I’m what?

38 you say? Wow, that’s flipping amazing. I never thought I’d be that old, not ever! It’s okay though, I usually act like I’m 12.

The rain has finally stopped here in the wettest place on earth! We broke all kinds of weather records. Most consecutive days of rain, most rain in the month of March, most muddy dog footprints I’ve EVER had to clean up in a month, etc, etc.

On Saturday my mom and I met up with Linda and hit the Sewing and Needlework show in Abbotsford. I was virtuous and bought no yarn. Virtuous might be overstating it, nothing really sang out to me. Which is good. However, I should be flogged for forgetting that Saturday was Linda’s birthday! Can you imagine? I was her secret pal last year, there is positively no excuse for forgetting something that important. Ridunkulous. I’m so sorry Linda, I hope spending part of your special day with mom and me was at least a little bit fun for you!

There was a book vendor at the show, Copperfield’s Books, and they had a tonne of knitting books. Three in particular that I’ve been wanting.
So they came home with me. The mitten book is a great resource book. I’ve wanted Charlene Schurch’s book forever, but unless they reprint, that isn’t going to happen. Her “Hat’s On” book is amazing too, but not available at amazon.ca only at amazon.com. I should send a note and see if they will stock it. We are the great white north, we need hat books!

And, while I was at the momma’s I finished up two more Dulaan hats. Only 20 more days to enter the Dulaan contest. Let me hear from you!

The Patons SWS is really nice stuff. I also started working on my Noro blanket again, finally. After I farted around with the sewing/quilting you see in the last post. Mom and I got inspired at the show on Saturday and we’re both blowing the dust off of our machines. I also picked up enough cotton chenille for a baby blanket for a friend at work so I might just play around with that this afternoon. I’m pretty sure I can sew a baby blanket much faster than I can knit one so I think with all these gals at work having so many babies, that might be the way of the future for me! I’ll keep the knitting time for Dulaan and me!

Okay, I’m out. I’m going to go make another cup of coffee and head to the basement for some more sewing.

For Mom

Some of these:

and a few of these:

become one of these:

which looks like this on the other side:

When joined together, they look like this:

and this on the other side:

Now I just need to make 5 more strips, join them, snip & fray, then a wash and dry and tada, Abbie gets a new blankie. Sweet, right?

I’m in love

A word to the wise, order your own birthday presents and you will very rarely be disappointed.

These are great. If I was male, it would have been embarassing when these got delivered to work today. Yep, its that creepy how much I love these. Happy Wednesday. I’m gonna go cast on something. Anything. Just for the joy of it. God I love knitting!

Oh! I almost forgot, look what Linda made in my name! How cute is that?

And, look what CeCe made! Nice, right? Excellent cables!

Have you knit for Dulaan today? If you did, have you told me about it yet????? Dontcha wanna win? Dontcha deserve to win?

Movies & stuff

Look, a meme stolen from Lizz! Tick the movies you’ve seen. That is all.

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
(X) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
(X) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
(X) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
(X) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
(X) Saw
(X) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(X) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(X) Scream
(X) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(X) Scary Movie
(X) Scary Movie 2
(X) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie
(X) American Pie 2
(X) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
(X) Resident Evil 1
(X) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
(X) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
(X) Butterfly Effect
(X) 13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
(X) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed
(X) Meet The Parents
(X) Meet the Fockers
(X) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) King Kong
(X) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(X) Final Destination
(X) Final Destination 2
(X) Final Destination 3
(X) Halloween
(X) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving Christmas
(X) Flubber
(X) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(X) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
(X) Ghost Ship
(X) From Hell
(X) Hellboy
(X) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
(X) The Whole Ten Yards
(X) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
(X) Just Married
(X) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
(X) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
(X) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number SlevIn
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
(X) Bedazzled
(X) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(X) Independence Day
(X) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
(X) Darkness Falls
(X) Christine
( ) E.T.
(X) Children of the Corn
(X) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds
(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(X) She’s All That
(X) Calendar Girls
(X) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
( X) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
(X) X-2
(X) X-3
(X) Spider-Man
( ) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
(X) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday (More than one version)
(X) Reign of Fire
(X) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street
(X) Old School
( ) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(X) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
(X) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
(X) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
(X) American History X
( ) Three
(X) The Jacket
(X) Kung Fu Hustle
(X) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(X) Shaun Of the Dead
(X) Willard (More than one version)
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(X) Hulk
(X) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(X) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
(X) Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
( ) Kill Bill Vol. 1
( ) Kill Bill Vol. 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix: Reloaded
(X) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
(X) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal

Totally stolen from Lizz. Apparently if you have seen more than 85 you have no life. No contest there for me. And, as Lizz did, here are movies that I love that were missed:

(X) Demolition Man
(X) Withnail & I
(X) The Quick & the Dead
(X) The Breakfast Club
(X) Pitch Black
(X) Love Actually
(X) Four Weddings and a Funeral
(X) Pride & Prejudice (Colin Firth version or Greer Garson version)
(X) The Philadelphia Story
(X) Wuthering Heights
(X) Jane Eyre (the Timothy Dalton version – swoon!)
(X) To Live and Die in L.A.
(X) Notting Hill (sorry, bit of a Hugh Grant fixation)
(X) About a Boy
(X) Muriel’s Wedding

That’s all I can think of at this moment. I know there are a tonne more that I’m forgetting.

Okay, going to be now, but…one last thing…Dulaan contest…that is all.

Spring Cleaning

I packed up my first two boxes for Dulaan today. So far:

12 hats, 1 scarf, 1 cardigan, 3 afghans, 1 neckwarmer. Currently on the needles for Dulaan, 3 hats and 1 pullover. I think more scarves & neckwarmers might be a good idea. Just to balance out the hats. Here’s a pici of everything in their prepacked state:
That filled up two medium Elann boxes. I’d like to get one more boxes filled before the mailing date. We’ll have to see how much work year end allows though. Don’t forget, the Dulaan contest ends April 15. Email me (over to the right there) your picis or links to picis to be entered!

I also went through the stash and made some difficult decisions. I’m doing a little destashing over the next while. Some things are simply never going to get knitted up by me and I have to accept that and move on, hopefully to things that will get knitted up by me.

This week I also frogged the top down raglan. Tried that baby on and those horizontal stripes did not hit my chest in a flattering manner. I’m just going to do the entire top yoke in the blue and then the whole bottom/sleeves in the charcoal. I may do the picot cast turning row in the blue as well, we’ll see. I hated to frog it but I knew that I would never wear it the way it was turning out.

That is about all I have today, I’m hitting the couch for some well deserved knitting/quiet time for the rest of the afternoon.

Spring already?

And what that means to me is it was time for my yearly jaunt to the doctor’s office. Everytime I see daffodils it makes me a bit skittish knowing that my time in the stirrups is coming up. After that joy, and the fabulous small talk one makes during such an uncomfortable time, “So, you knit? That’s great!”, hubby and I had to pop over to the Walmart to pick up some yarn for a friend. No really, it was for a friend, she couldn’t find the right colours for her Harry Potter scarf so I said I would check Walmart. Stop looking at me like that, I didn’t buy anything for me. I did have 6 skeins of some 100% wool in a pretty peridot colour in my basket but I put them back. Wanna know why? As we get to the till hubby says, “Oooooo, do you really want to buy that? Won’t you have to tell on the blog that you bought yarn and broke your vow?” Yep, that’s all it took. Out of the basket they came. I just couldn’t face explaining that I had caved in after making it this far.

It was really pretty though. Oh well.

Well hello there!

And how are ye? Sorry, we were just discussing St. Patrick’s Day and I’m feeling a wee touch o’ the Irish.

We had the Big Brother’s Bowling fundraiser on Friday night. It was a 50′s theme. Here are couple of picis for you to feast your eyes upon.

Obligatory bathroom shot in the morning before leaving for work. We decided to wear our outfits to work. It was casual Friday after all. Besides that, we’re children.

Here is Vanessa and her amazingly poofy skirt. You wouldn’t think a girl could bowl in that. Vanessa may just be the most agressive bowler I’ve ever seen in my life. She didn’t so much bowl as shotput the ball down the lane!

And here is the lovely Sandra. We had to do wacky bowling, of course, this was Sandra bowling while sitting on Vanessa’s lap. Much harder than one would presume!

We had a lot of fun and our team raised almost $1,500.00 for the Big Brother cause.

In other news, it is still year end at work and yesterday began the days of the the 12 hour shifts. Wow, I had forgotten how long 12 hours felt. I think I’m getting soft the older I get. Oh well, tonight I’m home and I’m knitting and it’s all good.

I wanted to give some links to some fun knitting items that you might like to consider for Dulaan. Then you can enter the contest and maybe win a little something something. Wink wink. You know you want to! Anyway, you can find some very nice items to knit here, or here, or here, or here (as suggested by Mary on the Dulaan Knits Group), or here. That should give you a few good ideas to get the creative juices flowing. Now go forth and create! Then tell me all about it, my email is off to right there.

How you doin’?

Happy Sunday all. It is raining here like maybe I should be building an ark. So wet, and all you can smell in the house is wet dog. Yummy. Here’s a pici of the Glampyre sweater I told you about. A very quick knit. I’m going to do a picot turning round at the bottom of the body in the blue and the a turned hem on smaller needles. Should be good. I think the cuffs will be the same. This unspun Peruvian is so soft I just love knitting on this. I have two more bags in black so maybe a wee cardigan or something. I’m getting a lot of roll around the neckline so I think a round of single or reverse single crochet might be in order there.

On the Dulaan contest front, look at these adorable, (and perfectly matched) mitts that Pat made! I love them, and they look so warm. Her Swallowtail shawl is gorgeous too.

Don’t forget, every item you make and send me a pici of or a link to a pici of, you get entered to win some yummy knitting swag! You have until the middle of April so there is plenty of time, but don’t wait until the end to share your creations! We all want to see them! My email link is over there on the right.

That’s about all I’ve got for now. The day will be spent knitting, doing laundry, and making some lentil soup to keep the cold and wet at bay! Keep dry and warm everyone.

Misc.

Wow, it’s been a challenging week here at casa beentsy. Stella’s epilepsy has been particularly bad the last two days and we’re all a bit exhausted, Stella in particular. Hubby is fighting a cold and I’m knitting like a fiend to keep my sanity!

However, being the closet optimist that I am, I know that good things are always on the way. Then when they show up I can be all cocky about it! Good eh?

First good thing, Lizz is back blogging! Yay! Missed reading your stuff and seeing your knitting girl. Go look at her Christmas stockings on March 5. I’m in love with the Canucks one. Lizz has exceptional taste in books, especially when it comes to Guy Gavriel Kay. After the Fionavar Tapestry I think my favourite of his is Tigana. That book reads how good music feels. It just washes over you. Gorgeous.

Second good thing, I found the book prize for the Dulaan contest. It is the Shawls and Scarves book by Knitter’s. Lots of lace to lust over in this one. Luckily being in a box due to renovations doesn’t seem to have done it any harm! I’m not going to try taking a pici today, it is way to grey here. Pop over to amazon and you can have a peek at it.

Third good thing, with all this down time with the dog I’ve knit half of a sweater in about 3 days. No kidding, I am booking. Granted, it is on 6mm needles but I’m still well chuffed with my progress. It’s the easy top down raglan (click on pattern shop and scroll down), by Stephanie Japel. Very nice and very user friendly. I’m doing mine in denim blue Cascade Pastaz (#31) for the yoke and some charcoal unspun Peruvian wool that I got in a bag sale at Elann about 3 years ago. I’m starting to have a deep and personal relationship with my stash. Which is a excellent. I’m also burning through about 3 balls a day of this stuff so that’s all good!

See, silver lining. Oh, and I’m Bowling for Big Brothers tomorrow night. This is my third year being involved and it is such a lot of fun. It’s a fifties theme this year which should be a hoot. I have my little fuzzy cardigan and my matching scarf to tie around my neck in a jaunty manner, hair in an obligatory pony tail and chewing gum all ready. Besides, I get to wear bowling shoes. I love bowling shoes. I really should google and see if I can find a place to buy some. Hmmmmm.

Wanna be in a study?

It’s all about how you process the humour in comics.

You filled out a questionnaire to assess your learning style along four scales: active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global.

Your learning styles are: balanced active-reflective, balanced sensing-intuitive, visual, global.

• active: you learn by trying things out, and enjoy working in groups.
  reflective: you learn by thinking things through, and prefer working alone or with one or two familiar partners.
• sensing: you are concrete, practical, and oriented toward facts and procedures.
  intuitive: you are conceptual, innovative, and oriented toward theories and underlying meanings.
• visual: you prefer visual representations of presented material, such as pictures, diagrams, and flow charts.
  verbal: you prefer written and spoken explanations.
• sequential: you have a linear thinking process, and learn in incremental steps.
  global: you have a holistic thinking process, and learn in large leaps.

Your sense of humour is most similar to:

• People in their 20‘s
• People from: United States of America
• Of gender: Female
• Who speak: English
• Your sense of humour is similar to those with a balanced active-reflective, intuitive, visual, and balanced sequential-global learning style.

If you’d like to take this survey, contact Eve Forster at Queen’s University.