Man, this is an interesting summer.

I don't know how things go at your house, but here at Under Construction the last six weeks have been extremely busy. Is there some phrasing to denote something worse than extremely? Because if there is, that's the word I want. Things have just been crazy.

Carrie has finished Grade 12. Watching her apply for university, be accepted for university, audition for the theatre program. These things should have made me feel old. But they didn't. These were just things that she, my baby, needed to do in order to progress to the next phase of her life. They just were things that she did.

The prom, on the other hand, is what brought home to me that she is pretty much grown up. She had her hair done, she donned the great party dress, the red shoes, the gloves. And grew up right in front of my eyes.



She also borrowed my camera to take to the prom with her. There are better shots on the camera at home, but they do make her look very grown up. Extremely grown up. (Sob) She was just a little, wee girl yesterday. I swear it!

In any event, with the camera off at the prom and a slight delay in getting it back, I wasn't really able to get photos of the knitting done in the meantime. But there has been knitting. Most of it is at home, awaiting or being blocked. But there is one piece here at the store:


This is the Betty Salpekar block from the Great American Aran Afghan.

When I started this afghan, I knew there would be difficult squares. In fact, I had heard that some knitters even took a whole month to finish some of the squares. I figured that since I do a lot of knitting at the store, that I'd have plenty of time to finish the squares. Two a month ought to be possible. And it HAS been possible ... right up until this square.

This square is knit in three main pieces: the centre portion, the cabled border, and then stitches picked up for the garter stitch edging. The centre part is a real humdinger. It is complex and challenging ... And when you finally figure out what the heck you are doing, you feel SO accomplished and professional.

The cabled border is a delight to knit. I love watching the corner turns develop. I just couldn't "ooh" and "aah" over it enough. Simply fascinating. This is how the border around the entire afghan will work. And it will be fabulous.

Having finished this square, I now feel confident that i will be able to finish this afghan. Possibly even this year, even though I do have nine more squares to knit. Eight squares will be from the pattern book; the ninth square will be a simple square with garter-stitch borders, and the year and my initials worked in reverse stockinette. At one per month, plus the border ... yeah, it can be done by the end of the year. The question is: Will it?

July Dishcloth of the Month

SAILORS' RIB DISHCLOTH

Materials: One ball Bernat Handicrafter cotton; 4.5mm needles

Cast on 42 stitches. Work 6 rows of garter stitch (knit every row). Begin pattern:

Row 1 (right side): Knit 3 stitches, place marker (this is for the garter stitch border); Knit 1 through back loop; *purl 1, knit 2, purl 1, knit 1 through back loop; repeat from * to last three stitches; place marker (for garter stitch border), and knit last three stitches.

Row 2 (wrong side): Knit three stitches, slip marker; Purl 1; *knit 1, purl 2, knit 1, purl 1; repeat from * to last three stitches, slip marker, knit 3.

Row 3: Knit 3 stitches, slip marker; knit 1 through back loop; *purl 4, knit 1 through back loop; repeat from * to last three stitches; slip marker, knit 3.

Row 4: Knit 3 stitches, slip marker; purl 1; *knit 4, purl 1; repeat from * to last three stitches; slip marker, knit 3.

Repeat these four rows until work measures approximately 7 1/2 inches. Work 6 rows of garter stitch. Bind off. Run ends under.

So much to do--so little time

Do you remember that breathless, don't-want-to-ever-be-parted, heart-pounding excitement of new love? Well, that's where I'm at with some of my knitting projects. The ones that I'm not passionately in love with ... well, they're just gonna have to deal. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my active projects.

First, there is the Botanica Medallion Cardigan from Vogue. We started this one Sunday afternoon at 2:00. I've knit the centre medallion, and am one-sixth of the way finished with the outer ring.

Misti International Misti Cotton ... doesn't get much better than this, I tell ya. Soft, supple, rich colour, fascinating pattern. Who wouldn't love it?

Next is the little lace cardigan from Creative Knitting. Back, both fronts, and half a sleeve. What's not to love here? A simple lace pattern that is easy to memorize and difficult to screw up. Nice colour, easy knitting. Again, what's not to love?
And then there's this little beauty. Rusted Root from Zephyr ... being knit in Debbie Bliss Cotton/Angora blend. I'm past the armholes, in case you can't see clearly.
A relatively simple 10-row lace pattern, yarn that absolutely glides over the needles, the absolute lush softness of angora, and a top-down sweater that will require little to no seaming. Life doesn't get any better, does it?

Or does it?
Handmaiden Casbah ... getting ready to be a little pull-over for summer wearing. Handmaiden is the knitter's crack, I swear. If it ain't the colours, it's the textures. They all feel like silk, or butter, or melted chocolate ... Compelling just isn't a strong enough word.

You know what really hurts about today? I have to go wind off yarns to drop into my gift bags for the Knit in Public picnic tomorrow. But I want to knit!!!!

The sooner I go wind off, the sooner I can come back to my knitting, right?

So many requests for pix

So many, many folks have requested pix of the Botanical Medallion in progress, I just had to oblige.

Of course, first you have to see the purely gratuitous cat shot -- Lizzie flaked out on our bed:

Hard to believe the little one is 11 years old this summer.

Also, the Rusted Root WIP, with my hand added for gauge:
Finally, the Botanical Medallion, in its blurry glory:
This is through round 41 ... only a FEW rounds ago. A better shot tomorrow, I promise!

Another month, another list

I have gotten in the habit of doing a count of my projects the first week of every month, and then posting them publicly. Here. The stated goal is to get back down to ... oh, I don't know ... 4 projects sounds reasonable. Two at the store, two at home. That sounds oh-so-reasonable. Doesn't it? Please tell me yes.

I don't even make a list of the projects for which I already have the yarn. That just sounds way too overwhelming for me. And discouraging. The old avoidance technique -- the list is too long, so I'll just avoid it. I do that with housework and stuff, so I think I'd probably do it with my projects as well.

But this, the first-of-the-month list ... It's motivational, in that I keep trying to whittle down the numbers. In that I can see clearly what's on my needles. In that I can see what it is I'm avoiding.

This month, I now number 10. Yes, 10. This is NOT a decrease. In fact ... well, we just won't go there.

There is the bulky cardigan for a customer. I have the back and two fronts completed. Sleeves are next, followed by the button bands. With a good movie, I could probably knock out one sleeve. Should be finished by the end of June.

The Noro hat. Well, I need to get this one finished so that I can display it for Christmas in July. Nothing difficult, just a knit hat with a little fun fur.

Great American Aran Afghan. Yes, well, I knew this would be a long-term project. The square for this month is the Salpekar square on page 24. I've heard lots about this square, ranging from "should be banned" techniques to amazingly difficult. I might just have to take this square home to knit.

There are still two pairs of double-knit mittens in alpaca. Again, I want to have them finished for display in July, so I've gotta get moving on at least one pair of these.

The mock cable baby afghan. The instructions are knit, it's just the knitting that's slowing me down.

The Rusted Root from Zephyr ... ah, yes. Knit in Debbie Bliss cotton and angora blend. Sigh.
I cast on for this one on Wednesday in the car, while Carrie was driving me home. Knit one round, then joined. 5 Rows later, at knit night at the store, I realized that I had been felled by the notorious "join, being careful not to twist." Rip. I started right back up, being careful not to twist, and am now on row 5. The yarn I'm using is thicker than the yarn for which the sweater was designed. I'm going to use the proper needle for the yarn and make the smallest size. The finished result will be a ladies medium, which is exactly what I need. Other than being navy blue (and consequently a little hard to see the stitches), this should be a fairly easy knit.

By the way, it's a top-down raglan, which means little to no finishing! Yippee!

There is a little drop-stitch top made from sock yarn in the spring Knitters. Casbah is SO tempting me ... The yarn is released from its stash hideaway and in the knitting bag, so I count this one as on the needles. Even though it's not.

On Sunday, we're going to start the Botanical Medallion cardigan from the summer Vogue Knitting. It's a knit-along project for the store, and I'm the leader. I probably should start this one ahead of time so that I can answer any and all questions.

Finally, there is a luscious alpaca and silk shawl that only needs the ends run under and blocking. Then it's finished. It seems I'm more of a project knitter than I want to admit, in that I just want to do the knitting and not the finishing. Wonder if there is a market in providing finishing services ... of course, I'd have to find someone to actually DO the finishing.

And finally, the one project that I managed to cross off my list in the last month:

Noro socks for Doug. These are intended as a "thank you" for him watching the store while I attended the Knitter's Frolic in Toronto. The colours of the Noro are delightful. Doug loves the wearing of the socks. I despise the knitting with Noro sock yarn. Twisty, tangled messes which require putting down the knitting and untangling. Grr. The pattern I used was a seed-stitch rib (4 knit stitches and 2 seed stitches), which I stopped two rows above the heels.

So ... there you have it. A more or less complete list of what's on my needles.

The siren call of of wool

Having caught up with the on-line group of knitters doing the Great American Aran Afghan, I decided to take a break from knitting afghan squares and try my hand at something a bit different.

The truth of the matter is that Barb, who is also working on the afghan, said that if I didn't slow down she was gonna (sob) confiscate my pattern book! I wisely decided to take a wee break; after all, she IS younger than me. However, I advised her that I was only taking a break until June 1, which she thought was reasonable. Here's the fun part -- old age and treachery will overcome youth and innocence every time! June 1 is MONDAY! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

In the absence of a square to knit, I decided that the store definitely needed a new sample of Filatti Carezza. The May 2009 Creative Knitting had some lovely designs, and I had plenty of a really nice blue-green. Away I went.

This design is called Spring Flowers Cardigan, found on page 26. Considering I started this late last week, the fact that I've got the back AND most of the left front completed means that this is a really nice project. In fact, forget all the blustering about not liking Carezza. I'm really liking it these days.

My home knitting has been a wee bit frustrating lately. I've been trying to complete a super-bulky cardigan for a customer. I wasn't happy with the cable; I knit too few rows of ribbing; I knit too many rows of ribbing; I crossed the cables wrong ... Just plain frustrating. I don't love, love, love this project and it knows.

And just to make matters worse, my stash has been calling. Oh, has it been calling. More like screaming, actually. The problem is this: I have some really, really nice wool and yarn in my stash. Some of it has matured and is ready to come out and be knitted. Now, normally it matures one project at a time. This is good -- it lets me believe that I can get back to the one-project-at-a-time process. Not a LOT of variety in that you only have one project going, but man do you get a lot of finished objects!

The reality is that I'm never going to get back there. How do I know? Well, there are still 8 projects on needles, two waiting to be blocked; and then there is ...


Debbie Bliss cotton angora (sorry, it's discontinued) and the Rusted Root pattern from Zephyr Style. Technically speaking, the yarn is thicker than specified for the design; however, if I knit a smaller size it should end up fitting. I'll do the math first, but it looks like I can make the smallest size and have it fit me just fine. This little gem is knit from the top down, so there is minimal seaming. Nice, eh?

And THEN there's this little beauty:
Casbah from Handmaiden and a pattern from Knitter's Spring 2009 issue, requiring sock yarn. Mmmm. I knew there was a reason why the daughter got me the same colourway that I picked out last fall, and this is it.

The biggest question is which project will I start tonight. We're driving to Mississauga to see Tanglefoot in concert ... and there's a two-hour ride.

Just how big are those anyway?

Not long ago, a very good friend of mine celebrated a milestone birthday. I'm not going to say WHICH milestone birthday ... except to say that it ends with a 0 and ... is larger than the size of the needles her wonderful husband made her for the big day.

Just how big are those needles anyway?

As you can see, it requires a lot of concentration to work these puppies!

Happy birthday, Barb! Thanks for being my friend and a great sport!

Woman on fire!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Woman on fire!

Well, not EXACTLY on fire, but certainly getting caught up in a hurry!

Below are the Suzanne Atkinson and Ginger Smith squares, bringing me totally up to date with my knit-along group on Knit 'n Chat.

The Atkinson Square (page 28) was a lot of fun to knit and watch the church and tree take shape. I must admit that once the decreases for the church roof started, at no time did I have the proper number of stitches between the tree and the church. Everything worked out all right in the end -- as in the church and the tree did not collide, and no one will be the wiser except me. And everyone who reads the blog. It really was a well-charted square, and I enjoyed it.

The Ginger Smith square (page 40) was another square which I wasn't that keen to make. I had quickly read through the directions and was totally put off by the idea of knitting the thing in sections. Why would you do that, when the cables and such all ran the same direction? Since I don't have a love-thing with seaming, it just seemed to be a bit much. In fact, I had decided that I WOULD knit it in one piece when the time came.

The time came, and I read the directions more carefully. As in actually READING and not skimming at a preposterously high rate of speed. You see, there is a reason for knitting the square in sections. There is a little raised knit stitch between each of the cable patterns -- a raised stitch made by slipping a stitch every other row and then knitting the slipped stitch along with a picked-up stitch.

The light came on, the room grew bright and I understood. And knit the square in sections.

The added bonus of knitting this square in sections like this is that you only have to read one chart at a time. This sure makes finding where you are easy, and enjoyable.

I now have 16 squares knit, of the 25 I need for my afghan. The pattern only provides 24 squares, so I was trying to decide which square to duplicate. Then a friend had a brilliant idea. Why not make a square with my initials and a date? Like I said ... brilliant.

What's really interesting to me is that ... even as much as I dislike seaming my projects together ... I'm actually looking forward to sewing this baby together! Who would've suspected, eh?

Long weekend in May

I am finding that my days go by entirely too quickly. After all, it is the long weekend in May, which is the traditional kick-off to summer. Summer. Wasn't it just yesterday that we celebrated Easter?

In any event, I have been working diligently on the Great American Aran Afghan for my knit-along. In the past 10 days or so, I've finished another two squares -- the Judy Sumner square and the Susan Rainey square.

The Rainsey square was the square that made me lust to make this project. A miniature aran sweater on an afghan square! How cool!
Now, I'm not saying that I am disappointed in the entire project. I am just gonna say that I found this square to be a let-down. The square is knitted first ... 10.5 inches of mostly stockinette stitch. What a yawner! Then comes the tiny sweater. Following the directions, I used 3.75mm needles and knit the sweater front and one sleeve. Sewed the sleeve to the front. Lovingly placed the sweater onto the square.

I admit that I had been thinking all along as I knit the sweater "This is kind of big;" and "this doesn't look like it's going to fit;" and "Yowza! This is looking pretty large!" Seeing in real life that the sweater wasn't going to fit -- no how, no way -- well, there just aren't enough polite words that can express my emotions.

I ripped the sweater back and started up again on 3.25mm needles. As you can see, the sweater fits as the designer intended. But doing the trinity stitch on 3.25mm needles with knitting worsted? Not a chance. I switched to a double moss stitch and decreased the centre panel by 2 stitches to accommodate the design change. Unless you look carefully, you won't see the alteration. This had the added benefit of making the sweater fit the square ... otherwise I'd have been ripping yet again.

The Judy Sumner square didn't really catch my eye, nor my imagination. In fact, it was a square that I had thought of not doing. Spider? On my afghan? I squash every spider I come across inside my house. So to put a spider on my afghan just seemed sort of sacreligious.

When the knit-along group decided to make this square I was less than enthused. In keeping with the spirit of the knit-along, I grabbed my needles and wool and started.

To my surprise, I found that I quite enjoyed it. Seeing the spider emerge was fun. Putting the wings on the bugs in the spider web was way too much fun. That part happened during a weekly knitting group meeting here at the store, and everyone was entranced. Myself included.

I guess it just goes to show that you can't be certain about the things you will like, or won't like, to knit. Keeping an open mind will lead to plenty of surprises ... in knitting as well as life.

Amelia's Dress

A while back I was at The Yarn Garden and saw this little dress pattern. Since I had a young niece at the time (3 months old, actually!), I picked up the pattern and yarn. I especially loved the hat.

Turns out that my niece isn't so much a hat fan. And I kind of ... got busy (yeah, that's it, busy, not forgetful!) ... and didn't get around to knitting it up. In the meantime, my niece was growing quickly. After all, the difference between 3 months and 2 years is pretty drastic.

With that in mind, I figured that this summer was the last chance I'd have to knit this puppy and have it worn by the intended recipient. A quick perusal of the pattern seemed to indicate that if I knit the dress with no hat I'd have enough. Since Amelia doesn't much like hats, it seemed like a great plan.*

I was correct -- I had just enough yarn to make the dress. With about 12 meters of the white to spare, in fact. I started this project the last week of April, and here it is, the second week of May, and it's done. Simple, straightforward ... and fun.

Details: Gussied-up Toddler Dress & Hat from Vermont Organic Fiber Co.; two skeins each of blue & red and one skein of O-Wool Balance and a size 4mm needle. I did modify the pattern a wee bit around the neckline. I was supposed to do a row of crab stitch; I don't like crab stitch at all, so I opted to do a mini-shell row instead. (Three SC in one stitch, skip one stitch, repeat.)

Now to drop this baby into a box and ship it to my niece ...

*Turns out that my Amelia's parents have been working on the whole hat thing. She is a pale blonde child and needs the sun protection ... Oh well ... Wonder if The Yarn Garden has any more of that yarn left.

Catching up

Over at Knit 'n Chat (Delphi forums), one of the ladies organized a knit-along of the Great American Aran Afghan. Since I was starting a knit-along at the store, I signed up. Was going great guns, in fact. Then somewhere last fall I bogged down. I'm not sure why ... that's not correct. I know why. On-line, the ladies selected two squares that I had already done. Since I didn't need to hurry and push myself, I kind of ... slacked off. That was August. Since then, the group has knit up 7 more squares ... of which I already had two. You do the math -- I don't want to admit how far behind I am.

In any event, I decided it was time to buckle down and get busy. For your viewing pleasure, I present:

On the left is the Berztiss square, directions on page 48. It was a fun knit, presenting no real problems. The four-stitch decreases were interesting; if you followed the directions one step at a time, the instructions were spot on.

On the right is the Martin square, directions on page 36. There are three charts to this square: chart A provides the cabled rope; chart B is the fishing net; and chartC is the fish. I don't mind having multiple charts; in fact, having multiple charts can make knitting the squares easier. The problem is when the designer (or editor of the book) tries to cheap out on the charts. For instance, in this square the directions state "knit 19 stitches in pattern established ..." OK, fine. That means the 3-stitch garter border, the 6 stitches for chart A and the 14 stitches from Chart B, followed by chart C, B and A, and the border. Uh, no. What that really means is the border, chart A and part of chart B ... all of chart C ... part of chart B, chart A and then the border. Deciding where to end in Chart B was no problem; after all, 10 stitches is 10 stitches. Unfortunately, it took several tries to figure out where to restart the pattern in chart B at the conclusion of chart C. I may be slow to figure these things out ... but I may also have a point that the designer/editor could've and should've included those first and last 10 stitches with chart C and made everyone's lives a little easier.

You know the worst part of it? Several customers have come in and looked at the square and commented how cool it is that there's a pineapple square for the afghan.

In other knitting, I have finished yet another pair of socks destined for someone's holiday stocking. This particular pair has a seed-stitch rib for the leg portion, which made the project more interesting than a plain stockinette stitch leg. You know what is really, really cool though? These are identical socks. Without any attempt on my part to make them so. They just turned out identical.

Go ahead. Admire the awesomeness that is my first (and only) pair of identical, self-patterning socks. I still am, and they've been off the needles for a couple of days now.

The yarn is Super Soxx, colour no. 630.0057. I purchased it at the 2008 Knitter's Frolic for half price, possibly because it was being discontinued? Does anyone know if this yarn is still available? It is really nice sock yarn. The colours are gorgeous, and right now I have several potential giftees making a pitch for ownership.

Speaking of the Knitter's Frolic ... the 2009 Frolic occurred this past weekend. Four carloads of knitters from my shop made it the Frolic. A good time was had by all, some goodies purchased (I only bought one skein of Noro sock yarn #S217 and a skein of Misti Alpaca Suri Silk, to match a left-over skein of #SP08 in my stash), and lots of fondling was performed. Shown here is one chance encounter of two of the carloads:

Dorothy, Cathy, Dot, Barb, Sharon and Linda. I, of course, am taking the photo ... and Irene was too busy at the Indigo Moon booth for the photo. Also seen at the Frolic but not photographed were Sue, Pat and Christine. (Hi ladies!)

Last Weekend

That was some storm Saturday evening, eh? Doug and I watched it blow across the lake, obliterating our view of Seven Mile Island. The winds were amazing, kicking up whitecaps on the waves. The wind very kindly cleared off the winter debris from the roof over the dining room, too, saving Doug a trip up.

Carrie drove home after her shift at the grocery store. She walked in and calmly announced that a "car was squashed by a tree." Not our car, thankfully. She was duly impressed with the strength of the winds. We were too ... and then we ventured out into the big wide world.

It is said that everyone gets 15 second of fame. The gentleman that owns this particular vehicle just found his:

Note that all four tires on this Caravan are still inflated. Yes, the frame is touching the ground in the middle. Thank heavens that no one was sitting in the van as the tree fell.

Doug and I tried a bicycle ride at Long Sault Conservation Area on Monday. No photos, because we didn't take the camera. But there were at least 12 trees across the trails ... several of them really, really big trees. One section of the trail was blocked about every 75 feet by a felled tree. Again, really impressive.

What else did we do last weekend? We visited with some friends, whose daughter has learned to knit. (At Never Enough Wool, coincidentally! ;-) ) Her latest project is this cute tea cozy.

I've gotta knit a tea cozy. There are just too many cute ones out there.

Another one bites the dust!

Another listing of what's on the needles, that is.

So I started the month with 8 items on the list. ... Added another pair of mittens to the list ... I added a cute little dress for my niece (I have enough yarn to make a size 2, and she's rapidly approaching that size so I better get to it, eh?) ...

I DID, however, finish one item. Ta da!

This is "Benedict" from Jane Ellison's Queensland Collection. I dutifully knit a gauge swatch; achieved gauge; and started knitting a large. Um ... no. That would have fit an elephant. Since the gentleman in question was not nearly that size, I thought it prudent to listen to the knitting and take a second look. Still knitting to gauge, mind you, but the pattern was coming out way, way too large.

Frogged it and started again, but making the medium instead of large. Still knitting to gauge. Interesting notes to self regarding this pattern, to-wit:

The design was designed and test knit for the small size. (No problem--it's what I would've done myself.) How do I know? Because the picture in the book clearly shows that the cable panel running along the front v-neck is a full cable panel. Also, and this is the part that really got me steaming, the designer states that she "asked my knitter on this one to work all neck decreases 15 sts in from the neck edge ..." Um, well, great. But why didn't you write the pattern that way?
And besides, following the directions caused me to split the centre cable panel and doing all decreases in 15 sts from the edge would have had me making decreases in the middle of the cable panel, not the way she pictured it. In addition, I ended up having a cable panel go all the way to the edge of the design ... the designer envisioned having one purl edge stitch, hence the 15 stitches instruction.

After ripping out the front right section several times, I finally got a look I was happy with. Finished the knitting, and blocked the sweater before attempting assembly. (To make sure that the vest would fit the gentleman for whom it was intended in reality, but I claim that it was to make the assembly work better!)

Again, following the directions provided, I picked up the requisite number of stitches for the v-neck ribbing. Row 1 was fine. How hard can knit 2, purl 2 ribbing be? Apparently more difficult than I thought as I had to tink back to correct the sequencing. The second row, however ... the designer asked you to knit down one side of the v, decrease in the purl stitches before the centre front, then decrease again in the next purl section, AND decrease again in the next purl stitches. Three decreases, not centred? Uh ... no. Fortunately I caught that little discrepancy before I had actually done it.

The yarn I used was Twilley's Freedom Spirit, in colour no. 517, and a total of 8 balls. I used 4.00mm needles for the entire project, and as stated earlier, achieved gauge of 28 sts - 10cm over the pattern stitch.

Currently, I'm knitting a square for the Great American Aran Afghan -- the Dagmara Berztiss square, and am approximately 25% done.

Tomorrow ... the Knitter's Frolic in Toronto. Should be fun getting there as the Don Valley Parkway is closed. I just love road construction season!

Life lessons ...

Life lessons can be painful. Life lessons can be expensive. Life lessons can be traumatic. Unfortunately for me, the latest lessons have been painful, expensive and traumatic. Fortunately, not many of these lessons are all three at the same time. The latest, however ...

The biggest lesson I have learned relates to my shop, Never Enough Wool. Previously I had stated with great excitement and enthusiasm that we would be moving. Now in the cold, harsh light of reality and lawyer bills I have to say that no, we will not be moving. I'm hopeful that my lawyer can recover the deposit, the loss of which has greatly hindered my cash flow. Failing that, I'm hopeful that my lawyer can prevent the (*in my humble opinion) snake-like landlord from cashing the second cheque given in deposit. You see, what I thought was an earnest money deposit the aforementioned SLL (*) has interpreted to mean that the APPLICATION TO LEASE was in fact a lease agreement and he gets to keep all the cash. I'm still waiting to hear back from my lawyer ... and in fact I have issued a stop-payment on the second cheque. Now it is a waiting game, and those of you who know me well understand how difficult waiting patiently is for me.

I keep telling myself that there are folks in a lot worse straights than I. Deep in my heart, I know that too, and understand it. It just hurts so damn much to think that I was gullible enough to sign an application to lease without understanding all the implications; that I was gullible enough to hand over the equivalent of three months' rent to someone who appears to be less than honorable; that I was stupid enough to just flush that kind of money down the drain. After all, think of all the yarn I could buy with that kind of cash!

Waiting is so hard.

To assist me in whiling away the hours of waiting I decided to finish up one of the projects on my list. To be specific, the black alpaca mittens that were started way long ago. Initially they were planned for Doug for skiing. Unfortunately, the mitten when finished was too small. (It actually fit me, what a shame, eh?) So I stopped knitting with black alpaca and moved onward to some green alpaca. Doug got his mittens and aside from the green dye running onto his hands when his hands get sweaty, he loves them. I thought that a quick mitten and I'd be able to cross the project off the list.

This brings me to my second recent life lesson.

When putting a project aside, be absolutely positively certain to make notes to yourself so that you know what size needle you are supposed to be using when you come back. Now, instead of crossing off a project I actually have to make two mittens. And added another project to my list.

You tell me -- is this a painful or a traumatic lesson?

MORE finished items!

Did I mention that I was teaching a "learn to knit socks" class at the Uxbridge Library? I think I did ... since most of the students there were learning to knit socks on double-pointed needles, I decided to knit a pair of socks on them as well. I should do this periodically since it reminds me just why I love magic loop so much.

In any event, I knit up a pair of socks beginning the second week in February, and finishing up just this past week. The yarn is Briggs & Little*, self-dyed into a striping pattern. The pattern was the standard vanilla sock, knit on 2.5mm needles. Sized to fit ... ?? After all, I DID miss giving out socks for Christmas this past year.
The dye we used for this particular workshop was RIT powdered dye, and apparently rather old. There is supposed to be some orange in there, but it came out terribly faded. The yellow is rather washed out as well. Since then, my cohorts in dying and I have switched over to newer dyes and it does seem to be working well.

Another project that was finished up is this mosiac tee top from the from the Summer 2008 issue of Interweave Knits.
I used 5 balls of Butterfly Super 10 Cotton (two of the cream, two green {3766} and one of the light green {3777}) and the suggested needles (3.75 and 4.5mm). I didn't quite achieve qauge, but that turned out to be quite fine since I had cast on for a larger size than I really needed.

Even though this looks like fair isle work, it was not difficult. The mosaic technique means that you are working with only one colour per row and slipping the stitches that need to be a different colour. Very easy.

Everyone who has seen this top modeled and not have all loved it. Now for some warmer weather so I can wear it ...

Still no firm moving date for the shop. The probable new landlord and I are now in negotiations. Yahoo!

*The lady who ran the dying workshop wherein I dyed the yarn couldn't remember if she had ordered the sock-weight yarn with or without nylon reinforcement. I guess I'll figure it out by how well (or not) the socks wear.

Carol's Correctional Corner for Knits

After unraveling and knitting, and unraveling and knitting, and unraveling and knitting the Knit One Below vest, I did finally finish it. And I have to admit that the problems I had with this project were entirely of my own making. (Dang, I hate to admit that in public!)

The design itself was published in Knitter's Winter 2008 issue. Instead of the chunky/worsted combination of wool suggested, I used a worsted/DK combination and was able to get gauge immediately using a 4.5mm needle. According to my knitting bag, I used two skeins of Twilley's Freedom Spirit and one of Cascade 220 Heather (colour no. 513 & 2434 respectively). Of course, I don't have the vest here right now, so I can't weigh it to see if that is correct. I know that the vest didn't require a lot of mileage, but I'm finding it a bit strange that I used so little wool. My guesstimate would be three balls of Twilley's and two of Cascade, but what do I know?

In any event, it was quite a nice knit once I learned to pay attention to where I put my needles. Apparently there is a knit-one-below book just published that has some to-die-for patterns. My intrepid friend Barb has the book and will share with me ... but not until next week. Grumble.

In other news, and this is momentuous news, there will be some changes happening here at Never Enough Wool in picturesque Port Perry. The shop will be moving! Just down the street, so there isn't a lot of distance involved. Actually, it's only something like 300 feet or thereabouts (three football fields). The bonus? My shop space will be doubled, I will have all my yarn storage on-site, I'll have plenty of room for knitters for my classes and knitting nights (and crochet nights!), and the parking lot gets thoroughly plowed regularly in the winter.

Moving day will be sometime during the last week of April. Fortunately there isn't a lot that needs to be done to the unit -- a bit of blue paint on the walls, the floor needs to be stripped and waxed ... that's about it. Of course, there will be at least one trip to Ikea for more shelving units, and then the fun of moving boxes and boxes of yarn along with the existing inventory. My Wednesday afternoon group have all volunteered to help with the move ... Somehow I don't think that too few hands is gonna be a problem.

Doncha just hate it when ...

good knits go bad?

March 7, 2009

It has been an interesting and busy week at our house. First, the daughter had two, count-em, TWO, auditions for university. The first was for Ryerson, which went well but she isn't crazy about attending there. The second was at York University, and it didn't go as well as she would have liked ... only to discover that perhaps, maybe, she might have liked to attend there. Ah well. Where she REALLY wants to attend, the University of Toronto, has already accepted her via early admissions to their Fine Arts program. She now is in the throes of the audition woes for the drama program.

In addition to the audition trauma, there was the Improv competition to contend with. This year, the team was in the Robo-Ghost Zone of the Canadian Improv Games (CIG) organization. They came in first place, which was a tremendous position for the team. The photo below is the tableau scene from the Zone competition ...
The Regional competition occurred just this past week. Unfortunately, the team was eliminated entirely from progressing further. They missed the wild card round by two whole points. Bummer, eh? At least they had fun, and we parents were treated to three nights of improv comedy.

In further news, I finished the Infernal Hat. This is the hat I was knitting for Doug in the double-knit technique. I believe the wool really wanted to be socks, or perhaps mtitens. Instead, I forced it to become a hat. It had its revenge -- I had to restart three times; then after seaming it up, I had to unstitch the seam and add length. Twice. I have now decreed that the thing is DONE. If it doesn't fit Doug, I'll FIND someone it'll fit.

I also finished the baby gift for my neighbour. Tada! This is the ribbed, hooded sweater from McCalls Super Baby Book (circa 1979). I started this sweater on the 7th of February. It has actually been finished for about a week, but I've just now gotten around to photographing and talking about it. A three week sweater -- not bad.

The yarn is Maypole from Coats & Clark, found in my stash. The needles were 5.5mm, so the stitches moved right along. I used 2 skeins and a bit ... hard to say exactly how much since I started with a partial skein and ended with another partial skein.

So how many projects does this leave on my needles? Um ... 9. I really need to start finishing things before starting new ones!

There WERE 9 projects going.

Last time we chatted, there were 9 projects on the go. Yes, 9 projects. Me of the one-at-a-time mentality. It does stretch one's mind, trying to figure out which project to work on next. At the store, there's no problem. I just switch every day and so the Mosiac Tee and the Reversible Vest progress nicely. The alpaca mitten will just have to wait until I finish these two, and THEN it'll get to come out to play. Same for the Great American Aran Afghan.

At home? Well, that's an entirely different story. Carrie's afghan is so large it can only be knitted on at home. Doug's hat? Well ... there's just not a whole lotta love there right at the moment, so it is kind of shoved down to the bottom of the bag. Besides, we weren't home much last weekend. Driving to and from Orangeville, and then Doug and I took a day trip.

So what DID I knit on in the car? Just this:

My neighbours are expecting a bouncing baby girl in early March. Since he sometimes plows out the end of the driveway, it seems only fitting that I make a little something for the new arrival. This will be a hooded sweater from a very old McCalls baby magazine. 8 hours of driving time equals 5 inches of fabric. In my defense, this is a knit-one-below pattern. If it had been straight ribbing, it would've been 10 inches long. Or more. (That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.) Another half an inch and I get to work the armhole shapings!

Aside from the 4 hours for the Orangeville trip, where did Doug and I go? We headed off on Sunday morning (OK. It was 11:30 so technically it WAS still morning!) to Dorset. The goal was to have a ski at the Leslie Frost Centre. Perhaps the conditions would be ski-able, perhaps not. If not, we'd have had a nice scenic drive. Fortunately for us, the conditions were passable. (This means that although the trails were somewhat icy, they weren't completely glazed. And there was a skim of fresh snow.) The most exciting news of all is that I actually skied the BEAR TRAIL! 8.1 kilometres of trail altogether! And a warm-up hut to which I'd never been! And new hills to challenge! The even MORE EXCITING NEWS--I successfully skied down two hills that I'd never conquered before! YIPPEE! YAHOO!

A note to folks who hate winter -- Doug and I are doing our snow dance every night now so that I can go ski again at the Frost Centre! Just don't you be doing your sun dance until I get one more ski! Please!

Monday is generally a day off for me and the store is closed. This week, however, Carrie had to be at school at the unholy hour of 8:00 am for an Improv rehearsal. After dropping her off, I went back to the shop and cleaned. 3 hours worth. The behind the counter area looks amazing and well organized. Of course, the challenge will be to keep it that way.

Monday evening saw me off to the Uxbridge Library to teach a class on knitting socks. Of course, if you are teaching how to knit socks, one must have a pair of socks on needles for demonstration purposes. Really! It is a necessity!

Which means that I was forced to start another pair of socks. Forced, I say. No choice in the matter whatsoever. Well, a choice of whether to use Magic Loop or double-pointed needles. Since the majority of my students were using DPNs, I decided to use them too.

The yarn is Briggs & Little sock yarn which I hand-dyed many moons ago. Now that I've started, I'm way curious to see how the pattern works out!

Stay tuned -- Let's see if I can manage to stop adding new projects! (Hmmm ... the new Crofter yarn from Sirdar is pretty insistent ...)

HOW many projects do I have going?!

Way back last November, I made a list of the projects I had on the go, and was astounded to discover that I was up to 14 projects. Yes, 14. And then I finished two of them so was down to 12. That felt pretty good, I must say. So since then, I have been dutifully crossing off finished projects. My list was looking pretty darned good. I thought. And then I finished a couple of projects ...

I'm going to blame my forgetfulness on the vagaries of pre-menopausal hormones. (There's GOT to be SOME advantages to aging, right?) Several Many projects apparently had not been added to the list as they were started. Admittedly they were store projects, and I seem to always have socks on the needles. Do socks count? As stash, sock yarn doesn't count so it does stand to reason that sock projects shouldn't count. Right? (she asks hopefully!)

In any event, my list of on-going projects currently is at 9. The black alpaca mittens from last November, the Great American Aran Afghan also from last November, a mosaic tee-top from the Summer '08 Interweave Knits newly added, the Knit 1 Below reversible vest from the Winter '08 Knitters also newly added, the Misti Alpaca/Silk shawl which only needs blocking (Carol, get BUSY!), Carrie's afghan which still needs another pattern repeat to make her happy, a baby gift for my neighbour's new arrival (the husband sometimes plows out the end of our driveway), creation of a pattern for a baby afghan for the store--this was on the list back in November, and newly resurrected on the list--Doug's accursed wool hat. That's 9.

But I DID finish these:

These are the Celtic Braid Socks (pattern #157) from Cabin Fever. I have wanted to knit these puppies for several years. In fact, one of my friends saw the pattern and acquired it and has knit three or four pairs (that I know of) since I first fell in love. Now, I HAVE knit them! I used approximately 75g of wool, which was half the requirement stated on the pattern. And yet the socks are plenty big, so I just don't know how accurate either the ball bands were, or the pattern. The wool is identified as Bouqet sock & Sweater, presumably purchased from Eatons many eons ago. I got it at a yard sale so I really have no idea as to the provenance.

I must admit that the cable panel gave me fits. I guess I've gotten so accustomed to knitting brainless socks that actually having to count rows was a fair shock to my poor hormone-befuddled brain. (That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!) In any event, I did get the socks finished, reasonably accurately, and I'm quite pleased with them.

Will I reknit the pattern? Yeah, I think I will. While it did cause me some angst, the outcome was well worth it. (As evidenced by Doug looking longingly at the socks and hoping that he will find them in HIS Christmas stocking next December!)

Another project recently finished is the Eyelets Squared Vest from June '07 Knit 'n Style. I used Filati Fantasia Carezza from Diamond Yarns -- 5 skeins to be exact -- and achieved gauge on the 5.5mm needles specified in the directions.

This was a fun project to knit and the instructions were reasonably clear. The most difficult part of the whole shebang was in getting the second tier of blocks lined up over the first after the horizontal eyelet row. I finally used stitch markers and viola! Everything worked beautifully. I'm kind of wondering about making another vest in a different colour ... this would be a marvelous summer top. Of course, the vest must live in the store as a sample for a few months (isn't it amazing how store samples seem to magically fit someone in my family?!), but by then it'll be summer and just in time for wearing!

In other news ... Tanglefoot has announced that 2009 will be their last year. This means that our previous 2-hour rule* has been expanded to a 3-hour rule. Tonight after closing the shop at 5:00 pm, we'll be driving to Orangeville to see the guys (and gal) perform. Gotta see them every opportunity we can, doncha know. Not doing anything tonight at 8:00? Come on down to Orangeville! The show will be fantastic!

The last bit of extremely exciting news (for me and my household anyway) is that Google Maps actually can pinpoint the location of Never Enough Wool -- and has a little flag to mark the spot! Carrie was bouncing off the ceilings as she told about this miraculous discover. Considering that my bedroom has multiple slopes in it, this was ... um ... rather exciting at 11:00 pm. (Picture a pinball game and she's the little bouncing ball ...)

Hope to see lots of folks at the Tanglefoot concert tonight. In the meantime, I'm off to see if I can finish another project or two off my list -- before starting a new one!


*2-Hour Rule: If Tanglefoot is playing in a venue to which we can drive in 2 hours or less from home, we attend.

Ooops!

Ooops!I tried so hard not to do that, and I did it anyway.

The things you find in your knitting basket ...

I finished a project at the store. This prompted my digging through the basket to clean up the clutter and detritus of a finished project. You know, the ball wrappers, dropped stitch markers, cable needles and such. Apparently, I haven't cleaned out the knitting basket for a while.

How do I know this? Because I found these --

Two, count 'em, TWO squares for the Great American Aran Afghan that I haven't labeled and talked about. And I know for a fact that I finished these two squares sometime back in early November. Possibly even late October.

On the left is the Barbara McIntire square, found on page 44 of the book. My notes indicate that I found it delightfully easy to knit. Also, there are no notations as to corrections so apparently it was accurately written. Nice.

The square on the right is Ann McCauley square, found on page 38. Again, I find no notations as to problems with directions, so it must have been fairly straightforward and accurately written. I do recall that I dislike working bobbles and this particular square has a ton of them. Two different kinds, actually, just to keep you on your toes.

The knit-along group for this afghan over at Delphi Knit 'n Chat is two squares ahead of me ... perhaps three by now. I think one of the squares I am behind is one that I've already knit so that'll help me get caught up. I am hopeful that by the end of January I can claim to be back with the group. After all, hope does spring eternal and all that blarney.

The project which I finished and which spurred the dive to the depths of the knitting basket is this little set:
One of my customers is knitting for the wee ones whose parents are clients at The Refuge in Oshawa, Ontario. I told her that I'd help and started knitting. All of the pieces come from directions found in Newlands Baby Book volume 12, circa 1955 or thereabouts. The cardigan is pattern no. 81 -- the cable is actually one I'd never worked before. There are nine stitches; the first three stitches are placed on a cable needle and held in back while the next three stitches are knit, then moved to the front while the NEXT three stitches are knit; and finally, the three stitches from the cable needle are worked. Pretty much a braid, in reality. Way cool. The hat comes from pattern no. 82, and the mittens from pattern 57. All are worked in Sirdar Snuggly 4-ply in colour 317. I am really happy with how well this project turned out. I am hoping that the wee one at The Refuge enjoys the wearing of it.

And with great fanfare and delight, I bring you this:
This is a double-knit hat, without a pattern, for Doug. I tried three times before I finally got the right number of stitches and length. The wool is Isle of Harris DK Scottish wool, which my step-daughter and her mother brought back from Scotland. It is an interesting wool with which to work. It feels really coarse, and I did in fact knit too long with it a couple of times and ended up with bleeding friction burns on my fingers. This despite the lanolin still contained in the wool. It did withstand the trips to the frog pondwithout even a whimper, so I am very pleased about that. Doug tried on the hat and pronounced it wonderful--surprisingly not scratchy.

I think the wool would have preferred to be a pair of heavy boot socks. I had even told Doug that if the hat didn't work out this time that was it--I was going to frog it and make socks. Perhaps this is why the hat fits "perfectly"?

In any event, I used approximately 100 grams of the 193 gram ball. I am wondering if I dare make a smaller hat with the remainder.

In my next entry -- exciting details about the new summery, cotton vest I started!

Whew!

The holidays certainly are a frantic time of year. Shopping, baking, cards, wrapping, traveling, visiting ... It's so difficult to catch one's breath over the holidays, let alone remember to blog.

I do wish for you and yours a safe, healthy and happy 2009, filled with good times, good memories and plenty of wool.

This holiday season found Doug, Carrie and I traveling to Michigan to visit. My eldest was in town from Virginia, my middle child was in town, and the daughter was amenable to splitting Christmas Day between her father and myself. So we ventured out through the snow and howling winds to Montague, Michigan, where we rented the extended stay suite at the Weathervane Inn. This turns out to have been a stroke of genius on our part; basically we had a small apartment at our disposal, complete with a private bedroom and full kitchen. I put together a casserole on Christmas eve and we baked it the following morning. All three kids and a spouse (hi, Coris!) came for breakfast and gifts. We had a wonderful time catching up and visiting. Turns out that it has been about 8 years since the three kids had been together for Christmas. Gifts were exchanged and the kids returned to their dad's home.

Doug and I continued on down to the Battle Creek area to visit my family. Typical hotel -- bed, bathroom and that's all there was. We were able to spend some time on Christmas Day at my brother's home. Boxing Day saw us at my youngest brother's house to celebrate with all the sisters and brothers who live nearby, along with my father and step-mother. Two of my three kids came down from Muskegon as well, which was a bonus. Again, gifts were exchanged, food eaten, memories created, and a good time was had by all.

Saturday we drove home. Once again, in pretty crummy weather. Doug wonders why our travels to the western side of Michigan always result in bad weather. I have to keep reminding him that we invariably travel to Muskegon for either American Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November) or Christmas. Both of these holidays fall during the dark days of winter weather; hence, I can pretty well guarantee that we will be driving through crud. Ah well. Perhaps he'll forget enough that I can convince him to repeat our performance next year ...

In any event, all that driving resulted in some pretty intensive knitting time for me. Doug is a far better driver than passenger, so I let him drive while I knit and keep him company. My first accomplishment of the trip was the completion of these socks:

Perhaps these will become a stocking stuffer for some unwitting child next year ... or perhaps not. Only time will tell! The wool was purchased at the Knitters Frolic last year. The wool is Lana Grossa, colour 5121. It was quite nice, no knots or difficulties that way. I used my standard 2.75mm needles and the magic loop technique.

The second accomplishment was the completion of these lovely alpaca mittens for Doug.
The wool is Luxury Alpaca Paint, in a sadly discontinued colour. I used the double-knit mitten pattern that we have found so delightful at the shop and a 4.00mm needle. I did, however, require three 50-gram balls of yarn instead of the suggested two balls. Glad I could find one more ball at the shop since I had only squirreled away two balls! I am planning to sew some bits of leather along the join between the thumb and palm -- exactly where the ski poles will be rubbing. After all, these mitts were enough work that I'm hoping they will last for two whole ski seasons!

Finally, I was able to finish up a baby blanket. This is a design of my own creation and devising! It is a completely reversible entrelac baby blanket!
The blanket is lovingly modeled by my baby doll from my childhood. (If you are wondering, these babies were in use in the late '50s to early '60s.) The pattern required 450 grams of Patons Canadiana--I used a colour named Light Pastels. The pattern has been written up and is in the process of being proofread, after which it will be available for sale in the shop.

All these finished objects mean that my list of projects on needles -- is down to seven! Seven projects on needles! Yahoo! Yippee!