Summer Time!

Summer time around here means birthdays! Starting on June 10th with Kev's. Next up was Nat's on the 17th. And today is Cooper's birthday. One year old already. Isn't he awesome!!! It is kind of surreal how fast this past year went. I cannot tell you what a joy this little boy is. I've been around a lot of babies in my time, but I don't know if I've even seen a happier more content little boy. And he even started walking on Kevin's birthday.


It was so nice, we were out in the back yard with the kids. We put Cooper on the ground (He's been standing on his own for quite some time now) and he just walks over to a soccer ball and tries to KICK IT!!!





Here is a photo of the cake that I made for Kevin. Simple enough, but it looks impressive. There are about 10 kit kat bars on the exterior of that cake and 5 packages of smarties in the center. I probably could have done with more smarties on the center, but it was sweet enough as it was. Blair asked for a cake like this for his birthday too. Which isn't too far away - but before Blair's birthday is Morgan's and after Blair's birthday is Aimee's. See.....the endless parade of birthdays.











And speaking of Blair - I wanted to pummel him just a little when he asked the day before Nat's birthday if I would make her a cake. It was too hot in the house to do any baking, so I went and bought a pre-made angel food cake and came up with this!!! It turned out really well - not too much effort at all.























And lest you all think that I've retired my needles for the summer, fear not. I've been knitting. Lots of shawls again.











The first shawl is handspun from one of my Loop batts. I made this for Charlotte - one of the technicians at the store who just recently moved away. Charlotte has always appreciated my work and always oohs and ahhs appropriately over the handspun, so she was deemed worthy of receiving such a gift.











And the final photo is proof that I've jumped on the band wagon that is the Color Affection shawl. I think the appealing part of this shawl is the picking of the three colours. It is so fun to combine all the different colours to see what the shawl will look like. This one is made of madtosh sock. Its my first time knitting with this yarn and I must say that I'm not disappointed. I love the tight twist on this yarn and colours are gorgeous. Not surprising - the yarn would make great socks!

Bursting at the Seams!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. Kev and I drove to Sherbrooke for Amy's convocation. It's hard to believe that she is finished her degree. Her time in Quebec has been wonderful. I'm going to miss going to Lennoxville/Sherbrooke. I can only imagine how she must be feeling. Here is a photo of the two of us on convocation day. It was such a great day. The weather was great, even the honorary doctorate speakers were awesome. We had such a great time. I am so proud of my daughter - I'm just about bursting at the seams! I had hoped to wear my orchid thief shawlette to the convocation. It would have matched my dress perfectly. But alas, I couldn't pull it together. I had plenty of time to finish it - but knitting lace while driving on a dirt road - not ideal lace knitting conditions! I did finish it when I got home and I couldn't be more pleased. Well, maybe I'd be more pleased if I actually had enough yarn to finish the bind off - but, oh well! I had to bind off in the fingering weight version of the Tanis Fiberarts yarn. I think this is my first full sized, lace weight shawl. It sits so nicely on my shoulders. Here it is on my kitchen table. Its quite large. And of course no vacation would be complete without souvenir yarn. I managed to fit in a quick visit to Lettuce Knit in Toronto where I bought (amongst other things) this gorgeous Tanis Fiber Arts yarn. I just love her colours so much! And I visited a spinning supply shop called the Fiber Garden in Jordan Station which isn't too far from Niagara Falls. I bought some lovely batts (er...amongst other things) while I was there. I can't wait to spin this stuff up!!