christmas with the kids errr cats

Good afternoon everyone,
I return to the living. At the start of my holidays I was struck down with a very nasty cold. I was actually in bed for two days. I think the cats were worried. Hubby might have been too. I sort of remember a mirror being held under me.
When I came to, we celebrated Christmas. I have just a few pics to share:

Here are Rebel and Napoleon investigating what Santa brought them:



Napoleon really digs it!


The trips from the cat nip. This I believe the kids call crashing:


Rebel has a cute way of playing with his toys. He just likes to lick them. You can always tell which are his toys, they are missing bellies and colouring on the parts he "plays" with.


No holiday is complete without some knitting. Here is the progress on Hubby's skully sweater. It is just flying off the needles. This is the sleeve:


We also made the trek to Mom's.
This is her cat Sneakers. We however have nick named him the princess. He hates to be touched by anyone except my step dad. He can rub his fur the wrong way, turn him upside down, flip him around and still get purring sounds.
If come anywhere near Sneakers with good intentions, he freaks and goes for your eyes. I like to live on the edge. I pick him up and tussle his fur. hehehe <<< evil laughter.


This is Buddy, a.k.a. the psycho kitty. Mom's way of explaining Buddy is : He just likes to kill". Every time we visit them, we are greeted on the front steps with a line of carcasses. This past visit was wings of various shapes and sizes. Buddy was at it again.



The creatures that manage to escape Buddy, are quite chubby. I think Mom injects their feed with bacon fat. You should see their hummingbirds. They are the size of golf balls. Have you ever seen a bird need to take a breather from making the voyage from the hydro line to the feeder?
I hadn't either, until I go to Mom's.


My parents wanted bird seed for Christmas. This is their favourite thing to do:


I think they name all the creatures that visit them as well.

I couldn't wait to get home to my own bed. My own pillow. My own little apartment where I do not need to wear shorts to be comfy. I have my own tv without all the cnn and weather network programming. I can watch my movies without weird little interruptions like: I wonder where they found those shoes? What are they saying now? Do you want to eat bacon in the morning? What is the price of gas in Toronto?
I love those demented little gnomes to death, even if they do look like they just escaped from some one's garden. A weekend is just the right amount of time to visit. That is more than enough time for them to tell me my hair is too red; I'm much too thin (although I like hearing this one:)); I need to have more calcium; Do I always wear those pants like that? Are you changing the oil regularly in the truck? Do you shower this long at home?
I know they mean well. That is why I just nod in the appropriate places and hold my tongue. I am very happy to be home. This is where all my toys are.
I hope you are all well. Enjoy all the New Year's festivities.

No Pics, Just Words

I do not have any new pics to share. My camera is currently under a very large cat. He is a tad grumpy today. I felt it necessary not to disturb him.
I had some "down" time at work today. By "down" time, I mean, I unplugged the phones, turned off the lights and pretended I was not in. I was thinking about this past year and where I was at that point in time.
I was very scared I would lose someone near and dear to me. I was sad when I did lose some people for who I cared for very deeply. I was relieved when we made some decisions to better our lives. I am happy I have the sense to appreciate all that I have and all that I work so hard for. At the moment, I am beyond words for the joy I feel.
To all of you out there who make such a difference in my world, to those who I will meet in the future, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You all mean the world to me. Thank you.

It Snowed

Boy did it ever.



The snow started on Saturday and literally, just stopped a few minutes ago. The kiddies will be disappointed. There will be no snow day tomorrow. The plows are out in full force. I think we were all bracing for this onslaught. It was called for by most of the weather folks.
It is nice, all of this weather. I love the sound it makes when you walk on it. At the same time, it muffles everything else. It's pretty cool.
I hope everyone had a restful week end.
Have a good night.

Guess What I Did?

Guess what I did today?
OK, I won't make you guess. I do way too many weird things in a day to subject someone to that sort of torture.
I actually.......
Are you ready for it?
I went online,.........
and............
Alright, I know, I know. That can be a bit annoying.
I bought a book online.
Look out world. I am exploring the Internet. (I start the word Internet with a capital to convey respect. It is such a huge being, I can't possibly take away from it by using a lower case letter).
I was very hesitant at first. By hesitant, I mean, I was very nervous, twitchy, scared, etc.
I had to do it though.
I was on my new addiction.
No, no, no, no. Get you mind out of the gutter for a little while.
I was wandering around Ravelry and found that my other addiction (knit blog) had a book out.
I love this site called the: http://www.theanticraft.com/
So, I actually got the nerve to look for the said book.
I had a little glitch though. I accidentally ordered two. I'm not sure how I managed this little glitch. I think I misread the instructions in all of my excitement.
If there is anyone out there who would like a copy of this book, I will be more than happy to give to you. All I would ask is you pay for the postage. Does this sound fair?
The only condition is you are patient. I did not request any special delivery. I simply went for the bare minimum.
Tomorrow is Friday!!!!!
This weekend I will not have the pager, so I am very glad for the weekend to arrive.
I hope you are all keeping well. Take care. :)

WooooHooooo

Guess what I won! Okay, I'll tell you. I won a turkey! How cool is that. I tell you, it caught me off guard. I won it at a turkey shoot. For those of you, like me, who have never heard of this before, let me tell you about. A co-worker came in with a piece of cardboard. It had all these circled numbers on it. I was told to select a circle. Another person, shoots at this piece of paper. Where the most amount of buckshot lies, is the winner. This northern girl knows her buckshot!

I am now the proud owner of a 16 pound turkey!



On a sadder note, I still have my nasty cold. I have not had a sound night's sleep for many nights now. I hope this will change. I am off to play Wii. I have to finish Paper Mario. It is my new addiction :)
Have a great night everyone!

Very Exciting

I am very restless this night, or early morning. It is Sunday. It is always hard to get to sleep on Sunday. I wonder why that is? You would think that with a restful weekend, it would be easy to fall asleep. You would be at peace with your inner self or whatever its called.
I just checked on my status for this site, Ravelry. I am now 67 in a very long line. I just took a tour to see what it is all about. I hadn't quite understood before. A friend mentioned the site to me. She said it is really cool. Okay, those are not her words. She has a way better command of the English than me.
Anyway, the part that really appeals to me is the organization of it all. I can keep track of everything if I use the site to its fullest. It just seems to be right up my alley.
I have had a great week end. I have watched quite a few good movies: Perfume, Sideways and Fantastic Four, (with Silver Surfer). I also made excellent progress on Hubby's sweater. When the light is better, I will definitely snap some pics to show everyone.
I hope you all had an excellent week end. Take care. :)

A Successful Trip

I felt very ambitious tonight after I returned home from work. I received an email earlier in the week inviting me to an event where you can get a super cool discount for one of my favourite things in the entire world: YARN!!!!!
I was successful.
Earlier, when I had received the email, I was in no condition to go anywhere, no matter how cool. It hurt to breathe and I could feel my hair grow. I know. How attractive was I? Anyway, I have felt very much improved today. I called hubby. Told him: We are going shopping tonight. He was delighted. No. Really. He was delighted. Okay. That is not the word he would have chosen. I think he was just thrilled that his wife was on the mend and wouldn't be partaking in the zombie outfit worn throughout the better of the week.
When we arrived, I was so surprised. I had never seen so many knitters. Okay, that is an exaggeration. I was at a stitch and pitch over the summer. This was different though. These were women (and men) who lived in my town. I had only seen glimpses of knitters before, at the park, in the car killing time. This was neat.

Let me show what I bought:



The cute little bag was a bonus. I love to try to keep projects organized.



It has a tweedy look to it. I love the the yarn feels. It is Debbie Bliss, Donegal Chunky Tweed. Hence the tweedy look. Hehe, aren't I clever? The goal was to find manly colours. That is very tricky for me. That was another reason I needed hubby to accompany me. Another reason is because he is quite large in stature. I can use him as a shield to get from A to B. As an added bonus, he is very attractive. I can use him as diversion while I hunt out my objectives.
So here are my manly colours: a charcoaly black and a cream colour. Sorry best you will get out of me with regards to colour terms. I know the basic eight in a pack of Crayola's. That is my extent.



The pattern for the sweater is from this kick ass book:



Hubby has requested the Skully.



I hope it turns out as well he thinks it will.
The night is very young, so I am off to knit and watch horrible late night movies.
Take care everyone.
xxoo

Hmmmmm

I still feel very icky. I strongly distaste being sick. It gets in the way of stuff. At the moment I have an even shorter attention span. I know! Who would have thought that was possible. I made it into work today. It was very tricky. These silly cough attacks make for a horrible obstacle.
I was reminded that our secret Santa at work is just around the corner. I have no idea whatsoever to get my secret bud. I need help.....please. It is a guy. A very simple guy. He does not like flashy or trendy or, well suffice it to say, he likes things the opposite to me. I truly want to find a neato gift. If anyone has any suggestions, I will gladly accept them.
I'm off to watch tele and try to finish a pair of mittens. Have a great night everyone.

Another Night in My veins

Hello Everyone,
I do not really have any knitting or painting to discuss. I just want to tap away at my keyboard and try to get some things straight in my head. At the moment, it is quite crowded in my little noggin'. I have had a very emotional week. I am hoping I will better by the end of this rant.
On Monday, I walked into my office. Instead of being greeted by a "hello" or a "how are you", I was saluted by a "why was this not complete?" Normally, these little attacks just bounce off of me. For some reason, it really bothered my on this particular occasion. It had set my mood for the remainder of the day. I find that if you just say to me, "good morning", or whatever the time of calls for; I can deal with just about anything. This attack however, made me feel very under-appreciated and hurt. As a result, I was very abrupt with anyone I encountered. I have a very strong dislike for that sort of thing when it happens to me. I actually threw a minor tantrum and stormed out. It took me a good 15 minutes to calm myself down. I was on the verge of quitting. I probably would have, had I remembered to take my keys and coat. It does not make for a very glamorous exit when you have to return the scene, find keys, and then skulk away. I toughed it out for the day.
Hubby also had some excitement this week. He goes to a gym to do mauy thai kick-boxing. At one point, he actually trained to be a fighter. I am very spoiled and indirectly put a stop to this activity. I did not mind hubby going to the gym to work out or spar, or whatever it is they do at these places. I was upset that I was only seeing him for literally ten minutes a day. For me, this is not acceptable. I was very depressed. It felt like I was losing my best friend. In a way, it was just that. Hubby is ultimately my best friend. I tell him everything. I really do mean everything. He ended up injuring his hand. While waiting at the hospital for an x-ray, I believe he thought a lot about our situation and came to the conclusion, I really needed him more than what he was providing.
Anyway, I babble on. This past week, he was sparring at a gym with a beginner. From my understanding, the beginner slipped, and brought his knee to hubby's face. Needless to say, hubby's nose broke. So, we spent a very long time at the hospital. Hubby is a bit worried about his appearance. Trust me on this one folks, he has nothing to fear. He is still the gorgeous man I married five years ago.
Tomorrow, I will be a social butterfly. I am going to a progressive Euchre tournament. I went last year. I had an amazing time. You can chalk that up to the fact I won. I had the most lone hands and the highest amount of points among the women in attendance. As you can see, I hope to repeat that experience.
I feel much better. Thank you for allowing me to babble on and on and on.
I really do feel better. :)
Tomorrow I will snap some pictures on the progress of some of projects.
I hope you all are doing well. Take care.

Scarf Knitting Ninja

I am not very good with words. If someone does something super nice for me, I am never sure how to verbally respond. I say "thank you". My mom raised me well. It does not seem like enough. To make me feel a little more comfortable in these situations, I do what I do best. I knit. Nothing too extreme. I like small projects, like hats, scarves and mitts. They do not require a lot of effort. The completed gift always looks good. The part I like best is to leave it somewhere I know they will find it, with nothing to indicate who it is from. That would be the ninja part. Eventually, they realize it is from me. I guess there are not too many knitters in their social circle. I get a huge kick out the entire thing. I love knitting for someone who has never received a knitted good. I don't think people who are not knitters fully understand the amount of work that goes into a project. I know they like it, but if they are not knitters or some sort of crafts person, it is really hard to appreciate the amount of effort involved.

I babble too much. Here is my next scarf:



This is the yarn I am using. It rocks. It was a little difficult at first to work with, but once I developed a rhythm, it was awesome!



It has these "thin" and "fat pieces". It almost reminds me of dreads. It is super soft.



This is the view of the "wrong side".



I love how it gathers so thick in some spots and then in others you can see the stitches.



This is the "right side" view.

Wrong side vs right side. It is the only way I can differentiate. I will make myself one and probably have the wrong side showing out.
Here are my co-designers:


This is why I have so many projects on the go. Rebel likes to lay on things I am working on. I let him lie there and find another project. When he finds a new spot to lie on, I go back to the project he was on and continue working. Underneath him at the moment, is my blanket. He must really like it. I haven't been able to get to it for three days. He's big cat. I let him lay where wants. I tried to move once. I threw out my back. And yes, I did bend with my knees. He is just a solid little guy.



I'm not sure what Napoleon is after. He goes through these days where he likes to talk and try and capture what he only sees. At least this time it is at a more agreeable time of day. Usually his little conversations start at 200 or 300 am. They also continue until for a few hours.
Since I have switched to the later hours at work, I am missing my afternoon shows. I have found my programs on the net, so that is where I am off to now. I'm going to do some catch up. Take care everyone. Have a great Saturday!

Everyone Needs Fuzzy Mitts :)

I would love to show all of you my new mittens. I call them "Muppet mittens". They knit up super quick on size 6 double pointed needles. One mitten was completed during the episode of Beauty and the Geek. The yarn I use, make them so much fun to create.


It is called "Needful Yarns, Santa Ana". I love this company.



They have so many fun yarns. I love to experiment, so it is right up my alley. This is the next ball on deck for my creative binge:



This is called Piccadilly. It has this awesome shimmer running throughout. At the time of purchase, I wasn't entirely sure what on earth I would create. As a result, I only bought two. I'm seeing more mittens in my future which is perfectly cool with me. After all, I do live in Canada. You wouldn't realize that today. The weather today was unseasonably warm. I left for work in a winter coat and a very thick sweater. I also had on kick ass boots. (That is just bonus info for you other shoe addicts out there). They are a dark brown leather boot with a big gold buckle near the top. When I have them all polished nicely, I will gladly share. I came home minus a coat and the window open while I drove.

I have also been doing a fair bit of sketching, when permitted by Rebel.



He is like the guardian of all my hobby supplies. He keeps a very watchful eye on my yarn and sketchbook. Once I remove the cat from the picture, this is what can be seen:


Wow, that turned out a lot lighter than I imagined.This is part of draft one.


I will try to remember to save them in the upright position next time. Again, this is from my first draft. I just want to try and get the positioning right on my subject matter.



What I am trying to create is a drawing of a chess piece, more specifically a Knight. I have a friend who said that was his favourite piece. I am trying my best to plan it out in a most unique way. Anyone can draw a boring old chess piece. I want one that screams different and interesting. Here is what I have so far. I am looking forward to adding some colour. Perhaps some blue and orange? Who knows. This time tomorrow, I will probably change my mind once again.
I have been keeping fairly quiet as of late. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I am a little worn out and am in need of me time. Tonight is dedicated to laundry. I am running out of things to wear. I'm starting to reach for the items with which I share a love-hate relationship. So tonight, I will stay in and be all domestic. I will do laundry and watch television and work on more mittens. I love these nights. All nice and quiet. Good senseless stuff on TV. It is all good! Take care everyone.

Bad Blogger!!

I am very sorry for being so neglectful. It is very wrong of me. I do however, have some pics to show you:


I call this one a crochet creation. I am not honestly sure where I am going with this. It may be a top or a never-ending strip of god only knows what.


This is a toque for the daughter of a lady I work with. By the way, this is my head. Her daughter requested something plain and black. Ah yes, teenage years. I went through those. Errr......at times go through those :)


This is also a side view of my cool new specs! The Hat is just a basic seed or moss stitch. It knit up super quick on size 6 double pointed needles. I created it during Pan's Labyrinth. Kick ass movie!!



This is the beginnings of a blanket. I'm sort of just "going with it". It's something new I'm trying, this "going with it". I never just do anything. I always have sort of plan no matter how far fetched. It is still a plan. Anyway, it is a make up of cables and seed stitch because those are my favourite stitches to accomplish. I love that look. I hope this works well. When it is eventually finished, I will definitely show you my efforts.



Napoleon was on hand (or lap) to add in his two cents.



Rebel is a little more into the hands off approach. He will supervise from afar. He likes to be in the same room with you, but really avoids being touched by people not me. I'm cool with that. I respect his wishes.
I think that about covers it. I am going to spend quality time with Paper Mario. I love that game. It is one I can figure out on my own without rushing to the cheat sheets. You all have a great night and I hope to hear from you soon.

New Little Project

This is what I'm working with:
Some very small beads. Seed beads I think, but don't quote me.

The part I find most difficult is actually threading the beads. It seems to take forever.

DMC thread.

Some drink skewers with a cork from a wine bottle.


I don't have a pattern. I just have an image in my head of what I would like it to look like when I am finished. I am trying to make a choker type necklace. I want it to be shiny and different.

The stitches are incredibly small, as you can imagine. I dread the thought of dropping a stitch.


I had to tape my fingertips. The "needles" are terribly sharp and went right through my skin. It didn't tickle. Not a pretty picture I know.
There is also another little glitch in my plan:

My creative assistant loves the taste of the cork and the beads apparently are tasty. I really hope he didn't eat too many. I also hope they go all the way through.

This is a back view. I think I will line it in some sort of soft fabric, perhaps a velvet or silk.
I've tried to leave a little border at the start to attach some sort of closure when I'm finished knitting. I'm thinking hook and eye clasps.
When I finally do finish, I will be sure to take a few pics.
I hope you all enjoy our Sunday. I'm off to watch some movies and fold laundry. Take care.

Little bit upset :(

I have this addiction. Okay, another addiction. I love to play online games. Especially the ones on pogo. The current problem is: I can't seem to load the games. I can get to the point where you are in the community room. I can chat in the lobby. I can select a table. Then, that's all. The other window opens and then says loading game applet or whatever. It is such a disappointment. I have no idea if it is just me or perhaps the site. If anyone out there in cyber-land knows.....please help me. I would really appreciate any information at all.
On a slightly happier note. I found out my net connection was not right. There were some techie words here, but I can't for the life of me remember what the nice man said who helped me restore order on this device. He was very patient. Awesome guy!
The new am dispatcher they hired at work.....I have some doubts. He can't seem to get to work on time. I'm doing way too much. I have some control issues. My goal is to have him sufficiently trained in about a week. He doesn't seem to want to take part. He appears very overwhelmed. This is understandable. I just wish he would be more hands on. Okay.....I know that didn't sound right, but you get the idea. I have a sinking suspicion that I will be on the am shift a little longer than expected. At least I get home earlier.
My cold is very slowly going away. I still feel like my head weighs a ton, but it is a little better without the ongoing pain. Go neo-citron!!! I love this stuff. It helps that heavy head feeling go away.
I'm trying to begin a new knit project. I'm thinking one of the following:
something with beads; in the jewelry department perhaps.
a funky blanket; I want something a little different. Nothing too odd, just different.
perhaps a sweater for me; I knit for others it seems and fail to spend quality time on me.
maybe hubby's sweater; He has put in a request for a Mr Dressup type garment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Dressup
I'm not sure why he digs it, but who am I to question the man's taste.
Not sure what else to tell you all, so.....more cat pics.



When you are this cute, you can get away with almost anything. Key word: almost. I think they are pretending to sleep. You should have seen the chaos I came home to.



My creative assistant. I know he looks a little temperamental, but he really is a pleasure to work with.
I hope you all have great night. Take care of yourselves.

I'm A Little Icky

I am a bit under the weather. I have managed to catch a cold that has been circulating around work. I also shared this horrible state with hubby. Sorry hubby :(
On another sad note, tomorrow will be a lady I work with last day. She joined our office from a temp agency. I am sorry to see her leave. I have really enjoyed her working with me. She has a similar quirky sense of humour. As a going away gift, I knit her some long fingerless gloves. She was saying the other day how she would like some. I can totally understand why. You can hang meat in our office environment. No, I do not work in a butcher shop. Anyway, here are the gloves I made (or at least one). Do you know how tricky it is to snap a pic of your own arm? I took the pic from a lot of different angles. These were the ones I found not to be too odd:



This is my slayer pose.



I know. It's such a weird angle.




The yarn was super soft. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind it is. I inherited from my mom-in-law. I know it is some form of acrylic, but that is all I can you.
I also went last night to get my eyes checked. I knew my prescription was long overdue. I had no idea how much. They way she explained it to me was: I was at 2.25, now I am at 4.50. WOW!
I am blind, but only until next Wednesday. Then I get my cool new specs! When I finally acquire them, I will show you some specs.
My cold has got me down. I'm off to find more drugs. Take care all.