Saturday, November 01, 2003

 

Fall Fun

Halloween was great fun last night. It was amazingly warm (like 20C) so the kids were too hot in their costumes. But they managed to trick or treat their way to enough candy to make all of us happy. Here they are--the costumes are designed for a normal Halloween in these parts which is usually freezing.

Today we went to an apple-picking farm. It was the last weekend they're open so there were no apples to pick but we got to take a tractor ride around the orchard, play in their straw-bale maze and play ground and visit the animals. As a knitter these were my particular favs:

Then we had some apple pie and enjoyed the fall colours. I even got to knit my sock (almost done!). And my finger is healed enough to go bandage free so I'm working like mad to finish the scarf. I really really really want to start a new project.

7:46 PM

Friday, October 31, 2003

 

Happy Halloween

I dressed the kids in their black and orange outfits for daycare and am getting prepared for halloween fun. (No costumes are allowed to avoid parents feeling pressured to dress up their kids--but having to find black and orange clothes wasn't stressful when they already had costumes for trick or treating--I'll keep my swearing to myself...)

Here's my very silly costume:

And a closeup of the ball band:

I put this together for a halloween party last year and it was a hit. I might wear it when we go out with the kids, but it's supposed to rain so I might not. Besides, the neighbours think I'm crazy already.

In knitting news, I finished the heal on my second sock last night. I'm looking forward to getting them done and starting the commissioned pair so I feel like I'm making progress on them. My finger seems better today so I'll be back to the scarf tonight. I want that done this weekend because the desire to start a new project is starting to overtake me. I try not to have too many works in progress so I don't forget the little details about each one, but the arrival of this didn't help:

It's arucania nature wool in allspice and it's lovely. It's intended for the Culdesac vest from the fall Knitters. This is the perfect colour for my wardrobe (the lavendar rowanspun will become something else). I've been reading over the pattern before bed and it's a tough one--lots of little things to do often at the same time. It will be a fun challenge but a project that I won't plough through--having the socks for easy knitting will be a must.

Hope you get lots of candy!

9:21 AM

Thursday, October 30, 2003

 

Arrrgh!

I did half a skull band on the scarf last night, and had every intention of finishing the band this morning--I even got up extra early. But, I somehow manage to cut my right baby finger while trying to get the wrapping off a cucumber (don't ask me how--I have no idea) and now I have a big bandaid on it and I can't hold the yarn in my right hand. I knit continental, but for the scarf I used a two-handed technique which involves winding the yarn around my pinky for good tension. It keeps getting stuck on the bandaid--sh*t! I tried winding it around the next finger and it just doesn't work. The finger should be fine by tomorrow (at least to take off the bandaid). I hate it when stupid little things like this mess up my day. I just want this scarf done so I can get to other goodies in my stash.

Like the two pairs of socks I offered to knit for someone else. I really don't mind in this case--I knit socks all the time anyway and I really want to do this for her, but I need to keep telling myself that I don't like to knit on demand for others--too much pressure. If I don't want to knit it, I can't just put it aside until later--someone's waiting for it.

I did say no yesterday when one of Emma's daycare providers begged me for an eyelash skirt like Emma's. She offered to pay me and kept bugging me about it. I said I would look into it, and we could talk later, (just to end the conversation) but I had already decided NO, I don't want to do it. It just isn't worth it to take the fun out of knitting. Besides an adult eyelash skirt--yuck.

So no knitting pictures today, but here's Emma in her halloween costume (her inside one for school--she'd freeze outside in this). Can you guess who she's supposed to be?

I love halloween. Tomorrow I'll put on my costume and give you all a chuckle.

9:46 AM

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

 

Aren't I Boring?

There wasn't a whole lotta knitting going on last night because, in a rare fit of inspiration, I was working on my thesis after dinner. I usually stop around 4:30 and pick up the kids at daycare and the thesis isn't touched until the next work day. Yesterday I had some ideas I wanted get on paper so off to work I went once their dad was home. It felt good to make some real progress (this literature review has been getting me down) and I sufficiently motivated to do some good writing today. I did treat myself to a bit of knitting with the late news (it was tough getting up this morning). One row of skulls down, four more to go:

I might work on it a bit tonight, but since this is my favourite tv night, I might do something mindless like my second sock. Maybe I'll have something interesting to talk about tomorrow. Maybe the letter-carrier will bring me the yarn goodies I ordered.

9:26 AM

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

 

Slogging along

Thesis writing went pretty well yesterday. I didn't actually get a lot on paper, but I found a way to write it all so it makes sense--this has been alluding me the past week, so I count it as progress. I'm almost anxious to get to it today (almost).

Progress in this meant less progress everywhere else so I spent the evening on the mundane bits of life (laundry, cleaning, helping with homework...) and only had a teeny bit of time to knit before I went to bed (early even). I did get to the fair-isle bit on the scarf--hooray--but only did two rows of the pattern. Here's the progress:

I also met with a friend who commissioned two pairs of socks from me--it's not something I do often, but she's been really gracious about helping me thesis-wise so I don't mind. It wasn't like I wouldn't be knitting socks anyway. We picked some nice yarns that I haven't knit with so it will be fun.

7:08 AM

Monday, October 27, 2003

 

Relaxed

Had a lazy, cozy weekend at the cottage. We walked in the leaves, played in puddles, and just stared at the lake and fall colours warmed by the woodstove and all those fall smells. And, I knit of course. I started a scarf out of Kureyon (that was destined to be a booga bag) and didn't like the look of it (I casted on 300 stitches and was striping it length-wise) so I started, and finished this sock instead:

It was a fun knit. The yarn is Opal Mexico, colour 21, a lovely gift from Wendy who sent it to me after I mentioned I hadn't seen Opal sock yarn in Canada. Thanks Wendy--these ones are for me. Of course I used her fab toe-up sock pattern.

This week is a bit of a crunch thesis wise--I set myself a deadline of Friday for my latest chapter and I'm no where near finishing. And, I want to finish the skull scarf by the weekend, mostly to get it out of the way so I can start new stuff. I wonder if I will get both (or either) completed (that's optimistic eh?).

8:57 AM