sailing on a sinking ship...oh and knitted stuff!

there’s nothing like hand-knitted baby stuff. my sister’s good friend had her first baby in the summer and she wanted to give them both the gifts of knitted goodness for winter. so she requested that i knit mum and baby hats. the trade was pretty awesome actually…given that my knitting queue is HUGE and my time is limited these days, my sister agreed to spend quality time with my toddler while i went off to various coffee shops (alone!) to knit her stuff!! i couldn’t think of a better exchange because i’ve found that it’s nearly impossible as a mum to go enjoy a coffee alone.

the adult pattern is a DROPS pattern and details can be found here on ravelry. the baby hat is a simple improvisation of the adult hat but with 2X2 ribbing and picked up stitches for the ear flaps.

in other news, the house building has slowed almost entirely to a halt. we’re having difficulties with our electrical pole as BC Hydro gave us one direction as to the proper height of the pole, and the building inspector is saying it’s incorrect (what?). our garage door took almost 4 months to come in rather than the initially projected 1 month (apparently the company sent it to oblivion and nobody to this day, knows where the original one is). trades people get busy and don’t show up for appointments and then don’t tell us…we often never hear from them again. city hall expects us to read their mind rather than give us clear instructions. the snow decides to fall in sheets the week we want to finish the roof. plumbers don't show up so excavators can't backfill when the subcontractors drop off doors/windows/siding thus making it impossible to drop off the material. we arrange cranes to unload shit and the company shows up with a truck instead. we make large orders of necessary supplies and half shows up. it goes on and on...

my advice: never build your own house! it’s the most stupid and irrational decision you will ever make in your entire life. it is voluntary torture. even with meticulous planning and thorough research, everything that could possibly go wrong, WILL. and unless you’re independently wealthy and are building it from top to bottom entirely by yourself (which wont happen unless you live in the middle of nowhere because the over-controlling and regulated system prevents anyone from doing anything themselves, short of wiping their own ass...), the vast majority of the people on whom you depend to get things done (everyone from banks, tradespeople, hardware stores, building supply companies, etc etc etc) will let you down…repeatedly. and they will all claim ignorance!! AND you can't keep their hands out of your pockets...

haha. i’m just tired of it all. it’ll be worth it in the end…right?