol.)

Naiomi named hers Noodle and it already gives you kisses.

DJ named hers Oodles

her's the the one in the front.

they are both about 8 to 10 weeks old and weigh next to nothing... but will get up to 2 lbs... some of the other moms in the store said theirs were about the size of footballs...lol

they also said they were the best pets ever... way better than hamsters.

I love the little noised they make, so cute!

DJ went to a punkin' carving party sat night... how cool is her pumpkin??

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Icelandic Thanksgiving Sweater

2008-10-12T21:53:00.001-06:00

icelandic sweater 4, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

I knit all day today... and I finished the sweater that I've been working on for 3 weeks... boy it seemed WAY longer than that... all that grey plain ole' knitting.... BORING!! but the yoke was so much fun!!

LOVE IT!!

Tomorrow I'm roasting the beast... and the family is coming for supper... this is the first time I've decided to cook a big bird like this so I really hope its
a. not burnt
and
b. not raw

lol

ah, it should be fine... I have DJ helping me
;)

Happy Turkey Day!!

knitting post

2008-10-08T19:24:00.003-06:00

I've been knitting some lately... or lots depending on how you look at it..lol....

I started another sweater for Polly using this pattern it's turning out smaller than I'd like tho... I'm knitting the biggest size on needles 1 size larger ( getting gauge) I was hoping for a man sized sweater, but I'll be lucky if it fits me?!!? weird.

maybe blocking it will help it out ?!?

I cast on and off for this quick scarf too

with one row to remember and big needles it sure made that ball of yarn disapear fast!!I didn't block it yet and i may not, it's so soft and smushy!

I cast on something for myself too... the Reversible Cabled Brioche Stitch Scarf

I won this yarn from Claudias blog when she was doing her MS bike ride... I cast on 5 or 6 different scarves with it and nothing looked right, Cass cast on a little while ago ( it's where I first seen it) and I loved it, but it looked WAY too hard...

But looks can be deceiving!!

this is just about as easy as a good ole' garter stitch scarf!

and with only 3 cable twists in 23 rows... you can't go wrong!!

Lucy is still doing well, and Lloyds face is just about completely better too!!

it's been raining here alot the past couple of days so they all look like drown rats... cute in a funny way.

We also got another rabbit.... just a regular white rabbit.

We got her from the mom of a lady I work with...

so the kids and myself though we should name her after her...

so we named her Kelly...lol

you should of seen Carrots when I put her into the cage next to his.... he was a pretty excited little bunny, mostly I think because he's been lonely since Koko died... and because Kelly is a hot little number.. ;) lol

Well I suppose thats all for now.... it's Thanksgiving here in canada this weekend, Mmmmmm turkey, stuffing, perogies, and all the fixings!!!

drool!!

have a great weekend

I may have jumped the gun

2008-09-26T15:00:00.002-06:00

well I know now I did... but what do I know I'm not a vet....and the lady I talked to who also had an alpaca with the same problem... she said that the hole can shut again and they had to put their cria down... so I thought same problem... same outcome.

we got up early this morning and was at the vets before 9am..

Albert went in to get Rob as I was in no shape to go in... ( it was a LONG drive!!)

Rob comes out with a glove on and some lube...

and says theres scar tissue built up around where he cut her before.

before he even seen her!!

he jumps in the back of the van and stretches the opening.

digs out some poop and tell us that we should do this once a week for 2 or 3 more weeks, not the digging part but the stretching, and to go home and give her a enema with warm water and dish detergent.

(I do wish he would of said something about this before, maybe we could of done the same thing every now and then and it wouldn't of got so bad)

done

we paid him the whole $5.25 and we're on our way home!

we gave her the enema when we got there and with in 10 mins she let it all come out.

Albert watched her while I was at work and he said that she's been running laps around the other alpacas and wagging her tail.

I'm so glad things wern't as bad as I thought... and I'd just like to thanks everyone for their kind words... it means alot to know your all there living in my computer ;)

thanks a bunch

and thanks to Dr. Rob!!

edit from last post

2008-09-25T17:36:00.002-06:00

Albert came home from hunting want we're going to take her to the vet tomorrow morning to see what Rob says

I wish there was a manual to tell us which is best.

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

I hate this!!

I'm afraid we have to say good~by

2008-09-25T10:18:00.004-06:00

Lucy just hasn't been doing to good the last 4 days or so... she hasn't pooped and when she does try there's a redish buldge just above the hole... it's not good... she tries and tries and nothing comes out, this morning I brought their ration out and usually she's right in there but she only had a couple nibbles and went and laid down away from the others... she's still nursing tho, but I'm just afraid she's in pain... we probally should of put her down int he first place... but you know we had to give her a chance.... next time... sometime down the road if we get more animals again, we won't let it go through this.... it's not fair... and it's so much harder on us...We're SO attached to her now after 4 mths... it's going to be so hard to make that drive to the vets.

till next time...

tomorrow is.......

2008-09-17T20:34:00.002-06:00

.... my 5th anniversary....

......

.......

of my 29th birthday!!!

no big plans tho I have to work late....

I will take my knitting tho...

I should do something I enjoy even if I'm at work.

till next time.

moving along

2008-09-15T20:55:00.001-06:00

Cardi 006, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

the cardi is moving along nicely... I added a bit of a ruffle at the bottom... I think it looks cute, I'm planning the same for the arms too.

Ion Foot Cleanse and some knitting

2008-09-13T10:15:00.002-06:00

We've been hearing about this ion foot cleanse at work for quite some time now I went a couple days ago to get the papers about it and I also made an appt for my first treatment. It's only $20 for 1 treatment... so I figured if I can spend $20 on yarn I can spend it on this too...lol.. ;)

she added salt to the water and puts the plates with rods in the middle... then hooks up the electricity... yes it does tingle.. and did for about 1 hour or so after I got back to work too.

she said that you will see the water change to yellow in the first couple mins... this was after 30 seconds:

see it's turning yellow by my toes

after about 5 mins scum starts forming around the plates and the water is very yellow:
and after 10 mins: you can kinda still see my toes?!!?
and near the end of the cleanse:
now she said that in the things we eat and in the enviroment there are positive ions and these are the bad things that we don't want in our body. The toxins.

Now we can get rid of the bad ions ourselves by placing our feet directly on the ground ( the earth is a negative charge) but ppl rarely or never walk around in bare feet ( esp in the winter) so this is another way to get rid of the toxins...

she can tell from the colors in the scum what kinds of toxins are being pulled out... in mine there were orange, which is arthritis ( in my knees) and there was a bit of white foam, which means that your fighting a cold... yep.

and after she dumped out most of the water there were black flecks in the bottom... and these flecks are hard metals... probally from iron in the water.

it's very neat and she said if you keep doing the treatments eventually the water will be just about clear.. after about 12 treatments or so... I'm going back on monday and might keep it up every 2 weeks after that.

She also said that a liver, kidney and colon cleanse would be good to do too... she's doesn't to this but you can go to a wholistic store in the city and get some shake to drink... but also don't take it if you have to work the next day until you know how your body reacts to it... VERY good to know!! ;)

in Knitting I'm just about done the cardi for Polly... I got anxious to see what it would look like with the buttons so I tied them on last night... I think I might have to make it a little short sleeve... I'm just about out of yarn for the body and I only have 1 skein left.

it's cute I think.

I'm also doing some secret X-mas knitting too...

just picture that here

____________

till next time...

fall knittings

2008-09-02T09:51:00.003-06:00

I've been knitting some things for Polly:

Thrummed mittens for a 18 mth old... I'll post the pattern when I have time.

another pair of honeycomb mitts... I do love this pattern!! and can see MANY more pair like this one.
and a pair of thrummed mitts for an adult.... I wasn't to sure about how big to make the thrumms as this was the first time knitting this pattern... well I got up to the thumb and tried to put my hand in the cuff... and it wouldn't go!! lol... I ripped back to the cuff taking out all the thrum and ripping them in half... this seems to be the perfect size.. DJ asked me how many thrumms are in each mitt since I had to keep making them when I ran out of my little baggy full... so I asked her to count them... well in this pair there are aprox 483 thrums!!

there's just under 200 in the baby pair too!!

thats alot of thrumming!!

The first week of school has come and gone... the kids around here even had to start 2 days early... I'm not to sure why tho.

Dj is room rep again this yr along with 2 other girls, the teacher didn't want any hurt feeling by having a vote so all 3 got to be reps.. which will probally work out for the best anyways since each girl is in different activities and probally won't be able to make it to every meeting... She's also signed up for 3 sports and will be coaching gymnastics this yr too!

Naiomi is in the super school council again and represents her room, she has also signed up for a couple of noon hour sports tried out X-country and decided not to take it anymore... She's also in Hip Hop this yr too and will be an asst coach for the beginner gymnastics

it's a busy time of yr until we get some kind of schedual going!

Albert bought himself a bow for hunting this yr:

here he is trying it out... the first shot he missed the target all together, but did manage to kill a log!! lol

since I finished 4 pair of mitts I wanted a change.. I cast on for a cardi for Polly, basically my own design which will be very plain but spuer warm...l and after knitting the yoke for 2 days and really not getting anywhere I cast on for a cutsie little neck warmer, with a little bit of lace and cables...I knit a repeat on this when I get bored of the cardi.
good times...

till next time....

Newfoundland Mitts

2008-08-24T20:08:00.001-06:00

Newfoundland Mitts Aug 24 08 013, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

Newfoundland MItts made for Polly

I love this pattern!
so pretty and easy to do too.

I used Polly's Alpaca/Merino blend yarn... I dyed the blue/pink.

Knitting books

2008-08-19T22:09:00.004-06:00

Which knitting books are best for different sts, cables, lace and all around general help?

you see my family asked me what I wanted/needed for my birthday ( next month), well I really don't need yarn, fiber or notions or anything like that... but what I would really like is a knitting encyclopedia??

I've looked online a bit and found a couple but you only get to look at a couple of pages...

so I guess my question for you is, is there a book you go back to over and over for sts /inspiration, etc??

Thanks a bunch

Archie meets a Country Girl while Lloydyloo looks on...

2008-08-18T18:54:00.002-06:00

hows that for a snazzy title?? lol

heres the pic of Lloyd before I took her to the vet for the first time:

this last time Dr. Rob took some skin for a biopsy... there's a couple of sts behind her eye, maybe you can see them in the pic ( the little white lines)

and he also gave me some of his special formula and since here eyes were just about swollen shut told me to give her some if her eyes look worse... I gave her some the first night and the next morning some of the swelling was down... I've been going it to her for 6 days now and her eyes are about 1/2 way open!! Yeah Lloyd can see... not that she couldn't see because she was running around and not running into things before... but she can see better now!

I still haven't heard from Dr. Rob about the test but he said it could take a week or 2 , I put some of the special formula on her forehead too the night before last and again tonight, so I'll check tomorrow if it's helping or now... if it is I might have to run to the vet and get some more if I run out ( it's just a small tube)

I started my Polly knitting today too... a pair for thrummed mitts.. grey with light grey thrumbs... I have a whole 1 inch of ribbing done on the first mitt... wowzer huh!!

thats all for now...

till next time..

Archie meets a Country Girl Socks complete

2008-08-18T11:43:00.001-06:00

Archie meets a Country Girl Socks Aug 18 08 003, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

I knit 1/2 the second sock yesterday and finished it up this morning...
these couple WIP's are just flying off the needles!

Pretty soon I can start on Pollys stuff.

;)

Hilda Socks

2008-08-17T14:52:00.001-06:00

Feb Sweater aug 17 08 Hilda Socks 010, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

I cast off my hilda socks today too!!

These are the best fitting socks I've ever knit!!!

modeled shot

2008-08-17T14:51:00.001-06:00

Feb Sweater aug 17 08 Hilda Socks 008, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

my Ravelympic Sweater is a FO!!!

2008-08-16T17:59:00.003-06:00

Feb Sweater salamander aug 16 08 003, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

I cast off the sweater this afternoon... tucked in the ends and gave it a good soaking... it's blocking as I type and I'll get some modeled shots tomorrow when it's dry... I bought these buttons for it yesterday... hopefully they'll be here some time this week also..

Next I have to finish my Hilda socks (about 1/4 left of the second one) and my Archie Meets a Country Girl socks, only the second one to finish....

I don't think I'll get my ravelympic socks done... but thats ok, I finished the sweater!!

Oh and I have to tell you something.... I got a second job!!

Oh No... it's ok ......

it's a fun kinda job....

I'll be knitting for a lady (Polly) out of her alpaca yarn... and she's paying me to do it... now it can't get much better than that!!

She stopped by Thrusday at work and dropped off the yarn and roving... and pretty much said knit whatever... I have so many thing going through my mind... I know a sweater/cardi for sure and some thrummed mittens.. OOoo and maybe something felted... omg it's so exciting!!

I'll keep you posted on what I make... but for now I better get to my socks...

till next time....

broken countertop

2008-08-13T07:48:00.002-06:00

so our countertop FINALLY came in... remember I ordered it

at the beginning of July, Albert been checking every week and a couple weeks ago the guy tells him " don't be surprized if it's broken when you get it."

WTF??

he said the transport guys arn't careful with it and he's had to send some back...

so last night we open it and find this:

I'm not to sure what we're planning on doing now....really if you spend that much on a countertop and it's broken, it should go back, but it will also be covered by the stove, so I took a pic and will take it in for the guy to see... if we do decide to keep it I want a discount thats for sure!!!

in knitting news I finished the body of Feb Lady last night...

I thought I'd have enough yarn to make the sleeves both the same BUT I don't... I'm going to take the yarn apart matching the colors for each sleeve and cut it at the color changes, double it and knit it from there.... there will be loads of ends to tuck in after but at least they'll match!!

till next time...

Ravelympics

2008-08-10T22:05:00.002-06:00

no time to blog... I'm busy knitting

I'm 1/2 done the Feb Lady sweater and I have a pair of socks to finish before I can start my ravelympic socks...

the sweater is looking awsome... I'll post a pic when it's done.

I'm going to take LLoyd back to the vet on tuesday, her face is still crusty and now her eyes are swollen, one is just about swollen shut!

I hope Dr. Rob can figure out what the problem is.

she's still fiesty tho and is eating and playing with Lucy so she's fine that way, just her face looks so painful...poor girl.

till then...

knit on.

cunningham socks

2008-07-29T18:35:00.001-06:00

cunningham socks 002, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

I never did get a finished pic of the socks I designed....
until now...lol

These are for DJ and she LOVES them... even wearing them today...lol

crazy kid

;S

Ravelympic Sweater and Socks

2008-07-29T09:05:00.003-06:00

I finally finished Naiomis Socks!! I sat and knit ALL DAY LONG sunday and finished 95% of sock #2.

Naiomi loves them, altho the pattern doesn't line up, somehow I messed up the row count and the gauge, but so I made sure that the colors match and both socks fit the same.. weird..but the main thing is that Naiomi likes them, and they're a bit to big for her so she should be able to wear them this winter! Man that kid grown fast!

and I started another sock, it's a combo of my Cunningham socks and Hepsi's Country Girl socks.

I'm going to use her chart for the heel of her socks ( since it's the same sts count as the top of mine :)) only instead of the purl sts I'm going to add in a YO and a k2tog/ssk I hope it looks ok.

It was storming all day sunday too... hence all the knitting.

here's the sky after... so pretty... I like how the bright sky is pushing thru the dark clouds.

I joined the Ravelympics! I'll be knitting with Team Canada!

Go Canucks!!

I'll be knitting February Lady, with kauni yarn.

I frogged my Kauni Flower sweater to use the yarn... I just wasn't feeling the pattern anymore so it had to go. Since I needed the yarn doubled and I wanted the colors to be the same throughout I grabbed my yarn and over 2 hours later I had a huge ball of yarn with the colors matched! I did pretty good I have only 2 partial balls left if I need I can still match those up as well.

and I'm planning on knitting a pair of socks for mom as well... that will be my take along project for the ravelympics.

thats all for now folks....

frozen dandelions

2008-07-28T21:13:00.001-06:00

2008.07.26 (10), originally uploaded by hepsi2.

Hepsi posted this pic on her blog... doesn't it look refreshing!!!

I love the dandelions in the ice cubes...

Amanda Sock #1 is done!

2008-07-25T18:31:00.001-06:00

Amanda Sock #1 003, originally uploaded by craftydandymomma.

I had started this sock again, with 8 eatra sts, with the sts on top of the sock I cabled them so it would match the pattering of the rest... I think it really looks nice.

I did 3 repeats of chart 1, then increased 22 sts on the bottom of the foot for the gusset, I ended up with 56 sts for the heel after the turn so I followed the pattern for the cable on the back of the sock...

Naiomi loves them!!

and when her feet are to big they'll fit me too.
;)

Tackle Those Floors Swiffer Cover

2008-07-22T17:29:00.003-06:00

Lookie what I made today:

Bottom:
off the swiffer:

what to make your own??

>click here<

I'll add it to ravelry too.
;)

Janes havin' a contest too

2008-07-21T18:49:00.000-06:00

she want to know how you'd make the world a more beautiful place

another quilt contest

2008-07-20T17:42:00.004-06:00

check out this beauty:

click here to go there.

in knitting news.. I finished my first Amanda sock...

the bad news I knit way to tight and the sock is 8 sts smaller than my socks so it doesn't fit... even Naiomis skinny feet...

bugger, I'm going to re-try and add some sts to the sides with out messing up the cables.

I do love the sock, the pattern, everything about it... it's just too small.

can you hear Naiomi crying as she help me rip her sock apart.

it breaks my heart...

sigh

till next time....