Happy Birthday/Thanksgiving, Melissa baby!

My little girl turned 20 on Saturday! Thanksgiving weekend has always been her birthday celebration weekend. So lucky, a turkey for her birthday every year. ;)

The year she was borne, I went into the hospital and it was still the end of summer. The leaves were all still green. When I came out 5 days later, after 2 fierce storms blew through toronto, there were no leaves left on the trees. It looked like I had missed Autumn all together. Not only that, but I missed Thanksgiving. :(

This year (as normal), we celebrated twice. Once at her grandma's on Saturday. There, we sat outside in the sunshine, soaking up the 22 degrees celcius heat.

Today, was a little cooler, but still a beautiful day.

I put the turkey in at 9:30 this morning, and we were eating at 5:30.
Turkey, gravy, biscuits, cranberries, stuffing, potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans, mushrooms, creamed corn and then afterwards apple and pumpkin pies with cool whip and vanilla ice-cream. mmmm, mmmmm!

Happy 20th Birthday sweetheart! I love you, and hope all your wishes come true in the coming year.

Work

Job Application

Yesterday I filled out a job application. The blurb on the company website stated: "(deleted to maintain confidentiality) focuses on creating and maintaining a workplace of choice, where its people are recognized and valued. We focus on creating a workplace where people enjoy the challenge of their career, create and engage in best practices and are treated with respect."

Damn, I really want to work for a company that recognizes and values its employees. Where I can go and be treated with respect.

Wish me luck!

Toe up socks - ugggg

well, it seems that although I do prefer to knit my socks toe-up, they sometimes do not work for me.

For instance, I've been knitting socks for my youngest daughter. I finished a pair, but they were a little too big in the foot area, so decided to rip the toe out and re-do it. That's fine, a little fiddly... but do-able. BUT, I didn't like the fix. In fact, I hate the fix so much that I may just rip it out again to redo it.

So, I started a new pair. Just finished the heel, and am now working on the leg pattern, and at the last fitting, the foot section is AGAIN too long for her foot. So, I'll have to rip the toe out and re-do it again.

What the hell is going on here? Why can't I do a sock toe-up???

Aeolian

hmmm, some comments I received were great, some mentioned it's halloweenish because its orange.... go figure.

Anyway, I love it. I love the orange. I love the beads. I love the size of it.

Galaxy comes to life

Well, it took me almost a year from start to finish, but it was worth it.

Introducing .... In the Pink. A beautiful design by Izzy - http://izzysknits.blogspot.com/



The joining of the pieces was the most difficult part of this project (for me anyway) and stalled this out for a very long time. The actual knitting probably took 6 weeks or so.

Zetor shawl finished for my Mother in Law

Whew.... finally finished!

This was a tough one, cause it's acrylic. And the only reason I did a shawl in acrylic was because it was for my Mother in Law. I realized early on that anything I made for her would have to be wash & wear. :)


Two full months of summertime knitting.... my hands were literally sweating working with this yarn... although, you know what?

It's freaken gorgeous. It turned out really nicely.


Once I cast off, I tossed it into the washer on gentle cycle for 2 minutes, then spun it. I then pinned it out on my king size bed. After it fully dried out, I stretched it out a little more, straightening the spine (didn't realize it was so crooked until I saw the pic above) then steam blocked it. Well, truthfully, I steam 'ironed' it. Pressed very gently, but I ironed it to kill it. :)

I hope my MIL loves it!

Knitting, work, life

I’ve been knitting a lot. Even my dear husband has commented on it lately. (My response to him is “you watch a lot of sports, I knit. What’s the problem?”)

One of my recent projects was massive! Aeolian Shawl (can be found on knitty.com)was an eye opener of new things… it was a beautiful shawl done in a soft orange lace-weight yarn with mother-of-pearl beads and nupps (nupps are a 9 stitch bobble). The last 4 rows of the shawl took me 10 hours to do! The bind off alone took almost 2 hours! All I have to do is block it. And because of the shape of it, it’ll be another huge undertaking to block it, so that will have to wait for the week-end.

I finished a pair of socks for Annaliese, but they were too big. So, I cut the toe back to redo it, and now after fixing the toe and grafting it together, I hate the shape of it. So, I started a new pair. Not sure what I’m going to do with the ones I just finished though….almost considering running it through the sewing machine to fix the toes…

My 1 year contract runs out next Friday. I think I’m going to fix up my kitchen while I look for something new. Repaint the walls. Put up another shelf for storage. Maybe I’ll purchase a butcher block type of table on wheels… either repaint the floor, or buy some ceramic tiles for it…

Kids are going for their BROWN belts in TwaeKwonDo on the 27th. Unbelievable… my little karate kids!