Deriviknit

So long!

2007-04-09T18:34:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to say the same thing as Denise. It was fun keeping up the blog, but we both have new projects on our hands that have been, and will be keeping us both quite busy. I have a feeling neither of us will have very much free time anymore!

It's been great - good bye!

the end.

2007-04-09T12:20:00.000-04:00

Well, we tried and it was fun while it lasted. We will both very soon move on to smaller but more time intensive projects than blogging. Maybe we'll return when we have free time on our hands? Maybe not.

It's been a slice.
My alien baby waves goodbye!

Nutty as a Fruitcake

2006-11-16T20:16:00.000-05:00

I wish you all could smell my kitchen right now. I'm making fruitcake for the first time ever, and I'm spreading the work out over a few days. The first couple days were spent gathering the ingredients. Who knew it would be so hard to find dried cherries and dried blueberries? Thank goodness for Whole Foods.
I'm using this recipe here. Last night I chopped up the dried fruits and let them soak in rum. I had to sample some of the fruits. Raisins soaked in rum for 24 hours are delicious! Just now, I added sugar, butter, spices, and apple juice and let it simmer on the stove. The kitchen smells heavenly. Hopefully the end product is worth all the work.

We Have a Winner!

2006-11-13T20:03:00.000-05:00

Remember how all summer long I was asking for donations to the MS Society, and was being really annoying but promised to give away a prize to someone who donated? And have you noticed how I haven't given away the prize yet? I bet that some of you think that I decided not to give away the prize. Well, worry no more.

We have a winner in the bike ride contest! I've just sent the winner an email, and have offered a choice between the lovely (pink) Fleece Artist sock yarn or a pair of hand knit socks. What do you think he'll choose?

2006-11-13T07:41:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the great comments on the yarn that was dyed at Shelridge Farms. Once again, it was a great time - it was fun hosting you Cookie, and you're welcome back any time! I was extremely curious to see how the yarn would look knit up, and since I don't have any socks on the go I wound up a skein of the brown and pink yarn. I haven't gotten far enough into the sock to tell how the colours are going to behave.

------

When I last posted, I left you all with a cliffhanger. What was to become of the stocking? Would I find more red yarn?

I made it out to Romni yesterday morning and searched through the shelves of yarn. I found another ball of white and green in the same dyelots - score! But I could not find the red I was looking for. Option 1 - wait and order another ball. Option 2 - live on the edge and try to find a match in a different yarn.

I chose Option 2, and the match is pretty close. I wouldn't have done this if I was knitting a garment to be worn, but for a Christmas stocking, I think that it looks pretty good.

You can only see the change in red if you look really close. I have to admit, I'm tickled with the result. The pattern is Christmas in Tallin from Knitting on the Road. And what's that in the corner? Why, a second stocking!

My Dye Job

2006-11-12T20:14:00.000-05:00

I've been gone for a long time, I know, I've been lazy. I needed to add my comments to Lisa and Cookie's though because I don't know if you understand how much fun we had at Shelridge Farms. Seriously, unprecedented fun. Even though it's already been said, Buffy and Don were the warmest, friendliest hosts you can imagine. I didn't know what to expect before we went. I thought we'd go, look at some yarn, spend an hour or so and then be on our way. Instead, we stuck around for 6 hours (!) drinking wine (I was the driver, so not me), dyeing yarn, and eating a delicious supper all in excellent company. I'm not a terribly creative person, and I had never dyed yarn before, so seeing the colour combinations Lisa and Cookie were coming up with encouraged me to be more creative. They were a great inspiration! I honestly could have brought home every skein of yarn there. However I did not and somewhat regretted that, but then I thought that maybe after an appropriate amount of time has passed (so as not to be a pest) maybe I could go back and do more! The following are the colours that came home with me.

Four skeins of this colour followed me home with the intention of making a little something for a little someone.

I can't wait to see what these look like as socks!

Even though there were two other colours that I dyed, I loved this one of Lisa's and had to take some home with me.

It was really cool to see how much the colours changed from when we put the dye on to after it had been steamed, washed, and dried. Once I get them wound I'm sure they will look differently too. And once they are knitted, who knows what they will look like! I wish I had taken more pictures during the process, but now I will know for next time.

I'll leave you with something little. Too little. I have to make a bigger one for the intended target because this one is too small I think. But look how cute!

The Week in Review

2006-11-11T19:14:00.000-05:00

This has been quite the week, as far as knitterly adventures are concerned. A little while ago I had received an email from a friend of mine. She was coming to town and wanted to do some yarn related activities. Who is this friend? Cookie!

There were a few things she wanted to do, and who am I to turn down yarn adventure? The one activity that had me feeling slightly apprehensive was attending the knit night at Lettuce Knit. I didn't have the heart to tell her that while I live in the same city as Lettuce Knit, I had never actually been to the knit night - or any real knit night with more than one other person for that matter. I was a little nervous about going. Would they like me? Would I have anything to add to the conversation? Would I be outed for not being a yarn and knitting expert? Not to worry, I had a great time and met a few people - Laura, Mel, Denny, Sarah, and some more who's names I didn't get. It was nice to meet all of you, and hopefully I'll make it back again!

The other big adventure on Cookie's agenda was a trip to Shelridge Farm. The trip to the farm was perhaps the most knitterly fun I've had in a long time. Maybe ever. Cookie has summarised the trip here. Buffy and Don are some of the nicest people I have ever met, and their hospitality was wonderful. Cookie, Denise and I spent the afternoon dying wool with Buffy, and while we waited for the colours to set we were treated to a delicious meal, and a tour of their home.

I was expecting to dye one or two skeins of yarn. Buffy had 80 (!!!) skeins of fingering weight yarn prepared for us to dye. When I heard that, I thought to myself, "How on earth are we ever going to dye 80 (!!!) skeins of yarn?" We started with four skeins each and before we knew it we were on to batches of eight at a time.

Being good bloggers, we all pulled out the cameras.

Cookie has posted some great pictures, so I'll just share the yarn that I had to bring home with me. I chose two skeins of each of the colorways I painted.

Reds, browns and purples

Reds, oranges and purples

Blues and greens

Pinks and browns

I definitely gravitated to the red end of the colour spectrum, with some blues tossed in for good measure. If you like any of these, and want to have some for yourself, these are available in limited quantities from Shelridge Farm.

Thanks again to Cookie for having the great idea to go to the farm - it was exactly the kind of afternoon I needed!

In other knitting news (because who knows when I'm going to post again), Denise gifted me with some sock yarn a couple weeks ago. It isn't yarn any more, it's a pair of socks:

These are made with Regia Canadian Colors in the Ottawa colorway. Just your usual top down sock with a hemmed cuff.

Last weekend I started knitting a Christmas stocking, with plans to make one for both Richard and myself. Things were going along swimmingly and I thought I would finish it off today. Until I ran out of yarn.

Looks like I have to head to Romni tomorrow!

Is this blog lame?

2006-11-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

I think so. Oh well, it's my own fault.

This is not lame - I'm going to my first ever Lettuce Knit Stitch 'n' Bitch tomorrow night. With a very famous knitblogger.

There may be photo documentation and actual blogging of the event.

Stay tuned!

Just Checking In

2006-09-25T12:43:00.000-04:00

Help! I have 1600 m of laceweight alpaca, and I don't know what to do with it! Any suggestions?

There's an actual reason as to why the blog has been silent lately. Denise and I have both been very busy. My living room is full of moving boxes at the moment (that I was very fortunate to get from Denise). So, I'm moving on the weekend and have not yet started packing - and that's been taking up a lot of my free time. That said, I have been working on a few projects and there will be pictures, all in due time.

Another reason for the silence - we went on holiday, to Italy and lots of other exciting places. We saw a lot of beautiful churches, and art, and countryside. We drank a lot of really good coffee, and ate some most delicious pizza and gelato. You'll have to imagine the pictures, seeing as blogger will not let me put any real images here at the moment.

Last but not least, I haven't forgotten about the little contest I had going for the MS Ride sponsors. I'm still going to do a draw with the names of all of my sponsors for a skein of sock yarn (mmm, Fleece Artist!) but I'm really lacking on the time here. As soon as things settle down, I'll try my hardest.

Later, friends!

Thank You!

2006-08-20T21:00:00.000-04:00

I did it - I survived the MS Ride this weekend. 200 km (that's about 125 miles) in two days. Over very rolling terrain. Rolling enough that I'd call it hilly.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me, with your help I raised $1,085 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. The weekend's event raised over $400,000 - not too shabby!

The ride was very hilly, and today I thought that I would have to get a ride to the finish line in one of the support vehicles. I was tired, I was sore, and I didn't want to ever see another hill again, EVER. It was at this point I was questioning why I do things like this, that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. My chain had fallen off as I was riding up a hill, so I had to stop halfway up a hill and fix it. The next hill was just over the top of the hill I was on. There I was, chugging my way up the hill, when a mini-van pulls up alongside me. There was a man in the passenger seat, and a woman was driving. The passenger window was open, and the woman spoke to me "Our son has MS. Thank you for doing this."

So, why do I do things like this? I do these things for the people that were in that van. My fundraising, and doing this ride will help make their lives a little easier, and the two small sentences they spoke gave me what I needed to make it to the end.

Thank you.

I've been Knitting

2006-08-17T22:24:00.000-04:00

Oh yes, I've been knitting, I have indeed. I'm trying to work my way through my stash, in a feeble attempt to reduce the amount of stuff I own. I was doing really well, and then I found out I was going to be an aunt, so I had to get yarn for a baby blanket, and then I thought that if my younger sister is going to start having babies, well, maybe my friends will start having babies, so I better get prepared and I went out and bought yarn for more blankets. And, while I was buying yarn for more blankets, I saw that cotton chenille was on sale at Knitomatic, so I had to buy some of that because it will make lovely Christmas gifts. And so I was sucked back into the vortex of stansh enhancement. So far, I have not succumbed to anything near S.A.B.L.E. (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy), but if I don't watch it, I'll be pretty close - that said, my stash is quite small compared to most.

Anywho, enough rambling - have I ever mentioned that I write the way I talk? Once I get going, well, it's hard to shut me up. And, I tend to get off-topic, fast.

But, I digress. I whipped up a sweater earlier this summer, of my leftover yarns. It's mostly Patons Classic Wool, but there's a stripe of Fleece Artist something or other, and the sleeves and the top of the body are in Patons Decor. It's cute, it's cozy, and most importantly - it's something I'll actually wear!

Final Request

2006-08-17T11:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, so here's the deal. This is my final request for donations to the Multiple-Sclerosis Society of Canada. My ride is on Saturday-Sunday (this weekend) and I'm only $65 short of my goal. I promise that this is the last time I'll make the request for someone, anyone really, to click on the link and make a donation. And, this is the first of many big THANK YOUs to everyone who has been so generous so far, with their donations and their well wishes for this adventure.

I promise that after this weekend, I'll take down all the MS stuff, and we'll be back to our regular scheduled, highly random and sporadic blogging about knitting and any random stuff that ends up on the blog. If we're all really nice, maybe Denise will be back on the blog too!

And, to make up for all of my public begging, I will try my hardest to get some pictures of my most recent knitting projects up tonight - for such a hot summer I actually have quite a few knit items produced.

Again, thank you so much to everyone who has donated to the Multiple Sclerosis Society on my behalf. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

She Rides Again

2006-08-10T13:33:00.000-04:00

My big ride for Multiple Sclerosis is fast approaching, and I'm still looking for sponsors. My goal is to reach $1000, and I currently have just over $800 in donations. All donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE, and are made directly from you to the MS Society of Canada.

I recently learned that a family member of a good friend of mine has been diagnosed with MS - I'm doing this ride for them.

And, as I had mentioned before, if you make a donation through the blog (send me an email and let me know that's how you got there), you could win a prize. The prize currently up for offer is a skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn, but the prize is completely negotiable - you have a choice in what you win!

So, click right here and make a donation!

Thanks!

112

2006-08-08T15:58:00.000-04:00

That's 112 km. A week or so ago, I did my longest ride yet, 112 km. Pretty impressive, no? What's less impressive is that at the end of the ride, I didn't make it all the way home. I made it as far as the first stop on the subway line in the west end of the city, and rode the train the rest of the way - I'm lazy at heart.

I have finally finished my Cozy. I blocked it last night, perhaps I'll have some photos to share, sometime in the (near) future.

Later, skaters.

Summer Knitting

2006-07-24T18:27:00.000-04:00

Well lookee here, I done gone and made me some warshcloths!

and up close

I purchased the Mason-Dixon Knitting book a couple weeks ago, and I'm making dishcloths and log cabin-ing with the best of them. I also spent my yarn money on the book, so all I can afford to buy new is dishcloth cotton, but that's okay. As far as dishcloths go, these are very pretty, and pretty knitting is pretty good.

I've been spending some time on my back deck garden. All is doing well except my roma tomatoes.

I was so excited about my tomato plant. I had visions of fresh tomatoes, tomato sandwiches, tomato salads. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. My neighbour's tomatoes are fantastic, with big fruit - some of which is even starting to ripen. My plants didn't even flower! Anyone have any ideas why?

Video! New! Exclamation Point!

2006-07-09T22:42:00.000-04:00

And now, for your viewing pleasure:

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5

Can you guess which video I'm sporting the "I'm-having-lots-of-fun" smile, and in which video I'm sporting the "okay-let's-go-I've-had-enough-and-you-promised-me-gelato-and-I-see-no-gelato" smile? Fun!

Umm, yeah.

2006-07-09T22:03:00.000-04:00

Looks like Italy won.

Richard and I took a wander up the street to see what was happening - we could hear the partay from the front yard. And it was quite a party, alright.

Having seens photos of the 'hood (Corso Italia) from 1982 (when Italy last won the World Cup), I made sure that we were back in town from a visit to my parents in time to explore the festivities. It took a while, but we wandered along St. Clair, from Oakwood to Lansdowne, and the street was packed. I have about a billion pictures, and some video too. As soon as I figure out how to get video up here, or at least a link to some video, I'll share those with you all. After all, how often do you get to see Police officers standing on buildings, or shaking their booties while doing crowd control?
I heart Toronto!

And that biking I mentioned last time? I convinced Richard to do some training with me - we rode from our place to Oakville and back one weekend (approx. 90 km, round trip), and to a little place north of the city called Lake Wilcox (approx. 80 km, round trip).

Even without the soccer crowds, this was quite the exciting weekend - a chinese wedding feast, a trip to my parents, and some knitting too!

1070.6

2006-06-26T18:32:00.000-04:00

1070.6 - that's how many kilometres I've ridden on my bike since I got my odometer last summer, and remembered to turn the little thing on. It doesn't work when it's raining, and I accidentally reset the whole bike computer once, so I've actually covered more distance than that. I'm aiming to hit 2500 before the end of October, so I'm well on my way!

But you're not here for the cycling, are you? I figured as much. You've stopped by to see if either Denise or I actually knit anything anymore. Well, here you go -

I finished my Koigu socks a while back

I haven't had a chance to wear them yet (thank goodness!) but I'm feeling the Koigu love.

In my seemingly constant state of sock knitting, I had been lusting after a particular book of patterns. Guess what Richard got me for my birthday?

He's a keeper, that's for sure. I'll knit him all the socks he wants!

Tomorrow (or Wednesday, I haven't decided yet) I'll give you the latest update on my training. I found a new place north of Toronto, a little lake that's been there all along and I had no idea!

Training Tracker

2006-06-14T20:21:00.000-04:00

Be patient my pretties, soon there will be knitting content to please you. And I will share tales of my birthday weekend (of which there exist few, if any, compromising photos). There will be pictures and stories involving socks and sweaters and shawls.

But, not until there are some more donations to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada! My goal is $1000, and right now I have accumulated $400. Almost halfway!

The ride is a definite challenge for me, so I've started a training program. I cycle to work every day, at a distance of 13 km each way for a total of 26 km from the commute. I'm trying to fit in one longer training ride on Wednesday evenings, and a loooong training ride on the weekend.

Today's distance: 13 km this morning (45 minutes), 46 km this evening (2h20min). Now I must eat.

Flowers! Baskets!

2006-06-13T21:48:00.000-04:00

This just in from the prize patrol:

This skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn can be yours! Remember, each donation to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada will earn you an entry into the Ride Raffle. Just so you know, this sock yarn is BIRTHDAY YARN. It was my birthday on Sunday, and I purchased this yarn for myself at Lettuce Knit while I was out and about in Kensington in Denise. If I'm willing to give up my BIRTHDAY YARN, aren't you willing to donate to an extremely worthy cause?

In other news, I finished the Flower Basket Shawl a while ago, and have worn it out a couple of times.

I LOVE IT. It's a little small, but it's very pretty. Did I mention that I used Fleece Artist sock yarn, in a colourway very similar to the BIRTHDAY YARN that is being GIVEN AWAY as a PRIZE for donations to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada? Well, if I hadn't mentioned it already, I should have.

I'm teaching my friend M. how to knit, and we just finished the first lesson. Know she knows how to cast on and knit. Next week, we tackle the purl stitch. How did you learn how to knit? What was your very first project?

Tomorrow (or sometime thereafter): socks! socks! and birthday books of sock patterns!

MS Bike Tour

2006-06-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

Every year, I try to do at least one charity event that involves some sort of physical activity - cycling.

This year, my event of choice is the RONA-MS Bike Tour, a cycling event raising funds for the MS Society of Canada. I’m not the only knit-blogger doing a ride for MS, Claudia is doing a similar ride, and has managed to amass quite the donation (currently just over $12,000, according to her site). I’m a little less ambitious - the goal I’ve set for myself is $1000.

Ride Details
200 kilometers in 2 days, between Brampton, Ontario and Waterloo, Ontario.
I rode a very similar route last year on my own, and let me tell you, there are a LOT of hills to be covered.

All donations will go directly to the MS Society of Canada, to fund research and programs to benefit people living with MS. If you’d like to contribute to my ride fund, follow this link and it will take you to a secure page where you can make a donation online. All donations are tax deductible.

To sweeten the deal, I’m going to put together a little prize package. For every $10 donation, I’ll put your name in a hat. After the ride, I’ll draw some names, and some people will get prizes. Easy! So, the more you donate, the better your odds of winning. As soon as I have the prizes, I’ll put up the details, so you can see what you’re playing for.

If you make a donation, please send me an email at lisaDOThoweyATgmailDOTcom with your name and email address so I can make sure you’re entered in the draw.

Please, help support the MS Society of Canada and help me reach my goal. I’d love to have to adjust my goal even higher!

Happy

2006-06-02T21:05:00.000-04:00

Things that are making me happy right now:

Watching P&P while knitting (well, right now I'm typing, but soon I will be knitting),
Knitting this, the same sock from last time only ripped out (because the pattern seemed girly to me and I was a little mistaken about which was the good side and which was the bad, i.e. I'm stupid) (Toeni is helping with the modelling. She is very fish-like isn't she?),

Marla, our new tree in the back yard that will one day provide enough shade to make it liveable in here when it gets sticking hot,

Our rainbarrel! Mike hooked it up for me last week,

Two babies coming in our knitting group (neither of which is mine btw so don't freak out that I have been hiding stuff from you),
A big party next weekend for Lisa's birthday. I'm hoping there will be lots of compromising pictures.

I hope you have a happy weekend too!

There's Jello in my Pampas

2006-05-18T21:01:00.000-04:00

Actually, there's jello in all of the fancy grasses (including Pink and White Pampas) that Lisa gave me seeds for and I planted. Don't believe me? Look:

It's been raining so much here that the soil is going jello-y, but look at how well the grass is growing! You'll notice we got a fancy new camera and I am inept so there are many fuzzy areas. I'll figure it out.

I have to say I'm jealous of Lisa's sockapaloooza adventure. Making socks for someone else is really cool, but getting socks from a stranger is cooler!

Remember how Lisa is a captial K - Knitter? Well, I am a no k - nitter because I apparently don't know how to purl. I could never figure out why my stockinette stitch looked weird. I thought my gauge was off because I was purling too tightly, but it never seemed overly tight when I knitted those stitches. I told my MIL this and when she watched me purl, she saw that I was wrapping the yarn around in the wrong direction. In case you wanted to know, wrapping the yarn clockwise instead of counter clockwise results in something that looks like this:

Wonky, huh?

My current project is this:

The Retro Rib socks from IK (Winter 2004) using some Fleece Artist. I started these last week and had hoped to have them finished by this weekend, but that is not going to happen.

A few weeks ago Lisa and I went away with some Scrap booking ladies and spent the weekend eating, knitting, talking, and relaxing. It was a great time! Lisa took me for a run on the beach and it felt so good, but I have not continued the practice. I will be very sorry come bathing suit weather.

while I am making confessions i feel i should admit that while i was in the area last week, i made a trip to the yarn mecca (you know where i mean) and purchased some up country at an alarmingly low price. i have been so good at sticking to the stash, but i really couldn't resist, honest.

Spin spin spin

2006-05-16T18:40:00.000-04:00

Last year I purchased a spindle at the DKC Knitter's Frolic. I used it a couple of times and had some decent results. I put it aside and haven't really even thought about using it for months. Another purchase made a LONG time ago (October 2004, that's long for me, I've only been building my stash for a few years even though I've known how to knit since approximately 1986)was some Fleece Artist roving. This roving was meant to be thrums. I never got into the thrum groove and the roving sat in the stash, along with the spindle. If these items had emotions, they probably cried a little bit to themselves each night as I was not showing them the proper care and attention they deserved.

Until this weekend, that is.

May I present to you, my very own yarn

This is my third attempt at spinning (ever!) and I am oh-so-proud of myself. I'm actually planning on knitting with this (my first two attempts sit in a pretty crystal vase on a shelf in my living room). I've never taken a lesson and it's likely that my technique is completely wrong, but it works for me. And I LOVE my new yarn! Must cast on new project.....

Sockapaloooza – Final Update part deux

2006-05-14T09:09:00.000-04:00

My socks have arrived!

All the way from Germany! And there was some chocolate in the package, too. I think the socks will last longer than the chocolate treats...

My sock pal was Rachel. Rachel knit me a pair of River Rapids socks, in the most wonderful Lorna’s Laces. And, if you check out the details on her blog, she did this neat band heel to battle the pooling that’s pretty much inevitable with Lorna’s Laces.

Thanks again, Rachel, I love my socks! Everyone seems to be saying that their sock pal is the best, but I think that my sock pal is the best.

And finally, a huge thank you to Alison for organizing Sockapaloooza.

Last but not least, to all the mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

Sockapaloooza – Final Update the First

2006-05-14T09:07:00.000-04:00

I packed up my socks, and sent them on their way last week.

I know that they’ve arrived, so I can tell you all that my socks were sent to Patty, and I’m happy to report that she likes them! I found it a little stressful knitting for someone I’ve never met before. Sure, there was a list of preferences, and I asked some questions (anonymously, of course), but there was still the pressure of getting everything just right. That said, I’d sign up for another sock exchange in a heartbeat.

My sock pal socks have also arrived, so stay tuned for some more exciting news!

This was going to have a REALLY good title

2006-04-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

But I couldn't bring myself to write it (plus it didn't really make much sense). I've finally gotten around to taking some pictures. Yay! Pictures! It helps that I'm home in time to use some of the sun that has been in short supply here in Toronto.

To prove to you all that I have actually finished my sockapaloooza socks, here you go:

The finished socks, all blocked and just waiting to make my pals feet happy. I'm still in need of a little something Toronto to put in the package, any suggestions?

Moving right along, I ventured out in the rain on Saturday to go to the DKC's Knitter's Frolic. I managed to convince my friend Lynn to join me. I think that she had a good time, but she didn't buy anything so I can't say for sure. I, on the other hand, did make a couple purchases.

Some Shelridge Farms sock yarn, and a couple lace patterns. I'm pretty pumped about the lace. I purchased some laceweight alpaca, and what can only be described as tencel thread at Romni (as explained previously). I'm hoping to start at least a swatch for the Lily of The Valley stole in the alpaca this weekend.

That would seem like I have enough on the go, but I actually have a couple other lacy projects that need to be finished up. I started a flower basket shawl on Sunday and I'm hoping to finish it up this week. I have a wedding to attend in early June, I think this would be lovely over my little black dress.

Before you go, I have one more thing to show you! It's cozy from Knitty. I'm working it in Patons Classic Merino. My office is cold now that it's spring (instead of being desert-like all winter), so I need something to throw over my shoulders. This should do the trick.

Here's hoping we're back to some regular blogging around here!

Breaking News

2006-04-22T07:29:00.000-04:00

The sockapaloooza socks, they are done! They still need to be washed and blocked, and a proper photo shoot needs to be completed, but the socks are finished.

I used a standard sock recipe, and added a 4 stitch cable on each side of the leg, and I used an eye of partridge heel. I'm pleased with them. They're comfy, the cables and the heel pattern give them a little bit of something special without being over the top.

I'm off to the Frolic today - see you there!

Shrug it off, baby!

2006-04-19T20:18:00.000-04:00

I'm back. And this time I mean it. It was a long and very un-knitting productive winter (except for a bunch of slippers at Christmas) but I have found some motivation and plan to run with it! We have finished moving, but not unpacking, and I love my new house. I discovered that leaving your first house is like leaving your first love. It's sad to see it go, but at some point you realize that it just can't give you what you need anymore. Plus, there's that great big house over there that you're DYING to get to know and the bank doesn't want any flirting happening until the first house is gone.
In real knitting news, my most recent project is a little hat, but it's not very exciting so I'll show you some pictures of a project that needs to be frogged. I have wanted a little shrug for quite some time, so I finally chose a pattern (the Minisweater or boobholder from Glampyre Knits) and used some yarn I got for Christmas from my Owen Sound sister (the wool/silk blend from The Ginger Press). Just a note about the yarn before I show you the pictures. It is lovely. So soft and the colour is amazing. There is also just the right about, plus a little extra, to make the shrug, but I think the ball is labelled wrong. It says there is 100 g, but I weighed it and there is 200 g and likely more like 400 yards. Maybe there is something else going on that I don't understand, please tell me if there is! Anyway, I like the pattern, but I don't think I made the right size. The back is too loose and the front looks funny because it's too big. Judge for yourself!
Side view:

Front view:

Back view:

Actually, now that I look at those pictures, a few thoughts come to mind:
The shorter (left side) sleeve looks a lot better than the longer sleeve...
I don't really like the puffyness of the sleeve...
The crossover on the front probably works if you have boobs but...
I don't know what Mike was doing with the camera when he took that picture, but it actually looks like I have boobs...
I have freckles on the backs of my arms?
It's really time for a haircut.

Socks gone wild

2006-04-11T18:09:00.000-04:00

My friend Claudia has started a blog, and had linked to here. However, since she's started blogging there has been exactly ZERO new content posted here. Time to get back into the swing of things - although it's tricky to fit everything in each day (I'm cycling to work now, and I'm training for a half-marathon in the fall).

I picked up my sockapaloooza socks to finish the pair, and realized that I had no idea where I had left off in the pattern. And, I decided that I didn't actually like the socks that I was making. Also, the socks were too busy, and most likely not my sock pal's style. So, I did what any self respecting Sock Knitter would do - I ripped them. And started over. I know, there's only three weeks left, but I know I can do it. I'm also using a pattern of my own design - a plain sock, with a small cable running down each side. Simple with a twist. I'd show you a picture, but all I have is the cuff ribbing, and a ball of yarn. Not all that exciting.

In other news, I'm working on a pair of Regia self-striping socks for the husband, and a pair of Embossed Leaves socks in Koigu for me (maybe). I've promised my parents a pair of socks for each of them, so that's two more pairs on my to-be-knit list.

Denise was in town for a visit this weekend, and we made it to Romni on Sunday. I had been gifted with a gift certificate from a friend at work, and I was determined to put it to good use. I've been itching to knit lace for a while now, and I was *this* close to purchasing some HandMaiden silk laceweight when I got to talking to one of the employees. I told her I was pretty confident that I wanted the silk, but she convinced me that I had to at least take a look at some baby alpaca laceweight they had just gotten, and only had a small amount left. One touch of the alpaca and I was sold. As soon as the sockapaloooza socks are finished, I'm going on a wild lace bender!

Sockapaloooza Update

2006-03-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

When I read "sockapaloooza", I read it as "sockapalOOOOOOOza", with a really long ooo sound, with those three o's in there. Does that happen to anyone else?

Now that I've gotten that random thought out of the way, here's my sockapaloooza update, that I really should have posted a week or two ago.

I've finished 1.25 socks for my sock pal. I spent a LOT of time looking for the perfect sock pattern. At first, I thought I would make the Embossed Leaves socks from IK, but I looked around and there are a lot of people making that pattern. I thought about making a pair of Jaywalkers, but again, lots of people were making that pattern. Then I went through pretty much every sock pattern I've seen in Interweave Knits. That led me to my copy of Socks, Socks, Socks which has been sitting on my bookshelf for months, and I've read through it many times, but haven't actually knit any patterns from it. I was making my quest for a sock pattern more challenging than necessary, but that's all part of the fun. After all, these socks aren't for me, they're for my pal, and I really want to make sure that what I make is perfect for my pal.

In the end, I chose Fortissima Socka yarn, and the Tipsy Knitter sock pattern from Socks, Socks, Socks.

Fun to knit, lots of texture, lace and cables. The pattern is fairly well written, and is interesting to work. I think that they are perfect for spring. I hope my pal will like them!

Olympics?

2006-02-12T22:06:00.000-05:00

I didn't sign up for the Knitting Olympics. I never was much of a joiner - my other hobbies are cycling and running, both which I like to do by myself mostly.
That said, looking at the knitting I accomplished this weekend, perhaps I should have signed up for a team. I've been so busy knitting, I didn't even stop to take pictures of the progress of my projects. A friend has asked for a hat-mitten-scarf set. In two weeks. Easy. I love marathon knitting. Remember that stocking I made last Christmas? We (my friend and I) picked out the yarn at Romni yesterday. Patterns were chosen - I'm making the same hat and mittens as the red set I posted about a few days ago, but in brown, and I think I'm going to add a satin ribbon around the brim of the hat. I cast on the hat before dinner last night, and by 10 pm the hat was done. Today, the mittens are done. That leaves the scarf for this week - narrow stripes, knit the long way. This will be great.

I really hope everything works out - the hat and mittens still need to be felted, and I'm always a little nervous before those projects are finished. They look so wonky!

Knitting Terminology

2006-02-11T09:46:00.000-05:00

Knitting Needles:
Yarn Sticks
Knitting Spikes

I love having non-knitting friends!

Vacation

2006-02-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

Ahhh... we just got back from a 2 month trip in Hawaii (1 month) and Bali (1 month). Let me tell you, 3 months on the beach does a body good. I am tanned, relaxed, and ready to knit. There is sand EVERYWHERE but that's okay, it can be cleaned. I would have loved to join the knitting Olympics because I like a good challenge, but I didn't get back in time to choose a project, so I have added the 'watching' button that my sister so cleverly made. I am just getting back into the boring, mundane work schedule so posting might be a little sparse over the next little while. It's a good thing we have a Lisa around here.

Note: Not all facts in this post are absolutely true. In fact, some of them might be big fat lies. Expect for the story about the button, I did add that. The truth might be closer to me being lazy and uninspired and the fact that we spontaneously bought a house and are moving in 2 weeks but have to fix up this house so we can sell it. Maybe, I don't know anymore.

Knitter or knitter?

2006-02-09T07:52:00.000-05:00

I might not be a Knitter (the jury's still out), but I'm definitely a Sock knitter. In my recent quest to find the PERFECT sock pattern for my sock pal's socks, I took an inventory of the hand knit socks in the house, and this is what I found:

Socks I Have Made

That is six pairs of socks for Richard, of which only five pair are worn regularly. The sixth pair is too big to be worn for any purpose other than as slippers. The remaining four pair are mine. The green/yellow/blue striped socks were originally meant for Richard, but they just happened to fit me, perfectly. I have no idea how that happened ;-)

Socks I am Making

Although that isn't entirely true. The grey socks are now complete (and belong in the above category) and have already been worn, and that sock cuff now looks like this

That's the first of a pair of socks which I'm making for a co-worker, who I know will appreciate them. She's a knitter too.

And Socks I Will Make

My sock yarn stash. Enough for four pairs of socks, two for me and two for Richard. It's only fair, right? I still need to select yarn for my sock pal, and then I'll have enough yarn for at least five pairs of socks. But I can't be held responsible if extra yarn wants to come home with me!

Not Just a Pretty Face

2006-02-05T09:28:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I took some time off from knitting to do some home improvement type work. I wasn't pouring concrete and building rooms like Stephanie, but I was building something. Well, that might be a stretch - it was more of an assembly project.

My current living space is less than ideal - it's small. My apartment is tiny. Capital T-Tiny. It's so small, that although this place has one entire room more than the last apartment (deceiving, that extra room is), it is about half the size. Gulp.

There is no room here for the kitchen table. A couple weeks ago, Richard and I bought a new table from Home Despot. Lovely, small, drop leaf. Unassembled and unfinished. Thankfully we had some amazing April weather last weekend. Saturday January 28, 2006. Toronto. It should have been cold here, with snow and stuff. At the very least there should have been pools of grey slush. Instead, the sun shone that day (but not on the Sunday, it rained, ick), and it was extremely warm, at least 10 degrees Celsius!

I started with this

Added this

Did a little sanding and a little staining

And then I had something which looked like this

I added a few coats of varnish

Then spent some time with the cordless drill, and now I have this

Woo hoo!

I Feel a Smiting Coming On

2006-02-03T17:59:00.000-05:00

The whole point of this blog thing is to keep track of knitting progress and projects, and maybe entertain a bit if I'm lucky. (I've actually been counting on Denise for the entertaining bit). That's a hint, although not exactly subtle...

It may appear that I've been doing lots of knitting. I feel that I should clarify that to say I've been knitting lots of small things. I'm an accessories kind of girl. There are some people out there, far more talented than myself, who are able to wave some pointy sticks around with some string and magically make fabulous sweaters appear. Me, well, I'm pretty good with socks. And I like to make socks. They're relatively quick, portable, I can challenge myself with new techniques, and they don't require a lot of yarn (that's a good thing, it keeps the stash to a minimum, and a small stash means a happy husband). I like to knit socks, I like to wear socks. Actually, socks are pretty much the only hand knit item that I do wear. The place where I spend my weekdays is too hot for sweaters, and my apartment is too hot for sweaters. I can only wear so many hats, mitts and scarves - although I'm constantly on the lookout for willing victims to wear handknits. But I can ALWAYS wear handknit socks.

I was a little vague in my preferences for my sock pal, so I thought I would put some more detail here. I hope you find it!
1. I like fine gauge socks. My feet tend to get hot when I wear socks and shoes all day, and I like the way socks made with fingering/sock weight yarn fit. Plus, they fit in my shoes.
2. Most of the hand knit socks I have are plain-jane-stockinette socks. Not because I don't like patterns or cables or lace but because I haven't made any for myself yet (the husband was lucky enough to get the pair of cabled socks I made). If you want to make a patterned or cabled or lacy sock, go for it! I'm sure I'd love it.
3. I haven't met a sock yarn I didn't like. I've worked with Fleece Artist, Lorna's Laces, Regia, Opal. I have some Schoeller and Stahl Sockina Colori on the needles right now. And Patons Kroy. I've used LOTS of Paton's - the proximity of the Paton's yarn factory might have something to do with its accessibility, no?
4. Colour - I like colour. Plain, variegated, striping, patterning. I like it all. I'm not even offended by pooling!
5. Fit - most of my socks are about 5 inches (12.7 cm) above my heel bone in height, or about 6 inches (15.2 cm) to the heel.
6. Fibre - the only fibre I don't like for my feet is acrylic. Wool, cotton, you-name-it, it's all good.

That should cover it, I hope. I'm madly inspecting all of my sock patterns, looking for the PERFECT project. It's harder than I thought it would be!

In Other News....
My eyes are peeled for a plague of locusts. I came across this through a link from another blog, and couldn't resist sharing it with the world. This may be offensive to some, but I'm feeling rather ironic. I'm probably taking a trip in a handbasket later in life anyway.

Click it for more (blasphemous) fun. That there would be an artist's rendition of the Last Supper. Knitted. Personally, I'm partial to the 10 Plagues Finger Puppets, I feel that they would be the perfect accessories for bedtime stories.

The knitter has landed

2006-02-01T21:33:00.000-05:00

I was hoping that by signing up for sockapaloooza I would be prompted to post more often. Well, I haven't posted since last week, so more often is a post a week. Or more, if I can manage. And if Denise posts too, well then, we're set!

So, here's what I've done, knitting wise, over the past couple months (eek!)

I branched out

And then I decided I needed a matching hat and mittens.

And then I realized I had a hat started a while ago, which needed to be finished. So I finished it

Looks good, no?

I wasted a bunch of my time working on a vest, using up the stash. The vest did not turn out as planned, so it's been trashed.

My feet were starting to feel chilled by this point, so I whipped up a pair of those clogs that have been all over the interwebs

And then I couldn't resist making this, for a coworkers baby-to-be

I'll make the second one soon.

Back to sockapaloooza - I received my sock partner information today, and I'm pumped! This is my first exchange/along/what-have-you, and I'm ready to dive into it. First step - picking the perfect pattern and the perfect yarn!

Kick in the Pants

2006-01-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

Last night, as I had Richard try on the latest pair of socks I'm knitting for him, he told me "I don't know if I can wear many more winter socks. You might need to knit socks for someone else soon."

For shame! This, from the man who told me he'd love it if all of his socks were hand knit! Who's going to wear the socks I keep churning out?

Sockapaloooza to the rescue! I signed up this morning. I see this as achieving ~~two~~three things.
1. Motivation to keep up the blog. Nothing like deadlines and incentives to get rid of this apathy I've fallen into.

2. I get to knit socks. And, I get to buy some fancy shmancy sock yarn, and pick out the perfect sock pattern. And did I mention that I'll get to knit socks?

3. I'll get to receive a pair of hand knit socks. Made by someone else, just for me! It's so much fun to get gifts in the mail. I'd sign up for a secret pal, but that seems like it would take more time and effort than I have for this sort of thing. But a pair of socks, well, I can handle that!

Not a real Post

2006-01-20T10:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry folks, this isn't a real post, just a note of a project I want to make to help use up my stash: Glittens

I'll do a picture post as soon as my camera is back. I haven't been posting, but I have been knitting, honest!

And that apartment thing Denise mentioned last month, about my moving into an unexpectedly too-small place. Well, I'll keep it polite - it's a lovely apartment in a lovely neighbourhood with lovely neighbours. But I'm ready to move again.

Forget Moths...

2005-12-07T08:06:00.000-05:00

Beware of Dogs, because they like to eat yarn too!

It was my own silly fault for leaving them on the floor with my shoes when I knew there was a puppy in the house. Luckily none of the actual mitten was damaged, just the cuff. After Christmas I will have them all fixed up.

In other knews, I have found that knitting that last shawl has given my knitting a new life and speed! I have finished several projects in the last two weeks that I will now share with you. I give you.... the FO Parade!!

These are slippers for my SIL who lives with us. I used some yarn of unknown composition that I purchased at the yarn factory outlet last year. I think there is some wool in it but it is very soft and was quick to work with. I used a White Buffalo slipper pattern (with alterations, of course) and size 5 needles. I could have gone up a needle size but this way they are nice and toasty. They were started on November th 28th and finished on December the 3rd.

Baby hat and booties for a new baby that will probably be too big for these by the time I see him. But boy were they fun to knit! I used Patons Lacette but I bought it before it was released at the Yarn Factory outlet. I don't think they released the yarn in the green but I think they should have because it is a great little baby colour and very soft for little baby things. The bootie pattern came from here and the hat pattern I made up. I didn't write down any of the details so I don't know anything else. Except they're cute!

These mittens don't look like this anymore because now they're finished! But I'm too lazy to take another picture and upload it, blah blah blah. I used some acrylic that I got from Karen over a year ago mixed with some Patons Divine that I have had for a year as well. I used size 7 dpns and made up the pattern as I went along. They are very soft and warm and I hope they will behave well for their recipient.

Did you see the pattern there? I am using up stuff from my stash and it makes my heart feel good to do that. I think my next project will be a hat from this book that I purchased with a gift certificate from my birthday. Or maybe it will be something from the new Knitty which I LOVE! A BIG congratulations to Cookie for her fancy-lookin' sock pattern and creative photos! Someday when I'm a real knitter I will try them. I love this and this and this (without the buckle) and especially this and this. Wasn't that annoying that you had to click all those links to find out what I like?

I'm not sure when we will hear from Lisa, she is having some tough times after moving into a maybe-too-small-but-didn't-know-it-was-too-small apartment. We are thinking of you!

Success!

2005-11-27T18:26:00.000-05:00

My sister's wedding went off without a hitch yesterday. Well, the only hitch would be that Lesley and Adam are now hitched. Hee hee.

Alright, moving on and away from the bad jokes.

The big story is the shawls. Here's the recap, and the end of the story. There were four to be made; I was originally knitting three and Denise was knitting one. I later had a meltdown where one of the shawls fell apart, Denise came to my rescue and made a second one. Mike's parents live in the same area as the wedding, I was to pick up the final shawl on Friday evening. Richard volunteered to go and get it for me (so he didn't need to sit through the rehearsal). Mike's Dad told him he left it on the train. I think that was supposed to make me freak out. Richard tried to pull the same joke on me - unfortunately for him I didn't fall for it, although I may have if it was Mike's dad telling me the same story. A bit of last minute stitching involving a sock needle and nail clippers was completed on Friday night, around 11:00 pm.

The wedding was wonderful, the bride (my baby sister!) was beautiful and the groom handsome

The rest of the wedding party wasn't a crew to be sneezed at, either!

And, we all received lots of compliments on the shawls. The biggest one of all was that people asked us what store we bought them at! Although it wasn't a lot of fun knitting for a deadline like this, the compliments received made it all worthwhile. Thank you so much, Denise! I owe you big time.

Procrastination Station

2005-11-24T16:12:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, the shawl progress is stuck. At the 11th repeat. When we were doing 12 repeats I was okay, but that 13th repeat will kill me, KILL ME I say. I was supposed to have it finished and sent to work with Mike yesterday to give to his dad where Lisa can pick it up Friday night. I will send it tomorrow instead and hope the timing works out perfectly. In hindsight you will probably wish we had used wool to knit these shawls, Lisa. Not only because of the matrix hassles but because of the snow. It's very winter-ish out there!
I must go do laundry, it is taking over our bedroom. I don't know who sneaks into our house and puts their dirty clothes into our pile, but I wish they would STOP! Doing laundry requires me going to a laundromat since the bathroom installation of 2005 is not complete and I have no laundry facilites in my house. I do however have a shower and sink in my downstairs family room, which is really not as charming as it sounds.

Finished!

2005-11-23T23:13:00.000-05:00

Finished, finito, fini, geëindigd, beendet, terminado, acabado. It doesn't matter how you say it, the shawls are done! (At least the three which are currently in my possession). I added the fringe to the one I was knitting last night, and tonight I fringed the one which Denise had knit for me earlier. In the end, these weren't particularly difficult, or time consuming to make. I used this pattern, free from Bernat yarns, and they are all knit in Bernat Matrix. I have five (5) and a bit balls of this left. I'm not sure if I will keep it or burn it. Pictures to come later.

I'm soooo glad this project is finished - I don't think I'll volunteer to do anything like this again. Knitting for this sort of deadline is no fun whatsoever. And, the people getting these are not knitters, and certainly not Knitters. The time and effort that went into these definitely won't be appreciated for its full value, and I'm glad that I chose an easy pattern and relatively cheap yarn.

2005-11-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

What if the internet stopped?

It's best with sound.

Almost Finished

2005-11-21T17:47:00.000-05:00

I'm halfway through pattern repeat #13 (I checked the other two shawls and they both have 13 repeats). That's 18 more rows, or only 1278 stitches left. This will be finished tonight. Minus the fringe. I'll do that tomorrow.

It goes nicely with my shoes and purse, no? See that moving box in the background? I'm supposed to be packing right now, too, so I can move into a new apartment next week. (Richard's moving into the new apartment too). Did I mention how much I love my shoes?

Denise, since I'm in Toronto, and you're in Guelph, and this wedding is in Newmarket, how am I going to get your shawl? I hadn't actually thought about that until now.

Perhaps I'll go for a little drive on Wednesday evening, if Richard won't be using the car.

Update, the urban edition

2005-11-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'm at about the same spot as Denise is on the shawls. I'm a little bit into my seventh pattern repeat, so I have five and half pattern repeats left, for a total of 108 rows left to knit, or 7,668 stitches (I have 71 stitches per row instead of 70 - don't ask me how that happened as I have no idea but I don't want to mess with this shstuff to "fix" it. We all know what happened last time I tried something fancy).

I've found a little piece of interesting software, too. Well, not really found. I've seen it on nearly every single blog I've been too, and seeing as my days are full of leisure time, that's a lot of blogs. All of these people have this handy dandy tidbit. I don't know how to put up a little button, like everyone else has, but if you go here, you should be able to make your mark!

Progress Report

2005-11-17T08:48:00.000-05:00

I'm half-way finished (as long as we are doing 12 repeats of the pattern... how many repeats are we doing, Lisa?)! Only 113 more rows or 7910 more stitches to knit. Yikes, that sounds scary. I might have to take a little break from it today though, since it has turned Mr. Freezie outside and I have everything but the finger cover left on Mike's fingerless mittens. The man works at a computer and missing digits would probably significantly decrease his productivity. They're pretty boring looking, but I'll post pictures and details when they are done.
In other news, has anybody used this knitting software for their palm? Knitting and my palm pilot - a combination of two very fun activities!

Pressure? Here's what I know about Pressure

2005-11-15T18:19:00.000-05:00

The weekend had a few rough patches. I knew that I would have one shawl left to make for the wedding this week (it's not until the 26th, I still have a few days!). I suppose I ought to have been working on the shawls instead of making a new hat for the winter (which is now felted, but there is no photo). I suppose I didn't need to make my new scarf either (but it is beautiful, I've received many compliments on it - I used the Branching Out pattern from Knitty). I also suppose I didn't need to make that pair of baby socks (it only took a couple hours, and from the looks of the recipients mother, that baby could pop out any day). I most certainly didn't plan on having two shawls to make this late in the game. Not so good. Thanks to Denise's extreme generosity, I'm back to making one. Here's what I've managed to accomplish over the past day or so
It looks a LOT like the one Denise is making - by the way, Denise? Did I mention that you are a lifesaver? And that if you wanted, I'll give you my firstborn?

I should have forseen that my plan to make the shawl knitting go faster would actually make it all go slower. And that's all I have to say about that.

Some happy news, and I swear this wasn't procrastinating - Richard and I made it to the Royal Winter Fair on Sunday.
There were spinners and weavers

There were sheep with fleece

And there were some sheep that had just gotten haircuts

Some of the competitors in the sheep shearing competition were a wee bit overzealous. Don't worry about the sheep getting cold - I was assured (as was everyone else there) that they were all going home to a nice, warm barn.
Now, I have some knitting that must be done.

This Could be Fun!

2005-11-14T21:35:00.000-05:00

I love a challenge. After reading Lisa's post yesterday, I called her to make sure she was okay because crying while knitting does not sound okay. She said she was feeling better, but how could she feel okay, with only 2 weeks until the wedding and two shawls left to knit out of matrix (AKA shitrix)? I knew what I had to do. I ran out to Lens and picked up some shitrix to make one more shawl. For the past day I have been knitting in my free time, and that's all. I've never knit so fast or been more dedicated. I can't believe my productivity! If I did this all the time I'd be cranking out knitted stuff like you've never seen. I am 3.5 repeats through, with 8 left to go, and 11 days until the wedding. In mathematical terms, that means I have to knit like a demon if I'm going to get this thing done. Stay tuned, I might actually keep you updated!!

Not Good

2005-11-13T00:59:00.000-05:00

Good: I'm going to the Royal Winter Fair tomorrow, and hopefully I'll get there in time to take advantage of the TTC discount, and see the sheep to shawl competition.
Good: I went to Romni today, and introduced a friend to the ~~dark side~~ wonders which is Romni.
Good: Romni has expanded their space since I was there last. All that woolly goodness!
Good: I've finished the third shawl for my sister's wedding.

NOT GOOD: The yarn ~~from hell~~ that I'm using for the shawls had a knot in it, which fell apart, causing a stitch to come lose. In row 2.
NOT GOOD: That almost made me cry. Richard was scared - he'd never seen me close to tears while knitting before. I'd never actually been close to tears while knitting before.
REALLLY, REALLY NOT GOOD: I've cast off the third shawl. It has fallen apart. There will be no pictures of this. I quit.

Ahem

2005-10-27T11:41:00.000-04:00

I took a gander at Rebecca's blog this morning, and was inspired to find the following:

My blog is worth $2,258.16.
How much is your blog worth?

Hmmm.

What do you know about PRESSURE??

2005-10-20T20:20:00.000-04:00

Lisa and I had a little chat and we decided that I had until tonight to post or else. I couldn't remember what the 'else' was until I began to write this and now that I remember, I'm glad I'm here. I have been thinking about what 'funny' things to write all day but nothing has come to me, so this will be dry. Better keep your pants on.
I have some completed projects for you! The first photo is of a pair of socks that I started waaaaay back before that little season I like to call summer.

They have been finished for weeks, I just have to weave in the ends, which I will likely do tonight. Or maybe not. I used the Kroy Socks pattern on the Patons website. I don't seem capable of making socks to fit me. They get long enough for me, and then I start the toe. By the time they're finished, they will fit Mike the 'I don't want handmade socks' Husband. The colour stripes don't quite match up and somehow I managed to graft the toe on the first sock (on the right side) sideways so it's all gimpy. At least there won't be any exposed skin and that's what really matters.
This second picture is the Tivoli T hanging on the line next to the skirt that I made with my new sewing machine. (Sorry the picture sucks, but if I had taken it straight on you would have seen some gitch, and who wants to see that, really?) I decided to call my machine Oh Brother. Partly because it is a Brother make, and partly because I say Oh Brother a lot when I'm sewing. Now I can say that I was talking to the machine and not making mistakes.

I managed to finish the Christmas stocking in less than a month. I am quite pleased with myself for having it finished well before it needed to be done. I had visions of madly knitting on Christmas Eve after putting it off for so long. I started it on August 19 and completed it on September 20.

I have named this the Club Foot stocking because trust me, this thing would fit a club-footer. I did a loot-test on it and found that it will fit 13 balls of Patons classic. That would be a nice thing to find in a stocking, wouldn't it? Thanks to Lisa's excellent lessons the seaming is awesome! You can hardly tell there is a seam along the back.
Also thanks to Lisa (did you catch that segue, did YOU?) I have this beautiful scarf. A package arrived in the mail several days before my birthday and it was all I could do to wait the three days until my birthday. Every time I walked by it I shook it and smelled it to see if I could determine its contents. I was so shocked when I opened it because I had seen it before! Lisa showed it to me when she was working on it and I had no idea who it was intended for. That sneaky girl. This picture really shows off the colours well, I think.

Finally, I am just about finished the shawl (did you notice I spelled that 'shall' in another post. I am genetically inclined to spell poorly, that's my excuse) for Lisa's sister and I will be VERY glad to be done with it. After the first row I thought I was in BIG trouble and seriously wondered if I had made a mistake offering to do one, but now it's not too bad. I do not enjoy working with Bernat Matrix, Sam I am. Next on the agenda is the Up Country sweater I started in the spring and mittens, fingerless gloves, and hats, oh my!
ps sorry about the long post Ami, I know you hate having to read so much ;)

2005-10-17T22:09:00.000-04:00

Dear Denise,

I haven't seen you around on the blog in a while. Where are you? Are you still knitting? I'm very worried that all of your lovely yarn isn't receiving the love and attention it deserves. I know that you have a new sewing machine, but that shouldn't keep you from knitting, it should be enhancing the creative process. You know, sewing linings for handbags you've felted, or other ways to improve your projects. Not that any of your projects require improving, that is.

Or, perhaps something horrible has happened to you. Something so horrible that you can't bear to write about it. Something terribly, horribly upsetting - I know, a large wild boar found its way into your backyard, and when you were hanging out laundry to dry, the boar attacked you and then made its way into your house where it set about locating and destroying all of your knitting needles. And not only have you been waiting for the wounds the wild boar inflicted upon you to heal, you haven't been able to knit because the creature destroyed every last one of your knitting instruments. That must be it - keep on the lookout for wild boars from now one.

Or perhaps a polar bear came and took up residence in your living room and is preventing you from knitting. No, that would be silly, and besides, it's starting to sound like a "Lost" episode.

Please let me know you haven't been attacked by wild animals with an affinity for merino!

Lisa

2005-10-06T07:45:00.000-04:00

This should keep my ears warm this winter, don't you agree?

(see the sheepy blanket in the background?)

Now back to those dreaded shawls.

Light as a feather

2005-09-28T18:26:00.000-04:00

I got my new glasses today, and they are classy! (Not to be confused with my other klassy-with-a-k glasses)

They're made of titanium - super strong and oh so light, not to mention oh so cool.

Does anybody know if they make titanium knitting needles? I think that titanium is my new favourite metal.

I think I need a pet

2005-09-22T22:20:00.000-04:00

A small dog will do. I need something that can wear my current project

It's Trellis,
from the Spring 2005 issue of Knitty. I'm finished the back,
the left front and half of the right front.

I'm using the monster sized ball of Red Heart acrylic I purchased last December - the SAME BALL OF YARN Denise used for her stocking. It's also the SAME BALL OF YARN I used for the stocking I made last December. If only I'd thought about just how far one can get with $6 of Red Heart acrylic. I'll have enough left to make sweaters for an entire family of gnomes from that SAME BALL OF YARN. That is, if I wanted to make sweaters for an entire family of gnomes. Which I might do, if I hadn't committed to making shawls for a small army.

The last you saw of my shawl was only the beginning. Progress was made

and then I finished it, fringe and all

around the same time I finished reading Harry Potter.
That was a while ago. I ought to be working on the rest, but cables on normal sized needles are just so much more inviting than plain old garter stitch on gigantic needles. Even if the cables are being worked in ~~cheap~~ ~~squeaky~~ acrylic.

Coming soon = I grow another set of arms, and model the shawls! (just kidding, I'll find a ~~sucker~~ photographer to take my picture).

Hey Santa, Stuff THIS!

2005-09-14T18:49:00.000-04:00

What you are looking at is maybe the most gimpy, crazy-assed stocking you have ever seen. Everything was going fine until I got to the foot and then, well, I don't know what happened but I do know that somebody is going to have to fix it. I am using this pattern except with 80 stitches cast on, size 5mm needles, and some of the squeekiest acrylic you have ever seen. How do people use this stuff?? I forgot to do the decreasing after I turned the heel so the instep and heel don't (what's the right word? oh yes) have a chance in hell of fitting together!! At this point, I am not going back on that heel because that wouldn't be 'fun' and that's what knitting is all about, fun. I think I will have to rip out the decreasing I did on the instep to make it fit with the heel, because that's not really a whole lot of ripping. I predict that when I am done, it will be super-fantastic! mwah!
This is my first attempt at colour knitting and I am pretty happy with the results. I would have knit the whole thing in the round, because I don't have any problem knitting socks, but I couldn't get my head around how I would get the yarn from one side of the letter on one row to the other side of the letter on the next row in the round. Does that make sense? Anyway, I think it turned out okay. I drew the letters on some graph paper before hand and most of them were easy. If I had it to do over again, I would do the N a little differently. I had a bit of a time figuring out the S and it turned out very puckered but I think with a little blocking it will look fine for the 12 hours a year it will be used!
I don't recall having posted a picture of this sweater I made for a little cutie who turned 1 back in May. I was going to post it under a heading of 'Look Ma, No Seams!' but never did. It is a little big for him, but maybe by now it fits him. The button band did not turn out as well as I would have liked since I wasn't sure how many stitches I should be picking up.

On the knitting horizon, I have volunteered to knit at least one of the shalls that Lisa requires for her sister's wedding in November. Hopefully I'll have that started by the end of the week. I also have a heavenly blend of camel and silk, compliments of the Rebecca and the Sudbury market (Who knew you could find such things in Sudbury?) to transform into something small.
Coming soon: Proof that Lisa's Tivoli (Actually, it seems now to be called Picovoli and is at MagKnits, not Grumperina. Whatever, it rocks.) T-shirt looks a LOT sexier than mine. BUT... does it make her look stronger?

Argghh!

2005-09-08T12:23:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I'm going to have to miss the Waterloo County Knitter's Fair. Instead, I'll be spending the day with my sister at a Bridal Fair. Can you guess which event I think would be more fun?

On another note, I was driving through Listowel last week, and I stopped at the Yarn Factory Outlet. I left without buying anything. Such a show of restraint, I was so proud of myself.

I'm not making any promises, but I might have some pictures of shawls and scarves to share. My bridesmaid shawl is finished, fringe included, and I've started on a second one. Denise has volunteered to knit one for me, so that leaves two more for me to do before the end of November. I think I can do it....

What was I thinking?

2005-08-23T10:37:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be knitting one of these

for a while. Mine is almost finished (I'll put up a photo tonight, promise!).
I showed it to my little sister, and offered to make one for all the bridesmaids, fully expecting her to turn up her nose and refuse the offer.

Well, that plan backfired. She called last night and asked me to make three more. And I quote: "It's really nice. I was expecting it to be ugly."

There goes all my fun for the next couple months.

Correction

2005-08-12T08:12:00.000-04:00

This isn't really a correction, but more of an addition of information. I didn't note that the last picture of the last post isn't me. It's Denise, the explorer!

FOs and WIPs on Parade

2005-08-10T19:01:00.000-04:00

The lack of blogging here is by no means any indication of a lack of knitting. It’s been too hot to post! And, there have been some computer issues going on around here, but they’ve been mostly fixed. Hooray! I realize that it’s not particularly exciting to see photos of finished objects without a thorough documentation of the trials and tribulations one went through in the production of their knitted works. Pretend I’ve delighted you with wit and candor about each and every project I’ve worked on this summer. Trust me, the conversations I’ve had with myself were utterly delightful.

Project #1

Pattern: Flower Hat – Interweave Knits, Winter 2004
Specs: Instead of the yarn called for, I used Patons Shetland Chunky, doubled, on size 10.5 US needles. Both were in the stash.
Recipient: Unknown. I might make a felted flower to pin up the front and keep it for myself, or I might give it away.

Project #2

Pattern: Almost Famous Luggy Bonnet – Weekend Knitting
Specs: Another yarn substitution, I used Patons Classic and my own colour combination. I altered the top just a little, and the two-row stripe pattern drove me batty (all those ends!) so I did a three-row stripe.
Recipient: I want to give it to my younger brother, since I told him I would knit him a hat, but I think it might be kind of feminine. What do you think?

Project #3

Pattern: Dublin Bay Socks – Mossy Cottage Knits
Specs: I used Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, in Watercolour. I think that I used a size 1 needle, but I can’t really remember
Recipient: Me!

Project #4

Pattern: Canteen Bag – Interweave Knits, Fall 2005
Specs: I used Patons Classic, doubled in black and a discontinued shade of red. I was running out of red so I used one strand of red and one of black and ended up with a neat mottled look after the felting. I’m very happy with this.
Recipient: Me, a nice winter bag.

Project #6

Pattern: Tivoli T – Kathy at Grumperina
Specs: I used just over three skeins of Cotton Fleece, on 4mm bamboo circs. I only offer that much detail because I just finished it! This pattern is fabulous. I’ve gotten lots of compliments from people I showed it to as I was working on it. And, perhaps the highest compliment (to me at least), nobody’s asked if I made this myself. The pattern fits perfectly, it’s flattering, and the shaping really adds to the look of the garment. Thanks for a great pattern!

Works in Progress
Project #1

Pattern: Cabled socks – my design
Specs: Paton’s Kroy (can you sense a pattern here?) that Denise gave Richard for his birthday this year. I designed this sock in the car, on the way to Sudbury one weekend. I’m making it up as I go mostly. I’ll try and work on this and finish them up. Click the picture for a better view of the cables. I'm so proud of this!
Recipient: Richard

Project #2

Pattern: Shawl pattern from the yarn label
Specs: Bernat Matrix, in “Browser Blue”, following the pattern fairly closely with adjustments made where I make a mistake and don’t want to rip!
Recipient: Me. My sister’s getting married this fall, and has chosen strapless dresses for the bridesmaids. I’m concerned that I’ll be chilly, here’s hoping this keeps me kind of warm.

This is one of the many things that have been keeping me from blogging. Denise and I (and our men and some friends and their two small children) went camping in Bruce Peninsula National Park, near Tobermory, Ontario, Canada. This year we actually made it out on a hike and found our way to the grotto. Cheers!

The "It's too hot to knit" Post

2005-07-21T20:35:00.000-04:00

Surprise! It's summer! and It's hot! It's so hot I have actually used the air conditioner in my car and I have wished I had it at home. Never before have I wished for air conditioning. In this wave of extreme heat I have learned some things that I will now share with you.

1. Extreme heat and humidity is AWESOME for my hair, which is usually straight as a pin and very thin. Lately though, it puffs out as if it has body and I look fabulous. Right guys? Right??

2. Heat is not good for bouquets. Mike bought me a beautiful arrangement for our aniversary last Wednesday and all of the roses and greenery are dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. What a waste of money. Next year baby, buy me a diamond, they're forever.

3. My belly sweats a lot. Like, it's alarming how much my belly sweats. I don't have much of a belly, but what I have must have about 1 000 000 sweat glands. I wear dark shirts for work and am outside for a couple of hours every day. I learned very quickly NOT to let my shirt touch the sweaty belly or else there is a wet spot that makes it look like I peed through my belly button. Best to let it dry on its own, once I get into air conditioned areas. Was that too much information? I don't know.

4. The heat really messes with my head. I was in our back yard picking raspberries and blackberries and was thinking about all the 'berry money' I had. I was thinking about all of the things I could spend this 'berry money' on like pies or smoothies or crisps. Once the berries are gone, all of my 'money' is gone. Hmmm, that still makes sense, maybe I'm not crazy.

END OF LIST.

I STILL haven't finished that tank top I've been talking about, but I only have about 5 cm left to knit on the bottom. I'll finish it this weekend hopefully and I'll model it for you, my adoring fans, very soon. We are going camping this weekend and I think I'll just bring a sock to work on. They are nice and easy and portable. Plus I won't have to worry about ruining my beautiful Spanish cotton in the fire. We (Lisa and I and our Men and another couple and their two boys) are going to a campsite near Tobermory. I am very much looking forward to it! On our way up, Lisa and I are going to take a little 'detour' through Listowell to visit the Yarn Mecca, as I like to call the Yarn Factory Outlet.

In completely unrelated news, I saw the teeny-tiniest hummingbird tonight. I was walking home from the grocery store and looked down at some flowers and thought "Wow, that's a crazy-ass looking bee." (that's exactly what I thought). Then I looked more closely and realized that this was no bee! I was no more than 30 cm away from it and it was just busily going from flower to flower with its white tongue (I think that's what it was) hanging out. It couldn't have been more than 6 cm long. I wish that I had had my camera to prove that it actually was a bird and to help me remember what the heck it looked like. From now on, I'm not leaving home without it.

NOTE: I don't know what kind of 'hummingbird' I saw. After a short internet search, I'm not sure there are hummingbirds that small around here. Maybe it was a bee. See Number 4 on the above list.

2005-07-12T18:40:00.000-04:00

My name is Lisa, and I'm a bad blogger. I will do my best to try harder to post more often, and with witty ramblings and lots of pictures. I'm still using the excuse that the main computer in my house is operating on a poor version of Linux (that even Richard will admit sucks).
You'll notice that I made a few changes to the sidebar. I figured that since the Ride for Heart was a month ago I could take down my plea for pledges.

Denise and I have been out on some great adventures, touring some of the greatest cities in North America. I was going to put some pics up, all artistic-like but I can't figure out how to get them from the gallery Richard put them in to here. Another exciting event that's happened since I last put anything up - birthdays! Richards was in May and Denise gifted him with sock yarn. Good gift, Richard gets hand made socks, and I get new sock yarn! And, Denise was also very generous and gifted me with some Fleece Artist sock yarn. There are going to be some happy feet in my home this winter!

On the knitting front, I have some pictures of all the projects I've finished over the past couple months, but I'm having the same problem with those as I'm having with the vacation pictures. I've finished two hats (the almost famous luggy bonnet from Weekend Knitting in the adult large size, and a hat from the Winter 2004 Interweave Knits), a pair of socks using my Lorna's Laces I bought when Rebecca and I went yarn buying, an anklet using leftover Lorna's and some leftover Kroy. I'm currently working on the canteen bag from the newest Interweave Knits (almost ready to felt!) and a pair of socks for Richard using a pattern of my own. They're all fabulous. Next post, pictures, I promise!

The View From Up Here

2005-07-09T06:49:00.000-04:00

Hi, remember me? Ya, that's right. I used to post on this blog, but I've been a slacker lately and you haven't heard from me in a while. But now I'm back and you're gonna be in trouble, hey now, hey now...Sorry, that got out of control. Anyway, Lisa and I have been visiting two of North America's largest cities the last two weekends. Last weekend we went drove to Chicago and had an absolutely fabulous time. We drove there Friday and drove back Sunday and packed a LOT of activities into those three days. The Food! The Shopping! The People! All wonderful. The yarn store we went too, well, wasn't quite as exciting as we had hoped, but that's probably a good thing since it allowed me to spend my money on shoes instead! We visited Wrigley Field, a shoe store district (it's near Oz Park), the magnificant mile (at night and during the day), the John/Herbie Hancock building, Buckingham Fountain, and a food festival (that was completely unintentional and the stress of walking through those thousands of people put us all a bit out of sorts, but we got over it). Here's a couple of pictures from the trip, one of a local landmark and one from the view of the Hancock building:

We took public transit and the people were all so nice and friendly to us. A couple of people asked us for directions but that was a fruitless exercise on their part. The drive there took us 11 hours (Who know traffic would be bad on the Friday night of a long weekend?) and the drive home took 9 hours. That was some good knitting time, let me tell you. I have almost a whole tank top finished and Lisa finished one sock and most of another ankle one.
This weekend we are in another famous, but maybe slightly smaller city for some good times with sister and good friends. I'll give you a hint...tonight we're getting 'Stinko'. Another couple of hints are the local landmark (See the single arch?) and the view from a very tall building in this town.

List

2005-06-20T21:49:00.000-04:00

Things I've done since I got home from work at 7pm:
1. Sort laundry
2. Take laundry to laundry room
3. Put two loads of laundry in washing machines.
4. Start washing machines
5. Remember finished almost-famous-luggy-bonnet from Weekend Knitting that was too big, and ran back up to the apartment to get it and ran back to basement laundry room and toss in hat to shrink
6. Phone brother in Alberta to wish him Happy Birthday and leave message with unknown female voice
7. Plant lettuce in window pot
8. Plant some cilantro, mint and basil in small pots mom bought me for my birthday
9. Say hello to husband as he gets home from work
10. Convince husband to venture down to laundry room with me and get clean clothes to hang dry
11. Check on hat - it shrunk just enough (I think)
12. Hang up clothes while husband makes dinner
13. Dye hair back to brown from the crazy purple it's been for the past week (not very professional...)
14. Eat dinner
15. Phone brother in Alberta (again), and speak with him, still don't know who the unknown female voice is. Wish him a happy birthday (note that my birthday was a couple weeks ago. My other brother's birthday is tomorrow. I don't want to think about what my parents do every September).
16. Get laundry from dryer, and put clean clothes away
17. Make lemon jell-o and whip cream to finish the stained glass jelly I started on Saturday
18. Call my Dad to get my other brother's phone number in Northern Ontario
19. Talk to my Mom and Dad
20. Finish making the stained glass jelly
21. Read blogs
22. Write blog post
23. Go to sleep

# of things done between 7 and 10 pm tonight = lots
# of rows knit on current projects = 0

Lisa it's Your Birthday, Happy Birthday Lisa!

2005-06-11T15:09:00.000-04:00

Lisa has been my friend now for getting on 9 years. We met at the end of our first year of University but didn't really become friends until our second year. There was a short time when we thought we would live together with about 8 other friends in second year (Two of the boys we were supposed to live with we ended up marrying, which probably wouldn't have happened if we had known what it was going to be like to live with them then. Actually, there are probably a lot of people we were going to live with that we wouldn't be friends with anymore.) but luckily for everyone that plan didn't happen and Lisa and I lived in residence again in second year. In thrid year Lisa and I lived in a house with 3 other girls. The first few months were pretty good. We did lots of stuff together both in school and extracurriculary, but then things got tense. I know if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have lived in that house. Girls are petty and when you add stress to petty, it's not pretty. I regret a lot of things that happened because they were stupid and childish. Lisa ended up moving out at the end of the school year and we didn't talk to each other much for the next couple of years (I should note that I have short term memory issues and some of the time lines may not be 100% accurate. I should also note that we were dating guys who were best friends so it was inevitible that we saw each other.). After school, Lisa moved to Egypt for 6 months. When she got back it was a little awkward because there was really nothing to be mad about anymore but how do you verbalize that? I remember getting drunk at a camping trip and one of us saying (I don't remember who) "I'm glad we're friends again!". Ahh alcohol, the great bonding agent!
Lisa is smart and funny and will say perveted things and make dirty jokes, but you would never expect it from her, which makes it even funnier! She is terribly organized and likes to have things carefully planned (which is too bad for her since all of her friends are scatterbrains). She is quick to help if you have problems and is very patient. She is also very strong, adventurous, efficient and quite ambitious. Lisa has slept though almost every movie she has ever seen (including those at the theater) since her bedtime is very early and sleep is pretty important for her (and those around her ;))I am so sorry to have wasted those years we could have been friends, but I am so happy to have her as my friend now. I hope you have a fabulous birthday dear Lisa and that there are many many more!

Tomorrow

2005-06-10T11:06:00.000-04:00

Two very important events occur tomorrow.

1. It's international Knit in Public day. Take your yarn to the park, my friends!

2. It's my birthday! And my parents are coming to visit, and I get to go to IKEA (my mom has never been to IKEA, can you believe it?)

I have some most excellent knitting progress to share, but I have to keep this fast and I don't have the photos with me. I ripped the retro rib socks and started the Dublin Bay socks instead.

Thank you!

2005-06-05T17:43:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me – with your help I raised $736* for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Thanks! I completed the 50 km course in 1h45min. Here’s some proof that I was actually up and about at 7:30 this morning...

Richard and I met up with our friend Mark, and rode the 8km from home down to Exhibition Place and stood in line waiting for the start. After the race started, we didn't see Mark - he's much faster than either Richard or myself!

A couple views of Toronto from the Gardiner, near the end of the ride

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of the highway full of cyclists. With so many people on bikes on the road, stopping to take pictures just wasn't an option for me at the beginning of the ride. I'm hoping there will be some good images in the newspaper tomorrow. Or, if I'm lucky, I might see myself on the news tonight - I managed to get myself on camera, if only briefly.

And, at last, the official Becel funny hat photo

*Actually, I raised $726 and Richard raised $10, but only because I put his name on the blog and Denise generously pledged on his behalf.

One more day

2005-06-02T22:42:00.000-04:00

One more day to make your pledge to the Becel Ride for Heart! The ride is on Sunday, but I'm handing in my pledges on Saturday - my master plan to avoid the lineups. I hope that no one else has my same plan, muwahahaha.

And, if you don't wish to donate to the ride, please consider making a general donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. There is a matching program right now, where all online donations made in June will be matched by Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd/Ltee to a maximum of $10 000. June is Stroke Awareness month, and this is Bike week in Toronto - get out and be active!

I've been adventuring, and stuff.

2005-06-01T19:59:00.000-04:00

(all of the photos here are clickable for bigger images...)
First off, I'd like to thank everyone who has generously donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation Ride for Heart. There's still time to pledge if you haven't done so already, just follow the link on the side.
Here's a glimpse of the fun I had at the 2004 ride (last year)

That was the crowd at the start line, and here's myself and Richard, happy to start the ride (again, this is last year!)

I'll have to remember to wear a different shirt this year - otherwise it might appear that I won't have any proof of doing the ride!

Now, on to the photo essay I've assembled, which I have titled "photo essay"
Over the May long weekend, Richard and I went away, and had some minor car issues in Huntsville. This is one of the garages we stopped at. Unfortunately they couldn't help us so I didn't get to spend very much time at the shop next door

Oh well, maybe next time. We had the car repaired, and continued on our way. Driving through Algonquin Provincial Park, we happened upon some moose

Yes, I did get out of the car to take that picture. No, I did not get that close to the wild animals. Yes, I made sure that there was at least one other human being between myself and the moose at all times. Do you think I'm crazy enough to get up close and personal with a moose without having some sort of escape plan?

Over the rather exciting weekend, the flavour of the month socks went on a bit of a road trip

The socks were successfully completed shortly upon arrival at home

I made those for Richard, but they fit my feet rather perfectly....
As consolation for not keeping those socks, I'm working on these for me

Retro ribs in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - I love knitting this yarn, I think my feet will love wearing these socks!

Sponsor me!

2005-05-31T20:39:00.000-04:00

The Becel Ride for Heart is on Sunday June 5 - that's only five days away! You can still sponsor me - just click on the link in the sidebar. I'd love to offer a bribe, but I haven't done any knitting lately (for shame!), so I have nothing to offer up as a prize. Instead, you can donate, and get a tax receipt and feel good about helping out a worthy cause.

In other news, the little knitting I have done - I finished the socks with the hand dyed yarn, the two are very different stripeyness wise, but the colours are the same. Fraternal twins is a good description. I've started another pair of socks with the Lorna's Laces shepherd sock I bought some time ago, I'm using the retro rib pattern from the holiday interweave knits.

I do have some interesting stories to share, with pictures, but I haven't uploaded them and I'm rather lazy. The short story is this: small car problem in Huntsville, found a yarn shop next door to the garage (someone thought that through!), saw some moose in Algonquin Park, rode my bike to Denise's (about 100km), and helped Denise with some seaming on a very cute little project. Perhaps I'll write up those stories in more detail someday. Perhaps....

Where there's smoke

2005-05-18T19:24:00.000-04:00

Where there's smoke, there's firemen! I just got in from a little downtown adventure (more about that in a minute), and there are people hanging out in front of the building. Kind of weird, this is uptown Toronto, people don't just hang out in front of their buildings, they're supposed to be inside, watching American Idol and the gripping finale of America's Next Top Model. As I walk up to my building, I realize why they are all outside - the fire alarm is going off. I tried to walk up as slowly as I could, but I had no idea how long it was going to take the fire trucks to get there. Just as I got in, the trucks pulled up. And, yes, there is something to be said about a man in uniform - it's not just the fire that is hot. I do have pictures, but I can't get them into this post, because I'm using Linux (the worst operating system EVER, entirely user UNFRIENDLY, I'm this close to throwing the computer out the second floor window UNFRIENDLY did I mention I can't stand Linux?). And the firemen were hot, but you'll have to take my word for it, I guess. I'll put the pictures up if I ever get a lesson in how to actually use Linux - are you reading this Richard???

Now, on to much happier and exciting things, my downtown adventure. There is good news and bad news associated with this adventure. I'll start with the bad - I think that I will need to go on a serious yarn fast, for about the next ten years or so. Here's the good news - I bought a new bike tonight! I bought a Marin. That's the one I bought, plus some fenders and a rack and a rear light and a lock. The people at the bike shop (Curbside) threw in the bell for free. I have to say, the people at the shop are great - they know about bikes, and will recommend the right bike to suit your needs, and they are friendly and helpful (unlike the people at some other stores in the city that shall remain nameless). If you need a bike or any bike stuff and you're in Toronto, check out Curbside - those guys love their job! I am in no way affiliated with the store other than I just spent more money there than I should have.

So, I'll be riding around in style for the next ten years! Hopefully I don't run out of yarn too soon....

Can you say lazy?

2005-05-17T21:13:00.000-04:00

Because that's what I am. Lazy. In the blogging department, that is. The last project that I finished was a gift for c's wedding. I have a photo of the finished object somewhere, but I don't know where. Denise and I met k (of knitter's anonymous), and a lot of c's friends - I had no idea that there was another group of people out there, just like the group of friends from University! It was a great time - thanks C!

In other news, I've been out bike shopping lately. I'm looking for something a little speedier, a little faster, and a lot lighter than what I'm riding now. That's been taking up most of my spare time lately. I'm doing a charity ride on June 5 that I wrote about earlier and I'm still planning on putting a link up in the sidebar, for anyone that would like to sponsor me and help raise money for the Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation - 60% of all research funding for heart and stroke in Canada comes from the Heart and Stroke Foundation!

Newsflash

2005-05-08T20:57:00.000-04:00

Some of you may not know this, but if you don't actually have time to knit, you can't show any of your loyal blog readers finished projects. Who knew, huh? I finished that pair of socks I was making and it turns out they fit Mike. To quote him when he tried them on "They're not as scratchy as I was expecting.". Considering he did not ask me to make them and actually discouraged me from making him knitted things since he couldn't guarantee he would wear them, I'm pleased. I didn't mean to make them big enough to fit him, but I just got knitting and couldn't stop!
You have yourself a nice day, especially if you're a mother.

Unbalanced Equations

2005-04-28T21:25:00.000-04:00

In 'good' houses, like Lisa's, most yarn equations would look like this:
Mass of Yarn purchased = Mass of Projects Cranked Out (or Mass in = Mass out)

In my house though, this equation is more like:
Mass in = 5(Mass out)

I give you exhibits A and B as proof.

Exhibit A: The yarn I have brought into the house recently. The Patons Classic was $4 a ball and I couldn't leave it. The grey and red will be a sweater and maybe hat/mitt accessories. The teal I bought because I liked the colour. The two balls of Lopi were $1 a piece and I couldn't leave them either. I think they will make nice felted slippers for mom. The rest of it I got at the Knitters Frolic. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the 4 balls I got from Shelridge Farms but the colours are so pretty! I think they will be nice for little things. The white and blue stuff is very thin stuff that may turn itself into a shrug and the cabled shawl.

Exhibit B: Two felted bags, a sock without a heel, and my sweater (which is now 3 balls of wool!!). PAAAAATHETIC. But there's so much potential in all my new acquisitions.
Anyways. This is a boring post. I've been working hours and hours and on Tuesday I had a chunk of my face removed (there was a mole in that chunk) so I haven't had much time to do any knitting. If you want to read something funny, go here and especially read this. I think I'm going to add her to our list, she's too funny!

Insert witty title here

2005-04-25T20:23:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to finish up all the projects I have had on the go so I can start plowing through my stash. What I won't show you are the two pairs of socks I'm finishing - I've just turned the heel on the pair I'm making for myself, and I have lots to do on the ones for Richard. I'm still plugging away at the secret project I showed you a while back. Denise has seen it in person, and agrees that the colours on the screen are not at all the colours in person. I've decided who I'm going to give that project to, and I still have lots of time to finish it. The other secret project has a deadline, and I'm working on it!
Here's what I will show you:

Sitcom chic, blocking on my my uber hi-tech blocking board, and with me modelling it. Notes for myself (mainly): I used Patons Fresco, in calypso. The yarn is now discontinued. I had enough that I reclaimed from the sweater I had made of it before. Denise kindly got three more balls for me, and I think I'll make a hat out of it. It fits better than the photo shows, it still needs buttons - I added a button band. The white spots on the mirror are toothpaste - your eyes are okay, I just need to clean more often.

My drop spindle that I purchased at the Knitter's Frolic, and the yarn I've made so far. The brown is my very first attempt. It's spun too tightly in spots, but I like it and am very proud of it. The purply-blue is made of some Fleece Artist roving that came with my thrum mitten kit. It made crummy thrums, but it's fabulous spun - even if I still have a lot to learn about spinning.

Battle of the Crafters

2005-04-24T20:01:00.000-04:00

Craft Corner Deathmatch. This is too good for me to have made it up. Apparently, some contestants have actually drawn blood. Yet another reason I should get cable.

In other news, I've tried out my spindle. I don't think I'm using very good technique, but I've spun up the wool that came with the kit, and some Fleece Artist roving I had in the stash. The first stuff was fairly easy, it's nice and slubby and hand-crafted looking. The Fleece Artist was slippery, and I was trying to be more consistent than the results I ended up with. I do see the appeal of spinning, it's nice and easy to zone out of what's going on around you and just focus on the wool - a fibre meditation.

Blocked

2005-04-20T22:05:00.000-04:00

I’m wracking my brain, trying to be witty and smart and intelligent, but it’s just not working. I can’t blame it on being starstruck, like Denise and her meeting Stephanie at the Knitter’s Frolic on Saturday (although I was there, lurking in the background, browsing through the books, and it all seemed fine to me, but what do I know, I was browsing through the books trying to look nonchalant and keep up my internet stalker status – is it possible to be an internet stalker if I’ve posted comments to Stephanie’s blog once or twice, and even sent her a (very brief) e-mail when I donated to MSF, perhaps that removes my stalker status? but alas, I digress – whilst Denise came straight out and actually spoke to the woman who seems to have it all together). So, I think that my best option, at least for now, is to give up on attempting to be witty and smart and intelligent.

As is obvious by now, Denise and I, along with the Knitting Knight crew, Carol and Ami, went to the Knitter’s Frolic on Friday. I’ve never been to an event like this before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t sign up for any classes, none of the topics particularly caught my interest. I did, however, peruse the marketplace. And, I didn’t make it out empty handed. I’m trying very, very hard not to increase my stash, I’m working on using up what I have already, even recycling what I can (sit-com chic, is done, by the way, it’s blocking as we speak – ha!). The Shelridge Farm wool was too much to pass up. I limited myself, and picked up a hat kit. This one, if you’re curious. I had been wanting a drop spindle for quite some time now, so I can try out spinning. Because I’ve wanted it for more than two weeks, I needed to buy a spindle. So I did! I picked up a kit from Red Bird Knits, but I have yet to try it out.

A couple notes on the sweater I started on April 3, 2005 and finished on April 20, 2005 (today, people, today, the fastest I’ve finished a project that size, EVER!, and I’m just a little bit proud of that). I stuck to the pattern for the most part, but I didn’t like the way it looked with the single button closure. I added a button band to solve that problem. The bottom ribbing looks like it’s going to curl up a lot, and I’m not certain how I’m going to counteract that, I’ll likely sew a ribbon on the inside and see how that works. I also need to find some buttons to go with it, but that can wait for a bit. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d post pictures, but those will need to wait for another day.

Are You There Harlot? It's Me, Denise

2005-04-17T10:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday at the Knitter's Frolic, I saw you walk by and thought how cool it was so see someone famous. I wanted to buy your book anyway and decided that if I'm going to buy it, I should get it signed because that's even cooler. So I walked over and bought the book and stood behind the first person in line to wait for you to sign it. You were very friendly and charming and were chatting about things that you talk about on your blog. I felt like a stalker because I read your blog every day and know so much about you from reading the blog. I didn't know what to say because it was so strange standing next to you, IN PERSON! You were talking about wanting to write 'adult' books under the name 'Clementine' and I couldn't think of any funny last names to go with 'Clementine' and the only word in my head was 'Tangerine' and thank goodness I didn't open my mouth and actually say that. The person ahead of me was saying nice things like "I read your blog all the time" and "How is mr. washie?". Then you started talking about Mr. Washie, and that's when I opened my mouth and oh, how I wish I hadn't. You said that you couldn't get a new machine because the renovations you had done wouldn't allow a new (mrs. washie?) into the basement and mr. washie was stuck there forever. Then it happened. I started talking and I couldn't stop and the stupid words kept coming out and you were staring at me like a deer caught in the head lights and I really wanted to stop talking but I just couldn't. I wished I could have let my words just trail off into nothingness but other people were looking at me too and I couldn't just stop. It makes me cringe to think about this, but I suggested that you could put a new machine in the kitchen (not a bad idea, they do it in Britain) and I also made the suggestion that you could take mr. washie apart and use the innards to have fires in your back yard!! Who does that? Crazy hick people who also have bits of car around their property and 17 children running around with the chickens and pigs and other beasties. Why oh why did I think that it would be a good idea to suggest something so ridiculous. I would never in a million years think of doing it myself, so why would I suggest someone else (someone who is famous) consider it? I wanted to disappear into the floor and then you asked me what I had bought and I replied 'oh just some stuff' like a big loser because holy smokes someone who would suggest you have fires in you back yard (which I'm sure is illegal in downtown Toronto) could obviously have no taste when it comes to buying yarn. I don't think I can proof read this post because reading it over again will mean that it really did happen, even though I have been replaying it in my brain since it happened and had trouble falling asleep last night because I knew I was going to have to write this letter to you. You then had a very pleasant conversation with Ami about buying sock yarn to 'Take the edge off' and were laughing but I think you felt a little nervous because I was still standing there like a stalker. What I realy wanted to say to you, dear Harlot, is that I think you are amazing. You are an amazing writer who makes me laugh daily. You are an amazing knitter; how do you produce such beautiful garmets in such a short period of time? You also seem like a very caring and involved mom, which in itself is a full time job I would think. Your pants and hair were very Sarah Jessica Parker-esque and the shawl you were wearing was beautiful. Finally, good luck with your book tour. I read parts of the book last night while I was trying to fall asleep and it is very clever and funny, just like you.

Shameless

2005-04-11T21:57:00.000-04:00

This post is a little shameless on my part, but I was never told this was against the rules!

Once again, Richard and I will be participating in the Heart and Stroke Foundation's annual Becel Ride for Heart. This is a fundraising event, for the Heart and Stroke Foundation (I guess that part's obvious enough). On Sunday, June 5, 2005, the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway will be closed to traffic, and open to cyclists and in-line skaters. There are 25-km, 50-km and 75-km bike routes, and 5-km, 10-km and 20-km in-line skating routes. Richard and I will be riding the 50-km bike route again this year. This event is a LOT of fun - how often can you ride your bike on the highway? And, it also raises money for a worthy cause.

The reason I titled this post shameless, is because you can follow this link to sponsor me. If you are able to contribute, please do. Or, better yet, sign up and come out and do the ride with me! I know I've already said it, but I'm going to say it again. The ride is a lot of fun, there are all sorts of people participating, young, old, I can almost guarantee that you'll see at least one bicycle built for two. Plus, you get lunch and snacks, and there's entertainment after the ride. 50 km isn't that far, anyone can do it!

The strike is over

2005-04-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

My yarn fast is over. Sort of. My yarn diet was over quicker thatn the TTC strike. I was down on Queen Street yesterday, enjoying the sunshine with Richard. We had to pick up a couple things at MEC, and a couple of things at Active Surplus, and that found us on our way to Romni. A knitting girl can't pass by Romni without picking up a little something, now can she?

I'd love to show you what I bought, but I can't. It's a secret. I didn't buy very much, and it's not wool...

WIP update - sitcom chic is now approximately 8" long. Or it was the last time I checked. The socks (Richard's hand-dyed and my psyco-pink-stripey) are at a standstill. There will be pictures when I have something exciting!

This is where we chant "It's All Your Fault!"

2005-04-08T18:40:00.000-04:00

NOTE: I wrote this post last night, and then evil blogger wouldn't let me post it. Thankfully I had saved it before hitting publish so I didn't lose it. I should note that I did buy the VK (because I am weak) and a chocolate bar (ditto) and I am going to have one heck of a party here by myself tonight. Also, there are no pictures of mini roses because how many plants do you really want to see on a knitting blog in one day?

I'll begin with the knitting 'news' I have. I haven't worked on my sweater since the weekend, but I started another springy bag, this time I'm making a button hole bag. I'm going to wait to fix the other bag I made until I felt the new one. The old one needs a little more felting before I cut it to sew it together, like Lisa suggested. And now, for the sexiest male knitting model you've ever seen. Look forward for more of these in the coming weeks. My Grandma gave me this pattern book over Easter, and boy are the pictures fun! I like how he has half of his hand in the pocket, and not the whole thing!

Ami brought over the new VK and Family Knitting on Tuesday. I had seen the VK and didn't think anything interested me, but after looking at the patterns again on the website, I think I might get it. We shall see! I am feeling very much like knitting with cotton now that it is spring. I have so much wool to get used up though, that I really shouldn't be in the yarn market. Talking to Lisa makes me feel guilty too, that girl is on a pretty serious yarn fast. If she is going without, I feel I should too. I BLAME YOU LISA, DARN YOU!
In other, more exciting news, things in my garden are growing!! This is my lupin which was subjected to a serious drought last summer and I wasn't so sure about its chance of survival. I am terribly excited. Maybe tomorrow I’ll show you my mini roses!

On the subject of plants, this is my orchid, which has sprouted a leaf from the flower stalk. Now there is a little nib thing coming off the side. I'll keep you posted, if it starts growing eyes I think I'll get rid of it.

Mini!

2005-04-06T20:42:00.000-04:00

I know I’m not the only one out there with a minor obsession for felted knits. Denise has probably felted more stuff than I have, but I attribute that to the fact that she has her own clothes washing machine (that doesn’t require quarters and loonies).
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you also know that I have a minor obsession for all things small. What happens when you combine small and felted?

That’s the finished project of last weekend, with the flower from my amaryllis (the second set of blooms! but the stem fell over), and my hand for scale.
I love the Sophie pattern, and I used the essence of Sophie to work up this little mini purse.

I was doing laundry, so I tossed it in with a load. I forgot to get it in at the beginning of the cycle, and I wasn’t actually thinking so the water wasn’t very hot – I ended up finishing it off by hand in the sink, but that part was super fast. It serves no purpose whatsoever, but it’s very cute, and I like it.

Here Kitty, Kitty

2005-04-05T18:01:00.000-04:00

I tried, I really did. I asked her very sweetly and petted her and everything, and this was her response.

It's kind of typical for Cleo. Anyway, it was a great idea and thanks for letting me know about it Lisa, you crack me up! I'll wait for my hand to heal before I try Toeni.
I need to go refill this

before the knitting girls come!

2005-04-04T22:12:00.000-04:00

I just read this and laughed out loud - very loudly. I wanted to make sure a few friends read it, so rather send out another email, so I thought I would just post the link here. Scroll down to the third picture.
Denise, can we try this next time I come over?

A Gripping Book and a Ripping Good Time

2005-04-04T21:27:00.000-04:00

There’s been a lot of talk in the online knitting community about a certain book, but as I have yet to lay my little paws on a copy of the tome, I’m biding my time by reading this:

It’s great – if you haven’t read any of these books yet, let's play catch up. There are three children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, and they encounter a series of unfortunate events - hence, the title of the series. Their parents die in a tragic fire, they have to live with a horrible distant relative (Count Olaf), and he tries to steal their inheritance. There is nothing happy in the life of these children, yet the book is actually delightful to read, particularly if you are as cynical and sarcastic as I am.

To give you a taste, this is my favourite line in the book, which I came across while reading it on the bus on my way home from Dodgeball (another story, unto its own):

“If we had any kerosene,” Violet said, around noon, “I could make Molotov cocktails with these bottles.”
“What are Molotov cocktails?” Klaus asked.
“They’re small bombs made inside bottles,” Violet explained. “We could throw them out the window and attract the attention of passerby.”
“But we don’t have any kerosene,” Klaus said mournfully.

I laughed out loud as I read that, and I find it funny now, even out of context.

As soon as I finish the book (a quick read – I love good children’s books!) I’m going to keep working on my current “big” project. I decided a while back that I wasn’t particularly pleased with how a sweater I made last year turned out - sleeves too long, body too short. So, over the weekend I reverse engineered this:

That’s geek-speak for “I ripped it to shreds”. Now, at this exact moment, it looks like this:

I’m making Sitcom Chic from Knitty’s Spring 2003 issue. So far, I like what I’m making. Will I have a finished product before Autumn, or will I have a sweater to wear this winter? Only time will tell.

Part 3 - The conclusion

2005-04-01T22:03:00.000-05:00

I know that all of you have been "dyeing" to read the conclusion to my "colourful" adventures, so here you go. I apologize for the minor delay - it's still Friday! I was working on my puns....

As soon as the yarn was dry, I wound it into centre-pull balls. I was planning on waiting until I went to visit Denise so that I could use her ball winder (and brag about my skills), but I’m too impatient. The balls are lovely, and one of them is sitting in my little knitting basket in the living room. The other is being worked up into this

Fun new socks for Richard! I love how I made my own unique self-striping yarn, and I am really pleased with the way the colours all work together. This is my second attempt at these socks. I started out on larger needles (3.25 mm) and found that the striping pattern was quite different – wide blue and green stripes with narrow orange bands. I liked that pattern, but the gauge was way too big so I went down a few needle sizes (I’m using 2.5 mm now). The stripes aren’t turning out the same way as with the larger needles, but it’s still striping, and I’m very happy with the results. Plus, if Richard decides he doesn’t want these – and I highly doubt that will be the case, considering his fixation with hand knit socks – these are cool enough for me to keep for myself!

By all appearances, my forays into dyeing are a success. The only thing standing between me and fibre supremacy is spinning. I do have some lovely roving that made crummy thrums but would probably be fabulous if I spun it. And, I think that I can convince Richard that we have room for a drop spindle. I’ll just tell him that it will help me knit his socks faster.

All of My Eggs in One Easter Bag

2005-04-01T09:02:00.000-05:00

After receiving several threats from Lisa about not posting (with multiple exclamation points), I sat down last night to write an entry for the blog, with pictures and links and funny jokes and everything. It seems though that the joke was on me, since when I went to publish the post, it disappeared. But I'm not bitter. From now on I will be copying and pasting my posts into a word document BEFORE publishing so that I don't loose all my very hard work!
What have I been up lately you ask? Well, I am still working on my Up Country sweater. I am on version 3.0 right now. Version 1.0 was much too small, as you can see here;

The sweat shirt below it is just for size. I also decided to use a different pattern. The one I was using as a guide line was from knitty, but I decided I liked this one better;

Meeee-ow! ha ha, April fools. This is from The Woman's Day Book of Knitted Sweaters, circa 1976. My mom found it at a used book store and it actually has some nice sweaters. I'm not really using a pattern, I'm just following the instructions from Knitting in the Old Way for a Gansey. This is what it looks like now;

It's much bigger than the last one and is knitting very quickly. I should mention that version 2.0 involved knitting a row and then purling a row in the round. It just didn't look right.
The other thing I have yet to complete is my Easter bag. I worked so dilligently on it last week, all for naught. I'm not very good at the whole 'looking at the instruction' thing so I didn't do the decreases like the Sophie bag pattern says. So the straps don't line up and it's not very useful in its current state. I think I might buy some beaded straps and pinch the sides together to make it smaller. Here it is in all its gimpiness;

The purple and yellow is some Briggs and Little (which I LOVE, have I mentioned that before?) while the pink and green is White Buffalo that I had kicking around. Turns out that 2 strands of the B&L and three strands of the WB have the same gauge and felt at the same rate. I must admit that I totally lucked out there!
Well folks, have a very foolish day!

Part 2 of My Dyeing Adventures

2005-03-30T18:00:00.000-05:00

While the yarn was soaking, I prepared my work area and mixed up my dyes. I put down a layer of newspaper, found my apron, dug out the rubber gloves and got out some dishes to put the yarn in while I worked on it. I used a green tablet, a blue tablet and what I thought was an orange tablet. I added ½ cup water to each and three tablespoons of white vinegar. The orange looked more yellow than I was hoping for, so I added a bit of red Wilton gel food coloring to it, and obtained a suitable color.

I had decided earlier that I wasn’t going to simply dye this yarn; I was going to try hand painting it. I know, I know, that’s quite adventurous for a first-time dyer such as myself, but I like to do things the “hard” way - that’s how I learn best!

I lined up the hanks on the dishes and mentally divided them into thirds.

I painted on the colour, starting with orange in the middle. I tried to get the colour evenly split between the hanks, mostly successfully. I then put the blue on one end of each, and the green on the last plain end. I made sure to apply each colour to one side of each hank, then flip it over and paint it on the back, so that I didn’t end up with empty white patches. After the colour was applied and before I moved on to the next colour, I massaged the yarn a little bit to make sure it was worked into the fibres. As soon as all the dye was applied to the yarn, I arranged it onto the dishes.

Next step was to set the dye. I’m not sure if this was necessary, but I did it anyway. I put each one in the microwave, covered, for two (2) minutes on high. Then, to be on the safe side, I put them each back in for another two minutes. That brings us to eight (8) minutes total microwave time - four (4) minutes per dish of wool. At this point, I crossed my fingers that I had exhausted the dye.

Time to let the yarn cool. Even though this wool isn’t going to felt - I’ve put many pairs of socks through the washer and dryer - I thought it was best not to press my luck. So far, things were going great. I set the yarn aside in the window for a bit. The waiting didn’t last very long as I got impatient. I moved on to rinsing, figuring I could start with warm water and gradually reduce the temperature until I was rinsing in cold water, with no shock to the wool. I tried it, and my methodology worked. There was very little bleeding of the colours, so it appears that I had successfully exhausted the dye. After rinsing, I washed it with some shampoo (Brilliant Brunette - if you were wondering) and applied some conditioner (same variety as the shampoo). Why I did that, I’m not sure, perhaps I read that somewhere? It didn’t hurt, as the yarn was smooth and silky! Just like my hair...

I hung the yarn in the shower to dry, and left it overnight. When I hung up the hanks, I noticed what I thought to be a minor miscalculation in my painting - I had one large area painted blue, another large area painted green and two smaller areas painted orange.

Would this end up being a mistake? Only time will tell - the conclusion will appear on Friday.

Treats!

2005-03-29T18:17:00.000-05:00

A little while ago, I posted that the hoodie I finished was free to a good home. I had someone take me up on the offer, and I reported that the sweater was on its way. Well, the sweater made it to its new owner, and she sent me a little something back. Look what I found in my mailbox when I got home today

After I pulled it out of the mailbox - it was in there snug! - I took it up stairs, opened it up, and discovered some treats

I love the point protectors - they're little socks. It's fun to give things away, and it's fun to learn how generous strangers can be. Thanks Meghan!

To Dye For - Part 1

2005-03-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

Before we get into this, I just want to let everyone know that I finally finished that black sweater! I started it last August, and it was nearly finished at Christmas. The last sleeve dragged on and on, and on Friday night I knit on it until I could barely keep my eyes open. I finished the seaming yesterday, and today I wore it at work. Hurrah! Alas, there are no pictures yet.

Moving right along - I made good use of my long weekend. Check back this week as I share my latest adventures. See what happens when I’m loose in the kitchen with two balls of yarn, a microwave and some inexpensive Easter egg dyes!

I’ve mentioned before that Richard really likes hand knit socks. I’ve offered to make him just about anything he could want, but he always (and only) insists on socks. I’ve obliged - this is his current sock stash:

To date, he has four pairs. They are all lovely, but somewhat boring. Plain blue, plain grey, plain green. Not particularly exciting. I had stocked up on sock yarn that I purchased on sale a while back, and I’ve worked my magic to turn most of it into socks for Richard, but I still had two balls of plain white wool left. I set out to turn this

into something a little more exciting, like this

I started by winding the centre pull balls into hanks:

Not having a swift, I used the back of a kitchen chair. I’ll add at this point that the yarn I’m dying is Patons Kroy Socks 4-ply, 75% wool, 25% nylon.

The dye that I chose to use was this Easter egg dye that I purchased from the drug store for 99¢ (plus tax).

I looked around the internet for more information, and I used a combination of directions from various sources and some improvisation. I’d quote my sources and provide links, but I can’t remember the sites, and you’ll have just as much luck finding them by doing a google search for “dye wool yarn easter egg” or some other variation. If you’ve found this blog, you can do a google search!

Before dying the wool, I soaked it in a vinegar/water solution. I filled up a bowl with water and poured in some white vinegar, then plunged in the wool. I had read in many places that Easter egg dyes are acid dyes, and that vinegar worked well for the purpose so I went with it.

Will things work out? Will I end up with stained counters and hands, and nothing to show for it? Check in on Wednesday for Part 2!

Spritely socks for spring

2005-03-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well, it doesn’t exactly feel like spring is here, but the sun is shining, and the temperature is supposed to be above zero (Celsius) all weekend. I love long weekends, and to start this one off I finished up my new socks, just in time for Easter.

No pattern, I just used a generic toe-up “recipe”, with short row toes and heels, a bit of 1x1 rib and an experimental picot cast off, knit in 100% cotton. I don’t expect them to wear particularly well, but they’re just what I need to get in the mood for spring. I’ve been wearing the one I finished first around the house, now it has a partner!

There’s no sign of second sock syndrome around here. For now at least – I still have one more to make to finish up the other pair I have on the go. If only I could get myself to finish up that black sweater, then I could start something new. Or, I could finish up the thrum mittens I started in November. I won’t be needing them any time soon though, as long as I finish them up before next winter….

I just noticed

2005-03-21T20:13:00.000-05:00

that my pyjamas have sheep on them. I've only been wearing these things for the past year, but the fact that I put them on as soon as I got home from work (I was very tired when I got home. I had a dream about the work I had to do today on Saturday night - is a dream about work ever just a dream, or is it a nightmare? Clearly, I need to relax a little more, but alas, I digress). Anyway, these pyjamas have sheep on them. And I just noticed. Clearly these pyjamas are proper knitting attire. That's my new argument for wearing them all weekend long - I need to wear them to knit, and if R wants all hand knit socks, then I need to knit on the couch all weekend, wearing proper knitting attire. How's that for logic?

The hooded sweater has found a home and was sent off on a little journey last week.

Update

2005-03-21T17:58:00.000-05:00

I have good news to share, and some not so good news. Not so good news is not so fun, so I'll start with that and we can end on a high note.

Sally is at the very least terminally ill, if not dead. There hasn't been much action in the mason jar, and I forgot to feed her on Saturday. She was fun, and I'm sad to see her go. Let's pause a moment to remember her - okay, I think I'm over it. It was just a jar full of flour and water.

In knitting news, I've finished up two socks. Note that I said two socks, and not a pair of socks. Because they are most certainly not a pair. I completed the sock I was knitting of my pink and purple patterning yarn, and I'm going to cast on for the second one tonight. I also decided that I wanted some cute socks for spring, so I picked up some Bernat cottontots yarn in Very Berry and used that to make some ankle socks that have turned out very cute. At this time, I am far too lazy to take a photo to let you see how they look, but sometime I will. I have some music I need to listen to now - some White Stripes, and my new I ♥ Huckabees soundtrack.

Say hello to Sally

2005-03-15T21:07:00.000-05:00

Let me introduce the newest member of my household, Sally. Sally is my sourdough starter, and she is three days old. This is what she looked like at the end of day 1

A lovely lump of flour and water. Doesn't look like much, does it? Check out what it looked like when I got home tonight, the end of day 2

See the bubbles? Those are full of something rather stinky. I'm hoping the stinky becomes tasty. I am also continuing to operate on the assumption that everything is okay. It's still brown and there aren't any signs of strange colours - according to my instructions, strange colours = bad.

Before I fed her this evening, I had to throw out half of it. I chose to flush it down the toilet. I have elected not to display the photograph which I took to document that little event. Here's Sally after feeding tonight, start of day 3

Mmmm, I can taste the bread already!

Who's sexy now?

2005-03-14T21:17:00.000-05:00

I'll begin with some knitting news. I have about 6 cm of my sweater knitted. I had to rip it out several times because I couldn't count for the knit 3 purl 3 ribbing. It is going to be so nice and I am so excited about it!
Something else exciting is my new laundry tub that my very handy husband installed today! We had a double concrete laundry tub that I liked because of its durability, however it leaked and made M crazy. So today, he went out and got a sledge hammer to break up the old tub and put in a new one. Not one leak. Now I want a new toilet and sink. He shouldn't have done such a good job!

Lisa was right!

2005-03-13T19:13:00.000-05:00

It was a wonderful weekend! It started Friday night when Rebecca, Craig, and Jan came over and we watched Anchorman. I had a little nap towards the end, but I had seen it several times. Saturday morning Mike and I got up and went to the grocery store, I can't remember the last time we went for groceries together like that. It's kind of sad when going to the grocery store together feels like a date. We started playing hockey on Saturday afternoon in the snow. It was a little slippery but it didn't slow some people down! After hockey we somehow managed to fit 16 people in our living room for some delicious chili and bread (I thought it was delicious, but I'm biased because I made it). It's a good thing we all know each other well, because it was very cozy! After supper, the drinking began. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

It was so nice to see so many great friends that we don't get to see often enough. Thanks to everyone who came, we'll see you again soon and for next year's game!

It's looking like a good weekend

2005-03-12T11:25:00.000-05:00

First sign it's going to be a good weekend - after having my husband approved grapefruit and yogurt, I finished off my breakfast with a cup of coffee. And then I ate some cotton candy. That's a good start to the weekend.

Second sign it's going to be a good weekend - the big plans for the day involve heading to Denise's to hang out with a bunch of friends, play some street hockey, then eat some tasty food and go out for drinks. And, some of us might go yarn shopping.

Third sign it's going to be a good weekend - Richard's in the kitchen. Baking chocolate chip cookies.

Today's got good weekend written all over it. Have a good one!

Baby, it's cold outside!

2005-03-09T18:45:00.000-05:00

Fortunately, it's warm and toasty inside. And, if I was cold, I could just pull this on

That, ladies and gentlemen, is my first attempt at the knitting design process. I admit that I didn't do everything on my own. I used the hoodie pattern from the first Stitch 'n' Bitch for some guidance. I'm moderately pleased with the results. However, I'm not going to keep this one for myself. It doesn't fit quite right, and I don't have any yarn or patience for this one left over to make alterations. So, it's going to stay in the form it is, and I'm trying to find a new home for it. If you want it, I'll send it to you, or else I'm going to toss it into one of the donation bins in the neighbourhood. As long as it will keep someone warm.

The specs: I used a chunky yarn, given to me by Karen. I'm not certain of the fibre content, but there was a distinct scent of wet sheep when I blocked it, there's at least some wool in there, and I think some synthetic also. Knit up in basic stocking stitch with some ribbing on the cuffs and the edge of the hood on 6.5 mm and 8 mm needles. That's about it.

I'm pleased that I'm using up the stash. Richard has a little policy that I'm trying to adhere to - the rate of yarn acquisition must equal or be less than the rate of project completion. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working on it. It's hard to keep up when I've got so much yarn that was given to me!

My other current project is this

I started it last August, and it's almost finished - just one more sleeve to go. Or, I could start a new fashion trend and join Denise with her toeless socks?