A Big Night

It was a big night in our house last night as Alex prepared for his grade eight graduation ceremonies.  There were shaving lessons to be given, and hair styling to be performed and a tie to be adjusted to put the finishing touches on this:

It's hard for me to believe that this tall handsome fellow was once my puffer-belly baby.  Well, maybe not so hard, he was a beautiful baby after all.

And now you know why I was working so hard to finish the Aeolian shawl.  It was so I could stand proudly next to my boy for this:

It was so much fun to fuss over my son and I loved how he enjoyed his big night.  His good friends were there and we re-capped their Halloween shot:

Look out world, here they come!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Lunch

I met with my knit-buddy Mary Jane for lunch today in downtown London.  Mary Jane lives in Essex and works in London.  Now that I work in Waterloo, we haven't had any opportunities to see each other and we don't anticipate many more in the future.  Yes, we communicate via the knitternets, but it's not quite the same thing.

Now, I'd heard through the grapevine that London's high-end yarn store, Needles and Pins, was going out of business.  This is very sad news.  The fact that they are selling everything at 50% off was very dangerous news.  My stash is getting a bit poogey, to tell the truth, and I've been trying to slim it down.  Knitting a lace shawl doesn't help much, despite the vast number of stitches involved, but it's summer time and we all do what we can. But Needles and Pins is closed on Mondays, so I felt safe in driving buy and saying a fond farewell to the place. 

Oh, you can guess where this is going, can't you?  It's like watching a scary movie and the music is building and you shout to the teenaged girl "No! Don't open the door!  He's got an axe!"

As I drove by two sights met my eyes, one was the big 50% sign.  The other was the word OPEN.  Before I knew it my steering wheel had veered sharply to the right and I found myself in the the door.  I had half and hour before lunch and no restraint.  I walked out of there with 58 balls of Rowan and only a vague idea of how much it all cost.

It's a good thing to have knit-buddies in times like these because as I slid into the booth across from Mary Jane and explained why I was late, the only thing I got from her was sympathy.  "Been there, done that!" she told me with a laugh.

And yes, I have confessed the whole lurid story to Jim.  It's my money he told me and he pointed out that I'd spent all my holiday money.  The only thing I didn't tell him about was the parking ticket I got because I forgot to put money in the meter!

Can't All be Perfect

Today begins summer vacation.  One week for Jim and I, and two months for the boys.  It doesn't sound fair, does it?

No matter.  Last weekend Jim and I enjoyed a wonderful time together in Waterloo to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary.  We ate too much, laughed a lot, and enjoyed one perfect day on Sunday.  I figure a perfect day only comes along a few times in anyone's lifetime, so it should be treasured and savoured.  it was perfect because there was never an off moment between the two of us and everything we did was enjoyable.  We went to the Wings of Paradise butterfly conservatory and to the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery.  We finished up the day with a fabulous dinner at Margarita's. The food was very fresh, creative and perfectly prepared.  Yum!

Today we tidied the house, got some groceries, I cooked for the dog and we visited my mother-in-law.  Being away, I don't have a chance to look after my loved ones very well.  So the house keeps getting messier, and the dog hasn't been eating very well lately, and my mother-in-law is looking frail after a minor fall.  There's not a lot I can do and I don't feel guilty about it (much).

The shawl is finished and is currently blocking on my bed.  Its huge! I have a queen size bed and the shawl doesn't quite fit, I had to pin it over the edge.

Pinning it out almost drove me to tears.  First I started pinning it to the floor of my knitting room.  But there wasn't enough space and the thing was almost drying out already, plus I hadn't sewn in my ends!  So, I unpinned it and I dutifully sewed in the ends (but didn't cut them). Then I wet it down again and just squeezed out the water so I could start pinning it out all over again. 


This was just before we were going to visit my mother-in-law, and I didn't want to be late but I also wanted the shawl to come out right.  So I was bent over the bed, pinning and re-pinning till I was slick with sweat and my legs were beginning to tremble.  I was getting so frustrated with it!

I asked Jim to look at it and help me but he didn't know what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to take a match to the whole thing and just destroy it.  It didn't look right.  Jim wanted to know what "right" looked like and I said even and perfect like the ones I've seen on the net.  He just gave me a look.  The look that says "Woman, you know perfect is overrated."  I guess he's right because it does look pretty darned good, even if it is uneven.

I don't think anyone will even notice once it's being worn.  Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury, I blocked it knit-side down.  We can't all be perfect...

If You can't say Anything Nice...

My teenage boys are very tall.  I call them lurch and slouch.  They are fun loving kids with an excellent sense of humour and a well-developed sense of play, watching stupid videos on the net and playing video games all day. They've taken on quite a bit of household chores while I'm away in Waterloo, including cooking, dishes and cleaning bathrooms.  I just spent 15 minutes arguing with my eldest about why the dishes should be done NOW and not later. We miss each other, but they understand the importance of my work to the family. I've just been told that life is a lot easier when I'm not around during the week.

I'm still working on my red shawl.  It's a freaking blob of crimson stitches that never ends.  But it's not photogenic at this stage.  It's not much of anything but potential.

Next weekend, Jim is coming to Waterloo for a visit, so I don't know if I'll have a blog post then.  Not to worry, because the week after that I'm on vacation, Alex has his graduation, and the shawl should be complete.  Please have patience with me till then.   Teenage years are a phase and this too shall pass...