Saturday night wool chuckin' and picture takin'

When I'm getting bored of my current knitting project I pull out this baby:

It's 50/50 merino and silk. 400m of fingering weight goodness. It's from Coolree, an Irish wool company, and the colourway is Midnight Blue. Being fairly new to wools not found in Michaels I get pretty excited over such things. My brother, the enabler, bought it for me and I've been keeping it safe in my stash until inspiration strikes and I know what the heck to do with it. Any ideas? The tag also tells me there's enough for 2 gloves or a small shawl.
Here's another shot of it. This time on my eunymus bush beside the patio. This is what I do on Saturday nights, chuck wool on random greenery in my yard and take pictures of it. Can't understand why the neighbours are moving...

And this would be my son "helping" to make this more interesting:

Let it go and knit zen mother

It's my night tonight which means no dish-washing, putting kids to bed or tidying up for this girl. Instead it's 4 solid hours of Amanda time. My plan is to do some reading and blogging and then go for a run soon. After I clean up from that I'm thinking it's time to pick up that Kirin shawl and get to knitting already. After 4 disasterous attempts to get the thing going I think I finally have it. I've knit up to row 23 and still have the right number of stitches before and after the centre stitch. It isn't a hard thing to knit. Sure there are 2 new stitches to learn but they're both based on knitting and purling. It's the concentration required to follow the pattern and make my fingers do what the paper is telling me to. (I feel this nasty feeling of Deja vu like I've said all this here before...) I can do this!

But not when I'm being distracted every 5 seconds. Moms, you know what I mean. What is so magnetic to children about a mom sitting down and pulling out her knitting?? Suddenly someone is hungry or can't find something. Suddenly their sibling is doing something that is so incredibly annoying that they have to let out an ear-piercing scream of anger and frustration right when you're trying to remember what S2K means and execute it. Sigh. But I digress.
I can feel the unsettled air upstairs. It's one of those nights when both kids are rumpled up and need to be smoothed down. It's a good night for a movie or a bike ride together. I know this sitting down here in my little corner but I'm not sure His Lordship knows it and there is sort of unspoken rule that the  parent off-duty does not intervene. Kind of like when your children are babies and Dad is spoon-feeding rice cereal into the constantly-moving infant and getting it everywhere and you know the trick to getting the food in the mouth and it's so easy why can't he see it but you can't say anything because it will put a dent in his Dad-self-esteem and that will be very bad for both of you. Kind of like that. So I have chosen to ignore everything upstairs because I can and I'm allowed to. Like Barbara Coloroso says: If it's not life-threatening, morally-threatening or unhealthy let it go.
And instead I'm going to knit and make beautiful watercolour art-cards for my Etsy shop.

(some doodles)

If you'd asked me a year ago: "do I paint" I probably would've snorted and said only walls or toes. Funny the paths life leads you on eh?

Lillies of the knitting...I mean knitting in the valley...I mean...

This is me knitting on the bus. I don't normally take the bus home as my husband and I work at the same place and are done at the same time but he needed to leave early for the annual Renewing of the IEP for our son. So I found myself on the bus. Not an altogether unpleasant experience. At least until the guy-who-doesn't-wear-deodorant climbed on and chose to sit beside me. 40 minutes of uninterrupted knitting time is pretty decadent even with anti-deodorant-guy sitting beside me.
I'm still working on my blanket. I think of it as my oatmeal blanket-plain, simple, hearty. I've been craving this kind of continuity in my knitting lately. I'm a bit spastic in my knitting projects. I usually want instant gratification in the form of fairly quick things that look like something every few rows ie socks and mittens. Afghans and sweaters until recently were a pipe dream for me. Sit and knit the same thing for months on end?! You've got to be kidding me!
The pattern is just simply knitting and purling, alternately when I feel like it. I began with 6 rows of moss stitch and then each row has 6 stitches of moss stitch on either end. When I get a minute I'll update my Ravelry and post a link if you're interested.

The lillies of the valley are blooming in my garden right now. I've always wanted lillies of the valley in my garden and one year one lone plant appeared. Each year I get more and more. The smell is heavenly. Also in my jam jar vase are sprigs of lavendar, violet, primula (?) and a mystery purple flower that I don't know the name of. Yes I normally decorate my table with paintbrushes.
Here's hoping your day is full of little unexpected pleasures too :)

Of knitted mice and the real thing.

I mentioned last week that we were off to open up the cottage on the May 24th long weekend. It was a great weekend but it took me a week to recover from my weekend and get back into things again. There's always the lack of sleep to contend with. I've been sleeping at our cottage since I was a baby but it's still a strange place and a strange bed (that bed! why are cottage beds so awful??). Then the computer announced it's memory was full up and it refused to upload another picture no matter how much I talked nicely to it (or swore). Fast-forward a week later and I think I'm all sorted out as is the computer and here are some nice pictures for you to feast your eyes on.

We crammed 2 kids, 5 adults, including a pregnant lady and all the associated groceries into our very small cottage during a cold weekend. This works so long as the kids are able to dash around outside most of the time but not so great when we're all sardined inside trying to stay warm. But we persevered and I managed to escape for some solo canoeing time.

(sort of an odd selfie. Difficult to accomplish while swatting flies and 

trying to keep the canoe out of the weeds)

 I knit 1.5 little grey mouse mittens.

 It complemented the little gifts left behind over the winter by some real life mice who apparently had a party inside while the cold winds blew outside. I don't mind sharing but I draw the line at vermin. I stitched up some more of the ill-fated Jackaroo. I do love that thing. Maybe I mentioned that before...

Planting-knitting-running-Gratitude Sunday

Joining Taryn today at Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday...
After a glorious weekend last weekend at our cottage I had a hard time getting back into the swing of pretty much everything this week and rather than fight it I chose to just go with it and be kind to myself. I thought coming back with Gratitude Sunday was fitting. Sometimes you just have to go back to the basics and slowly add the things that feed your soul and eject the things that just take your energy and give nothing back. So here I am :)
Today I have knit some and gardened some and read some. I went for a run (4 days in a row this week-a small miracle to be sure).
Today I am grateful for:
~May days that feel like summer- 25C, breezy and sunny.

~Time spent digging and planting in my garden. The peas are climbing, the potatoes are all up, the lettuce is all green and red and delicious-looking. I planted the carrots and thought about planting kale (too late I suspect), cucumbers and beans but didn't get much farther than that.
~Kids playing outside all afternoon and coming in sweaty and happy
~Dinner under the maple tree
~Time to read and knit on another little grey mitten and work on my Jackaroo sweater.

(The little purple flowers are all over our lawn and they're too pretty to dig out)

(My neighbours must think I'm crazy chucking random knitting projects on bushes and taking pictures)

~One side of my Jackaroo is all sewn up and I'm well on my way to being done the other side. I tried it on and it's definitely too small. Sigh. It will fit the Em-ster perfectly and I did promise her a sweater...
~A good run where I ran more than I walked.
~Using up leftovers in my fridge to make strawberry freezer jam and chicken soup. It's good to be thrifty.
Coming back from my run I saw the most beautiful, peaceful thing. A couple of people were at the end of their driveway making enormous bubbles that floated and shimmered before they popped. It looked like Tai Chi the way they were slowly forming and releasing the bubbles. The best part was that they appeared to be doing it for their own amusement as there weren't any kids around and they were probably in their 40's. How great is that?!

Knitting and canoeing and swattin' blackflies

Well, this is where I'm off to this weekend. With any luck the roof hasn't collapsed with all the snow this winter and the trees haven't flattened the place. Cottage ownership is fun and exciting.
I'm bringing lots of knitting with me, including more wool to try hedgehog mittens, my Jackaroo to stitch together and maybe even finish and an afghan to work on. I think that will be enough. I hope it will be enough. Our cottage is in the middle of the wilds of Ontario, 2 hrs from civilization and more from a wool store. Makes a knitter a little edgy being that far from a wool store. However the views are worth it and I'm hoping to do some of this:

Although I'll most likely be swatting blackflies all weekend. You take the good with the bad don't you?!

Happy May 24th/Victoria Day long weekend to you all and I'll see you again on Monday night.

Knitting a Jackaroo

Attempting to join Ginny's yarnalong:
You'll have to use your imagination for this post. Bear with me here. I didn't make time yesterday during my sick day to take pictures for you and I wish I had.
Imagine there is a lovely picture of random, brown knitted sweater parts. Imagine they are a lovely marled, homespun brown of uncertain sheep-age. The wool is merino I think, brought back from Australia by my brother. He found himself at a little wool store called FibreFilia in New South Wales and left with such lovely wool-ness. And from that pile this pile of sweater pieces came to be.
The sweater is called Jackaroo from Knitty's Fall 2013 collection of patterns.
A joy to knit with just enough of a nifty stitch detail to make it interesting but not require a tonne of concentration. I finished the actual knitting awhile ago but couldn't seem to get around to blocking and finishing it all winter. My issue was that I was pretty sure the pieces were too small. I was pretty sure that my gauge was off but I was full of fear that I was right but I still wanted to live in a knitting dream world that everything would be ok once I blocked the thing. And sure enough they are way too small for the size I was supposedly knitting to. Sigh. Well, it's blocked now so I may as well finish the thing.
I just can't stand having anything unfinished lying around my house. That's not to say I don't have plenty of unfinished things-I do still live with a husband and 2 kids-and they're as yet unfinished. I just like everything all nice and done so I can move onto the next obsession with a clear conscience.
So that's what I'm knitting...or trying to finish knitting.
I'm reading back-issues of Taproot right now. I found them at my library, all slightly dog-eared. To be honest I thought I would be the only one in Kitchener-Waterloo who had ever heard of this magazine thanks to Amanda Soule's blog but clearly I am not.
I love the artwork and the little bits of poetry. It's a visual delight that magazine.
I'm also reading Debbie Macomber's Suzannah's Garden. I feel like I am about 15 years too young to read Debbie Macomber but I like her plot lines-a bit of romance for this incurable romantic but without the smut. And there are enough twists in the story to keep me reading. You've gotta love a story that casually includes references to the heroine knitting. She has a whole series of books about a wool store!
Anyhoo, that's what I'm knitting and reading.

Good mothers whatever the circumstance

I was coming out of the library tonight with my children in tow, all worried about the rain and the rain coat I'd left in the car and my leather sandals that really shouldn't get wet. I was coming out of the library and heading across the parking lot when I heard someone saying "Ma'am! Ma'am!"Thinking I'd forgotten something I turned around and went back to the doors where a women half stood up, barely looked me in the eye and said "Ma'am, I'm trying to be a good mother but I just lost my job and my church doesn't have anything to give me and I need to buy my kids something to eat. Do you have any money?" She looked away and said "This is so embarrassing but I don't have any money for food". Oh wow. Before she had even finished I was reaching for my wallet and gave her what I had, which was only 50 cents.
I have a rule that when people ask me for money like that I don't judge. I just give them what I can. Who am I to judge? I don't know their stories and if they have the courage to ask for money my job is to give them something. I don't remember where or when I came up with this policy. It's deeply rooted in my own Christian faith. I've never felt like it was the wrong thing to do because the second part of the rule is to not judge.
The interesting part was the car ride home. Both kids discussed it in great length. My daughter who is 9, almost 10 and sensitive felt sad for the woman and hoped she would never end up like that. I told them my rules and then listened. I love to play devil's advocate in their conversations, to make them think about their assumptions and judgements so I posed a few questions occasionally. It was my son who is almost 13 who began to doubt her story halfway home. He questioned her appearance (clean clothes, make up, but stooped over) and wondered if maybe she was a drug addict and her story was just a lie to get money. Possibly, but again, our job is not to judge. It was so interesting to see my kids reactions and to plant the seed in their heads and hearts that our job is to just give and to look after the less fortunate in our society however we can. I believe God brings us these opportunities and it's our responsibility to use them well.
"I'm trying to be a good mother" aren't we all?? In whatever circumstance we've been given. We're just all trying to be good mothers.

That Kirin.

Today I am home sick with one of those miserable spring colds. Every time I bend over my nose waters like a tap (why is that anyway-your nose points down all the time and doesn't feel the need to drip)
I have  that lovely cold-haze where I can't quite focus on anything.
So I have plunked myself down on the couch to re-start, for the 3rd time, my Kirin shawl (slowly becoming my nemesis but I refuse to be beat by it). I have cast on, recorded stitch quantities at the end of every other row and have knit my way to row 17.

Yay me! I still love it. It makes me all melty and happy everytime I get to row 17. Which should only have been once. Ahem.
In other knitting news I discovered that my little grey mitten is just fine and I can proceed with knitting the thumb stitches. Hint: pay attention to what size of mitten you're making and the corresponding size in the pattern that tells you you need to stop increasing gusset stitches at 46. Not 44. Very important.

Mother's Day gifts

Joining Taryn today at Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday...now Monday.

These would be my Mother's Day gifts. The first-a flower and card-would be from my daughter. I love the Optimistic part! I wonder why she chose that word. It's such an odd word for a 9-almost-10 year old to use to describe her mother. But I am always optimistic. Always optimistic that I will be able to "get it together" one day and have great lunches made the night before and their laundry washed and folded and in the right place before they can yell out their bedroom doors on a Monday morning "Mom! I'm outta underwear!! Where's my underwear??".
The second collection of items would be from my son. He is hilarious. The licorice all-sorts, bought from the corner store are something I like. The random packets of condiments are to make sure I am always prepared and a nod to my dad who is terrible for always picking up packets of things to have in the glove box "just in case". Who ever has a ketchup emergency?!?
So I guess this would be part of my Gratitude Sunday list-Mother's day gifts. Always a highlight. Also:
~peas coming up.

And onions. And lettuce. No potatoes yet but I'm told I need to wait longer.
~planting flowers
~warm sunshine and time alone to lie in the warmth and soak it up and read some and knit some
~coffee-always grateful for coffee.
~having the windows open all day and letting the fresh in and the stale out
~a husband and kids coming home happy and calm because they certainly were neither when they left.
~the new-found place inside to say no to things I don't want to do because I just can't with the energy I currently have. Looking after myself first so I can look after my family properly next.

Clearly new needles will make me a better knitter.

(Originally written last night)
I am an intelligent human being. I am licensed to trouble shoot and fix airplane problems and I manage to solve all the day to day problems that 2 kids and a husband can create and I can overcome this one too. But this Kirin shawl is kicking my butt. I've cast on twice for it and each time I knit furiously away and end up with too few stitches and then too many stitches. I have a beautiful new ball of wool in my awesome yarn bowl

and you'd think all that goodness would ensure success but no. Here I am about to rip it out again and restart.
I think I should've gone with my original instinct and bought new needles along with my new ball of wool. Yeah that's it. This has nothing to do with my knitting abilities it's clearly the needles' fault.
What I should do is rush right over to the knitting store and set things right and pick myself out a shiny new pair of 3.25mm circular needles.
However I just ate salsa dip for dinner and a slice of truffle cake and I'm feeling a bit...immoveable right now. In fact, I think I might be going into a diabetic coma.
But I shall forge on! I shall cast on again and get beyond the 9th row (which is as far as I've managed) and I will beat this thing! Possibly trying this time in an empty house without distractions (because I can't really move right now) will ensure success as I am not knitting while supervising bedtime which is what I was doing the last 2 times I tried casting on and following that chart. I don't know, I'll keep you posted ;)

Of Mice and Mittens-Yarning Along

Joining Ginny at Small Things blog for Yarning Along.
Last night my daughter was part of the 27th annual Kodaly choir festival here in our region. Kodaly (pronounced Ko-dai) is a method of music education developed by a Hungarian man and used in our school board to make learning music fun and effective. She was part of a huge choir, 400 children strong, accompanied by an orchestra made up of volunteers from the school board and our city's symphony.

(That's what 400 kids, a high school concert choir and an orchestra look like from the nose-bleed section. I love the guy with the "Bravo" sign. Can you see my girl-she's on the right ;))
Oh wow. It was amazing. Tears came to my eyes listening to their singing and the orchestra. Such beautiful voices and sweet songs. My favourite was the jazzed up Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham.
While waiting in line to get into the theatre I pulled out my mitten to enable patient waiting. Because we all know a knitter knitting in line is less likely to kill someone and more likely to wait patiently!
Someone in our party (who will remain nameless) was horrified that I should pull out knitting and begin knitting. Tell me-is there an etiquette rule that says that knitting in public is like picking your nose and I didn't get the memo??

(an odd picture of me. Can you see how the Holden Shawlette sparkles?? :))

To be honest I sometimes do it to start up a conversation if other knitters are in the vicinity. It's like putting out a beacon that only die-hard knitters can hear and they suddenly start looking around to find the knitter so they can ask about the project or pet the wool. Maybe it's just me with the beacon. I'm not sure...
After we were seated the mitten got to come out of it's bag again and I got the thumb gusset done while people-watching and waiting for the show to begin.

(a mouse mitten photo a la the Yarn Harlot)

I guess I was doing more people-watching than paying attention because I ended up increasing 2 more times than I should have and now I have to rip it back so I can start the thumb. Good grief.

I am reading Craft Corps by Vickie Howell. The stories of other crafty people inspire and motivate me to keep on keeping on with my own creative endeavours. I'm also still reading and working my way through The Artist's Way.

Of new knitting, new energy and tired children-gratitude sunday

Joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday.

I feel grateful today for:
~a weekend off from parenting responsibilities, time to get refreshed and renewed for the week ahead and time with my husband to reconnect and remember who we are as a couple.
~my children's Cub and Scout leaders who put so much of their time, effort and money into providing all of these kids with an awesome experience outdoors and together at camp this weekend

(view into the cedar woods at camp)

(Ah, the outhouse. Not used very much I don't think)

~my children home again with so many shared stories of good times had.
~sunshine after 4 days of rain
~leaves beginning to unfurl and everything greening up
~peace in my house (because the kids are too tired right now to make much noise)
~new wool and a new knitting project

~a run this morning and coming home to bacon, eggs and coffee for breakfast

How about you? What are you grateful for today?

A funny thing happened at the knitting store...

So, I had $40 burning a hole in my pocket today so naturally I headed to the yarn store. I intended to buy some fancy sock yarn and knit me a new pair of socks. Maybe something with cables. Something not too difficult, maybe in a green colour because green is all I can think about these days what with spring being here and winter being finally freakin' over.
So, I walked into my local yarn store and I made a bee line for the sock yarn room (I love that my local yarn store has a room dedicated to knitting socks and other things you can do with sock yarn). I saw a sale on some really nice yarn in GREEN no less, grabbed 2 skeins and was about to leave when I thought "Well, I'm here anyway, how about a look around". OH BOY.
That's when I saw it. The Kiran shawl. Oh be still my pounding heart.
I think I'm hooked on shawl knitting. I thought it was a one-off but no, it wasn't. And right below the sample were many baskets of the yarn I would need at a price I could afford. Including one in green and a really fetching orange and the most mesmerizing blue variegated situation.
I did the most sensible thing I could think of (not) and walked away to see what else there was to see. You see I'm a girl who likes a plan and likes to stick with a plan and doesn't want to deviate from the plan in case something crazy happens like a shawl.
But that shawl and that green kept creeping into the outer edges of my mind so here I am sitting at home petting the most lovely shade of green wool I can imagine with a newly purchased and printed pattern for one Kirin shawl by Katherine Matthews.

(my new geranium-yet-to-be-planted demonstrating the green awesome-ness of my new wool)

The wool is Zoe superwash merino sock yarn from Shalimar Yarns in the colour of sweet pea. How sweet is that?? Now I just have to learn how to read a chart...