I got it, I got it!!!

Finally, after much twisting and ripping and cussing and cramping, I got it!


There are a couple of glitches here and there - this is not a pattern that lends itself to dropped stitches, and since we got back from Mexico the dogs have been a little less understanding of my knitting than usual, hence the dropped stitches...

however, I am inordinately pleased with the fact that I figured it out, and it fits! I was up till 12:30 a couple of nights ago figuring it out, but still...

The yarn, STR 'Silkie', is a silk/merino blend which feels completely decadent on the toes, and I absolutely LOVE the colour... the problem was with my YO technique, as was suggested by Riggwelter and Lv2Knit in the comments, which brings me to another thing I love about knitting - no matter how much you think you know, you don't, and there will always be a humbling kick in the arse when you get cocky... so I turned to Eunny Jang's fabulous arsenal of knitting techniques, and discovered I have been doing my YO's wrong forever... always something new to learn...

Yesterday's mail brought a couple more sock kits, which also look totally yummy:


On the left, the latest from Pick Up Sticks, with merino/bamboo/nylon yarn from Seacoast Handpainted Yarn, and on the right, this month's offering from The Loopy Ewe, with another merino/bamboo yarn from All Things Heather...

We've had a scorching couple of days here in Southern Ontario, but the temps are much cooler today, with mondo-thunderstorms expected tomorrow... which means I will be getting myself out to a couple of garden centres today to buy flowers - I am SO EXCITED!! I'll be buying annuals to jazz up the front of my house a little (it's way too GREEN and so far the only thing with colour I've been able to grow is a hockey net), and hopefully some new, exotic but yet low maintenance and dog-proof perennials for the back (yes, I ask a lot of my plants).

and this? Well, this is what I was looking at 2 short weeks ago...

sigh...

the dock from our resort, with Isla Mujeres in the distance, and ocean, ocean everywhere... there's no place like home, though... right?????

Happy Victoria Day!

It's the first LONG WEEKEND of the year, which means summer isn't too far off, which means... well, YAY! Kids are playing road hockey right now, then off to their dad's for the afternoon, which leaves me to, oh, I don't know, check out a garden centre or winery or two... I always miss the boys when they're not with me, but I have learned to appreciate my time alone...

Anyhow, I finished the twins' socks in time for the party on Saturday - with about an hour to spare - , and the good news is, they like them and they fit!

Funny how, after all these years of knitting - 38, I guess? Oh, that's right, I actually learned to knit while still in the womb - I am still completely panicked over the fit of things I make for other people... hmm, might be a sign that I need to work on that? D'yathink?

Earlier on Saturday, we had our first meal of the year outside, which always tickles me - even though the grass is long and the shrubs are shabby right now, I would rather be nowhere else than out in my yard...
We took advantage of the gorgeous sunlight for a small photo shoot:
the dogs watching a french fry fly by:
Ben and Maggie having a moment
and Tanner and me:
I HATE pictures of myself, but thought it might be nice for y'all to have a face to go with the stories... to clarify, I would be the wrinkly, crepey-necked one in the front...

I was so excited to start my Grasshopper Socks, pictured in the previous post - made the toe, love the yarn and the needles are great, perfect weight - I cannot get the pattern to work. I can do the first two rows, but have tried 4 times and am so far unable to get further along. The first row is YO, P2tog, then row 2 is P2tog, YO. Easy, peasey... my ass...

I'm going to try a few more times before giving up, but I cannot adequately express how very PISSED OFF I am with these damned socks right now - and lots of other people are making them, are FINISHED them even - I am thinking it might be something with my YO technique, so will have to investigate further.

I shall go and vent my frustrations on my plant pots, which are still being scraped and sanded, and will return soon with memes a-plenty... I'm not avoiding them, really, but they seem to take a lot of thought, and I am in short supply of thought at the moment...

Enjoy the weekend, my fellow Canadians, and, oh yes - GO SENS!!

Beware - knitting content ahead...

Why, yes, I do still knit, and I have the sticks to prove it...

Beautiful bronze sticks, handcrafted by Molly at Celtic Swan, which were my birthday gift to myself, and which I am chomping at the bit to use on my next socks, the April Kit from Blue Moon Fibers Socks that Rock club:

Sorry for the flash effect - this is a much better representation of the truly edible colours in this wool/silk blend:

But first, I must finish the twins' socks, which are due this Saturday... hmm, sounds like a test or paper or something, doesn't it? Not like the relaxing, satisfying activity we all know knitting to be...
They should be done tomorrow, and I did do the second pair while we were away last week:

Project: My own generic sock pattern, size 7, for the twins
Yarn: KnitPicks "Bare", dyed with orange KoolAid and received in a yarn swap some months ago
Started: May 5, 2007
Finished: May 14, 2007

These are the red and blue Bemidjis, knit for Artisan Knitworks and mailed the week before I left, all cuddled up on the couch:


Hmm, funny how you don't necessarily see the chaos surrounding you until someone comes to visit unexpectedly, or you take a picture of some of it and get an objective look - remind me not to take pictures anywhere else in my house...

Today's project has been to wash and scrape our old plant pots, so that the boys can paint them in their own personally selected colours, and then fill them with their own personally selected flowers - so tired and old looking, huh?


They were here when we moved in, must be older than dirt, but for now, they do the job just fine - and WAIT till you see the colours the kids picked - this will be one glow-in-the-dark kind of garden...

speaking of the kids, Ben had a project a couple of weeks ago wherein he had to build a real structure out of common household items. He chose the Skydome in Toronto:


and opted to make it out of... are you ready?... marshmallows.

BEHOLD! Edible Skydome:


You have to picture, us, sitting around our table, stringing endless amounts of mini-marshmallows ( couldn't use the BIG ones, oh, no) on toothpicks, stranding them together, and then glue-gunning them (and they actually didn't melt like I thought they would). We had a tough time coming up with the dome part, but I had a flash of inspiration at the grocery store and asked if I could buy one of the plastic tops they use on vegetable trays. No, apparently they don't have a code for those and can't sell them. Could they give me one? What, am I NUTS? GIVE something away? For FREE???? So, I paid $15 for a veggie tray, the contents of which I then jammed down the throats of my kids and their friends who were lucky enough to be visiting that day, and we had a dome.

Which was too small.

Saran wrap does, in fact, have a million uses, and I would gladly offer a testimonial to that fact.

All in all, a fun project, and so damn creative - however, it will be a long, LONG time before I can eat another marshmallow.

and now I will leave you with the latest addition to my fridge:


Am I the only one who finds this pee-in-my-pants funny? My girlfriend and I made asses of ourselves in the cardshop with our uncontrollable laughing, but apart from her, no one else really gets it...

sigh

Meme tomorrow, Scarlett, I promise...

Hola, Amigos!

Well, I was going to do this way back at the beginning of the week, but I don't even remember the beginning of the week! We had a wonderful trip, even under somewhat, um, awkward circumstances - 'nother post

Weather was perfect - 90's during the day, low 70's at night (sorry, I will always be farenheit at heart), and the toughest decisions were things like: which bathing suit should I wear today? Should we start with the beach, or the pool? Margarita or colada?

So, a few pictures to pique your interest:




(probably the most exercise we got - this or playing water football)


A little homework...

A day spent across the bay on Isla Mujeres, checking beaches and

dolphins, and

signs... oh, my

No, we didn't stop there to see if it really did hurt our teeth - took all my willpower not to... and we actually swam with the dolphins, which was totally amazing!!



This is what we saw from our balcony, and while I realize it looks fake, this is actually how it looks...



We were stalked one afternoon by this guy, who came after us when we dropped some food on the ground - we were told they only eat flowers, which they do

but I know, deep down, he wanted a french fry...

and now that we are home, my decisions include do I need socks, or can I put up with freezing feet? Which sweatshirt or JACKET should I put on?

Am I glad to be back? Any guesses??

Knitting content to follow in the next post, as well as my first meme (thanks, Michelle, I'm so excited - I DO want to play!)

Sunshine, here I come!

I am off this morning - it's now almost 4 a.m. and my shuttle arrives in 20 minutes - to sunnier, warmer, more margarita-ish climes...

Two Bemidjis are done and in the mail, and if my camera wasn't packed I'd show you - hope the suspense doesn't kill y'all... the navy bamboo is slogging along, the twins' socks are travelling with me, the pair with metal needles in my checked bag, and another with bamboo needles in my carry-on - hopefully there will be no problems bringing them with me...

so, I will see you all in a week's time, hopefully tanned, relaxed, and... well... tanned...