Breathing again.

For the first time in what seems like months, my coworker W-S and I are laughing this afternoon. It feels good. We sort of have a reputation in the office for being loud and laughing a lot. I don't think I laughed much in the weeks before Easter. (I still am finding it difficult to say the words "Mom died". even just typing that now made me tear up a bit). It's good, now, to be getting back to life a little. The feeling of face relaxing after a good belly laugh is refreshing.

I want to thank you all, readers and passers-by. Thank you for your encouragement and condolences and virtual far away hugs and care. I appreciated and appreciate the concern and the feeling of community.

The past week and a half, and even longer as we realized Mom was indeed deteriorating, have been especially difficult. But I'm also realizing now how much pain and discomfort and robbing of her SELF my Mom was spared. It was really hard to see her struggle to speak at times or to feel like she was putting people out when they helped her or even when the nurses did their jobs as regarded her. I would give anything for more time with Mom, but, I can now see that she was spared greater pain and indignity and for that I feel gratitude and some relief.

But I miss her so much. There are so many conversations we should have still had or continued. So many visits and things I should have learned from her.

The week of the funeral was difficult as you would expect. But the people of the small town where Mom lived (where I grew up) were good to us, bringing food and just letting us know they will miss my Mom. At least 3 different women told me that they had lost their best friend in my Mom. I think that's as great a testiment to how she lived as anything.

I lost mine too I think.

The picture at the top is a heavy green glass bowl that belonged to Mom. I don't know exactly where it came from but I suspect it was a wedding present. For some reason I have loved this bowl ever since I was small. We haven't done anything to sort through the house yet but I brought this bowl home with me. It reminds me of Mom but doesn't make me sad. I needed it.

I'm having trouble concentrating on any one project right now, which I suspect is a combination of stress/grief/spring but I just received the Prince Charming blanket from the Western Canadian Oddball Baby Blanket group. I need to pick up some yarn and pick a stitch pattern and then I'm looking forward to comfort knitting, both for myself and for the eventual recipient of this blanket.

Thank you again.

Away

I'll be away for a while, not that I was so regular a blogger before.

We lost my Mom this morning. She battled long and hard against this beast, this cancer, but in the end she slipped away quietly in her sleep.

I was able to be with her yesterday and I know she knew I was there, but she wasn't able to speak. My brother and his wife and kids were there as was my sister and my oldest nephew. We all believe that Mom was holding on until we got there and once she saw us all she was able to rest.

I'll be in Saskatchewan this week. The funeral will be Thursday. Thank you all for praying for my Mom. She knew and she was grateful.

Holding on

I want to write about what I've been making, but the thing is, I can't seem to concentrate on any one thing long enough to do anything. I worked on my quilt a bit on Friday (the craft craving day) but since then have been bouncing from project to project.

My mom has been deteriorating over the last month. I was home with her two weekends ago. She was noticeably weaker and was having a lot of trouble with speaking again. Since I was there she has been getting worse and is now in hospital. I'll be honest. It doesn't look good. I'm having trouble thinking about the situation and at the same time I can't stop thinking about it.

My mom has always been so strong. She beat breast cancer. In the fall of 2007 she beat the tumors in her lungs and made it through chemo again. She came back from the brain tumors in December and made it through radiation. But this time it is looking like she's not winning. I can't deal with that.

There is nothing I can do but pray and be here for my siblings. I'll be going to visit her this coming weekend. We don't know how many more chances we'll have. I don't do well with the unknown. With waiting for the inevitable when there is no timeline. I can't think about what she is going through and what is still to come. I hope and pray with every fiber of my being that I'll look back on this post in a couple of months and laugh about my fear with my mom. But I fear that I won't get that chance.

So, once again, I'm asking, begging for your prayers.

While I was home Mom mentioned several times that she wished she had something to put at my Dad's grave for Easter. It's a little thing but today I decided to try to make a wreath to put on the stand we have out there. I bought a grapevine wreath and some artificial flowers and came up with this:


I was planning to fill the whole thing, I have more flowers, but I kind of like it the way it is.


I wound some ribbon around to see how it looks. I'm not sure. Thoughts?

It won't last indefinitely out there but I wanted to do something for Mom and for my Dad and... I just needed to do something. It's not enough, but this is how I cope. You understand.

Craft Craving

Today I want to leave work and go home and sew. Either by machine or by hand (the quilting on my quilt... or the hexagons that i started in the summer...). Do you ever get craft cravings like that? I get an idea and that's all I want to do. It takes over and won't be settled until I sit down and do that craft. Right now it's sewing. Tomorrow it might be spinning or weaving or knitting or building a canoe out of the tree outside my window.

If only I could indulge my cravings while earning a living (or indulge my cravings at my current job without losing my ability to earn a living...)...

Sigh.

I hope to have some pictures to post over the weekend. There's a bit of spinning. And i have a great idea for something I want to sew.

If only I could get home and do those things now. Sigh.

Craft Therapy

Ever had a hard day where nothing seemed to go right and you just feel off? I had one today. I feel wrung out and like I want to call in "exhausted" to work tomorrow. So this evening I'm knitting and watching hockey. My wool doesn't argue with me, nor does it vocalize dissent or question my decisions (although sometimes I question my decisions regarding the wool) so it's good therapy for a day like today.

Also good therapy is revisiting my weekend's accomplishments.

Friday evening/Saturday morning:




4oz Sheep Shed brown mix mill ends. I don't know the exact wool blend. I'm really loving this wool. It spun so smoothly and has a really pleasing wooly feel without being overly scratchy. The first strip I pulled from the bag was exactly 4 oz. I had read here and there that sometimes the strips were quite short, so that was a nice surprise. I bought 2 lbs of the brown mix and 2 lbs of the black/grey mix... I'm planning good things for both. I think the brown mix will make a really nice jacket for me. As will the grey....

On-going:




My quilt. I've decided to hand quilt the cross-ways sashings and will work out some handquilting for the blocks. I'm using embroidery floss (which just happens to be exactly the color of the sashings! score!) and taking fairly big stitches, as far as quilting goes. I'm really loving the look of it and it's going fairly quickly, but I'm just enjoying the task and not rushing it.

Saturday:




Margaret Bag (tutorial found on the linked page) from Oh, Fransson!
Fabric: linen panel from Ikea and lined with some cotton from stash
I love this bag. I didn't read the dimensions on the bag before I started so I was a bit surprised at the finished size, but after using it today for work I realize how much I love it. My coworker tried to steal it. (no she didn't, but she really liked it so I watched her really closely all day)(haha)(Hi Wen Shu!)

I would love to make another in a more spring/summery fabric. The pattern/tutorial is very well written and easy to follow and the bag looks so much more tailored than other bags I've made without patterns/tutorials... I assume that is less my skill level and more the pattern, so thanks to Elizabeth for that!

And now, I plan to put down the back of my Hex Jacket (Oh yeah, i need to blog that) and lie down and watch Jack Bauer get out of and then into more trouble. I feel better now, having worked through some therapy, sigh.

I'm totally not blogging from work I don't know what you're talking about.

today is too quiet at work. but don't tell my boss that.

Exhibit 1: MSN conversation with my friend Sheri:
Lori says:
i'm about 3 seconds away from breaking out my knitting
Lori says:
i have ntohing to do
Lori says:
and my parcel (more fiber!!) is at the post office!!!
Lori says:
and it's super warm in here
Sheri says:
oh fun
Sheri says:
something to do this weekend
Lori says:
yeah so now i have to decide between going outside in the warm-ish air OR finishing my blanket OR finishing my sweater OR spinning like a maniac.
Lori says:
my life is hard
Lori says:
I didn't even put on that list "clean" or "eat" or "sleep"


I think I need to go home now... Anyone have any fun plans for the weekend?

Reconstruction Weekend

It's Tuesday already, isn't it? wow. How did that happen? This past weekend unintentionally ended up being a recycle/reconstruct weekend for me and time just sort of flew by.

Saturday

I had big plans of cleaning/organizing on Saturday but those plans went out the window when I came across a 100% wool sweater that was in the pile of clothing The Boy gave me for crafting/recycling.



I love the color and feel of the wool and knew I wanted to make something with it. I started to take it apart and realized that it was machine knit (but with good seams! yay!) from 2 strands of wool.

Now, here is where the "you WHAT?" questions would start from any non-Knitters/non-Crafters... but you won't do that, will you?

So, I didn't want to knit a whole sweater with 2 strands held together, so I decided to try spinning the 2 together, not plying exactly, more just creating a sort of melded yarn single.



This "single" was looking a touch fine for what I wanted, so I also tried plying my "single" back on itself. Now it was too thick.



So, I did what any reasonable Crafter/Knitter/Spinner would do when faced with a men's large 100% wool sweater knit with 2 strands of yarn held together.

I separated the 2 strands and then wound them on my ball winder and then chain (navajo?) plied them to make a 3 ply yarn that turned out to be JUST RIGHT. (about 180 yds/2 1/2 oz)



Much like Goldilocks.

Honestly, it didn't take nearly as long as it sounds like it would. (Although, also honestly, I have only done one sleeve's worth.) I love the feel of the finished yarn. I need to swatch it to be sure but I think it will end up being the perfect yarn. I want to knit the Tangled Yoke Cardigan from Interweave Knits and I think this will end up being just right for it. I hope. cross fingers/knock on wood/etc.

Sunday

After brunch out with The Boy I came home and was compelled* to start working on a quilt I've had in mind since I first got the bag of clothes from The Boy. I had seen a quilt in a movie that looked like it was made with large sections of mens dress shirts and knew that was what i wanted to do with the shirts in the bag of clothing.

I first deconstructed each of the shirts (3 mens large 100% cotton shirts) and ironed them, squaring the ends and cutting them into the right widths.



I then cut strips from a 100% cotton sheet I had leftover from my duvet cover. I pieced the shirts and strips and cut those strips into 5 foot lengths. Then I sewed the strips together and voila!



It's about 5 feet wide and just over 5 1/2 feet long. Perfect for napping or curling up on the couch.

Now i just need to quilt it. I got impatient yesterday and decided to sew it together so that it's got finished edges already (i.e. not bound... i can't think of the term for what I mean!!) I plan to machine quilt along the long lines and, if i'm patient enough, do some quilting in the blocks as well.

I wonder if anyone would be suspicious if I called in "sick" this afternoon?? not that I would... or would I?

*seriously, COMPELLED. I started pulling the shirts out while I still had my jacket on. I started on this project at 12 noon and, with a brief break for supper, worked until 8 or so in the evening. I kept thinking "just this little bit more" and next thing I knew it was evening. I can't be the only one who ever does this, right?

***ETA: Now I'm thinking about the quilt and seriously considering tying it instead of machine quilting. The material for the "batting" is not very lofty, so I would probably not get the super cool quilting that I love so much, plus it would be faster. But I do so love the graphic look of straight quilting lines... Oh I'm so terrible with decisions!! Any advice? Any strong opinions??

Lentil Soup

... in which I pretend to be a Foodie



The conditions were perfect: We had a big dump of snow over night and it's cold (-15C/5F at 1:30 pm) so I wanted some warming soup, but I didn't have any soup in the apartment. I've been meaning to write down my recipe for Lentil Soup for my friend Sheri. The light was perfect in my kitchen... and I have a new camera (yippee) and wanted to play. So, my apologies, this one's picture heavy.

I don't remember where exactly I got the recipe, I couldn't find it in my cookbooks today when I was looking, so I just winged it. The quantities may need to be adjusted to suit your personal preferences.


Bring 2 Cups red Lentils, water & chicken broth to a boil.


Coarsely chop 1 small-medium onion.


Heat 1 Tbsp olive (or vegetable/canola) oil in a skillet. Sautee onion & garlic and add spices.


Add curry powder, corriander, cumin, crushed red pepper, garam masala (if available).


Cook spices, onions and garlic for 5 minutes.


Stir in onions, garlic and spices. Cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 cup milk or light cream, stirring to combine. Let it cool for a bit, even though you'll be soooo hungry after smelling it cooking...



The Recipe:

Lentil Soup
Combine in a large pot:
2 cups Red Lentils
4 cups water
4 cups chicken broth (or 4 cups water & 4 tsp chicken broth powder)
1/2 tsp cumin
Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Turn heat to low/medium-low as soon as it reaches a boil.

In a skillet heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or vegetable oil). Add:
1 small/medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp corriander
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala (I have it on hand so I threw it in today. I have made the soup without also)
1/2 tsp salt
Cook for 5 minutes then add to soup pot, stirring to combine.
Cook for 30-45 minutes over medium low heat. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup milk or light cream, stirring to combine.
Enjoy!

This was fun! I'm no Melanie but I can see why people get excited about taking pictures of food! I do have knitting and other things to share... Now that we've had the time change I'll be able to take pictures when I get home from work from time to time. So... I'll post knitting/spinning/weaving updates soon.

"So whatcha doin'?"

Anytime the Boy calls he asks me "So whatcha doin'?" Inevitably I'm knitting, spinning, weaving or sewing. When he called this afternoon and asked this, I was cutting scrap fabric for a quilt top. He asked "Are you ever not working on something crafty? Don't you ever just not do anything?" I had to think about that one. I can't think of the last time I wasn't making something. Sometimes while watching TV I'll put my knitting down for a while but never for long.

So today I finished this:






eta: oops! forgot the details:
Pattern: Irish Moss Toque (Ravelry link here)
Yarn: Mystery wool (similar to Patons Classic Wool) from Walmart ($4.99/lb bag! woo!)
Mods: -I knit 2 1/2 inches with a finer wool in the same color for a liner to cover my ears on the inside. I knit a turning round with my main wool and then started the cable pattern. I tacked this liner down after it was complete.
-my gauge was off so I started my decreases for the top 1/2 way through the 2nd repeat of the chart - the pattern called for starting after the 2nd repeat. Actually, i didn't discover that my gauge was off until I had completed the 2nd repeat of the chart. I told the Boy "I should have checked my gauge!" to which he replied "Of course! Why didn't you check your gauge? You should know better! I always check my gauge" and so on. I let him go on for a while before I finally asked him "do you even know what that means?" Which, of course, he did not. I called him a dumbass and proceeded to rip out 10 rounds of cables. Fun.

And I cut all of these:



and started sewing this:



So, a fairly typical day. You? What do you do with your "free" time? Do you or can you just "not do anything"? (yeah that question is terrible grammatically speaking but you get the drift)

Putting on my Jessica Fletcher Glasses

At work I often end up doing detective work to try to figure out what happened with a customer's account. My company moved its Admin operations to Calgary 1 1/2 years ago and none of the Admin staff made the move from Vancouver (we were all new hires in Calgary), so we don't have the historical knowledge that we would have had. I often say I need my own detective show as I successfully spelunk the files for the one piece of information needed to make sense of a problem.

Last week, my friend Sheri needed me to help her sort out a particularly gnarled problem. I said "Let me just put on my Jessica Fletcher glasses and I'll take a look." I have no idea where that came from, but it seemed to stick.

So today, to make Sheri laugh, I changed my profile pic on MSN.



Sheri says:
haha that's hilarious
Sheri says:
you are hott
Lori says:
i love the look on her face
Lori says:
i mean: my face
Sheri says:
very what is it inquisitive
Lori says:
haha
Lori says:
the slight "oh, there you are, what IS that thing sticking out of your back? is that a dagger? Well, who put THAT there?" look
Sheri says:
haha yes that's it

Clearly I am veryvery busy and important at my job... ehem.

It's just a movie... It's Just a movie!

Late Breaking* Oscar winning** movie news***: I don't know if you're aware of this, but the original Jaws is a scary scary movie****. I've seen it before but it's been years and years. I'm watching it on TV today and, even though I know what is coming up next and even though I live in a land-locked province, all I can think right now is "I am NEVER EVER going in the water again. Ever."

To distract us from this scary scary movie:



I spun this last week. 2 ply, about a sport weight but I don't know the yardage (forgot to count it). I love my new cameraThe Boy's camera. The shot above would not have been possible with my camera.



I have a new 3 ply that I spun this weekend but The Boy forgot to leave me the charger for my new camera his camera and sadly, he is in Vegas this weekend so I have no charger, therefore no awesome camera, therefore no new shots of the pretty 3 ply yarn. I hope you'll survive the anticipation.

Tonight I plan to watch the Oscars, something I rarely do (I usually just catch bits and pieces throughout the evening). We'll see how long I last before I go nuts. I just turned on the E! red carpet coverage (Jaws is over. WHEW), which I've never watched before, it's kind of interesting in a way. I haven't seen any truly crazy dresses yet but I hope there will be something insane soon!

*Yes, I'm aware it came out in 1975
**Film Editing, Original Score & Sound. Duh dum. Duh dum. Duh dum. (shivers down spine)
***Fine, it's not "news" per se, but I had forgotten and I have nothing else "new" to report
****I don't get scared watching movies very often, but when you're watching a movie you've seen before, that is part of the cultural lexicon, that you KNOW THE ENDING to, that you know what the scary thing is and you STILL cover your eyes, jump up on the couch, say "OH NO OH NO OH NO" as the music (Duh dum. Duh dum. Duh dum) starts... yeah. Scary. Plus: 70's fashions.

Diamond Lattice Stole

Finally



According to my notes on this project on Ravelry, I started in May 2008. The knitting wasn't difficult and I was loving the fabric it was producing, I just kept getting bored/distracted while working on it. I finally decided to just finish already on Sunday and here she is.



Pattern: Based on the Diamond Lattice lace chart from the Drawstring Chemise in the Spring 2008 Interweave Knits.
Yarn: My handspun, Seascape. Approximately 550 yards. I used all but about a yard of it. The yarn is about a fingering weight and is so soft and ... sigh. I love it.
Measurement: 18" x 72"



I can use it as a stole for all the super dressy events I attend, but I'll most likely use it more as a scarf.


(I just realized these aren't the most in-focus pictures. I need to figure out the self-timer on my new camera The Boy's camera)



It's light and fluffy and warm and cozy all at once. It's a welcome burst of color in a dreary February in Calgary.

Did I mention I love it?

One more for good measure:


I'm so very glad I finally finished this knit. I wish it hadn't taken me so long. Sigh. Did I mention I love it?

Corduroy Bag

The Boy is away this weekend, so no Valentine's Day outings for me. I don't mind, I'm not much of a Valentine's person anyway. Plus, he left me his digital SLR to play with, so I've been having fun. And, I've been sewing.



A couple of weeks ago The Boy was cleaning out clothes he no longer wears and brought me some items he thought I might want for crafting. Nice to see he's learning... As soon as I saw the pair of wide-wale corduroys I knew they were meant to be a new bag.



I made a simple bag with lining.



I used magnetic snaps, which was a new thing for me.



I had this idea a while ago to use belts for straps on a purse so I figured I would use them on this bag.



I'm fairly happy with it, except I need to figure out if I want to try to secure the bag to the belts in order to stop the scrunching. I stitched through sides with the holes in the belt but the other sides are not secured. Not sure yet if I should try to do something on those sides also.



I may have gone a little picture happy... expect more posts soon. Exciting, huh? I may just "accidentally" "forget" to give the camera back.

Sahara. Finally.

My project notes on Ravelry indicate a start date in May 2008 for this one. That can't be right. Or maybe it is. It was a long time. But, she's finally done and I love her.


Pattern: Sahara by Wendy Bernard (Knit & Tonic).
Yarn: Butterfly Super 10. My scale shows that it was exactly 1 pound, which would make it about 996 yards in total.
Mods: Knit on US 8/5mm needles (pattern calls for US 6); 3/4 length sleeves - changed the frequency of sleeve decreases to accommodate; added length in the body; knit the XS size sleeve due to my larger row gauge.


I love this sweater. It fits perfectly and is very comfortable. I foresee more of these in my future.

Just not right now.

This one was languishing in my WIPs bin for a long time with one complete sleeve and one 1/3 done sleeve. Why would I do that you ask? Well, I had already knit 2 sleeves-- one following the pattern exactly and one when I realized that my row gauge was very different from that specified and it would make for a better fit if I followed the directions for the XS sleeve rather. By the time the 2nd sleeve was done I was no longer feeling the love for the sleeves. So it sat. And sat. Then last weekend I decided to just finish it already. So I picked it up and quickly blew through sleeve #3. And promptly realized I wasn't following the notes I had written for myself and ended up having to frog 40 rounds of sleeve. And so, this one sweater ended up with me knitting almost 4 complete sleeves.

She's lucky she fit so well or she may have become a really pretty colored rag.

(I know, I shouldn't blame the knit item for the problems but who am I going to blame? Myself?? haha)

I'b sick. sniff.

There's a mutant death cold/flu going around my office and I managed to come down with it Sunday. I've been holed up on my couch covered in a cozy felted blanket (I'll keep the one with the blues, mostly by default. Wouldn't want to gift an infected blanket... ) watching TV and knitting.

Yesterday I finished a pair of socks for my friend Cobi

Pattern: Go With The Flow socks from Interweave Knits Summer 2005
Yarn: Estelle Cadenza in orange


This pattern knit up very quickly. Or maybe it was just that I managed to avoid distraction (mostly) while knitting them. They're a touch small on me, Cobi's feet are shorter than mine. I hope they fit. The pooling worked itself in spirals on the first sock and in bigger splotches on the second. It would have been cool if the pooling worked out the same on both but I can deal.

Today I'm working on my mittens and watching the Inauguration and speech and hoopla. What a great moment in history. I know I'm not American, but it really does feel hopeful.

We're in a Chinook right now, but it's supposed to be -12 C by the weekend. I hope to have new mittens by then. I think I can do it.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I need more juice and a nap.

Recycled Sweater Blankets

Years ago, before this blog, before I knew about Craftster, before it ever occurred to me to take pictures of things i made, I got this idea for a blanket made from squares of felted sweaters. Now, of course, this type of project is all over the internet. At the time, however, I don't know where I got the idea. I don't have a picture of that blanket, it was a Christmas gift for my friend Cobi and she loved it. I always meant to make one for my friend Julie, but never got around to it.

So I finally decided to make one for her and dug out the leftover squares from Cobi's blanket. I added more felted sweaters to make up enough for the blanket. I zig-zagged the squares into strips and the strips into the blanket like I had with Cobi's blanket. But after I was done I realized there were many many many spots where there were gaps in the sewn strips...



I set it aside, frustrated, and decided to try again. So I gathered more wool sweaters and made a second blanket, figuring I would keep the original one for myself since it wasn't good enough to give away. While I was making the second blanket I realized that I could sew over the original seams and get the gaps taken care of. I don't know why that didn't occur to me before...


So now I have a dilemma: Which one do I give Julie and which one do I get to keep?

Blanket #1:


Blanket #2:


I think I may ask Julie to pick the one she wants. Is that tacky? or brilliant?