Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Mouths of Babes

In typical Quebec fashion, the weather has changed drastically over the past few days, and we've gone from blistering, suffocating temperatures to cooler Fall weather. A change in wardrobe is now in order, and this morning as I dipped into my Autumn office attire for the first time in 2 years (I was on maternity leave last year), I thought most if not all was dated (AND it had shrunk - WHAT?) and wouldn't it be nice to go shopping.

I selected something appropriate and relatively classic (a charcoal grey pant suit with fuchsia pinstripe, FYI), and proceeded with the morning (breakfast, get kids dressed and teeth brushed, yadayadayada). I did all this with just the pants and blouse on, and everything was fine. Then when I put on the blazer, Émilie took one look at me and declared that my outfit was much too dark, and that I couldn't wear that to work because all my friends would make fun of me.

Did I mention she's 4???

Much as I'd like to take her opinion as a sign to give in and run to the mall, credit card at the ready, my budget is limited this month (*snort* yeah, I'd say 0$ is a pretty substantial limit), and if faced between clothing myself or my kids, I'm going to have to put them first.

Man, being a responsible adult really bites the big one sometimes.

I'm really making an effort to control my spending this month, and it's starting to take its toll. For instance, I nearly fell off the wagon with the yarn fast last week. OK, truth be told, not only did I fall off the wagon, but the wagon actually ran me over. I discovered NoTwoSnowflakes Etsy shop, and was absolutely dumbstruck by her yarn. Struck DUMB, I tell you. Before I knew what I was doing, despite having a page detailing my budget and what I've spent so far on my credit card this month RIGHT NEXT TO MY DESK in an effort to curtail precisely this kind of impulse purchase, I had put 2 skeins in my cart and checked out. Then as I was about to hit the Pay Now button in PayPal, I came to and realized what I had done. I contacted the lovely Nicole and she graciously offered to cancel my purchases.

THAT, my friends, was a close one.

Now I'm wondering what to do to stave off this urge to buy yarn. Cast on multiple projects? Download a bunch of podcasts? Get a life? :)

At which point do fantasies become obsessions?

OK, on to current knitting projects. Sinéad mentioned in the comments that she couldn't get enough Pinwheel Blanket progress pictures, so here you go:


Kind of looks like a giant rasta hat doesn't it? Yeah, Phil thought so too.

I'm not quite certain when I should begin the edging on this thing. I originally wanted to do a lacy motif for the edging, but when I realized that wouldn't really work with a multi-coloured yarn, I decided on something a little plainer, maybe even a seed stitch border (but probably not, seed stitch is a pain in the arse). The trouble is that I like my blankets to be big... But I've got almost 600 stitches on the needles already, so maybe that's big enough? My friend is due to give birth any day now, so that'll probably end up being the ultimate deciding factor.

OK, enough for today! Happy Knitting Everyone!

8 comments:

inukshuk71 said...

Love the new blog banner! Good on you for backing off the yarn purchase. I'm sure you looked lovely in the outfit you picked. Next time tell the little fashionista that inner beauty is what counts :) The blanket looks amazing and with the number of stitches you have I bet it's pretty big already. You could always slip a long life line in and take the needle out to see what it stretches out to. Take care :)

Anonymous said...

Ha.
hahahahahaha.
oh wheee. Ha. hee hee.
(and so forth) - great photo, thanks for the giggles at the end of the day.
hahaha. snort.
Kate.

Sinéad said...

heh heh rasta Phil... love the joint! He'll be "high as a kite"! heh see, I can do funny too, well sort of.
600 sts sounds like a plenty large blanket to me. If you've knit about 20 rounds on that number, it should be big enough, especially for a baby blanket. I've been reading Elizabeth Zimmermann recently and she used a lovely garter stitch border on a pi shawl that was very simple yet effective. Might work for your variegated yarn? Either that or the seed stitch would be lovely, but if time is of the essence...
And don't mind Émilie, I bet you looked great. My daughter has been known to pass similar comments and I simply mutter something about school uniforms. Usually does the trick.

Jennifer Lori said...

LOL I LOVE the photo of RastaPhil! (That needs to be his name from now on, you know).

The blankie looks great! I used the free Excel calculator/worksheet for the pinwheel blankie to figure out how wide I'd want mine to be, to know how big to make it. I think at my gauge I am going to 470 sts (47 sts betw yos) when I do my edging.

Here's a link to the Excel thing:
http://larissmix.typepad.com/stitch_marker/files/pinwheel_calc.xls

I haven't officially claimed an edging yet, but I think I'm going to do something similar to what Lucy Neatby did here:
http://www.tradewindknits.com/faroeseshawl.html
where there are scallops but with holes in them.

Good luck!

Mrhide said...

looks like the smoke went all the way to Kate's house :) hehe

birana said...

Funny your little girl, she likes to comment everything. Congratulation to resist to you yarnholic dependance! Rhinebeck is coming soon few weeks only before purchasing new yarnsssss. I love the rasta pinwheel style. hA!ha!

Amelah said...

You should read the book Confessions of a Shop a holic lol or have you?
Or Save Karyn, she actually blogged about her experiences and had people send her money to pay off her debt...maybe you can do something and have people help you buy yarn lol!
Good will power though! Love the picture of ur hubby!

Montreal Mama said...

Love the Rasta Phil!

Gotta love the things that come out of kids mouthes. Did your friends at work make fun of you in that outfit?