68 Days Until

School is back in session.

How sad is that...counting the first day of summer vacation as the 68th day until the first day of the next school year. Obviously I'm a mommy, not a kid.

It's been a busy week or so and thanks to some random wonkiness with my camera, I have NO pictures to document any of it. I'm hoping to beg some photos from other school parents so that I at least have Clare's class play immortalized.

I did finish my teacher knitting...the Binary scarf (presented to Mr. M on a Heat Advisory day...) and a big pile of Mason Dixon Dishcloths, Doily Dishcloths and Linen Dishtowels. Unphotographed of course. My hands are killing me from so much cotton knitting on metal needles.

Last night, as part of a summer vacation celebration, I dug out the leaf drop stitch sweater that I was working on before the teacher-knitting crunch. Sure, it's mostly mercerized cotton, but the looser stitch, double stranding and teeny bit of vicose in the yarn seems to make it much easier on the hands than the kitchen cotton.

Scooting now, I have to finish up some reports related to our school fundraiser and if I hurry I can walk the kids over to the school and let them play in the playground while I "borrow" the school photocopier.

Ta

A Clare Moment...

Clare was out this afternoon with her dad, kicking the tires on some new "grown-up" bedroom furniture. She has decided that her current set is too juvenile. Their first stop was a local establishment specializing in Canadian-made wooden furniture.

Here's Clare...




And a closeup of the sign on the chair...

Yup....that's Clare.

Arrrrgh....

Busy, Busy, Busy


It's that time of year again. The final push before summer vacation. The culmination of school fundraisers, Girl Guide trips, final projects, volunteer thank-you teas and field trips. In the midst of it all, I'm trying to complete my teacher gifts...

Last weekend was the Fun Fair (E and C's school fundraiser) and the Strawberry Festival. DH and I volunteer all day at the Fun Fair, so I felt obliged to contribute heavily to the Strawberry Festival Bake Sale. Picture three of these:





and a couple of Banana Breads... and a tray of these...


Did I mention that it was the twins birthday last Friday and both classes required lunch treats?
Thank heavens it wasn't as warm as this week for baking!!


I'm finishing dishclothes and swatching tea towels in my spare time. Pictures to follow...

Fini! Well, mostly...

This is a mostly finished object. It's Binary from Knitty and of course, my front garden.


I have to block it and finish the ends. It's a bit shorter than the original pattern, and since it's for a male teacher, I'm dithering about adding the fringe. Any opinions on the appropriateness of fringe for a 40-something man?

It took a bit longer to make than I anticipated, but since it is knit as a tube, you really are doing twice as much knitting as with a regular scarf. That, and my two-handed fair-isle technique is a bit rusty!


With respect to the other teacher gifts, I'm digging through stash for bits of kitchen cotton to test out some dishcloths from:



I really like this book! Frankly, the patterns really aren't anything that you couldn't suss out for yourself, but there are a lot of "why didn't I think of that" projects for the home that just seem so appealing when immortalized by Mason Dixon's photographer and stylist. I just wish that some of the yarns that authors like (such as Peaches & Creme and Euroflax) were more easily (ok, inexpensively) available in Canada.

Thanks for All the Great Ideas!

I've got some work ahead of me, but I love the idea of washcloths, dishcloths and teatowels...(can you guess that my copy of Mason Dixon Knitting just arrived from the library?)

Thanks to everyone who participated. Six of the commenters didn't already have a copy of the current Interweave Knits, so I rolled a die to pick the winner....Knitty Kat! (I've sent you an email requesting your mailing address)

I'm still plugging away at my first teacher gift...and I forgot to charge the batteries in my camera, so no pics yet.

In non-knitting news, picture this on moi... OPI "Cool in the Pool". Very festive and summery and just a bit silly. I love it! Thanks to LadyLungDoc over at Purl This for reminding me of how much I love blue nail polish!


Have a great weekend, here at Chez Chelle we will be swimming, birthday partying, speech therapying etc...