Last week little A was sick for 4 days, this week it’s little G and I who aren’t fairing so well.

Okay so Boots isn’t sick, but you’ve got to admit he’s pretty darn cute.

Knitting has been put on the back burner the last 2 weeks (I know I can’t believe I’m not seeing pink balls of yarn coming out of the wall with withdrawl). However being home ill, got me snooping around my stash and I found this beautiful wool. I just love the colours.

Note the glorious lack of snow in this picture. I can thank my knit buddy and good friend AlexisKnits on Ravelry for this wool which I think is vintage:

I realize this is Beehive yarn, because the label matches the look of this pattern book that my mom gave me ages ago.

I’m thinking about making a fitted vest using this yarn with the pink as an edging colour. Maybe if I get really clever the vest could also be a spring/summer shell top. I hope my brain can function well enough to knit up a swatch and so some measuring.

I haven’t been knitting much these days - one pair of wrist warmers in about 3 weeks is pretty sad. I think I’m in need of a nice, free weekend .

Sun-tzu in the Art of War said “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer“. It seems Shadow has been doing some reading these days.

How are cats and yarn enemies you ask? Well I figure that to a cat yarn = knitting which = less petting time for the cat. That would explain why cats must attack yarn whenever possible, sleep on half-knitted items left lying out (to show them who’s boss), steal and hide knitting accessories, and to chew up knitting patterns left out on the coffee table.

I thought I should post something to let you know that I’m still around. I’m exhausted today and it’s self-inflicted. I went to my company’s annual dinner and dance and got smashed. Yeah I know not very mature or smart . I don’t do that sort of thing often and I’m paying for it big time. That said I had a lot of fun last night.

Knit wise I’m still working on little A’s cropped sweater and a pair of wrist warmers for Spring (whenever it decides to show up). My schedule was messed up all week and I was getting a ride into work so knitting time was quite reduced.

I’ve also been working on finishing up a website I started for a friend ages ago. You can see the work thus far here. I’ve been discussing a re-design on a site I did for another friend a couple years ago. I’ve been exploring the use of css for web building and I discovered I really love it. The downside to all this freelance stuff is it eats up knitting time. I need to figure out away to type and knit at the same time.

Well it doesn’t look like little A’s sweater will be done on time - even if I didn’t sleep for the next 48 hrs and did nothing but knit I’d never get it done. Oh well she can wear it in the spring. I think I’m going to knit matching shells or ‘T’ shirts to go with the sweaters. I’ve also decided that I’m making a bigger size sweater for Gwynn and the first one can be gifted to a little girl it’ll actually fit.

On a side note yesterday little G had the stomach flu. My husband was a great nurse who had to deal with a house full of crap and vomit. He was fine until after cleaning little G up who christened the bed both ways whilst napping, proceeded to throw up on him and our brand new couch. I received an email with the simple words ‘oh god she just threw up on the couch’. The man deserves a medal.

I took today off to prepare for the Easter weekend and try to get some ‘me’ time. Well that hasn’t happened. Although little G is much, much better I’ve spent the day cleaning frightening toilets and washing ever blessed linen that may have come in contact with ‘bodily fluids’.

I finished the the cropped sweater for little G to wear on Easter - It only took two weeks, however I don’t think little A’s will be ready for Easter. The sweater is a bit snug, but is still wearable. I may give it to one of the many friends I have with younger daughter’s and make larger sized one for her later.

I will write up the pattern for this one along with a few others I’ve been meaning to put up. I be able to work the ‘bugs’ out when I make little A’s.

Here’s a photo from my back yard as it compares to the photo from my last post. Note the tiny bit of green - yeah that’s the girls slide. And to think that tomorrow the clocks ’spring’ ahead an hour, what a rip.

The latest two projects:

One of the two cropped length sweaters I’m making on the ‘fly’ for the girls. I say on the ‘fly’ because I have no pattern and I’m honestly making it up as I go. I’m writing stuff down so if it turns out I’ll have a pattern to post and to follow for the second sweater which will be one size bigger.

Bus project - wrist warmers for whenever the hell Spring decides to show up.

Here’s my backyard - not much hope for Spring yet.

For Christmas I got a subscription to the beloved magazine Interweave. I just received the spring issue and immediately found several patterns I want to make. Of course I’ll probably only be able to make one sweater or end up in the poor house. I can’t wait for Spring to arrive. I’m tired of the frigid temperatures and mountains of snow.

Some of my pattern choices from Interweave include: Flutter Sleeve Cardigan and Frock Camisole.

Oh and the leg warmers they are featuring would be a great challenge. They are so beautiful, not like the icky leg warmers I wore as a teen in the ’80s.

Here’s the status of my ribbed socks. The first one is done and now I’m on the heel. When I’m not wearing the sock it looks rather funny - it’s long and skinny - it reminds me of the stockings in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Here comes the heel.

The lovely reinforced heel fooling me into believing that maybe, just maybe this sock will never get any holes in it.

Sock number one patiently waits for it’s partner.

Now that these are finished I thought it would be nice to get a couple of pictures of them on my feet.

The first sock of the ribbed socks is almost done. I can’t wait to wear them - they’ll be so soft and cozy.

There’s nothing better than knitting away on a pair of socks on the bus when it’s -30 degrees Celsius outside. Again I’ve used the sock recipe from the Yarn Harlot’s book Knitting Rules. This time I’ve decided to do a ribbed sock and I made the cuff an inch long then the cotton socks. I’m thinking the next pair of sock will be lace knee-highs.

See my nice reinforced heel? Not like that’s really going to stop the holes from coming, but my hope is the socks will last a little longer.