First Trip to Newfoundland

Carol wondered where I’d purchased the yarn for my sister’s shawl. I purchased it at Yarn Forward but have yet to find that pesky yarn band to give you more details. I promise to do so when I find the band. Another missing in action problem due to our move. And, yes, Sarah, DH did indeed make that cheesecake. That ability was one of the reasons I married him!

Alright, alright! I’m blogging about our trip to Newfoundland! Jeesh! I’ve had many comments and as many emails about ‘when are you going to tell us about Iain’s trip to Newfoundland?’ that I cannot postpone it any longer! Actually, it's quite nice to know you care :). WARNING: This is a long one with very little - gasp!?! - knitting content. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Our trip home was, in a word, wonderful. Iain did beautifully on both his first and his second aeroplane rides. He slept during take off and for half of the trip to Newfoundland and then proceeded to chat to me for the rest of the trip, including the descent. He was fussier on the way back but not because of his ears. He was fussy because he was bored and had figured out that his movements were, essentially, restricted on an aeroplane. This is the same reason why Iain still does not like getting buckled into his car seat. The child hates having his movements restricted.

Here is a view of Iain on his first aeroplane flight.

The nice Westjet lady took the picture for me as I had my arms full.

Our trip many involved much visiting. Everyone wanted to see Iain; I was simply the chauffeur. I was home for long enough to visit with all of my siblings and their significant others, my neice and brother-in-law, and many other family members and friends.

Iain and I consider ourselves very lucky to have attended my youngest brother’s convocation to celebrate the completion of his Masters degree in Archaeology on the 19th of October. That was certainly a thrill. The nice thing about the fall convocation is that it is not as busy as the spring convocation. Therefore, my brother managed to snag enough convocation tickets for the whole family to attend. We are so proud of you, Little Brother!

Iain and I visited a friend of mine from university’s family in Torbay.

We were a little early for the visit so we drove down to Torbay Beach for a few Atlantic ocean shots. The first picture on this post is of a view from that beach as well.

Here’s Iain visiting Torbay Beach.

He desperately needed this nap so I didn’t wake him to see the waves. I believe he slept for over two solid hours during our visit that evening. The poor little nipper was some tired.

Here's a better shot of that lovely, new and larger bunny hat from Itty Bitty Hats. I SO love that book!

Mudder and Fadder have purchased my Mudder’s great-grandfather’s house in Victoria Cove, Gander Bay awhile ago. It’s a lovely spot so the four of us drove down to Victoria Cove for a couple of nights (it’s a 4 hour drive from Upper Gullies which is 20 minutes outside of St. John’s in Conception Bay South…Stop laughing, Yarnhog, I can hear you from here!). That was bliss. My parents house was very busy while we were there. Actually, it was bedlam! Fun bedlam but bedlam all the same. The trip to Gander Bay provided a bit of a retreat and also allowed us to not only visit with more friends and family but, more importantly, to get a couple of games of cards in.

Mudder and Fadder also own a cabin next door to the old house, still on historical family land, and that’s where we stayed. They will stay/live there while the old house is under renovation. Here’s Iain enjoying his time at the cabin.

Here are some shots in and around the old house.

This is a shot of a clump of dogberries on the cabin property. There is probably a more scientific name for this type of bush but we call them dogberries where I come from (Mountain Ash, I believe).

My great-great-grandfather’s house was, literally, built on a rock. It hasn’t moved since it was built – look at those straight lines!

Here’s a shot of the rock underneath it just in case you can't imagine it/don't believe me. Fadder has the whole house jacked up in preparation for a poured concrete foundation so these shots are some of the last of this rock before it is hidden from the light of day.

The view from the front door. Lucky ducks, eh?

I am so proud of my parents for taking on this project. They plan to fix it up and retire in it and this type of idea has been a dream of theirs for a long time. Mudder’s best friend and her husband are conducting a similar feat just up the road from my parents old house. We had a tour of their house and, if it’s any indication, Mudder and Fadder’s will be just gorgeous when it’s complete. I will keep you posted.

Here's Iain on our flight home. Looks like he's really suffering, doesn't he? I was so worried about him on the way over that I developed a migraine for my first two days on the island. Ouch!

My thanks to Iain Daniel who is currently asleep behind me. It is my and Iain’s very first night alone with only the pets to keep us company. DH is gone to Ottawa for meetings for a couple of days.

On the painting front, our den has its first coat of red on it! Yes, I said red. Stay tuned for more details about painted rooms, birthday socks and my yarn winder. No shortage of blogging material this month!

Thanks, Mrs. H, for my surprise! I am both surprised and very flattered! I will add that lovely award to my blog just as soon as someone tells me how to do that...

It's My Birthday!

Now, I’m not telling you that to receive any extra birthday wishes – I’ve already been spoiled. I’m telling you this because, on this day of me, one of the things I get to do is write a blog post. Hallelujah! Another great reason to get a year older! Actually, I think any day that offers you cake (in my case, double chocolate cheesecake. With Bailey’s. A là my husband. Can you say YUM?!? It’s one of the reasons why I married him. That whole ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’ is completely gender biased as far as I’m concerned) and presents is one to take note of. I doubt I’ll ever be embarrassed about my age (37 for enquiring minds) as I wouldn’t want to miss out on any cake and pressie opportunities!

Iain is currently sleeping in DH’s arms and I am typing in our very messy guest room with two of three animals, of the non-human variety, keeping me company. Checkers is on the prowl apparently. Ah, bliss!

I am going to digress from knitting a little further for another moment. One of the reasons I’ve been finding it hard to get computer time is due to the fact that we hired a painter to complete the painting we wanted done on our main floor. DH is working VERY long hours and, with the little time we have with him in the evenings and on weekends, we did not like sharing him with painting. Therefore, in a couple of weeks, we should have that aspect of moving completed and then I can concentrate on really getting the main and upper floors settled. Yeah! This is also the reason why I’m either sitting in a very messy guest room, kitchen or living room as those are the rooms holding the furniture and other assorted items from the den, bathroom and dining room.

Back to knitting. I am about to show you the FO that started me back into knitting a few falls ago.

It is Fiddlesticks Knitting’s Easy Lace Mesh Stole pattern in a gorgeous variegated Australian Merino (Made in Italy? Go figure). When I find a ball band, I will share the fibre details with you because I really enjoyed using it. I was totally entranced by the shots of colour – bright yellows, reds, oranges, purples and bright blue woven into a deep blue yarn – flowing through my fingers.

My sister, the recipient, is modelling the shawl.

Isn’t she gorgeous?

Prior to knitting this shawl, I had never tried knitting lace before. I am not exaggerating when I say that I went up to my then LYS, Yarn Forward, every single day for three weeks to get help on it. I couldn’t remember how to take back my knitting to fix mistakes and I had great difficulty learning how to both read a lace pattern and to recognise the lace pattern in knitted form so that I could identify mistakes. For my first foray back into knitting, this was a great project to get my creative juices flowing again. Thanks so much, Louise, for all of your help on that project!

My next photos are of my newest WIP – it is a sweater for Iain from a pattern in Louise Harding’s book Natural Knits for Mom’s and Babies that I had mentioned a few posts ago.

I’m using that terrific hand dyed wonder fibre from the Fleece Artist. Here’s how it’s knitting up. I’m slow and have frogged many, many stitches. Well, frogging has slowed me down and the fact that I also do things like take two naked needles out of my knitting bag and then sit there wondering where the heck my project went. There really ought to be warning label on those things when you’re a little sleep deprived.

This is only the front. I’m knitting the 12 month size but, I have to warn you, Iain weighed 17 lbs 10 ounces on Thursday. The child is four and a half months old. He only eats breast milk. Yikes! The sweater might not fit by the time I’ve finished it. I’ve already decided that I’m comfortable with that as the fibre is just so darn nice, I have a Plan B project picked out just in case. Now that’s a commitment to fibre!

To tantalise you further, I hope to blog later this week about my gorgeous new hand knit birthday socks (thanks, Mudder!) which are currently on my grateful wee feet, and my (gasp!) wonderful new ball winder (thanks, MIL and FIL!).

PS Happy 100th post, Fibreholic!

A Small Piece of Humble Pie

Dear Designer,

I must apologise. After all, you are a designer and I am, merely, a knitter. Therefore, it was completely inexcusable for me to consider making a small change to your hat pattern. It was such a small change, you see, that I never even gave it a second thought.

I still occasionally struggle with DPNs. You may remember a similar struggle yourself many stitches ago. Therefore, when I reached the part of your pattern that told me to change colour, I thought, to myself,

"Self, why not start that colour change a little earlier? After all, the stem of a real pumpkin doesn’t just start like that. The stem grows from small green spot on the very top of the pumpkin. If I changed from orange to green a little earlier on the hat, I wouldn’t have as much trouble as I would be working with 20 stitches as opposed to 9 on DPNs. Brilliant! Why didn’t the designer think of that?!?" I’m sure you did think of that, dear designer. After all, when looking down at my wee one’s head, what does starting the colour change earlier result in this looking like to you?

Apparently my general lobby for a third…ahem…breast (long story involving a newborn with his mother’s appetite…) has been answered.

I sit humbled before your superior wisdom and intellect.

Sincerely,

A Humbled Fibreholic

PS I did manage, however, to get this wee hat finished a full one and a half weeks before Halloween so that my wee one could enjoy being the epitome of cuteness (new Patty word). Yeehaw!

News Flash

I’m going home! I’ve booked a flight with Westjet from Halifax to St. John’s, departing tomorrow, Tuesday (16 October 2007), returning Thursday (25 October 2007). I am also, frankly, terrified.

I was intending on taking the camper and driving Iain, Para and I home. After three crossings from North Sydney/Port aux Basques involving various family members (parents and one brother and SIL), Mudder was not recommending that I take the ferry. In a word: seasickness. Although neither crossing was rough enough for the travellers to be afraid, they do not suffer from that embarrassing malady. I, however, really, really do. It might be difficult to care for a 3.5 month old and be…ahem…sick in a worshipping the toilets of Marine Atlantic kind of way.

I was going to try it on my own. Really I was. I have the route planned out, the van is in the garage for a tune up as I type, and I’d already decided which friends and family to visit over and back on my drive across the island. However, I weighed the 3 days worth of driving (it’s 5 hours from here to the ferry, 6 – 7 hours on the ferry on a good day, and a 12 hour drive to Upper Gullies where my parents house is located) with 3 hours of airline travel (factoring in checking in, security, boarding, the flight itself and disembarking) and flying won out. That and the fact that DH had a credit with Westjet from last fall after a small incident with him flying to Alberta and his luggage staying in Ottawa.

Why am I terrified? I am worried about Iain’s ears. DH has assured me that the pressure in Iain’s ears will eventually clear themselves naturally even if he does end up being really bothered by them. Eventually. It’s a 1.5 hour flight so I figure even I (my apologies to the other passengers) can deal with 1.5 hours of screaming if I have to. However, I still worry. I have chosen Tuesday to Thursday flights in hopes that I will get some space in the seats to ourselves. Worrying is just the prerogative of a mother, I suppose.

My more immediate worry today, however, is that I still need to pack!

If you do not here from me for a couple of weeks, you now know why. Here’s a little glimpse into a typical day to tide you over until we get back. No, n’ar accent on me at’all! I apologize for the 'side viewing'. I changed the orientation on my system but, for some reason, it downloads sideways in Blogger. I might get a chance to fix it when DH comes home...

And, in knitting news, my FIL (father-in-law) facilitated me getting my mystery FO in the mail yesterday. Hurrah! I will provide more details and photos when the recipient receives it. It turns out that I had two mystery WIPs on the go – who knew? – and I will also blog about that when I get back to NS as I’m hand delivering that one when I get home. Iain’s wee pumpkin hat is also on the needles and is quickly knitting up whenever I get the chance to actually knit.

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…