A summer camisole

It has been a super long time since I've knit this camisole.  I just checked my files, and I think I designed this as "lace camisole" for Knit Picks in 2006, when they had just started their design program.  They asked me to use a novelty yarn, which resulted in a red camisole and a neon yellow/green one.  Then, when the copyright reverted to me, I released it on Ravelry as the Turkish Lace Camisole.

I seemed to remember it as a quick, satisfying knit...and bear in mind, 4+ years without sleep means I can't remember much of anything!  So, when I happened upon some lovely linen yarn at a local yarn shop's sidewalk sale, I decided to give it ago.

I've started a knit-along in my Ravelry group in case anyone wants to join me for a relaxing knit and summer chat session...but for now, I'm finding it delightfully airy, cool, and fast.  Who knows?  I might even get to wear it a couple times at the end of the summer, if summer hangs on long enough in Winnipeg!

In other news, I'm canning.  So far?  Apricot, Nanking Cherry, and Blueberry-Plum-Vanilla jams.  I'm hoping to fit in some pickles, salsa, and chutney later on.  As the summer progresses, I'll be doing more chasing of twins, as we don't have much childcare scheduled...so all bets are off as to how much will actually happen!  We might have to go to the wading pool instead...and I might have to wear a new cover up.

A little Sumpin Sumpin

I have finally found summer.  Here.  In Winnipeg.  A couple of days ago, we could even shut our tap off and it isn't dripping anymore.  (yes, frozen pipes were still a concern until after Canada Day.  Oy.)  Even though I am thrilled to see flowers, greenery, heat, all of it...we're still very covered up here.  You see, we've had torrential rains, massive flooding in the Province (but not in my basement, thank goodness...) and now--MOSQUITOES.  One of my 3 year old boys (the smaller twin, for those who know us in person) has a terrible allergic sensitivity to the bites, which is not surprising, given that the Professor and I are both allergy-prone.

Well, he has had three bad bites near his eyes since the beginning of June.  Yucko.  This requires lots of "loopy sleepy medicine"(kid Benadryl) as well as "sauce"(cortisone cream) in order to keep from having the yucky antibiotics, which he had the first time he got a bite.  Anyhow, the boys wear long pants, socks, shoes, button down long sleeved shirts sprayed heavily with bug spray, and Tilley sun hats, also perfumed with bug spray...and even so, they get bitten on their hands, their wrists, their faces...it's bad.  The city will start spraying tonight and to be honest, I am just grateful.  It is terrible when you can't play in the sandbox, enjoy a slide, or try out your new tricycle because of bugs.

Also, morning preschool ended...camp (mornings) doesn't start 'til Monday, and our mother's helper went away to visit her family.  So, we are having 10 days without any childcare.  In order to sell this to the boys as something fun and not an alarming sentence (which is what it sometimes seems to us--3 year old twins, without any help or breaks or anyone willing to watch both of them while they are awake but us...and oh, did I mention they still don't sleep through the night too often?!)...anyhow, I sold it as a "Holiday with Mommy."  Every day, we tried to do something fun together and I tried to tire them out.

Meanwhile, I relied heavily on precooked food from the freezer, the slow cooker, and deep calming breaths to get through all the potty breaks, accidents, tantrums, and random assaults on one's brother...

OK, on to the good stuff.  At night, when I should be sleeping, I was working on this.  As one of my brothers would say, with a sort of mischievous smirk, a little sumpin sumpin.  Here's a link to Sumpin, my latest knitting design.



It's an easy cellular lace pattern, only 4 rows long, and absolutely lightweight and airy in something like silk.  (This is Handmaiden Sea Silk, in Ivory)  It's meant to dress up a t-shirt, or, in my case, to cover up stains!  If I ever have to look nice again, I might want to wear/knit/own something like this.

The Professor shot these photos of me outdoors one evening after the twins were finally asleep.  It is light here until 10 or 11 pm this time of year and our twilight lasts a long time.  However, the mosquitoes were also thinking that this scarf was "sumpin" and our photo shoot was actually very fast.

This shot of me with my face all crinkled up and laughing was really like "Get on with it!  Hurry up!  Do you want to be eaten alive?!"

If you're curious about how I could possibly be designing or knitting now, well, I wonder that too.  I shot a photo of a chair in my bedroom...stacked with my knitting bag, a copy of Knit Green so I could answer somebody's question, and this last project, this silk scarf.  Knitting gets done in the tiny windows of space when I'm a passenger in a car, when the boys are drinking their milk before bed, and in the few minutes during naptime or before bed when I am trying to calm down and stealing sleep time to do it.

It is a time that is hazy around the edges, just like these shots...but a few minutes of knitting (or spinning) a day really keeps me feeling just a little bit sane when trying to sell 10 days without childcare or playdates or any local family or even any babysitting while someone is awake as...umm, a holiday with Mommy. :)