Christmas stash

a bag of ten balls of Moda Dea's Cache and Fleece Artist's Amelia Helmet kit. i'm not sure i'll actually make the hat with it though, i think hats look funny on me. i guess i can make it and if it looks silly i can rip it back and make mittens or something instead :)

the new year is approaching and i'm seriously considering giving up the ghost of ever having another kid. John's not as interested in that prospect as i am, my body is not working as it should and i don't know if i want to go through visiting fertility specialists. i don't want to spend 2007 thinking about all of this... the past 8 months have sucked and i don't think i can handle it anymore. i mean, it would be a whole other ball game if John were just as excited, but because he's not, meh. i know he only agreed to another because he cares about me. he's a sweet heart.

at this point, i feel like i have a bigger chance of winning the lottery than ever getting pregnant.

i think i'll go buy a ticket this afternoon ;)

a great time was had by all

some photos. the kids are gone to my parents' for the night, John's at work... i have some time to edit a few and upload them :)

here's most of my family on December 24th (my dad had to go lie down for a while... he has fibromyalgia and was feeling it):



Jake and his new beanbag chair (Juliet got exactly the same one, but in pink):



Juliet's new digital camera!! John splurged on her this year! Her camera is better than mine!! *jealous*



Juliet opening the gift Jake picked out for her. he was SO excited, he had been asking for days if he could just give it to her *now* instead of waiting for the 24th. it's a Bratz horse and carriage.



a picture of the kids with their cousins on John's side of the family (only one was missing... he lives in Alberta). my brother doesn't have kids, so these are really the only first cousins the kids have so far. i hope the family doesn't mind me posting this picture. it is so nice to see them together like that :) we had Christmas with them on the 23rd and it was really really nice!



and finally... my dad wearing his new knit socks - man, it's great to see my socks on other appreciative feet! he loves them! (i sneakily took this photo while he was on the phone here about an hour ago)

best Christmas ever!

we're done and we had a BLAST!! we had Christmas at the in-laws yesterday and Christmas with my parents today. lots of ymmmmmmy food, loads and loads and loads of laughs, kids running, playing and giggling, a couple of tears (especially today... i think the excitement of two days of Christmas celebrations in a row was slight overload for Jake), but all in all a *really* great holiday :)

(yes, the socks got done... i finished them during Christmas with the in-laws... and my dad loves 'em!!)

we're staying up late to play tonight (we're all giddy), we're having a "sleepover" in my bedroom... the kids' mattresses are arranged on the floor amongst their new toys, John's hanging out on his computer and i'm here, sitting in bed with the laptop and planning on picking up my log cabin blanket again. no signs of anyone passing out anytime soon, but i'm sure it'll hit all at once... probably after i shut off the ceiling light and we all have to play by the light of the bedside lamp.

tomorrow we have some time to relax (and clean up!! oy!), so i'll post some pictures of our fun then :)

Merry Christmas !!! :D

so. busy.

no time to blog. not enough time to knit. looks like i'll be furiously knitting late into the eve of Christmas to get my dad's socks done in time. i was so hoping to avoid that!! i've had some unexpected things come up that *MUST* be dealt with *NOW* and it's sort of taken over my life at the moment. but i'm not upset about it. i'm glad i have the information to stand up for what is right, even if things don't work out in our favour in the end, at least i'll know i took the time to stand up for what's right. and i'm eternally grateful Juliet and Jakob are the kids they are. they've spent hours next to me with magazines, colouring books and the PSP, quietly keeping themselves occupied while i've studied by-laws, written letters and left messages for lawyers. they are awesome children!

if you all could keep us (the group of us standing up for justice) in your prayers and thoughts, i would really appreciate it. we could use all the prayers and positive thoughts we can get to make it through this.

Birthday!

8 years ago today we were blessed with a son. he has been the main source of laughter to all of us since the moment he was born. labour with him was fairly fast... 7 and a half hours. it started when i woke up that morning and was over at 2:37 when Jake made his appearance. i cannot even imagine life without my son ever again, even if one of my first reactions after i heard "you have a boy!" was "what do i do with a boy?!"

that's the little outfit he wore home from the hospital John's holding up to him. and after spending a little time with him, now i know what to "do" with my son and i wouldn't trade him for 100 daughters.

Jake decided he wanted to go get a Christmas tree with my mum, dad and brother today and have our cousin Elijah spend the night. here's some photos from our day.

Twilleys of Stamford Spirit mitten

sorta. it's coming along slowly because i feel guilty every time i pick it up to work on it... i really should finish the Christmas knitting first, right? but, ugh, look at it! the stripes are awesome! the wool is lovely to work with... so tempting!

i coloured my hair today. and the boy and i got haircuts - he wasn't in the mood for pictures, so i had to sneak that one while he was busy watching cartoons - just in time to look decent for Christmas.

new toaster

John enjoyed the fire stories the kids told him with excitement when he got home from work yesterday. the kids were happy to retell the whole tale before he could even get his shoes off.

maybe that's a good thing... because we all went out and got a new toaster. lol. a cool retro-ish one in an ugly blue (LOVE it!). $20. thank you very much Home Depot!

so no knitting to share. i've spent far too much time vacuuming, wiping, scrubbing and cursing (but in a loving way) the substance in fire extinguishers... who knew it got *everywhere*?

FIRE!!!!

holy shit. what a morning. the toaster caught on fire. everything is fine. the fire is out. no major damage (the bottom of the cupboard that was over the toaster is a little blackened, but nothing that requires much more than a good scrubbing and a little face lift). a lot of mess though - ash *everywhere*. and let me say that i will NEVER EVER EVER live without a fire extinguisher in the house. ever. without my ugly fire extinguisher i'm sure things would have gotten worse.

i'm just trying to calm down a bit before continuing the clean up. i'll go back into the kitchen soon to clean up the rest. and then shower and call to have my fire extinguisher recharged.

so... my PSA for the day... make sure you have a fire extinguisher in your house!

Austermann Step socks... done!

i hope my brother likes 'em.

stress relief... ahhhhhh

a "new to us" van. erg. a mini van. the epitome of parenthood. it took us ten years to reach this low. and i have to admit, it's pretty comfy! we always said we'd never do the mini van thing. it's so... domestic... it screams "we have kids! we are parents! we are no longer hip or cool!"...

yeah. but it's perfect. John's tools fit nicely into it with *loads* of room to spare, so it's great when he heads to work in it. the kids like the height of the seats (they can see out the windows!). and the room... ahhhh... it's rather nice to have elbow room... and elbow room to spare too!

erg... climbing into a mini van, no matter how big my gothy boots are or how dark my eye make-up is, just kills all hint of cool/goth/hip i might have had left at 31. guess i just need to accept it, stretch out and enjoy the ride, huh!

back to Woolly's i went...

i dropped off my charity mittens at Woolly's yarn store this afternoon (picture taken by my daughter... she's such a sweetie). and somehow the latest issue of knitscene followed me home. i think i'll have to find time to knit Stefanie Japel's "Turquoise Romantic" pattern in this issue - LOVE it!

a great morning was had by (almost) all...

lookie... my secret santa package!! it's from Carrie!!! excitement!!!!


inside were these lovely gifts... i almost didn't want to open them right away. i was tempted to leave them and put them under the Christmas tree because they looked so pretty all wrapped and festive!


look at this!! she cross-stitched a little ornament! i *love* this!!! it's going on the Christmas tree this year.


"hey mom, we'll help you open them!"


"oh. it's just knitting stuff."


*just* knitting stuff?! these kids do not have a proper appreciation for yarn or Nancy Bush do they. i am *so* excited to have received this book from Carrie... it's been on my wish list for*ever*! i love Nancy Bush! and the yarn... also exciting! i haven't ordered from KnitPicks because the shipping to Canada is crazy high. she picked the perfect colourway in the Simple Stripe sock yarn. LOVE the colours!! Jakob loves 'em too... after his initial "oh it's just yarn" reaction he decided "hey, mom, i would like some socks in that yarn!!" hrmm... i guess they have some appreciation for knitting if Jake knew right off the bat that this was sock yarn. i must be doing something right ;)



all in all... i LOVE my Secret Santa gift!! now i really really really have to finish my Christmas knitting so i can get to this stuff :D

simply irresistable!

i have no self control. i had seen Twilleys of Stamford's Spirit Wool online a few times and thought it looked beautiful in the pictures. i have used Twilleys of Stamford's Freedom Wool before and it was wonderful to work with... beautiful quality! (and no brambles, sticks or splinters to pick out of it Sharon! LOL.) i figured the Spirit would be just as lovely. when i walked into it at Woolly's yarn store in Shelburne yesterday... wow. i just couldn't resist!! i bought two balls to play with. i think i'll make mittens with it. i got colour 504... "Energy".


and while i was there i promised i'd make a pair of mittens for their charity basket. they gave me some yarn and i set to work right away last night. i'm doubling the yarn up with some left over acrylic i had and the effect is actually pretty neat:

just playing a little with the camera

a knit in action!

it's cold out there today! the kids don't seem to mind much though, do they :D. pay no mind to the cutesy-ness of the matching coats... my mom ordered them from Sears. they both have camouflage vests that go over the coats, but neither kid has found it cold enough out to wear both the coat and vest together yet. the coats, camo and all, are from the girl's outerwear department, but Jake doesn't care one bit... it's blue and has "army print", that's boy enough for him!

Juliet is wearing the Hermione hat i knit for her last year. the yarn is Patons Shetland Chunky. it's been through a lot. the poor kid had lice twice last year, the hat (despite the washing label on the yarn) has been through both a hot laundering and the dryer on high... at least twice. and has survived! thank goodness, because she loves her Hermione hat and i think if it hadn't survived our fun with lice i would have had to reknit it.

when stress attacks.

the kid takes advantage...


things have been stressful around here. John had a car accident a few weeks back and didn't get much from the insurance for his totaled car. he doesn't handle stress well. at all.

he bought a car with cash he was offered as help in mind. but now that the deal is done the offerer mentioned a condition must be met before the offer can stand, so John is politely refusing the help. i am not at all upset with the "string" that's been attached or with the offerer for attaching it (after all, it was nice that the offerer offered in the first place). i'm actually relieved John won't be taking up the offer, but coming up with that extra $ in just a matter of a day or two is not going to be easy.

when John gets stressed out he gets really irritable and sometimes nasty with the fam. it hasn't been the greatest week around here what with Mr. Stressed out and with me and PMS. so chilling out when he's off at work helps us get relaxed enough that his snapping doesn't get us too down when he gets home. we try not to get upset with him about it (which can be hard for me when i'm PMSing!), we just try to avoid him when he's this stressed out. i can't wait until this is all over, the new car is in the driveway, paid for and the stress falls to a more reasonable level.

i *know* it will work out fine in the end... we've been through worse and come out okay.

in knitting news, stress helps me knit a little faster than usual... my brother's Christmas Austermann Step socks are coming along nicely. i was so bummed while knitting the second sock to find a big old knot in the ball of yarn!! i had to unwind, wind, cut and generally mess around with it to get the stripes back in order so they'd line up nicely again.


and just to add a little extra "d'oh!" to the situation, Pick Up Sticks has added new stock and restocked the VvS yarns i have been dying to buy! perhaps after Christmas when things settle down a little financially i'll finally be able to order some yummy yarny (Canadian!) goodness :D

my knitting habitat...

yeah, John's right when he says "my" sofa gets messy when i'm knitting. every bag you see has some knitting in it... or yarn... or something knitting related.

good thing we have two sofas!

(psst... notice the finished Austermann sock in the foreground? and can you see that the second one has been started? just barely, but i have hope that the pair will be done before Christmas!)

growing too...

thanks to SnB last night i got some work done on the Austermann Step socks intended for my brother for Christmas.

i had some trouble finding SnB at Tracy's house last night. i read the email she sent a few times (she was very clear in her directions, i should have just printed it out instead of relying on my memory). we all piled into the car and i told John with confidence to find house number 296. so off we go. we get to house 296 and things seem a little odd to me, but i ring the doorbell anyway.

i think i disturbed the elderly lady. she was wearing a heavy dressing gown and didn't open the door all the way. erg. oops. wrong house. i apologize sincerely and get back into the car (thank goodness John decided to wait just in case it was the wrong house).

now we drive back home so i can read Tracy's email again. arg. i'm a dork. she's not at house 296... she's at house 269.

so off we go again to find house 269. John waits in the driveway again to make sure he's leaving me at the right house this time.

so i was late to SnB, but still managed to get some SnBing in before the night's end. Tracy has a wonderful home and her youngest daughter is just the most adorable little thing on the planet! Thanks Tracy :D


psst... did you see that Stitch Diva Studios has the new Sahara pattern available? i'd love this one - i have yarn i can use for it in my stash and everything! but i'm 97cents short (in my paypal account), so i can't order it just yet. and it's such a pain in the ass to upload cash into paypal - i'm not sure it's going to be worth the hassle to add $0.97. so i'll wait until i can afford to upload a little more than that. and honestly, i know myself too well... if i did have that extra $0.97 and ordered the pattern i'd just have another project to distract me from the Christmas knitting i really must get done.