Some of my current happy-makers…

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I recently found a hilarious, adorable blog, called My Milk Toof; it’s about the adventures of ickle and Lardee, two baby teeth, and it’s created by Inhae Renee Lee. A guaranteed pick-me-up!

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One of my projects in progress is a set of t-shirts for Ontario Parks. Nothing’s been finalized, but I’m so dang excited about it, here are a couple of the rough sketches:

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You know when you get a gift for someone and you know they really adore it? Well, I got a Powerball (a gyroscopic ball that works out your wrists & arms) for John for Christmas. He’d had something similar as a kid and I knew he used to love it, AND this one also has a read-out that tells him how many RPMs he’s gotten. In a nutshell: he’s addicted. His record so far:

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I have an addiction too: to knitting (starting with that scarf for a friend, then toques for the family). I’ve learned about yarn overs and slip-slip-knit stitches on youtube. During the workday, I swear I can hear the needles calling my name. I’m even doing cables now:

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And maybe the thing that’s making me happiest of all at this very moment is that I am on my honeymoon. Sneaky sneaky, I wrote this before leaving and got it to post while we’re away — yay, technology! And yay, Mexico!

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What’s making you happy these days?

general rambling, horn tootin' happiness, happy, honeymoon, Inhae Renee Lee, knitting, My Milk Toof, Ontario Parks, Powerball gyroscope, t-shirt designs

I’ve been on a knitting kick lately, which began in December. I had numerous balls of blue yarn — I seem to remember someone giving it to me way back when I was on a similar kick years ago. I pulled it out over the holidays and started going to town. The extent of my knitting prowess till know has been: rectangles! So till recently, I’ve only ever made scarves. I started with a scarf. Then I tried a hat.

On Christmas day, I was getting close to finishing up the hat while at a family ‘do, and my Dad asked if I thought the hat would fit him. Still unfinished and on the needles, he tried it on and liked it, so I asked him if he wanted it. He did. In fact, he jumped up and grabbed one of the balls of the blue stuff, and with the help of my crafty Aunt, he made a pom-pom. I closed off the top of the hat, added the pom-pom, and when another relative asked him about the hat, he said very proudly “Emily and I made this together.” [If you knew my Dad, you'd know how cute this is.]

After this, I started a new toque for me. The photo above is my Dad and me, wearing our matching hats (and my scarf that started things off). My hat is more of a slouchy design… but the more I look at my Dad’s, the more tempted I am to stick a damn pom-pom at the end of it!

Whattaya think?

general rambling Dad, knitting, matching hats

Winter has officially landed here in Ottawa. Let the grind of snow-shovelling, car-scraping and longjohn-wearing begin. One of many ways I keep from constantly shivering is my trusty collection of scarves. I’d love to add any of these gorgeous neck-hugging etsy finds to my horde:

1. Sweet Pea Hand-Felted Scarf by ElenaMakesThings
2. Christmas Lights Alpaca Scarf by phydeaux
3. Oatmeal Drop Stitch Scarf by moocowhandknits
4. Double Down Cowl by fringe
5. Tube scarf / Cowl / Neckwarmer from Real Vintage German Mail Bag by malam
6. Laurent… a scarf by Fluur
7. Necklush Ultra — Winterberry by necklush

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On a related note, this past weekend rocked. For the first time in years, I knitted. I managed to finish a scarf that I started many moons ago — more decorative than warm, but still a ton of fun. Here’s one of the ends, avec tassels:

And here’s a closer-up shot to show you the ‘yarn’:

Like I said, I began this years ago, so I can say with only partial confidence that the name on the skein was “Kitty”; it also came in a copper/brown/gold combo. Even an über-amateur knitter like me can make this easily — I used 6mm needles, and used the knit stitch the whole way (since it’s so loose, there’d be no way of telling if I were on the knit or purl side anyway). This will be a Christmas gift for a good friend of mine; here’s hoping she doesn’t read this post and ruin her own surprise, ha!

etsy.com, general rambling awkward, cowls, ElenaMakesThings, Fluur, knitting, malam, moocowhandknits, necklush, phydeaux, scarves