catching up...

Happy New Year!  I know, I know, it's February 1st and the year is already well underway, but I'm up early and I've got lots of knitty pictures to post!  I also wanted to give you a short update as you've all provided Paul and I with so much support and kindness.  If I haven't responded to you directly, please know that your warm wishes have helped tremendously and have comforted us throughout.  Thank You. 

Losing Maisy at just over 6 months was heartbreaking; she was my miracle and the whole thing felt like a cruel joke.  Her birthday was September 20, 2011 but her due date was not until January 27, 2012... I had the chance to experience her delivery and to hold her briefly and although that will never be enough, I am grateful to have been able to tell her she was loved and to have been able to share the experience with Paul. And, I won't even get into how I couldn't have gotten through without Paul.  There are not enough words and he knows...  And my sweet parents; a girl couldn't ask for better. I've never spent so much time with Mom before and I speak to Dad regularly on the phone and see him occasionally (which is 100% more than before!).

winding Chilean wool

So!  Moving on!  I return to work on Friday and I'm looking ahead, with a heavier heart, but still ahead. 

Needless to say, I've had some time on my hands.  The first half of my convalescence was quite unfruitful knitwise, but I have been able to get it together over the last few weeks and here are some pictures of some projects in progress, a couple of finished projects (really!), and of lots and lots of wool!  I've also been working on a new small business project, making delicious, home-made, and all-natural baby food for delivery in my local Moncton area.  Check out my FB page!  www.facebook.com/maisysmeals

Chilean wool, sport/fine weight

  

fine Alpaca

Alpaca; currently using this to make myself lacy socks!



Noro Silk Garden sock yarn; wound

winding Noro sock yarn



an old knitted shawl







 

Malabrigo Baby Merino wool, lace weight











Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk, DK

Peruvian Baby Alpaca, lace weight





Well, I've been at this awhile, and it's time to knit this one up!  But before I go, one more picture.  I was checking out my very talented cousin Nicole's blog, www.coco-knits.blogspot.com and she has a picture of her workspace in which there sits a sweet little owl, previously belonging to our grand-mother.  I also have a shy little owl that once belonged to her as well and I wanted to share it with Nicole. oo

But there's holes in it!

     These little sweeties, I bought for Maisy's room because she was already my little sweet pea :) I keep them in the living room now, where I can see them all the time.

     Ok, so you're gonna think I'm really bad now...  Besides Paul's sweater and my glove cuffs projects, I've started yet another; I realized I was going to be without a hat for the winter!  I must admit that I did consider purchasing one.  That would be silly though.  I have so much wool to use and so many patterns to try!  And so, I'm using a pattern I got from my Knitting Daily email as part of a 7-free lace pattern pdf.

                                                        Lace Fountain Hat



I'm using a completely different yarn than the pattern calls for so I altered my pattern slightly to accomodate this variegated yarn instead.  I can't remember what it's call or exactly what it's made of but I've had it for quite a while and am glad to finally use it! 

Skylar was helping me prepare the picture files for posting and she had to say about this one: "oh, I guess you're not a very good knitter 'cause it's full of holes..."
Ha ha!  Funny girl! 

Skylar and her grandmother, celebrating Linda's birthday



...and trimming the tree!



more s&p

Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yessir, yessir, three bags full!  One for my master, one for my dame, one for the little girl who lives down the lane...

These cute S&P shakers were a recent gift to myself; I couldn't resist!  Besides, they also fit nicely into my sheep collection.  Yup!  got one of those too!  Don't worry though, I'll go through each of those when I'm done showing you all of my S&P's!  (insert silly grin here)

So, I know I've already started Paul's sweater and then I added the glove n' cuff project....  but I just realized that I don't have a decent winter hat.  Well, not one that will adequately match my new winter jacket, so, I had to start that too...  So the new order of things goes: hat, gloves n' cuffs, paul's sweater.  Of course none of these new projects will help me finish any of the 50 or so other projects I haven't yet. 
And, tomorrow is my first day back to work since we lost Maisy, so although I'm quite anxious, Paul and I are both looking forward and ahead with hope :)
We thank you all for the love and support! xox

Paul at the park... 

salt & pepper

About, oh, I don't even remember when, I began collecting salt & pepper shakers.  Some of them were gift, and some were gifts to myself, none of them being very expensive (except for one pair and I'll get to that one another day...) 

This particular pair is special because it was given to me by Paul, the day after we lost Maisy.  He bought these little guys at "Passages" in Moncton and they're just so sweet...

I've also been working on a Christmas gift project using inexpensive micro gloves and all of those yarn scraps I have.  I hate to call them scraps because they're all so beautiful and special to me also.  Many of the yarns I'm using in this project are small balls or skeins I've purchased only one of because they were either one of a kind or very expensive!

Here's a picture of some of my stash....

And here are a couple of project pictures....

Stay tuned for more s&p pictures soon!! xox



First Snow...

This year's first snow arrived only a few hours early and I enjoyed spending most of the day watching cars try to get up the hill opposite my kitchen window.  It was almost a year ago when I lasted posted about preparing for Christmas.  This year has been quite different for my family and myself.  We've had some ups and a few downs but I'm knitting again and that's all that matters to this blog! 
I decided, after having posted last December, that I was going to wait until I got the camera I wanted before resuming the blog.  A couple of weeks ago, Paul and I, with Mom's help, purchased a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera with lots of bells and whistles.  And guess what.  It's red!
And so, here I go again with yet another new project.

 This V-Neck, with cap-shaping in the sleeves, will be perfect for Paul to wear while he spends most of the winter shoveling our 35-foot driveway.  The Manly Sweater is from Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n Bitch.  The pattern calls for main body color with contrasting bands in 2 other bold colours.  However, I chose.... rather, Paul chose that it be in one colour only.  Actually and to tell the truth, Paul chose that it also have a large black widow spider intarsia-ed right in there!!  I led on like it was going to happen long enough to knit the back and up to the arm hole shapings in the front... 

                                                                

 I'm using Paton's Classic Wool, single ply, in dark grey.  One good part is that the entire sweater, in 4 parts, can be knit on one set of needles.  I'm using a bamboo 24" circular in 4.5mm (or #7).  The sweater has a fun ribbing of Knit 5, Purl 1 repeat which gives it the interesting wrong side view seen below and the smooth stocking stitch right side with the subtle parallel Purl rows....  sigh...

 I'll be finishing the first sleeve and then have to move on to a more URGENT Christmas project but should be able to return to Paul's Manly Sweater before too long if all goes well. 

And, if all goes well, my next post should highlight said Christmas project! 
HAPPY SHOVELING!

Like everyone else's family in the free world, mine is slowly if not reluctantly getting ready for Christmas.  Slowly because we're busy (like everyone else) and reluctantly because it just doesn't "feel" like Christmas yet... We did get a crap load of snow a couple of weeks ago but it has completely dissapeared and it's been raining so it feels more like Easter!   I've been good about gifts so far this year though; I started thinking about them early so I don't have to buy shitty, last-minute gifts that nobody cares about!  I'm probably half done shopping and to be fully done by this coming Tuesday (ya,right).     As for the "heart-felt" and "homemade" type of gifts people usually expect from me; keep looking,'cause there won't be many of those this year.....Actually, the most homemade gift I'll be giving this year is one I have planned for my Secret Santa recipient, and I hardly even know that person! Huh, wierd.  Yanywhooooo.  Onto softer and squishier things!  SHOW ME THE KNITTING!   Here are a few projects I'm working on.... This one is what I hope will be the first of a series.  I'm calling this one: "Mouse Mania".  I have sooooooo much scrap wool and I needed to find something interesting to do with some of it and I really don't want to make an afghan!  yuck! I found a sweet and super easy pattern for mice cat toys and I thought it would be fun to knit the mice according to the amount of wool I have; as in the more scrap wool of one type I have, the BIGGER the mouse I can knit!  Ideally, a cat toy should be smaller than the cat playing with it but who doesn't like the idea of a cat toy that is TWICE the size of the cat?!  HILLARIOUS.  That'll show those silly, smart cats who's boss, no? So anyway, this first one in the series is a combination of two yarns: first one is Paton's Classic Wool Merino in "Harvest" on 4.5 mm needles for the body sides and the second is Alafoss Lopi (Icelandic bulky) on 5.5 mm needles for the body base, ears and tail.  The Merino felts well, so I adjusted the original pattern to accomodate the amount of yarn I had.  The original pattern (its' origin is completely forgotten to me) knits a very small mouse cat toy but if you multiply the cast-on stitch number and maintain this same factor throughout, the shape should resemble the "original" mouse, 'cept bigger!  Once stuffed, the bigger mice will make interesting cushions.  I'm thinking that this series project will be a good exercise in trying different techniques and in using yarns I wouldn't use for other wearable projects.   I can't wait to put it together this week and see what my first mouse looks like! Although most projects I'm working on are not finished, I did manage to complete one of them out of necessity.  Paul and I bought an ipad a few months ago and didn't have a carrying case for it so I knit one, much like my laptop bag.   I used the Paton's Classic Merino in "Harvest" (this is where my mouse wool came from).  I didn't have a pattern, but used the same shrinkage percentage results achieved from laptop bag adjusted for the ipad's measurements and it turned out perfect!   I still haven't decided what type of closures I want or need on this bag, but I did add some strictly esthetic, decorative clay buttons in the meantime. Other than knitting and working, I've been cooking and teaching Paul some cooking.  He's doing really well with it and even starting to make his own decisions about flavours and techniques.  I did catch him throwing a whole bunch of mushrooms and potatoes into a stone cold pan the other day though....  wtf?  Who does that? Look at him go!! I have more projects to blog about but this entry is already long enough so I'll keep some for next time... It's 1:30 on Sunday morning and I'm at work until just after 6 and looking forward to a couple of days off during which I'll be shopping, knitting, cooking and possibly even baking, so stay tuned.... Happy pre-holidays everyone!!!  Stay safe, warm and stress-free in the coming weeks!  xo      

So, it's after midnight and I'm at work....  I've been knitting quite a bit lately and will soon have some pictures and details but for now, just a quick recipe... I've been teaching Paul how to prepare and cook a few basic but very convenient recipes and he's become an EXPERT at making poached eggs!  We often have "breakfast" for supper and he's usually in charge of those meals. This week, I thought that we could move past breakfast to lunch and that showing him how to make macaroni and cheese from scratch would be a great idea so that he could prepare it for himself and Skylar when I was working nights.  I gave him an ingredient list: onion, unsalted butter, flour, milk, cheese and elbow macaroni.  "That's it?!" he says.  "Yup!" I says.  When he asked what kind of cheese to buy, I explained: "Oh, it doesn't really matter as long as you go for a medium flavoured cheese with an equally medium firmness and excellent melting properties."  His response: "phmf. is THAT all?!"  I then explained that any medium white or yellow cheese would be fine: Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Fruilano...  and even Gruyere for the brave, but to stay away from harder cheeses and that Mozarella would work but it's SUPER melty and stringy and can be hard to deal with.  So, off to the supermarket he went; list in hand, recycled grocery bag in tow and a fierce determination in mind. Aaaaaanyways.... due to some unavoidable scheduling conflicts, I ended up making the mac n' cheese on my own while he was at work.  I had planned on jazzing it up with some cooked and seasoned ground beef but when it came to putting it all together, I couldn't do it!  I chickened out!  I couldn't screw with the dish's integrity so I left the meat out.  Good news:  it was yummy.  Bad news:  Skylar didn't like it.  It's hard to compete with Kraft Dinner.  I tried telling her it was better 'cause it was made with real cheese buuuuuuut....  for a picky seven-year old, real cheese is like a sardine sandwich: a grown-up food and not to be messed with.  (We'll save the sardine sandwich story for another day).   So, for those interested in a hearty, easy as shit, home-cooked cheesefest, follow these few easy steps! In a large pot, boil salted water and cook 1 regular bag of elbow macaroni as per package instructions (I totally overcooked mine so it looked like potatoes n' cheese).  Drain the pasta and use the same pot to make the sauce. •dice up some onion (size and quantity dependant on love of onions, but usually 1 medium per batch works) •sweat the onion in a tiny bit of oil (canola, sunflower, grapeseed or a light olive oil) •when the onion is transluscent, add 1/4 cup of butter (that is correct) and melt over low to medium heat •when the butter is completely melted, add all purpose flour to it, 1 tablespoon at a time until all the butter is absorbed and the mixture comes off the sides of the pot when stirred •cook this mixture on medium heat while stirring it around continuously; don't let it darken or burn •add about 1 litre of milk, in three increments, whisking between each to avoid lumps •cook the onion, butter, flour and milk mixture over medium heat, stirring often until the sauce thickens to a very loose pancake batter consistency •add grated cheese, as much or as little as you want, but the more the better •season with sea salt, black pepper, grated nutmeg and a splash of white balsamic vinegar if you have some *combine the cooked macaroni and sauce and top with anything crunchy (I used untoasted panko crumbs as they do brown in the oven). •cook in an uncovered casserole dish (you might need 2 dishes for this size batch) at 425 F until top is golden brown n' bubbly-yummy!