A Little Knitting

As the holidays approached, I let go of all my knitting plans. I realized what a stressful holiday I was setting myself up for. That's silly, since the holidays are supposed to be about enjoying the time you're spending with those you've chosen to spend the time with.

I did knit up this little guy, dubbed Petty Officer. Actually, I've crocheted him. He's Lion's Brand's Amigurumi Penguin. He's a cute little thing that just sits about the house in different places. (Ravelry Link)

Last year while out of town, I picked up some Lang Mille Colori. It's been sitting, waiting patiently, for me to get over myself. I finally took the plunge and cast on a pair of Marquise Gauntlets.

It was a good project for me to have to use cables. I've done cables before, but was not really a very confident cable-er. The first gauntlet, I stressed, took notes, flipped papers around and took about four times longer than needed to complete it.

The second gauntlet was a much faster knit since suddenly, the little slashes and shaded boxes of the pattern chart started making sense. If you look closely at both gauntlets, you can see that the first row of cables are twisted in opposite directions. But it really makes no difference. I like the colour of the yarn and I mastered some new things (like the two by two front cable slip-slip-knit decrease cross gak!). (Ravelry Link)


Next up on the docket are a pair of socks. I've knit a pair of socks for B before. I had knit them because I'd wanted to make him a homemade gift and I wanted to see if I could knit socks. They worked out fairly well. He even wears them sometimes. They were socks of a worsted weight yarn. Cotton. Work-sock-ish. These queued socks will be made of sock yarn and I'm going to try using a trickier sock pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. It's a book I've had for quite some time. It'll be nice to break it in.

On the needles currently, to be finished before the socks are started, is the twice-frogged BYOB shopping bag from Knitty. This is the second of a set of two. I think I have the colour pattern planned properly so knitting it up this third time should be the charm.

At the Christmas dinner table, I stated in front of witnesses that this year I'd like to do more knitting. Hopefully, this is a good start to a year of projects on the needles.

♥Bonni

Merrickville, Ontario

Snapping Turtle

I've been trying to walk the dog in the mornings. It really, really is not fun. But then I think about how much B really, really thinks getting up and going to work is not fun and I suck it up and take the silly dog for a walk. I think though that with perseverance, I could learn to like it.

We have a lovely pathway that runs behind our house, along the catchment for the overflow of the local conservation area pond. 'Nuk and I walk there. Last Monday morning I came around the bend and was met with a flooded pathway. I stopped. Considering whether I could go around the extra water, I noticed a turtle at the side of the path, her back end quite buried in the gravel. Some real nature happening there, folks. Hopefully there'll be baby turtles soon. 'Nuk and I turned and headed home where I pulled out my turtle pictures to hopefully be able to identify the type of turtle she was.

Most turtles are kind of dull coloured. I wasn't having much luck with the identification process. I knew she hadn't any stripes on her nor did she have a multi-coloured shell. That narrowed it down to two endangered species or a snapper.

Fast forward to Thursday morning. Same path. Further along, 'Nuk and I stopped to consider taking the shortcut through the greenbelt home, or do we go back along the path the way we came. It's not yet 8 a.m.; these things need to be pondered. Goodness knows where my brain was, because I suddenly noticed that 'Nuk was very nearly standing on a turtle. It was a big turtle. Shortcut it was! I rushed home with the dog and returned with the camera.

There's a funny part to all of this. Not Funny-funny. But weird-funny. Just a week ago, we got a package from the Toronto Zoo. The Package contained information about Ontario's eight turtle species and the Zoo's Turtle Tally program. And here I was wondering how I was going to be able to find a turtle to tally.

Some pics of the beast:

I'm ready.

I'm ready. I've been preparing for a while. Now I have to jump in and just do it.

For a bit more than a year, I've been periodically dabbling in some paper craft. I dread to say 'scrapbooking', because that sounds like such a pigeon-holed word. I'm not into the frilly frou-frou that the word can sometimes call to mind.

I've purchased some of the basics upon the advice of my very artistic, very experienced, artist friend, Jennifer. The nice thing about Jennifer, is that she never tells you how to do something. She'll show you a technique, she'll tell you about something she's done, she'll suggest a path, but she won't say you have to do it this way. Jen also has a beautiful home filled with creative inspiration, makes time fly when you're spending time with her and has 4 handsome men in her life that lend themselves to amusing and interesting anecdotes.

With my basic supply of paper, ink, stamps and some other odds and ends I am going to attempt to create Christmas cards. I even attended a Card Making Session this very weekend with the talented and aforementioned Jennifer with the hopes of kick-starting my creativity. Not one to start out small, I am also undertaking a gift project, funded by and on behalf of my mother (a small scrapbook detailing a trip taken by my brother) as well as a birthday project for K. I figure the birthday project should have an imposed timeline just to up the ante a bit. I'll start in about two weeks and hope to be finished by the 23rd of December. Wish me luck. To muddy the waters a bit, I'll throw in a few more Sunday afternoon 'crops' (I think that's that you call them...) at my house. My mom and sister have been joining me the last few Sundays to create various projects using my collected supply of paper, inks and stamps. It's fun.

Even my wonderful husband, B has been getting in on the action. We've been watching eBay for good deals, Brian snipes them for me and then I wait patiently at home for the delivery man to arrive. He arrives consistently a half hour before I am dressed and ready for the day. Lucky him.

So hopefully I'll have some nice visuals for you soon. Pretty Christmas cards, manly scrapbook layouts and K's birthday timeline. If I don't, someone please email me and tell me to get my butt in gear. Really.