Joining

These are the buttons I have gathered and inherited. We did a lot with buttons when the kids were little. My mom used to let me go through her button jar on rainy afternoons when she was sewing clothes for her four daughters. I still remember a miniature ceramic purple flower. Some of these are from D's grandma. I collected some blue ones for a Haiku for her great grandson, a cousin's third boy. They satisfy the magpie in me.

I have been invited to Ravelry.

I think it's amazing. Just last week I was 3,499 in line. I know, I checked. Now I'm there, it's a bit overwhelming. I added my blog and my WIP. I set up a few FOs but it takes time and I've been so busy that I'm not happy.

Today I'm trying to take it slower. Walk the dog. Practice flute. Join my shawl and start the edging. I think it's a bit like pregnancy. The last trimester is only half-way. I am simultaneously proud of my being this far, and stunned at how far I have to go. I'm not sick of it. This is more like one of Li's long term relationships. I'm a bit annoyed. But I don't dispute her good qualities and the joy she will bring as a gift.

Small Pleasures

This little sweater will hopefully make a new baby feel welcome in our community and let his or her parents know how much we value their family.

Today I made a killer tomato sauce. The secret ingredient? Time. My kids are tired of me say ing that, but I am a slow food proponent. Not food that is slow enough for me to catch, but the opposite of fast food. Growing up on a farm gave me a good start.

The weather changed and it's cold with a bit of rain. I made it to the Y today and visited with my sisters.

Little things are OK. My world is made up of little things and small actions.

I have decided to add a baby blanket to my queue. One of the youngest nephews is being ostrasized because his very young and surly girlfriend is pregnant. This will be the first great-grandchild and I feel I have the right to rejoice in his or her own selfdom. One does not choose the situation one is born into. All we have is love.

Come Back Liza

The heavy pruning before our trip has paid off. These Queen Elizabeth roses are original to the house, so about 40 years old. I moved them from the front 10 years ago when we moved in. They are so very much like the one in front of our farm house where we took the special pictures, like me and D. going to the grad prom.

This is a beautiful, mild autumn. We have heavy dew, but it warms up by 9 am and we throw off our sweaters by 10:30.

I'm back to walking the dog every other day, but my ankle can only manage about 30 minutes. I lost another pound this week. Woo hoo! That makes 5. My clothes are looser. Redouble the efforts.

Noodle Pie's beloved lululemon hoodie has a broken zipper just at photo day. Disaster. They informed me they could repair but not replace it. We will go into the city on Saturday to sharpen her skates and continue on to one of the biggest malls, Metrotown to hand it in and buy another for the interim. These are the most valued items in the schools. I held off for almost a year before I let her buy one with her own money. I hope we don't have to drive the 1 1/2 hours to get it back.

Lookee, lookee.

I have 3 sisters. This is the handspun of sister #2 who is turning 50 next month.

My 3rd sister, the cowboy, is moving to a ranch in Kamloops soon and gave me her box of yarn and 2 boxes of fabric. This was worth all the acrylic and itty bitty remnants.

But I will probably make her and her husband hats. It will be enough to work with such a precious yarn. It was a gift from 2 to 3. They will need toques in that semi-arid climate.

It rarely gets cold enough here to wear ugly hats.

Inside, Outside

I spent most of the weekend indoors at a workshop for Sunday School teachers. I tell you, there is a radical, invigorating group, and there are new things exploding around us. I am so excited about Godly Play that I am off the deep end. I hope to get my act together enough to try it out with my lovely students.
On Saturday night, D. took the Youth Group to the Corn Maze. I was happy to be too late to be involved, but dropped by to say hi and offer some hostess help.
It was dusk and clear and they had a great time.
I went home and put my feet up after a long seminar and a long drive. I had to watch Josh Groban because our band is playing "You Raise Me Up" and I don't remember hearing it on CBC.
I enjoyed my quiet time.

On Sunday afternoon, our community band played for the parade to mark the Battle of Britain. It was a joy to have D. and Noodle Pie both playing with us. Must work on Mr. Boo and his trombone. He was out "quading" with my husband's brother. I was a bit of wreck. He's never driven one. Then, when he comes home, he has shot a grouse. Was there no room for discussion about this? It made me feel weird that all our pacifism had been vetoed. D. said he could never shoot an animal because he spends all his time trying to save their lives. Thanks for that.

I did finish the kimono. I decided I was far too stuperous to approach lace. Good plan. Picks to come.

Not My Car

I'm the geek taking pictures in the parking lot. This was too funny to pass up.

I have a 14 year old daughter and I am very much of the Reviving Ophelia school of raising girls. I'm a big girl and I would like someone to appreciate what I do for my community, not just the size of my thighs. My daughter intellectually knows that her musical and artistic talent are more valuable than looking anorexic, but it's tough out there in middle school.

Pretty soon it will be warm enough for those little stick insects to cover up. I will not have to fear for their mortal souls and their chance of making it to highschool without getting pregnant.

I seriously thought we were beyond the playboy bunny ideal.

But I have my knitting to console me.

The jacket is starting to morph and it's easy enough to bring along with me. I feel the pressure of finishing both projects. I hope to sit and knit a bit tonight. Last night I was on the deck until 8pm, dark, listening to an audio book. Very pleasant.

Stop the Frenzy

After the craziness of last week, I had a bit of a physical back lash and slept extra long Sunday night. Three hours in a freezing rink is not good for me, even if I'm selling baked goods the leadership skaters (Stars) made themselves.
Last week I also picked, cleaned and bagged 30 lbs of concord grapes for freezing. They are a gift from one of the ladies at church. I put them in the freezer at the church and the Amazing Brenda turns them into juice. There is something so "Sardis" about having our own juice for Communion. We're very homespun and live in such a bountiful paradise.
But in this paradise, it seems, my job is to sit on my keester.
I had a terrible nosebleed today after I walked the big black dog. I had to phone my dearest friend and cancel coffee before my flute lesson and cancel the lesson and sit quietly.
Thank-you Brenda Dayne. I can do a pattern repeat of the Print O the Waves during one podcast.

I have finished 14 of 17 repeats of the first side. The pressure is on. I have a dear little baby sweater to finish pronto and then it'll be October when our last babysitter is due. I want to make her a little jean jacket. I have the yarn and the pattern will be just a cardigan, but the embelishment will be fun.

So I feel a bit bad to be just sitting and knitting. I got my son to his first piano lesson of the year (Grade 10 Toronto Conservatory!) and my nephew to the doctor for the same cough that I am plagued with. One of our vets thinks its mycoplastic pneumonia. Maybe I should get in to the doctor, too. If I'm good now and rest, I may not have the serial nose bleeds of yore. Yuck.

At least my lace wasn't damaged.

It's actually dark, forest green. This green is not black. There is no trouble seeing it in the evenings, eventhough it's very dark. I want to get into the second side because I think the edging will be a big job.

After the baby sweaters? Miles of navy Phildar for a nephew.

What I Week!

I managed to get through the first week of school, Sunday School registation and Skating Club open house. Ouch! I barely played my flute. I was too tired to go to band on Thursday night, but I'm glad I went because it meant all I had to worry about was whether or not we were playing in E flat. I am so proud that I finished another music theory book. It's a great system that really takes you through step by step and uses Canadian folk songs as examples. I knew most of this stuff long ago and my kids used these books when they were much younger. So far I haven't had to ask them for help.

On Friday night, I played truant, dropped the kids with their friends at a coffee house and went to a book club/knit in to watch "North and South". We just finished this old book by Elizabeth Gaskell and the BBC production was lovely.

I managed to squeeze in the Golden Compass before just beginning Gaskell's "Wives and Daughters". It's so charming already and I've only just read one hour on the stationary bike.

I have two podcasts lined up for some desperate knitting. But first I have to live through the first day of skating and sneaking out to a Weight Watchers meeting. Tonight I hope to lie on the couch with my Noodle Pie daughter and knit while we continue Middle March. I am so antiquated, but it balances all the new technology in my life.

I still use a fountain pen and journal in a note book. I don't apologize.

This week already seems more in order and I look forward to the knit and sit at my LYS on Friday morning.

What Are You Knitting?

I changed to my summer bag which freed this up for knitting. I bought it in Glasgow at 50% off from a store called Fat Head. It's been fun to stuff with travel needs, but not that easy to get things out of. Now I have two clear plastic zipped bags with my projects that I don't want out of my reach.

This is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Kimono. I love knitting little wrap sweaters. This cotton is so fresh and I thought the variegation would highlight the decreases.And here's the Print O' the Waves. I'm finding it pretty straight forward. I think I found out how I get a favourite row: it's the one I learn the first. The one which has logic like my own. I have found my favourite row. Not to deprecate the others. And no, it's not the purl back row.A closer look of the deep green merino goodness. You can start to see the pattern, but the magic will come out in the blocking.I keep waiting for this knitting mania to peak. I include more blogs and podcasts and knitting friends and plans. It can almost consume one's life. This morning I watched the Yarn Harlot on You Tube with breakfast. That's pretty rabid. But I'm enjoying riding this wave of many years.

I found the You Tube sites from the new Vogue Knitting Anniversary edition. It's wonderful, but it's cutting into real knitting time.

FO's

It is the first day of school and I am happy to have closed the book on a few things.

1. The book. Yesterday afternoon, my daughter and I finished Harry Potter. Reading out loud made it much slower, but it was worth it to share.

2.Jazz. D. and I have been picking through the 10 DVD series from Ken Burns that originally played on PBS. It was marvelous (again). I have learned so much about American history and music history that I never would have guessed from my farm in the Fraser Valley. Noodle Pie and I watched Dream Girls on Thursday night when the boys were out. It was also a slice of American music from the MoTown view. I really liked it. Noodle Pie preferred it to Hairspray which is parallel from the sixties. I loved the way Hairspray made me feel. It took me back to the one movie my second sister took me to: Grease. I was going into grade 11, I think, and we really enjoyed the summer feel. It was a rare non-cynical, non-artist response from her.

3. Ian Rankin Mortal Causes. This was a great mystery novel set in the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. I'm glad I was home before I started to read about the bomb threats. Bomb threats in Glasgow are no longer taken seriously because "terrorist attack" now means that the local blokes kick the crap out of the terrorists.

Clean slate. Golden Compass- this time not aloud. Looking forward to the movie.

PrintO' the Waves: 80 stitches seems like such a short row. I'm starting to "understand" the pattern and read it off the needles.

Baby Surprise Kimono. So pretty in variegated cotton.

Big project: stripping the walls in D's "theatre". The TV room in the basement is getting a facelift. I hope to have it painted by Xmas.

Good-bye to the kiddies. Sniff (not).

An Exciting Week

Kiri #3 is done and off the needles. One week exactly and finished before the recipient gets home from holidays or even has a clue that I'm making her October 50th birthday gift.

This is what she looked like after one hour.

This is at the end of day one. The rows are the spectacular thing here. Later, it's the width, which doesn't translate as well since I don't love you enough to take her off the needles. I do have a much longer needle, but my oldest sister is using it for her attempt to make a poncho that she has no interest in. I should get my needle back. It an addi turbo and gift from sister #2 on Saltspring Island. I cast on the Print O' the Waves for her today, too.Yesterday I started with everything but the edging. It has really grown, but still a surprise when it comes of the needles. Last night was another movie with the kids (Friday vids at our house). Kiri is actually TV knitting. Because I know Print O' the Waves won't start that way, I've picked up some cute variegated cotton limone to do an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise. I can't say how many of those I've knit. But like Kiri, there is a comfort in the familiar. I am always surprised when I find out I've knit both sleeves and the front.

Here is Kiri resting after her exciting week. I really only had a few moments of boredom as I was always looking forward to the next row, the next repeat, the next step. She is in her bath now relaxing and getting ready to lie in the sun on the carpet in the living room, displacing the dog.

I have 2 month to make my sister's shawl and I think I can do that. Thank goodness my third sister is closer to my age and years from 50. She'll probably get a blanket anyway. Mission Falls 1824? I have time to decide. And many nephew sweater and don't forget the babies.