So?? So!!!

This is my youngest son, drawn by me.



He's known for this expression, where he lowers his head and glares at you, as a response to questions like, "Did you remember to flush the toilet?", or "Did you put your dirty clothes in the laundry pile like I'd asked?" This is accompanied by a wounded, "So?? Sooooo!!"

I think it's quite cute, although I'm sure it'll seem less so over time.

From My Sister

These are photos from my sister. The comments were so amusing I left them just as she wrote them.


Here's E. on his BMW. J. likes using it as a push walker. Surprisingly, E. is willing to share it with her and actually wants her to sit on it so he can ride behind.


Here is E. decorating a cardboard frame. We stuck a picture of him in it and he gave it to B.'s dad ("for Granddad").


This is J. eating corn. She loves corn and strawberries. She can eat two whole cobs of corn in one sitting (of course these are the small British ones but it is still impressive). Unfortunately, her nappies are not pleasant as a result. Generally it's masticated corn kernels with some poo that glues it together.


This is E. at a birthday party (the boy in the blue in the background). We went to see a production of the Gruffalo's Child and then had our birthday lunch in the theatre restaurant. E. actually enjoyed the play so we might be going to more children's productions.

No Pictures Posted Yet

I'd show you some finished objects, but they're a surprise for my older son's friend who moved to Altanta, and then to Portland, so I'll post pictures after he's received the package.

In other news, it's suddenly hot - in the 30s Celsius (90s Fahrenheit), which makes sleeping difficult. Heck, it made just moving around inside or outside of the house over the weekend difficult! We can't turn on the air conditioner until the semi-annual maintenance check is done, which should happen this morning, so by this afternoon the house should be cooled somewhat. Happily, it's freezing at work, as it always is. Ah, a cooled office building is the place to be - assuming you could get to work today with the transit strike.

We made some big purchases lately - a new front door to replace the falling-apart original one from 1963, and a new roof, as the old one leaked during the last big rain storm. This is Finch Avenue West after that storm.


It looks like we'll be forced to make another pricey purchase soon. Sigh. Our clothes dryer died over the weekend. It was at least 13 years old, which, according to a survey of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, is the age where it starts costing too much to repair.

We've been hanging our clothes outside to dry, so in a way it's good that it's scorching hot, I guess. I feel sorry for my kids today - their school is always too warm, and is not air conditioned. The latest reading is 32 Celsius with a humidex of 39 (102 Fahrenheit).

Cheese

I finished "Cheese".

It's a quick knit, especially if you do most of it in the round as I did. The body, head (don't forget to stuff before decreasing!), and legs can be done in the round - the tail too, if you use the i-cord method.

The best part was the arms. The elbows are cleverly constructed back and forth in short rows like a sock heel, then the rest can be joined and finished in the round. I think they look exactly like chicken drumsticks!


For my next project... my sister nixed the pillow covers. I'm quite grateful she let me know, instead of quietly accepting the finished items and never using them. It's just as well, as I have a few things to knit for my son's friend who moved far, far away last fall.

Third Time's A Charm

My nephew's crocheted car took a lot longer than expected, but it's done.



As an antidote to all that crocheting, I started knitting "Cheese", an Alan Dart, RSPCA Perfect Pets pattern from the latest Simply Knitting magazine.

I wish that fellow would publish a proper book - I love his designs. So kawaii!

My next project will be a pair of pillow covers, with these Amy Bahrt motifs. My niece was born in the Year of the Rooster, and my nephew in the Year of the Sheep.

Swatch Robe

What can you do with knitted swatches and failed projects? You can convert them to knitted graffiti, use them as rags, sew them into a blanket, or...


I got the idea to make a garment out of knitted bits that's so-bad-it's-good from a picture of Rachael Matthews, author of Knitorama. In the book, there is a photo of her wearing a dress made of colourful swatches, with dangly loose ends. Although the dress isn't something many people would wear in public, it is eye-catching, has a bohemian-vibe, and is very interesting to look at.


The big granny square on the left was the beginning of a beach cover-up, until it got too heavy (should've gone with a finer cotton, I guess). Failed car body number 1 is at the bottom. It's hard to tell, but the white piece near the body is my first entrelac swatch.

Here's a close-up of the front, where you can see, from right to left at the bottom, the miserable orange sock, my very first purple baby sock, and my first mitten, with its oddly-shaped, red thumb pointing downward. Above the purple sock is the heart granny square.


The body of the robe is a seamless, bottom-up, cotton sweater with 3/4 length sleeves I made without swatching (... I know, I know). Midway through, I decreased several stitches around, but it resulted in an unflattering frill around the tummy, and was still too big. In desperation, I steeked the front, but it was a disaster that I couldn't wear, yet couldn't bear to throw away. I'm glad I didn't toss it, because I love wearing this robe. It feels you're like rolling around in your stash, with all the different textures of squishy yarns and, oh, the colours, the colours!

Plastic Bag Parachutes

With lots of help from mom, the boys made parachutes out of plastic bags and strings, and tied toy soldiers to them. Problem was, it wasn't windy enough for them to fly. That was solved by the fan from their jumping castle.




We discovered that the best parachutes are made by cutting the bags in half width-wise, and using the bottom halves. The parachute should be somewhat shallow, so that it opens easily rather than sticking to itself.

I finished the socks. The yarn is Handmaiden Sock.


There was enough left for a shallow scarf. I used a plain design to show off the handpainted yarn (i.e. cast on 3 sts, then k1, kfb, k to end for every row). The green, red, orange and yellow reminds me of fall, so it is my autumn scarf. Here it is with my lime, spring scarf in the Kiri pattern, and my dark purple, winter, Flower Basket scarf.


I finished fixing up the knitted nativity, and have shipped it off to my nephew and niece. I couldn't bear to rip out the eyes as they were so well done, but I did snip off the noses and re-sewed the crooked hat on this guy.

Because I closed the open bottoms by gathering the existing knitting, they are slightly shorter, about the height of a 750 mL water bottle for the tallest figure, and a 500 mL water bottle for the shortest.

I've Died and Gone to Hell(o Kitty)

First, a Hello Kitty granny square (pattern here from someone's public photo site). I'm not into Hello Kitty, but the square looked interesting to make.

I thought I might combine that square with some heart granny squares (pattern here, also from the same site) to make a cute purse for my niece, but now I don't know. It'd be too cute - unbearably nauseating I think.

Next, lots and lots of my favourite cheap yarn, Bernat Cottontots (100% soft cotton, great for making toys), which is half price at Zellers today and tomorrow.



There was a church bazaar in the mall where I got the yarn. I bought this crocheted tea cozy, because the workmanship was so nice...


... and this knitted nativity set. The funny thing is that I have the Jean Greenhowe pattern booklet that this set comes from, and always meant to knit it for my nephew and niece, who are nominally Catholic (long story: the good school in their area of London is Catholic, so my sister and her family started going to church to secure spaces in the school for their children). I figure even if they aren't religious, all their little school mates will have nativity sets, so they should have one so too. Plus, the Three Kings are freakin' cute.

I need to do some fixing up before I mail this set off. For example, I'm going to replace the cardboard bases with plastic lids, and sew up the open bottoms. I'm also going to re-do some of the faces to make them cuter. I thought about replacing all the blue eyes on the Jews and Asians with brown ones, but I've decided to leave them as they are, because the original stitching is really well done - it'd be a crime to rip it out. The sheep and donkey are mis-shapen - they're a do-over for sure.

Here is some other stuff I'll be sending along with the nativity set (along with some wind-up sushi, not pictured here), so sister M., you should be expecting a package soon.

Car Failure Number 2

So I finished the car body, and the plan worked, and it's seamless, but man alive, does it look sloppy where I picked up stitches along the top.




So I'm going to crochet it this time, in cylinders like the yellow car in this image.


Dang, this toy is taking forever!

My Sister's Weekend Family Trip to Brussels With a Bearded Friend

Why, Yes, I Have Been Knitting...

...I just have no finished objects to show for it.

The socks are still ongoing. It's so disappointing to pick up a sock project you've temporarily abandoned, only to discover that it's just where you left it - that the socks haven't knit themselves while you were gone. Sigh.


I swatched a heart granny square pattern. I thought it'd make a cute candy heart motif. I wasn't thrilled with the finished square though. It was somewhat frilly and wouldn't lie flat.


But it won't go to waste. You can see it to the left - it's been integrated into a biggish project, which I'll reveal when it's completed (no, it's not a blanket).


The car for my nephew continues. In this latest iteration, I knitted a garter stitch rectangle for the bottom of the car. I picked up stitches along all the sides, and knitted in the round. When I was ready to do the side windows, I put the stitches on three sides on stitch holders, then knit back and forth on the remaining long side. I bound off stitches at the beginning of the first two rows to make the engine-hood and trunk shaping, and did intarsia windows.


You can see one finished flap. I'm leaving the stitches live, so they can be joined with the hood later.


The next step is to knit the same window flap on the other long side, again leaving the stitches live at the top. Then I plan to work on the flap that runs from the trunk, over the hood, and to the engine-hood, while joining every last stitch to a bound-off or live stitch. When I get to the end, I plan to graft the remaning live stitches together. If this works - and it should - I'll have a lovely seamless car! Really, the challenge in making this toy isn't in the actual making of the toy. It's taken me so long to work it out because I'm careful about construction. I depise sewing seams so much that I don't mind taking time to figure out how to alter a pattern - or in this case, design something myself - to make it seamless.