Greetings From Mullingar!

Everyone says hello from Ireland!

We can't get Dave off the guitar.












Meg and Ciara are playing solitare together (um... if that's possible)















Hope everyone had a safe and healthy Christmas! Not sure how much posting I will do while . The only knitting going on is Owen's Christmas pressie - I'm cabling feverishly to get his Aran Jumper done before I leave.

When I Grow Up....

I'm definitely going to be my mother!

Update from Canada:
A little snow today, have to go and get groceries later when the roads clear. It is cool this am, glad I have the wood fire. The new room is finished enough to have a holiday dinner out there. The wood fire works and there is heat in the floor, so everyone will be warm and I will put some extra rum in the egg nog.

Love Mom

Max is here!!!

Denisa gave birth to a beautiful baby boy yesterday!!!

Sorry the pictures are so dark...
THIS is why Santa should get me a new camera ;)



Just in case you're wondering, she had three helpings of my very banany Banana Bread the night before. Naturally, I'm taking as much credit as humanly possible for the healthy and speedy delivery of baby Max. LOL

Snow in Franconia

So we finally got the snow in Franken (Franconia) and it's forecasted to snow the entire week. Until Saturday, when it's supposed to rain :( So much for a white Christmas, but my hopes are still up. This is the view out of my office window today. It's not as dark as my camera makes it out to be, but it is just as cold as it looks!






On a warmer note, I found more German yarn on Friday in my favourite LYS. It's Frankengarn, which means the sheep can't be more than, say, 25 miles from me. How cool is that?!! It's not the finest, but the sock yarn is a merino/silk mix that makes it ultra-soft. I love the picture of the shepherd and the sheep on the band, kind of Christmassy, eh?

I cast on yesterday and tried to run a cable down the side after I finished the ribbing, but the yarn totally doesn't want to play ball, there's a very high split factor here. So I ripped back and figured I'd just do stockinette. But have you ever knit stockinette in grey, I think it's got to be worse than navy blue! I ripped back 2 inches of boring sock this morning and am doing a modified rib that makes me happier and I'm assuming the yarn as well since it's stopped splitting so much.

I will have to get another ball or two, 50 grams is only 150 yards and I don't think it'll be enough for the Irishman's boat feet. Maybe I'll have more time and check out the other colours!

Striped Monster Sock

Can you believe this is a sock for a 4 year old???

His sister and I agree that the Tiger theme is a good one for him - hopefully this sock and its mate (cast on about 10 seconds ago) will keep his tootsies warm on the flight to Ireland after Christmas.

Guess Who Came to Dinner in Nova Scotia??

Our snow is just about gone, had warm rain yesterday. There are four dear in the picture; one is behind the arbor eating the clematis? Dear little things, they just about came up to the house.

Will take a picture later but the “three year” quilt was finished on Sat. at 10:00 AST. I need to put the binding on, wash it and find a secure spot, out of harms way for it to rest. Think I will keep it for a while to look at in case anyone was interested.

Lots of love

Mom

Okay Mumsie, now we're all waiting for a picture of the quilt!!! :)

And the Irishman wants to know if it's venison for Christmas Dinner!

Instant Gratification

My favourite gratification of all time!

I cast on for the hat yesterday and knit all the way down to my ears by quittin' time. Now I'm not sure whether to rip back and redo the last rows with fuzzy/eyelashy stuff or to make a floppy fisherman hat brim and look for a cute Diddl pin to make the front look posh. If you don't know Diddl, check this out. This big-eared rodent keeps popping up everywhere and his picture is on nearly everything from backpacks to notepaper to clothing. And Ciara wants all of it!!! She even has a super large binder with a collection of different notepaper - whatever happened to Garbage Pail Kids, eh? So finding a Diddl pin and putting it on the hat would totally get me points towards my entry in the SuperStepMom Hall of Fame, dontcha think?

Since I forgot my fuzzy yarn this morning, the hat (and brim decision) will have to wait until this evening. To keep my hands busy at work I cast on stitches with Opal Tiger to make socks for Saskwatch the Toddler. Regia website says to cast on 56 stitches for his foot size - the kid is 4 years old!!! Even more amazing, Ciara is 9 years old and her feet are now bigger than mine! Dude, I wear a ladies 8, no foot binding here.

When did MiracleGro team up with Gerber's????

Double or Nothing

There's a lucky girl in Germany who's going to get a fluffy blue hat with eyelash-adorned brim for Christmas this year. And if I can keep kicking major ass with my knitting time at work, there will be a matching scarf to boot!

This is the Eroica yarn I picked up on the Yarn Crawl in Wuerzburg. I had imagined a really cute pullover for myself, but who am I kidding here, hats are way more fun to make :)

I was inspired by Kitten of Doom to make a flat top until the size seemed right and knit circles until it fits over my ears.

I think I'll finish with fluffy yarn like this and call it the City Hat!

And it shall be my squishy :)

Snow in Nova Scotia

Pictures from Mum's first snow fall - whataview!