Citron

Without further ado (because I know the suspense has been killing you), it is with great pleasure that I give you Citron, aka the Big Red Blob of Doom:

Yes friends, I finished it. There were approximately eleventy-bajillion-zillion stitches on the needles at the end, and for a while I thought I had stumbled into some sort of blip in the time-space continuum, but binding off that final stitch was like attaining knitting nirvana.  I experienced a singular, blissful moment of clarity...

... swiftly followed by an overwhelming wave of hostility and disgust.  I couldn't get that f*$#ing shawl away from me fast enough.

It took me a full week before I could even look at it again, and another week to be able to sit down and weave in 6 little ends. And now it is finally and truly done.

I can't even begin to contemplate casting on for another shawl at this point, resolution be damned.  Since finishing my Citron I have gone absolutely WILD and cast on not one but TWO socks (I KNOW!  Get DOWN with your bad self!) and have been enjoying knitting on one or the other as strikes my fancy.

The pair on the left (which is not, in fact, as crazy neon orange as it appears in this photo) is the latest
Cookie A Sock Club sock, knit with Sweet Georgia CashLuxe Fine.  The pattern (inspired by Spock!) is fun and challenging and the yarn is absolutely divine.  The pair on the right is my Soccer/Swimming/AutoPilot knitting of the moment, a pair of plain vanilla socks knit out of NightFall sock yarn.

I'm sure I'll be serving myself up another slice of crazy-pie within no time, but until then I'll be happily knitting away on these babies.  Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Slog

There are a few reasons why I haven't written a blog post in a good long while.  First (and I know this is going to come as a complete shock to those of you who still frequent this space (*Cough* Dad *Cough*): I'm not exactly the bestest blogger in the whole wide world.  Second, well, I've been kept busy by other projects.

Like the garden...

I guess one could say I've dabbled in vegetable gardening since the kids were born, but this is my third year of "serious" gardening. The garlic is up, carrots are sprouting away, and the tomatoes (that I started from seed!!!!) seem to be managing fairly well despite the cool Spring we've been having up here.  I even spotted a few baby tomatoes out there this morning!

As I mentioned last time, I've also gotten pretty obsessed with cross stitching over the past few weeks.  Cross stitch is a bit of a vixen though.  It beguiles you with it's seemingly manageable size and all-round cuteness, so that you don't immediately realize what a MASSIVE time-suck it can be.  Stitching all those little x's takes TIME, my friends!

But if you really want to know what's been keeping me from posting to this knitting blog, I'll tell you: it's that I am absolutely bored to tears by the project I've been working on since, oh, forever.  Friends, I give you the coma-inducing red blob of despair:

Also known as a Citron Grand, which I'm knitting out of 1300 yards of laceweight.  It's going to make a great Christmas gift, and goodness knows I knew what I was getting myself into when I pulled those 3 balls of Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace out of the stash, but MAN.  I've been relying heavily on my runner training, trying to suck it up and keep slogging along, telling myself that each row is one row closer to the finish line, and you know what? 

Not unlike 'round about the 15th kilometer in a half-marathon, my pep talks are starting to feel like total and complete bullsh*t.  I'm never going to be done.  This mind-numbing, soul-crushing torture is just going to go on (and on)  (and ON) forever. 


Happy pointless knitting that won't make the slightest dent in your WIP everyone! *Sigh*

Ripple Effect

Apologies for the hiatus, friends. It's been a busy few weeks chez Dear, friends (understatement!!!), and I'm so tired I can barely see straight, so it's a real tribute to my love and appreciation of this here blog that I'm even posting at all...

Without further ado, I present the second official FO to finally come off the needles: a pair of Fleece Artist thrum socks, a woefully belated Christmas gift for my stepmum Margot.


Let me just say this: I absolutely *despise* knitting these f***ing things. Hate it. After the first few rounds, the "charm" of the multi-coloured thrums loses what pitiful appeal I had deluded myself into thinking they had, and I want to snip the fledgling sock into a zillion wee bits and set them on fire. Don't ask me why. I just really, really REALLY hate knitting these things. But I knit them anyway. You know... once every 2 or 3 years, when I can finally suppress the gag reflex these f***ers inspire. 'Cause that's just the kind of awesome stepdaughter I am, you know? Heh.

Suffice it to say that, once I was finally done with these never-ending time sucks of doom socks, I had a mean hankering to knit ANY SOCK WHATSOEVER AS LONG AS IT WASN'T THRUMMED. In the next few days, I cast on not one, but TWO pairs. Considering my strict-ish policy about project monogamy, that should tell you something about how far out of my comfort zone those Socks of Evil pushed me.

Sock cast on The First:


Solid Socks Mystery KAL, designed by Laura Jenkins, knit with Sweet Georgia Tough Love in the Tourmaline colourway. Colour is way, WAY off in this picture, but hey, that's life.

Sock cast on The Second:


It's Tea Time socks, from Around the World in Knitted Socks, by Stephanie Van der Linden. Knit with The Sincere Sheep Keen 100% BFL Superwash in the Milpa colourway. Really digging these at the moment.

The recent cast-ons are helping me recover with the trauma of the thrummed socks, but I don't know what I'm completely over it yet. Maybe I should cast on for a cowl...

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Satisfaction

My last FO for 2011 was another Holiday Hooligan, Ivy, this time for Maxime.


Pretty cute huh? A bit of a finicky pain in the arse to knit, and should totally have counted as three FOs since it came with a hat and a scarf, but hey... the important thing is that he's happy with it (you know.. as much as anyone with the attention span of a four year-old can be). Perhaps even more important is the fact that I've pretty much purged the urge to knit toys, and can I get an Amen to that?

The only trouble is that, since finishing Ivy, my knitting has kind of... lulled. I've got a few projects on the go, and even finished a few things (a second Roar hat for Émilie, as well as a neckwarmer/cowl that turned out too big for her...), but... yeah. Nothing was really doing it for me. It was all rather... Meh. Schmeh. Yadayada.

Then one day I was procrastinating browsing on Ravelry (raise your hand if you've got a funny knitting story that starts with those words!), looking into the Solid Socks group... and suddenly I was a woman possessed. I had to knit a pair of socks in the colour of the month (Black, White or Grey) and I had to knit the Mystery Sock (this month's is to catch up on a former Mystery Sock). I mean... I hadn't knit a pair of fun, challenging, pretty socks in, like... weeks!


Pattern is Aphrodite, by Jeannie Cartmel (who, might I add, has some really cute sock patterns!), and the yarn is Springtree Road's Emeline Sock (50% superwash merino, 50% silk) in the Chartreux colourway.

I'm calling them my Peel Me A Grape socks. They're decadent, sophisticated and just plain fabulous, and I'm loving every minute of this project. I mean... just look at them! Oh yeah, that's the stuff right there.


Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Charmed

Somehow, right in the midst of the Tomato Tornado (to say nothing of the Apple Avalanche that came right on its heels), I managed to finish the scarf I've been working on over the past few weeks. It's the Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf, by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, and I could not be more pleased with how it turned out. I don't want to say too much about it here, because I'm planning on giving it it's own post just as soon as I can find the time to take some fabulously stylish pictures of it this weekend (OK fine, I'll settle for decent, in-focus pictures taken in natural light), but I can totally see this scarf becoming the next Noro Striped Scarf. There are just so many possible colour combinations, and there's really NO way any of them could turn out to be crap, you know? I mean... it's KOIGU. Like, duh.


Enough about the scarf though (patience, my preciousssssses). The point is that I finished it, and I was now free to cast on something shiny and new. The thing is though, I wasn't too sure what I wanted to knit. Nothing was really jumping out at me, calling out to my Inner Knitter. Or rather, nothing I already had the yarn for in my stash was calling out to me. Oh sure, Carol Feller's Tembo (and the Quince & Co. Osprey I'd need to make it) was really tempting, and Stephen West's Spectra (and the 10 skeins of Noro (at LEAST) I would be FORCED to buy "just to be sure I had THE perfect one") was looking pretty gosh darn nifty... But socks? Mittens? A shawl? You know... things I already have the pattern and yarn for???? Nope. Not even a blip on my radar. Typical.

I was starting to get seriously discouraged, when I happened upon the Garden Gnome Hat, which I've had in my Rav queue ever since it first came out. Quick, perfect, and I had about a dozen single skeins of KnitPicks Palette in the stash. This was it, the next project, the next One True Thing.


And I'm charmed, completely and utterly charmed. Maybe it's the red and white colour scheme, which reminds me of Cauchy's completely awesome red work. Maybe it's the (yet to be completed) pompom, because y'all know I'm a sucker for a good pompom. Maybe it's just the cooler weather making me want to begin cranking out the winter wear.

Personally, I think it's the fact that it's a HAT WITH FREAKIN' GARDEN GNOMES ON IT. Gnomes!!! On a Hat!!! Brilliant.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

The swing of things

Summer vacation 2011 is now officially over (for the grownups, anyway). Phil and I are both back at work, the kids are in daycare, and I'm looking at the calendar and trying to not Wig the Eff Out at all the things we've got coming up, not the least of which is getting ready for Émilie to go back to school... (Have I done ANY shopping for that? That'd be a big NO. Ack.)

Deep, cleansing breath... OK, I feel better. Mostly.

Over the weekend we had our plates full with shopping, gardening (my vegetable patch EXPLODED while we were away, thanks in no small part to Kate-The-Enabler's mad waterning skillz. Thanks Kate!), and laundry... oh, the laundry. Wow.

I managed to find the time for the stuff that matters to us all, of course.

I got caught up in one of the Quilt-alongs I'm doing (We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler)


I got a little knitting in and cast on for a new project (Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf - Mmmmm... Koigu)


I even managed to curl up with some new books that somehow found their way into my Chapters cart last time I was browsing on their site (isn't it funny how that happens?)


Slowly getting back into the swing of things :)

Happy Making, Everyone!

Summertime

When I was growing up, summer meant long days spent swimming, reading, exploring, backyard camping... No obligations, no school, just endless days and nights stretching out before me, full of possibility and promise.

Not so anymore, of course. When you're a parent, summer takes on different meaning entirely (at least, it does if you're a parent with a day job). Gone are the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer! School (aka where the kids go while you're at work) is OUT, and you've got to figure out what to do with those kids!

In many respects, summer is our busiest, most stressful time of the year. That's why I'm always amazed when, despite the craziness and occasional bout of wanting to rip my hair out... stuff gets made.

Fresh, glorious strawberries get transformed into jam...


Yarn is looped over and over and, ever so slowly, and turned into the makings of a cardigan...


And fabric gets cut and sewn into quilt blocks...


Endless promise and possibility indeed.

Happy Making, Everyone!

Good Mail

Fellow Canadian Crafteristas^TM, do not despair, for I bring you proof that , despite the Canada Post strike, it is indeed still possible to have one's spirits entirely lifted by a Really Good Mail Day.

Quince & Co. Tern, aka my Congrats-on-running-the-half-marathon! yarn.

Assorted fabric bundles, to be used in the We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler I'm starting next week.

I'm still waiting on a coupla goodies, but still, that was a pretty yum mail day. Am I right?

With no active projects on the needles (What's that about a green scarf? What??? You're breaking up, I can't hear you!!!), I was free to swatch and cast on with the Tern pretty much as soon as I opened the package. I'm (finally) going to be making the Akoya cardigan. Insert happy sigh :: here ::


When I'm not busy sewing, of course...


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Years in the making

So, if you've been reading for a little while, you know that I've recently started sewing. Like most of the "Things That Are New" that I take up, sewing was something I thought about a LOT before actually getting to the DOING IT part. My usual pattern has me waxing romantic about whatever it is I'm obsessing about at any given moment - making jam, planting a vegetable garden, running, steeking (still haven't done that one)... -, alternately sighing about how I'd love to be able to do "that" and hemming and hawing about how "I-don't-have-the-time-It-looks-too-complicated-I-can't-really-handle-another-obsession-anyway", stalking researching people who actually DO do "that", making the - ahem - occasional discreet purchase to prepare for when I actually DO do "that", and then... FINALLY... doing it.

When it comes to sewing, the thing I've really, really, REALLY wanted to do is make a quilt. Really. I've been thinking about making a quilt for... oh... YEARS. And I haven't. First because it involved sewing (big Duh moment right there, I know). And even if I DID know how to sew, it looked hard. I would look at all these beautiful quilts people were churning out (the blogosphere is FILLED with quilters, y'all!), and I'd feel overwhelmed. So I stalkedresearched-sighed-hemmed-and-hawed some more, and that was pretty much it.

This weekend I'd had enough of that, and decided to "Just Do It" already. Sure, I'm only "just" learning to sew. Sure, I have no idea what I'm doing... But guess what? I'm a reasonably intelligent woman, my sewing teacher lives right across the street from me, and if all else fails, I've got some pretty impressive Google-Fu skills to fall back on. My imaginary quilt wasn't going to make itself.

I've settled on Red Pepper Quilt's Alice pattern, which seems to be fairly doable, at least to my newbie eyes. I made my first block last night, and tempted as I might be to just shrug it off with a "Oh, it's nothing fancy, just a simple Log Cabin block after all, no biggie", I'm not going to do that.

This block, this first wee step on the way to my very first quilt, is the result of YEARS of anticipation, not to mention 2 hours of cutting and sewing last night (I know, I'm learning...), and that makes it pretty frickin' awesome, if you ask me.


Oh, and for those of you who come here for the knitting, I'm working on a sock too :)


Happy Crafting, Everyone!

Sneaky

In the last fortnight I seem to have given birth to a sneaky FO. This is rather unbelievable to me, mostly because I really wasn't trying to get all stealthy on y'all. I always intended to talk about the fervid relationship I was having with Chadwick, my current WIP. Other blogable stuff seemed to (happily) get in the way, and before I knew it, my time with Stephen West's lovely pattern was at an end.


Tell you the truth, the whole thing was rather serendipitous. I was still high on the success of my finished Cleopatra's stockings and was ignoring the green scarf thinking forward to my next project, and these 2 skeins of String Theory Caper Sock (Java and Lacuna) sort of jumped out at me and begged to be used together in one project.

The colour combo is sophisticated and modern (well, to me it is anyway), which always makes me think of Stephen West, even though I'd yet to knit any of his patterns. I've had Daybreak in my Rav queue forever, but for some reason, I felt pretty sure that this yarn wanted to be knit up into a Chadwick.


Now - I'm a fairly quick knitter, but this project just flew right off my needles. The yarn was fabulous, as always - you'd think I'd have developed some kind of an immunity by now, but nope! I'm still helpless every time I come into contact with this stuff. The pattern was simple yet interesting - those clever purl ridges thrown into the mix had me positively giddy. And do let's not underestimate the powerful mojo of the stripe - Ooh! It's blue! Now it's brown! Now it's blue again! - which still entertains me to no end.


In short, there's nothing I didn't like about this project, and I highly recommend it.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Official photoshoot to come soonish. All attempts made yesterday were either out of focus, underexposed, or had me looking like a bloated sausage. Trust me: Chadwick deserves better than that!

Finding the will to go on

I don't do much knitting in public. Correction: I don't do much knitting in public around Muggles. Not that I'm embarrassed or shy about my Knitter lifestyle, of course. Truthfully, I don't give a flying fig what people think of a Wannabe-hip-thirtysomething-married-mother-of-two-librarian-with-delusions-of-semi-hotness ^TM who knits.

No, rather it's because, in my experience anyway, Muggles just don't seem to get the concept of multi-tasking. The idea that I can talk and knit at the same time (and not just about what I'm knitting, either!) is just completely foreign to them. They don't get it, they see me knitting and get all discombobulated, and pretty soon any conversation - or rather, my presumed participation within said conversation - fizzles out.

Now, when I'm home (or hanging out with my knitting peeps), it's another matter entirely, of course. My knitting is rarely more than an arm's length away, ready for me to pick it up and knit a few rounds here and there, while watching TV with the kids, supervising homework, etc.

Which is why, when I didn't pick up my knitting on Friday night, it felt really odd. Sure, I was super tired, and we were watching a subtitled movie, which isn't exactly knit-friendly, but the point is that I didn't even feel the urge to knit. Like, at all.

Then on Saturday? Same thing. OK, I had dinner with friends that evening and didn't get home until way past my bedtime, but even during the day... nothing. Not a stitch. It was like I had lost my will to knit.

I gave it a lot of thought on Sunday, and I think I've found a solution to my problem.

That's better.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Stamina

This time of year is all about fortitude and endurance. March 21st, that shining beacon of hope that I've held onto through the dark, cold winter, has come and gone, and while it may "officially" be Spring, what we're getting is really just Winter wearing a different outfit. A shitty one at that. The crisp, fluffy dresses of December are long gone, but Mother nature has yet to don her youthful green attire, opting instead for the sleezy grey of some middle-aged floozy.

Proper attention must be paid to finding suitable knitting projects during this special time when my morale and Vitamin D count are at their annual low. I know the Yarn Harlot refuses to knit anything grey in March, and that's a sound rule indeed. Grey in March would just be a one-way ticket to happy-pill town.

I'd up the ante on her rule though, and boldly state that knitting with any neutral, dark colours in March is flirting with disaster. What makes me think so? My current WIPs, that's what.

Brown Socks (the emergency skein arrived on Tuesday). Very pretty brown socks, but still... they're brown. I'm really, really looking forward to wrapping this project up. I'm dreaming of casting on a pair of wildly colourful variegated socks. Clown-vomit? Yes PLEASE.

Only trouble is that I've got to get this sucker off the needles first:


That'd be the accompanying scarf for the Wild Apples Bohus Hat (did I mention I finished it? Yup. I totally did. I've just got, oh... about eleventy billion ends to weave in. Joy.) It's knit in broken rib (1x1 rib, alternating every 4 rows).

I'm knitting a khaki-green broken rib scarf. In March.

Did I mention it's knit on 2.0 mm needles?

Yeah. I'm knitting a scarf with 2.0 mm needles in a poopy-green broken rib. In March. Possibly forever.

Thank heavens for colourful fabric.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

I didn't wanna do it

Last night I was musing on how I may have committed the equivalent of blog suicide by committing to the New Rule. Think about it: I have publicly pledged to devote myself exclusively to completing an entire pair of socks between each and every project, no matter how small. And right now I'm knitting brown socks. You DO realize that you're all in for about a week and a half of "Here are the same brown socks, only slightly longer than last time I showed them to you" posts, riiiiight?

Speaking of which: hey look! I finished the first one!

Now, when I first cast on for these babies, it was very clear to me that these would be MAN socks. Definitely not for me. It's not that I don't like them or anything. I just like a little more pizzazz in my footwear.

Anyway, there I was, really zipping along, kind of desparate to finish the first one so as to minimize the amount of time I will be boring you to tears with brown sock posts, and I started to think about how I was going to make it up to you. How was I going to keep the blog interesting while I finished these endless socks of brown boringness that were definitely not for me? Well, there's Damask to feature, of course, and *cough*possible fabric stash enhancement*cough*, and a secret swap project I've had finished for a while but haven't blogged because the recipient might be a reader... That would hold you over, right? And then, to make it up to you, I'd cast on a new pair of socks. Something really pretty, something with fantastic colours and a fun pattern, something so fabulously awesome that you'd want to use it as your screen savers. And those socks would be for me. Not these ones. These ones were totally not for me.

When I finished the sock I had Phil try it on, but not before making sure he knew that just because these were clearly MAN socks (and thus, obviously, not for me), they were not necessarily his, either. Other men in my life have expressed sock yearning to me (see Dad? Your comments are not lost on THIS knitter. No sir.), so he wasn't to get too excited.

He tries them on. They're... um... a bit snug, and... er... a bit short. By a lot.

But, wouldn't you know it? They fit me perfectly.


I could have sworn I'd knit those longer. 'Cause, you know.... they totally weren't for me. Ahem.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

New Rule

There's something about forming a plan, isn't there? I don't know about you, but I find them very empowering. If I'm feeling overwhelmed or directionless, I'll take a good hard look at what I've got going on, reassess, and come up with a game plan. To be quite honest though, whether or not I actually stick to said plan is sort of moot. The plan has served it's purpose, in that devising it into existence made me feel better and prevented me from turning into a raving lunatic who dresses up her cats for fun.

So! In keeping with the "Who Da (Wo)Man?" spirit of my knitting these days, I've come up with a new rule. Each time I finish a project, I have to cast on (and complete!) a pair of socks. This is necessary because: a) I have lots of sock yarn and b) I have no intention of curbing my sock yarn purchasing lifestyle in any way. Knitting socks will prevent the children from being buried in a sock yarn avalanche should they open the yarn closet. Plus? Handknit socks = Good. Duh. Total no brainer.

Having finished the Damask shawl over the weekend (Yes, it's blocked and no, I don't have pictures yet. I still have 2 ends to weave, and besides, I don't have the right wardrobe for a proper photo shoot. I think it'll look best worn with a black blouse/shirt. Do I have a black blouse/shirt? No. No, I do not.), I dutifully grabbed the current pair of socks that have been lingering woefully in my knitting/sewing basket (yeah, the basket is pulling double duty lately).


These would be a pair of Java socks, from the Winter 2011 Knitty. I'm knitting them out of String Theory Caper Sock (I may have developed a "thing" for their yarn), in the aptly named Java colourway, so I'm calling them my Java Java socks (apparently, I'm easily amused).

The pattern is cute, but I've got to admit that the fact that there are no charts is KILLING me. Just killing me. Also, the gauge is, um, tight. Like... wicked, foot armor producing tight.

(the colour is truer to life in this last picture)

I'm sticking to it though. After all, I have a plan.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

This always happens...

After all that talk about how deeply, deeply smitten I was with my wee strips last week, would you believe I didn't even look at the sewing machine all weekend?

I can hardly be blamed, of course. I was (and still am) in the grips of full-on Lace-obsession-itis, a debilitating ailment that always seems to strike me when I'm holding onto my sanity by the skin of my teeth.

Now, over the past few months I've really noticed that, to put it plainly: my knitting helps me stay sane. It's soothing and repetitive and a process that can't really be rushed in any way. Knitting is orderly, precise, and - perhaps most importantly - entirely under my control. I am the boss of my knitting. Me. No one else.

So when I'm under stress, I (naturally) want to knit. Once the kids are in bed I'll pour myself a glass of wine, sit on the couch with my legs curled up under me, and pick up my knitting. It always amazes me how it only takes a few stitches for the tension to leave my body. It's like I've been holding my breath all day, without even noticing, and suddenly I can exhale. Doesn't matter what I'm working on, as long as I'm knitting SOMETHING, I feel better.

Of course, when things start to get really hectic (like, say, my daughter had a brain-tumour kind of hectic?), I don't just want to knit something. I want to really KNIT. I want something that requires concentration, precision, something I can really sink my needles into. I want to knit lace.

I've known it was coming for some time now, this desire, no, this need to knit lace. I've been trying to put it off, arguing with myself that I've got the Bohus going on, those perfectly lovely socks, not to mention 2 more baby gifts, and did I think those things were just going to up and knit themselves? I gave myself a stern talking to and said "Now is not the time to cast on for another project. You've got responsibilities here. You've made commitments to these other projects. Be a grownup and just suck it up".

And then I snapped out of it. I ran upstairs, rooted through the stash, pulled out some magnificent Tanis Silver Label Mulberry Silk that Kate (that Enabler one) gave me for my birthday last year, and cast on for a lace shawl (this one) faster than you can click your 2.25 mm needles together 3 times.

I remembered that grownup responsibility has no business in MY knitting. Who da' man? That'd be ME, thankyouverymuch. Pass me the laceweight.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

I'm good

Geez, where does the time go, eh? Almost a week since my last post, and nothing really fascinating to show for it, sadly. We're plodding along, trying to get back to a normal routine with Émilie and Maxime, and I find myself preferring to knit in the evenings rather than write about knitting. Go figure.

The latest projects to come off my needles have been, I think, pretty gosh darn sweet. As much as the Knitting Fates can be cruel and ruthless mistresses, they've been good to me with Castlegar and the Non-Cookie KAL Estonian socks. Everytime I think about these projects, I get an infusion of knitterly pride. I really can't wait for you to see. I keep envisioning the fantastic, Brooklyn Tweed-y shots I'm going to take, how fabulous the knitwear will look (not to mention - let's be honest - me). Awesome stuff, people.

Obviously, these "perfect knitwear" shots will require natural light. And a great location. And me looking fit and rested and not having zits on my face. All things that I totally have it in my power to pull off (in theory. The "rested and zitless" thing is a total crapshoot). Except that, for some reason, Phil and I just Could. Not. manage to get our acts together at the same time this weekend. If he was available, I was stepping off the treadmill or coming back from yoga (red, sweaty faced Tara-shots? Gee let me think...). If I was available, he was running out to do the groceries or heading out to go kite-skiing. Stuff like that, only All. Weekend. Long. And despite all my good intensions, turns out that being both the model AND the photographer/artistic director is kinda hard. For instance, this (kinda cool) shot of Castlegar was all I managed by myself. *Sigh*

But fear not! Today's post is going to be all about the WIPs. (Wait, make that the active WIPs. We're not going to discuss projects that are hibernating or in a time-out right now.) I can totally take pictures of those by myself, right?

Imagine my surprise when I only had one WIP to show you. One. One project on the needles right now. I was stunned. I've totally got my knitting mojo back, and yet... only one project? What was up with that?

Then I stopped and actually looked at what I was knitting. Oh.

And the (slightly blurry) reverse, because I know someone's going to want to see all it's floaty glory.

Turns out knitting a Bohus pattern is totally satisfying. That might change when I'm knitting the simple scarf to go with the hat, but for now? I'm good.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Stress relief

It's been quite the week chez Dear. Obviously, there's the whole "Holy Crap Christmas is in a week how the heck did that happen!?!" thing that sneaks up on me (and I suspect many other knitters) every year, but for added fun we've been dealing with Mystery Health Issues that Émilie's been having over the past few weeks as well.

Last Friday the school called me and asked if I'd noticed that something was wrong with Emilie's face. She'd gotten into a bit of a scuffle with a friend a few days earlier, and I honestly thought they were following up on that (she had a scratch beneath her left eye). I was in full "Responsible Mommy" mode, right up until they said "Well, we don't want to alarm you, but she appears to be paralyzed on one side of her face. You might want to come pick her up and get her checked out."

Think about that a minute. When the word "paralysis" is used in a conversation about your child, let me assure you that the adrenaline goes WAY up in a right hurry. Five minutes later, I was well on my way and Dad was on the phone with Dr. Grampa, who pulled a Mario Andretti and arrived at the house about 20 minutes later (a drive that would usually take 45 minutes easy). She receives a full exam, and the preliminary diagnosis is that she's got Bell's Palsy, which is treatable and reversible over time.

She's been on medication since Friday, and seems to be responding to the treatment. Facial control isn't entirely restored at this point, but we've been seeing some improvement, which is a good sign.

We were still concerned about WHAT brought on the palsy in the first place of course, so yesterday we took her to see the ENT. He suspects that she's actually got Infectious mononucleosis, and it's the mono that has caused her facial paralysis, which is rare but not unheard of in the literature.

What's NOT so good is that she also seems to have substantial hearing loss in her right ear, something that can't be explained by either the mono or the Bell's Palsy... Phone calls are made, and we somehow manage to jump ahead of a six-month waiting period and get her an appointment for a proper hearing test TODAY. See? Holiday Miracles really do happen!

So how do you think I've been dealing with all of this? Well, I've been knitting up a storm, of course. For instance, earlier in the week I knit Émilie a Holiday Candy Cane scarf for school.

See the Bell's Palsy? The right side of her face just doesn't quite work :(

OK, so it's not exactly a LONG scarf, but did I mention I knit it in one evening? Yeah... I cast on for it at 7:00 PM, and was weaving in ends and making fringe a bleary-eyed 4.5 hours later.

I also got a substantial amount of knitting done on the Non-Cookie-KAL Estonian Socks, mach 2.

MUCH happier with the colourwork of this version. I futzed around with the calf shaping, heel and gussets quite a bit (I'll get into the details in another post), but the important thing is that - as of 11:15 last night - I have a kick-ass Estonian Sock that fist me like a second skin.

Too bad I still have to knit another one...

Happy Knitting Everyone. If I don't get to post before the big day, we at Casa de Dear send wishes of Happiness, Peace, and most importantly Health to you and yours.