Mr. Bear is a wonderful model

Mr. Bear, modeling the newly finished bamboo baby sweater.  He is not mentioned the fact that I have yet to produce clothes for HIM.

The baby sweater is complete!  This was the first project completed from the Vintage Baby Knits book I got last year, and I adore it.  It hangs beautifully, the shape is adorable, and I love the little hood.  It’s missing buttons, but those will come soon.

Blocking really made a difference with this one, the pattern is so much nicer when it lies flat:

In other knitting news, I have finished chart A for the Bitterroot Shawl.  That’s all 3 repeats of the chart, that’s 153 stitches my friends.  Now it’s on to chart B!
Didn’t end up taking knitting with me on my trip to Disneyworld.  The carry-on rules were getting silly, and it was only a 2 hour flight.  I also didn’t have a lot of down time to sit and knit in my room.  We got up early each day to get to the parks, and because all the dinners were booked for later times (after 7:30), we didn’t get home until it was time for me to fall asleep.  American channels are lovely though, I watched criminal minds almost every night as I drifted off to sleep.
Moving in a few weeks, eeeeee!  I start packing non-essentials tomorrow after I get some boxes from the bux.  We get our key on the 27th, in time to measure and clean a bit before moving week, which starts March 1.  Yay!  My own little home with fuzzyhead!
Till we meet again lovelies!
Onward,
vrock

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

The cast from Glee sings it all!

Merry Christmas readers! A few knitting related pictures to post following my merriest Christmas to date. 

My latest interest – spinning my own yarn!  This is the learn to spin kit from Lily Lee’s Wool and Tea on King Street in Preston

The raw wool, in a beautiful orange, still with bits of sheep attached

A close-up of my new learning spinner thinger

My guide to learning the fine art of spinning

I’m trying out the blog feature included with Windows 7 on my new laptop.  I bought myself a Dell in early December, and I’m still getting used to its many weird and different features from Windows XP.  I don’t even have to log into Blogger to update my blog, so perhaps that means I’ll update a little more frequently.

I spent my precious Christmas baking hours making handcrafted gingerbread baristas for my two favourite starbucks stores.  They are surrounded by a ring of brown sugar buttons, which are my favourite cookie of all time.  I delivered them on Christmas day, and both stores were lined up to the door.  Terrible.  I chose to not buy anything at Starbucks on Christmas – I don’t want to encourage them to be open next year. 
My newest post-Christmas knitting project is a little baby sweater from vintage baby knits.  It is the only knitting pattern I’ve ever used where I have the same yarn the pattern recommends.  I didn’t even mean to do it, I just picked something up at Shall We Knit because it was on sale in the summer, and it turned out to be the same stuff in the book.  Neato.  I worked on it at Fuzzyhead’s extended family Christmas last night, and had to fight off allegations of baby-having.  Terrible.  No babies please.  They can start hassling the 30-something cousin and leave me alone.
I leave you with this dear readers: A little bit of Christmas dog, featuring Sassy and Oscar.

Onward,
vrock

Trampoline is a not a substitute for parent supervision

I am trying to be a better dog person. I have taken Oscar and Sassy out for a walk every day since Oscar arrived. I'm trying really hard to keep this up, I know it is best for their dog brains if I establish my pack leader abilities every day to keep them in line. I'm also trying to smoosh their faces together to make them lifelong friends. Right now they don't really enjoy each others' company, but Sassy likes Oscar more than she ever liked Tammy's puppy. I have them both on the spare bed in my office/crap storage room. They have a solid 2 feet of space between them, and it's all Sassy's doing. Oscar would love to cuddle and be friends with everyone; Sassy just needs a push in the right direction.

Made pink lady squares with Purple this morning. Wish we had done them last night, they really didn't get quite enough time to set. The coconut layer has to bake, then cool completely to stick all the layers together, then you ice with pink icing, and cut into squares. The graham crumbs kind fell off some, but I think Purple was very pleased. She was taking her squares to share with the teachers at her school for a pot luck lunch.

Two more Starbucks days to go readers. My last day will be filled with small children and parade things. I think I am sampling all day to the crowds, and I plan on wearing reindeer antlers and or a Santa hat, just because I can. The drive-thru will be completely closed during parade time since no cars can get in or out of the parking lot. I'm glad. I won't miss drive-thru.

Sourcing out a new laptop for work and general use. I am not a Toshiba fan, it has let me down too many times. I will keep the clunker I have for a bit longer, as I don't have any money set aside for a new laptop right now. I'm leaning towards a Dell. Diaper Dan says good things about them, and I can customize it with all the things I need. I'll be carting my laptop back and forth to work, using it to store pictures and type proposals for customers. Eeeee, big girl job!

How soon is too soon to send out Christmas cards? I found a good deal on some really cute ones and I am psyched to send them to everyone I know. I think I need to wait until December to send them, yes? Feedback please.

Onward,

vrock

Snoozy puppies

Hello lovies!

It's been a while, I know, but I have a few major updates:

My big brown dog passed away on September 19, 2009. We had her put down after months of just really not being her old self, and suffering from a long list of problems. I miss Kishka.


I am a pro-star dog walker. Sassy and I are a force to be reckoned with on dog walks. Although, I recently discovered that she doesn't walk nearly as nicely with other people as she does with me. Slim Jim and Diaper Dan joined us for a walk this week and she was squirrely and stupid and barked at people - all are things she never does with me.

Proof that Sassy does anything I tell her to

Using my pro-star abilities, I joined another dog to our team and he is learning the ways of the dog walk. Welcome Oscar, Sassy will learn to love you in time. Oscar came to us from a friend of my mom's, whose neighbour passed away leaving a dog with no home. He has a loving home at my house now.

Oscar with a completed Sackboy for James

Christmas knitting is 98% complete - I am just finishing the last sock for Fuzzyhead. I have a long list of things to knit for myself as soon as I finish all my Christmas knitting. I don't think I'll be doing this again any time soon. My plan for next year is to make simple knitted ornaments for everyone, which will take a lot less time, I'm assuming.

French press cozy for Oni

Momma's self-striping socks

Grandpa's man socks

Poppa's boring brown socks, with interesting cabled ribbing

Wisp shawl - I made two of these for two relatives, the other one is in a very nice royal blue

I have given my notice at the bux, and my last day will be this Saturday, Santa Claus parade day. I have kept my decision to myself, but I know word gets around fast, and I anticipate having to explain my choice all week until I am gone. This has been coming on for a while now, I just finally had all my ducks in line to do it. I will be going to work with my mom full time. I hope that by working with her, I can free her up to do a lot more, and maybe we can build our sales back to what they could be. We had a bad year, but having only two people on staff full time makes it tricky to get the food out, and respond to people who are hoping to get food in a timely manner. My primary job will be responding to inquiries and meeting with people, which frees up momma to do the cooking again. I'm excited for my big-girl job, with a big-girl title, and big-girl business cards with my name on them. I can get my nails done again, and wear pretty things to work. Goodbye Starbucks, I will miss you.

Halloween is done and gone, but I didn't get to truly share this year's pumpkin masterpiece with my public yet:

Harry Potter and friends

Next up, Christmas season! Fuzzyhead and I have plans for a fun-filled December, including:

• Visit to a heritage village for Christmas fun, old-timey style
• Building a snowman
• Decorating Fuzzyhead's tree and apartment
• Christmas baking
• Christmas Ikea shopping - not really different from regular Ikea shopping

And now I must get myself ready for my last Monday at work. Have a lovely week dear readers.

Onward,

vrock

It all started with a big BANG

Welcome readers! I have been a busy bee organizing all my yarn and trying to make my space a little less cluttered. I recently went on another knitting field trip adventure, and bought more yarn I probably don't NEED, but most certainly WANTED. When I got everything home, I realized that every ball of yarn I own was scattered around my house, usually in the bag I originally bought it in. I was disappointed with myself for not getting on this sooner, so I went back out shopping, and purchased 4 baskets with fabric liners (so I don't snag all my pretty new yarn) and I got to organizing. I went all out. It took me a solid day of winding, cataloging, and sneezing to get to this stage:

The sneezing was mostly just from my room being dusty, and from any yarny fibers floating around in the air. I now store all my yarn upstairs in my room, away from dogs and sister and parents with no appreciation for yarn indulgences. The fourth basket on the end is filled with finished projects and my newly acquired knitting tools. This basket is currently home to my pile of finished Christmas gifts. These include:

A rosie posy tea cozy for Oni

A french press cozy for Oni

A pair of delicious self striping socks for Momma

Two pairs of flippy mitts (only one pictured here) for my uncles


Tam Tam's pretty lacey lady socks

Grandpa's manly man socks

I've also been organizing on Ravelry, trying to make use of some of the cataloging tools. I organized my stash with index cards, each one featuring the original ball band, and a sample of the yarn to which it belongs. I like my system, it's very hands-on, and very accessible to me. I tried to set up the Ravelry one, but it looked like it would take more effort than I wanted to put in right now. I did update my projects though, everything has a picture except for the two things I am currently working on, and I hope to fix that later today.

My current projects now include the boring brown socks for dad (almost done the first sock) and the lacey shawl/scarfs for the relatives I don't care for. I have piles of other yarn for projects I'm dreaming up. These projects aren't really for anyone, but here's what I would like to make soon:

• Clothes for my naked teddy bears. Any clothes really, they just need something and I've had my bear book for months now
• Baby hooded sweater, for no baby in particular, just to have around to give to someone
• Baby booties, again for no baby in particular, but I have a cute idea to make bootie set out of a lovely bunch of cotton yarns that I picked up on sale
• Christening gown for Tammy's one-day babies. We all know she'll have them eventually, and she's the type to get them baptized

I think I need some lunch now readers, then it's back to stash organizing, project planning, and maybe a little actual knitting.

Onward,

vrock