Bling Shawl!

I just finished knitting up a shawl, my own design, for a kit that we are selling at the shop. The kit comes with 2 balls of yarn (enough to make the shawl) and the pattern (for free with purchase of the kit which costs 15$!). If you cannot get down to the shop and would like a copy of the shawl pattern, it's available for sale on Ravelry. I am in love with the color and the way it striped along the shawl. The yarn was lovely to work with. (Rozetti Yarns Polaris). The finished size is 50"x21". The pattern calls for 5mm / US8 needles. This was fun to knit & design - I hope you like it!

An Overdue IOU

I finally finished my husband’s socks which were an IOU from Christmas 2009. Back then, I wrote an IOU with a picture of a pair of socks and put them under the tree. I finally started them in April 2010, but I think I got “socked-out” for a while, because I didn’t touch them, nor any other pair of socks until I picked these back up recently to finish them. I finished them on December 15th, 2013. Just shy of 4 years after promising them. Oops! They are my own design, a pattern I call “Man Socks”. They are available on Ravelry for 2.99$. He loves them, and I am glad that I finally finished them!

Man Socks Available in Store

  
My man sock pattern is now finally available in my pattern store! For a limited time, it’s available on sale for 2.99$. Hope you enjoy this simple yet fun pattern with a design on the front & back of the leg. I knit these up for my man, but the pattern is truly unisex. Happy knitting! If you’d like to buy this pattern and you are not on Ravelry, feel free to contact me at knitpurlmama [at] gmail [dot] com.

Man Socks

Finished the man sock #1. They're a tad belated, owed from Xmas 09, but cast on in April 2010. It's a design of my own, and I will release the pattern in about a week's time. Look out for it sometime next week. Onto sock number 2...! It's already cast on, so I will not get second sock syndrome, I will not!

They have the same design in the back of the leg, running from the top until the heel gusset. They're plain, with a kick to it with the design. I love them.

And I'm thinking about keeping the name - Man Socks. What do you think?

~Lindera~

My latest design is now listed on Ravelry.
She bears the name Lindera (which is a type of leaf).
The stitch design (which is lace) shows off a leaf like pattern.
Have a look:

What do you think?

Playing with Yarn

I have made some progress on Sean's Wyatt. It's coming along nicely now that I've picked it back up. I'm hoping to make each of the boys one so that come the fall, I can photograph all 3 of them in it, together. However, I think by that time Quentin might outgrow his Wyatt, so I'll have to re-knit his, in the next larger size. Unless there is a cool summer day, where my boys can be in a wool sweater (doubtful, but possible the rate this summer is going). It's such a great knit though, I'll probably knit the next size up for Quentin anyhow for the fall.

I received my Tanis Fiber Arts yarn club installment for May 2011. This is her Blue label fingering in Pink Grapefruit. I love the way the pink goes into peach. Not sure what I'll do with this, but probably not the pattern it came with.

I've got another design coming out next week - so stay tuned for those details! It's the last installment that I designed for the Nestucca Bay Yarns & Fibers Company for their fiber/yarn club. I've been inspired after designing Avrit and this new pattern with a few other designs up my sleeve... can't wait to get cracking on the designing again.

Avrit

I’ve got a new pattern designed.
Her name is Avrit (which means Spring).
Ravelry link here.
Project details here.
Enjoy!

3.13.11

Tried to start this Crochet Pompom Baby Hat.
I had issues with not twisting the chain when joining.
I must have ripped it out maybe 4 or 5 times.

I got somewhere with it, eventually. However, on Quentin's head, (yes, I modeled a pink hat on my baby boy)... it looks like a yarmulke on him. Quentin's got the size of a newborn head now as his current weight is around what most babies weigh at birth. He's still a little pisher under 10 lbs. Anyhow, there must be something off with what I'm doing or maybe it's the (handspun) yarn. It's leftovers from this project. Maybe it's the hook size too. I'm going to sleep on it, and start again tomorrow with another hook and different yarn.

Besides the little bit of crochet, I've been working away on the design I'm doing for that sock club I got asked to do. However, I am looking for 2 test knitters who can start immediately. You must have Tosh Sock yarn already in stash to use for it (as the pattern is done in Tosh Sock). I am looking 2 different knitters to knit these sizes:

Size Small: 52 sts cast on
Size Large: 72 sts cast on

You must be able to knit a sock from the cuff down, know lace, heel gussets and how to graft the toe shut.

I will need pictures of your finished item and feedback on any errors in the pattern. You will not be able to post the pictures on Ravelry or anywhere else until the pattern is released to the club members, once that is done, I will give you the okay to do so.

For your time, I’m willing to give you some of my already published sock designs.

Please PM me if you are interested, or have any further questions.

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Don't forget that by commenting, you will be entered into my giveaway for a copy of Arranged by Catherine McKenzie. The contest runs until March 16, 2011, and I will draw a winner that evening when I blog. All you have to do is comment on any post this blog. I will also throw in that if you go to my FB Page and click the LIKE button until March 16th (Wednesday), come back here & tell me (I will check!) that you clicked the LIKE button, and I will give you a bonus entry to win a copy of Arranged!

06.08.10

I kept Mack home from school today. He has a really bad runny nose (which seems to be 100% better now, probably because he rested at home today). It wasn’t even clear runny. It was green runny (which usually is a sign of infection/virus). Daycare told me to keep him home. His songfest is tomorrow, and I want him to be in tip top shape for that, so I kept him home.

Sean on the other hand, went to school today, but didn’t really have a good day there. He’s been a tad challenging lately. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s moving to the next class next week, or what, but he hasn’t been 100% cooperative. I’m hoping this attitude changes.

I did get to nap today. I actually napped while Mack took his afternoon nap, and boy was it appreciated. I don’t ever get to nap during the day, except for maybe on the occasional Saturday (rainy) afternoon. I woke up still tired though, and probably felt even worse. I’ve been feeling like we’ve been non-stop on the run lately, and I’ve been feeling a tad run down. Hopefully after Father’s Day things will start to slow down a bit. My next 2 weeks are absolutely jam packed. I’m actually looking quite forward to a little down time in 2 weeks. I just need to make it until then. I think I can do it. I’ve also been going to bed wicked early lately. I find it helps. The boys seem to be getting up earlier and earlier as the sun rises earlier and earlier. The longest day of the year isn’t even upon us yet (June 21st, I believe), and I really need to get some black-out blinds to put behind the curtains in the boys rooms. This early morning wake-up business is killing me. I need more sleep.

Oh! I forgot to mention! Last night we had our first ever fresh from the garden Caesar salad with dinner. It was absolutely fantastic. I was super upset that there wasn’t enough lettuce leaves for seconds. Soon we should start having more leaves on the plants, and there will plenty for seconds. Ahhh, I love summer salad season. I love our garden. It makes me über happy.

You want to know what else I forgot to tell you? The other day, (couple of days ago, can’t remember which one), I found my cell phone. I was in shock. You know, the one that I thought I lost? Yeah, it was under my desk, at the back. How it got under there, I haven’t the faintest idea. Well, since I like my old cell phone better, and have been using that, I gave my lost but found cell phone to Jamie, since it was the same one he was using, but his had a cracked screen & wasn’t holding the charge anymore. Anyhow, I still can’t believe it. Especially since I called it from sitting at my desk, and I can’t figure out why it never rang, as it had been left on, when I lost it.

Speaking of lost things, my Ishbel is still missing. Damn angry.

The lucky winners today are:
- 1 lucky winner of a one year (4 issues) subscription to KnitCircus : GIRL KNITS!
- 3 lucky winners of a copy of the Summer Pattern Collection (Issue 10) from KnitCircus: SARAH B, KRISTO & NADINE!
- 2 (instead of 1) lucky winners get a copy of my Collection sock designs: YARNHOG & YVETTE!

Please make sure I have your email addresses, so I can email Yarnhog & Yvette my PDF and that I can pass on your information to KnitCircus to get you your prizes. (I’m not directly issuing your prize to you).

Next week I’ll be giving away one copy of the following patterns by Mona Schmidt: Kamouraska, Rill, Lili Kimono, Gilet de Tricot and Toddler Tee. Thank you Mona for donating the prizes.

march nine

Last night Mack got up crying at 10:30pm. I tried putting him back to bed. He wanted nothing to do with his bed. So I took him into my bed (in the dark) and cuddled him. I guess I must have passed out before him. Almost an hour later Jamie came up to go to bed and I was out cold. He said he walked into the room and it was pitch black since he turned off the hallway light. He said he didn’t even realize that Mack was in our bed until he heard “Tv, On?”. He turned on his night table light and saw Mack sitting up in our bed. The little bugger. It wasn’t time to watch tv. It was bed time! Anyhow, I had to give him some more milk in order to get him back to sleep. I’m hoping this isn’t something that is going to happen every night, but so far so good with the milk in a sippy cup.

This morning Mackenzie had swimming lessons. On his way to school after swimming, I saw 2 police on horses. I was shocked. In my area? Really? Yep. (I learned later that they were on loan from the Town of Mount Royal). Anyhow, I witnessed one of the horses do his business all over the street that the daycare that my children go to is on. Anyhow, I witnessed them just trot away after the horse was done his business. This made me FURIOUS. Hey, if we have to pick up after our dogs (not that I have one or anything) but they should have to pick up after their horses… c’mon! Anyhow, I wasn’t sure what to do, and you can’t really call the police on the police, can you? So, instead I called Public Security. I was transferred to someone, who wasn’t at his desk (or on the other line) so I left a message. My concern was, that where the horse did his business, was in a school zone (my old elementary school) and cars were swerving into the other lane to not drive through the horse business. This wasn’t good. (At 5:30 pm after I was done work and picked up the kids from daycare, it had been cleaned up. Was I the only one who complained? Did other people complain? Though, I feel better for making the call).

I did wonder where the horses came from, and was curious as to where they were stored or how they got to my suburb, where I don’t know of a single stable around. When I left to work after picking up my lunch at home after dropping off Mack at daycare from his swim class, I saw this parked around the corner from my house. A police pick-up truck with the horse carriage hitched on the back. (Horse carriage? Is that what it’s called?)

The funny part of all this is that the horses were trotting in the parking lot of Sean’s daycare & Sean’s classroom is in front of the school with a huge door to the outside in it. (Mack’s classroom faces the front too, but there is no accessible door to the outside (there is one I think, but the play area is in front of it – I think) and the windows are painted half way up with a zoo theme so that the children can’t see their parents leave (as they’re the baby class and they tend to cry if they’re new to the daycare). Anyhow, one of Sean’s teachers saw the horse right outside their classroom and opened the door (it’s not the main door to the daycare, it’s more of an emergency type door). The horse, named Blackjack actually came half way into Sean’s class. He got to meet the police horse. I learned this when I came to pick up the kids from school today. I was even shown pictures. I asked if one of them that I liked could be emailed to me- but so far I haven’t received it yet. We’ll see if I do – I’ll show you if I get it. There is one picture of the class around the horse. When I told Sean’s teachers that I called public security on these horses because one of the horses did his business all over the street, I had his teachers laughing hysterically.

Anyhow… that was the excitement for today.

Yarnhog has created a gorgeous craft room. I’m super jealous! One day when all my children have moved out of the house, I plan to turn one of their rooms into a craft room. Too bad that won’t be at least for another 16-20 years+. I can’t complain though, I do have a nice sized office and I do have a yarn room in the basement. Maybe if I de-clutter my office I’ll have more room to craft. Hmm, that may not be a bad idea.

Here is the current progress on my La Novia. I love how it’s knitting up.

Tonight I had the Guild Meeting. We had a sock challenge tonight. We had 3 categories that we could enter in, and I entered 3 socks of my own designs. I entered in Mathematical Equation, Grape Vines & Massie. While I didn’t win anything (the judge tonight was none other than Kate Gilbert herself), my cousin Jenn won 2 prizes. (I guess I should take a hint? Just kidding). I worked on La Novia and chatted with some of the members.

december fourteen

Mack decided it would be a good idea to wake up at 5 am this morning and start his day. I ended up sleeping on the floor of my bedroom because he wanted to play and watch tv and have me next to him. Jamie and I both were dead to the world. We figured out why he was awake. We tried last night to give him his milk cold. He's been getting his milk warmed up as he had his formula warmed up when he was still on formula. I want him to be off warm milk and drinking said milk out of a sippy cup before he switches daycare. I see this being a challenge since he barely touched his milk last night and was up at 5 am because he was hungry. What I would do to have him sleep in until his normal 7 am wakeup. I don't function waking up at 5 am.

I handed in Mack's birth certificate and medical record book today when I dropped off Sean. Tomorrow I will be signing the paperwork, and then I will give notice to Mack's daycare that he will no longer be attending come January. I am a little nervous about handing in Mack's "resignation" to his soon-to-be old daycare, but I am sure it will be okay. I just don't want them to give him less attention or not care for him properly because soon they will know that he will not be coming back. (One of my friends put this silly idea in my head and now I'm not sure whether to be paranoid or not). I've probably got nothing to worry about. I hope.

I finally called the phone company today and sorted out my answering machine. It now works again properly. I use the same company for our internet/phone & cable. (Much easier just to pay one company, don't you think?) Anyhow, what probably happened is that one of the kids must have hit *93 which de-activates your answering machine. So I had to hit *92 and now it works. We tested it out. I get voicemail when I call my house and the voicemail also picks up if I don't answer my call-waiting. Phew! It's been honestly WEEKS since we've had a working answering machine. Took me a while to even have someone tell me "you know, your answering machine doesn't pick up anymore, it just rings & rings & rings...". Well, that's now sorted out. Phew! One more thing to cross off my list. (I do have a long list let me tell you).

As promised, my latest design:

Possibility.

Oh, I love cables.

For now all my designs are available on Ravelry. I do plan to get them all up for sale on my own website soon (sometime over the winter break). I hope you've liked my 2009 designs, stay tuned in 2010 for some more ideas I've got kicking around!

I finally started to block some of Babette. I am blocking them out to 4"x4".

I plan to work more on this in the new year. I'm slowly collecting solid sock yarn scraps to make it. Solid/tonals/semi-solids are what I'm using. If you have any leftovers you don't know what to do with and would like to send them my way - please do so! That would be very appreciated!

Jamie's scarf is officially missing. He's looked everywhere. I still am waiting for a call back with the guy's name who lives in the condo building where the poker tournament was held, as maybe they have an lost & found. The guy who lives in that building would have had to of cleaned up the party room where the tournament was held, so if Jamie left it there, there could be a chance they found it. Here's to hoping. If not, he decided he likes Mabel's Scarf pattern (non Ravelry link) though I am not sure what yarn I'd use, as I don't have any Malabrigo Worsted in a color he likes. I'm not going to cast on anything yet, in case his beloved scarf does turn up.

Mack finally started saying a few new words! He is still not saying much. He says Mama, Dada, Book, Ball, Up, and now Papa (my dad's nickname). Slowly! Though, of course, we can't get Mack to say Papa infront of my dad! My parents stopped by this evening to give Jamie his birthday gift since he wasn't at family dinner last night. We tried so hard to get Mack to say it - but no luck. I'll have to catch it on video!

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I was nominated for Best Canadian Craft, Cook & Other Activities Blog for 2009! Please vote for me in 1st place here! You have until Saturday, December 19th, 2009 to vote. Thank you in advance! And thank you for reading my blog!

december eleven

I got great news this morning when I brought Sean to daycare. The coordinator at his daycare pulled me aside and told me that she finally has a spot for Mack starting January 4th. I don't want to scream and jump of joy yet, but I swear, I almost kissed her feet when she told me. I have to bring in Mack's birth certificate & his medical record book next week. I won't say anything to the daycare where Mack goes until I have officially signed the paperwork so that I don't jinx anything. But I am so happy! Finally. No more dropping off and picking up in two separate locations. It's been very tiring.

I worked today in the office, nothing exciting really. My printer is broken so I kept having to run to the service department to get anything I printed. I could have shouted through my little window at the guys to bring me my papers... but I can never remember any of their names (except for our manager & the assistant manager, and one other guy who wasn't even working at the time!) LOL. Anyhow, my manager assures me that he's ordered me in a specific printer that we don't actually carry in stock for my office and we should get it in soon. Sounds good to me. Hoepfully it'll be there the next time I am in my office.

Tonight my in-laws came for supper and we celebrated Jamie's birthday. My step-mother-in-law made lemon merangue pie and boy was it delicious!

We managed to squeeze a family shot in before Mack's bedtime, but as you can see he was already having his bottle as it was late and almost his bedtime, and wanted nothing to do with a picture!

I read The Eight Nights of Chanukah by Leslea Newman tonight with Sean before bed. Chanukah started tonight - Happy Chanukah to those who celebrate. I lit the candles tonight, but only after Sean went to bed, so I will take some pictures with him tomorrow. He's so excited about Chanukah, I hope he understands what it's all about. I need to find another book that explains it better, because the book I read him tonight, while cute, was a song to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas"... so no real story in the book, but it was cute. And Sean liked it.

I finally have some designs to show you! I've got one for you tonight and another to show you in the next couple of days!

Here is Grape Vines.

I'm in love with this design.

Look at the pattern in the sock. I'm in love.

november seven

Mackie let me sleep in a bit this morning, only getting up after 7:30 am this morning, which was nice. I then got to close my eyes a bit longer while he had his morning bottle and he watched some children's programming in bed. (I can't even call it morning cartoons, because it's not - I allow the kids to watch Sprout).

I got our act together and took Mack for a haircut. He looks so handsome now with his new 'do. I am going to have to take Sean for a haircut this week - he's over due for one too. It's so much easier to take one kid at a time, which is why I took advantage this morning to take Mack. After his haircut we went to Costco to pick up some grocery items that I needed. I ran into an old high school friend, we chatted for a few minutes, and said we'd get together one of these days. Not sure if that will actually happen - but we'll see.

Mack took a very nice nap this afternoon (he was actually falling asleep in the car on the way home from Costco, but I tried my best to keep him awake until we got home). I fed him lunch and then he went for his afternoon nap. I got a lot of baking/cooking done this afternoon while Mack napped. I made a banana bread, and then set out to make a double batch of meat sauce (my step-mother-in-law's recipe).

Banana Bread

Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 55 minutes
Oven: 350°F
Makes: 1 loaf (16 servings)

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (5 medium)
1 cup sugar or splenda
½ cup cooking oil
¼ tsp salt

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture, set aside.
2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar & oil. Add in egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). If desired, sprinkle any nuts on top.
3. Bake in a 350°F oven for 55 to 60 minutes for a 9x5x3 inch pan or 40 to 45 minutes for a 1.5x3.5x2 inch pan, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. If necessary, cover loosely with foil the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent over browning. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Enjoy the recipe! Let me know if you make it!

Jamie is going to be VERY excited that I made meat sauce. It's been months since I've made it - only because I was avoiding having protein with my pasta. Jamie's been begging me for a while now to make it again, and I just hadn't had the time. The prep time to make the meat sauce is a lot of work, and lengthy, but well worth it in the end. I ended up having some with dinner tonight, it was really good. The rest will go into the freezer for future meals.

Tonight, after bathing Mack and putting him to bed for the evening (did I tell you again how good of a baby Mack is?) I took care of a few things around the house, wrapped my brother's birthday gift for tomorrow, we're going out for his birthday which is totally actually (Happy Birthday Bro!), and caught up on some episodes of CSI (Las Vegas). I didn't realize that it was on again, and I am not sure why my PVR didn't record any episodes. So, I've now watched 3 of the 6 episodes I'm behind. I'll catch up on finishing those up tomorrow while Mack naps.

I miss Sean & Jamie like crazy, but honestly, I am enjoying some alone time. I'm also getting things done around the house that I haven't been able to with both Sean & Mack running around. Sometimes it's hard to get stuff done when it's all busy around the house. I can't wait to see Sean & Jamie tomorrow though when they return.

Before I go, I want to show you my latest design!

A List of Things.

august twenty

Sean had 2 subs at daycare today. One of his teachers is still on her vacation, and his other teacher had to go pick up her son from coming home from sleep away camp. One sub has been in his classroom for a bit now, replacing his teacher on vacation. The other sub I'd never seen her before. Sean didn't have a good day at school today, and I'm certain it's because of all the subs in his classroom. Threw him off his game. He apparently was fine until nap time, but then he refused to nap during nap time, and once nap time was over he pushed a kid in his class to try to take away the kid's stuffed monkey. The kid ended up needing an ice pack for his elbow. Oy. I'm really just hoping that it's just an "off" day. I really can't wait for the terrible two's to be over. (But am not sure I'm looking forward to what 3 and 4 have to bring either. Can we just move on to 5?)

After Mack got up from his morning nap and my cleaning lady left, I picked up my mother and we headed out to run a few errands. I picked up some yummy sock yarn for the sock club (for one of the upcoming months), that I had missed the delivery for. I wish I could keep all the skeins for myself, it's just so freakin' yummy and delicious!

Next I ran into the city to a store called Fiori. I wanted to pick up something for my friend who has breast cancer. (Speaking of which, I need to finish knitting the hat I started for her. I kind of got side tracked from that project). I got what I needed and I was on my merry way. The chick working there tried to sell me a bunch of other stuff, and was a little too friendly, but nice regardless. Neat shop, though, the incense that they were burning in there really turned me off.

I picked up some gift items that I needed on our way back to the west island. We have some upcoming things that I want to give gifts for/need to give gifts for. We have a friend of Jamie's whose wife just gave birth to a baby boy, my neighbor had a baby girl, and I want to give her a small gift, we have a 3 year old's birthday party the weekend after this one, and we have a birthday party this Saturday for one of Mack's friends. Also, I found a few shirts for my nephew's 7th birthday this fall. (Wow, I cannot believe he's turning 7. That's just insane. Feels like he was born just yesterday).

Tonight I made a taco dinner. We haven't had tacos in forever, and they were just yummy. Super healthy too. Whole wheat taco shells, extra lean ground beef, tomatoes, cheese, low fat sour cream, onions. Yum! Love it. (Jamie adds salsa to his, but I like my tacos without).

Sean was dysfunctional since he got home from daycare due to his lack of nap, so I was able to put the kids to bed early tonight. We chilled tonight and watched Big Brother and an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels after Jamie got home from an errand he ran this evening.

I started another test knit tonight, another one of my own designs. I just love doing it. It allows me to be creative, and I just love what I end up coming up with. I love seeing people's finished objects on Ravelry of my designs. It's a pretty neat feeling.

I gave in tonight and got two things that I really wanted. Knitpicks new Zephyr tips and 9" circular 2.75mm Hiya's. I've used 12" Addi's for socks before, (I believe I have them in 3.0mm size, which I only use to knit socks for Jamie), but I think the 9" will be smoother to knit with for socks. I saw some yesterday and just had to get some.

Even though I cannot show you my new test knit, I can show you my latest published design. I present to you, Jubilee: