Tying up some loose ends
February 21, 2009 at 11:19 am | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentSo I had knit morning today. It was wonderful, when I get a job again I’m really going to miss this.
As of right now though, it looks like the Knit Mornings may be held at my house. Our group has kind of out grown the corner of Starbucks and we’re starting to have to sit on the little side tables. I offered up my living room in passing because it’s big, we’ve got 2 futons and a comfy chair plus other padded chairs, it’s very open with lots of daylight… and a fire place. Plus, it’ll help me keep the place clean!
So that could be fun, it may be starting next Friday, but I have to keep an eye on Ravelry for that. We also may be taking a field trip up to Spinrite for their sale… heee!!! Bags of Regia, and other yarns for CHEAP! Now if only I had money… hmmm…
Anyway, I figured I would tie up some loose ends I have laying around, like that lovely list of Christmas Gifts I have to the side.
I don’t have all the pictures of stuff yet but here’s the end result.
I got everything except Alistair’s blanket done… so I didn’t give Jude’s blanket either, instead I made 3 baby hats with the initials of my 3 pseudo-nephews engraved on them.
The blankets I’m giving to my Mom on Saturday to give to the moms of the boys.
So I have a couple of pictures right now ( I do have more, but I haven’t got them on the computer…) of some recent projects, I just want to say that this year is probably going to end up being a year of socks for me… I’ve decided to work through my sock stash if only to get to have more yarn for my blankie (which I’ll talk about in another post).
Here we go…
First up are my Dad’s slipper socks (Karin’s look almost identical only they’re green-gray and smaller).
Pattern: Slipper Socks from Paton’s Website (Free Pattern)
Yarn: Classic Merino Wool
Size: Small
Needles: 4.5 mm dpns
Started: September 17 2008
Finished: October 2008
I’ll just put this bluntly, I HATE this pattern. These socks were originally supposed to be for Karin, my Dad’s wife, I made the “small” size and it came out big enough for C’s feet. I may have had an issue with gauge but I don’t think so.
Now I did learn a new style of heel for these socks which was really quite interesting. However, there are two little 2×2 cables that go down the side of each foot. Up on the cuff/leg the pattern tells you to twist them one direction, but after the heel, it tells you to twist them another.
Then the amount of stitches you are supposed to kitchener from the top of the foot to the sole isn’t even so you either have to instinctively know to decrease at a certain point, or do what I did and fudge it by moving stitches around.
It makes a nice sock, I will say that, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, find a different pattern because this one will give you a headache.
Pattern: Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon from Ravlery (Free Pattern)
Yarn: Black: Paton’s Kroy and Variegated: Artsygal Yarns in Phoenix
Size: Small
Needles: 2.5 mm dpns
Started: December 10 2008
Finished: December 17 2008
Granted, I had a lot of time on my hands to make this, but it was truly a really fast knit. This pattern is written for 2 solid colours, but I had some left over Artsygal yarns from my monkey socks and decided to try it out.
This actually had a very simple chart to follow and it turned out beautifully. However mine doesn’t really look like the beret style it’s supposed to be, and I think this is because I used slightly thinner yarn than called for in the pattern.
Still this has become my daily hat, and is totally a favourite… it’s going to take something major to bump this off my first grab list.
So that’s a quick catch up, hopefully I can get some new pics on the computer soon… because heck knows I’m going to have a ton of socks to show you in the near future.
So with that, I’ll leave you with a picture of my demented Hydrangeas who don’t want to grow properly.
Till next time.
I Live!
January 15, 2009 at 10:22 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentHonest I do… just with moving and Christmas and all that, I’m still trying to get my life under control.
Once I get my house clean again I may see about wandering through it with my new camera (which I believe has a mic on it so you can hear me chatting during the videos) I just need to get a special memory card to hold more than 1 minute of video.
Either that or figure out how to work MicrosoftVideo or whatever it is.
I am still knitting (to the point of having a very sore wrist) and I have been given books on quilting (to which C rolled his eyes and groaned “aNOTHER hobby???”) so we’ll see what I do.
Right now I’m just trying to get better after taking a tumble down the stairs… luckily my feet just slipped out from under me and I slid down them, but I still jarred my back and I’m all stiff (thank goodness I missed my tailbone)
Anyway, I’m looking forward to actually showing you what I’ve been up to and what the future holds.
Till next time…
My Project
July 10, 2008 at 3:27 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentMy current project (depending on how much time I have) is to copy my blog posts from my old blog (found here) over to this one.
I’ve now been on WordPress for over a year, and I’m getting worried about losing my blogdrive posts.
While most of them are very poor and boring, I still want to keep them as the history of my knitting that they are.
Also, I’d like to apologize for my continued silence as far as posting goes. I’m still quite busy and have a tendency to update my Ravelry account before I come here, so if you want to see what new stuff I’m working on, go there (if you’re able to, to those who aren’t in yet, I’m sorry, hopefully I can get stuff going here again soon).
In the mean time, I’ve still been knitting my fingers off, my apartment is frigid due to C’s grass allergies, and my work temperature is so cold that I’m still able to wear my wool socks (and some times I really need them!)
My current distraction has been my new toy. C and I managed to get a Wii, and by stroke of luck also got the WiiFit. I’ve been lazy in the last year what with not taking dance classes (they were too pricey on our previous budget) so I’m working through the games and such on the WiiFit to get myself ready for starting dance again.
I’ve been asked if I believe that the Wii is exercize in video game form and I have to say, Yes! Especially with the WiiFit for me. I have bad hand-eye coordination so I struggled with WiiSports, but once you add balance to the mix, I’m doing quite well, and really feeling it too.
Our other big news is that we’re looking at houses. Hopefully before the end of the summer we will have an offer down on one that we love. We don’t have our sights set on anything yet, but the fact that we can even look at houses is amazing!
Anyway, that’s all the big news for now. Hopefully I can have some more interesting updates here, I’ll be surprised if anyone still reads this since I’ve become boring.
Till next time!
Big Bike for Heart and Stroke
May 22, 2008 at 10:57 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentWhew, what a weekend, I definitely have a lot to tell you about, however before I do I’m going to put in a little plug.
I’m currently fundraising for the Big Bike for Heart and Stroke. Essentially I will be riding (along with many members from my work) on a big bike to support the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
If you would like to support me, you can do so through this link.
This charity is very important to me. Heart attacks and strokes are major issues in my family, on both sides. My maternal grandfather had his first heart attack 15 years ago, and we’re lucky we still have him. This year has been hard on us with him going in and out of the hospital with an irregular heart beat and low blood pressure.
My paternal grandfather had a series of “mini strokes” about 8 years ago, and while it didn’t have the debilitating effects of a full stroke, his mind was severely affected to the point that he doesn’t really seem like my grandfather most of the time anymore.
Heart disease however is the number one killer among the women in my family. We are all on watch for heart issues. I’m only 25 and I’ve already had one cardiogram, my younger brother has also.
I would really appreciate it if you would sponsor me in this bike ride, and if you decide not to sponsor me specifically, please think about donating to Heart and Stroke because this is a curable and preventable disease, and hopefully we’ll be able to stop it from taking lives prematurely.
Thanks so much.
Till next time.
Holy Crap!!!
May 7, 2008 at 10:44 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentHas it really been so long? Geeze… I’m sorry guys, my life took a HUGE about face.
I know I put little posts up but I can’t believe I’ve left this poor little blog tosit for so long.
So, I don’t have pictures for you right now, I will hopefully get them up and going in the next few days, I do however have quite a bit of news.
For starters, the main new thing that has been taking over my time is that I got the full time office job that I was looking for. It’s with the same company that I did my placement for, and I am loving every minute of it. Honestly, I can totally see myself being here in 20 years, the benefits and the department that I work with are that good.
So yay!
C and I also almost bought ourselves a house. We were about half a day from signing, we talked with my family, discussed it between us, and in the end, decided that we would be better off if we waited for a bit. That way it would allow us to get rid of the last of my school debt and get a bit of a buffer saved up.
The good news from this is that we now know what we’re looking for in a house, since we want to hopefully move into one in the next few years.
Thanks to this new job, we were able to buy a gift for ourselves (this was a personal present for making it through the last year without going further into debt, essentially we blew what we could of my first paycheck on a toy). We got a Wii!
I love this thing! The exercize ability of it with Wii Sports and Wii Fit is perfect for me (since I’m not doing dance this year), and it has a bunch of games that are just plain fun! (I don’t do very well at video games, I don’t have the hand-eye coordination for it, but I’ve actually beat a couple).
Peri the wonder cat is doing fantastic, she’s become enough of a cuddle cat for me, and enough of a play cat for C. I’m not sure what caused her to be removed from the home she was in previously, but it wasn’t physical abuse. She even lets me clip her claws with my nail clippers!
On the knitting front, my stash has exploded all over the back room and I have to get that cleaned up. I’m working on actually finishing up some of my WIP’s and UFO’s. I’m hoping that when I clean up the stash I’ll uncover everything that is currently on the needles and take pictures to put into Ravelry. That list of WIP’s on there is my hall of shame and hopefully that will get me to actually finish stuff.
I’ve still been doing my voice acting for Quirky Nomads which is now just QN. It’s my favourite podcast and if you like little skits and funny stories, you’ll probably enjoy it too, plus it updates about twice a week at least.
Let’s see, thanks to Lime and Violet, I’ve started Letterboxing (you can find more info on it here) and I’m now an F2 with C. It’s a nice little hunt that gets you out of the house and seeing new things, plus it has creativity with making stamps. I’ll have a post or two about that in a bit too.
I think that’s about it on the general news thing from me. I’m hoping to get more time on the net and be able to write in here more often. I’m just finding that when I’ve stared at the computer screen all day, I don’t really want to look at it anymore when I get home. Maybe I’ll become a weekend poster.
We’ll see.
Till next time.
Saffity’s (Mis)Adventures in Cooking
October 24, 2007 at 6:57 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Cooking, Danger, Fire, Lesson
So, in the nature of Odds and Sods, today I will tell you about what happened in the kitchen today.
Should you speak to my family they will tell you that I’m not exactly the best chef. I have a very good pallet, I even startled a Maitre D’ in a New York Italian restaurant by listing off every spice in a bruschetta that my friend and I were eating. This is thanks to my brother only being allowed to cook eggs in the microwave and testing out different spices in them to make them more interesting (of course he never ate the eggs, I was the test subject), but I digress. This isn’t to say that I can’t cook anything.
I have the normal college student meals of Kraft Dinner, rice, udon or ramen, and chicken noodle soup. But I have some home made recipes as well. My first college roommate actually declared my Tuna Fish Casserole as the only edible version she’d tried. My Spaghetti sauce is a favourite among the boys who are friends with my fiance (so long as I don’t dump half of a bag of rosemary in it).
The best complimen tho came indirectly from my brother. I had made my version of Shepherd’s Pie for dinner (my fiance claims it’s not Shepherd’s Pie due to the inclusion of Tomato Sauce and Carrots rather than gravy and corn), and while eating it, I mentioned that there were 3 more dishes of it in the freezer should my brother want to cook them up when his friends came over. My brother looked me straight in the eyes and stated “why would I want to waste it on them!”
However, up until today, the biggest mishap I had had was causing the microwave to pop when I’d forgotten to take the bottom off of a frozen orange juice container, which all things considered, wasn’t really that bad.
Today tho, I decided to make a most fantastic dinner of Freezer Isle Shepherd’s Pie (it’s so hard pulling it out of the freezer and putting it in the oven for the specified time). So I set the oven to preheat and went in the back room to finish weaving the ends in on an FO I will show you all soon. Suddenly, my brain picks up that something doesn’t smell right.
I head out towards the kitchen and OH SHIT! Realize that the living room is full of smoke. Dashing into the kitchen, I see that the oven is in flames! I stress for a second, then turn around and grab the fire extinguisher. I read the label and get the extinguisher ready and reach out to open the oven door.
This is when numerous scenes from the movie Backdraft entered my mind. I panicked for a moment. To open the door and chance flames doubling in size yet having access with the extinguisher, or to leave the door closed and hope it burns itself out. I waited for 3 more minutes and when the flames did not diminish, I tested the fire extinguisher, then slammed the door open.
The flames increased slightly with the influx of air, but then I doused it with the extinguisher.
The entire apartment was filled from ceiling to about counter level with smoke, I had to crawl to the patio door to get it open and step out. I worried that the neighbours might call the fire department with the amount of smoke billowing out of the windows. After about 5 minutes of catching my breath, I heard a sound that made me realize that had this been a real threat, we would be in deep trouble.
Only at this point had the smoke detector in our apartment gone off. All told from the time I discovered the fire (and had the living room filled with smoke) to the time that the detector went off was a good 10-12 minutes. Had this not been a contained fire, that was sufficient time for the fire to spread and cause serious damage.
After I got most of the smoke out of the apartment I finally went to check on the oven. The cause of this fire was actually the fact that we’d hidden some dishes in there the last time we’d had company over. Included in these dishes was at least one plastic container. The container had melted and then lit on fire. After seeing this, I was very glad that I grabbed the fire extinguisher and not a jug of water.
My lesson from this is to always ALWAYS check the oven prior to turning it on. This time I was lucky, but it could have been a lot worse.
Till next time (with an FO!!!)
Being sick sucks…
June 28, 2007 at 1:16 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentSo I was all ready to write a big post today about the projects I’ve recently finished and some that I’m working on, when I woke up with the mother of all colds.
It was bad enough that I didn’t feel like knitting all day (that’s when you can tell I”m really sick), so I spent the day in bed, reading and sleeping.
I hope to feel better tomorrow so that I can take pictures and show off my new things, I’m so proud of what I’ve finished. Until then, I’m going back to bed with a NeoCitron.
all right.. that’s it… my first diet.. -_-;
April 13, 2005 at 11:12 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment*sigh*…
was cleaning my room today, and realized that I really don’t need any more yarn.. at least for the time being…
i’m going to try… and looking through my patterns I think I can get rid of at least some of my yarn… i’m hoping.. maybe.. possibly..
we’ll see…
-saff
Bummer… but looking at the silver lining
April 10, 2005 at 11:10 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentWelp… all those lovely pictures I promised in the near future…
will have to wait *hangs head*
I’m an idiot.. with a capital I… I took my brand spankin’ new digital camera which I totally love out with me and my friends yesterday, and when we stopped in the fabric store to get some fabric shopping done for more costumes (it is convention season after all)… I put my camera down.. and lost it…………..
so yeah… kinda bummed out about that… doesn’t help that my mother BROKE hers in some way that I have no idea how to fix.
I know.. I know… not my best year so far.
On the other hand, I’ve been accepted into the FiberRAOK group! Which is totally awesome! I haven’t had a chance yet to check too many of the other blogs yet due to the fact that my family had a late Easter this year (we can never be normal) but I’m really excited about this.
And they’re so nice there too! Thanks for all the warm welcomes.. And
Lisa… thank you so much for the tea gift certificate… Tea is all I drink! I LIVE off it! I’m going to love this.. and now have another site to haunt… so many to choose from!Yeah.. I prattle… however in knitting news… I have the front of my Hello Kitty sweater done, and the back half done. Mariah is probably going to get some TLC these next few weeks due to the fact that I finally found the instructions for her in my mess of a room… and my socks are completely stalled.. but I’ll get to them.
I’ve been struck by the reading bug, and with this wonderful weather, I’m outside a lot, and haven’t yet learned to knit and walk…
maybe some more convention pics at least…
ta
-saff
Back from the world of Obscurity
April 1, 2005 at 11:08 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a Commentwow………………
ok.. so I got REALLY busy and yeah… just finally dragged myself back here… mainly because ROAK sent me an email saying that I didn’t post recently/didn’t have a proper code on my blog…. gotta check that….
but yeah… In knitting news, I finished my Clapotis… just need to sew in the yarns and she’s good to go…. right as it starts to get warm >.<
the front of the baby sweater is done!!!!!!!!! and the back halfway there…
I bought Stitch n Bitch nation today wheeeeee! and got two sweaters that i’m going to save the yarn of to make a pretty new thinger…
FINALLY!!! Yes I have pics of my Misto costume.. made very quickly and cheaply.. but still good stuff…. Sorry it’s just links.. the pics wouldn’t resize properly for whatever reason
I would have had Birdie pics, but I forgot the boot covers for the costume -_-;;
Anyway… I also have the tail of my Saff costume almost finished, the unitard cut out and painted… so yay!
I think that’s it for now…
we’ll see…
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