There Are Few Things Sadder Than...

A blogger who doesn't get to blog about all the wonderful things that have been going on over the past couple of weeks/months.

A couple of weeks ago I went to watch my daughter in the Area Track and Field Meet.

She got FIRST!! So this week I'm going to go watch her at the Regional Track and Field Meet.

Last Friday night, the family and I attended a little event called Relay For Life. My son's school hosted the event for the first time. The kids organized the whole thing. They set up tents so that those who weren't walking all night would have a place to sleep.
I got a yellow T-shirt. I gave a little speech. I did a lap around the track.

We let the balloons we were carrying go in celebration of being a Survivor. My kids helped.

It really was a special night.

Over the past month or so. I've been participating in a KAL with some of my knitting friends. We chose to do a Linen Stitch Scarf. I've made this before and in the post in my head, you would see pictures of the first one I did. I was happy to do it again as I remember it being very much a 'Zen' kind of knit; not 'mindless' but 'mindful'. There are four of us participating and we each chose vastly different colourways---always a fun part of different people working on the same project; seeing how the different colours affect the outcome---here is a photo of my completed scarf. AKA Christmas Present #1.

This photo isn't fabulous in terms of colour representation, it's more black than brown, but look closely...
Cast On? Cast Off? Can you tell which is which? Pretty close match don't you think?

As some of us approached the end of the scarf, so began our discussion as to how to cast off this particular stitch. Some research had been done prior to even beginning the project for tips from others that had gone before us. Every time anybody started stressing about it, or any stitch that wasn't quite perfect, I was the first to lean in to the concerned knitter and clearly and firmly state, "It's a scarf." My intent was to remind them that it didn't have to be perfect; that a blind man would be glad to see it and that if it was something that couldn't be noticed as you wore it riding by on a horse, then it didn't matter.

Then it was my turn to cast off. First I decided I needed another row after the pattern said to stop to balance my colour progression from the cast on. The other's concurred. Then I tried casting off knitwise, purlwise, knit two together cast off, knit one - slip one - pass stitch over cast off and then repeated each of those a number of times. I dug out several of my knitting books. My friend sent me a link from Ravelry. Everything I tried did not give me the look that I wanted, because apparently, it did matter what the cast off looked like.

This really should not have come as any surprise since when doing this scarf the first time around, I chose to work two scarves for half the rows and do a three needle bind off to keep the edges identical. So finally, in complete desperation, I found a crochet hook to attempt a slip stitch cast off. As far as mirroring the long tail cast on edge it wasn't too bad, but something still wasn't right and so back to the beginning for one more try. I worked another linen stitch row using the same colour as previously used, went back to the beginning of that row, worked a slip stitch cast off and....TAA DAA!!! I DID IT!!! I am just tickled with the result and more tickled that my friend at one of my favourite LYS couldn't tell the difference either. HEEEE HEEEEE!!!

Speaking of LYS...

There are few things sadder than a knitter making a last minute decision to go to a yarn shop that is having an awesome sale (that her friends got to go to before she could!) only to find that it is closed for the day.

It all worked out though. It was open the next day.

It's Good To Know I'm Not Alone.

This is going to be a wordy one my friends; once again reminding you to be careful what you wish for.

I haven't posted anything in well over a month and in reviewing my last post I mentioned that it was going to be a busy week. Well, I guess I meant month.

Yesterday and today I have been purging my basement. ie. Attempting to purge to the best of my Pisces ability, or perhaps to the best of my 'Sentimental/Relaxed Messy' ability. I apologize to my knitting friends who inherited some of my yarn. (They did seem pretty happy about it though.)

My purging however went beyond yarn, in fact yarn is playing a very small part in this round of 'tidy up the basement'. What has prompted me to post today is something that I wrote...just for the sake of writing (long hand) on August 24, 2001. After reading this and then this and then coming across my ramblings, I felt that, once again, I was being sent a message that was not to be ignored.

So here goes; I will copy it unedited as it was written that August afternoon so long ago...

I am a Mother.
Who should I submit article to?
Today I was really trying to be the mother that I thought I would be and the one that so infrequently is seen by my children.
So I made my 4 year old the "Triple -Decker-Super-Duper-Peanut-Butter-and-Jam-Sandwich" that he requested. I said, "Yes, you can finish your sister's Kraft Dinner."
And then I said, "Here's the bag of candy from the Birthday Party---have the piece of gum last."
I had smiled and thought, 'he must be growing a couple of inches today' as he ate the sandwich.
I let go of the "Enforcer" part of me and let him have the candy at will, because, 'surely, nobody else is this regimented'...I still have Halloween, Christmas and Easter leftovers, because there's so much and it seems I allow so little...and I got a Tootsie-pop out of the deal---he shares well.

I am a Knitter.
I have been knitting for 18 years. (like I said, unedited)
My grandmother tried teaching me a couple of times when she came to visit, but I didn't keep it up after she left.
One of my life disappointments is that she didn't live long enough to see me and my knitting---although I do believe she does see.
My mother sat down and showed me again how to knit...but I say to anyone contemplating teaching...yes, everyone who's going to learn must start with knitting, but don't let them go away without PURLING!
Nothing can turn off a potential knitter more than working at GARTER STITCH...it has it's place, but showing someone the beauty of stocking stitch sets a whole world of colour and warmth before them!
My inspiration to take up the craft came from a high school friend's mother...is is now MY dear friend. She was constantly knitting, I mean it...always sitting in the same chair with a HUGE wicker basket...the kind a snake would be charmed from...full of sweaters and/or yarn at some stage of production
She had sweater sales and I modeled some of her creations for the 'sweater shoots'. She has moved from that house where I was inspired and lost virtually all her material possessions...including and amazing "STASH" of yarn (it smoldered for 2 days after the fire) and a beloved family cat.
She still continues to have sweater sales, at 70 years young and continues to enter sweaters in fall fairs. She has been 'suggesting' that I enter some of my creations, for years and finally in 2001, I agree. [Why would I pick now?! I have 2 children, aged 2 and 4, my husband has his own business that we run out of our home.]

I am a Nurse.
Then he comes to me chewing his precious Trident Bubblegum and says, "I want to play outside now", turns and chokes on his own spit. We've all done it. It goes down the wrong way and we cough. I asked him if he was O.K? He turned to me shaking his head no. He was coughing and breathing, so I really wasn't too worried.

So there I sat, while my 2 year old napped, doing some finishing work on a sweater for my brother that I planned to enter in the fair.

Now, this is where my priorities get a little fuzzy I think.

Sean came up to me coughing and gagging. (He was born with a gag reflex about 2" away from his lips! Only those who actually saw this child gag and vomit can fully appreciate the minimal amount of warning before Mt. Vesuvius erupted!) And as the first wave overcame him my hand went up to catch the gum and whatever else came with it, and the words out of my mouth were...

"Not on the sweater!"

O.K., so who should I submit this article to? Mother of the year or Knitters Anonymous?

But wait...There's more!

He's fine. He apologizes for throwing up..."and it's a good thing I didn't throw up on the sweater!"

So, I had to put down the sweater during this precious nap time, to clean up puke! And as I get to return to my knitting the phone rings because somebody can't find a quote that we 'think' my husband left there, but I can't check with him because he's out of town for the night working on a cottage and his phone doesn't work up there! (This is where my sentence structure falls apart, but let's face it...Life IS a run-on sentence!) And with that phone call---my daughter wakes up---early. But you know, advice to young mothers: She was fine in her crib; so I finished the darn Duplicate Stitch! But, didn't get to block.

But you know, that was only lunch and the next 2 hours. There was the morning too; which looking back wasn't that bad...

My daughter who is days away from turning 2 decided to remove her dirty diaper, carry it upstairs to the bathroom to throw the poop in the toilet (her baby sitter does this) and flush, 'Bye-Bye poop!' Cute, nice, no major disaster there...I was in the shower. Sean came running up a few minutes later to tell me the whole story; I told him it was fine..."But, mom there's one poop still there!" He went to his room and wouldn't come out till I cleaned up the poop and then it was safe!
I am a mother=I clean poop and puke.
And I got 90's in math.

I am a wife.
I am very lucky. I married a loving, good, hardworking man. With a good sense of humour. Here's more advice for anyone who might actually read this: Choose a partner with a sense of humour. Life is full of too many disappointments and too much hard work not to be able to find the humour in it. I think that if you have a sense of humour you can see the lighter side of the "Life that happens when you're busy making plans."

Wow. I had forgotten a lot of that story and I'm struck with how much has stayed the same and how much has changed. I've spent the past 2 days down here trying to gain some sense of control over my life because with parenting right now, I'm not feelin' it. But any frustration I'm feeling right now doesn't hardly compete with poop and puke...although now I'm dealing with Boxers and Bras!
Little people; little problems. Big people; big problems.
Really though, the problems aren't big at all; it's more about how I'm handling the 'discussions'. My avoidance method of choice? You guessed it...KNITTING!!!

There's my post. A blast from the past. Maybe next time there'll be pictures.

Mondays! What's not to love?!

***Apparently we're back to having a post with one run on sentence after another with no paragraph breaks!! Sorry about that---I don't know why or how to make it look like the way I typed it, which is a post with paragraphs!*** Hey there! I had a wonderful weekend and now a great start to the week and by all accounts it's gonna be a busy one! I took my daughter to a dance competition in Barrie on the weekend and everybody did really well! It wasn't far away, so we were able to come home and relax before we were back at it. Most competitions are quite intense with basically too much estrogen floating around in a limited space, but we had plenty of space and not too many studios competing; so all in all, a nice quiet (in the loud tapping and pounding music kind of way) mother-daughter bonding time. Speaking of mother-daughter bonding...I have more Disney photos! Anybody remember Tinker Toys? Half the fun of going on the rides at Disney is waiting in the lines! We used the Fast Pass a few times, but honestly, you miss out on some really fun stuff if you avoid the lines. They're pretty smart down there at Disney. I loved the Toy Story movies and had a great time trying to see all the different elements they brought to the ride. Hollywood Studios was a really fun park; you get to pretend to be a kid and you feel like one too with all the giant sized toys! O.K. here's another Artsy-Fartsy photo and this one was taken at Epcot. I wanted to tell you why today was so nice. I got to have lunch with some of my knitting friends and then we went to visit one of our LYS. We rarely get to do this and it was just wonderful to get to spend more time with these wonderful ladies. We always laugh and support each other in all aspects of our lives and even though we've all promised over and over again to not let each other buy more yarn, because none of us (especially me) need more yarn. We just love and accept each other for our yarn buying weaknesses. I was the only one who fell...well, it wasn't really a fall...more like a trip, because I only bought a little...and it was on sale...and some roving for spinning... but I won't be going to the Frolic and from what I understood there will be some---not a lot, but some---stash enhancement there. We talked about getting together to work on our own Knit-along (separate from our usual knit night; not instead of!) Maybe we could work on some new skills or maybe..... Finish a UFO!! Now that would be something! Here's one last photo for today... I call it, "Hippos Underwater". I've got lots to keep me busy over the next couple of weeks, but I'll try to keep the pictures coming and I hope that even when you're busy you'll find time to spend with your friends; honestly, there is nothing like it.

And Two...

O.K. Let's try TWO pictures! Our first full day in Florida (yes, I'm back-dating a little) during March...I got to use my new camera and take an 'artsy-fartsy' flower shot. I embarrassed my daughter (that's what a mother's for) by getting into some weird position to capture it, but it had been a long time since I had seen a flower growing in it's natural habitat and I wanted to see how the floral setting on my camera did. Pretty good, don't you think? There will be more I promise you that! We did things kind of backwards on our first day (learning the ropes and all) and had our picture taken by the Disney photographer on our way out of the Park. We're wearing our "First Visit" buttons, proudly!

Animal Kingdom was the first official Park visit of our Disney Adventure. It was a wonderful introduction for what lay ahead for the rest of the holiday.

FYI: In knitting news...I'm knitting fast and trying to be extra creative in my attempts to finish my Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton Cardigan, because I won't have enough yarn to finish it the way that the pattern calls for. I hope it fits and that I like it when it's done; wouldn't that just suck, if after all that it was and "--eh--" when I put it on?

[I have just spent the last 1/2 hour, I guess, looking for a post that I'm sure I posted with a picture of the above mentioned cardigan in progress. I'm pretty sure I posted a picture, because I remember Wannietta commenting on the nice colour. I can't find the post. What I did find however, are a lot of pictures of wool and yarn and projects at various points of completion and that many, sadly, remain in various states of completion.]

Just One

YAY!! I uploaded one picture! This is my daughter and I enjoying dinner in France! I enjoyed a REAL glass of Champagne; you know Champagne from Champagne!

I also told you about 'just one' visit to 'just one' yarn shop...

There was more than 'just one' ball of yarn came home with me.

As I said to Connie, "It was over as soon as I pulled in the driveway."

Now, let's see if this makes it out into the blogisvere intact; fingers crossed!

Where To Begin?!?

Let's begin with you imagining some lovely photos of my daughter and I at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We must imagine them because in the last three times that I've tried to upload them to my blog they have disappeared. I'm not sure if it's because I'm working with a file with close to 600 photos in them or the fact that at some point in answering yes to a pop up about how to view photos and/or videos I'm in Quicktime and my Windows is not likely it. Does that make sense to any computer people out there? Speaking of Computer people and blogs and such. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear R., At the bottom of my blog entry you will read a little light coloured item that says (for example) 0 comments (it could read 1,2, or maybe even 3 comments, but let's, for argument's sake, say it says 0). Click on that item; you will be redirected to a small window with a box where you can write your comments. At the bottom of that screen you will be asked to preview or publish? Your call. I hope this helps and works and I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Love, Creativehands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, March came and went in a whirlwind of activity! I am taking this weekend to do as little as possible! There's always laundry; so laundry (somehow) doesn't count. Holidays and Dance Competitions are happy, fun and EXHAUSTING times. I've been knitting, but not finishing. I'm very conscious, right now, of just how much yarn and fabric I own, even after purging (somewhat) and buying considerably less than I have been known to. I was even recently in one of my favourite quilt shops and left EMPTY HANDED!! Yay me! Through circumstances beyond my control I will not be attending a number of yarn related celebrations, which usually lead to stash enhancement. (Although today, in my 'doing as little as possible' mode, I hope to get to Pick Up Sticks for their Yarn Tasting. I will do my best, however, to resist the temptation of new yarn.) It is difficult, as I'm sure most yarnies can attest to, because a yarn shop is a place that makes me happy. The people that sell yarn are some of the nicest people I know. If I want them to continue to be there for me they need my/our support; financial support. I have definitely done my fair share of support in the past, but is that enough? To look in my basement you would think yes, but can we know this for sure? I hope that during my self-imposed semi-hiatus from yarn shopping they understand and continue to grace us with all that is yarn and knitting related. O.K. crocheters too. Pretty wordy post huh? Disney was wonderful!! I can't wait to go back! The first dance competition went very well. My part-time job is turning into a bit more than what I signed on for; for awhile anyway. (And that's fine too!) The snow's gone so I can drive my Mini again!! Hehe!! Spring is giving us a taste of what's in store this weekend, with sun and 10C temperatures forecast. FINALLY!! YAY!! So maybe next time there will be photos. Hope so. Bye for now; enjoy your day by doing something that you love to do! **Edited to add: If the content of this post is jumbled in one long run-on sentence, I'm sorry. Again, I tried and the computer and/or blogger did what it wanted. **R. The bottom of the blog may read 0 Comments with Post a Comment underneath it (I've seen it both ways today--on my own blog--) click on Post a Comment if that's what you see. Love you!

I haven't forgotten...

I know I have a blog.
I would love to blog.
I have photos to post on the blog.
I have to get some sleep!
I will do my best to blog soon.
Bye for now.
Tired and creative in EG.