Progress before the Onslaught

I've been trying to get some post nuggets started so I don't completely disappear this fall.  What do you suppose the chances are I'll succeed at not disappearing?? [Laughs. Sighs.  Wipes tear. Laughs again.]  

Orientation for internship was today and signals the winding down of free time and the ability to watch football games without feeling guilty.  Before I get lost in the stacks of lesson plans and extra-curricular activities, I thought I would post some progress on projects.  You know, before I abandon them in the oblivion that is education.

 My scrappy afghan - panel 3 of 5 (or 6).  It's coming along and laying siege to scads of leftover mitten yarn.  The stash is taking up less room and three folded knit panels now sit in its place.  Much tidier.

 I took some of my back-to-school clothing budget and invested in a toque.  Or rather the beginnings of one. While reading a favourite blog, I spotted the hat and instantly needed the pattern.  Then I had to wait patiently for some Madeline Tosh Vintage to arrive.  The colour is murder to photograph.  Basically, it's an emeraldy-tealy sort of green with a bit of inky black for depth.  They call it Cousteau.

I should have the toque knit by the end of the weekend.  But no matter how busy I get, there is one project I'll never finish and always have time for:

...catching a little bonding time with Nephew.

And his giant baby feet.

Last Weekend

Our student council headed to the lake to plan for the upcoming year and to get some good solid bonding time.

Mission accomplished. Complete with thunderstorm, swimming, and campfires. Minus makeup.  Full of smores and fresh air.

Hope your weekend is a great as my last one.

The Link doesn't dissolve with Marriage and Children

My sister and I have always been able to communicate entire thought waves with very few or even a single word.  Kinda like zipping a file before sending an email. But then she got married and had a baby and I started to wonder if we were losing our mojo... The other day, a rapid-fire conversation took place.


Seester:  That commercial always reminds me of that dojo.... (snaps fingers in attempt to remember)
Me:  Cobra-Kai.
Seester:  YES! See, I love that I can just say 'dojo' and you know exactly what I'm talking about...
Me:  What other dojo could you possibly mean?  
Seester:  Mmm.  True.


Mum:  *...*  What just happened?
Bro:  I have no idea...


Just because she's married doesn't mean I don't *get* her anymore and vice versa.  Sisterhood; such a wonderful and strange phenomenon...

PS.  She was referring to the evil instructor and his dojo in The Karate Kid.  The classic one.  Pat Morita, not Jackie Chan.  I still love Jackie Chan but he's not as easily incorporated into our familial nostalgia...

A little bit happy, a little bit sad

This summer, my cousin and his wife were expecting twin girls, but they arrived very early and one of them couldn't stay.  

I began these quilts after they were born, with a couple of Sherbet Pips charm packs.  Sometimes, I think charm packs are lazy, but I can't argue that they are just about perfect for baby quilts.  And Aneela Hoey's Sherbet Pips was perfect for these ones.  I wanted feminine but not girly, blue to balance out the pink, and red, since it's lucky....  I also wanted them to match but not exactly; even twins want to be individuals.

They're backed in a simple Kona grey (Slate, I think). The border/binding fabrics I found to coordinate have wonderfully inspiring words on them:  life, hope, grow, sprout... All the the wonderful things I wish for babies, especially those that arrive before they're ready.

I finished the binding in the new "room" that has become the family hub this summer - a screened gazebo with wide comfy rockers and a low coffee table that is perfect for holding spools of thread or glasses of wine.  While stitching away, a red dragonfly, which I take to be a good omen, alit on brother-in-law's hand and stayed with him for five or ten minutes.  I'd like to say we stayed in the awe of the moment but instead we drifted into conversation about radioactive critters and what a superhero named Dragonfly would have as superpowers...

Then, I made Seester and Bro hold quilts.  But they needed to protect their secret identities.

This week, the quilt on the right will be delivered to its owner.  The one on the left will be donated to the Crisis Nursery or NICU, based on her parents' choice.  With luck, it will warm a very special babe in loving memory of another.

The Family Whirlwind

It started about two and a half weeks ago and ended the other day.  First, a trip out here:

Ooohhh, view from the hotel.

California?

Nope.  Vancouver.  I may or may not know the woman posing with the giant sculptures that may or may not have freaked me out.

Attended a beautiful wedding with AMAZING food.  Local, organic, perfectly cooked, and ever-so-tasty... 

Wandered Van Dusen Gardens.

Bought a fused-glass necklace from a Glaswegian artist who tends bar in the hotel.

Had a lovely walk with my dad from from Stanley Park, along the sea wall in English Bay, back to where we were staying.  Random and beautiful art.  And a wee seal but I couldn't capture him properly in photographs...

Played with my favourite photo apps. 360 Panorama, Tilt-Shift Generator, Hipstamatic.  The fun of gizmos when you're stuck in a plane over a wing.

It was lovely to see family out west, and lovelier that we had family coming back to the middle right after.  We've had people here for a week and a half straight and in different combinations, including no-air-conditioning-at-their-house refugees and their dog.  Old family, new family, tiny family, furry family....  A wonderful buzz of energy and excitement and two-year-olds asking, "Where cat? He sleeping?"  A real heartbreaker, for sure.

But now, the wine bottles have been enjoyed. The din has subsided.  The shoes at the door have winnowed. The guest rooms are empty.  I'm enjoying the quiet and the catching up. And the cat is at the foot of the bed, sleeping.

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

I do. I must also have been doing my Keir Dullea impression...

"What are you doing, Dave?"Apparently, twenty spare minutes for blog-reading is not acceptable to CAT-9000.

Just like  Kubrick's homicidal computer, he tried to asphyxiate me.  Only he did it with standing on my chest, demanding snuggles and suffocating me with orange fur.

I may have a hairball.  I definitely need a lint roller.  Maybe I can invent a big, black rectangular one and call it a Monolint.  No one knows where it came from....  (Haha, cracking myself up!)

Yes, I see sci-fi classic moments in everyday life.

Finished and Sunshine

It is so soft.  And knit up so very well.  My kitchener stitching needs work but you can't really tell.  The only thing I'd change if I had to do it again - just wear it as is and don't block it.  The blocking/steaming took away a bit from the scrunched look I had set out to get.  Lesson learned.

I've had the cowl blocked for days but only today did I finally have a) good (enough) lighting, b) time during the day and c) someone else around to take a photo.

It's funny how you get used to taking photos of all sorts of things but the second you need one of yourself, you find it awkward.  I'm often at the mercy of oddly lit mirror shots or the photography of someone whose style isn't the same as mine.  Luckily, and not surprisingly, my mum takes a decent shot.  The cowl is finished and I tried not to sweat it up while modelling (WARM outside today, she said while flushed and dying for a mint julep or something else associated with heat and humidity.)  I also had to avoid getting it drooled up.  No, it's not that I adore the yarn so much, though I do, but I had just asked for assistance when my visiting nephew woke from his micro-nap and desperately demanded auntie-snuggles.  Who am I to deny my favourite nephew/godson/person under 6mos of age?  But he does have a current habit of grabbing blankets, stuffies and his shirts and "tasting" them....

So to recap:  cowl done, modelled and shot.  Nephew snuggled.  Cowl unscathed.  T-shirt, hands and nephew sopping.  :-)

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!