Pumpkin Hat

A little pumpkin hat, in 'newborn size' from the Itty Bitty Hats Book. It's generously sized, so I'm thinking this will fit at least until 3 months + of age ... just roll the brim up or down to make it smaller/larger. I used yarn from Scheepjes "Donna' in a merino/acrylic blend, in both a pumpkin and olive shade. So incredibly soft! This little number works up quickly ... completed in one evening! I know of three babies who will arrive in the Oct/Nov time frame and am thinking that this would be a cute little gift for each of them. Fun for a Halloween costume, too!

She Scores!

I taught my first class this week and was very pleased with how it all turned out. One of the ladies (who is also a knitter) was bemoaning the fact that her favorite baby yarn has been discontinued and she couldn't find it anywhere. I asked her which one it was ... Sirdar Chunky Magic ... and it turns out I had a stash of it from when I worked in the yarn store. I was happy to part with it and she was so delighted, she bought it all! Which of course, gave me some play money, which I, of course, used to purchase more yarn! Feast your eyes below on Hello Yarn's Fat Sock in the 'Green Man' colourway. I'm thinking this will become a "Baby Surprise Jacket", by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I currently have about three of her books out of the library and am amazed at her thought process.

Next up is a major 'score' from Elann! I got the last 4 balls of Rowan Cashsoft in this wonderful sandy colour and it only cost me $18 cdn!!! It's the first time I've bought this yarn and can't believe how amazingly soft it is ... and thankfully, made of extra fine merino and cashmere (along with something synthetic) so no itching, sneezing or hives. Bonus!

I spent some time today designing some cards for an upcoming class. It will feature the Basic Grey Rub on flourishes, which are so fun to work with and add such a nice touch to the cards.

Pirates!

Josh announced that he needed a 'Pirate' costume for tomorrow's camp, so here's what we came up with. Grandpa donated an old dress shirt, which we slashed up to look as though it had been in a knife fight; add to that one of Grandma's silk scarves and a bandana. Tomorrow we'll add the blacking, an eye patch and a hoop earring.

Josh and I went to Dairy Queen to have an ice cream and catch up on his day. We were in the car on the way back when he paused for a moment and with a very serious face announced that I was a 'cool' Grandma and he wasn't embarrassed at all to be around me!!! Oh yeah, Grandpa was in the 'cool' camp as well. High praise, indeed.

Blogging Blah's ...

I have nothing new to show you. The blanket is still a WIP; I'm working on another pair of Christine's booties; I wound up my new skein of 'Tenderheart' from Hello Yarn tonight, using my husband as a very handy 'swift'; and that's about it. We hung some curtains in our bedroom today as the new neighbours are night owls and can see straight into our bedroom. Then my husband handed me a walkie-talkie and told me to stay put, while he went out to the backyard. I turned on the light and walked back and forth in front of the patio doors, where he assured me that from the outside all he could see were 'faint shadows'. I switched places with him so I could see for myself -- it's all good.

It's our oldest daughter's 30th birthday today and we'll be going in to see her tomorrow and also to collect our grandson, Josh, who'll be spending the week with us. A local church has a "Pirates of the Caribbean' themed children's day camp, which I've signed Josh up for. Hopefully it will poop him out for the rest of the day!

I had a couple of exasperating days at work this week which really got to me, but I'm trying to blow them off. So far, it's not effective. I'm teaching a course on Thursday p.m. so need to finish off a few last details for that and I'll be good to go. I spent part of the day today, designing some cards for a future course. Got to strike when the inspiration hits!

We popped in to see my husband's parents this evening and stocked up their freezer with home made meals that only need to be microwaved. They were down to their last one, so were happy to have more. Then, we stopped in at WhiteSpot for a burger -- yummy!

Eye Candy

The wonderful fruity colours of this yarn just begged to be displayed with my ornamental fruit bowl. This is 'Tender Heart' merino hand dyed/spun sock yarn from 'Hello Yarn'. It is a lovely blend of lavender/burgandy/chocolate/lime, reminiscent of my other favorite yarn, 'Koigu'. I had a little birthday money left over and decided to treat myself. The yarn itself was reasonably priced for artist yarn, but the shipping fee of $9 was a little much, considering the postage stamp on the box said $3.76! Oh well, it's not an 'every day' kind of purchase and the yarn truly is lovely. I haven't decided what it will be used for yet ... originally, the plan was to make the 'Baby Surprise Jacket' (BSJ) from Elizabeth Zimmerman, however, I'm thinking of holding off until I receive my next shipment of 'Hello Yarn' which is the Fat sock in the green/chocolate/cream combo. It could go for either a boy or girl. Then, if the new grand-baby is a girl, I'll still have some fabulous yarn to look forward to and I'll just have to make another BSJ!

Another Baby Blanket!

At 11 a.m. PST this morning, I was sitting in front of the computer, riveted, waiting for Hello Yarn's newest offerings of hand spun yarn. It goes so quickly that you really have to be on the ball! I was able to snap up 2 skeins of Fat Sock in a gorgeous green/brown/cream combo that will become a Baby Surprise Jacket, by Elizabeth Zimmerman. Such a cool pattern! I can hardly wait for it to arrive!

Here's the latest WIP ... a baby blanket with a picot edging shown below, before the hem is turned and stitched under. The pattern is from Vogue Knits Summer 2007, shown on page 72. It's meant to have a bobbled, square section in the middle, bordered top and bottom by a lattice section with a picot edging. I decided that since I liked the lattice so much, I would continue it throughout, starting and ending with the picot trim. I'm using a lovely cream colour of 'Donna' by Scheepjes ( a merino/acrylic blend) which is unbelievably soft ... sigh!


And here is the picot edge turned under, so you get the idea of how it will look once sewn.

Family in Town from Scotland

My cousin Shonagh, her husband Tony and two daughters, Vaila & Iona are visiting from Scotland for a week, returning home tomorrow evening. They have covered so much ground, it's unbelievable! Over to Victoria one day; up to Whistler another day; Grouse Mountain & Capilano Suspension Bridge another day; The Art Museum, & Stanley Park for a picnic and cycling; then to The Teahouse for dinner and Theatre Under the Stars for the musical "Grease". Whew! We met up with them on Saturday evening for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown. Shonagh had good memories of the restaurant when she was last over with her mom and siblings at the age of 11. I was amazed at how much she remembered, in detail, about that trip. She even remembered the title of the movie I had taken them all to. I had no clue!

I hadn't been downtown for ages (we're a good hour+ away) and loved every minute, vowing to get down there more often! Here's a picture of my Mom, Shonagh and me in the back, with Vaila and Iona in the front. Such nice girls ... I wish they all lived much closer. It felt a little strange looking at the girls and seeing the same shaped eyes looking back. I remember thinking that if I'd had biological children, they quite likely would have looked like the girls.

We hadn't seen each other since 2000 (the last time I was in Scotland) so we had lots to catch up on. We just seem to pick up where we left off and continue on. Hopefully it won't be too long between now and our next visit!

In my next update, I'll show you one of my WIP's ... yet another baby blanket. The mother of the child-to-be (a non-knitter) decided that the first one I made was no longer going to suit, as it's 'green' and she has now decided that all should be 'cream' :P ******* First, I punched her ... then I told her this was the last blanket and the last colour change ... don't you know it takes me almost two months to make one of those things ... then I advised her that if she even entertained the thought of throwing it in the dryer, she would be struck off the knitting list for good. So there!

Baby, baby ...

Oh, what a fabulous day I've had! Firstly, I spent the a.m. in the hairdressers having a cut and colour, and then my step daughter & son in law picked me up to go along with them to Children's and Woman's Hospital in Vancouver, to have a 3D & 4D ultrasound scan done. She's at the 30 week point now and her friend is the radiologist who offered to do the scan for her. It was amazing! Look how cute this baby is! I couldn't believe how much detail you could see ... face, hands, mouth opening and closing, hand waving ... unbelievable! I was absolutely glued to the monitor the whole time. I really wanted to know the sex of the baby, but it's still a secret and won't be known until the delivery date ... darn!!!! The baby was positioned in a "pike", so even if we wanted to know, it would have been pretty difficult to determine.

It's uncanny how much the baby looks like my husband as a baby, and also our grandson Josh, whose baby pictures could have been interchangeable with my husband's.

We all went to Joey Tomato's for a yummy dinner and sat and drooled all over the pictures!

And here's the proud mama-to-be ... ever the fashion plate, she turned one of her non-maternity sun tops (shirred elastic at the bustline) into a skirt, which turned out to be not only cute, but very comfy.