Tired? You can say that again.

My first day back at work and I have realized one thing while I was on holidays. I can't ever retire. EVER. I really missed being at work while I was on holidays. Not that I really love what I do, but that I just love the whole idea of going to work. Seriously. I love going to work. I love the process, I love the ritual, everything. I think the best part of my day is getting up in the morning (minus the trying to decode all the putting together of a fabulous outfit), the commute (all of about 5 minutes) and especially getting my first morning cup of coffee and enjoying it while reading all my new emails (generally spam). I am in love with the ritual of it all. I have been assured by my family (who looked at me as if I was nuts when I mentioned this feeling of mine) that this too shall pass and that one day I will wake up, hate the idea of going to work daily and spiral into that bottomless void that is made up of all the days that you work until you get to those few (and hard earned) vacation days per year. I hope not. And, frankly, what a horrible thought. I will just have to wait and see I suppose. I will certainly let you know once I get there.


Ok, onto bigger and brighter things... I have been a poor updater - so I am pledging to be better at letting everyone know what I am working on. I still have not finished my smock stitch scarf for mumsy. I thought I would have finished it by now, but given the new carpets, construction, and vacation depression, I have not gotten any closer to a FO. I have (in true ADD and jumping on the bandwagon fashion) started a pair of Fetching(s) and I lurve them. They are so soft and snuggly and done in the most luscious olive/gold color of Malabrigo called Jaen.

I think that these will go well with a cup of hot coco on the back deck in the fall while watching the leaves turn and the sun rise. Very romantic eh? I actually think that these will come in very handy on those days that I need to make the three hour drive to our head office in the middle of winter. A cup of Tim Hortons coffee in one hand and a bagel in the other. Very functional.

Also, this weekend is our first anniversary for hubby & me. Yuppers. One year since we were married. I can't believe that a year has come and gone so fast already. And, in true hubby fashion, he has booked us at the same place that we spent our wedding night at. Isn't he great? I think I will keep him.

Last, but not least, I start my first toe up sock class at Make One tomorrow. Very excited. Bunny helped me wind a ball of Lorna's Laces in the Hawaii colorway so that I would be all ready for class. I will post progress pics as soon as there are some. Also, I will leave you with a photo from the weekend. We all went to Global Fest on the weekend to watch the finale of the fireworks competition. It was wonderful and Bunny loved it. Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start. Doesn't Bunny look happy. Personally I think that it was because she got to stay up until 10:00pm (which is a lot later than her actual bed time).

Renovations. Period.

Ok, so, for those simply interested in knitting, please note, the knitting content will return soon. I promise.

For those wondering what's happening on the home front, boy do I have news for you. This is not what I had planned to be doing on a Sunday afternoon, the day after my BIL's wedding. However, what I planned to do and what I ended up doing are two completely different things.

Maybe I should start from the beginning. Yesterday, the in-laws came over for a visit. They actually came to see the new house. So after giving them the grand walking tour, I casually mentioned that the flooring guys were coming this week (side note: Yahoo!!!) and that we were thinking about taking out the ugly old 80's style banister in our living room before they came, but hadn't really gotten up the chutzpah to take out the railing. To make a long story short, the railing came out. This is what ensued:

Here we are contemplating the railing and then cutting it with the saw.

There it goes...

...and then it's gone.

Ok, so as if that wasn't shocking enough, we then discovered that a section of sub floor needed to be replaced. So, that came up too. Once we pulled up the sub floor, we discovered that it was right above the only portion of unfinished basement in the house.

So, now that we have a plan (and we do have a plan), Terry can start to work on it. He is really excited. I think that once it is finished, it will be amazing. The rough idea is that there will be a small sort-of-wall with three open spaces inside it that will be able to hold a vase, bowl or some sort of other decorative object. He also wants to put some lights in it at the top of each square so that the objects will have a spot light. Et Voila... art! Neat huh?

Oh and the best news of all?" The carpets come tomorrow!! The carpets come tomorrow!! The carpets come tomorrow!!! I am so happy, I could practically wet myself! But I won't. There is enough pee in these carpets already. I can't wait to get them out of here and have a house that doesn't smell like funk all the time. I will keep all up to date on the process of the carpet installation, the wall building and the overall renovations. Oh, and knitting will return sometime soon. I promise.

Here we are...

Ok, so we are out in Invermere on holidays and the unthinkable has happened. I have run out of projects. To be totally honest, I have run out of UFO's. I really didn't think that I would have so much time on my hands and so I only brought two UFO's -- my Mom's smock stitch scarf and Bunny's felted clogs. They are both done and have turned out so nicely.

Patterns: Fiber Trends Felted Clogs -- Children
Yarn: Miss Piggy
Yarn Source: Make One Yarn Studio
Needles: US size 13 (9mm)
UnfeltedGauge: 9st/4 inch over stockinette stitch
Felted Gauge: 12st/4 inch
Modifications: None

I really enjoyed making the felted clogs. They were a quick knit and easy to do. I think that they took all of about 4 hours total to make, including the felting. And, they will be super warm for Bunny this winter. She was so happy that she got to pick out the yarn and helped to felt them as well.

I will be able to put up some pics of the scarf later in the week since I also forgot to bring a crochet hook so that I could add the fringe. I am at a loss today as to what to knit next. I have the yarn and needles to make the Jaywalker socks, but I am having trouble with figuring out what size to knit. I think that given the fact that my calves are fairly um... shapely and my feet are quite narrow, I will need to knit the leg with size 0 needles and knit the foot with size 1's. That way they will fit right. Here's hoping anyway.

So, I am still without a project. No socks, no Fetchings because Mom wants a hat with the leftover yarn I was going to use to knit them and nothing else. I really needed to bring some more yarn, but honestly, when I set out, it really did seem as though I had more than I could ever knit in the week.

I am also a little sad today as this is the last day we have here at the cabin. We Albertan's are so lucky to live both so close to the mountains and some great Canadian lakes as well. Granted, they are nothing like the beaches that you see from destinations around the world, such as Hawaii, but the hiking and mountain biking here is second to none. So far on this vacation, we have hiked to a waterfall (Bunny is just 4 and she hiked the whole 5k!), been to the beach, been mini golfing, and today we are planning to go go-karting. This will be Bunny's first time go-karting so I think it will be well worth the inflated prices that these places always charge.

I am also a little happy today given the fact that when we get home the carpets are scheduled to get ripped out and the new ones will be going in. And shortly after that, the hardwood will be going in and then, I think that Bunny's cough and drippy nose will clear right up. Which, as far as I am concerned is the best justification for the high cost of having all the new stuff put in. The added bonus is the fact that they were so disgusting before and now we will have clean carpet, free from stains. I am also super excited to see how the new commercial carpet will be. Doesn't that say something about how old one is when they get excited about carpet?? Jeez.

Oh, I did forget to mention something else exciting... I am taking two new classes within the next few weeks. On August 30, I am taking a toe up sock class at Make One and on Sept 9, I am taking an intermediate spinning class at Shuttleworks. I am really looking forward to the toe up sock class as I am hoping that it will help me perfect my short row shaping and, I will be able to master the provisional cast on as I did spend a day trying to learn it and got fed up with it. As well, the spinning class will be fun as we will be learning how to spin knot yarns and boucle and what not. I am really glad that I don't have to teach myself to spin boucle. I will however, be spending the next (and last) week of my holidays working on my spinning technique so that I am ready for the class. I was planning on working on my UFO's, but since those are mostly done, I guess that I will just have to start some new projects. I do have some ideas for a new wrap/scarf and for a new vest, I just need to find the materials.

Sweet Georgia....

Yarn!!! Sigh... My first purchase of this fantastic yarn from Vancouver. I can't believe that I was able to get my hands of this fantastic stuff. Can you believe that I had nver even heard of this yarn until Make One Yarn studio opened here in Calgary? And, it is better than imagined.

It's not only softer than buttah, the colors are so rich and vibrant. In short, Sweet Georgia Yarn is the bombdiggity and I lurve it!


Oh, and the house is coming along nicely. We have almost finished setting up the kitchen and yesterday, I not only bought new kitchen accessories in greens & beiges, but I also cooked our very first dinner in the new house. Not a super gourmet meal, but it was nice to eat something not deep fried or sandwiched between a bun with catsup on it.

Want to see a picture?? Nice eh? Loving it.

We are still waiting on flooring, but hopefully that won't be too far off. I can't wait to get that in so that we can start decorating. We leave on holidays tomorrow and are gone until the 18th. It will be so nice to have some time off of work and finally get some f/o's up here. It feels like seriously forever since I have had anything to take pictures of. I am, however, super close to finishing the baby blanket that I have been working on forever. What is it about big projects like that? They are never ending.

I am also very stuck on the tunic top I am designing. I need to sit down all by me onesies and think on the sleeve decreases. I know I need to go from 40 st to 19 on the sleeve caps, but how to do it? Maybe I will have some inspiration once my life slows down a bit and I have some time to reflect on everything. Sounds deep doesn't it?

Otherwise, wish me a happy vacation and look forward to some f/o's once I return.

Design Disaster Averted

All thanks to Amy. Seriously. I am sad to be done though. I will really miss the design class. On the flip side though, I am somewhat close to being done and I learned a lot over the last six (yes, six -- although it really feels like three) weeks. I learned the right way tonight to pick up stitches and even more importantly, I learned that it really is important to pick up the right ammount the first time. Rather than pick up the wrong ammount, fudge it, and end up with a huge, glaring error. So, the sweater (yes. Its a sweater) is coming along well... now. I can't wait to be done and post some pics!!

And, because I was so upset at all the frogging that I had to do tonight, I bought some sock yarn. Yarn therapy. Actually, I bought some sock yarn and Mo bought some sock yarn. Nice hey? Good friends are hard to find and I am super lucky to have so many.

Wanna see my new sock yarn?
It makes me happy just looking at it. Yarn therapy indeed. There are two skeins of Lorna's Laces sock yarn in Hawaii and two in River. I am so smitten with these colors. See all the purple? Yeah, I used to have a problem with purple -- it just doesn't seem very much like a grown up color, but since everyone says that it is very much a grown up color, I think that I am becoming ok with it. It looks grown up, right? Right? Oh, and check out the new stitch markers that I got... They are way cool.


And, I finally got the movie that I had ordered a month ago! I know most of you have no idea what the heck this movie is, but I Lurve it. I watched this movie so many times as a kid and I used to be able to sing all of the songs (yes, it has songs). But its just such a wholesome kids movie and it has such a great story line, that if the Bunny doesn't love it, I think I really will be sad. I can't wait to show it to her tomorrow night. I am going to pop some popcorn, pick up my knitting and finish my tunic while I show her one of the greatest kids movies on Earth. I can't wait! Having kids is so great!