two months

It's been pretty close to 2 months since I last wrote up a decent post. There is sooo much that I need to get caught up on that this'll be a quick & dirty update.

FOs


Cinnamon Grace - totally ran out of yarn despite using an overweight skein. Ended up making a 2 hour round trip to buy a 27g leftover from a fellow Raveller. Still ran out of yarn. The lace edging should be wider and have a picot bind off.


Another pair of Monkey socks - my 60th pair of socks

Currently knitting on this:


Swirl skirt from the latest IK. Totally in love with this pattern.

Spinning

The Tour de Fleece is moving along. While the nieces were in town, they insisted on "helping" me so I ended up spinning a lot of junky fiber (included in the purchase of my wheels). But I've had the opportunity to spin some nice stuff, too. This is sample of what I've accomplished so far:






We're leaving for Sock Summit in less than two weeks. I have so much to do to get ready. I'm excited!!!!

scrap happy

I've knit a lot of socks and consequently, I have a lot of leftovers. My feet aren't big so I usually have quite a bit left - not enough to knit another sock but too much to just throw away. Originally, I saved the yarn in case I needed it for repairs but I decided awhile ago that I'd rather knit a new sock than fix an existing one. So my bag of leftover yarn has steadily grown.

My second plan was to knit all the leftovers into "monster" socks. But I have so much good sock yarn that I'd rather knit with. You can see the dilemma that I faced. During a pre-Christmas purge, I looked at the bag of yarn and told myself that if I didn't do something with it, I had to throw it out or give it away.

Looking for inspiration, I came across a scarf that Helen made with leftover yarn. It was knit lengthwise in garter stitch and she used the ends as fringe. This idea appealed to me but she used worsted weight and she had enough matching colours that it looked nice. My scraps were too varied to look good together.

I was also attracted to a linen stitch scarf that was on display at the LYS where I work. It's knit lengthwise, too and the stitch pattern makes the scarf look woven. The quilter in me spoke up and said, "all fabrics go together if they're small enough". If I alternated a solid yarn with the scraps, everything would probably look ok. A quick rummage through the stash yielded a skein of dark purple which would work as the "base" for all the scraps. The result is my scrappy scarf.


Pattern: linen stitch; knit lengthwise
Yarn: one skein (100g) of solid sock yarn; lots and lots of scraps and each scrap needs to be long enough to work 2 rows of linen stitch
Needles: 4mm Addi Turbo Circs


Notes: I cast on using the purple. All rows worked with RS facing you. Leave a long enough tail at the beginning and end of each row to make a fringe. Worked 2 rows in scrap yarn. Worked 2 rows in purple. Repeat these 4 rows until desired width is reached. Bind off.

My original plan to use up my scraps didn't actually turn out well. I used about 50g of scraps plus 50g of the 100g skein of purple yarn which means I added 50g to my leftover bag. My scrap bag weighs exactly the same as before. Sigh.

December is sneaky

I'm sitting here updating my day planner and I'm shocked to discover that it's already December. November flew on by and I barely acknowledged it. Is it possible to rewind and play back last month?

Since it's Dec, deadlines are looming and I'm madly scrambling around. Hubby got the outdoor lights up last weekend. The tree is still in the box waiting for me to move living room furniture around to make room for it. We'll get it up this weekend even if it kills me. Today is wrap and mail all international parcels which should've gone out last week. And instead of knitting Christmas prezzies, I've been working on these:


This pooling scarf is going veeeeery slowly. It seems that I'm ripping out half of the stitches I make to get the colours to line up properly. Ugh! But it is looking very nice and worth the effort. Next time, I will choose yarn that is dyed more consistently across the skein.


And this is a new project that I cast on a few days ago when I threw down the pooling scarf in disgust. It's plain ole linen stitch. I wound a skein of dark purple and collected all my sock yarn scraps. I work 2 rows of linen stitch in purple and then I grab a contrasting yarn from the bag and work 2 more rows. I keep switching colours every 2 rows and voila. Pretty scarf.

Off to find empty boxes, packing tape, and look for my stash of Christmas cards. Only 22 days til Christmas...

more white stuff

It really snowed hard yesterday. I shoveled twice - once in the morning and again in the afternoon. Hubby shoveled late in the afternoon before it started raining. It's still raining but it's going to take awhile before all the snow gets washed away. I whined to my sister who told me to "suck it up, buttercup". She's been suffering through a brutal cold snap. I read that her city was the second coldest place on Earth behind Antarctica. Brrrr - that's cold!!!!

Finally, an FO and a WIP that I can show you. At work, I finished a crochet sample for the yarn shop.




Pattern: Sunflowers Satchel by Asami Kawa
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock; col S279; one skein (100g; 328 yds)
Hook: 3.25mm
Notes: I made the smaller size. This bag will be a store sample. Overall, this was a fast & fun project. I ran into some problems right at the end - the start location of the mesh and the start location of the shoulder strap. I ripped out the mesh twice and started each side of the shoulder strap twice. The first shoulder strap error was completely my fault - I didn't see in the instructions to switch from double crochet to single crochet.

I'm taking a wee break from secret Christmas knitting to show you my attempts at pooling:


This is very boring garter stitch and nothing like what Gladys (the genius that she is) creates. If it turns out well, I might give it to hubby for Christmas.

too hot to knit

We're experiencing a heat wave. At 9am this morning, the outdoor thermometer said it was 25C (80F). Yikes! It was really hot yesterday. Thank goodness we have a ceiling fan in the bedroom. I still slept on the family room couch downstairs. So my hands have been too sticky to do much knitting. I did complete a few projects before the heat wave hit.


Pattern: top down, short row heel, rolled cuff
Yarn: Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette Fingering; 2 skeins (50g; 185 yds each) in an Odd Duck colour (using leftover dyes)
Needles: 2.25mm dpns
Notes: My second time using this yarn and I like the base. It was shedding little black bits all over while I was knitting. The dyer uses natural materials (plants, bugs, etc.) so I think it's just dye stuff that will hopefully come out in the first wash. I cast on 64 sts for the leg & decreased down to 60 sts for the foot. It's too loose in the leg. I should stick to 60 sts for the whole sock which is my usual number. These are my 49th pair of finished socks. Which pair will be 50? One of my many sock wips or will I cast on & finish something new? Hmmm....

I bought a cute dress to wear to my bday party and I thought it might be nice to have a little shawl in case it was cool (and it was). I did finish one before the party but did not have enough time to block it. And it's still sitting there unblocked because it's too hot to hunch over it and pin it out on the bed upstairs.


Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash; col Arlene
Needles: 7mm for casting on & 5mm for the body
Notes: Should've cast on more loosely. Don't think the edge is stretchy enough to block well. I used approx. 90g (or 324 yds) of yarn. I like WM for non-sock projects. I don't like it for socks because it doesn't have stretch & bounce. It really reminds me of cotton when I'm knitting with it.

I'm off to sit in front of a fan & maybe have a little nap to catch up on some beauty sleep.

poor man's cashmere

Malabrigo Sock yarn isn't cashmere but it's still really soft.


Pattern: Lacy Kerchief Scarf by Lisa Daehlin (published in Interweave Knits Summer 2005)
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock (1 skein; 440 yds) in Cote D'azure
Needles: 4mm Addi Turbo circs
Notes: I increased/decreased every 8 rows (i.e. on row 1 of chart) instead of every 6. Before blocking, the scarf measured 7" at the widest point and 61" long. After blocking, the scarf is 8" at the widest point and 72" long. I have 18g of yarn leftover so that means I used about 361 yds. I misjudged the midpoint of the skein so I have leftover yarn. But that's ok because 72" is plenty long for a scarf.

Thanks for the inspiration, Li. I love it.

Pooh vs. The Ducks

Well, that was an interesting grocery shopping trip. I was walking down the aisle with my overfull basket in one hand and a bag of pizza shells (hubby is lactose intolerant so we don't order in pizza anymore) in the other. All of a sudden, my precariously balanced self became unbalanced as I watched my pizza shells roll down the aisle. The seal at the bottom of the bag split open and since gravity works so well, my pizza shells made a run for it. I picked up the now grimy pizza shells, trooped over to the opposite side of the store, left them with a bakery person, and I picked up another bag - carefully checking that they wouldn't fall out. They made it home without any further incident. Phew!

I have all this free time now that I'm not hand washing dishes anymore. Yay! I started a crazy looking scarf.


The yarn varies from fun fur to rayon ribbon and even sequined sections. It's seriously crazy stuff to knit with.


Crazy enough that I can't stand it for more than a few rows at a time. Don't know how I'm going to get through the second scarf.

Hubby has been hinting that I should be working on his Noro socks.


Surprisingly, they are almost matchy-matchy. I didn't deliberately do this. Just grabbed the second ball of yarn and cast on.

After staring at my Outside In/Inside Out socks for weeks, I frogged them and started over with another pattern.


I am much happier.

My quilt group came over to my house yesterday for our weekly SnB. I found this little vignette on my coffee table this morning.


These were props for explaining hockey rules - icing, off side, and I can't remember the other one. The ducks are on one team and Pooh is on the other. The ruler is some sort of line and my retractable tape measure is the hockey puck. I suspect that the Olympics have turned some of them into hockey fans.

Dotty says, "I'm stress knitting"

Isn't it cool that Gladys has an article in Knitty? Apparently, our blog stats are through the roof. And I am so proud of my STR Husky. Because Gladys knit up her skein, she had to borrow mine for the photos in the article. She's lucky that our hubbies bought us the same colour.

I can really crank out the knitting when I'm stressed. There was an "incident" on Tues that had me driving hubby around, sitting at home worrying, and ultimately resulted in a trip to the hospital emergency room. He's ok (for now) but what's really troublesome is that we don't know what's wrong with him. Wah!

The first replacement sock for my sister is almost done. I'm still not sure if she'll like the colours.


A group of us are making squares for an afghan. I was given a bunch of yarn and so far, I've made 5. I loved laying out all the bits of yarn and picking two to knit together. My favourite is the green & orange one. It reminds me of pumpkins. I have to remember to block these today.


I wound up my Americo yarn and started knitting the Lace Ribbon scarf. I've made one before so this is moving quite quickly. I love the yarn and I love the slubbiness of the scarf.


I get the feeling that Phoebe is trying to tell me something. But I can't figure out what.

chilly

I got up this morning, made some tea and nearly choked on it when I looked at the outdoor thermometer (the big numbers are Celsius and the smaller ones are Fahrenheit).


BRRRRRRRR!!! Seriously, it is cold. There is frost on the inside of the windows. There's no frost on the outside because it's so cold, there's no moisture left in the air. My car makes funny creaky noises when I'm driving. Kinda scary! I hope it doesn't fall apart. There is a snowfall warning for the next day or so. The fridge is stocked and I've got lots of yarn so I'm ready!

Christmas knitting/crocheting continues. Hubby was trying to figure out what to buy for a 15 year old girl. I gave him a bunch of suggestions but he didn't like any of them until I suggested that I make something (me and my big mouth). Thank goodness that crochet is quick.


Pattern: Queen Anne's Lace Scarf by Khebhin Gibbons
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted in Velvet Grapes; 1 skein (last one in my stash)
Hook: 6mm/US J
Notes: approx 6.5 ft long

I also finished the market bag.


Pattern: French Market Bag by Polly Outhwaite
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted; colour Kiwi; 3 skeins
Notes: Miscounted and ended up with 216 sts. Did my own thing with the handles.

I threw the bag in the wash and it only partially felted.


I've got a front loader and there's just not enough hot water to felt things so I'll need to run it through again.

I've got one more Christmas gift on the needles. Just something small so it'll be finished before Christmas. Right now, I'm going to dig out my long underwear and throw another quilt (or 6) on the bed.

no quilt is safe

Man, this scarf is addictive. I've already made a second one and it's upstairs blocking.


I found several single skeins when I went stash diving. I don't remember the details of this yarn. The phrase "mulespun" comes to mind and I'm pretty sure it's dyed with natural dyes. Other than that, there were no tags so I have no clue where it's from. I have another skein like this but in a burnt orange colour. The yarn is very soft (once you pick out the vm) even before washing. It doesn't smell as sheepy as the Cascade 220.


Gladys has got me swapping yarn on Ravelry. My first yarn arrived in the mail today - a lovely skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Sierra. It's very nice. Expect to see more yarn p0rn as things slowly arrive.

I went out for lunch and a little fabric shopping with my quilting friends today. It was my first trip to Creative Edge - a new quilt shop in North Vancouver. They had a booth at the quilt show so I was very interested in their store. I bought some swirly fabric to make sheep ornaments with. Plus I got a big piece of skulls with crossed knitting needles. I also bought the Owl and the Pussycat pattern by an Australian design team called Melly & Me (this was the pattern that was sold out at their booth). Of course, I want to make the Pussycat bag. I think their designs are so cute. Too bad my nieces are too old for this sort of stuff.

I've been quilting steadily on the log cabin quilt. When I'm not working on it, I heave it onto the back of the sofa because I don't want the cats sleeping on it or Phoebe chewing on the saftey pins (yes, she does that and can pull one out if she tries hard enough).


So guess who's sleeping in it right now?


Sigh...

ETA: I turfed Ricky off the quilt so that I could work on it. Shortly afterwards, he came back - on my lap and under the quilt. See?

roses for Bea

My crocheted scarf turned out lovely after its bath & block. So I took it outside for a little photo shoot.


It is quite a pretty little scarf. The second picture is more accurate wrt colour. I'm going to toss the stash tonite looking for single skeins of worsted/aran yarn because I want to make one for myself. Can you picture it in Malabrigo or Queensland Kathmandu or Koigu Kersti?

Yesterday, I went over to BSY for knit nite (my first time) and dropped off the scarf, the course outline, and supply list. I also picked up a skein of Cascade 220 to make swatches for class.

I didn't have a mindless knitting project to take with me so I dug out some pale pink wool and printed out the pattern to make some roses for Bea.


I think they're really cute. The smallest one is the first one I made. For the second and third roses, I fiddled with the pattern a little by adding extra plain rows between the increase rows. I think I have enough yarn to make one or two more and then I'll mail them off to her.

Summer is definitely over. I put all my shorts and tank tops away today and pulled out my woolies. On the weekend, hubby complained about the cold so we replaced the summer blanket with our big red wool one. He's sleeping much better now. And a warm & happy hubby is good to have.

crochet me

Is it Sunday already? Wow - the week's flown by. I got some good stuff in the mail - my Colourmart silk/cotton (fingering/4ply).


I bought 2 cones - enough to make the Apres Surf Hoodie. But I'm having problems getting the right gauge. Ack!

I'm in the middle of hand quilting the pink/purple tilted log cabin quilt. I've got about half of it done now. I took it to knit nite to work on instead of a knitting project (yeah, blasphemy!). I got really hot sitting under it because the lights were right above me. I also felt self-conscious because people were watching me quilt. But I'm pretty used to it because I often take my knitting to my quilt meetings.

Hubby had Fri off (he has every Fri in Sept off) so we relocated the small compost bin and installed a new bigger one. Yay! I have somewhere where I can dump leaves and bigger items. I'm still using the little one because I need to keep my kitchen scraps under a lid and away from rodents.

Yesterday, I worked. Yes, I got a job at Black Sheep Yarns. My training was Wed and I worked the entire Sat. Believe it or not, I didn't buy anything. I was soooooorely tempted... That's not to say that I didn't come home with yarn. I did. I made this yesterday night:


Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers; col 9326; 1 skein
Pattern: Queen Anne's Lace scarf by Khebhin Gibbons
Hook: 6mm
Notes: Pattern calls for more yarn but one skein was enough to make a 6ft+ long scarf.

This is a store/class sample. I am going to be teaching a beginner's crochet class and this is what the students will be making. The owner wants to offer crochet classes and the grand opening for the store is next Sat so I needed to get the scarf done post haste. Now that it's finished, I'll take it to the store and figure out which days the classroom is free. Then I'll need to make up notes for the class. Eeek! The designer of this pattern has kindly given me permission to use it so that's one thing I don't have to worry about.


I went to a quilt show today. There were lots of wonderful quilts and a great merchant mall. Pictured above is a Kaleidoscope quilt using a technique by Ricky Tims. I don't know why but I found it quite intriguing. Below is a design by Karen Stone. It's a quilt that I want to make. I have all the foundation paper pieces cut out and I'm still collecting fabric for it.


This year, the merchant mall was bigger. Yay - more shopping for me. There were 2 new vendors - one that sold lots of Australian designs and another selling colourful African batiks. I didn't buy anything from them (not that I didn't try - the first booth had sold out of a pattern that I liked and the other one needs to call me back tomorrow about some fabric that I need by the yard rather than in FQs) but I still ended up with some cool stuff:


I think I'll take a little snooze before making supper... Don't wake me.

mmmm alpaca

Look what I blocked yesterday!


Pattern: not-a-cable scarf; my own design
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca sport (or melange); col unknown (lost ball bands); 3 skeins
Needles: 4mm straights
Notes: It's about 7" wide and almost 5 feet long so it's a pretty decent size. I won 2 skeins of this yarn at my lys' first anniversary celebration and I bought 2 additional skeins so I have one skein left. My plan is to knit a pair of Fetchings to go with the scarf. Believe it or not, I think the yarn was softer before washing. It feels a little prickly against my neck now that it's dry. Humph!

I bought the new Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine at the grocery store today. There are a coupla cute patterns that I like. I'm usually leery because her pattern instructions are written row by row with no schematics. So if you want to substitute yarn or if you can't quite get the right gauge, you're screwed. The magazine instructions are still written out line by line but there are now schematics. I looked up her patterns to add to my queue in Ravelry and it turns out that most of them have been previously published. That doesn't bother me since I don't buy any of her other books/patterns but it might annoy knitters who think they're getting new patterns to only find out that they're in a pamphlet that they already own.

Ricky (the bad cat) chased Phoebe out of her chair (I was out grocery shopping). He really enjoys sleeping there judging by the blissed out look on his face.

"MOMMMM!!!! Stop taking pictures of me!" - Ricky

random Thursday

The scarf has dried (with the help of a small fan) and it's absolutely stunning.


Finished measurements are 10" by 70". It's big but it scrunches up nicely when worn. I can see this scarf getting a lot of use. I am already thinking about making another one. I have 2 skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit in my stash...

My Elann.com Camila order arrived. And what they call "Cloud Grey" is an ugly beige-y/grey putty colour. Blech!


Good thing that I ordered a bag of the Sky Blue, too. So I'm using the ugly colour to swatch for the Auburn Camp Shirt. Of course, the required yarn is fingering and Camila is DK. Lots of fancy maths for me to do if I want to make this.

I need a bumper sticker that says "I brake for geese". I live very close to a large lake. It's surrounded by a forested area so the geese that frequent the lake need to find adjacent land to sun bathe, eat, and sleep. One of the industrial/commercial properties nearest to the lake has a large open grassy area and during the day you can find a pair or two lying on the lawn. But they don't stay on the lawn. Twice, I've had to stop in the middle of the road and wait for the geese to waddle across it. Of course, the cars behind me don't understand why I've stopped which is why I need the bumper sticker.

Ricky has recently discovered my shopping basket in the front entrance. I guess he wants to go shopping with me?