2016 at the end

2016 has been a year of sad things and happy things, but isn't that something that can be said of any year?  I will focus on the happier things though, the things that move forward. 

The painting is complete.  The landlord and I are totally thrilled by that!  (The landlord being my second son)  It's a while since I did that sort of work and I am not sure I have ever worked with someone else before. Most of my adventures were one room at a time and Brian did so much of the other work.  It wouldn't have been right if he had to do this too.  I do know that it was the first time painting on new drywall.  It's a much bigger job than just repainting.  Happy it is done is stating it lightly.

I am knitting today.  Working on my little Hitchhiker scarf.

It's right at the point where it feels like I have hardly knit anything, but where it suddenly is all about long rows and forever till you bind off to make the toothy edge. 

I'm not sure I am into the spotty dyed yarn, but it certainly is right for a pattern like Hitchhiker.

Pooped

I'm pooped.  Tired, tired tired.  So is Keith.  But we are persisting with our painting.  My goal is two coats done in the bedroom and Kieth's far more difficult goal is getting the ceilings all painted.  But if we get these goals accomplished, we feel would be in really good shape. 

Today I'm going to be aiming for one coat in the bedroom.  It should be easily done.  All the corners are done already so it really is only the flat part.  It is harder work wielding a roller though.  Keith is also going to have to do the top of the wall.  I don't feel steady enough to be on the stool and he can almost do it on the floor.

Anyway, this is the thing in the land of me today.  I hold out hope that there will be some knitting before this year is done.  Just one more project.  Just one more little thing.

Desultory

Here I am, here I am....the line is from a childrens song.  I sing a lot of those lately, but here I am.

Most of Christmas remains ahead for me, and the next few days will tell exactly how that Christmas will be.  I won't be moved there yet, but will probably start the week after.  This week, we are painting all the main areas and one of the bedrooms.  That will mean that the he can live downstairs and I can get all my things under one roof.  There is still a lot to do, but much of it can be picked off weekend by weekend, bit by bit.

Knitting But knitting is in my dreams for the near future.  With these lovely things.



I think this is going to be a First Point of Libra Shawl.  I am a big fan of Laura Aylor's work and  this gradient kit would be perfect for it.  I haven't quite decided what main color I will use.  Probably a cream because I have cream Lion Brand Wool Ease sock yarn and I know where it is.  It will look lovely.  And from all I have seen, looks like a wonderfully simple knit.  I need that.  Simple but interesting.  

And an unexpected spinning treat!

It's just a generic wool, a no name giant dyed ball of fibre.  But it was just too pretty to leave behind.  

A lot has to happen before these things will be mine to do.  I will admire them from afar.  And dream.

The only for Christmas Present

Cassie has a little girlie dressing table.  Nothing fancy mind.  Just a toy her mommy found at the recycle place.  It didn't have a stool with it and daddy put a bug in my ear that she would love one for Christmas.  First up, what will work for a seat?

I looked at all sorts of little seat things and they all seemed just a bit pricey for something that would only be used with a toy.  It has to be a useful thing too.  The kids have a small room and always can use somewhere to store things.  I tried a couple things and came up with this.

Ikea strikes again.

But it strikes well.  These are a cube storage thing, very similar ti some I had at my wee house, but sturdier and stronger.  These have a metal frame and a firm top.  They will be great for an average person to sit on.  They shoukd be kid proof too.

They come in white, black, and a bright yellow, which is what mine are. White would never work what with the kids and the cats and dogs.So black it is.


So black it is.  But it is dark for my sunny little girl.    So grandma pulled out her tools and did a little embroidery.

 And done.  Now to assemble it all.

Update  to add, Once it was completely assembled, I realized it needed another flower.

 And a little more tweaking...

 Yes.  Much better. 

 So, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.  I will be back to blogging sometime between Christmas ans New Years.

Still not knitting

The family is all gone off to great grandmas house.  It's quiet and I am just enjoying it.

Cassie was talking this morning about Grandpa Brian and she decided to write a letter to him.  She was talking as she was writing.

She told him the most important thing in her world right now and it just breaks my heart that these 4  little munchkins of mine will never really know him.

This is her letter .

 Knitting is going to commence soon.  I badly need to knit.

Knitting or not

I am knitting.  about as much as I am spinning and gosh darn it, I can hardly wait till Next week.  Or the weekend for sure.

I have a cold and the closer Christmas comes, the less engaged I feel.  I wonder if it was always this way, but that this is the point where Brian picked me up with his own joy at the upcoming days off work.  I really don't know if this is the new or some of the old, or indeed if it is at my sort of no home of my own situation.  I keep hoping that it is something that will disappear once life feels stable.

Since the only knitting is a badly done thumb on a wee mitten for my peanut,  Mr.  Carter, I will leave you with this.

We are wearing our Icelandic Overblouse, which is exactly what I hoped for, a comfortable thing to wear as often as I can.  That Cassie has joined me in it is a surprise, but she was chilly and what else could a grandma do.

Finished!

And very cute!

Well, the knitting is complete anyway.  There are still all the finishing things to do and then a good blocking.

I thought I had buttons that would work,  a strong clear yellow, but they are just wrong.  It's going to have to be on my list for tomorrow, but by Wednesday morning, I am sure it is going to be on its way to school on the back of a sweet little girl whom I love dearly.

Advent Calendars

I have been watching The Knit Girllls podcasts and am really enjoying the idea of a knitting advent calendar.  It brings to mind my friend JS. 

She is doing a blog advent calendar.  Its a lovely collection of videos and songs and it warms my heart.

JS ADVENT CALENDAR


I have sent you right to her start page.  Catch up and enjoy the rest of the Christmas wait!

Here Endeth a Day

Here endeth a long day.  Cassie had school so it was just Marcus and I, but he didn't want to settle to anything. Trouble was our middle name.

I was rather tired, but what with days being as they are, they will disappear like fine wine around a campfire, and Christmas might show up unexpectedly. I had some shopping to do to wind up the last giftsand if not tonight, when.  So I did that and I am glad.  It's done.

I do have a little work to do on Cassie's present.  It's a Bosnas from Ikea.  In black.  I would have loved to get the white, but small kids and white.  Not likely.  Black and currently plain.  Which is what I plan to finish up.  I am going to do some bright large flowers, something little girly and sweet, maybe a butterfly or two, but something bright and fun to stand out against the black. 

So be prepared to see some very sweet little things happening around here.

Do You See This?

Do you see this? 

Why didn't I see this?

Sigh.  GIANT SIGH,  GIANTER SIGH.

I am such a nob.  Here I am, almost done the second sleeve, and I was checking length to see how much more I had to do when this.  Sigh.

At this point, sense says finish the bright pink to match the other sleeve, and then snip it off and go back, knit a wee section of the multi colour and then graft the rest of the sleeve.  Or, stop what I am doing and rip  back to the start and reknit.


It's such a cute little thing that the idea of reknitting doesn't really bother me. 

Serves me right for being so glib with the dying battery post.

Moving Fast

I have to move fast.  This battery is dying. 

I made the sleeve without the extra band of color.  I think her little arms don't need the distraction.  The same in the cuff, where I gave a small nod to bight colours in 2 rounds of garter ridges.  Just a wee touch to cap it all off.

Captivated

It was a weekend of baking but only little things, and chasing kids and sorting boxes and bags of stuff at the new place to where I will decamp in a month or so. 

There was knitting too, but only in tiny moments before and after everything else.

Just a plain ordinary sock.  It's the yarn that captured me.  This is probably my newest yarn, purchased one day when I was in town and had nothing to knit.  This is also the yarn that was missing in October and November.  Maybe now everybody else can see what I saw when I first bought this yarn.

First green and rich and dark. Then patterning. Then blues and brown and stripes! I have loved watching it happen on the needles.

There is a lot of blue but in my minds eye, I didn't see such clear stripes.  I knew the patterning would be there, but the little green line between sections just  blew my expectations away. It's just fascinating how many variations on a theme sock yarn designers can come up with.

Captivated once again.

Just not going there

It was a kind of crazy day here.  I slept in and it just went downhill from there.  And then I went to knitting.  What in the world did I do without my knitting people?  How did I ever manage? 

So if you see a knitting group as you wander about doing your holiday shopping, smile wave at them and appreciate them for keeping the crazies off the street and on a sofa with a bunch of yarn and some needles.

Mommy's day out

The mommy of my small ones makes vereniky for sale.  (Perogies).  She has a couple of huge orders for Christmas and she is tired.  Her hands were too sore to work again today, so I told her to go, do her shopping and have a little fun.  She did.  I had the wee monkey man and the sick little girl with me . But both kiddies slept nicely and I got a little knitting done.

I am so very happy with how this is turning out.  The sharp clear colours are certainly her best colours.  She looks so good in them and this strong pink?  She just glows.

No. Its more than just her fever, a very mild one..  Thankfully.

PS  Did you know that there are more than 200 cold viruses floating around out there at any given time.  Kids first major contact is daycare or pre school, and if I may be so bold as to say, earning your immunity to a particular virus is no fun for my sweet little granddaughter.  Her brother will fare much better with this early exposure now.

Tis the season.

I didn't get nearly as much knitting in this weekend as I hoped.  This matters because I am knitting a coat to get me through the cold times.  Oh I have a big old coat but it loses feathers and really seriously lacks integrity even though all the seams are there.  It works if I have to. 
Being pushed by the cold isn't a bad thing.  It just makes me want to knit faster.

I am knitting.  A further inch this weekend. 

You can just begin to see the spade like shapes beginning to form.  It just doesn't look like much.

I did knit a bunch on Cassie's sweater, and have really good results on that. 

Just the littlest bit of an a line flare but otherwise straight falling to just below her finger tips.  (I expect that length to last till Christmas) I really adore knitting this with its clear strong colours.  A winter pick me up for sure.  Just sleeves to go and they will start tomorrow.

The other thing that starts tomorrow is cookie baking.  First is cut out cookies.  I picked up the cookie cutters last week from Uncle Keith's and the kiddies here and I will bake.  The recipe we will use is my mom's favourite, Sour cream cookies, which are so superior to a plain sugar cookie.  Consider this my determined pitch to switch all the rest of you to something better. And then an evening of decorating.  Best Christmas activities ever.  And Yum.

In between we I will knit and will finish a little one and make miracles happen on a big one.

When You Wing It.

There are things you have to do when you wing it.  I am taking these lovely designs and making them work for my family and me.

To do that, you have to expect a lot of re-dos.  Or frequent try ons.    We opt for try ons. It can be a little challenging getting wee sweaters to a point where a try on will tell you what you need to know, and having my wee girlie be ready to cooperate.  Me?  I am smart and I wait till daddy is home.  She will do anything for her daddy.  And so we tried it on.

It firts!  I never quite trust it till I see it on her, or me, but when it fits, it makes finishing ever so easy.

And it does fit.  Rather nicely if I do say so.

As you can see, there areonly 2 rounds of the ribbed sections before the splitting for the arms.  It won't look right if the shoulders are too wide, so the third round of coloured ribbing is going to be sans increases and on the body and the sleeves.

It's bright, eye poppingly so., I grant you that, but when my wee girlie tried it on, her eyes just glowed.  It is always so wonderful when your little ones love what you are knitting for them.