knitting – Page 6 – mimimustknit

April 27, 2014

Rambling on a Sunday Morning…

52 sleeps until I leave for Jordan! I’m so excited. I’m also a bit nervous. It is a completely different world than we’re used to here in Canada and the US. I’ll have to read my little manual again – I need to remember not to shake a man’s hand until he presents his first. Never go out alone as a woman. Wear clothes that cover most of your body. Yikes. BUT, I can’t imagine how amazing this trip will be.

To all those who helped me out with donations, thank you. You guys ROCK!

On another note, I’ve been busy. I always say that don’t I? It’s true though. I’m not making excuses. 🙂

Since the end of March, I finished up a few orders.

Finally got my paperwork sorted so I could have Jacob and my taxes done.

I went from wearing boots to wearing my flip-flops. This makes me very happy. It is, however, evident that I need a pedicure in a big way.

I’m teaching a sock knitting class in May. I went on the site and got really excited when I saw my name there as an instructor. I’ve been working on my class materials every since.

I finally finished my Annis for Susie. This was supposed to be a birthday/thank you gift but October has come and gone. I missed the boat. Now it gets to just be a thank you gift.

I’ve also adopted a new craft, I think. Last weekend, I went up north to visit my good friend Christine, who is a quilter. Long ago, when we met, I asked her if she would help me make my first quilt. She accepted and off we went. She even got all my fabric. She had sent me some fabric options and I was just completely overwhelmed. I don’t know how people pick so many fabrics and make such beautiful quilts. I would probably have just picked a bunch of fabrics that I liked and they would have made a really UGLY quilt. Hahaha. In come Jelly Rolls! I love those.

Thank you Chris for taking care of all the overwhelming stuff.

The top is done. The bottom is done. I’m heading back up there next weekend to put the pieces together, get them on the rack and start quilting – by hand. We’re doing it old-school! I can’t wait.

Lastly (for today), I got word from my tenants that they’ve purchased a house. They’ll be leaving a month early. Which is starting to look like the month I’ll be using to fix up the house before I move back in. Since I’ve been gone, so many things have gone wrong over there. It feels like the house is falling apart. I’ve never had any major problems when I was there. Apparently, all these little things decided to wait until I was gone to crap out. I just can’t wait to get in there and take care of my beloved house.

Today is going to be a great day! I’m going to hang out with some of the spinning guild girls to dye sink hankies for Bonnie’s workshop on the 24th. How about that!?

Have a lovely week everyone.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in the workshops mentioned above, go sign up!

Twistle Guild of Glengarry – here’s the link. You can have a look at all the workshops. Registration has been extended.

May 16, 2013May 16, 2013

Preparations

I booked a week off work again. It’s been lovely. But I didn’t do it really so that I could relax. I did it so I could prepare for my weekend guests. Ok. That’s not the only reason. But I wanted a few days to get some things done around here.

I honestly didn’t think it was possible to love home more than I did before. But, with every little thing I get done around here… I fall more and more in love with it. Being here makes my heart and soul happy.

I saw these when I went to get the mail the other day. Beautiful apple blossoms by the side of my driveway, full of dew from the cold mornings we’ve been having.

I turned the heat off because we’ve been having such nice weather. Then I got home on Monday morning after my night shift to 14 degrees Celsius. Yikes!

I honestly slept most of the day on Monday. Those three night shifts in a row really do a number on all of us. Fortunately for me, I had nothing planned for Monday. I even went to bed at a reasonable hour and managed a great sleep. Oh, and I worked on the monster truck. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked because I ran out of yarn. AGAIN.

I got to spend a big chunk of my day on Tuesday with my Mom. It was great. We hit this little basement pub for lunch. It’s a really cozy spot. I love the stone walls and the old church benches. I had my favorit – POUTINE!

Yesterday was full of crossing things off my to-do list. I took the old sewing machine out, hemmed, pressed and hung my new drapes. They really change the space – make it a tad more elegant.

I also tackled a few sticky projects. I got this antique dresser from my uncle Andre. Beautiful dresser but covered in little stickers from his then-young-daughter. I took out my Goo Gone and got all the stickers off. Now it looks beautiful! I also had this sticky trim stuff around my tub in the upstairs bathroom. It came off years ago but the glue remained. I’m sure you can imagine the stuff that stuck there. It was really gross. So, yesterday, I scraped at that too and put in a new sticky trim. Looks fab and I’m very proud of myself. Hahahahaha.

So, here we are. Finally. Pictures of the monster truck. It’s still not finished. But it’s close.

I still don’t like it. BUT, I’m guessing when it’s all put together and the bumpers, lights, mirrors and eyes are on, I will love it. AND, when I give it to Patrick and he loves it, it will all be worth it.

It’s a long weekend! I’m pretty excited to have people here. I’ve never been big on hosting – makes me go a little OCD. But, more and more, I realize that I love my space and I want to share it with people. So, this weekend will be full of family, food, maybe a bonfire and probably a little crafting 🙂 It’s going to be wonderful.

Have a happy long weekend everyone!

May 11, 2013May 11, 2013

Not Lost After All

I have to say that I’m pretty excited. I posted in February that I was sure I had left my Fiddlehead mittens in Lake Placid in December. I couldn’t find them anywhere. There was no doubt in my mind that I had left them in the Starbucks. BUT, I was putting away the scarves and mittens for the summer and found them at the very bottom of my basket. Yahoooo! I was so excited… I may have performed a little happy dance of some kind.

I got some weeding done of my giant flower bed. Thank you Mom for coming to help me! I think she helped motivate me for all of 22 minutes.

I also got in a little bit of cooking. This is Tropical Fruit Gazpacho from my new favorite site.

Have any of you every tried to break open a real and still whole coconut? Let me tell you! I’ll never do that again. In the recipe, it states to use the dull end of the knife. That didn’t work at all. So, I flipped my knife over and used the handle. That didn’t work. I took out my potato masher. That didn’t work. I ran down to the garage and got out a hammer. That didn’t work either. By now, Jacob was curious enough to come over and see what was going on. He took the hammer from me and flipped it over to the spikey part (nail remover thing) and gave it a good smash. It broke the shell. FINALLY! What a MESS. Coconut water all over the place. Bits of shell everywhere. If you ever make this gazpacho, get a coconut that’s already been removed from its shell and inner skin – trust me… it’s for your own good.

I also managed to take some quick pics of the merino/tussah silk blend I spoke of in my last post. I just love this color! I’ve had a difficult time staying away from it this week. BUT, I’m cleaning again. The house feels cluttered a bit. And I haven’t touched the monster truck. Sigh.

Forgive my not-great-pictures. You get the idea though. I’m going for a three-ply. This is the first of 3 bobbins. Please don’t ask me what I plan to make with this yarn once it’s finished. I have no idea. I just spin cause it’s fun. I get what I get. If I can then find something to make with it, bonus. Otherwise, I’m perfectly happy just looking at it and fondling it every once in a while.

I’ve been doing some driving this week but I can’t say that I’ve minded. I love how green everything is getting. All the farmers have been out tilling their fields and getting them ready for seeds. Everything is just so beautiful this time of year. The green is so vivid and new. And the weather! We’ve had stupendous weather this past week in my neck of the woods. It’s been gorgeous and sunny every day and cool and breezy every night. I don’t know if we’ll get another perfect week like this. Fingers crossed!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

April 28, 2013April 28, 2013

Sisters

Last weekend, Steve and I went to visit his parents. They live in a really small town just past Sturgeon Falls, Ontario (which has a population of just under 6,000 and they have a yarn shop!!!). It was more than I was expecting. I was totally neverous about meet the whole family but they are warm and welcoming – I should have known they would be.

The weekend was full of crafting. I was in hea-ven.

Oh, and we ate so much good food that when I put my uniform pants on for work Monday night, they were a little on the snug side. Damn!

I ended up making this basket for Steve’s mom. It was really easy. I wish I could remember the yarn though. I’m usually so good at keeping track of these things. I’m totally blaming it on the cheesecake!

Christine also helped me make this little bag for my new MacBook Air. We had a great time planning this one out. I had no clue what I was doing (which is why I needed her help) but look what we ended up with. I’m pretty excited!

Sunday was my favorite day of ALL! We met up with the family, who were all at one sister’s house and the ladies laid out a quilt-in-progress. How exciting! I have never seen this process and had been so looking forward to it.

I thought I had a large family. Not so much. I must have met a few dozen new people last weekend. I was honestly tempted to just make everyone name tags. Hahaha. BUT, I remembered all the sisters. Why? Because they all hugged me and because they showed me how they do this:

LOOK! I’M QUILTING!!! I didn’t do a great job, but I think I might need to make my own quilt now. I’ll start small.

The BEST thing about the whole day is watching these 6 sisters working together. I have one sister and I love her to death. Imagine having 5?! That’s a lot of love.

Before Steve and I hit the road, I got that last shot of all the girls (except June cause she was busy running around the house for something or another) sitting around getting ready to start quilting. Maybe next time, I’ll get to stay a little longer and see the finished product (less the binding).

I had to… This BUG is just sooooooooo cool.

When I got home, my new St. Blaise combs were waiting for me. It pains me to say that I have not yet had a chance to use them. I also haven’t had a chance to spin since the workshop two weekends ago. 🙁

On Thursday, I headed to the Montreal airport to pick up my sister, her husband and his parents. They were coming back from having spent 5 weeks in Italy! How awesome is that?! It was nice to see everyone but it was really great to give my sister a big squeeze. We managed to speak pretty regularly while she was there but it’s not like seeing her smile and laughing out loud together.

When I did groceries last night after work, they had tulips near the cash. They made me smile, so I picked up a bunch.

I finished these little pieces (well, the hat) this morning. I can’t wait to see them on an actual baby.

Back to my monster truck. I’m not liking the monster truck. The pattern is very well written and all. And, it’s going to be really special for Patrick – he’s 4 years old and asks “Did you make me a monster truck?” every time I see him. But, it’s taking me forever. It seems all the pices of the body of the truck went smoothly – then I got to the wheels. Those babies are taking me about 10 hours each. As if!?! I just want to get it done. Then I’ll work on Tina’s socks and hopefully have them finished for her birthday and the end of May. Then I’ll finish the Tess D’Ubervilles Shawl I started back in February.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!