Uli's Creative Corner

Parenting seems to be a real challenge these days, making me contemplate how wise it was to actually get into this pregnancy thing a second time............  Talk about the terrible twos..... they were nothing compared to the terrible 3r's approaching 4s......... Holy Moly.........

Mind you our challenge last night seemed different than just a plain tantrum but where did it come from?  We were quietly reading bed time stories.  The Frog Prince and Dora books to be exact.  All of a sudden little munchkin decides that she wants me to make a hammock because she wants to sleep in a hammock.  I won't go into details but obviously, I didn't have the right things to make a hammock that she could swing and sleep in.  Well, it turned into the worst crying attack I'd ever seen.  She was getting herself so upset and both her Dad and I were trying to calm her at points and "I don't like my bed", "I want to sleep in a hammock, outside", and much more.  I didn't know how to get her out of that slump.  Earlier I had tried to ignore her and laid down with her on the floor hoping she would just zonk out and fall asleep.  No such luck.  It was so weird......  We finally took her into bed with us because it was getting so late.  She was happy in about a minute and asleep a few minutes later.  After a while we transferred her to her bed.  Looking at it now, I guess it was a tantrum and she got her way after all........ but what do you do?  It was getting late, she was overtired, she needed her sleep and as it was, this morning, she was a total zombie.

I knit one square for the mitered cape I'm working on.  8 more squares to go to have the back panel part done.  I also finished a little pair of socks.  I guess, a bit at a time.

You know, I said "knitting slump" yesterday but I think it really just is a real lack of time.  Tonight, I'm going out to an African Jewellry party.  It's a fundraiser so we'll see what that is all about.

I'm looking forward to our long weekend.  The calm before the storm!!!

Well, it wasn't that loud and clear but we got a little heartbeat at my Dr. appointment this morning.  So there really is a little person, alive and kicking in there.  It took her forever to find it and then it was hard to keep it but Erika was just like that - a very elusive baby.  I'm a little reassured now.   It was just so faint and so much static on the doppler that it was hard to make out among all the other background noise but I did hear it a bit and Evan heard it, too. 

I'm still in my knitting slump.  I have awesome ideas.  Lots of things I want to do.  Things I want to finish.  But I don't have the darn energy or time to sit on my butt and stay there for very long.  Erika's newly found bike riding skills still take us out every evening.  Usually, Canadian Idol night relieves me of some of my "childcare duties" because Evan makes and attempt to let me watch it in peace and quiet and I get a bit of good knitting time.  But I think tonight, I have to withdraw into my sewing room and watch the little TV up there while getting some of the ironing done.

My latest love is for this little sweater:

Absolute MUST HAVE for the new baby.  I think the heartbeat was there - now I'll feel more motivation to knit for baby.  Mary Maxim has those as kits in their most recent catalogue but I just found out that my friend Shelley of Fun Knits is also going to carry the yarn and pattern and so I'm patiently waiting until her shipment comes in.  I think this is a pretty neutral kind of a sweater....... don't you think?  And I prefer the brights to the pastels.  Although........ must admit that I'm getting major blue vibes going on here.....

My bloglines RSS feed seems to be really slow in showing updates.  I have no idea why that might be the case.  The atom feed seems to be updating regularly.  The RSS feed showed me an update today with all the 4 most recent updates.  Silly, silly.........  maybe that's why it's felt very quiet over here at my little home on the internet.

Have an awesome day!!!

Eris' collar is finally finished.  I'm quite pleased with it but now I have to work on some other projects.  I think......  I really should.  Here's a picture of the finished collar (take late at night with miserable lighting on a chair with a colour that makes the knitting kind of blend rather than stand out).

I just love the colour...... it is just so much one of my favourite colours that I'm very, very happy with it.  You can see the join at the back neck a little bit but for the back of a collar, I think it's good enough.  I'm not entirely sure if I did all the decreases at the bottom of the V properly but all in all, I think it's a success.  I'll pick up stitches and do a few rows and then I'll have to abandon it for a while.  We're supposed to get a rainy weekend so I'm actually thinking of going right back to the Swing Coat and to just start working on the sleeves.  Get that thing done and over with!!!!

Here's a great little picture of my favourite guy and gal in the swimming pool.

It's my Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary this weekend......... we'll be celebrating with them on Sunday.  Enjoy your weekend.

We went out on the bike again.......... what else is new?  We'll probably be chasing a little pink bike for the rest of the week.

We're going through a real phase:

• My legs are broken and I can't walk
• My arms are broken so I can't pick up my toys (reminds me of a little girl who claimed her back was too sore to bend to pick up her toys)
• My kitty cats did it - I didn't do it
• I can't do this or I'll get my Dora shirt dirty (a new twist on trying to wrap her daycare teachers around her little finger and they don't fall for it like Mommy does)
• I have a little boo boo - we need to call the ambulance...................

Now, the last point has some direct relation to what happened on our walk last night.  We heard an ambulance on the "big street" that we just had crossed.  By this time, we're walking in quiet, sleepy, suburban neighbourhood.  Not often would an ambulance have to come down these streets.  But sure enough, it passed us with flashing lights and big sounds.  As we kept walking, we realized that the ambulance stopped at the corner across the park and that a fire truck was also attending.  With a bit of hesitation we continued on to find that something had happened to a little kid.  The paramedics and the parents were hovering and we could hear the high pitched screams of the poor child definitely in pain and/or very upset.  The child sounded pretty frantic.  Of course Erika was nosy.  There were many kids in the park and many of them looked very scared and even had tears in their eyes.  What do you do?  Not go to the park and keep walking?  Still go and continue as normal as the whole scene was playing out at a good distance across the street.  We didn't want to add stress to Erika by explaining to her why we couldn't go to the park so we went and played and soon all the other kids returned to playing as well.  I asked one Mom if she knew what had happened and it sounded like the child had fallen out of the stroller or a wagon, hit his/her head and lost consciousness.  Well, at least by the time we saw the incident, the child was screaming so that 's actually a good sign.  the ambulance took off with the child and everything returned to normal.  It really upset me for some reason.............. Maybe I'm just more sensitive right now but it was pretty sad and knock on wood (a really thick piece of wood)...... we haven't had to deal with a serious situation like that and I hope we never will.  So a few minutes later, Erika jumps off some blocks and her knees touch ground in the gravel.............. so she needed the ambulance..........

Tuesday is "my night".  Well, just my night in terms of getting to watch Canadian Idol.  I think I know who will get voted off and I'll be sad about it because I would like to see this person go on but I jsut have a feeling.  So I watched the show and worked on my Eris collar.  I didn't take a picture because I want to take a picture when the collar is done.  It's looking good though.  Can't wait!!!!  And then I'll put it aside and start working on finishing some other stuff.

Mid-week hump day........... yeah!!!!!!!!!

Knitting.  What knitting?  What's that?  Do I even remember how to do it? 

Okay, I'm being overly dramatic but my tally for knitting yesterday is about 5 rows of 35 stitches each.  Won't get far with anything at that pace.  But that's okay.  I'd rather get out there while we still have daylight in the evenings and before the rainy fall hits.  I need the exercise because if I don't keep it up now, I'll not be able to do any by the time I'm a big round ball..... 

But as I said, I was one proud Mommy last night........... Erika got a pretty pink big girl bike for her third birthday almost a year ago.  Now she's almost 4 years old and she finally mustered up enough courage to really learn how to ride it.  Each time before, she might get on it and then get right off again and not try at all.  Admittedly, she was about an inch too short for the size of the bike for the longest time.  We didn't push and left it up to her to try.  But she came home yesterday and showed me a boo-boo and I asked her how she got it and she told me by riding a big bike at daycare.  So I took the opportunity to ask her if she wanted to take out her pink bike again and try and she was totally gung ho over it so after dinner off we went.  And she did so well.  She rode all the way up and down the walkway by our house and then we took her all the way to the park and back on it and she rode the entire time.

It was a fun evening.  Right now she's still going slow enough that it was easy to walk next to her but I'm sure we'll be getting real exercise soon enough. 

 We phoned Oma and Opa right after we came home (they gave her the bike) and she was so excited talking about her bike ride.  She usually doesn't want to talk to them on the phone but yesterday she was going a mile a minute and everytime I grabbed the phone from her she wanted it back.

So, no knitting progress but that's okay................... those are the moments that stay in a very special place in my heart.

I'm back................... well, for me, summer is done now.  My last few days off for the summer are over and the clouds are out today........ fall is around the corner. 

Thursday we headed up to Gibsons for the Gibsons Landing Fiber Arts Festival.  It was small and on Thursday wasn't one of the main event days but I checked out the market place and ended up with a lovely wooden niddy noddy, a Shetland scarf gift set for a friend of mine and some Merino to practice with on my drop spindle.   I'm sure the merino wasn't the best buy for the mere beginner but there wasn't a huge selection of spinning things.   There was also a juried display of arts and crafts and some of the projects were just amazing.  There was little knitting in that display.  Most of it was quilting and other arts and crafts.

Then we headed on to Halfmoon Bay, a tiny place along the water.  We stayed at a friend's cabin and had a wonderful time.  I got eaten alive by mosquitoes and Erika met some new friends who showed her the ropes when it came to setting foot into the ocean etc.  It's a bay so the water was lovely and calm unlike the rough waters at the unprotected west coast earlier this summer.  We had a really relaxing day on Friday and headed back to the mainland on Friday evening - just in time to do the regular weekend chores at home.

While relaxing on Thursday and Friday, I managed to knit a young child sized sock.  The second one is underway now and will hopefully be finished soon.  Any time at home this weekend was busy with errands and other stuff.  I tried to finish the collar on Eris but no such luck.  I actually stopped mid-row without marking the row I stopped on or anything like that.  It will be a challenge to pick up again.  Got to focus............... got to focus.

Didn't take one single picture all weekend. 

It was a nice weekend though.  I'm thinking that a little bit cooler weather will give me the incentive to add the sleeves to the Top Down Swing Coat.  I'm still not convinced how well it will all block out etc. but a good friend, whose knitting opinion I trust highly, convinced me to finish it all up.  And even if it's not perfect, its shape will be a good fit during the fall as I get bigger in the tummy area.  I'll feel good to get it off the needles so I'll try and get to it on days that are a bit cooler.  I want to be able to start taking some projects off the list.

Have a great week!!!!  Hopefully I'll get time to take a few progress pictures of things this week.

I actually finished a pair of socks.  Hard to believe, eh?  Just nothing has been coming off my needles.  I can't even show a picture because they are a surprise gift but hey.......... they are done.  Basic socks made with some Regia Jubilee.

It was cool last night so I got a bit more of Eris' collar done......... but I'm not nearly finished.  I'm wondering a bit if it will be big enough.  I got row gauge with my swatches and I'm hoping it's translating properly.  It it ends up small, I'll have to rip and re-do the whole collar.  It's a lot of work but it would be worth it for a pullover like that.  I do think it will fit but it will certainly not be a deep V-neck.

We're off for a couple of days tomorrow and so today is my Friday.  I'm very happy about that!!!!

Off I go today......... hopefully I'll come back with some renewed enthusiasm and some soon finished projects.

It's a short week for us.......... we're going off for another, really short little trip on Thursday and Friday.  I'm going to be going here.  I'm looking forward to checking it all out and taking it all in.  Maybe I'll buy a few goodies for use with my drop spindle.

The weekend was hot and busy.  We went to the water park twice.  To swimming lessons twice.  So, there was lots of water involved to cool down.  We had friends over for a visit.  We went looking for new furniture for Erika's room.  Today it feels like I just need a day of rest and relaxation.

I worked a little bit more on the Eris collar but I most certainly didn't get it finished as I had hoped.  This is how far I got:

Wool is hard to work with for me when it's over 30 degress celisus outside.  I did almost finish one sock that will complete a pair.  Have to keep going on those socks.

Have a wonderful week!!! August is in full swing and there are still a few weeks left in August but I'm getting the feeling that fall is almost upon us and that it's time to buckle back down - comes with the terriotory called my job......

I couldn't resist the yarn and the pattern for Eris.  I had to see how the cables and shortrows and all would come together for the collar so I started after I figured out that I got row gauge on a 3.5 mm needle.  I've completed the first three charts............. or did I finish in the middle of the third chart?  Shoot, I should have marked it but I must have got distracted by something.  I'll have to go back and look where I am at.  I find it very addicting to see the cables come to life.  I took the picture before I finished knitting so it doesn't show as much.  I don't think the colour is a good representation either.  The real colour is much more "periwinklish".

I just love it.  But now I have yet another project.  This weekend, I'm dedicating to sock knitting just to get those darn socks finished.  You know how much I love my socks but I'm not inspired to work on them right now.

What else is new?  Anything new in your world?  I just want to fiddle around with a few more rows on this lovely collar at lunch time.

Got my Eris yarn yesterday.  The colour is beautiful.  I didn't get a picture of it last night but it is so my colour and Highland Nature Wool from Elann feels quite nice.  No knitting time but I did swatch a bit.  The row gauge for the collar is the important part as described in the pattern and I'm one to never worry about row gauge.  I do, however, understand why the row gauge is important in this case.  This is such a beautiful sweater so I want to get it right.  I'm now on swatch #3 trying to get the row gauge right.  I went from a 4 mm needle down to a 3.75 mm needle.  The 3.75 needle gave me the exact stitch gauge although my row gauge from the 4 mm needle and the 3.75 mm needle were basically exactly the same at 7 rows to 1 inch.  I need 8 rows to 1 inch.  I'm now going down to a 3.5 mm needle but not sure whether that will accomplish enough of a decrease in the row gauge to get to 8 rows/ inch.  Well, I can try.  I guess my next swatch would be a 3.25 mm needle and that would make for a pretty dense knit.

What did I do last night?  I had to use up the Blackberries we picked on the weekend and so I turned them into Blackberry jam.  It's very yummy but it didn't set terribly much so it's a very spreadable jam.  I don't mind.  I guess I used a bit much fruit.  I had helping hands who dumped probably quite a few 1/4 cups of fruit into the pot when I wasn't looking.

I signed up Erika for indoor soccer this morning.  Indoor is good.  I have a hard time envisioning myself standing on a wet soccer field this fall if it were outdoor soccer.  I love soccer.  I used to play a little bit, my Dad used to play, and of course, having been brought up in Germany, one lives with and learns about soccer just as much as kids over here grow up with hockey.  I was a bit of a tomboy, too and always had my share of "boy" friends and a soccer field right behind our house so we always had little soccer games and challenges.  So between knitting and soccer...... Now I confine my soccer watching only down to the world cup and when that's on (and of course, Germany is playing)....... get out of the living room.  My time to watch.  So, soccer is okay, I guess.  I wanted to sign up Erika for ballet.  We stopped music class and I already regret it but we wanted her to have the option to try something else and that looked like it was going to be dance or ballet.  Well, she changed her mind and she wants nothing to do with ballet.  She wants to be on a team and wants to try soccer.  It's fine with me but deep down, I wanted my little girl to go to ballet class....... I wanted to be a dancer so badly when I was a kid and I still love dancing - just don't have the body for it and I married a man with two left feet so I never get to do it anymore except behind closed blinds in the living room with the music blasting.  We'll see how she enjoys soccer.  I'm just a little sad that now there is no sign of music in her extra activities.  I guess I'll have to keep her doing stuff with music at home.  I'm sure she'll change her mind many times about the activities she loves and enjoys and it will be good for her to try out a team sport.  Neither myself or Evan are great at any sort of sports so I'm more than willling to let her have a try at it.

It's only Wednesday but I feel the weekend is getting closer.  It's a quiet one, for once.  My goals are to clean up my sewing room and to knit.  I think I should just finish all the socks that I need to finish so that pressure is off my chest.

Have a great one!!