Thanksgiving already!?

I don't know where the time goes anymore, somewhere between being a mom, working full time, going to school and, well, just trying to keep my sanity I seem to look up and another month has gone by.

I did do the canning I wanted. All in all I got 10 pints of salsa, 15 pints of jams and marmalade (strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, raspberry and lemon ginger zucchini) and 13 pints of mustard pickles.

Next year I might try to do pickled beets too, if my garden cooperates and we don't eat them all (we love beets).

I've also gotten halfway through school, just finishing my midterm and now.. it's thanksgiving.

It's going to be a small one, too many people in the family are busy too and too much has happened lately to get everyone together so I've bought a ham. Mmm.

Of course where does this leave my knitting? In the sinker. I've picked up the needles only a few times in months, so of course nothing is getting done but this weekend I plan to knit! Around other things of course, but I will have time to do so! I'm almost finished my Sunday Socks, I have a few rows and to sew in the ends and they are done! Which means I should pick something else to finish.

The weather we've had lately makes me think I should do one of two things. Finish my Mr Greenjeans and/or my Fiddlehead mittens, so that's the plan I think.

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!

So how much of a flibbertigibbet am I?

Quite a bit of one it seems.

I've barely been online, life is so busy. And to imagine I used to be an internet addict, it's so far from how I am now it's amazing! Not that I don't keep connected and up to date but I don't have time to sit for hours on end online anymore.

And today is just such a rainy day, so I can't get into the garden to do what I need to do (the garden isn't in yet.. it's almost July!! It's like the universe is saying, not this year, between the busy and the rain the stars don't align for me to plant or to even weed.)

Knitting is getting done, slow but sure, on my Silver Birches shawl, but I also have plans for items to be sewn. I want to try and make the quilts from PS I Quilt that she has quilt-a-longs for. I also have plans to make some items in other ways. Plus I've even started a new blog! Daytrippin' Around (the other names I liked were taken already though they seem to be dead.. so annoying when that happens).

And with all those things I want to do.. I am still sitting here updating my blogs lol. Maybe I'm not so much changed as I thought I was. Or at least for now it's a slip into old habits but soon I will be moving and doing my thing. I hope the rain stops so I can get something in my garden and grown!

Hunkering down..

It's winter, storms are inevitable no matter how we might hope that the Chinook will blow through right until spring keeping it around a nice and toasty 0 with hardly any snow (at least on the roads!).

Well that luck ran out today with the storm that blew in, snow started flying before lunch while we were at swimming lessons and just seemed to get worse as the day went on. Thankfully not as bad as some of the places that have been hit lately, but still blowing around and making roads treacherous while I ran errands. Nearly froze my fingers getting bottles out of the car at the recycling depot, which is a reminder to wear your mittens! Might not be that cold but the wind chill can really mess with that!

Once the errands were done for the day, I settled in and made a big pot of hamburger soup (that seems to be our main cold comfort food, or at least one of them, the recipe came from my Nana) and now that the soup has been eaten and supper dishes put away it's time for a bit more hunkering down.

A movie night in with a friend (Easy A) is the plan, a big bowl of highly buttered popcorn and a large mug of tea and my knitting and probably her embroidery (I'm easing her into the knitting and picked up some of my old cross-stitch also).

What's on the needles?

Well, as always a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I finally finished the outer layer of the Fiddlehead mittens and now that they have been blocked I can do the lining. I've also got to finish my Mr Greenjeans, the multiple pairs of socks and the two shawls on the needles. That's my resolution btw. Finish a sweater for myself and finish as many projects on the needles as I can without starting too many new ones. I have plenty of variety started for my Flibbertigibbet ways, travel size and less so also, so it shouldn't be too hard to do.

Putting a tired Velociraptor to bed and then to settle in for a nice evening.

Books + Knitting = ???

You know.. I think it says something about myself and what books I prefer to read when the first thing I think about when I hear of an Edward Amigurumi is not Twilight but Anita Blake.

I'm just not sure what it says about me..

(I've tried to read Twilight, just doesn't do a thing for me. If I want angsty vampires I prefer Annette Curtis Klause, Amelia Atwater-rhodes or LJ Smith. I actually stopped reading Anita Blake awhile ago, but THAT is the first Edward to come to mind.)

Claire Needs..

I stole this from Dana, google your first name with needs after and make note of the top ten things you need.

I need:

1. a Visit to the Bunny Planet
2. private support
3. Drake
4. shows on MySpace Music
5. help
6. an intern
7. a lake
8. booze to kiss
9. a boyfriend
10. our prayers

We already knew about number nine, I wonder where the bunny planet is and why I would need to go there and most of all why I would need booze to kiss. Really, who wants to kiss booze?

I actual knitting content, Mr Greenjeans is coming along nicely. I think I may need more yarn, but I'm not sure. I'm using a thicker yarn, so I may not.. then again since I will need to add to the sleeves I probably will. So I have to hunt some down.

Oh, and we have windows again. The house is still not put back together, but it is MUCH cozier inside. I no longer have to wear knitted socks AND slippers. The floor is only slightly cool now (pleasantly cool), instead of a glacier.

Spring?

I had thought spring had arrived.

I bought pansies and marigolds, I overseeded my lawn, I even washed the side of my house down (amazing how siding gets really dirty and all it does is stay there vertically in the weather.. you'd think it would be a little less dirty..).

That was Sunday, today is this..



Which despite having lots of things on the needles makes me want to grab a ball of my Rowan Cashsoft and make it into a pair of fingerless gloves (maybe another pair of Fetching, it's simple and cute as well as cozy). Do you think I can knit up a pair quick enough to be ready for tomorrow?

We can see..

In yarn news, I have been drooling over the look of this stuff ever since I saw someone showing it to someone else at stitch n bitch one night. I should wander over to the store that carries it here and check it out, I've never been there anyway though I know where it is. Maybe once the weather warms up again I will simply because it's a little hike from the nearest train station.

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Yes, today is officially St Patrick’s day (the church will rearrange it if its usual date falls during Holy Week as it does this year).

I have been buuusy, but not much knitting happening. What has been happening?

Well, practicing driving for one (a couple more months and I can take the driver’s test!) as well as various spring cleaning things and organizing (slowly). I still can’t get things for my shelves to hold them up, because the guy at the hardware store lied to my Mom about them having them and ordering them in. So I may just go buy a new shelf for my yarn and stuff because it is all over the place right now (I had taken out my old system in anticipation of being able to easily and quickly put up shelves.. so now yarn is scattered in bins around my room, along with the books and such.. this was weeks ago) and keep trying to find what I need to set up my old shelves and use them in the basement for organizing there. The old shelves are the sort meant for use in a garage or basement anyway.

Ah well, it’s a Saturday and I’ll figure this stuff out.

Actual knitting content, the finished socks for my best friend:



Which have already been appropriated by her mother, so I’ll have to make another pair in a bit. 

The Wasonga sock yarn project:



Garter Toes, which is knitting up nicely. It looks skinny, but be assured that it stretches, and since my feet are size 10W that’s very good. Knitting toe up like this is easier than I thought too, I was able to start with magic loop instead of doing what I had done with the previous pair top down (start on DPNs and switch to magic loop). You probably can do it top down without doing what I did, but it seems haaaaaard. ;)

I’ve also started the knit Easter eggs, or one of them.. I hope to get two done (maybe) before next Sunday, because I wanted to put them in Velociraptor’s basket. It sorta snuck up on me it seems.
And just for kicks, a meme grabbed from someone on my blog list (I forget who now)

Things I love more than a throat punch today.
Coffee and porridge for breakfast (good porridge, the kind that sticks to your innards, made with steel cut oats)
New books at the library
Hugs from my son
Stuff to keep me busy
A mostly sunny day

How I'm spending my Saturday..

Well, since I had to be up and out to do stuff this morning, when I came home after lunch I immediately changed into my lounging clothes and go to work on these socks.



I'm probably meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow, and these are her (late) birthday present. At least I'm on the toes so I just need to finish the decreases and kitchener it together.

While I'm working on those I am watching a movie, see?



One of my favourites (bonus because it is based on Taming of the Shrew.. also a favourite of mine!) but this watching is bittersweet. It's the first time I've watched anything with Heath Ledger in it since he died, so seeing him running around as Patrick in the stands of the high school and sing to Kat on the soccer field.. so lively and bright. It's just sad is all.

Maybe I should have picked a different movie. Since it's over I think I will put in something else. Much Ado About Nothing or As You Like It perhaps. I'm on a bit of a Shakespreare kick today, and have just reminded myself I wanted to rent She's The Man.

Wait.. I have Shakespeare in Love somewhere around here..

Cold..

Yeah, we all know it's cold out. Which is why I stayed in and didn't go to knitting tonight. I also got a ride home and decided not to turn it down.

Been knitting on my socks more, cuz my knit socks keep my toes warmer in this but I only have one pair done so far. I'm slow, and I'm lazy. :p

I have yet to start spinning and already I drool over this spindle. And the spinning wheels! So pretty.. but, let me learn to spin first and see how I do.

I had intended to rearrange my knitting storage section of my room, but I found I am missing the pegs to put up the gorm shelves in my room. Just the pegs to hold the shelf up, and I can't get to Ikea to see if I can get some from them.. so now I don't know what to do. Hit up the Home Depot I suppose, see if there is something I can rig up so I have selves for my baskets of yarn, my magazine rack, and my cases of needles and assorted..things.. this would also solve the problem of some items on my bedroom floor. I can get them off the floor, and onto the lower shelves.

Ah well, methinks I shall curl up under my down quilt with a mug of tea and my sock and put Batman Begins on my computer. That's a cozy way to spend the night in.