With apologies to Dr. Suess ...

I present my version of his classic counting story (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)

One sock:

These are the April socks, done with a pattern called "Twisted Rib." I believe this one was from KnitPicks, but I can't check because their site seems to be down. Both my socks (blue ones on the right) and Barb's (brown ones on the left) were worked in Misti International Alpaca sock yarn. Yummy!

Two sock:

These are the socks for May, from Cookie A's book titled "Sock Innovation." The design is called "Angee." My socks, on the left, were worked from Cascade Heritage sock yarn -- truly a delightful yarn. I don't remember what yarn Barb used, but she got hers finished too.

Red sock:
These are the socks we chose for June -- the Ribbed Ribbons Socks from Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe Up. My socks, again on the left, were worked with Dream in Colour sock yarn that Carrie gave me for Mother's Day. The pictures doesn't really show the sparkles in the yarn, but sparkle it does.

Blue sock:
This pair of socks was worked in Berroco Metallic Sock yarn, and was started while Doug and I were camping in Algonquin Park in July. My theory is that we encountered so many thunderstorms because of the sparkles in the yarn. The sky just wanted to mimic the sock. Hey -- I said it was a theory, not a good theory!

And since I'm not done showing off socks, here are the July socks:
This design is called "Froot Loops"from Knitty. Barb and I both chose to use hand-painted yarns that we had created some time ago. Looking at our feet, Barb claims that I have the "before milk" socks and she has the "after milk socks." I can see that!

But wait -- there's more!
These are socks knit from KnitPicks Simply Stripes, a discontinued sock yarn. Probably will be gifted at Christmas, but we don't know for sure. After all, there ARE eight pairs of socks to be done for the big holiday.

We got some new sock yarn at the store, and I got to make a sample pair of socks.
This is Zauberball, and as other folks have noted, these are definitely fraternal twin socks. If you are a knitter/sock wearer who requires matching socks -- don't go near the Zauberball. On the other hand ...

And finally, I have completed the August socks:
These are called Brainless, from Yarnissima. I'm not so sure what is brainless about these socks. You definitely need a brain to knit them. I really love how the cables split apart to bracket the heel gusset, and then reform to travel up the leg. Really sweet design. The yarn is, if memory serves, from Socks That Rock, but I can't find the label to know for certain.

Wow. That's 8 pair of socks. At least you know I've been doing something during this very long blogging absence!

A day in the life of ...

Now that it is August (shhh -- I know the month is one/third over. DeNial ain't just a river in Eqypt, ya know?), I thought it was time to show you the March socks that Barb and I knit up. This is the Butterfly sock from Knitpicks. I was loyal to my stash and used up some old Eaton's yarn; Barb, on the other hand, used On Your Toes Bamboo sock yarn. Couldn't tell you what size needles or anything else about them, except that we did them. And on time!

And then there's this little gem:

Abandoned like yesterday's McDonald's french fries. For this:
This is the Sagrantino Shawl, being knit from Misti International HandPaint Sock yarn. I saw this on Ravelry, looked at the handpaint yarn, and fell. Hard. Hard enough that I'm even using double pointed needles.

But even the shawl paled when confronted by this:
Which very quickly became this:

What you see there is the fall shipment of James C. Brett Marble Chunky. Including the new colours for fall. Man, did I have fun at the wool shop! With much rearranging and squeezing, I managed to fit all the colours into the display, and store the overflow. See?

Now, it's back to the shawl ... or the sock ... or Sylvi ... or the July socks ... or the August socks ... decisions, decisions, decisions.

Algonquin Vacation

Our family has gone canoe camping in Algonquin Park several times. The daughters love it, as do Doug and I. This year, however, the daughters were both busy working and not able to get away. Rather than miss out on a lovely trip, Doug and I decided to go by ourselves. It was, to quote a famous author, "the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Sunday morning we loaded up and headed out onto Canoe Lake. This is the first time that we have gone north out of our launch point. The view, once afloat, is spectacular.

The day started out just fine -- sunny and warm. We knew that rains were predicted, but the last weather report we'd seen had said only Sunday evening and Monday morning would be wet. So off we went.

Sure enough, the rain arrived just about the time we settled into a nice campsite on Burnt Island Lake for the evening. Undeterred by the weather, and to prove to my friends (who couldn't believe that I would really take knitting with me), I sat and knit while waiting for dinner.
Dinner was macaroni and cheese -- a staple of our camping trips. The rain continued over night, altho not real heavy. Monday morning dawned as an overcast day, but we figured it would blow over and we'd be just fine. Besides, cloudy skies mean less sun burn. After the usual first morning photo opportunity, we departed.
Monday we paddled up the rest of Burnt Island Lake, made a small portage into Joe Lake and continued on up to Otterslide Lake. There is a way by which you can float your canoe through the lakes and bypass all the portages. We did, and it was delightful to wind our way through a creek-type passage, and then wade where necessary. The water was quite clear and fast-flowing, which was delightful.

We slept Monday night on Otterslide Lake. Tuesday morning dawned clear and sunny. In fact, it was so nice and sunny that the bull frogs that serenaded us all night showed up to catch some rays!
The winds were absent, and the lake gave us the most amazing reflections. truly awesome.
We also saw some very interesting fungi on this site. I have no idea what kind it was, or anything about it. I just liked the composition of this picture. Took it myself, and I'm very proud of it.
Once again, there was knitting. Note the sun burn. It was overcast and I didn't need any sunscreen. Yeah, right. I bet I could buy some nice ocean-front property in Nevada too.
Tuesday we paddled back down thru the Joe lakes and onto Burnt Island Lake. We stopped at an awesome sight for lunch and a swim. Then decided that we needed to be closer to the far end of the lake for our paddle out on Wednesday. So we pushed on.

So did the rain.

Fortunately for me, it didn't rain lots that evening and the tree roots provided a wonderful seat.
We got up Wednesday morning and started breaking camp. I've been fairly good about not making squeally-girly noises while camping. This morning, however, I blew it. As I bent over the backpack to tuck something away, a toad hopped out from under the pack. I screamed. I really don't know who was more surprised -- the toad or myself! In any event, the toad hung around for a bit, probably hoping that our presence would attract some juicy flies. He even checked out my water sandal!
We'd had rain in the early morning hours, and the skies didn't look promising. We packed up and started for home.

Along the way, we saw a moose! It didn't appear to be the least bit upset about us watching him. There were several canoes full of folks gawking, in fact.




Again, the skies didn't look very promising. So we pushed on.

Along the way, the clouds opened up and we ended up waiting out some rain at a portage with a nice group of young men from Northlands Camp. We told them about the delightful bypass of the portages ahead of them, and then we pushed on.

Later on, we stopped for a stretch our legs break on Joe Lake. Who should we see but these young men. This time I was brave enough to explain about the whole taking pictures of your sock in progress with different folks. They were really good about it! Thanks, Aaron & Josh and the gang!



Now, Doug and I are fairly proficient in the canoe -- by which I mean that we don't tip easily, work well together, and are able to turn quickly on demand. These skills became necessary in short order.

We stopped at the portage between East Arm and Canoe Lakes. The sun was shining and the winds were calm. We made the portage between the two lakes. Again, the sun was shining and the winds were calm.

We put our canoe into the water of Canoe Lake. The skies darkened. The winds began to howl. We pushed on, because we were supposed to be going home this afternoon. This could have been a disaster, because:



The storm was absolutely amazing. We ended up huddled on a dock for about an hour and a half, waiting. We dumped water from the canoe twice ... thought the storm had moved on. We jumped back in the canoe and started paddling furiously towards the Portage Store. The skies opened yet again. How in the world there could've been more rain up in those clouds is beyond me, but there was. Once again, we stopped on a dock and huddled under the tarp.

Then the rain ceased and we dared to venture forth again. Looking ahead, we saw some crazy folks in a motor boat out on the water. Silly folks, don't they know that the weather isn't good for boating? Turns out it was a couple of guys from the Portage Store out looking for straggling canoes.

There is a nasty rumour around that we may have accepted a ride back to the dock. There is no photographic proof of such a thing, so we can maintain plausible deniability. All I can say is that they were very polite and helpful!

We sloshed our way up to the car, pulled dry clothes from the packs (thank heavens for garbage bags!) and sloshed our way back to the showers. We took hot showers and changed into our dry clothes. Opened the door ... and stepped out ...

into sunshine.

There is no justice.

Saying good bye ...

Summer of 2010 is going to be a really tough season. We will be saying good-bye to two of our three kitties. Henry has developed renal failure; Mimi has some sort of respiratory thing going. We don't know what the respiratory thing is, but we do know that we can't treat her. Mimi is her own worst enemy.

This is a snap of Henry and Mimi. Henry is the guy on the left, and Mimi on the right. They've pretty much been inseparable in the time that I've known them.




We had to say good-bye to Mimi today. Over the weekend, her breathing became so laboured it was painful to watch and to hear. There was really nothing we could do for her; so in the end, we did what we could. And that was to ease her off into the next world.

Doug had a colonoscopy scheduled this morning, but I called the vet's office when they opened. They said 3:15, and we were there. The staff and vets at Port Perry Animal Hospital are great. The whole episode was handled with the utmost of caring and concern for all involved.

Mimi is buried in a sun beam, overlooking the lake. We'll be getting a statue to mark her spot.

So now Henry will get our attention and love. Summer is the best time to be a kitty; there's plenty of sunshine and chipmunks to hunt. I hope that Mimi is off somewhere running free and breathing easily; and that she knows we loved her.

Should I, or shouldn't I?

I've started knitting Sylvi using Araucania Nature Wool
and I'm generally happy with how it's turning out. Sure, the sleeves are boring to knit; sure the fronts are also boring. But the back! How I'm going to love the back. I suspect the designer was greatly influenced by Elsebeth Lavold. There are just too many similarities between Sylvi and Elsebeth's designs. Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. After all, just LOOK at this seam:

This is a detail from Inggun. If you look at the pictures of Sylvi, THAT is the look the designer is aiming for. She tells you to always slip the first stitch of the row, and then mattress stitch the seams so that the selvage lies to the front, giving you a similar appearance. Go ahead and take another look; I'll wait.

So I knit up the sleeves, and the left front. Then I seamed them together because it seemed like a sensible thing to do. Uses less stitch holders that way, as well as getting some of that pesky seaming out of the way.
Not exactly the look I was aiming for. Either I've done it wrong, or I've gotten way too proficient at mattress stitch. In any event, it isn't giving me quite the look that the designer wants. And I must admit that I LIKE the effect she was aiming for.

Because "De Nile" ain't just a river in Egypt, I continued on my merry way. Knit the right sleeve (actually I knit both sleeves first, and then the left front), and started the right front. All the while, I'm pondering the seam detail, and the lack of it on my Sylvi. And then I thought to myself -- I could just modify the design and create that edge myself -- just follow Elsebeth's side edge directions. Piece of cake.

Except ... I've knit a fair piece already. I'm halfway thru my third ball of wool in fact. But the seam design -- it's really a design feature. Will Sylvi be as nice without it? Here's what I've got so far:

What does anyone think? Am I being too picky by even thinking of starting over?

Surprise!

I'm still breathing!

It's been busy, and I will explain this a bit more over the next couple of posts. Without going 7 weeks in between. I promise!

Other folks have been busy knitting at my shop. We recently held a class on the construction of the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. We suggested to our students that they might want to start with a baby jacket in order to understand the construction. Barb, however, has that little streak of masochist in her that says she must do things the hard way -- every time! So she decided to knit the adult version.

She used 7 skeins of Nashua Hand Knits Creative Focus Linen to make this beauty. It's a medium, with additional length in the sleeves. She thought that perhaps it was a bit large, until we persuaded her to try it on. She was quite pleased with how this turned out.
So was Sebrena! (Ahem -- ladies, the mud wrestling room is out back. Winner gets to keep the sweater!)

And I finished a pair of socks. Everyone loved 'em!

What's this?!?

In reviewing my previous posts, it has come to my attention that there are a whole lot of projects that have been finished without being showcased. I don't know how that happened ... except that I seem to have taken several months off. In an effort to get caught up, I will herewith show you:

The Top-down Sweater in its finished state!
This sweater was started in January as part of our top-down sweater class, using the Patons Upside-Downers booklet(booklet #719). I used Patons Classic Merino and worked the textured pullover. Oddly enough, this sweater is just my size! I finished it sometime in late March, and have even worn it twice. I'm hoping I can wash it up and pack it away for the summer ... with this crazy Ontario weather, one never knows. (Discontinued colours, all, and I used 4 balls green yarn, 1 camel & 1 light green used and 5.0mm needles.)

Remember that whole "knit a pair of cool socks every month" challenge that I oh-so-nonchalantly tossed out in December? Having finally finished January, it seemed appropriate to me to check to see where I was on the whole reporting of said sock challenge. Not very far, it appears.

The February socks were finished ... in March. Not long into March, but March nonetheless. Oh well.

From Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up, I bring you the Hearts and Flowers Socks.
These were knit in a Briggs & Little sock yarn which I dyed myself ages ago, apparently in a striping pattern, and using 2.0mm needles. Unfortunately, one doesn't really see the lace pattern, but it IS there. And quite cute as well. The yarn was dyed using somewhat old RIT dyes and the colours were not nearly as intense as I had hoped when I made them up. Oh well. I'm sure I won't mind.

And how is Barb doing with her socks? Finished.

On time.

Drive-by blogging

I do most sincerely apologize for the dearth of blog entries of late. I'm the "ring-master" and I don't even follow my own rules. How can I expect the other ring members to follow them?

Having admitted to my own laziness, I herewith bring you the following post:

Do any of you know what this means?

An empty knitting bag and sets of empty needles. A totally empty knitting bag and it has been turned inside out, the better to get the crumblies from the bottom.

Why, oh why does a knitter go to such extremes with her knitting bag?

Because she has finished a project. A project which has been in progress for weeks and weeks. In fact, enough weeks that the bottom of the knitting bag contained the crumbs from the lunches she carried to and from the shop. Crumbs from the snacks carried to and from the ski trips in January and February. Crumbs from the car trips hither and yon in the weeks since January 1.

So what long-lasting project was finished? Which of the many projects have finally achieved "finished" status? Well, you have waited patiently for long enough. I bring you:


January socks, finished at long last. These are the "Winter Wren" stockings from the Holiday issue of Interweave Knits. The pattern specified these to be knee socks; however, I don't wear knee socks as a rule so I opted to make these shorter. I used one ball each of six colours of Naturally Loyal Superwash DK (colours 923, 922, 929, 925, 901 and 919 in no particular order.)

They are going to be fabulous next winter when I need something extra warm on my feet. The fair isle means that the sock is, in effect, double knit. And make no mistake -- these are true fair isle. None of that woosy self-patterning stuff for these babies. (I probably won't make the same mistake twice ... altho ... there were some really nice fair isle socks in the traveling sock trunk show ...)

My biggest complaint with these socks was the direction that you must end with one of two specific rows for the foot length. If your foot length didn't quite work out that way, well, too bad. If I had known, I'd have made the toe portion a bit longer and then I wouldn't have that complaint. As it is, I will save these socks for a time when my shoe/boot isn't a real close fit. (Unfortunately, this rules out the ice skates, when these socks would be awesome!)

All in all, however, I am pleased with the result. A lot of work, yes, and more than a few bad words were muttered in the knitting.

Round 'em up, Head 'em out!

Another month has passed, and it seems I'm back to my old habit of posting only once a month. I keep trying to do better, but there are so many excuses. Store is busy, can't find where my photos download on the home computer, store is busy, Olympics are on, store is busy ... I'm sure you get the idea. Today, the weather is crummy, the roads are wet and slippery, and the Olympics are on. This all means that at the moment, I'm by myself in the store. Hasn't happened since we moved on the 2nd of January, and I do expect it to change in a bit. After all, it's Saturday and my afternoon knitters and crocheters will be along very soon.

I decided to do a catch-up/listing of all the projects I'm working on. I used to do it regularly, and it kept me focused. Since my WIP list has gotten long (and out of control, actually) I decided a bit of focus was in order.

First, I show you the January socks -- Winter Wren from Interweave Knits Holiday 2009 issue:

Barb finished hers, but … well, mine is still in progress. I’m pleased to report that this picture is a week old, and I’ve actually turned the heel!

I’ve also worked on the GAAA and finished three squares.

The Vicki Sever (pg. 12) square was a dream. The charts were accurate and the designs were easy. Since I have experienced more than just breast cancer in my immediate family, I opted to repeat the faith, hope and love motifs throughout the square. The beauty of the charts is that this substitution was a piece of cake to work out.

The Carol Adams (pg. 22) square was likewise an easy knit. What I hadn’t realized until I was actually knitting the square is that the square is completely reversible. Fancy that. No wrong side. Truly cool. Again, the charts were accurate and easy to work. Nice touch, that.

Finally, the Patt Tanton Hewitt (pg. 42) is also finished and crossed off my list. This was an extremely difficult square to work, and in my opinion should’ve been listed as one of the more difficult. I still don’t understand why the Janet Martin (pg. 36) was listed as difficult, but then that may just be me and my understanding of the process.

Anyway, I now am down to the knit-from-the-centre squares, and designing the corner square (Design! Snort! Chart out the year of completion and my initials.), followed by the border and I’ll be done like dinner! Yahoo!

Next on my needles is the top-down pullover for the January store class. Again, this photo is a few days old and I’m actually further down the body than it appears. Boring knitting, and perhaps ideal for the Olympics. Except I don’t have a TV at the store. Excuses, excuses, excuses.

I am also working on a Freedom Spirit model for the store – a vest with little lace designs up the front. The back is plain, and boring. Again, perfect for TV knitting, except that I don’t have a TV at the store. The boringness of it might explain why this project hasn’t seen the light of day in at least a week.

The socks for February were selected from the Wendy Johnson Socks from the Toe Up book and are called “Hearts and Flowers.” I’m currently in the process of turning the heel on the second sock! Will I be done by the 28^th? No. I’ll be close though!

And this brings to a conclusion my current WIP listing. What I’m not telling you, though, is about the projects that I want to start. Especially those made from the new yarns at the store. Before Barb starts making something with them and I don’t get the opportunity to make the store sample! (There isn’t a competitive bone in my body. Honestly!)

Finally, a quick update on my brother. He has had his stem cell infusion and they are growing into bone marrow. Currently, David is at home recuperating and is about half-way thru his month of 24/7 care. He has good days and bad days; however, it sounds like his bad days aren’t nearly as bad as they used to be. This is good news! Keep those healing thoughts heading his way, and he’ll be back on his feet in no time.

Hmm. I resemble that thought.

I was browsing around the internet, checking out the blogs that I read as well as checking up on the blogs in my web ring. (As an aside -- does anyone else dislike the current Ringsurf set-up, where you have to double click each blog you want to read, instead of the "next" option taking you directly there?) There are a great many blogs that have been somewhat inactive of late ... and I was thinking, "Sheesh. I wish these folks would update their blogs once in a while!" And then it struck me --

"Woman, you resemble that remark!"

So, after almost two months of radio silence, here is an update.

We had ALL the kids home for Christmas -- my three along with a spouse, and Doug's daughter. Five extra people in our tiny little house! It was an absolute blast. We cooked, we ate, we laughed, we talked. Boy, did we eat! My duaghter-in-law is a marvelous cook! This was one of the best holidays I've experienced in years.

One of the best things about Christmas this year was the stocking experience. I usually try to put plenty of silly stuff into the stockings every year; if I keep putting silly things into the stockings I can pretend that none of us are grown up, right? This year I did manage to knit up nice socks for each and every stocking! Proof positive:

Each and every pair of these socks has been featured on the blog at some point in the last year.

Possibly the funniest statement of the holiday came from my step-daughter, Emily. Now, Emily and I haven't always had the best of relationships. This has changed over the past couple of years, and now we look forward to our visits. Emily looked at all the socks and realized that HER socks were the only pair of Carol-dyed socks. She looked at Carrie and said, dead-pan, "See? Your mom loves me better!" We all laughed ourselves silly at that.

What else has been happening in my neck of the woods? On January 2, my little wool shop grew up a bit. We moved four doors up the plaza, into a space that was twice the size of the original shop. Here are a few photos of moving day.

We did quite well -- 17 folks helping move and stuff shelves means that there wasn't a lot of work for any one person, and it made the day quite enjoyable. We started around 9:30 in the morning, and ended around 4:30. There was (and is) still some settling and adjusting to be done, but the majority of the work was done. We opened up for business on Tuesday -- pretty remarkable turnaround I'm told.

Here's another funny -- Saturday afternoon, while everyone is running around moving shelves, boxing and unboxing wool, trying to find room for things, a very nice lady stepped into the new store. She looked around, rather bewildered. "Are you open?" she asks. "I just wanted a ball of sock wool." I very politely explained that we weren't open ... meanwhile I'm hearing muffled snorts and giggles from the back. We didn't even KNOW where the sock yarn was at that point ... altho I believe it was in transit from the original store. No electricity to the cash register, no phone hook-up for the debit machine. Doug says it was an historical event -- Carol actually refused to sell a ball of yarn. Hopefully, this will be the only day this happens!

On Thursday evening we had our very first knit night at the new shop. 21 attendees, altho one was very tiny.


There's no way we could've fit 21 folks into the old store! In fact, I'm amazed at the quantity of merchandise we DID fit into the old store. Absolutely gob-smacked, in fact. One nice lady came in this past week, looked around, and sighed "I'm so glad you finally got baby wool in." Barb and I just looked at each other in amazement. We've ALWAYS had baby yarn.

Finally, here's an update on my Year of Socks. I've started ... I've turned the heel!

This whole sock adventure was my idea, and I'm the least far along in the process. Barb has completed one sock, and is around the heel on her second. Irene is casting off her first sock. Cathy is getting ready to switch to the larger needles for the calf of her sock. And I've just turned the heel. Interestingly, I've struggled with this pattern. It feels like every three rows forward results in two rows back, which does make it difficult to achieve noticeable forward progress. I do note, however, that last night I did almost ten entire rows without having to tink back, so perhaps I, too, have turned a corner in this project.

I'm working on another square for the Great American Aran Afghan. And thinking, planning, or plotting -- whichever you prefer -- to try Sylvi. I've got 11 balls of Araucania Nature Wool Chunky, colour 105, which is a navy blue. The pattern says I need 12. I'm thinking that I could shorten the sweater by 10 rows around the bottom ... surely that will be enough? What does anyone think?