oh, the cleverness of me...

So, for my birthday, my mom gave me jewelled ring markers, which are just lovely to behold, and these:

Knit Klips, which you use instead of pins to hold your knitting together while you seam it. I cannot believe how well they work - very cleverly designed!

And speaking of clever, I found myself at a loss as to what button to use on this multicoloured jacket - so hard to find something... so, in a fit of inspiration, I went to my nearby Michael's and bought FIMO - shape and bake clay - in an absolutely perfect shade of violet blue, rolled it into a triangle-shaped log, and proceeded to slice and bake -

looky, fresh from the oven!

Yup, real buttons, holes and everything - and I am so excited that I made them myself - I am obviously seriously in need of a real life, but in the meantime, this will do nicely...

What's better than "They're done!"?

THEY FIT!!

And as if that in itself is not enough to melt one's butter, the boys seem to like them, and don't want to take them off! Except for my youngest son, in the orange, who did take it off to play road hockey yesterday, just in case he fell and ripped it or something.
He's worth every stretch mark...

And now that those albatrosses are off my neck - um, I mean - sweaters are done, I have moved into spring cleaning mode -

discovered languishing in a bin:
all the pieces for this Classic Elite 'Weekend Cotton' jacket are here and done, but not sewn together. In spite of my deeply ingrained dislike for finishing, even I would not have shelved an- almost-done-sweater without a really good reason - no idea...

waiting patiently for one more ball, which just arrived:
one sleeve to finish, then I have a beautiful Colinette 'Mercury' twinset - the weight of this fabric is just wonderful - very slinky - just need a place to wear it. The gal in the pattern is wearing it with jeans, and has it hanging slightly off one shoulder, very come-hither - wonder how that would go over in the schoolyard...

And my excitement continues at the thought of what I can do when these are done - oooh, such possibilities -

if only I could extend my spring cleaning enthusiasm to other areas of my life - like my house...

Happy Birthday / Earth Day

This is Charlie:

Charlie is 5 years old today. Doesn't he look excited?

Today is also my birthday, and for my 45th birthday, I thought I would finish up some stuff. So, Wallaby #1:
DONE! Except for blocking, which doesn't really count, so technically in my book it's done like dinner, baby.
Wallaby #2:
Done but for the ribbing. So, with scissors in hand, I snipped a stitch above the row I want to knit down from, and have started unknitting the row while picking up the stitches. This may not be done today, but it will be done by tomorrow night.

Socks that Rock:

This is the nicest sock yarn, just gorgeous, and I love the way it works with the Jaywalker pattern. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit me because I thought that the bigger size was for bigger feet, temporarily ignoring the fact that my size 10's are, in fact, bigger feet - honkin', in fact.
Fortunately, as the colours became clearer I realized that they would be much better suited to some other feet that I know, so all is good.

So, a wonderful birthday overall - spent the day hanging out with my kids, a nice dinner that I didn't have to cook or clean up, thoughtful gifts - maybe this aging stuff isn't so bad after all...

happy easter bunny...

I finally got the hang of the sock pattern, and you know, I like it...
Just a gorgeous Easter morning - up till 1am writing little poems for the boys' egg hunt this morning, and was feeling oh, so pleased with myself - all my poems rhymed, none too badly, and I was able to place the clues in order without confusing myself...
This morning, as they dozed off the effects of a big family get-together yesterday, I decided to make cinnamon buns and started warming up the oven. After, oh, 15 minutes, I could smell the buns baking and was truly impressed with my own culinary skills, as I had not yet put them in the oven -

One melted bunny and crispy clue later, I remembered where one of the big-ticket items had been hidden...

And now, the brunch dishes are washed, my children are outside doing what all children should be doing,and I just need to decide if I will do what I should do (rake my poor neglected lawn), or what I want to do (curl up in the sunshine and knit), or just wait for the boys to get bored and take them for a hike on the beach...

decisions should always be so difficult...

just don't get it...

1. Why, after making a perfect little centre-pull ball of yarn on my ball winder, does it turn into this when I start knitting with it?

It's no longer a centre-pull ball, it's a pull-in-every-direction-all-the-time-while-simaltaneously-untwisting-tangled-strands ball, and frankly, it's irritating me...

2. Why am I having so much trouble with the Jaywalker sock pattern? This is my third attempt, and I realized last night - late last night - that all my little lines and angles are great except for this one:

around which I kept blithely knitting, assuming that someone somewhere would make sure that it eventually straightened itself out.

It didn't.

I eventually figured out that I had cast on the stitches called for for the larger size, but I was following the pattern for the smaller size - yet another major 'duh' in what seems to be a decade of 'duhs'.

It's my birthday next week, so I am attributing this, and all future episodes of 'duh'-ness, to my advancing years, and changing hormones.

Wanna make something of it?

guilt assauged

The perfect antidote to buying this:

which is springy and bright and, well, irresistable,
is selling some of this:
which has been lingering in various bins and sewingknitting room incarnations for years -

one totally cancels out the other - like eating chips standing up while drinking diet soda - cancels the calories, right?

In other news, we are fast approaching completion of the Wonderful Wallabies - hoods are nearing the end, then a little kitchenering under the arms and they'll be done! What's more, the boys may be able to wear them in appropriate weather, PLUS they will still fit, at least for this season, so all is good...

goal revisions

These are done, were done, in fact, on Monday night (Fortissima Colori, col#4009) - they fit my now-10-year-old (!!!!) son perfectly, and he was completely surprised, in spite of the fact that I was knitting them right in front of him as my deadline loomed -

big YAY!

The last two days were spent doing fun but exhausting things - Monday was a school field trip to the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, and I learned a couple of valuable lessons:

* always take more one more Advil than the label recommends before boarding a bus of 30-odd 9-10 year olds
* do not assume that knitting on the bus will be a good thing; it may, in fact, incite small riots in said 9-10 year olds, all of whom will want to see - and touch - what is on the needles
* take full advantage of any Starbucks seen while touring, because there won't always be another one

Yesterday, as is our tradition, we all took the day off from work/school to celebrate my son's birthday, and at his request, went to the Hockey Hall of Fame and had dinner at Wayne Gretzky's, both again in Toronto. We had a wonderful day, and I was absolutely THRILLED to have a picture taken with the Stanley Cup - I TOUCHED IT! which may seem like nothing big, but really, when you think of the amazing people who have also touched this thing (and not being a germophobe, I am totally cool with the thought) like Maurice Richard, Yvan Cournyer (be still my heart), Wayne Gretzky - oh, I could go on...

and I am not really a hockey fan...

so great couple of days, but totally tiring, and not a lot of knitting done...

The boys' Wallaby's are next on the "must finish" list - shall I suggest a deadline? Perhaps beginning of next week? Let's make it tentative - a little less pressure...

My nieces are turning 14 in a week and a half, and I am at a loss for gift ideas - they don't seem to want anything - so I told their mom, my SIL, that I would take them each to their local yarn shop, in Georgetown, and let them pick out yarn for me to make them sweaters of their choosing - they like - wait for it - Wonderful Wallabies - and there are two of them - more deja vu than a gal can handle...

sigh