A Little Bit Of Happy

Bedtime

2012-01-27T23:53:00.001-04:00

Bedtime, a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

I'm tired. It's a complaint that most mothers of small children hear coming out of their own mouths while at the same time, our children are insisting that they are not, in fact, at all sleepy. At almost 38 and with this particular handsome 2.5 year old running around my house, I feel it in my bones and it scares me.

You see, I hope, pray, wish that this tired that I feel is not the way I really should feel. Because this tired is too tired.

The Mogrunt goes to bed at eight o'clock or thereabouts and I crawl into bed next to him to help him get to sleep. It is our snuggle time, our reading time, our bonding time. It is precious time and I love it. And no, I'm not going to stop it because you or any number of experts think it is wrong.

But every night, for the last, oh, six months or so, whenever I pause for those thirty or forty-five minutes to listen to his breathing change as he drifts off to dreamland, I am pulled there with him. It's as if those precious naps of his infancy, when we would doze on the bed after a feeding, have taken on a new form.

The problem is, while I know that being a mom is going to tire me out, the tired that I've been feeling doesn't seem manageable.

When I lie down in that bed, it's as if I am held down by an invisible weight and I have no control over my eyelids. I've fallen asleep many, many times fully dressed, with my contacts still in my eyes, only to wake at midnight and stumble to the washroom to get myself properly situated for sleep.

In a typical week, i am in bed and asleep by 9pm about 5 out of 7 days. Those two nights I do stay awake are lovely and productive. One of them is my knit night and the other is usually either Friday or Saturday. Not both, never both. You see, I feel like the five early nights are the ones where I play catch up for partying so bloody hard on my two "late" nights.

So, last week, I went to the doctor. I'm having blood tests done for low iron (which I always have), thyroid (please, no!) and a number of other things, including sugars. I did my best not to cry in his office as he is a new guy. Yes, I am that frustrated with how I've been feeling.

I'm trying to get exercise back into my life. This from the woman who used to pride herself on biking to work 7 months of the year. It's hard to bike when you have to drop a small lad at daycare every day. We need a bike trailer or something.

I eat a pretty good diet, though I know I eat too much sugar, chocolate etc. so I'm working on that too.

But in the meantime, I'm focusing the energy I do have on that adorable man with the toothbrush.

Christmas 2011 - and Plans For 2012

2012-01-03T19:09:00.000-04:00

Mom's gingerbread, a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

Every Christmas makes me sentimental. I pull out old recipes and try to recreate the holidays I remember growing up in my small New Brunswick town. I don't know if I do it for the people around me or if I do it just for me.

This year, we were missing two moms: my mom, who passed away 14 years ago only a year after finding a lump in her breast and my husband's mom, who died this past fall after seven long years of struggling with Alzheimer's disease.*

With the two of them in mind, I turned to my mother's recipes and hopefully searched for my mother's gingerbread recipe. It's a dessert I hadn't had in well over 20 years, I'm sure. And despite the well-worn appearance of the recipe card and the faded writing (I retraced my mother's hurried letters to be sure I could read it), I wasn't entirely sure I had the real thing in my hands.

So I did what I always do. I called my mom's sister, Aunt Jan, and asked. Every year since my mom passed away, it's been the same thing: me calling Jan to consult on a recipe only days before Christmas. Mind you, they've been different recipes for different dishes (chowders, casseroles, cakes, cookies...), but I really don't know what I would do without her. She's my mother's memory, in so many ways.

The gingerbread cake was a success. We had it on Christmas Eve (after the traditional Maritime Christmas Eve dinner of Lobster), slathered with whipped cream. I almost cried when I tasted it. I was 7-years old again and not entirely sure I shouldn't believe in Santa.

Believe it or not, that cake brought on a resolution of sorts... Lemme explain:

Christmases Past:

When I was a kid, my mom worked full-time in the office at our family's pharmacy, yet she managed to fill our holidays with the right mix of family, friends, and food. My mom was like living with Mrs. Claus, she loved the holidays so much.

Oh, I know she was stressed out doing it and I know that having her parents visiting each Christmas was part of that stress. Somehow, though, it just seemed like part of the festivities to me - like it was a race to a finish-line and Christmas Day was the destination:

"Can we get all these presents wrapped and delivered before December 24th?"

"Will Grammy 'behave' herself this year?"

"Did we get cranberries for the cranberry sauce? No? Someone, got car keys and a license? GO! Grocery store, now!"

Christmas Present:

Unfortunately, my approach to Christmas this year (and in the past) was the same as my mother's - Rush, rush, rush, Crash! - so when it's all said and done, I haven't had those imagined idyllic evenings of making cookies, inviting friends or family over for visits, driving around to see the lights, taking advantage of the snow falling to catch flakes on my tongue...

This year, while Christmas held, for the first time, lots of magic for our little boy, it did feel like a lot of rushing about to assist that magic. And frankly, I'm disappointed in myself. So I'm here to tell you this - I'm going to fix that for Christmas 2012 specifically and for 2012 in general.

(Making Grammy's Sugar Cookies)

My plan for 2012 is to be more organized so that, frankly, I can sit down and relax.

Christmases Future:

1. Get ready for everything in advance: for Christmas, this translates into "Buy the presents early." I've already bought some presents for next year - oh yes, I did - they were on sale and very affordable. And I'm very pleased with myself. For the rest of the year, this means if we're going out, we need to start the process earlier, instead of running out the door. If we're going to the cottage, pack our clothes a couple nights before, so there's no late night panic. If we're going to an appointment, leave in lots of time to find parking. etc. etc.

2. Set a budget and shop wisely: We've got some big purchases coming up as we're doing some work on our house (more on that another time), so we're going to need to shop around, get quotes, and stay on budget.

For Christmas, this translates to "stop the madness!"With one side of my family, we all decided to give small gifts. It was a relief and frankly, I did this even with the side of the family that didn't make this decision. We're not exactly independently wealthy here, so that's that. Christmas should not be about the gifts anyway... uh, but not that I'm giving my presents back from this year. Hey, it's a process, I'm working on it!

3. Give to charity: For Christmas, this translates to financial donations. We did this for a couple of our gifts this year and frankly, I think this is a tradition we'll carry on throughout the year. None of us are really hurting in our families, so I think that a donation to a charitable organization in lieu of a birthday gift might not be a bad idea.

We have been very fortunate in our lives to always manage to scrape by - either by the skin of our own teeth or with the generous help of our families. We'll do this by giving what we can with what we have as there's always someone with less. My husband is working on some music that he hopes will benefit the Alzheimer's society and I'm hoping to start doing some charity knitting.

So, while I do want to lose weight, get fit, and all that, I'm not really one for resolutions. It's more of a "growing up" and "acknowledging my part in this" kind of year. So, I'll try to stick with these points for this year, so that next year, I can enjoy more of this:

*I haven't written about the loss of my MIL here, but perhaps someday I will. She was a beautiful and graceful woman who maintained those same qualities right up until the end, despite her daily struggle against the disease that stole her from us.

Our garden "bounty"

2011-11-02T18:02:00.000-03:00

Our garden "bounty", a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

Last spring, Mr. Happy and I decided that it was time to plant a garden. With the rising price of food in mind, we rented a rototiller and Mr. Happy set to work tilling the bed.

Never mind the argument we had about the placement of the garden (an argument that only took 5 months for Mr. Happy to concede I should have won. Ahem), and never mind the incessant rainfall, we thought it might be a good way to supplement our "stores".

We planted carrots, onions, red cabbage, brussel sprouts, beets, green and yellow beans, sugar snap peas, lettuce and a couple tomato plants.

The carrots and onions grew, though only a little. Despite their size they are still delicious and appreciated in the various dishes into which I've thrown them.

The red cabbage, though a bit neglected, did grow and was delicious. The brussel sprouts were steam rolled by a small boy and his wheelbarrow. The beets, well, that was a sad loss.

The beans, both yellow and green were picked and devoured quite readily.

We did our best to use the "natural landscape" of our yard wisely. We planted climbing things near our fences. The sugar snap peas flourished on the fence at the end of our driveway. They were a tasty temptation when we arrived home at the end of a work day.

We did learn a valuable lesson about the sugar snap peas, however, after eating handfuls of the delicious pods raw: They are extremely hard on your mouth if eaten in large amounts. I spent a week at the cottage in "SSP addiction recovery" waiting for the skin in my mouth to return to normal. It turns out, they are still quite delicious if served lightly steamed.

The lettuce was the crowning glory of our garden and heartily fed many guests at our table over the summer. We hauled table and chairs outside at every opportunity and set about pretending we were dining on a backyard patio under a Tuscan sun. In actuality we were in our own backyard, surrounded by our ugly metal fence, near a busy street and under a Haligonian sky (though that setting does have its own charms).

Our lessons for next year are as follows:

Improve the soil.
Move the garden or cut the tree (hence the springtime argument).
Get the seeds/plants in the ground earlier.
Pray for more sun and less rain, yet encourage child to water plants in a gentle manner.
Remind toddler how to walk in the "valleys". between the rows and not across the "hills" with his wheelbarrow.
Make the garden bigger MORE MORE MORE!
Plant squash (oh wait, we did. It died.)
Plant pumpkins (pumpkin shortage in the city this year)
Do something to that dreadful fence.
Invite more friends over to enjoy our garden bounty with us, however small.

Growing Up

2011-10-26T22:01:00.000-03:00

My boy, a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

This morning as I drove my still wee, but at the same time, so big, boy to daycare, we were talking about growing.

We had passed a "digger" on the way to drop his dad off at work and were excited to see a smaller "digger" on our way to the daycare. I asked him if he thought that the little digger would grow up to be a big digger. He, of course, thought this was a great idea and that the little digger would soon be a big boy.

There is a magic about growth, isn't there?

When you're pregnant, you spend 40 weeks fascinated with your baby's growth and a little horrified at the growth of your waistline.

When your baby is born, you spend the first year of their life, constantly sorting through their clothes, marvelling and mourning a little, as they grow. My cousin's child once grew out of a pair of sleepers over night!

When you're a child, there are goals that are achieved through growth:
Walking, talking, wearing big boy or big girl undies, riding trikes, bikes, crossing the street, playing outside until dark, being allowed on different rides at the fairgrounds...

I am loving the concept of growth these days as I watch my tow-headed boy grow. I remember anticipating growth for myself as a child - praying and hoping I would be taller than I am. I may only be 5'1" (and a bit) on the outside, I am 6 feet tall on the inside on my good days.

My boy, he's the most adorable little elf these days. In this photo, he's standing under the trees in an apple orchard. I wonder how long he'll be able to do that.

While he may not grow to be 6 feet tall, it's going to be magic watching him.

About the Liars on Ravelry

2011-07-11T22:01:00.000-03:00

Shawl, a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

I swear, when I started knitting the Icarus Shawl by Ysolda Teague, I read on Ravelry that someone knit the large version of the shawl with two skeins of Berocco Ultra Alpaca.

I'm here to tell you that there are lying b*tches on Ravelry.

Details:
2.5 Skeins Berocco Ultra Alpaca.
Stocking stitch: small version
Lace repeats: same number as for large shawl

Quick Change Obsession

2011-07-07T21:57:00.002-03:00

Gnome pants, a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

The little man in my life has been the recipient of much of my crafting over the last few months. It all started when I went to the library and borrowed Anna Maria Horner's latest bok, Handmade Beginnings. She does make a crafty person get all "wanty", doesn't she?

I got a little "wanty" about the Quick Change Trousers. And the next thing I knew, the Mogrunt had three pairs.

I love this pattern - the contrast on the bum gives you the opportunity to play around a bit. Of course, I'm not exactly a pro-sewist (sewer?), so I didn't do the best job lining up my pattern pieces on the fabrics. You can tell, for example, on the red pants above, that I didn't really optimize the gnomey-ness of the back of the pants.

Ah well, learn and grow, learn and grow!

The pants below, with their elephant-camouflage look (perfect for hiding in the forest with your elephant friends), were the first pair of quick change trousers I made:

I'm still not sure if these are cute or bordering on obnoxious... but hey, the other side of these pants have dogs driving cars, so really, who care? Dogs driving cars, man, dogs driving cars!

The most recent pair of QCT, were these, Superman pants, for my sweet boy's 2nd birthday:

With the comic strip in shades of blue on the reverse side, I'm not sure who likes these pants more, the Mogrunt or his mama:

What makes me a little sad about these pants is that soon enough, the Mogrunt will grow out of the pattern sizing. And then there's the day I dread, when the Mogrunt starts to rebel against wearing the things I make for him. Until then, little man, it's elephant camouflage and gnome pants for you!

A little over a year ago

2011-07-06T21:20:00.000-03:00

Bleaklow, a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

Just 13 months ago I started back at work. I left my sweet boy in the care of a dear friend and entered into that extremely fun, oh so guilt-ridden, life of the working mom.

My first full day at the office was, well, horrendous - I felt like I was in the wrong place all day.

Mr. Happy picked up our little Mogrunt and brought him to the office to get me at the end of the day. When I saw the little Mogrunt walking down the hall to my office that day, with tears in his eyes, I crouched down and met him with a hug and my own tears.

I wore this vest on my first day back at work. The name of the pattern is Bleaklow. On my Ravelry page, I have this project listed as "How I feel about retuning to work" - because I did, indeed, feel Bleak and Low about it.

Now, a year later, the Mogrunt has graduated from home care where he enjoyed playing with his dear friend, Ella, her dog Maya and her Mama, to daycare (another set of tears and an adjustment period and finally complete joy at playing with his friends every day) and now, we're in another transition period.

A daycare opened near my office and my husband's office. Rather than travel across the harbour bridge twice a day (the ONLY downside of our former, lovely daycare), the Mogrunt and I now drop Daddy off before popping over tot he daycare. This shortens our drive and decreases our stress levels immensely, as well as puts money back in our pocket.

However, it is another new experience for him and there have been more tears both from him and Mama.

The guilt continues: The old daycare was near the waterfront, where he could see tugboats, ships, trains, cranes, sailboats, and all sorts of activity every day. And every morning we would drive past Theodore Tugboat at his dock and every day the Mogrunt would say, cheerily, "Dood Mornin' Pee-da-pour!"

Now, he's in the industrial park where it's cars, trucks, construction and blah. Granted, his daycare is situated near a lake with a boardwalk around it. And as the area around him isn't over-developed, he will get the pleasure of trees and birds and other wildlife.

I just have to remember that the benefit of having him close by will be more apparent in the winter when I'm not travelling across that bloody bridge in a snowstorm and fighting traffic on icey roads. And, as we'll have more time to play in the evenings, we'll just have to go visit the waterfront on our side of the harbour.

So Bleaklow. I'm trying to feel it less and see the good things in it.

I love this vest. I just wish I had knit it a bit longer. oh, and I also wish I hadn't gained 10 pounds since returning to work.

Curiouser and curiouser

2011-03-01T19:54:00.000-04:00

George
Originally uploaded by Sesser

The week after the apron and pillow making, we had another birthday party to attend. Yet another of the Mogrunt's wee friends was turning 2.

I talked to her mom and found out that this little girl is a huge fan of monkeys. I knew exactly what I wanted to make, having seen some very cute little dolls on Wee Wonderfuls a few years ago.

I just needed a model. A quick internet search and I was sketching the infamous George onto some paper and then using some of my mom's transfer paper to transfer the image to linen.

Dipping into my stash of embroidery floss from those days when cross stitch was my drug of choice, I quickly (as quickly as one who is out of practice) stitched up the little monkey you see in the photo.

The rest of the process went well until I started to sew the little monkey closed: My sewing machine chose that time to rebel against me and spit out excess thread from the bobbin.

This is a recurring problem and my usual methods of fixing it proved futile (cursing and other, more technical and appropriate techniques were employed), so I pulled up my big girl panties and hand-stitched the bottom closed. Which is really what the situation (but not the clock) demanded.

Rumour has it that the Monkey is well-loved and has already caused at least one argument between the two year old recipient and her older sister.

Oh hai

2011-02-17T12:24:00.002-04:00

Mommy's present to herself.
Originally uploaded by Sesser

Time has passed. I haven't blogged. Let's get over it and move on.

Here's what's new:
- The Mogrunt started daycare in January.
- Mr. Happy stared a full time day job in December.
- I've been knitting, but have few pictures.
- Life is busy.

The pillow you see above was inspired by the fact that:
a. We were still using the pillows that came with our couches when we bought them (ew yuck)
b. The Mogrunt loves birds. A bird is a "Tee!" in Mogrunt-speak
c. Turns out I had forgotten how much I enjoy embroidery.
d. I had already made the little bird for a special little girl's birthday present:

I also made two bigger pillows for our couches.

...with fabric left over from the curtains I made years ago.
I've got plans afoot to make another pillow with an owl on it. The Mogrunt is a huge fan of owls right now. We'll see if I ever get that done in the little bits of time I get to myself. Sigh.

YAY!

2010-09-16T11:39:00.000-03:00

Yesterday we took a long overdue drive to one of our favourite places - the Annapolis Valley.

Mr. Happy had been working in the Valley last week on a film shoot. They had shot some scenes at a local beach and he wanted to show it to me. We pulled the sleeping Mogrunt out of the back seat, carefully picked our way down the path to the beach and were treated to this:

The Mogrunt wandered out onto the beach, quiet except for our voices and the cries of the birds flirting (fighting?) above our heads, raised his arms up and shouted...

"YAY!!!!!!"

That was exactly how I felt. It was a beautiful place. The tide was out - and those that know the Bay of Fundy understand that this meant the beach went on for what seemed like forever.

You doubt me? Here, look for yourself. We were about two-thirds of the way from the high tide mark at this point (if the tide was high, we would be under about 15-20 feet of water here):

I grew up on the other side of this body of water - no, not the land you can see on the horizon (that's actually where my dad grew up) - and I still feel a fierce sense of home whenever I'm near it.

The boy had a great time running around on the beach - we eventually took off his shoes and once he got over the feeling of the sand (still mushy and wet from the departing tide) under his feet - and I think he wore off some energy.

When it was time to leave, well, let's just say he didn't go quietly.

Moments after we drove out the road, the sky opened up in the kind of torrential downpour that only seems to happen around farm country. Thank goodness we weren't out on that beach when it happened.

We grabbed some lunch in Port Williams, then headed up to Gaspereau Valley Fibres where I picked up some "Kitchen Sink Lopi" from Legacy Lane. It's listed on their site as a novelty yarn, which something in me finds offensive. It's beautiful, colourful and soft, so maybe it is a "novelty" for the Lopi name. I also picked up a copy of Ysolda Teague's Ishbel. I can't wait to knit that up. Surely I have something in the stash for it.

From there we stopped for a quick visit with the lovely Lala who has always said, "Stop by when you're in the neighbourhood!" Little did she know that we would take her up on the offer one day! If you've not seen Lala's artwork, you must click that link. She's a kindred spirit to fibre lovers everywhere.

After leaving Lala's hideaway, we headed for the farm market where we picked up some Gravensteins (which rival Cortlands as my favourite apple), and pears before grabbing a coffee at Just Us and then heading home.

It was a perfect day, made only more perfect by this:

A double rainbow that arched over our heads. The brightest bow ended right over the highway. And for those of you who have been looking at my photos on Flickr and have quote the "Double Rainbow" song, asking, "What does it mean?"... Let me tell you this:

When a double rainbow ends on the 103, it means that the roadkill is wearing green pants, a green hat and black shoes... and there are gold coins scattered all over the highway.

Pants for my Monkeypants

2010-09-15T23:40:00.000-03:00

Back in May, I went on a sewing binge. My little boy would soon be spending his days with the sitter and I would soon be spending my days sitting... in my office. Sigh. I assuaged my maternal anxiety by making pants. Cute little pants for Mr. Mogrunt Monkeypants.

Not trusting my ability to make pants from a hand drawn pattern, I picked up a pattern for children's pajamas and got to work. I traced the pattern onto freezer paper, rather than cut out the pattern pieces. I want to be able to use this pattern for many different sizes, so I thought this would be the best way to go. Originally I took a little length off the legs, but after the first two pairs of pants, I realized that a little more length and a little extra room in the seat wouldn't be a bad thing.

I also figured out that you need to use non-folding elastic for the pants - it makes them so much more comfortable around the waist.

Another thing I did after the first couple pairs - I sewed French seams for all of the seams. I have no serger and my sewing machine is old. Switching back and forth to zig zag the seams would have been torture for both me and the machine. I don't know when the machine might decide it will give up the ghost. The French seams just seemed nice and tidy for these pants.

For two pairs, I cut the pieces out of a couple of dress shirts that had belonged to Mr. Happy. He no longer wore them so they made lovely pants for our boy.

I took the shirt pockets and sewed them on the back of the pants. The pocket is a little "oversized" and kind of cute - though not really noticeable.

To mark the pants so that we could tell which way was the back, I stitched a little ribbon into the waistband. I found some old name tag ribbon that my mom had bought for my brother many years ago - from the Eaton's catalogue (so, not yesterday) - and just folded it in half so only my maiden name shows when you look in the pants.

One thing I discovered while making these pants is that there is a thin line between a boy wearing cute little homemade pants and a mullet-coiffed dude wearing a tank top and wrestling pants.

A thin, thin line.

Since making these pants, I've been staring rather longingly at the cute pants people are making from Anna Maria Horner's book, "Handmade Beginnings". I've requested the book from the library but had a peek at the instructions in a local bookstore. I think I might be able to fudge a pair of these adorable pants from her instructions. I just wish that a local store carried her fabrics.

Though the fact that the alphabet fabric had my name on it...

...almost makes up for the lack of AMH's fabric.

Almost.

(Apologies for the wrinkly pants in the photos. I took these photos on the fly one day when all the pants were clean at once. Taking the time to iron them... HA! Are you nuts?)

Sunny Days

2010-08-27T20:50:00.000-03:00

Watching Daddy Mow
Originally uploaded by Sesser

We've had the most beautiful summer in quite a few years. Other summers we have had so much rain that we spent the season dashing around the yard with the lawn mower on the dry days before the clouds threatened again. This summer has been sunny and warm and glorious. Really.

We've spent almost every weekend doing something fun... going to the market, the beach, a wedding (at a winery), a birthday party, hosting impromptu barbecues, eating outside whenever we think of it, and enjoying the out of doors as much as we can. All too soon we'll be cuddled up under blankets, staring out at snowy scenery.

Last weekend we went to "The Incredible Picnic" at the Dartmouth waterfront. There were booths with local food producers, entertainment, and fun. A local adventure farm had a few animals there for the kids to see. The Mogrunt got very excited about a baby goat.

He wasn't quite sure what sign he should use for it. It wasn't quite a dog or a cat, but he didn't know the sign for goat. The goat, for her part, didn't quite know what sign to use for the Mogrunt, so she wandered away for a drink.

The Mogrunt is all sorts of fun now. He's practicing words, "Cat" (pronounced "dat") being his favourite right now. He's working on "light", "dog", "hat", "shoes" and "ball". He's picked up saying, "Uh oh", "Whoa" and "Yay!" from the other kids he spends his days with. It cracks me up when he drops something and says, "Uh oh!" or manages to clip the straps on his high chair and then stops to clap and say, "YAY!"

I still have moments when the sight of him chokes me up simultaneously with love for him and sorrow for the fact that my mother is not here to enjoy him. I guess that will never go away.

Since coming back to work I've managed to knit most of a sweater for me, a wee pair of socks for the Mogrunt and I've just started another pair of socks for the Mogrunt. Like I said, soon enough the snow will fly and we'll want those warm socks.

I hope your summer has been sunny both in the literal and figurative sense.

The Very Quick Year and The Very Long Post

2010-06-25T19:43:00.033-03:00

The Very Hungry cupcake
Originally uploaded by Sesser

This past Monday, my little boy turned one.

I can hardly believe that a year has passed since he came into this world, turned it upside-down, inside-out and filled it with his easy smile, his silly giggles, and his beautiful, expressive eyes.

It seems like we had wonderful, long year together and yet, at the same time, it seems way too short. A year at home? Is that really enough with a whole, new person before heading back to the office? Sigh.

Those who don't want to wade the the proud Mama talk can skip the paragraphs between the ***s. It's like this, my own mother has been gone from this world for 13 years. I need to tell someone these things.

**********************

We drove him home from the hospital like there were crystal wine-glasses stacked in a pyramid on top of our car. Now he's running around our house like a mad man, surprising us when he doesn't bonk his noodle (his head) when he trips on his toys or getting back up and acting like the latest spill was "nuthin'" and just wait, there will be more!

He's talking, saying "Mom!", "Dada!" and "Tent". (We pull the bedsheets over our heads and he grins and says Tent. Under the kitchen table is a tent as well.) He's recently added "woof!" when he sees a dog and this week he started saying "Hi-eeee", which we interpret as "Hi!"

He's signing a few words as well. He knows: More, Milk, Dog, Bird, Eat and Water. We're working on things like: Please, thank you, Mom, Dad, Shoes, Want, Ball and Cat.

His motor skills amaze me every day. The Mogrunt took his first steps at 10 months and one week. Now he's cruising around the house. He loves feeding himself individual pieces of corn or peas, as well as occasionally spearing food with his little fork and eating it.

He loves anything that makes noise, especially musical instruments. He plays with his piano and ours with a passion that would put Glenn Gould to shame.

If he picks up a toy with wheels, he immediately "starts the engine" and all we hear is "brrrrrrrr" as his lips flap out the sound. You don't have to teach that to a boy, I guess.

Lately he's been giving really great hugs. Wrapping his little arms around our necks and squeezing. He's also doling out the kisses. He'll come at me with a look in his eye, so I'll squat down and MWAH! BIG KISS righ where you eat! BIG! Closed mouth, even, thank you very much.

***********************

I've been a negligent blogger these last months. I got so busy with preparing to go back to work. I was spending all of my spare time either snuggling with the boy or sewing little pants for him to wear at the B's house. We're so lucky to have a great friend taking care of him. (I'll share the photos of the wee pants as soon as I manage to have all of them clean and in the same place at once! Ok, maybe I'll have to photograph them individually.)

For some reason, going back to work felt like I was preparing for a long trip. Like I wouldn't be home again for months. I felt like I needed to cram everything I could into my days. I was a little stressed for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, I realized what I was doing and, after giving myself a stern talking to, calmed down and realized I would, in fact, still be living in the same house, in the same town and still have access to all the things I had access to before.

In this past year, I've learned so much about not only myself as a mother, but myself as a person.

As a mother, I can already see how easy it is to let your child get away with things that they shouldn't. How easy it would be to give in when a fit of independence leads to a temper tantrum. (The Mogrunt freaks out when we sweep because he wants to sweep... and then he gets upset because he can't handle the broom on his own. I hope that this fervour for housecleaning lasts until he has a home of his own.)

I can also already see the things I won't budge on. Especially for his health and safety.

Healthy food is a big thing for us. My mom struggled with her weight her whole adult life and I want my son to have both healthy parents and healthy ideas about food but without making a big deal about it. So far so good. The little man loves everything we've given him. He's a huge fan of oranges, broccoli, peas, corn, carrots, avacado, etc. I really don't want my child to eat fast food or any kind any time soon. I guess it's because I don't want this for myself either.

For the Mogrunt's safety, I've started limiting his internet presence. I'm in the process of deleting his photos from FB, making his photos private on Flickr and have asked friends and family to refrain from posting his photos online. Paranoid, moi? I don't think so.

A dear friend had a complete stranger approach her and her daughter while they were out shopping, exclaiming "Oh, this must be [insert daughter's name here]!" Upon my friend inquiring "Do I know you?", the woman responded that she had seen photos of [insert daughter's name here] through a mutual friend's comments on FB. My friend immediately went home and made her photos private. If anyone is going to put my kid's face on the internet, it should be me or his dad and we're even being cautious about that. I wouldn't want our extended family to be responsible if his image was used without permission. Especially on FB.

As a person, being away from my office job really helped me to rediscover who I am and what I want out of life for me and how it will impact my little family. I don't know how this impacts my job right now, but I do know that, at home, my personal creative time is definitely no longer going to take a back seat to silly things like dishwashing and laundry. (Although it will a bit until I can afford a dishwasher. My kingdom for a dishwasher.)

Other things I discovered while on mat leave:

1. I really love grocery shopping on a Monday or Tuesday morning. It's so much faster and easier to navigate the aisles when it's just me, other mom's and retirees. Now if only Tuesdays were also sample days.

2. Believe it or not, I'm a very quiet person. During those first few months at home with the Mogrunt, I had to remind myself to talk out loud. To be fair, I had a lot on my mind and spent a lot of time thinking things through, so I was often lost in my thoughts. Now that he's talking and walking, it's much easier to chatter away with him.

3. I really enjoy sewing. I'm sorry knitting, but I've got another outlet for the madness in my head.

4. Our neighbourhood is rather interesting during the day. There are strange people going through the recycling, teenagers smooching in front of our house on the way home from school, old men wearing sweatpants walking dogs wearing sweaters, people walking to the bus and looking unhappy about it.

5. I love receiving packages in the mail. It's good that I'm broke because I would totally go nuts buying stuff online. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the postal van in front of my house. Wheee, presents!

6. I have amazing friends. Really, the best. And I'm not naming names because I'm keeping them all for me.

7. My husband is the best dad and husband in our house. Maybe your dad or the father of your children would be strong competition, but I'm limiting the possible nominees to one person. He does dishes, laundry, housework, cleans poop off diapers, does 3am playtime with weirdo boys who won't sleep, makes supper, grocery shops, plays the piano and guitar with our boy, sings to him, and even makes fart jokes with the boy... already. Oh, our child is soooo advanced. HA! As I was saying, he's all kinds of awesome and I'm so glad he's my husband.

Hopefully, I'll be able to take some time to post in the coming weeks and months. I've got some knitting and sewing to show you and some ideas stuck in my head.

For those of you who made it this far, thanks!

Feeding Some Of The Family

2010-05-20T14:28:00.001-03:00

Last week I borrowed a book from the library called, "feeding the whole family". It has some great recipes in it with suggestions at the bottom of each page of what you can feed your baby from the ingredients you are using to make the meal. It's very handy and after looking through it I think I'll probably get my own copy.

The recipes use lots of healthy ingredients and I'm very inspired to use this book. I bought soba and udon noodles as well as quinoa after peeking through it. The Mogrunt had soba noodles and tofu for supper. He seemed to like it esp the noodles.

At lunch today, Mr. Happy was feeding the Mogrunt some quinoa I had made and he said to me, "this quinoa is really good."

I asked, "oh? You tried it?"

Mr. Happy said, "yeah, it's tasty."

To which I replied, "that would be the breast milk."

I don't think this is what they meant by "feeding the whole family".

Promises, Promises

2010-04-02T11:14:00.004-03:00

Snap!
Originally uploaded by Sesser

If only everything was possible just by snapping your fingers. Or wiggling your nose.

It took me the better part of 30 years to figure out my personal philosophy of life. While I'm pretty sure I've figured out what works for me, I'm also pretty sure that the rules by which I conduct myself will probably adapt over time. I've cut myself some slack, someone has to.

Here are just a few of the Stephisms that make up my personal philosophy:

1. Don't make promises you can't keep.
2. Don't make promises at all.
3. If you're considering making a promise, see rules number 1 & 2.

You see, I've been thinking lately about promising things to people. (This has nothing to do with anyone else, just with me. Don't be paranoid, any of you.)

It may seem absurd to you, but this is something I've come to realize about myself - I suck at keeping the promises I make to other people. (Except the big ones like the promise to my husband on our wedding day and ones involving the keeping of deep, dark secrets.)

It's mainly the little promises where I fail. Especially when it comes to making something for someone else. Ok, it's specifically those promises. In the past, I would get excited about doing something for someone and in that excitement, I would tell the person about it. The moment I told them it was as if the bubble burst and POP! the sparkle was gone and the project was put aside in search of other fun things to do. The same thing would happen if someone asked me to make something for them.

This is the reason why, after many years, I still have that beautiful 95% complete cross-stitch of mother goose that I intended for my niece. Why I still haven't made a blanket for my other niece to match the one I made for her sister. This is the reason why the really cool slippers I was making for a friend are sitting in my UFO box with just some simple sewing left to do. My eldest niece is the only one who has known about socks she is going to receive for Christmas and then has ACTUALLY RECEIVED THEM!

While I do try to live by this philosophy of not making promises I can't keep, I specifically try to avoid promising to make things for other people. I do, however, occasionally slip up and tell someone about a project on which I've previously been working on for them in secret.

This week, I slipped up and told my BFF, Becca, about the material I bought to make a little lunch tote for her. She's a teacher and she usually takes her lunch to school. She also, like many other teachers, I suspect, finds this point in the school year hard. You can see the end in sight, the children are getting spring fever, and you're all dreaming of summer. I figured it would be a fun little thing to help get her through the remainder of the school year.

I'm sitting here blogging, thinking about how stupid I was to tell her about the material, instead of taking the time to sew the darn thing! SEE? SEE? I'm setting myself up.

Sigh.

Now, if only the Mogrunt would snap his fingers and make that bag appear.

About My Husband and His Music

2010-03-30T11:44:00.001-03:00

It's been 14 years now since Mr. Happy and I went on our first date. We went for supper and I was so nervous, I could barely devour the delicious meal we had at that restaurant. And I'm sure I don't remember the plot of the movie we watched. Nor do I really remember what we talked about sitting on the couch at my apartment until 2am.

But I do remember this: as he said goodbye to me that night, the words "I love you" were forming in my mind. It was as if, on a cellular level, I knew that he was the one I would spend my life with. It's hokey, but it's true. He later confessed that he felt the same.

I've been horribly cranky with him this spring. I'm worried about any number of things and this lends itself to me being short with him. He has a million things on his mind as well, so between the two of us, we're more scattered and cranky than usual. We're making an effort, though, to pay attention to how we talk to each other, especially in front of our wee lad. It helps that life is sometimes so ridiculous that it makes us laugh.

example: I was cranky yesterday morning in the kitchen. I can't even remember what it was about. I just know that me, before lunch = Crankminster Fuller. I was making some food for the Mogrunt. Green beans to be precise. I had run them through the blender and was pouring them through a strainer when I decided I could speed the process along by tapping the container on the table. I then walked into the living room and said, "Look what I just did. I'm wearing green beans on my sweater." He laughed and I laughed and all was right in the world.

That's the thing about Mr. Happy. He can make me laugh when no one else can. He understand my brain, my sense of humour and well, me. He gets me. And he calls me on things when I need it. Lately, I've needed it alot.

And I hope that he can say the same about me. That I get him. That I know him. that I understand his brain, his sense of humour and him.

Because he really does make me Mrs. Happy. I can't imagine my life without him.

This February, Mr. Happy released his first solo album ever. "First Day of Summer Life". Named after a certain young man.

After four (was it four?) albums with The Heavy Blinkers, he has struck out on his own. He had been working on the songs for quite a while and finally spent a month last fall locked away in his studio, finishing up the album. (One of the songs he wrote well in advance of us finding out about the Mogrunt. Oddly enough, there is a line in that song which goes "it'll all come true in the month of June", which is when the Mogrunt was born.)

Of course, I love the album. I'm really glad that I married a guy who writes music I like. I can't imagine what I would have done if he decided to write death metal. I mean, I know there are people who love that kind of music, but I'm not one of them. I'm just glad he didn't have a mid-life crisis that involved screaming lyrics. I'm not implying this is a mid-life crisis, I'm just saying that death metal would be one for him.

The album has received some great reviews. It seems I'm not the only one who loves his work. I'm so proud of him, always have been.

If you're interested in hearing the album, you can do so on his Myspace page:

Andrew Watt and the Glory Glory

If you're interested in reading some reviews:

Ben Rayner's Reason's To Live, The Toronto Star

Grayowl Point

Quick Before It Melts

And if you want to buy the album, you can do so on iTunes. But if you're looking for a disc, let me know!

Thanks for listening. Thanks for reading.

Quick Sew

2010-03-29T16:29:00.003-03:00

Birthday gift for Ella
Originally uploaded by Sesser

A couple of weeks ago a wee girl named Ella finally celebrated her first birthday. Her dad had been away so the party was postponed until his return.

The Mogrunt and I were thrilled to have been invited, but I, being the last-minute kinda gal that I am, had put off part of the birthday gift. I had picked up some things to put in the bag, but hadn't made the bag that was in my head.

On the morning of the party (Yes, Cali, I'm ashamed to say) I set to work making this little bag. It was fun and pretty easy to do. I had read Super Eggplant's tutorial a few years ago and had tucked the idea back in the recesses of my memory.

I know that Ella probably won't know for a while that it's hers, but I knew that green is her Mom's favourite colour, so I think it will see some use.

I used denim and cotton, both purchased at Atlantic Fabrics. For her name, I made a freezer paper stencil and fabric paint, which dried in record time. The colours are a bit off in these photos. Of course, with all the sewing on the morning of the party, I didn't have time to take a photo before we arrived!

Plans are afoot for more!

This Little Face

2010-03-28T11:05:00.002-03:00

Little Red Riding Hoodie
Originally uploaded by Sesser

This little face gets me every time. I spend more time looking at this little face now than I ever spent looking at my own as a teenager (when I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror trying to determine if I was dorky looking in a variety of poses - the answer, always yes, dork!).

I love waking up with this face beside mine in the bed. I love the way this little face makes Mr. Happy's face just that - Mr. Happy. I can't believe I MADE that little face.

He's so funny, my little Mogrunt. He amazes me with what he sees, what he does, what captures his attention and how it shows on his face. He purses his lips in concentration, just like his great-grandmother. He sticks his tongue out, (likely feeling his teeth) while he plays, reminding me of stories of his Auntie Suzie reading a book with her tongue between her lips (she did this as a child, she's managed to stop now that she's a grownup). He has a sneaky smile, just like my Grampy Taylor, which makes me ever so grateful for genetics. His eyes sparkle when he's being silly, just like his dad.

We're heading into new territory with this little face. In two all too short months I will be heading back to work and I will not spend my entire day looking at that little face. While I've missed my coworkers (ok, some, not all), I've found a suitable replacement for their company.

I'm drinking up all of that little face that I can right now. I hope you don't mind indulging me while I do.

One box

2010-03-24T21:49:00.000-03:00

Today I went down to the basement and brought up a series of boxes I keep down there under the stairs. With the boy safely playing in his playpen, I went through them once again.

These boxes contain what is left of the clothes that once belonged to my mother.

When I first started this process, almost 13 years ago, my mother's clothes overwhelmed me. She was a legendary shopper and as her weight sometimes went up and down, she had lots of clothes. She wasn't a fan of getting rid of things; she was, after all, born to parents who had been young during the depression and she herself was born during WWII. You just didn't throw out what you might use again. Even if it had shoulder pads.

There were closets full of clothes when my mom died. I didn't know what to do with them all, but I had to clean them out when my dad remarried. I called in the cavalry. My mom's sister came first on her own. She and I went through the closets and she tried on so many things. I still remember her standing in front of the mirror and worrying about taking things. I encouraged her and she took home armloads of clothes. Looking back, I wonder if my aunt felt as if she was borrowing clothes from her little sister and if it just didn't seem right.

Then, the other friends came: Pat, Beth, Susan, Wendy. They all stood in front of her closets with me, pulling out pieces of her wardrobe, remembering what she had worn and when. Fighting tears as they looked at favourite sweaters, and maybe fighting each other a little bit over pieces they all loved. They all took something home to incorporate into their own wardrobes. A sweater, a dress, a cardigan. Her scarves I kept all to myself. I wear them occasionally, and they usually garner compliments from those who notice such things.

As we went through the clothes, my mom's friends reminded me to keep things for myself. Things to help me remember. Her wedding dress that was so incredibly small. The dress she wore to my high school graduation. The trendy palazzo pants she had bought after losing weight and then wore on a cruise. Her signature turtlenecks, always Parkhurst. (Oddly enough, I now own a half dozen or more turtlenecks.) A few of her white blouses, just to remember how she loved a crisp white blouse. There were things I kept that they didn't know about. The hat she wore when her hair fell out after the chemo. The last nightgown I brought home from the hospital to be washed.

And so it was that even after they took so many boxes away, filled so many back seats with her things, that I was left with about six boxes full of clothes. I piled them into the moving van when Mr. Happy and I were married and moved to Nova Scotia.

I carried those boxes to the basement of my in-laws house where we lived for three years while they were overseas. The boxes were a shrine. They were magical. It was only a year and a few months since she was gone at that point. I could still open the lid of any of those boxes and bury my nose in memories. In those early days, I would pull out a sweater and wear it, wrapped around me like one of her hugs, feeling her with me, needing her to be near.

Over the years, I've gone through those boxes time and again. And every time I do, I'm able to let more go. They don't hold that same magic over me any more. I've kept the important things. The things I mentioned and a few more things. But more and more I have donated.

Those six boxes have been reduced to one as of tonight. One box of clothes. I'm done now. I won't look through that box again for a long time. I suspect I won't have a lot of time to do so anyway.

I think about my mom a lot. I always have. She was a wonderful person. I know you would have loved her. She had a great sense of fun and a great laugh. I can't remember it as well as I would like, but I can remember her smile. I see it sometimes in my own and now I see it in my son. I can look at my hands and see not just her rings on my fingers, but I can see now my hands are starting to look like hers.

I hear her voice in mine when I talk to my son. When I make up silly names for him, when I kiss the nape of his neck like she kissed mine. I wish that he could have known her, but I'll do my best to make sure he does in his own way.

Someday, we'll pull out that one box and we'll go through it together. And I'll show him how many memories are contained inside, but also, how so much of her story couldn't be kept in something so small.

Spring randomness

2010-03-18T21:38:00.003-03:00

I have bad hair days too!
Originally uploaded by Sesser

Who else wanted to spend February under the blankets with a SAD lamp on their nightstand? Blargh - I may have been born in the month, but I don't have to like it! Thankfully two things have happened since the beginning of March:

1. We have been blessed with wonderful spring weather. It seems quite early, but we're without snow, the sun is shining, the temperature is warm, the crocuses are blooming and I sure ain't complaining. I bundled up the Mogrunt and took him for his first ride on the swings last week. He isn't swinging fast enough to ruffle his hair. He's got crazy hat head in the photo.

2. The clocks have "sprung" ahead. Though this may not be a good thing for some (especially during those first few mornings) but I'm just so thankful for sunlight!

Let's see, in the Random File:

1. The Mogrunt started crawling on February 12 and hasn't stopped since. And he's fast. Really fast. Needless to say, it makes my days a little more hair raising than they once were:

Scene: Kitchen, Mommy doing dishes, Mogrunt playing with stacking rings at her feet.

Mommy looks down:

Mommy: "Hmmm, he was right here a second ago."

Mommy scans room for Mogrunt.

Mogrunt is helping with supper by getting the vermicelli out of the cupboard.

Too bad we were having fish that night.

2. I'm glad I didn't officially sign up for the Knitting Olympics. I had planned to sign up with the goal of knitting three pairs of socks: One pair for each member of my wee family. I did manage to get one pair of socks for myself done during the Olympics, but I am still working on the pair for Mr. Happy. The poor Mogrunt is going to have to wait. Uh, yeah, so Olympic Fail, but not, b/c I didn't set myself up for it. Yes, I am an apathetic athlete, is that such a bad thing in a world of overachievers? Someone has to be last!

3. We went to visit my BFF, R and her family during their March break (known to the rest of the world as Spring Break). It was a last minute trip, so I didn't tell anyone I was going. I hadn't seen my little "niece" since her birthday, so we were due for a visit. When I arrived, I walked into the house, took one look at AJ (R's daughter) and started to cry! "She's so big! I need to visit more often!"

We had a great time, lunching at Cora's, hanging with the kiddos, wrangling dogs, trying to have conversations over the din, posing the children for photos only to have a reluctant participant...

4. I joined Twitter. I haven't been on there a lot in the last few days. But I'm there. If you want to look me up, I'm @mogrunt1. 'cause really, I'm the first Mogrunt, and the little man is Mogrunt2.

5. I've got this awful urge to plant things, in soil. It's the sunshine, it's gone straight to the happy centre in my brain. I went to Kent the other day and bought seeds. I've just got to get organized enough to plant them. I bought parsley and coriander, both of which I've been using quite a bit lately, as well as carrots, tomatoes, sunflowers, and morning glories. I can't wait. I'm a great gardener in the spring. In August, I'm usually apathetic. Here's hoping I can maintain my interest this year.

6. I sewed a fun little bag for a knitter baby's first birthday. Of course I forgot to take photos. If I hadn't put the baby's name on it, I would have kept it for myself.

7. Along with the urge to plant things, I've also got an urge to purge my house of unnecessary objects. We dropped a big bag of clothes at Big Brothers Big Sisters today. I'm also going through each room and putting things aside for a yard sale. My goal in the next year is to make purchases with care. I don't want to bring anything into our house that is going to end up in a donation bag next spring. Mr. Happy did a big clean up in the basement and we're slowing getting the garbage to the curb. I wish we could put it all out at once, but at the same time, we'd end up looking like freaks if we did!

8. I recently devoured Alan Bradley's, "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie". I want to be Flavia. It's a murder mystery with an 11-year-old precocious sleuth and I LOVE HER. (Please imagine me saying that with all the passion of an 11-year-old.) I lent the book to Ann so that I would have someone with whom to discuss the book. The second book, "The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag", is out now and I'm trying to control the urge to run out and buy it RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE! I haven't been this excited about a book series since "Portofino" by Frank Schaeffer.

Ok, that's all for now. I've stolen this time while Mr. Happy and the Mogrunt are dozing upstairs. I should finish tidying and head up there with them.

I can't resist, one more photo:

Even with a folded ear and Baby Mum Mums stuck to his face, you can understand why I'm not blogging very often.

Val-on-time Sweater

2010-02-08T11:17:00.001-04:00

Val-on-time Sweater
Originally uploaded by Sesser

Knitting content! YAY!

A friend, by the name of Val, is expecting her first baby. She's due today. She's hoping to have the baby BEFORE Valentine's day. We all hope, for her sake, that the baby comes before then.

I finished this sweater, which I nicknamed the Val-on-time sweater just about a week ago. I sewed the buttons on last Monday night and took it to her last Tuesday.

I am legendary for being late for everything. Ask any of my friends. I try hard and I am much reformed from my teen years but I'm still notorious. My mom used to say I was "slower than cold molasses running UP a hill in January." Oh, yes she did. And I would have reason to be upset if it weren't TRUE!

I am the last to finish a meal at the dinner table. I am the last mom to get my boots on when leaving the library. I am always running out of the house with makeup to put on in the car or a bit of toast to eat on the run. You get the picture.

I was really nervous about knitting a sweater for this baby. There are some that say that a baby will not come until its knitwear is ready. I didn't want to bear that burden of responsibility. I like Val. I didn't want her to hurt me, so I put my nose to the grindstone and knit on this almost exclusively from the time I bought the yarn (at my LYS boxing week sale) until it was finished.

And so, for once, I'm on time with something. I finished this sweater before the baby arrived, so I've done my part to encourage this child to come out into the world.

If the baby decides to wait a couple more days, perhaps it is because there are some other friends who aren't quite done with their projects for this wee one.

But Val, don't worry. I'm sure everyone else is just darning ends right now. That baby need not worry about being cold. S/he can just come on out into this world and know that s/he will be warmed by lots of love knit into warm coziness.

You just go ahead and do what you need to do.

Haiti

2010-01-17T21:36:00.001-04:00

Today I was thinking that while I have lived through two natural disasters ('98 ice storm and 2003 hurricane Juan), nothing in my experience could ever compare to what the people of Haiti are going through right now. All of my first world "problems" are trivial in light of the suffering of so many people.

Last night, my baby slept in a warm bed, between his mama and daddy. He had milk to drink. He ate cereal this morning. His daddy played the guitar and sang to him this morning. He visited with a friend today. He got a new book. He napped in a cozy bed. He played with his toys. He had his diaper changed. He had a nice supper. He had a warm bath. His mama sang him songs and now he's sleeping.

When my baby cried today, it was because he was frustrated about crawling. He cried today because he had a burp that wouldn't come up while he slept. He didn't cry because his mama wasn't there, or because he was hungry or hurt.

And so tonight and every night, I will hold him close and be thankful for his tears, his laughs and his diapers. And I will whisper some prayers for the babies and their mamas and daddies in Haiti.

The Yarn Harlot has thrown up the Knit Signal, (like the Bat Signal, but for knitters), encouraging us to make donations to Medecins Sans Frontiers. She is also encouraging us to mark our donations as being directed to "Greatest Need" or "Emergency Relief", as this will enable MSF to use the funds to continue work in other areas as well as in Haiti.

If you are interested in making a donation to another registered charity, the CBC has compiled a list HERE to which you can refer.

If you are able to donate, MSF and many of the registered charities listed on the CBC website are a great way to go. If you aren't able to donate, please, say a prayer, light a candle, send some love, some light, some words their way. I'm sure that Haiti can use whatever you've got.

ETA: This note from Mimi at The Loop in Halifax:
Steph--I'd like to throw in a plug for The Loop's fundraiser for the Red Cross. We're accepting donations of lovely yarn all week, and on the weekend of Jan 23rd & 24th, we're going to sell off the donations (and more), with 100% of the proceeds of the sale going to The Red Cross Haiti Relief. So next weekend people can do some de-stashing and stash enhancement and help Haiti at the same time. Details are here:
http://www.theloophalifax.ca/

Thanks Mimi - what a great way to raise funds!

Tiny parade

2010-01-17T11:03:00.001-04:00

It's time for a tiny parade of finished objects.

First the Turn a Square hat by Jared Flood. Ravelled Here

What a satisfying pattern. I kept knitting so that I could see where the colour changes would be. The yarn is Brown Sheep Nature Spun and Noro Kureyon.

Next up, the Simple Yet Effective Shawl by Laura Chau. Ravelled Here

I've had this silk for years and after several unsuccessful attempts, finally found a pattern (or rather, an "unpattern") that suited it. I purchased the yarn at London Wul and don't recall if it ever had a lable. It's lovely, though. And quite resilient, considering the number of times I've knit with it.

Last for now, but certainly not least, my second Balsam by Ilga Leja. This has been finished for quite a while, but this is the first chance I had to get a photo of it. I had the pleasure of knitting a sample of this pattern for Ilga. It's an addictive knit and I really enjoyed making it again. Ravelled here.

Now, in other news, somebody has two teeth:

See? Say, AAAAH, Mogrunt!

And he's not afraid to use them:

and not just on toys. He has taken a liking to his little girlfriend's head! Little C is two months older than him, so she can hold her own, I'm sure. The Mogrunt just gets so excited to see her that he starts making "brrrr, brrr, brrr" noises with his mouth and then he leans in, reaches for her head and tries to NOM it! The first time he did it, all I could think was, "Oh, please, Mogrunt, don't be THAT kid!" He hasn't managed to bite her and I don't think he can get his mouth open wide enough to chew on her head anyway, but it still makes my heart stop a little - even though Little C's mom is laughing too.

How I Killed An Hour Today

2010-01-10T22:13:00.003-04:00

It went something like this:

The Mogrunt's diaper was wet, so I went upstairs to change it while talking on the phone with Becca:

1. Remove wet diaper, balancing phone between ear and shoulder

2. Put on fresh diaper, still talking but Mogrunt is suddenly hollering loud enough that I can no longer hear Becca.

3. Hang up phone before fresh diaper is fully fastened because the Mogrunt is carrying on and has already peed in the clean diaper.

4. Pull out another fresh diaper, have a look at the Mogrunt's butt and realize he could stand a little sitz bath.

5. Run tub for Mogrunt and add baking soda.

6. Undress Mogrunt and take him to the bath.

7. Let him play in the bath for 10 minutes or so - hoping that the baking soda is helping to soothe his diaper rash.

8. Take the Mogrunt out of the tub, dry him off and start dressing him.

9. Fresh diaper (see #4) is on, diaper cover is on and all of a sudden, the Mogrunt starts to make that face. You know the one. The red face. It's either poop or he's about to yell at those kids on his lawn again.

10. Help the Mogrunt to stand in his crib for a few minutes - also known as: Assuming the poopie position. He loves standing, thinks he is king of the crib.

11. The undeniable eau de toilette wafts through the air.

12. Pull out fresh diaper number 3 and change the Mogrunt. Try not to gag. Try not to say, "ooooh, stinky" as Mr. Happy likes to remind me that it's possible that I'm "shaming" the Mogrunt. Wonder if Mr. Happy's self-esteem is injured when I go on and on after he emerges from the washroom with a magazine.

13. Dress the Mogrunt and dispose of poooooooh.

14. Look at all the dirty diapers in the bucket, realize that we're almost out of clean cloth diapers. Run downstairs with the dirty ones and throw in a load of laundry.

15. Come back upstairs and rescue the Mogrunt from his crib.

16. Wonder if that isn't the faint scent of poo in the air...

Starting with the finishing

2010-01-05T22:05:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I went to Fabricville and went a little crazy buying buttons. They had a sale - 40% off. It was sweet. The Mogrunt was content in the wrap and enjoyed looking at the wall of buttons so I might have gone a little overboard. I am in LOVE with wooden buttons so I picked out some for two sweaters and then stocked up. I've always wanted a button stash. When I got home, I was so excited about the buttons that I spent the evening sewing them on the sweaters I had finished for the Mogrunt.

First and foremost, the Baby Yours Sweater by The Yarn Harlot:

Mr. Happy bought the yarn for me shortly after we learned that I was pregnant. He had planned a trip to the Big Smoke for his first "boys weekend" in years. The yarn is the same colourway as the one Stephanie used for the sweater shown in the pattern. It's hard to pick out colours over the phone. :) The size is the 6 month size. I thought I was going to run out of yarn until I remeasured the fronts and the back and realized that I had done far too much garter stitch on each piece. I ripped back and had enough left over to knit the button bands, etc., with lots of breathing room. Knitters take note.

I think that we can safely say that the Mogrunt likes his sweater and perhaps even enjoys his new career as a knitwear model:

Next, we have the Mogrunt's "Alliteration sweater" - called such because it is a Cotton Cashmere Cardigan:

This Debbie Bliss pattern is from her book, "Special Knits". It's the organza edged cardigan. Obviously, the Mogrunt and I thought that he would look a little girlie in organza, so we left it off.

I also modified the button band / neck edging. Instead of knitting the front pieces with garter stitch at the bottoms and as a 3-stitch repeat along the edges, I knit them in plain stocking stitch and then picked up all stitches along the bottom, where the button bands are and along the neckline and then back down the other front piece and along the bottom in the same manner. Then I just did garter stitch for 3 rows, decreasing and increasing at corners depending on their "direction" and inserting button holes as I went.

I was running out of yarn and while I think it could have stood a couple more rows on the button bands, I had no choice but to bind off. Now that the buttons are on the cardigan, I'm really happy with how it looks. Mr. Happy thinks it looks like a sweater that an Indy rocker would wear. The Mogrunt did get a xylophone for Christmas, so he's well on his way to becoming just that.

If you look closely at this photo, you will see that the Mogrunt has teeth. Two on the bottom. Let's not discuss what a big boy he is. I just can't deal with it.

The next thing I want to show you is a sweater that my grandmother made for the Mogrunt. Last year, I called her from my LYS's annual Boxing Week sale and asked her if she wanted anything. When she responded that she would like to knit a sweater for the Mogrunt, I picked up some Cascade 220 and a top-down raglan pattern for her.

My grandmother is 91. She has been knitting since well before any of you were even a twinkle in your father's eye. You could not fit in her house all of the things that she has knit in her lifetime. Despite that, she had never before knit a top-down raglan sweater. She called her younger sister (younger as in 85ish) about it. I talked to her afterward and this is the rundown of our conversation:

Me: Grammy, is that pattern going to work for you? I wasn't sure if you were familiar with knitting sweaters from the top-down.

Grammy: You know dear, I've never knit one like that before, but I talked to Mary and she's done them. So if she can do it, I'm sure it's not going to be a problem.

I would say that she managed quite well, wouldn't you agree?

The Cascade 220 is superwash and it's also beautifully soft. My grandmother knits quite loosely these days, so the fabric is nice and drapes really well.

Can you tell that I'm in love with wooden buttons? I think they are so wonderful. I bought enough wooden buttons at the sale to sink a small ship.

Ok, that's it for me for now. Expect more soon. I can't promise what day, but I'll be back.

A Year To Keep

2009-12-31T22:24:00.002-04:00

Over my lifetime, there have been years I wanted to keep close to my heart and there have been years that I want to throw away. Those years are the ones I don't want to relive in my memory, but that keep coming back to me when I least expect it, stealing my breath away. Sometimes, they are the same as the years I want to keep.

1980 Keeper: I started school. I loved school. I did well in school and loved everything about it from math to spelling to gym class.

1985 - Keep: I was the Queen of Hearts in the grade 5 play of "The Trial of Alice in Wonderland". Life doesn't get much better than that.

1989 - Keep: I became friends with Leslie H, who lived down the street from me. We're still friends to this day. She still makes me laugh so hard that I can't breathe.

1990 - Keeper: I got my driver's license. I was a free agent, with gas money in my pocket. I also learned to water ski this year.

1992 - Keep and Toss: A year to keep and to throw away - I started university in another province while my family was in turmoil. It was a heartbreaker.

1996 - Keep: I met the man I knew I would marry. I knew it on our first date. So did he.

1997 - Toss and Keep: The year my mom died. There are moments that I cherish, but I want to toss most of that year out the window.

1998 - Keep: The year Mr. Happy and I were married.

2005 - Keep: I started meeting friends through knitting. Blest be the yarn that ties.

As for 2009, well, this year, I'll keep.

This is the year that my son came into the world. It still seems strange to say that. Every day I look at his little face and I'm amazed by him.

This is the year that I fell in love with my husband all over again. Watching him with our boy has made me see a whole other side of him and I love it so much.

This is the year that my Dad became "Grampy" and my brother became "Uncle".

This is the year that my husband said "goodbye" to his life as a studio engineer and is now starting on that path called "Career change".

This is also the year that my husband finished recording his first solo album, filled with music which I love and enjoy listening to very much.

This is the year that my dear friend, Angela, the one who encouraged me to start this blog, got engaged to her "Dictator".

This is the year that "niece", AJ, turned 1.

There are so many other things about this year for which I am thankful and which I will endeavour to remember and hope that I don't forget. Yes, there are challenges ahead, and not just those challenges that include late night feedings and diaper changes. But I feel ready for them.

I could go on, but right now, there are two sleeping boys upstairs who are waiting for me. I'm also quite exhausted and am happy to be wearing my jammies while others are out partying in high heeled shoes and cocktail dresses.

Now that the "Happy" couple are a "Happy" family, we are going to continue our New Years tradition of years past:

When the fireworks go off over the harbour at midnight, we will rouse from our slumber, mumble "Happy New Year", give each other a kis and drift back to sleep. This year, though, we'll snuggle the Mogrunt just a little bit before we start snoring again.

Missing In Action, But Not Missing Inaction

2009-12-18T14:11:00.004-04:00

Hello? Is this thing on? Tap, tap.

Well, there goes another stretch of time where I have been so busy that I didn't blog. My deepest apologies to anyone with my blog still on your blogroll.

Right now, Mr. Happy, the Mogrunt and I are visiting our favourite cafe.

The Two If By Sea Cafe opened back in November and we've been enjoying every moment we spend here. The coffee is lovely, the croissants are divine and the owners are so sweet. Tara makes the croissants and Zane slings the coffee. Tara's croissants make me happy and ever since I told Zane that I thought the grownups should be allowed to have bunnies, etc on their latte, I've had two snowmen and today, a bunny and a snowman smiling at me from my cup.

The Mogrunt and I even met up with Brainylady here when she was visiting a few weeks ago. Henry even came out of hiding to see her, although, he refused to have his photo taken as he claims he has been doing undercover work.*

Brainylady very kindly made knee socks for the Mogrunt. They are so beautiful and the stitches look so neat and tidy and the little man's feet are too freaking big for them - WAH! - so I'm going to pick out the foot and see if I can rework them so that they will fit his giant baby feet.

It helps that the coffee shop is only a short walk from our house, although, now that the weather is getting colder (it was -23 with the windchill this morning) we haven't been down as often. We'll just have to bundle up and get out of the house more often!

Alrighty, the baby is asleep on Daddy's chest and I'm going to sign off for now; I've got some knitting in my bag. I hope to be back soon.

*Henry tells me that he's been working in the laundromat, disguised as a balled up sock, trying to crack the missing single sock case. I wish him well, as this kind of mission could surely help mankind, but I'm somewhat skeptical. I've seen some receipts for cocktails at a single bar. I think he's looking for love in all the wrong places. Single socks are really just useless without their mates.

He's Going To Be Impossible To Live With

2009-11-09T10:48:00.003-04:00

Mr. Happy won "Studio Engineer of the Year" at the Music Nova Scotia awards this weekend.

He's already told me that I have to be nice to him b/c he's an award winner. Sigh. I already do his laundry, what more does he want? If he thinks this gets him off dish-washing duty or gets him out of changing diapers, he's going to be terrifically disappointed.

Congratulations, sweetie. You deserve it!

Here's the article in the local paper.

For anyone who might be interested in such things, Mr. Happy is currently working on his first solo album. Recording should be finished in the next week or so and then it's on to mixing and mastering. Almost done!!! YAY!

Mini Mars Bars, The Breakfast of Champions

2009-11-01T11:39:00.004-04:00

I'm sure that many of you are munching Halloween treats this morning. Either you've raided your child(ren)'s stash or you've got lots of leftover treats because the threat of the flu kept children at home.

I have a confession to make:

Last night was the first Halloween in many years where I was excited about the holiday. For many years Halloween was a PITA for us. Our dearly departed dog, Bentley, had a hate on for children and would spend the entire evening barking at the tiny ghosts and goblins who came to our door. When Mr. Happy and I moved into our house, we handed out treats for a couple years, but then it just got easier to turn off the lights and hope that no tricks were played on our house. After Bentley went to the big doghouse in the sky, I finally acknowledge the truth - I really didn't like Halloween all that much.

Growing up, I was a pretty shy kid, so I wasn't keen on visiting houses of people I didn't know - which in my hometown was only about 5 houses, but still, I didn't like it. And then when I got to the age where my mom would get me to help opening the door, well, I wasn't keen on it then either.

But yesterday? Well, yesterday changed all that because we had our first chance to dress our kid up in a costume. Which we did with glee and the knowledge that at some point later in his life, he will be embarrassed by these photos.

First, we carved our pumpkin. I drew the bat and Mr. Happy, also known in these parts as "Daddy", carved it. Then we posed the Mogrunt with the pumpkin:

Notice anything? Do you see who is sitting up all by himself? Yeah, it lasted a few seconds before he face planted into the grass and came up with a piece of leaf in his mouth. I may have a picture of the tears, but not of the leaf part. What? You know you would do the same!

Later in the afternoon, I got the Mogrunt dressed and headed out to visit family. First we went to visit his Auntie and cousins:

It was exhausting, being in the car in costume.

Then we picked up Daddy at work and visited the Mogrunt's girlfriend, who was dressed like a lamb. Sorry, no photos. I don't have permission to show you photos of the Little Lamb.

Then we went to visit Nana and Poppa, where we took some photos outside:

Then home again, where we sat the poor tired little duck next to his pumpkin again.

Daddy had to get back to work*, so we visited three houses in the neighbourhood and gave out goodies to a flashy robot from across the street. Then I had to admit that I was done and so was the Mogrunt.

We set the bowl of candy outside and went upstairs for bath and bed time. When I checked the bowl later, there was still quite a bit of candy left in it. I think that a lot of the kids were staying home because of the flu going around.

This morning, I'm very glad that we participated in Halloween, especially b/c we have leftover chocolate this morning and I'm really looking forward to next year. And not because I'm going to use my kid to get candy for myself.

Honest.

We Will NOT Allow Martha To Dress the Mogrunt for Halloween

2009-10-29T17:57:00.001-03:00

My Uterus Does Better Work

2009-10-16T13:48:00.008-03:00

While it may seem that I have dropped off the face of the blogosphere, in fact, I have not. I'm still around - lurking through your posts, often smiling at your stories, occasionally commenting, and occasionally forgetting to comment as I run off to change a diaper or rescue a baby who has spent "just enough time, thanks Mama" in his activity gym.

It seems I'm pretty busy these days - who knew that wiping up spit-up could be a full time job? I have become quite adept at anticipating imminent milky messiness. Despite that, I do currently have a big glob of wet on my shoulder right now as the Mogrunt planted a nice glob of cheese-curdy goodness on me before falling asleep.

Back when the Mogrunt was just a fish in my belly, my SIL laughed when I mentioned that I would like to get some knitting done while off on mat leave. She thought I was being unrealistic, but it seems that, despite the amount of time I spend doing laundry, I am managing to meet my own expectations. I wasn't so disillusioned to think that I would be sitting here with the Mogrunt on my lap, just knitting the days away, but having worked as a caregiver to two young girls, I knew that there would be time here and there to get in a few stitches.

It does seem, however, that blogging about those stitches is a harder task. As I said to my husband's family over Thanksgiving dinner - "Our camera used to be filled with photos of knitting - now it's filled with photos of the Mogrunt." My SIL piped up and said, "And those weren't nearly as interesting."

Seems someone is gunning for a lump of coal instead of a handknit stocking this Christmas.

So, in the last 3.5 almost four months, those few meager stitches at a time have turned into:

A totoro hat and a sweet baby cap:

Pattern: Totoro pattern from Hello Yarn.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino DK
Raveled here.

Pattern: Sweet Baby cap is from Gros Blog
Yarn: made with scrap yarn from a blanket a dear friend made for the Mogrunt
Raveled here.

A pair of mittens for the wee man - with plans for a matching hat:

Pattern: from A Kitten Knits
Yarn: Made with bits and bobs of Debbie Bliss Merino Aran and Cashmerino Aran.
Raveled here

Socks for me so that I can match the Mogrunt - we are sock buddies!

Pattern: 3x1 rib with short row heel.
Yarn: Trekking
Raveled here.

My "Alliteration" sweater for the boy,

So called because it is a Cotton Cashmere Cardigan
Pattern: Organza edged Cardigan from Debbie Bliss special knits - obviously, the Mogrunt chose to "butch it up" a little by leaving off the organza.
Raveled here

I've also made significant progress on the Baby Yours sweater:

Pattern: Baby Yours by the Yarn Harlot
Yarn: STR
Raveled here

However, in all of this knitting, the one finished item of which I am most proud is this, the bear that the Mogrunt will be taking with him to University and quite possibly, on his honeymoon:

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
Raveled here

Yes, ladies and gents, it is finally done. The sweater alone was the cause of much ranting and mental compositions of "Dear Designer" letters. It took two and a half hours just to seam the darned thing! (And that's after I had it seamed at the shoulders and realized that I had only done 3 repeats of the garter stitch stripes at the top of one side and 4 on the other. The sweater almost went out the window of the car on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner in the Annapolis Valley.) We won't even talk about the bear itself because I may start to weep.

It took me almost 11 months to make this bear with my own two hands. Yet it only took me nine months to make a baby with my uterus. My uterus as it turns out has fewer fine motor skills than my hands but while that bear is cute, I think my uterus does better work, as evidenced here:

Look out ladies, he's a heart-breaker.

Fledglings, leaving the nest

2009-09-17T12:30:00.004-03:00

My little darling skeins of yarn,

Mama is sorry but it is time that you left the nest.

As I sit here, with all of you gathered around my feet, I see the hopes and dreams that I had for each one of you. I see the socks that never came to be, the scarf that I intended for my auntie (only to be told she is trying to knit it for herself), the ill-advised purchase of a beautiful red yarn for a project for myself (a colour I never wear), the baby "uggs" to be knit in purple and pink with flashy fuzzy yarn as the trim (oh so fun but such a silly purchase), the Manos I bought on sale just b/c it was Manos ON SALE... and so many other ideas that just didn't work out.

I'm sorry, so sorry, but you can't all stay. You're like a litter of puppies who must go to new homes where you will be well-loved and knit by careful hands. Preferably, those would be Canadian hands, so that I don't need to sign up for a Paypal account which would just lead to more ill-advised yarn purchases.

Good-bye, my sweet yarny babies. I hope you remember all I've taught you about being kind to others, and wearing a hat when it's cold.

Love,

Mama

PS:
1. All yarn is from a cat & smoke free home. A dog does visit here, but he doesn't play with yarn and he doesn't shed.
2. As I've never sold any of my yarn before, I'm not sure what the general rule of thumb is for shipping costs. We can sort it out together.
3. The first person to comment on the yarn on Ravelry will get it as long as we can agree on payment and shipping within 3 days (I've got the Mogrunt eating up my time, so I'm not online as much as I used to be).
4. Please comment directly on the yarn in the "trade/sell" portion of my Ravelry. Don't send me a PM. Feel free to leave a comment even if someone else has already said they would like the yarn, just in case things don't work out with the "adoption".
5. As stated above, I would like to only ship within Canada - just b/c it's a little easier for me right now. I am not anti-any country, so please, don't take offense or start up a campaign against me and my kind! I'm just lazy, have mama-brain and not a lot of time on my hands.

PPS: If you can't get to me through the link above, I'm Steph VW on Ravelry.

Things That Have Been Making Me Happy

2009-09-14T11:57:00.003-03:00

It's been ages since I've done a "Happiness for Under $10", and I'm just shooting from the hip today while I have a chance (i.e. while the Mogrunt is napping).

1. Enjoy naptime: it's free, it's decadent and sensible at the same time. Oh, and grownups can enjoy it too.
Cost: Free

2. Grab a coffee and go for a walk in the park with a friend: I've met a friend from our prenatal class for walks in the Public Gardens a couple of times. I used to visit the gardens more when I was in University and I'd forgotten how perfectly lovely they are.
Cost: bridge or bus fare + coffee = less than $6

3. If possible, take a baby to the beach: Introduce him/her to the water. Enjoy the smiles.
Cost $? gas to beach.

4. Buy adorable hat from H&M for baby: Have him pose with his dad who sports same style of hat. Go to Saturday market. Listen to people exclaim over hat.
Cost: $6.95

5. Have friends who knit: Especially wonderful friends who knit things like 1920s style bathing suits for babies.
Cost: Free (except regular friendship maintenance).

6. Buy something for yourself on sale: Hit the end of season sale at Joe. Buy fun new shirt. Feel good about yourself while wearing it.
Cost: $7.94

7. Hershey's Dark Cherry and Almond chocolate bars: Need I say more?
Cost: less than $2.00

8. A knit night on your own: Leave dad and baby at home with a bottle of Mom's finest white milk. Go to knit night. Enjoy evening without spit up on shirt. Drink hot coffee. Call home and find that baby is bathed, fed and sleeping. Fall in love with his daddy all over again.
Cost: bridge fare, $4 for fancy coffee

Ok, that's all I can come up with right now. I want to get some knitting in before the Mogrunt wakes up.

In other news:
I'm doing some destashing. I've got some stuff up on Ravelry, but most of what is up there right now is nothing exciting at all, but I'm going to weed through my yarn and be completely honest with myself. Also, I'll be passing on the discounts that I received when I bought the yarn... and most of my yarn was purchased either at the Tangled Skeins holiday sale OR when I had an employee discount. Just sayin'.

I'm going to limit my destashing to Canadian addresses only. And I'm trying to figure out what to do about shipping. Let's just go with this rule: We'll do whatever seems fair.

The first person to leave a comment on the yarn on Ravelry will get it. I'm stephvw.

I'll put up a post here when I've got the rest of the items listed on Ravelry. M'kay?

Words Cannot Express...

2009-08-25T11:48:00.001-03:00

...just how much I love this little old man:

Fairy Dogmother

2009-08-22T22:45:00.003-03:00

As some of you may know, before the Mogrunt came, I was a huge fan of our four-legged, furry canine friends. Mr. Happy and I had a miniature schnauzer, who had been my family's dog. He passed away in 2003, but I was very happy to become Fairy Dogmother to my friend's chihuahua, Minou. I'm also overjoyed every time my fur-nephew, PIppin, comes to visit us. He's such a bundle of lurve.

Mr. Happy and I are such dog people, in fact, that we said, "Ok, if we can't have kids, we'll get a dog." It all worked out and we have the Mogrunt, much to our relief. After all dogs can't mow the lawn.

Minou's Auntie, Jen and her husband, recently lost their English bulldog, Julien, in a tragic accident. They are walking in the SPCA's Paws for a Cause, with their other English bulldog, Madeline. If you have an extra $5 or $500 please sponsor them or your other local teams!!!!!!

Here's the link to their fundraising page.

Mommy Can Knit!

2009-08-20T12:19:00.005-03:00

Mr. Happy is taking the day to work at home. Although right now it looks more like he's taking the day to nap on the couch with the Mogrunt - awwwww, so cute. Nap time with Daddy = free time for Mommy!

Let's talk about KNITTING!

During the last month of pregnancy, my fingers were so swollen that the nerves were pinched in my left hand, making knitting quite uncomfortable. In fact, I didn't really get as much knitting done as I would have liked. Mostly b/c I was so bloody uncomfortable and if I dropped a needle on the floor, I would almost cry at the thought of having to bend down to get it!

Since the Mogrunt's birth, I've noticed a distinct difference in the availability of knitting time. It's been replaced with laundry and diaper changes. Now that the Mogrunt is almost two months old (tomorrow is the day!), I'm actually getting a little more knitting time. I'm also getting a handle on housework and meal preparation - I think that the secret is to ALWAYS have leftovers!

Soooo, what have I been working on? Well, let me show you two projects that are sitting in my knitting bag.

I've got all the pieces knit for the boy's teddy bear, and while I am pleased with it, I do feel like writing a "dear designer" letter.

The pattern does not tell you what is the wrong side and what is the right side. When you see that this is seed stitch, you'll think I'm silly for worrying about that, BUT there are increases and decreases and I'm not sure which side should face out. The photos show what I would consider to be the wrong side as the right side - quick, who's on first? And the finishing instructions are somewhat vague. While it may seem intuitive to some, there are paw pads to be attached and if it weren't for the photos of the bear, I wouldn't know how to attach them! Sigh.

On a happier note, I'm knitting a pair of socks for me. I figured that I deserved a new pair of socks. After all, I did grow a human being in my uterus!

I've made two pairs of baby socks from this yarn, so I wasn't sure how long I should make the leg. I'm knitting these toe up so that I can make them as long as possible, but I'm not sure how much I have left.

I recently attended a "dry run" of a certain designer's class for a particular summit, and she had some great advice on knitting toe up socks from yarn that doesn't have a particular direction*. I don't think she would be upset if I shared this bit of wisdom, after all, she didn't claim patent protection on the idea:

Knit past the heel and a bit of the leg of one sock from the outside of the ball, then start the second sock with the inside of the ball and knit it to the same point as the first sock. Then just alternate between socks until you get close to the end of the ball - do your cuffs and bind off!

It's so simple, why didn't I think of it?

Because SHE taught at a particular summit.

...not me.

And in other knitting news - the sweater that I made a couple years ago, finally has a model:

Really, I made the baby to go with the sweater. It needed a model that cute and I couldn't find a doll that was adorable enough.

*Examples of Yarn WITH a direction: Self-patterning or self-striping with more than two colours
Examples of Yarn WITHOUT a direction: hand-painted, variegated yarn, rebel yarns without causes

Guns hurt people...

2009-08-16T09:20:00.001-03:00

Last week, the Mogrunt and I hit the road without Mr. Happy aka Daddy, for the first time. We went to New Brunswick to visit my family. Why so soon after our previous visit? Well, rumour had it that my cousins would all be around for the weekend, all of them except my cousin who lives in China. It would be the first time in many years that we were all together. And the real attraction was that my grandmother's seven great-grandchildren would all be together for the first time ever.

I broke up the 5 hour drive by staying at Becca's house on the way there and at my cousin's house on the way home. They both live in the same city which sits at the approximate halfway point of the drive.

We had a lovely visit, spending some time at the lake, lunching with friends at the new restaurant in town (yummy), and hitting the local thrift store for tiny boy clothes.

At the thrift store we made out like bandits: three pairs of overalls, a shirt that matches a pair of the overalls, a pair of brand new Car*ter's pj's AND a bag to put them in for $10. I guess that goes with my "theme" of a $10 bit of happy. The next time, we're looking for stuff for Becca's wee girl too.

On Sunday, we headed to my aunt's house for my cousin's little boy's 1st birthday party. We arrived at 3pm. The party was in full swing only moments later with around 40 people, young and old, running around inside and outside. The birthday boy was passed around, when he wasn't scooting along the floor and playing with his friends, both big and small.

At one point I was outside on the back lawn with my cousins and their children. The kids were alternately playing "Robot" (dressing in boxes decorated by the birthday boy's dad, a brilliant man and a brilliant idea) and running around with water pistols.

This is when things got a bit dicey. Let me give you some background.

There is a tradition in our family, one that is probably more common than families will let on. It's a tradition of cousin abuse. It's not nearly as bad as it sounds, or maybe it is.

It all started when I was just an infant. My dear cousin, Jennifer was carrying me when I was just wee and it seems she got tired of carrying me.

So she dropped me.

Fast forward 6 years or so. My cousin Leah was just wee. I was holding her. My arms got tired. I went to put her down. The next part of the story is up for debate.

The "adults" in the family say that I dropped her. I distinctly recall lowering her to the ground and then Leah squirming a bit so that she fell out of my arms.

Regardless, there was a short distance between my arms and the ground and she fell that distance.

Hence, I carried on the tradition.

I had hoped the "tradition" had come to an end with Leah and I, but alas, the torch was picked up by my elder cousin's youngest boy, we'll call him Nate.

Nate is only 2. Nate had a water gun. I was sitting on a blanket with The Mogrunt and my cousins when Nate went running by. As he ran, he threw his water gun.

Guess who it hit?

Of course, the tiny, sleeping Mogrunt... right on the head.

He started to wail and I quickly checked him to see that he was ok. Once I determined that he would live, and would only require me to wipe the water off his head and the tears from his eyes, I started to laugh. I know, I'm a horrible mother. It may have been relief that made me laugh.

My cousin's wife caught Nate by the hand and made him apologize. He did, after crying a little himself.

Nate, I understand your tears, little man. I've been there.

And just b/c no post is finished without a photo...

I call this one, "Grammy Rides Again"

(Grammy said to me as we were walking back to the house after this photo was taken, "Gee, that was harder than I thought. My leg doesn't bend nearly as well as it used to." Ahem. She'll be 91 in December.)

Petite Purls

2009-08-05T16:17:00.003-03:00

Have you seen it?

An online knitting mag for kids!

Petite Purls

I want to make Jacques Crusteau just for the name!

6 weeks

2009-08-05T08:15:00.003-03:00

*Warning: Long Post Ahead!*

I didn't intend to be away from the blog for 4 weeks, but it seems that life has changed a great deal. Does anyone remember inverse proportions from school? It would seem that the amount of time that I now spend online is inversely proportional to the time I spend doing laundry.

(Note to self: get that wool soaker pad made for the bed. No one wants to wash their sheets every day.)

It's been a very busy 6 weeks.

To recap,

Week One: The MILKY WAY
My milk didn't really come in until early Friday morning. So, the kid went from a steady food delivery system on Sunday, to four, almost five days of crappy colostrum supplies for which he had to work HARD...

:: Leaving the Hospital

When the public health nurse came to check him on Wednesday, (one day after he had been discharged from the hospital) he had gone from his birth weight 7lbs 13 oz, down to 6lbs 12oz. To be completely fair, his birth weight may have been "pumped up" a bit by the fact that I was on I.V. fluids for 12 hours before he was born. Regardless, his parental units were completely FREAKED OUT by the lack of milk and took him back to the hospital late that night, less than 36 hours after he had been discharged. The doctor assured us that everything would be fine and sent us home.

At his doctor's appointment the next morning, he weighed 6lbs 10oz (keep in mind - different scales). The doctor scheduled a check up for 5 days later and encouraged us to feed, feed, feed. When we got home, I called in the recruits: Lulubelle arrived with a breast pump and reassuring words of wisdom. JAK arrived too and shared her tales of breastfeeding.

Thursday night after he was born was our worst night. He wouldn't feed on one side, so I pumped what I could and we fed it to him with the dropper from his Vitamin D drops. I was in tears and Mr. Happy, meanwhile, was reading through every childcare book we had, trying to figure out what we could do. Let me tell you, at that point, there are no books that will help you. You need to remember that you have a magnet somewhere, in all the stuff they shoved at you in the hospital, with a breastfeeding help-line phone number. I didn't remember. Luckily, my milk was there with a vengeance the next time he woke up.

On Friday night, he was a different baby. He had lots to eat that day, and drank his fill at midnight that night. The next time we woke up, it was 4am and he was crying, "Feed me!" Mr. Happy and I almost had heart attacks after having slept for "so long" between feedings.

Thankfully, all has turned out well with the milk "delivery system" and at his next checkup, he had gained his birth weight back, plus an ounce. Phewf!

One night after the "milk truck" arrived, I got up around 2am to go to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and sent the following text to Angela (who lives on the opposite side of the country, and who I knew was working late):

"Milk came in. Look like tired, old stripper with wonky boob job."

Week Two: DAWNING REALIZATION

How do parents do this with more than one child? How do single parents do this? How do teenage moms do this without support?

:: "Do I look fat in these shorts?"

Also: Pippin visits. Pippin the dog who is never any problem at all. Pippin the dog who knows the drill. Pippin the dog who loves hanging out with his Auntie and Uncle. Pippin spent the week gagging and threw up in the house and outside. We spent the week telling him to "Stop eating grass" and ended up taking him to the vet for a shot of anti-nausea medication.

The week ended with a visit from my BFF, Becca, her hubby and her wee girl. It was soooo great to see them. We hadn't seen their daughter since she was only a few weeks old. She's such a cutie!

Week Three: GETTING USED TO EACH OTHER

:: Naps and Knitting

I spent the beginning of this week with a fever and the chills. We spent the rest of the week hanging out at home and doing our best to behave. The fever, as it turns out, was most likely "Breast Milk Fever", perhaps as a result of a mild case of mastitis. Not fun. I don't recommend it.

:: I kees you back, Dad.

Week four: ROAD TRIP!
It seemed like as good a time as any to hit the road, so we headed out with the Mogrunt in tow.

:: For such a little guy, he sure has a lot of luggage!

He had some very special people to meet:

:: His Great-Grandmother, the mother and wife of the two men for whom the Mogrunt is named.

:: His Uncle Steve. The Uncle who is threatening us with "Junior Dragsters" and the like.

:: My BFF from high school, Leslie. Love her, miss her, wish she lived closer!

and he had some places to go...

:: Lake Utopia, where his mom spent her summers water-skiing.

:: and Grand Lake, where his dad spent his summers wind surfing.

Week Five: HOME

It was a great trip, but if the truth be told, it was great to get home. We've settled in to more of a routine, with bedtime baths being the highlight of the day.

:: Bath time with his Lamby towel from Auntie Kerry.

Week Six: SMILES

I made it out to knitting a couple of times. I've even managed to DO some knitting. You know, when I'm not trying to make this little face smile:

I'll try to post some knitting content when I have a chance. HA! Hopefully it'll be before the Mogrunt's first birthday! This post actually took me three days to compose!

I don't know where to begin

2009-07-02T15:07:00.002-03:00

So I'll begin with the beginning...

The Mogrunt
Born June 21, 2009 at 11:19am
7lbs 13oz
21" or 56cm long

This photo was taken after his very first bath... and long after he had stolen our hearts.

The Mogrunt is named for my father and my grandfather. Mr. Happy and I debated his name for many long months, keeping all possibilities a secret from our friends and family until he was born. We settled on his name the week before he was born but didn't tell anyone.

Shortly after he was born and after they had cleaned up the delivery room, I asked for my dad to come into the room. He walked in and the Mogrunt was on the "warmer" getting checked out again, so we said, "He's over there, go have a look." My dad got up to the table and started to cry, so he came over to me and kissed me on the forehead. Mr. Happy brought the baby over and handed him to my dad.

I asked, "Do you want to know his name now?

Dad said, "Ok", trying not to drip tears on his grandson.

When I told him, Dad let out a loud snuffle and said, "You didn't need to do that!" and then I was bawling and said, "Yes we did!"

The whole process of bringing the Mogrunt into this world took quite some time. Perhaps when he's not fussing in his chair, I'll take the time to write it out, but for now, here are the proud grandparents:

The Proud Dad:

And the Proud, Exhausted Mom:

Still Waiting...

2009-06-16T14:43:00.003-03:00

Good things about waiting for a baby to come:

1. Dad and Mr. Happy are so stir crazy that they:
- Have finished up all the flooring in the kitchen
- Installed the trim in the kitchen
- Mowed the lawn
- Fixed the front step
- Are currently replacing a tap in Mr. Happy's sister's kitchen (a simple, "Hey brother, think you could fix my dripping sink?" has led to a trip to Canadian Tire and a few hours at my SIL's house.)

2. My SM is very kindly washing my dishes and helping with laundry.

3. Eating out with family (i.e. no dishes to wash)

Bad things about waiting for a baby to come:

1. Being a watched pot.

2. Dad, my SM and Mr. Happy getting antsy.

3. Mr. Happy's dad calls 10 times a day. Cute at first... It gets harder when you have no news.

Mogrunt Update

2009-06-12T23:01:00.002-03:00

Soooooo... I went to the doctor on Thursday and she thinks that I'll be a Mommy by Monday.

I was only 1.5cm dilated, but she thought that my water could break at any time.

We called my dad and suggested that he and my SM wait until today to come down. Poor Dad, he couldn't handle staying home. Ivy took one look at him and said, "We should go today." They arrived last night at 11pm.

We had a lovely day - slept in, had pancakes for breakfast, went to the mall in the afternoon (trying to encourage the Mogrunt's arrival), visited Mr. Happy's parents, and ate Thai food for supper. I was hoping that the green curry might bring on some contractions, but no luck. I've been eating it all along, so my tummy is used to it.

Alrighty, I'm off to bed now. After a few jumping jacks.

Freshening Up

2009-06-08T11:07:00.001-03:00

I decided it was time to ditch the pink background. I know many of you use bloglines to get here... so you might not have noticed the little "redesign" I did.

I'm not entirely happy with the banner - nor the off-white background - but I was sick of looking at the coneflower.

Please, take a moment and have a peek outside of your reader!

Enough Excitement for One Day

2009-06-03T12:47:00.002-03:00

After a particularly fun evening at KOL last night, I was still wound for sound when I got home - could have been the bit of caffeine I ingested last night - but I didn't turn off the light until 12am.

Mr. Happy, who is trying desperately to finishing mixing a metal band's album before the baby arrives, got home around 2:30am. He's worked some late nights, in conjunction with teaching at the local arts and technology school, so he was cutting some serious logs when the sound of sirens woke us up at 5:15am this morning.

I wasn't too concerned upon hearing the sirens - the fire station is about a kilometre from our house and they often traverse our street. It was when the truck stopped almost right outside of our house that my eyes snapped open. I reached over and shook Mr. Happy awake.

Now, it may seem cruel to wake up a guy who has only been asleep for a couple hours, but:
1. I don't move very quickly.
2. Despite the fact that my glasses are always right next to the bed, for some reason, I always insist on him being my eyes when we hear a commotion outside of our house (our street is busy, there are often commotions).

When Mr. Happy got to the window, it looked like the yellow house on the corner was on fire! I struggled out too and saw that the neighbours were in the back yard with their dogs and cat. We were horrified at the thought that their house was on fire, so I went out to find out if they needed anything - a place to put the dogs, a cup of coffee... I wasn't sure if they needed anything, but it seemed like the right thing to do, even at that early hour.

It turns out, it wasn't their house that was on fire, although it came pretty close. The city has been doing construction on our street, so there are a couple porta-potties on the corner of Slater Street. Apparently, someone set fire to the porta-potty and it, in turn, caught the telephone/ power pole on fire - thankfully, the police were doing a patrol and saw the fire. They woke up Linda and her husband and told them to get out (b/c of the danger from the power pole).

Thankfully, the fire station is just down the hill and the firemen had it out in minutes - but not before some of the siding on the house melted!

As often happens in our neighbourhood, we neighbours can go all winter without seeing each other. It's not until spring when we're all emerging from hibernation, that we start chatting over the fences. Linda was surprised to see that I'm pregnant.

I, being completely shameless, used her early morning discombobulation to ask about a share in the rhubarb crop!

Yes, yes I did.

And Linda, being a very nice lady, said, "Sure. I'll be home on the weekend. We can pull it then."

All I could think was, "Ok, baby, don't you dare make an appearance until next week."

Still hanging in here

2009-06-01T09:00:00.003-03:00

I just realized that it's been ages since I posted. This is the start of my third week of "leave" - officially, I'm on vacation right now - and it's amazing to me how quickly the time has gone.

I must say that I am relieved that I finished work when I did. My ankles and feet swell up if I'm on my feet or if I'm sitting with my feet down for very long. My doctor has told me to keep them up as much as possible. I was attempting to do that at the office, but it was very hard.

I find that sitting with my feet up is quite frustrating. I'm so accustomed to being able to do anything and everything on my own, so this stage of waddling, struggling to sit up and cursing every time I drop something on the floor, is definitely NOT my favourite. I knelt down to get something the other day and wasn't sure if I was going to get back up. I thought Mr. Happy was going to come home and find me on the floor! Luckily, I managed to pull myself up.

I've been keeping myself quite busy with knitting! I have to say, if it weren't for knitting, I would have to take up some sort of illicit drug use. How on earth do women who DON'T knit stand going on bed rest? I remember my great aunt Jean telling me about how, when she was on bed rest after surgery, her MIL came to her bedside and taught her how to tat. Aunt Jean knew how to knit, but it was too heavy for her, so if it weren't for the tatting, I think she would have gone stir crazy!

Here are the projects I've been working on:

Gryffindor the Second:

Back when I was optimistic about such things, I bought enough of Brown Sheep Nature Spun to knit TWO Gryffindor scarves. My intent was to knit two scarves for my two nephews for Christmas one year. I finished one.

Cruising through my stash, this winter, I came across the remaining yarn and decided to knit up another - my coworker's daughter is a big HP fan - so I said I'd do it for her, if he wouldn't mind paying for the yarn. He agreed - YAY! Now the yarn can stop taunting me from my stash. I just need to embroider her initials in the scarf and attached the fringe and I'm done!

I took the scarf to KOL last week and was asked if it was a sweater for a snake - the entire scarf is knit in a tube. It seems it also resembles a very long stocking cap:

Soakers:
I've started making soakers (we're going with cloth diapers - woo hoo)

These are made with Peace Fleece that came from a swap. I had about 10 inches left over when I was done.

Once those were done, I started another pair:

This is Custom woolen mills yarn. I'm quite pleased with the amount of yarn in this skein. I'm using a contrasting yarn (Mr. Happy is only a little horrified that it's a coral colour) for the waistband and the cuffs on the legs, but I could have made the entire soaker with the one skein.

I may have to track down more of this yarn as it is affordable and has a nice amount on the skein.

Bib:
After I made the denim pants for the Mogrunt, I had lots of leftover yarn. I used the leftover to make a bib using the instructions in Mason Dixon Knitting (a book recently purchased 2nd hand from Ms. Frozen Extremities - thanks!)

I need to wash this and sew on a button and we're good to go.

My other great aunt, Mary, and my cousin Denise (really my dad's cousin), arrived the other night with two parcels - a gift from them and a gift from Aunt Jean and my grandmother.

The Gift parade:
Auntie Jean knit a beautiful beige blanket for the Mogrunt - I don't have a picture, but trust me, it's gorgeous. Also, in the package were these little booties:

I have to call them to be sure, but I think this is my grandmother's handiwork. They are made out of fleece. Pretty cute, eh?

You may have noticed by now the background in these photos is a quilt. Mr. Happy's cousin, Diane, sent this to us. She bought this quilt either in a Mennonite or an Amish community - I'm not sure which, I'd have to check the card which is upstairs (and we all know about the swollen ankles). It's beautifully made and I love the vintage look about it.

So, I'm still here. Still hanging in. Still building a person.

In Which the Mogrunt is Well and Truly Spoiled

2009-05-19T08:44:00.001-03:00

The knitted gifts keep rolling in.

This is from Val:

Isn't it the cutest? She made it from sock yarn scraps. It's very "indy". Mr. Happy and I have been jokingly calling it his "Ernie on LSD" sweater. It's just so funky. I just hope he's not allergic to cats like his mom. (see them on the buttons?)

Now, when the Mogrunt is in a more classic, serene mood, he can wear this little number by Julie:

This is made with 4-ply cotton and will be perfect for cool summer evenings. I think it looks quite nice hanging on the door of the nursery, but I'm sure it will look better on the boy.

When we head to the beach, he'll be wearing this outfit:

Made by: Lisa
Pattern: shorts from denim pants in LMKG; top was her own design.
Yarn: Rowan denim

All I can think of when I look at this photo is the ad in the back of the comic books where the bully is kicking sand at the skinny guy. Charles Atlas, I hope my son doesn't need your help.

This sweater, well, this sweater was knit by his mama:

And this I imagine him wearing with a pair of jeans - hee hee - and Birkenstocks. I used leftover Zara from my stash AND from the Ninja's stash.

He won't, however, be wearing this sock:

...as I gave it away with its mate and another pair to the temp who is working at our office* as the receptionist. She is due in July.

No worries, though - I still have the rest of that ball of Trekking, so I'm sure I can get a pair or two out of it, plus a hat, plus another hat...

And in other news, it seems I have developed some great skills:

(note to self: never wear that shirt in public again - it makes me look like a beach ball.)

*Rather... the office from which I am now officially on leave.

Finally Revealed - My fall knitting project

2009-05-18T11:21:00.003-03:00

Way back in the fall of 2008 (or perhaps was it August?), I met with Ilga Leja and she gave me a beautiful project to knit for her. It was a sample of a new pattern for her City Collection.

Little did I know, when I met with her, that I would soon become pregnant and lose the will to stay awake past 5pm. What should have taken me just a couple of weeks of evening knitting, soon dragged out to an embarrassing amount of time. I met with Ilga and had to tell her the reason why the project was taking so long. Thankfully, Ilga was very understanding and I kept plugging away at the project.

It wasn't until I was charging away into chart D that I realized, "Wait a minute! Ilga asked me to knit the smaller version of this!" I emailed her to confirm and, after a brief period of mourning, I realized that I had no choice but to rip.

I wasn't so crazy as to rip everything out, so with great care and after staring at the charts for quite a while, I threaded a smaller needle through all of the stitches at the end of the last correct chart:

Believe it or not, after ripping down to this section, I checked every stitch and every stitch was in the right place! YAY!

I happily handed the unblocked piece over to Ilga quite a bit later than I would have liked - it was in the same calendar year that I started - but I hadn't seen the piece blocked until Ilga emailed me a few weeks ago to let me know that I should check her site.

Here is the finished project:

Pattern: In The Garden Capelet
Designer: Ilga Leja
Yarn: Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino
Photo: by Ilga Leja - used with permission

Isn't it pretty? Personally, I can't wear yellow, but I think it's quite pretty on Ilga's "model" (aka her beautiful daughter). I also love the stitch definition you get with this yarn. And the pattern itself holds your interest and keeps you knitting - you know, when you aren't newly pregnant and falling asleep every evening.

Despite the length of time it took me to knit this project, it is actually quite a quick knit. It would be a perfect little capelet for bridesmaids or for some formal occasion where it might be just a bit chilly or when you just want a splash of colour.

I'm quite proud of this bit of knitting and am really happy to see it turned out so nicely.

The Saga of the Bed

2009-05-15T21:58:00.004-03:00

I was reading the Yarn Harlot's post about her experience at the airport and I wondered if perhaps there is a conspiracy against women named Stephanie with hyphenated last names. Let me tell you my tale of woe and you decide:

Soooooooo... some of you who know me in real life may recall that back in January Mr. Happy and I purchased a new bed. I can't remember if I blogged about this or not, but to recap, here is what happened over the course of two months:

January 24 or 25:
- select bed
- hand salesman credit card from department store
- card has not been used in 6 years. account is dead
- apply for new card, thus getting 10% off bed (yay!)
- all is well.

February 3rd, aka eve of delivery:
- remove old bed from room
- phone rings
- New bed is on back order
- put old bed back in room on floor

February 18:
- new bed is delivered by lovely delivery men who set up mattress.
- Delivery men wish me well with my own delivery (i.e. baby) and leave.
- Neighbour comes over. We both hop on new mattress.
- Discover it is not PLUSH as we ordered, but firm.
- immediately call 1-800 number
- wait on hold 5 minutes
- CSR tells me that I'll need to call local Dept Store for SKU
- Tell him he's not dealing with average Joe, read SKU from tag on mattress
- they have indeed delivered wrong mattress
- CSR promises to fix it (I am skeptical)

February 19:
- call salesman at Dept Store and explain situation
- salesman promises to look into it and call me back

Days go by
- no call from salesman, no word from any Dept Store CSR.
- I call local salesman again. AGAIN he promises to call back

Days go by
- no call from salesman
- I stop at Dept Store on way home and find salesman
- Ask him where it stands.
- find out that he has had to cancel and re-do transaction so that the correct mattress will be delivered
- does not explain his amnesia with regards to phone

March 12th:
- phone call from Dept Store delivery dept.
- plan to deliver next morning, will we be home? NO! I have staff meeting. Mr. Happy is looking in on his mom.
- Delivery Dept says that she can make a note that drivers must call one hour in advance of delivery
- hang up phone, relieved to settle issues and feeling good about getting correct mattress.

March 13th
- Neighbour hears delivery drivers banging on our door at 9am.
- Mr. Happy is at his mom's house (precisely 2.1km away) and has not received a call from the drivers.
- Neighbour calls Mr. Happy (thank goodness she has our cellphone numbers)
- Mr Happy says he can be home in 5 minutes
- Delivery drivers rudely respond to my neighbour, "They always say that. We can't wait."
- Neighbour, knowing saga, offers to sign for mattress.
- Idiotic drivers leave expensive mattress sitting on our front porch - Also leave the firm mattress, which was to be returned,in our house! - ALSO they were told to set up the mattress as I cannot lift NOR can my husband.
- Mr. Happy arrives - he and neighbour drag mattress into house. Neighbour is 60 year old woman with bad leg. Mr. Happy has a bad back that can go "out" from simplest tasks. Luckily, neither of them hurt themselves.
- I stop by Dept Store after work and talk to Manager.
- Explain situation to her, explain I understand delivery drivers are under contract but that I also understand that they are meant to represent Dept Store while on delivery. I am not upset with the Dept Store, BUT I think it is something she might want to address with delivery service.
- Tell her about their rude behaviour and failure to carry mattress into house and to pick up return item.
- Dept Store manager remains calm, but I can tell she is livid.
- Later that evening Mr. Happy and Brother-in-law manage to carry mattress upstairs.
- Sleep on and LOVE new mattress

Wednesday of next week:
- Delivery drivers arrive to pick up mattress - evening shift
- One is the very kind delivery driver from February delivery
- He asks what happened. I explain. He says, "oooooh, I heard about this." in an ominous tone.
- Firm mattress finally leaves premises.
- Breathe sigh of relief.

April rolls around.
- Mr. Happy makes payment on mattress at Dept Store - he doesn't have bill with him, so clerk looks up my account in computer system.
- Several days later, we get call from Dept store account company
- They inform us that we haven't paid.
- I inform them that we have and he says they have no record.
- Mr. Happy searches for receipt and decides it is best to call local Dept Store and speak to manager.
- Sharon, Dept Store Manager, discovers that, DESPITE the fact that my old Dept store credit card was deemed "non-active" back in January, the money we paid went on the old card.

This is where the story really upsets me. My philosophy in life has always been that you catch more bees with honey. I have worked customer service and understand that customers can be stupid. As a customer, I understand that customer service representatives have often had really crappy days and as such, I figure someone has to be nice to them, right? I usually pick myself to do that job. It makes them feel better AND it sometimes has the bonus of paying off for me (some day, I'll tell you how I got a flight home for two of us from Montreal, despite flights being oversold, an awful snowstorm, piles of stranded passengers and flight attendants who looked like they could use a good nap / a stiff drink.)

- I call Dept Store Credit Company (which is neither owned by nor managed by the Dept Store - seriously, they need to reconsider some of these contracts)
- After typing in my account #, Arsehat on phone tells me that he needs me to tell him my account number. I give him the new account number.
- Arsehat asks for name and address. All is well.
- Arsehat asks for my birthdate. I spout off my birthdate.
- Arsehat responds "That's not what we have here."
- I respond, "WHAT?"
- Arsehat responds, "That's not the birthdate we have for you. I can't prove that you are Stephanie ______-____."
- This is when my emotions get the better of me. I explain that the birthdate is wrong. That I am the ONLY Stephanie ______-____ in the world. That if you search my name online, you get 6 hits - ALL ME! and that I am 8 months pregnant, this bed has been nothing but trouble from day one and that I really just want to tell him why it looks like we haven't paid.
- Arsehat says, "I'm just trying to protect your privacy!"
- I can't help but think that it is ironic that he's protecting MY privacy when he can't agree that the account is mine. I tell him that I understand privacy legislation (part of my job requires it) and ask him to understand that I just want to tell him where the payment has gone.
- Arsehat tells me I'm yelling.
- I explain that I'm not yelling, but that I am quite frustrated. (I am not yelling, trust me. Arsehat hasn't heard yelling. I was CRYING!)
- Arsehat tells me that he can't continue the call and hangs up.
- Seriously, I wasn't yelling. I was crying. I may have yelled an expletive at the phone when he hung up.

- Mr. Happy, in the meantime, is extremely upset and would have strangled Arsehat with his bare hands if possible.
- Mr. Happy calls our new BFF, Sharon, Dept Store manager back and lets her know that credit company doesn't have the right birthdate for me and that they won't talk to me and asks if there is anything she can do. Sharon agrees to send email to head of Credit Company to explain situation.
- In the meantime, frustration and my pregnancy-induced looniness have me pacing the living room sobbing and saying, "Fine, if I'm not me then they can't have my money. GOOD LUCK finding another Stephanie ______ -____in the world!"
- Mr. Happy worries that I'm going to go into labour and encourages me to calm down.

- Once both of us are calm, he encourages me to call Credit Company back and maintain my composure.
- I do so, getting Miss Put You On Hold.
- We go through the initial "greeting".
- I tell her account, name, address, etc and then as she asks for birthdate, I say, "Ok, I've just spoken with one of your coworkers who has informed me that my birthdate is not correct on your system. Can I please explain the situation to you and you can decide what to do from there?"
- She agrees to listen.
- I explain that the $ was paid on my old account. That the Dept Store had the number in their computer system. That I just want them to get their $. I give her all the information that I have and I am hopeful.
- Miss Put You On Hold says, "Can I put you on hold and talk to my manager."
- I wait on hold for an eternity.
- She comes back, "Ok, I'm going to transfer you to my manager and she's going to call you back, is your number XXX-XXX-XXXX?"
- I confirm number but wonder why she would be transferring me if the manager was going to call me back.
- I decide that logic is not the Credit Company's strong suit and wait on hold for what seems like another eternity.
- Finally, I have enough and hang up the phone.

- While waiting for the Credit Company manager to call back, Sharon calls to inform me that she has sent an email to Francine at the Credit Company. Francine, it seems, is good at her job and won't let this go on.
- I thank Sharon with complete sincerity and say, "you know Sharon, this whole situation has been a disaster right from the start..." and I explain the wrong mattress delivered, correct mattress delivered to my front step, rude delivery drivers etc.
- Sharon gasps and says, "OH NO! I remember you! OH NO! I don't want this to be your experience with our Dept Store."
- I say, "Oh Sharon, I don't want it to be my experience either!"

- Two days later, Mr. Happy checks phone messages. There is a very, very apologetic message from the Credit Company thanking us for our payment and apologizing for the troubles.

So, whaddaya think? Does someone have it in for Stephanies with hyphenated last names or what?

(Those of you who know the name of the Department store, please don't mention it in the comments.)

A Shower for the Mogrunt

2009-05-03T19:39:00.007-03:00

In Gestation News:
As of Friday, May 1, I am 34 weeks pregnant - which means that I have approximately 6 weeks to go - give or take.

I'm feeling well, except for the swelling in my feet and hands. I'm combatting these two things with maternity compression stockings and physiotherapy. The compression stockings are wonderful but warm. Everything is warm these days. I'm so glad that I'm not due in August. I think we'd have to buy a wading pool and keep it filled with ice.

At my last appointment, my doctor told me that the baby has "assumed the position" - i.e. his head is down. This is both exciting and a little intimidating. Hard to imagine being intimidated by a tiny person... but like I've been telling everyone:

Being pregnant is a bit like building a boat in your basement - After a while you start to wonder how the heck you're going to get it out of there without wrecking the place.

The Shower:
On April 18th, my wonderful friends threw a baby shower for us. As the friends who were planning the shower either live outside the city or they have cats which they refuse to shave (I'm allergic), they crashed my house and took over my kitchen.

One of them decided that it would be a good idea to highlight my girth - in case there was any question as to what we were celebrating:

I'm happy to say that she survived the tumble down the basement stairs and will be back at work in a few months.

People and food started arriving:

Babies were cuddled:

Some even managed to knit and snuggle:

Cupcakes were eaten - I have some photos that show a few of us with "nom-nom" faces, but it's just not nice to share those - and PRESENTS WERE OPENED. The Mogrunt is already very, very spoiled:

If you go to my Flickr page, you can see the details on the presents. Not shown: baby papasan chair, high chair, playpen, lots of hand-me-downs, and clothes that were drying on the line the day I took this photo. Also not shown - a couple of presents that arrived after the shower, which I will post later.

There were, of course, some beautifully knitted items:

Edmund the Elephant - made by J from KOL.

The blanket, the fishy hat and the sweet baby cap were all made by Deb. Wow. That's all I can say, just wow. The bear (which has bells in it) was made by a very sweet lady from home.

And there was even a promise of MORE to come:

Socks in a box from Jen!

The most surprising gift of the day was when four very special guests arrived:

That's my dad on the right, I'm hugging my SM and that's P - also known as Mommy P. Not shown, P's husband R - who was just outside on the step, probably protecting his ears from my screams of excitement.

When I had told my SM about the shower, she said that they weren't sure if they could make it as Dad was scheduled to work that weekend. Turns out, the stinkers had formulated their plans to crash the shower when they were in Florida together. I hadn't seen my dad and SM since they visited in February, so this was a great surprise. I'm so glad that they came. (Another dear friend, Mommy B, had intended to come as well, but her grandson was in the hospital. All is well with him now, but it was quite a scare.)

My Dad did a little shopping at a sporting goods store in the States called "Cabela". Seems he wants to ensure that his grandson starts his hunting career early. Maybe a little too early:

He's even got a hat, which thankfully states that he will only be hunting for hugs. You don't need a firearms license for that:

If anyone asks how we misplaced the baby, these photos will serve as the answer.

At the end of the day I felt very, very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Thankful
These last 7+ months have had their ups and downs. I've been missing my mom a whole lot. April 30th marked 12 years since she died and while I try not to dwell on the fact that she's gone, and instead try to focus on the time that we did have and the way that she impacted my life and the lives of so many people, this year is just a little harder. There are things I need to do on my own that I imagine she would have helped me with.

Andrew has been wonderful through all of this, but he understands that some things are just not the same. This year has been difficult for him too - his mom has Alzheimer's Disease and while she knows and is excited about the baby, she's not able to do the things we know she would love to do.

In some ways, it seems that the two of us have been dealt a really bad hand when it comes to our moms. In other ways, we realize how fortunate we are:

We not only have amazing families, but we also have wonderful friends. (Did you see the presents?) I'm quite sure that our mothers have had a role in that. Andrew's mom has, over the years, shown kindness and compassion to so many people who are now turning it around and showing kindness and compassion to her and to her family.

I can't help but think that my mom has helped me to find the right people to be in my life right now. How else would I have hooked up with a bunch of cloth-diaper-using, breast-feeding knitting moms as well as my amazing work-friends who do crazy things like sniff the Mogrunt's "bum" (my belly button) almost every morning and say hi to him while I stand there trying not to laugh? Friends who arrive at showers with Rock-star banks, and epsom salts and tote bags for wet diapers and nursing pads and $ for a dinner out with Andrew... all the things I hadn't thought of.

I think she's looking out for me as much as all of you are.

So, thank you. Thank you to all my wonderful friends and family. I don't think we could do this without all of you.

xoxoxo

Steph, Andrew and the Mogrunt

The Baaaa-studs

2009-04-11T09:48:00.005-03:00

Ok, I know that somewhere, someone is going to say that this is cruelty to sheep; making them wear LED lights on their backs.

But my goodness, it's freaking brilliant:

Extreme Sheep LED art

Those dogs have skillz.

After almost 4 years...

2009-04-07T08:56:00.003-03:00

The number one search that brings people to my blog is not for knitting and not for Henry but for this post:

Cankles

Seriously, how shallow are we?

(And just so you know, I'm not really hideously deformed in the ankle department. They're just not quite as well-defined as the ankles of say, Giselle.)

ETA: "Cankle surgery" is the term that usually brings the searchers here. Gah.

Finishing, finishing, finishing!

2009-04-05T08:30:00.003-03:00

It seems like lately, I'm obsessed with finishing projects. Hmmmm, I wonder what ever could be the cause of that?

Example 1: Baby Blanket

Just over 3 years ago I started a blue baby blanket for my cousin's son. It was to be one of TWO blankets as they were expecting twins. The pattern, "Prairie Blanket" from Oat Couture, was lovely. But somehow, I felt like throwing the entire thing out the back door when I worked on the blanket as the pattern was quite involved and not really a "quick knit". A quick knit is something you definitely need when making blankets for TWINS!

During the making of this blanket, I visited my cousin's house. His wife took me on a tour of what would be the nursery. Upon opening the closet, I quickly realized that these children would be set for blankets for the REST OF THEIR NATURAL LIVES! It seemed like every lady from their church had knit or crocheted blankets for the twins. (Mind you, there was a lot of acrylic in that closet, but with twins, I'm pretty sure that ease of washing is more important than anything else.)

Seeing that closet was all the incentive I needed to put the blanket in a time out. A time out that lasted up until January, when we discovered that we would be having a boy.

I pulled the blanket out of the basket where it had been gathering dust for 3 years and found my place in the pattern before I changed my mind.

Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton

I'm very happy with this blanket. It does have a bit of a skew in it as my tension has changed, but I'm hoping that it will come out in the wash.

Note: We will not discuss what wonderful knitted things these children received from their cousin, because stress is not good for the baby.

Example 2: The Kermit Klogs.

I can't even remember when I started these clogs from the Fiber Trends pattern, perhaps in the last year or so.

I do know that it wasn't until I was casting off the SECOND clog that I clued in that the cuff was meant to be folded over and bound off with stitches from the start of the cuff (if that makes sense). The first clog was neatly bound off without being folded and I had already stitched up the seams.

After letting the clogs sit in silence (I think they were silent, they may have been crying in shame) for quite some time, I dug them out and with much determination, managed to find and pull out the ends that had been woven in. Then I bound it off correctly.

Yarn: BSLP - Kiwi

I just have a wee bit of seaming and these puppies are good to go in the washer. I've been calling them the Kermit Klogs. My SIL was here for supper last night and her feet were cold, so she had these on in their un-felted state. She looked like Kermit.

Example 3: Imogen

Last night, my Imogen cardigan became the next victim of my wrath. Imogen was knit from Handmaiden a kit which I'm not sure they carry now.

Even before getting knocked up, I was not happy with the fit of this sweater. I think I bound off too early on the collar, so it was never quite big enough to overlap comfortably in the front. I probably should have made it a little TEENY bit bigger, but I'm not so nuts that I'm pulling out the entire thing!

After our company left last night, I pulled out the bound off edge and grabbed the ball of leftovers from this cardigan. I'm going to knit about 10 more rows before binding off again. 10... 15.. we'll see where the insanity takes me.

Example 4: Gryffindor Scarf

Now, this may not seem like a "finishing" thing to you, but it is to me. A few years ago I bought enough yarn to make Harry Potter scarves for my nephews. After knitting the first one for B, I realized that perhaps E would rather that his aunt not wither in tears on Christmas Day for having planned to knit TWO ENORMOUS scarves and having not completed them. E got a simple hat that year and later on, I made up for it by knitting him the Skully hat.

Taunting me from the back of my stash, however was all this yarn which was not a scarf, but yet was a scarf. It could be nothing else. And while I could have sold it or traded it, I knew, deep down that the pattern would have to be modified a bit to make the yarn last. You see, there was not quite enough to make the scarf exactly as the pattern stated.

It wasn't until my coworker told me that his daughter was a HUGE fan of HP, and asked if I might be able to knit her a scarf, that I thought, Ok, Let's do this. I needed something to knit on the bus anyway.

Yarn: BS Nature Spun

It may look like a beginning to you, but to me, it's an ending.

Hallelujah, Amen.

Forget Kevin Bacon, It's all about Angela

2009-03-31T08:55:00.005-03:00

Ok... you know how the world is all super connected? Well, here's how my morning web-browsing progressed:

First I clicked on a blog post from "Two Straight Lines"

Then I saw an adorable doll wearing cute costume - Bamboletta.

So I wondered if the company makes boy dolls - would the Mogrunt like a boy doll? (His mom sure would.)

I decided to have a look at the Bamboletta website - Oh, it's based in British Columbia!

I browsed through some pages and discovered that they have an Etsy shop.

So, I signed into my Etsy to add them to my favourites.

Then I searched Bamboletta on Etsy.

Hmmm... there's a familiar name among the list of people making clothes for Bamboletta dolls.

I clicked on the familiar name.

That's when I laughed my arse off.

Why?

1. I have met the proprietor of the Silly Con Etsy shop (she used to live here in NS.)

2. Regular readers of this blog might recognize the designer of the graphic at the top of Silly Con's Etsy page.

(Note: they do have boy dolls but that they are all sold out of dolls right now - I'm considering placing custom order...)

Two for Tea

2009-03-25T09:07:00.011-03:00

At some point last spring, I picked up some tea towel fabric at Atlantic Fabrics in Dartmouth. As far as I can tell, it's a linen blend - I can't remember if it was strictly linen.

My original intention was to embroider it, but my desire to embroider or cross stitch* anything had waned by the time I stumbled upon the fabric a few weeks ago.

I cut the tea towel fabric into four pieces (I think I had originally intended only three, but oh well) and quickly hemmed them.

Then I whipped out the freezer paper and made stencils of my two favourite chihuahuas.

To say that I am pleased with the results would be an understatement. Minou's "downward dog" pose if one that I used when I made my Wasp Bag a while back.

See?:

I really love how Birdie's towel turned out (she's the one "singing" on the left). This pose came from a picture I took of Birdie while visiting Angie last May.

You can probably tell that I took some liberties with Birdie's tail, but I did try my best to remain true to the original photo.

Unfortunately, I was not able to convey, with the use of a freezer paper stencil, the passion with which Birdie sings along with Florence Foster Jenkins.

If you need further proof of Birdie's singing prowess, here she is, singing along to The Darkness!

NOTE: If this video doesn't work, it's b/c I 'm still trying to figure out how to post videos from flickr to blogger. And my web browser has crashed three times this morning. Any advice about the video?

Angie's birthday is in October, but thankfully, she is very forgiving when it comes to me sending presents to her. I managed to get these tea towels, along with a couple other things into the mail this week.

Now, if only I could get something else in the mail, I would have a huge weight off my shoulders.

*I used to be an avid cross stitcher - If you need proof of that obsession, look in my craft room - I have several little plastic containers with my floss wound onto bobbins.

Mother Nature is a Tricky Mistress

2009-03-08T09:36:00.003-03:00

Yesterday dawned clear, bright and warm. Mr. Happy and I crawled out of bed at 7:30am to walk to the Dartmouth Farmer's Market. It was beautiful and sunny. Birds were singing. And while the world still looks a little "messy" (picture piles of dirty, melting snow), it felt like spring and green grass would be along any minute.

Now, you may be wondering what, pray tell, was so important that we would be headed to the market so early in the morning?

These are chocolate croissants (Pain au Chocolat) made byTwo If By Sea Bakeshop. The Proprietress of which is the girlfriend of a musical friend of Mr. Happy.

Now, I will admit that Mr. Happy has been telling me about these croissants for ages, but as he hadn't eaten them he didn't know if she made Chocolate-filled Croissants.

Enter Fate.

I picked up a copy of the Coast this week and inside was an article about the croissants including the most valuable tidbit of information: pain au chocolat! And another valuable tidbit: "usually sells out by 10:30am"

You see this?

This is the face of a very happy girl.

And this?

This is the face of a guy who, although he has been working insane hours this week, pulled himself out of bed so that his wife would have company at the market. (This is also the face of a guy who is thrilled that the Dartmouth Farmer's Market is much less crowded than the Halifax market and that there are plenty of tables and chair at which to sit and relax.)

We left the market completely satisfied with our purchase - Mr. Happy departed for his parents' place for a visit and I went home as a friend had hoped to stop in. Alas, she had a rather rough night, but was kind enough to send a message of explanation...

No matter, I used the opportunity to get started on some much needed house cleaning and tidying.

The weather outside was a whopping 10C, so I left the front door open, turned off the thermostat and set to work. It was a glorious day. I managed to get quite a few things taken care of before heading out in the afternoon for a visit with friends and a couple of errands..

This morning, however, Mother Nature is, most-likely, chuckling to herself about this little surprise:

You've GOT to be kidding me.

Things I've had to give up while pregnant:

2009-03-05T14:46:00.003-04:00

I know that parenthood is about making sacrifices. I also know that at the ripe old age of 35, I've already made a lot of sacrifices in my life that other people would never want to make. I'm not going in to this wearing Elton J*hn's pink sunglasses. I know it's not at all sunshine and diapers that smell like vanilla... I also know that I'm writing this post with tongue in cheek

Here are just some of the things I've had to give up so far:

My Bicycle (I stopped in December)
Dairy Queen Blizzards (my stomach bloated up like a hot air balloon)
Raw broccoli (the day I talked myself out of throwing up in the office restroom)
My favourite jeans
Sleeping through the night
A social life after 9pm

and today... today confirmed that I should probably give up something that I enjoy only occasionally, but the loss of which grieves me greatly:

Bacon

Two and a half slices this morning and my fingers are swelling up. I'm pretty sure my feet are too.

Old Man Luedecke says that "The answer is Bacon" and since I never argue with a man with a banjo and a sense of humour, I'm here to tell you that I hope this child understands what a sacrifice I'm making.

Busy, busy world

2009-03-01T10:08:00.004-04:00

I feel like a scene in Richard Scarry's "Busy, Busy World". I've been sewing again and even have some knitting to show you.

Two weeks ago I bought the yarn for the Baby's Denim Drawstring Pants (from Last Minute Knitted Gifts). This is how they looked this past Monday:

And this is how they looked on Wednesday:

I just need to knit the drawstring and then wash them to shrink up the length. I'm wondering, though, how much my gauge is off b/c the pattern called for 4 balls of yarn and I only used 3. I'm sure they'll fit him at some point.

Now, I would have been finished these pants much faster, but I felt the need to use up some yarn that had been marinating in the stash. This was my bus knitting (oh heck, the pants were bus knitting too, but they took turns):

It's a Le Slouch by Wendy of Knit and Tonic. This one is significantly more slouchy than the one I knit previously. I haven't even blocked it yet!

Yarn: Araucania Nature Wolle Chunky
Needles: 5.0 and 5.5mm

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in front of the sewing machine. I've got a pile of flannel and only 15 weeks to go! AAAAAH!

So, I made six burp cloths - all double layers of flannel:

The burp cloths all measure around 14x19 inches - yes inches. I know. I can't help it. I work in both!

And, I made another big blanket - the burp cloth is there for scale:

Today, I'm going to make another big blanket and then get back to knitting on a cotton blanket for the Mogrunt.

*mumbles through a mouth full of twigs* "Did someone say something about nesting?"

A Couple of Cupcakes

2009-03-01T09:27:00.004-04:00

Before I talk about knitting, I must tell you that last Saturday, I met up with a couple of cupcakes for a couple of cupcakes. If you know what I mean.

You don't? Ok. Let me show you.

This, my friends, is a cupcake from Susie's Shortbreads in Halifax.

Please note - I managed a modicum of restraint - I remembered to take a photo before pulling all the paper off and devouring it. That is a Neapolitan cupcake - real strawberries in that butter cream, people - REAL. It tasted BETTER than it looks.

You'll see in the background, in her isolation chamber, a Peppermint Patty cupcake. Avert your eyes, Patty, you don't want to see what will happen to your little friend!

Here we have a Strawberry Daiquiri cupcake. Isn't it pretty?

This is the lady who sacrificed that cupcake:

She is also known as the Cupcake Enabler. Don't be fooled by her innocent smile and obvious beauty... Her purpose in life is to lead you down the garden path. A garden path lined with ornate, scrumptious cupcakes, but down it, nonetheless, she will lead you and although it may seem good at first, a thousand calories later, you'll be groaning on the chesterfield, waiting for the sugar rush to pass.

This is the other hapless cupcake eater:

The divine Ms RM - she dressed for the occasion - polka dot scarf matching her lovely orange cardigan, extravagant jewelry involving rickrack - all with the usual RM flair

It was an impromptu afternoon out - to celebrate some birthdays and a chance to see some friends I hadn't seen in ages.

if only every gathering of friends included cupcakes, I'm sure the world would be a better place.

If you would like to visit Susie's Shortbreads, here's her website. She not only makes Shortbread (as her name implies), but she also makes cakes as well. We saw one of them before it headed off to a bridal shower. It looked divine.

Adventures in Prenatal Classes

2009-02-26T21:29:00.004-04:00

Mr. Happy and I just got back from our first prenatal class. These are the free classes put on by Public Health. We had two classes in one tonight as there was a storm last week.

We had a bit of an adventure getting to the class however. The classes are near my office, so Mr. Happy and I met for supper at Kebabji first. He had stopped at the bank machine so we could catch a cab to the class. Somewhere between the machine and the restaurant, the money he had gotten out slipped out of his pocket. He didn't discover this until we were getting dropped off at the class. Luckily, the cab driver was very understanding. I gave him my card and we took his number. But if anyone out there happens to find $$ on the ground... sigh... that was ours. (more on this later)

The Public Health Nurse teaching the class is wonderful. She worked as a midwife and delivered over 300 babies! She's originally from Australia and has worked, from what she was saying, all over the world. I found her references to different cultural practices to be the best part of the night, really.

I was so happy to hear the nurse say that she changed her daughter's diaper on the floor. I worked as a caregiver in a private home for a year and when I started the mom informed me that she didn't have a changing table. She always changed the baby on the floor. It was so much easier for the mom, the baby and for me. And when the baby got to the stage where she was more active, I didn't worry about her falling. Of course, I'm short, so changing tables are always just high enough to be awkward for me anyway! Now, for moms who aren't able to get themselves comfortably on and off the floor (which I'm guessing will be me for the first little while at least), there's always the bed.

Despite what I thought I already knew, I'm sure we're going to learn a lot and that some of the classes (in particular the out-dated videos) will make us giggle.

At the first of the evening, we discovered that there was a couple in the class that Mr. Happy knew. Mr. Happy and the husband had worked together a few years ago on a TV show. We ended up catching a ride back with them and told them how relieved we were to know someone in the class. Phewf. I'm sure everyone there is nice, but it was just good to have a connection.

About the cab - Mr. Happy had to go back to work tonight, so he called the cabby to pick him up, swing by the bank machine and head to the studio. We have a friend who works for the same cab company, so we certainly wouldn't want to leave one of their drivers short! Phewf.

ETA: I just called Mr. Happy at work - apparently the cab driver told him that this was the first time in his entire 30+ year career driving that someone has actually called him back to pay their fare. He was quite touched. I, on the other hand, am appalled.

Ok, knitting content on the next post. I'm almost finished a pair of denim pants for the boy. So cute... on a baby. On an adult? Not so much.

Yes, we're sure

2009-02-16T13:00:00.004-04:00

Only b/c everyone is saying the same thing:

"Are you sure it's a boy, because etc, etc, etc...?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Ok, I know you're all well-meaning but, yes, we are sure it's a boy. If I had a picture of what we saw, trust me, you wouldn't have a question in your minds either.

The nurse, looking at the screen, said to us, "Ok, we don't usually say 100% one way or another that it's a boy or a girl, but wow, that is most DEFINITELY a boy. No question about it."

The doctor even wrote it in the report: Male genetalia.

It was not:

1. a finger
2. a hand
3. the umbilical cord (which is significantly bigger and attached to his STOMACH)
4. a sea cucumber
5. girly bits

What we saw was most definitely:

BOY BITS!

Not just a subtle hint of "wee wee" but the whole package. Like I've said to some people - if he had had a coat in there, he would have been trying to hang it and joke that he was a coat rack.

Are we good now? ok. We're good.

I apologize for sounding brusque, but I did the gestational diabetes test this morning and just the memory of the dextrose drink is making me feel ill and cranky.

Moving on... as a result of announcing that we're having a boy, we've received some really neat gifts.

This, my friends, is the funniest one yet:

The Pee-Pee TeePee for the Sprinkling Wee Wee

I'll give you a moment to stop laughing. To answer your questions:

1. Yes, I will try them on the baby.
2. No. Mr Happy has not done that with them.
3. They are flannel and very soft.

When I arrived back at work after my trip to Newfoundland, there was a package on my desk containing a beautiful sweater:

Made by Deb of the Knitting Pharm. It's an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise sweater. Isn't it cute? She sent green buttons for it. I can't wait to try it on the Mogrunt.

Then we went out for brunch yesterday with JAK and her family. She arrived with presents. Some things I can't show you, but I can tell you that they have something to do with Etsy and robots.

JAK also made this cute little hat:

It's made with organic wool and it's super cozy.

And since I can't let everyone else have all the fun, I've been sewing blankets.

One for Ava:

And one for the Mogrunt:

The little girls I babysat (years ago), had blankets like this. They loved them and dragged them everywhere. I thought the Mogrunt would like them too.

My dad was here on the weekend... for my birthday... and he put his seal of approval on it. Because of the moose, of course.

:)

Don't I have the nicest friends?

Did you see that?

2009-02-12T15:53:00.004-04:00

I guess it pays to post twice in rapid succession... no one noticed what I wrote on the post about the Mogrunt's Henry Fonda Sweater. Of course, if you perused my FLICKR photos, you would have clued in pretty fast.

I seriously have baby-brain. I thought it was just a myth.

So, for those of you who haven't figured it out already:

We're having a BOY.

Turns out my auntie's intuition was wrong.

Since I was a bit of a tom-boy when I was a kid (I wore dresses only under threat of death and I'm still not fond of them), I'm really looking forward to what this entails:

1. Star Wars
2. Climbing trees
3. Playing with bugs
4. Making car noises while driving little cars over each other's arms and legs
5. Riding bikes and learning to do the perfect sliding stop
6. Making fart noises with my armpits.
7. Skipping rocks
8. Snips
9. Snails
10. Puppy Dog Tails

My two cousins who are closest in age to me are boys. I had so much fun playing with them when I was little. We were always finding fun and probably crazy things to do. Flying kites in the corn fields just before electrical storms, playing with pellet guns, catching fish and keeping them for a few hours in our kayak, throwing entire watermelons to each other while unloading my aunt's groceries, literally climbing the walls at their house... ah, those were the days.

My mom took a picture of my older cousin, Andy, and I sitting on the step of our camper. Andy and I were both under 4 years old... and we were both completely filthy, just covered in dirt from playing on the beach. We look like a couple of ragamuffins. That was only just the beginning of our adventures.

I can only hope that this little boy has half as much fun as we did.

Sewing With Velvet - or "Why I Threw a Purse Handle At The Wall"

2009-02-09T07:00:00.002-04:00

Back before Christmas, I bought a couple yards of fuchsia-coloured velvet, intending to make a purse with it.

Since I seem to be feeling the need to not just finish but start new projects, I pulled out the wasp bag pattern last week and got to work on the bag.

Now, I've sewed this pattern up before, which usually means that things will go a little smoother the second time 'round.

Here's my first bag, which I hadn't photographed in it's completed state:

I love this bag. I didn't do the best job on the detail stitching (Ang - what am I trying to say here? overstitching? hem stitching?), but I'm still really pleased with the results.

This bag actually holds quite a bit of stuff. In fact, there's a human skull in the Minou bag, and I bet you can't tell.

Sooooo... the velvet one must have gone well, right? Um. Not so much.

I didn't use the pattern piece to cut the handles. Choosing, instead, to cut them to the measurement of the original and using my yard stick to get a nice straight edge on them - I even used my fancy chalk line that I bought when I was in BC visiting Ang.

Everything was going smoothly until I went to attach the second handle to the purse. I held it up to the first handle, which was already sewed to the top. I wanted to see how much fabric I should tuck into the hem and was not so happy to discover that the second handle was SHORTER than the first.

That's when I threw the handles against the wall, stormed out of the craft room and started muttering about how knitting was easier, even if you had to make your own fabric, and blah, blah, blah...

I wasn't in the best frame of mind to begin with, because it turns out that you should always baste velvet before you sew it. Something about the nap and some crazy, sensible sewing advice that Ang gave me AFTER I had my hissy fit.

In the end, I gave it a night, then went back to sewing when I was in a better mood. Now I have a cute little, not perfect, but it'll do, velvet bag.

Lessons learned:
1. When putting handles on a bag, measure to make sure they are the same length, FIRST.
2. Velvet is a tricky mistress. Baste it.
3. Sometimes you need to walk away.
4. Persevere - it pays off in the end

Henry Fonda Sweater for The Mogrunt

2009-02-08T10:35:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, I finally upgraded my Flickr to pro. I thought I could live without pro, but it turns out that I missed it... and it was driving me nuts that I couldn't access my old project photos online. I certainly didn't want to load them again!

So, I spent part of the morning going through my old knitting projects and adding them to Ravelry. What fun! Now it looks like I've suddenly banged out a pile of FOs. Now I know how Deb feels when she updates the Knitting Pharm!

During the process, I added the little Ribbed Jacket from Debbie Bliss Special Knits. Here's the Ravelry link to the one I knit for Sarah G - youngest daughter of my childhood friend, Leslie. Then, I clicked the link to the pattern page on Ravelry and saw this (Non-ravelry link).

So yesterday, after getting my hair cut, I met up with ElectronKnits at the loop and fell head over heels for some heathered, dark green Cascade 220 superwash.

I said to Mimi, "That sweater, in this green? It makes me think of Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond"

Mimi must think I've lost my mind. She said something about not being sure that's what a mother wants for her child... but she encouraged me to buy the yarn anyway.

For your reference, there's a picture of Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn from the movie here.

Seriously - take a look at the picture. What colour is his sweater? HA! Green! I win! Oh. Excuse me. I'm not sure where that came from.

It's been a long time since I've seen "On Golden Pond". I was only 8 when it came out but I remember watching it with my mom whenever it played on TV. Brilliant movie. Seriously. If you haven't seen it, rent it if you can find it or borrow it from the library. Henry Fonda won a Best Actor Academy Award for this movie, which was also his last.

I can't wait to put this sweater on our kid, so that I can look at him and say, "Oh Norman, you old poop!"

Sue's Talk Was a Little Too Late for Me

2009-02-04T17:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to work, but was home by noon. We got a heck of a snowstorm yesterday and the entire city shut down by 4:30pm - even the malls closed. Yes, ladies and gents - the malls. That's when you know the road conditions are bad.

So much has gone on since my last post. First of all, I did finally get to Newfoundland. It was, quite possibly, the WORST LANDING I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED. While I don't fly nearly as often as some of my coworkers, I have had a variety of experiences flying (including torrential downpours, emergency medical landings, turbulence that kept us seated for the entire flight...)

The winds were gusting to 150km/hr in St. John's on the 14th of January... and the pilot had to make a second attempt at the runway because of that. Those of us on the East Coast know that if you need to land anywhere in a windstorm, you want to hope that your pilot regularly flies in and out of St. John's. Those guys know what they are doing. So, while I wasn't too frightened when we were being tossed around like a paper airplane in an electric fan testing facility, I will admit that it wasn't quite like landing on a balmy, calm summer day. Gah!

I was in St. John's for a student conference. When I saw the agenda for the conference, I will admit that I was particularly interested in hearing one speaker: Sue Johanson. Some of you may know her from her American show, "Talk Sex With Sue"... but we Canadians know and love her from the "Sunday Night Sex Show" (please click that link - the photos along are worth it).

Sue captured everyone's attention the moment she walked onto the stage. She holds no punches and tells it like it is. She's frank, matter of fact and funny as heck. Her analogies, gestures and anecdotes had the entire conference room roaring with laughter... and all the while, learning things about our selves that we should have known years ago.

Did I mention that she'll be 79 this year? Oh yessiree - someone's grandma just told all the secrets!

Anyhooooo... the conference was great and the trip home was without incident, thank goodness.

In Baby News:

We had our second ultrasound on the 19th and other than the wee one being wee, all is well.

I'm only 5'1.25" and come from a family that makes not only small babies, but small people. We did have a few rather stressful days worrying about what the doctor at the FAS clinic told us, but we tried not to worry until we talked to the OB about it... a whole ten days later. Our OB told us that she is 99.9% sure that the baby is fine. We both felt like we were walking on air after that appointment.

Backtracking: We told the nurse at the U/S clinic that we didn't want to know what sex the baby was, but if it was obvious, then we probably wouldn't miss it. We do know the sex b/c a certain someone wasn't being very shy. But you'll have to wait for the next post. And if you already know, try not to shout it from the rooftops. Mr. Happy and I figured that we are incredibly bad at keeping secrets, so we decided to tell everyone the sex of the baby in advance. Plus, this guarantees that we won't get a deluge of neutral coloured things. Which isn't always a bad thing, but it's kind of nice knowing.

For those who are curious about the bump progress - here is a photo from 20 weeks + 1 day. I'll be 22 weeks on Friday.

(In case you're wondering, the shirt I'm wearing has dogs on it - it's the "Fairy Dogmother" shirt from "The Fleas Knees Tees" - given to me by my two favourite chihuahuas and the lovely lady who keeps them in kibble.

It's getting really hard to get out of bed in the morning b/c there is a 6:30am, by invitation only, party going on in my belly every day. The Mogrunt was moving the furniture back so he could dance. In fact, he tends to have parties when I'm at my desk. It's quiet awkward, explaining to my boss where the music is coming from.

In Knitting News:

I don't know if it is some sort of deranged nesting instinct or not, but I've been on a sock bender. Specifically, knitting socks for Mr. Happy. I think it's because I know that knitting for him might go by the wayside when the Mogrunt appears. The poor soul only had two pairs of wife-knit socks and as it has been quite cold out, and as I had the yarn, I decided to knit him a couple pairs of socks.

He has size 11.5 feet, so I pulled out the Opal 6-ply and had at it:

First up - orange.

Currently on the needles? Another pair of Opal 6-ply, but self-patterning. I do believe that I picked up both of these balls of yarn at Tangled Skeins' Boxing Day sale in 2007. Yoi. I would like to get a ball of chocolate brown to make him a pair of socks with orange toes & heels... but I haven't seen any locally.

I'm also working on a tiny teddy bear for the Mogrunt. It's the bear from Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino book. Here's a ravelry link.

I don't have a photo to share right now as I can't seem to get my act together to take photos when the sun is shining.

Another bit of knitting that I wanted to share isn't something I made myself. It is, in fact, something my grandmother made. A couple years ago, I gave her the pattern for Catherine Vardy's felted mitts. In speaking with my cousin at Christmas time, it turns out that Catherine was a classmate of hers at Kings College in Halifax. Sing it with me - "It's a small world!"

Anyhooooo - Grammy loves this pattern and has made several pairs of mitts from it. I've made a few pairs myself, but never a pair for myself.

These are now my favourite mitts of all time. They are super warm. They kept my fingers toasty while I was walking around Signal Hill in the -27C windchill (at ground level - I'm sure it was more like -40C on top of the hill).

That's all for now!

Post #601

2009-01-14T16:04:00.001-04:00

Got half way to Newfoundland and my flight turned around.

The weather was so bad that we couldn't land.

I'm waiting at the airport until I can get another flight at 8pm.

Gah.

You're on Candid Camera!

2009-01-14T07:42:00.004-04:00

My dad and Ivy are great friends with a few couples that get together for breakfast at the restaurant in the mall on a semi-regular basis. Two of the ladies in this group were also my mom's best friends. I used to call them "Mommy P" and "Mommy B" - Pat and Beth.

The morning that we told Dad and Ivy about the baby, the plan was to meet the gang for breakfast. I knew that we couldn't make it through breakfast without telling them so I brought along their Christmas cards with the ultrasound photo.

When we arrived at the restaurant, Pat, Beth and I were all dressed in green and black. We had a little laugh about it and Ivy said, "Oh, let me take your picture!"

There's something you need to know about Ivy - she rarely leaves home without her camera. You have to be cautious and don't dare to have a bad hair day around her. It'll be captured for posterity! Trust me, there are a few photos of me, getting ready to head to work on my bicycle, that I would love to Photoshop. (I never put makeup on before biking to the office - yoi!)

So the three of us posed for a photo:

And then Ivy said, "Wait, let me get one more."

Now, the ladies didn't yet know the secret, so I said, "Ok, everyone say, "Stephanie's PREGNANT!!!!!"

Beside me, I heard Beth, ever the willing participant say, "Stephanie's... WHAT?!!?!??!??!"

And then the shutter on Ivy's camera clicked.

Heh heh. I LOVE this photo (despite my extra chins and crazy hat hair).

Beth, on the left, seems horrified because she was halfway through saying it... and Pat has that "Is she pulling my leg?" look on her face. It's just too funny not to share.

These are definitely going in the Mogrunt's baby book.

I do believe that Ivy also has a photo of her (and our) dear friend Ellamae as she looked looked at the Christmas card photo and suddenly realized what she was looking at. Priceless, I tell you. Those photos are priceless.

As long as the weather holds here and in St. John's, I'm headed to Newfoundland today. Believe it or not, this it the Mogrunt's second trip to St. John's!

While I never mind going to Newfoundland (in fact, I love it there), I am worried about getting home on Saturday. Newfoundland is known for getting boatloads of snow. Normally, I also wouldn't worry about getting storm-stayed anywhere, but I have an ultrasound appointment on Monday morning.

Those of you who live in warmer climates may be wondering why I would worry about not being home two days after my flight is scheduled to leave. Well, let me tell you a quick story:

When I was in my last year of university, my BFF, Rebecca, came down with pneumonia at the same time that I came down with mono. We were a pleasant bunch.

She came to stay with my roommates and I at our apartment until we could get her a flight home to Newfoundland to visit with her parents. That was over the Easter holiday in 1996 - in April. St. John's ended up with a blizzard that weekend. Rebecca was stranded there for an extra 4 days or more. I don't remember the exact amount of snow they received, but they couldn't see the neighbour's house across the street for the snow.

Yoi.

Big Toe Tight...

2009-01-13T08:42:00.002-04:00

As I said in my last post, our family has a "toe rhyme" that I've never heard anyone else play with their children.

When I searched online to see if I could find any references to it, the only one I found was a link to my cousin's blog. Since she did such a stellar job explaining, I'm just going to quote her:

My grandfather and his family had all kinds of little games they played that no one else did.

They bohunked - jumped around on their knees, with their legs crossed and feet tucked on their thighs.

And instead of saying, "This little piggy went to market" while tickling toes, they played this game:

Big toe tight,
Little penny white.
Big toe thistle,
Little penny whistle,
And.... licketypoopus

Don't ask me where it came from, but I much prefer it to talking about the piggy who didn't get any roast beef.

I completely agree with Leah, this rhyme is much better than the one that features a poor piggy going hungry while his friends are off representing three of the deadly sins.

Plus, my family's rhyme includes the word "poop" which, as we all know, causes children around the world to giggle.

Oh, and just so you know, bohunking is hard. I haven't done it in years, but I remember bruising my knees doing it.

Alrighty then!

2009-01-12T11:39:00.013-04:00

Phewf. I really didn't intend to drop off the face of the planet for that long. It seems that being pregnant is sometimes akin to having narcolepsy and ADD at the same time. I'm either asleep or bouncing from project to project.

First of all - thank you, all of you, for your kind words of congratulations. Mr. Happy and I are very excited about our little genetic experiment and are thrilled to hear from all of you.

Since becoming pregnant, I've been noticing that people have been asking a lot of the same questions. I'm going to answer some of them here and then get back to talking about knitting. I'll probably still talk about the baby a bit. Let's face it, Mr. Happy and I waited 10 years, (yes, that's right, 10!) to have a baby, so you'll just have to suck it up and skim if you're just here for the knitting. Although, I do hope you're really here for my witty repartee and stories of Henry.

Frequently Asked Questions

When am I due?
June 12 is the official date, making me 4 months along today.
Can I feel the baby moving yet?
I'm happy to report that the Mogrunt* made his/her prescence known around the holidays. S/he has expressed her/his opinions of crunchy food (salad, potato chips) and Frank Sinatra tributes (at a concert on Friday night - I'm going to assume that s/he like the music because I surely did) through interpretive dance. In fact, it was during dinner the other night that Mr. Happy felt the Mogrunt kick for the first time. Apparently salad invokes a rather strong reaction.
Do we know what we are having?
A baby! Fingers crossed!

Oh, you mean boy or girl? No, we do not. In Halifax you cannot find out the sex of the baby unless you either go to a private clinic ($) OR if you have to go to the Fetal Assessment Clinic. FAC is a clinic for those with high risk pregnancies and for mothers of Advanced Maternal Age. I have been to the FAC because of my age and because of the risk of Spina Bifeda in my family - I had an older brother who was born with SB; he only lived for two months. I started taking 4mg of folic acid daily about a year before the Mogrunt was even a twinkle in Mr. Happy's eye.

We have jokingly nicknamed this clinic the "Crusty Ovary Clinic". When I told the receptionist, she laughed and said, "We like to call it AMA." She meant, of course, Advanced Maternal Age... but all I could think was, "Against Medical Advice??!?!?!?!"

I do have one more appointment at the FAC, so there is a chance that we could find out what the baby is, but we don't think we want to know. My auntie Ruth says that the baby is a girl, and as I can't think of a single name for a boy, I'm pretty certain that it is too. Also, you don't argue with the intuition with the women in my family.
Did I have morning sickness?
Actually, no. Not strictly speaking. I had afternoon and evening sickness. At first I would feel queasy around 3:30pm every afternoon, then it shifted to 8:30pm. I did have some rather tense moments one afternoon in the washroom of my office building. I stood there cursing myself for eating raw broccoli and trying convincing myself that there was no way I was puking in a public washroom.

Thankfully, I was only sick once (at home)... and I have to say that I must have artistic talents I didn't know about. Cranberry and orange juice mixed together and splattered on the bathroom wall - so pretty. I had to laugh when stood back up and saw it. (Sorry - too much info? Apparently you're not reading Dooce.)
Is Mr. Happy excited?
You betcha! Excited, freaked out, dancing on the moon... And he's also doing this really funny interpretation of the baby floating in amniotic fluid that had me laughing so hard I cried yesterday. Seriously - soooooo funny.
Are your families excited?
We went to NB the weekend before Christmas and told my family then. My dad cried when we told him. We gave him a Christmas card with the ultrasound photo in it. He held it out to my SM, who screamed with joy and bounced out of her chair. They are both pretty excited - I think the bone crushing hugs were a good indicator. My brother is very excited and is already being the protective uncle - calling to make sure we didn't drive home from NB on the day it stormed.

We were home that weekend for my knitting grandmother's 90th birthday party. At the party I asked her if she wanted to see what I was knitting and pulled out a pattern for a baby sweater. She was so excited that she cried, as did my Great-Aunt Jean who was leaning over her shoulder. My aunties (Dad's sisters) were pretty excited too.

We told Andrew's family on Christmas Eve - His dad got all teary eyed and his mom** said, "It's about time!" which made me laugh. Mr. Happy's niece and nephews are very excited... and his niece is 13 i.e. the perfect age for baby-sitting.

Mr. Happy's sister and brother-in-law had known for quite a while and were relieved when we finally told our parents. I think Mr. Happy's sister's head might have exploded if she had to wait any longer! She's going to be a wonderful auntie. She even ventured in to Have A Yarn in Mahone Bay and Debbie Bliss pattern book, Baby Cashmerino 2 and two balls of Cashmerino to go with it.

I'm hoping that my SM will send me a couple of photos from our visit home so you can see how my two "other mothers" reacted to the news. A picture tells a thousand words, though, so you'll have to wait.
Do you have a theme for the baby's nursery?
No. And we will not have one, strictly speaking. There will be no wallpaper border, no Winnie the Sh!t, no Precocious Moments, none of that**. We probably won't even change the paint colour as the walls are currently Martha Stewart's Kitchen Ceiling Blue and Beach Glass. We've got white furniture, I think; hopefully my set from childhood is still at my family's cottage. And with some vintage touches, we're all set.
Do you have names picked out?
Yes. But I'm not sharing them with the internet. Just IRL people. For now, we'll just call him/her "The Mogrunt".
Can I touch your belly?
Only if you don't intend to use that hand for knitting. Heh heh.

I'll probably be carrying a fork in my pocket to stab the hands of strangers who think it is ok to grope pregant women. However, if you do know me in real life, I will probably let you touch my belly, but only if you ask and only when the baby gets a little higher. Right now, all you would be touching is my stomach. I'm pretty sure that the gurgles my stomach makes are similar to yours, so you won't feel anything out of the ordinary. And I'm not letting you touch where I feel the baby's kicks right now. That's a little too close for comfort, thanks.
Have I knit anything for the baby yet?
The Mogrunt has already made one very serious error in his/her short life. S/he chose to be born in JUNE! Seriously - what the heck? A knitter's child, all those cute tiny sweaters I could knit and a long, warm summer stretching out in front of us. Gawd. *bangs head on desk*

Having said that, I do have a sweater that I made a while ago all tucked away. I've knit a couple pairs of socks and I've just got a few things in the queue. I've got the Baby Yours Sweater by the Yarn Harlot. (Mr. Happy picked it up in Toronto.) And a whole pile of other projects in mind. Including lots of soakers for cloth diapers. Yoi.
How is Henry coping?
Henry is managing. Since his escapades with Rose, and the arrival of Junior, he has been very good about babies. He's just worrying about how the baby will cut in to his party schedule. We had words about his impromptu gatherings in my yarn stash, and I think that these will be coming to an abrupt halt.

Anyhooooo... I should stop for now. I've got some photos to take for my next post - including one of the fabulous mitts my Grammy made for me for Christmas.

Thanks again, everyone, for all your well-wishes. The Happy Family really appreciates all the love!

*Mogrunt - that's what my dad called me when I was little. I don't know where the term came from. There's a good chance that it is a purely made up word. We have a few peculiarities in my family, particularly a little rhyme that we say while counting toes - I searched it on the internet and found one hit... my cousin's blog.

**Mr. Happy's Mom has Alzheimer's disease, so when she responded "It's about time!" when we told her that we are having a baby, I was happily surprised and relieved by her reaction.

***Yes, I said precocious. Not precious. On purpose. I don't have anything against Winnie or those bobble headed children. They are cute and I know a lot of people love them. I just don't want them for us. We have stripped wallpaper in almost every room in our house. I never want to do this again!

A Tiny Wee Bit of Holiday Cheer

2008-12-24T22:13:00.003-04:00

Everyone? Say hi to Baby Happy. Due June 12, 2009.

This tiny person is the reason I've been exceptionally tired... unable to knit more than a few rows at a time or to blog.

But this tiny person is also the cause of a lot of happiness, tears of joy and lots of hugging.

I'll post more when it's not 10pm on Christmas Eve and I still have a thousand things to do! AAAAH!

Stormed In

2008-12-22T08:38:00.003-04:00

Mr. Happy and I came to New Brunswick on Friday night in order to attend my grandmother's 90th birthday party. We had a great time and later I'll tell you all about the really neat present the family made for her.

But for right now, for those of you who might be worried: we probably won't be driving back home today. We got about a foot of snow last night and my brother called this morning from Saint John to say that they are closing roads, etc. My brother drives a delivery truck and the shipment from Moncton (1.5hrs away by highway) was not released from the main warehouse b/c of the snow.

So, here we will stay - where there is a cozy fire, lots of good food, and family and friends to keep us company.

Wow, How Did THAT Happen?

2008-12-17T16:35:00.003-04:00

Good heavens, it's dusty in here.

*wipes desktop with sleeve*

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month!

I'm positively ashamed of myself. And I really don't know what the problem is.

Well, I do, but calling yourself a slacker is really just negative self-talk. That kind of thing is frowned upon her at "A Little Bit of Happy".

I don't have any knitting photos to show you at present as I've been working on a project for Ilga Leja for a while now.

There's a not-so-funny story to go along with that project about how I knit two charts of the pattern that I wasn't supposed to and how I had to thread my needle back through lace and rip them back. But I'll save that for the day that the pattern is published and you can see how pretty it was before I ripped it. Of course, it's still pretty now, but it's pretty in a different way.

I haven't been doing a lot of other knitting as I decided not to knit Christmas gifts this year. Yes, you heard me correctly - ixnay on the Christmas ittingknay!

It's quite freeing, really. It has also led to me spending a lot of evenings with a book in my hand, or in the kitchen or... you get the picture.

Anyhoooooo... I hope to be around here again before the holidays. Hopefully with some photos for you and some foolhardy New Years Resolutions - I'm pretty sure I'll break most of them before February, but I'm going to try.

In the meantime, for those of you who haven't de-listed me on Bloglines - thanks for sticking around.

I'll be back soon!

For Grampy and for Jack

2008-11-11T07:54:00.002-04:00

I usually spend Remembrance Day at home in the kitchen. I listen to CBC radio all day - they always have special programming with people telling their stories of wars of the past and wars still being waged. I usually end up crying into a sink of soapy dishes. I am always reminded of the story my Grandfather Taylor told me of his brother Jack.

My grandfather came from a big family. They were a very loving family, from all accounts.

The sisters were older and were charged with helping their mother in the kitchen. They would chase the younger boys out of the kitchen whenever the smell of freshly baked cookies wafted through the house. The boys loved to tease each other and their sisters, and so they were often running up the back stairs out of the kitchen, with extra cookies stuffed in their pockets. The sisters would barricade them, one at the back staircase, one at the front... and the boys would have to surrender their cookies.

They were a family that sang together. The boys put on shows around the community when they were older. There were many evenings spent at home with the children gathered around the piano.

When my grandfather's brother, Jack, went off to fight in World War II, it left a rather big hole in their lives, even though most of the children were grown and starting families of their own at that point.

I remember distinctly my grandfather telling me the story of receiving news of his brother's death. There are details of the story that I don't know, but my imagination has filled them in over the years.

My grandfather, Donald, was in town when the word came. He ran home with the notice. I've always imagined it being summer in his story, although he never told me that. Summer in Woodstock can be extremely hot (for Canadian standards) and I imagine him running up the front steps of the house and the screen door slamming behind him.

He would have known that the telegram wasn't good news. I imagine that he paused before entering the kitchen where his parents were sitting. Was it lunch time? I don't know, but I've always pictured his mother in front of the stove, putting on the kettle for tea; his father at the table, his plate pushed aside, maybe looking at the paper.

They would have looked up when he arrived in the doorway, wondering why he was there. It might have taken them a moment to realize that he was holding the notice.

I've always imagined this small piece of paper that told them the news. Grampy would have held it firmly in his shaking hand. I can't imagine that my grandfather had to say the words out loud or that he could have brought himself to say the words out loud. I imagine that he had tears in his eyes when he handed the paper to his father.

This part I do know. I know that when they read the news, that his mother threw her apron over her face and cried and that his father sat there and didn't say a word. Not a single word. That piece of paper, sitting on the table, devastating their family.

I imagine that my great-grandfather was in complete shock. By all accounts Jack had been much beloved by the entire family. They were so proud of him and thought of him daily, across the ocean, fighting for their country, fighting for his family.

My grandfather attended the ceremony at the cenotaph in Woodstock, New Brunswick for as many years as he was able. I remember going with him, my grandmother, my aunt, my cousins and my mother when I was a child. It was cold and there were flakes of snow in the air. My grandfather wore his best coat and his Sunday hat. And when I looked at him during the silence, his eyes were rimmed with tears. It had been about 40 years since his brother had been killed in World War II, but I'm sure that memories of his beloved brother Jack were still fresh in his mind.

My grandfather, Donald, passed away in the spring. I miss him horribly. He was a good man. He made me laugh and he teased me with as much zeal as I'm sure he and his siblings teased and carried on with each other.

This year, I will take off my apron, pull out my best coat and walk down to the cenotaph to join the crowd of people who also remember.

I'll be there for Jack. And for Grampy.

To The Angry Man Dressed in Work Overalls in the White Van Who Yelled at Me This Morning

2008-11-03T10:45:00.003-04:00

Dear Sir,

I'm sorry that you were in a rush this morning and that my desire to be safe while biking caused you such distress.

I signalled my left turn not so much to ask you to "slow down for a half a block" as you seemed to think, but to ensure that you knew where I was going... you know, like a car ahead of you would do.

When you stopped at the intersection and seemed to be waiting for me to go ahead, I thought you were being polite, so I said, "Thank you!" as I pulled out and turned left in front of your van.

But when you opened your door, stood on the running boards and shouted angrily at me, "Did you really think I was going to slow down for a half a block for you to turn left?" I had no response for you because you kind of freaked me out.

If the truth be told, sir, it would have been nice if you had.

I live in hope that people in cars will remember that cyclists have a few rights too. I spend most of my time on the road trying to ensure that people in cars see me and remember that I'm a human being. After all, the only thing protecting me is a layer of clothing and our combined navigation skills. You, sir, were protected by a rather large van made of metal, the fact that you could outrun me quite easily and the fact that you seemed to be a rather angry, short-tempered man.

When I didn't answer and you shouted to me, "What did you say?", I simply repeated, "Thank you!" I wonder if it aggravated you that I didn't turn my bicycle around and start a yelling match with you. I hope that my attempt to be polite didn't bother you; you seemed to have a lot of anger this morning.

I hope that the rest of your day goes better than our 25 second interaction this morning. The rest of my day is going to be stellar in comparison.

I promise you, from here on in, I'll be very respectful and try not to run into any vehicles that cut me off or stop short in front of me. I'll also avoid white vans like the plague.

Sincerely,

The Cyclist Who Was Only Trying to Follow The Rules Of The Road

Best Husband Ever

2008-10-22T22:59:00.002-03:00

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm still recuperating from the weekend. It's kind of exhausting, playing hostess to 140 people. It's more exhausting when you don't sleep well. It wasn't for lack of comfort... because let me tell you - those beds at the Lord Nelson are like sleeping on a cloud. I woke up both nights with the weekend's agenda running through my head. Ugh! Shut off, brain, shut off!

I'll also admit that I've been so wiped out these last few weeks, what with travelling, getting ready for the conference and then attending the conference, that I haven't felt inclined to knit anything that I can show you - (No worries, IL, I'm still plugging away at your piece!) - Thus I must apologize for the distinct lack of knitting photos on the blog. For that matter - any photos.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering about the title to this post. Mr. Happy left the house this morning, before the crack of dawn, to travel to Toronto. A friend of his owns a cottage in the Muskokas and that cottage is the ultimate destination. A group of about 8 guys are headed to the cottage for the weekend. They're flying in from all over Canada and I believe that one is even coming from Dubai. Mr. Happy hasn't been able to get together with these friends in years. The annual cottage gathering is an old tradition that started when they were in high school together. Mr. Happy only just found out that he was able to get away from work in order to join the gang. Needless to say, he was pretty excited about it.

He promised to buy me a present while he was in Toronto. While I don't usually buy him presents on business trips, I wasn't going to turn down such an offer. Tonight, he navigated the Toronto transit system and found his way to Lettuce Knit.

Once there, he found himself amidst the Wednesday night knitting group. They had received advanced notice of his arrival and asked to see his socks so as to ensure they had the right husband. Mr. Happy gamely lifted his pant-legs to show off his orange socks. He then called me and passed the phone to Megan so that I could let her know which yarn I wanted to go along with the pattern I had requested.

As if I didn't already love him with all my heart and soul...

Sitting, Waiting, Yawning

2008-10-17T15:52:00.002-03:00

I'm sitting at my desk waiting for one hundred and sixty copies of my conference booklet to print. I'm slouched down behind my computer, head leaned back typing with my eyes closed, so we'll see how this works out.

This is my third year organizing the annual conference and while parts of it get easier, parts of it frustrate the heck out of my every year.

It's like planning a very big family wedding, but with speakers and booklets and really cool gifts for all the attendees. Only, you don't love them all as much as the people you would invite to your wedding... (then again, I have heard some in-law stories that make me rather thankful for mine). Not saying I don't like these people, because 99.9% of them are awesome and I'm happy to know them. It's just that the changes and cancellations for that many people can get very hard to keep straight when you're managing 180 people (attendees, vendors, office staff), their accomodations and all their meals.

I've been at work until at least 6:30 every night this week. Last night, before I left, I called a nearby Lebanese restaurant and ordered a falafel pita. I knew I wouldn't want to cook when I got home. I biked over, picked up the pita and headed home in the waning light. When I got home, I brought in my bike, took off my helmet, washed my hands, and sat down to eat. I don't think I looked up until I was licking my fingers.

That was the best darned falafel I've had in ages. It was still warm. Mmmmm... A bit of Heaven... garlicky heaven after a really, really, long day.

Tonight, we're headed to the hotel. My bag is packed, I've got knitting for the conference and I've got a big, cozy, king-sized bed waiting for me at the hotel. I can't wait to sink into it tonight...only to crawl out of it tomorrow at 6am.

The thing is? I love this conference. I really do. I really enjoy the speakers and the people attending. I know we'll have a lot of fun and that everyone will go home smiling and thanking us as they leave.

I'm just really looking forward to falling asleep on the couch at home on Sunday afternoon when it's all over.

Dammit, Dammit, Dammit

2008-10-15T14:20:00.004-03:00

Stephen Harper.

Again.

Minority Gov't. Here we go again.

Thank God for the Newfoundlanders. Smart people, they are, kicking Conservative arse off their Rock.

You can take back all those stupid Newfie jokes and start telling stupid Prairie jokes.

(Sorry Uncle K.)

Vote NOW, vote often*

2008-10-14T09:09:00.003-03:00

Today is election day in Canada.

I have to go to a luncheon today, so I'm going to vote this morning. And then I'll feel sick for the rest of the day, worrying that we're going to get stuck with Stephen Harper and the Conservatives again because:

1. People of a certain age can't see past his sweater vest to his stony heart.
2. Perhaps the rest of the country agrees with Stephen Harper that Canada only goes as far east as the Quebec-New Brunswick border.
3. Those of us who really don't want the Conservatives imposing their right wing, narrow-minded policies on all of us aren't out there voting in droves like we should be.

If you're Canadian and you're reading this, I hope that you've voted. I want to hear from you if you have. I don't want to know how you voted, just that you did.

*if only that were allowed. If only we could vote people OFF the island.

Note to self

2008-10-11T13:18:00.002-03:00

Go back to Carbonstok and buy all my Christmas presents.

This cool new store can be found at 1235 Barrington Street in Halifax

Mr. Happy and I wandered in there today on our way home from the market and the grocery store. Awesome place.

Very, very cool stuff.

Here's their goal (taken from the Halifax Locals post about their opening):

"Many of our products come from forward thinking designers and manufacturers that consider our collective impact on the environnment. Other products have such timeless relevance that ensures they will be around for a very long time and never go out of style. Finally, some of our products are simply there to entertain you. Because life doesn't always have to be serious. Our goal is to continually bring you new and interesting products for your home, for your body, and for your friends."

I meant to take a photo of the outside of the store, but my camera was buried in my bag under produce and such from the market.

Next time. Because there will be a next time.

Travellin', Doin', Makin'

2008-10-04T09:58:00.004-03:00

Travellin'

This past week I was in Newfoundland for a total of 35 hours. I flew in at 9:15am on Wednesday morning and flew home at 8:00pm Thursday night. Let's not talk about the turbulence on the way home Thursday night. It's the first time I've ever been that freaked out on a plane.

Doin'

I was in NL for my annual trip to the student career fair. I spent Wednesday night talking to students in various stages of their program and I spent Thursday having one-on-one interviews with students who will be graduating in the spring.

Surefire way to get a pouding headache? Spend an entire day doing interviews. And drink more coffee than you usually do!

Makin'

Friday morning, after getting to sleep in for the first time since last Saturday, Mr. Happy and I took a trip out to a local fabric store where I bought some things that I needed to make this:

Forgive me, Knitters, for I have sewed.

Pattern: "Wasp Bag" from Machen Machen.
Fabric: lightweight denim exterior, lightweight cotton interior.

The instructions confused me a little, but the design is easy enough for an inexperienced seamstress like moi to figure out.

I made a freezer paper stencil of the Minou silhouette that Angela sent to me.

Now I just need some glittery buttons for the handles.

I am so fricking excited about this thing. You have noooo idea.

Talking Politics

2008-09-29T13:13:00.005-03:00

I was just over at the Yarn Harlot's blog and read her letter to Stephen Harper.

Ever since I was old enough to vote, I have made it a policy to never tell anyone how I vote. There is a reason that we have a secret ballot. I will tell you this:

1. I don't necessarily vote the same way as my husband: My mother didn't always vote the same way as my father, I'm sure. I remember my MIL telling me one time that she votes the same way as her husband so as to "not cancel out her vote". I said to her, "You wouldn't cancel out his vote, we have more than two parties in Canada. You are entitled to your own opinion." I wonder to this day if this was a sign of the beginning of her Alzheimers or if it was just a sign of the times in which she was brought up.

2. I don't necessarily vote the same way as my family or friends. We can still be friends, but only if you're not a short-sighted narrow-minded idiot who thinks that the answer to all of everyone's problems is the same thing: We should all be well-educated and have good paying jobs.

3. I do not vote Conservative. That leaves me quite a few other options. Don't ever ask me who I vote for, because you'll lose a little respectability in my eyes. My politics and my spiritual beliefs are cards that I hold very close to my chest. Sorry if that bothers you.

All that being said, I will never suggest to you how you should vote... but I want to let you know how I feel about Stephen Harper's most recent comments about arts funding. This is what I posted on the Yarn Harlot's blog:

Stephen Harper's politics disgust and enrage me to no end.

Apparently, Steve has never seen an ordinary Canadian enjoying the arts.

I have yet to see any local bands perform at a black tie gala. It's usually at a grungy bar where we're all wearing jeans. It seems quite accessible to "ordinary"
Canadians. Just because it's not a black tie gala, does that mean it's not art?

Our friends perform street theatre - the people that attend their shows
seem like "ordinary" Canadians to me. The plays even seemed to resonate and
entertain them. Should they be out getting "real" jobs and leave us all to stare
at empty stages, pages, and television and movie screens?

My husband is a recording engineer. His business teeters on the edge every time a cut is made to arts funding.

The bands that make it "big" do not all get there through participating in reality shows like "Canadian Idol" or winning "Battle of the Band" competitions. They get there by working hard, scraping together pennies, and sometimes, if they are lucky, getting a FACTOR grant to record their music. If they don't get a grant, it means that borrow money from their family, scrounge what little they have, and record bits and pieces at a time. They either record at night, after they are finished their day jobs OR they take vacation from their other jobs to record. They are "ordinary" tax-paying Canadians.

I know that you know this life well and you understand that it isn't an easy life. It's frustrating and it's full of ups and downs.

And every time a family member or a friend decides to vote Conservative, I can't help but feel that they are voting against my husband and I.

Maybe I'm just overly sensitive today but knowing that, in particular, my husband's family votes PC, well, it feels like they don't take his job seriously, even after 15 years and a crazy number of albums; quite a few of which were either nominated for or won awards.

For you knitters - please keep in mind that Fibre Arts are Art too.

Ordinary citizens, please make your decisions wisely this time around.

Uh oh...

2008-09-20T19:36:00.004-03:00

Today Mr. Happy, Henry and I met up in Halifax to do a little shopping. We wandered into La Cache and discovered that the store is closing. Very, very sad news. La Cache has always been a great place to find beautiful ($$$) dresses for little girls (that always went on sale for $ at the end of the season), colourful accessories and all sorts of other good things, like bedding.

After a quick consultation, Mr. Happy and I decided that it would be a good time to buy a new duvet cover. Hopefully a certain fur-nephew won't puke or poop on this one. (I'll post a picture tomorrow.)

While we were at La Cache I called Ms. Electron-knits, thinking that the sale might be something she would be interested in - despite her sea-faring lifestyle, Ms. EK looks nothing like an "old salt" and often wears cute girly sundresses in the summer.

Mr. Happy, Henry and I ended up having lunch with Ms. EK. During the course of conversation, Henry discovered that Ms. EK's significant other is out to sea right now. One thing led to another and Henry decided to blow us off in favour of keeping Ms. EK company.

I know that Ms. EK and Henry are both consulting adults, but I do worry that Ms. EK's sailor might come home early. Oh Henry, what kind of trouble have you got yourself in now?

knitknitknitknitknit

2008-09-19T17:59:00.001-03:00

Someone has had a severe cast of startitis lately. It seems to have been brought on by an acute case of FINISHING!

Wild Wood
Pattern: Beech Wood by Ilga Leja
Yarn: Handmaiden 4-ply cashmere
Rest of Info: here on Ravelry

It's kind of a wild colourway, that's why I chose to call it Wild Wood. It does, however, look quite nice on, particularly with a jean jacket or a dark coat or...

Huhn.

Moving on, apparently the yarn smells nice too:

I had started this wee sweater when Mrs. Yes was pregnant with Gabriel. I do believe he is 17 months old now. It seemed like I had a mental block when it came to sewing on the buttons and seaming the pocket:

Pattern: Baseball T from Knit 2 Together
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton
Needles: I haven't the foggiest. Check Ravelry.

I appear to have gotten over the block. Isn't it cute? Into the gift stash it goes.

Aside: I think it's safe to say that I am going to attempt to take all of my knitting photos in the early morning when the light looks so nice on Mrs. Adjustoform.

As these two items were finished, I promptly pulled out the needles and cast on for the following:

1. A baby sweater from a vintage pattern(as previously discussed):

2. A pair of baby socks with leftover STR:

I cast on for these b/c I wanted to try out my new needles as well as knit up some of my leftover sock yarn.

3. I did cast on for socks for my niece with the new Lana Grossa. (no photo yet)

4. And I am about 2/3 done with a super-secret project. This top secret project can be found on Ravelry. If your name is Becca, and you are pregnant with a child due in December, tough luck, chickie, b/c you don't have a Ravelry password, so you can't peek at this project. (Um, that being said, you should probably avoid cruising Flickr, unless you want to spoil the surprise.)

Let's not talk about the projects gathering dust in my knitting basket, ok? Ok, it will be our little secret.

Introducing Adjustoform!

2008-09-18T17:52:00.001-03:00

Adjustoform is adjustable to your size!

Simply open the snaps, slip it on like a vest and have a close and honest friend adjust it to your size by pinching or pulling the wires. It's quick, it's easy and if you wear it out as a vest, it's also haute couture!

Many thanks to Mr. Happy for bringing home this little gem from Valouie Vilaghe!

Running Away From Home

2008-09-16T22:06:00.004-03:00

Last Thursday Mr. Happy announced that he was taking Friday night and Saturday off (nothing revolutionary for those with 9-5 jobs, but quite out of the ordinary for him). As soon as he said it, an alarm went off in my head:

Me: Let's run away.

Mr. Happy: Ok, where to?

Me: We have a gift certificate to Oak Island! [1] Ohhhhhh... we can watch cable TV!

Mr. Happy: Ohhhhhh, that's right! Let's go!

So we set out for Oak Island. After checking in, we decided to drive back to Chester for supper. We ate in the F'ocsle Tavern (delicious pan fried haddock) and then, as it was a relatively rain-free evening[2], decided to walk around the town.

Just as we were about to enter a corner store, Mr. Happy noticed a Chester Playhouse sign stating that Old Man Luedecke would be playing there, that night! We turned around and saw that there were people standing outside the Playhouse - it was our lucky day - intermission!

We ran over and talked to the lady in charge. She let us in for 1/2 price and we got to see the rest of the show! While we waited for intermission to end, Chris (aka the Old Man) came into the lobby. He was surprised to see Andrew there and came over to talk. It was the first time I had had a chance to meet and talk to him. What a great guy; he's just as genuine as his music. With intermission ending, we went in and found a seat in the playhouse.

If you haven't heard him before, please check out his music. It's not every day that I fall in love with the music of a banjo player.

Here's his web page and here's his myspace page

Mahone Bay in the fog

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Mahone Bay where, of course, I went to Have A Yarn. I've been meaning to pick up yarn to try out a particular baby sweater pattern[3]. If you are pregnant and a friend of mine, this may or may not be for your baby. It may just be going into my gift stash. Yes, I have a stash of gifts for young and old alike. No, I don't think it's weird.

Here's a picture of the cuff:

I also picked up some Lana Grossa sock yarn to make socks for my niece. They're quite splashy. Despite having already cast on for this project, I have no photo of it. The yarn is from their "Sunset" collection - It's the sock in the middle of the picture Girls just wanna have fun, if you know what I'm sayin'.

We left Mahone Bay and headed back "up the coast" to Chester where we wandered in and out of a few artists' shops. Then we had lunch at the Kiwi Cafe.

I fell in love with the colours in the cafe. It was so cheery on that overcast afternoon. Mr. Happy ordered the Adult Grilled Cheese (so delicious - on homemade bread) and I ordered the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup. We did a little sharing:

It was a short trip, but it was really nice to get out of the city and slow down for a while. I'm headed into a very busy time at work, and I know that I'll be thinking of the music in the Chester Playhouse and the visit to Mahone Bay when I'm standing at a booth at some conference this fall.

[1] Thanks again to the very, very kind friends who gave this to us for our anniversary.

[2] There's been so much rain here lately that we no longer classify things as sunny, we classify things in terms of dampness.

[3] I fell off the "Knit the Stash" wagon quite a while ago, but must note that I have definitely curbed my insane yarn-buying habits. I've decided that this "knit the stash" plan is more of a lifestyle change than a cold-turkey diet. Whereas before I treated the LYS as a all-you-can-knit buffet, I’m trying to make better, healthier choices. It’s much easier to do now that I don’t visit my LYS every single weekend. I've got my eye on some of the new Trekking tweed, but I'm going to wait until I get a couple more projects finished before buying it. See? Old Stephanie would have bought it the first day she saw it.

Relieved...

2008-09-07T20:30:00.002-03:00

...that Hannah (I'm calling it that because I know a couple Hannahs) blew over.

...because I got to work without getting blown off my bike.

...that I rode home in the sunshine.

...that I had a dead-person free day at work.

Wondering...

2008-09-07T10:06:00.002-03:00

...should I walk in the rain to work at the pharmacy this morning and test out my new umbrella?

...should I call my neighbour and give her my house key in case the basements flood? (we're in an 80-year-old semi-detached)

...should I be worried about that tree in front of my house that the city has refused (several times over) to cut or trim, despite the way it leans over the house?

...will Hannah go *poof* or "POW!" when she gets here?

...am I going to have time to get down to the store before it starts to rai... crap. raining already.

Linkety Link

2008-08-29T15:27:00.003-03:00

Hey everyone,

My good friend T-dot has started her own blog about her adventures.

She's an amazing home-renovator who has recently started running. And she's pretty darned cute with a paintbrush in her hand.

T-dot, how about a post on the McRoom McReno?

(OMG - she had a room in her house that was decorated like McDonalds when she bought it. Yoi.)

Please give some love to Tdot.

More Vintage Patterns

2008-08-26T10:31:00.001-03:00

On the day of our party, Becca and Troy did not arrive empty handed. Troy's mom has been cleaning out their basement and had found some pattern books and craft things that she wasn't sure what to do with. I told her that I would be more than happy to take them off her hands.

Troy carried in a big bag of fabric, sewing patterns, and knitting books. I think I'm going to have to knit something for their BABY out of these books. Here are my favourites:

Beehive for Bairns and Lady Galt:

Beehive for Bairn's was printed during World War II:

If you look at the paragraph on the bottom of the page, you'll see that they are apologizing for their paper quality and promise to return to their "prewar standards" as soon as possible.

Beautiful blankets:

I didn't know that patonized wool became available in the mid-1900s, did you? Look how happy the clothes are with their patonization:

This is from the Lady Galt book:

Does this sweater remind anyone else of the February sweater?

Oh, and I'm incredibly excited about the possibilities presented by these vintage Patons books:

I'm really looking forward to my career in knitting...

...and BANK ROBBING.

yeesh.

See more vintage patterns here.

Sunny weekend = FO pictures!

2008-08-25T09:55:00.000-03:00

After all the running around last week, I had Friday off, which made for a nice long weekend - and a sunny one at that.

Just what did I do with my beautiful long weekend? Well, I finished things, of course:

I've been calling this Shetland Skies:

It reminds me of the sky in a Van Gogh painting.

Isn't it pretty?

Pattern: Shetland Triangle
Yarn: Sea Silk
Needles: 3.5mm
State of Happiness: Elated

This is the blasted Victorian Shoulderette that I made intending to give it to my maternal (non-knitting) grandmother:

I cursed my way through every stitch. I just don't find garter stitch lace to be intuitive at all. My hat is off to Sivia Harding for designing the wretched thing. I may have to say a prayer over it or something to ward off all the evil feelings I hold toward it.
Funny thing is that I love how it looks on. Who woulda thunk it?

Pattern: Victorian Shoulderette
Yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca somethin' or other (cloud?)
Needles: Only the ones I used to gouge out my eyes.
State of Happiness: Relief. Like the kind you feel after meeting an ex-boyfriend or ex-friend in the mall and being forced to make small talk until you manage to come up with a reasonable excuse and get out of there!

What was Mr. Happy doing while I was running around the house, finishing projects, making him lunch and doing laundry?

He was painting the trim on the SS Yarn Barn:

...and he deserved every draw from that bottle of beer.

Pippin was having a grand old time running around our back yard, alternating between coming to me for snuggles and skritchy scratches:

And rough-housing with "Unca Andwew""

Mr. Happy was kind enough to take my FO photos, and we had a good laugh about this out-take:

Pippin asks, "What we lookin' at, Auntie Sessanie?"

And this one, that I took. Talk about timing:

Run, Pippin, run!

Pippin says:

"I AM NOT AN OUT-TAKE. I AM A CUTIE PIE."

After all that hard work and play, Mr. Happy and I headed over to Halifax to have supper at Chabaa Thai. On our way there, we spotted something funny in the window above Port of Wines:

Can you see it?

Click here to find out what it is.

This Week in Stephanie

2008-08-24T18:53:00.001-03:00

Good gawd, this was a busy week.

Monday night I got my hair cut again - I went for a trim but got a cut, if you know what I mean. After my haircut, a certain blog slacker arrived for a last minute sleepover. Despite my best intentions, I didn't get to bed until midnight.

Tuesday night was KOL. I met up with one of the KOLers earlier so we could chat.

Wednesday, I crawled out of bed at 6am to attend my company's charity golf tournament. No, I don't golf, silly. We have to work at the tournament. And we work hard*. But I did get to spend my day like this:

I sat at the 4th hole and explained the "closest to the prize" game that we had set up. It was our first year running that game so the person in charge of organizing the tournament volunteered me to work that tee. It was quite nice at the 4th hole, the sun was shining, there was a hawk flying in the air, the golfers were friendly and funny... and the icy cold wind which was blowing off the lake made me wish I had worn my long stripey socks.

I did a lot of schmoozing with the golfers who came through. They would pull up to the tee, see me sitting there, and would say,

"You're knitting?"

My reply (only to those I knew well) was, "Hey, I may be knitting, but you're golfing. I don't think either of us are in a position to criticize."

On Thursday, I again crawled out of bed at "arse crack o'clock" to drive to Blackville, NB with my coworker. We drove the 4.5 hours to Blackville for a 20th anniversary celebration. We stopped for coffee, but not for lunch, so by the time we were almost there, I was threatening to eat one of the porcupines who had dared to cross the highway (and hadn't made it). Now, I usually try to keep the blog and work quite separate, but I have a good reason for talking about this trip. When we arrived at our destination, this was waiting for us. This, right here, ladies and gents:

is the best damn slab cake I've ever eaten in my life! It was marble cake with the creamiest, lightest frosting. It came from Patty Cakes in the Miramichi. If I ever meet the woman who made it, I'll kiss her right where she eats.

After about 4 pieces, my coworker looked at me and said, "Stephanie, I think you're going to have to drive."

I replied, "Why, Dave?"

Dave burped and said, "I've had too much cake."

heh heh. It was that good.

Dave did drive, despite the sugar high, which allowed me to snap pictures on the way home. This:

is a sure sign that we were in my home province of New Brunswick.

And this:

is a disgruntled postal employee perhaps? (CUPW: Canadian Union of Postal Workers) Needless to say, we didn't tailgate him.

When we arrived home, 14 hours later, there was someone waiting to snuggle with me:

Pippin!

He had actually arrived on Wednesday night, but he looked so cute on Thursday night when I got home.

Ok, ok, one more picture:

Whoop, did I mention that someone got sheared? Pippin spent so much time swimming in the ocean and the lake that his fur was well and properly matted. The groomer released him from his furry straight jacket, making it possible for you to see how fit he is from all that swimming. He has amazingly strong legs.

Who has a six pack? Who does? Who?

* I really don't want to minimize the amount of work that goes into the golf tournament: If you've ever organized an event like this then you understand that it doesn't all come together like magic. There are a thousand tiny details to manage both before the tournament and on the day of. By the time I got to sit down at the 4th hole we had already been at the course for 3 hours.

Wet Week and Sunny Sunday

2008-08-18T04:30:00.000-03:00

(I'm having trouble sleeping, so I'm going to take a few minutes to blog. I hope this doesn't mean I won't be able to crawl out of bed in the morning.)

This weekend was the first one for which I had no plans since early July. I have to tell you, it was a huge relief. Although I love seeing family and friends, I really don't mind "alone time". In fact, sometimes I crave it.

Friday night Mr. Happy and I took advantage of the break in the unrelenting rain that has been falling here for what now, two weeks? We hopped on our bikes, backpacks on, and headed to the grocery store. Ah, yes, the glamourous life we lead. On the way back home, packs full, I looked around and realized that it was probably the nicest ride we'd had all summer. The sun was at that perfect hour, making everything golden. As we biked past Lake Banook, there were people paddling on the water, people walking on the trail, dogs sniffing trees; it was such a pleasant evening. Probably made more precious by the fact that we hadn't seen blue sky in ages. I really wish I had taken my camera along...

Yesterday the torrential rain kept me at home. I called Electron-Knits and invited her to drop by if she was in the 'hood. Ms. Electronknits just got back from a month at sea, and we're all really glad to have her home. Mr. Happy was home[1] so he entertained us with his silliness and cooked corn on the cob for us. The afternoon passed quickly and the next thing I knew it was 7pm and Ms. Electronknits was heading home.

Today I woke to the sound of my neighbour hanging out laundry[2]. I ran downstairs to peek out the door to see if she had lost her mind and was hanging clothes out in the rain. I was astonished to see the SUN! I welcomed my neighbour home from vacation as if she had brought the sun back with her. I raced through some chores and headed out for a walk. I ended up at Value Village where I scored some goodies that I wanted to share with you:

First, this pretty plate. It's about 14" long. I don't have a lot of serving platters and I really liked the idea of piling this with cupcakes or sliced cake:

Next, two vintage pattern books:

The Styles By Beehive book has some beautiful patterns in it that I can't imagine knitting, namely, dresses knit with fingering weigh yarn:

...for teen-agers!

There are some patterns that are very cute, a fair-isle sweater and these fair-isle gloves:

These sweaters:

...reminded me of patterns I've been seeing in Vogue and Rowan lately.

Perhaps my favourite find today was something that I had seen at VV a few weeks ago. I don't get down to VV very often, but the first time I saw this, I thought to myself, "Ok, if it's here when I come back, then I'll get it." It was there when I went today so I had to bring it home:

It's a little compact that contains two mirrors. I'm not entirely sure what the case is made of - some sort of plastic, Bakelite (I wish), Mother of Pearl (doubtful) - regardless, I love it. When I opened it up and saw the Made in Western Germany sticker inside I knew I had to buy it.

I know it's probably not worth much, but I have visions of going on the Canadian Antiques Road Show and saying, "yeah, so I paid $9.99 for it at VV..." and watching Valerie Pringle pass out when it's assessed at $1000. Hee hee. But I'll keep it, of course, because it's just so pretty.

It seems like everyone had the same idea for today: Arriving at VV, I ran into an old friend of Mr. Happy's and his wife, who are expecting a baby in October. Inside Alison and her boy. They were having a grand time in the toy aisle. And, on the way out the door, one of my neighbours was heading in with her kids. I hope everyone found stuff they're as happy with as I am.

[1] While it may not be abnormal for your partner to be home on a Saturday, Mr. Happy often has to record on Saturdays. It SUUUUUUCKS and I would like to issue a plea to local musicians: Please eff off and let me enjoy my Saturdays with my husband!

[2] Reminder to self: Neighbour has asked for help to oil the squeaky clothesline wheels.

For Angela

2008-08-16T20:51:00.000-03:00

Hey Ang,

I just wanted to show you how well I'm healing after the big crash.

My leg is feeling much better, but I can still feel some lumpiness under the top of the scratch. I guess it's just the remnants of the bruise. My ankle is still having some issues.

I had an appointment with my physiotherapist two weeks after the accident. After checking my shoulder and ankle, he suggested some exercises for me to do. I tried them out that night, but my ankle swelled up. He and my doctor recommended that I wait until 6 weeks after the accident for my body to heal. It has only been 4 weeks, after all. I guess I'll just have to continue to use it as an excuse for things, like, "I can't possibly play Bridge with Janie Clarkson today; my ankle swells up the moment I climb up all those stairs to her house."

Here's a photo of what I'm doing while chatting with you online:

You'll note that if you were to call me, the phone is NOWHERE NEAR THE COMPUTER. Unlike you, I don't LIE ABOUT HOW FAR THE PHONE IS FROM MY COMPUTER. (You would have been disappointed if I hadn't called immediately after seeing that photo... and you're still a shit.)

Anyhoo, I'm knitting away on my Shetland Triangle... looking ahead to a new project (the wee ball on the table in front of me)... and eating yogurt with nectarines and granola. Yum.

The silk is such a pretty colour, I wish you could see it in person. This is just the back:

...imagine what the right side looks like! Better yet, imagine what it looks like when I don't have to use flash because it's been yet another miserable rainy day here on the East Coast.

I know, I know, you mentioned that it is really hot out there on the Wet Coast... but seriously, did you have to send all your rain this way?

Hey, you just posted about your new skirt. I keep forgetting to tell Meegiemoo that you are joining the leagues of people who want to dress like her when they grow up. Meegie? If you're reading this, add Ang to the list.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to say that although I'm really glad you're working again, I really do miss you when you are. I really enjoy our evening chats online. It makes it much easier to handle having one of your best friends living on the other side of this huge country.

It's funny how different friends communicate. With Becca it has always been the phone (often several times a week). With you was always letters... back before internet days. I always loved getting your letters. They often took me a week to read. I'm still not sure how you paid for the postage on those novellas, being a starving student and all. And now it's chatting online. It's funny, but I can hear your voice when I read what you write. Although I don't hear it often enough, it's still there, in my memory, right along with your laugh.

Love to you, the Dictator and the girls,

xoxo
Steph

AAAAH!

2008-08-15T22:07:00.000-03:00

ALLERGIC REACTION!

TO MY IMOGEN SWEATER!

HIVES ON MY BACK!!! AAAAH!

*sobs into pillow*

[edited Saturday Aug 16]: This morning I'm not entirely sure what happened. I tried on the sweater just before heading out to do some yard work. I was wearing a tank top at the time. While I was raking the overgrown bed that was full of weeds, my back started itching like crazy. Mr. Happy came home and I asked him to look at my back and he freaked out, saying, "You're covered in hives!" I had about 8 hives on my back. I hadn't felt any insect biting me, so I thought it might be a reaction to something. I went inside, had a shower and had Mr. Happy put some Aveeno cream with menthol on my back to soothe the itching. Within an hour, the hives had shrunk down to little red spots. This morning, they aren't itchy at all.

Party, Party, Party

2008-08-10T22:32:00.000-03:00

The last four weeks have been nothing but party, party, party. At least it seems that way. I haven't had a full weekend on my own since, um, early July?

I spent the weekend of the 19th at the cottage... then we came back for a party on the 26th. As Mr. Happy and I haven't had a big back yard party at our place in years and certainly we've never had one with as many people. We thought that it was about time that we put our back yard to good use [1] and our anniversary was a good reason.

So, we invited a whole pile of people, asked them to bring some food and crossed our fingers that it didn't rain.

The morning started out a little overcast, but by the time our first guests arrived, it was sunny and warm.

Becca and Troy weren't sure if they could make it down for the party, so you can imagine my surprise when I looked out the window and saw two people arriving early. Mr. Happy had gone out to get some ice, so when I saw them crossing the street I started to panic thinking people were arriving early and thought, "Oh no, I don't even know who they ar... eeeeh! It's Becca and Troy!!!!" and I went running out of the house. Then Mr. Happy arrived the look on his face when Becca opened the door was priceless.

As this is the first party we've hosted in quite a while, we may not have had all our ducks in a row, but we were smart enough to invite the neighbours:

'cause if you're going to have loud obnoxious party guests, it's better if the neighbours are part of the noise! We have the most wonderful neighbours. They arrived with chairs and a table and flowers for us. They proceeded to crack open a bottle of wine and get a little tipsy right in the center of the party. It was awesome.

We didn't realize how many of our friends had kids until they were all running around in the yard. The kids seemed to have have fun playing catch:

...and um, tackle:

And so did the grown ups:

In fact some of the "adults" stuck around and played ball until dark.

The KOLers came and found a cool spot under the tarp. They even graciously took over the BBQ so that Mr. Happy could have a chance to eat.

While I think everyone had a good time, I really wish we had taken more time to organize the event. I got home from vacation the day before the party. I was a little stressed on Friday. (OK, alot stressed.) Also, we had planned to have some friends play music at the party, but they got stuck in traffic leaving a festival in Antigonish. Next time, we'll send out the invitations a bit earlier and check the music festival list for a date that doesn't conflict.

Regardless, we did have a lot of fun and were really glad so many people could make it out. It was really nice for Mr. Happy's family because they got to meet some of our friends. My dad and my SM couldn't make it to the party, but maybe next time. My family did represent, in the form of my great-aunt Mary and her daughter, Denise. It was so nice of them to drop in. Out of all the guests at the party, only Andrew's family[3], Becca and my great-aunt Mary had attended our wedding. We'll have to do something fun for our 15th and make sure that the whole family comes down!

One last note: At some point during the day, one of the guests spotted some of my old comic books in the spare room. After checking with Mr. Happy, he was shocked to discover that they were mine. [2] He alerted the rest of the gang and this is what I found going on a while later:

I love the juxtaposition of heavy metal rockers and chenille bedspread. I'm still wondering if I should have frisked them before they left the party.

Petitebean? You'd tell me if Sausage stole my Power Pack books, right?

[1] It's certainly not working for us as a vegetable garden.
[2] I went to my parents pharmacy after school every day, so I spent a lot of time reading the comic books on the rack. I've got a pretty good collection, but nothing is mint. It's all well-loved.
[3] My nephew Ben was technically present at the wedding, although he wasn't born for another 2 months. ;)

I AM SO SHACK WHACKY!

2008-08-03T22:46:00.001-03:00

AAAAAAh!!!!!! I've been home since Friday and it's been raining since Saturday afternoon.

Mr. Happy's mom has been staying with us as his dad is away in Germany (we're confiscating his passport when he gets home so he can't go away again). And Pippin has been here too as my SIL and family are away in New Brunswick at a conference.

We're all going completely nutters with the relentless rain.

Oh, and this morning, Pippin was ticked that we all slept in, so he pooped on the duvet cover in the back bedroom. The beautiful April Cornell duvet cover Mr. Happy and I bought on our honeymoon.

Did you know that dog poop bleaches things?

And did you know that runny dog poop can soak into the duvet?

I see a trip to the dry cleaner in my future.

Oh, and did you know that it's supposed to rain until WEDNESDAY???????

AHHHHHH!

10 Years Ago Today

2008-08-02T09:24:00.000-03:00

10 years ago today, Andrew and I were married in St. Andrews, New Brunswick in the Lazy Croft Garden at the Algonquin hotel.

It was a hot, hot day, unlike today which is rainy and drizzly. Andrew's dad performed the ceremony and my dad made everyone cry when he spoke at the reception.

It was a good day but a hard day in some ways. A few years ago, Andrew wrote a song about our wedding day and the hard parts about it. It's on the last album he recorded with his band. It makes me cry and it makes me proud.

Many things have happened in these last 10 years, some things I would like to change, others that I wouldn't; but I definitely would not change the fact that Andrew and I face all those things together.

(In case you're wondering, my dress and shawl were made by the amazing Angela Bright who does NOT make wedding dresses, but she made an exception for me. She hand beaded the shawl and the dress, and for that she deserves a medal.)

Wait a Second, Isn't This a Knitting Blog?

2008-08-01T02:59:00.000-03:00

I should either post some knitting photos, or start, um, peeing around my stash to mark my territory.*

I've not had the most productive summer for knitting. It's been so bloody hot here that I spend my evenings sweating on the couch and squinting up at the thermostat. I keep hoping to bring the numbers down through sheer force of will. During the week that we painted the bedroom, I have a photo of my "remote" thermometre showing that it had cooled off to 21C outside but was still 30C inside at 11pm. It was disgusting. You want to see it?

Shocking, eh?

Last week, however, I was very productive at the cottage as it was much cooler there and swimming really whets my appetite for yarn! I managed to knit up a bunch of Wendy Gross' Little Monster Bears:

I was intending to finish these in time for our party on the weekend, but time ran out on me. Instead, I'm going to give them away as presents this year; My niece, R, has already claimed the hot pink one. (I'm not really sure what they're doing in this photo, it's a little creepy.)

Here are the pre-bear beans dryland training for their upcoming swim meet in the washing machine:

Next project! When the Ninja's Mr. Munchkin chose, from her stash, a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk as my birthday gift, (did I mention how much I love that kid?), I knew I had to knit something nice for myself. I knew I wanted lace, but I wanted there to be less "air" and more fabric. After cruising Ravelry for a while, I settled on The Shetland Triangle:

I've been calling it Shetland Skies because it reminds me of the skies at the cottage where I started making it. I'm knitting this on 3.5mm needles and am crossing my fingers that I have enough yarn to make it as large as I would like it to be.

I've also been working on Rusted Root from Zephyr Style. I've stalled in my progress as I struggle with the eternal question: Will this be too big for me? Will this be too small? Why didn't I swatch?

(The colour is called Lapis and the photo is not at all representative of the way it looks in real life. In fact, none of the pictures in this post accurately represent the colours of the projects. I took them all after supper tonight and they really just don't do these jewel tones justice.)

I've yet to finish a sweater for myself. My Imogen is 15 rows from completion, and there it sits. Yargh! I think I need a kick in the pants.

I hope this suffices as a knitting entry for this blog. I've got a long weekend staring me in the face right now. Both Mr. Happy's mom and Pippin are staying with us this weekend, so I suspect there will be lots of walks (for Pippin) and lots of treats, (uh, for all of us). The only thing that Pippin won't be getting is a front row seat to the fireworks this weekend. He absolutely hates them.

*we had a party on the weekend and I thought I might have to mark my territory when all the knitters were standing next in the dining room eyeing the cabinet that holds the majority of my yarn stash.

waiting...

2008-07-31T10:23:00.000-03:00

...for the internal office website to open files so I can post something...

I swear, I could knit an entire row of lace while waiting for these things to open.

Why Did We Have to Leave?

2008-07-30T09:54:00.000-03:00

Re-entry into the "real" world hasn't been the easiest. It was very hard to leave the cottage behind. Can you blame me when the view from the deck in the evening glows as golden as this?

When something as simple as a walk leads you down a lane this perfect?

Where it's ok if you knit all day long, even when you're a growing boy who only sits still long enough to eat mass quantities of food:

Where swimming is fun for everyone: Humans,

and dogs alike:

When your bed buddy is as cute as this?

Where, when the sun shines, you can't imagine why you would want to be anyplace else?

Back and Blue

2008-07-25T14:29:00.000-03:00

I'm back from vacation. A little blue to have left the wonderful cottage, but happy to have brought the blue skies home with me.

For those of you wondering if I had been in hospital all week having my foot amputated, the answer is "No". I consulted a few health care professionals (one being my dad, the pharmacist who is as good as a doctor, trust me) before I left town and their answer was all the same: Rest, Ice, Elevate, etc. Which I happily did the night before I left on vacation (hard to do while sleeping, but nonetheless, managed), and on the ride to the cottage... The swelling went down by Sunday morning... and an rather ugly bruise showed up in its place around my ankle. All is well, though, and I have no pain in my ankle.

The scratches are healing up nicely and my entire being benefitted from the peace and tranquility of floating in the water in Grand Lake. (ok, ok, I may have thrown my nephew in a couple of times, always good for stress relief. Especially when he came up sputtering and shocked.)

Thank you everyone for your concern! Who says the internet is a cold and lonely place?

While we didn't have perfectly blue skies during our time at the cottage, it was always clear enough to go swimming every day. Yesterday started with a thunderstorm, but ended with clear skies and a beautiful sunset.

I spent last night picking blueberries in the field near the family cottage and am happy to say it was the best crop I've seen there in years. I was taking handful after handful off the bushes.

I also had a lesson from Mr. Happy's Auntie Kathy in how to make Grammy Happy's pie crust. There are some secrets that will never leave the family.

Anyhoo, I just meant to check in. Mr. Happy and I are having a fete tomorrow, and I have a zillion things to do before then.

When I have a chance, I'll share some photos with you.