A little piece of heaven

Happy Monday! The weekend has come and gone and I don't know how it went by so darn fast! It went in such a blur that the only "events" that happened that stick out in my mind was the copious amounts of time with my sketchbook, numerous cups of tea paired with my favorite Ezekial 4:9 Cinnamon Raisin toast, an attempt at sweater blocking, and get this: time with my sewing machine!!

One of my 101 goals was to sketch in my sketchbook every day for 2 weeks (in hopes of brewing up some creativity juices and to get me into the habit of actually using my sketchbook on a regular basis) and so far I've managed to do it! I'm quite proud of myself for sticking with it. There were a few days when I had a complete creative block but somehow came through and did some "work" in my book. Which leads me to another goal - to fill up a pocket-sized, 80 page moleskin sketchbook each month (talk about pressure!). So I'm quite pleased that I got to spend some time doing quick little sketches throughout the weekend.

I've completed the knitting on my Owls sweater a while ago and was procrastinating on blocking it. I finally got around to it this weekend and am still waiting for it to dry. Not an easy feat to do when you've got a very curious toddler running around wanting to know what Mommy is doing every second of the day! So far it looks good, but I think I knitted the sleeves a bit too long for my T-Rex arms. When it's all good and done I'll post up some photos.

This past Sunday was also the Bitchy Bees' annual post-Christmas knit night party. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and so I have no photos from it. Everyone bought such yummy eats and treats that a day later I can still feel the sugar coursing through my body! Some of the yumminess involved: the Bees' founder, Nessa, made decadent cream puffs that were simply to die for; our lovely hostess, Becky, made a delicious celery soup (and if you know me at all, you'd know that I'm a HUGE fan of soup and could live off a pot of the stuff and nothing else!); and one of the main highlights of my night was the yummy homemade madeleines that Jennifer made...which I gotta see if she'll hook me up with her recipe. So Jennifer, if you're reading this, can you hook a sister up (this is where I'm smiling as wide as possible and giving you the nudge, nudge ;) )?! I made a batch of my trusty go-to cupcakes: Carrot-Coconut with White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting, which Brett was happy to sample before I went to the party.

As I've mentioned at the beginning of the post, I managed to get in some sewing time!! It was bittersweet, but still, it was fabulous to get re-acquainted with the love of my sewing life. Why bittersweet? Well, my neighbour downstairs decided to keep banging on my floor/her ceiling and calling our building manager to complain about the "excessive noises" we were making (which she likes to complain about on a weekly basis..."they chop their food too loud", "they dropped a can on the floor", "I can hear them eating"...). Anyways, the reason for the sewing was cause I was to bring a knitting related gift to the party. Since I'm not sure if my tastes in yarn matches anyone else's, I decided to forgo bringing a skein of lovely yarn and opted to make a boxy bag project bag which I then filled with a bottle of Eucalan Wool Wash and a WIP sock tube. I was pretty much running late all day and so I didn't have the time to take a photo of the finished bag. But trust me when I say it was über cute and it was definitely super hard for me to part with it! I made it with the black and turquoise skull and knitting needles fabric you see in the above photo, lined with a light turquoise Kona cotton. To make it go with the 'sock knitting project bag' theme I was going for, I added a little silver sock stitch marker to the zipper pull. I had also started another small project bag with the skull and scissors fabric (also seen in the above photo), but didn't have the time to finish it yet.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell! Brett leaves for Vancouver again this week, so I'm not sure just how much crafting I'll be able to do while he's gone. I've got a new project on my knitting needles that I hope to share with you all soon.

'Til then, happy knitting fiber enthusiasts!