First Sock

Voila! The beginnings of my first sock.

This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Mixed Berry. Such pretty colors! I've never knit with anything so small before. The yarn is fingering weight, and the itsy bitsy bamboo needles are size 2.25mm. They feel like they are going to snap in my hands! I'm not very far yet, but am finding socks are a great project when you have kids and have to keep setting it down!

No baby from Connie and Kevin yet. Connie's due date was on Saturday, and I can barely contain my excitement for this baby to arrive! I think Connie is pretty ready too, she's had enough, and is feeling really uncomfortable. I'll keep you posted and let you know as soon as there is news! I have to go get fitted for my bridesmaid dress now, unfortunately I've gained a few since I ordered it, so hopefully it won't need too many alterations! See ya!

Just a quick post....

I have noticed in my time browsing blogs on the internet that many people have made the Mason Dixon Baby Kimono, but nobody has actually ever seen a baby in it. Well all that is about to change as I present to you my nephew Gage, who is actually wearing the sweater.



Yes, he has almost grown out of it and he is only 9lbs. Next time I will have to add some extra rows to the arms, Robin tells me she can barely get his little hands through the sleeves, the rest doesn't fit to badly.

Not too bad for my first baby sweater, eh?

Harrison Hot Springs

We had such a great weekend. After a very hectic week full of preparations for our vacation, we finally arrived in Harrison Hot Springs for a relaxing long weekend. I've never been there before and enjoyed every minute of it. We rented little cabins on the lake, and spent most of our time on the beach, playing in the sand and water. I couldn't ask for a nicer get away. And the weather was awesome! When we arrived in Harrison, the sun was out, and it was hot, so the first thing the kids wanted to do was jump in the pool...



According to Aidan, it was FREEZING, but of course kids can't feel the cold, so Maeghan and Owen were happy as clams!

Then, not an hour later, the weather was like this....



What is it about Maeghan eating yogurt in the rain? I seem to recall another post referring to the same thing!

Over the weekend we perfected the art of baby monitors again...we were a little rusty, not using ours at all anymore...but once the kids were in bed in all the separate cabins, out came all the baby monitors, and the drinks, and the parents enjoyed some down time outside. The kids slept pretty well while we were there, thank goodness, and this is what we returned to after a particularly enjoyable evening.



Relaxing on the beach was definately the best part of our days, Aidan was the head hot-tub builder for the kids...



Of course, the best part of building a sand hot-tub is breaking it afterwards and watching all of the water woosh out.

Harrison Hot Springs really goes all out for Canada Day, and we had a fantastic time dancing in the streets with Grandpa to live music.



The kids just wanted to keep on Congo-ing, long after Grandpa dropped off the Congo line and I had to go chasing after them so I wouldn't lose them in the throng of people. Maeghan could have danced all night. We managed to tear her away just in time to get back to our beach, set up chairs and watch a fabulous fireworks display. It was a great end to the night.

Now we are home, back to reality, lot's of laundry, cleaning, and unfortunately...ants. They have swarmed our front walk, and I'm scared they are going to start coming in the house, so I've laid out tons of traps, hopefully that will do it. Hope you also had a great long-weekend, I can't wait for the next one...somebody's getting married!!!!

Happy Birthday To Me (la lala la la la)

(lala la la la la la) Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Yipee!!! It has arrived. I went today to pick up my new Namaste Messenger Bag.





She's lovely, isn't she! (The color isn't quite accurate because I had to use the flash, but pretty close).) I had originally wanted the chocolate brown one, but there was none in the order at Urban Yarns, and I would have to wait until July/Aug for the next order, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to get it then either...so I got the next best color...cranberry (or cabernet as the store called it...I kinda like the name cabernet better so I think that is what I'm going to call it!). I love the fabric on the inside...it is so vibrant...it makes me happy just looking at it! The outside of the bag is a soft cordurey (looks almost suede in the photo, but it's not!) The bag is larger then I thought it was going to be, which is strange, because I saw my friend Julia's bag in person. And it needs to be worked in a little bit (it feels a little stiff and boxy), but once it get's broken in, it will be perfect.

I also got this:



My first sock yarn! Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the color Mixed Berry. Now I just have to learn how to knit socks. I also bought the teeniest, tinyest little bamboo double pointed needles to make them with, I hope I don't lose them!

There's my excitement for the day! I'm ready for you now Charmaine!!!

Rrrrrrriiip!

That was the sound of my Rusted Root late last night.

Before



After:



I tried it on when I got to around 2 1/2 " past the armpitts, and I just wasn't happy. It seemed a little on the big side, and I've heard that cotton yarn has a lot of ease, so it would probably stretch out even more. Also, there were a couple spots on the back where my yarn joins were kinda sloppy, and you could really see them. That taught me, join new yarn under the arms where it is less visible.

I like the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece as a yarn and fabric, however, I'm not impressed by the number of knotted yarn joins in just one skein. There were three, and of course I didn't notice them till it was too late, and rather than frog back a bit to place the join under the arm, (which I was afraid to do because of the lace section - I have a hard time figuring out where and what the stitches were in that section) I cut the knots off and joined again right where I happened to be leaving a noticable weird spot. Anyways, I will start it again, probably in a couple weeks because I really must get the secret projects finished first. I also have yarn ready to go for Ms. Marigold



which will be my next project after Rusted Root. Boy, I have all this stuff lined up to do, and no time to do it in! I have to blame Facebook...I am embarressed to say that I have become addicted to it...and I'm sure that once I get my Ravelry invite, that will be another huge problem for me as well. Well, I'd better get out of blogland and go work on some stuff or I'll never have a FO to show!

We had a busy week as usual. My mom was here for a visit, she came down to meet her new grandson, and for Melissa's bridal shower. We had a lot of fun at the shower. Melissa was a good sport, even though I know deep down she hated the bubble gum game!




She looked absolutely gorgeous, as usual!

Aidan celebrated his birthday last week, I feel bad because it was in the middle of a crazy week, and we didn't do nearly enough for him. I will have to take him out on a date to make up for it!



Other than that, not too much is happening around here. I have a day off to myself today, I'm going to try not to do to much, and just relax and work on some of my projects. I have to go over to the hospital later today to get a CT scan done of my back, hopefully that appointment won't take too long. Hopefully the next post will include some FO's!!!

Great Weekend!

I celebrated my "28th" birthday a couple of weeks ago. I was spoiled rotten, as usual, and spent the evening with my family. I received a few really great gifts...magazine subscriptions, books, clothing......but the best gift of all was a Namaste Messenger bag (scroll down to see the Messenger Bag). I have both the chocolate and mauve bags on order so I can pick which one I like better in person. I haven't received it yet as it is on order, but I'm really excited about it and will post actual pictures as soon as I get it!



We had a really great weekend. Saturday we threw a "Welcome to the World Baby Gage" BBQ, and had a great time! He is one cute baby! The weather was gorgeous and is was really nice to hang out on the deck in the hot sun with a cold beverage in one hand and a tiny little baby in the other!

On Sunday we took the kids to the Coquitlam River celebration at a park near our house. The kids got to release salmon into the river which they really enjoyed, and they kept running back to refill their little baggies of fish. I swear they are responsible for the re-population of salmon in the Coquitlam River!





The release wasn't always that gentle as excitement took over and the fish went on a wild ride from baggie to water!



It was really hot out, so we stopped for some ice cream, which really hit the spot.



Maeghan got her face painted...which oddly enough, the woman used crayola washable markers to paint it. I thought that was kinda weird. Especially on a hot day when sweat causes it all to run. Here is a shot of it before the running began...



A Panda Bear! And while Maeghan was getting her face done, Owen and a friend of his were taking drum lessons.



They were right into it, and pretty good at keeping a beat too!

I have been working steadily on a few secret projects, but I do have some progress on my Rusted Root that I can show you.



I'm a couple inches below the armpits right now. I tried it on and so far it fits! I've been working on it much slower than I would like, but hopefully I'll have time to really work on it again soon.

My goal this summer is to get Charmaine to teach me how to knit socks. I can already picture it in my head, the two of us sitting at the beach knitting socks while the kids drown each other in the lake. It will be magical! Hehehe. The yarn store where my Namaste bag is on order is really nice, and Aidan told me that I could buy some yarn when I go pick up my bag as part of my birthday gift, so I'm going to get some sock yarn and needles, then I'll be all ready for when Charmaine gets here! I can't wait!