Normalcy (or the Semblance Thereof)

Phil's back at last, and we're all thrilled to have him home. The kids have barely left his side since he stepped through the door (even before that actually, since Émilie came with me to pick him up at the airport), always wanting him to be the one who reads them their story and puts them to bed. And you know what? That suits me just fine :)

He brought back some chocolate and toys for the kids, and a large botthe of my favourite eau de parfum, by Jean-Paul Gauthier. Very nice.

He also passed by a yarn shop while he was out and about last Tuesday, but alas, it was closed. Still, he took a picture as proof!

And it seems as though there's still hope yet of my making the trip with him next time he has to go. He was originally upposed to go back in early December, but with all the concerts I've got coming up, I just couldn't make it. But apaprently the client is considering pushing back the return visit to early January, which means that, barring unforeseen complications, I could go! It will be our 15 year anniversary in January. Wouldn't it be awesome to spend it together in Paris? *Sigh*

Maxime is slowly on the mend. His stomach is still very sensitive, so we haven't been able to return to a normal diet, and I can tell he's getting a little sick of rice, carrots and bananas. But whenever I give him something different, he has lots of trouble digesting it. Hopefully everything will be sorted out in a few more days.

Have you seen the new Twist Collective? There are quite a few patterns I really like (the Lotus Leaf mittens, Véronik Avery's Mars Hat and Scarf, Zephyr Style's Mary Jane). But the one that's really got my juices going is Broderie by Connie Chang Chinchio. Oh, I heart this one. I think I may even have the appropriate yarn for it in the stash (Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo), but I'm a bit iffy on the colour. It's a beautiful teal, but I'm wondering if a darker colour like that would shroud the patterning?

Allright, I'm off to sit with Phil (who's trying to stay awake long enough for us to watch last week's Heroes) and knit a bit. Happy Knitting Everyone!

Crap on Tap

That's what it's been like at casa de Dear for the past 5 days. Crap. On. Tap. I wound up staying home until Thursday, Maxime's stomach only started to settle yesterday. He's still only so-so, but I really had no choice anymore, I had to go in to put out a few fires, you know? I hadn't been to the office in a week!

Luckily, Phil is coming home tomorrow. His flight lands at 3:20 PM, so I'll be heading out at 3:25 on the nose :)

It was good to get out of the house for a day, and to get back to the gym. I'm really looking forward to getting weighed and measured in a few weeks! Never thought I'd say that before.

I'm a bit beat tonight, folks, so I'll keep this brief. I finished the first Fleece Artist Thrum sock!

And because I know you're all dying to see it, the sock inside out.

(I don't know about you, but every time I look at that shot, I'm overcome with an urge to sing What's Love Got to Do With It.)

As you can see, I trimmed the thrums a bit at the cuff, but I did them the "right" way on the toe. I'm pleased to report that a human foot does indeed fit in there. Yay!

Pleased as I am with the sock, I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to cast on the second one. After I completed the first sock on Wednesday night, I needed to have a fling, indulge with a flirty little nothing, anything to take the edge off a bit. And it just so happened that I was the victim is a genuine Random Act of Kindness by none other that Robyn, über-mom herself and purveryor of yarny goodness. She read on my blog that I hearted the Pacific Islands stole pattern, and she bought it for me! Isn't that sweet??? Thanks, hun!

I cast on with a beautiful colour of Dyed in the Wool Handmade Laceweight, and I'm absolutely loving it, to the point of distracting me from all my other wips.

And I need the distraction! I think I lost the first of my Miscellaneous-Man Socks, take 2 (not to mention the hand sewn bag my friend Chemmy made for me!). They were both in the bag I take everywhere with me, and now I can't find either of them anywhere. I have a sneaking suspicion they're in some metro wagon, huddled together underneath a crumpled newspaper, giving the empty coffee cup a wide berth. The sock can be replaced. The bag? Not so much. Knit, knit, knit.

While I was home, I decided to take some yarn pron pictures and try to finish uploading my stash to Ravelry. I'm happy to report that I'm almost finished (!!!!) uploading my sock yarn... (there may still be a few stray skeins in the closet). Dudes. That's a LOT of sock yarn. Gulp.

And now here we are, anoter week safely behind us. I'm going to curl up with a glass of wine, listen to my new CD which arrived in the mail today (no gold-lined box, but it's a wonderful album, I'm so glad I bought it!) and dream of the blue Pacific.

Happy Knitting Everyone! Be good to each other.

All Work and No Play...

... makes Tara a dull girl. I tell you, whoever thinks that being a stay-at-home mom isn't really "work" clearly needs to have their head examined. Truly, I raise my hat to you ladies. I've been home on my own with the kids for 2 days now, and I'm about ready to run naked into oncoming traffic on the off-chance that it could strike up an interesting conversation with another adult.

Maxime has gastroentiritis (I know. Could the timing have possibly been any worse?). He isn't throwing up (thanks be to sunny Jesus for THAT small favour), but everything he eats and drinks just goes right through him, and right quick at that. I couldn't in good conscience send him to daycare, where he could potentially infect the other kids, nor could I send Émilie either (thankfully, she seems fine for now, but she might still be a carrier). I know that I certainly wouldn't appreciate it if any of the other parents dropped off their pestilent child at daycare, so here we all are.

Meanwhile, Phil visited the Louvre (where he also flew a kite) and the Arc de Triomphe, and today he's visiting a pinball museum because it's a statutory holiday over there. Redrum, REDRUM!!!!!

Maxime is down for his nap now, and Émilie's watching Sleeping Beauty. I figured I'd squeeze this post in now because there's no way in H-E- double hockey sticks that I'm going to be up for it tonight.

Dear God, please let Maxime get better today so I can get OUT OF HERE tomorrow!!! I'm going crazy!!!!!!!! Dudes, I really don't think a simple night out on Phil's return is going to cut it at this point... We're talking full on debauchery here, people. ;)

I've almost finished the first Thrum Sock. Thanks Jennifer for referring me to the Harlot's FAQ on thrumming. I must have read it before, but I had completely forgotten about it. I really wish I'd remembered it before I got started, but there's just no way I'm ripping everything out. No way, José! I'll trim the thrums when I'm done this one, and the second sock will be done the "right" way. Chalk it up to the learning curve.

Happy Knitting Everyone! I'm going to go lie on the couch and watch Sleeping Beauty for the umteenth time with my kid.

Dangly Parts

Recently on Facebook I posted that in my next life, I wanted to be the man, even if that meant I had to put up with dangly parts. Phil was away, and I had had a particularly rough evening with the cherubs (Émilie had had a half-our long screaming fit of rage around dinner time and after their bath, Maxime had tripped and hit his head on Émilie's dresser, so hard that he actually passed out for a few seconds - he's fine now). When I got into the office the next morning, I read an email that Phil had sent me from work the previous afternoon, after I had already left. It said that the people he was training were a hoot and a half, they were having a blast, and he was heading off for a bite to eat before hooking up with a pinball friend.

........

And now, Phil's in Paris, and here I am again, Super Mom, Wonder Woman extraordinaire, holding down the fort. I'm trying very hard not to be bitter. Knitting helps with the not bitter. So does alcohol.

I only mention the Facebook dangly parts thing because a) I think it's funny to use the term "dangly parts" and try to insert it into my daily conversation whenever I can (this also holds true for words like "mosey" and "hootenanny"), and b) it seems that even my knitting lately has had protrusions of one kind or another.


The completed Snowball Hat. I can't believe this was the best picture I took of myself (thanks to all of you who assured me that the pics in the last post were actually kind of cute, you're too kind), but there you go. I'd been standing in the bathroom with Passe-Partout on in the background for about 5 minutes, and I was just goofing off. (Oh, and by the way? I loooooved making the pom pom! The tutorial was very helpful, and I finally got it. The whole thing took about 3 minutes [and alot of yarn! I had no idea pom poms ate up that much yardage!]. Very exciting. Look for more pom poms in my future knitting projects.)

Another project that's got dangly parts is the Fleece Artist Thrum Sock I cast on for on Thursday night.Allright, obviously my thrums are waaaaay too long, right? Because honestly? I'm having trouble believing that any human foot will ever be able to fit in there...

I got gauge. I cast on for the medium size sock. The intended recipient has medium size female feet. It should be fine, and yet I'm really sceptical at this point that it's all going to work out in the end. Oh well, who knew knitting could be such a high risk activity?

What else has been going on here lately? Well, Friday I took the day off. I've been sick for about 2 weeks, and with Phil about to head off again, I figured I should just take a day to try and rest as much as possible before the madness started all over again. I read and knit and watched 2 movies (OK, and I did about 7 loads of laundry). It was bliss (except for the constant coughing, of course). Saturday was spent with the usual running around, doing groceries, taking Émilie to her skating lessons, taking her for a haircut, making food...

Today the kids were up bright and early (at the butt crack of dawn, actually). After breakfast and the usual morning cartoons, we headed out to meet with Auntie Jessica!

She knew Phil was going to be away and graciously offered to come over and help out in any way she could. Since I was desperate to get out of the house, we agreed to meet at the Biodôme at 9:30.

Maxime was quite fascinated by the St-Lawrence Maritime Exhibit.

So was Émilie!

Fun was had, and after a brief panick when Jessica realized her Bird in Hand mittens weren't in her sleeve (a good Samaritan had found them and they were at the front desk), we headed back to the burbs. Jessica and I were able to have a nice long chat while Maxime had his nap and Émilie watched a movie, then it was time to run a few more errands before driving Jessica to the metro and heading home for the night.

So thanks for a lovely day, Jessica! It's always such a pleasure to spend time with you ... :) And don't worry: we're so totally ON for a night of dancing when Phil comes home!

The evening went fairly well, I think. Maxime did his own cooking while I made dinner and Émilie played games on the computer...

See the bumps he has on his head? He took a header off the living room couch yesterday. And he walked into a door right before bed tonight, after this picture was taken. *Sigh*

And now I'm sitting here enjoying a glass of wine and blogging. In short, the kids are alive, the house is still standing... I done good.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Almost Finished Object

Phil's back from his business trip, but only for a quick pit-stop, I'm afraid. He's off to Paris for a week this Saturday, and I'm trying my best not to be bitter about not being able to make the trip with him this time. I find that knitting helps with the not-bitter, as do large quantities of red wine (though that doesn't help the knitting).

I almost finished the Snowball Hat! I've woven in my ends and everything, all it needs now is the pom pom. Now if you recall, I bought my pom pom kit in Japan, and for the life of me, I just couldn't figure out how it works. I must be pom pom challenged or something, I don't know. I Googled a few pom pom tutorials today, and I feel confident that this one by Clara Parkes should produce a satisfactory pom pom. I. Can. DO IT!

[Ugh, sorry about the crapiness of the photo. This is what happens when I try taking pictures of myself in the bathroom mirror :)]

I like how it turned out, I think. It looks a little, um.... lumpy? I'm wondering if that's due to my yarn selection or if most projects that are knit with yarn doubled turn out this way? Maybe I should block it? Gee, it'd probably help if I had a close-up of what I mean, eh? Riiiight...

Anyway, I wound up 2 skeins of Malabrigo worsted for this project, and there's plenty of yardage left in both cakes. I'm hoping there'll be enough for a pair of coordinating Fetchings. Then I'd have a complete set of winter accessories. That'd be great if these were made for the gift pile, but nay nay, they're for me. (It's all for me! Mouhahahahaha!!!).

Up next will be the Fleece Artist Thrum sock kit, me thinks. I'll wind up the cake after I finish up the pom pom later tonight, and maybe even swatch...

I'll end today's post by sharing an email I received from CD Baby, an online independent music source based in Portland, Oregon, last week. Remember I had mentioned a new artist I really liked a few posts back? Well, I went ahead and bought it online (talk to the hand, Phil!). This is their shipping confirmation:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, October 29th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh...

It's been a week, and I still get a good chuckle out of that email....

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Scary Capability

Phil's away on a business trip, leaving me alone with the cherubs and the house and the work and the... you get the idea. That, combined with the end of daylight savings time (Émilie was up at 5:16 AM this morning) has left me plain old pooped. But a girl's got to get her kicks somewhere, right?

I tell you, sometimes it really does take a village to raise a child. Or in my case, it took 2 doting grandparents last night to bathe and put 2 kids to bed so Mommy could go to choir practice. I've got a series of concerts coming up starting in early December, including one at the Oratoire St-Joseph (!!!), so I figured it wouldn't be wise to miss a practice if I could help it. I don't know how much good it did, since it was hard to sing when coughing approximately every 5 seconds (apparently I spoke too soon a few posts back, we're all sick as the proverbial dog). But at least I was there!
I cast on the Snowball Hat on Sunday night. I'm using Malabrigo Worsted again, and so far I like how it's turning out. It's definitely going to be a quick knit (provided I figure out how to work my Japanese pompom maker), so I'll be able to get back to my Christmas knitting later this week.

And what would that be, you may be wondering? Well, I've got a few projects lined up. I think Fratello will most likely be my third Miscellaneous-Man Sock of the season. I really like Yarnissima's patterns, plus it'll give me the chance to stick to my promise to Tamara and cast on for a pair of socks using 2 circular needles. :)

I've also got a Fleece Artist Thrum Sock kit that I've been meaning to knit for a while, as well as the Sock Monkey Hat from the summer '06 Knitty (for one of my nephews). Stay tuned.

Speaking of Christmas Knitting, I've been invited to contribute to the Christmas Knitting Frenzy blog Michelle has set up. I don't know how much knitting I'll actually manage, but it should be fun to see how other people cope with these crazy goals we tend to set up for ourselves this time of year!

I'll end today's post by sending a great big ole' hunk of love to my knitting buddies Alison and Caroline. Apparently they've been inspired to go on their own health and fitness adventures after reading about mine, and I wish them much success. I can't tell you how wonderful all your positive comments made me feel, ladies!

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Tidbits

It's been such an appallingly long time since my last post (is 4 days appalling?) that I've got no real narrative flow for today. I'm just going to throw it out there as it comes to me, all right?

Well, first and foremost, Halloween!

My little bug. I say bug because his hood (which you can't really see well in this picture) was meant to look like a spider, but there were only 6 feet on the costume, and we all know spiders have 8 legs, so he's just a bug.

This is supposed to be a "one size fits ages 0-6" costume, and all I can say to that is : NOT!!! I barely got it on him on Friday morning, and I was a bit worried that he'd freak out, but all for naught, apparently. He started running around, laughing and making "Grrrr!" noises. It was awesome.My little unicorn. I know you've seen this picture before, but all the pictures we took of her on Halloween turned out blurry! It is HARD to take a picture of an over-excited 4 year-old, let me tell you!

Trick or Treating was a barrel o' fun, as usual. Kate-the-Enabler and I took the kids once around the block (don't laugh, that took almost an hour), marvelling that Émilie and Aidan were old enough to make it up and down the stairs of each house on their own (Maxime and Liam were mostly there in an observation capacity). Our men stayed home and handed out candy. Phil even put a pinball machine out in the street for the kids (and grownups too!) to play with!

It was pretty funny, watching the kids walk up to it and asking their parents what it was. Pre-playstation entertainment! A few parents actually thanked us for introducing these machines to their kids. And Phil even got to meet a buddy from one of his online forums! Turns out he lives just down the street. Small world...

And here's the loot, after we filtered out all the stuff we don't want the kids eating (like gum and unwrapped candy). I'm happy to report that I've managed to avoid the candy for now, because...

I finally fit into my jeans!!! Remember when I started on this Health and Fitness kick, I said my goal was to be able to fit into these? Well, yesterday I realized that I could pull off my old jeans without unbuttoning and unzipping them, so I took these out of the guilt drawer (that's also where I keep my pre-pregnancies bikini) and tried them on, and they FIT! And I can walk in them and EVERYTHING! Next step: to get THESE off without unbuttoning or unzipping. LOL!

ALL my clothes are starting to feel a bit frumpy, actually. But I also got my visa bill with all the Rhinebeck follies on it this week, so no shopping for me! Grumble grumble...

Finally, a finished object! Yes friends, the Good ole cabled scarf, which I cast on in November 2007, is finally done.
Knit with Malabrigo worsted using 5.0 mm straights, this was a very easy knit. It could be a smidge longer, but I didn't want to have to wind another skein of yarn :) I have to check the stash to see if I've got enough yarn for a matching hat, now (I'm thinking the Snowball Hat from the Fall 2007 IK).

Happy Knitting Everyone!