‘Cause we need a little Christmas

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Kylie M-W

Christmas countdown? 32 days. One month from this Sunday. Isn’t that crazy? I have a week and a half left on classes, followed by a week and a half of exams before I head home for three weeks. Three weeks! Bliss… three weeks of my mom’s cooking, of my dogs and my cats, baking Christmas cookies. I can’t wait. My technique to make time go faster is to do as many Christmassy things as possible. First, in knitting:

Three more dishcloths finished up as gifts. I’m hoping maybe I’ll have time to try making soap when I get home (I don’t have a stove here) so I can give these as gifts to my neighbours. I love this dishcloth pattern- I’ve tried a few others but I always come back to this one. I think I might even have enough to make one more small cloth out of the leftovers of blue and yellow. (Rav link)

A trip to Lettuce Knit yesterday saw me bringing home 2 balls of yarn for Christmas ornaments and one ball to make a scarf for my Dad. I think that aside from the Be Kind hats for all of the neighbourhood kids, the scarf should be the last non-ornament Christmas present. I’ve cast on the scarf and the ornaments will be pretty quick. (Rav link, Stash link)

At craft club this week, we learned how to stud, which is actually pretty fun. You don’t really need any special tools (both of our projects were made using headbands from the dollar store). You just need to buy the little metal studs (which are 2-5$ for a pack of 50) and there is a tool you can use to bend over the little prongs on the back (or a very expensive machine), but honestly, the handle of a spoon works just as well. I made a bracelet for me for practice and then this little set of headbands for my sister O. I really love how these turned out. Next week we’ll be making buttons!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there is hot chocolate to be drunk and paper snowflakes to be hung and Christmas music to be listened to 🙂

I’ll be linking this post up with FO Friday. Have a great weekend (and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Americans)!

A special scarf (NaBloPoMo Day 1)

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Kylie M-W

Earlier this week, I found out that since my CDE (Child Diabetes Educator) is retiring, my appointment next week will be my last appointment with her. The only reason I’m still going to Pediatrics is because I just turned 18 in July and it takes almost a year to get into a clinic anywhere else. I did get in with an appointment for April, though, so this would have been my last appointment there anyway. In other words, this appointment is the last for both of us.

JA is a truly amazing woman. I remember the day after I was diagnosed with diabetes, they brought my parents and I in for intensive training. I was 7, terrified of needles, and I still remember JA joking about how I sat as far away from her as possible. She was the one who gave me bubbles to blow to make injections less painful. Over the years, she has become my go-to person for just about anything. She always returns e-mails and phone calls about any issue you’re having. She’s the one who will fight with you against your insurance or your pharmacy or the government. She makes sure that your prescriptions and referrals (cough, cough… Dr. H…) actually get signed and sent to where they need to go. She is always willing to try new things, find you the best of the best technology, and she is one of the most comforting people to be around. It’s not a wonder she’s in high demand and working way too hard! She deserves her retirement so very much and I wish her all of the happiness in the world. We’ll miss her, though… and I can just see COPC falling apart without her!

To thank her for everything, I’ve started a quick project that I can hopefully finish and block before my appointment on Thursday. The pattern is free here. The yarn is Berroco Vintage in Aster, which I picked up at Lettuce Knit a long time ago. (Rav Link)

I also just wanted to share these adorable pins we made at Craft Club today. They are made by stringing beads on small safety pins and threading the small safety pins onto larger ones. I could make a tutorial if there is interest… let me know in the comments! You can also do some neat jewelry with this technique.

As a personal blogging challenge, I’m writing a blog post every day for the month of November as a part of NaBloPoMo (NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth). This is day 1!

There’s no place like home

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Kylie M-W

Apologies for the little hiatus… I went home for a few days this week. It was fantastic. There is nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed and having a home-cooked meal… and having a conservation area right across the street with beautiful fall leaves isn’t too bad either! I love living in the city but I do so miss my forest.

Being at home also means having models for a few recent FOs… something I took full advantage of! I’ll be a sharing a few more over the course of this week, but here’s the first. This is my current favourite FO… so warm and the colours are just perfect for fall! The pattern is the free Honey Cowl from Madelinetosh and the yarn is Berocco Vintage Colors in Terra Cotta, which I bought a few weeks ago from Lettuce Knit. I did the “intermediate” size, casting on 160 sts. I just knit until I ran out of yarn, and the cowl is just long enough to wrap around my neck twice. I’d love to knit this again with two skeins before winter to make a super warm, long cowl. (Rav link)

I hope all my fellow Canadians had a great long weekend! Linking up with Ginny at Yarn-Along and Nicole at KCCO today.

FO: Socks and Lettuce Knit

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Kylie M-W

Have you seen my newest design, Modulation, and entered to win a free copy of the pattern? Well, what are you waiting for? Entry + info here!

First FO of university! I finished up these socks yesterday in SR Kertzer On Your Toes (from Romni) using this free pattern from Glenna C. (Rav link). While I think the pattern is great, I don’t think I’ll be using it again as I really do prefer knitting socks toe-up.

I also made a quick visit today to Lettuce Knit to check out the fantastic sale they were having this weekend! I got yarn for 2 projects:

2 balls of Rowan Purelife 4-ply cotton in the colour 748, medium indigo. At 50% off, this was only 5.50$ per ball! I’ll be using it to make a little sweater for J and L’s baby boy, due at the end of December. (Rav link)

While I only went to get yarn for the sweater (hahaha) I also picked out a ball of Berocco Vintage Colors in the colour 5218, terra cotta (Rav link). I actually didn’t pick this ball up at first when I was looking through the sale bins, but on my last look through, it caught my eye and I think it will look great as a cowl. Plus, it was only 4.50$ at 50% off! The colours remind me of fall leaves which is fitting given the time of year. In fact, I love it so much that’s it’s taken all of the willpower I have not to drop all of my work and other knitting projects to start working with it… because that’s usually not a very productive strategy to succeeding in school or finishing your Christmas knitting on time.