Hello?

I thought I would test this out to see if I could still make this new fangled innerweb thing work.
It took me a while, but I did manage to find the right button to click on to be able to write these few words for you to read.  I did not, however find any pictures that I wanted to include and I'm not up to finding the camera and getting some new material.
Summer has flown by and for a family that had little to no plans, it has been another busy one!
We have a new car...no more Mini.
We went on a Cruise...Caribbean in August = HOT, HOT, HOT!! (insert musical notes here ;-))
There has been knitting.
There has been baby making.  (again, NOT ME!!  I just like to share the joy with others.  hehe)
After I pay some bills and try to find clear spaces to work...I'll work on getting some pictures and new insights out here to share. 
Enjoy your long weekend and...
BACK TO SCHOOL!!!  WOOHOO!!!

The Fun Never Stops!

 I wanted to check in and tell you about the fun we had here after dinner last night, but because it was so much fun I forgot to take pictures and have inserted some yarn eye candy instead.

First, here are our hats again, but in a better 'Artsy Fartsy' kind of angled shot.  The focus was beads.

Speaking of beads a few weeks ago I met some friends in Oakville for lunch. 
I found Knit One Bead Too and had a peak.  I came home with this HABU Silk and Silk Stainless and of course some pretty matching beads.

Someday... 

So my daughter and I are heading to another Dance Competition this weekend and yesterday I was busy making some stuff to take with us and to leave for the guys.  Last competition (o.k. this is going to be a longer story than I thought!) we visited the Hershey's store while in Niagara Falls...

(Hey! I actually have a photo---wait here, I'm going to try to insert it)  IT WORKED AND IN THE APPROPRIATE SPOT!!  COOL!!  Anyway, we went to the store and I bought a little something for everybody...I got baking cocoa.  Woot, woot. 
There's a recipe on the container for brownies and as you may recall I do enjoy brownies (see birthday post); I made them, my daughter loved them and so I thought I would make them for the trip.  Now, when I was growing up one of my mom's tips was to make the recipes on the packages of things.  She said, "They're usually pretty good and they want you to think that it's their ingredient that makes it, but you can substitute and use whatever you have."  I was passing this info along to my daughter and to prove it I thought, well why don't I bake two batches of brownies, one with the Hershey's and one with Fry's?  And then, I don't know what happened here---chocolate fumes mixed with the ever present yarn fumes perhaps, but I thought if we're going to have a taste test we should include the recipe that I've been making my whole adult life to prove that it indeed is the superior brownie recipe!
So, 3 batches of brownies later, I had a taste testing planned for dessert!  Each brownie was marked with a different coloured toothpick and I tucked the master list away; so that I didn't even know which was which (except for the old standby) when it came time to rate them.  I put together score cards  and asked everybody to give their honest opinion.  I did have to remind them that just because one was bigger than the rest it didn't mean that that one was better.
Well, knock me over and call me Susan, (that's funnier when a man says it) my son was the only one who liked the old standby best.  Even I had been won over by the new guy in town!  But, it was not a landslide, by any means!  My daughter liked the new recipe using Hershey's Cocoa; my husband and I?  We liked the new recipe, but with Fry's! 
Now that that's been settled...I think we're good for Brownies for awhile.

I wasn't especially thrilled with the sock shot that I left you with last time; so here's another one.  There's a lot of prep required prior to a sock shot.  Just Sayin'

Wish us luck!  I'll try to check back soon.

It's Sad, Really.

This is today's story...I had to go into work this morning to make a baby...it's what I do; when I finished I headed over to the local Coffee shop...let's call it "MoonDoe".  (think about it) 

I ordered a Grande Green Tea Latte...with half of one pump of syrup.  I also ordered a slice of Lemon Raspberry Loaf.  I paid and was given...some kind of scone...it took me 3 times to explain and finally pointed to what I wanted, but I did eventually get the Lemon Raspberry Loaf.  (should've stuck with the Lemon Poppyseed)

I then went down to wait for my tea and was given a drink with one and a half pumps of syrup.  I said I only wanted half of one pump. 

He made me another drink.

THIS WAS A BIG DEAL FOR ME!! 

I spoke up, I didn't just accept it, I didn't not say anything so that nobody felt bad, I actually made sure that I got just what I wanted!! 

It's sad really, but who knew that it was o.k. to choose what you want, pay for it and then make sure to get it?!  Huh!

I must be getting old.

As promised:

KAL #3 Sock Shot.

EXCITEDLY RANDOM!!!

 O.K. it' been so long since I've blogged (insert apologies here), blogger has launched a whole new format that I've just spent the last half hour or so playing with and....

I'M EXCITED!!

One of my biggest complaints with blogger was that I couldn't load more than 5 pictures for each post and sometimes 5 just didn't cut it!  Today (once I figured out how to post even 2 pics) I kept choosing photos---higildy pigildy---until I was sure that, yes, I could post as many as I like!  Yay, Blogger!  Thanks!

So, first up.  I made a shawl...wait; I spun yarn and then I knit a shawl.  Yeah, that sounds better.

This project has been a long time in the making and I have posted on Ravelry about it.  I'm very pleased with the results and the intended recipient is my dear Mother-in-law, Jelena.  I'm hopeful that it will get to her soon.

Next, this past weekend I attended the 14th Annual Knitter's Frolic in Toronto.  This was of course after performing Dance Mom duty in the morning.  :-)  I wasn't able to take any classes this year, but I did manage to score a photo op with Franklin Habit.  Thanks TDC for the celeb-siting and subsequent photo (iPhone) taking.  I didn't want to to take up too much of his time; so after the photo I told him how much I enjoyed his work and left him to pose with the other stalkers  fans and when I turned to see how that was going...that's when I noticed the kilt.

Yarn fumes were extensive.

Here is the fruits of my Frolic labour.  Not too much at all and I'm quite pleased with all my purchases.  The Tanis was earmarked for our next KAL (#5 for all of you who are keeping score), but having seen the project, I may change to some yarn that I already own, ie. knit from stash.  Crazy!  I know.

I even won a prize; sock yarn from Estelle.  Thank-you Estelle!

Speaking of KAL's...

We completed KAL 3 and 4.  This is one of the photos for #4.  I don't think I showed you 3 yet, so tune in again folks!  I completed mine in record time over the March Break for no other reason than I was in Whistler and in need of a hat, and when knitters need hats; knitters knit hats.

We all enjoyed working with the beads and some have taken their bead knitting to the next level and have knit a scarf and (one ambitious knitter) some fingerless gloves!  All very lovely projects indeed.

 

So that covers a lot of what's been going on Knit-wise here at Creativehands Central, but as you know there's always something new to try.  My daughter is a dancer and this year was offered a solo; she is Amazing Mayzie from Seussical the Musical.  I made the costume (again, tune in again folks) and some props, because well....I'm a glutten for punishment. 

Here are the Bird Girls!  Well, our interpretation anyway.  :-)

 Made from plywood, I used a skill saw to create some interest in the shape, I've added a few feathers to give it a touch of realism (?), giant googly eyes for some pop, sketched, painted and shaded (with a little help from my friend) and am REALLY pleased with the results.  Transportation and set up is a bit challenging, but after 2 competitions all seems well.  Two more to go! 

The sign I made is peaking through---I'll show you that another day too.

Today, I took the time to sit down with a cup of tea using my Cast Off Christmas gift and blogged.  Hopefully others will get a chance to do something fun like that too; while I haven't been blogging...I sure have been following and miss my blog friends when they get too busy to blog too.

One last bit of housekeeping here.  Last night was Thursday night knitting and at least two of our Cast Offs weren't able to make it.  Apparently they have "other" friends.  (I'm trying to learn to share.)  Anyway, we also had quite a few birthdays to celebrate over the past couple of weeks so I made cupcakes to take along last night.  Have a look at the paper cups...balls of yarn!  P and E?  You were missed.  The cupcakes were good.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!

Here We Go Again!

Our Knit-a-long #3 (my pick) has been completed and only awaits our photo shoot. My hope its that we can take care of that next Tuesday.

In the mean time Transit Knitter has selected our next project.

Let the beading begin!

I'm not usually a fan of pre-stringing and prefer to add beads as I knit, but this time there was no other way. 693 beads from That Bead Lady in Newmarket was purchased to add a little drama to the MANOS del URUGUAY colour 115, that I had in my stash...Yes! Knitting from stash; it can be done!!

Here's a pro-tip for those just starting out adding their beads...693 beads is a lot to count in one shot; I strung 100, left a break in the yarn to indicate the 100 and repeated that 6 more times and then counted off the final 93. I also considered measuring 100 beads so that I could just string until I was at 13 1/2" of beads to speed up the process, but not all of the beads are the same width so any measurement would not be accurate and knitting is all about accuracy.

HA!! Got ya there didn't I? :-)

TIME!?!

Where does it go and why isn't there ever enough of it?
I want to get a post in here, but I have list upon list to complete today! So here goes and let's hope it all goes smoothly.

First of all, Yup, I had a birthday this weekend.


Yup, I fully intend to live by the above rule.

Yup, although I was assured that it was only going to be The Red Hot Mama's at our monthly dinner on Saturday night, there was a Surprise Party with many of my nearest and dearest in attendance. I was a little shakey out of the gate, but with such wonderful people in the room it was soon easy to settle into an evening filled with fun, love and laughter.

Because I still haven't grown up (see above) I was excited about presents!

There was yarn and pampering gifts. Lots of pampering gifts!!

A little light reading...with some wonderful editing done by EK.

The Red Hot Mama's have started a tradition that for the Milestone Birthdays (although 40 is the only other milestone anybody has celebrated) we put together a basket filled with the birthday girl's favourite things. The presentation was lovely, the contents beyond thoughtful and so of course...

....there was chocolate and coffee. (Sorry, I forgot to flip the photo...it's all about time!)

So that was Saturday. Photos of people were few and far between...we had phones, but no cameras...because it was Ladies' Night!!

In the week leading up to my birthday my daughter had asked me what I wanted for my birthday?

ANGRY BIRDS T-SHIRT!

That she could make and that didn't cost money?

....I like Brownies.....

So there were some Brownie baking practice runs; a Saturday full of, "DON'T COME IN THE KITCHEN!!!"

And last night, after dinner, I made a wish and blew out a candle on my birthday present from my daughter.

Isn't that great?!?!?

I'm so lucky to have her in my life.

{Will somebody please remind me of this the next time I'm ready to sell her to a bunch of Gypsy's to make soap?}

Everybody's doing it!

Everybody's doing what, you ask?

You'll have to read on for the answer, but to distract you on the way here is a picture of a cat belly. An all out, catchin' a sunbeam, laying flat, no interest in rolling over, cat belly.
Thank-you Thursday.

NO TOUCHING!!!

The end of KAL#3 is fast approaching so I thought I would show you a shot of how we started way back in OCTOBER! Yeah, the last KAL to start before Christmas is going to suffer from Knitting Interuptus---everytime!

So, that was some fine blog content; a cute cat and some socks, but I need to get to sewing and I wanted to post about the latest rage around here...
BIRTHDAYS!!
I have two friends' with birthdays this week, my son's girlfriend's mom and me. So, apparently it's the week for birthdays.
***HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNIE!!!***

Happy Family Day!

Today is "Family Day".
I still think it's a silly "holiday". It's taken quite a few years for us to get the hang it and usually it just sneaks up on us as, "What?! There's no school on Monday?!"

Well this year the weather has finally co-operated with my ski-lovin' family and they've headed off to the ski hill for the day leaving my pets and I to enjoy lounging in the favourite sunbeam of choice and to work UNDISTURBED on a dance costume or two. :-)

And now, because blogs are more interesting with photos, here is a shot of our final night on our summer holiday (see post before last---HA!). We had enjoyed a really lovely meal at Rhubarb (and there's my link to keep things interesting) in Haliburton; I totally recommend it to anybody passing by.

Now, that's what a tan looks like! Not this wishy-washy Mexico one.

WHEW!

That was a close one!

Yes, I know, it's been awhile. That was then; this is now.

I wanted to send a little note to my dear friends with regard to some comments that were made last night at Knit Night and thought, 'Hey! I could blog that!' My husband just left for the weekend and I'm feeling kind of free spirited about the whole thing and if I don't want to do laundry right now, then I won't and if I want to blog right now, then I will!

I got an iPad for Christmas and have been using that most of the time, but haven't figured out how to blog from it (yet), so I grabbed my camera and came down to my computer to load some photos and catch everybody up on what's been going on. I put the card in the computer and said yes when the computer asked to load the 1446 photos that was on it. (During my absence there was a computer re-furb and photos are kind of scattered throughout the innerds of this thing.) I also thought that since that was close to a years worth of photos and I KNOW that most of the pictures are already in there I also gave the o.k. to 'erase after download is complete'.
At some point during that transaction the screen went wild! There was some kind of error and bits of windows flashing in and out and it was in the middle of erasing and I wanted to back up the photos before the thing crashed if the card was wiped like it was supposed to....and you know, this whole blogging thing wasn't very relaxing at all; laundry was starting to look good!
I finally was able to shut it down, walked away to get a little lunch (everything is better after a bit of Toblerone Chocolate--that was dessert). While I was waiting for the pages to come back I put the card back in the camera and.....Voila! Photos intact! They were also loaded here!

So now, I shall blog away. I have chosen to only deal with knitting related subjects today.

KAL #2 complete. (we have a no face policy)

For Christmas I was gifted some lovely Noro Sock yarn and the pattern Bermuda. I. Love. it!

One of the Red Hot Mama's turned 40 and in what appears to be becoming a tradition of sorts there was a basket of goodies put together and I included some mittens.
Yarn Harlot's Cloisonee and they too, were a lot of fun to knit. I've made more (and will continue to make more) for the new yarn shop in town that I am also teaching at! Yay! I'm working at a yarn shop that also is a quilt shop! I'm not sure how much money will actually make it home with me. ;-)

I didn't get to see the recipient of these mitts open her gift as my husband and I were in Mexico during the celebration. And as with any of my holidays, knitting was a big part of it; a good thing too, because it rained everyday and was mostly cloudy the rest of the time.

I worked almost exclusively on our KAL #3 (my pick) Jewelled Steps by Cat Bordhi with an added one of a kind detail of my own design. It was not all smooth sailing down there in the not-so-sunny south. There was Yarn Barf. And when one is faced with Yarn Barf in Mexico at an all inclusive resort the only thing to do is....

Grab a couple of glasses of Champagne and deal with it.
The socks are now complete and when our last KALer completes her pair (no pressure) there will be another photo shoot and there are a couple of neat plans for that...wait for it...
UNDERFOOT!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!

Now for the purpose of this whole blood pressure raising endeavour.
As I sat knitting quietly to myself (because I was really tired) last night, the question was asked not once, but several times if I was knitting from my stash? (I'm sure there's a picture of my stash in some post of mine; believe me when I say it has grown) I replied clearly and succinctly that, 'No, it was not from my stash.' and that, 'I had purchased one ball of yarn to start the Biker's Jacket from the lasted Knitter's issue.' It sounds a lot more polite here than when I yelled it across the room last night. (I was really tired). There's a flower as an embellishment on the back, but it totally calls for a basket of yarn or a big ball of yarn with needles sticking out of it or CASTOFFS written in funky yarn---anything other than a stupid flower! I wasn't using the yarn called for and I wanted to see if it would work so I only bought the one ball because one ball is always o.k. Ask my sock yarn stash.
So a couple of days ago, I cast on for the sleeve---it's like a swatch---and found that I did indeed need to go down a needle size to get gauge. Yay me! I did some pro-knitting there. Anyway, I kept knitting and this morning was examining the fabric and thought it's quite dense so it will be warm and substantial; I might line it with some funky fabric. I'm going to look way cool and other knitters will be envious of my whole Biker Knitter Logo....

But I'm not liking working it. It's hard on my hands. It's black. I don't think I really love it, but I did like the idea of the logo.

(There's other stuff in my stash; other stuff that I've already started that I know I will love!)

It's off the needles, going to be undone and all it cost me was one ball of yarn that may or may not find it's way into my stash, but it's not a whole sweater's worth and that's something that I feel really good about!