So, we're now a week into the Knitting Olympics and I have yet to post about it. I'm having myriad computer problems right now, so getting images posted is difficult, and I generally don't like to post without pictures, but I thought I would make an exception for this.

I'm knitting Tubey for the Knitting Olympics, and I believe I was exactly right about how much I would be able to take on for this challenge. Tubey should be finished in time, but only just in time. I have only just started the second sleeve. There were several interesting sizing issues for me with this pattern. One being my broader than average shoulders (which may prove to be an advantage, because it seems that the author has broad shoulders too). For starters, Dave measured my cross-back as being 24", when it was really 20", causing me to start knitting the laughably-too-large (for me, at least) XL size. So that was ripped out, and now I have started the S size, which seems perfect... just fits around my upper arms snuggly but not confiningly tight. I did make the cross-back length longer than called for, and even longer than just 0.5" longer than my cross-back width (there is nothing worse than too-tight armpits, don't you think?). So anyway, progress is coming along well. I hope to complete the second arm and get the body started this weekend, but next week is also midterm week, so it's going to be a tough one.

Wish me luck! ^_^

We may not have cable television (we do just fine with NTV and CBC), but Dave now has Basic Cable, in hat form.

Dave's birthday hat is the Basic Cable pattern from Stitch 'N' Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller. I used a bulkier yarn (Paton's Stetland Chunky) than was called for, as I wanted to make sure that it was roomy. I also added a few repeats of the cable pattern, since the hat looked awfully short in the photos. Cables are pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I will probably consider designing a pattern with cables in the future. They're pretty fun.

We received a surprise package from Aunt G today. It was our Christmas gifts: books that she ordered online. Not surprisingly, Aunt G picked out some great books. And there is a knitting book (she knows me so well)! It's a great book with lots of cool stash-busting projects. You've gotta love Aunt G. She's always so thoughtful, and managed to send these to us during such a busy time - while she has been preparing for her trip to Portugal with Jay.

My cousin, Jay, will be going into surgery tommorrow for his adult stem cell procedure. Aunt G and Christie are there with him in Lisbon, Portugal, and everything is going well so far. They are preparing today for the surgery at 1:00pm tommorrow. We are all wishing and praying for the best. I hope the surgery is a success, and then Jay can begin to work towards regaining movement and control over his body. If anyone can do it, I know that he can.

If you are interested in reading more about the surgery, or would like to leave Jay a message to wish him well (tell him that I sent you, if you like), you can visit his caringbridge website.

Good luck, Jay! We'll be cheering you on.

You know what I like? A nice ball of yarn or two that are smiling out at you from your stash (the tip of the iceberg, yes, but they are a lovely one). My only problem is I can't decide what to turn this ball of lovely Fleece Artist Kid Aran yarn into... a hat? Mittens? A scarf? It could be lovely in a number of forms, so I am having a hard time deciding. Any suggestions?

So lovely... mmmm. See the egg-shaped pack of cards? Another cool gift.

Here's another Christmas project that became a Post-Christmas gift: the Irish Hiking Scarf. It was my first cabled project, and I figured that all those other knitters can't be wrong... so I joined the ranks of Irish Hiking Scarf knitters. I used bulky yarn, so it's super big.

As for the cooking, things are going really well. I love to cook and read recipes almost as much as I like to eat! Is everyone else excited about going to the grocery store like me? It's basically a hobby now. I have been able to make something nearly every day, trying lots of new recipes. I also baked my first carrot cake for Dave's birthday (which was on Hockey Day in Canada, which took place in Stephenville! Gotta love that). Dave is a "dear lover" of carrot cake. He also got some banana bread and a forthcoming knitted hat. He's loving the new cooking adventures (and yes, he plays in the kitchen with me most of the time). Here are some highlights:

Red Lentil Sauce (from La Dolce Vegan) with rice noodles

Left to right: Roasted spiced veggies on couscous, shiitake fried rice, and broiled soy-glazed tofu and carrots over rice (I *heart* basmati rice and eat bag-loads of it).

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season, and rang in the new year with style. I had a great time in Stephenville at Razoolies. The funniest thing was that the bar was basically empty when the new year arrived! Everyone in Stephenville gets on the go really late at night (it's basically unheard of to go out before 10:00), and New Years Eve seems to be no exception. But by 2:00, the place was rockin'. It was great to be back in S'ville again, though I had a great Christmas in Hodges Cove, and I didn't want to leave. A lot of people were out on New Year's Eve, so I saw a lot of friends that were home for the holidays and those that we hadn't seen since before Christmas. I'm looking forward to all the possibilities of 2006. And what would a new year be without a resolution?

I have decided that I am going to expand my cooking skills as my New year's resolution. I have already been trying a lot of new recipes (I rule the risotto), and have become very obsessed with food in general. I love to eat! So, I am going to commit to cooking new things and learning new skills. I'll keep you posted on my culinary adventures. It seems like a good way to keep myself focussed, and I have found other blogs that include food and recipes to be very inspiring (like Jae's Domestic Affair). So now, along with the knitting, arting, and crafting, I will be cooking and (most importantly) eating! I welcome and encourage your comments and recommendations, as always.

Here is my first new dish: Jen's Ginger Butternut Lentil Soup from La Dolce Vegan! by Sarah Kramer (p.113). 

Not too exciting to look at, I admit, but very tasty and filled with gingery goodness! I really cannot recommend this cookbook highly enough. I will be trying many a recipe from it. Dave's parents gave us a great multi-tasking blender/food processer for Chirstmas, so now I can blend with the best of them. Some of my other cooking plans are to bake bread and make pasta from scratch. I'm glad I thought of this as a resolution. It's self-improvement, but in all the best ways.  

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope you are having a great holiday.

Here's what I knitted and crocheted for Christmas gifts this year: 

First is the finished Fluffy Shrug, which was a gift to my cousin's daughter, Kelsey (who calls me Aunt Missy, bless her heart). This was a patternt hat I invented myself, or rather un-vented, based on a sewing pattern from Threads magazine (the Kimono Shrug). The yarn is Patons Divine, a very soft mostly-acrylic blend with some mohair content.

A closer view of the bow. I will give Dave credit for the choice of colour. I was fretting over matching up a purple shade, but he suggested I go for contrast instead. I think it works - bright and fun - very good colours for a child.

Next is my third Sophie bag, which was for my dear mother. She was a super appreciative recipient, but that's no surprise ("My mom thinks I'm cool."). I used Patons Classic Wool in black (obviously), as per request. The one significant element there is the crocheted strap. I added that alteration because I find that the twisted i-cord strap, though attractive, is impractical. It tends to slip off the shoulder.

Here are the crafty gifts that I received. Some wonderful stuff! Thank you so much to all the gifters.

And some other cool books.

The banana pancakes were family-approved!

And, by far the biggest surprise gift ever, Santa brought us matching guitars!

It's the 2005 artist plying card deck from St. Michael's Printshop! I've been waiting for this to arrive all week, and it was a great diversion for a few minutes between studying and preparing for a presentation. I was one of the contributing artists (which have all previously worked at the printshop) for this year's edition, which was an honour, since there are so many talented contributors to this project. The shop uses this as a major fundraiser, so if you think you'd like a set, check out their website.

While, you're at it, check out the 8 of hearts:

Does the figure in this image look familiar (hint: check my 20 Things About Me post). Yeah, this one is a bit of a self-portrait.

We're nearly finished painting the headboard. What do you think? I like the colour combination a lot, myself. It's so punchy. The orange will mostly be covered in by the doors, anyway, so it won't be too extreme. Maybe I'll have to trying my hand at making a matching quilt to go with it. The left photo is a pair of curtains that I made for the kitchen (my first attempt). As you can see, I haven't hemmed them yet (tsk, tsk).

On one of my many trips to Beavercraft to browse the knitting section, I spotted this Street Smart pattern booklet by Patons, which I decided to pick up. There are four sweaters in the booklet, all containing cables, and I really love three of them. It doesn't hurt that they come highly reccommended in the knitblog world (check out Alison's Must Have Cardigan - she's also currently working on the Urban Aran). I like how they are all made with Patons yarn, which is so easy to get around here. Who knows when I will get around to making one of these, but it's a great addition to my pattern library.

I was great to read your various comments about The Anticraft. I'm not sure if I see it as being humourous, but if so many of you think so, then maybe I'm just missing the joke (I need more of a wink at the punchline, I guess). The site definitely provides a great product for anyone who shares in their aesthetics, there is no doubt about that. I think it is a well-designed site, and there is obviously a lot of care put into it, which I can appreciate. I am also interested to see where it goes in future issues.

The pattern that I had in mind for this yarn was the Hemp Flowers Necklace by Norah Gaughan in the IK Crochet magazine. I would really like to make one to wear over the holidays (yes, the red thread is for me) and this necklace would also be a perfect gift to send to a friend of mine as a surprise. It seems like her type of thing. My only concern? The pattern calls for a 3.0 mm crochet hook! Yikes. That's tiny. I also can only find 2.75 mm or 3.25 mm. Is there differences in size ranges for Canadian and U.S. corchet hooks? Or am I just not looking hard enough?

One last project that we are working on (more Dave than me), is the painting of Dave's old headboard (we are the rulers of re-using). This photo is of an earlier stage than we are currently at. We've added the turquoise paint to the main part of the dresser to go with the orange shelves. Dave has expressed concern that we may be making a piece of Barbie furniture (or worse, that we might have bad taste - hehe). What do you think? Has Debbie Travis betrayed us? It's her playful colour scheme, afterall. I don't even care. I refuse to be boring and conservative, even if that means I have bad taste. You only live once (twice if you're James Bond).

The headband is knit lengthwise, and the can size be adjusted to fit the wearer’s head. The pattern gives details for a headband that would fit a head that is roughly 23 inches in diameter. To change the size, just knit fewer or extra inches. The knitting should be about 4 inches shorter than the diameter of the wearer’s head.

This fabric is very stretchy, so the fit is quite forgiving – useful when it is being knit as a surprise gift!

What to do:

CO 12 sts. *K 2 rows. P 2 rows*. Rep until piece measures 19 inches. BO all sts. Weave in ends. Turn and sew seam along the short edges of the piece of knitting, with the right sides facing each other. Turn so that the right side faces out.

There you have it!

Halloween was great, but we had way too much candy leftover! I over-shot the amoutn of children that would show up in our area, so we have lots of candy to eat. Here's a few pics from Halloween. Dave and I went as each other. It got a few laughs, so that's good. We had a few friends over on Saturday and then went out to the Halloween dance at Razzoolies, which is always fun. We carved our pumpkin as Regan from The Exorcist. During the carving, we roasted some yummy pumpkin seeds - always a treat. I also really love eating the pumpkin flesh as I carve it out. Am I weird? Does anyone else do this?



So, on to the next holiday. Today I sent off my shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, so I'm getting into the gift-giving mood.