Self Portrait Meme

As per Samantha’s meme tag, I’ve been struggling to take a decent self-portrait. I’ve experimented at home and when I/we were out and about. I decided to stick with the out and about poses. I felt that these ones were far more interesting, if only due to the background alone.


A week ago, Mudder and Fadder were still here and one thing Fadder really wanted to do during their visit was to go apple picking in the Annapolis Valley. Seeing as that’s where we now live, the idea didn’t pose a problem. I choose to visit Dempsey Corner Orchards based on positive reviews from our friends, S and ML, when they visited a few weeks ago (they also brought us an apple crisp from there for dessert one night – nummy!). Thus, on October 2nd, Iain experienced his first day of apple picking. Well, he experienced his first time watching people pick apples. I was a bit concerned about apples falling on his head as the adults were picking so either myself or Grandma held him out from under the tree canopies.


It was a little rough on the road up to the historical orchard section where we were picking. Therefore, Iain’s stroller was commandeered as a basket for bags of apples while Iain himself was transported via mother or Grandma. He seemed happy about the whole arrangement. Iain loves lying back and looking at the leaves.

In this picture, he looks like he’s doing some kind of funky dance of happiness!

There is something quintessentially romantic and right about visiting an apple orchard in the fall. Fall is my most favourite of seasons. I love the rich, warm colours. The greens, browns and reds of the orchard were beautiful, as was the pumpkin patch that I managed to find.

I love pumpkin patches. I may get me one of those for myself next year (a patch as well as pumpkins).

Meme fulfilled. Check.

Knit Candy

When one cannot blog about knitting accomplishments, one should blog about knitting candy. That’s my new mantra. Too bad I can only afford it for one post…

As previously mentioned, on Friday, September 28th, Mudder, Iain and I headed off to my new LYS (Gaspereau Valley Fibres). Sigh. What a wonderful place it is. It is truly a little piece of fibre heaven. The yarn shop is located on a farm so you get to enjoy animals (sheep, an alpaca, chickens, the ‘greeter’ dog…) on your walk inside. As before, the environment is comfortable and cosy and the owner just lovely. The selection of Fleece Artist and other hand painted and organic fibres is incredible. Yes, I found it hard to leave again.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. My Mudder, the knitter, is allergic to wool. Yes, you read that right. Allergic. To. Wool. She’s dedicated though. Mudder is a confirmed sock knitter and Patons' Kroy is her yarn of choice. Often, she has to take an allergy pill to do so. Neither of us considered the fact that we were walking into a natural fibre store and what that might do to her allergies. Unfortunately, it meant that she could only fondle one of the beautiful carved wooden tables for sale at the wool shop. To steel herself against illicit wool fondling and the eventual assault on her eyes and nose just by breathing in the lanolin enhanced air, she held Iain for me so that I could fondle to my heart’s content. Well, she held Iain and acted as a Newfoundland and Labrador tourist bureau representative for two other yarn shoppers visiting from Ontario. They haven’t been to Newfoundland and Labrador. Yet.

My main reason for heading down to Gaspereau Valley Fibres was to purchase yarn for the Queen of Hearts nursing sweater found in my Natural Knits for Babies and Moms book by Louisa Harding. Without going into too much personal detail, let’s just say I’ve recently received some good medical news and, whereas there may have been some question about me being able to continue nursing, some of those concerns have been alleviated. Knitting this nursing sweater is my treat for me on receipt of the good news. Gaspereau Valley Fibres has a lovely selection of Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton which is called for in the sweater. The natural colours are gorgeous. I, however, wanted a shade (Sage) that was only available in 3 or 4 skeins (I need seven) so I’m in wait for an upcoming order. To bide my time, the following fell into my yarn deprived little hands:

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK for a seasonal knit from Itty Bitty Hats for Iain.

I’m sure you can guess what season I’m talking about.


And these little delicious yarn cakes were wound for me from skeins at the store (I’m still working on a swift and ball winder for upcoming birthday and Christmas gifts - hint, hint to certain somebody’s who may be reading. Yes, I can admit it. I am shameless) are a real find.


This is work by the Fleece Artist. On sale. On sale because sometimes the Fleece Artist cleans out her closet and the stores closest to her (in other words, those in Nova Scotia who carry her fibre) sometimes receive ‘one off’ beauties like these. Can you imagine? I’ve moved to a place where I have access to the Fleece Artist’s closet! Have I mentioned recently that I’ve moved to a knitter’s equivalent of heaven on Earth? Is anybody interested in squatter’s rights in my basement?

This colourway is unique and won’t be found again. I might be so inspired as to come up with my own name for it. As these are a one shot deal kind of thing, they are not labelled. Each cake is comprised of a 200 metre, Fleece Artist DK weight 90% merino, 10% cashmere kind of lovely.

Swoon.

I’m intending on knitting a chevron patterned sweater from the Natural Knits book for Iain out of the yarn.

In other news, I have another FO…!

Between Visitors

We are between visitors at Chez Fibreholic. Mudder and Fadder left this morning, which made us sad, and DH’s parents and sister arrive tomorrow evening. The house is no longer such a wreck. Well, it’s still a wreck but my parents made a significant dent in alleviating that problem. Our living room is "almost" finished ("almost" only because I decided to experiment with colour on the fireplace wall and I hate the colour so we will have to repaint that little section). The painting is complete in Iain’s room and in the two closets upstairs so, apart from the doors to one closet, one bedroom and the bathroom which we’d intended on doing at some point in the future, the upper floor is complete – yeah!

I found a mother and baby group at the local hospital, which is a 5 minute walk from our house. It is held on Thursday afternoons and it was very nice for Iain to see other babies his age. He was fascinated and sat on my lap for the longest time and just stared around at all the little people. I also got a chance to weigh him – at exactly 3 months today (where has the time gone?), Iain Daniel weighs in at 15 lbs 10 ozs! Apparently, I’m making the good stuff. There are a couple of other mother and baby programs in town that I’m going to explore next week.

Grandma and Grandpas’s visit marks several major ‘firsts’ in young Iain’s life. However, I’m only going to tell you about two of them today.

To start, witness Iain’s first foray into knitting reading.

Iain loves to see babies (we keep showing him the baby in the mirror and he always smiles and smiles at himself) and, as Mags Candis’ Wee Knits 3 book is full of babies in sweaters, this was Grandma’s solution to a fussy Iain. He looks so serious!

And, secondly, here is a photo from Iain’s first overnight camping trip (you are an inspiration, Samantha! Ethan beat Iain to his first camping trip but at least we got out in 2007)!

We stayed at the local Canadian Forces campground at Lake Pleasant last Saturday evening (September 29th). It was a cold night but we managed just fine. Iain did wonderfully. He snuggled up and watched the campfire after I nursed him at the picnic table. We slept in the camper so Iain and I had the bottom double bed and DH and Para shared the top double bed (the bed in the pop up top). Apparently, Iain and I were more comfortable than DH who was a little chilly all night.

Here’s Iain roughing it Sunday morning.

I was really concerned about how cold it would be when changing Iain during the night but there was no issue there. I just hauled our huge 8 point Hudson Bay Company wool blanket over my and Iain’s head to make a cozy ‘tent’ and changed him under there. He just giggled and laughed which means he wasn’t cold at all. One of the few times Iain is almost guaranteed to screech during a 24 hours period is when he is being changed at night as he doesn’t like to be undressed and get cold after he’s been deeply asleep. Therefore, the blanket solution worked out.

I also got to knit a little while we were camping. Be still my beating heart…I guess I’ll have to provide more detailed proof soon but, my mystery WIP is finished.

Therefore, I was actually working on new knitting while we camped. Be still my beating heart once more…

In other news, Friday, Mudder and I visited my LYS again this past Friday. It was heaven. It was also incentive to get the mystery WIP completed as DH and I had a deal that I would not purchase more yarn until it was finished and Friday was a wee bit premature to be purchasing yarn. I hope to post some knitting candy photos tomorrow before the visitors arrive. I also have a photo for Samantha’s meme but will post that a little later as I want to tell you all about another Iain Daniel first when we went apple picking in the Annapolis Valley. My self-portrait photo was taken there…

Strange Days Indeed

DH went back to work today. This is what Iain thought of it…


I have been steadily working on my mystery WIP. I am on the home stretch with just the collar to knit up and the lovely knitted ruffle to sew onto the seed/moss stitched collar. I’m about 2 cm’s away from completion before that last bit of sewing up to do plus adding the wee buttons. I actually knit and nursed Iain at the same time yesterday! Probably not something I’ll be able to do often in the future – the patio deck chairs and a big pillow enabled me – as the weather is getting too cool to sit outside for long. However, I really enjoyed the ‘multi-tasking’ and am considering indoor options to facilitate the same activity.

Awhile ago, I said I would post some house pictures. Elizabeth mentioned that I’m overdue to do that. Here are a few.

The front of our house.

The window for the "secret room".

Our lovely back deck (we bought our first patio set after buying this house. This is where I managed to nurse Iain and knit last night). We have been spending a LOT of time enjoying the back deck and the back yard. And, yes, the lawn does take forever to mow. By the look of this shot, it needs to be mowed. Again.

The two car garage/workshop view from the deck. Hummingbirds visit us here.

A view of the back yard, complete with hammock, our border collie and her friend, Tasha.

The crab apples that threaten to kill us – either by falling on our heads or rolling under foot - each time we walk out the drive way. Beautiful but dangerous!

DH and Iain enjoying the back yard.

Sorry, this one was too cute not to post.

The kid is 2.5 months old – look at that head control!?!

Hopefully I will be able to post some knitting content again soon. We have company right now (yeah!) who have just left for the day to go touring. Mudder and Fadder arrive tomorrow for two weeks (yeah again!) and DH’s parents and sister arrive on October 5th for 10 days (double yeah!). Yes, that’s back to back company. AKA help for new mom! Triple yeah! And Iain slept for 40 minutes allowing me to get most of this post done before he woke up. Quadruple yeah!

Samantha meme’d me. Thanks, Samantha! Another blog post idea when my knitting production is so low! I will try and fulfil that meme promptly. As it seems to include me having my hair washed and looking halfway decent, it may take a few days…

I have also been working on my blog in the new blogger template. It’s really a work in progress so you will likely notice changes regularly and I’ll apologize now for inactive links etc. For example, DH was complaining that my titles didn’t seem to be working properly. He was right and I’m now in the process of fixing each of my 90 odd post titles. Luckily, this is also something I can do while I’m nursing.

I hope you’re all having fun out there in knitter land. I’m having trouble catching up on each of the blogs I love to read regularly and really miss that. However, it also means that I appreciate you all even more when I do get down to reading.

Editor's Note: The production of this email took all day. It was hindered by: eight diaper changes; three nursing sessions; one load of laundry; the biggest spit up of my 2.5 month old son’s young life; one complete outfit change for baby; one complete outfit change for Mommy; one walk to the grocery store to complete one slow cooker meal; the addition of ingredients into one bread maker for our evening meal; and some two and a half month old style conversation. Your patience in ignoring inevitable spelling and grammatical errors is appreciated. Please tell me I’m not the only one to experience days like these…

Remember When?

Remember this?

Here it is being modelled.

It is almost too small.

I have SO got to get this,

my mystery WIP, finished so that the wee bairn is suitably clothed for winter…

Never Lock Your Doors, And Other Tips For Living In Rural Nova Scotia

DH and I are feeling the time crunch. He goes back to work on the 24th of this month after 6 weeks of parental leave and the intention was to have the house reasonably organised (at least the top two floors) and freshly painted before his return to work. We’re not so sure we’re going to make it.

Our house is a cute 1.5 story (I know, I have still to post pictures! I will get to it. Promise) and the .5 part of the house is almost complete. By the grace of God, we might get to the rest (well, God coupled with the assistance of one of my brother’s and SILs who will be visiting us this week)! The .5 floor is what I call the ‘family floor’. It consists of a very small half bath, the master bedroom, a 12’0 by 10’0 landing, Iain’s nursery and the secret room off his room. The secret room isn’t finished yet so we won’t include that space in the following. Master bedroom painted and assorted wall hangings hung – check. Landing painted and assorted wall hangings hung – check. Iain’s room painted – check. Polka dots for Iain’s room painted – nope. Linen and Iain’s closet painted – nope. Stair well painted – check. Assorted wall hangings for stair well and Iain’s room – pending. Curtains can wait.

DH and I were up fairly late (that means 9:30 PM in our house these days) working on hanging pictures. We stopped before he replaced the handrails in the stair well (we got new swanky scroll style handrail brackets from Lee Valley for the wooden rails). DH needed to go unpack some more boxes to find the size of screws that he needed and we thought we’d stop before we both got too cranky to live with. DH then spent until 11:30 PM walking the floors with the freshly diapered, fully nursed wee one until he drifted off to sleep.

As you can probably guess, we spent the better part of yesterday on the .5 floor section of the house. Yesterday morning at about 10:00 AM, I thought I heard a screen door downstairs close. All of the human’s of the house were upstairs with me and the pets, not that they haven’t tried, haven’t learned how to open the screen door by themselves. With a slight tightness to my voice, I told DH about the sound and he went downstairs to investigate. The slight tightness in my voice can be attributed to two reasons:

1. I admit it. I am rarely showered and dressed by that point in the morning. Let’s be more honest. Even if I am showered, I usually have to get dressed on my way to answer either the front or back door. I run around in just my bra on the top half most of the day, ready to nurse or pump at a single cry. I keep a polar fleece with a quick zipped front handy to throw on in case I have to run to the door. A little odd for those 30 plus degree days (like it was yesterday) but, it keeps the neighbours friendly.
2. And, secondly, we just moved from Kanata/Ottawa, the Nation’s Capital where I lived in fear of hearing drunken revellers or the sound of teenagers at the wee hours of the morning. Last July 1st we had two young men decide to jump on the hood of our car as they were throwing something at the windshield resulting in a broken windshield and dented hood. We always locked our doors and Para, the border collie, barked any time after 12:00 PM if she heard anyone outside when she thought they should be home in bed like us. Very sensible is our border collie. If I had ever heard the screen door open downstairs while we were upstairs in Kanata, I would have very seriously considered called the police.

Back to yesterday morning. I heard the sound of a screen door close and no barking border collie. Odd. If anyone comes to our house, Para usually barks. She’s kind of like a doorbell that way. As a matter of fact, DH or I occasionally ring the door bell just to get her to bark. Apparently we get hard up for games to play with her sometimes. We knock on walls and doors too, to get her to come and investigate…

DH went downstairs to the sweet smell of cooling, fresh bread on our counter top with nary a soul to be seen. Not only was there no barking border collie but the border collie must have watched someone fly in to her kitchen, deposit bread on the counter, and leave without so much as a grunt to notify us upstairs. We were left to assume that our visitor must have been the Bread Angel. DH called out the back door a couple of times but no one was there. And the border collie was lying in the hallway, in full view of the kitchen (where the mysterious bread was placed) and not too far from the front door which is, naturally, locked. If you’re from the East coast, you know that only strangers or business people come to the front door anyway. Like a good Newfoundland and Labradorian, my front porch is very sensibly being used for storage.

I did find out who the Bread Angel was later in the day when I took baby and border collie out for a walk. One of the neighbours husband’s, who I hadn’t met before, was out on his ride’em tractor (yes, our properties are that large) and stopped to introduce himself and to tell me that his wife, A, couldn’t raise anyone at our place. I suspect she decided not to ring the doorbell because the baby could have been sleeping. Good woman. A’s husband told me that his wife just brought the bread in and told the dog, who was looking at her curiously, to please not eat her present.

Para is quickly learning that we don’t seem to need a watch dog in Nova Scotia however, friendly greetings are appreciated. She’s a darn good dog. When you come to our house bearing bread, not only will Para likely let you right in but, you might also be offered a cup of tea.

Note: I am considering changing my template with blogger. Therefore, there may be some issues with this blog over the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

Big Draw!

Big basket (Lantern Moon):

Big names:

Big arm:

Big winner!

It's Sarah from Life With…! Congratulations, Sarah!

Only One More Day!

Seeking more blogiversary contest entries! The contest ends at 12:00 AM, midnight, tomorrow night (August 31, 2007).

Are you up for the challenge...?

LYS Search

For some of you more seasoned parents, a trip outside the four walls of your house may not be a big deal. You’ve done it a million times before and have developed a routine. That’s not the case around this house. We’re only seven + weeks old – baby and new mommy! Therefore, for me, a trip outside the house by myself with my newborn brings on more fear than I’ve experienced in quite a long time. Well, at least since my contractions started…

Iain and I have been practising leaving the house for a walk, solo, at least once a day, usually up to the post office as it’s an in and out journey and he sometimes gets fussy if the stroller stops for too long. DH is on parental leave until September 24th and I’ve been relying on the two of us to cope with Iain for outings. However, September is just around the corner and I do not want to be too scared to leave the house once DH goes back to work or I’ll go stir crazy which isn’t going to create a happy place for either Iain or me. Iain and I are getting pretty good with the short post office runs and, usually, he is happily napping by the time we get home so I race in the house and grab the leash and Para and we go for another, more Border Collie related, walk. Iain is not a big napper so the stroller nap is a miracle each time!

Last Wednesday, Iain and I went for our first driving outing alone. I had been searching (via the printed yellow pages and the Net) for a yarn store and found a lovely website at Gaspereau Valley Fibres. A couple of weeks ago, DH and I were in the same yarn store’s vicinity when my sister and her fiance were visiting. However, for some reason we ended up at the Gaspereau Vineyard winery and not the yarn store. Go figure? I should clarify – they ended up at the winery. I ended up at the winery parking lot, nursing Iain in the back of the camper. Don’t feel sorry for me though. I had a good book and I don’t like wine so I was pretty content. Besides, DH managed to hunter gather some peanut maple brittle for me as well as the wine he bought for himself – yum!

With the previous weeks recce, and the desire to have really cool blogiversary prizes, I felt Iain and I should be able to go this trip alone. DH has been painting almost ever since we arrived (you will be hearing about DH and painting for awhile, by the way. I can’t wait to show you Iain’s room!) and I didn’t really want to interrupt the painting for a, let's face it, really Patty oriented trip.

Off Iain and I went. We did well. It’s about a 45 minute drive from our house and, on the way, we found a gas station and managed to get extra water put into the van when the water alarm light was going off (the usual 1988 VW camper van adventures). Most importantly, I found the yarn store without a hitch.

I must tell you that, if you are ever in this area or planning a Nova Scotia tour and you are a knitter or fibre enthusiast at all, you cannot miss this store. I was the only customer during my visit, which worked out well as Iain needed to be nursed during most of my visit (I don’t mind nursing in public but some of the public isn’t comfortable with it and that can make me uncomfortable). The owner is a lovely and kind lady and I felt very comfortable there with my baby – now an important consideration for any LYS visit.

I could rave about the huge Fleece Artist selection (and the fact that she will be at the store in September for a workshop and to showcase some of her work), the sock yarn, the rovings (even though I don’t use it, I really appreciate it). I won’t though, that would just be mean to those of you not living in Nova Scotia. There were hugemungous (new Patty word for the week) baskets full of fibre! I had to sit down and catch my breath a couple of times and, luckily, the owner didn’t notice the drooling and slightly hysterical laughter…

Also in stock are a variety of organic yarns such as Green Mountain Spinnery and the cotton for the nursing sweater I was looking at awhile ago is even softer than I’d imagined.

It’s the kind of store where I can spend a period of time enjoying myself but will need to go back a couple of times to get a full and complete sense of the wonder.

It was a great day and I made it back home to find a happily sleeping baby in the back seat (Iain barely tolerates his car seat so we were practising that too). Our first day out was a success! And, don’t you find it appropriate that mommy and baby’s first foray out together was to a yarn shop?

Seeing as this was a pretty text heavy post, here is Iain Daniel, attempting to steal the hearts of knitters world-wide!

Blogiversary Knit Candy

To ensure lots of participation, here are a few shots of my blogiversary prizes - hand dyed gorgeousness from the Fleece Artist:

It’s the Fleece Artist’s Somoko, made of 65% Merino, 20% Kid, 10% Nylon and 5% silk. It is also – gasp! – machine washable!. The pattern on the label is for Cherry Swirl socks but I’m sure you could do a lot of other things with this sweet little skein, if you choose to accept this blog’s contest mission. Here's another picture of the colourway that is a little fuzzy but gives you a great idea of the colours offered in this little bundle of joy.


This next prize is quite unique. Who said knitting needles were just for knitting? I offer you a wearable needle!


It’s a vintage knitting needle curved into a bracelet. I believe it’s exclusively available from Gaspereau Valley Fibres, a lovely knitting store (perhaps my new LYS even though it’s 45 minutes away?) that I will blog about later this week. The bracelet itself is from Flying Dragon Designs in Canning, Nova Scotia. I was not able to find a website for Flying Dragon but will post one as soon as/if I become aware of one.

Hopefully these glimpses of knitting candy rock your world enough for you to enter my contest! See my August 24, 2007 post for details.

Make sure you head on over to Elizabeth's at The Transplanted Knitter for news on her charity of choice!

Fibreholic's First BB (Belated Blogiversary) Contest!

I think bloggers usually hosting a blogiversary contest sometime before the official date and hold the draw the day of the blogiversary. Not me, however. I have a newborn. This means that getting set up for a contest is just a wee bit more challenging (aka late). Therefore, I will be hosting my first blogiversary contest (and first contest for that matter – squee!) from now (August 24, 2007) until one week from now (August 31, 2007).

Just a few rules:

1. You do not have to answer every trivia question! Give it a whirl – peruse my blog further if you like – and send in what you have as your entry. This is supposed to be fun, not hard work!
2. I am aware that some people who peruse my blog are non-knitters. You can still join the fun! Just remember that the prizes are very knitting oriented so it would be nice if the winner was a knitter (or at least good friends with one…).
3. Please send trivia responses to the following email: fibreholic@ns.sympatico.ca. If you add your answers to my comments instead of submitting by email, I will not be able to post your comment until after the contest is over so your hard earned answers are not given away.
4. You have to be willing to share your snail mail name and address with me so that I can send you your prize. After you’ve found out you’ve won, please forward your contact information to the email address above (ensure your privacy by not posting it into my comment section!).

This is a two-part contest.

Fibreholic Trivia - Part A:

1. What types of pets do we have and what are their names?
2. From what city and province did my family just move?
3. When is my baby’s birthday?
4. What is the date of our wedding anniversary? What year?
5. What school program was I enrolled in prior to becoming pregnant and then moving?
6. What part of Canada am I from originally?
7. What type of knitting needles have been known to give me a lot of grief?

Charity - Part B:

Please write a brief description about a charity that holds a special place in your heart. I would like for you to either write about your charity of choice on your own blog (and please let me know that you’ve done so, so that I can read it too) or write about your charity in my comments. This way, your charity gets some additional ‘face time’. I am always interested in why people choose to support the charities they support and think it would be nice to share.

Please remember not to include your Part A answers in with your charity information! If you are comfortable with the idea, I’d love a story about why a particular charity is important to you. If you’re not comfortable sharing a story, the name of the charity and contact information in my comments will suffice. After the contest is over, I will make a small donation to the winner(s) charity of choice.

Have fun, Everybody and, please, let me know if any of the above is confusing and I will clarify. As incentive, I’ve picked up a couple of prizes and something by the Fleece Artist is included.

Good Luck!

Moo!

I have been hesitant to blog as I have little knitting progress to report. You can probably tell what I’ve been up to (even as I type single-handed!) by the title. I haven’t learned how to knit and wield two (or four…) pointy sticks while nursing without harming my first-born (if anyone knows the secret then, please, let me in on it) therefore knitting has become a bit of a memory. I am very much enjoying this special time and fibre only improves with age, right?

We are also very much enjoying our short time here on the East Coast. Have I yet mentioned how wonderful it is here? I love the house more every day (yes, I really should post a picture of it. Great idea. That gives me something to post about when I’m not knitting. Have I mentioned that the house has a ‘secret room’ a là Harry Potter?). It is currently raining and I love hearing the soft patter of rain drops on the patio, in the grass and on the leaves of the huge trees surrounding our property and the street in general. There’s something magical about rainfall when you’re this close to the ocean (only a 7 minute drive up over the mountain). It sounds cleansing somehow. I will have Sarah, over at Life With…, calling a moving company before the year is out!

Despite the fact that I haven’t been busy knitting or being creative in general since giving birth (and I am well aware of how creative that process was – wow!), one of our good friends was busy. Remember my sewing day friend, H? Well, here is her baby gift for Iain Daniel (incidentally, I made the cute kid seated on the quilt...any knitting blogging points for that?):


Isn’t it just gorgeous? The colours are bright and happy, just the way I like them. The fabric is awesome with a combination of fleece and a curly, furry fabric that I can’t name but which is heavenly soft.

It should wash like a dream and Iain loves it! Thanks so much from all of us, H!

I have been getting a few embroidery stitches sewn into my mystery knitting WIP. DH tells me that I shouldn’t buy anymore yarn until that project is done. It’s not really a dictatorship around here. I feel he is being perfectly reasonable when he says,

"And exactly how disappointed are you going to be if she [the recipient] has grown out of it before you’ve given it to her?"

Sigh. Logical, sequential and reasonable arguments get me every time.

I am motivated, though. I found this pattern and I want to knit a couple for Iain before winter. Therefore, the mystery WIP has to get finished. Any suggestions on a 100% worsted weight, super wash wool for a baby sleep sack?

The End Of A Relationship

I will likely have few FO’s to blog about in the near future so I’m darn well going to blog about this one. I apologise for the quality of these photos. They were taken en route to Nova Scotia from my vantage point in the back of our van. I’d take other, more artistic and stimulating pictures of these socks but I’ve…um…kind of lost them in the moving mess. I’m sure I’ll find them again. I type that with the greatest confidence. Until then, here’s FO proof:

Yes, this marks the end of my first pair of socks relationship.

It was a fun ride. I’ve learned a lot from these. For example, I learned:

• That I can use DPNs after all and
• That I’m willing to try knitting two socks at the same time but probably need more DPN and sock practice first (I want to bully those DPNs into submission before I learn another way. Don’t ask me why).

If anyone has any great sock pattern books to recommend, I’d appreciate it.

These first socks also taught me that I need to go down several needle sizes. The fabric in these socks is certainly looser than I’d prefer but, hey, they’re my first and I’m not so much of a perfectionist that I’d rip them out for a tighter weave. I did knit a gauge swatch before starting on these but my knitting loosened up as I went onto sock number two. Therefore, my second sock is a wee bit larger than sock number one (betcha couldn’t tell that from the pictures, huh? There’s something to be said for poor picture quality after all – it hides a myriad of mistakes!). I’m going to try and knit my next pair in a pair of needles more suited to socks (usually 2.25 mm’s, right?) as these were knit using 3.25 mm needles. I must have been a wee bit tense when I knit those swatches…

We have arrived to our beautiful house in Middleton, Nova Scotia and are back online! Thank goodness. It turns out that DH and I rely on the Internet quite a bit. For example, here is a sample of a typical conversation around here our first week:

DH: "Do you think the grocery store is closed yet?"
Me: "I dunno. Why don’t you call them and find out?"
DH: "I don’t have their number."
Me: "Duh. Just use ‘Canada 411’ to find it. Oh. Right. Sorry. (This said meekly) Want to walk up and see if it’s still open?"

Travelling with a newborn was fun. Well, depending on your idea of fun. We stopped every 2 hours or so so that I could nurse. Otherwise, Iain slept most of the way. I’ve decided that the only way I might get any knitting accomplished again in 2007 is to have DH drive around the block continuously with Iain and I in the back – me knitting vigorously and Iain asleep beside me.

Our trip East involved a ferry ride across the Bay of Fundy from St. John, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia. Here I am, looking exceptionally tired (because I was/am!), on Iain’s first ferry ride:

Iain had no sign of sea-sickness. Let's hope he hasn't inherited that trait from his mother. Here’s a much better picture summarising what Iain thought of the whole adventure:

A couple of people commented on our use of cloth diapers and if we were using cloth or disposable diapers for the trip East. We used disposable. Our 12 hour driving day on the Saturday was going to be bad enough without having to try and wash diapers when we got into our hotel very late that night. We are now back to the cloth diapers, however, especially after stocking up with more from our nice trip to the Valley Cloth Diaper Company for extra Fuzzibuns and Bummis covers for our pre-fold diapers yesterday. I’m sure we will still use disposable for trips but I really prefer the cloth option at home.

My blogiversary is coming up on the 21st of this month. I can’t believe what a fun journey this blogging adventure has been. I’ve met so many wonderful people through blogging and I want to let you know how much you mean to me. Get primed for a contest! I’ve never hosted one on my blog before so I’m very excited. Even if I can’t knit with a newborn, I’m hoping that, with DH’s help, I can shop for knitting with a newborn!

The Magic Of A Heel

It’s amazing how small things can give you a sense of accomplishment when you have a newborn. Let’s face it, I’m not getting a lot of knitting done. This is the result of a commitment to cloth diapers (= lots of laundry and clothes line time) and being up almost every hour for two hours at a time due to a commitment to breast feeding. My sense of accomplishment with respect to knitting this week is because I turned a heel on my second-ever-knitted-in-my-lifetime sock.

Jeez, the colours are terribly displayed in these photographs.


My parents managed to hold off on the home bug until Thursday when, much to our dismay, they decided it was time to head back East. We are greedy and are hoping to see them again at the end of the month in our new home in Nova Scotia. Over the weekend, we hosted our good friends M & S and also managed to have C over as well on Saturday night. We were ‘bad’ parents and stayed up really late chatting. Bad for us as Iain had a great sleep while we chatted and laughed and he decided it was time to eat when we were getting ready for bed at 1:15 AM. It will take us several days to recover from that! We also managed to spend this afternoon with other good friends, J & M. It's been hard saying 'adieu' to so many close and wonderful friends.

The time is quickly passing. We leave Kanata/Ottawa this week – the movers come on Tuesday to start packing and should be finished by Wednesday. After house cleaning and meeting with the lawyer on Thursday, we leave on Friday morning in our 1988 VW camper van with two adults, one infant, one Border Collie and two cats for locations East. Therefore, you will notice a gap in my blogging over the next couple of weeks as we are moving to another province and I will not have computer access for a little while. However, have no fear! Once we are connected to a computer again, I'll be back!

Happy knitting and blogging! I can’t wait to catch up with you all again soon!

PS My blogaversary is coming up in August. Guess who is moving to the land of the Fleece Artist?!?

PPS Now I’m busy trying to decide how many knitting projects one girl needs for a 2.5 day road trip…with a newborn...who is breast feeding. Perhaps I'm a little naive about the amount of knitting time I may have...Hey, a girl's gotta have dreams!

Eleven Years Ago Today...

…My father, then the rector of St. Peter’s Parish in Upper Gullies, Newfoundland, married DH and me. It’s been a wonderful eleven years. We were married on another beautiful July day, much like the temperature today in Ottawa (the thunder storm yesterday broke the humidity – hallelujah!). We celebrated our wedding in my father’s church and our reception was held in The Bungalow, Bowring Park, St. John’s – a place I remember fondly as my friend and I would go swimming at the pools there together when I visited her and her family in St. John’s. In those days, L and I used to buy ice cream from the concession at The Bungalow.

I’d get married to DH again in a heartbeat. Happy 11th Anniversary, DH!

I had hoped to post to my blog at least once a week after our baby was born. Here is post number one, post-natal. I’m going to apologise in advance for all of the news I’m missing from my other blogging friends. I think Iain has some type of device put on this computer as, if I go anywhere near it, he gets upset. To be fair to Iain, he is having one fussy period a day for about 4 – 5 hours. Other than that, his nights have been pretty good with three to four hours solid sleep in between feedings. I can deal with that! However, for the moment, it does mean I may be a bit out of the blogging loop. I miss you all dearly and will read up again each chance I get.

Iain Daniel turned one week old yesterday and, I can tell you, that the week has been filled. And not just the week, most of the 24 hours of each day! Here we are enjoying a 4:00 AM feeding.


I mentioned that my parents and my in-laws were visiting. They have been fantastic with helping out in every area around the house, allowing DH and I to concentrate on our new baby. MIL turned into the grand conductor and, together with assistance from FIL and my parents, hosted a baby shower for me two nights ago. As well as a celebration of Iain's birth, the event provided the opportunity to see some friends that we won’t likely see again before we move to Nova Scotia at the end of the month and all Iain and I had to do was show up. Iain did very well and was only a bit fussy. It was incredibly hot and humid with over 30 people in our little house. I thought everyone did very well not melting into helpless pools on the floor. And the air conditioner was on bust! We were overwhelmed with our family and friend’s generosity and it was a lovely evening.

As you ‘new first baby’ veterans can probably guess, stringing two words together right now is a challenge, let alone two pointy sticks. However, if Iain continues to snooze on DH’s arm as he is doing right now,


I might get a couple of more rows of my sock knit. That’s about as much as my addled brain can handle at the moment!

Thanks to all of you folks, as well, who offered warm wishes and welcome to our little boy. We are quite smitten with him. I just know he’s a little knitter in training!

We Have A Boy!

DH and I are proud to announce the arrival of Iain Daniel!

Iain was born on July 4, 2007 at 12:19 AM at the Ottawa General Hospital. He weighed in at a hefty 8lbs 6.2 ozs and, about, 19 inches in length. We really enjoyed sharing the experience with both sets of grandparents in attendance (well, in the waiting anxiously room type of attendance).

DH, baby and I just arrived home yesterday to a front door graced with blue balloons and flowers throughout the house! It’s so nice to have two sets of grandparents here – we’ve been spoiled with house cleaning, laundry fairies and great food.

More news to follow as we get used to this very great (and wonderful) addition to our family.

While I've Been Waiting...

...This is what I’ve been working on. It’s a pressie so I don’t want to give too much away. However, here are a couple of glimpses.


It’s amazing how much more confident I’ve become with knitting techniques since beginning this project. I started it in May 2006 (and chose a pattern a few sizes too large just in case – smart Patty!) and am clueing up the final stages now. The pattern incorporates embroidery with yarn. Luckily, I’m a bit of a veteran in that arena so the embroidery, while slow, is going well. I re-taught myself how to do a three needle cast off (I even had to go back and ‘re-enliven’ the stitches I had originally bound off) and now have more practice on the mattress stitch for sewing up seams. The embroidery has to be finished before I can sew up the sleeves and I still need to knit on a collar. Once it’s gifted and received, you will see it in all its glory!


Baby considerately waited until after Canada Day so that DH, MIL, my parents and myself could go to Parliament Hill and see some of the festivities. A family friend from Edmonton was demonstrating her silver smithing (gorgeous!) so we were able to see her and her work at the Edmonton, Alberta cultural display. After returning home for supper around 6:00 PM, we left again around 9:00 PM to find a good vantage point from which to watch the Parliament Hill fireworks. Our last Canada Day in the Nation’s Capital was quite nice.

Even nicer was the fact that, when we came home for supper, DH’s father was waiting for us as a surprise! Now all prospective grandparents are in attendance. However, I think Baby might have performance anxiety as we are STILL waiting!