Just. Can’t. Stop.

Look at this face!! You’d never guess that Chica has the most foul flatulence of a dog five times her size!!! I think that it may have been the raw bone she had earlier.  Lord have mercy - there’s no warning sounds as she slumbers beside me, just air so thick with noxious gas that my eyes start watering as I try not to gasp for air. 

Then there’s Petey. What sets Petey off?

People outside

Dogs outside

Voices/sounds from the front apt

Animal sounds on tv

Seeing an animal on tv that doesn’t make a sound

Me putting my knitting down 

Extending/retracting the recliner

End credits on a show (change in music/graphics?)

Crying (mostly babies)

The word “baby”

Me getting up 

This dog is the chillest and also the most high strung dog - he does my head in. But I love him and, more importantly, he loves me. 

I have made much progress on my Leo & Roxy Sweet Spot strip - I just can’t stop!! January has great colours - très English Garden, February is more subtle, but March is giving me life!! That dark blue line, the yellow streaks interrupting the seafoam, and the tiny hits of Barbie pink!! 

April is a study of violet, lavender, purple, and mauve!

The Frolic is only 10 sleeps away. I have got to get buttons for my Throwback cardigan and then sew them on! 

Sweet Spot The Frolic

Final Stretch

What a great weekend!! 

I am on the homestretch of Hartwist! After what felt like a never-ending collar, it is cast off and I’ve set in the first sleeve. 

I really do love finishing a garment. There is a skill to it, and I take as much pride in the quality of my finishing as I do with my knitting. It makes such a difference - poor seaming can detract from beautiful knitting.  

I need to be up early for work tomorrow, but I might just use concealer and foundation to cover staying up late to finish. Shhhhh!!! 

Craig and I had our pictures done yesterday. Craig and I really enjoyed going through the gallery and picking our favourites. I don’t usually think of myself as photogenic, but Jacqueline really captures some lovely moments and I’m so pleased with how the pictures came out. I am so excited to see the final proofs and get prints made!! 

Petey helped today. 

Petey has been extra special attached to me today. I even captured him giving me a look of pure love and devotion. 

He really is my best buddy. 

Wonder Woman

It’s been a busy few days at work, then I got stuck into the Cormoran Strike series by JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, one more season of Master Chef Australia, then I’ll check out the TV series, Strike. So my knitting has been less than prolific. I am to the ribbing on Humulus, then because it was my birthday on Tuesday, I have decided to finish my Wonder Woman socks before returning to Lynn’s Humulus.I was just at the heel turning point when I realized I had two extra stitches in the heel. I ripped it out right away - it’s kind of just an instinct to me when I’ve made a mistake. In hindsight, the two sts would probably have been if little consequence, but done was done, so I just re-knit the back of the heel. 

Craig bought me more yarn and a really lovely shawl pin for my birthday. I’m personally not much for celebrating it, but how could I not be pleased?!? 

Potlucks - the pink is perfect, though I’m of two minds on the yellow. The more I look at it, the less I am loving it. What do you think?
I did make a cake though, and it’s keto!! The coffee cake has an almost soufflé texture, and it is so moist. Yum!! 
I was quite impressed with it, and Craig was totally blown away with how delicious it was! 

The puppies are little heat pad sucks. Petey has the decency to look a bit bashful, but Chica, the little minx, shamelessly slides over to my spot the second that I stand up!! Lol. 

Tonight I made an old fave for dinner - chicken with a mushroom and bacon cream sauce. 

So delish; I am literally drinking the sauce by the spoonful!! Dinner for days! 

The keto eating is working - I’m down 30+lbs and I actually had to go shopping for jeans. I loathe clothes shopping, but my other pants were beyond too big and while I would like to wear clothes just for comfort, I am conscious of societal norms and do also enjoy looking good in what I wear. So I spent the afternoon trying on countless jeans for work, and came away with a few pairs. With the washing machine at mine now, I don’t need as many pairs, so I’m set for a bit. 

I also had two links taken out of my watch - it was to the point that it was spinning around my wrist!! 

I am proud of myself for making this lifestyle change for me. I feel a lot healthier, and happier with myself. 

Keeping On Keeping On

Now that we have jumped straight from winter to summer, Dairy Queen is in full swing!! I really love my job and the daily challenges that make it so far from boring. 

I am making some progress on Nicole’s sock.

I have a new project on the needles, so, as ever, the socks slow down. But progress is progress! 

I am keto’ing like a champ! My determination and willpower are unbreakable when I set my mind to something. This was tonight’s dinner - easy enough to put together after a long day and being rather too tried to really cook. I have recently discovered Haloumi cheese and I am quite taken with it! Salty with a nice soft bite to it. Without much flavour of its own, it pairs nicely with a fresh, bright marinara.

I have also tried guacamole. I have truly never tried avocado or guacamole, but quite convinced that i didn’t like it. In a bid to up the healthy fats in my diet, I decided to take the plunge and selected the Good Foods chunky guacamole from Costco. I may never eat an actual avocado, but this guacamole is now Life!!

The summer sausage is also from Costco. While I try to be ingredient-focused in my food choices, I love summer sausage, and this cotton-wrapped one from Noah Martin is just too good to pass up. It’s relative localness is also a plus. The amount of sugar is negligible, so it is one of my few exceptions.

On top of my secular job, knitting all the things, baseball season starting on Friday, I have taken on a reading assignment. The book is The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy. When i read the teaser for the book, I was quite intrigued and was thrilled when I was selected to read and review the book! I have to say that the presentation of the book was quite enticing.

I’m still early on, but the characters are being well developed; they and their interactions are quite believable. You are pulled in to their lives and that is what makes you want to keep reading.

So I’m quite occupied and have yet to cast on anything for my Wee Bean. I am saving and downloading patterns, so I’m not completely unprepared, I just need to get to it.

The puppies are well and Petey remains my constant little shadow.

I forgot to take their food out of the freezer last night, so it was also an easy dinner for the puppies. They seem to prefer the meaty bones with fibre roughage just plain, old dirt, on them. Silly puppies 

Okay ... back to something - the choices abound!!

Something New

Making excellent progress on Nicole’s sock; I’m ready to start the heel flap! 

I went and got a nice close cut!

I’m enjoying rocking the short hair and the ease of styling. I’ve promised Amanda that I’ll start growing it out again once the blonde has grown out and been cut off. 

So my stomach has been giving me gyp for a few days, and my lower back has been relentlessly nagging at me. Wednesday after lunch with Joan, I thought that maybe something had been off. It was a bit of a rough drive home, and I had a soda water while watching Survivor hoping it would settle; not so much. I normally take a hot water bottle to bed with for my feet; Wednesday night it was for my poorly tummy. 

I woke up Thursday and things seemed to have settled. When I’m at home, I try to keep a 16 hour fasting period, so I usually drink water until noon or so. The pain came back, but not as bad as the previous day, so I thought I was getting over whatever it was. Then I had lunch. Not super. So I took to Google. The pain was dull, kind of like a heated rock gnawing in my gut. Result - probably an ulcer. I wasted no time booking an appt with my Dr. 

Sure enough, an ulcer is confirmed. I’m pretty sure it’s from long-term ibuprofen use, aggravated by some recent stressors. So I’m off that for 6 weeks while I take the ulcer Rx. I’ll have to take Tylenol for pain and try to not inflame anything worse than it is at the mo. The pain should begin to subside in a few days, but knowing that I don’t have stomach cancer (yes, I go there right away), and I’m not making it worse, I’ll be back to work tomorrow. 

In hindsight, the diagnosis explains the most unladylike quantity of burps I’ve been experiencing. Every time I swallow water, burping. Eating - burping. I also think the stomach pains started earlier, but I tend to not pay too much attention until a discomfort becomes actual pain. 

Petey has been a most excellent companion, steadfast and watchful, never more than an arms reach away, guarding me jealously. 

Chica came to sit with us one point, but kept her bone in her mouth, lest Petey or I decided that we wanted it. It’s gotta suck being at the bottom of the pack. But she’s a fighter and guarded that bone well. 

I tried a single-serving keto brownie tonight. Wow!!! I have fairly low expectations of sugar-free/low carb/keto desserts, and I really haven’t been craving any since I started this way of eating, but I had a hankering tonight. 

This recipe was seriously delicious, topped with a dollop of whipped cream, and will be my go-to dessert. As I’m generally not a fan of cooking in a microwave, I baked mine in the oven. 

We’re getting down to the wire and I’m going to have to stop putting off blocking my Veronika Cardi. Don’t worry - it’ll be ready for the Frolic!! 

Mid-blocking

So I decided to block the back after the armholes to make sure I was on track, no loosening up at all. 

Sometimes my gauge changes from swatch to garment, especially if I'm making a conscious effort to knit tighter than on the swatch. Though it's easier for me to be consistently more tight than loose, things can change. Everything is good - the yarn def seizes up with the wetting, so swatching and relying on your swatches gauge to calculate your rows required to meet the measurements is key!! 

The puppies had a good dig outside yesterday. 

 

It's mostly Petey, but Chica gets in there a bit to make sure that she isn't missing out on anything delicious! 

I had to give Petey a quick tubby because he had dirt packed into his nails and pads!

He is so much nicer to sleep with now 😊 he's also gotten over his habit of chewing on my bedding. He's still adorable in the morning; he senses when I'm awake, as opposed to going back to sleep, and he comes crawling up and licking on my face. Then when we get out of bed to go get Chica (who still gets crated because she is so guardy of her space that she growls when I move at night), he acts as if he hasn't been with me all night and jumps around like we've been apart. He's my boy and has my heart. 

I went out last night with work friends. I made a concious effort all day to make it a positive in my head and not talkyself out of it. That's kind of my go-to strategy - accept invites when they are days/weeks away, but find a way out at the last minute. And I truly believe that I will go, have fun, and I look forward to it the further away it is. 

But then it gets closer and I start stressing - mentally and physically. Even though I know and like these people and I interact with them on the daily, socializing with them is different. I felt physical symptoms from the anxiety and cancelling was just a text away, it was painfully tempting, but I battled my mind and put one foot in front of the other and just went. 

It took a few drinks to relax a bit and I allowed myself to be drawn into the group; I didn't rely on my phone or knitting as a coping mechanism (which was sorely tempting). I didn't beg off early (though a knitting deadline would've been legit). One of the ladies provided an amusing diversion, and we had a lovely night. 

I was deeply relieved to be home and stayed up later than I should've to decompress with the puppies and knitting, but I am proud of myself for just doing it. 

My rhubarb is coming along. 

 

I am looking forward to the first batch of rhubarb muffins! My mouth waters at the thought of it!! 

Okay - back at it before my mid-shift today! 

A day late

I just knit until I was too tired, then it was the next day and I didn't want to lose a day knitting waiting for the sleeve to block, so I blocked it this morning before work.

  

I took a bit to get going on this piece. I was ultra aware of the gauge - I am normally quite tight in my rows, which would be problematic with this construction as the rows are counted and accuracy is crucial. Julie specifically said to go up a needle size, so I was worried about being too loose. 

It is almost spot on, the stitch gauge is a twitchy but loose, but the length is on target, so I'm not displeased. 

The puppies were steadfast companions.  

 Yes, Petey is sitting on his sisters head a in fine brotherly tradition.

WHMIS training after work this afternoon, so I'm just getting settled in to knit now. I'll get a couple of hours in, so all is not lost! 

Grass is Growing

The Hondas are piling up at work and I've been putting in some long nights. Mostly I've been in the plants, so my knitting time has been rather meager, but last night I was back on the dock and the knitting was good!!  

I got the 2^nd sleeve started, so hopefully tonight will be another dock night!

The puppies love the snow, but hesitate to jump in the deep end! 

 

Chica is adorable - she found this little stone before the snow came down. She noses/paws it off the edge of the loveseat, then fetches it and starts all over again. It's quite amusing. 

 

I need to start getting myself organized. The kids are coming for Xmas dinner next weekend, and I am going to cook all the things. Can't wait to have all my ❤️💖❤️ under the same roof, even if it's only for one night. 

Finishing

Today is just for me to be chill, relax with the puppies and be healthily selfish. I'm marathoning Shameless and eating whatever I crave. 

I'm finally getting to blocking my finished Building Blocks shawl!! It's totally Soakworthy  And I'm blocking it in half since it's massive!! 

 

It'll be fantastic for the impending winter about to descend upon us. And just my luck, I signed up to work, got on the list AND my snow tires got put off from last Monday to the day after the first storm is forecast. 

 

I am also blocking Sorrento  I know, it kind of got stalled whilst Building Blocks was in the needles, but I'm making up for lost time now!  

The beach blanket is doing little to chase the grey chill that is outside, but that's what electric fireplaces are for. Though if you ask the puppies, I turn it in for them. LOL!! 

This is why I almost never use bleach.

 But the counter tops and the dish cloth needed hard core cleaning ... fortunately, it's an at-home comfy shirt. Still, annoyed. 

Now you're pretty much caught up ... I'm off to eat ... beans and egg on garlic bread with cheese toast. I know!!! It's what I craved and it is going to be delish!! 

 

Linen Challenge

So then this happened. 

 Yeah. 85% of this Studio Linen is recycle rayon linen which is what gives the yarn a lovely sheen and drape right off the ball. This means I really can't just toss the balls in my knitting bag and go. Well, I can, but this is the result. YMMV

This was good opportunity to just zen out and untangle something. I feel like I've got choices and decisions to be made all around me and this was something that I could just do. It felt good to make it neat again, and then, lesson learned, bagged.

 

 

So ... I'm still working on a colourway for my Building Blocks MKAL  Clearly, having more choices was not a valid strategy in making this process easier. I keep looking at my Bag of Loveliness and then just sighing and thinking.  One of these skeins was a raok gift and I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to use it in this project. It might end up a sentimental favourite in my stash. 

It's definitely cooling off, but I've not lit the furnace yet. I did plug in the electric fireplace to take the chill off of my feet. I'd likely have it going even if the furnace was running, it's not for overall room heating. And the puppies love it!! 

 

Plus ça change

I'm still knitting. I kind of lost my knitting mojo there for a bit, and I've been trying to sort out why. I have come to some conclusions and hopefully the realizations will help me keep my voice. 

Today, I am playing with the Sweet Spot again! I am stepping out of my go to fingering weight and indie dyers and am using <a target="_blank" href="http://www.yarnspirations.com/yarn/super-value.html">Bernat Super Value</a>. <i>I know, but I'm going for dog-friendly. I haven't broken out in hives, and the colours are making up for the yarn composition. </i> 

I started with a strip just wide enough to hit the sweet spot. 

It didn't quite resonate with me, so I went double, and went up a needle size.  I am pleased.

I can't wait to get into the other colours. 

The temperature afghan is coming along nicely. The two yellow stripes represent those hot days at the end of May! 

I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I am going with the daily lows for the colder months (Oct - March) and the daily highs for the warmer months (April - Sept). This provides the best use of the extreme temperature colours; otherwise it would be rather mid-range and less interesting. 

The puppies are wonderful, though Chica 

 is quite the handful - always wanting to have someone throw her ball (she's relentless about it) and is still quite guardy with her favorite things. I'm exploring a few options on training her out of it, but it's as bad as advice on parenting!! 

Petey is still my steadfast champion, making sure I'm never short on love and attention. 

My leg has healed well; I play ball and have no noticeable weakness. I usually wear the brace for ball, but not day-to-day. The ankle still swells to icky proportions, but apparently that's normal, so I try to not judge it. <i>between you & me, it's not my fave appendage and likely won't be the model foot for sock pics</i>

Chevrons Two Ways

So I decided to do a temperature afghan. There were all sorts of crocheted ones, but I decided to do a knitted one.
I picked this chevron pattern, Bravo Worsted from Schachenmayr, this chart for the colour/temp breakdown


, and used AccuWeather for the stats.
I decided to go with daily lows for the winter months, and daily highs for the summer months. This will make for better use of the colour range.
I am very pleased with January!! A lovely randomization of the colours.


February is looking to be larger sections of colours.
This is shaping up to be more of a bedspread than an afghan. I'm looking at about 14' - yikes!! But it's going to be awesome, I'm very excited about the project!!


Question - would you do a stripe (the winter white in this case) to separate the months? I'm of two minds on the matter ...

I'm also working on a ZickZack scarf for The Needle Emporium. I was very excited to see that I was going to be knitting it out of two balls of Rialto Luxury Sock. With its lengthy, harmonious colour changes, it makes the garter stitch just keep flowing.


I just keep going to see what the colours are going to do next!!

I finally got around to getting a pedicure! My feet really deserved it after that wretched cast came off.


I feel very pretty, even if I'm just sitting home knitting.

The puppies were adorable the other day. I was blocking a swatch in front of the fireplace to sped up the drying. They love laying in front of the fireplace and helped with the blocking by deliberately, and without influence from me, surrounding but not laying on the swatch. It was sweet.



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