The End of That, the Beginning of This

So I had a week off of my secular job to knit. What better vacation could a woman such as I have than a stay/knitcation?!

So Mr Darcy is off to Mr Steve, who is a new friend courtesy my friend Helen. Helen makes friends everywhere she goes and she makes sure that her friends have the opportunity to broaden their friend-zones too!  That’s our Helen ♥️💞♥️

I cast on my Wonder Woman 🧦 with Turtlepurl yarn that was gifted to my be said friend Helen ☺️.

 O. M. G. the sparkle!!! I love knitting them so much, I don’t think it’ll take long. 

I have Trenchcoat to make as a gift for another friend (yes, I now have more than one friend ... it’s a slippery slope, I might have to start using toes to count them!) Serenity, Mistletoe Kisses, and Save a Horse are screaming their siren song at me, but I must be a bit good. 

This is the next major project - Humulus  I can’t wait to see how it knits up!! I’ve seen the Spincycle yarn at the last couple of shows, but I’m not personally a fan of knitting up yarn held together to make a marled effect, but I love the look and feel of this yarn; it maintains a hand spun feel in a mill-produced yarn. So excited!! 

I also have a special little project to work on for a special little girl, but that will remain a surprise for the mo. 

So, best put my head down and make some fabric!! 

The Winding Way

I know. I keep saying I’m going to blog, and I do well, then I stop. Mostly it’s because I get stuck into a project and I’d just rather keep knitting than stop and write about it. I know, not super helpful to my 4 followers, but there it is. And then sometimes I wonder if I’m Instagramming and Facebooking it all, is blogging just redundant? 

But then sometimes I get the urge to write it down and catch y’all up, so here I am again,

I have started knitting Mr Darcy for a friend of a friend. See? There are times when being my friend has its perks. I converted it to straight knitting; it’s my preferred style, and given that the top of the body is worked straight and the sleeves done either on dpn or Magic Loop, I chose to knit in a manner that will be consistent throughout the garment to prevent any gauge issues that can occur when switching between styles.

I’m doing a quick mid-block to make sure that everything is good whilst I start on a different project.

I love/hate winding yarn from skeins into cakes. I like making sure that the yarn is caked lightly and softly and not all hard and strangled. But then there is a significant outlay of time to ensure this quality. I wind a cake at least twice, if not thrice. It always comes out too tight and hard the first time. 

It took about 45 mins to wind these 3 cakes of lace-weight yarn. The difference between them (R to L) is wound once, twice, thrice. It’s subtle, but you can see the difference and the feel of the cakes - vastly different!!

My wee granddaughter Mina is growing! And when I say “growing” I mean cuter!!

When she pulls a face like this, she looks so much like her older brother!! 

The puppies are doing quite well. They are still my comfort and joy on the daily.

Petey still has his sock fetish. He doesn’t chew mine, he likes them as a comfort item. Chica is still the smart one, cocking her head like she really understands. 


My current TV marathon is MasterChef Australia. I’m on Series 3 of 10 and I am just hooked. The have like 72 shows per series, so it’s truly a marathon, but I love it! Yes , the accent is a plus ;) I swear, my Android box is one of the best things that I have ever purchased! I wish that i had done it sooner, but I’m intent on making up for lost time - lol!!! 

Ok. Back at it. Gotta make the most of my days off :)

The Perfect Mother

Happy Mothers Day to all those who care for the hearts and bodies of children - young, grown, and furry.

I had the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy for HCC. Here is the link to my Goodreads review.

Off to work and an early lunch with my frown children. May your day be filled with love and loving memories!

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!!

Frolicked

Another wonderful Frolic in the books!!

I scored my Folic colour way from Indigo Dragonfly  I have bought the special edition colourway in each base every year, so I’m quite committed. This year Kim added minis, and I was quite taken with them! 

Helen and I have been coveting the Burberry inspired colourway from Turtle Purl  and Purple Purl was carrying it, so into the bag it went!!

I spent my day at The Needle Emporium booth, doing what I do - enabling 🙂

I picked out a fade at the end of the day (with Julie’s help of course) for Fading Point  but I left with just the picture b/c I’m kind of maxed on knitting and while I love it, it just didn’t say “take me home today”. 

Normally I put together a fade or two and am giddy with excitement, so I went with my instinct. I also had a couple colourways picked out for a non troppo scarf, but left with those in memory as well. I know where to go when the time is right 😏💖