Busy Bee

As you've probably gathered from my lack of posting (not that I'm that frequent a poster to begin with - but I mean to!!), I've been quite busy lately. There are a rash of birthdays in early April chez Dearknits (my stepfather Michel, my mother-in-law Denise and my grand-mother Cécile), forcing me to step away from my knitting, wash my hair and be all "sociable" and stuff. Grumble grumble...

So the weekend was ripe with birthday celebrations. And Sunday was a special day, because Émilie and I attended our first mother-daughter concert! As you can see from this picture, taken before the concert, she was very excited.


We went to see Arthur L'Aventurier, a really great performer for children (think Sharon, Lois and Bram), and had a great time. I first heard about him from the lady at my daughter's daycare. She lent me the DVD and kept raving about how great he was and how the kids liked him. "Um, Thanks" I mumbled, fully intending to return it to her in a few days, unwatched, and agree with her whole-heartedly that he was indeed a genius. But Émilie insisted we watch it, and despite my original misgivings, it really wasn't half bad. In fact, I'll often find myself humming the songs after she watches it. So when I found out he was on tour (I wonder if he has groupies?), I knew we had to go.

The concert was a lot of fun, and despite a somewhat major incident when Émilie wanted to go on stage to dance with Arthur (they had asked the kids to go on, but by the time we got there, they weren't letting any more on - Oh the tears!!!!), I think she had a great time. The highlight, no doubt, was when she got to meet Arthur and have her picture taken with him, after the concert. I'm sure she'll be mortified by this picture when she's a teenager (I'll be sure to keep it to show all future boyfriends, along with the one of her trying to suck both thumbs at once and the obligatory full exposure in the bath shot), but for now, she's very proud of it (it's already been printed and made the rounds at daycare).

Yesterday I spent the entire day doing choir-related stuff. I've had annoying things like writing up the minutes of the two latest board meetings (I'm the secretary) looming over my head for months (because apparently, I forgot to write them up after our meeting in December - Whoopsee!!!), so I decided to just suck it up and get it over with already.

As far as knitting goes, I haven't got much to tell, I'm afraid. In true DearKnits fashion, I totally flaked on the whole "seaming" thing this weekend, opting instead to swatch for the Good Stripe Dress I want to make Émilie. I'll be using KnitPicks CotLin, but I'm not happy with one of the three colours I chose (purple, green and sort of a neutral), so once I determine the exact needle size I'll need (I'll have to order them, because I don't have circulars in those sizes), I'll order 2 balls of another colour (I'll replace the neutral with a turquoise - it'll be much better).

Anyway, I sit down to swatch while watching a taped episode of Battlestar Galactica on Sunday night, and right away, before I even get started, I run into a problem. The pattern states that gauge is 26 stitches and 37 rows for 4 inches after machine washing and drying. Now, even though you're supposed to, I never wash and dry my swatches. I knit them up, figure out my needle size, and rip out the swatch. I'm always afraid that I'll need the yarn used on the swatch down the road, you know? So when I read that, I was all "Frak!!! (I was watching BSG, after all) Do I haaaaaave to???". I figured there must be a reason (does the linen expand or contract after washing or drying? Time will tell, I guess), so I cast on using my main colour, grumbling all the way.

While I was knitting, I kept thinking "What if I need this yarn later? This is my main colour, after all. What if KnitPicks doesn't have anymore in the same dye lot? What then????". Still, I keep knitting.

When I'm about ready to cast off, it occurs to me that I could have used the colour I have chosen to discard (the neutral) for the swatches. It would still have given me all the gauge information I needed, and without wasting precious yarn. Cursing again, I ripped it out.

I'll focus on seaming Maxime's cardigan this afternoon. It'll be less stressful.