Catching up with friends

This past weekend, we were fortunate to be able to visit some friends from years past. Joe Grant, (formerly of Tanglefoot and currently with Gopher Baroque), invited us to visit him and his wife at their log cabin outside of Ottawa. We had spent a fair bit of time chatting with Joe, but his wife, Catherine, didn't come to all the concerts. This weekend we discovered that Catherine is my kind of people --

Brandi, on the left, is working on a surprise. That's why you don't get to see her project. Catherine is working on a sweater for her grand-daughter. Me? That's a blanket for the Durham Pregnancy Centre. (Catherine and Joe promise me that grandchildren are the reward for not killing your teens. I'm enjoying my teens, so I don't think I'll have to worry about that.

We spent the weekend knitting, chatting, comparing renovation projects, cross-country skiing, drinking wine, sampling Doug's buttertarts, the girls' chocolate cake, and relaxing. 'Twas a wonderful weekend.

The worst part? Well, Sporty couldn't come home with us. The girls were heartbroken. Sporty doesn't look all that happy to see them leaving either.

My knitting bag is empty!

My Olympic entry is finished! Seamed, blocked and modeled!

You know what the problem is with summer? Well, actually, the problem isn't with summer. It's the clothing you wear in the summer. NOW that I've seen the picture ... well, let's just say that the exercise routine must commence post-haste.

This morning, while I was refilling my knitting bag, Meme decided to come visit. She was a rescue kitty from the Humane Society, acquired when she was about 4 months old. Unfortunately, she had received little or no human contact at the shelter, and she remains to this day rather feral. (Note--feral, not fair isle!) When she deigns to sit on one's lap, which isn't often, you find things to do that don't require moving around. Knitting, for example ...

She actually stayed for an entire hour, which is very close to a record.

I also finished the Van Gogh stole, purchased at the Waterloo fair. Here it is, being modeled by myself. Please ... for the love of all things wooly, ignore the squinty eyes, the double chin and the funky hair. Focus on the knit ... feel the love ...


Currently in the knitting bag -- a "shop-til-you-drop" bag from the 2005 Pattern-a-Day calendar, a baby blanket for the local pregnancy centre (seen being started while Meme visits), AND a raglan pullover for the Dulaan project. That's three -- count 'em -- projects on the go. Waiting in the wings is a surprise for my daughter-in-law. She finished her Master's degree in chemistry. I think that deserves a surprise. Don't you?

And it's a Gold Medal!

Last night I sat down to watch the latest episode of House. While I was sitting down, I worked on my Olympic Knitting. All that remained was the seaming of the sides and top. Today I laid out the shell and blocked it. See? It's done. Finished! I learned something new this year! I fulfilled a New Year's Resolution! AND I finished the shell in the allotted time frame.

Instead of mindlessly blindly slavishly carefully following the pattern, I should have noticed that the top would be a tad bit short for my taste. My waistline is generally an inch or so lower than most patterns realize, so instead of knitting to the specified 15.5 inches, I should have added another row, bringing the length to a respectable 17 inches. Ah well. It is a summer top and I live in a very casual neighbourhood. It'll do, and that's what I wanted.

The yarn is Sirdar Breeze, a 60% cotton/acrylic blend, in a DK weight, and was knit up with American size 9 needles. This is truly a lovely yarn to work with, and the acrylic makes it a machine wash. Always a bonus in my humble opinion. The pattern came from Knit 'n Style, June 2005.

All in all, I'd rate this project a success.

Today, the winds are howling. The outside temp. is a balmy 0 (celsius). The fireplace is struggling, but the wind is creating too strong an up-draft for the firebox to warm the house yet. My Lizzie-kitty is hiding exactly where I want to be --

Doesn't she look cozy?

Life is good!

Remember my other daughter? The one that arrived last week? She's settling in nicely.

This morning she asked for some extra needles and some yarn that she could play with. How cool is this?

Just to add to the excitement, my step-daughter and her friend have arrived for a short visit. You know -- the step-daughter who gave me the luscious yarn for Christmas. With the friend who has a mother out in Nova Scotia who spins.

Well, it turns out that he knows how to knit. Doubly cool in my humble opinion. Unfortunately, he is extremely camera shy when knitting is in hand. So there's no picture. But I am enjoying having other knitting enthusiasts around.


Speaking of enthusiasm, here's a photo of my Olympic progress. This is most of the back of my shell. What remains is to pick up and knit the stitches for the side gusset. Piece of cake.

Did I mention that I dislike picking up stitches? Oh. I suppose entrelac is not for someone who dislikes picking up stitches. Guess I'll start to enjoy picking up stitches, eh?

All in all, entrelac isn't quite the nightmare I feared it would be. But that, of course, is after having obtained some better directions than contained in my magazine. And making a few notes in the side margins of my pattern. What was that Olympic motto? Higher, farther, faster. Something like that.

A work in progress ...

Friday afternoon I gleefully cast on for my entrelac olympic project. I completed row one. I completed row two. I completed row three. It looked funny. I ripped it back.

Once again, I completed row three. It still looked funny. But -- hey, I can follow directions! So then I did row four. It looked really funny now. I ripped it back. By this time, my husband and daughters were wondering if it was time to retrieve the emergency bottle of wine. (I assured them it wasn't.)

Undaunted, I dialed up the internet and went searching for a tutorial on entrelac. Found it and read carefully. The directions came from Knitting.About, and were even colour-coded. How handy is that?

With these additional directions in hand, I proceeded ever-so-carefully into row three. Then, reading two sets of directions simultaneously, I went to row four. Success! Now I had a straight edge at the side of my knitting.

And this is how it looks today:


I'm excited. I am going to be able to finish this by the end of the Olympics! I will! I will!

For the record, I even started a load of laundry today, as well as ran the dustmop around the bedroom AND vacuumed. Just to cap it all off -- I had a 2-hour walk with my friend AND

Tonight for dinner is roast chicken with stuffing. Yes, indeed. I made the stuffing and stuffed the chicken with my own little hands. (Well, I did have help with the slicing and dicing of vegetables for the stuffing.)

For those who asked, the pattern for the baby afghan was kind of made up. I cast on 177 stitches, started with an 8-row garter stitch border, and then kept 8 stitches at each border in garter stitch. The interior pattern is a simple horseshoe print lace pattern, worked over a multiple of 10 stitches plus one -- hence the 177 stitch cast-on. I'm hoping that the upper edge will somehow magically swoop like the lower edge ... or else I'll block them both straight tomorrow evening before I go to the knitting group on Wednesday morning.

Just when we got snow ...

I've been visiting a local church on Wednesday mornings for a crafting circle. The suggested charity (for those of us who wish) is the Durham Crisis Pregnancy Centre. The goal is to have a hand-made layette for each young woman who contacts the centre. I have contributed this baby blanket. It's a simple lace pattern bordered by an 8-stitch garter stitch panel. Easy as pie, and the acrylic yarn should hold up wonderfully. All told, this blanket consumed 26 ounces of stash acrylic -- all inherited from my dear friend, Randi. I know she would approve of this use her stash.


I believe I've mentioned that I'm pretty much a one-project kind of knitter, right? That I get crazy when I have multiple projects going -- and that invariably one project gets slid to the bottom of the project list and ignored? Well, this time around it's the VanGogh scarf. Such a simple project, and so beautiful. But so ignored. I'm working the second half of the scarf now, and the little-bitty balls of wool are what is left of the original balls. Plenty of wool, in spite of the directions telling me to "be frugal." Whew! I was worried there for a bit.



In other news, you do know what today is, right?
Today is Day One of the Olympics -- which means that at 2:00 pm (all right--twelve minutes ago) I can start my Olympic Knitting. Check out Stephanie's Blog for the Olympic Knitting pledge. I was doing all right, until I got to the part where I'm supposed to continue conversing with my family ... I did note that she did *NOT* include marital relations in her list of things that must continue during the Olympics. Was that an intentional oversight I wonder? Or did it just slip her mind because she's traveling this weekend.

Did I mention that Stephanie has an intense dislike for entrelac? As in she'll never do it again? I'm afraid ... very afraid!

My young son was kind enough to explain to me, in simple language, how to post more than one picture to an entry. Isn't he clever? Must make him something spectacular for Christmas this year.

My Other Daughter

A year ago, my daughter's best friend was sent to live in Calgary. She and her mother just couldn't survive in the same household.

This child spent almost as much time in my home as she did her own. Even though she is older than my daughter, the connection between the two of them is a joy to behold.

We were fortunate to see Brandi twice in the last year. She came back this summer for a brief visit and the girls spent several hours giggling and laughing. She also came back for a weekend visit in November, at which time the girls were able to spend an entire Sunday together. The highlight was seeing HIM in concert.

Because of the hours spent in my home, crying over the situation at her home, enjoying the laughter and silliness at mine, Brandi became a very much a daughter. She grew in my heart, not under it. When she left, I could not look out the windows of my house because from them I could see where Brandi used to live. I wept for my heartbreak, for my daughter's heartbreak, and especially for Brandi's.

Over the year, the connection between Brandi and my daughter has remained constant. So much so that Brandi finished her high school education a semester early ... and this is what I found at Pearson Airport today:

The girls are busy unpacking and settling in together. It is such a joy to hear the unrestrained laughter emanating from them. It overshadows even the rock music.

Am I lucky or what?

Rainy days ...

Rainy days ... I understand that we need them so that our flowers and grass will grow. But, you see, it IS February. Aren't we supposed to be getting snow? And if it won't snow, then the lake ought to be frozen so that we can ice skate. Nothing is quite working out the way it is supposed to.

And speaking of not working out well ... This is my friend Joyce's baby blanket for the Durham Crisis Pregnancy Centre. Notice the stripe of dark colour:



Do you know what that is? That, my friends, is where the yarn company did a crappy job of repairing a broken yarn. So ... do you leave it there, or rip it out?

After much discussion, it was decided to rip it out. Nominally, it could have been left in place, since it wasn't nearly as obvious while the blanket was lying flat. But you know what? When knitting anything, whether it be for charity or not, it is so much nicer when you actually like what you've done.

Joyce will be contacting the manufacturer of the yarn to inquire about a refund or replacement.

Thanks a million.

Turns out that my step-daughter wasn't quite done with her holiday shopping when she visited us at Christmas. She informed me that my gift was out in New Brunswick and I'd be getting it in January.

Last week after Phase II of the Root-Canal-From-Hell we arranged to meet Ems and Kenny for dinner. After dinner (chicken soup for those that are interested), I was presented with the following HAND SPUN wool!



Isn't this beautiful? Apparently Kenny's family lives on a farm and the wool was spun by his mother from animals living on the farm. The brown is a bulky weight and destined to be a hat. The multi-coloured skeins are more of a DK weight and will possibly become warm socks. The grey ... hmm ... hasn't really mentioned what it wants to be when it grows up. It has flecks of silk spun into it and is SO soft and cuddly. Right now, it just wants to be cuddled.

Did I mention that my tooth didn't hurt for a whole 10 minutes while I fondled the yarn?

And my step-daughter is awesome! Thanks a million, kiddo, for the wonderful gift. So is Kenny's mum. Thanks a million.

Finished -- maybe

I finished knitting and seaming the baby set for my brother's soon-to-be granddaughter. Except for the buttons. I have a million buttons saved from previous sewing projects, worn out shirts, wild and crazy impulse purchases. You would think that in the 30-plus years of collecting buttons I would have four tiny pink buttons. Well, I would have thought so. But no, I have two pink buttons, or three pink buttons, or four huge pink buttons. But it was fun searching through all the buttons in the can.



I will be visiting a fabric shop in the near future to find suitable buttons.

In the meantime, I am wondering about the feasibility of creating a little hat to accompany the sacque and booties. I could use the lace pattern for the front part and the solid stockinette stitch pattern for the back and decreases. Hmm. This would nicely use up the remaining yarn as well. Must go searching for little bonnet patterns to modify.

The yarn is Cuddlesoft -- acrylic with a nylon twist. I don't like it. It's plenty soft for the new baby ... but the nylon strand wants to separate from the acrylic and fuzz a bit. And I must admit that I've gotten spoiled by the merino and alpaca wools I have been using. They are so much nicer than acrylic.

Today is the second visit to the dentist to finish off the root canal, hopefully without pain. Then we will be having dinner with the step-daughter and her boyfriend! Yippee! Life doesn't get much better.

Laundry day

Today was laundry day. The weather was sunny, not very warm, but sunny. Clear blue skies. What better way to dry clothes than to hang them outside, eh? So that's where they went. Out on the line.


The homemade socks are mine. All mine. No one else in this house will wear them, the silly people. What ARE they thinking? It doesn't matter. I will wear them, and wear them I will.

Know what's a tad frightening? I still had two pair hanging back in the sock drawer.

May I say "I told you so!"?

've had a sore tooth for months ... literally. I went to the dentist back in April and complained that it hurt. The dentist said that the filling was loose and it needed to be redone. I asked if the tooth was cracked, and was assured it was not. Fine. I can do the filling thing. So we did.

The tooth still hurt. Five months later, it was hurting continuously. I called my previous dentist in Toronto, and he said "come on in." Took x-rays. Commented that the filling was very large, and the dentist had overfilled the cavity. I asked if the tooth was cracked, and he said not. When the filling smacked down onto the ceramic crown ont the lower tooth -- of course it hurt! And that was the problem. So he filed and shaped the filling. That hurt! Ouch!

The tooth STILL hurt! Only now it hurts continuously. Called the dentist again. The next step is to have a root canal. Which I really don't like, because they hurt, but the promise is that the pain will stop.

Yesterday was the big day. The dentist drilled out the filling. Guess what? The tooth was cracked! Just as I predicted. Can I say "I told you so!" now?

Proceeded with the root canal. Dentist says I was "jumpy." Of course I was, you twit! You didn't give me enough pain medicine. He gave me more. I was still "jumpy." Don't you just love it when someone assures you that something doesn't hurt, but it does -- hurts a helluvalot in fact? I wish I'd had the nerve to grab his balls and squeeze, and then ask if we were gonna hurt each other ... Of course, then I'd never be able to go back to that dentist ... But the thoughts of that ...

In any event, the root canal proceeded apace. The very excellent news is that the tooth doesn't hurt continuously. The dentist did warn me that I would be sore today, and he isn't kidding. It hurts -- but only when I gnash my teeth. Perhaps this is when I finally learn to stop gnashing, she asks hopefully.

And here is what I look like today -- for the first time in weeks --


OK. Taking pictures of yourself isn't as easy as it looks.

I have almost finished seaming the baby kimono ... now to find the crochet hook for the edging. Then the booties. After that, I get to start training for the Knitting Olympics!

Evil -- they name is ...

I discovered over the Christmas holidays that my elder brother is going to be a grandfather this spring. Well, technically he is going to be a step-grandfather since it is his step-son and wife that will be the parents. But in my world, a step- anything is as good as real. So in honour of the wonderful event, I decided to make a little baby set for the new baby.

I pulled out my Fall 1978 issue of McCall's Needlework & Crafts, my needles and my stash of baby yarn, and cast on. Now, I admit that this is a very old book, and many folks would've insisted that it be cast aside as part of a general de-stashing exercise at some point in time. I, however, have held on tightly to it. Why? Well, I think this little baby set is one of the finest ever designed. What do you think?



Also, I've made four or five of them, I figured the pattern would be easy to reburn into my brain.

Nope. I can't tell you how many times I've ripped and reknit, ripped and reknit. And having viewed Stephanie's efforts at laddering, I even thought of doing that. But in LACE knitting? Not a chance. So I ripped and reknit yet again.

Today I am proud to say that I am finished with the body and am casting on for the cute little sleeves. Almost there.

Speaking of Stephanie -- have you SEEN what she posted about today?! I can't believe my eyes. She threw down the knitting needles -- er -- gauntlet and created a new Olympic sport -- KNITTING!

I don't know about any one else, but there is not one single competitive bone in my body. Nope. Not a one.

They're ALL competitive. And every bone in my body is saying "YES! I CAN DO THIS!!"

I am committed to learning entrelac and making myself a sweater with this technique. I remember seeing a sweet little top ... now to remember where I saw it. If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to suggestions. Oh my gosh. What have I done?!

Oh yes -- my young son in Mexico has started a blog of his own to relate his adventures. It is located here: http://taoso.blogspot.com/

Newest Socks

I tried out some of the new sock yarn given to me by my dearest hubby. After much careful consideration, I decided that I needed (really, Carol, needed?) a pair of really bright socks. So I chose this colourway -- otherwise known as Snapdragon by Knitpicks.


The pattern is from Better Homes & Gardens Knit It, Fall 2005 -- page 59, if you must know.

The yarn knit up quite nicely without pilling. The pattern makes its own ribbing, so they WILL stay up where they belong. Better yet -- starting just above the ankle and through the foot, the directions specified switching to a needle one size smaller. Not only will the ribbing keep the sock in place, the size of the foot will assist.

Isn't that a grand idea? Why didn't I think of that?

The man deserves mittens

My husband was so kind to me for my birthday and Christmas. Not only did he make my favorite meal for my birthday, he gave me a sampler pack of Simply Stripes from Knit Picks. Then he followed that up by assisting with Christmas dinner, AND giving me more wool from Knit Picks. Ahem. And he gave me chocolate.

For that, the man deserves mittens.

So I sat down with some wool, purchased specially for this project, and here you see, the mitts anxiously awaiting their adventures outside.


The wool is Paton's Classic Wool Merino, in red (#230) and aran blanc (#202). The pattern? Well, I wanted to make the mitts double thick so that they would wear longer and be warmer for him. So I experimented with two-colour ribbing. That was fun. I purled with the white and knit the red stitches.

The body of the mittens are a pattern that is 8 stitches by 12 rows. This was convenient since I had a multiple of 8 stitches for the hand portion. For the thumb gore, I decided to try to outline it with white, and have the stripes move. Kind of a candy cane idea, you know?

My husband reports that the mittens feel nice, especially now that's worn them. He wondered about them being a tad wider and longer, but seems to think they are just right.

Now for a hat ... preferably not in the candy can pattern. Hmm.

Christmas

My husband continues to surprise me! He must've gotten a very big box from Knit Picks, because this is what I found under the tree for me!



This is the Merino-style sampler pack, the pattern for another set of mittens, some fancy row counters and apair of Addi turbos. Oh yes -- a chocolate bar as well!

The man must be hoping for some new mittens this winter!

Birthdays are wonderful

My birthday was December 20th. This year was special -- not because of the age thing, but because of the gifts. I got things that I really wanted! Here you see the loot:



The Simple Strips sampler pack from Knit Picks, along with the Northern Stripes mitten pattern. And not to be outdone, my lovely daughter gave me the Tigger Movie. I'm a big Winnie-the-Pooh fan!

The yarn is destined to become socks for myself ... it's great travel knitting since the project and supplies are small and easily portable. The movie? It's a great story to knit along with.

My wonderful husband surprised me totally with his gift from Knit Picks. I had no idea that he had in fact ordered, let alone that it had arrived. Talk about a major surprise! Now I can't wait for Christmas!!!

Everything is right with my world!

Because someone very special is visiting. This is my son, Jeff, who is studying Spanish at Western Michigan University. He is in his fourth year ... and he is on his holiday break right now. Today, I went to Pearson Airport and retrieved him.


He is staying until the 26th. This is a very special visit. Why? Because on January 2 he is hopping on an airplane and traveling to Mexico for a semester at the sister university there. What an opportunity!

What a challenge for a mom!

While he is here he will be tormenting his younger sister, making Christmas baking, holiday decorating ... home renovations, long chats with mom ...

It's the greatest time ever -- when I have such a long stretch with my son. And THIS year I don't have to work! Yippee!!

November

What have I been doing since I finished the Aran Lace? Knitting mittens. Lotsa mittens. Did you know that one large ball of Red Heart will make ten pairs of mittens? I didn't either.

See that little ball in the corner? That's what I had left. Talk about cutting it close!! I was afraid that I would have to make white thumbs on the last pair of mittens. Thank goodness I didn't.

So why the excess of mittens? Our church has a project. Every January we send box loads of warm woolies to an Indian settlement in Northern Ontario. Not the one that's been in the news, although the living situation is similar. These kids are out waiting for the bus in minimal outer-wear, often without mittens and hats. These mittens are destined to help those less fortunate ... right here in Canada.

Who took my needles?

I have started knitting mittens ad nauseum for the Mitten Tree at church. In the process, I decided to take the flat pattern and convert it to knitting in the round. To accomplish this, I needed my size 7 (US) dpn. I could find two of them, no problem. Do you think I could find the others? After searching through bags and bags of yarn, baskets of patterns, more bags of yarn, they still remain elusive. Not to be thwarted, I just grabbed the size 4 & 6 dpns and went on my way.

Who knew I had THAT much yarn? I mean -- I *KNOW* that I have lots of yarn in my boxes. That's stash -- and destined for the Dulaan Project and the Mitten Tree. But all that other yarn? Yikes! And guess what I'm doing tonight? Going to Knit Night at Yonder Yarns ... where I hope to purchase some nice black yarn for a Christmas gift. (Teehee.)

To assuage my disappointment over having lost my size 7 dpns, my lovely hubby graciously ventured into Romni Wool and purchased an Addi Turbo, size 7, just for me. Not for my birthday. Not for Christmas. Just becuz. Isn't he sweet? Apparently the staff at Romni Wool went into overdrive in their attempts to be helpful -- especially since needles are not exchangeable or returnable. They wanted to be absolutely sure that he had the right one. Silly people. Don't they know that any Addi is a keeper?

In other news --

Tada! The Aran Lace sweater is finished. Here I am, modeling the sweater pre-blocking.

The sweater is designed to be loose-fitting, with long sleeves. C. says it is stylishly comfy. For anyone who cares, the design is by Annie Maloney, called Aran Lace, pattern #102. The yarn was from Lewiscraft -- Stylecraft Special, an acrylic/wool blend (80/20). Quite nice. Now to see how well it wears.

Hurray!

Can you believe that today is Wednesday? Neither can I. Just where the heck did the week go anyway?

Oh yeah. I remember. Monday was Hallowe'en. Don't know about your neck of the woods, but we had 2 trick-or-treaters. Yes, you read that correctly. 2. Our neighbors were having far more fun than we were, so we grabbed our candy bowl and headed over there. Imagine the scene -- a crazy woman chasing the little kids down the street calling "wait, wait! I want to give you some candy!" Ah well. Now I've proven that I'm crazy enough to live in our little corner of the world.

What else have I been doing? Well ... What you see here is sleeve number 2 of my Aran Lace sweater. And I'm almost done with it! Hurray!

I also discovered a LYS! As local as I get anyway. It's a 30-minute drive to get there, but definitely worth the trip. It's called Yonder Yarns, and is in Greenbank, Ontario. Louise, the proprietor, is running it in a room of her home. Every time I go there, she has more yarns to fondle. And she has a Knit Night on Tuesdays. There are three or four "regulars," and it was quite enjoyable. I went last night and made one mitten and started its mate. Out of *gasp* Red Heart yarn. Every year I buy a large ball to make mittens for the church, and every year I say "never again." NOW I remember why I don't particularly care for Red Heart.

Hopefully, next year I'll remember ...

A rainy Monday.

The weekend was cold, rainy and blustery. I hibernated inside, in front of the warm fireplace, with a hot cup of tea and my knitting. I am so pleased that I have finished the front of the Aran Lace and am now working my way diligently up the right sleeve. Yes, indeed, this sweater has a specific left and right sleeve. That'll be interesting when I sew this puppy together.

Saturday evening we watched the movie Top Gun. (My daughter is currently reviewing all Tom Cruise movies.) This was followed by Ghost, with Patrick Swaze and Demi Moore. Ooh-la-la. I had forgotten what a great movie it was.

To top off a rainy, wet weekend my husband and I accompanied some good friends to Amis du Jazz in Sonya. We listened to a nice trio, consisting of a string bass, an electric guitar and a saxophone. The sax. player was an hour late as he was having difficulties finding the venue. Can't blame him -- Sonya is very small.

So today I wake up with a raging sinus head-ache, and listening to the wind and rain. Bleah. What to do? After doing some housewifely cleaning, I sat down with the spindle and wool I acquired at the Waterloo Knitter's Fair.


So it isn't perfectly-spun yarn. But it is my first effort, and I'm proud. I can see spinning up enough yarn to make a scarf. I can see myself having a lot of fun with this. Possibly way too much fun with this. Is it possible that one can be way too addicted to having fun with fiber? Is a 7-foot by 20-foot knitting/sewing/weaving room going to be too small for me?

We'll just have to wait and see.

What have I been doing?

While there is a lot of knitting happening around here, there aren't many photos. Why is that? Well, it seems that I have been watching too much television and not enough knitting. I have knit up, ripped out, knit up, and ripped out the progress on my Aran Lace sweater. At this point, I have finally completed the back and have the front as far as the neckline. Whew! Hopefully pictures will follow soon. Assuming I can keep my rows straight and not have to knit backwards again.

Over the weekend, we attended a family wedding in Michigan. Here is the happy couple – my "baby" brother Andy and his honey, Sabrina.

They've been dating for longer than many folks stay married, so we think there's a good chance this marriage will last.

Since I've been unable to get the blasted "Hello" from Picasa to send more than one picture at a time, you'll just have to wait to see the pic. of my three good looking brothers. Sorry 'bout that.

Another Monday

Yes, indeed. We have survived a weekend and once again it's Monday. And what do we have here?


We have a back and the beginnings of a front of the Aran Lace sweater. And LOTS of yarn.

I was worried that I would run short of yarn. And since I purchased this yarn on closeout and with no clear idea what pattern I would be using, there was none to be found at any of the Lewiscraft stores to which I have access. So I looked until I found a pattern which seemed to use just the right amount of yarn.

After I started knitting, I began to get nervous. The picture in the pattern indicates that this is a longish sweater, so I decided to make it 38 rows shorter than the pattern specified. I did the math ... selected my ending row ... and finished the back of the sweater. Complete with neckline shaping. Then I started the front.

Now ... I will only say that I was watching "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" when I made these decisions, and I was distracted. If I had been paying attention, I would have realized that I had plenty of yarn. Lotsa yarn, in fact. The back took less than half of the first ball of yarn. And there is very little neckline edging. If I can make the front and back out of one ball of yarn, surely to goodness I can complete the two sleeves out of the second, right?

I will be carefully unraveling the bind-off stitches and making the sweater as specified in the pattern.

Sheesh. Is my face red, or what?!

How can it be Monday already?

Where does the time go anyway?

Friday night, I made a wonderful dinner of roast chicken with stuffing, mashed yams and steamed broccoli. Friends stopped in for a visit later and we enjoyed the last of the apple pie. Saturday morning Doug and I had a mountain bike ride, went into Toronto for dinner (at the Buddha Vegetarian, 666 Dundas St. West), and saw two friends perform for the Acoustic Harvest -- Rob Ritchie and Terry Young. Sunday we slept in -- which means the cats actually let us do so -- and then spent the afternoon with more good friends. The evening brought yet another mountain bike ride, followed by a pot of home-made chicken soup which Carrie pronounced to be "delicious!" How much better can it get?

Funny you should ask. Because it does get better! This is the progress on the Lace Aran sweater:


Doesn't it look wonderful? Who would have thought that lace could mimic an aran-style pattern? I certainly didn't. And I find myself entranced with all those yarn-overs, slip-knit-passovers and knit-2-togethers. I sit for hours knitting on this, and don't even grumble much when I have to tink. Well, except for the Irish Knots. Knitting four stitches into one, passing three of the new ones over ... doesn't lend itself well to tinking.

And just to prove that I can actually handle two projects on needles at once -- the socks became travel knitting and I finished a small pair for my Dulaan box and started another pair for me!

An experiment in multi-tasking

I have been working on socks. Lots of socks. Lots and lots of socks, in fact. So many socks that I am dreaming of socks. The good news is that there is no "Second Sock Syndrome" in my home. The tenacity with which I knit socks does lead to an unfortunate side-effect -- an incredible lack of variety in my knitting life.

Now, I know that I have ADD (Attention Deficit Syndrome), and that I consequently do not multi-task well. I also know that having two projects on the go at the same time has traditionally driven me to distraction. Which project to favour with my attention when I have a minute or two to spare? The decision kills me!

In a fit of ambition and an effort to tame the ADD, I have taken a deep breath and jumped right into the multi-project fray. The socks now live in a small travel knitting bag and will land right next to my purse. Whenever I go somewhere outside the house, the socks will go with me. Thus they will not be forgotten, nor will I develop a case of SSS.

But what shall I work on at home? Strange you should ask. Here it is -- my newest ambition:



Aran Lace, a pattern written by Annie Maloney. The really nice thing about the purchase of this pattern, aside from the beauty of the design, is that a portion of the proceeds go to the Ontario Brain Injury Fund. It's always nice when you can support a good cause in the normal course of your day. The yarn is Stylecraft Special, an acrylic/wool blend sold by Lewiscraft. Normally I would support my LYS, but this yarn was on sale. 800 grams, which should be enough to make the sweater with some leftover for Dulaan projects, all at 30% off. Nice, eh? I've currently completed 12 rows, which is exactly one-half of the largest pattern repeat.

Now ... to see if I can manage two projects on the needles at once. My daughter suspects not.

Work in Process

It has occurred to me that I don't believe that I've shown a WIP here. Plenty of finished projects, but not a WIP.

So ... here it is! (Coris -- if you are reading this -- stop right here!)




This is a scarf pattern from the 2005 Pattern-A-Day calendar, the Little Leaf Lace Scarf designated for April 21, 2005. The yarn I'm using is Regia Silk in a lovely grey-blue. Originally purchased for socks, the yarn preferred to become a scarf. I found it to pill a bit, certainly far more quickly than I would want for a pair of socks. Anyone else have the same experience?

A day of my own

While reading the blog of my hero, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (otherwise known as the Yarn Harlot), I finally took the plunge and made the commitment to attend the Waterloo County Knitters Fair 2005. With the price of gas, my current state of unemployment and hence no income, I had reluctantly decided to pass on the opportunity to fondle yarns. The deciding factor? Stephanie would be attending the fair. Since I had a copy of Stephanie's first book which needed to be autographed for one of my dearest friends, it was a no-brainer. I would attend.

First let me say that the map provided by the municipality of Waterloo was entirely bizarre. The map clearly indicated that I should exit the 401 at Highway 8, drive north until the intersection with Victoria Street and I would be there. Unfortunately, Victoria Street is closed for construction right at the specified intersection. Besides, the mailing address of Bingeman's is Waterloo. Which is why I (oh-so-prudently I thought) had disregarded the signs advising me to exit the 401 at Guelph if I wanted to find my way to Bingeman's. Hmm. Was this a portent?

So I pressed onward, devout in my intentions to visit the Fair. After all, I had crawled out of bed at 8:00 am, driven 2 hours and was free from husband and child. Only a weak-willed knitter would turn back at this point, frustrated by the lack of signage. After figuring out how much gas I had wasted were I to retreat, I finally found my way out of the black hole of despair, and found the fair.

At the fair, I found this:



I swear these things followed me home. Honest. They just waddled along behind me until we found the car, and what could I do?

I purchased Stephanie's second book titled "The Secret Life of a Knitter." I've managed to read the introduction and two chapters. If you enjoy her blog, buy the book. She's entirely too funny.
I watched a lady get a spindling lesson right at the Gemini Fiber booth, and it looked ... well ... fun, to be precise. So I purchased a book (Hands On Spinning by Lee Raven) as well as a hand-made drop spindle. Of course, if one has acquired the text and the tool, one must also have fiber. That's why I purchased 100g of 100% Merino wool.

Having drooled over the Van Gogh Stole (designed by Anne Russell) at previous shows, I finally took the plunge and purchased a kit as well. And since everyone raves about Opal sock yarn and the colour was too yummy to pass by, I purchased a ball of Opal as well.

Another high note of the day was meeting Michelle. She so graciously displays her photo on her blog and so was easy to recognize. Accompanying her was CurlieGirl. Of course, I did also get to chat with Stephanie for a few minutes. Alas, I left the house without my camera.

Dates to remember -- the 9th Annual Knitter's Frolic (sponsored by the Downtown Knit Collective) will occur on Saturday, April 22, 2006. The Waterloo County Knitters' Fair 2006 will occur on Saturday, September 9, 2006. Be there, or be square!

September

Today was the first day of school across Ontario. My daughter started high school today. Another milestone. And the last of my children to attend high school. Sigh.

But she's still my little girl. At 14 and a half, there's an awful lot of young lady there. She primps in the mirror, she dresses for effect and not comfort. But deep inside, hidden underneath all those layers of young adult ... My baby hides. How do I know?

Well, this is her favorite pillow in the whole world.




He travels with her everywhere -- except canoe camping in Algonquin Park. And that's only because there was no room in her backpack for him.

Bear is modeling the completed baby blanket. It was made with Dreambaby D.K. from Plymouth Yarns, following a pattern from the Leisure Arts book Beginner's Guide -- Knit Stitches & Easy Projects. I used 6 skeins of yarn.

In other news, Carrie's bedroom renovation project is completed. We had a deadline of Sept. 3 to have it finished because the band, Tanglefoot , was going to be staying with us. Couldn't have the guys sleeping in the living room, ya know? So we finished it, just in the nick of time. And now Carrie has her story wall autographed by the band.

Renovations

Carrie is off visiting her dad in Michigan this week. And everyone knows that the mice will play while the cat is away. Wait a minute -- I thought I was the cat!

In any event, with Carrie out of the way, it seemed the perfect opportunity to do some major work in her bedroom. Originally, the cottage came with two 8 x 10-foot bedrooms. Hardly room enough for a bed and dresser, let alone the stuff that teens require. So the wall came down (it was a temporary wall from the previous round of renovations) and Doug and I have been working continuously in there.

My new job description is "carpenter's helper." The duties are (to date): vacuuming (and here I thought I could escape it!) the work site, drilling holes, inserting screws, nailing in the trim pieces, shimming window trim, trimming foam, finding studs, and removing staples. This means that I now have operated the electric drill, the screw gun, the electric nailer, the chop saw, and the stud finder. Such fun, eh?


And here you see the finished window!


There is yet another window in the room which is completed, and a little window that will get the slightest of trim. Carrie plans to install a poster over the window, so a full trim-out isn't required at the moment.

Today the baseboard has been installed, and it looks fabulous. We are hoping to get someone to come in and sand, patch and refinish the existing pine floor. It is in pretty rough shape as pine doesn't wear well, and there are places where the original wall used to be which have never been finished.

The plus side of my new occupation -- when the carpenter doesn't need me, I get to sit and knit!
Doesn't that just break your heart?

I'm working on a baby blanket for the wife of a friend from my teen-age years. Unfortunately, she recently suffered a miscarriage with all the attendant grief. I have continued with the blanket, knitting each stitch with a prayer for healing and in confidence that they will one day have a precious baby to wrap in the blanket. Since baby blankets don't appear to change much from day to day, I have decided to wait until it is complete before making a photo opportunity.

Summer Knitting

Summer demands cool cotton tops. And since the requisite yarn just happened to jump off the shelf and into my eagerly waiting arms ... well, this is what I get --


The yarn is Scheepjes soft fun, colour 2325. The pattern was gifted to me by my darling daughter at Christmas -- the Pattern-a-Day knitting calendar. This particular pattern was the Too-Cool! Halter Top for June 15. Of course, I didn't use the yarn specified in the pattern ... But I can tell you that this top (size large) consumed 3 balls of yarn.

What will I do with the remaining yarn? One never knows. When will I wear the top? I keep forgetting that I'm not 18 any more, and that I do not have that 18-year-old body. But here on the Point, where almost anything goes, I'll fit right in.

In other news -- renovations continue apace on the first floor bedroom. It will become the bedroom of the afore-mentioned darling daughter, complete with her plans for a funky paint job, strange ceiling treatments and interesting furniture arrangements. I assisted (really I did!) with building out the windows and in the process learned to operate the electric drill, screw gun and air gun. All 20 fingers (10 for me and 10 for my dear husband) survived without injury. And the room is looking great! Pictures will follow.

When it's too hot to knit ...

a visit to the bookstore is required. And this is what I found!


Now I officially have absolutely no reason not to venture into the mysteries of designing my own sweaters.

What do you do when it's too hot to knit?

When it's so hot that ice cubes melt before you can pour in the water? When it's so hot that sweat drips down your face before you even get out of bed in the morning?


You do like Henry ... sprawl in the shade with your four paws to the wind.

And pray that there's wind.

Fortunately, the heat seems to have ever so slightly lessened and knitting can and will resume tomorrow.

The Dulaan Project

Now that the dust has settled over at Mossy Cottage Knits and the count is in for the Dulaan Project does not mean it is time to rest on our collective laurels. There will be more cold young 'uns the world around -- if not in Mongolia, then Korea, or even closer to home -- in Canada.

Meredith from F.I.R.E. has left me a comment stating that they will be collecting items for shipment in July of 2006.

With that in mind, I've already started knitting for 2006. And this is what I've accomplished!


Two size 4 sweaters for little girls.

Anyone else want to help make 2006 as successful as 2005?