Monday, November 24, 2008

It's all over


ANNIE is all done.
I had a great time and I'm sad that it's all done...
My sister, Dad, Step-Mom, MIL, Hubby, daughter and friends (from near and far) were all able to come and see the play--THANK YOU ALL!!!

I hope to be able to do some more theatre soon!!

So, for knitting I don't have a lot to show.
I have a secret knitting project
and so far 3 secret dyeing projects and some soap that people have asked me to do!
Fun!--It will be a while before I can show it off--so I have to remember to take pictures now and then reveal after Christmas. Not great for blogging purposes--but great for creative juices.

I just got some soap oils in the mail today--Lavender, Patchouli, Vanilla, Christmas Blend and Pumpkin Pie--Can't wait to get started.

So--be prepared to see pictures of soap on this blog soon.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Wow

Has it really been that long since I posted??
I should get in the habit of just posting a little at a time.
Problem is, I never seem to have things to blog about anymore.

There is a lot going on, but for some reason I don't' think it blog-worthy.

Anyways--the ANNIE play has started and is going well.
Opening night was amazing, the other 2 nights were good, but with minor flubs (mostly on the the cast would know)
Our friends daughter is playing ANNIE and she is amazing--she had her lines down within the first few weeks and she is flawless :)

I gifted the handspun green hat away at a baby shower on Saturday to a friend who is due in January.
It was a Strawberry Shortcake shower and it was so much fun.

My sister was here for the weekend and she helped me with some edging to make it more "Girly" (she crochets, I don't really know how)

I have a cold that is knocking me down still. I've had it two weeks and If I could just stop coughing and/or get the yucky out of my lungs I'd be happy.
I've learned something--the stuff that is in cough medicine that makes you not cough?? I can't tolerate it.
Dextromethorphan is a narcotic that some people react to. (Apparently it has the same chemical make up as Ketamine and PCP--who knew?)
I'm one of those people.

I took some stuff 2 weeks ago to stop coughing at night so I could sleep--I only slept for 4 hours and was up from 4am onward totally wired, dizzy and weird feeling.
I bought some non-drowsy, expectorant on the weekend, read the label and thought it was fine and took some Saturday night (because I coughed on stage opening night and was upset with myself)--went to bed at 2am and was up at 4am..wired and feeling dizzy.
There is a Dr who is in our play (we have a lot of scenes together) and I asked him and he explained about Dextro and that it can cause manic and/or dizziness etc reactions to some people...yep...that's me.
No more.
So, the coughing continues and I hope that I feel better by the weekend for the second round of ANNIE.

I have been knitting:

I finally finished the Skull and Cross Bones socks for Kelly that I have been working on forever.

Cotton/elastic yarn is not my friend.
She likes them and as soon as she put them on she said "I've never had a sock fit that well"
aaaah the beauty of a handknit sock.

I have also made a cowl for myself out of some beautiful yarn I got at a Fibre Mill.

Our Spinning Guild took a tour for this months meeting.
The yarn--gorgeous.

This is Merino Soy/Silk called "Molten Lava"
You can't really tell but the colour is not flat at all, it shimmers and shines with different reds, oranges and touch of gold/yellow.

I got some Alpaca for Socks

(blogger why do you insist on changing my pictures to be upside down??)

Some Superwash Merino Sock Yarn


and some Cotswold for Spinning.

I could have done more damage, but I know that I can go back again sometime.

The tour was so interesting and I loved every minute of it.


The cowl was a nice fast knit and I'm looking forward to wearing it...because...
We had our first snow.

(that's actually frost but you get the point)

It snowed for a few minutes Sunday morning but it was so warm it melted right away.

Yesterday afternoon it snowed hard for about 10 minutes and then stopped.
We went to a friend's house for dinner and the snow at their house stayed on the ground.
We played outside with the kids before dinner and I had my Morning Coffee Toque on, my Alpaca Mitts, an Alpaca Scarf and my winter coat
:)

Then, Sophie and I headed of to the resurrecting of Craft night:


We met at Chris' house and even had virtual Janna with us:


(Gmail now has a videocam/chat feature and we had fun talking knitting with her for a bit)

I was working on a sock (some of my own dyeing that I'm not showing yet) but got stuck as I was just winging it and couldn't remember how to do a gusset top down ..
So I snuggled Sophie's baby and drank some good coffee.

My soap fetish continues.
I am in love with the hot process technique that lets you use the soap the very next day!

I bought some soap molds from someone off of Ravelry and am loving them.

My first batch of HP Soap was Pumpkin Spice
(coloured with tumeric to give it a yellowish colour)
The smell is amazing--I love this soap.

Second batch:

Peppermint Energy Soap
(Made with peppermint tea, with real peppermint leaves and Peppermint Essential oil)
I've tested this one too, it makes your skin tingle in the shower.

I hope to be able to start selling my soaps soon (as soon as I figure out shipping--don't' get me started on Canada Post again (why oh why can I ship a package to Europe cheaper than across my own country??) )

So, that's the big update from me.
Not much Christmas Knitting I don't' think.

I don't' seem to have many ideas..

What are you knitting for Christmas???

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Weird things meme

I've done this one before. but I've been tagged again..so I will try to make my list different.

1. I smell my McDonald's cheeseburgers before eating them. (I have no idea why, started when I was a teenager--I LOVE the smell of them--I open them up and sniff them before I eat).

2. I have my own special way of putting condiments on my burgers--it has to be in a certain order (Maybe I just have a weird burger thing).

3. When I was younger and my parents would be out at Church for meetings, my sister and I would make ourselves weird dinners--fried mushrooms with garlic, bacon wrapped pineapple--all snackish food.
These days, if I ever am alone for a meal I like to think of weird combination of snack foods that I can turn into a meal.

4. I like to sing song lyrics in general conversations (with friends/family). My sister and I both do it with our kids.
For example if someone ends a sentence and it reminds you of a song--you just start singing--no explanation.

5. I have a comforter/blanket that sits on my couch that I have had since I was 5. It's bright green/white and has orange butterflies on it. I have no idea why it's so special to me, but I have repaired, re-stuffed and re-sewn this blanket over the years and I still use it almost every night when I watch TV.
My Mother once threatened to throw it out (because It was ratty) and I almost cried/panicked and that's when I started the repairs.
Even more strange: There is a scene in the Jodi Foster Movie Contact where as a little girl her Father is tucking her into bed at night--she has my blanket!! The first time I saw the movie in the theater I actually yelled out "that's my blanket" (okay, now I am stopping to wonder how many readers are unsubscribing themselves from my blog because this is just to silly)

6. I like to take the first sip of coffee in the morning with my eyes closed. I don't' know why-makes that first sip taste better!!

Okay--cant' think of anyone to tag that hasn't been tagged yet. If you are reading this and would like to play along--put a comment on this post to let me know you've played too!

Monday, November 03, 2008

Spinning and Stuff

So we have a new camera--and hubby has taken it away on the last 2 weekends that he worked.
I have been knitting on Kelly's socks and doing some spinning.

Behold:

It's the Spunky Club Fibre for September. Finn is the breed and the colourway is called "Acadia"
I spun it thin and it is destined to be socks!


I spun up some of my own hand-dyed Merino/Alpaca. This was my first dye and spin of this fibre and I liked it alot, although I found it a challenge to keep the singles from breakin and then letting the twist out while I was trying to make a join.

(umm apparently Blogger is doing that pictures must be sideways thing...can't fix it)

I called this roving "Because You are Greek" because even though I've never been there, I imagine the water to look that shade of turquoise.


Does it look Greek Sophie??


I also spun and knit up some gloves for Princess B. I told her I was going to make her some more mittens and she said "Yes, mittens, but y'know with fingers".


I modified an adult pattern I found here:
I'm not sure why the fingers look so pointy, but they fit and she is happy and I am happy.

Once I get the socks done, I will get on to some Christmas Knitting. No big plans for this year but I have some thoughts.


Halloween was fun!
We had a party at our Church--the Youth put on a party for the little ones for an hour, and then had a party of their own afterwards.

Little man as Spiderman and Hubby as Indiana Jones:


Princess B was a "Fairy Ballerina"

I went as Noah'a Ark. I pinned 10 pairs of little animal finger puppets all over a brown t-shirt and pants. I had a rainbow taped to a Knitting Needle that I held over my head.
We had fun and we all wore things we had around the house!

There was a doughnut eating contest where the kids had to eat doughnuts that were tied to strings and hung from the ceiling. Princess B did really well!


Little man just liked the doughnuts :)



That is all that is new and exciting around here.

My play continues, we are now at the 4-5 practices a week stage..
"The sun will come out, Tomorrow...."