Jam Jams

See this? This is an, ahem, opened Christmas gift. It’s not even mine although I did ask the recipient’s permission before I cut the tape and Iain and I dove into them. The fact that the recipient is currently attending a Christmas party and had likely downed a couple of alcoholic beverages before I called for permission does not mean that I was asking when he was weak. Rather, I feel it shows excellent planning on my part.

Additionally, I certainly did not call up the gift giver (Hello, Mudder!) and ask her permission on whether or not I could open DH’s Christmas present before Christmas. Oh no! I already know what her response would be, the same response I received to that question for over 2 decades of living at home,

“No! You cannot open Christmas presents before Christmas morning!”

She’s over 1,000 kilometres away and, despite the guilt I’m sure I’m going to experience when she reads this post, it’s simply too late to stop us, Mudder.

Here is a little story about these cookies called ‘Jam Jams’ in Newfoundland and Labrador. In fact, they are a specialty where I come from. Purity makes them and most years, DH would get a Purity Jam Jams package or two with his birthday and/or Christmas gift from Mudder and Fadder. Until the year Mudder decided that DH should be made the homemade kind. The first words out of DH’s mouth when we arrived in Mudder’s kitchen and he saw them were,

“I didn’t know Jam Jams could be homemade (a small eye roll here as Newfoundland and Labrador has been settled longer than Purity has been making and packaging Jam Jams and he is a bright enough guy to have figured that out but, I digress)!”.

Yes, DH, it was a carefully guarded secret so that I wouldn’t be forced/cajoled/begged/pleaded with to make them at our house on a regular basis. They aren’t that hard, I’m just a lazy baker and usually stick to squares or drop cookies when I bake.

Ever since, whenever we go home or on special events such as birthdays and holidays, DH receives a box of Mudder’s homemade Jam Jams.

And, according to this picture, it looks as though it’s like father like son around here!

The fact that a box of homemade cookies inspired me to write a blog post after so long really speaks volumes about the importance of treats in my holiday world! In case I don’t get back before the big day, a very Merry Christmas from all of us at Chez Fibreholic!

To Blog…Or Not To Blog

What I’ve been doing with my blogging time at this, the start of the silly season:

• Christmas cards (over 70) sent out – check! (This includes writing a Christmas letter, signing letters and cards, labelling all correspondence, cutting out Iain’s Christmas portraits and labelling them and stamping all the envelopes (thank God for peal-able stamps!) – Whew!


• Christmas decorating – check!


• Hosting DH’s work party (Saturday night) – check! This included making two hot appetizers, two cold appetizers and an assortment of desserts. Thank God DH cooks too…
• House cleaned before guests arrived – check! Yes, it may have been 30 seconds before they arrived as a not-so-closely-watched Iain had the broom (after an unfortunate Cheerio incident…) and was using it to dip into the dog’s water dish and mop the back porch floor with it. Naturally, all of this occurred around the wall and just out of Mommy and Daddy’s sight.


• Attending a choral Christmas concert last night – check!


• Three of six Christmas parcels sent –check! I have GOT to get the rest out today/tomorrow. Well, two of three. I’m still waiting on the artisan I ordered another present from to call to say that the gift is ready.


• I’m still feeling under the weather and Iain has been fighting a cold. And this list doesn’t include the usual drudgery of laundry, meal preparation and clean up (no small feat with a toddler), etc.


• We have two more parties to attend this coming weekend.
  
  Is it any wonder I’m tired…?!? ;)

The pictures? Oh, well, they represent knitting content to keep you hanging until the next time I get to sit down in front of this computer...

Hairy Days

I picked up Iain’s Christmas portraits from Wal-mart today and was stunned. Although they are gorgeous (proud mom, eh?), he has already changed so much!

I wanted Iain’s pictures taken before he had his first hair cut. The portraits were done at the end of October and he had his first hair cut at just the beginning of this month. And here is why I wanted his last portraits done with his long baby hair.

He went from my little baby,

To such a big boy in no time flat!

Here’s a goofy one from Iain to you. Up until the past week, I, literally, took pictures anytime Iain had a big solid food meal because Iain still prefers to nurse and solid food is still not his forté. I hit a great option with slow cooker spaghetti sauce and pasta this day though!

The Big Snow

Hi there! I’ve got something to show you. It snowed here. All. Weekend. Seriously, the snow did not let up at all. It was great! Here are some shots to help you capture exactly how much fell this weekend (the most in any one fall since we’ve moved to Nova Scotia).

I took this picture on Saturday morning. The snow started sometime after midnight, Saturday AM. We already had about three inches down from the fall earlier last week:


The snow shovelling team (our nice neighbour still plows for us. Thank. God.):



A close up of the short members of the team. The wee balaclava hat is one Mudder knit for Iain recently. He looks adorable in it!

This one was taken later Saturday evening:

And this one is from this morning, when things were still nice and crisp (and, yes, it was still snowing) and before things started to melt.

We’re supposed to get rain tomorrow. !!Sob!!

Sorry, I can’t write more. Very. Busy. I’m knitting….

First Snow Day and A Knitting Angel

Some things are just more fun when you have a child to share them with.

Here is a shot from this morning that captures a little of Iain’s excitement when he realised the world outside had turned white overnight!

When Iain and I were bringing the car for it’s annual Motor Vehicle Inspection (yep, we do that every year here in Nova Scotia. That’s one year more often than any other place we’ve ever lived. Yep, we’re late doing it and still wouldn’t have it done if some stranger wasn’t admiring our van in the parking lot of a store and happened to notice our inspection sticker was expired), a Knitting Angel visited our door.



There used to be six in this jelly roll of dishcloths parcel. By the time I got this shot, one had already been taken for other pursuits.

What a sweetie Barbara is! When she was over on Monday, I mentioned in passing that I needed more dishcloths (I posted about that here awhile back too. Nope, still haven't been able to knit any). Turns out, she’s a really good listener.

Thanks again, Barbara, for the very sweet and MUCH appreciated knitted gifts! Hopefully we will be home next time to greet you in person!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It was my birthday on Monday. I certainly got spoiled and also had the opportunity to do some things I had never done on my birthday before. Here are some highlights:

• Not being able to overcome the 11:15 AM munchies, there is a rumour that I was seen cutting off a piece of the previously uncut birthday cake. Seriously, I could not help myself and can you blame me? DH made a lovely Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake for my birthday cake. The siren call from the fridge was stronger than I was able to withstand at that hour of the morning. Or any other time of the day since…
• Something new for me was spending two hours at outpatients at our local hospital waiting to confirm that Iain had the chicken pox only to find out that he has a strep ear infection (never heard of such a thing) and the rash he has was caused by that! He is now on 5 ml of antibiotics three times a day. Fun times.
• I was lucky to receive a gorgeous bouquet of roses compliments of DH and Iain – what great taste they have!

• After our visit to the hospital, Iain and I managed to run a couple of errands (via stroller) into town. On our way home, we found Barbara wandering around our neck of Middleton killing some time while her children were involved in a program. I invited her over for some cheesecake and a chat. The house was a mess (hopefully she didn’t mind – I had no cleaning time what with the hospital visit and all!) but we managed to have a great snack and a great chat. Iain was certainly under the weather but Barbara still managed to get him to ham it up for the camera. She told me that she will be posting a picture of us here soon. Too bad we weren’t knitting..!
• I put my first Christmas parcel in the mail (one of six). Don’t hate me. The likelihood of the last parcel going out on December 24th is extremely high. I’ve done it before. No, I’m not proud.
• I received so many celebratory birthday telephone calls that I actually missed some people before toddling off to bed! What a nice complaint!
  
  And, since then what I have been doing? Did I mention that Iain has an ear infection?!? And DH is in Halifax for the week? Whew!

The Secret Room - A Journey

One of my good friends often comments on my blog posts via email. She is an avid reader (lucky me!) and is often making comments on this and that. For her last several emails, however, there has really been a common theme:

“Ages and ages ago, you mentioned a Secret Room in your house. When are you going to tell us more?”

Well, M, the truth is, the Secret Room is making me a little sad right now. I love it. But it is only being used for minor storage and that is part of the reason why it makes me sad. We currently have no development plans for it. The basement has come to the forefront of priority (it will give us more family space) and Iain’s wee ‘Secret’ room play room? Well, it is way back on the development back burner somewhere.

All that being said, one of the reasons why I fell in love with this house in the first place is because of the Secret Room. It is accessed through the closet door in Iain’s bedroom and is, really, the attic space above the living room. I call it ‘Secret’ because you do not realise that there is access to another part of the house when you glance in Iain’s room. You need to open his closet door. Seeing another door there for the first time was, for me, a bit like looking into the back of a wardrobe. Having been a fan of C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia ever since I can remember, (and resolutely stating that I wished to be buried with them when I was about nine years old. That might seem morbid for that age but, remember, my father is a minister so the subject of death and who might be dying were regular facts of life our house) any house that stirred up images of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" could cause powerful things and force money being put down on any property.

Without further ado, join me on a quick journey to our Secret Room.

The innocuous bedroom closet:

The Secret Door:

The Secret Room from Iain’s closet:

Looking back into Iain’s room:

More of the (messy) space:

It really is a neat space and I had a design to finish it planned out before I walked out of it that very first time. Now the challenge will be to see if we’re here long enough to make those ideas a reality…

Happy Birthday, DH!

Happy Birthday, DH!

It was DH’s thirty-something birthday yesterday. Iain was a big help making Daddy’s cake.

Supervising from his high chair (I love how confident he looks with one of his arms draped across the back of the chair!):

Quality control:

Look, Daddy! A cake!

Assisting with the opening of presents:

Ooh! A knitted present (a pair of lovely socks from Mudder. Sorry, this is the best shot I got of them last night):

I think Iain may have figured out the whole opening of presents deal…

I cannot believe it’s been a week since I last posted. SORRY!

Awarded!

It is not just every day that I receive an award. It is especially special when the person who gives you the award is someone you look up to, really, really like and who inspires you to no end with her knitting prowess. Sweet, sweet Suzanne (aka Yarnhog) has graciously given me the following award:



Squeee! Thank you SO much, Suzanne! I agree with you that hosting a blog is as much for personal satisfaction as the knowledge that somebody else out there might be reading. For me, hosting a blog also offers me A) great incentive to work on projects and B) writing practice. I love to write but, honestly, would not put the time aside if I did not have this blog. It is a thrill to know that, not only do you regularly read my blog posts, but like it enough to award me with a lovely blue ribbon! Thank you so much for passing this award torch onto me. I will ‘wear’ the ribbon with pride (and post it on my sidebar, just as soon as I figure out how…!).

The rules for award acceptance are as follows: 1. The winner can put the logo on their website/blog. 2. Add a link to the person who gave you this award. 3. Nominate at least 5 other websites/blogs. 4. Provide links of the nominated websites/blogs. 5. Leave a message at each website owner that you've nominated.

I would like to nominate the following fellow bloggers. These are folks that I visit most every day and finish their posts with a smile. Narrowing down my list to just five was really, really hard. So, I interpreted the rules as ‘at least 5’ and chose six instead. That was still hard. I would have loved to have listed everyone that I regularly read. However, that would probably be stretching the rules a wee bit too much.

I am nominating:

Renée over at Froggiemeanie – Renée is another ‘misplaced’ Newfoundland and Labradorian who is a knitter and mother to two, with another miracle due in April. Renée is the reason I started a blog of my own in the first place. Check out her calendar win over at Knitty. Renée is ‘Miss April’ and her submission is truly a gorgeous Newfoundland shot.

April over at Clandestine & Candour – I have been an avid follower of April’s knitting prowess for almost as long as I’ve been following blogs. She has decided to make some big life changes and go back to school and still manages to get knitting done. Go on over and wish her luck!

Samantha over at Wilderness Witch Knits – Another Canadian with whom I seem to have a lot in common (knitting, love of the outdoors and camping, pregnant at very much the same time…). Samantha has a very impressive ability to start and finish knitting projects. With. Three. Children. Be still my knitting heart!

Alisha over at Tales From A Self Taught Knitter – I think one of the things I really like about Alisha (apart from the fact that she is a great role model of a mother) is the amount of knitting she just randomly gives away. Like these socks? Here, take them! Like this market bag? It’s yours! Alisha is such a sweetie, I know you will love her too!

Jen over at The Life of a Busy Little Bee – I am fairly new to Jen’s blog and just love it. Jen is a busy lady with a full-time teaching position, all of the homework that goes with being a teacher and running training on the side. Naturally, she is a fantastic knitter too.

Elizabeth over at Home-Spin – Elizabeth’s blog is another fairly new one for me and is another one that I just love. Elizabeth is another mother who (gasp!) manages to stick to One. Knitting. Project. At. A. Time. I look to her for leadership and monogamous role modelling regularly.

Thanks again, Suzanne! Have fun passing on the torch, Ladies!

Off The Wagon

Sorry. I seem to have fallen off the blog wagon this week. We went to Halifax this past weekend and managed to fit in finishing Christmas shopping together with visiting with great friends and their 3.5 and 1 year old. It was a great weekend but one of those great weekends where you arrive back to your house and reality and feel a bit deflated. Or, perhaps for me, the better description is that I am just plain tired. I guess I’m out of shopping shape! Therefore, the usual 1 to 2 to 3 hours worth of ‘me’ time ( = blogging time) I get when Iain is napping has seen me snoring away next to him. I usually manage to get up and shower before he gets up but that’s about it (the neighbours are thankful for the small effort, I’m sure). Plus, my hands are terrible. Killing. Me. I went to the doctor again today and came home with a new type of cream to try and a referral to a dermatologist. Thank. God. I will choose to ignore the 6 – 8 month waiting list in my hopeful glee…

I’m sure you’ve guessed that horrendous hand skin = no knitting. I have been getting some hooking done – the drive to Halifax put a great dent into that project – and I hope to have something interesting to post for you within the next couple of days. It’s still fibre related so I feel I’m still hitting my blog parameters (heck, it’s my blog so I can do what I want! Yeah!).

So, what’s up with you? Want to come over for a cup of tea and to reflect on the world? Wait. Iain has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow (funny how these things can never be arranged for the same day, isn’t it?!?). There goes my ‘me’ time again. It’s hump day though and I hear there’s a weekend coming up soon…

Here are belated Halloween wishes from our house to yours!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

(Turn and face the strange)

Ch-ch-changes

Don’t want to be a richer man

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

(Turn and face the strange)

Ch-ch-changes

Just gonna have to be a different man

Time may change me

But I can’t trace time

From: Shrek, The Movie

“Now tell me, girls and boys, what is a knitter to do when she can’t knit?” Asks the Powers That Be.
“Gee, Powers That Be, we don’t know. What is a knitter to do when she can’t knit?” Ask the children.

In this post, I mentioned that I was working on something fibre related which was not knitting and I never got back to telling you more. I took another rug hooking course when we were in Newfoundland this past summer.

This time, I was the lucky student of my cousin’s fiancée, J. We enjoyed our class in their stunningly beautiful new home just outside St. John’s.

DH had already headed home in hopes that I would get another five days of visiting with family and friends before taking the ‘easy’ route and flying home with Iain. Little did we realise how much the challenges (and stresses!) of coping with a busy baby in not so child proof houses was going to work out. This is how it worked out: Iain + him getting into everything = frazzled Mommy.

The night of the hooking course, I had it all planned. Iain would eat his supper, be bathed in time to be nursed and would be off to sleep before I put him in the car seat. We’re lucky, Iain is usually moveable like that when he is asleep and that night was no exception. Unfortunately, when the movement of the car stopped where the course was being held, Iain woke up. And he bloody well stayed up for the whole evening!

Luckily, the other two classmates were two of my aunts (who likely have their projects finished by now. Do you, Aunt J? Aunt P? Let’s see some progress shots!) and were pretty forgiving of a baby frolicking around the kitchen, wired for sound. My instructor, J, was also a sweetie and took Iain a few times so I could at least practice hooking a bit. J teaches using strips of wool fabric and the class I had taken before used knitting yarn. I found the wool strips more difficult so there was a lot of whining coming from my side of the table. Additionally, because Iain was awake, I ended up feeling really, really frustrated by the end of the night because I had been hoping for a relaxing evening enjoying a new craft and some great company but, instead, and ended up leaving in a rush (I apologise again for being contrary, Ladies!) so that Iain could get to bed.

Let us come to more recent events. My hands seem to be healing but are still very sore. I am not out of the woods yet by a long shot. I tried to knit with alpaca on the weekend, just in case it is wool that I am sensitive to (shudder). Knitting was a big mistake. The feel of any type of fibre moving over the patches on my hands drove me to just this side of insane. I cannot paint because the skin on my right forefinger is so badly damaged that it feels ‘deadened’ so I cannot handle a brush properly (I don’t think I’m whining, just trying to state a few facts. Okay, so I am whining!). However, all that being said, I am not giving up on fibre. No Siree.

Instead, I’ve found something that involves fibre and doesn’t seem to give my hands problems. I’ve been hooking!

And, if you are interested in taking rug hooking classes from one very talented lady who can provide lessons in either Newfoundland or Toronto, simply contact me and I will hook you up (no pun intended…). The beginner pattern I’m working on here is one of J’s original designs and, in her classes, you get the option of a Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter colour selection in your kit. J is really neat and talented and just won her first rug hooking competition on a rug she both designed and hooked this past summer! Go, J!

“And what is it very, very important to do when a knitter is unable to knit and realises this fact for the umpteenth time?” Asks the Powers That Be.
“Tread vewy, vewy carefully. Vewy, vewy carefully indeed!” Whisper the children.

A Sewing We Will Go

I know I’m not the only one out there who was/is doing this, frantically planning and cutting out fabric to sew up a handmade Halloween costume. Why do we do this to ourselves? I think it has a little do to with stories like this one.

A long time ago, in a province not too far away from where I’m sitting and typing, there was a little girl living in outport Newfoundland who wanted to be a ballet dancer (well, actually, if you’d asked me at the time I may have meant ballet dancer but I said belly dancer. My mother couldn’t figure out for the life of her where I’d gotten the idea to become a belly dancer. Don’t get me wrong, none of us have any negative associations with belly dancing. It is just that in the early 1970’s in outport Newfoundland, the thought of a four year old wanting to become a belly dancer would have created something of a stir. Mudder finally figured out that I meant ballet dancer, after I gave her a demonstration of my prowess).

The story starts with a young girl with a burning desire to become a ballet dancer. And what is a loving mother to do but try and make that dream a reality? She did it too. My mother made me a ballet dancer costume and I just loved it. It made me feel like a ballet dancer and a beautiful princess at the same time.

I still love it. It’s in my basement safely packed away as I type.

I still love that green fabric on the bodice. You can’t tell from this picture but close up it looks as though it has been sewn through with silver thread. I have no idea where my mother found this fabric but it still ranks up there with my most favourite fabric. Ever.

With this story in mind (and, yes, I realise that Iain will likely have NO memory of this particular Halloween), I embarked on the following journey. I rooted around in my fabric stash until I found some lovely fun fur that I was lucky enough to have been given a few years ago. Black and white were the choices so I decided on Iain becoming a very ferocious Panda Bear. I trotted off to the fabric store and found a ‘quick and simple’ pattern. Luckily, the cutting and sewing went as advertised.

I had to sew fast, though, as Iain’s first Halloween event was this past Saturday – almost a whole week before the actual date! The pressure!

The fur was interesting to work with. The white fur is just as you probably imagine fun fur to be. The backing is rough but, on the whole, it wasn’t too difficult to work with. The black fur, although still synthetic, is of very high quality and shed like a real animal. It was also a bit of a nightmare to sew as it was so darn thick. On the good side, though, the backing of the black fur is like a soft suede and feels gorgeous against the skin.

Note: No actual Panda Bears were harmed in the development of either this blog post or this year’s Halloween costume. You’d never believe it from this picture though.

And this is just a small example of how the black fur shed when it was cut!

I was up until 1:30 AM on Friday night/Saturday morning sewing. But, I got ’er done.

And it was totally worth it.

It is also an exceptionally great costume for cold Canadian outdoor Trick or Treating. A little on the warm side for wee indoor Panda Bears however…

PS I should probably mention that the very cute little boy, excuse me, Superhero, standing next to me in the pictures above is one of my little brothers - the one closest to me in age. He granted me permission to use these photographs as he did not feel you would recognize him when he was wearing ‘civilian’ clothing. Interestingly enough, this same brother is now 6’3” tall, built like Laird Hamilton (and he is a surfer too!) and shaves his head. The opportunity to present him to you for the first time wearing tights was just too good a one to pass up…

The Bane of Halloween

I try to buy our Halloween treats as close to the 31st as possible. Yes, I realise that this means I might not get the best bargain or, necessarily, the best of the best treats (my apologies in advance to those coming to our door). However, there is a very good reason why I put off buying our treats to the last minute. Obviously, this past Sunday was still too early for me to be trusted. This is why we shouldn’t buy our treats too early.

To be fair to me, the boxes aren’t completely full when they’re packaged. ‘Settling’ the companies call it. I call it a rip off but I still seem to buy them anyways. And, I swear, DH did help eat a bit too. Still, I'm a big girl and can admit that we can place about 95% of the blame on me.

Sigh. Here I sit all alone on my chocoholic wagon.

Did You Know?

That a week ago today, DH, Iain and I were in Newfoundland? I know, I know, I didn't tell you, did I?

We left here at o’dark early Saturday morning, October 18th, for a 7:15 AM flight and returned on an o’ungodly early 5:30 AM flight from St. John’s on Tuesday, October 21st. It was a quick trip but a wonderful one. The Atlantic smells the best to me when I’m home and it was so nice to get big hugs from Mudder, Fadder, one of my Little Bro’s that is living on the island right now and our SIL, especially considering everything else that has gone on with us over the past month and a half.

This picture was taken on the flight to Newfoundland – Iain enjoying the great Air Canada ‘food’ (aka the food we brought with us).

Although short, we actually managed to see almost every person we usually see on a two week visit home (my apologies to Aunt J and Uncle L in Mount Pearl who we didn't manage to see. I am ashamed…(picture me with my head hung in shame here)). Newfoundland is prettier in the fall than I remember and that I really, really miss my home province. Sadly, we have very few pictures taken with Iain and our relatives so I am counting on my Fadder for some pictures of our trip (yes, that is a hint, Fadder!).

This is one of the reasons why I miss home. Here are some shots of Iain heading for the North Atlantic from my parents front garden. It’s a good thing it isn’t pretty….

DH told me that Iain had his hands right in the water. That child has no fear and no sense of cold either as it’s looking pretty chilly to me out there!

DH took these pictures while Mudder and I were off for a shopping trip to Dominion (a local supermarket chain known as the Superstore in other parts of Canada). When family is visiting from ‘away’ (that’s what Newfoundland and Labradorians call anywhere outside the province), you can be guaranteed that there will be a crowd at the house that wants and needs a feed.

On the way back from the island, we were all exhausted. Not only was it an early flight but we were up late the night before with Iain who, for the first time, got really, really carsick on our way home from my brother’s place in St. John’s. We all had a really rough night. By ‘morning’ (I use that term loosely as 3:00 AM when our alarm went off is not really morning as far as I’m concerned), we had been up with Iain several times, he was running a fever and had to be dosed up with Tylenol. Not. Fun. Therefore, by the time we boarded the plane, we were very tired. DH told me that the flight attendants were poking fun at the exhausted parents when they went by with the service cart as the three of us were sitting there with our mouths hung open, sleeping. I didn’t even hear the cart go by.

We spent the rest of the week recovering and, ahem, sewing…

In Case You Needed a Smile Today...

...Here's one from Chez Fibreholic to you.

Iain is turning into such a ham for the camera. This is definitely a fake smile but, I think, cute just the same.

Nope, no knitting yet. Sigh.

A Knitted Hat

Hurrah! Knitting content on this blog! Too bad it’s not mine…

One of the lovely presents we received when we were expecting Iain last year (was that only last year?) was a gorgeous hand spun, hand dyed, and hand knit Blueberry Hat from a very close friend of ours (who also happens to be the same wonderful lady who was such a fantastic support to DH’s family when my MIL passed away. We cannot thank you enough, D). I blogged about that lovely present here at the time.

When I received this wonderful gift, I remember thinking ‘Wow! It’s so big. My baby isn’t going to fit into this present for years.’ Ah, the cockiness of pending motherhood. That is a small indication of just how little I know and how very, very much D knows.

This is Iain modelling his hat exactly a week ago today.

DH turned the brim up because he thought it made Iain look something like Relic (non-Canadians may not get this...). That’s something we aspire to around here, you know? A child that looks like Relic (he's the guy in the middle. Not a great shot of his hat but you get the idea)... Incidentally, D knits and lives in Gibsons Landing so there is a bit of a Beachcombers theme to this particular knit.

I tried and tried to get a smiley picture to no avail. This is a great shot of the bruise on Iain's right cheek (caused by a collision with a chair leg) and his split lip (caused by falling down one step, onto his face on the concrete walkway below). Poor kid had a bad week.

“Playing in your sandbox is very serious business, Mom.”