what an incredible day!!!!...

It was a beautiful day today.  So beautiful that I had to walk to the mall to buy some wonderful Cob's Bread (white brick, sliced thin).  Then we walked around Lighthouse Park with the dog.  She went crazy in the woods chasing squirrels. Then, after a late lunch (or early dinner?) we walked to get ice cream.   And Scout didn't even miss us when we went for ice cream.  We haven't left her alone in the apartment by herself too many times cause we don't want her to whine or bark and bother our wonderful landlady.  Little by little we're leaving her - especially after a long walk - so she gets used to being by herself.  Okay - the weekend's over - back to the grind.

cardigan finished......

I finished the cardigan a couple of days ago and have been wearing it around the house.  It's very warm to wear.  Then I went out and bought some cotton to make another one for spring.  This time I think I'll alter the pattern slightly so it fits me a little better.  And maybe I'll add buttons & buttonholes.  And maybe I'll do a moss stitch trim instead of the knit2 purl2 ribbing.  And maybe longer sleeves with bell-shaped ends.  Hmmmmmmm...  I need to think about this for a while.

In the meantime, I've added a few more things to my etsy shop - a laptop sleeve and another purse.  And I've been out pushing my resume at people trying to find a job.  Keep your fingers crossed.

cardigan crazy.....

So I went crazy last night.  I got to the fun part on the cardigan - putting the sleeves on holders and joining the body. I stayed up until 2:30am just cause I couldn't put it down.  And I've already done 4 or 5 more rows this morning before I even had coffee. (I know!!!!)  This is going to be one of those days where life gets in the way of my knitting.  My son has a meeting with an agent today and I'm trying to figure out how to knit up until the last minute.  I shouldn't take it with me, but I might have to.  And then it's pizza and games night tonight - is there a game we can play where I can still knit?  Hmmmmm.  

Spring break hijinx....

Yes, this is what happpens during spring break when it's raining and we have too much time on our hands - -- our dog gets a make-over.  I think she knows we're laughing at her and not with her.  Luckily, she's a good sport.  So we took her for a long walk to ease the pain of her humiliation.

I'm continuing with my cardigan - adding 8 stitches every other row until I get to three hundred and twenty some.  I'm cranky with my needles - I use the Denise set that my amazing friend Dawn got me for my birthday years ago. I love them and  they are all I use now.  However, when you use the smaller size needles, the needle part is almost as thick as the cord and it's hard for the project to move around the needles.  And it's really hard when you have a few hundred stitches on them.  I'm having to adjust to going slower --- arrrrrgh.   I have a few more purses to felt today.  It's a good day for felting - it's rainy and there's that wet dog smell in the air.  A little wet wool can only help the air quality.

A change of pace.....

I'm taking a break from my felted purses.  I have a whole pile that need to be sewn and have their handles attached so I'm starting on a cardigan.  I've been working with size 13 and 15 needles for the purses so this is quite a change, working again with 6s and 7s.  After this cardigan I'm going to try my first pair of socks, so I'm glad to be getting used to smaller needles again.

It's been raining and raining for the last couple of days.  It's Spring Break and the kids are off school, so that's not good.  I guess we'll be seeing lots of movies this week and playing lots of video games.  

Deep Cove Birthday.....

Happy Birthday to me!!!!  Keith took me to lunch in Deep Cove and this was our view.   Lunch was fabulous - I had braised lamb ragout at the spiffy Arms Reach Bistro.  Then we walked around a nearby park with the dog.  A fun birthday afternoon.  Now we get to go pick up my car from it's federal and provincial inspections.  I hope it passed!!! 

Saturday hike.......

Yesterday was a strange weather day.  When we woke up, the sun was shining and it was beautiful.  When I checked the forecast though, it said rain (what a surprise in Vancouver!).  We drove to Granville Island and wandered around and enjoyed lunch at Sammy J. Peppers.  Then we headed to a movie ( The Stone of Destiny - good flick!).  When we came out of the movie, it was hailing.  Not the hard, icy hail that hurts when it hits, this was more like being pelted with dippin' dots, the no-flavor kind.  It finally let up and we finished with a windy walk through part of Stanley Park.  In the picture, we live up behind my head, on the left, among those houses going up the hillside.  We even had enough time left in the day to watch the incredibly long "Patton".  Collin is into WWII so we've been watching all the classics.  It's amazing what you can fit into your day if you don't have to go to a soccer game.  

Smelly dogs.....

This is our crazy mutt after her bath, fluffy and lounging on her Scooby Doo blanket.  Why did she get a bath?  She rolled in ....oh, let's just say......human waste while we were out walking.  Apparently, down by the docks, some guy is living in a tent and Scout decided to pay him a visit.  I heard her barking in the woods, which means he was probably there.  She was disgusting and barking like a crazy dog when she got back.  It was gross.  Luckily, Keith hadn't gone to his audition yet and was able to help me get the bath water ready.  Poor thing, she had no clue why I was yelling at her.  We had to buy her a new collar - even when I put the old one through the wash, it was still very ripe.  I guess we won't be going back to that walk for a while.  Too bad, it was a nice, easy, flat walk for when I don't feel like tramping through the woods.

Crazy month...

It's been crazy - with Collin's birthday, our anniversary, Keith's auditions, my job search, a sick dog....the list goes on and on.  Just like every other family, I suspect.  Collin and his buds had a great time at the paintball place - there were a bunch of other kids there that were the same age so they weren't outnumbered by the 18-30 year olds.  It was raining, so they not only got painted, they got muddy too.  Collin got shot in the head and had a big welt for a few days.  It was a badge of honor.   

I've been slacking off on the knitting.  We might be headed to Phoenix for spring break and I've been concentrating on getting a few things done before we go, you know, car inspections, mammograms, blah, blah, blah.  My knitting pile is huge and it makes me nervous to look at it.  I'm still putting my felted purses up on etsy a few at a time and trying to organize my office/beading/knitting/PMC space.  Small space, many crafts....