Celtic Cast On

It has been insanely hot here the past week.Temperature’s  35 c plus with high humidity and not a breeze to be found makes for one hot house.

The best way to cool off is a trip to The Cove to enjoy the water.

I think its safe to say she enjoyed it. That open mouthed smile says it all!

The dogs are a constant amusement for T, she loves taking in EVERY thing they do, especially when they horse around,

but sometimes its nice to just hang as a fam and get a few licks here and there.

Poor Molly can`t go for a swim without getting pounced on on her way back to the shore. She`s quick to put her little bro in his place though when she can stand up.

We let the dogs in this year without their life jackets on to see what they would do.  After a few moments of looking out forlornly wanting to be with us Boston took the plunge. Once he got the hang of it we couldn’t keep him on the shore, he wanted to be swimming all the time. he thought it was great that he could swim circles around us again and again. At one point I had to call him back because he was headed for the other side of The Bay.

It`s amusing that their personalities show through even in their swimming. Boston takes huge leaps  from the shore and swims fast and with purpose while Molly takes her time getting in using long slow strides to swim, its almost like watching water ballet.

Of course there had to be a boat ride before we headed home. The dingy was still at home  but we did have my Dad’s little fishing boat on the shore that Moose took out of a spin. It still amuses us that these dogs love boats so much. Molly is completely at peace on the water and Boston enjoys keeping a look out of anything suspicious in the water that he may need to tackle.

A lovely day on the water! Its so hot again today that we’re are off for another paddle right now.

Stay Cool!

So you all knew I was 6 months but did you know…..

I started solids….

I have TWO teeth!

 I can sit up by myself!

I love great grampy and grammy’s air conditioner…

and I can say BaBa, NaNa, and MaMa!

Not bad for a month’s work huh!

Where has the time gone??

Spring has sprung on The Ridge and we’ve even had some lovely summer days lately.

The dogs are enjoying the fresh air and ability to get out for a good romp without being clabbered in muck.

T has reached the 6 month mark, learning and doing new things every day.

and I????

I have been KNITTING!!!!!!!!

Albeit only here and there when I get the chance but some knitting is better than no knitting right?

Here’s a little run down of what I’m working on :

Manu: Manu is…..well….. not even on the needles yet, turns out I don’t have the right size needles to even swatch for this one yet so its sitting patiently waiting for me to cast on. I’m excited about this one because stockinette is super easy to pick up at any point and knit a few stitches and also proves to be good car ride material, I can see me getting alot accomplished on this in a short time once its off the ground. I want those needles ASAP!

Minimalist : That poor half a sleeve I have left to finish. I’m at a point in the pattern that I have to increase after knitting so many rows, this requires pen paper and counting…… by the time I drag all that out it will be time to put it all away again.

KrisKnits Monthly Discloth KAL:  I’ve been keeping up with this and have some finished cloths to show you save February’s cloth where I ran out of yarn… doh! I only had a few rows left too.  It’s sugar and creme so I’ll have to wait until we go for a little weekend in Maine to get more to complete it.

Mojo’s : AHA! Now this one I have made progress on. One sock is down with only one more to go but as it turns out I need those needles for another project at the moment so sock number two is on hold. * I didn’t knit these two at a time because each sock is a different pattern.*

Here’s a little look at the after thought heel on my mojo sock. It was my first attempt at this technique, very simple to do  just like knitting a toe and fits well.  I’d say my first toe up sock was a success, I will definitely be knitting more toe ups!!

What’s on your needles? 

I’ve been pretty good at using up what I have in the way of stash. I’m determined to get it down to manageable size that will actually get used in this lifetime. Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of spring cleaning getting ready for a big yard sale with my mum. My house will no longer be filled with useless clutter and things I have no longer any need for.

I’ve had a good hard look at my stash as well and weeded out the yarns that I don’t think I’ll ever get to or  have any project in mind for. I’ve added some things to my trade/sell page on Ravelry if you are  interested but I’m also going to be posting some yarn here in the next few days that  I’m hoping to  find a good home for… more on that another day… on to the stash enhancements!

My not so LYS was having a sale, I thought I’d take advantage of the sale and get those needles I needed for Manu and maybe while I was there do a little browsing. I ended up with a few things…

Filatura Di Crosa Centolavaggi

A yummy lace weight in a shade of purple I’ve been loving lately. This will become a Geodesic Cardigan.

My first ever Malabrigo…. I’ve always avoided this yarn because it pills like there is no tomorrow but the sock yarn seems to be different where pilling is concerned so I thought I’d give it a go.

Malabrigo Sock in Impressionist Sky

And last but not least some Zauberball. It’s the rainbow colourway and I hope to make some knee socks with it

Have you gone through your stash lately?  You might be surprised at what you find.

Its day 4 of the Ravelympics and everyone that is participating is well on their way to obtaining a gold medal. I knew I wanted to participate this year but there was no way knitting a sweater would be an obtainable goal for me to meet with Tadpole in the picture.

I him’d and ha’ed over what project to cast on for, I really wanted to start an Ishbel but lace knitting isn’t something I can stop mid row when Tad wakes up from a nap and I really just didn`t want to have to deal with lace  for my Olympic knit. I wondered if I wouldn’t be better to finish up some WIP’s  but that really didn`t seem very exciting, I needed something fresh that I would enjoy knitting. In the end I decided to go with a little bit of fun AND  a WIP.

I`ll be knitting the basic sock monkey I blogged about last fall. Since Tad came along knit toys have been calling out to me at every turn, I want to make them all right now but I know I must pace myself, she has many years of toy playing ahead of her. 

I`m making good strides being almost halfway through the body of the monkey. This little guy doesn`t look so little beside T, by the look of his legs he`s going to be the same size as her.

Just in case the sock monkey went incredibly fast I added my mojo socks that I started back in December as a WIP.

 Somewhere along the way I lost my momentum with them and they`ve been sitting in their bag ever since. I know once I pick them back up they`ll be finished in no time, those colours alone are enough to keep me going.

What are your goals for the  Ravelympic??

This beautiful cardi set was a gift for Tadpole from Freida of Restless Needles.  I love the tweedy yellow yarn she chose, she`s got my colours down pat It`s sized 9-12 months and will be so perfect for Tadpole to toddle about The Ridge next year. I absolutely love it!

Freida added an extra button with the package that I think I might attach to the beanie if Tad is a girl. I’ll always know where the button is if I loose one. 

I also received a package from Colleen of Rabies on my shoes. She sent this warm felted blanket for Tadpole’s car seat. I haven’t decided how exactly I want to use it yet but Colleen suggested cutting a slit in it for the seat belt… I don’t know if I can bring myself to cut it but we’ll see once Tad arrives. She also included some goodies for me which was way too much.

 This delicious Warm Vanilla Sugar cream which smells heavenly and some great sock yarn from Knit Picks I have yet to try.

Thank you ladies for your wonderful gifts, Tadpole is going to be a warm little bundle of yarny goodness!

Where has the time gone???  Its been two months since I posted last YIKES!!!

All I can say is…. It’s Tadpole’s fault!!!!

I’m well into my second trimester now, have gained most of my energy back and am still eating like a horse.

This picture is a couple of weeks old now as I  haven’t got around to taking  anything recent. It was taken at 19 weeks and I’m currently 22 weeks. I’ve seen massive growth in my belly over  the last 3 weeks which apparently is another doubling  in size stage for tadpole, I’m beginning to wonder just how big I’ll grow!!

The knitting mojo has returned! After several casting on attempts, running out of yarn…. *did you know Paton’s Classic Merino is discontinued???* I finally cast on for something extremely cute with an ample supply of yarn.

This is the “If Tadpole Is A Girl Cardi”

 It’s from the Sirdar pattern book Baby Bamboo Too. I’m using Rowan hand knit cotton that I’ve had in my stash since last year. The back is complete and I’ve started on one of the fronts, I think this will be a sweet cardi over a summer dress next year.

I cast on for this yesterday because I was a little scared that we are unprepared for a girl. I’ve had a notion early on that I was having a boy and began collecting boy things with a few girl items on the side. Then it hit me that Tadpole just might be a girl and I might want to knit a few girly things that would be nice cover ups  dresses etc. There just aren’t that many boy things that I want to knit so I may as well knit what I want and be prepared for a girl as well.

Soooo how are you all??? It’s been a while!!

My lack of knitting mojo can only mean one thing………

I’m gonna have a BABY!!!

13 weeks 4 days

Hopefully my mojo will come back soon, I’ve got some cute baby clothes to knit!

January was bitterly cold, wool hats, helmet liners, snowpants, nothing seemed to keep you warm. I had finally accepted the fact that I was going to be cold when I was outside and I’d just have to suck it up and get warm when I came back in.

 I cast my wellies aside in SEPTEMBER because my feet were too cold and I needed my winter boots to keep  my wee tootsies warm. Moose however continued to wear his throughout the winter and  I just assumed his wellies had  winter liners in them and thats why he was still wearing them even though his feet were always cold when he came in. I asked him if he’d like me to make him some winter socks to block out the cold and was pleasantly surprised when he replied that yes he would like a pair.  I thought “man he really must be feeling the cold!” he’s always sweating.

I started knitting the socks and then realized that Moose had been wearing plain old  rubber boots this whole winter, no liners and with only store bought socks on his feet. GOOD GRIEF!!! We immediatley went out and bought WINTER boots, apparently the ones I THOUGHT he was wearing this whole time had started to leak so he through them out .  I  worked solely on his socks, so I could get them on his feet pronto,  no knitters’  household should have cold feet!

The day before our anniversary he asked if the socks were done yet, geez he really did want these things. I was almost to the toe on the second sock so I told him I would have them done sometime the following day.

Pattern: Briggs and Little Heavy Socks

Yarn: Briggs and Little Tuffy

Needles: 3.25mm dpns

Start Date: January 3rd 2009

Finish Date: January 15th 2009

They fit to a T! They are very warm and most of all, HE WEARS THEM!!!

SUCCESS!!!! This goes down in history as the first pair of socks made for and worn by Moose…. maybe someday he’ll actually wear sock yarn socks….. or maybe that’s still wishful thinking!

While knitting these my dad complained about the cold, he works outside in it everyday and wears 2 -3 pairs of socks sooooo I wasn’t about to let that go unnoticed. He tried on one of Moose’s liked them, said he’d wear them so I told him I’d put him on the list.

 Mum and Dad are actually on vacation so I started them in hopes of having them finished by the time they got home. I chose green for his and am off to a great start….. I can foresee winter socks for the whole family in my future!!

The socks were definitely worn during a big ice storm we had in January. There was at least 4 inches of ice on our main road so Moose took that opportunity to go skating.

He actually skated up the driveway and out onto the road, it was crazy!!

 Poor Boss was stuck behind the gate, watching all the action!

We’re gearing up for another storm this afternoon.

Stay warm!

Pattern: Liesl by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Dream in Colour Classy In Vino Vertias

Needles: 7mm

Who doesn’t need a cute little cardi for over summer dresses??? I was in desperate need of SOMETHING to wear that wasn’t a turtleneck seeing as its summer and all. Liesl caught my eye right away, as it did for so many others. Even before the pattern was available I think people were at the ready with needles and yarn ready to cast on. This pattern has soo many options, short sleeve, long sleeve, short body, long body, wide neck, high neck the possibilities are endless. When I cast on I still wasn’t sure how I wanted to knit my Liesl but I knew I wanted a short body and something easy I can tote about with me during summer.

 After a few false starts, talking to much while knitting and not paying enough attention to the pattern, Liesl was born. She didn’t take long to complete once I knuckled down and got stuck right in. As each row progressed Liesl took shape as if I knew how I wanted it to be all along.  

 The thing I love about this pattern is the many different ways there are to wear it. I wore it to church this morning with a green ribbon holding the top together. After church I found some great buttons and added one to the top and bottom.  Wear it with one button, or two, ribbon or none how versatile can ya get.

This is going to be a great addition to my summer wardrobe and who knows maybe there will be a long sleeve long body Liesl in the future.

More pictures can be found here