Home with a sick boy

The little monkey is sick again! He had a high fever last night which seems to be better now but he still has a nasty runny nose and cough. Poor thing. He is supposedly napping now but I can hear the sound of hot wheels coming under his door. I really hope he naps! If he does, I think I will follow Sensei's lead and organize my stash a bit. I don't have tones of wool but I can't seem to find what I want when I want it so a new system is in definitely in order.

As for projects I finished my toddler cardigan. It is very cute with the buttons we picked up in Toronto. As you can see it is still a couple sizes too big but should be just about right for the fall. I have started a BSJ and a Strickwear shawl both works in progress and I am still working away on the same sock from a few months ago. I finally felt like picking it up once the weather got warm enough for sandals. Very strange but I will go with it. Earlier this week I even managed to take it outside and enjoyed some sunshine between thunderstorms.

I seem to want to do everything at once these days. I am finding it very difficult to focus long enough to actually finish anything but I am having lots of fun starting things. Must be spring fever. My cats are sensing something too. We have had three great escapes this week by out oldest cat. She is an indoor cat who longs to be free until she actually gets outside then she has no idea what to do. Imagine how weird it must feel to walk on grass for the first time! The first time she got out she took 2 steps on the grass and froze! I have resorted to a spray bottle of water by the door. At the very least she will be clean.

Getting into the swing of things

It has been about 4 weeks now since Grasshopper kindly shared her knowledge of crocheting with me. Seeing photos of amigurumis, especially those in Creepy Cute, absolutely drew me to this craft. I am ever so slowly starting to get into the swing of things, having borrowed several basic crochet stitch books from the library, and made several trips to Wool Time and Walmart to purchase my basic tools. I can say that I have mastered the single crochet (whoopee!) and crocheting in the round. This sounds simple to some, yet for over-analyzers like me, I first must understand every single thing about what I'm doing (and why!) before I can really get going. I now have 2 sides to 2 amigurumi cats completed. All I have to do now are the legs and arms, and then attaching the sides and limbs, and finally putting on the eyes and whiskers. I'm almost there, and I can't wait to finish my first project before moving onto the Babette Blanket from Ravelry, a pattern that Grasshopper and I downloaded last week. I'm afraid it may take me awhile to choose my colours for this blanket as there are 12 or 16, however I'm looking forward to this project despite Grasshopper's belief that it is too big a challenge for a rookie hooker.
Well, after over-indulging at a work lunch today, I don't have to make supper (I told you I had a big appetitie Grasshopper :o) ). Thus, more time for crocheting. So here I go, and I will be posting pictures of my first projects, the amigurumi cats, very soon.

You're a woman now

I thought my mother didn't follow many Chinese traditions. Ha! She was saving them up for my wedding day. In Chinese tradition the groom's family pays for the wedding, not the bride's. As well, there are a certain number of gifts they are supposed to bring, I can't remember, 9, 14, 200? Who knows. Anyway, Hon had to fulfill them all.

Hon had to bring certain pastries and a whole roast pig. When the pig came into the house, my matron of honour hugged me and told me I was a woman now.

Hon and his bridal team also had to bargain for entry into the house. I have no idea what my parents, neighbours all thought of this. My matron of honour and my bridesmaids got $100 cash and a credit card out of him. For some reason unknown to anyone under 45 I had to hide in my mom's closet and Hon had to look for me.

I can't remember at what point in the day my mother hugged me and said that I belonged to the "Wingnuts" now. (All names have been changed to protect the identities of the parties involved, though the childrens' names are ones Hon actually wanted to give them).

I had to go back to Dorothy's blog to see why I was even writing about this. http://missouristar.typepad.com/missouri_star/ Dorothy had blogged about how her dog is a woman now (in her first heat and wearing doggy diapers. My kids thought the diaper was hilarious. I tried to explain to Elinor (thing 1) about Maggie the dog being in heat and having a period, but got bogged down in the explanation and I don't even think I was on the right path.

Knitting content - A baby surprise jacket in the humungo cake of Sophie's Toes is calling me. I don't know how to add the link from Etsy, but the dyer is named Emily Parson and this is her blog address: http://whatsthatgonnabe.blogspot.com/. Emily is very sweet and fabulous with colours. She has knit a darling BSJ which I will attempt to emulate.

The adult Tulip has been neglected of late. Oh well, must go organize the sock yarn stash so the SIL has room to sleep next month. I'm thinking of catalogueing it all, but this may be too scary...

Oh yes, I may be going back to the mall tonight and getting the "too teenage" dress to wear to Calliope's music recital.

Woe is me

To continue cleaning or knit on Cashmersins (turquoise cashmere/merino from Posh in the Loksins pattern) while watching season finale of Greys Anatomy? Hmmm...

How the Dojo got its name

A while back Sensei and I enrolled in a Traditional Fair Isle class together through our local wool store. The class was a full day and on our lunch break we walked over to the pizza place just around the corner. We chatted a bit with the guys there and suggested that they drop off some flyers at the store because the ladies there didn’t think there was anywhere nearby to get lunch, recommending bagged lunches instead. The men at the counter gave us the strangest look and asked “Are you at the dojo?” We look nothing at all like martial artists!!! We just smiled and said no we were at the wool shop taking a knitting class. The men still looked pretty confused but let it drop. We returned pizza in hand and told the story to many giggles. Thus, the Knitting Dojo was born!

Voman of your age!

What an astounding shopping event!

Having been informed this morning that I was to attend a dinner banquet in 7 hours I rushed to the mall after work to buy a dress. I hummed and hawed through 3 choices. One was black 50's cut Betty and Veronica v neck with pouffy skirt and gold lace overlay, the 2nd was black with small white polkadots with an empire waist and small pouffy sleeves and the 3rd was a black shift with white trim. I bought the shift and rushed to pick up Calliope and got to the daycare at exactly 5:30 by cutting through the farm.

After trading her at home for Cornelius and dropping him off at soccer I tried on the shift and thought I looked too bulgy and went back for the empire waist later with Hon. I bought the empire waist and was wearing it in preparation for the dinner and was about to return the shift when the manager caught me!

No, that dress is too teenage! That is NOT for voman of your age! The other dress is more elegant and sophisticated! You must listen to me! Try the other dress on again! You look more sleem in this dress. After bullying me into keeping the shift she advised my husband to get more involved!

Hon and I scampered off to dinner and had a lovely time stuffing our faces. I felt like telling the people who asked where I worked that due to privacy and confidentiality concerns I couldn't admit to contacting or not contacting them, but on behalf of my organization, if they had been contacted, I would like to thank them for their co-operation, but I didn't.

I met a lovely woman who knows which organization her husband works for, but doesn't know where his office is or which section he works in or what his job is and doesn't even know his exact location right now. Come to think of it, this description could fit me except Hon is in bed right now where I should be as well.

Knitter's Frolic

Sensei was most triumphant in stash enhancement.

Serendipity was achieved after viewing Paula's http://hiredhands.ca/ Strickwear scarf at a guild meeting. Sensei is now possessor of Strickwear http://www.strickwear.com/! If I can handle all the little balls of colour and combine them properly without getting too tangled the Arioso scarf could be next.

I was exceedingly happy to find a sock pattern booklet I have been looking for for years! The book is produced by Reynolds and has patterns by Mona Schmidt and Veronik Avery. Purchased at, I believe, the Busy Hands from Ann Arbour, Michigan booth.

I also succombed to a kit for the Adult Tulip sweater in jewel toned Dream in Colour. I'm about to cast on the 3rd colour in the sequence.

Unfortunately, I had startitis and envyitis and cast on Loksins with some Posh yarn in my stash today. Viewing other people's blogs only increases my project polygamy.

I spoke to a mathematician yesterday who admired my green Retro Cardigan and asked if I had someone knit it for me. He compared a play structure to a moebius and was impressed that I had the ability to knit a Klein bottle hat! So much serendipity. I just took the Klein bottle hat class with Debbie New at the Frolic! Here is a pattern and picture of a different version: http://knitty.com/issuesummer06/PATTkleinbottle.html

There were 60 booths at the Frolic filled with yarn, patterns and gadgets. I must remember next time to go to RedBird Knits first. She had lots of sale sock yarn, but I didn't twig to this until after lunch. I bought one skein of CTH sportweight in berry colours.

Also to remember for next time. Do NOT buy Grab and Go breakfast at the Plaza hotel! It cost almost $11 for a bagel, a yogurt and a coffee. Niche on Queen Street provided a yummy lunch. Spicy chili and delicious grilled cornbread. The Queen Mother on King? Street near John Street was a lovely dinner spot with lots of entertaining courting action going on. The Res. Inn on Wellington was, as always, a great spot to sleep and have free breakfast.

Mokuba provided lots of ribbon eye candy and Macfabs had lots of Amy Butler fabric. Speaking of Amy Butler I also bought an A.B. pattern for 24" high ottomans. Hopefully I can teach Elinor (Thing 1) to sew soon and she can use up some of my fabric stash.

Calliope (Thing 3) has to go to bed so will post more another time. Grasshopper, do you have anything to add?