You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April, 2008.
This makes me ridiculously happy:
For the second weekend in a row, I have been able to hang clothes on the line and watch them flutter in the breeze. Even the fact that there is still snow in the background doesn’t dampen my delight, because there is less than there was last week!
Of course, the melting comes with a price in this region, and my thoughts and prayers go out to all of our neighbours dealing with flooding and water damage.
On the knitting front, I am squeezing in a bit of time with my love, Lizard Ridge, but my quest to knit a pair of socks every month (or two) in 2008 continues. On the needles at the moment:
I’m designing a 3 x 1 rib sock, and experimenting with needle size to see if I can create a go-to pattern for times when I want more stretch.
Don’t you love how once you have something on your radar, it keeps cropping up? When I was in Ontario last month, I had a discussion about saints with my daughter’s friend, Chris. This prompted some thinking about patron saints, and in particular St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of students. But I didn’t think for a moment about a patron saint of knitting (where was my mind?), so I was intrigued to see this blog entry pop up on my blog host home page:
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I hope that it is as nice where you are as it is here. The fresh air wafting in is punctuated by the sound of the brook running, birds tweeting, and every now and then a shriek from the kids next door as they howl “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?” (now that brings back memories!). It doesn’t get much better than this.
It almost makes me forget that I am off to the basement to work on our weekend project: emptying the computer room, painting it, and putting a lot less back in! So far… three bags for reycling, one bag to give to a good cause, and a half-bag of garbage. Not too bad. More room for my yarn.
My mother is celebrating a birthday today…halfway around the world and, no doubt, in fine fashion! Mom is such a role model for all of us when it comes to having a zest for life. She is well into her seventies, and continues to approach everything she does with enviable energy. My dad’s efforts to keep up are admirable, and would have felled a lesser man long ago.
Two summers ago we drove to Cape St. Mary’s in Newfoundland for some sightseeing, and on the way back to St. John’s we stopped at a playground to let my nephews stretch their legs and get rid of some excess energy. It worked for Mom, too:
Note the buff arms. Mom has been exercising since 1966, and it shows. She rarely misses a day of lifting weights and doing her workout.
Which is why it was no big surprise when I visited my daughter’s friend Rachael in Ottawa and saw that my mom (Ida) was featured on Rachael’s awesome wall of quotes:
Mom, you crack me up!
Love you.
There has been some positive knitting energy happening chez Hetty Knits:
It has been a long time since I have had this much fun with a knitting project. It is, of course, the fabulous Lizard Ridge by Laura Aylor. The free pattern is available on Knitty.
Over the years I’ve accumulated quite a few skeins of Noro’s Kureyon, the yarn required for this project, and my daughter convinced me that it is time to get started. Mind you, I didn’t take much convincing, so maybe it was more like aiding and abetting.
I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. one night to master the technique required. Couldn’t help myself. Now that I know how to do it, making the squares for this blanket (each square uses most of a ball of Kureyon) is so much fun it should be illegal. I’m not so sure I’ll feel the same way when the time comes to sew the squares together and create the border, but we shall see.
I get a kick out of the “bumps” formed by the short-row technique involved. They’ll flatten and smooth out when I block each square, and I know I’ll miss them.
In other news… the mammoth 2008 snowfall is melting!!
Here is Miette, out on our (finally) snow-free deck. In the background is our brook, with the water running nicely.
Look… no ice!
Miette finds this very amusing.
This is my dog, Miette. She looks innocent, doesn’t she? Do not be deceived.
All I can say is that it’s a good thing I love her, it’s a good thing she’s cute, and it’s a good thing I have a sense of humour!
The other day I prepared for a trip to the post office, where I was to mail a package to my mother and a little envelope to my friend Lynn’s son and his wife. Inside the envelope there was a tiny pair of hand-knitted socks for their new baby, Nina.
I put everything I needed into a bag and placed it near the stairs while I put on my jacket, then grabbed the bag and ran out the door, figuring I would seal the envelope once I got to the post office.
When I got there, I could only find one sock in the envelope. I looked under the car seat, emptied my bag several times, and even checked my pockets. No sock.
I returned to the house, looked in the driveway and walkway, opened the front door…and discovered this:
Somehow my VERY BAD dog had stolen the sock in the few seconds my back had been turned. Miette is well known for her lust for yarn and her preference for wool, and I am always very diligent about keeping my knitted goods away from her. I honestly don’t know how she managed this sleight-of-paw move.
Sigh. I suppose remedial action is required, but it is complicated by the fact that I have very little spare yarn to work with in this case. Bad dog.
For my friends who are not on the East coast in this winter of all winters, I thought you might be interested in the view from my driveway a few days ago. Not to worry, things are improving…I can see my neighbour’s house!
I’ll end with a warmer image: an asparagus Tosca I made for my daughter a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting her. Ahh, that’s better. I’m off to make a nice cup of tea.
