He's Going To Be Impossible To Live With

Mr. Happy won "Studio Engineer of the Year" at the Music Nova Scotia awards this weekend.

He's already told me that I have to be nice to him b/c he's an award winner. Sigh. I already do his laundry, what more does he want? If he thinks this gets him off dish-washing duty or gets him out of changing diapers, he's going to be terrifically disappointed.

Congratulations, sweetie. You deserve it!

Here's the article in the local paper.

For anyone who might be interested in such things, Mr. Happy is currently working on his first solo album. Recording should be finished in the next week or so and then it's on to mixing and mastering. Almost done!!! YAY!

Mini Mars Bars, The Breakfast of Champions

I'm sure that many of you are munching Halloween treats this morning.  Either you've raided your child(ren)'s stash or you've got lots of leftover treats because the threat of the flu kept children at home.  

I have a confession to make:

Last night was the first Halloween in many years where I was excited about the holiday. For many years Halloween was a PITA for us. Our dearly departed dog, Bentley, had a hate on for children and would spend the entire evening barking at the tiny ghosts and goblins who came to our door. When Mr. Happy and I moved into our house, we handed out treats for a couple years, but then it just got easier to turn off the lights and hope that no tricks were played on our house. After Bentley went to the big doghouse in the sky, I finally acknowledge the truth - I really didn't like Halloween all that much.

Growing up, I was a pretty shy kid, so I wasn't keen on visiting houses of people I didn't know - which in my hometown was only about 5 houses, but still, I didn't like it. And then when I got to the age where my mom would get me to help opening the door, well, I wasn't keen on it then either.

But yesterday? Well, yesterday changed all that because we had our first chance to dress our kid up in a costume. Which we did with glee and the knowledge that at some point later in his life, he will be embarrassed by these photos.

First, we carved our pumpkin. I drew the bat and Mr. Happy, also known in these parts as "Daddy", carved it. Then we posed the Mogrunt with the pumpkin:

Notice anything? Do you see who is sitting up all by himself? Yeah, it lasted a few seconds before he face planted into the grass and came up with a piece of leaf in his mouth. I may have a picture of the tears, but not of the leaf part. What? You know you would do the same!

Later in the afternoon, I got the Mogrunt dressed and headed out to visit family. First we went to visit his Auntie and cousins:

It was exhausting, being in the car in costume.

Then we picked up Daddy at work and visited the Mogrunt's girlfriend, who was dressed like a lamb. Sorry, no photos. I don't have permission to show you photos of the Little Lamb.

Then we went to visit Nana and Poppa, where we took some photos outside:

Then home again, where we sat the poor tired little duck next to his pumpkin again.

Daddy had to get back to work*, so we visited three houses in the neighbourhood and gave out goodies to a flashy robot from across the street. Then I had to admit that I was done and so was the Mogrunt.

We set the bowl of candy outside and went upstairs for bath and bed time. When I checked the bowl later, there was still quite a bit of candy left in it. I think that a lot of the kids were staying home because of the flu going around.

This morning, I'm very glad that we participated in Halloween, especially b/c we have leftover chocolate this morning and I'm really looking forward to next year. And not because I'm going to use my kid to get candy for myself.

Honest.

We Will NOT Allow Martha To Dress the Mogrunt for Halloween

My Uterus Does Better Work

While it may seem that I have dropped off the face of the blogosphere, in fact, I have not. I'm still around - lurking through your posts, often smiling at your stories, occasionally commenting, and occasionally forgetting to comment as I run off to change a diaper or rescue a baby who has spent "just enough time, thanks Mama" in his activity gym.

It seems I'm pretty busy these days - who knew that wiping up spit-up could be a full time job? I have become quite adept at anticipating imminent milky messiness. Despite that, I do currently have a big glob of wet on my shoulder right now as the Mogrunt planted a nice glob of cheese-curdy goodness on me before falling asleep.

Back when the Mogrunt was just a fish in my belly, my SIL laughed when I mentioned that I would like to get some knitting done while off on mat leave. She thought I was being unrealistic, but it seems that, despite the amount of time I spend doing laundry, I am managing to meet my own expectations. I wasn't so disillusioned to think that I would be sitting here with the Mogrunt on my lap, just knitting the days away, but having worked as a caregiver to two young girls, I knew that there would be time here and there to get in a few stitches.

It does seem, however, that blogging about those stitches is a harder task. As I said to my husband's family over Thanksgiving dinner - "Our camera used to be filled with photos of knitting - now it's filled with photos of the Mogrunt." My SIL piped up and said, "And those weren't nearly as interesting."

Seems someone is gunning for a lump of coal instead of a handknit stocking this Christmas.

So, in the last 3.5 almost four months, those few meager stitches at a time have turned into:

A totoro hat and a sweet baby cap:

Pattern: Totoro pattern from Hello Yarn.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino DK
Raveled here.

Pattern: Sweet Baby cap is from Gros Blog
Yarn: made with scrap yarn from a blanket a dear friend made for the Mogrunt
Raveled here.

A pair of mittens for the wee man - with plans for a matching hat:

Pattern: from A Kitten Knits
Yarn: Made with bits and bobs of Debbie Bliss Merino Aran and Cashmerino Aran.
Raveled here

Socks for me so that I can match the Mogrunt - we are sock buddies!

Pattern: 3x1 rib with short row heel.
Yarn: Trekking
Raveled here.

My "Alliteration" sweater for the boy,

So called because it is a Cotton Cashmere Cardigan
Pattern: Organza edged Cardigan from Debbie Bliss special knits - obviously, the Mogrunt chose to "butch it up" a little by leaving off the organza.
Raveled here

I've also made significant progress on the Baby Yours sweater:

Pattern: Baby Yours by the Yarn Harlot
Yarn: STR
Raveled here

However, in all of this knitting, the one finished item of which I am most proud is this, the bear that the Mogrunt will be taking with him to University and quite possibly, on his honeymoon:

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
Raveled here

Yes, ladies and gents, it is finally done. The sweater alone was the cause of much ranting and mental compositions of "Dear Designer" letters. It took two and a half hours just to seam the darned thing! (And that's after I had it seamed at the shoulders and realized that I had only done 3 repeats of the garter stitch stripes at the top of one side and 4 on the other. The sweater almost went out the window of the car on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner in the Annapolis Valley.) We won't even talk about the bear itself because I may start to weep.

It took me almost 11 months to make this bear with my own two hands. Yet it only took me nine months to make a baby with my uterus. My uterus as it turns out has fewer fine motor skills than my hands but while that bear is cute, I think my uterus does better work, as evidenced here:

Look out ladies, he's a heart-breaker.

Fledglings, leaving the nest

My little darling skeins of yarn,

Mama is sorry but it is time that you left the nest.

As I sit here, with all of you gathered around my feet, I see the hopes and dreams that I had for each one of you. I see the socks that never came to be, the scarf that I intended for my auntie (only to be told she is trying to knit it for herself), the ill-advised purchase of a beautiful red yarn for a project for myself (a colour I never wear), the baby "uggs" to be knit in purple and pink with flashy fuzzy yarn as the trim (oh so fun but such a silly purchase), the Manos I bought on sale just b/c it was Manos ON SALE... and so many other ideas that just didn't work out.

I'm sorry, so sorry, but you can't all stay. You're like a litter of puppies who must go to new homes where you will be well-loved and knit by careful hands. Preferably, those would be Canadian hands, so that I don't need to sign up for a Paypal account which would just lead to more ill-advised yarn purchases.

Good-bye, my sweet yarny babies. I hope you remember all I've taught you about being kind to others, and wearing a hat when it's cold.

Love,

Mama


PS:
1. All yarn is from a cat & smoke free home. A dog does visit here, but he doesn't play with yarn and he doesn't shed.
2. As I've never sold any of my yarn before, I'm not sure what the general rule of thumb is for shipping costs. We can sort it out together.
3. The first person to comment on the yarn on Ravelry will get it as long as we can agree on payment and shipping within 3 days (I've got the Mogrunt eating up my time, so I'm not online as much as I used to be).
4. Please comment directly on the yarn in the "trade/sell" portion of my Ravelry. Don't send me a PM. Feel free to leave a comment even if someone else has already said they would like the yarn, just in case things don't work out with the "adoption".
5. As stated above, I would like to only ship within Canada - just b/c it's a little easier for me right now. I am not anti-any country, so please, don't take offense or start up a campaign against me and my kind! I'm just lazy, have mama-brain and not a lot of time on my hands.

PPS: If you can't get to me through the link above, I'm Steph VW on Ravelry.