Photo Shoot

So this year we forgot picture day at the school and the girls had their school picture taken looking like sh-t. We didn't purchase the pictures so when retake day rolled around we were prepared... so we thought.... those didn't please us either. So time has been ticking away and now it is time to start getting parcels in the mail and nobody has wanted to do a home photo shoot. Today I got serious and demanded that we do a photo shoot since it was sunny and they came home early enough to catch the light.


Yeah! I should have known that unless the Daughters are into it that we might as well forget it.

I should have known that this was an indication that it wasn't going to go well.

No one would get with it.... and when they finally did I got..... well.. have a look for yourselves!

Finally after all that and some good laughs and some threats of peeing in our pants... we got this which is not great but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick...

Maybe we'll try again tomorrow....

Remember This?

Remember this?....

and this?....

and this?....

look at the top of the picture....

and this?.....

Well now it looks like this....

and this.....

and this....

That's a little shelf above the door.... cute eh?

It sure feels good to get this stuff done..... it's the best Christmas gift ever!

He's coming back on Saturday to do the sunroom..... I just can't wait.

Yeah!

Woo hoo! The contractor has arrived..... I'm so excited....

Bullying (cont.)

???????

The principal has been away from school for the last few days.  But there have been changes.

Daughter #2 missed school on Friday. She did not want to spend 3 hours on a bus heading for a Volleyball tournament with the boys and classmates who are spreading this rumour of her being a lesbian. So Teapot and I felt it was alright to stay home. That was the day that the Principal was notified of the situation.... the day that I wrote about this whole affair here.

Ok so I'm kind of on weird ground here. Since that time Daughter #2 has gone to a local fundraiser to help with the setting up and organization of the event. During that event one of the bullies came up to her and as sweet as anything asked her how she was! (I think the Gods of mahem are upon us!)  I asked Daughter #2 what she said and she said that all she did was shake her head in dismay and walk away....

??????!

Over the weekend Daughter #2 has been thinking very hard about what happened on the bus and at one point I thought she was going to go through with the plan to confront the two boys in question, but Sunday came and at bedtime I asked her what her decision was and she said that she didn't want to do it. I can understand why.

Monday came and there were no incidents or problems though she did not take the bus home but instead got a ride with her father.

Today weirder still the same boy that approached her at the fundraiser on Friday night quite nicely as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, offered her an ice cream at lunch time when he was offering one to a couple of other kids in the lunch room....

?????!

We are all in shock. Daughter #2 most of all I think. It's like a miracle happened but then at the same time we are having trouble with the idea that this kid might have changed his mind about how he's been treating Daughter #2... and waiting for the hurricane to hit. I cannot believe that he is regretting his nasty tongue. Perhaps he is freaked that he might get in serious trouble this time... perhaps his mother and father won't give him that new laptop if he sets one foot out of line again..... and then I'm feeling guilty for thinking so ill of the little shit. I'm all confused and if I am then what the heck is Daughter #2 feeling?

Egad!

Busy Busy Busy With A New Knitting Pattern

With Christmas right around the corner I am hard at it. I have decided that a package going back east should contain some mittens and then I decided not just mittens but Glomitts which are a hybrid mitten and glove combined. They are also called shooting mittens because a lot of the soldiers in Afghanistan really like to use them on cold nights. So I went looking for a pattern and there was nary a pattern to be found. The internet had one solitary Glomitt pattern that is put out be Halcyon Yarns and it was not at all what I was looking for so I decided to come up with my own.  The pattern that I came up with are for two needles and not DPNs.  I have been knitting steady for three days and am just about finished them after having to figure things out as I go and raveling back a little, a few times to make them bigger or smaller as needs be. All that is left to do on one is sew on the flap and on the other I need to sew the side seam and knit the thumb and sew on the flap... so they should be finished today. I will post a picture when they are done.

In the meantime, I will post the pattern here for anyone who would like to knit a pair.... and they are better than Halcyon's!

Mens Glomitts

Using 4mm knitting needles cast on 50 stitches.

Row 1: *K 3, P2, repeat from * to end.

Row 2: Knit on knit stitches and purl on purl stitches.

Row 3: same as Row 1.

Row 4: same as Row 2.

Row 5: *Knit 3 and pass the first of the 3 over the other 2, P 2, repeat from * to end.

Row 6: * Knit 2, P1  increasing F and B, P1, repeat from * to end of row.

Continue on knitting rows 3 through 6 until you have completed 8 patterns.

Increase for the width of the hand in this way.

Knit rows 3 through 5.

Next Row: *K1 increasing F and B, K 1, P 1 increasing F and B, P1, repeat from * to end.  60 stitches.

Continue knitting the following rows until 4 more patterns have been completed.

Row 1: *K3, P3, repeat from * to end.

Row 2: Knit on knit stitches and purl on purl stitches.

Row 3: *K3 and pass the first of the 3 over the other 2, P3, repeat from * to end.

Row 4: *K3, P1 increasing F and B, P1, repeat from * to end. 

Making the thumb hole: for the left hand glove.

 Row 1: K3, (P3, K3) 3 times, K1.Then, knit the next 6 stitches in pattern with your contrasting scrap yarn. Drop contrasting scrap yarn so that both ends of it are hanging to the outside of the Glomitt (this makes it easier to remove the yarn later). Slide these 6 stitches off of the right needle back onto the left. Pick up your working yarn, and continue knitting Glomitt in the main pattern. This means you’ll knit the six stitches knit with the scrap yarn on your left needle again. Continue to the end of the row maintaining the pattern. Just keep knitting in the main pattern like nothing ever happened until 17 patterns have been repeated from the original cast on.

Cast off.

 Making the thumb hole: for the right hand glove:

Row 1: (K3, P3,) 4 times, K2. Then, knit the next 6 stitches in pattern with your contrasting scrap yarn. Drop contrasting scrap yarn so that both ends of it are hanging to the outside of the Glomitt (this makes it easier to remove the yarn later). Slide these 6 stitches off of the right needle back onto the left. Pick up your working yarn, and continue knitting Glomitt in the main pattern. This means you’ll knit the six stitches knit with the scrap yarn on your left needle again.  Continue to the end of the row maintaining the pattern. Just keep knitting in the main pattern like nothing ever happened until 17 patterns have been repeated from the original cast on.

Knit the thumb by removing the scrap piece of yarn and picking up 6 bottom stitches and 3 stitches in the side, 6 more across the top, and 3 more down the other side. There should be 18 stitches in all, divided over three sive 3 mm DPNs evenly.  Knit thumb in stockinette stitch to length desired decreasing in this manner for the top of the thumb:

Next Row: *K2 tog, K1, repeat from * to end. 4 stitches per needle.

Next Row: Knit

Next Row: *K1, K2 tog, K1 repeat from * to end. 3 stitches per needle.

Break yarn and thread a darning needle, then pull the thread through all remaining stitches and draw tight, ending with a sewing stitch to hold the top of the thumb together. Darn in the tail of the thread.


Flap for the Glomitt:

Cast on 60 stitches with 4 mm needles.

Row 1: *K3, P3, repeat from * to end.

Row 2: Knit on knit stitches and purl on purl stitches.

Row 3: same as Row 1.

Row 4: same as Row 2.

Row 5: *K3 and pass the first of the 3 over the other 2, P3, repeat from * to end.

Row 6: *K3, P1 increasing F and B, P1, repeat from * to end.

 Continue in pattern until 2 patterns have been completed.

Follow the first five rows of the pattern then:


Change to 3.25 mm needles and continue in stockinette stitch for 6 rows. Mark the middle of the row with a stitch marker.

Next Row: *K2, sl 1, K1, psso, knit to the last 4 stitches before the stitch marker*, K2 tog, K2. Pass the stitch marker from the left needle to the right and continue from * to * K2 tog, K2.

Continue in stockinette stitch for 2 rows.

Next Row: *K2, sl 1, K1, psso, knit to the last 4 stitches before the stitch marker*, K2 tog, K2. Pass the stitch marker from the left needle to the right and continue from * to * K2 tog, K2.

Continue in stockinette stitch for 2 rows.

Next Row: *K2, sl 1, K1, psso, knit to the last 4 stitches before the stitch marker*, K2 tog, K2. Pass the stitch marker from the left needle to the right and continue from * to * K2 tog, K2.

Continue in stockinette stitch for 1 row.


Next Row: *K2, sl 1, K1, psso, knit to the last 4 stitches before the stitch marker*, K2 tog, K2. Pass the stitch marker from the left needle to the right and continue from * to * K2 tog, K2.

Continue decreasing in this manner until 12 stitches are left. 6 before the marker and 6 after the marker.

To Cast off:

Slip first 6 stitches onto an extra size 3.25 needle or a stitch holder or a cable needle.
Fold the Flap in half and K 1 stitch from each needle together continuing in this manner until end. You should have 6 stitches. Cast off in usual manner.

Finishing the Glomitt
Sew the side seams on the glove and on the flap darning in any end as you go.

Stitch between the fingers, a few stitches  with your darning needle, if you want the fingers defined. You can also leave the hand open.

Sew the flap on the back of the glove 1 inch from the top. The flap can be held open with a magnet... I use a hematite bead on the back of the Glomitt and on the tip of the flap.
 
The right hand glove is the same as the left except using the instructions for the right hand thumb directions.

Here are some pictures of the Glomitt finished... I am sorry that the pictures are not better. I will have  to get Teapot to model them later on when he get's home from work.

PS The bullying situation is still pending....

Oh Dear, Oh My, And !%@%#$^$^$&%&%

Oh dear....

Teapot is floored... he's floored because he read my 101 Things About Me and saw that I wrote, I like sex! He couldn't believe that I would actually put that out there. I had to laugh because he's such a prude... I mean it's not like I gave out details or anything and gee I'd be thought really weird if I didn't like sex! And that's all I'm saying about that.

Oh my....

I had a comment to me on #56. the person who made the comment is a local so don't expect to read the comment. We had a very long conversation about the word career. You see my reader said that in her view that what I do in raising my children and my spinning and knitting and weaving, is very much a career. That a career person is someone who loves very much what they do.  But when  I wrote #56 I was thinking of career in a very different context.... as in someone who gives up everything they love to follow a career path in order to be successful... or at least successful by most people's standard in this social age. I see people who go to work each day that are so driven by finding success in accolades or money that they have forgotten to stop and smell the roses. Those are the career people I'm talking about... I'm not one because if there is anything I believe it is that we should all stop and smell the roses.

Yeah so that's it about "career".

@$#$^%^*^&@!##!!#%$

Daughter #2 is being bullied. I lay awake half of last night thinking horrible thoughts about children who are the culprits of my Daughter's anxiety. This is not the first time. These same kids have been the basis for much anxiety in Daughter #2's life for several years. They have not physically intimidated her but they have been verbally bullying her on a regular basis for quite a while now. This year it has escalated to a new high and we are quite fed up.


Daughter #2 is a fairly sensitive soul and is moved to tears by pictures of dead animals (needless to say she has a very bad reaction every time we butcher a lamb).   When these boys, who have been bullying her, started to to call her names in grade 4 we did what most parents do and told her to ignore it since they were jackasses and it would probably stop after a while. WRONG! They have continued to make her feel bad every chance they get and unfortunately this year it has gotten way out of hand.

Daughter #2 has had for several years a difficult time making friends.... or I should say keeping friends. She has over the years made many good friends but they have always had fathers who have been transferred in the end and so have moved away to other locals leaving Daughter #2 high and dry. Finally a couple of years ago Daughter #2 won a trip to Victoria for a historical fair because her history display was such a good one. One of her class mates also won. It was during their trip to Victoria that they became best chums.

About two weeks ago Daughter #2 came home complaining about a rumour circulating at school about her and her friend being lesbians. This did not sit well and for the last few weeks she has been fighting this rumour to the best of her ability. Yesterday I knew something was wrong when she came through the door very upset with red eyes. She had taken the bus home and these two boys who have been bugging her since grade 4 had proceeded to let everyone know on the bus that they thought that Daughter #2 was indeed gay. Daughter #2 was mortified...and really, really hurt by the fact that they would not only say such a thing about her but they would say it in such a public place and for all to hear.

Teapot and I are disgusted with this whole affair. The Principal has been notified not only on this but on previous accasions of bullying too. Daughter #2 has been goaded and provoked and bugged for far too long and we are at the point where its time to put an end to this. Before these two boyos have been called into the office and have had a talking to about name calling etc... I lay awake and all I could do last night was steam. I have never been so close to wanting to do something bad in all my life. The two boys in question are known for being complete shits.

Daughter #2 has been offered an opportunity to have all kids involved in the incident and all parents of said kids to get together where she can confront these kids face to face with the Principal and Teapot and I. She is thinking about this option. Let me tell you it is very hard for a kid of 13 years who is a sensitive and quiet gal to face such a situation and I'm not sure she will have the guts to go through with it. I'm not sure what I want for her. I just wish that she had some peace.... peace of mind and peace to go back and forth to school without being bugged by dickheads.

I am sorry to use such language but I'll be honest the language is mild to what I am feeling about the two boys that are making my daughter's life purely miserable.

Right now life sucks around here.... but I do hope, dear readers, that your weekend is proving to be better than ours is turning out.

101 Things About Me

I saw this on another blog.... so yes I'm plagiarizing.... get over it...!

1. I am 5' 7 3/4" tall.

2. I am way overweight and think that it is inherited as I come from a long line of heavy set people on my father's side of the family.... yet I wasn't always overweight and I'm trying not to be now. But I've been trying for years and I just keep getting heavier.

3. After high school I went to college for two years to study to become a Travel Agent... I sucked at it and wanted out as soon as I finished the program and so wasted two years of tuition... I've always regretted those two years.

4. I have scoliosis for which I had surgery and had fifteen spinal fusions and a Herrington Rod in my back.

5. I've had three boyfriends over the years one of whom I married.

6. In my mid-teen years I was a prude.

7. That stopped when I became sexually active at 17.

8. I love sex... just like chocolate.... it's all very decadent.... (hope I didn't shock you).

9. I hate socks.... that's important.... I should live on a beach in a somewhat warmer climate so that I could walk around barefoot all the time.

10. Instead I have always lived in very cold and snowy places....

11. I almost convinced Teapot to apply for a position in Bermuda.... aahhh now that would have been the life... with bare feet.

12. I hate feet... I think they are disgusting and really wish I could never have anything to do with them.

13. Have always been artistic.... I started drawing at the age of 12 and never looked back.

14. I had a really awesome art teacher in high school named Robin Cook, who had a Master's degree in art. He taught me oh so much about art which I really didn't realize until later.

15. Finished my last year of high school in a school that I really couldn't care less about.

16. I worked at Suzy Shear for three years as a merchandiser and window dresser.... and loved it.

17. I can sing... well pretty darn good though I've never gotten any recognition for it even from my parents.

18. I have really lousy hearing...

19. I hate phones and especially having to make official calls to people I don't know... I much rather computers and email.

20. I love the feel of the sun on my face but I hate really hot weather and I hate humidity.... that's probably why I don't live in Toronto.

21. I hate city living and lived in a small city most of my years growing up.... I even lived in Toronto for two summers.... ick!

22. I worked for a homeopathic drug dispenser for two summers while going to University... it sucked... I think all homeopaths, as a result of my experiences, are next to witch doctors.

23. I had an opportunity to try out for the National ballet when I was twelve... I found out that I needed back surgery and that was the end of that.

24. I love to paint abstract paintings with acrylic paints. I turn my music on really loud and go out on the deck in the summer and have a few drinks.... (when I wasn't allergic to it) and just start spraying paint all over my canvases/boards.

25. I'm allergic to alcohol.

26. I write poetry.

27. I had two miscarriages before I was finally able to carry a baby to term.

28. I had the names of my children picked out long before I ever had children... I won't say what the girls names were because I had girls and that would compromise their privacy.... but the boys names were Aaron Montgomery and Keegan Ezekiel.

29. The fibre arts never really interested me until a few years ago at which time I became a spinner first a dyer second and a weaver third.

30. I learned to knit at the age of 8.

31. I never really started to knit much until I went to college and then to help pass time in the residence I knit myself a mohair full length coat.

32. I love my family. All of them.... though my mother and I have a strained relationship.

33. Teapot makes me smile.... he lightens my heart... and I'm devoted to him.

34. I really don't know why he sticks with me..... but he does. So he must love me too. (That always surprises me).

35. I'm very proud of my two daughters. They are both smart and witty and full of fun.

36. I'm partially werewolf because at the full moon each month, I have an odd reaction... either I stay awake long hours or I just want to sit in the moonlight and stare off into space.

37. I was an Anglican lay reader for many years.

38. I dabbled in the Wiccan religion when I was younger.... it didn't work for me. Though I do believe that the earth, and the universe have a deep spiritual pull.

39. I love to hug trees.

40. I want to be cremated when my time comes and have a Manitoba Maple planted where my ashes lay. Somewhere near a water source so that the Maple will have a long life.

41. I don't think I will live to be really old.... I have too many heart and high blood pressure problems in my ancestry.

42. I'm not sure I really believe in God, but I try to because I think that God is the best option to explain the connectedness that I find in life..... it works for me I guess.

43. Christmas is a terrible time of the year for me.... I used to love it but now I don't... mostly because I do all the work and find that it really is just another day in which I don't get to put my feet up. I hate Christmas shopping.

44. I studied Philosophy in University and graduated with an Honours degree.

45. I love Turkey dinner.... it's my favorite meal...

46. I asked Teapot to marry me.  It was an accident... but I'm glad he said yes.  We were watching a program on TV and the Heroin said , "Would you marry me?" She was asking her best friend (who was a male) if she was the marrying kind... so I turned to Teapot and asked him if he would marry me.... in the same vein. He asked, "Is that a proposal?" I stopped dead in my tracks and thought about it for a few seconds and said, "Yes!" That stopped him in his tracks and then he took a few seconds to think and then he said, "yes!" Then we both sat there for a while in complete silence and complete shock... then Teapot said, "Did what I think just happened actually just happen?" and I answered "Yes!" Then for about two months no one would believe that we were engaged.

47. It was my Uncle Dick who got us actually focused on getting married for real. He made me go talk to a minister.

48. I lived on an native reservation for the first 5 years of my married life... they were hard years but they were very fulfilling years.

49. I don't think I'm a very good mother.... especially when the daughters were little... but I try my best.

50. I love back rubs.

51. I didn't always have a good relationship with my father but I do now... and I'm really glad of that.

52. I'm very opinionated about some things and turn people off with my strong opinions... and I am very sorry for that because I like for people to like me and am disappointed when I turn people off.

53. I'm dreadfully lazy.

54. I'm shy in a crowd and tend to keep my mouth shut... mostly because I'm not at all witty on the spur of the moment.... scintillating conversation is not my forte.

55. I used to lie a lot... now I don't... and I'm not telling if that is a lie!

56. I've never had a career and think that the whole work at a career thing is ridiculous... most people work to survive. If you like your work then you have a career of insanity.... (see there I go with my opinions again....sorry)!

57. I love cheezies.

58. I've discovered quite recently that I could really get into silk embroidery.

59. I love jazz music.

60. I think Diana Krall is awesome.

61. I also think Uncle Kracker is awesome. I wish he'd get off his a-- and put out another great album.

62. I am a royalist... I love the Queen and think Prince Charles is a misguided fool. But I can't wait for Prince William's wedding. I love to watch the royals though I'm not a fanatic, and buy magazines and books about it all... one thing though I do wish them all well.

63. I'm a Newfoundlander.... from 15 generations back... and proud of it.

64. I've traveled all over Canada. I've lived in a number of different places in Canada. I could spend my life traveling around Canada and never want to go further afield... Canada has a lot to offer.

65. I still have a Newfy accent even after living away from Newfoundland for almost twenty years... which just goes to show that "You can take the girl out of the bay but you can't take the bay out of the girl"!!!

66. I'm terrible shy. Though I try not to be... but I absolutely quake if I have to get up in front of people to speak... and suffer terribly from stage fright.

67. I love the ocean and thanks to boyfriend number 2, I spent a great deal of time on a 40 foot yacht.

68. I've had one of my poems published. I just wish I could get a lot more published.

69. I am not a good housekeeper and have better things to do with my time than race around cleaning up dust bunnies.

70. I love to watch spiders but have a terrible fear that they will fall off the ceiling of my bedroom and into my mouth.

71. I sleep on my right side.

72. I am an insomniac... but less so as I age.

73. I snore so I am told.

74. I've always wanted to hang glide.... but would probably sh-t my pants if I tried.

75. I drove across Canada twice in a two seater convertible... and it was awesome especially looking at the mountains as we drove along.

76. I loved to watch in the rear view mirror, the autumn leaves swirling behind my convertible.

77. I drive a Dodge Dakota truck... that's falling apart... (well I am a farmer!!)

78. I raise sheep and alpacas.

79. I love dogs, tolerate cats (it's a reciprocal thing), and enjoy sheep and alpacas.

80. I owned a wolf/husky dog who I loved dearly... and miss dreadfully.

81. I try not to think about politics but every so often I get really fierce about it all.

82. I want to take cruise ship to Hawaii... some time.

83. I once spent two weeks in England and had a lovely trip... I love British History...

84. I have 3 children whom I support through Foster Parent's Plan and World Vision in Brazil, Peru and the Dominican Republic... and love each one.

85. I have made four quilts in my life... all of them were hand stitched. I never want to do it again.... but I will.

86. I have a dreadful memory.... so I'm told.

87. I am a dreadful homebody. I love my little house. It took Teapot and I a long time to find a home.

88. I tried to get a children's story book published that I had written a few years back and never succeeded.

89. I  would love to write a really good book... probably a novel... and get it published.

90. I have a dreadful memory... did I tell you that...

91. I've broken a toe and a wrist but that's it for broken bones and quite frankly I hope to keep it that way. I broke my toe when I was 6 yrs old and put my foot in the driver's seat when my father was closing it.... it was a two door car. The seat cracked my toe. Then I broke my wrist the first time I put on cross country skies... Ok I lost control of them on a little slope and one foot wanted to go one way and the other wanted to go the other... it was not a graceful fall but evidently quite a sight to see.

92. I am a terrible writer.... but wish that I could be a better one.

93. In one of the anomalies in life I am good at cooking but hate to cook.

94. I am terrible at serving my good cooking and everyone always gets cold food at my house because I'm completely uncoordinated at getting everything ready at the one time.

95. I love colour.... and have a hard time picking my favorite.... (you may know that)... I hate pink.

96. I love to walk in the forest and miss walking there in the winter when the snow is deep.

97. When I was a kid I always wanted to be able to communicate with animals.... especially whales and owls... I still do.

98. I love to sit in front of the fire... summer or winter... I could be Cinderella actually.

99. I wish I had closer relations with my cousins... and my sister.... we've all just gone our separate ways over the years.... sad really....

100. I've really enjoyed meeting my followers and computer friends even if it is only a limited relationship...... thanks to you all....

101. It's really hard to think of 101 things to write about yourself.... really!