Ah, September. I love the cool, crisp mornings; the deepening blue of the skies; the riot of colour from the maple trees. While I do love winter and its related activities, I also mourn the end of sailing season. Nothing can compare to the experience of being out on Itty-Bitty, by myself, with sunshine glinting on the water, the water purling along the hull, wind in the sails. Of course, sailing on the CL-14 with Doug is also an amazing experience …
Speaking of sailing with Doug — our little sailing club has a Sunday race series. While we enjoy winning, it is not the be-all end-all of our Sunday sails. The race provides the impetus to get out and sail, sometimes in more winds than we thought we could handle. The social times after the sails are also an important part of the allure. (I find that I can get fairly one-dimensional when all I think and talk about is my knitting and crocheting. Doug needs more social interaction than I do, and so those Sundays are invaluable for him as well.). In any event, our sailing race season has drawn to a close. This photo was taken a week ago on Sunday — a rather low wind day.
I am feeling quite accomplished now, having been able to hike AND turn a heel at the same time! I actually knit about 6cm of the leg, the heel flap (twice because I dropped a stitch), turned the heel, picked up for the gusset and started the decreases. This also tells you how little wind there was!
Another favourite memory from this September happened in the first week. Carrie and her family flew back to Ontario for a quick visit. She and the little one spent a night here with us and we had a blast. We even got everyone into life jackets and had a canoe ride to a friend’s dock and visited. There is absolutely nothing better than a wet swimsuit hug from a little person! Especially when you are totally dry and warm from the sun!
Little One had been wading with her mama prior to this photo, and managed to trip and fall in. She has had swimming lessons, and so immediately started the maneuvers to get herself turned face up. Amazing, eh? Carrie scooped her up and stood her on the dock and she started babbling, obviously telling us something. When she started gesturing to her eyes, her ears, her mouth, I realized that she was telling us ALL about falling into the water. A bit later, she told us all about putting the life jacket on. How do I know? She was miming the zippers, the strap between the legs. While I freely admit that at 21 months her pronunciation may leave me confused on many words, but I never suspected that all that vocalizing clearly had meaning to her. I am gobsmacked!
In knitting news … it has taken me until September to fall behind in my sock knitting. Here we are, the last third of the month, and I am still working on my August socks. Gotta get busy, girl!
I did, however, have some fun at the store. We got a new wool from Katia, called Holi. It is a poly/wool/acrylic blend. Gradient, with no colour repeat from beginning to end. Years ago I had worked with some lovely angora, and I swear this wool has that feel.
The blend is 42/29/29%, with over 600m per skein. I made the Criss-Cross wrap by Dirk Gerngross. I used a 5.5mm needle. This made a lovely and generous shawl—when I drop it over my shoulders both ends hang down by my knees. It is snuggly and warm. I want everyone to work with this yarn because it is so soft!
Another finish for the store is my Doodle Deck Cowl.
You probably recognize the same colours as used in the Tunisian Crochet cowl. I thought I had enough “left overs” to make the second cowl. As you can see, I suffered the same fate most everyone has endured — when using up yarn, one often must purchase more yarn! In any event, this was 120 stitches on a 4.00mm needle. The solid is Ella Rae Honey (being discontinued) and the colour-changey yarn is James Brett Aurora. Of course, I still have a ball of left-over Aurora. Enough to make …?
My current “home” project is an afghan for a client. She had saved the fur from her dogs and had it spun with wool into roughly an aran weight. She wanted something cabled, which is why I succumbed. Of course, $25 per skein does not hurt.
This is a pattern from McCall’s Big Book of Afghans, published in the late 1970s. Back then, charts were not a thing in the knitting world so the directions are written out. Sort of. There are so many abbreviations! These are panels (starting on the right) 1, 3, and 5. Almost identical, which is why they are done first. I am not certain that I have sufficient yardage for the full afghan, so am working one skein each for each panel, and will then work to be sure they are all even. My current plan is to get panels 2 and 4 started, sew them together, and add the bottom border. Mostly to see how much wool is required for the border, as there needs to be a matching border at the top. I am hoping, hoping, hoping to get at least 48” in length, but only time will tell. There is no possibility of getting more wool as the dogs are no longer alive. The customer is hoping this will be done by Christmas, and it is entirely possible I can make that goal.
Thanks for reading along with me!
