Today

Mr. Big Giant Poodle Head Bear is currently in the doggie hospital, having a little surgery. He will be a bit lighter tonight (Let's just say he will be less two "ornaments"). And, A. (my 8 year old) asked THE question-
"Why does Bear have to get fixed so that he can't make babies? He's a boy, and boys don't have babies." I said we would sit and talk it all over on the weekend (when I get my wits and a good stiff drink in me) She said,"Is it gross?" I said, "Well, you might think so." She wrinkled up her nose, pondered for a minute, and said,"Then I don't want to hear about it." Do you think I am saved for a little while?

Nah, I didn't think so.

By the way, I don't know why it is called "getting fixed", when BEFORE the surgery, they work just fine! So, I guess Bear is out "getting broken".

This is a knitting blog, right?

First of all-this is my Bear- the Big Old Flirt. I swear he grins at everyone- like he's got some big secret.

And on to knitting.......

I have, in my stash, a whole lot of Manos del Uruguay, in a heady mix of purples-from the deepest, richest royal, through to plum and a blueish-reddish slice of heaven- I just LOVE the colours! And I had thought to make a textured cardigan (the texture does help to break up the variegation somewhat)-started it, and hated it- it was a shapeless, heavy mass of purple that made the yarn look rather cheap and undignified (and I didn't need any help in that department, thank you very much). Soooo-enter Simply Knit 2 (I think the Simply Knit books are divine) and this little number- called Waiting for Godot- I love the ruffly bit-SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- I made the back, with the ruffly bit, but longer-and a few short rows in the centre, so the flirty bits hang a bit in the centre. And- the front is going to be Non-ruffly bit (I am afraid that the ruffle s may fit a little too well)-just plain- maybe with an icord border. The sleeves will have the ruffly bit- just one of these pleats-to hang a bit over my hand- I will include the collar-maybe even modify it a bit-and there you go. I have the back knit-to the armpits- the ruffly bits are just gorgeous- there are even bobbles at the top of the ruffly bit- and I think this will be a really interesting use of this yarn (please note- when I use the word "interesting" that doesn't always mean a good thing-this time it does). What I am hoping to get out of this is a sweater/jacket that I can wear when a slightly dressier look is needed. My staff party is in a week and a bit-but also report cards-due this Friday)(details, trivialities!)-I have a ruffled shirt (cream), black velvet jeans- and this purple sweater-I hope I can finish it!

A few years ago, when I first started printing my own business cards, I got completely silly and printed out cards that said:

Deb White

Goddess of Education

Empress of Pedagogy

She Who Controls the Stars and the Tides

(I should explain, at this point, that I am an elementary school teacher, and get my jollies where I can)

And, of course, I handed them out to people who knew me, and would get a chuckle out of it.

So today, while procrastinating about doing my @%^#**&^%(!!! report cards (how do I hate writing report cards, let me count the ways...), I cruised around my favourite blogs, and saw this quiz thing on "And She Knits Too" (great blog-go and see- http://acunningplan.typepad.com/andsheknitstoo/).

So I wasn't THAT far wrong those many years ago.

I wonder how this will look on business cards??????

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Family and Pick Up Sticks

Brr. Family. I just haven't quite figured mine out- except that when they want something-they know where I am. Otherwise- pretty quiet out there. I imagine I am not alone in this kind of set up, however.
I was zooming around, and heard that the Yarn Harlot herself had talked about Pick Up Sticks- a Canadian on line yarn store with lots and lots of pretty stuff. AND- apparently a 10% discount for the next few days. And free shipping over 60 bucks! All of the prices are in Canadian dollars. I LOVE Apple Laine yarns- so I think I might just mosey myself over there-there is a fiver kit for a garter shawl that has my name written all over it! Go and see for yourself- http://www.pickupsticks.ca/
Ta-

Wet wet wet

Holy crow- is it wet enough for ya? Last night, I had made supper, served both Sean and A. (hey- it is not a usual thing- usually it is all for yourself)- and just as I was about to sit down with my supper-the phone rang-my mom (lives about 3 minutes' drive away)- "Help Help - Emergency! My basement is flooded!" So- zoom- over we went- and oh man- she wasn't kidding. She had just caught it- at the moment when the sump pump decided not to be a stalwart little engine- but what a mess. her basement isn't finished (Thank Goodness)- but she had stuff stored in cardboard boxes (don't you just love that wet cardboard smell???) and she had area mats on the floors (they are pretty well toast). And tomorrow, we are up in Ottawa at our niece's birthday party at the NAG (National Art Gallery). I think I might do some Christmas shopping in the gift shop there- hmmmmmmmmmm.

The Bear, and a Gnome Hat

If you haven't seen the biggest sucky animal in the world yet, well, get yerself an eyeful of this guy. He likes to crawl up and get all four paws on his intended victim (usually me, but sometimes the 8 year old or the husband unit) And then he squeezes his eyes shut and plays possum, until he actually DOES fall asleep!

And this picture is one of Mr. Bear just before he starts his move upwards to find a nice warm place to snuggle.

He has absolutely no clue that he is a big galoot. And with a face like that-hmm, I suspect he will get into lots of trouble.
Knitting news- I have started a hat for my niece- she wants something warm, covering her ears and part of her neck, soft, ties on somehow, and doesn't need a pompom. Soooo- I went to see what the handy dandy world of knit bloggers had to offer me and lo and behold! I checked out Knitting Iris (a very interesting blog) and she had a hat! And here is the pattern! (RUBY! this one is the one I was talking about)http://community.livejournal.com/knitting/75126.html seemed to have all of the parameters sorted out. I had a couple of balls of the new Patons soy and wool-looks like it will take more than one ball-so I have it started- I will take a picture when it is done, because now, it really doesn't look like much. You knit a ribbed square- in a very particular way- and then graft the ends together-the hat ends up with a pointy top, you add a little garter stitch knitted band that buttons closed-LOVE IT! (pattern is apparently based on something from the 1940's-a baby hat) Oh heck- just go see it here- http://knittingiris.typepad.com/knitting_iris/2006/10/index.html
I will let you know how it all works out-
Ta.

Just how Canadian am I??????

But first of all-this is the picture from Stephanie's blog (no I didn't hot link!!!) of the sweater that I have been talking about. It was way too hot (and I am way too menopausal) to wear it that night, but since I had talked about finishing it and wearing it at the Yarn Harlot's visit, I brought it along! And if you are looking for a pattern-don't, since I made it up and didn't write anything down! But someone told me that Debbie Bliss has a pattern sort of like this.

A good Canadian born and bred in Quebec!

You are 100% Canuck!

You rock, you are an almighty Canadian through and through. You have proven your worthiness and have won the elite prize of living in a country as awesome as Canada. Yes I know other countries think they are better, but we let them have that cuz we know better than they do, eh?

How Canadian Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I picked up this quiz from the Harlot's comments-thanks!

Rowan DK

Remembrance Day-we had a perfect Remembrance Day ceremony at school yesterday. I got the gym decorated (I even painted a huge watercolour of poppies- my style-decided if I saw another bunch of red construction paper poppies and some dead soldiers again I would freak). The assembly was a bit longer than I had thought-but wow-amazing. The kids' choirs ( a primary, a junior AND an intermediate choir) were so sweet that they made me cry. The Grade 3 kids (my daughter included) got up and danced a folk lore dance to the Irish Blessing (sung by the intermediate choirs). We had some local veterans and military parents come as our guests. And the children (kindergarten to Grade 8) were absolutely AWESOME! They sat still and quiet for almost an hour!!!!!
I just picked up my package from the post office-10 beautiful skeins of Rowan DK in GOBLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah! The best. I got it on ebay-from Cucumberpatch UK -excellent price AND free shipping to boot. (Thanks Mandy!http://yanegeddon.com) I already have 10 skeins in Thor (a lovely, strong, grey flannel with a smidge of brown)-and it hasn't "spoken" to me...........yet-but this goblin green-it is like fresh peas, but with bits of yellow and blue and just a great tweed! But what to make? I was thinking of just a plain, raglan sleeved cardigan-let the yarn do the show off work. I have a store bought cardi in black cotton/wool that I love-except that it has 3/4 sleeves- I could reproduce it in the wool, right? And fix the sleeves issue. This sweater is knit at a tighter than average gauge-the result is a dense, "comfy" fabric-really easy to wear. The sweater has some pretty fancy buttons up the front with snaps on the back of each button-I am thinking some ribbon up the insides of the fronts, with snaps and buttons-hmmmmmmm. I am liking this idea. I have a rough time with buying clothes that fit-since I am about a 20 on top and a 16-18 on the bottom. But this sweater is a perfect fit-so if I just knit the pieces to match the ready-made-shouldn't be an issue. Hey-maybe I will write it up as I go, so that anyone who wants to re-create an existing garment can do so. What do you think? Anyone up for a Knit A Long with me?
I haven't worn the entrelac yet-I made it slightly smaller than I wanted, because my experience with Noro anything is stretch. So I think I will give it a bath, block it, and then do a show and tell.
Have a great weekend, whatever you are doing..............................

Added later----I was in the Cataraqui Mall today, at 11:00 am- the post was played over the loudspeakers- and everyone (except for one annoying person on her cell phone) stopped what they were doing and stood silently for two minutes. makes you proud to be Canadian. And to remember.....

I just got an email to check out the Harlot-apparently, she thinks I am far gone....... ya might want to go and see.......http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/(I didn't have the heart to tell her that I made a whole entrelac coat- and then traded it to a friend for 20 balls of Silk garden)

She

SHE was fabulous-even with hand lotion in her hair (you had to be there) The SHE is of course, Stephanie Pearl McPhee-the Harlot herself-She was way cool- gave a great talk. I got to see lots of people I hadn't seen for awhile (even my nephew's new bride's aunt) (hunh? Didya follow that?) And Amy from Napanee- send me your blog so I can add it to my read list. The entrelac sweater got itself finished-I was really pleased with the end result-but the goblins of menopause decided it had to be a much colder day for me to wear it. But I dragged it along anyway-because I had told so many people that I was going to finish it and wear it-that the idea of seeing the Harlot kind of galvanized me into action. Don't you find that? A seemingly endless sweater might become a newly finished object de wardrobe, given the right incentive. I once knit a Philosopher's wool sweater, based on the Fassett poppy sweater, in about 6 days (yup-start to finish-all 23 colours). I was recovering from knee surgery at the time, and higher than a flippin' kite on Demerol, but it was a great sweater! I will be putting up pics of the entrelac sweater this week-just stay tuned.
The Bear still has the, um, same issues he had last week with his system-vet suggests we give him acidopholus (sp?) to get his innards back in balance-BUT-the good news- he gained weight. So the idea that he has Crohn's is a little farther away today. Keep your fingers crossed-his personality is spectacular, and he is a natural comic-two characteristics that endear doggies to me. And I am afraid he has bonded-with my 8 year old (her comment after we had had Bear for a week---"thank you so much for getting me a puppy that likes me") Yeah-he's stayin'

Update on the update.....

Okay-got everything together-used some sock yarn (doubled) to sew it up -Noro is a bugger to sew with-it rips and shreds and makes me say very bad words (very, very bad words)-but now there is a problem-weather predictions say it is NOT going to be cold on Wednesday-so I may not be able to wear the new sweater to the Harlot! Oh my.

Update on entrelac.....

The parts are all knit-I went with stocking stitch sleeves- otherwise I think the entrelac sleeves would have been a little too "Michelin man"-I have joined the shoulders, knit the neck on- now I just have to sew! So maybe tonight............ (then block, dry, wear- it will be tight-but I might be able to do it)

"SHE" Cometh........

Yes, that "She"- that one! the one who not only knits, but writes about her knits! The Yarn Harlot herself- coming to Ktown on Wednesday night! Gotta go, gotta go-but this is what I need to know- if the Harlot is to speak at 7:00, and the seating is limited, exactly WHAT time should I go to get a seat? I need to know this vital information- so please, someone help me out-how long before the event should I go over? (Hmmm- if there are two trains, one moving at 70 kph, the other at 55 kph,on a 200 km track, how long........)And I'm going to have a new Silk Garden entrelac sweater to wear to it!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmmmmmmmm

Found this in Bear's bed today when I got home. I guess that was why I couldn't get him to come and snuggle-he just kept on hiding his big old furry head. He is one sorry old Bear tonight- he is harder on himself that I was!!!!!!!!! Now if only I can find the rest of that ball of wool..............