I GO Girl

Check out the progress from today.

Soon is now! I started "Claude" last night....here is a quicky & fuzzy picture....I love working with Debbie Bliss Cotton and Angora blend...and I think this pattern will be a good one for me....easy with a few challenging bits. I am loving the colour I picked.

Gas? Gas? Gas? Prices are rising and supply is decreasing. This is the talk buzzing around Ontario today. Umm, now it is getting just a wee bit scary - we run a service business and need to get around York and Simcoe region to do our work. The noon news is talking about the affect on the trucking industry - the industry that brings food and supplies to our stores. Uh Oh. And now the news has switched to the doctor's shortage.

I think I'll turn the news off, put my head in the sand, and go back to my knitting.

Monday morning and my mind is wandering...can't focus on the accounts just now....another java needed I think. While I gear myself up for work, I thought I'd post a couple of new pictures.

One is another picture of the Oxford knee(s) I will be getting. Nifty eh? I certainly hope so. This surgery is called "minimally invasive".

The next group of photos.........my constant search for the perfect hair "do". I think I'll try short now/again/for a change/because it is easier to manage!!! If I don't like it - it will grow - and it seems to grow fast these days.

Ok back to work and exercise for the brain.

Knitting is going well, especially when I choose a pattern that is simple to remember, I can watch movies and knit. That is "zen" for multi-tasking :>). This summer top is made from 100% hemp. Hemp feels rough and scratchy until it is washed...then it transforms itself to a lovely soft fabric.

Backyard winter snap.....just to show you we do have snow...not that much, but enough to remind us that it is still winter and it is still cold.

Finished Object

Started: February 14th Finished: February 17th.

February; knitting weather; February has been good for providing knitting time. Who wants to go back outside in the evening after battling the snow to and fro work? I wouldn't. I don't have to. But I wouldn't want to, and I am grateful. After a day in my warm home office, a little walk, or sometimes I sit on the back patio facing the sun, anything to get some air, I'm ready to put my feet up and knit. February is the cruelist month but it is a good knitting month.

Snow now and more snow but not as much snow as places around us. It is also a deep freeze out there...cold enough to freeze your nose hairs, take your breath away, and give you brain freeze if you are not careful.

Here is a warming photo that I lifted from my friend's daughter's site. What an adventure she is having.

New Knees....still awhile off...March 11, 2008 to be exact but at least it will be done. The inside of both knees are now rubbing bone on bone...crikey no wonder I am in pain. I am a perfect candidate for the Oxford knee - partial knee replacement - and I will have this done on both knees at the same time. I will be "in training" for a year ...... get down to my target weight, work the muscles around my knee all to hopefully provide me with a better recovery.

Yahooooooo.....got my Jann Arden tickets....yes again! You cannot be surprised...I will see Jann in concert every time she comes to Toronto. This time Bryan will be coming (some what reluctantly) and my cousin Doug and his wife Shirley - Shirley will also be coming somewhat reluctantly. Those two (our spouses) seem to have the notion that Jann Arden concerts are "depressing" phffff. No so...they are so much fun. Doug and I will have a blast and the other two - well they can leave with fond memories of dinner at "Frans" before. Some new photos are at www.jannarden.com

Man alive it is getting harder and harder to get tickets, let alone good seats. We will be in row R at Massey Hall so I will need to bring myself a little booster seat. Massey Hall is as old as dirt and there is very little elevation from the front to the back. The next best tickets I could get were in the gallery! I think not.

Sometime last year my niece asked me if I would like to see Syrena Ryder. I didn't know who she was, wasn't able to make it the concert/festival and then suddenly, somehow, somewhere last week, I heard Syrena sing. I'm hooked. She is fabulous. She is soulful....so full of soul for such a young thing. Check her out at http://www.serenaryder.com/ and please listen to her version of Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy".

A finished object!! Yay. Started January 24/07 - Completed February 7/07. A FIRST for moi - completing something and doing it so quickly.

The twisted 't' top completed - blocked pressed and ready to go. I just need some summer weather.

A close-up of the bottom edge where I had to pick up stitches and knit down to add more length. I think you can see the decorative straight edge where I picked up stitches and then I played around with some yarn-over stitches to add a little something.

It's 7 :35 pm, and I have eaten every single point I am allowed today. And I'm hungry. I think I'll go to bed and hide under the covers. No..not really...a little later I will.

I was browsing my favourite knitting blog sites and heard mention of some wonderful sweater that Stella McCartney designed...check it out...it is wonderful....Stella's sweater is the dark grey one.

It reminds me of "Claude" (the cardigan on the hanger) - the pattern (and dark blue yarn) I purchased last year about this time. And I'm just about ready to start it.

Freezing sunny day today. Snow covered highway going north so I let Ryan take the 4-runner to school today. His car is so little!

I am reading "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri and I'm enjoying every minute of this lyrical story. The writing just flows. http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?textType=excerpt&titleNumber=681425 .

Last week I saw "Volver" at our local film circuit. http://www.sonyclassics.com/volver/. I really enjoyed this film about women, mothers, daughters and even though death was a theme that ran through this film, it was still enchanting and charming. I will need to see it again because with all sub-title movies, I miss the scenery and set decoration.

Also saw "Because I Said So" on Friday. A funny fluff movie. I'm such a huge Diane Keaton fan I have to see everything she does.

Day 3. Day 3 of Weight Watcher's. I've been down this road before and I know it is a good program that produces results and changes poor eating habits. I remember how light I felt after the first week...so I'm waiting for that feeling again. Today I will shop for more fruits and veggies, some flowers for a treat, and some WW treats, I will make chili for dinner from the WW cookbook, and complete my Twisted 'T' Top. I am very happy with the results except I found the top a little short. So, I picked up all the stitches from the cast-on edge and knit about a 1" strip of stockinette stitch. The picked-up part created a little decorative line. When I got past 1" I decided to add a bit of something different and did a few rows of yarn-over to create an interesting border. Two more rounds to go, bind off and then I can block it and put it away for summer. It will still fit, probably it will even fit better and look better, when some pounds are shed.

Twisted 'T' is almost finished. I am very happy with this top. This was my first attempt at a shaped garment (very basic beginner's shaping mind you) and I love love love the way it fits. I know the 'T' doesn't look great here but it will once it is blocked and completed.

I'm knitting like a house on fire to keep my mind of my hunger. I joined Weight Watchers for 3 months. I am doing the on line version and have a buddy doing the program as well. This is healthy eating for sure...I have eaten more fruits and veggies in the last 2 days than I probably would have in a week.