Knitting Scarf, Change Approaching, Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with my toddler and still on Maternity leave that lasts for up to 18 months in Canada. I am on month 15 now and thinking about going back to work in a few months. My employer is very good with people coming back from Maternity leave and trains and works with us to transition back into work. I think it will be a good transition back. So far my work is still remote so I will be working from home which I really love. Evan has a spot in a local daycare and we are looking forward to him starting. It will all be a change in the next few months that will be exciting, stressful, and full of emotions. I have been with him for 15 months now and we have a routine and things we do. I have loved being with him so long to see his milestones and spend special moments together. I also nursed him until 14.5 months so it was really nice to be able to do that. I started weaning in December and took it slow to follow his lead and how I was feeling as well. I was thinking today how that will change and there will be a new routine. But that is life. Always changing. 

I have been continuing to work on knitting the Rough Rib Scarf by on Ravelry. I like this pattern it is very simple and the same repeat each row. I love knitting with the thick and quick bulky yarn too it is so soft and nice to work with. I hope to be done soon so Liam can wear it before it warms up outside!

I have been reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett and Whole Brain child by Dan Siegel. I am liking these books and hope to finish the Whole Brain Child soon. I think I will use the teachings more as Evan gets older since they are more geared towards older toddlers and up. 

I got these cute barns with animals on Amazon for Evan. It is called Learning Resources Peekaboo Learning Farm. I was looking for some other toys to work with him on colors, numbers, and animals. I love how this is such an open ended toy. There are five barns with five animals: horse, duck, donkey, pig, and cow. I saw a video Ms Rachel did so I use the similar vocabulary when playing with him like open the barn, color of the barn, number, and animal and the sounds they make. It has been fun and he gets excited to see what animal it is and we say peekaboo because he loves peekaboo games with us. 

Millie has been busy and always following us around she loves lots of attention. The first photo below she was zooming around and she gets hyper and dives into her hammock. 

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I know I said I would post on Sunday but didn't have it ready that day. I will work on getting back to my posting schedule because Sunday is a great day for me to post since Liam is home and can also help with Evan. 

Have a great day!

Knitting for Baby and Updates

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It has been so long since I have posted on here. I have missed this space. I have just been so preoccupied with getting things ready for our baby due in December it is getting so close now and we still have some things to do to prepare the nursery and to buy for baby's arrival. I had a wonderful baby shower at the beginning of October and I will share photos soon. We received so many clothes, books, bath items, and essentials for baby it was great. This month we started painting the nursery, we ordered the baby crib, change table, stroller, and car seat. 

I started knitting a baby hat for baby and it is nice to be finally working on a knitting project for him. I found such a cute baby hat pattern on Ravelry called IONA Baby Hat by Marianna Mel. It is knitted on straight needles. I started knitting it in the round and noticed the pattern was off, so I switched to knitting on the needles instead of in the round. I am liking the pattern of the hat so far it looks nice. I chose the baby blue color for our baby boy I bought Snuggly Wuggly baby yarn by Loops & Threads in the colorway pal blue and knitting on 4 mm circular needles.

I am slow in the reading department jumping around from reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry to some other pregnancy books. I will try to pick up my reading again soon and hopefully once I am on maternity leave starting November 11th I can have more time to relax, read, and knit.

Millie has been doing well. We have moved her toys and litter out of the second bedroom now to start working on the nursery. She still has a lot of places to go but I have noticed she seems a bit out of sorts sometimes, but there has been a lot of change and big boxes of furniture and things coming in.

I am now 34 weeks pregnant. This week I really started to feel big and pressure in my belly. Baby is doing well in there and we are only 6 weeks away now! Time is flying by and we are so excited to become parents.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I hope you have a great rest of your week.

Knitting the Copycat Cowl and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. My week has been going well and I can't believe how fast it is going that it is already Thursday tomorrow. I hope the next two days fly by. I hope that you are feeling the same way if you want your work week to go by quickly. This weekend we have more family get togethers planned so I am also looking forward to seeing them.

I have been continuing to knit the copycat cowl by Verna Glass on Ravelry. It is a fun knit so far and I am looking forward to seeing the pattern emerge more in the cowl. Now that I found this pattern, I would be interested in knitting the hat this cowl is based on called copy.cat C.C beanie.

Knitting and reading the copycat cowl and reading Malibu Rising starting tonight!

I have been reading Expecting Better by Emily Oster and enjoying this book and finding it so informative. I am almost finished reading The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson, and will be starting to read Malibu Rising by Taylor Reid Jenkins tonight too. I am so excited to finally get started reading this book but wanted to finish the others first.

Millie enjoys sleeping on the cat bed on the desk beside me as I work. She is the perfect work from home companion.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope that you are having a great week and staying safe! We are expecting a lot of snow here in Toronto over night and it has already started snowing quite a bit. These are days when I am so grateful to be working from home.

Have a great day!

Finished Chunky Knit Basket and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. There is still so much snow here in Toronto we got 45 centimeters of snow on Monday January 17th. I went for a walk tonight after work which was nice because I was inside for a few days and hadn't gone out not only because of the snow also just busy at lunch the past two days and then it gets dark early so I don't usually have time to go before it gets dark outside or am busy making dinner early. The sidewalks are paved now in some places so walking was better than it would have been the past few days. 

I have knitted a basket using the Chunky Knit Basket Pattern from Angie Cruise. These baskets are really fun and fast to knit up because of the chunky yarn used in the pattern. I love the basket in the gray yarn I got which is the Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick tweeds in colorway gray marble.  

The pattern calls for crocheting a macrame cord edge at the top, but because I don't know how to crochet, I saw some comments that people used the seed stitch at the top instead so I gave it a try and it makes a nice top edge of the basket. 

I put some pens in to show the height and also that it can be good storage for little things here and there. I will knit more of these and was thinking of attempting to knit covers or tops for them so I can keep Millie out of them as well. 

I am still reading The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson. I am interested in reading on to find out more. It has taken me awhile to get into this storyline, but I am being patient because I can see that it is getting more interesting. I am also reading Expecting Better by Emily Oster and hope to learn more from this book on the pregnancy journey and tips on each stage of the process.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I hope to cast on a new project soon I just need to get the right size needles and then I am starting some socks. I haven't knitted socks in awhile so I am looking forward to starting this weekend.

Have a great day!

Knitting, Cross Stitching, and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It has been awhile since my last post! I have been busy with work and learning a new task to handle. I am enjoying the new task and hope to stay on longer. I have also been busy knitting the baby blanket called the Simple Lines Baby Blanket by Heather Tucker on Ravelry. I have only 3 more rows of squares to knit until the piece is complete. I can't wait to be done to wash and block it in time to gift it to my sister before her baby is born.

For cross stitch updates, I have started cross stitching the outlines of the leaves at the top of the pattern. I really like how it is turning out. I am enjoying this new hobby a lot, and like that I found a tutorial on this exact cross stitch kit online to help me along. I got this cross stitch kit from Michaels and it will say "I can't adult today" when it is complete.

I am continuing to read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I am really enjoying it so far, and my sister read it recently too and liked it. I am still reading Lean in by Sheryl Sandberg as well and reading it bit by bit will try to finish it soon! 

This past weekend, Liam and I played a game called Exit. Last year, I shared that we were trying out another escape room game called Unlock. It was fun, but we could never actually finish the game. It was so hard. This game was easier and the one I bought Liam for his birthday is level two skill and called The Sunken Treasure and we finished it. Just in case you are also looking for a two player game to play while stuck in quarantine, this is a good one to try out! What are some other games you enjoy? I want to get some more, Patchwork looks interesting and Sushi Go.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday! They Link up every week to see what other bloggers are working on.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! I am really enjoying the warmer weather and starting to go on more walks again. It feels so much better than those close dark months of Winter with Covid. Looking forward to brighter days ahead! 

Have a great day!

Postponing the Wedding, Knitting and Reading Updates

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have felt more busy than usual lately. For weeks approaching the wedding we were getting ready and getting some last details settled. Then there were some restrictions set in Toronto that no more than 10 guests indoors. We were worried about those restrictions happening in York Region where we are getting married so we made the difficult decision to postpone. Then the restrictions were put in place last week. We have postponed our wedding again to next year. We have the month of March in mind now and hoping the Covid-19 situation is better then and less restrictions so we can have a fun wedding, that is closer to what we have imagined.

I started knitting a hat using the pattern Amelia Slouch Beanie by Elsa McLaughlin on Ravelry. It is a pretty popular pattern, so I decided to give it a try. I bought this gorgeous yarn that I saw at Michaels and instantly thought of knitting a bulky slouchy hat for the Fall and add a pompom on the end.

I am still working on knitting a scarf for my Fiancé, Liam's as a Christmas gift. I am following the  Ridge Rib Men's scarf pattern by Purl Avenue. It is a good 4-row repeat pattern. I like knitting this easy to remember pattern, so I can watch TV shows and YouTube vlogs while knitting it.

I started reading In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. It is so good so far, and I can't wait to read more to find out what happens. I originally found this one on goodreads and thought the plot sounded so interesting. Woman has five year plan and has a life all planned out and things going on track, then wakes up to a whole other life with another man. 

I finished to the audiobook of  Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. She gives so many good tips, I will probably end up listening to this one again just to jot down the different suggestions she shares. She has a lot of tips for achieving goals and also inspires you to make time for working towards those goals.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I am happy to be posting again. I have today until Friday off from work, and I look forward to getting in some more knitting and reading time. We will also be moving to a condo townhouse soon in early November, so I will be busy packing up my things and planning for the move. 

Have a good day!

Knitting Scarf and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been doing well. It feels like right now there is so much going on and I need to take more time to work on things. Our wedding is coming up in October and then we are moving a couple of weeks later in November to our townhouse in Toronto. It is going to be a whirlwind of activities. I am excited we are going forward with the wedding, but also feel like now I have to get busy and we have a lot of work and preparations to do. I of course, am sitting here knitting and blogging instead because its Wednesday and that is what I like to do and the other responsibilities can be worked on later. 

I started knitting the Ridge Rib Men's scarf by Linda Thach, pattern found on Ravelry. This is going to be a gift for my fiancé Liam for Christmas. The yarn I am knitting with is Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn in the colorway black. I am using straight needles size US 10, 6.0 mm, as suggested in on the pattern. I am starting to knit gifts earlier this year. I might also knit him some socks. I want to knit some other things for my family as well. 

I finished reading Everything is F*cked by Mark Manson. It was such a good book and really interesting to read. He does his research and discusses interesting events in history and philosophers. I like that I learned a lot while reading it. I want to read his other book The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck. I have started reading Normal People by Sally Rooney. It seems like it will be a good read and I am just learning about the characters at this point. I will let you know how I like it as I read on.

Photo source

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog! The cases of Covid-19 are going up in Toronto unfortunately and even before school starts tomorrow. I really hope we don't get the second wave in the Fall and that it holds off for awhile. I also hope that people stay safe and practice safe socializing and keep distance from those not in their bubble. It is hard when socializing to keep this in mind and to keep distance, but it will really help everyone as a whole in the long run.

Have a great day!

Knitting Progress, New Project Plans, and Reading

Hi Friends,

I hope you are all doing well. I have been good, and I have been busy working a lot of hours at a temporary work assignment in Toronto. I will be finished the three week contract tomorrow and I will hopefully be starting another job soon. I am currently working some temp jobs to gain work experience while job searching and hoping to land a full-time or part-time position in office administration.

I have been knitting the second piece of the Wool and the Gang Farrah Billie Jean top which is the back piece.  I finished knitting the ribbed bottom edge of the piece and now starting on knitting in stockinette stitch for the body of the top.

I have still been reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and really enjoying it so far. The character is funny and I love reading about her hopes and dreams on finding her dream man, and her observations about the people around her.

Today I went to Michael's to get some yarn for a new project. I have been so excited to start a new project for awhile, but did not know exactly what I wanted to make and also needed time to make a special trip to Michaels. One day this week, I realized I have never knitted a beanie before and I really like the slouchy hat look. So I started looking at patterns this morning and I found a pattern for a beanie on Ravelry called Barley Light by Tin Can Knits. I chose a similar color to the hat in the photo for the pattern because I thought it looked so nice in that color. The yarn I will be using is Patons Kroy Socks in the flax colorway. I am looking forward to casting on today and will be sharing photos with you soon on the progress of the beanie.

Screenshot photo of the Barley Light beanie on Ravelry :) (Photo Source) 

Joining along with Nicole from Frontier Dreams for Crafting On, with Kat from As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday, and with Ginny from Small things for Yarn Along (March)! Please stop by these amazing blogs if you would like to also share what you are working on and see what others are working on this week.

Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today, and I hope you have a great day!