and coming home

It was a good weekend - Dad had a family dinner yesterday so I saw a few of my nieces & nephews and a sister I don't see often. Friday was lunch with my BFF, visit with another sister and a visit with Mom. Mom is physically well, but bedridden or in a geri-chair of course. She looked well cared for, she was animated and laughing. There were times she looked right through me but a few times she looked like she was understanding me and trying to communicate. It was about the best it can be at this stage and as long as she looks well that's good.

My flight from Saint John NB to Montreal is by way of Halifax NS - yes, traveling backwards again LOL

Halifax had freezing rain last night and for the past couple of hours I've heard more delay announcements than I can count. My flight boards in an hour or so and so far it ought to be on time AND I should have my seat. There were a lot of double bookings earlier - people got bumped.

Please cross your fingers for me - I had a great weekend but now I want to be home on time - in the meantime I get to knit for a while ! I was prepared to pack my knitting but asked first and they let me bring it on board - even though it says plastic needles and I have metal (expensive Addi metal ! that I would rather check-in than lose LOL) BONUS - I'm happy ! ... especially if we're delayed :-)

and I'm off again

All packed and my flight leave at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon.

A quick (really quick !) weekend visit home - Dad, Mom and whichever siblings are around. Should be fun - tiring but fun :-)

Have a great weekend everyone !

A swift for g

A few weeks ago I had comments back and forth with gMarie and mentioned that I'd just made a yarn swift to wind the hanks I'd just received from KnitPicks. She asked to see the swift and I agreed, however that procrastination gene of mine kicked in and I've only just now taken a couple of pics - sorry g :-(

This is the link I used. I was missing a few pieces but made do.

The supplies - 4 coat hangers, 2 pieces of elastic, a bunch of clothespins and a 4x4" container. It also calls for a gripper pad and a lazy susan so it will spin while winding.

Tie the hangers together at the top and one corner (shown in the 1st pic), open them out and put them top first into the container (instructions called for a UPS box but my little rubbermaid container works great). Put 8 clothespins on the container one on each side of each hanger. The clothespins at each outer point of each hanger will sit just above and just below the hank once it's set on the swift.


And here is a hank of KnitPicks Tonal Stroll set up and ready to go (just as soon as I untie it LOL).

I don't have a lazy susan so I set it up on the floor and sit on a stool for height and unwind a few rounds at a time. So far it works ok, although slower. The whole contraption is sitting on a roll of packing tape just to raise it from the table for the picture. I'd like to find a small lazy susan (about 6") but haven't come across one yet - one of these days.

Some actual sewing ?

Nope, not yet, but soon.

I've wanted to sew since the year started and just haven't been able to make myself go into the sewing room much.

Sometime ago, I couldn't say exactly, maybe November, a friend asked me to hem some pants for her. I detest hemming pants, even mine, except hubby's (don't ask me why LOL). But if she asks, I will always do them for her - she's one of those friends that you go running for at any time and she will do the same for me. Hemming fits in there somewhere - even if it's 5 pairs. She made a major tactical error though, and told me they don't quite fit yet so 'no rush'. Yep, so 2 or 3 months later I'm still avoiding them. Since then I bought DH 2 pairs of pants and my friend's DH bought 2 pairs of jeans - all needing hemming. 9 freaking pairs of pants all ganging up on me and keeping me OUT of my sewing room. As of tonight they are all done and it's a load off my mind. Not even picture worthy, I didn't want any reminders !

Next in the queue of 'real' sewing is simple but at least more interesting. My niece is due to have a little boy in mid-April and I'm going to make crib sheets & receiving blanket for her shower at the end of Feb. So simple it may not count as actual sewing :-)

I started another pair of socks - hmmm, at the beginning of Jan maybe - only just started the gusset yesterday so there's still a long way to go, the rest of the gusset, the heel and leg.


Ah, here's a pic. Of the four of us in this house, Skippy is the only who is liking all of this snow ... This was taken Wednesday after work. They called for 10cm, said afterwards that we got 20cm but you wouldn't know it from my deck or driveway what with all the drifting. And yesterday, another 10cm or so.