Sweaters, and Stitching, and Lists, OH MY!!!

At long last here is a picture of my lovely white sweater:



It’s she lovely!!! I just adore this sweater and it’s SOOOO warm! LOL! I think it will be my new tobogganing sweater! I wonder what I should knit next… I really need a pair of gloves or mittens and maybe a cute hat to match! I’ll have to go through the patterns that are saved on my computer and see what tickles my fancy next. FYI: I get all my patterns off the free database on the wool websites (Patons, Bernat, etc.)

And, here is an update for my Elegance of the Orient:



She’s coming along so nicely now. I’ve been working on the other side of the shawl and I can’t wait to work on the backstitching for it because it changes the whole look of the project. I really do love Dimensions products because of the detail they provide with the backstitching. I love my Lissandrea too but when I work on her I really miss the precision that my Elegance of the Orient has in its detail.

I just realized that I never did a list of New Year’s Resolutions with you. I usually make resolutions and I’ve usually gotten sick of them by about January 2nd. Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them? How do you do it?! Anyway, here is my list of resolutions for this beautiful year of 2009:

1)Finish all outstanding cross stitch projects
2)Finish outstanding projects around the house (i.e. Painting walls, moving furniture, hanging pictures, organizing kitchen and closets, etc.)
3)Work on reading through Harold Bloom’s western canon
4)Lose the 30 lbs of “Happy Fat” that I found when my hubby and I met a few years ago!
5)Earn $1 million dollars….LOL!


Wish me luck with that list!!!

Small Reading Binge and Knitting News

Well, I was up late on New Year's Eve and I brought in the new year with my knitting project on my knee. I got up early to sew it all together and I got it done in time for our New Year's Day party. But...as I was sitting at the mirror finishing my face I realized just how warm the sweater was. We go to my hubby's family for New Year's Day and the whole family is there and we really look forward to it. However, with all those people in the house it gets pretty warm. So, I took off my beloved sweater and put on a t-shirt instead! LOL! It was the right choice because I was even warm in my t-shirt! Sadly, I still haven't worn my sweater because the next day I was doing crafts with my nieces and nephews (we made peanut butter and seed smeared pine cones for the birds...a white sweater would have been a BAD idea) and today I was at the Humane Society for my volunteer shift and you never know what you're going to get on your clothes there! LOL! Maybe I'll wear it tomorrow!!!! I'll try and coax my hubby to take a picture of it so I can post it! It turned out so nicely! I'm so proud!!!!

I've been on a small reading binge lately! I just finished another one: Pompeii by Robert Harris.



I read about this book on some one's blog and it sounded really interesting. I can't remember whose blog I was reading so if it's you I'm sorry I didn't put a link. The story takes place within four days. The first two are before Vesuvius erupts and the next two are the eruption and aftermath. The main character is the new aquarian of the Augustus Aqueduct. He's the first person to notice that there is something wrong with the mountain because the water starts to get sulfur in it. It was a really good read and definitely interesting to see people deal with a volcano back in 79 AD before they even had the word volcano in their vocabulary!!!

The Frantic Knitter with the Wonky Shoulder

The other evening my shoulder started to hurt and by the next morning I was in a ridiculous amount of pain. I have a knot or something under my shoulder blade but the pain runs up the back of neck and down my right arm! YOWZA!!! It seriously hurts! I'd love to know what I did so that I won't do it again. Well, because of this little inconvenience knitting and stitching was not on the agenda for yesterday...I spent the entire day flat on my back trying to find a comfortable position. Luckily I had a book to keep me distracted! I finished reading The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.



It's set mainly in Indian during the Indian-Nepali insurgency. It portrays a judge, his granddaughter, and their cook in newly acquired squalor. It blends the scenes in Indian with the judge's youth in England and the cook's son in America. I've got to say this is the first Heather's Pick from Chapters that I wasn't too impressed with. It took me about 250 pages of a 300 page book for me to feel any connection with the characters. However, the prose is beautiful...I think that's what kept me reading! There are some really funny scenes of Indians trying to blend into American and British culture and also one terribly funny scene at the American embassy when they are trying to get travelling visas. One character is trying desperately to get the coveted visa and was advised to say that he is Mexican...when he gets to the desk he can't remember what he was meant to say and tells the clerk that he is Texican!!!! LOL!!!

Today my shoulder is feeling much better and I am in a mad flurry trying to get my sweater done for tomorrow! Just call me Bex the Frantic Knitter!!! LOL! I am determined to get it done!!! Wish me luck!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve! See you in 2009!!!!

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas this year! I definitely did!!! My husband and I joined my parents at church to do something completely different this year. We helped to cook a meal for a group of people that would otherwise be alone that day. We had about 40 people there and it was so nice to meet all those new friends! Santa showed up with gifts for the kids! The kids were thrilled to bits because they thought Santa had missed their house in the morning...but little did they know that he was going to make a special visit at dinner time!!! I really had a great time this year and am looking forward to doing it again next year. The best part was that I didn't have to clean the house from top to bottom!!! LOL!

I didn't get my sweater done but I'm hoping it will be complete for New Year's day...it's lucky to wear something new that day! LOL!!!! Yep, I'm superstitious too!!!

It snowed like crazy up here last weekend. We got 40 cm in about 2 days! Here's a picture of it coming down from out the back of our house:



Needless to say, I hibernated last weekend and it was lovely!!! I picked up my Elegance of the Orient cross stitch and it was sooo nice to work on her again. I'm sure you know what I mean...it's like putting on comfy old shoes or something! Here's a pic of my progress:



I also got a lot of reading done while hibernating. I finished The Thirteenth Tale (soooooo good!!!!) and today I finished The Birth of Venus.



I wasn't expecting this book to be as carnal as it was but I suppose in hindsight I should have realized that with a title like The Birth of Venus it would end up that way. However, I love historical fiction and this was a great read.

Updates, Updates, Updates!!!

I made a book selection!!! I'm now lost in the lovely world of Helen of Troy! Has anyone read this one? I read another one by Margaret George called Mary, Called Magdalene. (Also very enjoyable!)



I went a little buck wild with holds at the library and they're coming in in droves so there will be much fireside reading by Bex coming up! I LOVE IT!!!

Well, here's the picture I promised of me in my new sweater. This is the first sweater that I have ever made and am mostly just grateful that it looks like a sweater and not a potato sack!



Don't I look happy? I'm soooo happy!!!


And at long last here is my update picture for Lissandrea! She's so gorgeous!!! I go to work on her and I find myself staring at her instead!!! Much more stitching to come though. I love the winter because there's so much stitching time in the evenings! January and February are the best months for getting lost in projects!!!



Here are just some random pictures of my hubby and I at a family reunion we went to this past autumn. We look a little goofy but you get the idea!!!





I'll leave you with a final word from the LOL CATS:



Until next time ladies and gents! (Do any men read this...if so PLEASE drop me a line...I would love to hear from you!!!)

BEX IS BACK!!!!!!!

I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!! And so happy to be back in this happy blogging world. Not sure what happened to me...my life took a brief turn into insanity. However, all is well and I am positively giddy to be blogging again! I missed you!!! Thanks to everyone who wrote me such kind notes!

So....what have I been up to lately. I'm still stitching and I will post some pictures of my progress shortly but I seem to have ended up in a knitting frenzy! I'm loving it! I finished my bamboo scarf and it's super comfy and with the chilly weather here in Canada it's coming in very handy!

Next I did a pair of pedicure socks for my Mom! What are pedicure socks you ask? Well! They're basically socks with no toes in them. The idea is that you can pop on you're pedicure socks and flip flops so that you're feet stay nice and warm and not have to stuff your feet back into regular socks and boots and ruin your lovely pedicure. They're a great idea and my Mom loves them! I plan to make more of them for Christmas gifts but my Mom got the prototype! Here's a picture and no those are not my feet! LOL!



Next I made a sweater! It's a real sweater and it actually ended up looking like a sweater! I'm totally amazed! And quite impressed with my handy work! Here's the pattern picture:



My sweater is a red tweed not blue but you get the idea! Also, I made it quite a bit longer. I'm 5'11" and the length they had it set for would look ridiculous on me! I also had to increase the sleeve length for my gorilla arms! LOL! Anyway, I made a large and in hindsight I didn't need the large! It's really big! But it's the most comfortable sweater in the ENTIRE world!!! I'm so proud of it! I wear it all the time and I'm terrified to wash it just in case the whole thing unravels! LOL! I'll post a picture of my actual sweater shortly too!

After all the success I had on the first sweater and my new found knowledge in sweater making (LOL!) I decided to make another one. I'm almost done this one too! I've finished the back and the front so all that's left is sleeves and the collar. It's going to be sooooo cute! I think it will be my Christmas sweater this year! And as my Mom says: "It's definitely NOT a sweater for cooking in!" LOL! Gotta love Moms!!! Here's a picture of it:



So that's been my knitting frenzy as of lately. I love learning new things! I've been pouring over the sweaters that I previously bought and trying to figure out the patterns! LOL! I think my husband is sick of me shouting from the closet: "I could have made this myself!"

It's so good to be back with all of you!!!!!