Life after knitting...

Way back in December, after that feverish bout of designing and sample knitting for those Buddy Sweaters, I took a deep breath and decided to quit knitting…for the holidays.

I always have these grand plans for the holidays and in the end, there are just too many chores, expectations, and too little time.  And now that the boys are a little bigger, I thought they would much prefer spending some good quality time getting excited about Christmas than watching mommy go bonkers and pleading to be left alone for ‘just 5 more minutes’ to finish something or another.  So just like that, I tore up my holiday knitting list, put away all the yarn, needles and books strewn all over my house and just put it out of my mind.

And it was wonderful…

For the first time in my adult life, Christmas didn’t sneak up on me.  By the time it rolled around, I was ready.  I accomplished everything I wanted to and had a blast with the boys getting excited about it all: we made all of our own decorations for the tree, made sweet treats for our friends and fun toy gifts for all the little people in our neighbourhood, we baked, we made bread, we celebrated Santa Lucia, had dinner with friends, went to a bowling party, saw Santa, went to Church, had picnics under the tree, opened our advent stockings every night, sneaked out to cafes after dinner for chocolate milk and fanciful deserts.  We even went to see a movie in a real movie theatre! We had our neighbourhood buddies over for a Christmas party and just were really, really merry with no pressure, just fun and smiles and giggles.

And it was wonderful…

Now that Christmas is long behind us, I’m still enjoying the perks of my non-knitting lifestyle: my life is organised, we have fresh laundry (there isn’t even an ironing pile looming in the closet anymore), my house is clean and guest-ready at anytime, I’m reading a book (!), sometimes I even nap with the boys.  I joined the gym with my buddy and have actually been going three nights a week, get to bed at a reasonable hour and am enjoying cozying up with hubby on the sofa at the end of the day.

And that’s why it’s mid-February and I’m still on Christmas break.  It’s hard to get back into the groove.   Actually, I’m not even sure I really want to get back into the knitting groove the way I have been for the past 4 years.  I need more balance in my life I guess and it took a good long knitting break to see that fibre had really started to take way to much room in my life.

I hope to get back into it soon because it did mean a lot to me and I got a lot of pleasure and self-esteem from knitting and have enjoyed sharing it with you all here and on Ravelry.  I guess I just need to figure out a way to not get obsessive with it the way I think I have been in the past and that’s going to be tricky for me because once I cast on, it’s hard for me to put a project down before it is finished.    

But there’s lots of yarn in my knitting chest and there are two perfect little guys in my midst to adorn with loving woollens so it’s just a matter of time, really.

But for now, I’m enjoying the no-pressure lifestyle…

I’ll be catching up on the blog in the next few weeks with all of our holiday adventures.  I’ll cheat a little with the dates of the posts so that the dates match up more with when the activities took place so it makes more sense in the archives.  And then, I’d like to get back into the blogging even if there is no knitting to talk about and I hope you won’t mind terribly ;0)

Thank you for all the kind e-mails and all your support throughout the years, you’ve been good friends and while I haven’t missed the knitting so much, I have missed writing about life with the boys and sharing it all with you. 

I have so much to tell you…

Jury's still out...but I think I like it!!!

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions about the fruity scarf I showed you last time. I finished it last night and after a good blocking and a fifty-ways-to-wear-a-really-long-skinny-scarf session in front of the laundry room mirror, this psychadelic Easter scarf is really starting to grow on me...


So I'm going to hold off on dying it for a little while to see if I fall in love with it's fruitiness come spring. The pattern is chevron scarf from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It calls for 4 skeins of sock weight yarn total, but I only used 2 and ended up with a 74" scarf (just 3 inches shy of the 77" the pattern calls for). I used one skein of Knit Picks Sock Memories in paper dolls and the other in the hawaii colourway and knit the whole thing in 4 days using my very favouritest Crystal Palace bamboo straights in US 5 (they're the short-ish 8 inch ones with the balls on top pictured in my last post).


I love those needles so much which is strange really, because I usually don't feel comfortable using straight needles at all. But there's something about these that just feels so right that I can not put them down. This is a quality that makes these perfect for scarf knitting, a project that can get tedious really fast. But not with these babies!


Though to come back to the scarf, I must say that this very simple pattern (4 rows, 3 of which are just plain old stockinette) was completely addictive to knit in and of itself (if you've ever considered it and then decided not to make one because of the sock weight yarn, go for it, it's actually knit on US 5 needles so even though it's sock yarn, it comes together pretty quickly). I love the little scallop effect it creates at the ends of the scarves too. As I laid it out for it's photo session, I noticed that the little scallop at the top would be just right for a mitten top. So naturally, I had to cast on for a pair....

And now for something completely different! Jujube and Lolo playing tennis in the street with their toddler buddies from across the street (their dad is a Canadian tennis champ in the 35 and over category)! This was the first time they took over the street and Stephen and I got such a kick out of it. There's nothing cuter than tots with rackets ;0)

One last thing...did you sign up for the Ravelympics yet? You have to sign up before AUGUST 7 to participate officially. I'll be competing in the Sweater Sprint event. I'll tell you more about my project when I cast on dunring Friday's opening ceremonies ... it's so exciting!!!

Slacker blogger in the hizzle!

Well it's definately summer now and that means there has been a lot less knitting than usual, and a lot less blogging too. But there has been lots of fun in the sun with my growing boys:

But let's not get crazy. There has also been a lot of knitting too...just lots and lots of samples for a new pattern I'm still not quite ready to release yet. I can't wait to show you what I've been up too.


All I need now are a sunny day for pretty pics, a working camera, and a willing husband to do the web magic. And it all has to come together before the Olympics because I sure have picked out a challenging project. Actually I still can't decide whether it's "challenging" or "loopy" but either way I'm committed to making it. More about it next time ;0

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer (but secretly looking forward to winter) like me!

How about a crane for his Cheerios?

Well, another week, another cold. And this time, no one was spared! All 4 of us were sniffling, sneezing, coughing, whining and complaining all weekend long! Not. Fun. Luckily, we should all be breathing easier in a day or two and I an get back to the important task of figuring out the wings for my knitting tattoo (BTW, I will put up the pattern for you when it's all done, hopefully by next week)!


In the meantime, I thought I'd show you some pics of Julian modeling the Rowan Yorskshire Tweed Chunky yoked sweater (it's the copycat sweater from Ann Budd's 'Handy book of sweater patterns') I knit for him in the fall. I had put up the photos on Flickr but don't think I got to blogging them. So here goes...

I think it's my favourite sweater of all the special knits I made for my boys. I just love everything about it, including how it makes my Jujube look even more irresitable. Even when his goofy gene (inherited from his father, see proof here) is in full effect as it was during that photoshoot. Oh, how I love my boys. They always find a way to crack me up ;0)



Like the other day...Julian and I were talking about how Lolo's first birthday is coming up and how fun it would be for us to make something special for his birthday. I was thinking of something along the lines of maracas or a noisemaker that I could make and Julian could decorate. We've been going to The Music Class on Saturday mornings and Lolo sure loves those egg shakers so it seemed like a great idea to me. Though Julian had some other ideas...

After thinking it over for a minute at lunch on Saturday, it suddenly hit him! The perfect gift to make for his little brother: what about a crane for his Cheerios?

Well, Steve and I just about fell off our chairs laughing at that one. He also did the crane motion picking some Cheerios from Lolo's high chair as he said it. Of course, what better gift for a 1 year old! How can we have missed it ;0)

Any ideas on how we can make either?

PS - did you see how I snuck in those mittens? I made them for my sister this Christmas using the leftover yarn. Actually, I ran out of yarn for the second mitten so had to frog back the first and get creative with the stripes. Sooo something my grandma would have done and my sis loved them! It's really too bad that Rowan disocntinued that yarn...

Sick chickies

Thursday night and I am just beginning to see the light at the end of the long whiney, fevery, runny nosey, lethargic tunnel...

Exhibit A: Double ear infection.



Exhibit B: Double ear infection + 6 teeth coming in! Poor chickie.



And of course the growing post-modern art installation taking over every sink, tub and other water tight basin in my house...


Now, I'm not a germ fearing lady. I'm one of those people who believe some germs are good. You know, they help build up a strong immune system! But after being sick myself with a bad cold for 10 days now and after caring for two little sickees all week, I feel the need to air out and super mega de-germify my house!


Three sets of bed linens washed in high-temp: check! Play-mats and all plastic toys soaked in vinegar water: check! All floors vacuumed/washed with vinegar water: check! All light switches, door knobs and solid surface in my house lysol-wiped: check! Knitting: lying in a heap by the couch since last week :0(


But the mailman came this week with a little box of joy which is sitting on my kitchen table and beckoning...


Like I said, there's a light at the end of the tunnel ;0)

The last 5 days...

In the last five days since my last post, I finished knitting this...

Monogrammed Christmas sweaters for the boys (Lolo's is finished too!)
Knit from Valley Yarns Berkshire on US 9s in my own design.
Really cute, really soft, but pilly as all get-out!

And 7 and a half toddler and baby socks for my Martha-inspired baby sock advent calendar (I know there are just 6 below, you'll have to trust me on the other 1.5!) ...

{1} Stripey green toddler socks in Knit Picks Swish in Dublin and Bare
(34 sts, tubular cast on, 6 row stripes, short row heel, round toe)

{2} cabled toddler socks using quietish's pattern with bulky yarn
(Valley Yarns Berkshire) and size 9 needles for 3yr size

{3} basic socks also in Valley Yarns Berkshire and size 9 needles.
Embellished with duplicate embroidered tree.

Trimmed the tree...


Wrapped a garland around the banister to display my baby sock advent calendar in progress...


Distracted a sick toddler (he's all better now thanks to your sound advice, extra cuddles, tandem nursing, steam/humidity, and lots of extra playtime with mommy to keep his mind off how miserable he was feeling) with an art project! I introduced him to pencil crayons (ooh!) and we made little card stock circles to adorn a tiny tree on the kitchen table. Between this and hours of tea party, he managed to forget that he couldn't breath through his nose ;0)


Helped dig us out of what seemed like 12 million feet of snow!

Survived Lolo's first cold (he barely slept for 3 consecutive nights because the poor thing couldn't breath through his nose which meant he couldn't nurse for more than a second at a time)! Got a cold and beat it myself. Went to Stephen's office Christmas party on Friday night. And hunted down DDR Hottest Party for Wii for my honey (what a lucky boy ;0)

Amazing, eh? I can't beleive I got that much done considering and I'm feeling so empowered that I'm thinking I just might be able to knit 3-4 pairs of mittens, 10 socks, and Joseph in the next week all while making 'green' wrapping paper with Julian, wrapping gifts of course, and going out 2 nights in a row on Friday and Saturday nights!

What? It could happen!?

The good one ;0)

We were sitting on the bottom step together yesterday, hurrying to put our shoes on so we wouldn't miss daddy's train when Julian totally blew me away. This two year old of mine was doing up the velcro on his runners and said, "mommy, I put on my left shoe". And it was! So I asked him what his other foot was? "The good one," he replied. "You mean, the right one?" I asked. "No mommy, it's the good one!"

Stephen was on vacation last week so we were busy little bees, soaking in the sun, visiting the sites and of course running some errands! We took the boys to the Montreal Biodome with grandma and grandpa and it was a lots of fun. Julian got to see penguins, and porcupines, and a moose, and a cougar, and giant jungle birds, and even an alligator! He was very impressed. Logan on the other hand was most smitten with the fish. I was carrying him in the bjorn and could literally feel his breathing patterns change as the aquariums soothed him. Magic!

We also got to do something a little strange...we went to a Stanley Cup parade in our little suburban town! The goaltender for the Ducks is from our little town and brought the celebrated cup over for an impromptu Monday afternoon parade.

It was strange to go for a neighbourhood walk in the deeps of suburbia to participate in a Stanley cup parade when our home team didn't even make the playoffs! It was great fun nonetheless. Giguere (the hometown hero) rode on an old fashioned fire engine with the cup, preceded by the local kiddy teams and followed by what seemed like all the kids in town on their bikes cheering and waving. It was a really cool suburban moment.

Julian was trying really hard to keep up with the parade on his little tricycle. He was so focused and determined, trying to go really really fast... despite his best efforts though, he was the very last kid in the parade. Here he is being tailed by the police escort. So cute ;0)


I did get a little knitting done, too. I started knitting a trellis of my own for Lolo and honestly it's such a fabulous little quick knit that I really don't know why I didn't knit it before. I've got half a front and sleeves left to go before I can consider this one an FO. I just hope it fits Lolo when it's done... I knit the 6 month size but it looks a little small.


The story of the week though...Buddy Bags! The response has been so heart-warming. Knitters are so wonderful ;0) For those of you who have purchased a pattern, you may want to go download it again using the same link you were sent. A few knitters send some minor errata which I have reflected in a new update (any new buyers will receive the revised file).

Here's the errata:

• The row numbers in the 'Birdy wing' section should be even-numbered starting with row 2...(all odd-numbered rows should be as indicated in row 1) - thanks Renee!
• In the basket instructions, Row 20 should read (P5, K3) - thanks Jessica and Renee!
• I added needle size info throughout to make it clearer
• I added a note up front about how the pattern is for your personal use only and should not be sold or distributed. I also ask that you not sell any Buddy Bags you make, though you can knit and give away as many as you like ;0)

Next time, some Q&A for anyone interested in self-publishing a pattern. I'll share my research and experiences with software and online tools...

Happy knitting!

Big week!

I had planned to finish my mystery project, write up the pattern and make it available yesterday but I keep getting better and better ideas for it and can't stop knitting them (plus it's been a really eventful week for my children, more on that later)! They're so much fun to make if I do say so myself. Here's the first one almost done (I need to finish the ladybug embroidery and line the bag):

It's an annypurls original and the pattern for it and 3 other variations will be available in my etsy shop just as soon as I get them done and pdf the pattern. I call it the Buddy Bag. It's a simple drawstring knapsack perfectly sized to hold a child's treasures like a board book and a friend or a snack or even as packaging for a knitted baby sweater to be gifted to a lucky baby or toddler.

Each one will have a different whimsical pocket buddy. Pictured above is the Buggy Buddy Bag with it's leaf pocket and ladybug finger puppet buddy. I just love how it turned out. Love, love, LOVE it!!! I'm still working out the other buddy/pocket combinations (I'm making 4 variations for the pattern). One of these will be gifted to my neighbourette and the other 3 (if I can part with them once their done) will go up in my etsy shop as well ;0)

Here's a preview of the Birdie Buddy Bag (there will also be a Bunny Buddy Bag and a Bear-y Buddy Bag):


Aren't they charming? I'm so stoked and am looking forward to see what kind of response these get. I'm so proud of them!

But not nearly as proud as I am of my two year old delight who yesterday went potty for the first time! We bought it a few weeks ago and started including Mo Willem's "Time to pee" in our bedtime story rotation and doing the same with the Bear in the Big Blue House "Potty Time with Bear" video. We haven't actually tried to get him to use it yet nor have we gone with big boy underwear. He's still little and we're still trying to figure out how we want to do this.


Anyhow, yesterday he came to get me and asked me to take off his diaper so I humoured him. He went to sit on his potty and I gave him a few books to look at and continued tidying up the house. Next thing I know, he's walking around naked in the living room and there was a nice big peepee in his potty! Seriously, my proudest day ever! I mean I was already super impressed with his colouring earlier in the day:


Clearly he was trying to colour in the lines. Until this morning he had been mostly scribbling lines and zigzags on every page with his favouritest crayon - the brown one! Weird, eh? That his favourite crayon is brown? Shouldn't it be red? or Blue? Incidently my favourite is the orange one ;0)

Plus, this week, he started falling asleep on his own in his big boy bed. Same routine as usual except after stories and nursing (yes, I'm still tandem nursing and I don't know how to stop without making him feel less loved than Lolo...help!) I say night night and leave instead of laying with him until he falls asleep. Worked the first time! Not a peep. And yes, I know I'm blessed ;0) Double plus: Lolo started smiling...lots! And cooing too!

So you can see why even super cool knitting took a back seat this week!

More on my buddy bags next time...

It's done!

The anniversary sweater. It's really done!

I started it waaaay back in April 2006 and planned to knit it for my sweetness on the occasion of our second (cotton) anniversary on April 17, 2006. And then I started it. And immediately I knew that was not going to happen ;0) I then reasoned that it would be okay as long as I finished it during our cotton anniversary year giving myself and extra 364 days in which to finish it.

I knit on it a lot. Heck I even knit on it when I was in labour! Now that's dedication!

But man, that's a lot of cables and, well, that didn't happen either. Birthday? Father's day? Nope. Nada. But on the occasion of Quebec's national holiday on Sunday, I finally did it!


I knit the smallest size using just over 14 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton, modified the sleeves to knit them in the round, cast on fewer sleeve stitches (104 instead of 114) and worked sleeve decreases until there were 60 stitches rather than 56. Other than that I knit it pretty much as directed (for posterity did I mention that I used 4.5mm Addi's). I did have a few beefs with the pattern though. The main one was that if you knit it to the letter, that is, same cable pattern on both front and back pieces, the cables and ribs don't line up when you do the 3-needle bind-off. See:


My other beef? I hate how dropped sleeves fit. This is not that pattern's fault. But I wish I had given it more thought and modified the sleeve shaping. But, I digress. It's done! And more importantly, it's very comfy and daddy loves it. Modelled shots are forthcoming though because it's a gazillion degrees these days and it just seemed mean to make him wear it out for some pics so I'm waiting for a less muggy day... In the meantime, here's another shot before I show Julian's last 2nd birthday cake:


After his birthday barbecool with friends last weekend, we had another birthday celebration for Julian's 2nd birthday on Saturday, this time with our families. I baked him a cookie cake with layers of cream cheese filling. Yum! I got it from one of the Kids' magazines, but the recipe is reprinted online if anyone is interested.


We all sang happy birthday to his great delight and then right on beat at the end of the song when we generally blow out the candles, he went in for a bite instead and his cap extinguished the candles. It was a roar! We're still giggling about it. Silly billy ;0)


And now, he has officially entered the 'terrible twos', but so far it's more like the 'terrific twos'! Awwww. I'm counting on him to change the stereotype for all toddlerkind! LOL!

Happy birthday Jubilee Bubilee. Mommy loves you big like the sky ;0)

Happy birthday daddy!

It was Stephen's birthday on Tuesday, the twelfth. He turned 29 for the first time ;0) I hadn't really planned anything in advance but really wanted to something special so I pulled out the cookbooks to look for a Tiramisu recipe (his favourite!), ordered some groceries online and spent nap time making this:

Nice, eh? I must admit I spent a good part of the afternoon just staring at it. It's easily the nicest looking cake I've ever made, but sadly, it was not as yummy as it looked. It's the thought that counts thought and daddy was very happy. Julian and I had also put up some "fancy yellow tape" (Julian-speak for streamers) and "cool" balloons on our chandelier and of course our front door. We made lasagna with Cesar salad and cheesy garlic bread too! And we really surprised our beloved daddy-o. It was a hit!

I even found our mutual birthday card and was able to squeeze in another message by branching out chromatically and using a different coloured pen to write in between the lines of previous years' messages. We should really just add a page to it but it's much funner this way (though difficult to read!).

We started using this Easter card as a mutual birthday card 5 years ago: I write a birthday message to him and he writes a birthday message for me the following week (our birthdays happen to be exactly one week apart). Every year we enjoy reading previous years' messages and reminiscing. We started using it before we got engaged and in the five years we've been using it, we got married, built a house, had two children, Stephen travelled for work and changed jobs! That's a lot of reminiscing right there ;0)

And then, I guiltily pulled out the anniversary sweater I started knitting for our cotton anniversary last year and which I worked on in feverish little spurts the couple of days before every occasion since (birthday, father's day, thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's day, our 3rd wedding anniversary Easter, his other birthday...) and finished off the first sleeve!

I'm thinking it would make a great Canada Day (July 1st) present for him so I'm aiming for that one next.

One sleeve and a neckband to go...

Training wheels

My husband is brilliant. He is also kind and considerate. And for the past 2 and a half years held a dream job. He had a wonderful boss. His skills were recognised and rewarded. The location was convenient and the hours were flexible. The pay was good too and afforded us many luxuries like me being able to stay at home with the kidlets. But on Thursday, Motorola Canada announced that it will be closing the software centre where my husband works effective in September. Two hundred and fifty people, including my husband, will be laid off. Ouch.

We so didn't see that coming. I've been doing corporate research for a large telco for 8 years and I have seen probably a dozen significant shake-ups and at least half a dozen serious waves of downsizing worrying about whether I would be tapped on the shoulder. So when my husband came home with the news two weeks ago that Motorola was looking to cut 3500 positions globally, I told him not to worry. His division didn't know what that would mean for them yet but I figured they couldn't get rid of the whole department because of project commitments to large customers and so even if his group was touched, it wouldn't be everybody and he'd be okay because he is a top performer.

And so I didn't worry. But when he called me from work on Thursday with the news that all of Montreal would be winding down...I was completely gobsmacked. And worried. And scared. I even let myself cry a little (okay, a lot). Afterall, he's the sole bread-winner right now and we have a growing family to care for. Thankfully were not indebted but we've been spending a lot of money on yard improvements (deck, patio furniture, fence, shed, swingset,...) and whatever cushion we had managed to save is freshly spent. All of it.

I dwelled on it for a couple of days but am now past the denial, anger and fear and am in complete acceptance. And I have a feeling that something really good is going to come out of this. Really big. Luckily, my husband and I were cut from the same cloth and he is already prepared to move on and is getting excited at the thought that maybe Motorola was a stepping stone to something bigger and better and that this is an opportunity to refocus and to go after what he really wants, a step closer to meeting his full potential.

We came to this realisation the very same night he came home with the news. We had decided to skip the bedtime routine and just bring both kids in bed with us for extra closeness and comfort and because really, we're all in this together. The kids were both snoring away while we lay in the dark, thinking about the next step, possibilies, leads, and worst-case scenarios. We held hands and both felt like the training wheels had just come off. This is the first major storm since we were married, homeowners and parents. It's like a test and whatever it takes, we're going to ace it!

So bye, bye training wheels. We don't need you anymore. It's going to be okay ;0)

Cheers!

PS - Just in case anyone out there knows of an opportunity for my husband, he's been a senior software designer for Motorola in their public safety division (mostly working on dispatch software for 911 service in major US cities) for the past few years and has been working with tandem machines and COBOL for the past 10 years. He's brilliant. And available. His dream would be to be able to continue to work on the tools he's been developing for Motorola at either HP or Carr Scott. That's his preference and where he'll be focusing his energy first. But if anyone knows of any opportunities in the field...well, we'd be grateful for your help ;0)

PPS - Photos courtesy of my little Jujube who just got his first tricycle, a supercute radio-flyer with a nice long handle at the back so we can push him until he figures out what the deal with the pedals is. Right now, he especially loves 'fixing' it with his wrench. Too cute! And of course our little Lolo who just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

PPPS - I've still got knitting on the brain. But since I got my invite to beta-test Ravelry, I've been surfing rather than knitting. Seriously, Ravelry rocks! And it will be a revolution in the online knitting community once it goes live. I'm completely amazed and excited.