Let the baby knitting begin!

Sometime, mid-January-ish I will be provided with a new niece or nephew. Courtesy of my brother and his lovely wife. We do not know the flavour of this baby, we will find out in January. I am very much looking forward to that phonecall.

Until then I will continue to collect various cute little baby patterns that I may or may not knit, I keep changing my mind. Legwarmers? Buntings? Sweaters? Burpcloths? Bibs? Blankets? Ahhh, yes, blankets. As much as I love the Mason-Dixon Moderne Baby Blanket I have made two, here and here, and I'm not quite ready to make another just yet. I have been denying an itch to do some stranded colourwork for awhile now, and I am also in love with the adorable Sleepy Monkey Blanket as I think I have mentioned in the past. So about 3 weeks ago I sat down with the express purpose of purchasing yarn from Webs to make this blanket. I finalized my colour choices and placed my order, a little bit of Rowan Calmer may have jumped into my basket as well, my wee girl needs this.

Well, when I started writing this post, I was going to whine about how the yarn was taking it's sweet time to get here. Well, it came and I have knit the monkey side, in less than a week. Man I love stranded colourwork. However, one of the colours is on backorder, and another was more red/less orange than I wanted it to be, so I ordered two more colours from webs and now I am in a holding pattern waiting for them.

I have finished one baby knit though. I bought a Tulip Sweater Kit over a year ago intending to knit it for a special baby. If this baby is a girl, she is that special baby. We were going away for an extended weekend with my husbands family that involved a 4 hour car ride, each way. Perfect for a little baby sweater. I started in in the car on the way up, and by the time we got home I only had the i-cord around the neck to do.





The problem with said I-cord, is that it's a different colour than the i-cord around the rest of the sweater. The kit didn't have enough of the blue to do the bands and i-cord. So I used purple, the baby won't mind. And I'll probably be the only one who knows it's not really supposed to be that way, well, except for the internet. And anyone who looks at my Rav page.



And because I had leftovers, I made a colorful hat for baby to go with this adorable little sweater.





I love this set so very much. It was easy, quick, fun and looks AMAZING. If I do say so myself.

This year, I decided to enter a few items into the local fall fair, held over Labour Day weekend. It went quite well. I entered my Icarus in the 'Any other knitted item' category and won first prize. I entered Queen of Beads in the knitted sock category and won first prize. And, I entered a toddler dress I knit years ago in the Childs knitted dress category and not only won first prize, but also won best overall knitted or crocheted item, of the whole fair! Needless to say, I'm pretty darn pleased with myself. I'm already trying to decide what to enter next year. Winning is fun.

Well, in the weeks since I started this post, my yarn has come for the Monkey Blanket and I am cruising away on the ring side. Still loads of fun. It should be done before I go to Knitting Camp next weekend!

Late again

Once again I have been writing a blog post in my head for weeks, but have yet to sit down at the computer and actually type it out. In the mean time, I have finished, and started more projects. Shocking right?

First up, the beloved, Shawl that Jazz, that I finished almost a month ago. It's thick and cozy and warm and squishy, and blue. I love it.



I really enjoyed knitting it to, I thought I would get bored of all the garter, but I didn't. It may have helped that the bulk of it was knit on vacation with friends, but I did knit the super long edging rows at home where the tedium certainly could have set in. For the most part, it was a very well written pattern, the instructions could have been clarified a little for the beginning of the edging, but if you just trust in what is written and don't think about it too much it works just fine. I've said it before, but I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted in the In The Navy colourway on a 5.0mm Addi Turbo and it blocked easily to the measurements given in the pattern (which I can't recall at the moment).



After this was done, I sort of had to make myself finish my May Rockin' Sock Club socks before we went away with Jer's family for a few days. It's not that I didn't like the socks or the yarn, I like them both. But knitting them hurt my hands. K3tog, and SSSK at 8 sts/in is not fun. But I buckled down and got them done. They fit great and despite the crazy pooling, they look pretty good too.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club May 09
Fraggle Squiggle Socks by JC Briar
Socks that Rock Lightweight, Pepe LePlume
2.5mm KnitPicks nickel circular, magic loop







Then we went away for a few day with my in-laws to a location that required a 4 hour drive. I knit a baby sweater. But I'll leave that for next time, that and the knitting results from the local Fall Fair.

Ahhh, vacation

We have recently finished a nice little mid-summer vacation. Jer was able to get a nice chunk of time off again this summer and has (again) successfully packed full of stuff to do. The best part of all, was the trip to a cottage we rented (it belongs to a colleague of Jer's).



We were there for a week, joined for the first part by friends of ours from out west who were here technically visiting his mom, but they actually spent more time with us. It was so great, they have a 14 month old little boy and are pregnant again, they are such easy friends and we had a wonderful time. The second part of the week was spent with friends from home and their 2 little boys (6 and 2.5). A little louder than the first part of the week, but just as much fun.



I packed a few different projects to take along, covering different yarn weights and pattern difficulty. A couple of socks (I'm have trouble starting my second Fraggle Squiggle sock), My honeybee stole, and Shawl that Jazz. Well, I started on StJ in the car and made excellent progress on the 3+ hour drive up north and didn't really stop all week. I had finished a good portion of the body by the time we got home and have been working on it pretty steadily ever since. I started on the edging a couple of days ago, phew, those are long rows! Needless to say the other knitting I brought with me, never made it out of the bag. I'm using my BMFA Twisted, In the Navy and I'm loving it! It should be done soon, I hope.



Before we left I started, and finished, a pair of Monkey socks for a good friend. She has tried knitting, but the tightness of her knitting makes her tense and she is pretty wound up to begin with, she has been asking (jokingly) for some socks so a few weeks ago I pulled out some Yarn Pirate colourways I would be willing to part with and she chose one, BFL Soltice. If these socks had fit me, they would have been very hard to part with, lucky Julie and her giant feet.



Now I need to finish my Fraggle socks, and make some decisions on colours for the baby knitting that needs to start in September.

I love vacation.

Blue

So, I've bought a little bit of blue yarn lately. It wasn't intentional, it just kind of, happened.



It started in April, with Sundara's Year In Color - April. I loved the charcoal over blue lagoon sock yarn. Loved. It. Still do, so even though it's a little costly to buy directly from Sundara with Canadian shipping, I bought 2 skeins of the sock yarn and promptly forgot about it, since shipping wasn't going to happen until June.



So the email came from Sundara that the April YIC had shipped, then, my Zen Yarn Garden Harmony Semi-solid club shipped and this arrived.



I opened the box, said WOW! This is pretty! Wait a minute, I think this is very similar to what I bought from Sundara. Doesn't matter, love it, squeeze it, horde it. Then, I decided that I wanted to make a Shawl That Jazz while on vacation this summer. After looking at many different yarn options, I decided on using Twisted from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the In The Navy colourway. And it was close to my mom's birthday, she was loving the My Blue Heaven that was the January RSC yarn, so I bought her a skein of lightweight (her first STR!) and ahem*askeinofmediumweightformyself*ahem





So that's my little buying spree for now. Come September, the baby knitting begins because my brother and his wife are having their first baby in January! It's very exciting. I just have to decide what I want to do. For starters, I'm leaning towards this. But what colours?

Sock club socks and socks and socks

The last three pairs of socks that I have finished have come from yarn sent to me from yarn clubs. One each from the three that I belong to, Blue Moon Fibre Arts Rockin' Sock Club, Yarn Pirate Booty Club, Sundara Seasons Yarn Club. The Sundara club is no more, but not to worry, I have replaced it with another, a Canadian club. I actual get the yarn the DAY AFTER it is sent out. It is bizarre and awesome. But I digress.

First up, the March 2009 Rockin' Sock Club kit. I like the colourway alright, liked it better in the skein than knit up. The colour is Gertrude Skein, mediumweight socks that rock and the pattern is Rogue Roses, by the Yarn Harlot herself, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.



The socks are just OK. Not my favourite, but I don't really dislike them. Knitting the little rosebud was kind of cool.



I did leave out the yarn-over holes that were to run up the sides of the climbing rose pattern. I just wasn't a fan of it and I like the way it turned out.





Next, I finished a long term WIP. My traveling sock. I started this pair in December sitting in the gym at my boy's school waiting the 1.5 hrs between the primary Christmas concert and the Kindergarten concert.



The yarn is Sundara sock yarn in the Bronzed Sienna colourway. The Autumn shipment for January 2008 from the now defunct Seasons yarn club. I love this colourway and the yarn is really nice too. I just knit a basic sock using the Stephanie's basic sock recipe in Knitting Rules. Used 64 stitches, 6 inch leg, heel flap and gusset.



I finished them up partly on the 16 hr car ride to Myrtle Beach SC and completed them sitting on the balcony overlooking the ocean. Perfect.





Finally we have the September 2007 Yarn PirateBooty Club. Merino/Tencel, colourway Butternut. I never seem to get the right yarn/pattern fit first off with Yarn Pirate yarn, but this worked. I've had Cat Bordhi's most recent book for awhile now and thought that this would be the right time to try one of the architectures out. So I decided to go with the Master Coriolis.



I don't like the toe. There will be no more star toes in my future. I do like the socks, once they are on my feet. Getting them there is a bit of a struggle as they are too tight around the ankle. My numbers are on my Ravelry page.



I really liked the different structure of the sock and it has made me want to try more from the the book. And I am current knitting a pair of socks using the Riverbed architecture, which fit like a dream. The thing I don't like about toe up socks, once you turn the heel there is no fun stuff to look forward to, it's just the slog of the leg and then try and figure out how much yarn you need to knit the cuff. Something it is becoming quite apparent that I'm not very good at. I do like being able to use up all the yarn though.



There you go, thanks for making it all the way through. Three new pairs of socks at a time of year when you need to pay me large amounts of money to put socks on my feet. Coincidentally, these three socks were all of a similar colour, I did not plan it that way, really.

My next post, through a series of yarn purchases (oops) and club shipments will also be all of a similar colour, I guess I'm in a colour zone right now. Just waiting on one more mailing and the sun to come out again so I can take pictures.

Any guess on what that colour might be?

Geetha? Githa? Gytha.

Lovely lovely Gytha, even if I don't know how to pronounce it, such a beautiful sweater.



After the winter issue of the Twist Collective came out I was in love with this sweater. A little bit of colourwork, which I love. A little bit of stripes, which I love. A hood, which I love. So, when putting together a Xmas list for my husband I added a link for the pattern and a link to Green Mountain Spinnery with the colours and amounts I needed specified. We certainly don't need him guessing about that! Of all the knitterly goodness I had on my list, this was what he chose to buy for me (yay!), mostly because he really liked it too.



The colours of the Mountain Mohair are absolutely gorgeous and I kept opening the box and petting the yarn until I had (mostly hehehe) finished my Central Park Hoodie. But once I started, it was really hard to put it down, well until I was about halfway through the blue stockinette portion, but that's normal right? The yarn was a pleasure to knit, not at all splitty and very little VM. And the colours. Did I mention the colours?





The sweater is knit in the round from the bottom up, starting with the colourwork stripes, so fun. The body is split at the armholes and the right front, left front, and back are worked separately. The sleeves had an interesting construction in that they start at their full diameter then around the elbow you work in 1x1 rib for a couple of inches before resuming the stockinette and then shape the shoulder. The sleeves fit nicely into the armholes on the body too, which always makes the seaming a little bit easier.





I love this sweater. It fits well, it looks good, and it's only a little bit scratchy. It's really warm too so I haven't had much opportunity to wear it, but I'm not going to wish for fall just yet!




Gytha, by Jennifer Appleby
Twist Collective, Winter 2008
Green Mountain Spinnery, Mountain Mohair in Glacier Lake, Pistachio, Rhubarb, and Concord Grape

Like Potato Chips

The Noro Striped Scarf. Once I started I couldn't stop. Of course, then it took me weeks to photograph and talk about it, but here it is.



So so fun. I used 2 balls of Silk Garden in #252, and two of #245. It's thick and long and warm and cozy.



I slipped the first and last stitches (purlwise) on the second row of each stripe. I'm not sure if I would do it that way again. Not because I don't like the way it looks, it's a very nice edge. But because I found it a little awkward. I think I would just slip the first stitch of each row instead.



I have already purchased enough Silk Garden in two other colours to make another, since while I like this one a lot, I'm not sure if it's for me or someone else. Someone shorter, someone who possibly likes it more than I do.





And here's a little teaser for something else I finished.

A cozy sweater

I don't really have too much to say about my new Central Park Hoodie. Except, that it's exactly what I wanted it to be. A nice cozy house sweater that I'm not too worried about because it wasn't crazy expensive to make. The seaming didn't even bother me too much, maybe because it's been awhile since I've had to seam up a sweater. The thing that did bug me, was buttons. Nothing was right. Even the ones that are on there right now, not right, but they'll do. I do love how the cable show up with the Cascade 220.



I started this sweater as a break from the endless garter stitch madness of the baby blanket and it provided just the right distraction. I actually finished this sweater almost 2 months ago, but the button search was making me nuts, and then I got tired of waiting for sun AND someone around to take my picture. So I took artificial light pictures myself and maybe one day I'll get someone to take my picture.



Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky
Cascade 220 Heathers, 6.5 hanks colour #2441
Size 40
5.0mm Addi Turbos



Great sweater, love the long arms.

Round 2

The first of the RSC 2009 kits has been completed. I can't even tell you how much I love the colour. My Blue Heaven. As I was knitting, I was thinking "Oooo, I think this colour is my favourite" then it would change and "Oh, maybe this one", then "No, I think it's this one". Turquoise, cobalt, teal, all of them so so pretty. The pattern is Queen of Beads, by Sivia Harding



I had some minor challenges starting these socks. You see, they begin with stringing approximately 140 beads onto the yarn. I read that dental floss threaders were the way to go, but couldn't find any. But I had a dentist appointment 2 weeks after the package arrived and asked the hygenist for some. But then of course, I had to explain why I needed them. Needless to say, she was amused. So I attempted to string the beads with the threader on the end of the yarn. No go, the beads wouldn't fit over the doubled up bit of yarn at the end and I kept breaking the end of the eye of the threader. Then, I tied a length of dental floss to the end of the yarn and put that through the eye of the threader. Better, but still difficult to get the bead from the floss to the yarn. Then I tried a length of sewing thread instead of dental floss. Bingo! There was the occasional bead that would not go on, but I'd just put that one aside and use another. I had the beads strung in no time after that.



The knitting went quickly. It's a fun pattern that is really, really pretty. With or without beads. I put beads only on the leg, but I should have done the first repeat of the instep as well, to line up with the heel flap beads. Oh well, no one will really know, will they? And I did the extra repeat in the leg, can't have a short sock!



I finished these socks a couple of weeks ago, I'm very behind in my blogging, there are a couple of other things to show you too. My next RSC kit arrived today, it too is awesome. Very girly which isn't so much me, but I love it. I've worn my Queen of Beads once, so far, and the fit is great. I lengthened the heel flap a little from what I have been doing because my socks are feeling tight around the instep and some of the are harder to get on, this worked.

Fabulous sock, pretty pretty colour. On to the next finished project!

Thanks Mr. F

Well, my small boy is getting yet ANOTHER new teacher, his 4th in two years of school and his third one this year. Not ideal for the kindergartener.

Last year, the teacher he had all year was replaced by the one that was on maternity leave, with 5 weeks left in the year. Because she was pregnant again. She was back in his class in the fall and left in November to have her baby. That's when Mr. F came to teach. Now, in March he has found a full-time permanent position at another school teaching grade 3, so the kids are getting yet another teacher. I can't be mad at Mr. F though, he is doing the right thing, it just sucks for the kids. He has done great things in that classroom, and the kids love him. J is pretty bummed, but Mr. F also happens to be J's best friends Dad.

If Mr.F had stayed until June, he would have received some hand-knit socks, but since I only had a couple weeks notice of his departure, he got a hat instead. I decided on the Turn-a-square hat by Jared Flood. So off I went to The Needle Emporium for some Cascade and some Silk Garden.





I started knitting and had a really hard time putting it down, so I didn't. It was knitting up really quickly and I was loving the striping of the Noro. My first Noro. Not my last Silk Garden for sure (seeing as I already have some ready for a Noro Striped Scarf).





I'm really happy with this hat, I hope he likes it. He didn't open his gifts at school and now it's March Break. Hopefully his lovely wife (who is one of my friends) will let me know.



I'm still working on Gytha. I'm still in love with Gytha. I should finish the second sleeve today and then it's time for the hood and then it's done. It's awesome. I'm in a quandry about what will be next. I'm going to make Jer a seamless hybrid, so I should measure and swatch and do the math for that.

CPH should be blogged soon. I might have found some buttons. Maybe.

Ratty slippers

My ratty old slippers needed replacing. The big boy outgrew his slippers and now the small boy is wearing them. So that meant I needed to make some more slippers.

I pulled out the bin of leftover Patons Classic Merino (known around here as slipper yarn) and had the boy pick out what colours he wanted. He picked out a varigated blue/brown that was used in his fathers slippers and the navy I used at Christmas for his cousins. I knew there would be enough of the varigated, but there was no chance there would be enough of the solid navy. Fortunately, with the double sole construction of the beloved felted clog you can pretty much use whatever colours you want on the inner sole without affecting the final look of the slippers. So, for the first one, I used one strand of varigated and one of the solid for the inner sole, 2 varigated for the body of the slipper and 2 solid for the cuff and the outer sole. Hrmmm. Not much of the navy left. So, the second slipper got a strand of the varigated and a strand of a different blue (more denim in colour) for the inner sole, 2 varigated for the body of the slipper and 2 solid for the cuff. Hrmmm. I don't think there is enough to do the outer sole. So, I do the first three rows of the outer sole with 2 strands of the denim, and the next 3 rows with 2 strands of the navy, and attach with the navy. No way no how would there have been enough to do the whole thing, I barely had enough this way. So, did you follow all that? They turned out great, and aside from a bunch of questions about why there is a patch of lighter blue on the bottom of one slipper, he's pretty happy and all three of my monkeys are now happily 'skating' around the house in there felted slippers.





Mine. I bought some slipper wool for new slippers awhile ago, when it was on sale at Michaels. I guess at the time I was planning on a green sole/cuff and purple body, but when it was actually time to knit them...not so much. So I switched it, knowing full well that one ball of Classic Wool is not enough for soles and cuffs. So back into the bin I went and found the leftovers from Jen's slippers (the night we felted them, that's the night she became a knitter, even though she didn't actually knit yet). And I used that for the second strand for the inner soles. Every thing went very smoothly. Until. Until the last row of the outer sole of the second slipper. Ran out of purple. Crap. So now my slippers don't match. They have a little line of a varigated (although with coordinating colours) where the second sole is joined to the slipper. I'm over it. I'm just happy to not be leaving little bits of my slippers all over the house as they disintegrate into nothingness.





So there you go. More than you ever wanted to know about my felted clog journey.

I'm STILL looking for buttons for my CPH. I'm completely in love with Gytha.



I'm also in love with the January RSC colourway, My Blue Heaven. I may need more.

Turning 40

No, not me. Although it's now changed from "in a few years" to "in a couple of years". My SIL, my husbands brother's wife, she of the felted clog shredding feet, turned 40 a few weeks ago. I had decided a long time ago that for the occasion, I wanted to knit her a really nice scarf. A perfect red scarf. So the hunt for the perfect red in the perfect fibre was on, at the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters Fair I found my yarn. At the Spun Fibre Arts booth there was the perfect red laceweight, baby alpaca from Diamond Yarns. My Mom and SIL both agreed it was just the right red for Joanne, so I bought it.



I knew that I was either going to knit Anne Hanson's Fiddlehead scarf or her Alhambra, both scarves from her Little Nothings collection that she adds to at an unbelievable rate. I decided on Fiddlehead and thought that I could knit it up pretty quickly. I was mostly right. I started knitting with the suggested 3.25mm needles and after 2 repeats decided that I didn't like the look of the fabric (too loosey-goosey) so I ripped it out and started again on 3.00mm, much better.



The pattern called for 39 repeats of the 8 (if my recall is correct) row pattern. So when I was approaching that milestone after a very respectable amount of time I was very excited. I laid it out on the floor and pinned it out. It was short. Very short. Dissappointingly short. I guess the smaller needles and what I can only believe is a finer laceweight than Anne used was making me have to knit more. A lot more. I had a very decent size ball of my yarn left, so I though, I'll just knit until it's done. Well, as fun as this was to knit. That may have killed me.



The pattern was easy, memorizable and very pretty. But, after about 50 repeats the scarf was starting to look like it would be long enough and I was starting to feel like I was done knitting fiddleheads. I pinned it out again and decided that 60 repeats would do just fine. Even though I had more yarn left than I wanted.



I love this scarf. It's light and airy and the stitch pattern is just perfect. It's a good thing it's red (not my colour) or I would be tempted to keep it for myself.



I've been writing this post for about 2 weeks now, my browser kept freezing up after a couple of sentences and I was getting really frustrated. But finally, it's done. In the mean time I have also finished my CPH and two more pairs of felted clogs. So hopefully I will get another post out in a few days. And, I have started Gytha. I'm in love.

So there you have it.

Fiddlehead scarf by Anne Hanson
Diamond Luxury yarns Baby alpaca laceweight
Knitpicks 3.0mm circular needle
Pattern calls for 39 repeats, I did 60.

Holidazed

Is it wrong that in my head, the name of this pattern is sung like the Madonna song (yes, I'm THAT old)?

Anyhow, the pattern is Holidazed by the lovely Anne Hanson of Knitspot and was the final pattern of the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club. Yay me, I did them all! Well, the last one was completed in 2009, but it was started in '08 and finished before the first kit of '09 arrived so I pass.

The yarn was mediumweight (I'm becoming a convert, they're so warm!) in the colour, Muddy Autumn Rainbow.


Something about the dying technique used for this one makes each hank a little bit different. Interesting.



I really enjoyed the colours of this one. So pretty and not too bright, and it didn't stripe either!



The socks should have taken a lot less time to knit, why can't I just stick to one project until it's done? The pattern was quick and easy and it was mediumweight, so less stitches. When I did pick them up, I got a lot done in a short amount of time.



It's a pretty diagonal rib, I didn't really memorize the pattern, I could do each row after looking at the chart to see where to start. Had I paid a bit more attention, I'm sure I could have figured it out and not had to use the chart anymore.



I love the look of gussets, if you haven't been able to tell by the pictures I always take. I just really like the way the two sets of stiches come together. A little pattern note here though, after turning the heel and beginning knitting the top of the foot again, start the chart on stich 5. Or, alternately, knit the heel flap on the second half of the stitches. This was not mentioned in the pattern.



I knit the medium on 2.25mm and did the leg to the recommended length, which turned out to be 3 repeats plus 8 rows. I did have a disappointingly large ball of yarn left when I finished and probably could have done another full repeat, if not 2 on each leg. Next time, right?

What else I'm working on: The CPH is getting closer, all the individual pieces are knit and blocked and I'm working on the hood. I'm also doing a Fiddlehead scarf, also by Anne Hanson, for my SIL's 40th birthday, which is today. Fortunately (for them anyway!) they are in Turks and Caicos at the momment. I'm hoping to have it done by Wednesday so I can get it in the mail by the end of the week. It's all about the scarf right now.

Have a good week!

What

The last of the '08 finished knits

I was hoping that there would be more, but the Christmas knitting that I normally wouldn't do (it's that selfish knitter in me) put a kink in the works.

First, the Christmas knitting. My SIL, she of the pointy heels that loves the felted clogs and is on her third pair in a year, asked if I would make some for her two boys, 8 and (almost) 7. She traced their feet for me and said the big one wants red/blue and the smaller one wants orange/blue. Done.

I found a good red/navy combo Patons Classic Wool, my felted clog staple, but couldn't find an orange I liked. So I waited until I could take a trip to The Needle Emporium to look at the Cascade 220. In the mean time, the Nephew clogs, red version, came to be.



I found an appropriate orange in the Cascade, but for some reason failed to buy a contrasting blue, so I went BACK to Michaels and bought a blue Classic Wool all while crossing my fingers that they would felt properly together.



I once again failed to take a picture of the felted result before wrapping them up for the boys (with something fun too, don't worry), so, use your imagination. So yes, as someone has now called me in my Ravelry notebook, I am the queen of the felted clog. And, I need to make more. Mine have a hole in the bottom, and my big boy would like some. Sigh.

Now, on to the pretty. As I have said before, my (other, knitting) SIL and I were knitting Moderne Baby Blankets for her (and Jer's) cousins twin boys that were due in January. Wellllll, they arrived early, in November so we had to crank it up so they could be done in time for the new Grandparents to take them out west when they went on January 1st. We did it!



Jen's has the blue and mine is the brown. We used Knit Picks Swish DK, two colours the same, two colours different. Fraternal blankets for fraternal boys, similar, but different.



I'm happy with the result, even if my colour choice was questioned at first, the red looked much more orange on my monitor when I picked the colours. But I think the blanket looks great and I hope that either Dylan or Aiden is kept nice and cozy in it. Hopefully they will be home from the hospital very very soon!



So that was it. I was hoping to have my CPH done, but that didn't happen, oh well. I have big incentive to finish it as my lovely husband bought me the pattern and Mountain Mohair to make Gytha from the Winter Twist Collective and I can hardly wait!

Bad knitter, no cookie.

Please, no more cookies. I can't stop eating cookies.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, we sure did.

I've had so much to say for so long, that I no longer know what to say. So, I'll start with a picture of my pretty new mittens.



I'm completely smitten, not enough to give up on my Anemoi, but I'm trying to give them equal time. I've wanted to knit these mitts since I first saw them on Jared's blog. I bought my first Vogue Knitting magazine, and found the right yarn in the right colour at the Knitter's Fair in September. It was the yarn called for in the pattern actually. It was so thin, so fine, I was having doubts that these mittens would be warm. But they are, they have been freezing cold hockey arena tested and I had warm hands.

The charts looked intimidating at first glance but it really wasn't all that bad. Not to say that I didn't have to concentrate on them, because I did. But the cables are just so pretty and I love the little one on the thumbs (even if I did mess one of them up at the start).



I had to start and restart a few times to get the correct tension and ended up with needles much smaller than recommended. All in all, I give the Green (Brown) Autumn Mittens/Druid Mittens two thumbs up!

The cuffs are pretty cool too!

Five for five

After 5 RSC packages, I have maintained my goal and I have knit all five kits thus far. The final package was shipped on Monday and I hope to have it by the end of the week.

But, again I am negligent in the blogging of the completed item. The September RSC package was lightweight STR in the Tide Pooling colourway. I love this colour, love it. It's totally me.
Both in the skein


And in the cake.


I cast-on for these as soon as I finished Vintage, they were waiting for me, my reward. Yes, every fourth row was fiddley, but I cabled each and every stich without a cable needles and soon got a pretty good rhythm going. I don't think I'll cable more than one stitch cables without a cable needle but I think it was definitly a time saver on this project. The first sock worked up pretty quickly.



I really love the almost randomness of the colour on the legs, not the typical striping I get with STR. Loved it so much in fact, that I didn't want to rip it out and go down from a 2.5mm to a 2.25 mm needle on the leg for a little bit more negative ease.



I did switch to the smaller needle for the foot though and got the same wonderful little stripes and, the correct gauge.



And there we go. I would have to say the 5th RSC kit is a hit, I like the socks a lot. I'm going to wear them tomorrow in fact. Look at the colours, they're just so pretty!



I almost forgot about these. I think she liked the socks.

Pass the wine please

I did it. It took months and months (including some loooooong breaks), but the Vintage Socks are FINISHED. They were gifted to my MIL along with a bottle of wine that SIL bought, since I never really gave her a chance to knit any of the socks. Sorry Jen.

I learned a new toe-up cast on (Turkish) and how to inlay a tiny little leaf into the toe of a sock.



There was a short row heel, with inverted wine glass detail that I knit 5 times. Once because the whole foot was too short, twice because it was just plain wrong, and the two correct times.



I also learned the valuable skill of embossed grape knitting. The inc4 was a major pain, but the grapes are pretty cool. I also made a lot of leaves, plus one. They were fun, I kept having little contests with myself to see if I could knit them faster. I couldn't. But they were fun.



Overall, I can't really say I enjoyed knitting these socks. From the splitty yarn to the errors in the pattern (written vs chart) to the integrated I-cord bind off that took FOR.EVER. But, they look great and she loves them.

I took some pictures of the socks on her feet with my SIL's little camera, but have forgotten to remind her to email to me. And now that I think about it, I don't think I took a picture of that damn heel from the back. So, here are Halloween pumpkins instead.





Now, I'm working on Green (brown) autumn mittens, Cloning Anenome Rib socks, and a Moderne Baby blanket. I hope to have the socks done by the end of the week, the first went pretty quickly. But this weekend, is for the blanket.

Bandwagon jumping

I not much of a bandwagon jumper. I don't necessarily HAVE to knit what everybody else is knitting, in fact, I would rather not knit what everyone else is knitting. Even though the chances of meeting up with someone wearing the same hand-knit as me in my regular life is pretty slim. But, if I see a pattern that I like, the fact that 2398 other people are knitting it is not a deal breaker.

This was the case with the February Lady Sweater. I was feeling the need to knit a sweater, still am actually, and this fit the bill. It wasn't going to be too heavy and was going to be relatively quick. Especially if you are trying to avoid a certain pair of socks with grape leaves on them.



The pattern was very well written, I had downloaded my copy after the discovery of the giant error, and seems to be error free. I followed the link in the pattern to do the buttonholes, which I worked over 3 stiches.



I seem to have more rows after the eyelet increases that most, I probably *should* have frogged back to the raglan increases at that point and done more, sort of a s/med hybrid, but I didn't want to have too much ease in the sweater and left it as is. The lace pattern is a simple 4 row repeat over 7 stitches and goes very quickly.



I really like this sweater. I used Dream in Colour Classy in the Happy Forest colourway (I am well situated on this band wagon) and I love it. It's green, it's happy, and Classy is amazing. I have read about growing issues with this yarn so I swatched (yay me) and washed (yay me again!) the swatch the way I will wash my sweater, which is not in the machine. The swatch grew a tiny bit, enough that my tension was now correct on the 4.5 mm needles (it was off before washing). I did make the sweater I little bit shorter to account for the weight pulling it down when I wear it, and it did grow a little after a soak and a spin. Just enough actually.

I'd show you a picture of me wearing it, but they are out of focus and I have issues with showing projects using out of focus pictures. I tried to use the tripod and the timer and got lovely sharp photos of the fence behind me. The 4 year old isn't allowed to use my Nikon, so, all you get are on the deck pictures. Sorry. Now, I need to be done with green for awhile in the recent past, 2 green socks, 2 green sweaters, one green vest, one green shawl. I think that's enough green for one year, time to climb out of that box.



February Lady Sweater, by Pamela Wynne. Based on February Baby Sweater by Elisabeth Zimmermann
Dream in Color Classy, Happy Forest. About 3.75 skeins
4.5 mm Addi Turbos, with a 5mm for the cast-offs

Dinner at the IL's in 8 days, will Vintage be finished?

Hats for Boys

Late last winter the big boy (8), asked me for "a hat with flappy things hanging down". I promised him I would find a pattern and knit him one.

Well, I found such a pattern, by one of my favourite bloggers tiennie knits. It's the Norwegian Star earflap hat, and he absolutely loves it.





It's knit with Cascade 220 in two shades of blue, on 4.5mm needles. The pattern is great, well written with both a childs size and adult size. It knits up very quickly too. I used just under 1/2 of the skein of Navy for this hat and because big brother had such a cool hat, Small Boy (almost 5) wanted one too. I used a 4.0mm needle for his hat, just to make it bit smaller. Worked perfectly. He is equally enamoured with his new lid. Now trying to decide if The Girl needs one too.





These hats conclude my sad participation in Project Spectrum, and I'm not quite sure how Socktoberfest is going to go since there is still a sleeve left on the September (now also October) Lady sweater. Then, I HAVE TO finished the Vintage socks. Have. to.

And RSC package arrived last week too...stop now if you don't want to see it. Love love love.

That Little Scarf

Back in April I purchased 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca Alpaca Silk in a lovely charcoaly-blue colour. I don't know the name exactly (or number if that is the way it's done) because somehow, from me taking from the shelf to the counter and home, the tag was lost. This has caused me some grief because I have an oddly difficult time ridding myself of ball bands. Usually I can part with all but one when a project is finished, but we'll get into that pathology another time.

The intent for this yarn was the first Little Nothing from the oh so talented Anne Hanson of Knitspot called That Little Scarf

A few days before I finished Icarus, I cast on for My Little Scarf. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly it knit up, with it having patterning on both RS and WS rows. I never memorized the 12 row pattern, every row is different, and I never tired of knitting it.

It was even pretty before being blocked.





I did block it though, why work that hard on a pretty lace scarf just to leave it all scrunched up? It blocked out to about 39 in, by 8.5 in.



The pattern calls for 10 repeats of the 24 row chart, I had enough yarn to do 11.



This was my first Anne Hanson project, but it won't be my last! It was very well written, with a wonderful chart.



Pattern: That Little Scarf, by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca, Alpaca Silk
Needles: 4mm Addi Turbo

Is it stash?

"They" say sock yarn doesn't count as stash, so maybe I haven't enhance my stash. I'm not much of a stasher, I can't look at a pattern and think 'Ooooo I have the perfect yarn for that!' because I don't. I have in the last year and a half developed a good little pile of sock yarn. Sock yarn is fun and can be used for more than socks. Speaking of socks, I'm still working on the Vintage sock with the goal of October 25, that's the next family gathering with the IL's and a good time to present MIL with the socks. Hopefully I can figure out the leaf attachment instructions well before then.

I had my BMFA coupon burning a hole in my pocket, and I placed an order just before the new seasonal colours went up (otherwise I would have probably bought A LOT more) and purchased three colours from my I Want! list.

Faulty Dyer


Pebblebeach


and Mochaberry (Love.)


Those are going in the box, someday, I will knit them. I promise.

This past Saturday was the KW Knitters fair, bigger and better with over 70 vendors. It was really nice, they had 2 rooms so the aisles were nice and big with lots of room to move around. Much squishing, squeezing and petting of yarn was done and a little bit of purchasing. My main objective was finding the perfect red in the right fibre for a scarf for my (non-knitting) SIL for her 40th birthday in January. I was hoping for something really luxurious, like a cashmere/silk or something, but the right red was very important too. We found the perfect colour in a baby alpaca laceweight, so I bought it.



I'm pretty sure I'm going to knit Fiddlehead by Anne Hanson with it.

There was also a purchase of some Jamieson Shetland Spindrift to make Brooklyn Tweed's Druid Mittens from the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting.



At the Purple Purl booth they had some Malabrigo Sock. The colours were amazing, Jen and I kept pulling out different skeins of the same colourway to show each other at the same time. It was very funny. We ended up buying the same colour too.



And, a few weeks ago (yikes, I need to stop) I bought some Cascade 220 to make Norwegian Star Earflap hats for my boys. Thanks Tiennie!

What am I actually knitting instead of just planning to knit? I'm working on a February Lady sweater in Dream and Colour Classy, Happy Forest and I have a That little scarf blocking downstairs that I finished last night. My RSC shipment should potentially come next week, so I'm not starting any socks right now.

Have a good weekend!

The sun came out today

With the sun shining again today, Icarus came out for a little photo shoot. I'm so happy with it.



I think I did pretty well for my first lace with skinny, slippery silk. The feathers are so pretty. And, it's so beautifully light and sheer.



And look at the colour (Gooseberries), and the sheen of the silk. Sundara, I thank you.



I think it just might look good on too.



Pattern: Icaraus by Miriam Felton, knit as written and had 16g of silk left
Yarn: Sundara Silk Lace, Gooseberries. Received in a Seasons I mix up, but I loved it and kept it instead of trading it for my Autumn.
Needles: 3.25 Knit Picks circular


I really enjoyed knitting this and it wasn't a difficult as I had made it out in my mind. I never used a life line, and fortunatley, didn't need one as there was no frogging, just the occasional tink here and there. I used one split ring as the shawl got bigger so I new when I was getting to the centre line and just kept moving it up periodically.

Next: Between my Blue Moon coupon burning a hole in my pocket and the KW Knitters Fair, there has been a little bit of yarn added to the house. Just a little.

A finishing flurry

I've been finishing things. Aren't you proud?



Last week it was the Aleita Shell from Interweave Knits Spring 2008. This was a spur of the momment knit, Jer says "Let's go to the yarn store for your birthday!" so I quickly find a project that isn't going to require too much yarn, nor too little yarn. Plus, we were going on vacation and it was going to be good vacation knitting. And it was, then we got home and I stopped working on it.



I decided Aleita needed to be finished, so I did. It's very quick and simple, with minimal finishing. Fits well, and should look good over a collared blouse.



KW Knitters Fair this weekend! YAY! And I'll have company/enablers this year, Mom and SIL are coming too! I might just deserve something special, since I've also finished this.

Just do it

I've been meaning to do the post for, oh, more than a week now. Sometimes you just have to do it. I'm a terrible procrastinator you see.

I watched a lot of Olympics, I know, I know, everybody does. I just love it, I laugh, I cry, I yell at the TV. I remember the two Olympics that I had tiny new babies and it gave me something to watch on TV at 3am when I was up with them (one of those tiny babies will be 8 on Saturday). I decided that my Olympics project would be my Gumdrop socks from the July RSC package. So I started with this.



Wound it up, and had it ready and waiting. I cast-on while watching the opening ceremonies and it was the only thing I knit for 10 whole days (well technically there was something else but we'll get to that later). Before too long I had this



At this point, I was very worried about running out of yarn even though my scale said I would be fine. I'm normally worried about running out of yarn, but I was REALLY worried this time. You see, I added length to the leg AND I did a flap heel instead of the short row garter heel. Short row heels just don't fit me right, as much as I would like it if they would.



And because I didn't do the garter heel, I didn't do the garter toe either. Not that that had anything to do with my yarn shortage paranoia. So I dove into sock 2 with what seemed like a too small ball of yarn (pretty yarn too), and you know what? The scale was right and I had plenty. I knit the small size and it fits fine, I might like a few more stitches on the foot to lessen the negative ease a little but they are by no means to tight.

Lessons learned?
1. Trust the scale
2. When you are only knitting one project at time, you can finish it pretty quickly
3. I have no discipline when it comes to Olympic watching and my bedtime.




Pattern: Gumdrops by JC Briar for Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight, Goody Goody, the July 2008 Club colourway
Needles: 2.25mm knitpicks circluar, magic loop
Based on the colour, I like these socks a whole lot more than I though I would. The pattern was great but even though I said I would knit all the club socks as written, I just couldn't do it this time.


Oh, and that other project, ballband dishcloths while I watch kids swim in the pool.

Two posts in one day!

That's just crazy.

I started another ballband dishcloth today. It's half done and it's wrong because I was sure I knew what I was doing. Apparently not. I'm not ripping it out, I'm just going to do the next half right. It's only a dishcloth after all.