Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve

All the best for the New Year...health, joy and peace.
We did get that snow in time for Christmas!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas cheer from our family to yours!

I'm up early, the house is very quiet and dark. Coffee is hot and so good. It's nice to have a bit of time to catch my breath before everyone gets up.

As if this time of the year is not hectic enough, our beautiful Emma gave birth to 12 puppies on Christmas Eve!
You read right, 12.
Why do dogs give birth at night (most of the time)? She started at 1am and kept at it till lunch time on the 24th!

Emma is very tired but doing well. We are keeping 24 hour watch on the pups to make sure they are all warm and feeding...so far so good!

(you will not find 12 of them in this picture...only a few)
The cowl for Nameless is done and blocking as I write this...by the time we open gifts this afternoon, it will be wrapped and under the tree!!
I'll have pictures next time.

My mother is with us for a few days. Being the first Christmas without my dad, our thoughts and conversations often go to him. It's good to be together.
Hugs to all of you and enjoy your day!




Thursday, December 22, 2011

Lights out for two

A migraine kept me pinned to my bed for the past two days. *sigh* After seeing countless doctors, naturopaths, physio therapist, massage therapists, accupuncturists...I have still not been able to find anyone that can make them go away. *sigh*
Oh, well, just get up and get on with life.

My yarn is spun and last minute gift is casted on.
No pressure for the last minute knitting...if it's not done for Christmas, I will wrap it while still on the needles! Nameless will understand that the gift will be done in the week following Christmas.
I must show you this scarf. The colours are so great...blend of pinks, purples, yellows.

The shape is more or less circular, since the cast on of 130 stitches is doubled on the third row to almost 260 stitches.

The amount of stitches is doubled one more time just before the 1 x 1 rib on the edge.


Patterns: 28's cousin 53! (available for free on Ravelry)
Yarn: my hand dyed fingering 100% merino
Needles: 4.5 mm circular needles
Modification: kept knitting the 1 x 1 rib till I almost ran out of yarn.

The pattern says there is no need to block but I chose to steam it with my iron just to take away all puckers. I prefer it that way.

I will do a bit of baking today, so I'll have a few things on hand for the weekend.
I hope the next few days before Christmas will not be too stressful for you, take the time to breathe and enjoy the moment. First thing we'll know, it will be Monday and all over with.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Moving along

Christmas preparations are still going on.

This morning I got most of the gift wrapping done. I don't think I'll put them under the tree yet in case our grand daughter comes over and thinks Santa has come early!

After cleaning the basement floor, I took a few hours off to sit at my wheel and spin.
Tomorrow I will hopefully finish spinning this fiber and I'll let it rest 24 hours before I ply it. (Fingers crossed I will get it done by Sunday so I can cast on.)

I read several knitting blogs. A favorite of mine, is Knitted Bliss, written by a Northern girl from Sudbury now living in southern Ontario.  In today's post,  Julie invites those of us that want to join in The Versatile Blogger Award to do so.
The rules are:
1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.
_____________
So here goes with sharing 7 things about myself.

1. I don't love chocolate. (What do you mean, I'm not human!) I'll avoid it or have a tiny bite and be happy with that.

2. I love potato chips, yup, could have those every day of the week!
3. When I was in university, I read the entire French dictionnary. I come from a small town where everyone spoke french but with a lot of slang. It was time to improve on my vocabulary. I have always loved the power of words. I am easily touched by well spoken words.

4. On the subject of being french speaking...I have a lot of trouble with correctly using English expressions. (You might have noticed while reading my blog that I write kinda funny sometimes...it's just the way it is in English for me but in French, I can talk a million miles an hour) I met my hubby at the age of 17 and spoke a very basic English. All of my friends and relatives were french speaking. I worked in a very french environment my whole life. So English is still a second language to me. I get the english expressions mixed up and hubby and I laugh a lot about it. For example, the other night I told him that someone was trying to pull the hood over his head. He laughed and said: Do you mean pull the wool over my eyes?

5. I would love to learn Spanish. I took courses in university but never kept up with it. I love the musicality of that language. I would also love to know what the words of those beautiful latin songs mean. Maybe something to look forward to in the near future.
6. I have been driving Honda CRVs for a long long time. Best vehicule on the market! I can put a few dogs in the back or pieces of furniture I find here and there. Will always own a CRV.

7. I'm a movie addict. I can watch four/five movies in a row, no problem. I set myself up with my knitting, a hot tea and a bowl of chips (ok, not a bowl but the whole bag...see # 2 above).  In this house, I watch movies with a bunch of dogs around me since hubby prefers sports).

Everyone is invited to participate is you are inclined to do so. Let me know if you decide to.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Countdown


It happens every year...I think I have so much time before Christmas and first thing I know, there is only 10 days left! I mean, really, where does time go?
Last weekend, I decided to add  more knitting to the list. (The knitting mojo had kinda left me for a few weeks. I'm so happy it's back!)
I had two handspun skeins of this merino/silk blend and decided to cast on for a cowl. It's almost done now and I will cast off by the weekend. I'll be back with a picture next week. But this is actually a test knit...not for someone on the list. It will be mine.
Someone (that shall remain nameless for now) had put a Roots cowl on her Christmas list this year...made out of 100% acrylic. When you're a knitter, it's very hard to love that stuff. It feels soft at first but does it have any warmth value to it? And how can I send her out in the world with an acrylic cowl when I have beautiful yarns in my stash?
I did not want to make it super long but long enough to be wrapped twice around the neck... So I've modified the pattern a bit. And I had two skeins of this green colour to make sure I had enough...turns out I will need all of both skeins.

I have some blue handspun merino for Nameless's cowl...BUT only one skein spun. Luckily I have another braid I can spin...this weekend. I think I've just set myself up for some last minute knitting. I hope to have the second skein spun, washed and dried by Sunday so that I can start knitting on Monday and have it knitted, blocked and wrapped by Saturday!!!

We are having some unseasonal weather this week...enough with the rain  please!
The fields are a mess, dogs and alpacas are wet and muddy. Temperatures will be dropping tomorrow and those puddles in the yard will turn to ice...Please send snow our way...NOW!

Oh, the craft show went really well...beyond my expectations! I had a great time.