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.