Making Lemonade...

So, what's a knitter to do with a sweater that the recipient grows out of during the knitting process? A hat, of course.



It's a little big for her, but I think she'll get used to it eventually.

Seems that I had a more productive summer than I thought - I was looking at my flickr the other day and noticed that I had spun a bit this summer, and knit a little more. Check it:

Novalis colourway in BFL from Crown Mountain Farms roving. Crappily plied using the Navajo technique.

Man socks, in handspun - superwash merino in the Henry colourway.

The Hungry Caterpillar yarn - Corriedale and sari silk remnants.

Candied Rainbow - bamboo/merino blend from The Good Sheep. Triple ply, and a major PITA to ply in just such a way that the colours run together.

Twilight - Superwash merino.

There, I feel better about my slacking now. Nothing more to see here people, move along.

East, West...

Home's best.

Well, that was a good summer. There's really too much to write about in detail, so I'll sum up.

Visitors: 5
Little boys who started school: 1
Little girls who started crawling: 1
Computers that bricked: 1
New computers: 1
Old ladies that got a year older: 1
Little boys that got a year older: 1
Husbands that stopped smoking: 1
Husbands that bought a big screen plasma & a PS3 to reward themselves: 1
Trips to Toronto for Dad's 65th birthday: 1
Trips to New York City for a surprise wedding: 1
Buckets of ice cream devoured during the summer: at least 5, but who's counting
Days at the beach: 20 or so
FOs: 2

As for the wedding - my big brother called two weeks ago and announced that he was getting married to his fiancee, pronto. So, last Friday, our little family got up at 4 am and got on a place to NYC (which was the smallest airplane that I've ever flown in, apart from a Cessna that I toured the Grand Canyon in) - it was a beautiful day. Civil ceremony at City Hall, and then pictures in Central Park. Dinner was at the swankiest hotel in town, and we were lucky enough to stay there as well (freebie!). The next day was spent shopping at Toys R Us at Times Square (three separate Star Wars sections, people), and eating lunch at White Castle (the food is quite possibly an abomination inflicted on the American people by terrorists...it's AWFUL.) Back home on early Sunday morning. Phew!

And the knitting? Dismal output. Two FOs - a pair of Uzume socks in Colinette Jitterbug (Fire colourway), and a Cupcake Hat for a sweet little girl that I know (not mine). I don't have permission to post the pic of the behatted wee one, so no go on that one, and I've been too lazy to take pics of the socks - it'll get done eventually.

I've also been sucked back into World of Warcraft, which probably directly correlates to the suck-ass knitting productivity. With the expansion coming out in a month, I kinda doubt that it'll get better, but who knows? Maybe I'll find a Time Warp and be able to knit all sorts of wintery things like mittens, scarves, etc. But one thing's for sure - no Christmas knitting this year. After the lukewarm reception of handknit socks for everyone last year, I have avowed to only knit for those who appreciate the effort, or who are too small to protest being clad in knitwear.

I'm hoping for a Time Warp like this one, personally.

The hills are alive...

with the sound of a delighted geeky heart. Yeah, yeah. I know. Bad blogger. Anyway, really quickly, here are some of the things lately that have made my geekdom explode all over the place.

1) Took Miss E in for her shots - and she had one needle. And one FREAKING AWESOME GIGANTIC HYPOSPRAY. Dude, I kid you not...it was the size of my arm. But it was still a FREAKING HYPOSPRAY. I think that the Dr. was saying that it's a CO2 fuelled injector, but I was too busy nodding and totally geeking out (in my head).

2) Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. Go watch. Now.

3) Bento! Yeah, I'm late to the party. As usual. But since Mr. Munchkin is starting school in the fall, I'm going to have to start making him lunch. And if I must make lunches...damnit, they will be awesome.


If you're not familiar with the concept of Bento, it's basically the Japanese way of making wonderful lunches. You take a box, stuff it full of healthy, delicious food and make it attractive at the same time. Check out this site for a more informative perspective on the topic. Anyhoos - here we have (from left to right): egg shapers, sauce cups with lids, a fork, holding cups, salt/pepper holders, soy sauce mini bottles, and picks.

4) My garden. :D


That's the mountain of dirt, contained by a homegrown wall of rocks. Every single one of those rocks were found in the backyard and moved. Also, note the tri-wheel wheelbarrow. We wussed out and bought one that had much less chance of someone trying to ride in it and tipping it over. The wall's about 8 inches deep, and there is tomato, kohlrabi, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, and more lettuce growing there. We'll have to see if anything actually comes up this year.

5) Paint! Oh, those crazy-makin' paint fumes. The other day, Miss E was lying on her tummy, looking up at us with big eyes. She then flipped herself onto her back. She then giggled and then flipped herself over onto her tummy again. We took one look at each other and decided to start babyproofing. But instead of babyproofing the entire house (*cough* mission impossible *cough*), we've given up our TV room and have made it into a playroom which will be gated off. So, the vile orange (which the previous owners painted) is gone gone gone. And the room is now a serene white with a hit of rasberry.

6) Oh, and a gratuitious yarn shot. These are the skeins of yarn from the last post, wound into a CPB.


Also, I've finished spinning up the Twilight fiber, just need to get some pics (my camera battery is dead).

7) They Might Be Giants' children's albums. I Am Not Your Broom, indeed.

Lazy summer days...

are a myth if you ask me.

Craft-wise, it's been all about the dyepot recently.


Mr. Munchkin in action, dyeing up another skein of yarn. We went all out and used acid dyes this time. (Don't worry, no children were in the room when I was prepping.)


From left to right: Carmen (red, violet, purple), Muddy Rainbow, and Mr. Munchkin's Special.

I had another skein of a rainbow yarn that I dyed, but Mr. Munchkin ran off with it and gave it to our lovely neighbor (who knits, fortunately) in lieu of handpicked daisies. He loves our neighbor and always runs off to pick flowers for her when she is outside. Today, he decided to bring her yarn. Will have to put the stash under lock and key. >_<

Lessons learned from this dye session - let the boy have no more than 3 colours at a time. Inevitably, one of those colours will be black. (His fave colour) Also, for the love of Pete...dye outside.


Superwash merino roving, in the Twilight colourway. (Sky Blue, Violet and Black) Twilight is my favourite time of day. Always has been, always will be. When I was dyeing this, I was so disappointed - the blue was so watery and pale before it went into the oven. But it turned out perfectly. Makes me happy just to look at it.

And the last reason that my blogging will be sporadic at best for the next while:


This is five yards of dirt...waiting to be transported to the waiting raised bed in the backyard. We're not really going to be able to get anything planted this year, but the plan is to put the structure in place in time for next years growing season. The plan is to build a square potager with paths from each corner, meeting at a circle in the centre. Inside the circle will be a bean teepee. Now I just have to move the dirt, build the paths and find a local ironmonger to build the teepee. Phew.

Well, crap on toast.

A favourite saying of one of my university roommates. It's appropriate, trust me.

I've had a lousy week.

1) No sleep. Lil' Miss E seems to be a night owl, as she likes seeing the sunrise.
2) Fought with my Mum 3 hours before she got on a plane to go home. We're better now...but still.
3) Got into a fender bender backing out of my freakin' driveway, as there was a car parked illegally on the wrong side of the street - and I wasn't really paying attention 'cause I was still wound up from the fight. Guh. Everyone's ok, but it was my first car accident ever, and I'm still pissed off about it. My car is NOT happy looking - going to have to get a side panel and the bumper replaced. Grrrr.

Fiber stuff:


Wonderwool is pretty...but it's curse worthy stuff. This is the baby shrug from Debbie Bliss. Nice pattern, a little confusing, but the end product is very pretty.


Mr. Munchkin's kool-aid socks. Dyed by the young gentleman himself, and knitted with a standard top down short row heel and toe. I really liked how the yarn did a self striping thing...which gives me another excuse to let the munchkin loose on more fibre now that the weather is marginally warmer. (17 degrees in June? Madness.)


And finally...Julia. I love this spinning wheel. Love love love love love love love it. The take up is so freakin' light that spinning cobweb lace suddenly seems like something that I could/should/want to do. However, the bobbins are teensy compared to the ones for the S10. I finally understand how people can spin up a bobbin and a half in a day (the thought used to gobsmack the hell out of me before). At the moment, I'm working away on the Novalis BFL.

Also, you may have noticed a new widget on the side bar - the mixwit tape thingy. It's SO cool. As an angsty teen, I used to spend hours making the perfect mix tape for my beloved boy of the month. The mixwit mixes are limited to what you can find online, but it provides enough variety to keep me very happy. I forsee this becoming a popular little toy for bloggers everywhere.

Drive by blogging.

Okay, don't have a lot of time to blog. (I do have a rather respectable level 31 Bear Shaman in AoC, by the way. And best not to ask what my Wii Fit age is if you want to keep all of your body parts.)

1) Lesley, I forgot to tell you - I found the project bag! Mr. Munchkin was evidently trying to help, and he put it into one of the stash baskets. I'm still amazed that it turned up in the same calendar year as when it was lost.

2) I hate Wonderwool.

3) I have almost 4 balls of splitty, clingy, obnoxious pink Wonderwool left. Anyone want it? (Why yes, I've never worked in retail. Why do you ask?)

4) My spinning wheel is gone. But I'm glad that she's gone to a good home. Thanks again Lesley!

5) I'm getting a new wheel for my (early) birthday present: a Julia! She's in the mail, and I can't wait to meet her.

6) According to my Ravelry project page, I clearly have a bad case of startitis. Five projects on the needles.

7) Yes, I have knitting in my bathroom. It's the only room in the house with a lock. (For me to be able to step away from the chaos for a minute or two. It's not like the knitting is at risk of getting out. Unless it's pink Wonderwool. Then all bets are off and I suggest that you read up on zombie apocalypse reference material.)

8) In a fit of apoplectic rage (is there any other kind, really) after finding the cat sleeping on all of the diapers that I had cut but neglected to sew... I went on a minor sewing bonanza, thanks to the fact that my lovely Mum is in town and is being the BEST grandmother ever. I now have 20 diapers in size medium to fit little Miss E's tush, which is enough. No more disposables for us! Pics may present themselves eventually.

9) Three month old humans are pretty much the epitome of cuteness. It's all downhill from here. Don't believe me? Check this out.


See, she's not always the screaming crying mess that she turns into the minute that we step into the Wired Monk. *sigh* It looks like it'll be a few more months until I'll be back at KOL, unfortunately. Until then, it's just me and the Wonderwool, and only one of us is getting out of here alive.

ZOMGZOMGZOMGZOMGZOMG

Hi, short post.

Got Age of Conan installed last night. On the Damballah server, fyi.

Got a Wii Fit today.

Will promise to keep kids fed, clean and housed. Anything else is gravy for the next week.

Well, I'll be...

Overheard earlier today:

Mr. Ninja: "Why's this clone trooper hiding behind the desk? With his head turned backwards?"
Mr. Munchkin, with a huge eyeroll: "Jedi Mind Trick. Duh."

Anyway. Mr. Munchkin and I were amusing ourselves yesterday with kool-aid and fiber. I set him up with some undyed sock yarn and let him loose. I'll show you the results later, the skeins are still drying. At the end, there was still some dye kicking around, so I shrugged and dumped it all into a pot with a bunch of superwash merino roving. I wasn't expecting much as it was orange, red and purple - definitely not my first choice of colours. This is what I got:

I sighed a little when I was waiting for it to dry and figured that since it wasn't really hitting a sweet spot for me, I would use it to practice my long draw technique with. Well, lo and behold:

I lurrrrve it. Can't wait to see what it becomes. Meanwhile, I've also been spinning some of the BFL that I got from Crown Mountain Farms - the Novalis colourway has been calling my name.

And yet somehow, I'm not nearly as entranced with the actual singles.

I'm not sure that I'm going to like the barberpole effect with these colours. I find it weird how different the two yarns are from what I was expecting, but it just goes to show that it does pay to push yourself out of a rut every once in awhile.

I'm a little bummed at the moment - I lost one of my WIPs and the lovely project bag that Lesley made for me while I was pregnant. So if you're walking around Fisherman's Cove and see a lonely bag of knitting, drop me a note eh?

Baby pic of the day:

Fear the Stormpooper.

Nebula revealed.

I finished spinning Nebula last night. This yarn was SO much fun to spin. I would be going along, drafting and then all of a sudden, a gigantic slub of blue silk would appear. Or, I'd be just about to spin a bunch of silk, and it would be consumed by some black merino. It was like watching the birth and the death of galaxies. So cool.

Today, I tried a test ply...and didn't like it at all.


The two plies seemed to be cancelling out the prettiness, and making the whole yarn kinda greenish. So I'm setting the twist and calling it done as a single ply, lace weight. I'm already planning to use this for a spectacular shawl. Just need a pattern. The skein has about 880 yards, so it's enough for something really cool, I hope.


I just can't seem to get a good photo of this yarn - it's so pretty IRL. And it's a good thing that I finished Nebula last night, 'cause my Crown Mountain Farms order arrived today! One of the co-ops I'm in does an annual order from CMF, and every time I order some...I wish I'd ordered more. Check these out.


BFL and superwash merino. Hooray for sunshine! Hooray for pretty yarn! Hooray for sheep!

Arachne ain't got nuthin' on me...

So, just about the only crafty thing that I can do with Miss E attached to me has been spinning. She has been having a rough week - first shots, poor wee thing - and refuses to let me put her down. Thank goodness for my mei buckle tai. I've been trying to knit with her in the carrier, but I have to hold my arms at an odd angle and it hurts. And forget sewing...the noise of the machine wakes her up everytime. But I can spin standing up, and the whirring of the wheel seems to soothe her.

I had some yarn that had been sitting on the bobbin for the longest time, and I wanted to finish it up. So I decided to give Navajo plying another shot. Let's just say that it wasn't pretty the first time that I tried the Navajo method, and that there was lots of alcohol and cursing involved. Sort of like a really good Colonel Tigh imitation. It went better this time, but not by much. (The lack of alcohol may have been a factor this go around.)

Superwash merino. Navajo ply, albeit crappily done. I think that it's Pansies colourway from Abby's Yarns.

And the next fun thing that I have on the crafty horizon is a spinning challenge. On DSD, they've started a spin-a-long. We all have this photo for inspiration:

And we're supposed to spin some yarn inspired by the photo. So far, I've made up some rolags on my hand cards.

It's black, blue and brown merino with liberal splashes of sparkly Angelica and blue/turquoise tussah silk. In retrospect, probably shouldn't have used so much brown. But it'll be interesting to see how it spins up. I have a sneaking suspicion that the brown will make the black just look dirty, but we'll see.

Thunder thighs.

So. Miss E has the most gargantuan thunder thighs. Don't get me wrong, it's adorable to see baby thighs so chubby that it looks like there's three thighs where one should be. But it's making things painful in terms of figuring out how the hell I'm going to keep this child clothed and diapered. Needless to say, I've been amusing myself with testing various patterns.


More diapers in size medium. Being the lazy sod that I am, I made all-in-one diapers. Slap 'em on the kid, and she's good to go. Pattern: Very Baby AIO.


This is from the Hippy Hippy Snap pattern. I'm a little sad about this one, as I like the pattern, but I think that the elastic I used may not be working as well as I'd want it to...thereby rendering the diaper pretty much useless. Sigh.

And even in Atlantic Canada, summer is coming. Which means sundresses! I made this one for Miss E using this tutorial, and it was very quick and easy. From selecting the fabric to the final ironing, it look less than an hour to make it.


In knitting...no pics for you as I'm working on gifts. But I must say that once again Terra's ski beanie is saving my ass.

And I leave you with the baby picture of the day:


"Yay! I'm wearing knitted pants!"

May the Force Be With You...

*Warning: Pic Heavy Post (PHP) incoming*

Like I said, this one's a bragging post about my Mum's awesome knitting skills. During the month that she was up here and helping out with the new baby, she made Mr. Munchkin some amazing knitted goodies. And helped fuel my son's OC infatuation with the SW universe.




Of course, there is some major credit due to the amazing Star Wars fair isle charts made by Knitting And dot com. But on the whole, my Mum made Mr. Munchkin's every knitted wish come true. You can see on his sweaters (the blue one's a vest, we ran out of yarn for the sleeves) an AT-AT, R2-D2, a TIE fighter, a Scoutwalker, and of course, a stormtrooper. I dunno why the pics are so pixelated, Flickr's being a booger. So far, the one knit that's received the most comments has to be the R2-D2 hat in the first pic. I want to find a baby hat in the same sort of pattern - Miss E needs a hat that even she can't object to.

As for myself, the past two months have been spectacularly unproductive. Mind you, I did spring clean like a madwoman. And managed to "out" my fabric/yarn stash in the process. Mr. Ninja decided to help with the spring purge, and he started in the storage/craft/office. All I heard from him during the entire 3 hours he was in there was muffled swearing, and lots of banging around. When he finally emerged, all he had to say was "Y'know, there are less expensive ways of insulating the house, dear." Anyhoo, here's the one FO that I have for you:


Remember this pair of pants and how I thought that they'd be too small for the new baby? Yeah. They were. Miss E has the most adorable thunder thighs, so the pants got deconstructed and reassembled into a diaper soaker. That's the best part of knitting, imo. If something doesn't work, you can just try again. It's a much more forgiving art than sewing.

Speaking of sewing, here's a pic of the baby carrier that I modded - I added a pocket for my iPod and a spot for the carabiner for my knitting pouch. You can also see the ugly unmatching knee-high baby socks - great pattern, I'll have to make another couple of pairs of these.


And finally, this sock in process is going back to the frog pond. Namely, because the tension is waaaaay off. Likely, that's got something to do with the fact that I tried to knit on this while in labour. It's knitted so tightly that the bloody thing could stomp off on its own. Guess I was a little stressed out, eh?

Wow...

What a month.

I apologize to anyone I've been in contact with during this month (including the ever lovely KOLers), as I seem to have become one of *those* mothers. You know, the kind that are able to willfully ignore your eyes glazing over as they rhapsodise about their children's bowel movements. Yup, you know what I'm talking about. I promise that I'll be back to someone capable of adult conversation in a few months. Just indulge me during our babymoon, ok?

I left off promising that I would post photos of babyknits:

Jak in the box, thank you! I admit, I suck and seem to have lost the pretty ribbon that was holding the sweater together. I'm still looking, but with my luck, it'll turn up in five months and under the cat's sleeping bag. That's the only reason I don't have a pic of Miss E wearing it. Coming soon, I promise.

Steph, the baby loves this sweater. Don't worry, it doesn't really cover her face when she wears it. I just couldn't resist the look on her face in this photo.

Ms. Barnhill, I am in total awe of your knitting. When we took your gift out of the bag, I gasped a little at how perfectly lovely it was. Thank you so much for gracing my baby with your loving skill. I swear that she doesn't always look that disdainful when wearing it.

I love all of these sweaters - but Mr. Munchkin was most partial to the onesies that Steph specially made:

May the poo be with you. LOVE IT!

And Lesley, I don't have a photo of it - but the project bag you made me was sheer genius. I attach it to the mei tai and can knit while getting the baby jiggled back to sleep. Thank you!

Next post will be about the awesomeness that is my Mum's knitting. There will be much Star Wars content, be forewarned.

Falling asleep in my cheerios...

I'd forgotten how intermittent snatches of broken sleep do not equal a good night's rest. We're in that weird newborn limbo where everyone is really tired, but equally wired...so it's like living with a pack of rather sedate zombies who are constantly muttering about supporting the Columbian bean economy. (If I could, I would totally take my coffee intravenously at this point.)

'Tis a bit of a wonder that I'm typing at all, as (TMI alert) I'm retaining fluid to the point where carpal tunnel syndrome has kicked in, big time. I can't close my right hand into a fist. The best I can do is this wretched claw type thingy, which is not earning me many brownie points with Mr. Munchkin, to say the least. (He calls it Mommy's witchy hand.) Which also means no knitting. No spinning. No sewing. *frowny face* On the plus side, I am being forced to take up other ways of occupying time. I've started teaching Mr. Munchkin how to play the piano, and I've been reading. I didn't realise how much I'd missed the feel of the ivories...and since Miss E is (miraculously) able to sleep through the very loud plonking of unharmonious keys, we shall play on.

I've been asked if I'll be posting Miss E's birth story...I'm not sure. Honestly, it was a very positive experience. I'm just a bit squicky about putting something so intimate in such a public arena. We'll see. Maybe I'll feel different when she's a teenager and I need some leverage.

Hope to have some crafty news eventually. Also need to post some cute baby modelling photos. I received the BEST baby presents, and they need to be displayed to the world. For now, you get this.

Sleepy baby. I love how she sleeps with her arms above her head.

Doesn't it look like Miss E is saying "Holy crap! DUDE, you just got smoked by Darth Vader. Maybe if you hit the X button a few more times to get some combo points, you can take him out this time..." They're playing Lego Star Wars on the PS2, fyi.

Aren't my boys handsome? Even 12 years later, I'm still all swoony about Mr. Ninja. (Those of you who know about my thing for hunky viking men may now chime in with a chorus of "Oh, well THAT explains that.") Also, there's your obligatory hand knit photo. Mr. Munchkin is wearing the second pair of Monkey socks that I've knit for myself...and then unceremoniously felted. They're his socks now. *sigh*

Introducing...

The divine Miss E.



Finally home from hospital. Short blog post. Baby had medical issues, but all resolved now. Is good baby. Sleeps a lot. Eats a lot. (Was labelled an "aggressive" feeder. Poor breasts.) Poops a lot. Ninja is exhausted. Will post more later when brain reboots.

Hi ho, hi ho...

It's off to induced labour I go.

Tomorrow, that is. Went to the hospital today for my 40 week checkup, and they took one look at me and my chart...and decided that this baby has to come out, pronto. I'm ok with it, as I figure that it can only go better than the first time with Mr. Munchkin. (Don't ask - seriously, it was definitely on the horrific side of things.) So, I'm doing laundry and cleaning the house like a madwoman. After all, who knows when I'll next get to do those mundane tasks without a small critter strapped to lord knows what body parts?

Uh...sorry about the visuals, I may be freaking out a bit about actually having a newborn again. We used to call Mr. Munchkin "velcro baby" because he would put up quite the hissy fit if he was not constantly cuddled and able to see what Mummy was doing. Funny how I'm just remembering these things now that the baby's arrival is becoming all too real.

Anyway. Am also knitting on a pair of knee high socks for the baby made out of handspun scraps. If I'd been smarter about it, the socks would match and be all cute and stripey. As it is, they're composed of two very different textured yarns and they look awful. But they will be warm, and that's what I'm going for. Or so I tell myself.

Also finished up some medium sized diapers:


The top three are from my own pattern, and the bottom ones are from the Fattycakes pattern. They're wonderfully squishy and soft...and ever so girly. I am LOVING the idea that I get to sew girl stuff. I've become quite the Ottobre worshipper, plotting cute wee dresses for the distant future.

But for now...I have more laundry to do. Send easy labour vibes please, would you?

More teeny tiny pants...

So, I finished another pair of LTK Longies. Knit from some handspun BFL that I finished early in this pregnancy... Using the drop spindle, I made it into a deliberately thick and thin slubby worsted weight which made for an interesting effect. The plied yarn was very energized, and it definitely has that "homemade" look. Not really sure if I like it or not, but meh - the colours are very pretty. In case you're wondering why there's some tiny tufts of yarn next to the pants - that is all that was left of the entire skein of yarn. I was so desperate for yarn to finish the drawstring that I was scrounging the cast-on and cast-off tails and using them to finish up. Yeesh. That'll teach me to start planning ahead when choosing yarn for projects.


Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day - I got the BEST homemade Valentine's card from my boys and I made them Valentine Day brownies for dessert last night.

Today in the mail, I got another Valentine - my copy of the Emmeline apron. I think it's the prettiest apron pattern I've ever seen. And as I fully intend to bake more as soon as little Miss Munchkin is born (hooray for GESTATIONAL diabetes - it should go away as soon as the hormones settle down)...I need a couple of new aprons, non?