Sunday, October 19, 2008

It Was a Night!

Wow! Where to start?

We were awakened this morning, at about 3:30 a.m., to the sound of shouting and sirens. When I looked out the bedroom window, I saw a truck on fire and the fire truck getting into position to put out the fire. I was instantly awake when I realized the truck was John's work truck!



Truck fire

He had a load of leaves and pine needles in the bed of the truck that needed to go to the dump. It turns out that a couple of teens were seen setting the load on fire. Someone in a vehicle saw the teens, turned around and, realizing what was happening, called the fire department. (I may not be getting all the details straight, as I stayed in the apartment, but am passing on what I was told.) Someone else got out a fire extinguisher, but by the time the tire truck arrived, the fire had already gone down to the bottom of the pile and through the truck bed. The truck (owned by the company John works for) is a total write-off.



Truck fire 2

Shortly after 4:00 a.m., the truck was towed away and we went back to bed. We've had a spate of arson fires in Kelowna over the last couple of weeks; I can't say that this one was related, but we certainly never expected that we would be the victims of arson. It's more than a little upsetting.

On to other things... (deep cleansing breath)...

I mentioned in my last post that I'll be re-knitting the Citrus Punch sweater for Trinity and that I couldn't find the pictures. Well, I found them. As well, that same week, Kristen took a couple of pictures of Trinity in that sweater.

Citrus Punch 06_2



Citrus Punch06_1

These two pictures were taken two years ago. At the time, Trinity didn't want to take the sweater off for anything! It is still her favorite sweater, apparently. It seems that the yarn has grown with her and she's still wearing it. I did notice, though, when I was there earlier this year that the yarn has "relaxed" (for lack of a better word) and the sweater has stretched out. (It really should have been knit on smaller needles; lesson learned.)


Trin CP

This picture was taken earlier this week. I love it!

Other knitting has been happening as well around here (surprise, surprise!). One of my bosses commented that she was having a difficult time finding mittens for her 3 year old daughter, especially mittens with a cord. Well, that did it. I found out that one of Sam's favourite colours is pink and I just happened to have some pink in my stash, so...


mittens for Sam

I've almost done the first mitten now; just the thumb needs finishing. All in all, they're a really simple knit. Over the years, I've knitted a lot of these for my own kids. They're fun to make. The pattern is an old Paton's pattern, long since discontinued. The yarn is a superwash wool with a strand of mohair and silk (like Rowan KidSilk Haze, but a different, less costly, brand), worked on 3.25 mm dpns.

When I found out that Kristen's upcoming arrival will be of the male persuasion (meet Ethan, to be born sometime around the end of January)...


Ethan

...I started thinking about little boy knits. I started thinking about little boy designs and came up with nothing that I was happy with so I started going through my collection of patterns and came across a book I pick up now and then, drool over, but have never knit anything from.

This time, two patterns struck me. One is a girl's pattern, which I'll do eventually. The other is a boy's pattern. The book? Alice and Jade Starmore's "The Children's Collection". I decided to knit "Western Seas", a gansey inspired boy's sweater that is predominantly stocking stitch, making it great tv knitting.


Western Seas

The yarn for this one is Sandnesgarn "Strompegarn", a superwash sock yarn. The sweater is worked on 3.0 mm needles and I'm knitting the smallest size (2-3 years). I figure that with soon-to-be five grandsons, it will fit one of them and can be passed on to others. I'm enjoying the knitting so much that I've even bought more yarn for another one.

I love the detailing in the ribbing and just above it. Generally, gansey's have a lot of patterning, but this one is simple, yet classy. The ribbing and zigzag detailing are repeated on the sleeve, for just that little touch of interest. The brown of the yarn, which you might think would be boring to knit with, is practical and yet, really nice. It's knitting up kind of tweedy, again, very classy. I think, and I hope, it will see a lot of wear.

Whew! This has turned into a long post; my apologies for that. There was just so much to tell you!

7 comments:

  1. Yikes! No one needs that kind of excitement in the middle of the night. I hope you managed to relax a bit afterwards.

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  2. I love the citrus punch sweater. I have a 3 year old granddaughter that would look so very nice in such a sweater. May I ask where you got the pattern or where I can find it?

    Maria

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  3. What's happened to all your pictures?? I used to see them all but now they've disappeared!!!

    I'm so glad the arson was only to the truck & not your home. What goes on in the heads of kids when they do this sort of thing????

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  4. Wow! Seems like you've had an eventful evening! Hopefully everything turns out ok in the end with the truck! (And by the way Mom, it's a FIRE TRUCK...not a TIRE TRUCK!...Caught ya!)

    And, wow! I did not realize Trinity was so little when you first made the Citrus Punch sweater for her...just crazy! And it still fits! CRAZY!!!

    Well love you, and hope everything turns out a little better tonight!

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  5. Don't ever apologize for a long post, always good to read what is going on and it seems like you have lots!! Hopefully they catch those people setting fires, that is awful!!

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  6. Gosh I'm glad you and John are okay! Screw the truck - as long as you two didn't get hurt!

    The recent Trinity picture is absolutely darling! What a cutie :)

    And I look forward to seeing that gansey - a style of sweater I seem to be becoming drawn to. NOt that I'll ever be a sweater knitter, but I suspect there's one of there in my future :)

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  7. So sorry to hear about the truck! Please let us know how things turn out. I just loved the recent pic of Trin. If you don't mind, I downloaded it! If you do - I will not do it again!

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