But seriously...

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I used to have a recurring nightmare. I dreamed that I couldn't have children, that I was married and in love but was unable to get pregnant, and I would wake up in the middle of the night, sobbing uncontrollably. It didn't happen every night, not by any means, but I had that dream often enough that it left an impression. I remember feeling frustrated, powerless and utterly heartbroken.

Luckily, getting pregnant turned out to be fairly easy for me. Who knew I would turn out to be one of those über-fertile women who could get pregnant when they hang their underwear next to their husband's on the clothes line? It took us 2 months to conceive our daughter Émilie, and about 2 weeks for Maxime. We had some scary times with both pregnancies, but in the end we were blessed with 2 healthy babies.

For all that, I still think about those dreams I used to have, and when I do it hits me just how much we take this biological privilege, this gift we have been given, for granted. A friend of mine, someone I appreciate and respect and think the world of, has had the misfortune of having to deal with infertility, and despite all this, she still manages to put on a brave face and a smile while we, her fellow girlfriends and knitters, gab about our pregnancies, our birth experiences and our childrens' latest shenanigans.

April 24th-May 1st is National Infertility Awareness Week. As we play with our kids this week, or tuck them into bed, let's take a minute to empathize with the millions of couples out there struggling to achieve what we have been so blessed to receive.

We'll return to our regular knitting content tomorrow :)

Contact my agent

I know, I know... I've fallen off the blogosphere. Again. I was in Quebec City this week for my first ever Professional conference, and time sort of got away from me...

Aaaaanyhoo, all day today I kept thinking "I should take some pictures for the blog!", but it being DORMA-day and all, I think you can guess how well THAT went...

But! I have some knitterly news! The pictures for Issue 2 of St-Denis Yarns magazine finally came out this week, and I'm IN THEM!!! Très exciting, if I do say so myself :)

Now, I admit that I don't quite know the etiquette involved with posting pictures of this on my blog, so I'll just post ONE picture and point you in the right direction to the pictures that the lovely Véronik posted on her Flickr page.



All the patterns are great, not just the ones I'm modeling, heh. Go check 'em out, and beg your LYS to carry St-Denis yarns!

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Life goes on

Along with the madness this past week, there were, of course, a few gems I thought I'd share with you.

The kids and I made nummy-liscious raspberry-orange muffins this weekend. It was the first time we all baked together, and it went surprisingly well. Here they are, licking the bowl clean once the muffins were in the oven (the best part of any kind of baking, I think you'll agree).

Maxime, who's going to be THREE in a few short weeks, has developed a full-blown obsession with all things Spider-man. But we have to call him Pider-Maaaaaaaaaayn!

Those would be Spider-man stickers all over his face, in case you were wondering. He's also wearing his Spider-man shirt, pants and slippers pretty much 24/7. At least I know what to get him for his birthday!

Émilie got her report-card (yes, while she may be in kindergarten, she gets a really detailed report-card) and got all A's except for "interaction with others", heh. As Phil says, this kid ain't lettin' NO-body boss her around! SHE be the boss, you hear?

She also earned an Honor Certificate for her excellent reading skills.

And last but certainly (certainly) not least... I bought a wee bit of yarn :)
3 glorious, luscious, positively drool-worthy skeins of String Theory Caper sock yarn, to be precise in Java, Garnet and Brina (left, from top). I cannot WAIT to cast on with this yarn!!!

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-Thud

That would be the sound of me falling off the blogosphere this week. Yeah... sorry about that. As I was saying, something's always gotta give, and this past week, it was blogging. I can barely keep my eyes open as it is, but if there's one thing that gets me moving, it's guilt, heh. I couldn't bare the guilt of going another day without letting you all know I am, in fact, still alive.

So! What have I been up to? Nothing to make for really fascinating blog fodder, I'm afraid. We gave a whole lodda money to our friendly car mechanic on Monday, which serves me right for saying TUNE-UP to the man in the first place (I swear, his eyes lit up like a little 5 year-old's missing his two front teeff on Christmas morning!). We painted the foyer of our house, a lovely, bright orange (it looks a lot better than it sounds, trust me). We watched the Habs win a game and lose another in the first round of the Eastern division playoffs. I took 2 Yoga classes (one Hot, one Hatha), one Pilates class, and, oh yeah... I ran my first race of the season, a modest 5k to kick it all off.

I cooked food, I did laundry, I kissed sprained ankles, wiped noses and read bedtime stories. I had a date night with my husband, which was nice. I finished the first Nebula sock...

... and apparently I lost the ability to write!!! Truly exhausted after a long, looooong day.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Obsess much?

My husband Phil seems to think I'm a fast knitter... I really don't consider myself to be that fast, mostly because I'm usually frustrated by the little time I actually get to spend knitting. I always feel like, say, if I could knit for an ENTIRE DAY, then we'd see some measurable progress!

Still, I guess I must be fast enough, because the finished objects keep piling up, and the gift box now has TWO pairs of socks in it. I give you the latest socks to make it off the needles, Nancy Bush's Conwy socks, from Knitting on the Road.


I'm glad they're done. Knitting teensy cables with nearly black yarn was NOT a good idea! And the yarn itself, KnitPicks Stroll, was a bit of a pain to work with, I found it very splitty. Anyway, the important thing is that they've been put away in the gift box for now, and I hope they'll be loved by their future owner, because I'm never making another pair of these again!!!

Oddly enough, a side-effect of wanting desperately to be done with these socks over the past 2 weeks has been dreaming about newer, better, funner socks to knit. I've become enamoured with sock knitting once more!


This is the progress as of yesterday afternoon on my first Cookie A. sock pattern, Nebula. I cast on for this sock on Tuesday night, and I've just turned the heel.... but I'm not fast, right?

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Something's always gotta give

What is it about modern women that we feel like we need to excel at everything? As if being super-moms, career women and loving partners weren't enough, we throw in stuff like running, blogging, knitting... Sometimes I wonder why I'm so bloody exhausted all the time, and then I experience a rare moment of clarity: Dude, I have a LOT of stuff going on!

Seems like I can never quite get it ALL done, though. And since the Big Three can't really be set aside (mom, wife, super-librarian extraordinaire), it's usually knitting, blogging or running that gets the boot. This week it's been running. After a really fitness-filled weekend (ran twice AND went to Birkram Yoga), I just can't find the will to put my shoes on. But hey! Upside! I've been blogging AND knitting.

Speaking of knitting, I FINALLY finished the Conwy (aka Oh-My-God-Im-Never-Knitting-With-Black-Yarn-Ever-Again) socks, and have settled on Nebula for my next project. I'm going to be using the same Malabrigo SockI used for Honeybee, as I've got a whole skein leftover. And I'm not sick of it yet, so THAT'S saying something, right? The Wednesday Socks will be the next ones on the list, fear not. I've got the perfect yarn lined up for them, in fact. I'm thinking String Theory Caper Sock Yarn, maybe in Java or Garnet? Oh yeah...

Speaking of upcoming projects, I got my first Year of Lace shipment this week!!!

The yarn is Schaefer Audrey (50% merino, 50% cultivated silk), and as you can see, they're very delicate, Spring-inspired colours. The pattern is cute, but looks a bit finicky after the initial read-through. Not complicated, just... finicky in terms of construction. I mean, it's a rectangular shawl, do I REALLY need to knit the edging first, THEN pick up stitches for the body??? *Sigh*

I'm going to sign off with a gratuitous picture of my daughter Emilie. She's off for Easter break this week, so I took the day to hang out with her and have some girl time. And nothing says girl time like.... DINOSAURS!!!

OK, so this might not traditionally be considered a "girlie" activity. But in MY house, dinosaurs are, like, the COOLEST things EVAH.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Things to look forward to

• My first Year of Lace shipment should arrive any day now. I'm really excited about this, I haven't knit a "real" lace piece in about a year, so it should be fun to get back into it. I'm trying VERY HARD to stay away from the spoiler thread of the Year of Lace group on Ravelry!
• I've turned the heel on the second Conwy sock, which means I'll be able to cast on for a new pair in the next few days. My sock mojo is BACK, and I've got my selection narrowed down to two patterns: Cookie A.'s Nebula or Emily Johnson's Wednesday Socks.
• Hmmm, I just remembered that I've also got Cookie A.'s Sock Innovation in my bookshelf, and I've yet to knit with it. CRAP!
• Going back to work tomorrow... I know that may sound strange, but after 4 days at home with the kids, 2 of which had them all hopped up on sugar, I could use a little R&R!
• My next Birkram Yoga class. Went this weekend after a hearty recommend from Kate-the-Enabler, and I LOVED it.
  

Happy Knitting Everyone!
(p.s.: HAH! 3 posts in 3 days!!!)

Isn't she lovely?

I really don't have much to say tonight... I'm just so totally smitten with the results of today's photo shoot of Honeybee, I'm having a hard time writing something other than OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS CARDIGAN SO MUCH!!!!! So I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

Just a perfect spring sweater.... casual, dressy, Honeybee is whatever you want it to be. Knit with Malabrigo sock, the smallest size took me just a smidge more than 2 skeins. Buh-Haaaaar-Gain!!!!

Now, don't get me wrong... this pattern was a bit of a pain in the arse to knit... but SOOOOOO worth it. It fits beautifully, has no seaming to speak of (THANK you Laura!!!) and it just makes me feel like a zillion bucks when I wear it.

Happy Knitting Everyone!!!

I have proof

Well! That didn't work out quite like I had planned, did it? Leave it to me to make a big deal about posting more often, practically writing a mission statement about it, and then, um, not posting for 5 days... (and for my next trick, watch me stick BOTH feet in my mouth!).

Yeah, things have been hectic. But the good kind of hectic (mostly). Work is good, the kids are healthy, and we're just... busy with this crazy thing called life.

So I haven't been blogging. BUT! Rest assured, I HAVE been knitting. And to prove it, I thought I'd share a few finished objects that have yet to make an appearance.

First up, the Zaphod Beeblebrox sox.


Like Zaphod, they're wacky yet incredibly stylish, and of course the left foot doesn't know what the heck the right foot is up to, so they're fraternal twins, not identical. Knit with Crazy Zauberball sock yarn, they may be plain vanilla socks, but they're simply AMAAAAAAAAY-ZING, baby.

Next we've got Maxime's Blue Dino Hat (aka Roar) which, like each and every hat I've ever knit for him, has proven incredibly difficult to photograph, mainly because he Just. Wouldn't. Wear it. (he does now, but I felt asking him to model a wool hat when it was 25 degrees would be cruel and unusual punishment just so Maman could get a nicer picture for her knitting blog).

Don't believe me? Notice what his right hand is doing in this picture?


Thank GOD the new camera has a fast capture setting, heh...

And last but not least... I finally finished Honeybee :)

OK, I guess it won't really be finished finished until I get the buttons sewed on (still waiting on my order from Jennie the Potter - I can't WAIT!), but the knitting? Done. Bound off, grafted, woven and blocked. DONE!!! It fits great, and it might just be THE finished object I'm most proud of so far in my knitting career. Stay tuned for many artsy fartsy photos in the days to come :)

Happy Knitting Everyone!