I cannot remember if I made any amendments to avoid holiday knitting this year or not, but as of a couple of days ago I have decided to knit a few things for a select group of people.  Here’s my list:

• Pink Mystery Project – Mystery Recipient
• Those Mitts – Cousin, Aunt, Aunt
• Toque (Pattern TBA, but maybe this) – Aunt, Aunt
• Ribbed Toque – Uncle
• Flower Power Elephant – Mom
• Yoda – Hubby
• Four Stitches (literally, it’s an inside joke) – Mom
• Argosy Blanket (65% complete) – Nephew
• Crunch Afghan (55% complete) – Mom

So yeah, my list isn’t overly long and the last two items on the list were not originally going to be for holiday gifts … they still might not be.  I’m planning to complete the other things on my list first and see how much time I have left.  The Crunch Afghan for my mom is the one I started a long long long time ago and then restarted a long long time ago.  I hate the yarn.  I should have been done 10x by now, but it’s boring and I can’t be bothered.  The Argosy blanket I kind of forgot about.  It’s been sitting in the back of my mind, but I had put it aside.  I started it 9 months ago or so.  I have been lazy, I admit that fully.

We’re well into week 3 of training and so far I’m up to 31 kilometers.  I have not done my ride for today and I didn’t ride yesterday, because I think my legs needed a rest.  I did do cardio yesterday though.  To get up to 100 kilometers this week I only need to do 13.8 kilometers a day and I’m sure I can get it done …

Tomorrow Michael and I are going to Star Wars In Concert.  I’m so excited.  My parents are watching the children for us, so we will have an entire day (almost) of just he and I … freedom and non-parenting.  It will be glorious.  :)  We center floor seats.  Did I mention I’m excited?  Totally stoked!!

Happy Knitting!!

Week Two of Official Training:  This week was my 2nd full week of training and a pretty good week at that.  Last week I logged 40 kilometers of training in 7 workouts and only 21 kilometers of that was on my bike, and that was all in one ride; the rest was in other aspects (walking, aerobics).  This week I kicked last week’s ass.  I logged a whopping 15 workouts, which works out to be 97 kilometers — 68.4 kilometers of that was on my bike.  Wicked.  Yesterday Michael and I bought a Blackburn Trakstand Fluid Trainer so we can ride in the winter.  It’s awesome.  We did 13.6 km outside today with the kids (Lily kicked ass on her new trail-a-bike, the girl can boogie) and I just finished another 10.3 km on the trainer.  My goal for week three is 100 kilometers.

We headed over to MEC yesterday morning to look around and I am spoiled rotten.  I saw the bike saddle I’ve been coveting for about a year and I showed Michael and he said “You sure this is the one you want?”  I said “Definitely!!” and he bought it for me!  I didn’t expect it.  He also bought me some bullhorns for my handlebars so I can switch up my hand positioning.  YAY!  :)  I’m such a geek.  Excited over bike parts.  I picked out some cycling shoes yesterday too.  I didn’t get them, but they’re officially on my wish list.

Here’s my new seat.  I’m coveting the matching jersey too.

Cute!!

I’ve been knitting and crocheting too, no worries, I still have my priorities straight!  :)

Have a great night all!  Happy knitting!!

Good morning everyone!

You may have noticed this symbol in my sidebar:

It links to a website called (duh) DailyMile. If you click on it you can see my training progress.  Pardon?  What am I training for, you ask?  Well, I’m training for the Paris to Ancaster bike race in April 2010.  I won’t be doing the 60 kilometer race, I’ll be doing the 35 kilometer race.  My husband and sister are also racing.  Michael did it last year and another race (or two?), so I’m going to have to train my ass off in order to even come close to keeping up with him. I am really looking forward to it. :) I can already easily do 21 kilometers of the type of track the race is on, so adding the endurance to make up the last 15 will be pretty easy, I think. We are going to get a bike trainer so we can train indoors in the winter.  It’s a neat little gadget you put your bike in and it makes it stationary.  We’ve ordered a video to follow along with so we can gear up and down as it goes (it tells you when) to change intensity levels.  Should be fun!! :)  I’m also walking lots and doing my cardio (Walk Away the Pounds) … I’m determined and energetic!  :)

Yesterday I was looking around Kijiji for a trail-a-bike for Lily.  She has her own bike, but she doesn’t have the muscle or desire to peddle it on longish bike rides and we need to be able to take all the kids with us when we are training.  We do have a trailer that she and Ethan fit in, but it’s getting crowded in there, she’s bored and we’d like to get her endurance built up so she will eventually be able to bike along side us.  Owen can do about 20 kilometers now.  He’s pretty awesome.  He’s also two years older.  Anyway … I scored.  I found an ad for a trail-a-bike not too far from here for $100 which is a little less than 1/2 the price they go for retail.  YES!  :)  We did a quick little 3.5km ride with the kids last night before my sister and I headed out for a longer ride.  Lily LOVED it.  She did awesome.  Here it is attached to my bike … Yes, they’re in the living room.

I have been knitting and crocheting.  Impressive.  My giant granny square afghan (aka basementghan) is coming along quite well.  I figure I only have 7-10 more rounds to do before it’s big enough and I can quit.  It shouldn’t take too long.

I haven’t been working on any of my current knit WIPs, rather I started a new project.  I’m knitting a super secret something.  I’m not sure if the recipient reads my blog so I can’t say who it’s for or what it is, but here’s a picture.  I don’t think he or she will be able to figure out what it is by looking at this picture.  I hope.

Oh, and Dozer chewed my 7mm crochet hook.  It’s not eaten, but it is no longer smooth and therefore it’s unusable. Lucky I have another one this size because it’s the one I’m using for basementghan.

What does Dozer think about it?  He think it’s funny.  I really think it looks like he’s laughing in this picture.  Kind of a point and laugh sort of thing.

Well, I think that’s it for today. I have to settle in and get my laundry folded. There isn’t much to do, but enough that if I don’t do it today, tomorrow there will be too much. :) Have a great one! :)

I’m a horrible knitter.  Slacker slacker slacker.

I have pictures though!! :)  YAY!

The essence of Owen.  He’s almost eight … can you tell?

Beautiful Lily.

Here is Ethan doing exactly what a two year old boy should be doing.  Playing in the dirt with trucks.

Dozer with his stick.  What a cutie, eh?

Have a great day!

Yup, it’s me.  I’m still here (are you?).  Life has gotten away from me again.  I don’t know when the last time I knitted was – maybe a week?  I want to knit, but I just cannot seem to find any time.  I suppose I could be knitting right now, but then I wouldn’t be blogging.

Last week Dozer had THE surgery.  Yup, neutered.  He’s recovering quite well and is back to his normal self, only now there’s no chance of him impregnating the stuffed cow he likes to get busy with.  Last week we had to renew our mortgage.  We got a good rate.  3.6% … they wanted to give us 4.5% but Michael is good at haggling.  Good times.  Glad to have both those done and over with.

Halloween was a blast.  Valerie came trick or treating with us.  The kids had a great time too.  Owen dressed as a Ninja/Pirate (Nirate?), Lily was a Monarch Butterfly and Ethan was a pumpkin.  Valerie dressed as a witch, my sister and her baby boy were matching pumpkins and I wore my devil horns.  Michael, lmao, dressed up as a priest.  Funny stuff.

With all this H1N1 panic going around I’m trying to keep my head about things.  Do I vaccinate my kids?  Do I not?  Ethan is the only member of the family who falls into a high risk category, thus, in our area, he’s the only member of the family who could currently be vaccinated, and even then if I booked an appointment it would be two or three weeks from now.  I’m not 100% sure of what I’m going to do, but right now I’m not vaccinating.  The media and government and this doctor and that doctor are all giving out different “factual” information about H1N1 vs. the vaccine and I’m not sure who to believe.  I know all the pros and cons of each, but it’s a pretty even playing field which makes it an exceptionally difficult decision.

No pictures today, sorry!  I am hoping to get some up soon.  Have a great day! :)

Please now, everyone don’t fall over due to shock.  I’ve been known for doing this on a very rare occasion … very rare.  This was, however, my first attempt at banana bread.  I was inspired yesterday by Alisha when I saw her pumpkin bread.  I was going to make the pumpkin bread, but I didn’t have everything needed, so I printed the recipe and kept browsing around.  I came across this banana bread recipe, and guess what?  I had everything!

Today I baked!

Yum!

Knitting pictures to come. :)

UPDATE!!  Milly has been found!  She is safe and sound with a patrol man from the local pound and on her way home to her family at this very moment!

This is Milly, a chocolate Labrador Retriever.

Milly is missing.  She’s from the Sydney area of Australia.  The fence in her yard broke from heavy winds and she escaped.  If you or anyone else you knows is in this area, please repost this.  Milly is chipped and registered.  If you find her please turn her into the local vet or RSPCA.

Her family is distraught, to say the least.

Come home Milly!!

Currently she has pink toenails.

Wow, we barely got a summer here in Southern Ontario and already it’s mitten weather.  I was reminded of this yesterday when we went for a family bike ride and the tips of my fingers, not covered by my cycling gloves, were chilly.  In searching through the cold weather gear I also discovered that Ethan does not have any mittens to fit him.

That’s a problem.

Here’s the solution:

Ethan chose the colour himself.  I had planned to knit him red mittens, but he wanted teal.  Who knew a two year old actually had a preference?!  One mitten down, one to go.  I’m going to knit him a red pair as well.

Another discovery I made today is that it’s hard to knit when a labrador retriever puppy is chasing and biting the blunt end of a knitting needle.  Thanks for your help Dozer.  :)

Hello fellow knitters.  Life has been keeping me fairly busy lately.  I can’t say with exactly what, because it’s been a whirlwind, but I just don’t seem to have the same amount of time as I used to.  The days still have 24 hours, right?

In advance I apologize for the crappy quality pictures. I took them with hubby’s camera as mine does not have any batteries right now.

Last week we aquired a new dining room set.  I loathed my old set.  It was a hand me down of a hand me down.  Functional, but not pretty at.all.  I am so grateful and happy we’ve been able to get a new one!  :)

We also happened to aquire a new coffee table and side table for our living room — no pics, sorry. However, because I care about keeping this set nice, as opposed to our kid beaten Ikea table, I decided coasters were in order. It may be hard to tell, but these are miter squares with fun fur around them. I like ‘em. :) The glass would have been better full, but hey, it’s only 10am. I’m going to make a couple more.

Here’s the Aestlight Shawl. I screwed up on the last row but don’t know where. I have the correct number of stitches, but my pattern seems to be off. C’est la vie. I’m not tinking.

Last but not least here is the Basementghan. I’m using scrap bulky yarn to crochet an giant granny square. It’s great for watching tv, and since the weather has been cooler it keeps me warm while I’m working on it. :)

That’s it for now. Lily is home from school today, she has a cough that kept her up all night. Not only do I not want to subject her fellow students to her germs, but I don’t want to subject them to her lack of sleep either. The girl is grumpy.

Have a great day!! :)

I can admit when I’ve been a bad girl … I’m such a slacker!  I have barely been knitting — I’m crocheting an afghan — and I haven’t blogged at all in over two weeks!

I’m still plugging away on my Aestlight Shawl.  I lost the piece of paper I had my row number written down on, only to find out hubby stole it.  Thankfully he knew where he had put it so I can now take it off hold and continue.  Whew!! 

We recently aquired a new dining room set, so I’m looking at different ways to make placemats and whatnot.  I think I might make some felted ones.  Something colourful and funky that will look nice in my dining room.  I’d also like to make a table runner, however I’m not planning to do that for awhile because I have a 6 month old puppy and a 2 year old boy living in my house and things that dangle off tables are fair game to both of them.  Yesterday I cast on for a coaster.  We also got a new coffee table and side table for our living room and the days of not using coasters is gone.  I’m hoping to go out and buy some funky coasters, but I think having a couple hand knitted ones would be cool. :)

I have four WIPs I need to get done.  I also need to get some holiday knitting done.  AND I need new toques for both Ethan and I.  Lots to do.  Not sure when I’ll get it all done. 

We bought tickets for Star Wars In Concert yesterday.  I’m stoked!  What can be better than Star Wars and the orchastra all rolled into one?!?!  WICKED.  It’s for our anniversary (11 years on October 24th) … the concert is on November 26th.  I’ve already firmed up a babysitter and all that jazz!  :)

This is what a six month old labrador puppy looks like after a busy busy day.

Dozer is six months old today.  Happy 1/2 Birthday Dozer!! :)  Have a great one folks!  Happy Knitting!  Keep warm!