Four packages came

I’d put off writing, hoping that that this post would be a triumphant declaration of Canada’s Postal system, and in a way it is, because four (4) packages just arrived on the porch, and my heart leapt for a moment, only to realize that they all contain things that are not yarn. I actually don’t know what they contain, since they’re addressed to Joe.  I wondered if they were things that take us another step closer to finished, so I texted him with “Open or don’t” and he said “DON’T” so I can presume that they’re boxes he’ll check off on his spreadsheet, rather than things I’ll tick off on mine.   I’ve finished another thing or two today, a little sweater is done, and a hat to go with, and I’ve spent today doing all the things that I can do without the box of yarn.

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Gingerbread dough is mixed up and chilling – and decisions have been made about what this year’s “shapes” will be. (Pato voted for ducks, an unconventional but unsurprising choice, if you speak a little Spanish, and Sam requested stars and dinosaurs, snowflakes, a hedgehog or two, and sharks. I’m still trying to figure out the festive nature of sharks, but mine is not to question why. Mine is to bake the cookies and let the rest of it sweep on by me. ) I’ve started to cook for tomorrow night’s gathering, and to do the bit of cleaning and organizing left. (If you’re curious, that’s a black beak bean and espresso chili.)

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I’ve got a some wrapping to do this evening, but when that’s done… well, so am I, box of yarn and knitting, notwithstanding. (That’s a lie. I have a few other bits tomorrow, but the back of it is broken.) If there’s any time left to me this evening I’ll go deep (and I mean deep) into the stash and see if anything in there can be pressed into service. I suspect not, since I’m well acquainted with the contents thereof, and wouldn’t have ordered a thing unless I needed it, so unless Canada Post really comes through for me tomorrow, I suspect I’ll be making time to go to a yarn store and… you know what? I don’t want to think about it. It’s snowing pretty hard right now, and the only thing worse than heading downtown this close to Christmas is heading downtown this close to Christmas after a big snow is that you can’t ride your bike to make it all civilized, so I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I’m going to pour myself a wee dram of whiskey, cross my fingers, and bake some cookies.  Gifts for Knitters?

Gifts for Knitters Day 14

The knitterly wallpaper was a hit yesterday, so today, let’s stick with the paper theme, and assume you have less space to devote to your knitter’s whims?  I love these cards from Tilly Flop, especially this one. (Seems appropriate.) Lots of pretty sheepy cards here at Worldknit, and if a card won’t do, maybe a notebook? Chickenboots has knitter themed tape (no, that’s not taking it too far) and I think these tags are sweet as pie.

Gifts for Knitters Day 15

Consider something to keep your knitters works of art looking beautiful. You might not know about “pills” but they’re a bane of your knitter’s existence, and away to remove them will always be good.  There’s the old school sweater stone (removes pills, but can leave behind bits of the “stone”. Still, I’ve used it and liked it.) There’s electric solutions – or there’s a nifty tool that I just love, the Gleener.  I can’t imagine a knitter not finding it useful – I use mine a lot, on handknits and storebought clothes alike.  Go forth and shop.

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78 thoughts on “Four packages came

  1. Along with every other knitter who reads your blog, my heart sank for you. But….there could be an up side! Next week can be a knitathon, because everything else will be done. Here’s a ghost hug for you…. You can’t feel it, but you know it’s there!

  2. Mmmmmm. Black beak chili. Not to everyone’s taste but personally I like a little black beak in my chili. They are just so hard to find these days that’s all.
    I know chook, it is the stress of being yarnless isn’t it.
    Better times tomorrow!

  3. I’ll send good thoughts for the yarn. I don’t knit nearly as fast as you do… But have had a sweater in the works for my daughter for about 6 weeks now (along with 1/2 dozen Cowels and some socks and a stack of hats but the sweater is the big project). Today I realized I had a small math error when I attached the sleeves and pulled it back to reattach them. First time the sweater has been off the needles since I cast on.

    And I realized that I not only had a small math error, I had a BIG gauge accident. The body would fit 2 of my 6’6 250 lbs son around. My daughter isn’t that big. Even with her coat on.

    You don’t know how close I came to just throwing the entire thing in a bin in the stash room and knitting another cowl. But I frogged it. And am knitting as fast as I can. She’s a big girl, she’ll get it if her Christmas sweater is a little late.

    • Thank you, Mary, for this post. Am knitting the 2nd sleeve for the 2nd time, also because of a math error. Not nearly as bad as reknitting the entire thing, but still a setback.

  4. Love looking at all the gift ideas and I got completely sidetracked on the Chickenboots site! Great name and really nice things….fingers crossed for yarn tomorrow.

  5. I didn’t know what black beak was looked it up now I do ! Thanks learned something ! I like the purple ones probably to hot for me.

  6. Pato is duck in Spanish! I had to look it up.
    How in the heck do you finish so many things in such a short time I will never know.

  7. I came SO close to buying the Chickenboots wallpaper, love the self sticking kind since I’ve never hung paper. But don’t really want to take on another project right now. I could be very happy with that tape in multiple sizes. Good stuff and definitely not over the top!

  8. You know what? No popcorn over here. I know how tense it is waiting for the yarn and worrying and getting anxious– I feel your pain, Steph, and I really, really hope you get a big shipment of yarn soon as can be. Good luck to you, and you’ve got my prayers.

  9. I spent 2 hours last night and tonight recovering from a little error in a 3-color fair isle knee sock, and in trying to look at it lost a passel of stitches…..that caused a frogging of half a dozen rows…..tonight I’m back where I had gotten, and a few rows beyond. I thought I was well beyond learning my lesson about stoppers on dp needles, but evidently not…..at almost 80 there are lessons abounding for my edification. I will keep bundling up in this N. Minnesota deep freeze this week and knit on………… 😀

    • Not steph but the sprinklebakes blog has a good one as does smitten kitchen- I’ve used both to good effect in the last couple years.

  10. I’ve been reading the blog for years and every Christmas season this Brit has a bemused wonder about the gingerbread.

    What’s the deal with it? I get that it’s important, but why? Is it traditional, a family thing, or just (if your recipe is anything like my father’s) as projectiles in case of surprise hostilities?

    Or is gingerbread the Canadian counterpart to mince pies? The food that HAS to be present or it’s just not Christmas.

    • Can’t speak for Canadians, but here in the U.S., fruitcake is what many people dread at the holidays — mostly because there are so many cheap, nasty ones in the supermarkets.
      Back in the day (’60s, early ’70s) my little sister’s band sold really good (and pricey) ones that were made in Texas and had lots of pecans. But even those were a tough sell because most fruitcakes were fit only for regifting or serving as doorstops.

      • It’s the same in the UK. So much bad Christmas fruitcake! But my mum’s moist, boozy homemade Christmas cake, on the other hand….I dream about it the rest of the year!

      • They wouldn’t happen to have been ones from the Collin Street Bakery … ? I have a friend in southern CA who has those things sent to his house every Christmas by one of his sisters.

          • Love Claxton fruit cake. We’ve always been able to get it here in Philadelphia, PA. One bite and I’m immediately taken back to Christmas in the 1960s as a teenager. Still buy one every year, but since I’m the only one now who likes it, I eat it ALL myself. Ah, the pounds pile on….

          • My kids would NEVER eat fruitcake, until after Christmas when I crumbled it all up and mixed it with chocolate chip cookie dough. Those cookies they love, I could never make enough. I’m hurting on the yarn bit, too, but it’s snowing here in Kansas — yes, right here, even the Wizard of Oz can do nothing about it.

    • And don’t forget gingerbread houses! Though those are mostly for looking as well, as most packaged gingerbread is pretty blagh. It’s gingerbread, it’s Christmas Tradition along with candy canes, cookies for Santa, and ham.

  11. If you were north of the city, you wouldn’t have any time to knit because you’d still be shovelling. Especially if your neighbour who is supposed to take care of your driveway, so you didn’t even start, didn’t. Oh yay, and now the snowplow has come by. I have come in to thaw out before the next round.

  12. I feel for you- our local USPS has been absolutely atrocious this year and doubly so now that the holidays have arrived. Packages marked delivered only to never show up, or be delivered the next day after you’ve called to yell at them. Getting mail for your neighbors and wondering if they are getting yours and never bringing it over. Madness! Good luck! I hope you get your yarn soon!

  13. Oh, dear. You’re done spinning and knitting the stuff shed by the cat? P*ss her off so she’ll shed some more!

    As for the gingerbread, I feel your WTF-ness. In my house, the shapes would be cats, pugs, Ferrarris, Pokemon, and dragons. Except none of us care for gingerbread.

  14. There is no such thing as going too far when knitting. Best of luck and I’ll hold off mailing my packages til you get your stuff, just to free things up a wee bit more.

    • Sugar cookies also take well to cookie cutters. I have an enormous bag full and love them (until the time comes to wash them).

  15. iI love the washi tape! and I loved the wallpaper in yesterday’s list, too. Crossing my fingers that Canada Post shows up today with your yarn. I got an order the other day, but it’s not actually holiday related, just some stuff I nee(cough,cough) er..wanted to try.

  16. If I still lived in Buffalo, NY I would drive what you need and meet you in Niagara Falls, Ontario…. Canada post is slow. I have a friend in New Brunswick on the border and keeps a US post office box for just this type of thing. Good karma for a speedy package delivery today!

  17. Merry Christmas! Wishing you a week of uninterrupted knitting and a box from Canada Post. AND….wishing you will share the black bean and espresso chili recipe because I really, really need it.

  18. Okay, BUT:

    YOU DID IT

    From here on out is mostly knitting, and that’s the fun part! You & Joe said you would knock out all of the spreadsheet stuff by Friday and

    YOU DID IT

    You are, to use the technical term, amazeballs.

  19. I don’t speak Spanish but know enough from one of my daughter’s picture books (“Spike, the Mixed-up Monster”) to laugh out loud at Pato’s cookie shape request.

    I’ll continue to send good thoughts into the void that your yarn shows up soon.

  20. Surely the yarn goddess is working overtime to get your package to you in time!
    Your chili sounds amazing! I’ve currently got some black bean vegetable soup simmering and my whole house smells amazing. Here in mid-Missouri we’re covered in ice, so soup and corn muffins it is tonight! A perfect cold evening meal!

    As for the knitting. . . I’m trudging through a Baker Street hat for my teenage son, and the long rounds of purling are really slowing it down.

  21. Today in Nova Scotia it was -31 with the wind-chill, and it was a bitter wind. BRRR!

    Crossing my fingers that your package shows up!

    Are you still looking for ideas for gifts for knitters? Or do you have them all figured out? Hand cream would be a good gift, and it’d be a blessing to any crafter.

  22. I am also waiting for the post man. Just one skein is needed. One sleeve to finish, albeit on #4 needles, fingering weight yarn!

    Sigh.

  23. My cockney grandmother and her contemporaries believed that each different fruit cake you tasted guaranteed you “one happy month”. Important to have as many tastes as possible. And one of the lucky charms that might be inside.

  24. “I can presume that they’re boxes he’ll check off on his spreadsheet, rather than things I’ll tick off on mine.”

    ah, a checker and a ticker — another secret of your great relationship casually revealed!

    oh, and something to consider for next year’s Knitter’s gifts: Freighthouse Pottery in Stratford does fabulous work, some of it using old lacework and other textiles to create patterns. https://www.facebook.com/freighthousepottery

  25. Your black beak chili looks delicious but you really shouldn’t “crow” about it!
    Wishing you & yours a joyous, peaceful Christmas.

  26. We consistently have dinosaurs at Christmas along with the traditional angels, snowflakes, ornaments, Santas, etc. So I’m good with ducks and sharks. And, yes, my kids are as old (if not older) than yours!

  27. I remember when we lived on PEI, Canada Post only brought things I didn’t want, like bills and things, the good things went through Customs and came with a very high tax attached. I hope you get your box! But hey, going downtown to look at some yarn can’t be all that bad! We have only 3 LYS here. I’m not heading to those until January. Provided I can still move what with the cold weather.

    • Oh my…you only have 3 shops? T’would be heaven…my closest one is Brandon at 2 hours away and the next is Winnipeg which is four hours away. Regina is 3 hours but the shop I used to haunt has closed *sob* Thus, when I do find a shop my farmer just drops me off…my stash has taken over:) Three shops? Oh yes, heaven!

      • Adding my voice to those who are concerned. I’d like to think the yarn has arrived and that she’s knitting as fast as her fingers will move. If she wants, here’s a quick post she can use:
        1. Yes, the yarn arrived.
        2. Knitting as fast as I can.
        3. Other things on the spreadsheet are being addressed.
        4. All is well, except, you know, the madness of trying to make it all as perfect as it can be.
        5. Will come up for air soon.

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