Down Time

Well hello there!  Fancy meeting you here!  It's been quiet around here lately, hasn't it?  Yeah...and trust me, it wasn't by choice.  I've tried to make a post, twice, but it just wasn't in the stars for me.  The first attempt I had written a longish post and had all my photos inserted and everything.  It was awesome.  But sometime during the writing process Blogger or something must have signed me out because when I clicked the 'publish' button I was taken to a page that told me that I needed to sign in before I could perform such activities.  I had lost the entire post.  I was so not impressed.  Defeated but determined to post, I wrote another post but a much shorter version of the original.  This time I made sure I was signed in, I had saved a million times, all was good in the hood.  Until I went to publish the stupid post.


I'm actually surprised that I still have hair left on my head.  Yes, the post looked good in the draft stage but when I checked it out in the preview...that was another story.  I know I've mentioned it before, but I've been having major formatting issues lately.  My posts have been appearing in three different fonts with text of varying sizes, major spaces between paragraphs and photos, and photos themselves are showing up either super big or really small but always un-centered.  All attempts to fix these problems in the "normal" way were fruitless and I would have to go in and html the crap out of the post, and trust me when I say it was pure hell.  I don't know html at all, but can tell that within one sentence there were at least 6 different commands...for text and size, sometimes for position.  Now imagine an entire post having each and every sentence like that.  Oh yeah...I was sitting there for hours trying fix the one post!  I got fed up and decided to nix it altogether.


I noticed that I started having these issues ever since I tried to make a post via mobile.  Then it got worst when I messed around with the fonts in my blog layout.  Sadly, all my issues are due to settings within the computers that I've made posts from.  Yeah...apparently my phone has settings but that is all within the app.  So even if I do figure out the settings on my computer, the phone settings are out of my control.  Even deleting the app doesn't help.  Trust me, I tried.  I'm not saying don't download the Blogger app, cause it does work.  I had it on my old phone and have blogged from it before and it had worked just fine.  I guess the combo of the camera apps mixed with Blogger mixed with whatever else I had done was something that Blogger didn't like.  At all.  And now I must pay for it.  With each post.  Le sigh.


Ok.  Enough of my blogging issues!!  I promise!  Onto some knitting content.  I've been knitting like a fiend but not getting anything finished.  Why?  Well, I was in denial for the longest time and finally admitted to it last week.  I had a bout of Starteritis.  It wasn't pretty.  Let's just say that I have used every single cable I own for my interchangeable needle set, all my sock needles in my favourite size (2.25mm/US 1), plus a few fixed needles from other sets...all occupied with projects.  I am not proud.  This is why lately I've been feeling like a chicken with my head chopped off when it comes to my knitting.  I seriously had wanted to cast on every.single.project I plan to knit this year, and then some.  My house looks like a yarn shop had exploded, you can't look anywhere without spotting a skein or cake of yarn sitting there, attached to some needles that have had only a few rows knitted up.  Although a while ago I finished my Orchid Audrey cardigan, so I do have one project off the needles.  It still needs the ends woven in and a good blocking.  I'm hoping sometime next week I can head over to Button & Needlework Boutique and find some buttons for it.  I had taken my cardi to knit night on Friday for some opinions as to what kind of buttons I should get.  The lovely ladies all had wonderful ideas, so now I know what I'm looking for.  Just hope B&N has it!


Since I was having blogging issues I was kinda turned off of the computer for a bit, but it's amazing just how much knitting you can get done when you're not busy staring at photos of yarn, surfing Ravelry, checking your email every five minutes, and having your time sucked in by Crackbook Facebook.  I hadn't even bothered to upload photos from my camera either (I'm still trying to take photos of the stash)!  And I'm usually always on top of that!  Brett will be leaving for the mainland tomorrow and will be gone for a handful of days, so I'm not sure just how much knitting will get done in the next few days.  I think the Starteritis has tapered off for a bit cause yesterday I was actually able to knit and concentrate on just one project!  If I keep it up, I just might be able to get it finished by mid-week!  Yay!  Something to show you guys!


Speaking of which, maybe I should get off the computer and get back to the needles...


Enjoy the rest of the weekend!




PS: Cause I'm sure someone will email me and ask, the yarn in the photo above is Madelinetosh Vintage in Steam Age.  I heart this colourway so much!  I think I have a sweaters worth in this base but am still trolling for patterns that will mesh well with the colours.  Any suggestions?

Snow Day

I wish I could say we had an awesome time in the snow yesterday. Actually, I wish I could say we had an awesome day in general. But sadly, we didn't. Not at all. If anything, it was probably one of the worst days that we've had in a long while. I had woken up to the scene of a beautiful winter wonderland with snow still sprinkling to the ground. I had immediately envisioned frolicking in the snow, building snowmen, having snowball fights, making snow angels, giggling, laughing, and basically staying outside until our cheeks are red, our hands are so cold you can't feel them any more, and our feet are blocks of ice. I had envisioned coming inside for mugs of hot chocolate, snuggling under blankets on the couch, playing a few video games in an attempt to warm up. Maybe do a little baking. Maybe do a little knitting. Yes, I had envisioned a wonderfully perfect winter day.

Um...yeah. Envisioned is the key word here. What really happened?

Tantrums. All.day.long. Over putting socks on. Over putting snow pants on. Over putting the new snow boots on. Over wanting to wear sneakers, not the boots. I want the brown sweater with the orange stripe, not the orange sweater with the brown stripe! I don't want to eat apple slices, I want a bowl of cereal!

And that was just with the Munchkin. I won't go into the gory details of it all but let's just say that a few adult tempers flared and I guess you could say that everyone in the family had at least one tantrum throughout the day. But the majority of the tantrums were by those who are 3 feet tall (FYI: I'm 5 feet tall). Some people had grand plans of doing absolutely nothing, since they too were having a snow day. This also involved doing minimal help in the child care department. Others just simply wanted at least a ten minute break.

Suffice to say that it was just a bad day for everyone all around. Yes, we did end up going outside. Yes, the Munchkin had fun. Yes, hot chocolate was had. No, baking did not happen. Neither did the knitting. No video games were involved either. The house was beyond cold all day long, even though the heaters were on full blast. We all went to bed extremely early.

Sigh.

I hope you had a much better snow day than we did.

Helter-Skelter Tuesday

Where has the time gone? I can't believe the weekend has already come and gone! I feel like I haven't posted in ages. Guess what I was doing this entire time? Knitting. Who would've thunk it? A knitting blogger, actually knitting? Anyhoo, I woke up this morning feeling a bit discombobulated. Most likely from being so scatter-brained all weekend and not being able to concentrate on one thing. At all. So I give you yet another post about random thoughts. That, and I'm having a hard time keeping my attention on the task at hand.

- for the past few weeks I've been waking up at un-godly hours. Like at 4 or 5am and not being able to fall back to sleep. As a result I've been falling asleep at like 8 or 9pm at night. It's messing up my crafting time...oh yeah, and my solo time with Brett.

- I kinda like being up so early in the morning. It's very peaceful. I feel like I have the house all to myself and I can enjoy my first (and sometimes my second and third!) cup of coffee without any interruptions, I can knit for an hour and not worry about doing the dishes or the several loads of laundry. And most importantly, it's nice to have the "me time" that I desperately need.

- I find that 9am is when I've been feeling the most energetic, which is saying a lot considering that I still feel like I'm in slo-mo 99.9% of the time. 9am is when the lethargy lets up just a smidge that I can actually do something without fighting the heavy eyelids.

- so what have I been doing at 9am pretty much every morning this past week? I dance. To Dance Central. And BEP Experience. I kid you not. I think I've even lost a few pounds. I've been working up such a sweat that there's been a few times where I had to peel down to nothing but a tank top and shorts. But I'm going to put it out there that whatever you do, DO NOT put on high heels out of curiosity and try to do a dance routine in them. Just don't. Let's just say that I have a whole new respect for Fergie for not only singing and dancing at the same time, but for doing it in such restricting outfits and killer heels.

- my feet still hurt.

- I lost my battle with Starteritis.

- I've been fighting the Starteritis since the beginning of the month, but should've known that it was going to happen one way or another. A hint that it was going to hit: when I had started a pair of socks, a scarf, and a sweater in one day. Another hint: you have have cast on three new sweater projects in a week.

- one of the sweaters that I had cast on was going along swimmingly. Then I hit a bump. I turned to Ravelry to find some answers, only to find out that mathematically the pattern in my size just doesn't work. Knitters who have made my size improvised the entire time. The designer even commented that she was going to work on the pattern over the weekend. So I put the project down and started another (so clearly, the designer is at fault for why I started another sweater!). Then I discovered this morning that my size was omitted from the pattern. Crap.

- I'm way too far into the pattern to frog the whole project.

- I don't think I'm experienced enough to fudge it to make the pattern work.

- I think I'm going to try anyways. But am going to have to wait to give it a go for another early morning, when I have complete and total uninterrupted time to concentrate.

- as if starting three new sweaters wasn't enough knitting for my plate to handle, I picked up a long forgotten WIP that was part of a KAL a few of the girls in my knitting group and I have started. I'm now entranced with this project and have now abandoned the freshly cast on projects.

- I may or may not have joined the newest round of the Vesper Sock Yarn Club by Knitterly Things that will commence February. I am not at fault here. I have a major weakness for self-striping yarns. Technically this does not count towards my "no-buy" months, as this is a club. Um...can you say loop hole!

- speaking of self-striping yarns, I received a few skeins at knit night on Friday from my friend Em of Everything Old. These yarns also do not count in my "no buy" policy because we were in talks of doing these skeins since November.

- I told you I could find loop holes in anything. Even within my own rules.

- I recieved some more yarn in the post last week that's part of a yarn club. It's staring at me, begging to be turned into something. Now. I'm finding it extremely hard to resist its allure and want to wind up a skein of it...just feel the yarn glide through my fingers...and maybe knit up a swatch...but I will NOT cast on a new project.

- this grey and gloomy weather is really putting a damper on my photography time. The natural light in my place currently sucks and so I will have to dig into the "archives" and see what I can find. I'll apologize now if you keep seeing the same photos over and over. Anyone have any tips on how to get decent photos indoor? So far the natural light bulbs are doing nothing for me. Le sigh.

- I'm also having some major issues with Blogger in the formatting and font. It's kinda turning me off of blogging. My Google-ing has not turned up anything valuable in terms of how to fix these issues and am wondering if I'm going to have to live with having blog posts that are written in several different fonts and sizes, without having to manually go into each post to fix it.

- I think I'm going to dance to Poker Face to let off some steam.

Hello, Lover!

In between rounds of Fruit Ninja, Play-Doh fun, and having mini dance parties (ok, this last one is just me...and Dance Central), I broke out one of my Christmas presents and messed up the kitchen a bit. Nothing major. Just a lot of chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to get a feel for my new kitchen toy and since chocolate chip cookies are always in demand in this household (mainly by Brett, the Munchkin doesn't know any better...yet) I figured it wouldn't hurt to try to whip up a batch...or two...or three. Cause y'know, I gotta see how well this mixer can handle cookie dough.

I'm hoping that maybe next weekend I can really have a go at it and see what this bad boy can do. Brett had to work all weekend and was stuck doing work related things when he wasn't actually working, and since the Munchkin has yet to reach that stage where he can be occupied for longer than 5 minutes (if that) at a time, I really didn't want to try anything adventurous in case my attention was needed elsewhere...like when said three year old just needs me to watch him make his Mario stuffed doll toy (Brett was very adamant that boys don't play with dolls...they play with "toys" or "figurines") do death defying stunts off the window sill in the living room. Yeah, not really a good time to say, have condensed milk boiling away on the stove and you're waiting for the right temperature before it's considered burned. Or to have a bowl full of egg whites whipping away until it's at "stiff peaks".

Brett's still worried that I don't love my new mixer. Or even like it. I know, he's crazy. He thinks the fact that it's a black Classic stand mixer and not the Komen pink Artisan stand mixer that I've been lusting after forever, is the reason why I would shoo it away. Um...why would anyone who likes to bake, in their right mind, turn down a stand mixer? Any kind of Kitchen Aid stand mixer at that?? Yes, it's not my beloved pink. True, it won't matched the rest of my kitchen stuff. Yes, it's not the Artisan. But the thing is, I've always wanted a stand mixer to call my very own since high school. There have been several times where I myself have almost purchased the black Artisan because it was on sale at a very, very, VERY good price. But had to practice restraint due to the fact that I spent my budget on yarn. So as you can see, black was my next choice anyways.

I still remember my Mom's mixer, she's had it since the 70s and it's this weird browny green mustard colour and after how many decades it's still going strong. She used to churn out six loaves of banana bread at a time. I used to come home from school to the amazing smell of baking banana bread and find at least twelve loaves cooling away on our kitchen table. Don't worry, they weren't all for us. All my aunts, uncles, and cousins used to circle our house like hungry vultures whenever they caught wind that my mom was making unusually large banana purchases. Sadly, my mom no longer bakes banana bread. This fact makes me cry.

So I'm making it my mission this year to perfect my mom's banana bread recipe (if I can get it out of her head, that is...after over 20 years of baking at least six loaves every couple of months I'm sure the recipe has been tweaked and embedded in your brain). Another mission: to perfect the Madeleine cookie. I read somewhere that you should have a dish that you are known for. That you should pick a recipe and own it. Whilst I have yet to perfect lasagne (although, I'm rethinking that dish and wondering if I should pick something else...since technically the recipe given to me came from my friend Tyler, who seriously kills it), I think I could master the Madeleine. As if my plate wasn't full enough (ha ha ha...) I'm thinking of also getting down a marshmallow recipe down pat too. Over the holidays when the Rice Krispy treats were flying around here, a few mini marshmallows may have gone rogue. The Munchkin has developed a liking to them (yet doesn't like the regular sized marshmallows...so weird). I'm not really thrilled with him eating such soft pillows of corn by-products and stuff that I can't pronounce, and figured that if he's going to eat such things then I should make him a somewhat better-for-him version of it. Like using kosher gelatin. It would just make me feel a whole lot better about it all.

Completely off topic but topical to this blog, I've also been busy knitting away. I even had my first FO of the year come fresh off the needles last week! I have a few other projects pretty close to be done too. I'm so excited! I even wound up a few skeins of yarn when I woke up this morning. I think a new yarn winder and possibly a swift is in my near future. I've had my yarn winder for a few years now and it has served me very well, but now I think it's on its last leg of life. The poor thing can no longer handle anything heavier than a DK weight yarn (if I'm lucky), and has been winding up pretty messy cakes. You can just hear the contraption struggling to wind. As for my swift, it was my first major knitterly purchase (other than my interchangeable needles set) and it too has done its job for me fairly well. Unfortunately it can't handle the weight of yarn any more and needs the key to be jimmied with some tissue to make it stick. I think I can rig it so that it can last a few more months or at least bug Brett to make me one. I'm thinking the winder is on top of the priority list between the two and I'm hoping that with all this money that I'm "saving" from being on a yarn diet will be able to aid me in the purchase of a new winder. Anyone have any recommendations for a winder that can handle heavy use? I'd give my left nut for this one.

Anyhoo, I'm hoping to get some photos taken this week to show you some of my current WIPs and my lonely FO. The dreary grey weather that we've been having lately has put quite the damper on my photo taking opportunities. Today is suppose to be a nice day, but we'll see if I'll be able to get away long enough to snap a few pics. In the meantime, I have some yarn calling my name.

2012

Happy New Year to all my wonderful blog friends!

This is coming to you a day late. Oh well, better late than never, right? I had every intention of posting yesterday but then the day turned into one epic family day. How could I blog when my family and I are having such moments?? Exactly! We had a lovely day playing video games (even the Munchkin played...it's actually quite funny to watch a three year old trying to river raft and having the Kinect only capture his head half of the time), watching Gnomeo and Juliet (such a cute movie!), playing with all of the Munchkin's new toys, cuddling on the couch, and even taking down the rest of the holiday decorations turned into a fun event! I even managed to sneak away for half an hour to organize the stash a little (more on that later this week). Needless to say that the three of us were pooped by the end of the day and ended up going to bed before 9pm! I guess the Munchkin didn't want the great family day to end because I woke up this morning to discover that he had crawled into our bed and was asleep between Brett and I. So cute!

Anyhoo, now that the winter holidays are officially over, we'll be making the attempt at getting life back into a routine. So today is going to be spent running errands and getting the house back into tiptop shape, ready for what 2012 has in store for us. Since I haven't had much a chance to do any knitting the past few days I'm planning on squeezing in some knit time in the car while out and about today. I'm also hoping to get some baking done and trying out one of my (very generous) Christmas presents...a shiny new Kitchen Aid stand mixer!! I'm so excited!!

I'm even more excited that I feel a lot more energetic today than I have all December long. I know I should take it easy and not over exert myself, but there's just so much that I want to do! What's everyone's plans for 2012? Are you as excited as I am?

Happy 2012 everyone!!

PS: Note to self - I think blogging via iPhone isn't smart. It really screws up the formatting of the post. And it drives me insane that the font doesn't match the rest of the blog. Grrr....I hate html sometimes!

Holiday Hangover

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas day. Or, if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a fabulous December 25th! I don't know about you, but I'm suffering from a major holiday hangover - as in I've had too much excitement, too much to eat, too much to drink, too much Dance Revolution...just too much of everything. Add in the overly enthusiastic excitement of a three year old and his newly acquired Mario and Luigi stuffed dolls, an Innotab, train table and enough toys to hold over a small daycare...oh yeah, my head has exploded all over the Christmas tree (cause I'm not going to go into detail about my headaches over that Innotab).

I'm off to chug coconut water and regular ol' water like there's no tomorrow and hoping that I can keep the Xbox off...but something tells me that Mama's got her dancin' shoes on...I'm hoping to take a few days off and maybe getting some rest in there somewhere. If you don't hear from me in a few days...just listen for the house blasting the Black Eyed Peas...I'll be there getting the dance party started...

Merry Ho Ho Ho!!

Just dropping in to say Merry Christmas to everyone!! I hope you're all having a wonderfully merry day filled with love, laughter, yummy eats, and squishy yarn with dearly loved ones and friends!

I plan on spending Christmas day eating (both a ton of sweets and turkey galore...not necessarily at the same time), cuddling, and possibly knitting! ♥

It's Just a Random Kind of Week

Yep. Another post of random thoughts in point form. Sorry. I had started writing a post about the progress of Brett's sweater and even had a clever title and everything for it. But then my fatigue set in and I couldn't gather up enough energy to keep writing...at one point I had to keep getting up every 10 seconds to shake myself and try to fight my eyelids from closing. So instead of a post about one awesome subject, I give you a post about a bunch of awesomeness, written throughout the day.

- I received the most beautiful skein of yarn in the mail yesterday (it's the photo above). It seriously took my breath away. It's a skein of The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga! in Strawberry Crab (all links are to Ravelry, as I'm not sure how much longer the SG website will be up for). I got it in a swap last month and even though I have this colourway in another base, I stalk and troll for this colourway on the interwebs like you wouldn't believe. Yes, it's a seasonal colourway and yes, Cephalopod Yarns will be carrying over this colourway to the new company in Bugga! but I suck at stalking shop updates. I will even go as far as saying that Strawberry Crab completely and totally triumphs over MadTosh's Tart. Oh yeah, I went there.

- are you surprised that I'm talking about a yarn that's not SweetGeorgia?

- the photo is just eye candy, as I'm sure most of you are here for the knitting content - of which there is a lack of.

- speaking of updates. I caught the last Wollmeise update of the year and was so darn proud of myself for not purchasing a single skein during their regular update. The grab bag update though...that's another story. Moving on.

- I vowed to not buy another skein of yarn this year. So what did I do? I went and joined the Cookie A 2012 Sock Club. I've been weighing the pros and cons of this club for weeks and finally, in a moment of weakness I caved and joined. But now that I think about it, how could I not join it?? I mean, think about it: this club involves knitting socks, baking cookies, and hand-dyed yarns. You get recipes here people. Cookie.recipes.with your sock patterns. And yarn. I'm a sucker. I know. True, I have knit only one Cookie A pattern in my entire knitting career but I do have several more patterns awaiting in my queue. I love the fact that each shipment comes with 2 patterns - an easy one for times when your brain can't function and a more advanced pattern for when you feel like challenging yourself. I see more sock action coming this way in 2012.

- speaking of socks, I think I need to get going on getting back onto the sock knitting wagon. I had always aimed at having at least one cardigan/sweater, one shawl, and one pair of socks on the needles at all times. I was doing so well there with this too. Until I hit a pattern that I just couldn't get motivated on. I had started Aquaphobia back in April but after what felt like months of knitting and only producing half of the first leg, I lost steam. That, and I've been in utter denial that the sock is a bit tight on my tree trunk leg. To tell you the truth, I think I just need to bite the bullet and frog the sock and either cast on again using a larger needle size, or scrap the project all together. I think for now the half finished sock will have to sit in time out in the proverbial knitting basket.

- I should really finish the second sock of the test knit socks that I was working on. It's a beautiful sock using beautiful yarn. I guess the above mentioned sock made me lose my sock knitting mojo.

- I need to get back my sock knitting mojo.

- having a sock-in-progress would have totally helped me out the other day when I was at the doctor's office. Brett's sweater is now officially too big to carry around and my other WIPs are either awkward to knit on (as in too many yarn cakes to have to worry about), involve too much counting, or require chart reading. I really need a small mindless knit on the go. I'm actually quite shocked that I don't have such a project on the needles.

- another shocker: the other day when we did our weekly grocery shop, the Munchkin fell asleep in his car seat. So I opted to stay in the truck with him. Um, yeah...guess who completely forgot their knitting at home?? I don't know who was more shocked about this, me or Brett. I always have a knitting project in my handbag. Not sure how I didn't this time around. And let me tell you, this will never happen again!! I was bored beyond belief! Not only did I waste time just sitting there doing nothing, but my phone was dead! I couldn't even surf Ravelry. That was an hour and a half that I will never get back. I could have gotten so much knitting done during that time. So sad.

- the progress on Brett's sweater? I finally finished the sleeves and joined them with the body. I had more issues with the sleeves. Nothing big. I just had to keep telling myself that this cardigan wasn't for me and that I really did need to knit them longer! After a few rounds the thought that I needed to stop increasing would creep into my head and that this cardi was going to be massive...on me. Yes self, not for you. Bad girl! This is Brett's sweater! Now that I'm working on the yoke shaping I'm hoping that the next bit will go by super fast.

- I know i'm not going to get Brett's sweater finished in time to wrap it up and give on Christmas Day. But you know what? I'm totally content with that. I really am. Another reminder to myself: the only pressure to get this done is from no one but myself. Brett doesn't care if the cardigan is under the tree or not. He's even told me to take my time cause he understands how much time goes into knitting. He didn't have to, but I still made him read the Yarn Harlot's blog post about the gift of time, since there's a difference between knowing how much time goes into a knitting project versus having the time to knit.

- I think Brett got it cause last night he wrapped all the gifts without me asking. It wasn't the best wrap job, but really, will a three year old even notice how crisp the corners are?

- I've been falling asleep while reading the Munchkin his bedtime stories. The past few months he's been wanting to read only two books from his book collection. This one and this one. My friend Leana gifted them to the Munchkin a few years ago and he absolutely loves them. He now refers to all dogs as "Walt-tut". I'm thinking he's going to like one of his Christmas gifts.

- Oh, another reason why Brett's cardigan won't be under the tree in 3 days: both of my wrists are starting to hurt. I don't think this has anything to do with knitting too much, but more from the result of my current medical state weakening the muscles in my body. I mean, last night I couldn't open an already pre-opened jar of tomato sauce. I became one of those sad people that you see on infomercials who are all down and overly dramatic that they can't do insert action here until a nifty gadget comes along to assist them with it. I ended up running hot water over the jar lid before using this handy contraption that came free with a Chatelaine issue.

- so glad I didn't get rid of that thing. Even though I laughed at it.

- we've tried three times to go see Santa and three times we've been denied. Why? Once Santa had to go on a lunch break and the elves had allowed only a certain amount of kids in the line up, claiming that each kid gets x amount of time with the fat Dude. The second time the line up was so long and the elves decided that there were too many people that they could potentially still be there even when the mall closes. So they asked the last half of the people in line to leave. Starting with us. The last time, Santa had to go on a quick potty break and we were dangerously close to the lunch cut off time AND the Munchkin was starting to get grumpy cause he was hungry as well. I'm afraid that this year will be the year that the Munchkin will not get to sit on Santa's lap. This fact makes me sad. The Munchkin couldn't care less either way.

- Brett made a pan of Rice Krispy treats using the special Christmas version of the cereal. Half of that pan may have fallen into my mouth.

- I'm hoping my energy comes back real soon so that I can work off these extra holiday calories!

Winter Wonderland

Ok, so it's not really a winter wonderland here. We don't have snow (yet), and the weather, albeit a little wet at times, has been quite mild and very West Coast-y lately. Which is nice. Really nice. But I've still been wearing long johns underneath everything. Well, I've stopped wearing long john pants, as they were starting to bunch up in weird random places under my jeans. But long john shirts? Oh yes, a definite must! I even stopped by MEC yesterday on our way home to pick up some new ones. Ones with a Polartec layering (I have no idea what my current ones are made of) and I can tell you right now I'm absolutely loving it!

Other news since I last posted? Not much. At all. Sorry. Brett's brother was visiting for the weekend so it was more about entertaining (and cleaning up after them!) than anything else. Yesterday I didn't even knit a single stitch! Pure craziness, I know! I just didn't get the chance. From the moment we woke up it was go, go, GO! We took the Munchkin on a stroll throughout the downtown core, sans stroller, and it took us forever to get anywhere. Not that we were in a hurry to be anywhere in particular. We finally made it to our end destination goal, which was the outdoor skating rink at Centennial Square. We all rented skates (and a helmet for the Munchkin) and had a blast skating the afternoon away! This was the first time the Munchkin has ever gone ice skating and he looked so darn cute in his little bobsled skates! Sadly I was so lost in the moment that I didn't take any photos. I'm sure we'll go skating a few more times before the rink closes for the season. Neither Brett nor his brother could remember the last time they laced up a pair of skates. I think the last time I was on ice like that, it was probably when I was in middle school when one of my closest friend's made me go with her to the Nelson hockey team's "skate & meet" (her family was a billet for the team for as long as I could remember and I think they stopped once we hit grade 10...I think having too many teenagers in the house was making them crazy).

I haven't had the energy to do any sewing either, but am hoping to get some bags made this week for a possible Boxing Day sale. Don't quote me on that though. It's a goal to have more items in the shop for Boxing Day, but not sure if sewing is in the cards for me this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe I can fight the fatigue and get the chance to spent some QT (um, that's quality time...sorry, I've been in abbreviating everything lately) with my lovely sewing machine.

In the meantime, on the knitting front, I'm still plugging away on Brett's sweater. I haven't been project monogamous in ages and I think it's making me go a little crazy. I've been eyeing patterns left and right on Ravelry, staring longingly at the skeins of yarn that I have on my nightstand (I know, I'm weird like that...most people have books or magazines on their nightstand, I have yarn) that are patiently waiting for me to wind up and knit with, and I've been prepping projects for the new year. Brett thinks I'm crazy, but I got such a kick out of doing the 12 in 2011 where I made myself knit the patterns that have been in my queue forever (but had always been sidetracked with newer, shinier patterns) and had knit the yarns that had been sitting in my stash for longer than a year, that I decided to do it again next year. So I've been going through my queue and printing up patterns, diving into my stash and finding yarns for each of those patterns, and then very Martha Stewart-like been putting them into large Ziplock bags...all labeled and ready to go. I've even contemplated putting all the bags into a bin and then blindly grab a bag when I'm ready to knit a new project. Kinda like a surprise kit....

I told you I was going a little crazy! I really need to get Brett's sweater finished...for the sake of my sanity!

PS: Sorry for the random photos of skates...they were the only photos I took of our day of skating...all taken on my iPhone. But I couldn't have a photo-less post!

A Very Random Thursday

I feel like I haven't blogged in ages! But in reality it's only been a few days. I think this week is crawling by, which is a good thing when you've got a lot of crafting to do. That is, if you are actually using that time to craft. I haven't. I feel like I've wasted this week due to not feeling 100%. If anything, I've been feeling a bit discombobulated. So I give you random photos that I took with my new iPhone, along with random thoughts for today...

- I've been feeling quite fatigued all week and have spent more time napping than crafting...or housework.

- all day yesterday I thought it was Thursday, so today feels like Friday to me.

- I'm a little bummed that today isn't Friday.

- I'm s.l.o.w.l.y plugging away on Smokin'. How far away is Christmas?

- I've been doing pretty darn well in not knitting anything other than Brett's sweater. But I am getting the evil eyes from all my other WIPs. I think I need to either zip them back up in their bags or shove them into the yarn closet for now.

- is it sad to say that I'm pretty stoked about knitting up Brett's cardigan not only cause he's finally letting me knit him something other than a hat, but the fact that I'm getting a bag of yarn out of the stash? We're talking about 16 balls of yarn here!

- I think my stash is starting to overwhelm me.

- I found out that my current medical condition has made me go from heat tolerant to cold tolerant. Now I know why I've been extremely and overly cold these past few months. Definitely explains why I just can't seem to get warm!

- I've resorted to wearing the fancy long johns that I wore when I lived in Finland under everything. Even when I'm home.

- I've rarely left the house all week due to the fact that I'm freezing cold and being outside just amplifies that.

- I'm feeling so freaking cold that I've even contemplated ditching my usual warm winter jackets for the puffy North Face coat that makes me look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

- when I go to bed at night I end up just lying there, tossing and turning. I can't seem to turn my brain off. I don't even know what's been plaguing my mind. It's just in constant think-mode and all that I've tried has yet to result in anything. This has been happening all.week.long. Does this happen to anyone else? I keep a notebook that I like to jot random things down into so that I can sort them out or refer to later. Kinda like an inspiration book. I've been filling that book up and I'm not even sure if half of it makes any sense.

- I've been staying away from the computer as much as possible these past few days, cause I always get sucked into the time warp of surfing and am always amazed as to how much time I've wasted. By staying away from the computer, not only have I gotten a lot accomplished than I normally do in the day time, but my wallet is starting to like me too!

- I've come up with a "crafting schedule" and am going to test it out next week...since Brett's brother will be visiting this weekend. It'll be interesting to see if it'll work out.

- I've also come up with a rough draft of my "crafting plans" for 2012. There are so many patterns that I want to knit up, so many sewing projects that I want to do, but always get sidetracked or spend more time trying to figure out what to do next than actually doing it. I'm hoping that by listing my project priorities that I'll get more done and less procrastinating.

- I'm hoping to bake some sugar cookies today, but can't seem to find my piping bag and tips. I was really hoping to learn how to "flood" cookies today. Might have to go the "poor baker's" route and just use a Ziplock bag with a corner snipped off.

- I was hoping to bake a ton of cookies, but fear that I'll eat them all before I'm able to give them away.

- I need to find the cable to my camera.

- I realized that my notions case is getting too small and I'm needing more stitch markers than normal. I could remedy this by either knitting up all my current WIPs and reclaim those markers back, or start using a second case...I do have extra cases in my yarn closet, but I'm thinking I might have to make a trip to the closest sports department and check out the fishing tackle box section...what does everyone else use?

- with my monogamous knitting, there's not much to blog about knitting-wise.

- I'm hoping my next blog post will be more exciting!

Slugg...ish...

I just realized that Christmas is less than three weeks away and I've only just cast on for Brett's Christmas gift a few days ago. I am SO not going to finish in time. And you know what? I think I'm alright with that. Brett doesn't even care that the sweater won't be waiting for him under the tree on Christmas Day, he's just stoked that I'm even knitting him a sweater in the first place. The pressure to get it done is all on me. But you know what? I'm going to put that pressure into a bubble and just blow it away.

I feel much better now.

A few days leading up to, and all weekend long I didn't feel so great. I was extremely sluggish and spent 99% of the time fighting my eyelids to stay open. For a while there I thought my week-long stint of staying up 'til the wee hours of the morning sewing my arse off finally caught up to me, hence the glacial speed I was moving at all weekend. I think I need to keep telling myself that I'm not as young as I used to be and that the days of pulling all-nighters are far, far behind me (not to mention that I no longer have the old school episodes of Saved by the Bell to keep me up, like it did back in university! This episode was by far the most favourite amongst us fashion girls. Hell, I still think about that scene when I'm under pressure and on a deadline!). I honestly thought maybe I was coming down with something. Yesterday I was sort of relieved when my endocrinologist told me that my TSH levels were pretty darn low and that my fatigued state was due to my thyroid acting up. Phew, it's nice to know exactly why I'm channeling the ways of a snail but boo erns that my thyroid is acting up again.

So what I've really been meaning to say is that I did absolutely nothing all weekend. Nothing. Hell, I spent most of Saturday in my pyjamas! Brett had to go away for the weekend with his bosses to help out with one of their offices, so it was just me and the Munchkin holding down the fort. I had grand plans to get a crap load of stuff done and had a list of places to visit. Yeah...that didn't happen. To tell you the truth, we didn't really get to go anywhere either. Mainly cause someone didn't want to put on socks or their shoes ahemMunchkinahem and I was feeling way too exhausted to deal with that battle. Although, aside from his aversion to footwear and the occasional pair of pants, the Munchkin was actually really well-behaved all weekend and was content and at times thoroughly engrossed in playing with my hair clips and assorted kitchen tongs to help him pick up any toy that he could with them. Mainly little cars and his trains. Kids...such interesting little creatures, they are.

Anyhoo, I feel like I totally wasted a weekend since I didn't sew or knit a stitch. I take great solace in the fact that before Brett took off I did get some sewing done. I finally dove into the stash of Crafty Pirates fabric that I had kicking around in my sewing closet, and was able to whip up the project bags that you see above. I almost didn't list them in my shop. I wanted to keep them for myself. But then I dug into the pile of Japanese imported prints that I have been dying to sew up.

I made two of these "Pretty Girls" bags but only listed one. I'm trying to talk myself out of keeping the second one. So far I've managed to keep the bag in the sewing room, tucked behind another bag. Out of sight, out of mind, right?? Maybe I'll forget that it's even there. While I was digging around the stash I came up with some Christmas fabric that I had purchased a ton of last year with the (high) hope of sewing a bunch of drawstring bags to use in place of wrapping paper. Obviously that didn't happen. Hmm...maybe next year? Instead I've used some of it to make a really cute and festive bag for holiday knitting projects. I guess I could make a bunch and put gifts into it. It would be way more work than simple drawstring bags. Oh, who am I kidding?? I'd make sure all those gifts would go to me so that I could keep the freakin' bags, regardless what kind they are. Does that make me a bad person? Shh...I don't want to know. Admit it. Secretly, you'd keep them too!

These bags are going to have to suffice and quench my need to sew for at least a week...until I can feel somewhat "normal" again. Please note that this post took me a few hours to write cause I kept dozing off. Hmm...maybe I'm narcoleptic and not a sufferer of Graves' Disease? Does this post even make sense?? I'll put it on record right now: I'm sorry if anyone got messages or emails from me over the weekend that either didn't make sense or was just one long run-on sentence. Or something that resembled a drunk phone call, but in email form. I was not of right mind.

Luckily Brett is back and I've been able to take naps here and there without worrying about the Munchkin not being supervised (although, the worse he's ever done is spill an entire box of cereal on the floor in an attempt to open the bag...oh wait, I forgot about the time he used a blue ink pen to scribble all over a leather handbag...grrr). I finally got around to taking some photos of some knitting FOs that I can't wait to share, and I promise that I'll share them in the next few days. I've decided to take this week off from sewing and concentrate on knitting. I'm hoping my energy will return and I can get mucho knitting accomplished.

For now, I'm going to go back to bed and sleep for a few more hours. I am so sorry if this post is pure crap.

Ok Scottie. Beam me up.

Over and out.

A Treasury

How excited am I that one of my bags was featured on an Etsy Treasury list! So sweet! Seeing this has really made my day, and trust me when I say that the past few days...ok, make it the past week, has been uber crappy. So yeah, seeing one of my bags being appreciated was a much needed positive vibe that I needed.

You know what else I need? Some chocolate.

Versatile

Guess what? Last week I was awarded The Versatile Blogger Award by Rebecca of nook. How exciting is that? It made my day when I found out. Thank you so much Rebecca, that was so darn sweet of you to do! It's so awesome to be recognized by your blogging peers!

For those of you who don't know what The Versatile Blogger Award is (and don't worry if you don't, I had to Google it myself to get a better understanding!), it's a great way to not only learn about new blogs that you've never heard about, but it also helps a blogger to share a little about themselves and their favourite stops on the blogosphere.

So the rules to this award ? You thank the person who nominated you and share the link to their blog. Tell 7 things about yourself so that your readers can learn more about you. Then pass this award along to 15 newly discovered blogs that you enjoy reading. But just so you know, since I've always either forgotten or been the down right stopper of chain letters and things like this, the nominees have NO obligation to pass this along if they don't want to. For some blogs, it's not their style. For others, they may have the intention to do it and then life gets in the way and before you know it a month has gone by and you've completely forgotten all about it. Hey, I know how it can be. But I'm going to be the black sheep here and only nominate seven blogging peeps. Cause that's how I roll. Ok, really, I'm just feeling really tired and lazy.

Ok, so with that out of the way, let's get on with this, shall we?

7 Things About Me

1. I LOVE coffee. I seem to always have a cup of coffee nearby. I'm actually drinking a mug of the black gold right now, as I type. When I used to work at a coffee shop I used to "test out" the espresso shots, I swear, every 10 minutes! It was not a good sight to see when I got off work (re: I would be jumping off the walls!).

2. I love to travel. Yes, I love seeing new places and all that comes with traveling, but what I love the most? The getting there part. The actual travel part. Weirdness, I know. I'm one of those people that thoroughly enjoys being stuck in a car or plane for hours on end. During university when I had to travel via Greyhound to see my parents, I sometimes looked forward to the 13 hour bus ride...granted that the bus wasn't insanely busy. I also don't mind having to wait in airports or on ferries. And now that I'm a knitter, I don't mind any of these one bit! It just means more knitting time! Although I will admit that sometimes all these points don't ring true when I'm traveling with the Munchkin. That's a whooooole other story!

3. When I go grocery shopping or any kind of shopping for the house, I use a lot of coupons. But I am NOT an extreme couponer. While it's not impossible to be one in Canada, it is a little on the trickier side. AND people need to understand that the shoppers on these shows had been prepping and gearing up for these big shops for show purposes. So their weekly shopping trips aren't that extreme. I don't purchase crap. As in I don't buy a hundred bottles of pop or water, or a thousand packages of ramen noodles. I also don't do a million transactions. I'm too impatient for that.

4. I do have a nice stockpile of toilet paper, mouthwash, and laundry detergent to last my family for at least 6 months though!

5. Even before I started to stockpile the basics, both Brett and I highly practice the use of FIFO. We blame it on the fact that Brett used to work as a cook in his younger years, and I like to blame my FIFO fascination on Starbucks. So if you ever come over to my place, don't be surprised to see "death dates" and just dates in general on grocery items throughout the kitchen.

6. Like Rebecca, I'm a thrower (an English-style knitter). I too want to be a picker and had made it one of my 101 goals to teach myself how to knit continental. I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. I can do the knit stitch but my purling is practically non-existent. I'm far, far from being even remotely efficient with continental, but after reading Ysolda Teague's blog posts here and here I realized that it doesn't matter which way you knit, as long as you are comfortable. I've seen some throwers who are pretty darn fast knitters and some pickers that are extremely slow. Still, if you know of any good videos and/or tutorials on how to knit continental, please let me know!

7. I'm still trying to find the right balance (or any balance for that matter!) in which I can get both my knitting and my sewing projects done in the limited time that I have. It really doesn't help that I want to make it all! I would love to be able to turn my crafting into an actual paying job and totally understand that it can be slow at first. But who knows, maybe it's all just a dream for me? Maybe it'll take me a few years, when the Munchkin is in school full-time, to get "the business" going? For now, it's definitely extremely slow going. It totally irks me that people automatically assume upon hearing that I'm a stay at home mom that I have a ton of free time and that I must spend my day doing nothing but knitting and sewing. HA! I wish! Maybe if I had hired help and a nanny! I don't even have a dishwasher! I spend my days doing laundry, dishes, prepping food, and playing the game du jour with the Munchkin. I do squeeze in some knitting throughout the day, but we're talking maybe a row or two. The majority of my knitting happens after 9pm, after the kidlet has gone to bed, the mess from dinner has been cleared and cleaned, and Brett and I have a chance to sit and talk about our day. Sometimes I don't go to bed until 2-3am! As for the sewing...well, that happens maybe on the weekends. If I'm lucky.

Ok. Still with me? Good. That was longer than I thought it would be! I'd like to take this moment now to pass on the award love to the following blogs:

• Stephanie of Grey
• Mae over at Eat, Run, Knit
• Mary of One Sheep Thrill
• Michelle of mprsdrose
• Ursa of Dyer in the Rough (she's also the woman behind the podcast The Pagan Knitter!)
• Jane of Jane Richmond
• Kat of Petticoats & Peplums
• Cory Ellen of indie.knits
• Jodie of Ric-Rac

Yay for sharing the blogging love! ♥

Winter Woollies

It's been insanely crispy cold out lately. Or at least in my neck of the woods. I'm just blocks away from the ocean and so the cold air just sticks to you. The past few times that the Munchkin and I were at the park kicking around on the playground it hit me just how cold it really, really was. So cold that the Munchkin wanted to leave and go straight home...and this is a kid that I thought was impervious to temperature and wants nothing more but to be outside 24/7! This past weekend was no different. We barely left the house! Although, it didn't help that the heaters in the house weren't working (um...yeah, I should've looked at the breaker box...ahem!) and it felt just as cold inside as outside. You bet I was bundled up from head to toe!

So of course I've been thinking about nothing but knitting warm woollies for me and the family as of late. More specifically, warm AND quick woollies. The Munchkin still refuses to wear the Thorpe that I made for him last month, so I'm not so sure if I want to keep knitting for him just yet. He's still in this phase where he's being extremely picky about what clothes he wears. He seriously has to inspect the graphics before he will even consider wearing it, and of course it's all about the colour...if it's not red, blue, or green, this kid ain't gonna wear it! I decided that until he wears the Thorpe I'm going to hold off on knitting him anything else (even though I had started a few other projects for him before the Thorpe). As for Brett, well...I still need to even swatch for the cardigan that he requested for a Christmas present. He needs a warm hat too. The Turn A Square hat that I had knit for him last year is kinda out of commission...as in a thin part of the thick and thin Noro that I had used had snapped and now two stitches are missing. The yarn that I had used is "sticky" enough that the hat itself hasn't unraveled at all. But I don't want to be around when it does. Having my knitting unravel/fall apart is one of my worse knitting fears! I still have a lot of Noro in the stash, so I'm thinking of making him another Turn A Square. Although, I also have some Knit Picks Chroma Worsted in the stash too that I have no idea what I'm going to do with, so I just might give that yarn a try.

Of course, I've also been thinking a ton about warm woollies for myself. I've been wearing my new Owls sweater practically every time I leave the house ever since it came off the blocking mats, and sporting my Georgia around the house (how could I not? It's made of yummy MCN after all!). Even though I have a few cardigans on the needles already I decided to ditch them for now, in favour of bulkier and quicker sweater knits. One of those bulkier quick knits is actually almost finished. Here's a hint: it's a Jane Richmond pattern. I'm actually quite surprised that this one is almost done considering that I haven't really been able to knit much lately (we're talking maybe a few stitches here and there each day, with actual knitting time last Friday when I went to knit night). I also finished a cute cowl last week and have been wearing it around the house (it's also a Jane Richmond pattern). Hopefully I'll be able to get around to blogging about them this week. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to finish this bulky knit and have it blocked and ready to wear before the week is over. I'm just dying to wear it! It's going to be so lush and cozy!

For now though, I have to concentrate on spending time with my sewing machine so that I can update my shop in time for holiday shopping. My downstairs neighbour has been away on holiday for the past week and so I've been up until at least 3am every night since, either sewing or cutting fabric. Such late work times wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wake up at 7:15am every morning when the Munchkin wakes up. I'm thinking I'm going to have to give myself a night off and try to catch up on some sleep! This same neighbour is back home now, but was super kind enough to tell me that she'll be working a lot of night shifts this week so I'll be able to keep working throughout the night.

On that note, I should get all my day time stuff done so I have nothing to worry about tonight! If you don't hear from me in a while, I've probably fallen into a sleep coma.

Have a crafty week!

Double Overtime

Remember when I knit this project for Brett? The one that made me touch yucky Red Heart Super Saver yarn? Yeah...that's right, the wrestling mask that I started knitting with gusto until the feel of the plastic-y acrylic slowly made me dry heave and made my hands sweat after a few minutes of knitting (I mean, there's acrylic and then there's Red Heart...'nuff said). The mask that I had to force myself to work on cause the intarsia was really starting to put me off on the entire project. The mask that I eventually stopped working on in favour of more exciting projects that involved nicer yarn, which then made Brett go crazy with anticipation to the point where he'd leave the mess of scratchy yarn on top of the computer keyboard, on top of my other WIPs, on top of my mobile (which he would then call, in hopes that I would touch the dreaded mask of crap)...if it was something that I used on a regular basis, Brett would have the unfinished mask lying on top of it - all as "gentle" reminders that I needed to finish the blasted thing so that he could sport it.

I finally decided to just bite the bullet and get 'er done. So I did. Mainly so that I wouldn't have to touch that knitting blasphemy ever again...and to get Brett off my back. But moreso the former. I was so beyond happy when the mask was finally and handed over to Brett. He wore it a few times and then tucked it away in his sock drawer. After a while (when hockey season was over) we both had completely forgotten all about that mask.

Then sometime over the summer I got an email from an author who claimed he was writing a book about hockey and fan culture. He found my photos of Brett wearing the mask and his Calgary Flames jersey, which lead to my blog, which lead to the email. He wanted to know if he could use a photo for his book. A quick Google search to see if he was legit (and he was) and I messaged back that he had my permission. Then promptly forgot all about it.

In September I got another email, this time asking if I was willing to give permission again to have that photo used in a contest leading up to the book's release (edited to add: the book is called Double Overtime: The Hockey Fan's Ultimate Hockey Book by Stephen Cole), as well as other promotional material (edited to add that the website for the book is here). Brett was giddy with excitement (he thought this would prove to the world just how big of a Flames fan he was...and the idea that he would be on the same page as Jerome sent him over the top). I thought why not and told Stephen Cole that he had my permission.

Well, the book's release has been promoted over Facebook and anything that involves the sport of hockey. The other day as we were shopping we came upon the book. Excited, we flipped to the Calgary section and was startled by what we saw:

When I was first asked about the photo, I thought it would be tucked into a collage of other photos and would be easy to miss. I honestly didn't think it would take up half of the page! Imagine just how big Brett's head got when he saw this! Instead of waiting for our copy to arrive in the post, Brett bought the book and has been showing it to anyone that has any remote interest in the sport (which is quite a lot of people...after all, this is Canada!). He also think it's pretty hilarious that out of all the projects I've ever knit, it's the one with the crappiest yarn that has garnered the most attention so far. I beg to differ. But that's a whole other post.

I thought I would share this, since Brett is so darn cute excited about this himself. I figured I had a right to be too. After all, my name is printed in the back in the credits!

Weekend, Where Are You?

Holy Moly! Where in the world did the weekend go?? Seriously? I swear I was at knit night on Friday cranking away on my Stockholm cowl (which I finished, YAY!! It's blocking as I type), and then feverishly working away on my Owls. I remember a bunch of us standing outside the coffee shop an hour after they had closed still just chatting away, not wanting to go home it seems. I kind of remember there being a Saturday and eating homemade pulled pork sandwiches with icy cold beers (oh yeah...it was heaven!), and I remember doing some major purging/tidying up of the kitchen cabinets and desk. It's amazing just how much crap can accumulate on your desk. There was a pile of random papers, magazines, and catalogs that went back to 2008! I think I'm a pack rat...

All weekend I felt like I was going nothing but cleaning and making food. The cleaning, I have to admit, was needed. Throughout the week I do "quick tidy-ups" every morning and night of the house, just to keep things in order. But on the weekends, when I can enlist the help of Brett, we do a more thorough clean. Meaning that's when we put in some major elbow grease on the things that need it (like the bathroom!) and can purge not only the stuff the piled up over the week but extra areas of the house (like the kitchen cabinets...and the desk was really giving me a headache). As for the food making part, I decided that in order to help my crafting schedule I was going to make huge one pot meals or casseroles so that every second day (sometimes a third day) we can have yummy left overs and I don't have to spent a lot of time making dinner...time that could be spent knitting or sewing (when the kidlet allows it, that is). So far this plan has worked out quite a bit! I already forewarned Brett that the meal plan for the rest of the month was going to be like this, he didn't seem to mind.

I did manage to get some knitting in and like I said, I got my Stockholm cowl and my Owls sweater done! Both are currently on the blocking mat drying, albeit not as fast as I would like! I also finally got around to do the finishing touches of a project finished and blocked loooong ago. So stay tuned for that!!

Anyhoo, as the weekend slipped away I realized that I didn't post the winner of the Harajuku Fun bag! For that, I'm deeply sorry!!! I quickly went onto the Random Number Generator this morning and got the winner! Are you ready for this? The winner is....

Comment #5!! If I was smart, I would have checked to see who that was before starting this post...ok, just looked and the winner is:

Rebecca of the lovely blog nook!!

Yay! Rebecca, if you are reading this I'll be emailing you some time today to get your info so that this project bag can be sent your way and start getting used!

Speaking of project bags, Brett just took the Munchkin to his Strong Start play group...which means I have some time to get some sewing done...gotta jet, got a date with my Juki!

Have a happy Monday! ♥

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! This is going to be a quick post as I have a ton of things to do today and a ton of things that I'm trying to squeeze in between the things that have to be done (like trying to get some sewing time in between loads of laundry while Brett takes the Munchkin to his playgroup this morning). But I wanted to wish everyone a happy Halloween. I absolutely love Halloween, sadly I didn't do anything special for it this year. I guess I'll have to make up for it next year!

I also wanted to share some of the pumpkins that Brett had carved before the weekend. You saw zombie Michael from Thriller in the last post (that's the one pumpkin Brett isn't happy with), the Tarman pumpkin (a character from Return of the Living Dead) above is Brett's best carve to date. It took him 4.5 hours to carve! For reals. Pure craziness.

Next up, Jack Nicholson in The Shining. This was another pumpkin that Brett was critical about. I personally think it looks amazing and that he's just been staring at it for way too long to be able to fully appreciate it.

My favourite pumpkin this year:

That's right. It's Dexter. The tea light candle was about to burn out in this photo, but you get the gist of it. When I saw how detailed the hair was going to be I thought Brett was crazy, but such detail definitely gives the pumpkin that much more...oomph. Don't you think?

I'm thinking next year I should ask him to carve Alexander Skarsgård's character Eric Northman. Ooohhh...well, you know, Halloween isn't over. And the day is still quite young. I wonder if I can get an Eric pumpkin by the end of the day?

Excuse me, I need to go drool research photos of the "Skars"...

Happy Halloween, play safe!