Going to Bedfordshire

Working on two projects at the same time, Catherine must be rubbing off on me.  I’m diligently making progress on the bamboo baby sweater, which will most likely end up on my naked teddy bears and not on a child.  The progress to date:

The completed torso – front panels, back, button holes and all

 

The first sleeve in progress

One more sleeve and a hood and it’s all done.  I think this may be the simple project I take with me on my trip to Disneyworld at the end of this month.  I’m concerned about knitting needle rules for airplanes, but I might just put it in my checked luggage and work on a bit at night in my hotel room.  International knitting, here I come.

AT THE SAME TIME (and this is big for me):

My first shawl attempt.  Catherine and I were supposed to start at Monday night knitting, but that has been delayed for a whole, so I started very carefully on my own, and I think I’m doing just fine.  It’s not really one of this mindless projects I can do in front of the TV, so it might be slow going. 
Trying to find a nice place to live.  That’s right team, this soon-to-be 23 year old is moving out of the house, in to her very own space with her dear and darling fuzzyhead.  We’ve seen one townhouse so far, and right now we’re looking at other options, even though we liked that first house.  We’re very high maintenance renters from what I can see – we need two bedrooms, laundry hook-up available, and oh yes, pets allowed.  And not just ‘pets’ as in a cat, I’m talking about a medium to large sized dog.  This severely limits most searching, as any place we choose must be pet friendly, AND have suitable space for dog (like a patch of grass for pooping on).  We’ve got lots of time still, we’re looking for something that will be available on April 1.  There are a few more potential places on my list, I’m waiting to hear back about the pets allowed part.
That’s all I got for now lovies,
Onward,
vrock

Sizing up the competition

Happy New Year my dear readers!  The holidays are over, and I’ve changed my desktop pictures from festive holiday reminders to sweet sweet Avatar backgrounds.  I loved that movie.  It was a great combination of two movies I already loved – Pocahontas and FernGully. 

I want to own this movie, and so I wanted to be reminded of its awesome every time I opened my laptop.
In knitting news, Catherine, Anonymous and I are joining forces in a knit along!  We are going to start work on a triangular shawl called Bitterroot, which can be knitted as a great big giant shawl, or a smaller shawlette.  I am opting for the smaller one, as this is my first shawl experience.  I bought yarn yesterday from Yarn Indulgences at the Kitchener Market:
 

This is the same variety of yarn that Catherine chose.  I was aiming for an orange/rust colour, but given my choices, I decided on this lovely red.  I think it will be quite fetching with red beads along the edge.  I think I’ll fiddle around with the gauge later tonight, so I can start with Catherine tomorrow at Knit and Chat. 
At the same time, I am working away on a baby sweater for Tam Tam’s future kids.  I bought the yarn in the summer from Shall We Knit, and it’s been sitting in my yarn basket for too long.  I love making little things, and a whole sweater for a mini person is such a satisfying project, even if (hopefully) Tam Tam having kids is a far off thing.
My progress so far:

The back and sides are knitted together at the same time for a cute cardigan-style hoodie.  Sleeves and hood to be knitted separately and sewn on later.
I also made and finished a pair of thrummed mittens without much fuss or showing off…until now!

Bam!  Look at those fluffy things.  They keep my hands nice and warm, although driving with them on is a little tricky.  The outside of them gets nice and fluffy too, and the thrums catch on things sometimes and a little tuft gets pulled out.  I think it’s still in the settling down stage, where the innards are matting themselves together and the outters are doing the same. 
Starting back to work tomorrow after a nice long weekend.  We’ve got mega planning and organizing to do this month before we move the business to a building.  Our move-in date is February 1, and we plan to open the doors at the new store on February 8.  We’ll still do all our regular stuff (corporate breakfast and lunch drop-off, weddings, private parties, etc) but we’re also adding a daily breakfast and lunch to-go only business in the lovely storefront.  My next few weeks will be spent costing, writing standard production sheets, and planning everything to do with the storefront.  I leave for Disneyworld on January 22, so I need to put in my share of work before then.
Happy knitting readers, see ya next time
Onward
vrock