Thank you...and more Thomas!

Thanks to the Ninja for the dyeing fun today. And thanks to the Ninja's husband for building a tree house that The Boy will be talking about forever. And thank you to Mr. Munchkin for letting The Boy play in the tree house. Thank you to Mrs. Happy for letting The Boy hold Henry all the way home (oh, and sorry about that coughing thing, I hope you didn't get too, uh, you know, splattered!).

I can't wait til my freshly dyed yarn is finished and I can take a photo!

And now, for the pleasure of a little boy who's mother is a knitter, more pictures of Thomas and friends. Enjoy!

Imagination meets reality...

Loughborough Station, October 2007

I just wanted to share this photo from our recent trip, for all those of you out there who doubted him. In the words of The Boy just before this picture was taken, "He's really really real!"

For those of you with small children--if you ever get an opportunity to spend "A Day Out With Thomas", it's worth every penny. Not much chance in Canada, although he does visit Ontario, Alberta and BC.

Another fingerless mitts update

I have completed 6 fingerless mitts in 6 days. Pictures to follow at some point soon, when I can get the camera back from House Man who has taken it to the Model Train Show with The Boy.

The fingerless mitts update

I have 4 mitts done, I'm on the 5th. Christmas knitting here I come!

For those who have asked, the pattern is a freebie that I found on the internet. It's a very nice pattern, easy and the finished result is a great mitt. You can find it on Ravelry if you know me there (I'm Alison on Ravelry as well). If not, then here is a link.

Christmas Knitting.

No, seriously. Those of you who know me also know that I swear that I never do Christmas knitting. Well, somehow, this year, I have been sucked into the bottomless pit of despair that calls itself Christmas knitting. It started with these:

Hmm. That's not a very attractive background, is it? Maybe this one is better:

The socks are for the only non-knitting commenter on this blog. She's seen them, and even tried the first one on, so I'm not worried about her seeing them here. No surprise for you this year Fi! Also, according to her blog, she's just started knitting again. And this coming a mere two weeks after I visited and let her try on the socks? Coincidence? I think not! Muhahahahahahaha! (ETA--read the comments--she just outed herself as a knitter! Fiona, you can live in denial no longer. Knitters will have world domination, and you are one of us now!)

Then I found a blanket that I started years ago (possibly for my niece before she was born--she's almost 6 now, so it really has been a long time!). I have no idea what size I meant this to be, but I still have 3 balls of the yarn left ( Lily Sugar Babies cotton), and they're each 140g. Anyway, I decided that I would just cast off right then and there and have an almost instant finished object. It's cradle sized. I also decided to continue with the black and white cat motif:

Well, when will I learn not to put blankets next to cats?

I'll never get that blanket out from under that cat! Literally, he's a very heavy cat.

Moving on to the next bit of Christmas knitting:

I've finished the first pair. I need to do two more pairs. Somehow, I had the brilliant idea that I would knit them for The Boy's daycare teachers--he has three daycare teachers. One of them saw my fingerless mitts when I dropped the boy off the other day and remarked that they would be great for tying shoelaces out in the playground in the cold weather. Anyway, you can see that the blanket is still firmly attached to the cat. The yarn is from Mirasol, and is lovely. And only $8 per skein! A skein is just enough to finish these fingerless mitts. I have 300, 303, 306, and 308 in the Hacho.

Anyway, I'm off to knit some mitts.

PS I organised my stash on Saturday night. The Boy informed me that I had made a big mess and needed to clean it up! I have 4 rubbermaids, 6 individual bags of a sweater's worth each, and some other stuff hiding under the couch that I don't yet have the courage to confront! I have an entire large rubbermaid container of acrylic in my house! How did that happen? Who brought that acrylic in here?

PPS I just confronted the yarn under the couch. Barely enough for two adult sweaters and three child sized ones, so not as bad as I feared. Found I had this hidden under there though. That's the entire kit, not just the pattern.

PPPS I'd actually like to finish with this photo:

I can't take credit for this. I got it from the Daily New's website. You can find the entire slide show here. The photographer was Paul Darrow (funny Halifax-isn't-it-a-small-world-story, he's the brother of the boyfriend of a friend of mine!). I hope he/they don't mind my stealing this photo and posting it here. The Boy has been to a Remembrance Day service every year since he was born This year he actually asked questions: Why do we wear poppies? Why do we need to remember the soldiers? Why didn't they come back from war? What is war? I wish I had better answers for him.

The Mysterious Ticking Noise

Enjoy.

My apologies

It's been busy. We went away. It got even busier when we came back. I swear I'll have an FO soon, and I might even post some vacation pictures. Maybe even vacation pictures with sheep. Definitely cars and probably trains. Soon, I promise, I just need to get over the jet lag, and the training sessions I'm giving next week, and the Fall Fair at the daycare, and the Therapeutic Paws of Canada evaluation session that I volunteered to take The Boy to so he can help out. Then I need to pay all the bills that have come in during the last three weeks. I think maybe things might slow down around Remembrance Day!

See, I told you there would be sheep...