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!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY GIRL!

My youngest baby turned 11 today.

I remember her birth so clearly... out of 3 babies, she was the only one who broke my water to start the labour process... 10:30 at night, and it felt like I'd pee'd my pants... and couldn't stop dribbling... ;)

I told my hubby (although at that time we weren't married yet, but had been together for 5 years) that I thought it was 'time'. 10 long hours later, and there she was... my littlest... my last... my reese pee... when she was borne, she was perfect! the reddest, cupid bow lips.... dark (because it was wet) curly hair, huge dark blue eyes... that looked right at me when she was put on my tummy....

hubby was having difficulties with my camera, so I had taken it from him and recorded her entrance into the world (only her, mind you)

Today, she is swimming in 6 mile lake, 3 hours away from me... and although she called me and I sang to her and told her how much I loved and missed her, DAMN it's hard to be away from her... she's my baby... she should be here.... blowing out her candles....

We (hubby and I) had actually told her she couldn't go up to the cottage with her bestest friend from kindergarden.... but she really wanted to go... and she got mostly ALL A's in her report card, so we finally caved in and allowed her to go away for a week, even though we would miss her birthday.

Happy Birthday, Annaliese baby girl. I love you. Be safe, play safe, but have fun - which I know you are having.

xoxo
love mommy



ps... she is 1 day old, and was just meeting her 2 year old brother (who was wearing an "I'm the big brother" t-shirt...), her oldest sister (who was 9.5, was off getting mommy a glass of milk

;)

G20 protest

Unbelievable that this is happening in my neighbourhood. That I'm a prisoner in my own home because it's too dangerous to go out. There are thousands of people outside - and the sad part is that it's only a small portion of those people who are not there for valid reasons... but to cause fear and make trouble. Who the hell are these Black Bloc trouble-makers? They're not protesting anything. They just want to cause trouble. Damage property. Hurt others.

I wish the police would grab this a$$holes and break some heads. These Black Bloc's are not citizens here. They should be charged and thrown into a jail - what message is this sending to the leaders that are meeting this weekend? None.

The news just stated that tear-gas has been used. People are hurt. Peaceful protesters are turning back so that they are no longer a part of the same crowd as the Black Bloc.... who are trashing windows, throwing mailboxes into the roads to block the streetcar tracks, throwing objects at police....




Police car set on fire at king / bay streets, burning out of control with no sign of anyone coming to put it out.

I can say that it will not be a nice/happy walk into work on monday... passing all these business' that have now been damaged by these trouble-makers.

magic

blocking
Originally uploaded by lynn893

Magic....

blocking lace is pure magic.

fresh off the needles

I finished Springtime Bandit. A beautiful design done by Kate Gagnon Osborn. You can find the pattern here... kelbournewoolens.com/springtimebandit.html

It took me 35 hours to knit it.

First commissioned project

Natali's shawlette
Originally uploaded by lynn893

1st of all, permission was granted by designer to sell this item. Thank you for this beautiful "10in2010 shawlette", Janine Le Cras.

I started this on May 28 and finished the knitting on June 16. This took me a total of 25.9 hours to complete. Whew...



I hope Natali loves it. ;