Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Family Fun

I don’t think there’s such a thing as “family overload” but we sure got close to it this weekend. On Saturday we took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale on the Sunshine Coast:

LangdaleFerryView

Not bad for an iTouch photo through the double-glazed ferry window, huh? For those not local, the ferry goes through a scenic passage between the islands in Howe Sound to a peninsula that is actually part of the mainland but has no roads through to it. It’s very like an island itself with a lot of the same advantages (peaceful, quiet, beautiful scenery) and disadvantages (expensive shopping, more limited facilities and job opportunities) though it seems that more people move there every year. The “we” included T-Man and me, plus his mom, brother, sister-in-law and their 2 kids (one young adult and one nearly so). I was able to give these finished socks to my niece while we were waiting in our separate vehicles in the ferry line-up:

Ali’s Birthday Socks

AliSocks

Begun: January 17, 2011
Completed: February 4, 2011

Yarn: Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett, 75% superwash wool/25% nylon, colourway 4253, dyelot 23635, 50g = 210m, used 1.5 skeins.

Needles: Clover Takumi bamboo dpns, 2mm.

Pattern: Damselfly’s Basic Socks on 64 sts, cuff 24 rows of 2/2 rib, 6.5” to heel flaps, 6.75” before toe dec, to 24 sts (6 per needle), dog-ear reduction.

Comments: I promised her a new pair especially after her mom threw out the last ones I made her – the ones she managed to completely wear out! They were so holey I couldn’t fix them. This time she got to pick out the yarn herself so I hope she likes this pair. It might help that Regia is one of the most durable of the sock yarns.

We were of course heading for Gibsons and Auntie M’s 90th birthday party which was a smashing success. How the thundering hordes fit into her little single-wide mobile home, I’ll never know! She and Nana were so cute arguing about who has the most grand- and great-grandchildren. I figure Auntie M cheated as she began with twice as many kids! However by the great-grands they are pretty much neck-and-neck. Mostly because Nana cheated with one grandson (and of course his dear wife!) having 7 kids. Oy.

Auntie M loved her Holden Shawlette:

AM and shawl

You’ll have to forgive the crappy iTouch photo in low light. (No flash on Ruby!) Auntie was getting pretty warm by then thanks to the 5000+ folks in her living room so I felt bad making her put it back on for a lousy picture. She did love it though and I hope she gets more use when the house is empty of warm bodies. These ones:

Hordes

Photo courtesy of Cousin Mike. I’m 3rd from the right in the back row with my glasses sparkling! And still knitting…

Yes, I spent the whole trip knitting with the leftovers from the socks to make yet another pair for baby Rosebud. I finished them on Sunday:

Rosebud’s Third Socks

Rosebud Third Socks

Begun:  February 4, 2011
Completed:  February 6, 2011

Yarn:  leftovers from Ali’s socks, used about 25g

Needles:  Clover Takumi bamboo dpns, 2mm

Pattern:  same as her last pair of baby socks

Comments:  She can probably use a half-dozen of these things and this is a great way to use up leftovers. I’ll keep making them.

And that’s not all the family stuff either. On Sunday on of T’s cousins and his wife came by to drop off a pressie for baby Caelin from Auntie K (who just turned 95). And another for my nephew’s baby girl as well. Auntie K is from a different side of the family than Auntie M but are you getting the hint that the ladies are long-lived around here? On Thursday it’s Nana’s turn for a birthday – 85! By this time, they are all pretty proud of the numbers and not trying to pretend they are 39 and holding. Heh.

Anyway, while the cousins were here, our son The Ninja and his family showed up. He was getting a wine-making lesson from his dad on how to re-rack his red wine. And I was helping my DIL to fix her sock-knitting issues. She was working her purl stitches by wrapping the yarn the wrong way and wondering why things looked a bit odd. Poor thing! This pair of socks may be the longest project ever because it’s taken her months to get the ribbing done. Nevermind. It’s the process that counts, right? And speaking of socks, I’m kicking myself because I forgot to give The Ninja his Green Birthday Socks. Darn.

However I made them stay to dinner so we could have a good visit. (Arms twisted. Really.) The grandbeasties are growing up so fast! Stargazer is now registered for kindergarten next fall and the Princess is learning how to read and write sentences. So sweet. Maybe soon her comic books will have actual words in the speech bubbles! You’ll be able to read them without having her right next to you telling you the story as you turn the pages.

Now that I only have one project on the needles I’m quickly trying to finish so I can wear my Remix Vest while it’s still cold. Already divided the stitches and cruising up the back with the fronts left to go. I’m waiting to buy the zipper until after I’ve blocked it so it will be the right size. Onward.

1 comment:

Suzanne said...

strange coincidence...Last week I finished the EXACT socks (Regia KF same color) for myself. No surprise since we both spent a lot of money at Dressew( too bad their good stock is gone now).Enjoying your musings always